diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6982-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 242983 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6982-h/6982-h.htm | 9482 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6982.txt | 9412 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6982.zip | bin | 0 -> 242200 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/hcirc10.txt | 9586 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/hcirc10.zip | bin | 0 -> 246077 bytes |
9 files changed, 28496 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6982-h.zip b/6982-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9bf4b2c --- /dev/null +++ b/6982-h.zip diff --git a/6982-h/6982-h.htm b/6982-h/6982-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..feb86f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/6982-h/6982-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9482 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Hawthorne and his Circle, by Julian Hawthorne + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawthorne and His Circle, by Julian Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hawthorne and His Circle + +Author: Julian Hawthorne + +Release Date: April 2, 2009 [EBook #6982] +Last Updated: February 4, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Julian Hawthorne + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION </a><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> XI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> XIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> XIV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> XV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> XVI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> XVII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> XVIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> XIX </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + ILLUSTRATIONS (not available to this edition) NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (From + a crayon drawing by Samuel Rowse) <br /> BIRTHPLACE OF NATHANIEL + HAWTHORNE AT SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS <br /> HERMAN MELVILLE <br /> JAMES T. + FIELDS <br /> THE WAYSIDE (Showing Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife) + <br /> EDWIN P. WHIPPLE <br /> JAMES T. FIELDS, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, AND + WILLIAM D. TICKNOR <br /> RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES <br /> ROBERT BROWNING + <br /> FRANCIS BANNOCH <br /> REV. WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING, 1855 <br /> + MARIA MITCHELL <br /> WILLIAM WETMORE STORY <br /> PENCIL SKETCHES IN + ITALY, BY MRS. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE <br /> THE MARBLE FAUN <br /> HIRAM + POWERS <br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Inheritance of friendships—Gracious giants—My own good + fortune—My father the central figure—What did his gift to + me cost him?—A revelation in Colorado—Privileges make + difficulties—Lights and shadows of memory—An informal + narrative—Contrast between my father's life and mine. +</pre> + <p> + The best use we can make of good fortune is to share it with our fellows. + Those to whom good things come by way of inheritance, however, are often + among the latest to comprehend their own advantage; they suppose it to be + the common condition. And no doubt I had nearly arrived at man's estate + before it occurred to me that the lines of few fishers of men were cast in + places so pleasant as mine. I was the son of a man of high desert, who had + such friends as he deserved; and these companions and admirers of his gave + to me in the beginning of my days a kindly welcome and encouragement + generated from their affection and reverence for him. Without doing a + stroke of work for it, I found myself early in the enjoyment of a + principality of good will and fellowship—a species of freemasonry, I + might call it, though the secret was patent enough—for the rights in + which, unaided, I might have contended my lifetime long in vain. Men and + women whose names are consecrated apart in the dearest thoughts of + thousands were familiars and playmates of my childhood; they supported my + youth and bade my manhood godspeed. But to me, for a long while, the favor + of these gracious giants of mind and character seemed agreeable indeed, + but nothing out of the ordinary; my tacit presumption was that other + children as well as I could if they would walk hand in hand with Emerson + along the village street, seek in the meadows for arrow-heads with + Thoreau, watch Powers thump the brown clay of the "Greek Slave," or listen + to the voice of Charlotte Cushman, which could sway assembled thousands, + modulate itself to tell stories to the urchin who leaned, rapt, against + her knees. Were human felicity so omnipresent as a happy child imagines + it, what a world would this be! + </p> + <p> + In time, my misapprehension was corrected, rather, I think, through the + application to it of cold logic than by any rude awakening. I learned of + my riches not by losing them—the giants did not withdraw their + graciousness—but by comparing the lot of others with my own. And + yet, to tell the truth—perhaps I might better leave it untold; only + in these chapters, especially, I will not begin with reserves—to say + truth, then, my world, during my father's lifetime, and afterwards for I + will not say how long, was divided into two natural parts, my father being + one of them, and everybody else the other. Hence I was led to regard the + parties of the latter part, rich or poor, giants or pygmies, as being, + after all, of much the same stature and value. The brightness (in the + boy's estimation) of the paternal figure rendered distinctions between + other brightnesses unimportant. The upshot was, in short, that I inclined + to the opinion that while compassion was unquestionably due to other + children for not having a father like mine, yet in other respects my + condition was not egregiously superior to theirs. They might not know the + Brownings or the Julia Ward Howes; but then, very likely, the Smiths and + the Joneses, whom they did know, were nearly as good. + </p> + <p> + After fifty years, of course, such prepossessions yield to experience. My + father was the best friend I ever had, and he will always stand in my + estimation distinct from all other friends and persons; but I can now + recognize that in addition to the immeasurable debt I owe him for being to + me what he was in his own person, he bestowed upon me a privilege also + immeasurable in the hospitality of these shining ones who were his + intimates. Did the gift cost him nothing? Nothing, in one sense. But, + again, what does it cost a man to walk upright and cleanly during the + years of his pilgrimage: to deal justly with all, and charitably: + diligently to cultivate and develop every natural endowment: always to + seek truth, tell it, and vindicate it: to discharge to the utmost of his + ability every duty that was intrusted to him: to rest content, in the line + of his calling, with no work inferior to his best: to say no word and do + no act which, were they known, might weaken the struggle against + temptation of any fellow-creature? These qualities were the price at which + Hawthorne bought his friends; and in receiving those friends from him, his + children could not but feel that the bequest represented his unfaltering + grasp upon whatever is pure, lofty, and generous in human life. + </p> + <p> + Yes, whatever it may cost a man of genius to be all his life a good man, + and to use and develop his genius to the noblest ends only, that my + father's friends cost him, and in that amount am I his debtor; and the + longer I myself live, and the more I see of other men, the higher and + rarer do I esteem the obligation. Moreover, in speaking of his friends, I + was thinking of those who personally knew him; but the world is full + to-day of friends of his who never saw him, to whom his name is my best + and surest introduction. Once, only three years since, in the remote heart + of the Colorado mountains, I chanced to enter the hut of an aged miner; he + sat in a corner of the little family room; on the wall near his hand was + fixed a small bookshelf, filled with a dozen dog-eared volumes. The man + had for years been paralyzed; he could do little more than to raise to + that book-shelf his trembling hand, and take from it one or other of the + volumes. When this helpless veteran learned my name, he uttered a strange + cry, and his face worked with eager emotion; the wife of his + broad-shouldered son brought me to him in his corner; his old eyes glowed + as they perused me. I could not gather the meaning of his broken, + trembling speech; the young woman interpreted for me. Was I related to the + great Hawthorne? "Yes; I am his son." "His son!" Seldom have I met a gaze + harder to sustain than that which the paralytic bent upon me. Would I + might have worn, for the time being, the countenance of an archangel, so + to fill out the lineaments, drawn during so many lonely years by his + imagination and his reverence, of his ideal writer! "The son of + Hawthorne!" He said no more, save by the strengthless pressure of his + hands upon my own; the woman told me how all the books on the little shelf + were my father's books, and for fifteen years the old man had read no + others. Helpless tears of joy, of gratitude, of wonder ran down the + furrows of his cheeks into his white beard. And how could I at whom he so + gazed help being moved: on that desolate, unknown mountain-side, far from + the world, the name which I had inherited was loved and honored! One does + not get one's privileges for nothing. My father gave me power to make my + way, and cast sunshine on the path; but he made the path arduous, too! + </p> + <p> + Be that as it may, I now ask who will to look in my mirror, and see + reflected there some of the figures and the scenes that have made my life + worth living. As I peer into the dark abysm of things gone by, many places + that seemed at first indistinct, grow clearer; but many more must remain + impenetrable. Upon the whole, however, I am surprised to find how much is + still discernible. Nearly a score of years ago I published, in the shape + of a formal biography of Hawthorne and his wife, the consecutive facts of + their lives, and numerous passages from their journals and correspondence. + My aim is different now; I wish to indite an informal narrative from my + own point of view, as child, youth, and man. There will be gaps in it—involuntary + ones; and others occasioned by the obligation to retain those pictures + only that seem likely to arouse a catholic interest. Yet there will be a + certain intimacy in the story; and some matters which history would omit + as trivial will be here adduced, for the sake of such color and character + as they may contain. I shall not stalk on stilts, or mouth phrases, but + converse comfortably and trustfully as between friends. If a writing of + this kind be not flexible, unpretending, discursive, it has no right to be + at all. Art is not in question, save the minor art that lives from line to + line. Gossip about men, women, and things—it can amount to little + more than that. + </p> + <p> + In the earlier chapters the dramatis personae and the incidents must + naturally group themselves about the figure of my father; for it was thus + that I saw them. To his boy he was the fountain of love, honor, and + energy; and to the boy he seemed the animating or organizing principle of + other persons and events. With his death, in my eighteenth year, the world + appeared disordered for a season; then, gradually, I learned to do my own + orientation. I was destined to an experience superficially much more + active and varied than his had been; and it was a world superficially very + different from his in which I moved and dealt There must follow a + corresponding modification in the character of the narrative; yet that, + after all is superficial, too. For the memory of my father has always been + with me, and has doubtless influenced me more than I am myself aware. And + certainly but for him this book would never have been attempted. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Value of dates—My aunt Lizzie's efforts—My father's + decapitation—My mother's strong-box—The spirit of The + Scarlet Letter—The strain of imaginative composition—My + grandmother Hawthorne's death—Infantile indifference to + calamity—The children's plays and books—The house on Mall + Street—Scarlet fever—The study on the third floor—The + haunted mahogany writing-desk—The secret drawers—The + upright Egyptian—Mr. Pickwick—My father in 1850—The + flowered writing-gown, and the ink butterfly—Driving the + quill pen—The occupants of the second floor—Aunt Louisa + and Aunt Ebe—The dowager Mrs. Hawthorne—I kick my aunt + Lizzie—The kittens and the great mystery—The greatest book + of the age. +</pre> + <p> + My maternal aunt, Miss Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, was a very learned woman, + and a great student of history, and teacher of it; and by the aid of huge, + colored charts, done by my uncle Nat Peabody and hung on the walls of our + sitting-room, she labored during some years to teach me all the leading + dates of human history—the charts being designed according to a + novel and ingenious plan to fix those facts in childish memory. But as a + pupil I was always most inapt and grievous, in dates and in matters + mathematical especially; so that I gave her inexhaustible patience many a + sad hour. To this day I cannot tell in what year was fought the battle of + Marathon, or when John signed Magna Charta; though the battle itself, and + the scene of the barons with menacing brows gathered about John, stood + clearly pictured in my imagination. Dates were arbitrary, and to my memory + nothing arbitrary would stick. Nevertheless, when I am myself constructing + a narrative, whether it be true or fictitious, I am wedded to dates, and + cannot be divorced from them. It must be set down precisely when the + events took place, in what years the dramatis personae were born, and how + old they were when each juncture of their fortunes came to pass. I can no + more dispense with dates than I can talk without consonants; they carry + form, order, and credibility. Or they are like the skeleton which gives + recognizable shape to men and animals. Nothing mortal can get on without + them.. + </p> + <p> + Whether this addiction be in the nature of a reaction from my childish + perversity, giving my erudite and beloved aunt Lizzie (as I called her) + her revenge so long after our lessons are over; or how else to explain it, + I know not; but it leads me to affirm here that the nadir of my father's + material fortunes was reached about the year 1849. At that time his age + was five-and-forty, and I was three. + </p> + <p> + The causes of this financial depression were several. One morning he awoke + to find himself deprived, by political chicanery, of the income of a + custom-house surveyorship which for some while past had served to support + his small family. Now, some men could have gone on writing stories in the + intervals between surveying customs, and have thus placed an anchor to + windward against the time when the political storm should set in; but + Nathaniel Hawthorne was devoid of that useful ability. Nor had he been + able to spend less than he earned; so, suddenly, there he was on his + beam-ends. Leisure to write, certainly, was now abundant enough; but he + never was a rapid composer, and even had he been so, the market for the + kind of things he wrote was, in the middle of the past century, in New + England, neither large nor eager. The emoluments were meagre to match; + twenty dollars for four pages of the Democratic Review was about the + figure; and to produce a short tale or sketch of that length would take + him a month at least. How were a husband and wife and their two children + to live for a month on the mere expectation of twenty dollars from the + Democratic Review—which was, into the bargain, terribly slow pay? + Such was the problem which confronted the dark-haired and grave-visaged + gentleman as he closed his desk in the Salem custom-house for the last + time, and put on his hat to walk home. + </p> + <p> + Thanks, however, to some divine foresight on my mother's part, aided by a + wonderful talent for practical economy, she had secretly contrived to + save, out of her weekly stipends, small sums which in the aggregate bulked + large enough to make an important difference in the situation. So when her + husband disclosed his bad news, she opened her private drawer and + disclosed her banknotes, with such a smile in her eyes as I can easily + picture to myself. Stimulated by the miracle, he remembered that the + inchoate elements of a story, in which was to figure prominently a letter + A, cut out of red cloth, or embroidered in scarlet thread, and affixed to + a woman's bosom, had been for months past rumbling round in his mind; now + was the time of times to shape it forth. Yonder upon the table by the + window stood the old mahogany writing-desk so long unused; here were his + flowered dressing-gown and slippers down-at-heel. He ought to be able to + finish the story before the miraculous savings gave out; and then all he + would have to do would be to write others. And, after all, to be rid of + the surveyorship was a relief. + </p> + <p> + But matters were not to be run off quite so easily as this. The Scarlet + Letter, upon coming to close quarters with it, turned out to be not a + story of such moderate caliber as Hawthorne had hitherto been used to + write, but an affair likely to extend over two or three hundred pages, + which, instead of a month or so, might not be completed in a year; yet it + was too late to substitute something more manageable for it—in the + first place, because nothing else happened to be at his disposal, and + secondly, because The Scarlet Letter took such intimate hold upon the + vitals of his heart and mind that he was by no means able to free himself + from it until all had been fulfilled. Only men of creative genius know in + what glorious and harrowing thraldom their creations hold them. Having + once been fairly begun, The Scarlet Letter must inevitably finish itself + for good or ill, come what might to the writer of it. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: BIRTHPLACE OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AT SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS] + </p> + <p> + This is a story of people and events, not a study in literary criticism; + but the writing of The Scarlet Letter was an event of no trifling + importance in the story of its author's life. To read the book is an + experience which its readers cannot forget; what its writing must have + been to a man organized as my father was is hardly to be conveyed in + words. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth—he must live through + each one of them, feel their passion, remorse, hatred, terror, love; and + he must enter into the soul of the mysterious nature of Pearl. Such things + cannot with impunity be done by any one; the mere physical strain, all + conditions being favorable, would be almost past bearing. But my father, + though uniformly his bodily health was all his life sound, was never what + I would call a robust man; he was exquisitely balanced. At the time he + began his book he was jaded from years of office drudgery, and he was in + some anxiety as to the issue of his predicament. The house in which he + dwelt, small and ill-placed in a narrow side-street, with no possibility + of shutting out the noise of traffic and of domestic alarms, could not but + make the work tell more heavily upon him. But in addition to this there + were fortuitous occasions of emotional stress, all of which I shall not + mention; but among them were the distasteful turmoil aroused by his + political mishap; and, far more poignant, the critical illness of his + mother. Circumstances led to her being housed under his roof; there she + lingered long at death's door, and there at last she died. He profoundly + loved her; but deep-rooted, too, in both of them was that strange, New + England shyness, masking in visible ice the underlying emotion. Not since + his boyhood had their mutual affection found free, natural expression; and + now, in this final hour, that bondage of habit caused the words of + tenderness to stumble on their lips. The awful majesty of approaching + death, prompting them to "catch up the whole of love and utter it" ere it + be too late, wrought this involuntary self-repression into silent agony. + </p> + <p> + She died; his own health was shaken to its foundations; his children fell + ill, his wife underwent acute suffering; and through all this, and more, + The Scarlet Letter must be written. No wonder that, when he came to read + the story in manuscript to his wife, his voice faltered and broke; and she + slipped to her knees and hid her face on her arms in the chair. "I had + been suffering," he commentated, long afterwards, "from a great diversity + and severity of emotion." Great works of art—things with the + veritable spirit of enduring life in them—are destined to be born in + sore travail and pain. Those who give them birth yield up their own life + to them. + </p> + <p> + It was at this period—say, about 1850—that my own personal + recollections, in a shadowy and incoherent way, begin. The shadows are + exclusively of time's making; they were not of the heart. All through the + trials of my parents I retained a jocund equanimity (save for some + trifling childish ailments) and esteemed this world a friendly and + agreeable place. The Scarlet Letter dashed my spirits not a whit; I knew + not of its existence, by personal evidence, till full a dozen years later; + and even the death of my grandmother left me light of heart, for the + passing of the spirit from the body can but awaken the transient curiosity + of a child of four. For the rest, my physical environment, in itself + amusing and interesting enough to me, had its chief importance from the + material it afforded on which to construct the imaginary scenes and + characters of my play. My sister Una and myself were forever enacting + something or somebody not ourselves: childish egoism oddly decking itself + in the non-ego. We believed in fairies, in magic, in angels, in + transformations; Hans Christian Andersen, Grimm, The Black Aunt (oh, + delectable, lost volume) were our sober history-books, and Robinson Crusoe + was our autobiography. But I did occasionally take note of concrete + appearances, too; and some of them I remember. + </p> + <p> + The house—the third which we had inhabited since my father became + surveyor—was on Mall Street, and was three stories in height, with a + yard behind and at one end; this yard, which was of importance to my + sister and myself, had access to the street by a swinging gate. There were + three or four trees in it, and space for play. The house was but one room + deep, and lying as it did about north and south, the rooms were open to + both the morning and the afternoon sunshine. They opened one into the + other in a series; and when my father was safe up-stairs in his study, my + mother would open all the doors of the suite on the lower floor, and allow + the children to career triumphantly to and fro. No noise that we could + make ever troubled her nerves, unless it was the noise of conflict; the + shriek of joy, however shrill, passed by her harmless; but the lowest + mutter of wrath or discontent distressed her; for of such are the mothers + of the kingdom of heaven! And so zealous was our regard for her just and + gentle law that I really think we gave way as little as most children to + the latter. + </p> + <p> + Of course, whenever the weather permitted, we were out in the yard, or + even promenaded for short distances up and down the street. And once—"How + are you?" inquired a friend of the family, as he drove by in his wagon. + "Oh, we've got the scarlet fever!" we proudly replied, stepping out + gallantly along the sidewalk. For we were treated by a homoeopathic doctor + of the old school, who was a high-dilutionist, and mortal ills could never + get a firm grip on us. In winter we rejoiced in the snow; and my father's + story of the Snow Image got most of its local color from our gambols in + this fascinating substance, which he could observe from the window of his + study. + </p> + <p> + The study was on the third floor of the house, secluded from the turmoil + of earth, so far as anything could be in a city street. No one was + supposed to intrude upon him there; but such suppositions are ineffectual + against children. From time to time the adamantine gates fell ajar, and in + we slipped. It seemed a heavenly place, tenanted by a being possessed of + every attribute that our imaginations could ascribe to an angel. The room + and its tenant glimmer before me as I write, luminous with the sunshine of + more than fifty years ago. Both were equipped for business rather than for + beauty; furniture and garments were simple in those Salem days. A homely + old paper covered the walls, a brownish old carpet the floor. There was an + old rocking-chair, its black paint much worn and defaced; another chair + was drawn up to the table, which stood to the left of the eastern window; + and on the table was a mahogany desk, concerning which I must enter into + some particulars. It was then, and for years afterwards, an object of my + most earnest scrutiny. Such desks are not made nowadays. + </p> + <p> + When closed, it was an oblong mahogany box, two feet long by half that + width, and perhaps nine inches high. It had brass corners, and a brass + plate on the top, inscribed with the name, "N. Hawthorne." At one end was + a drawer, with a brass handle playing on a hinge and fitting into a groove + or socket when down; there was a corresponding handle at the other end, + but that was for symmetry only; the one drawer went clear through the + desk. I often mused over the ethics of this deception. + </p> + <p> + Being opened, the desk presented a sloping surface two feet square, + covered with black velvet, which had been cut here and there and pasted + down again, and was stiffened with many ink-spatterings. This writing + surface consisted of two lids, hinged at their junction in the centre; + lifting them, you discovered two receptacles to hold writing-paper and + other desk furniture. They were of about equal capacity; for although the + upper half of the desk was the more capacious, you must not forget that + two inches of it, at the bottom, was taken up by the long drawer already + mentioned. + </p> + <p> + But there was, also, a more interesting curtailment of this interior + space. Along the very top of the desk, as it lay open, was a narrow + channel, perhaps a couple of inches wide and deep, divided into three + sections; two square ones, at the opposite ends, held the ink-bottle and + the sand-bottle; the long central one was for quill pens. These, in the + aggregate, appeared to the superficial eye to account for all that + remained of the cubic contents of the structure; but the supreme mystery + and charm of the affair was that they did not! + </p> + <p> + No; there was an esoteric secret still in reserve; and for years it + remained a secret to me. The bottle-sockets and pen-tray did not reach + down to the level of the long drawer by nearly an inch. Measurement would + prove that; but you would have said that the interval must be solid wood; + for nothing but a smooth panel met the eye when you pulled aside the + sheets of writing-paper in their receptacle to investigate. But the lesson + of this world, and of the desk as a part of it, is that appearances are + not to be trusted. The guile of those old desk-makers passes belief. + </p> + <p> + I will expose it. In the pen-tray lay a sort of brass nail, as long as + your little finger, and blunt at the end. Now take the sand-bottle from + its hole. In one corner of the bottom thereof you will see a minute + aperture, just big enough to admit the seemingly useless brass nail. Stick + it in and press hard. With an abrupt noise that makes you jump, if you are + four or five years old, that smooth, unsuspected strip of panel starts + violently forward (propelled by a released spring) and reveals—what? + Nothing less than the fronts of two minute drawers. They fit in underneath + the pen-tray, and might remain undiscovered for a hundred years unless you + had the superhuman wit to divine the purpose of the brass nail. The + drawers contain diamonds, probably, or some closely folded document making + you the heir to a vast estate. As a matter of fact, I don't know what they + contained; the surprise of the drawers themselves was enough for me. I + need not add that I did not guess the riddle myself; but nothing that I + can call to mind impressed me more than when, one day, my father solved it + for me with his little brass wand. At intervals, afterwards, I was allowed + to work the miracle myself, always with the same thrill of mysterious + delight. The desk was human to me; it was alive. + </p> + <p> + There were little square covers for the ink and sand-bottles; and on the + under sides of these were painted a pair of faces; very ruddy in the + cheeks they were, with staring eyes and smiling mouths; and one of them + wore a pair of black side-whiskers. They were done by my father, with oil—colors + filched from my mother's paint-box. They seemed to me portraits of the + people who lived in the desk; evidently they enjoyed their existence + hugely. And when I considered that the desk was also somehow instrumental + in the production of stories—such as the Snow Image—of a + delectable and magical character, the importance to my mind of the whole + contrivance may be conceived. When I grew beyond child's estate, I learned + that it had also assisted at the composition of The Scarlet Letter. If + ever there were a haunted writing-desk, this should have been it; but the + ghosts have long since carried it away, whither I know not. + </p> + <p> + On the table were two ornaments; one, the finely moulded figure of an + Egyptian in bronze, the wide Egyptian head-dress falling on the shoulders, + the arms lying rigidly at the sides, with fists clinched. Generations of + handling had made it almost black, but the amiable expression of the + little countenance—the figure was about seven inches tall—greatly + endeared it to me. Its feet were pressed close together on a small round + stand; but one day somebody set it down on a hot stove, where it remained + without flinching till the feet were melted off. After some years my + mother had an ebony stump affixed to it, preserving the proportions of the + figure and setting it once more erect. He was of greater endurance and of + finer physical if not of moral development than the Tin Soldier of Hans + Christian Andersen. The other ornament, less than half the Egyptian's + size, and also made of bronze, was a warrior in mediaeval armor, whose + head lifted off, showing a sharp-pointed rod the sheath of which was the + body. Its use was to pick the wicks of the oil-lamps of that epoch, and + its name was Mr. Pickwick. When afterwards I became acquainted with the + world's Mr. Pickwick, I supposed his creator had adopted the name from our + bronze warrior; but the world's Pickwick was made of stuff more enduring + than bronze; he remains, but our little warrior has vanished. + </p> + <p> + I come now to the human occupant of this chamber of marvels. I see a tall, + strong man, whose wide-domed head was covered with wavy black hair, + bushing out at the sides. It thinned somewhat over the lofty crown and + brow; the forehead was hollowed at the temple and rounded out above, after + the Moorish style of architecture. Under heavy, dark eyebrows were eyes + deep-set and full of light, marvellous in range of expression, with black + eyelashes. All seemed well with me when I met their look. The straight, + rather salient nose had a perceptible cleft at the tip, which, I was told, + was a sign of good lineage; muddy-mettled rascals lacked it; so that I was + much distressed by the smooth, plebeian bluntness, at that time, of my own + little snub. The mouth, then unshaded by a mustache, had a slight upward + turn at the corners, indicative of vitality and good-humor; the chin + rounded out sharply convex from the lip. The round, strong column of the + neck well supported the head; my mother compared it with that of the + Apollo Belvedere, a bust of which stood in the corner of our sitting-room. + The head was deep—a great distance between the base of the ear and + the wing of the nostril—and was well filled out behind. Above the + blue of the shaven beard the complexion showed clear white and red, + announcing a strong heart and good digestion. My father shaved himself + daily; I was not permitted to see the operation, but I knew he lathered, + and wondered why. He was naturally athletic; broad-shouldered and deep in + the chest, lean about the loins, weighing never over one hundred and + eighty pounds; his height was five feet ten and three-quarter inches; his + legs and feet were slender and graceful, his gait long and springy, and he + could stand and leap as high as his shoulder. In the house he wore + slippers, which seemed always old and down-at-heel. + </p> + <p> + In the house, also, he wore a writing-gown, made for him some years before + by my mother; it reached nearly to his heels, and had been a gorgeous + affair, though now much defaced. The groundwork was purple, covered all + over with conventional palm-leaf in old-gold color; the lining was red. + This lining, under the left-hand skirt of the gown, was blackened with ink + over a space as large as your hand; for the author was in the habit of + wiping his pen thereon; but my mother finally parried this attack by + sewing in the centre of the place a penwiper in the shape of a butterfly. + </p> + <p> + While story-writing, the door of the study was locked against all the + world; but after noon he became approachable, except during The Scarlet + Letter period, when he wrote till evening. He did not mind my seeing him + write letters; he would sit with his right shoulder and head inclined + towards the desk; the quill squeaked softly over the smooth paper, with + frequent quick dips into the ink-bottle; a few words would be written + swiftly; then a pause, with suspended pen, while the next sentence was + forming in the writer's mind. When he miswrote, instead of crossing out + the word, he would smear it out with his finger, and rewrite over the + smear; so that his page had a mottled appearance. The writing was + accompanied by intermittent nods of the head, as one would say, "Sic + cogito!" So far as he is concerned, the shadows close in on me here. + </p> + <p> + But I have said that the house was of three stories, and I have accounted + for two of them only. The second was occupied by my grandmother Hawthorne + and her two daughters, Aunt Louisa and Aunt Ebe (the latter appellation + being an infantile version of her name invented by my father, who was her + junior, and used by us to distinguish between her and that other Elizabeth + who was Aunt Lizzie Peabody). Of my grandmother Hawthorne I have no + personal recollection at all; she was a Manning, a beautiful old lady, + whom her son resembled. She had been a recluse from society for forty + years; it was held to be good form, in that age and place, to observe such + Hindoo rites after the death of a husband; hers had died in his + thirty-fourth year in Surinam. But she had also insensibly fallen into the + habit of isolating herself in some degree from her own family; they were + all of them addicted to solitude of the body, though kindly enough + disposed in the abstract. When we went to live in the Mall Street house, + the old lady and her daughters uprooted themselves from their home of many + years in Herbert Street and dwelt with us; and that quaint crystallization + of their habits was in a measure broken up. But the dowager Mrs. + Hawthorne, it soon appeared, had come there to die; she was more than + seventy years old. My aunt Louisa I seem dimly to recall as a tall, + fragile, pale, amiable figure, not very effective. My aunt Ebe I + afterwards came to know well, and shall defer mention of her. So I was + encompassed by kindly petticoats, and was very happy, but might have been + better for a stout playmate of my own sex. I had a hobby-horse, which I + rode constantly to fairy-land in quest of treasure to bestow upon my + friends. I swung with Una on the gate, and looked out upon the wonder of + the passing world. The tragedy of my grandmother's death, which, as I have + said, interrupted the birth of The Scarlet Letter, passed me by unknowing, + or rather without leaving a trace upon my memory. On the other hand, I can + reconstitute vividly two absurd incidents, destitute of historical value. + After my grandmother Hawthorne's death I fell ill; but the night before + the disease declared itself, I was standing in a chair at the nursery + window, looking out at the street-lamp on the corner, and my aunt Lizzie + Peabody, who had just come on from Boston, was standing behind me, lest I + should fall off. Now, I was normally the most sweet-tempered little urchin + imaginable; yet suddenly, without the faintest warning or provocation, I + turned round and dealt my loving aunt a fierce kick in the stomach. It + deprived her of breath for a space; but her saintly nature is illustrated + by the fact that the very first use she made of her recovered faculties + was to gasp out, "Sophie, the child must be ill!" Fortunately for my + reputation, the illness was not long in arriving. The other episode must + have happened at about the same period, and is likewise concerned with + Aunt Lizzie. We had a cat, and the cat had had kittens a day or two + before. Aunt Lizzie came into the nursery, where Una and I were building + houses of blocks, and sat down in the big easy-chair. The cat was in the + room, and she immediately came up to my aunt and began to mew and to pluck + at her dress with her claws. Such attentions were rare on pussy's part, + and my aunt noticed them with pleasure, and caressed the animal, which + still continued to devote its entire attention to her. But there was + something odd in the sound of her mewing and in the intent regard of her + yellow eyes. "Can anything be the matter with pussy?" speculated my aunt. + At that moment my father entered the room, and my aunt rose to greet him. + Then the massacre was revealed, for she had been sitting upon the kittens. + Their poor mother pounced upon them with a yowl, but it was too late. My + dear aunt was rather a heavy woman, and she had been sitting there fifteen + minutes. We all stood appalled in the presence of the great mystery. + </p> + <p> + One day a big man, with a brown beard and shining brown eyes, who bubbled + over with enthusiasm and fun, made his appearance and talked volubly about + something, and went away again, and my father and mother smiled at each + other. The Scarlet Letter had been written, and James T. Fields had read + it, and declared it the greatest book of the age. So that was the last of + Salem. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Horatio Bridge's "I-told-you-so"—What a house by the sea + might have done—Unknown Lenox—The restlessness of youth— + The Unpardonable Sin and the Deathless Man—The little red + house—Materials of culture—Our best playmates—The mystery + of Mrs. Peter's dough—Our intellectual hen—Fishing for + poultry—Yacht-building—Swimming with one foot on the + ground—Shipwreck—Our playfellow the brook—Tanglewood— + Nuts—Giants and enchanters—Coasting—Wet noses, dark eyes, + ambrosial breath—My first horseback ride—Herman Melville's + stories—Another kind of James—The thunder-storm—Yearning + ladies and melancholy sinners—Hindlegs—Probable murder—"I + abominate the sight of it!"—The peril of Tanglewood—The + truth of fiction—An eighteen-months' work—We leave five + cats behind. +</pre> + <p> + Horatio Bridge, my father's college friend, was a purser in the navy and + lived in Augusta, Maine, his official residence being at Portsmouth. He + had kept in closer touch with the romancer than any of his other friends + had since their graduating days, and he had been from the first a believer + in his coming literary renown. So, when The Scarlet Letter shone eminent + in the firmament of book-land, it was his triumphant "I-told-you-so" that + was among the earliest to be heard. And when my father cast about for a + more congenial place than Salem to live in, it was to Bridge that he + applied for suggestions. He stipulated that the place should be somewhere + along the New England sea-coast. + </p> + <p> + Had this wish of his been fulfilled it might have made great differences. + Hawthorne had always dwelt within sight and sound of the Atlantic, on + which his forefathers had sailed so often between the Indies and Salem + port, and Atlantic breezes were necessary to his complete well-being. At + this juncture physical health had for the first time become an object to + him; he was run down by a year of suffering and hard work, and needed + nature's kindest offices. A suitable house of his own by the sea-side + would probably have brought him up to his best physical condition to begin + with, and kept him so; and it would so have endeared itself to him that + when, two or three years later, Pierce had offered him a foreign + appointment he might have been moved to decline it, and have gone on + writing American romances to the end—to the advantage of American + letters. Concord had its own attractions; but it never held him as the sea + would have done, nor nourished his health, nor stimulated his genius. A + house of his own beside the Atlantic might well have added twenty years to + his life. + </p> + <p> + But it was not upon the knees of the gods. + </p> + <p> + Bridge's zealous efforts failed to find a place available, and after an + uneasy interval, during which his friend wandered uncomfortably about + Boston and the neighborhood (incidentally noting down some side-scenes + afterwards to be incorporated in The Blithedale Romance), a cottage in the + Berkshire Hills was spoken of, and upon examination seemed practicable. + Lenox, at that time, was as little known as Mount Desert; it was not until + long afterwards that fashion found them out and made them uninhabitable to + any but fashionable folks. Moreover, my father had seen something of Lenox + a dozen years before. + </p> + <p> + A dozen years before he was not yet betrothed to Sophia Peabody; he + already loved her and she him; but her health seemed an insuperable + barrier between them. This and certain other matters were weighing heavily + upon his soul, and his future seemed dark and uncertain. He thought of + taking a voyage round the world; he thought of getting into politics; he + even thought—as young men full of life sometimes will—of + death. What he finally did, with native good sense, was to make a + two-months' trip in the mountainous region to the westward, to change the + scene and his state of mind, and to get what artists call a fresh eye. He + chose North Adams as his headquarters, and forayed thence in various + directions over a radius of twenty miles. He was then beginning to revolve + one of the two great romance themes that preoccupied his whole after-life, + neither of which was he destined to write. This was the idea of the + Unpardonable Sin; the other was the conception of the Deathless Man. The + only essay we have towards the embodiment of the first vision is the short + fragment published in Mosses from an Old Manse, called "Ethan Brand." The + other was attempted in various forms, of which Septimius, Dr. Grimshawe's + Secret, and The Dolliver Romance, all posthumously published, are the most + important. + </p> + <p> + But Stockbridge, Pittsfield, and Lenox had been included among his haunts + during the break-away above mentioned, and he remembered that the scenery + was beautiful, the situation remote, and the air noble. Next to the sea it + seemed an ideal place to recuperate and write in. Thither, at all events, + he resolved to go, and early in the summer of 1850 we arrived at the + little red house above the shores of Stockbridge Bowl, with bag and + baggage. Little though the house was, the bag and baggage were none too + much to find easy accommodation in it. + </p> + <p> + A fair-sized city drawing-room of these sumptuous contemporary days could + stow away in a corner the entire structure which then became our + habitation, and retain space enough outside it for the exploitation of + social functions. Nevertheless, by the simple expedient of making the + interior divisions small enough, this liliputian edifice managed to + contain eight rooms on its two floors (including the kitchen). One of the + rooms was, in fact, the entrance-hall; you stepped into it across the + threshold of the outer door, and the staircase ascended from it. It was + used as an extension of the drawing-room, which opened out of it. The + drawing-room adjoined the dining-room, with windows facing the west, with + a view of the mountains across the lake, and the dining-room communicated + with the kitchen. One of the western-looking up-stairs rooms served as my + father's study; my sister Una had her chamber, I mine (which was employed + as the guest-chamber upon occasion), and our parents the other. What more + could be asked? for when Rose was born, her crib stood beside her mother's + bedstead. + </p> + <p> + When we were not asleep—that is, during twelve hours out of the + twenty-four—Una's existence and mine were passed mainly in the outer + sitting-room and in the dining-room. There was plenty to entertain us. I + had my rocking-horse, which I bestrode with perfect fearlessness; my + porcelain lion, which still survives unscathed after the cataclysms of + half a century; my toy sloop, made for me by Uncle Nat; and a jack-knife, + all but the edge and point, which had been removed out of deference to my + youth. Una had a doll, a miniature mahogany centre-table and bureau, and + other things in which I felt no interest. In common, we possessed the box + of wooden bricks, and the big portfolio containing tracings by my mother, + exquisitely done, of Flaxman's "Outlines of the Iliad and Odyssey" and + other classic subjects. We knew by heart the story of all these + mythological personages, and they formed a large part of our life. They + also served the important use of suggesting to my father his Wonder-Book + and Tanglewood Tales stories, and, together with the figures of Gothic + fairy-lore, they were the only playmates, with the exception of our father + and mother, that we had or desired. + </p> + <p> + But our father and mother were, of course, the main thing, after all. She + was with us all day long; he, from the time he stopped writing, early in + the afternoon, till our bed-time. They answered all our questions about + things animate and inanimate, physical and metaphysical; and that must + have taken time, for our curiosity was magnificent; and "The Old Boy," my + father records, "asked me today what were sensible questions—I + suppose with a view to asking me some." They superintended our projections + of creation on the black-board—a great, old-fashioned black-board, + the like of which I have not since beheld; they read to us and told us + stories. Many of these stories were of incidents of their own child-life; + and there was also the narrative of our mother's voyage to Cuba and back, + and residence there when she was about eighteen or twenty—a + fascinating chronicle. Meal-times were delectable festivals, not only + because the bread-and-milk, the boiled rice and tapioca pudding, and eggs + and fruit tasted so good, but by reason of the broad outlook out of window + over the field, the wood, the lake, and the mountains; supper-time, with + the declining sun pouring light into the little room and making the + landscape glorious, was especially exhilarating. Ambrosial was the bread + baked by Mrs. Peters, the taciturn and serious religious person of color + who attended to our cooking; the prize morsels were the ends, golden brown + in hue, crunching so crisply between our teeth. I used to wonder how a + being with hands so dark as those of Mrs. Peters managed to turn out dough + so immaculate. She would plunge them right into the ivory-hued substance, + yet it became only whiter than before. But the life of life was, of + course, out-doors. There was a barn containing a hay-mow and a large + hen-coop, soon populous with hens and chickens, with an heroic snow-white + rooster to keep them in order. Hens are the most audacious and presuming + of pets, and they have strong individuality. + </p> + <p> + One of our brood was more intellectual and enterprising than the others; + she found a way of getting out of the coop, no matter how tightly it was + shut up; and she would jump in our laps as we sat eating a piece of bread + in the barn doorway and snatch it away from us; but I think we sometimes + sat there with the bread on purpose to have her do it. Once or twice—until + I was detected and stopped—I enjoyed the poignant delight of fishing + for hens out of the barn loft; my tackle consisted of a bent pin at the + end of a string tied to a stick. It was baited with a grain of corn, or a + bit of rag would do as well, for hens have no hereditary suspicion of + anglers, and are much more readily entrapped than fishes. Pulling them up, + squawking and fluttering, was thrilling, but, of course, it was wrong, + like other thrilling things, and had to be foregone. A less unregenerate + experiment was fastening two grains of corn to the ends of a long bit of + thread; two hens would seize each a grain and begin swallowing thread + until they interfered, with each other, when a disgorgement would take + place. It was an economical sport—the one bit of thread and the two + corn-grains would last all day—and, in view of the joy afforded to + the spectators, did not seem too unkind. My father had mechanical talent, + and with an old door-knob and some strips of shingle he would make a + figure of a man with a saw; you fixed it to the edge of a table, set the + door-knob swinging, and the creature would saw with the most absurd + diligence. From the same shingle he would construct a pugilist, who, being + set up where the wind played upon him, would swing his arms interminably. + It was yacht-building, however, that afforded us most entertainment. A + shingle was whittled to a point at one end; a stick with a square paper + slipped on it was stuck up in the middle, and a rudder made fast to the + stern; such a boat would sail boldly out upon the vastness of the lake, + till the eye could no longer follow the diminishing white speck. These + days beside the lake were full of good things. The water was clear, with a + white sand bottom; we were given swimming-lessons in the hot summer + weather; having waded in up to our middles, we faced towards the shore, + where sat our father with a long fishing-pole, the end of which he kept + within our reach, and bade us lean forward on the water and kick up our + feet. But, for my part, I kept one foot on the bottom. It was not till + years afterwards that I mustered courage to take it off, and that was in a + lake three thousand miles from Stockbridge Bowl, with the towers of the + castle of Chillon reflected in its calm surface. + </p> + <p> + We also made limited use of a leaky old punt, which one day capsized and + emptied its whole crew into the water, luckily close to shore. We fished + for gold carp for hours together, and during our two summers we caught a + couple of them; there were thousands of them swimming about; but a bent + pin with the bait washed off is not a good lure. In winter, the lake had + five feet of ice on it, which lasted far into the spring, and once or + twice we got aboard this great raft and tracked across it, with as much + awe and enthusiasm as ever Kane had felt in his arctic explorations. In + all, we became intimate friends with the lake idea, new to us then, but + never to grow stale; and our good fortune favored us during after-life + with many lovely lakes and ponds, including such gems as Rydal, Walden, + and Geneva. + </p> + <p> + Water, in another enchanting guise, dashed and gurgled for us in the brook + that penetrated like a happy dream the slumber of the forest that bordered + on the lake. The wooded declivity through which it went was just enough to + keep it ever vocal and animated. Gazing down upon it, it was clear brown, + with glancing gleams of interior green, and sparkles diamond white; tiny + fishes switched themselves against the current with quivering tails; the + shaggy margins were flecked with sunshine, and beautiful with columbines, + violets, arbutus, and houstonias. Fragments of rock and large pebbles + interrupted its flow and deepened its mellow song; above it brooded the + twilight of the tall pines and walnuts, responding to its merriment with + solemn murmurings. What playfellow is more inexhaustible than such a + brook, so full of life, of motion, of sound and color, of variety and + constancy. A child welcomes it as an answer to its own soul, with its + mystery and transparency, its bounded lawlessness, its love of earth and + its echoes of the sky. In winter our brook had a new charm: it ran beneath + a roof of ice, often mounded with snow; its voice sounding cheerful as + ever in those inscrutable caverns, as if it discoursed secret wonders of + fairy-land, and carried treasures of the elves and gnomes. Zero, with his + utmost rigors, could not still its speech for a day or fix his grip upon + those elastic limbs. Indeed, the frosty god conspired with it for our + delight; building crystal bridges, with tracery of lace delicater than + Valenciennes, and spangled string-pieces, and fretted vaultings, whimsical + sierras, stalactite and stalagmite. An icicle is one of those careless + toys of nature which the decorative art of man imitates in vain. They are + among the myriad decorations of children's palaces. + </p> + <p> + To Tanglewood, as we called it, at all seasons of the year, came Hawthorne + and his wife and children. In spring there was the issuing forth of the + new life from beneath the winter coverlid; the first discovery of sociable + houstonias, and the exquisite tints and fragrance of the mayflower on its + dark, bearded stalk. When June became perfect, and afterwards till nuts + were ripe, my father loved to lie at full length upon the mossy and + leaf-strewn floor, looking up at the green roof, the lofty + whispering-gallery of vaulted boughs, with its azure lattices and + descending sunlight-shafts; wrapped in imaginings some of which were + afterwards to delight the world; but many more of them, no doubt, were + fated to join the glorious company of untold tales. Beside him sat our + mother, on a throne which we had fashioned for her from the upright stump + of a tree; round about them played the little girl and boy. They brought + all the treasures which this wonderfully affluent world afforded: flowers + in all seasons; strawberries, small but of potent flavor, which the little + boy would gather with earnest diligence, and fetch to the persons he + loved, mashed into premature jam in his small fist; exciting turtles with + variegated carapaces, and heads and feet that went in and out; occasional + newts from the plashy places; and in autumn, hatfuls of walnuts. There + were chestnuts, too, upon whose prickly hulls the preoccupied children + would sometimes inadvertently plump themselves. Our father was a great + tree-climber, and he was also fond of playing the role of magician. "Hide + your eyes!" he would say, and the next moment, from being there beside us + on the moss, we would hear his voice descending from the sky, and behold! + he swung among the topmost branches, showering down upon us a hail-storm + of nuts. There was a big cavern behind the kitchen chimney, which + gradually became filled with these harvests, and on winter evenings they + were brought forth and cracked with a hammer on the hearth-stone. + </p> + <p> + The wide field, or croft, which sloped from the house to the wood was + thickly grown with mullein-stalks, against which I waged war with an upper + section of one of my father's old broken canes, for I took them for + giants, and stubborn, evil-minded enchanters. I slew them by scores; but I + could make no way against the grasshoppers, which jumped against my bare + legs and pricked them. There were wasps, too; one of them stung Una on the + lower lip as she was climbing over a rail-fence. Her lip at once assumed a + Bourbon contour, and I reached the conclusion, by some tacit syllogism of + infancy, that the rail-fence was at least half to blame for the + catastrophe, and always carefully avoided it. I likewise avoided the + wasps; a certain trick they have of giving a hitch to their after-parts as + they walk along always struck me as being obviously diabolical. + </p> + <p> + When the snows came, two and three feet deep, we got out the family sled + from its summer lodging in the barn and went forth, muffled in + interminable knit tippets and other woollen armor, to coast down the long + slope. Our father sat in front with the reins in his hands and his feet + thrust out to steer, and away we went clinging fast behind him. Sometimes + we swept triumphantly to the bottom; at other times we would collide with + some hidden obstacle, and describe each a separate trajectory into the + snow-banks. We made enormous snow-balls by beginning with a small one and + rolling it over and over in the soft snow till it waxed too vast for our + strength; two or three of these piled one on another would be sculptured + by the author of The Scarlet Letter into a snow-man, who would stand + stanch for weeks. Snow-storms in Lenox began early and lasted till far + into April. The little red house had all it could do, sometimes, to lift + its upper windows above them. In the front yard there was a symmetrical + balsam fir-tree, tapering like a Chinese pagoda. One winter morning we + found upon one of its lower boughs a little brown sparrow frozen stiff. We + put it in a card-board coffin, and dug out a grave for it beneath the fir, + with a shingle head-stone. The funeral ceremonies had for the two mourners + a solemnity such as is not always felt at such functions in later life. + </p> + <p> + Of the regular daily routine was the journey to Luther Butler's, quarter + of a mile up the road, for milk and butter. I generally accompanied my + father, and saw placid Luther's cows, placid as himself, with their broad, + wet noses, amiable dark eyes, questionable horns, and ambrosial breath. + Mr. Tappan, our landlord, had horses, and once he mounted me on the bare + back of one of the largest of these quadrupeds, which, to the stupefaction + of everybody, instantly set off at full gallop. Down the road we + thundered, the rider, with his legs sticking out at right angles, + screaming with joy, for this transcended any rocking-horse experiences. A + hundred yards away there was a bend in the road. Just at that point there + was a manure-pile, which had long bided its time. I had hold of a strand + of the horse's mane; but when he swerved at the bend I had to let go, and + after a short flight in air, the manure-pile received me in its soft + embrace. Looking up the road, I saw Mr. Tappan, with dilated eyes and a + countenance expressing keen emotion, coming towards me at a wonderful + pace, and my father and mother following him at a short distance. I did + not myself mind the smell of manure, and the others were glad to put up + with it in consideration of my having escaped broken bones. + </p> + <p> + We did not keep a dog, but Herman Melville, who often came over from + Pittsfield, had a large Newfoundland which he sometimes brought with, him, + and Mr. G. P. R. James, a novelist of the Walter Scott school, had + another, and I was permitted to bestride both of them; they were safe + enough, but they would turn back their heads and lay their cold noses on + my leg; I preferred the now-forbidden horse. But Melville himself made up + for everything by the tremendous stories he used to tell about the South + Sea Islands and the whale fishery. Normally he was not a man of noticeable + appearance; but when the narrative inspiration was on him, he looked like + all the things he was describing—savages, sea-captains, the lovely + Fayaway in her canoe, or the terrible Moby Dick himself. There was vivid + genius in this man, and he was the strangest being that ever came into our + circle. Through all his wild and reckless adventures, of which a small + part only got into his fascinating books, he had been unable to rid + himself of a Puritan conscience; he afterwards tried to loosen its grip by + studying German metaphysics, but in vain. He was restless and disposed to + dark hours, and there is reason to suspect that there was in him a vein of + insanity. His later writings were incomprehensible. When we were living in + England, he passed through the midst of us on one of his aimless, + mysterious journeys round the world; and when I was in New York, in 1884, + I met him, looking pale, sombre, nervous, but little touched by age. He + died a few years later. He conceived the highest admiration for my + father's genius, and a deep affection for him personally; but he told me, + during our talk, that he was convinced that there was some secret in my + father's life which had never been revealed, and which accounted for the + gloomy passages in his books. It was characteristic in him to imagine so; + there were many secrets untold in his own career. But there were few + honester or more lovable men than Herman Melville. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: HERMAN MELVILLE] + </p> + <p> + James (no relation of our distinguished contemporary) was a commonplace, + meritorious person, with much blameless and intelligent conversation; but + the only thing that recalls him personally to my memory is the fact of his + being associated with a furious thunder-storm. My father and I were alone + in the house at the time; my mother had gone to West Newton on a three + weeks' visit. In the midst of the thunder and lightning, the downpour and + the hurricane, the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds, our door burst + open, and behold! of all persons in the world to be heralded by such + circumstances, G. P. R. James! Not he only, but close upon his heels his + entire family, numerous, orthodox, admirable, and infinitely undesirable + to two secluded gentlemen without a wife and mother to help them out. But + it was a choice between murder and hospitality, and come in they must. + Never before or after did our liliputian drawing-room harbor so large an + assemblage. They dripped on the carpet, they were conventional and + courteous; we made conversation between us; but whenever the thunder + rolled, Mrs. James became ghastly pale. Mr. James explained that this was + his birthday, and that they were on a pleasure excursion. He conciliated + me by anecdotes of a pet magpie or raven who stole spoons. At last, the + thunder-storm and the G. P. R. Jameses passed off together. + </p> + <p> + There were many other visitors, not only old friends, but persons + attracted thither out of the void by the fame of the book "along whose + burning leaves," as Oliver Wendell Holmes sang of it, "his scarlet web our + wild romancer weaves." It was a novel experience for the man who had + become accustomed to regarding himself as the obscurest man of letters in + America. Lonely, yearning ladies came; enthusiastic young men; melancholy + sinners. The little red house was not a literary Mecca only, but a moral + one. The dark-browed, kindly smiling author received them all courteously; + he was invariably courteous. "I would not have a drunken man politer than + I," he once answered me, when I asked him why he had returned the + salutation of a toper. What counsel he gave to those who came to him as to + a father confessor of course I know not; but later, when I used to sit in + his office in the Liverpool consulate, I sometimes heard him speak plain + truths to the waifs and strays who drifted in there; and truth more plain, + yet bestowed with more humanity and brotherly purpose, I have never heard + since. It made them tremble, but it did them good. Such things made him + suffer, but he never flinched from the occasion by a hair's-breadth. He + must have loved his fellow-creatures. + </p> + <p> + Somebody gave me a rabbit, which I named Hind-legs. I was deeply + interested in him for a while, especially when I learned that he could not + drink water; but he lasted only two weeks, and I am under the impression + that I killed him. Not that I loved him less; but children are prone to + experiment with this singular thing called life when it is in their power. + They do not believe that death can be other than a transient phenomenon; + the lifeless body may puzzle, but it does not convince them. I was + certainly not a cruel urchin, and I can recall none but cordial sentiments + towards Hindlegs on my part. I remember no details of the murder, if + murder were done; but I do remember feeling no surprise when, one morning, + Hindlegs was found dead. After so many years, I will not bring against the + owner of Hindlegs a verdict of positive guilt; but I suspect him. + Hindlegs, at all events, achieved an immortality which can belong to few + of his brethren; for my father, after pooh-poohing the imbecile little + bundle of fur for a day or two, conceived an involuntary affection for + him, and reported his character and habits in his journal in a manner + which is likely to keep his memory alive long after the hand that + (perhaps) slew him is dust. + </p> + <p> + In default of dogs and Hindlegs, we had abundant cats. My father was + always fond of these mysterious deities of ancient Egypt, and they were + never turned away from our doors; but how so many of them happened to find + us out in this remote region I cannot explain. It seems as if goodwill + towards cats spontaneously generated them. They appeared, one after + another, to the number of five; but when the time came for us to leave the + red house forever, the cats would not and could not be packed up, and they + were left behind. In my mind's eye I still see them, squatting abreast, + silhouetted against the sky, on the brow of the hill as we drove down the + road; for they had scampered after our carry-all when we drove away. Cats + teach Americans what they are slow to learn—the sanctity and + permanence of home. + </p> + <p> + But Lenox could not be a home for us. It was, indeed, a paradise for the + children; but the children's father was never well there. He had a + succession of colds—as those affections are called; it was ascribed + to the variations of temperature during the summers; but the temperature + would not have troubled him had he not been hard hit before he went to + Berkshire. He got out of patience with the climate, and was wont to + anathematize it with humorous extravagance, as his way was: "It is + horrible. One knows not for ten minutes together whether he is too cool or + too warm. I detest it! I hate Berkshire with my whole soul. Here, where I + had hoped for perfect health, I have for the first time been made sensible + that I cannot with impunity encounter nature in all her moods." It was the + summers that disagreed with him. "Upon the whole," he said, "I think that + the best time for living in the country is the winter." It was during the + winter that he did most of his writing. The House of the Seven Gables was + written between September of 1850 and January or February of 1851. + </p> + <p> + But composition took more out of him than formerly. He admitted to his + sister Louisa that he was "a little worn down with constant work," and + added that he could not afford any idle time now, being evidently of the + opinion that his popularity would be short-lived, and that it behooved + him, therefore, to make the most of it. But "the pen is so constantly in + my fingers that I abominate the sight of it!" he exclaimed. This was after + he had transgressed his custom of never writing in the hot months. He + began in June and finished in forty days the whole volume of The + Wonder-Book. He also read the tales to his domestic audience as fast as + they were written, and benefited, perhaps, by the expert criticism of the + small people. Many passages in the intercalated chapters, describing the + adventures of Eustace Bright and the Tangle-wood children, are based on + facts well known to his own two youngsters. And when Eustace tells his + hearers that if the dark-haired man dwelling in the cottage yonder were + simply to put some sheets of writing-paper in the fire, all of them and + Tangle-wood itself would turn into cinders and vanish in smoke up the + chimney—even the present chronicler saw the point; though, at the + same time, he somehow could not help believing in the reality of Primrose, + Buttercup, Dandelion, Squash-blossom, and the rest. Thus early did he + begin to grasp the philosophy of the truth of fiction. + </p> + <p> + The House of the Seven Gables and The Wonder-Book were a fair + eighteen-months' work, and in addition to them Hawthorne had, before + leaving Lenox, planned out the story of The Blithedale Romance; so that + after we got to West Newton—our half-way station on the road to + Concord—he was prepared to sit down and write it. Long before we + left Concord for England he had published Tangle-wood Tales, not to + mention the biography of Franklin Pierce. Una and her brother knew nothing + about the romances; they knew and approved the fairy tales; but their + feeling about all their father's writings was, that he was being wasted in + his study, when he might be with them, and there could be nothing in any + books, whether his own or other authors', that could for a moment bear + comparison with his actual companionship. What he set down upon the page + was but a less free and rich version of the things that came from his + living mouth in our heedless playtimes. "If only papa wouldn't write, how + nice it would be!" And, indeed, a book is but a poor substitute for the + mind and heart of a man, and it exists only as one of the numberless sorry + makeshifts to which time constrains us, while we are waiting for eternity + and full communion. + </p> + <p> + It was a dreary day in the beginning of the second winter that we set out + on our eastward journey; but Hawthorne's face was brighter than the + weather warranted, for it was turned once more towards the sea. We were + destined, ere we turned back, to go much farther towards the rising sun + than any of us then suspected. We took with us one who had not been + present at our coming—a little auburn-haired baby, born in May. + Which are the happiest years of a man's life? Those in which he is too + much occupied with present felicity to look either forward or backward—to + hope or to remember. There are no such years; but such moments there may + be, and perhaps there were as many such moments awaiting Hawthorne as had + already passed. + </p> + <p> + His greatest work was done before he left his native land, and within a + year or two of his death he wrote to Richard Stoddard: "I have been a + happy man, and yet I cannot remember any moment of such happy conspiring + circumstances that I would have rung a joy-bell at it." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Chariots of delight—West Newton—Raw American life—Baby's + fingers—Our cousin Benjamin's untoward head—Our uncle + Horace—His vacuum—A reformer's bristles—Grace Greenwood's + first tears—The heralding of Kossuth—The decorated engine— + The chief incident of the reception—Blithedale and Brook + Farm—Notes from real life—Rough draughts—Paths of + composition—The struggle with the Pensioner—Hawthorne's + method—The invitation of Concord—Four wooden walls and a + roof—Mr. Alcott's aesthetic carpentering—Appurtenances of + "The Wayside"—Franklin Pierce for President"—The most + homeless people in the world." +</pre> + <p> + The sky that overhung Hawthorne's departure from Lenox was gray with + impending snow, and the flakes had begun to fall ere the vehicle in which + his family was ensconced had reached the railway station in Pittsfield. + Travel had few amenities in those days. The cars were all plain cars, with + nothing to recommend them except that they went tolerably fast—from + twenty to thirty miles an hour. They were chariots of delight to the + children, who were especially happy in occupying the last car of the + train, from the rear windows of which they could look down upon the + tracks, which seemed to slide miraculously away from beneath them. The + conductor collected the tickets—a mysterious rite. The gradually + whitening landscape fled past, becoming ever more level as we proceeded; + by-and-by there was a welcome unpacking of the luncheon-basket, and all + the while there were the endless questions to be asked and faithfully + answered. It was already dark by the time we were bundled out at the grimy + shed which was called the depot, at West Newton, where we were met by the + Horace Manns, and somehow the transit to the latter's house, which we were + to occupy for the winter, was made. The scene was gloomy and unpleasant; + the change from the mountains of the west depressing; and, for my part, I + cannot remember anything agreeable in this raw little suburb. American + life half a century ago had a great deal of rawness about it, and its + external aspect was ugly beyond present belief. We may be a less virtuous + nation now than we were then, but we are indescribably more good to look + at. And the West Newton of to-day, as compared with that of 1851, will + serve for an illustration of this truth. + </p> + <p> + Horace Mann's house was a small frame dwelling, painted white, with green + blinds, and furnished with a furnace stiflingly hot. One of the first + things the baby did was to crawl under the sofa in the sitting-room and + lay her small fingers against the radiator or register, or whatever it is + called, through which the heat came. She withdrew them with a bitter + outcry, and on the tip of each was a blister as big as the tip itself. We + had no glorious out-door playground in West Newton; it was a matter of + back yards and sullen streets. The snow kept piling up, week after week; + but there was no opportunity to put it to its proper use of coasting. The + only redeeming feature of the physical situation that I recall is the + momentous fact of a first pair of red-topped boots. They were very + uncomfortable, and always either wet or stiff as iron from over-dryness; + but they made their wearer as happy as they have made all other boys since + boots began. A boy of six with high boots is bigger than most men. + </p> + <p> + But if the outward life was on the whole unprepossessing, inward + succulence was not lacking. We had the Manns, to begin with, and the first + real acquaintance between the two sets of children opened here. Mary + Peabody, my mother's elder sister, had married Horace Mann, whose name is + honorably identified with the development in this country of common-school + education. They had three children, of about our age, all boys. A statue + in bronze of Horace Mann stands in front of the State-house in Boston, and + the memory of the strenuous reformer well merits the distinction. He took + things seriously and rather grimly, and was always emphatically in + earnest. He was a friend of George Combe, the phrenologist, after whom his + second boy was named; and he was himself so ardent a believer in the new + science that when his younger son, Benjamin, was submitted to him for + criticism at a very early age he declared, after a strict phrenological + examination, that he was not worth bringing up. But children's heads + sometimes undergo strange transformations as they grow up, and Benjamin + lived to refute abundantly his father's too hasty conclusion in his case. + He became eminent as an entomologist; George followed the example of his + father on educational lines. Horace, who died comparatively early, was an + enthusiastic naturalist, who received the unstinted praise and confidence + of the great Agassiz. My uncle Horace, as I remember him, was a very tall + man, of somewhat meagre build, a chronic sufferer from headaches and + dyspepsia. His hair was sandy, straight, rather long, and very thick; it + hung down uncompromisingly round his head. His face was a long square, + with a mouth and chin large and immitigably firm. His eyes were reinforced + by a glistening pair of gold-bowed spectacles. He always wore a + long-skirted black coat. His aspect was a little intimidating to small + people; but there were lovely qualities in his nature, his character was + touchingly noble and generous, and the world knows the worth of his + intellect. He was anxious, exacting, and dogmatic, and was not always able + to concede that persons who differed from him in opinion could be morally + normal. This was especially noticeable when the topic of abolition + happened to come up for discussion; Horace Mann was ready to out-Garrison + Garrison; he thought Uncle Tom's Cabin a somewhat milk-and-water tract. He + was convinced that Tophet was the future home of all slave-holders, and + really too good for them, and he practically worshipped the negro. Had he + occupied a seat in Congress at that juncture, it is likely that the civil + war might have been started a decade sooner than it was. My father and + mother were much more moderate in their view of the situation, and my + mother used to say that if slavery was really so evil and demoralizing a + thing as the abolitionists asserted, it was singular that they should + canonize all the subjects of the institution. But, as a rule, all + controversy with the indignant zeal of our relative was avoided; in his + eyes any approach to a philosophical attitude on the burning question was + a crime. Nor were his convictions less pronounced on the subject of total + abstinence from liquor and tobacco. Now, my father smoked an occasional + cigar, and it once came about that he was led to mention the fact in + Horace Mann's hearing. The reformer's bristles were set in a moment. "Do I + understand you to say, Mr. Hawthorne, that you actually use tobacco?" + "Yes, I smoke a cigar once in a while," replied my father, comfortably. + Horace Mann could not keep his seat; he started up and paced the room + menacingly. He had a high admiration for my father's genius, and a deep + affection for him as a man, and this infidelity to the true faith seemed + to him the more appalling. But he would be true to his colors at all + costs, and after a few moments he planted himself, tall and tragic, before + his interlocutor, and spoke, in a husky voice, to this effect: "Then, Mr. + Hawthorne, it is my duty to tell you that I no longer have the same + respect for you that I have had." Then he turned and strode from the room, + leaving the excommunicated one to his reflections. Faithful are the wounds + of a friend, and my father was as much touched as he was amused by this + example of my uncle's candor. Of course, there was a great vacuum in the + place where my uncle's sense of humor might have been; but there are a + time and place for such men as he, and more than once the men without + sense of humor have moved the world. + </p> + <p> + In addition to the Manns, there were visitors—the succession of + whom, indeed, was henceforth to continue till the end of my father's + earthly pilgrimage. Among the earliest to arrive was Grace Greenwood, + wading energetically to our door through the December snow. She was one of + the first, if not the first, of the tribe of women correspondents; she had + lately returned, I think, from England, and the volume of her letters from + that strange country was in everybody's hands. She was then a young woman, + large and handsome, with dark hair and complexion, and large, expressive + eyes, harmonious, aquiline features, and a picturesque appearance. She + wore her hair in abundant curls; she exhaled an atmosphere of romance, of + graceful and ardent emotions, and of almost overpowering sentiment. In + fact, she had a genuine gift for expression and description, and she made + an impression in contemporary letters. We might smile now—and, in + truth, we sometimes did then—over some of her pages; but much of her + work would still be called good, if resuscitated from the dusty + book-shelves of the past. I remember one passage in her English Letters + which was often quoted in our family circle as a typical illustration of + the intensity of the period: "The first tears," wrote Grace, "that I had + shed since leaving my dear native land fell fast into the red heart of an + English rose!" Nothing could be better than that; but the volume was full + of similar felicities. You were swimming in radiant tides of enthusiastic + appreciation, quotations from the poets and poetical rhapsodies; incidents + of travel, humorous, pathetic, and graphic; swirling eddies of + word-painting, of moral and ethical and historical reflection; withal, an + immense, amiable, innocent, sprawling temperament. And as was her book, so + was Grace herself; indeed, if any one could outdo the book in personal + conversation, Grace was that happy individual. What she accomplished when + she embarked, full-sailed, upon the topic of The Scarlet Letter and The + House of the Seven Gables may be pictured to themselves by persons endowed + with the rudiments of imagination; I must not attempt to adorn this sober + page with an attempted reproduction of the scene. Mortal language reeled + and cracked under the strain of giving form to her admiration; but it was + so honest and well meant that it could not but give pleasure even in the + midst of bewilderment. My father bowed his head with a painful smile; but + I dare say it did him good when the ordeal was over. + </p> + <p> + At this time the reverberations of the European revolutionary year, 1848, + were still breaking upon our shores. President Polk had given mortal + offence to Austria by sending over a special commissioner to determine + whether the seceding state of Hungary might be recognized as a + belligerent. In 1850 the Austrian representative, Baron Huelsmann, had + entered upon a correspondence with our own Daniel Webster. The baron + remonstrated, and Daniel mounted upon the national bird and soared in the + patriotic empyrean. The eloquence of the Secretary of State perhaps + aroused unwarranted expectations in the breasts of the struggling + revolutionists, and the Hungarian man of eloquence set out for the United + States to take the occasion by the forelock. Not since the visit of + Lafayette had any foreigner been received here with such testimonials of + public enthusiasm, or listened to by such applausive audiences: certainly + none had ever been sent home again with less wool to show for so much cry. + In 1851, the name of Kossuth was the most popular in the country, and when + it was learned that he had accepted an invitation to speak in our little + West Newton, we felt as if we were almost embarked upon a campaign—upon + an altruistic campaign of emancipation against the Hapsburg oppressor. The + excitement was not confined to persons of mature age and understanding; it + raged among the smaller fry, and every boy was a champion of Kossuth. The + train conveying the hero from New York to Boston (whence he was to return + to West Newton after the reception there) was timed to pass through our + midst at three o 'clock in the afternoon, and our entire population was at + the track-side to see it go by. After one or two false alarms it came in + sight round the curve, the smokestack of the engine swathed in voluminous + folds of Old Glory. The smoke-stacks of those days were not like our + scientific present-day ones; they were huge, inverted cones, affording + ample surface for decoration. The train did not stop at our station; but + Kossuth no doubt looked out of the window as he flew past and bowed his + acknowledgments of our cheers. He was to return to us the next day, and, + meanwhile, the town-hall, or the church, or whatever building it was that + was to be the scene of his West Newton triumph was put in order for his + reception. The person who writes these words, whose ears had eagerly + devoured the story of the Hungarian revolt, wished to give the august + visitor some personal assurance of his distinguished consideration, and it + was finally agreed by his indulgent parents that he should print upon a + card the legend, "GOD BLESS YOU, KOSSUTH," and be afforded an opportunity + personally to present it to the guest of the nation. Many cards had been + used and cast aside before the scribe, his fingers tremulous with emotion, + had produced something which the Hungarian might be reasonably expected to + find legible. Then, supported by his father and mother, and with his + uncles, aunts, and cousins doubtless not far off, he proceeded proudly but + falteringly to the scene of the presentation. He dimly recalls a large + interior space, profusely decorated with stars and stripes, and also the + colors of Hungary. At the head of the room was a great placard with + "WELCOME, KOSSUTH" inscribed upon it. There was a great throng and press + of men and women, a subdued, omnipresent roar of talk, and a setting of + the tide towards the place where the patriot stood to receive our personal + greetings. The scribe whom I have mentioned, being as yet brief of + stature, was unable to see anything except coat-tails and petticoats, + until of a sudden there was a breaking away of these obstacles and he + found himself in close proximity to a gentleman of medium height, strongly + built, with a mop of dark hair framing a handsome, pale, smiling face, the + lower parts of which were concealed by a thick brown beard. It was + Kossuth, and there was that in his countenance and expression which + satisfied all the dreams of his admirer. He was chatting and shaking hands + with the elder persons; and in a minute we were moving on again, and the + printed card, for which the whole function had been created, had not been + presented. At the last moment, in an agony of apprehension, the boy pulled + at his mother's skirt and whispered piteously, "But my card!" She heard + and remembered; but need was for haste; we had already passed the + vantage-point. She snatched it from the tightly gripping fingers of the + bearer, handed it to Kossuth, and at the same moment, with a gesture, + directed his attention to her small companion. The Hungarian read the + inscription at a glance, looked me in the eyes with a quick smile of + comprehension, and, stepping towards me, laid his hand upon my head. It + was a great moment for me; but as I went away I suddenly dissolved in + tears, whether from the reaction of emotion, or because I had not myself + succeeded in delivering my gift, I cannot now determine. But Kossuth + thereby became, and for years he continued to be, the most superb figure + in my political horizon. + </p> + <p> + All this while The Blithedale Romance was being written. Inasmuch as it + was finished on the last day of April, 1852, it could not have occupied + the writer more than five months in the composition. Winter was his best + time for literary work, and there was winter enough that year in West + Newton. In the middle of April came the heaviest snowstorm of the season. + Brook Farm (modified in certain respects to suit the conditions) was the + scene of the story, and Brook Farm was within a fair walk of West Newton. + I visited the place some thirty years later, and found the general + topographical features substantially as described in the book. In 1852 it + was ten years since Hawthorne had lived there, and though he might have + renewed his acquaintance with it while the writing was going on, there is + no record of his having done so; and considering the unfavorable weather, + and the fact that the imaginative atmosphere which writers seek is + enhanced by distance in time, just as the physical effect of a landscape + is improved by distance of space, makes it improbable that he availed + himself of the opportunity. His note-books contain but few comments upon + the routine of life of the community; his letters to his wife (then Sophia + Peabody) are somewhat fuller; one can trace several of these passages, + artistically metamorphosed, in the romance. The episode of the masquerade + picnic is based on fact, and the scene of the recovery of Zenobia's body + from the river is a tolerably close reproduction of an event in Concord, + in which, several years before, Hawthorne had been an actor. + </p> + <p> + The portrayal in the story of city life from the back windows of the + hotel, is derived from notes made just before we went to Lenox; there are + the enigmatic drawing-room windows, the kitchen, the stable, the spectral + cat, and the emblematic dove; the rain-storm; the glimpse of the woman + sewing in one of the windows. There is also a passage containing a sketch + of the personage who served as the groundwork for Old Moody. "An elderly + ragamuffin, in a dingy and battered hat, an old surtout, and a more than + shabby general aspect; a thin face and a red nose, a patch over one eye, + and the other half drowned in moisture. He leans in a slightly stooping + posture on a stick, forlorn and silent, addressing nobody but fixing his + one moist eye on you with a certain intentness. He is a man who has been + in decent circumstances at some former period of his life, but, falling + into decay, he now haunts about the place, as a ghost haunts the spot + where he was murdered. The word ragamuffin," he adds, with characteristic + determination to be exact, "does not accurately express the man, because + there is a sort of shadow or delusion of respectability about him, and a + sobriety, too, and a kind of dignity in his groggy and red-nosed + destitution." Out of this subtle correction of his own description arose + the conception of making Old Moody the later state of the once wealthy and + magnificent Fauntleroy. But one of the most striking and imaginative + touches in the passage, likening the old waif to a ghost haunting the spot + (Parker's liquor-bar) where he was murdered, is omitted in the book, + because, striking though it was, it was a little too strong to be in + keeping with the rest of the fictitious portrait. How many writers, having + hit upon such a simile, would have had conscience and self-denial enough, + not to mention fine enough artistic sense, to delete it! + </p> + <p> + The craftsman's workmanship may occasionally be traced in this way; but, + as a rule, it is difficult to catch a glimpse of him in his creative + moments. If he made rough draughts of his stories, he must have destroyed + them after the stories themselves were completed; for none such, in the + case of his finished products, was left. I have seen the manuscripts of + all his tales except The Scarlet Letter, which was destroyed by James T. + Fields's printers—Fields having at that time no notion of the fame + the romance was to achieve, or of the value that would attach to every + scrap of Hawthorne's writing. All the extant manuscripts are singularly + free from erasures and interlineations; page after page is clear as a page + of print. He would seem to have taught himself so thoroughly how to write + that, by the time the series of his longer romances began, he was able to + say what he wished to say at a first attempt. He had the habit, + undoubtedly, of planning out the work of each day on the day previous, + generally while walking in solitude either out-of-doors or, if that were + impracticable, up and down the floor of his study. It was this habit which + created the pathway along the summit of the ridge of the hill at Wayside, + in Concord; it was a deeply trodden path, in the hard, root-inwoven soil, + hardly nine inches wide and about two hundred and fifty yards in length. + The monotonous movement of walking seemed to put his mind in the receptive + state favorable for hearing the voices of imagination. The external + faculties were quiescent, the veil of matter was lifted, and he was able + to peruse the vision beyond. + </p> + <p> + [MAGE: JAMES T. FIELDS] + </p> + <p> + But there is an important exception to this rule to be noted in the matter + of his fictitious narratives which were posthumously published. These, as + I have elsewhere said, are all concerned with a single theme—the + never-dying man. There are two complete versions of Septimius, of about + equal length, and many passages in the two are identical. There is a short + sketch on somewhat different lines, called (by the editor) The Bloody + Footstep; and there is still another, and a much more elaborate attempt to + embody the idea in the volume which I have entitled Doctor Grimshawe's + Secret. All these, in short, are studies of one subject, and they were all + unsatisfactory to the author. The true vein of which he had been in search + was finally discovered in The Dolliver Romance, but the author's death + prevented its completion. + </p> + <p> + In this series of posthumous manuscripts there is a unique opportunity for + making a study of the esoteric qualities of my father's style and methods, + and on a future occasion I hope to present the result of my investigations + in this direction. There is, furthermore, in connection with them, a mass + of material of a yet more interesting and interior character. While + writing the Grimshawe, he was deeply perplexed by certain details of the + plot; the meaning of the Pensioner, and his proper function in the story, + was one of these stumbling-blocks. But the prosperity of the tale depended + directly upon the solution of this problem. Constantly, therefore, in the + midst of the composition, he would break off and enter upon a + wrestling-match with the difficulty. These wrestling-matches are of an + absorbing significance; they reveal to us the very inmost movements of the + author's mind. He tries, and tries again, to get at the idea that + continues to elude him; he forms innumerable hypotheses; he sets forth on + the widest excursions; he gets out of patience with himself and with his + Pensioner, and often damns the latter in good set terms; but he will not + give up the struggle; his resolve to conquer is adamantine, and the + conflict is always renewed. And there it all stands in black and white; + one of the most instructive chapters in literary criticism in the world—the + battle of a great writer with himself. The final issue, after all, was + hardly decisive, for although a tolerable modus vivendi was reached and a + truce declared, it is evident that Hawthorne regarded the entire scheme of + the story as a mistake, and it is concluded in a perfunctory and + indifferent manner. + </p> + <p> + But it may be doubted whether anything of this sort ever took place in the + making of any of the other stories. These depend but in a subordinate + degree upon what is called technically plot interest. The author's method + was to take a natural, even a familiar incident, and to transmute it into + immortal gold by simply elucidating its inner spiritual significance. The + Scarlet Letter is a mere plain story of love and jealousy; there is no + serious attempt to hide the identity of Roger Chillingworth or the guilt + of the minister. The only surprise in The House of the Seven Gables + consists in the revelation of the fact that Maule reappears after several + generations in the person of his modern descendant. The structure of The + Blithedale Romance appears more complicated; but that is mainly because, + in a masterly manner, the author keeps the structural lines out of sight + and concentrates attention upon the interplay of character. The + scaffolding upon which are hung the splendid draperies of The Marble Faun + is, again, of the simplest formation, though the nature of the materials + is unfamiliar. + </p> + <p> + This is a digression; the present volume, as I have already stated, is not + designed to include—except incidentally-anything in the way of + literary criticism. + </p> + <p> + Blithedale having been finished and published, the question of where to + settle down permanently once more came up for an answer. Of course, our + sojourn at Mr. Mann's house had been a temporary expedient only; and for + that matter, the Manns, following the example of most Americans before and + since, had rented the place merely as a stepping-stone to something else. + My father's eyes again turned with longing towards the sea-shore; but the + fitting nook for him there still failed to offer itself. People are + naturally disposed to return to places in which they have formerly lived, + and Concord could not but suggest itself to one who had passed some of the + happiest years of his life among its serene pastures and piney forests. + This suggestion, moreover, was supplemented by the urgent invitations of + his old friends there, and Mr. Emerson, who was a practical man as well as + a philosopher, substantiated his arguments by throwing into the scale a + concrete dwelling. It was an edifice which not even the most imaginative + and optimistic of house-agents would have found it easy to picture as a + sumptuous country-seat; it was just four wooden walls and a roof, and they + had been standing for a hundred years at least. The occupants of this + house had seen the British march past from Boston on the 19th of April, + 1775, and a few hours later they had seen them return along the same dusty + highway at a greatly accelerated pace and under annoying circumstances. + There was a legend that a man had once lived there who had announced that + death was not an indispensable detail of life, and that he for his part + intended never to die; but after many years he had grown weary of the + monotony of his success, or had realized that it would take too long a + time to prove himself in the right, and rather than see the thing through + he allowed himself to depart. The old structure, in its original state, + consisted of a big, brick chimney surrounded by four rooms and an attic, + with a kitchen tacked on at the rear. It stood almost flush with the + side-path along the highway; behind it rose a steep hill-side to a height + of about one hundred feet; in front, on the other side of the road, + stretched broad meadows with a brook flowing through the midst of them. + Such conditions would not seem altogether to favor a man wedded to + seclusion. + </p> + <p> + But the thing was not at this juncture quite so bad as it had been. Mr. + Alcott, whose unselfish devotion to the welfare of the human race made it + incumbent upon his friends to supply him with the means of earthly + subsistence, had been recently domiciled in the house by Mr. Emerson (how + the latter came into possession of it I have forgotten, if ever I knew), + and he had at once proceeded to wreak upon it his unique architectural + talent. At any rate, either he himself or somebody in his behalf had set + up a small gable in the midst of the front, thrown out a double + bow-window, and added a room on the west side. This interrupted the + deadly, four-square uniformity, and suggested further improvements. Mr. + Alcott certainly built the summer-house on the hill-side, and terraced the + hill, which was also planted with apple-trees. Another summer-house arose + in the meadow opposite, which went with the property, and rustic fences + separated the domain from the road. The dwelling was now fully as + commodious as the red house at Lenox, though it had no Monument Mountain + and Stockbridge Bowl to look out upon. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: THE WAYSIDE (Showing Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife)] + </p> + <p> + The estate, comprising, I think, forty-two acres, all told, including + upward of twenty acres of second-growth woodland above the hill, perfectly + useless except for kindling-wood and for the sea-music which the + pine-trees made, was offered to my father at a reasonable enough figure, + to be his own and his heirs' forever. He came over and looked at the + place, thought "The Wayside" would be a good name for it, and was perhaps + helped to decide upon taking it by the felicity of this appellation. It + was close upon the highway, undeniably; but then the highway was so little + travelled that it might almost as well not have been there. One might, + also, plant a high hedge in place of the fence and make shift to hide + behind it. One could enlarge the house as need demanded; an affluent + vegetable garden could be laid out in the meadow, and fruit and ornamental + trees could be added to the slopes of the hill-side. The village was + removed to a distance of a trifle over a mile, so that the roar of its + traffic would not invade this retreat; and Mr. Emerson sat radiating peace + and wisdom between the village and "The Wayside"; while Mr. Alcott shone + with ancillary lustre only a stone's-throw away. Thoreau and Ellery + Channing were tramping about in the neighborhood, and Judge Hoar and his + beautiful sister dispensed sweetness and light in the village itself. + Walden Pond, still secluded as when only the Indians had seen the sky and + the trees reflected in it, was within a two-mile walk, and the silent + Musketaquid stole on its level way beyond the hill on the other side. + Surely, a man might travel far and not find a spot better suited for work + and meditation and discreet society than Concord was. + </p> + <p> + But, of course, the necessity of settling down somewhere was a main + consideration. Concord, was inviting in itself, but it was also + recommended by the argument of exclusion; no other place so desirable and + at the same time so easy of attainment happened to present itself. It did + not lie within sound and sight of the ocean; but that was the worst that + could be urged against it. A man must choose, and Concord was, finally, + Hawthorne's choice. + </p> + <p> + At this epoch he had not contemplated, save in day-dreams, the possibility + of visiting the Old World. His friend, Franklin Pierce, had just become + President-elect, but that fact had not suggested to his mind the change in + his own fortunes which it was destined to bring about. He was too modest a + critic of his own abilities to think that his work would ever bring him + money enough for foreign travel, and, therefore, in accepting Concord as + his home, he believed that he was fixing the boundaries of his future + earthly experience. It was not his ideal; no imaginative man can ever hope + to find that; but as soon as we have called a place our Home, it acquires + a charm that has nothing to do with material conditions. The best-known + song in American poesy has impressed that truth upon Americans—who + are the most homeless people in the world. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A transfigured cattle-pen—Emerson the hub of Concord—His + incorrigible modesty—Grocery-store sages—To make common + men feel more like Emerson than he did—His personal + appearance—His favorite gesture—A glance like the reveille + of a trumpet—The creaking boots—"The muses are in the + woods"—Emerson could not read Hawthorne—Typical versus + individual—Benefit from child-prattle—Concord-grape Bull— + Sounds of distant battle—Politics, sociology, and grape- + culture—The great white fence—Richard Henry Stoddard—A + country youth of genius—Whipple's Attic salt—An unwritten + romance—The consulship retires literature—Louisa's + tragedy—Hard hit—The spiritual sphere of good men—Nearer + than in the world—The return of the pilgrim. +</pre> + <p> + My father's first look at "The Wayside" had been while snow was still on + the ground, and he had reported to his wife that it resembled a + cattle-pen. + </p> + <p> + But the family advent was effected in June, and although a heavy rain had + fallen while the domestic impedimenta were in transit, wetting the + mattresses and other exposed furniture, yet when the summer sun came out + things began to mend. My mother and Una came a day ahead of the others, + and with the help of carpenters and upholsterers, and a neighboring + Irishman and his wife for cleaning and moving purposes, they soon got + human order into the place of savage chaos. The new carpet was down in the + study, the walls had been already papered and the wood-work grained, the + pictures were hung in their places, and the books placed on their shelves. + By the time the father, the boy, the baby, and the nurse drove up in the + hot afternoon a home had been created for their reception. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Emerson was, and he always remained, the hub round which the wheel of + Concord's fortunes slowly and contentedly revolved. He was at this time + between forty-five and fifty years old, in the prime of his beneficent + powers. He had fulfilled the promise of his unique youth—obeyed the + voice at eve, obeyed at prime. The sweet austerity of his nature had been + mellowed by human sorrows—the loss of his brothers and of his eldest + son; he had the breadth and poise that are given by knowledge of foreign + lands, and friendships with the best men in them; he had the unstained and + indomitable independence of a man who has always avowed his belief, and + never failed to be true to each occasion for truth; he had the + tranquillity of faith and insight, and he was alert with that immortal + curiosity for noble knowledge the fruit of which enriches his writings. + Upon his modestly deprecating brows was already set the wreath of a + world-wide fame, and yet every village farmer and store-keeper, and every + child, found in his conversation the wisdom and companionship suited to + his needs, and was made to feel that his own companionship was a valued + gift. Emerson becomes more extraordinary the further we get away from him + in years; illustrating the truth which Landor puts into the mouth of + Barrow in one of his Imaginary Conversations, that "No very great man ever + reached the standard of his greatness in the crowd of his contemporaries: + this hath always been reserved for the secondary." The wealth contained in + his essays has only begun to be put in general circulation, and the + harvest of his poetry is still more remote; while the sincere humility of + the man himself, who was the best incarnate example of many of his ideals, + still puzzles those critics who believe every one must needs be inferior + to his professions. + </p> + <p> + "Though I am fond of writing and of public speaking," said Emerson, "I am + a very poor talker, and for the most part prefer silence"; and he went on + to compare himself in this respect with Alcott, "the prince of + conversers." Alcott was undoubtedly the prince of fluency, and Emerson + rarely, in private dialogue, ventured to string together many consecutive + sentences; but the things he did say, on small occasion or great, always + hit the gold. On being appealed to, or when his turn came, he would hang a + moment in the wind, and then pay off before the breeze of thought with an + accuracy and force that gave delight with enlightenment. The form was + often epigrammatic, but the air with which it was said beautifully + disclaimed any epigrammatic consciousness or intention. It was, rather, "I + am little qualified to speak adequately, but this, at least, does seem to + me to be true." In the end, therefore, as the interlocutor thought it all + over, he was perhaps surprised to discover that, little in quantity as + Emerson may have said during the talk, he had yet said more than any one + else in substance. But it may be admitted that he was even better in + listening than in speech; his look, averted but attentive, with a smile + which seemed to postpone full development to the moment when his companion + should have uttered the expected apple of gold in the picture of silver, + was subtly stimulating to the latter's intellect, and prompted him to + outdo himself. His questions were often revelations, discovering truth + which the other only then perceived, and thus beguiling him into + admiration of his own supposed intelligence. In this, as in other things, + he acted upon the precept that it is more blessed to give than to receive + gratification; he never seemed to need any other happiness than that of + imparting it. And so selflessly and insensibly were the riches of his mind + and nature communicated to the community that innocent little Concord + could not quite help believing that its wealth and renown were somehow a + creation of its own. The loafers in Walcott & Holden's grocery store + were, in their own estimation, of heroic stature, because of the + unegoistic citizen who dwelt over yonder among the pines. Emerson was a + great man, no doubt; but then he was no more than their own confessed + equal, or inferior! + </p> + <p> + This will and power to secularize himself is perhaps Emerson's unique + attribute. It is comparatively easy to stand on mountain-tops and to ride + Pegasus; but how many of those competent to such feats could at the same + time sit cheek by jowl with hucksters and teamsters without a trace of + condescension, and while rubbing shoulders with the rabble of the street + in town-meeting, speak without arrogance the illuminating and deciding + word? This, at last, is the true democracy that levels up instead of down. + An Emerson who can make common men feel more like Emerson than he himself + did is the kind of man we need to bring America up to her ideals. + </p> + <p> + Emerson was ungainly in build, with narrow, sloping shoulders, large feet + and hands, and a projecting carriage of the head, which enhanced the + eagle-like expression of his glance and features. His head was small; it + was covered (in 1852) with light brown hair, fine and straight; he was + cleanshaven save for a short whisker; the peaked ends of an uncomfortable + collar appeared above the folds of a high, black silk stock. His + long-skirted black coat was commonly buttoned up; he wore, on different + occasions, a soft felt hat or a high silk one, the latter, from use, + having become in a manner humanized. On the street he kept his face up as + he walked along, and perceived the approach of an acquaintance afar off, + and the wise, slow smile gleamed about his mouth as he drew near. "How do + you do?" was sometimes his greeting; but more often, "Good-bye!" or + "Good-night!"—an original and more sensible greeting. Though + ungainly in formation, he was not ungraceful in bearing and action; there + was a fitness and harmony in his manifestations even on the physical plan. + On the lecture platform he stood erect and unadorned, his hands hanging + folded in front, save when he changed the leaf of his manuscript, or + emphasized his words with a gesture: his customary one, simple but + effective, was to clinch his right fist, knuckles upward, the arm bent at + the elbow, then a downward blow of the forearm, full of power bridled. It + was accompanied by such a glance of the eyes as no one ever saw except + from Emerson: a glance like the reveille of a trumpet. Yet his eyes were + not noticeably large, and their color was greenish-gray; but they were + well set and outlined in his head, and, more than is the case with most + men, they were the windows of his soul. Wendell Phillips had an eloquent + and intrepid eye, but it possessed nothing approaching the eloquence and + spiritual influence of Emerson's. In every Lyceum course in Concord, + Emerson lectured once or twice, and the hall was always filled. One night + he had the misfortune to wear a pair of abominably creaking boots; every + slightest change of posture would be followed by an outcry from the + sole-leather, and the audience soon became nervously preoccupied in + expecting them. The sublimest thoughts were mingled with these base + material accompaniments. But there was nothing to be done, unless the + lecturer would finish his lecture in his stocking-feet, and we were fain + to derive a fortuitous inspiration from observing the unfaltering meekness + with which our philosopher accepted the predicament. I have forgotten the + subject of the lecture on that occasion, but the voice of the boots will + always sound in my memory. + </p> + <p> + In his own house Emerson shone with essential hospitality, and yet he + wonderfully effaced himself; any one but he might hold the centre of the + stage. You felt him everywhere, but if you would see him, you must search + the wings. He sat in his chair, bending forward, one leg crossed over the + other, his elbows often supported on his knee; his legs were rather long + and slender, and he had a way, after crossing his leg, of hitching the + instep of that foot under the calf of the other leg, so that he seemed + braided up. He seldom stood in a room, or paced to and fro, as my father + was fond of doing. But the two men were almost equally addicted to outdoor + walking, and both preferred to walk alone. Emerson formed the habit of + betaking himself to Walden woods, which extended to within a mile or so of + his door; thence would he return with an exalted look, saying, "The muses + are in the woods to-day"; and no one who has read his Woodnotes can doubt + that he found them there. Occasionally Channing, Thoreau, or my father + would be his companion; Alcott preferred to busy himself about his rustic + fences and summer-houses, or to sit the centre of a circle and converse, + as he called it; meaning to soliloquize, looking round from face to face + with unalterable faith and complacency. + </p> + <p> + My father read Emerson with enjoyment; though more and more, as he + advanced in life, he was disposed to question the expediency of stating + truth in a disembodied form; he preferred it incarnate, as it appears in + life and in story. But he could not talk to Emerson; his pleasure in his + society did not express itself in that form. Emerson, on the other hand, + assiduously cultivated my father's company, and, contrary to his general + habit, talked to him continuously; but he could not read his romances; he + admitted that he had never been able to finish one of them. He loved to + observe him; to watch his silence, which was full of a kind of speech + which he was able to appreciate; "Hawthorne rides well his horse of the + night!" My father was Gothic; Emerson was Roman and Greek. But each was + profoundly original and independent. My father was the shyer and more + solitary of the two, and yet persons in need of human sympathy were able + to reach a more interior region in him than they could in Emerson. For the + latter's thought was concerned with types and classes, while the former + had the individual touch. He distrusted rules, but had faith in exceptions + and idiosyncrasies. Emerson was nobly and magnanimously public; my father, + exquisitely and inevitably private; together they met the needs of nearly + all that is worthy in human nature. + </p> + <p> + Emerson rose upon us frequently during our early struggles with our new + abode, like a milder sun; the children of the two families became + acquainted, the surviving son, Edward, two years my elder, falling to my + share. But Emerson himself also became my companion, with a humanity which + to-day fills me with grateful wonder. I remember once being taken by him + on a long walk through the sacred pine woods, and on another occasion he + laid aside the poem or the essay he was writing to entertain Una in his + study, whither she had gone alone and of her own initiative to make him a + call! It is easy to compliment a friend upon his children, but how many of + us will allow themselves to be caught and utilized by them in this + fashion? But Emerson's mind was so catholic, so humble, and so deep that I + doubt not he derived benefit even from child-prattle. His wife rivalled + him in hospitality, though her frail health disabled her from entering + into the physical part of social functions with the same fortitude; in + these first months we were invited to a party where we were fellow-guests + with all the other children of Concord. There they were, their mothers + with them, and everything in sight that a child at a party could require. + My new friend Edward mounted me on his pony, and his father was at hand to + catch me when I fell off. Such things sound incredible, but they are true. + A great man is great at all times, and all over. + </p> + <p> + Thoreau, Channing, and Alcott were also visible to us at this time, but of + none of them do I find any trace in my memory; though I know, as a matter + of fact, that Channing and my father once permitted me to accompany them + on a walk round the country roads, which inadvertently prolonged itself to + ten miles, and I knew what it was to feel foot-weary. But another neighbor + of ours, hardly less known to fame, though in a widely different line of + usefulness, makes a very distinct picture in my mind; this was Ephraim + Wales Bull, the inventor of the Concord grape. He was as eccentric as his + name; but he was a genuine and substantive man, and my father took a great + liking to him, which was reciprocated. He was short and powerful, with + long arms, and a big head covered with bushy hair and a jungle beard, from + which looked out a pair of eyes singularly brilliant and penetrating. He + had brains to think with, as well as strong and skilful hands to work + with; he personally did three-fourths of the labor on his vineyard, and + every grape-vine had his separate care. He was married and had three + children, amiable but less interesting than himself. He had, also, a + tremendous temper, evidenced by his heavy and high-arched eyebrows, and + once in a while he let slip upon his helpers in the vineyard this + formidable wrath, which could easily be heard in our peaceful precincts, + like sounds of distant battle. He often came over and sat with my father + in the summer-house on the hill, and there talked about politics, + sociology (though under some other name, probably), morals, and human + nature, with an occasional lecture on grape-culture. He permitted my + sister and me to climb the fence and eat all the grapes we could hold; it + seems to me he could hardly have realized our capacity. During our second + summer he built a most elaborate fence along the road-front of his estate; + it must have been three hundred yards long and it was as high as a man + could reach; the palings, instead of being upright, were criss-crossed + over one another, leaving small diamond-shaped interstices. The whole was + painted brilliant white, to match the liliputian cottage in which the Bull + family contrived (I know not how) to ensconce itself. When the fence was + built, Mr. Bull would every day come forth and pace slowly up and down the + road, contemplating it with the pride of a parent; indeed, it was no puny + achievement, and when I revisited Concord, thirty years later, the great + white fence was still there, with a few gaps in it, but still effective. + But the builder, and the grapes—where were they? Where are Cheops, + and the hanging gardens of Babylon? + </p> + <p> + Among many visitors came Richard Henry Stoddard, already a poet, but + anxious to supplement the income from his verses by a regular stipend from + the big pocket of Uncle Sam. His first coming was in summer, and he and my + father went up on the hill and sat in the summer-house there, looking out + upon the wide prospect of green meadows and distant woods, but probably + seeing nothing of them, their attention being withdrawn to scenes yet + fairer in the land of imagination and memory. Stoddard was then, as + always, a handsome man, strong and stanch, black-haired and black-bearded, + with strong eyes that could look both fierce and tender. He was masculine, + sensitive, frank, and humorous; his chuckle had infinite merriment in it; + but, as his mood shifted, there might be tears in his eyes the next + moment. He was at that time little more than five-and-twenty years old, + and he looked hardly that; he was a New England country youth of genius. + Nature had kindled a fire in him which has never gone out. Like my father, + he was affiliated with the sea, and had its freshness and daring, though + combined with great modesty, and he felt honored by the affection with + which he inspired the author of The Scarlet Letter. It was not until his + second visit, in the winter, that the subject of a custom-house + appointment for him came up; for my father, being known as a close friend + of the President, whose biography he had written for the campaign, became + the object of pilgrimages other than literary ones. He received sound + advice, and introductions, which aided him in getting the appointment, and + he held it for nearly twenty years—more to the benefit of the + custom-house than of poetry, no doubt, though he never let poetry escape + him, and he is to-day a mine of knowledge and wisdom on literary subjects. + There is an immense human ardor, power, and pathos in Stoddard; better + than any other American poet does he realize the conception of his great + English brother—the love of love, the hate of hate, the scorn of + scorn. The world has proved impotent to corrupt his heroic simplicity; he + loved fame much, but truth more. He is a boy in his heart still, and he + has sung songs which touch whatever is sweetest, tenderest, and manliest + in the soul of man. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: EDWIN P. WHIFFLE] + </p> + <p> + E. P. Whipple, essentially a man of letters, and famous in his day as a + critic of literature, appeared often in "The Wayside." His verdict on a + book carried weight; it was an era when literary criticism was regarded + seriously, and volumes devoted to critical studies had something more + than, a perfunctory vogue. He had written penetrating and cordial things + about my father's books, and foretold the high place which he would + ultimately occupy in our Pantheon. He was rich in the kind of Attic salt + which, was characteristic of Boston in the middle century; the product of + an almost excessive culture erected on sound, native brains. He had + abounding wit; not only wit of the sort that begets mirth, but that larger + and graver wit which Macaulay notices in Bacon's writings—a pure, + irradiating, intellectual light. It had often the effect of an actual + physical illumination cast upon the topic. He was magnificent as a + dinner-table companion. He was rather a short, thick-shouldered man, with + a big head on a short neck, a broad, projecting forehead, prominent eyes, + defended by shiny spectacles, and bushy whiskers. He is not remembered + now, probably because he never produced any organic work commensurate with + his huge talent. Analyses of the work of others, however just, useful, and + creative, do not endure unless they are associated with writing of the + independent sort. Whipple, with all his ability and insight, never entered + the imaginative field on his own account, and in the press of wits he + falls behind and is forgotten. + </p> + <p> + My father had come to Concord with the idea of a new romance in his mind; + he designed it to be of a character more cheerful than the foregoing ones. + It was never written, and but the slightest traces of what it might have + been are extant. Herman Melville had spent a day with us at Concord, and + he had suggested a story to Hawthorne; but the latter, after turning it + over in his mind, came to the conclusion that Melville could treat the + subject better than he could; but Melville finally relinquished it also. + It seems likely, however, that this projected tale was not the one which + Hawthorne had originally been meditating. At all events, it was postponed + in favor of a new book of wonder-stories from Greek mythology—the + first one having had immediate popularity, and by the time this was + finished, the occasion had arrived which led to the writing of Pierce's + biography. This, in turn, was followed by the offer by the President to + his friend of the Liverpool consulate, then the most lucrative appointment + in the gift of the administration; and Hawthorne's acceptance of it caused + all literary projects to be indefinitely abandoned. + </p> + <p> + But even had there been time for the writing of another book, the death of + Hawthorne's sister Louisa would doubtless have unfitted him for a while + from undertaking it. This was the most painful episode connected with his + life; Louisa was a passenger on a Hudson River steamboat which was burned. + She was a gentle, rather fragile woman, with a playful humor and a lovable + nature; she had not the intellectual force either of her brother or of her + sister Elizabeth; but her social inclinations were stronger than theirs. + She was a delightful person to have in the house, and her nephew and niece + were ardently in love with her. She was on her way to "The Wayside" when + the calamity occurred, and we were actually expecting her on the day she + perished. Standing on the blazing deck, with the panic and the + death-scenes around her, the gentle woman had to make the terrible choice + between the river and the fire. She was alone; there was none to advise or + help her or be her companion in inevitable death. Her thoughts must have + gone to her brother, with his strength and courage, his skill as a + swimmer; but he was far away, unconscious of her desperate extremity. She + had to choose, and the river was her choice. With that tragic conception + of the drowning of Zenobia fresh in his mind, the realization of his + sister's fate must have gained additional poignancy in my father's + imagination. He was hard hit, and the traces of the blow were manifest on + him. After about a month, he made a journey to the Isles of Shoals with + Franklin Pierce, and in that breezy outpost of the land he spent some + weeks, much to his advantage. This was in the autumn of 1852, and I recall + well enough the gap in things which his long absence made for me, and my + perfect joy when the whistle of the train at the distant railway station + signalled his return. Twenty minutes had to elapse before the railroad + carriage could bring him to our door; they were long and they were brief, + after the manner of minutes in such circumstances. He came, and there was + a moment of indescribable glory while he leaped from the carriage and + faced the situation on the doorstep of his home. His countenance was + glowing with health and the happiness of home-coming. I thought him, as I + always did, the most beautiful of human beings, by which I do not mean + beautiful in feature, for of that I was not competent to hold an opinion; + but beautiful in the feelings which he aroused in me beholding him. He was + beautiful to be with, to hear, touch, and experience. Such is the effect + of the spiritual sphere of good men, in whom nature and character are + harmonious. My father got his appointment from Washington in the following + March, 1853. His wife had but one solicitude in leaving America; her + mother was aged and in delicate health, and their parting might be forever + in this world. But a month before the appointment was confirmed, her + mother quietly and painlessly died. It was as if she had wished not to be + separated from her beloved daughter, and had entered into the spiritual + state in the expectation of being nearer to her there than she could be in + the world. My mother always affirmed that she was conscious of her + mother's presence with her on momentous occasions during the remainder of + her own life. + </p> + <p> + June came; the farewells were said, we were railroaded to Boston, embarked + on the Cunard steamship Niagara, Captain Leitch, and steamed out of Boston + Harbor on a day of cloudlessness and calm. Incoming vessels, drifting in + the smoothness, saluted us with their flags, and the idle seamen stared at + us, leaning over their bulwarks. The last of the low headlands grew dim + and vanished in the golden haze of the afternoon. "Go away, tiresome old + land!" sang out my sister and myself; but my father, standing beside us, + gazing westward with a serious look, bade us be silent. Two hundred and + twenty years had passed since our first ancestor had sought freedom on + those disappearing shores, and our father was the first of his descendants + to visit the Old Home whence he came. What was to be the outcome? But the + children only felt that the ocean was pleasant and strange, and they + longed to explore it. The future and the past did not concern them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A paddle-wheel ocean-liner—The hens, the cow, and the + carpenter—W. D. Ticknor—Our first Englishman—An + aristocratic acrobat—Speech that beggars eulogy—The boots + of great travellers—Complimentary cannon—The last + infirmity of noble republican minds—The golden promise: the + spiritual fulfilment—Fatuous serenity—Past and future—The + coquetry of chalk cliffs—Two kinds of imagination—The + thirsty island—Gloomy English comforts—Systematic + geniality—A standing puzzle—The respirator—Scamps, fools, + mendicants, and desperadoes—The wrongs of sailor-men—"Is + this myself?"—"Profoundly akin"—Henry Bright—Charm of + insular prejudice—No stooping to compromise—The battle + against dinner—"I'm glad you liked it!"—An English-, + Irish-, and Scotchman—An Englishman owns his country—A + contradiction in Englishmen—A hospitable gateway—Years of + memorable trifles. +</pre> + <p> + The steamship Niagara was, in 1853, a favorable specimen of nautical + architecture; the Cunard Company had then been in existence rather less + than a score of years, and had already established its reputation for + safety and convenience. But, with the exception of the red smoke-stack + with the black ring round the top, there was little similarity between the + boat that took us to England and the mammoths that do that service for + travellers now adays. The Niagara was about two hundred and fifty feet + long, and was propelled by paddle-wheels, upon the summits of whose + curving altitudes we were permitted to climb in calm weather. The interior + decorations were neat and pretty, but had nothing of the palatial and + aesthetic gorgeousness which educates us in these later ages. The company + of passengers was so small that a single cow, housed in a pen on deck, + sufficed for their needs in the way of milk, and there were still left + alive and pecking contentedly about their coop a number of fowls, after we + had eaten all we could of their brethren at the ten dinners that were + served during the voyage. The crew, from the captain down, were all able + seamen, friendly and companionable, and not so numerous but that it was + easy to make their individual acquaintance. The most engaging friend of + the small people was the carpenter, who had his shop on deck, and from + whom I acquired that passion for the profession which every normal boy + ought to have, and from the practice of which I derived deep enjoyment and + many bloody thumbs and fingers for ten years afterwards. + </p> + <p> + But we had companionship historically at least more edifying. William D. + Ticknor, the senior partner of my father's publishers, was the only figure + familiar at the outset. He was one of the most amiable of men, with thick + whiskers all round his face and spectacles shining over his kindly eyes; a + sturdy, thick-set personage, active in movement and genial in + conversation. It was James T. Fields who usually made the trips to + England; but on this occasion Fields got no farther than the wharf, where + the last object visible was his comely and smiling countenance as he waved + his adieux. Conspicuous among the group on the after-deck, as we glided + out of the smooth harbor of Boston, was an urbane and dignified gentleman + of perhaps sixty years of age, with a clean-shaven mouth and chin, finely + moulded, and with what Tennyson would call an educated whisker, short and + gray, defining the region in front of and below his ears. He spoke + deliberately, and in language carefully and yet easily chosen, with + intonations singularly distinct and agreeable, giving its full value to + every word. This was our first native Englishman; no less a personage than + Mr. Crampton, in fact, the British Minister, who was on his way to + Halifax. He had fine, calm, quietly observant eyes, which were pleasantly + employed in contemplating the beauty of that summer seascape—an + opalescent ocean, and islands slumbering in the July haze. Near him stood + a light-built, tall, athletic individual, also obviously English, but + thirty years younger; full, also, of artistic appreciation; this was Field + Talfourd, who was an artist, and many things besides; a man proficient in + all forms of culture. His features were high and refined, and, without + being handsome, irresistibly attractive. He turned out to be a delightful + playmate for the children, and astonished them and the rest of the company + by surprising gymnastic feats in the rigging. The speech of these two + Britishers gave the untravelled American a new appreciation of the beauty + and significance of the English language. Not all Englishmen speak good + English, but when they do, they beggar eulogy. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: JAMES T. FIELDS, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, AND WILLIAM D. TICKNOR] + </p> + <p> + George Silsbee was likewise of our party; he was an American of the + Brahman type, a child of Cambridge and Boston, a man of means, and an + indefatigable traveller. He had the delicate health and physique of the + American student of those days, when out-door life and games made no part + of our scholastic curricula. He may have been forty years old, slight and + frail, with a thin, clean-shaven face and pallid complexion, but full of + mind and sensibility. We do not heed travellers now, and I am inclined to + think they are less worth heeding than they used to be. It is so easy to + see the world in these latter days that few persons see it to any purpose + even when they go through the motions of doing so. But to hear George + Bradford or Silsbee talk of England, France, and Italy, in the fifties, + was a liberal education, and I used sometimes to stare fascinated at the + boots of these wayfarers, admiring them for the wondrous places in which + they had trodden. Silsbee travelled with his artistic and historic + consciousness all on board, and had so much to say that he never was able + to say it all. + </p> + <p> + But to my father himself were accorded the honors of the captain's table, + and for him were fired the salutes of cannon which thundered us out of + Boston Harbor and into Halifax. These compliments, however, were paid to + him not as a man of letters, but as a political representative of his + country, and, let a man be as renowned as he will on his personal account, + he will still find it convenient, in order to secure smooth and agreeable + conditions on his way through the world, to supplement that distinction + with recommendations from the State Department. Respect for rank is the + last infirmity even of noble republican minds, and it oils the wheels of + the progress of those who possess it. An American widow of my later + acquaintance, a lady of two marriageable daughters and small social + pretensions in her own country, toured Europe with success and + distinction, getting all the best accommodations and profoundest + obeisances by the simple device of placing the word "Lady" before her + modest signature in the hotel registers. She was a lady, of course, and + had a right so to style herself, and if snobbish persons chose to read + into the word more than it literally meant, that was not Mrs. Green's + affair. + </p> + <p> + American commerce still existed in 1853, and the Liverpool consulate was + supposed to have more money in it than any other office in the gift of the + administration. As a matter of fact, several of my father's predecessors + had retired from their tenure of office with something handsome + (pecuniarily speaking) to their credit; whether the means by which it had + been acquired were as handsome is another question. Be that as it may, + Congress, soon after my father's accession, passed a law cutting down the + profits about three-fourths, and he was obliged to practise the strictest + economy during his residence abroad in order to come home with a few + thousand dollars in his pocket. Nevertheless, the dignity, in the official + sense, of this consular post was considerable, and it brought him, in + combination with his literary fame, a good deal more attention in England + than he well knew what to do with. But, in one way or another, he also + made friends there who remained to the end among the dearest of his life + and more than countervailed all the time and energy wasted on the + Philistines. + </p> + <p> + The Atlantic, all the way across, with the exception of one brief + emotional disturbance between lunch and dinner-time, wore a smile of + fatuous serenity. The sun shone; the vast pond-surface oilily undulated, + or lay in absolute flatness, or at most defiled under our eyes in endless + squadrons of low-riding crests. My mother, whose last experience of + sea-ways had been the voyage to Cuba, in which the ship was all but lost + in a series of hurricanes, was captivated by this soft behavior, and + enjoyed the whole of it as much, almost, as her husband, who expanded and + drank in delight like a plant in the rain. But, in truth, these must have + been blessed hours for them both. Behind them lay nearly eleven years of + married life, spent in narrow outward circumstances, lightened only + towards the last by the promise of some relaxation from strain, during + which they had found their happiness in each other, and in the wise and + tender care of their children, and in the converse of chosen friends. They + had filled their minds with knowledge concerning the beauties and + interests of foreign lands, with but a slender expectation of ever + beholding them with bodily sight, but none the less well prepared to + understand and appreciate them should the opportunity arrive. And now, + suddenly, it had arrived, and they were on the way to the regions of their + dreams, with the prospect of comparative affluence added. They had nearly + twelve years of earthly sojourn together before them, the afternoon + sunshine to be clouded a little near the close by the husband's failing + health, but glorified more and more by mutual love, and enriched with + memories of all that had before been unfulfilled imaginings. This voyage + eastward was the space of contemplation between the two periods, and the + balm of its tranquillity well symbolized the peace of soul and mind with + which they awaited what the horizons were to disclose. + </p> + <p> + The right way to approach England for the first time is not by the west + coast, but by the south, as Julius Caesar did, beckoned on by the ghostly, + pallid cliffs that seem to lift themselves like battlements against the + invader. It is historically open to question whether there would have been + any Roman occupation, or any Saxon or Norman one either, for that matter, + but for the coquetry of those chalk cliffs. An adventurer, sighting the + low and marshy shores of Lancashire, and muddying his prows in the yellow + waters of the Mersey, would be apt to think that such a land were a good + place to avoid. But the race of adventurers has long since died out, and + their place is occupied by the wide-flying cormorants of commerce, to whom + mud flats and rock deserts present elysian beauties, provided only there + be profit in them. One kind of imagination has been superseded by another, + and both are necessary to the full exploitation of this remarkable globe + that we inhabit. + </p> + <p> + But even the level capes of Lancashire were alluring to eyes that saw + England, our venerable mother, loom behind them, with her thousand years' + pageantry of warfare and civilization. The egregious little island is a + thirsty place; the land drinks rain as assiduously as do its inhabitants + beer and other liquors. Heavy mists and clouds enveloped it as we drew + near, and ushered us up the Mersey into a brown omnipresence of rain. The + broad, clear sunshine of the Atlantic was left behind, and we stood on wet + decks and were transported to sloppy wharfs by means of a rain-sodden and + abominably smoking little tug-boat—as the way was fifty years ago. + Liverpool was a gray-stone labyrinth open to the deluge, and its + inhabitants went to and fro with umbrellas over their heads and black + respirators over their mouths, looking as if such were their normal plight—as, + indeed, it was. Much of this was not needed to quench the enthusiasm of + the children. The Waterloo Hotel, to which, by advice of friends, we were + driven, seemed by its very name to carry out the idea of saturation, which + the activities of nature so insistently conveyed. It was intensely + discomfortable, and though the inside of the hotel was well supplied with + gloomy English comforts, and the solemn meals were administered with a + ceremonious gravity that suggested their being preliminaries to funerals, + yet it was hard to be light-hearted. The open-grate coal fires were the + most welcome feature of this summer season, and no doubt the wine list + offered the best available substitute for sunlight; but we had not been + trained to avail ourselves of it. We drank water, which certainly appeared + an idle proceeding in such a climate. In Liverpool, however, or in its + suburbs, we were to live for the better part of four years, and we must + make the best of it. And there is in English people, when rightly + approached, a steady and systematic geniality that not only makes handsome + amends for their weather, but also accounts for the otherwise singular + fact that the country is inhabited at all. A people with a smaller fund of + interior warmth could not have endured it. The French talk about + conquering England, but they could not hold it if they did, and it is one + of the standing puzzles of history how the Romans, an Italian race, were + able to maintain themselves under these skies during four centuries. It + may be objected that the present English population is not indigenous to + the island; but they are the survival of the fittest and toughest selected + from many aspirants. Nor can it be doubted that the British hunger for + empire in all parts of the world is due to nothing so much as to their + anxiety to have a plausible pretext for living elsewhere than at home. + </p> + <p> + My father took the rain, as he took everything that could not be helped, + philosophically, and it seemed to do him no harm; indeed, his health was + uniformly good all through his English residence. It did not suit so well + my mother, who was constitutionally delicate in the lungs; she was soon + obliged to adopt the English respirator, and finally was driven to take + refuge for the greater part of a year in Lisbon and Madeira, returning + only a little before the departure of the family for Italy in 1858. But + there must have been in him an ancestral power of resistance still + effective after more than two centuries of transplantation; he grew ruddy + and robust while facing the mist and mirk, and inhaling the smoky moisture + that did service for air. Nor was his health impaired by the long hours in + the daily consulate—a grimy little room barely five paces from end + to end, with its dusty windows so hemmed in by taller buildings that even + had there been any sunshine to make the attempt, it could never have + succeeded in effecting an entrance through them. Here, from ten in the + morning until four in the afternoon, he dealt with all varieties of scamps + and mendicants, fools and desperadoes, and all the tribe of piratical + cutthroats which in those days constituted a large part of the merchant + marine. Calamity, imbecility, and rascality were his constant companions + in that dingy little den; and the gloomy and sooty skies without but + faintly pictured the moral atmosphere which they exhaled; he entered + deeply into all their affairs, projects, and complaints, feeling their + troubles, probably, at least as keenly as they did themselves, and yet he + came out of it all with clear eyes and a sound digestion. I presume the + fact may have been that he unconsciously regarded the whole affair + somewhat as we do a drama in a theatre; it works upon our sensibilities, + and yet we do not believe that it is real. There was nothing in the + experience germane to his proper life; it could not become a part of him, + and therefore its posture towards him remained inveterately objective. The + only feature of it that quickened a responsive chord in him was the + revelation of the intolerable condition of the sailors in many of our + ships, and upon these abuses he enlarged in his communications to + Washington. Improvements were made in consequence of his remonstrances; + but the American merchant service had already begun its downward career, + and it is only very lately, owing to causes which are too novel and + peculiar to be intelligently discussed as yet, that our flag is once more + promising to compete against that of England. + </p> + <p> + It would be misleading to say, however, that my father was not interested + in his consulate work; there was a practical side in him which took hold + of the business in man-fashion, and transacted it so efficiently as to + leave no room for criticism, and nobody can produce voluntary effects + without feeling in himself a reaction from them. He had occasion to look + into the privacy of many human hearts, to pity them and advise them, and + from such services and insights he no doubt obtained a residue of wisdom + which might be applied to his own ulterior uses. These were indirect and + incidental issues; but from the consulate qua consulate Hawthorne was + radically alien, and when he quitted it, he carried away with him no taint + or trace of it. As he says in his remarks upon the subject, he soon came + to doubt whether it were actually himself who had been the incumbent of + the office at all. + </p> + <p> + But Providence does not deny manna to man in his extremity, and to my + father it came in the shape of a few English friends, and in occasional + escapes from the office into the outside England where, after the + centuries of separation, he found so much with which he could still feel + profoundly akin. His most constant friendly visitor was Henry A. Bright, a + university man, the son of a wealthy local merchant, who sent ships to + Australia, and was related (as most agreeable Englishmen are—though + there are shining exceptions) to the aristocratic class. Bright, at this + time, could not have been over thirty years of age; he was intensely + English, though his slender figure and mental vivacity might make him seem + near to the conventional American type. But through him, as through an + open window, Hawthorne was enabled to see far into the very heart of + England. Bright not merely knew England; he was England, and England at + its best, and therefore also at its most insular and prejudiced. It was + unspeakably satisfying and agreeable to encounter a man at once so + uncompromising and so amiable, so wrong-headed (from the American point of + view) and so right-hearted. He was drawn to my father as iron is drawn to + the magnet; on every outward point they fought each other like the knight + errants of old, while agreeing inwardly, beneath the surface of things, as + few friends are able to agree. Each admired the other's onslaughts and his + prowess, and, by way of testifying his admiration, strove to excel himself + in his counter attacks. The debate was always beginning, and in the nature + of things it could never end; the effect of their blows was only to hammer + each the other more firmly into his previous convictions. Probably all the + things that are English and all the things that are American never before + or since received such full and trenchant exposition as was given them by + Hawthorne and by Bright. The whole subject of monarchy and aristocracy as + against republicanism and democracy was threshed out to the last kernel by + champions each of whom was thoroughly qualified to vindicate his cause. + Each, constrained by the stress of battle to analyze and expound his + beliefs more punctually than ever before, thereby convinced himself while + leaving his adversary undaunted; and, of course, both were right. For this + world is so constituted that two things incompatible in outward + manifestation may in their roots be one and the same, and equally appeal + to the suffrages of honest men. England and America are healthy and + vigorous in proportion as they differ from each other, and a morbid and + vicious tendency in either is noticeable the moment either begins to take + a leaf from the other's book. My father and Bright could not have been the + lifelong friends that they were had either of them yielded his point or + stooped to compromise. + </p> + <p> + Apart from political matters, and such social themes as were nearly allied + to them, the two friends had many points of agreement and sympathy. Bright + had from the first been an ardent and intelligent admirer of the + romancer's writings, and though they might often differ in their estimates + of individual works, they were in hearty accord as to the principles which + underlie all literature and art. Upon matters relating to society, my + father was more apt to accept theories which Bright might propound than to + permit of their being illustrated in his own person; he would admit, for + example, that a consul ought to mingle socially with the people to whom he + was accredited; but when it came to getting him out to dinner, in evening + dress and with a speech in prospect, obstacles started up like the armed + progeny of the Dragon's Teeth. For, though no one enjoyed real society + more than he did, he was ardently averse from conversing as an official + with persons between whom and himself as a man there could be little + sympathy. Almost as much, too, did he dislike to meet the polite world + merely on the basis of the books that he had written, which his + entertainers were bound to praise whether or not they had read or + comprehended them, and to whose well-meant but inexpert eulogies he must + constantly respond with the threadbare and pathetic phrase, "I'm glad you + liked it." Bright, of course, insisted that fame and position carried + obligations which must be met, and he was constantly laying plots to + inveigle or surprise his friend into compliance. He often succeeded, but + he failed quite as frequently, so that, as a Mrs. Malaprop might have + said, Hawthorne as a social lion was a rara avis, from first to last. The + foible of artificial, as distinguished from spontaneous, society is that + it so seldom achieves simple human relations. + </p> + <p> + Another chief friend of his was Francis Bennoch. England would never have + seemed "our old home" to my father, without the presence and companionship + of these two men. Both had literary leanings, both were genial, true, and + faithful; but in other respects they were widely dissimilar. Bright was of + the pure Saxon type; Bennoch represented Great Britain at large; there + were mingled in him English, Irish, and Scotch ancestry. In himself he was + a superb specimen of a human being; broad-shouldered, straight, and + vigorous, massive but active, with a mellow, joyful voice, an inimitable + brogue, sparkling black eyes full of hearty sunshine and kindness, a broad + and high forehead over bushy brows, and black, wavy hair. He bubbled over + with high spirits, humor, and poetry, being, indeed, a poet in + achievement, with a printed and bound volume to show for it—songs, + lyrics, and narrative poems, composed in the spirit of Burns and Scott. He + was at this time one of the handsomest men in England, with a great heart, + warmer than any summer England ever knew, and a soul of ardor and courage, + which sent through his face continual flashes of sympathy and fellowship. + One naturally thought and spoke of him in superlatives; he was the + kindest, jolliest, most hospitable, most generous and chivalrous of men, + and his affection and admiration for my father were also of the + superlative kind. He had made a fortune in the wool business, and had an + office in Wood Street, London; but his affairs permitted him to make + frequent excursions to Liverpool, and to act as his American friend's + guide and cicerone to many places in England which would otherwise have + been unknown to him. My father enjoyed these trips immensely; Bennoch's + companionship gave the right keynote and atmosphere to the sights they + saw. A real Englishman owns his country, and does the honors of it to a + visitor as if it were his private estate. Discussions of politics and of + the principles of government never arose between these two, as they did + between my father and Bright; for Bennoch, though one of the most loyal + and enthusiastic of her Majesty's subjects, and full of traditional + respect for the British nobility, was by nature broadly democratic, and + met every man as an equal and a brother. One often finds this + contradiction in Englishmen; but it is such logically only. A man born to + the traditions of monarchy and aristocracy accepts them as the natural + background of his ideas, just as the English landscape is the setting of + his house and park; he will vindicate them if assailed; but ordinarily + they do not consciously affect his mental activities, and he will talk + good republicanism without being aware of it. The monarchy is a + decoration, a sentiment, a habit; as a matter of fact, England is more + democratic in many essentials than we have as yet learned how to be. + Bennoch was not a university man, and lacked the historical consciousness + that Bright so assiduously cultivated; he lived by feeling and intuition + more than by deliberate intellectual judgments. He was emotional; tears + would start to his eyes at a touch of pathos or pity, as readily as the + laughter of a moment before. So lovable, gallant, honest, boyish a man is + seldom born into this modern world-boyish as only the manliest men can be. + He died thirty years after the time I write of, the same fresh and ardent + character as ever, and loving and serving Hawthorne's children for + Hawthorne's sake. I shall have occasion to mention him hereafter; but I + have dwelt upon him here, both because he made it forever impossible for + any one who knew him well to do other than love the land which could breed + such a man, and because, for the American Hawthorne, he was as a + hospitable gate-way through which the England of his dreams and imaginings + was entered upon as a concrete and delightful reality. + </p> + <p> + With Bright and Bennoch on his right hand and on his left, then, my father + began his English experience. The two are frequently mentioned in his + English journals, and Bennoch figures as one of the subordinate characters + in the posthumous romance called Doctor Grimshawe's Secret. It is but a + sketch of him, however, and considerably modified from the brilliant and + energetic reality. Meanwhile the consul began to accustom himself to the + routine of the consulate, and his family, leaving the sombre + respectability of the Waterloo Hotel, moved, first, to the hospitable + boarding-house of Mrs. Blodgett, and afterwards to a private dwelling in + Rock Park, Rock Ferry, on the opposite side of the Mersey, where we were + destined to dwell for several years. They were years full of events very + trifling in themselves, but so utterly different from everything American + as to stamp themselves upon the attention and the memory. It is the + trifling things that tell, and give character to nations; extraordinary + things may occur anywhere, and possess little national flavor. In another + chapter I will attempt some portrayal of this English life of fifty years + since. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Patricians and plebeians—The discomforts of democracy— + Varieties of equality—Social rights of beggars—The coming + peril—Being dragged to the rich—Frankness of vulgarity and + hopelessness of destitution—Villages rooted in the + landscape—Evanescence of the spiritual and survival of the + material—"Of Bebbington the holy peak"—The Old Yew of + Eastham—Malice—prepense interest—History and afternoon + tea—An East-Indian Englishman—The merchantman sticks in + the mud—A poetical man of the world—Likeness to + Longfellow—Real breakfasts—Heads and stomachs—A poet- + pugilist—Clean-cut, cold, gentle, dry—A respectable female + atheist—The tragedy of the red ants—Voluptuous struggles— + A psalm of praise. +</pre> + <p> + In a country whose ruling principle is caste, it might be expected that + the line of cleavage between the upper and the lower grades would be + punctually observed. It is assumed that democracy levels and aristocracy + distinguishes and separates. My father was not long in remarking, however, + that there was a freedom of intercourse between the patrician and the + plebeian—between people of all orders—such as did not exist in + America. And the fact, once perceived, was not difficult of explanation. + In a monarchy of a thousand years' standing, every individual knows his + place in the social scale and never thinks of leaving it. He represents a + fixed function or element in the general organism, and holds to it as a + matter of course, just as, in the human body, the body does not aspire to + be the head, nor the liver or heart to take the place of lungs or stomach. + The laborer looks back upon an ancestry of laborers; the shopkeeper has + been a shopkeeper for unnumbered generations; the artisan on the bench + to-day does the same work that his father and grandfathers did before him; + the noble inherits his acres as inevitably as the sun rises, and sits in + the House of Lords by immemorial usage and privilege. Social position all + along the line being thus anchored in the nature of things, as it were, + there is no anxiety on any one's part as to maintaining his status. He is + secure where he is, and nothing and nobody can change him. There is no + individual striving to rise nor fear to fall. Consequently there can and + must be entire freedom of mutual conversation; the marquis with a revenue + of half a million a year meets as an equal his gardener who gets ten + pounds a month, and the tailor in his measuring-room offers a glass of + sherry to his noble patron who comes to him for a new coat. Each is at his + ease, conscious that he performs a use and fills a place which no one else + can fill or perform, and that nothing else matters. The population is a + vast mutual-benefit association, without envy on the one side or contempt + on the other. And social existence moves as smoothly as a well-oiled and + adjusted machine. + </p> + <p> + This agreeable condition is impossible in a democracy—at all events, + in a democracy like ours, which is based upon the assumption that all men + are equal. Nevertheless, we are on the right track, and the English are on + the wrong one; for the agreeable English system obstructs the insensible + infiltration of fresh material into old forms, which is essential to the + continued health of the latter; while the democracy, on the other hand, + will gradually learn that it is just as honorable and desirable to be a + good shoemaker, for example, as a good millionaire; that human life, in + short, is a complex of countless different uses, each one of which is as + important on its own plane as any of the others. But the intermediate + period is undeniably irksome. + </p> + <p> + So my father noticed, not without a certain satisfaction, that even + beggars, in England, are not looked down upon, and that their rights, such + as they are, are recognized. In the steamboat waiting-room at Rock Ferry, + and in the boats themselves, he saw tramps and mendicants take the best + place at the fire or on the companion-way without rebuke and without + consciousness of presumption, and he saw the landlord of a hotel, with a + fortune of six hundred thousand pounds, wait at table as deferentially as + any footman in his employ. He was struck by the contentment with which, in + winter, women went barefoot in the streets, and by the unpretentious + composure with which the common herd, on holidays, disported themselves in + public, not seeking to disguise their native vulgarity and shabbiness. At + the same time, he could not help a misgiving that the portentous + inequality between rich and poor must finally breed disaster; the secluded + luxury of the rich was too strongly contrasted with the desperate needs of + the poor. This contrast was very marked in England fifty years ago, and + was comparatively unknown in our own country—though to-day we can + hardly lay to our souls the nattering unction of such a difference. The + rage for wealth has done for us in a generation what caste did for England + in a thousand years. + </p> + <p> + My father, when opportunity offered, was always finding himself among the + poor and their dwellings; he had to be dragged to the rich, though among + them, too, he found, when brought in contact with them, many interesting + points of dissimilarity from ourselves. His office as consul naturally + took him often to the police courts, where magistrates passed upon the + squalid cases cited before them, and in the consulate itself he saw + specimens enough of human crime and misery. He visited the poor-house and + the insane asylum, he was approached by swindlers of all types, and often + he went to fairs and other resorts of public out-door amusement and + watched the unwashed populace at its play. Beggars followed him on the + streets, awaited him in their chosen coigns of vantage on the corners, or + haunted him on the ferry-boat that took him each day from his home to his + office. Wherever he encountered the forsaken of fortune, he found food for + sympathy, and, in spite of assurances that he was only encouraging + mendicancy, he often gave them money. It was hard for him to believe that + there could be abject poverty where there was work for all, and the appeal + of man in want to man in plenty was too strong for him easily to resist + it. He liked the very frankness of vulgarity and hopeless destitution of + these people, and was appalled by the simplicity with which they accepted + things as they were. There was no restlessness, as in America—no + protest against fate. It was harrowing enough to see conditions so + miserable; it was intolerable to see them acquiesced in by the victims as + inevitable. He learned, after a while, to harden himself somewhat against + manifest imposition; but the refusal to give cost him quite as much in + discomfort as giving did in purse. + </p> + <p> + The country villages and cottages, however, afforded him compensating + pleasure. In the neighborhood of Rock Ferry, on the shore of the Mersey + opposite from Liverpool, there were two or three ancient little + settlements which he loved to visit. The thatched and whitewashed + cottages, with their tiny gardens of hollyhocks and marigolds, seemed like + parts of the framework of the land; the passage of centuries only served + to weld them more firmly in their places. The villages were massed + together, each in a small space, instead of being dispread loosely over a + township, as in his native New England, and enduring stone and plaster + took the place of timber and shingles. But the churches, small and + fabulously ancient, affected him most. He placed his hand on stones which + had been set in place before William the Conqueror landed in England, and + this physical survival seemed to bring into his actual presence the long + succession of all the intervening ages. These structures, still so solid + and serviceable, had witnessed the passing of the entire procession of + English history; all the mighty men and events of her career had come and + gone while they remained unscathed. Under his feet were the graves of the + unknown dead; within the narrow precincts he inhaled that strange, antique + odor of mortality that made him feel as if he were breathing the air of + long-dead centuries. This apparent evanescence of the spiritual attested + by the survival of the material is one of the most singular and impressive + of sensations; it takes history out of the realm of the mind, and brings + it into sensible manifestation. It is almost as affecting as if the very + figures of departed actors of former ages were to reappear and rub + shoulders with us of today, and cast their shadows in the contemporary + sunshine. + </p> + <p> + On most of these walks in the neighborhood of Rock Ferry I was my father's + companion, but, though my legs could march beside his, my mental-equipment + could not participate in his meditations. He would occasionally make some + half-playful, imaginative remark, calculated to help me realize the + situation that was so vividly present to himself. His thoughts, however + deep, were always ready to break into playfulness outwardly. We often + walked through the village of Bebbington, whose church had a high stone + steeple, nearly to the summit of which the ancient ivy had clambered. And + as it came in view he would always say, in a sort of recitative, perhaps + reminiscent of Scott's narrative poems, which he was at that time reading + aloud to us, "There is of Bebbington the holy peak!" To which I would as + constantly rejoin, "'Of Bebbington the holy spire,' father!"—being + offended by his use of a word so unmusical as peak. He would only smile + and trudge onward. He was somewhat solicitous, I suspect, to check in his + son any tendency towards mere poetical sentiment; his own imaginative + faculty was rooted in common-sense, and he knew the value of the latter in + curbing undue excursions into the fanciful and transcendental. + </p> + <p> + In Eastham, on the village green, stood an old yew-tree which, six + centuries before, had been traditionally called The Old Yew of Eastham, + and was probably at least coeval with the village itself, which was one of + the oldest in England. It was of enormous girth, and was still in leaf; + but nothing but the bark was left of the great trunk; all the wood had + decayed away so long ago that the memory of man held no record of it. + There was a great conical gap in one side, like an open door, and it was + my custom—as it had doubtless been that of innumerable children of + ages gone—to enter this door and "play house" in the spacious + interior. Meanwhile my father would seat himself on the twisted roots + without, and let his thoughts drift back to the time when this huge hulk + had first cast a slender shadow over the greensward of primitive, Saxon + England. It was a massive tree before the Domesday Book was begun; Chaucer + would not be heard of for four hundred years to come; and where was + Shakespeare? What was suspected of America? Yet here was this venerable + vegetable, still with life enough left in it, perhaps, to see the end of + English monarchy. The yew was a fact; but the ghosts were the reality, + after all. + </p> + <p> + These obscure village antiquities, which had no special history attaching + to them, were in a way more impressive than the great ruins of England, + which had formed the scene and background of famous events. The latter had + become conventional sights, which the tourist felt bound to inspect under + the voluble and exasperating guidance of a professional showman; and this + malice-prepense sort of interest and picturesqueness always tried + Hawthorne's patience and sympathy a little. It is the unknown past that is + most fascinating, that comes home closest to the heart. The things told of + in history books are hackneyed, and they partake of the unreality inherent + in the descriptions of the writers. But the unrecorded things are virgin, + and enter into our most private sympathies and realization. My father + viewed and duly admired the great castles, palaces, and cathedrals of + England; but he loved the old villages and their appurtenances, and could + dream dreams more moving under the shadow of Eastham Yew than in + Westminster Abbey itself. + </p> + <p> + The historic houses and country-seats which were still inhabited were + still more difficult to get in touch with from the historic point of view; + the present dazzled the past out of sight. One was told who built this + facade, who added that wing, who was imprisoned in yonder tower; where + Queen Elizabeth slept, and the foot of what martyr imprinted the Bloody + Footstep on the threshold. + </p> + <p> + But you listened to these tales over a cup of tea in the drawing-room, or + between the soup and the roast beef at the dinner-table, and they were not + convincing. How were these ruddy-cheeked, full-bodied, hospitable + personages who sat about you to be held compatible with the romantic + periods and characters that they described? The duck and the green pease, + the plum-pudding and the port, the white neck-cloths and the bare necks + were too immediate and potent. In many cases, too, the denizens of the + ancient houses were not lineal descendants of the original founders; they + were interlopers, by purchase or otherwise. In themselves they were kind + and agreeable, their manners were excellent, they helped one to comprehend + the England of the passing moment; but they only clipped the wings of + imagination and retrospect. It was only after an interval of some years + that Hawthorne was able so far to recover from the effect of their + obtrusive existence as to be able to see through them and beyond them to + the splendid and gloomy vistas in front of which they were grouped. + </p> + <p> + Yet England, past and present, rich and poor, real and ideal, did somehow + enter into him and become a part of his permanent consciousness, and he + liked it better than anything else he had known. Even the social life, + though he came to it under some compulsion, rewarded him in the long run. + One of the first personal invitations was to the country-seat of the + Brights, where he met the family and relatives of his friend Henry Bright. + Bright's father was a remarkable figure; he resembled an East-Indian more + than an Englishman. He was dark, slender, courteous, and vivid; in long + after-years I saw Brahmins like him in India. I would liken him to a + rajah, except that rajahs of his age are commonly become gross and heavy + from indulgence, whereas he had an almost ascetic aspect. His manners were + singularly soft and caressing; he courted his wife, when he returned each + day from business, as if they were still in their honeymoon, and his + conduct towards all who surrounded him was similarly polished. He did not + in the least resemble his Saxon son; and for my part, looking at him from + the primitive boy stand-point, I never suspected that he was related to my + father's young friend. He had made a fortune in colonial trade, and may + possibly have been born in India. At this juncture the dealings of his + firm were chiefly with Australia, and the largest merchant steamship then + in the world had just been built for them, and Hawthorne was invited to + the launching. For a British merchant prince such an occasion could not + but be of supreme importance and pride. Mr. Bright's Oriental visage was + radiant; his white hair seemed to shine with an added lustre; the reserve + of the Englishman was forgotten, and he showed the excitement and emotion + that he felt. There was a distinguished company on the great deck to + witness his triumph and congratulate him upon it. All went well; at the + appointed signal the retaining obstructions were cut away, and the mighty + vessel began its descent into the waiting river. A lady of his family + smashed a bottle of wine over the graceful bows. For a few moments there + was a majestic, sweeping movement downward; then, of a sudden, it was + checked. It was as if a great life had been quenched at the instant when + its heart first began to throb. A murmur of dismay ran through the + assemblage; but it was in the face of Mr. Bright that the full tragedy of + the disaster was displayed. Never was seen a swifter change from the + highest exultation to the depths of consternation. The color left his + cheeks; heavy lines appeared about his handsome mouth; his eyes became + fixed, and seemed to sink into his head; his erect figure drooped like + that of one who has received a mortal blow. It was only that the ship had + stuck in the deep mud of the river bottom; but all ship-owners are + superstitious, and the old man foreboded the worst. The ship was floated + again some days later; but the omens were fulfilled; she was lost on her + first voyage. I do not remember seeing Mr. Bright after this event, but I + know he never again was the same man as before. + </p> + <p> + Richard Monckton Milnes, who was afterwards Lord Houghton, was greatly + attracted towards my father, who liked him; but circumstances prevented + their seeing much of each other. Milnes was then forty-five years old; he + was a Cambridge man, and intimate with Tennyson, Hallam, and other men of + literary mark, and he was himself a minor poet, and warm in the cause of + literature. During his parliamentary career, in 1837, he was instrumental + in passing the copyright act. He had travelled in Greece and Italy in his + twenties; was fond of society, and society of him. A more urbane and + attractive English gentleman did not exist; everything that a civilized + man could care for was at his disposal, and he made the most of his + opportunities. His manners were quiet and cordial, with a touch of romance + and poetry mingling with the man-of-the-world tone in his conversation, + and he was quite an emotional man. I have more than once seen tears in his + eyes and heard a sob in his voice when matters that touched his heart or + imagination were discussed. There was, indeed, a vein of sadness and + pessimism in Milnes, though only his intimates were aware of it; it was + the pessimism of a man who has too much leisure for intellectual analysis + and not enough actual work to do to keep him occupied. It lent a fine + flavor of irony to some of his conversation. He was liberal in politics + and liberal in his attitude towards life in general; but there was not + force enough in him, or, at any rate, not stimulus enough, to lift him to + distinction. Some of his poems, however, betrayed a deep and radical vein + of thought. He was of middle height, well made, light built, with a large + and well-formed head and wavy, dark hair. His likeness to Longfellow was + marked, though he was hardly so handsome a man; but the type of head and + face was the same—the forehead and brain well developed, the lower + parts of the countenance small and refined, though sensuous. His eyes were + dark, brilliant, and expressive. He, like the old poet Rogers, made a + feature of giving breakfasts to chosen friends, and as he had the whole + social world to choose from, and unfailing good taste, his breakfasts were + well worth attending. They were real breakfasts—so far as the hour + was concerned—not lunches or early dinners in masquerade; but wine + was served at them, and Milnes was very hospitable and had an Anacreontic + or Omar touch in him. To breakfast with him, therefore, meant—unless + you were singularly abstemious and strong-minded—to discount the + remaining meals of the day. But the amount of good cheer that an + Englishman can carry and seem not obscured by it surprises an American. A + bottle or so of hock of a morning will make most Americans feel that + business, for the rest of that day, is an iridescent dream; but an + Englishman does not seem to be burdened by it—at any rate, he did + not fifty years ago. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES] + </p> + <p> + Another hearty companion was Bryan Waller Procter, who, for literary uses, + anagrammed his name into Barry Cornwall, and made it famous, fifty years + ago, as that of the best song-writer in contemporary England. But he had + made a literary reputation before the epoch of his songs; there were four + or five dramatic and narrative poems to his credit published during the + first quarter of the last century. Procter was, indeed, already a veteran + in 1854, having been born in 1787, and bred to the bar, to which he was + admitted in 1831. But he spent the active thirty years of his life in the + discharge of that function which seems often sought by respectable + Englishmen-commissioner of lunacy. He sent my father a small volume + containing the Songs, and some fragments; they fully deserved their + reputation. The fragments were mostly scraps of dramatic dialogue, of + which one at least sticks in my memory: + </p> + <p> + "She was a princess; but she fell; and now Her shame goes blushing down a + line of kings." + </p> + <p> + As I recollect him, he may have looked like a commissioner of lunacy, but + he did not look like a poet; he was rather undersized, with a compact head + and a solemn face, and the quietest, most unobtrusive bearing imaginable. + He was a well-made little man, and he lived to a great age, dying some + time in the seventies, at the age of eighty-seven. He told my father that + after leaving Harrow School he was distinguished in athletics, and for a + time sparred in public with some professional bruiser. He had been a + school-mate of Byron and Sir Robert Peel, and had known Lamb, Kean, and + the other lights of that generation. He was a most likeable and + remunerative companion. His wife, who survived him (living, I think, to be + over ninety), was a woman of intellect and charm, and she retained her + attractiveness to the end of her life. There are poets who are consumed + early by their own fires, and others who are gently warmed by them beyond + the common span of human existence, and Barry Cornwall was one of these, + and transmitted his faculty, through sympathetic affection, to his wife. + </p> + <p> + Of renown not less than the song-writer's was the metaphysical theologian, + James Martineau, then in the Liverpool epoch of his career. He was a + clean-cut, cold, gentle, dry character, with a somewhat Emersonian cast of + countenance, but with the Emersonian humanity and humility left out. Like + Emerson, he had ascended a Unitarian pulpit, but, unlike Emerson, he + stayed there long after what he was pleased to regard as his convictions + had ceased to possess even a Unitarian degree of religious quality. He was + always apostolic in his manner, and his utterances were ex cathedra, and + yet his whole long life was a story of changing views on the subjects he + had chosen to be the theme of his career. + </p> + <p> + He was the great opponent of orthodoxy in his day, yet he led his + followers to no goal more explicit than might be surmised from a study of + Kant and Hegel. He was, however, sincere in his devotion to the + will-o'-the-wisp that he conceived to be the truth, and he was courageous + enough to admit that he never satisfied himself. There was chilly and + austere attraction about the man; he was so elevated and superior that one + could hardly help believing that he must know something of value, and this + illusion was the easier because he did know so much in the way of + scholarly learning. My father felt respect for his character, but was + bored by his metaphysics—a form of intellectual athletics which he + had exhausted while still a young man. James's sister Harriet was also of + the company. She was so deaf as to be obliged to use an ear-trumpet, and + she was as positive in her views (which had become avowedly atheistic) as + her brother, and whenever any one began to utter anything with which she + disagreed, she silenced him by the simple expedient of dropping the + ear-trumpet. In herself, she was an agreeable old lady; but she seldom let + her opinions rest long enough for one to get at her on the merely human + side, and she cultivated a retired life, partly on account of her + deafness, partly because her opinions made society shy of her, and partly + because she did not think society worth her time and attention. She was a + good woman, with a mind of exceptional caliber, but the world admired more + than it desired her. + </p> + <p> + As a relief from the consideration of these exalted personages, I am + disposed to relate a tragic anecdote about our friend Henry Bright. Early + in our Rock Ferry residence he came to dine with us—or I rather + think it was to supper. At any rate, it was an informal occasion, and the + children were admitted to table. My mother had in the cupboard a jar of + excellent raspberry jam, and she brought it forth for the delectation of + our guest. He partook of it liberally, and said he had never eaten any jam + so good; it had a particular tang to it, he declared, which outdid his + best recollections of all previous raspberry jam from his boyhood up. + While he was in the midst of these rhapsodies, and still consuming their + subject with enthusiasm, my mother, who had taken some of the jam on her + own plate, suddenly made a ghastly discovery. The jam-pot had been for + several days standing in the cupboard with its top off, or ajar, and an + innumerable colony of almost microscopic red ants had discovered it, and + launched themselves fervently upon it and into it; it had held them fast + in its sweet but fatal embrace, and other myriads had followed their + fellows into the same delicious and destructive abyss. What the precise + color of the ants may have been before they became incorporate with the + jam is not known; but as the case was, they could be distinguished from it + only by their voluptuous struggles in its controlling stickiness. Only the + keenest eye could discern them, and the eyes of Henry Bright were among + the most near-sighted in England. Besides, according to his custom, he was + talking with the utmost volubility all the time. + </p> + <p> + What was to be done? My father and mother stealthily exchanged an awful + look, and the question was settled. It was too late to recall the ants + which our friend had devoured by tens of thousands. It seemed not probable + that, were he kept in ignorance of his predicament, they would do him any + serious bodily injury; whereas, were he enlightened, imagination might get + in her fatal work. Accordingly, a rigorous silence upon the subject was + maintained, and the dear innocent actually devoured nearly that whole + potful of red ants, accompanying the meal with a continual psalm of praise + of their exquisite flavor; and never till the day of his death did he + suspect what the secret of that flavor was. I believe the Chinese eat ants + and regard them as a luxury. Very likely they are right; but at that + period of my boyhood I had not heard of this, and then and often + afterwards did I meditate with misgivings upon the predicament of Henry + Bright's stomach after his banquet. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Life in Rock Park—Inconvenient independence of lodgings— + The average man—"How many gardeners have you got?"— + Shielded by rose-leaves of culture and refinement—The + English middle class—Prejudice, complacency, and Burke's + Peerage—Never heard of Tennyson or Browning—Satisfaction + in the solid earth—A bond of fellowship—A damp, winding, + verdurous street—The parent of stucco villas—Inactivity of + individual conscience—A plateau and a cliff-dwelling—"The + Campbells are Coming!"—Sortes Virgiliance—A division in + the family—Precaution against famine—English praying and + card-playing—Exercise for mind and body—Knight-errantry— + Sentimentality and mawkishness—The policeman and the + cobbler—A profound truth—Fireworks by lamplight—Mr. + Squarey and Mrs. Roundey—Sandford and Merton—The ball of + jolly. +</pre> + <p> + That life at Rock Park had in it more unadulterated English quality than + any other with which we became conversant while in England. With the + exception of a short sojourn in Leamington, it was the only experience + vouchsafed us of renting a house. All the rest of the time we lived in + lodging or boarding houses, or in hotels. The boarding-houses of England + are like other boarding-houses; the hotels, or inns, in the middle of the + last century, were for the most part plain and homely compared with what + we have latterly been used to; but the English lodging-house system had + peculiarities. You enjoyed independence, but you paid for it with + inconveniences. The owner of the house furnished you with nothing except + the house, with its dingy beds, chairs, tables, and carpets. Everything + else necessary to existence you got for yourself. You made your own + contracts with butcher, baker, and grocer. You did your own firing and + lighting. Your sole conversation with the owner was over the weekly bill + for the rooms. You might cater to yourself to the tune of the prince or of + the pauper, as your means or your inclination suggested, but you must do + it upon the background of the same dingy rooms. Dingy or not so dingy, the + rooms, of course, never fitted you; they were a Procrustes bed, always + incompatible, in one way or in another, with the proportions which nature + had bestowed upon you. You wondered, in your misanthropic moments, whether + there ever was or could be any one whom English lodgings would exactly + fit. Probably they were designed for the average man, a person, as we all + know, who exists only in the imagination of statisticians. And if the + environment shows the man, one cannot help rejoicing that there is so + little likelihood of one's forming the average man's acquaintance. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing peculiar about rented houses in England beyond the + innate peculiarities attaching to them as English. If the house were + unfurnished, and you had leisure to pick and choose, you might suit + yourself tolerably well, always with the proviso that things English could + be suitable to the foreigner. And certainly, in the 1850's, the English + commanded living conditions more desirable, on the whole, than Americans + did. They understood comfort, as distinct from luxury—a pitch of + civilization to which we are even now but just attaining. There was not + then, and until the millennium there will probably never be, anything else + in the world which so ministered to physical ease and general satisfaction + as did the conditions of life among the English upper classes. Kublai + Khan, in Xanadu, never devised a pleasure-dome so alluring to mere human + nature-especially the English variety of it—as was afforded by an + English nobleman's country-seat. Tennyson's Palace of Art is very good in + poetry, but in real life the most imaginative and energetic real-estate + dealer could not have got so good a price for it as would gladly have been + paid for the dwelling of, for example, the Duke of Westminster. "How many + gardeners have you got?" asked an American Minister of the duke of the + period, after meeting a fresh gardener, during a long afternoon stroll + through the grounds, at each new turn of the path. "Oh, I don't know—I + fancy about forty," replied the duke, somewhat taken aback by this demand + for precise information concerning the facts of his own establishment, + which, until that moment, he probably supposed had been attended to by + Providence. And really, the machinery of life in such a place is so + hidden, it is so nearly automatic, that one might easily believe it to be + operated according to some law of nature. The servants are (or were) so + well trained, they did their jobs so well, that you were conscious only of + their being done; you never saw them a-doing. The thought happened to + cross your mind, of a morning, that you would like to take a drive at + eleven o'clock; you were not aware that you had mentioned the matter; but + at eleven o'clock the carriage was, somehow, at the door. At dinner, the + dishes appeared and disappeared, the courses succeeded one another, + invisibly, or as if by mere fiat of the will; you must be very wide-awake + to catch a footman or butler meddling with the matter. You went up to the + bedroom to change your dress; you came down with it changed; but only by + an effort could you recall the fact that a viewless but supremely + efficient valet had been concerned in the transaction. The coal fire in + the grate needed poking; you glanced away for a moment; when you looked at + the fire again it had been poked—had, to all appearance, poked + itself. And so in all relations; to desire was to get; to picture a + condition was to realize it. You were shielded on every side by + rose-leaves of culture and refinement; all you had to do was to allow your + mind to lapse from one conception to another, and then, lifting your + languorous eyelids, behold! there you were—as Mr. James would say. + </p> + <p> + But I set out to tell not of noblemen's country-seats, but of Rock Park. + Rock Park was one of the typical abodes of the English respectable + middle-class, and the English middle-class, respectable, or not altogether + respectable, is the substance of England. Not until you have felt and + smelt and tasted that do you know what England really is. Fifty years ago, + the people in question were dull, ignorant, material, selfish, prejudiced, + conventional; they were hospitable, on conventional lines; they were + affable and even social, so long as you did not awaken their prejudices; + they were confidential and communicative, if you conceded at the outset + that England was the best of all countries and the English the leading + nation of the world. They read a newspaper resembling in every particular + themselves; usually several of them united in a subscription to a single + copy, which passed solemnly from hand to hand. They were slow and + methodical, never taking short-cuts across lots; but they were punctual; + they knew their own business and business associates, their circle of + relatives, their dwelling and social place, and Burke's Peerage; but they + knew nothing else. In a group of intelligent persons of this degree, + question was raised, once upon a time, of two English poets; but not one + of the group had heard of either; the poets were Alfred Tennyson and + Robert Browning. This may seem merely absurd or apocryphal; but consider + the terrible power of concentration which it implies! And consider the + effect which the impact against such a clay wall must make upon a man and + an American like my father! + </p> + <p> + Well, the very surprise and novelty of the adventure amused and interested + him, and even won a good deal upon his sympathies. He loved the solid + earth as well as the sky above it, and he was glad of the assurance that + this people existed, though he might be devoutly thankful that two hundred + years of America had opened so impassable a gulf between him and them. + Indeed, the very fact of that impassability may have made his intercourse + with them the easier—at any rate, on his side. On their side, they + regarded him with a dim but always self-complacent curiosity; had he not + been a consul, they would probably not have regarded him at all. Of course + they—the Rock Park sort of people—had never read his books; + literary cultivation was not to be found in England lower down than the + gentleman class. My father, therefore, was never obliged to say, "I'm glad + you liked it" to them. And that relief, of itself, must have served as a + substantial bond of fellowship. + </p> + <p> + Rock Park, as I remember it, was a damp, winding, verdurous street, + protected at each end by a small granite lodge, and studded throughout its + length with stuccoed villas. The villas were mended-on to each other (as + one of the children expressed it) two and two; they had front yards filled + with ornamental shrubbery, and gardens at the back, an acre or two in + extent; they were fenced in with iron pickets, and there were gates to the + driveways, on which the children swung. Every normal child supposes that + gates are made for no other purpose. The trees were not large, but there + were many of them, and they were thick with leaves. There was a damp, + arboreal smell everywhere, mingled with the finer perfume of flowers and + of the hawthorns and yellow laburnums. Flowers, especially purple English + violets, grew profusely in the gardens, and gooseberry-bushes, bearing + immense gooseberries such as our climate does not nourish. There were also + armies of garden—snails, handsome gasteropods, which were of great + interest to me; for I was entering, at this period, upon a passionate + pursuit of natural history. For many years I supposed that the odor of the + violets proceeded from snails, and to this day I always associate snails + with violets, or vice versa. Una, Rose, and I were given each a section of + a garden-bed for our own; I cultivated mine so assiduously that it became + quite a deep hole; but I do not recall that anything ever grew in it. The + soil was a very rich loam, and ceaseless diligence must have been required + in me to keep it barren. + </p> + <p> + Gray skies, frequent showers, a cool or semi-chilly mildness, varied every + little while by the intrusion of a yellow fog from Liverpool, over the + river—such was the climate of Rock Park. There were occasional + passages of sunshine; but never, that I recollect, an entire day of it. + The stucco of the villas was streaked with green dampness, and peeling off + here and there. I suspect that the fashion of castellated, stuccoed villas + may have been set in the eighteenth century by Horace Walpole when he + built that marvellous edifice known as Strawberry Hill. I first saw that + achievement twenty years after the time of which I now write, and + recognized in it, as I thought, the parent of my former Rock Park home and + of innumerable of the latter's kindred. Strawberry Hill is sprawling and + vast, the progeny are liliputian, but the family likeness is striking. The + idea is to build something which shall seem to be all that it is not. The + gray-white stucco pretends to be stone, and the lines of the stone courses + are carefully painted on the roughened surface; but nobody, since Horace's + time, could ever have been deceived by them. The castellated additions and + ornamentation are all bogus, of the cheapest and vulgarest sort. It is + singular that a people so sincere and solid as the English are supposed to + be should adopt this fashion for their dwellings. But then they are used + to follow conventions and adopt fashions set them by those whom they + esteem to be their betters, without thought, or activity of individual + conscience. It is rather matter for wonder, remembering what rascals and + humbugs many of their "betters" have been, that middle-class England is + not more of a whited sepulchre than it is. I do not mean to cast any + reflections upon the admirable and beguiling Horace; but he was a highly + civilized person, and had a brother named Robert, and perhaps solid + sincerity should not be expected from such a combination. + </p> + <p> + Our villa, within, was close and comfortable enough, for its era and + degree; but the furniture was ponderous and ugly to the point of + nightmare. The chairs, tables, and sofas wore the semblance of solid + mahogany, twisted and tortured in a futile struggle to achieve elegance; + the carvings, or mouldings, were screwed or glued on, and the lines of + structure, intended to charm the eye, accomplished only the discomfort of + the body. The dining-table was like a plateau; the sideboard resembled a + cliff-dwelling. The carpets were of the Brussels ilk: acanthus-leaves and + roses and dahlias wreathed in inextricable convolutions, glowing with the + brightest and most uncompromising hues. The lace curtains were imitation + lace; the damask curtains were imitation damask. The bedsteads.... But + this is not a History of England. After all, we were snug and comfortable. + On the walls were portraits of the family whose house this was; by name, + Campbell; the house-painter, or wood-grainer, one would suppose, had a + leaning towards this branch of art. I never saw the originals of these + portraits, but, upon the assumption that they had been faithfully + interpreted by the artist, I used to think, in my childish folly, that the + refrain of the old song, "The Campbells are Coming," was meant as a phrase + or threat to frighten people. Who would not have run upon such an + announcement? As I have already made one confession in these pages not + reflecting credit upon myself, I may as well make another now. Just thirty + years after the events I am describing, somebody wrote to me from Rock + Park, stating that the local inhabitants were desirous of putting up on + the house which Hawthorne had occupied there a marble or bronze slab, + recording the fact for the benefit of pilgrims. The committee, however, + did not know which of three or four houses was the right one, and the + writer enclosed photographs of them all, and requested me to put a cross + over our former habitation. Now, all the houses in Rock Park had been + turned out of the same mould, and I knew no more than my interrogator + which was which. But I reflected that the committee had been put to + trouble and expense for photographs, postage-stamps, and what not, and + that all that was really wanted was something to be sentimental over. So, + rather than disappoint them, I resorted to a kind of sortes Virgillana; I + shut my eyes, turned round thrice, and made a mark at hazard on the line + of photographs. The chances against my having hit it right were only four + to one; the committee were satisfied, the pilgrims have been made happy, + and it is difficult to see where harm has been done. Nevertheless, the + matter has weighed somewhat on my conscience ever since, and I am glad to + have thus lightened myself of it. What would one better do in such + circumstances? Is history written in this way? + </p> + <p> + The custom of our family in America had been to take all our meals + together; but in England the elders take lunch at noon, tea at four or + five, and dinner at seven or eight, while the children dine at noon and + sup at six. This arrangement was adopted in Rock Park. My father used to + leave home for the consulate at nine, and return—unless kept away by + an official or social engagement—at five or six. There was appointed + for us children a nurse or governess, to oversee and administer our + supplies; our father and mother dining, with such guests as might happen + to be present, late in the evening. We were sometimes allowed to come in + at dessert, to eat a few nuts and raisins and exhibit our infantile good + manners. This domestic separation was a matter of much speculation and + curiosity to our immature minds; we used to haunt the hall through which + the servants carried the dishes, smoking and fragrant, from the kitchen to + the dining-room, and once in a while the too-indulgent creatures would + allow us to steal something. How ravishingly delicious things thus + acquired taste! And we, fancying, of course, that they must be not less + delicious for the folks at table, used to marvel how they could ever bear + to leave off eating. The dinners were certainly rather elaborate compared + with the archaic repasts of Salem or of Concord; but they were as far + inferior in grandeur and interminableness to the astonishing banquets at + which, in some great houses, our father and mother were present. Consider, + for example, this dinner, in no way remarkable among such functions, at + the Hollands's, about this time. There were twelve persons at table. The + service was of solid silver; two enormous covers were on the table before + the soup was served; being removed, they revealed turbot and fried fish. + Then followed boiled turkey and roast goose, and between them innumerable + smaller dishes, including chicken-pies, ragouts, cutlets, fricasees, + tongue, and ham, all being placed in their silver receptacles on the + table; on the sideboard was a vast round of boiled beef, as a precaution + against famine. With the sweets were served grouse and pheasants; there + were five kinds of wine, not including the champagne, which was consumed + as a collateral all the way along. The pudding which followed these + trifles was an heroic compound, which Gargantua might have flinched from; + then came the nuts and raisins, then the coffee, then the whiskey and + brandy. There were people in England, half a century ago, who ate this + sort of dinners six or seven times a week, and thought nothing of it. They + actually ate and drank them—did not merely glance at them and shake + their heads. The ancient Scandinavians, Gauls, Saxons, and Normans, of + whom they were descendants, could not have done more. One cannot help + respecting such prodigious trencher-men and women, or wonder that the + poverty-stricken class were ill-fed. Dinner in England had become a very + different thing when I lived there twenty years later, and though port and + Madeira were generally on the table, the only man whom I saw habitually + drink them was Robert Browning! Possibly this is the reason the British + got such a thrashing in South Africa the other day. + </p> + <p> + After dinner at Rock Park—or, if it were to be a late affair, before—we + would have family prayers, in which the servants joined. This was in + deference to English custom; not that we were irreligious, but we had not + before been accustomed to express our religious feelings in just that + manner. All being grouped in a semicircle, my father would open the Bible + and read a chapter; then he would take a prayer-book containing thirty or + forty well-considered addresses to the Almighty, and everybody would kneel + down and cover their eyes with their hands. The "Amen" having been + reached, and echoed by every one, all would rise to their former + positions, and the servants would file out of the room. It must have been + somewhat of an effort for my father to go through this ceremony; but I + think he did it, not only for the reason above mentioned, but also because + he thought it right that his children should have the opportunity of + gaining whatever religious sentiment such proceedings might inculcate. But + I do not think that he had much faith in the practice as an English + institution. Indeed, he has somewhere written that the English "bring + themselves no nearer to God when they pray than when they play cards." + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: ROBERT BROWNING] + </p> + <p> + I understood long afterwards, as I did not at the time, how closely my + father and mother studied in all things the welfare and cultivation of + their children. They were not formal or oppressive about it; all went + pleasantly and with seeming spontaneity, as if in accordance with our own + desire; but we were wisely and needfully guided. We were never sent to + school during our seven years in Europe; but either we were taught our + lessons by our parents at home or by governesses. In addition to the + constant walks which I took with my father, he encouraged me to join a + cricket club in the Park, and sent me to Huguenin's gymnasium in + Liverpool, to the Cornwallis swimming-baths, and to a dancing-academy kept + by a highly ornamental Frenchman, and he bought me an enormous steel hoop, + and set me racing after it at headlong speed. Nor did he neglect to + stimulate us in the imaginative and aesthetic side. From the date of our + settlement in England to the end of his life, he read aloud to us in the + evenings many of the classics of literature. Spenser's The Faerie Queene, + the Don Quixote of Cervantes, the poems and novels of Scott, Grimm's and + Andersen's Fairy Tales, much of Defoe and Swift, Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake + field, Coleridge's Ancient Mariner (he himself was very fond of that + poem), and many other things, and I cannot overestimate the good they did + me. His talks to me during our walks gave me, under the guise of + pleasantry, not so much specific information concerning things (though + that was not wanting), but—character; that is, the questions he put + to me, the remarks and comments he made, the stories he told, were all + calculated to give me a high idea of human duties and aspirations; to + encourage generosity, charity, courage, patriotism, and independence. From + the reading of The Faerie Queene and of Don Quixote I conceived a vehement + infatuation for mediaeval chivalry and knight-errantry; I adopted the + motto of the order, "Be faithful, brave, and true in deed and word"; and I + indulged in waking dreams of heroic adventures in quest of fair renown, + and to succor the oppressed. All this he encouraged and abetted, though + always, too, with a sort of twinkle of the eye, lest I should take myself + too seriously and wax priggish. He permitted me to have a breastplate and + a helmet with a golden dragon crest (made by our nurse out of pasteboard + covered with tinsel-paper), and he bought me a real steel sword with a + brass hilt wrought in open-work; I used to spend hours polishing it, and + picturing to myself the giants and ogres I would slay with it. Finally—with + that humorous arching of the eyebrow of his—he bade me kneel down, + and with my sword smote me on the shoulder, and dubbed me knight, saying, + "Rise up, Sir Julian!" It was worth many set moral homilies to me. He knew + the advantage of leading a boy to regard the practice of boyish and manly + virtues not as a burden but as a privilege and boon, and of making the + boy's own conscience his judge. His handling of the matter was, of course, + modified so as to reach the inner springs of my particular nature and + temperament, which he thoroughly understood. Withal, he never failed to + hold up to ridicule anything showing a tendency to the sentimental; he + would test me on this point in various ways, and always betrayed pleasure + when he found me quick to detect the sentimental or mawkish taint in + literature or life. I breathed a manly, robust, and bracing atmosphere in + his company, and when I reflect upon what were my proclivities to folly + during this impressionable period, I thank my stars for such a father. + </p> + <p> + There was abundant quiet and seclusion in Rock Park, and had my father + been able to do any writing, he could hardly have found a retreat more + suitable. The tradesmen called early at the houses in the Park, their + wagon-wheels making no sound upon the unpaved street, and the two + policemen, who lived in the stone lodges, kept the place free from beggars + and peddlers. These policemen, pacing slowly along in their uniforms, + rigid and dignified, had quite an imposing aspect, and it was some time + before we children discovered that they were only men, after all. Each had + a wife and children, who filled to overflowing the tiny habitations; when + their blue coats and steel-framed hats were off, they were quite humble + persons; one of them eked out his official salary by mending shoes. After + following with awe the progress along the sidewalk of the officer of + public order, stalking with solemn and measured gait, and touching his + hat, with a hand encased in a snow-white cotton glove, to such of the + denizens of the Park as he might encounter, it was quite like a fairy-tale + transformation to see him squatting in soiled shirt-sleeves on his + cobbler's bench, drawing waxed thread through holes in a boot-sole. I once + saw one of them, of a Sunday afternoon, standing at ease in the doorway of + his lodge, clad in an old sack-coat which I recognized as having been my + father's. I am constitutionally reverent of law and order; but the + revelation of the domestic lives of these policemen gave me an insight, + which I have never since lost, into the profound truth that the man and + the officer are twain. + </p> + <p> + There were perhaps twenty families living in the Park, of whom we became + acquainted with two only; the people who lived next door to us (whose name + I have forgotten), and Mr. and Mrs. Squarey, who dwelt higher up the + street. The people next door had two boys of about my own age, with whom I + played cricket, and it was from the back windows of their house that I saw + for the first time an exhibition of fireworks in their garden; I remember + that when, just before the show began, they put out the lamp in the room, + I asked to have it relighted, in order that I might see the as yet + unexperienced wonder. There are folks who go hunting for the sun with a + lantern. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Squarey was tall and stiff of figure, with a singularly square + countenance, with a short whisker on each side of it; but spiritually he + was most affable and obliging; so was his wife; but as she was short and + globular, my father was wont to refer to her, in the privacy of domestic + intercourse, as Mrs. Roundey. They were profuse in invitations to go with + us to places—to Chester, to the Welsh show-places, and so forth; and + although I think my father and mother would rather have gone alone, they + felt constrained to accept these suggestions. It was in their company, at + all events, that I first saw Chester "Rows"; and also, from some coign of + vantage on those delightful old walls, an English horse-race, with jockeys + in silk caps and jackets tinted like the rainbow. Mr. Squarey's demeanor + towards my sisters and myself was like that of the benevolent tutor in + Sandford and Merton, with which excellent work we were very conversant at + that time; as, likewise, with Edgeworth's Parents' Assistant, and with + still another engaging volume called, I think, the Budget of something; at + any rate, it had two or three little boys and girls in it, who were + anxious to acquire useful and curious information on many subjects, which + was afforded them in generous measure by their highly cultivated elders. + Such flower-garlanded instruction was the best specifically juvenile + literature which those primitive ages afforded. "Pray, mamma, why does the + sun rise in the east instead of in the west?" "Pray, papa, why was King + Alfred called 'The Good'?" Mrs. Markham's History of England was + constructed upon the same artless principle. What a distance we have + travelled since then! + </p> + <p> + But it was a good and happy life in Rock Park, and I think our father and + mother enjoyed it almost as much as we children did. They were meeting + people many of whom were delightful—I shall try to paint the + portraits of some of them in the next chapter—and they were seeing + towns and castles and places of historic and picturesque interest; and my + father was earning more money than ever before, though less than a quarter + as much as he would have earned had not Congress, soon after his accession + to office, cut down the emoluments. This was England; the Old Home, and + the Old World, for the understanding of which they had prepared themselves + all their lives previous. My father once said, "If England were all the + world, it would still have been worth while for the Creator to have made + it." The children were radiantly content with their lot; and it is on + record that the little boy once remarked, "I don't remember when I came + down from heaven; but I'm glad I happened to tumble into so good a + family." The same individual, rolling on the floor in excess of mirth over + some childish comicality, panted out, "Oh, mamma, my ball of jolly is so + big I can't breathe!" The ball of jolly became a household word for years + thereafter. It was well nourished in those days. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Cataclysmic adventures—On the trail of dazzling fortunes— + "Lovely, but reprehensible Madham"—The throne saves the + artist—English robin redbreast—A sad and weary old man— + "Most indelicate woman I've ever known"—Perfectly chaste— + Something human stirred dimly—"She loves me; she loves + me!"—The Prince of Wales and half-a-crown—Portentous and + thundering title—Honest English simplicity—"The spirit + lacking"—Abelard, Isaac Newton, and Ruskin—A famous and + charming woman of genius—Deep and wide well of human + sympathy—The whooping-cough. +</pre> + <p> + In the spring of 1854 we were visited by John O'Sullivan, his wife and + mother, and a young relative of theirs, Miss Ella Rogers. O'Sullivan had + been appointed Minister to the Court of Portugal, and was on his way + thither. He was a Democrat of old standing; had edited the Democratic + Review in 1837, and had made my father's acquaintance at that time through + soliciting contributions from him; later they became close friends, and + when my sister Una was born, he sent her a silver cup, and was ever after + called "Uncle John" in the family, and, also, occasionally, "the Count"—a + title which, I believe, had some warrant in his ancestry. For, although an + American, Uncle John was born at sea off the coast of Spain, of an Irish + father and a mother of aristocratic connections or extraction (I am a + little uncertain, I find, on this point); I think her parents were + Italian. Uncle John had all the charming qualities of the nations + mentioned, and none of their objectionable ones; though this is not to say + that he was devoid of tender faults, which were, if anything, more lovable + than his virtues. Beneath a tranquil, comely, and gentle exterior burned + all the fire and romance of the Celt; his faith and enthusiasm in + "projects" knew no bounds; he might be deceived and bankrupted a hundred + times, and would toe the mark the next time with undiminished confidence. + He was continually, and in the quietest way, having the most astonishing + and cataclysmic adventures; he would be blown up, as it were, by a + dynamite explosion, and presently would return from the sky undisturbed, + with only a slight additional sparkle in his soft eyes, and with the lock + of hair that fell gracefully over his forehead only a trifle disordered. + The most courteous and affectionate of men, with the most yielding and + self-effacing manners, he had the spirit of a paladin, and was afraid of + nothing. He would empty his pockets—or if, as too often happened, + they were already empty, he would pledge his credit to help a friend out + of a hole; and, on the other hand, he was always hot upon the trail of a + dazzling fortune, which, like Emerson's Forerunners, never was overtaken. + It would not long have availed him, had it been otherwise, for never was + there a Monte Cristo who lavished wealth as O'Sullivan habitually did in + anticipation, and would undoubtedly have done in fact had the opportunity + been afforded him. He was gifted with a low, melodious, exquisitely + modulated voice, and a most engaging and winning manner, and when he set + out to picture the simple and easy methods whereby he proposed to make + millions, it was next to impossible to resist him. He was like a + beautiful, innocent, brilliant child, grown up, endowed with an + enchanter's wand, which was forever promising all the kingdoms of the + earth to him, but never (as our modern phrase is) delivered the goods. He + regarded my father as a king of men, and he had, times without number, + been on the very edge of making him, as well as himself, a multifold + millionaire. However, President Pierce did what he could for him by giving + him the Portuguese mission (after first offering it to my father), and + O'Sullivan did excellent work there. But he became interested—abstractly—in + some copper-mines in Spain, which, as he clearly demonstrated, could be + bought for a song, and would pay a thousand per cent, from the start. + Partly to gratify him, and partly with the hope of at least getting his + money back, my father finally, in 1858 or 1859, advanced him ten thousand + dollars to finance the scheme. I saw the dear old gentleman, a generation + later, in New York; he had the same clear, untroubled, tranquil face as of + old; his hair, though gray, was as thick and graceful as ever; his manner + was as sweet and attractive; but though, in addition to his other + accomplishments, he had become an advanced spiritualist, he had not yet + coined into bullion his golden imagination. He had forgotten the Spanish + copper-mines, and I took care not to remind him of them. Peace to his + generous, ardent, and loving soul! + </p> + <p> + Uncle John's wife was a good mate for him, in her own way as brilliant and + fascinating as he and with an unalterable belief in her husband's destiny. + She was a tall, slender woman, with kindling eyes, a lovely smile, and a + wonderful richness and vivacity of conversation; nor have I ever since + known so truly witty a woman. But she lacked the delightful mellowness and + tenderness for which Uncle John was so remarkable. The mother, Madame + O'Sullivan, as she was called, was a type of the finegrained, gently bred + aristocrat, every outline softened and made gracious by the long lapse of + years through which she had lived. She sat like a picture of reverend but + still animated age, with white, delicate lace about her pale cheeks and + dark, kindly, weary eyes, and making a frost-work over her silvery hair. + As for Miss Ella Rogers, it is with some embarrassment that I refer to + her; inasmuch as I fell violently in love with her at first sight, and I + have reason to think that she never fully appreciated or adequately + responded to my passion, though, at the time, I was nearly one-third of + her age—she being five-and-twenty. She was a dark and lively beauty, + thoroughly self-possessed, and versed in social accomplishments, and + gifted with dramatic talent. She afterwards made a great impression in the + court of the Portuguese monarch, and more than once the King himself chose + her as his partner in the ball. Reports of these gayeties came to my ears; + and I found the other day part of a letter which I addressed to her, + remonstrating against these royal flirtations. It is written in pencil, + upon the blue office-paper of the consulate, and I can recall distinctly + the small, indignant boy and knight-errant, sitting at the desk opposite + his hugely diverted father, and beginning his epistle thus: "Lovely, but + reprehensible Madham!" I suspect that I consulted my father as to the + spelling of the second adjective, for it shows signs of having been + overhauled; but after that my feelings became too strong for me, and the + remainder of the letter is orthographically so eccentric that it was + probably cast aside and a copy made of it. But the rough draught, by some + inconceivable chance, was kept, and turns up now, after half a century, + with a strange thread of pathos woven by time into the texture of its + absurdity. Poor, little, lovely reprehensible Madham! Her after-career was + not a happy one. + </p> + <p> + These agreeable persons filled our stuccoed villa full, and gave poignant + addition to the quiet, gray beauty of that English spring. A year or so + later, when my mother's health compelled her to escape to a warmer climate + from fog-ridden Liverpool, she went with my sisters to Lisbon, where the + O'Sullivans were by that time established, and spent several months with + them, and saw all the splendors of the naive but brilliant little court of + Dom Pedro V. She brought home a portfolio of etchings presented to her, + and done by his youthful Majesty; which indicate that his throne, little + as he cared for it, preserved him from the mortification of failing as an + artist. + </p> + <p> + Early in the winter of the following year (1855), Mr. James Buchanan, + appointed Minister to the Court of St. James, found his way to my father's + retreat in Rock Park. The English winter was a mild affair compared with + our recent experiences of the arctic snows of Lenox; there was no + coasting, and not much snow-balling; but we had the pleasure of making + friends with the English robin-redbreast, a most lovable little creature, + who, every morning, hopped confidingly on our window-sill and took + bread-crumbs almost from our hands. The old American diplomatist and + President that was to be (though he vehemently disclaimed any such + possibility) distracted our attention from robin for a day or two. He had + the aspect, perhaps cultivated for political and democratic purposes, of a + Pennsylvania farmer; he was, I believe, born on a farm in Franklin County, + in that State, at the beginning of the last decade of the eighteenth + century. He was tall and ungainly in figure, though he bore himself with a + certain security and dignity; his head was high and thinly covered with + gray hair; he carried it oddly, a little on one side; it was said at the + time that this was due to his having once attempted suicide by cutting his + throat. His visage—heavy, long, and noticeable—had the typical + traits of the American politician of that epoch; his eyes were small, + shrewd, and twinkling; there was a sort of professional candor in his + bearing, but he looked like a sad and weary old man. He talked somewhat + volubly to my father, who kept him going by a question now and then, as + his way generally was with visitors. There was a flavor of rusticity in + his speech; he was not a man of culture or polish, though unquestionably + of great experience of the world. He was dressed in a wide-skirted coat of + black broadcloth, and wore a white choker put on a little askew. The + English, who were prone to be critical of our representatives, made a good + deal of fun of Mr. Buchanan, and told anecdotes about him which were + probably exaggerated or apocryphal. It was alleged, for example, that, + speaking of the indisposition of a female relative of his, he had observed + that it was due to the severity of the English climate. "She never enjoyed + delicate health at home," he had declared; "in fact, she was always one of + the most indelicate women I've ever known." And it was asserted that he + had been admonished by the Lord High Chamberlain, or by the Gold + Stick-in-Waiting, for expectorating upon the floor of her Majesty's palace + at a levee. Such ribaldries used to be popular in English mouths + concerning American visitors before the war; they were all of similar + tenor. Mrs. Abbott Lawrence was described as having bought a handsome + shawl at a shop on Lord Street, in Liverpool, and to have walked down that + populous thoroughfare with her new purchase on her shoulders, ignorant + that it bore the legend, inscribed on a white card, which the salesman had + neglected to remove, "Perfectly chaste." The same lady was reported as + saying, in asking an invitation to a ball on behalf of Mrs. Augustus + Peabody, of Boston, "I assure you, on our side of the water, Mrs. Peabody + is much more accustomed to grant favors than to ask them." Such anecdotes + seem to bear upon them the stamp of the British manufacturer. There would + not seem to be much harm in them, yet it is such things that sometimes + interfere most acutely with the entente cordials between nations. We had + another glimpse of Mr. Buchanan, in London, about a year later, and he + then remarked to my mother, indirectly referring to such reports, that the + Queen had treated him very kindly. For the present, he faded from the Rock + Park horizon, and we returned to the robin; nor have I been able to + understand how it happened that he made so distinct an impression upon my + memory. But a child's memory is unaccountable, both in what it loses and + in what it retains. + </p> + <p> + One Sunday forenoon, when it was not too cold for the young folks to be + swinging on that gate which has been mentioned, and the elders were + in-doors, enjoying the holiday in their own way, we descried an old + gentleman approaching up the winding street. As he drew nearer he + presented rather a shabby, or, at least, rusty appearance. His felt hat + was not so black as it had been; his coat was creased and soiled; his + boots needed a blacking. He swung a cane as he stumped along, and there + was a sort of faded smartness in his bearing and a knowingness in his grim + old visage, indicating some incongruous familiarity with the manners of + the great world. He came to a halt in front of the house, and, after + quizzing it for a moment, went up the steps and beat a fashionable tattoo + with the knocker. + </p> + <p> + Summoned in-doors soon afterwards, we found this questionable personage + sitting in the drawing-room. His voice was husky, but modulated to the + inflections of polite breeding; he used a good many small gestures, and + grinned often, revealing the yellow remains of his ancient teeth; he + laughed, too, with a hoarse sound in his throat. There was about him an + air of determined cheerfulness and affability, though between the efforts + the light died down in his wrinkled old eyes and the lines of his face + sagged and deepened. He offered to kiss my sisters, but they drew back; he + took my hand in his own large, dry one with its ragged nails and swollen + joints. At length he inveigled my younger sister to his knee, where she + sat gazing unflinchingly and solemnly into him with that persistence which + characterizes little girls of four or five who are not quite sure of their + ground. Her smooth, pink-and-white cheeks and unwinking eyes contrasted + vividly with his seamed yellowness and blinking grin; for a long time he + coquetted at her, and played peep-bo, without disturbing her gravity, + making humorous side comments to the on-lookers meanwhile. There was a + ragged and disorderly mop of gray hair on his head, which showed very + dingy beside the clear auburn of the child's. One felt a repulsion from + him, and yet, as he chatted and smirked and acted, there was a sort of + fascination in him, too. Some original force and fire of nature still + glowed and flickered in his old carcass; something human stirred dimly + under the crust of self-consciousness and artificiality. Rose's adamantine + seriousness finally relaxed in a faint smile, upon which he threw up his + hands, emitted a hoarse cackle of triumph, and exclaimed, "There—there + it is! I knew I'd get it; she loves me—she loves me!" He then + permitted her to slip down from his knee and withdraw to her mother, and + resumed the talk which our entrance had interrupted. It was chiefly about + people of whom we youngsters knew nothing—though our ignorance only + argued ourselves unknown, for he named persons all famous in their day. He + had seen George IV., Napoleon, Talleyrand, Wellington; he had been + intimate with Coleridge, De Quincey, Wordsworth, Lamb, Monk Lewis; he was + a sort of elder brother or deputy uncle to Tennyson, Browning, Dickens; he + had quaffed mountain-dew with Walter Scott and had tramped the moors + shoulder to shoulder with Kit North; the courts of Europe were his + familiar stamping-grounds; he had the nobility and gentry at his + finger-ends; he was privileged, petted, and sought after everywhere; if + there were any august door we wished to enter, any high-placed personage + we desired to approach, any difficult service we wanted rendered, he was + the man to help us to our object. Who, then, was he? He has long been + utterly forgotten; but he was well known, or notorious, during the first + half of the last century; he was such a character as could flourish only + in England. His name was William Jerdan; he was born in 1785, and was now, + therefore, about seventy years old. He had started in life poor, with no + family distinction, but with some more or less useful connections either + on the father's or the mother's side. He had somehow got an English + education, and he had pursued his career on the basis of his native wits, + his indomitable effrontery and persistence, his faculty of familiarity, + his indifference to rebuffs, his lack of shame, conscience, and morality. + How he found the means to live nobody could tell, but he uniformly lived + well and had enjoyed the good things of the world. After maintaining his + ground during the first twenty or thirty years, it had probably been + easier for him to forge along afterwards, for he could impose upon the new + generation with his stories of success in the former one. Uncouth and ugly + though he was by nature, the external polish and trick of good form which + he had acquired, and, no doubt, some inner force of social genius in him, + had influenced men to tolerate and often to like him, and had given him + extraordinary good-fortune with women. He had not only been twice married, + and had many children born in wedlock, but his intrigues and liaisons had + been innumerable, and they had by no means been confined to the lower + ranks of society. That he was a practised liar there can be no doubt, but + he had the long memory which the proverb recommends to liars, and he was + so circumspect that few of his claims and pretensions lacked solid basis + enough to make them pass current in a hurrying and heedless world. Now, + however, in his age, he was wellnigh at the end of his tether; what we + should call his "pull" was losing its efficiency; he was lapsing to the + condition where he would offer to introduce a man to the Prince of Wales + or to Baron Rothschild, and then ask him for the loan of five pounds—or + half a crown, as the case might be. He was a character for Thackeray. He + haunted my father for a year or two more, and then vanished I know not + where. + </p> + <p> + Poor, dingy old Jerdan purported to be himself a literary man, though the + only thing of his that I ever heard of was a work in four pretentious + volumes of "wretched twaddle"—as my father called them—which + he published under the title of My Autobiography. It contained a long + array of renowned names, with passages appended of perfectly empty and + conventional comment. + </p> + <p> + But other men crossed our path who had much sounder claims to renown in + literature; among them Samuel Warren, author of half a dozen books, two of + which are still sometimes heard of—<i>The Diary of a Late Physician</i> + and <i>Ten Thousand a Year</i>. He lived upon the reputation which these + brought him, though they were published, the first as long ago as 1830 and + the other only ten years later. Like many other authors, he fancied + himself capable of things far better than belonged to his true metier; and + among the books in my father's library is one called <i>The Moral and + Intellectual Development of the Present Age</i>—a thin volume, + despite its portentous and thundering title—it carries the gloss, in + Warren's handwriting, "the fruit of many a long year's reflection." So + does every light comedian imagine that he can play Hamlet. Of Warren + himself I barely recall a slight, light figure with a sharp nose and a + manner lacking in repose; indeed, he was very much like a light comedian + in light comedy, eager to hold the centre of the stage, full of small + movements and remarks, and—which more interested us children—with + a gift for turning himself into other people by slight contortions of + countenance and alterations of voice. The histrionic abilities of Dickens + probably affected the social antics of many writers at this epoch. Warren + also told stories in a vivacious and engaging manner, though, as they were + about things and people out of the sphere of his younger auditors, I + remember only the way of the telling, not what was told. I recalled, + later, his anecdotes of Kit North, who was a friend of his, on account of + the contrast between the stalwart proportions of that old worthy and the + diminutive physique of the novelist; they must have looked, together, like + a bear and a monkey. Warren was born in Wales, though whether of Welsh + ancestry I know not. + </p> + <p> + When we saw him he was only a trifle over five-and-forty years of age, so + his famous books must have been written when he was hardly more than a + boy. + </p> + <p> + As for Layard, eminent in his time for his work in Nineveh and Babylon, + and afterwards as a statesman, he did not, I think, come to Rock Park, nor + am I sure that I ever saw him. And yet it seems to me that I have the + picture in my mind of a vigorous, frank, agreeable personage who was he; + not a large man, still less a handsome one, but full of life, manliness, + and honest English simplicity. He was at this time, like so many of his + countrymen, very anxious concerning the Crimean War, then in its first + stages, and vehemently opposed to the policy which had brought it about, + for, up to that time, England and Russia had been on friendly terms, and + Layard could see no promising or useful future for the Turk. My father + shared his views, and he wrote the following passage in commenting upon + the general European situation of that day and the prospects for England. + It has never been printed, because it stood only for the sentiment of the + moment, but may be opportunely quoted now that the aspect of European + politics shows symptoms of soon undergoing vital changes. "The truth is," + wrote my father, "there is a spirit lacking in England which we in America + do not lack; and for the want of it she will have to resign a foremost + position among the nations, even if there were not enough other + circumstances to compel her to do so. Her good qualities are getting out + of date; at all events, there should be something added to them in the + present stage of the world." England has a good deal changed since those + words were written, and the changes have probably been mainly for the + better, though all the important ones have caused our old mother + discomfort and embarrassment. The medicine of a new age, the subtle + infiltration of anti-insular ideas, the slow emergence of the democracy + have given her many qualms, but they are wholesome ones. Her best and most + cultivated minds are now on the side of progress, instead of holding by + the past, and, should the pinch come, these may avail to save her better + than martinet generals or unwieldy fleets. The "spirit lacking" in her in + 1855 may, perhaps, be found in them. Whether the spirit in question be as + conspicuous with us as it used to be is another matter. + </p> + <p> + Henry Bright was still our most frequent visitor, and he brought us the + news and gossip of the world. It was in 1855 that Millais married the lady + who had been Mrs. Ruskin. English society was much fluttered by this + event, and many of Ruskin's friends cut him for a time in consequence of + it. Ruskin was a man of a rare type, not readily understood in England, + where a man is expected, in the fundamental qualities of his nature at + least, to be like everybody else. There are two noted characters in + history with whom, in some respects, he might be compared, Isaac Newton + being one and Abelard the other. All three were men in whom, owing to + causes either natural or accidental, the intellect was able to absorb all + the energies of the nature. The intellect thus acquired extraordinary + power and brilliance, and appropriated to itself, in a sort of image, as + it were, the qualities which no longer possessed manifestation on the + material plane. Nothing out of the way would, therefore, be noticed, + unless or until some combination of circumstances should bring the + exceptional condition into every-day light. This happened with Ruskin, and + he was, of course, unable to regard the matter in the same light as his + critics did. He viewed his wife's disinclination towards him by the light + of mere cold logic; and the reason his friends were alienated from him + was, not that her grounds of objection to him were justifiable, but that + Ruskin (according to the common report of the time, as quoted by Mr. + Bright) did not see why he and she and Millais should discontinue their + life in common as before. Neither Millais nor Mrs. Ruskin would, of + course, accede to this proposition, and the divorce was accordingly + obtained. Ruskin intended simply to show magnanimity, and in the course of + years this was recognized and he was forgiven, just as we forgive a person + for being color-blind. In our present stage of civilization we must, in + certain matters, follow strict convention on peril of ostracism, and + nothing is less readily condoned in a man's conduct than any suspicion of + complaisance. I did not see either Ruskin or Millais until 1879 or 1880, + of which beholding I will speak when the time comes. + </p> + <p> + But we had with us for a short time a famous and charming woman of genius, + who made me for a season forget my infatuation for the beautiful Ella + Rogers. This was Charlotte Cushman. The acquaintance then begun was + renewed in Italy, and maintained till the end of her life. Such is the + power of the spiritual in nature and character to dominate and even render + invisible the physical, that I was astonished, in after years, to hear + Charlotte referred to as a woman of plain or unattractive features. To me, + won from the first by the expression, the voice, the sphere, the warmth, + strength, and nobility of her presence, she had always seemed one of the + handsomest as well as most delightful of women. She was in her fortieth + year, but she had already announced her purpose of retiring from the + stage. Some of her best work was done in the following twenty years. + Critics might call her face plain, or ugly, if they chose, but there was + no doubt that its range of expression was vast and poignant, that it could + reflect with immense energy the thoughts of the mind, and could radiate + the very soul of tragedy. Her figure was tall and superb and her carriage + stately without any stiffness, and appalling though she was as Lady + Macbeth or Meg Merrilies, in our little drawing-room she was only simple, + sincere, gentle, and winning. Born actress though she was, her horizon was + by no means restricted to things histrionic; she talked well on many + subjects, and was at no loss for means to entertain even so small and + inexperienced a person as myself. I had never seen a theatre, and did not + know what an actress was, but I loved her, and she was good to me. It was + not the interest of the stories she told me, so much as the personal + influence that went with them, that entranced me. I was sensible of her + kindness, and of the hearty good-will with which she bent her great and + gracious self to the task of making me happy. That wonderful array of tiny + charms on her watch-chain was beautiful and absorbing, owing less to + anything intrinsic in themselves than to some sparkling and lovable + communication from their wearer. If a woman be only large enough and + vigorous enough to begin with, the stage seems to develop her as nothing + else could—to bring out the best in her. It was perhaps the deep and + wide well of human sympathy in Charlotte Cushman that was at the bottom of + her success in her profession, though, of course, she was greatly aided by + her mental and physical gifts. I suppose there may be women now capable of + being actresses as great as she was, but the audience to call forth their + latent powers and ambition seems, just at present, to be lacking. + </p> + <p> + Our social diversions at Rock Park were interrupted, at about this period, + by the whooping-cough, which seized upon all of us together, and I well + remember my father almost climbing up the wall of the room in some of his + paroxysms; but he treated it all as a joke, and was always ready to laugh + as soon as he got through coughing. It left no ill effects except upon my + mother, who had bronchial trouble which, as I have intimated, finally led + to the breaking-up of our household. She was not made for England. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Two New England consciences—Inexhaustible faith and energy— + Deep and abiding love of England—"How the Water Comes Down + at Lodore"—"He took an' he let go"—Naked mountains—The + unsentimental little quadruped—The human element in things + sticks—The coasts of England—A string of sleepy donkeys— + Unutterable boy-thoughts—Grins and chuckles like an ogress— + Hideous maternal parody—The adorable inverted bell-glass— + Strange things happen in the world—An ominous clouding of + the water—Something the world has never known—Overweening + security—An admonition not to climb too high—How vice may + become virtue by repetition—Corporal Blair's chest—Black- + Bottle Cardigan—Called to Lisbon. +</pre> + <p> + Emerson, as a matter of principle, was rather averse from travel, though + he made the trip to England twice; but he fortified his theory by his + practice of searching out great men rather than historic or picturesque + places. Ruskin's Modern Painters had not been written when Emerson first + left home, and I doubt if he read it at any time. He found his mountain + scenery in Carlyle and his lakes and vales elsewhere among agreeable + people. My father's conscience worked in a different way; he thought + himself under obligations to see whatever in the way of towns, ruins, + cathedrals, and scenery was accounted worthy a foreigner's attention; but + I think he would have enjoyed seeing them much more had that feeling of + obligation not been imposed upon him. Set sights, as he often remarked, + wearied him, just because they were set; things that he happened upon + unpremeditatedly, especially if they were not described in guide-books, + pleased him more and tired him less. It can hardly be affirmed, however, + that he would have missed the set sights if he could have done so, and no + doubt he was glad, after the job was done, that he had done it. And he was + greatly helped along by the inexhaustible faith and energy in such matters + of his wife; she shrank from no enterprise, and seemed always in precisely + the right mood to appreciate whatever she beheld. She could go day after + day to a picture-gallery, and stay all day long; she would make herself as + familiar with churches, castles, and cathedrals as she was with her own + house; she would wander interminably and delightedly about old towns and + cities, or gaze with never-waning joy upon lakes and mountains, and my + father, accompanying her, was, in a measure, recuperated and strengthened + by her enthusiasm. In the end, as is evidenced by Our Old Home and The + Marble Faun, he got a good deal out of Europe. On the other hand, he + seemed to think himself justified in avoiding persons as much as he + decently might, even the most distinguished; and if he had not been a + consul, and a writer of books that had been read, I doubt if he would have + formed any acquaintances during his foreign residence, and he would + thereby have missed one of the greatest and most enduring pleasures of + memory that he took back with him. For no one cared more for a friend, or + was more stimulated and emancipated by one, than he. It may have been that + he had passed the age of youthful buoyancy, of appetite for novelties; + that he had begun to lack initiative. "I have seen many specimens of + mankind," he wrote down, in a mood of depression, in one of his + note-books, "but come to the conclusion that there is little variety among + them all." That was scarcely a full thought, and he would never have let + it pass in one of his considered books. He made and published many other + remarks on similar subjects of quite an opposite tenor, and these more + truly represented his true feeling. But he did flag a little, once in a + while, and the deep and abiding love of England which was his final + sentiment had somewhat the appearance of having been forced upon him + against his inclination. We may surmise that he feared disappointment more + than he craved gratification. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: FRANCIS BANNOCH] + </p> + <p> + From Liverpool we explored the strangeness of the land in all directions. + Bennoch or Bright sometimes took off my father alone; sometimes my father + and mother would go with me, leaving my sisters at home with the + governess. Once in a while we all went together, as, for example, to the + Isle of Man or to Rhyl. So far as practicable, we children were made + acquainted with the literature of places we were to visit before going + there. Thus, before journeying to the Lakes and Scotland, I had by heart a + good deal of Wordsworth, Southey, Burns, and Walter Scott, and was able, + standing amid the lovely uproar of Lodore, to shout out the story of how + the water comes down there; and, again, on the shores of Loch Katrine, at + sunset, after spending a long hour on the little white beach opposite + Ellen's Isle, I ran along the road in advance of my parents, and, climbing + a cliff, saw the breadth of the lake below me, golden under the sunset + clouds, and very aptly recited, as they came up, Sir Walter's descriptive + verse: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "One burnished sheet of living gold, + Loch Katrine lay, beneath him rolled!" +</pre> + <p> + But I was not always so well attuned to the environment. I had got hold of + a hook and line at some hotel on the Lakes, and the old passion for + fishing, which had remained latent since Lenox days for lack of + opportunity, returned upon me with great virulence. So, one day, when we + had set out in a row-boat to visit Rob Roy's cave, I requested, on + arriving there, to be permitted to stay in the boat, moored at the foot of + the cliff, while the others climbed up into the cave, and, as soon as they + had disappeared, I pulled out my line, with a dried-up worm on the hook, + and cast it over the side. I wanted to see the cave, but I wanted to catch + a fish more. Up to that time, I think, I had caught nothing in all our + pilgrimages. If ever Providence is going to give me success (I said to + myself, devoutly), let it be now! Accordingly, just before the others came + back, I felt a strong pull on my line and hauled in amain. In a moment the + fish, which may have been nine inches long, but which seemed to me + leviathan himself, broke the surface, wriggling this way and that + vigorously; but that was the extent to which my prayer was granted, for, + in the words of a rustic fisherman who related his own experience to me + long afterwards, "Just as I was a-goin' to land 'im, sir, he took an' he + let go!" My fish not only took and let go, but he carried off the hook + with him. + </p> + <p> + I remember wandering with my father through a grassy old church-yard in + search of Wordsworth's grave, which we found at last, looking quite as + simple as his own most severely unadorned pastoral; but I had not attained + as yet to the region of sentiment which makes such things impressive. The + bare mountains, the blue lakes, and the gray ruins filled me with riotous + intoxication. The North of England and Scotch mountains were much more + effective in their nakedness than the wooded hills I had seen in Berkshire + of Massachusetts, and their contours were more sharply modelled and + various. They were just large enough to make their ascent seem easy until + you undertook it, then those seemingly moderate slopes lengthened out + unaccountably. The day we reached the hotel at the base of Helvellyn, I + started, nothing doubting, to climb to its summit before supper; the + weather was clear, the top looked close at hand, and I felt great surprise + that the young gentleman mentioned in Scott's poem ("I climbed the dark + brow of the mighty Helvellyn," etc.) should have allowed himself to be + lost. But after a breathless struggle of fifteen or twenty minutes, + finding myself apparently no nearer my goal than at first, I thought + differently. Mr. Bright told my father, by-the-way, that the legend of the + fidelity of the dead adventurer's little dog, "who scared the hill-fox and + the raven away," was far from being in accordance with the prosaic facts. + This unsentimental little quadruped had, in truth, eaten up a large part + of her master by the time his remains were discovered, and had, + furthermore, brought into the world a litter of pups. Well, nothing can + deprive us of the poem; but it is wholesome to face realities once in a + while. + </p> + <p> + Unless one have a vein of Ruskin in him, one does not recollect scenery, + however enchanting, with the same particularity as persons. It is the + human element in things that sticks to us. Scenes are more punctually + recalled in proportion as they are steeped in historic or personal + interest. The thatched cottages of Burns and of Shakespeare stand clear in + my memory; I recall our ramble over the battlements of Carlisle, where + imprisoned Queen Mary had walked three centuries before; I remember the + dark stain on the floor of the dark room in which one of her lovers was + slain; I can see the gray towers of Warwick rising above the green trees + and reflected in the still water; and, entering the keep of the castle, I + behold myself again trying on the ponderous helmet of the gigantic Guy, + and climbing into his monstrous porridge-pot. But vain would be the + attempt to marshal before my mind's eye the glorious pageantry of the + Trosachs, though, at the time of its actual revelation, it certainly + seemed to make a far more vivid impression. The delight and exhilaration + which such magnificence inspired are easily summoned back, but not the + incarnate features of them. Wild nature takes us out of ourselves and + refreshes us; but she does not reveal her secret to us, or ally herself + with anything in us less deep than the abstract soul—which also is + beyond our reach. + </p> + <p> + I am not sure that my father did not like the seaside sojourns as well as + anything else, apart from the historical connections; for the spirits of + many seafaring forefathers murmured in his heart. But he did not so much + care for the soft, yielding, brown sands on which the sea-waves broke. The + coasts to which he had been used in his youth were either rocky or firm as + a macadamized road. Nor was he beguiled into forgetting the tedium of + walking over them, as his companion was, by the fascination of the shells + and sea curiosities to be picked up on them. Many a mile have I trotted + along beside him or behind him, gathering these treasures, while he strode + forward, abstracted, with his gaze fixed towards the long ridge of the + horizon. The sands at Rhyl, near which Milton's friend was said to have + been lost, were like a rolling prairie; at low tide the white fringe of + the surf could scarcely be descried at their outermost verge, yet within a + few hours it would come tumbling back, flowing in between the higher + levels, flooding and brimming and overcoming, till it broke at our feet + once more. Behind us rose the tumultuous curves and peaks of the Welsh + hills; before us, but invisible across the Irish Channel, the black coast + of rainy Ireland. One night, during a gale, a ship came ashore, so far out + that it still seemed, in the morning, to be at sea, except for its + motionlessness, and the drenched and draggled crew came straggling in—or + some of them. At Southport the beach was narrower and the little sea-side + settlement larger and livelier; a string of sleepy donkeys always waited + there, with the rout of ragged and naughty little boys with sticks to + thrash them into a perfunctory and reluctant gallop for their riders. + There was always one boy, larger and also naughtier than the rest, who + thrashed the thrashers and took their pennies away from them. The + prevailing occupation of the children at these places, as on all civilized + shores, apparently, was the building of sand-mountains and the digging of + pits with their little wooden spades. One day an elderly gentleman, with a + square, ruddy face, edged with gray whiskers, who had stood observing my + labors in this kind for a long time, stepped up to me as I paused, and + said, with a sort of amused seriousness, "You'll do something when you + grow up, my little lad; your hill is bigger than any of the others'." He + nodded kindly to me and walked off, and I sat down beside my mountain and + watched the tide come up and level it, thinking unutterable boy-thoughts. + </p> + <p> + The only approach to sea-side cliffs that we saw was at Whitby, on the + Yorkshire coast, where the abbey of St. Hilda stood, after whom the + American maiden in The Marble Faun was named. But the German Ocean was + bleak and cold, and my experiences in it were even more harrowing than + elsewhere; I can imagine nothing more dispiriting to a small boy than to + be dragged down over a harsh beach in an old-fashioned British + bathing-machine, its damp floor covered with gritty sand, with a tiny + window too high up for him to look out of; undressing in the cold + draughtiness and trying to hang up his clothes on pegs too high for him to + reach; being tossed from side to side, and forward and backward, + meanwhile, by the irregular jerking and swaying of the dismal contrivance, + drawn by the amphibious horses of the region; until at last he hears the + waves begin to dash against it, and it comes to a pause in a depth which + he feels must be fathomless. Then comes a thumping at the door, and he + knows that the bathing-woman is hungrily awaiting his issuing forth. + Nothing else is so terrible in the world—nothing even in Alice in + Wonderland—to a small, naked, shivering boy as the British + bathing-woman. There she stands, waist-deep in the swelling brine; she + grins and chuckles like an ogress; her red, grasping hands stretch forth + like the tentacles of an octopus; she seizes her victim in an irresistible + embrace, and with horrid glee plunges him head-under the advancing wave. + Ere he can fetch his breath to scream, down again he goes, and yet again. + The frigid, heavy water stings his cowering body; he has swallowed quarts + of it; his foot has come in contact with a crab or a starfish; before him + rolls the tumultuous expanse of desolation, surging forward to take his + life; behind him are the rickety steps of the bathing-machine, which, but + now a chamber of torture, has become his sole haven of refuge. Buffeted by + the billows, he makes shift at last frantically to clamber back into it; + he snatches the small, damp towels, and attempts to dry his shivering + limbs; his clothes have fallen on the wet floor; he cannot force his blue + toes into his oozy socks. At the moment he is attempting to wriggle + himself into his trousers the horse is hitched-to again, and the jerky and + jolty journey back up the beach begins. If the hair of a boy of ten could + turn white in a single morning, there would be many a hoary-headed + youngster in British watering-places. John Leech, in Punch, used to make + pictures of the experiences I have outlined, and I studied them with deep + attention and sympathy. The artist, too, must have suffered from the + sea-ogresses in his youth, else he could not have portrayed the outrage so + vividly. The mock-cheerfulness and hideous maternal parody of their "Come, + my little man!" has no parallel in life or fiction. Nevertheless, such is + the fortunate recuperative faculty of boyhood that day after day I would + forget the horrors of that hour, and be happy in climbing over the decayed + chalk acclivities of Whitby, picking up the fossil shells that nestle + there. Yonder on my table, as I write, lies a coiled ammonite found there; + it had been there ten thousand years or ages before I detached it from its + bed, and, for aught I know, my remotest posterity may use it, as I have + done, for a paper-weight. Thanks to eternal justice, the bathing-machines + and the bathing-women will have gone to their place long ere then! + </p> + <p> + My father had given me a book called The Aquarium, written by Philip Henry + Gosse (father of the present poet, essayist, and critic), illustrated with + pictures of sea-anemones and other marine creatures done from his own + drawings in color, and so well done that nothing which has been done since + in the way of color-reproductions surpasses them. It was delightfully + written, and I absorbed it into my very soul, and my dreams by night and + longings by day were for an aquarium of my own. At last—I think this + was at Southport—a glass jar was given me; it was an inverted + bell-glass, mounted on a wooden stand, and it cost ten shillings. I wonder + if men often love their wives or children with the adoring tenderness that + I lavished upon that bell-glass and its contents! I got sand and covered + the bottom; I found two jagged stones and leaned them against each other + on the sand; I gathered fronds of ulva latissima; I persuaded a boatman to + bring me a bucket of salt-water from beyond the line of breakers, and I + poured it carefully into the jar. During the next twenty-four hours I + waited impatiently for the water to settle and clear; then I began to + introduce the living inmates. I collected prawns and crabs and sea-snails, + and a tiny sole or two, a couple of inches long, and by good chance I + found a small sepiola, or cuttle-fish, as big as a beetle, which burrowed + in the sand and changed color magically from dark brown to faintest buff. + I also had a pair of soldier-crabs, which fought each other continually. + When the sunlight fell on my aquarium, I saw the silver bubbles of oxygen + form on the green fronds of the sea-weed; the little snails crawled along + the sides of the glass, sweeping out their tiny, scythelike tongues at + every step; the prawns hovered in the shade of the stones or darted back + and forward light as thoughts; the soles scuffled over the surface of the + sand or hid themselves in it from the stalking, felonious crabs. But I had + no sea-anemones; they are not found on sandy coasts, and without + sea-anemones my felicity could not be complete. + </p> + <p> + But strange things happen in this world occasionally, good as well as bad. + There came up a heavy storm, and the next morning, walking with my father + on the beach, strewn with deep-sea flotsam and jetsam, we came upon the + mast of a ship, water-logged till it had the weight of iron; it might have + been, as my father remarked, a relic of the Spanish Armada. And it was + covered from end to end with the rarest and most beautiful species of + sea-anemones! + </p> + <p> + This was fairy-land come true. I chipped off a handkerchiefful of the best + specimens, wishing I could take them all, and carried them to my aquarium. + I deposited them, each in a coign of vantage, and in the course of an hour + or two they had swelled out their tinted bodies and expanded their lovely + tentacles, and the cup of my joy was full. This prosperity continued for + near a week, during which I remained with my nose against the glass, as + the street boys of Liverpool held theirs against the windows of + pastry-cooks' shops. At length I noticed an ominous clouding of the water, + which, as Mr. Gosse had forewarned me, signified disaster of some sort, + and, searching for the cause, I finally discovered the body of the little + sepiola, which had died without being missed, and was contaminating with + his decay the purity of the aquarium. The water must be changed at once. I + sent out the servant for a fresh bucketful from the sea, while I poured + the polluted liquid from the jar. + </p> + <p> + Presently the bucket of water was brought in. It was unusually clear. I + filled the jar with it, and then, as bedtime was near, I left the aquarium + to settle down to business again. The next morning I hastened to it in my + night-gown, and was confronted by a ghastly spectacle. The crabs lay dead + on the bottom, stomachs upward; the prawns hung lifeless and white from + the rocks; the soldier-crabs were motionless, half out of their shells; + the sea-anemones had contracted themselves into buttons, and most of them + had dropped from their perches. Death had been rampant during the night; + but what could be the cause? + </p> + <p> + A sudden suspicion caused me to put a finger in the water and apply it to + my tongue. It was not salt-water at all, but had been taken fresh from the + cistern. That traitress servant-girl, to save her indolence a few steps, + had destroyed my aquarium! + </p> + <p> + I was too heart-broken to think of killing her; but she had killed + something in me which does not readily grow again. My trust in my + fellow-creatures was as shrunken and inanimate as the sea-anemones. We + left Southport soon after, and that was my last aquarium. + </p> + <p> + Let us turn to lighter matters. I accompanied my father and mother on that + pilgrimage to Old Boston which is described in Our Old Home. The world + does not know that it is to my presence on the little steamer on the trip + down the level river, through the Lincolnshire fens, with nothing but the + three-hundred-foot tower of St. Botolph's Church, in the extreme distance, + to relieve the tedium of a twenty-four-mile journey made at the rate of + never more than six miles per hour—it is not known, I say, that to + that circumstance is due my father's description of the only incident + which enlivened the way—the tragedy, namely, of the duck family. For + it was that tragedy which stood out clearest in my memory, and when I + learned, in Concord, that my father was preparing his paper about Old + Boston for the Atlantic Monthly, I besought him to insert an account of + the episode. The duck and her five ducklings had probably seen the steamer + many times before, and had acquired a contempt for its rate of + progression, imagining that it would always be easy to escape from it. + But, somehow, in their overweening security, they lingered on this + occasion a little too long, and we succeeded in running them down. Even + then, as my father notes, it was only one of them that was carried under; + but the shock to the nerves of the other youngsters must have stunted + their growth, and the old bird cannot but have suffered tortures from + anxiety and remorse. + </p> + <p> + The sadness caused by this event, added to the chilliness of the sea-wind + which blew against us all the way down the river, rendered my first + impressions of the ancient town, which had given its name to the one I was + born in, somewhat gloomy. But the next morning it brightened up, and our + own spirits were correspondingly improved; insomuch that I struck my head + a violent blow against the stone roof of the topmost pinnacle of St. + Botolph's tower, such was the zeal of my ascent into it. All this happened + two years after the aquarium, in 1857, when I was older and wiser, but had + not yet outgrown the ambition to climb to the top of all high places; this + bump may have been an admonition not to climb too high. We went down and + strayed into Mr. Porter's little book-shop, and he transformed himself + into a new and more genial proprietor of a virtuoso's collection, and + showed us treasures, some of which his predecessor in Mosses from an Old + Manse might not have despised. I have never since then heard of his + portrait in crayon of the youthful Sterne; it would be worth a good deal + to any latter-day publisher of his works in a de luxe edition. As for the + green tassel from the bed of Queen Mary, in Holyrood House, there is a + passage in my father's description of it in his journal which, out of + regard, doubtless, for the feelings of Mr. Porter, he forbore to quote in + his published article; but as the good old gentleman (unless he has lived + to be more than one hundred and twenty years old) must have gone to the + place where treasures are indestructible, I will reproduce it now. "This + tassel," says my father, "Mr. Porter told us (with a quiet chuckle and + humorous self-gratulation), he had personally stolen, and really, for my + part, though I hope I would not have done it myself, I thought it no sin + in him—such valuables being attracted by a natural magnetism towards + such a man. He obeys, in stealing them, a higher law than he breaks. I + should like to know precisely what portion of his rich and rare collection + he has obtained in a similar manner. But far be it from me to speak + unkindly or sneeringly of the good man; for he showed us great kindness, + and obliged us so much the more by being greatly and evidently pleased + with the trouble that he took on our behalf." It may be added that each + new stealing enhances the value of all the previous ones, and therefore + creates an obligation to steal yet more. Thus does an act which would, + standing by itself, be criminal, become a virtue if often enough repeated. + </p> + <p> + I am not arranging this narrative in chronological sequence; but I think + it was in this year that we went to Manchester to see the exposition. The + town itself was unlovely; but, as we had Italy in prospect, it was deemed + expedient to accustom ourselves in some measure to the companionship of + works of art, and the exhibition professed to contain an exceptionally + fine and catholic collection of them. My father made a thorough study of + them, going to learn and not to judge, and he learned much, though not + quite to believe in Turner or to like the old masters. For my own part, + when not taken on these expeditions, I busied myself with the building of + a kite six feet high, of engineer's cambric, with a face painted on it, + and used to go out and fly it on a vacant lot in the rear of our lodgings, + accompanied by a large portion of the unoccupied population of Manchester. + The kite broke its string one day, and I saw it descend over the roofs of + a remote slum region towards the south, and I never recaptured it. But my + chief energies were devoted to acquiring the art of fencing with the + small-sword from one Corporal Blair, of the Fourth Dragoon Guards—a + regiment which had distinguished itself in the Crimean War. The corporal + was a magnificent-looking creature, and he was as admirable inwardly as + outwardly—the model of an English non-commissioned officer. He used + to come to our lodgings in his short scarlet jacket and black trousers, + and my father once asked him, remarking the extraordinary prominence of + his chest, what kind of padding was used to produce so impressive a + contour. "There's nothing here but my linen, sir," answered the corporal, + modestly, and blushing a good deal; a fact which I, having often taken my + lessons at the barracks, in the private quarters of the corporal, where he + permitted himself to appear in his shirt-sleeves, already knew. My + experience of the British army not being so large as that of some other + persons, I am unable to say whether there were many other soldiers in it + fit to be compared with Blair; but my acquaintance with mankind in general + would lead me to infer that there could not have been then, and that there + are still less of such to-day. An army of six—footers like him, with + his intelligence, instincts of discipline, capacity and expertness, + physical strength and activity, and personal courage, would easily account + for more than all of England's warlike renown and success; the puzzle is, + how to account for anything but disaster without them—though, to be + sure, other armies might be equally lacking in Blairs. He was well + educated, modest, and moral; he was a married man, with a wife who was the + model of a soldier's consort, and two or three little sons, all of them + experts with the foils and the broadsword. It was against the regulations + of the service for privates or non-commissioned officers to have families, + and, when Blair's connubial condition became known to the authorities, he + was degraded in rank from sergeant to corporal, though he wore the + Balaklava medal; for he had taken part in that immortal charge, and I only + wish I could recall the story of it as he told it to me. His regiment had + been under the command of Lord Cardigan—"Black-Bottle Cardigan," as + he was nicknamed in the army, on account of the well-known (real or + apocryphal) incident. It was my good—fortune, by-the-way, once to + see this eminent captain. I was taking my lesson at the barracks, when + Blair told me that his lordship was expected to visit them that afternoon. + The hour appointed was three o'clock. Punctually at three o'clock a + carriage drove rapidly through the gates of the barracks, and the guard + turned out on the run and lined up to salute the noble occupant. But, much + to their disgust, the occupant turned out to be some one else, not + meriting a salute. The men returned to the guard-room feeling as men do + when they have been betrayed into exertion and enthusiasm for nothing. + However, in about ten minutes more, another carriage drove up, and out + came the guard again and ranged themselves smartly, to please the eye of + their martinet commander, when lo! they had again been deceived. Again + they retired with dark looks, not being at all in a mood to recognize the + humor of the situation. This same thing actually occurred twice more, by + which time it was near four o'clock, and the men were wellnigh mutinous, + and it became evident that, for some reason, Cardigan had been prevented + from coming. Such being the case, the approach of still another carriage + attracted no attention whatever, until it came to a half-pause, and I saw, + thrust out of the window, a stern, dark, warlike, soldierly face, full of + surprise and indignation—and this was Cardigan himself. The unhappy + guard tumbled over themselves in vain efforts to get into form; it was too + late, and the haughty and hot-tempered commander drove on without his + salute. Blair, not being on guard duty, had no part in this catastrophe, + but I well remember his unaffected sorrow over it. He was a grave man, + though of an equable and cheerful temper, and he felt his comrades' + misfortune as his own. But I never heard that any casualties occurred in + consequence of the mishap. + </p> + <p> + I have left two years of our English sojourn unaccounted for. In the + summer of 1855, my father nearly made up his mind to resign his consulship + (since it had become hardly worth keeping from the money point of view), + and, after making a visit to Italy, going back to Concord. This plan + seemed the more advisable, because my mother's lungs could not endure the + English climate. But while he was weighing the matter, John O'Sullivan + wrote from Lisbon, urgently inviting my mother and sisters to come out and + spend a few months with him and his family there. The Lisbon climate was a + specific for bronchial disease; my father could complete his term, and we + could go to Italy the following year. There was only one objection to this—it + involved the parting of my father from my mother, a thing which had never + before happened. But it did not take him long to decide that it would be a + good thing for her, and, therefore, in the long run, for him. Each loved + the other unselfishly, and had the courage of such love. Liverpool without + my mother would be a dismal trial for him to face; Lisbon without my + father would be tenfold an exile for her. But they made up their minds, + each for the other's sake, to undergo the separation, and accordingly, in + the autumn of the year, she and my sisters sailed from Southampton, and my + father and I went back to Liverpool. How we fared there shall be told in + the next chapter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + If there were boarding-houses in paradise—Blodgett, the + delight of mankind—Solomon foresaw her—A withering retort— + A modest, puny poise about her—Hidden thoughts derived + from Mother Eve and Grecian Helen—The feminine council that + ruled the Yankee captains—Bonds of fraternity, double- + riveted and copper-fastened—Through the looking-glass—Men + only of the manliest sort—The lady-paramount—Hands which + were true works of art—Retained his dignity without putting + it on—Sighed heavily over my efforts—Unctuous M. Huguenin— + "From dawn to eve I fell"—The multum-in-parvo machine— + "Beauty and the Beast"—Frank Channing—"Blood-and water!"— + A lapful of Irish stew. +</pre> + <p> + It was observed a little way back that English boarding-houses were much + like other boarding-houses in the civilized world. The rule is proved by + the exception of Mrs. Blodgett's establishment. There never was such + another; there never will be; it was unique. It has vanished from earth + long since; but if there were boarding-houses in paradise, I should + certainly expect it to be found again there. Who was Mrs. Blodgett? Save + that she was a widow of the British middle class, I doubt if any one of + her boarders knew. She had once been rich, and had lived at Gibraltar. I + have often meditated with fruitless longing about what manner of man Mr. + Blodgett could have been. He must have been, like the Emperor Titus, the + delight of mankind in his day. He was a man, we must surmise, whose charms + and virtues were such that his wife, having felt the bliss and privilege + of knowing and living with him, registered a vow over his bier that she + would devote her future career to the attempt to make others as happy as + he had made her; that she would serve others as faithfully and generously + as she had served him. It was a lofty and beautiful conception, for she + must have perceived that only in that way could she keep his blessed + spirit near her; that the little heaven she would make in Duke Street, + Liverpool, would attract him from the kindred heaven above; that he would + choose to hover, invisible, above her plenteous table, inhaling the + grateful aromas that arose from it as from a savory sacrifice, basking in + the smiles and sympathizing in the satisfaction of the fortunate guests, + triumphing in their recognition of his beloved consort as a queen among + women. One might almost fancy that the steam arising from the portly + soup-tureen assumed as it arose something suggesting a human form; that + from its airy and fragrant mistiness a shadowy countenance beamed down + upon the good lady in black, with the white cap, who ladled out the + delicious compound to her waiting devotees. The murmur of the tea-urn + would seem to fashion itself into airy accents, syllabling, "Mary, thy + Blodgett is here!" His genial spirit would preside over her labors in the + kitchen, suggesting ever more delightsome dishes and delicate desserts. He + would warn her against undesirable inmates and intractable servants, and + would inspire her tradesmen to serve her with the choicest comestibles and + to temper their bills to the unprotected widow. At night he would bless + her lonely pillow with peace, and would gently rouse her in the morning to + a new day of beneficences. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Blodgett was about five feet four inches high, and may have weighed + twelve stone; into such limits were her virtues packed. She was perhaps in + the neighborhood of her fiftieth year; her dark hair was threaded with + honorable gray. Her countenance was rotund and ruddy; it was the flower of + kindness and hospitality in full bloom; but there was also power in the + thick eyebrows and in the massy substance of the chin—of the chins, + indeed, for here, as in other gifts, nature had been generous with her. + There was shrewdness and discernment in the good-nature of her eyes; she + knew human nature, although no one judged it with more charity than she. + Her old men were her brothers, her young men were her sons, all children + were her children. Solomon foresaw her in the most engaging of his + Proverbs. Her maid-servants arose at six in the morning and called her + blessed, for though her rule was strict it was just and loving. She was at + once the mistress and the friend of her household; no Yankee captain so + audacious that he ventured to oppose her law; no cynic so cold as not to + be melted by her tenderness. She was clad always in black, with a white + cap and ribbons, always spotless amid the grime of Liverpool; in her more + active moments—though she was always active—she added a white + apron to her attire. She was ever anywhere where she was needed; she was + never anywhere where she could be dispensed with. Wherever she went she + brought comfort and a cheerful but not restless animation. Her boarders + were busy men, but it was always with an effort that they wrenched + themselves from her breakfast-table, and they sat down to dinner as one + man. She made them happy, but she would not spoil them. "You're a pretty + young man!" she said, severely, to complacent Mr. Crane, when, one + morning, he came late to breakfast. "I always knew that," returned he, + reaching self-satisfiedly for the toast-rack. "Well, I'm sure your glass + never told you so!" was the withering retort. Mr. Crane did not lift his + neck so high after that. The grin that went round the table was too + crushingly unanimous. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Blodgett was helped in her duties by her niece, Miss Maria, and by + her sister, Miss Williams. Miss Maria was a little wisp of a woman; I do + not know her age then, but I think, were she alive today, she would + confess to about eighty-three. She wore ringlets, after the fashion of the + early nineteenth-century books of beauty. Her face was thin and narrow, + and ordinarily pale; but when Miss Maria had been a little while in + conversation with one or more of the gallant Yankee captains you might see + in the upper corner of each cheek a slight touch of red. For though I + would not call the little lady coquettish—that is too coarse and + obvious a word—yet there was in her that inalienable consciousness + of maidenhood, that sentiment, at once of attraction and of recoil, + towards creatures of the opposite sex, that gentle hope of pleasing man, + that secret emotion of being pleased by him, that tremor at the idea of + being desired, and that flush at the thought of being desirable, which, I + suppose, may animate the mystic sensibilities of spinsterhood. She was + anything but aggressive and confident, yet there was a modest, puny poise + about her; she was like a plant that has always lived in a narrow, city + flower-pot, at a window too seldom visited by the sun, which has never + known the freedom of the rain, but has been skimpingly watered out of a + toy watering-pot; which has never so much as conceived of the daring and + voluptuous charms of its remote sisters of the forest and garden, but has + cherished its rudimentary perfume and its incipient tints in a light + reflected from brick walls and in the thin, stale atmosphere of rear + sitting-rooms. Yet it knows that it is a flower, and that it might, + somehow, fulfil its destiny and be beautiful. So Miss Maria had, no doubt, + hidden thoughts remotely derived from Mother Eve and from Grecian Helen; + she was aware of the potentiality in herself of all virgin privileges and + powers, and assumed thereupon her own little dignity. Never but once did I + see a masculine arm round Miss Maria's trig, stiff little waist, and that + was at Christmas-time, when there were sprigs of mistletoe over every + doorway; but, mistletoe or not, the owner of that arm, if he did succeed + in ravishing a kiss, got his ears smartly boxed the next moment. I don't + know precisely what was Miss Maria's function in the economy of the + household; I can fancy her setting the table, and adding touches of + neatness and prettiness; dusting the ornaments and fine china on the + shelves of the whatnot; straightening the frames of the pictures on the + walls; and, in her less romantic moments, hemming towels or sheets, or + putting up preserved fruits. I know she was always amiable and obliging + and that everybody loved her. + </p> + <p> + Miss Williams was a good deal the elder of her sister, and was of a clear + white pallor and an aged delicacy and shyness that were very captivating. + She had judgment and a clear, dispassionate brain, and I presume she acted + the part in the little firm of a sort of court of appeals and final + adviser and referee. She talked little and had little to do with outward + affairs, but she sat observant and penetrating and formed conclusions in + her mind. There had been no brother of The Blodgett to induce her to + change her maidenly state, but I think there must have been a quiet, + touching romance somewhere hidden in the shadows of the previous forty or + fifty years. She admired and delighted in her energetic, practical sister + as much as the latter adored her for her serenity and wisdom. There was + between them an intimacy, confidence, and mutual understanding that were + charming to behold. When the blessed Blodgett had died, one can imagine + the vital support and consolation which Miss Williams had been able to + afford to her afflicted sister. Each of them seemed, in some way, to + explain and enlarge one's conception of the other. Widely different as + they appeared outwardly, there was a true sisterly likeness deep down in + them. Such was the feminine council that ruled the destinies of the Yankee + captains and of their consul. + </p> + <p> + These captains and this consul formed nine-tenths of the population of the + house, and such other denizens as it had were at least Americans. I never + learned the cause of this predilection for representatives of the great + republic and for the seafaring variety of them in particular. Be that as + it might (and it is an interesting inquiry in itself), it can be readily + understood that it worked out well as a business idea. There were no + quarrels or heart-burnings among the jolly occupants of Mrs. Blodgett's + table; first, because they were all Americans in the country of their + hereditary enemies, and, secondly, because they were all men of the same + calling, and that calling the sea. The bonds of fraternity between them + were double-riveted and copper-fastened. Thus all who had experienced the + Blodgett regime proclaimed its excellence far and wide, and the number of + applicants always exceeded the accommodations; in fact, during this year + 1855-56, our hostess was compelled to buy the house adjoining her own, and + I had the rare delight of watching every stroke of work done by the + carpenters and bricklayers who had the job of cutting a doorway through + the wall from the old house to the new one. There was something magical + and adventurous in stepping through that opening for the first time—crossing + a boundary which had maintained itself so long. Probably the sensation + resembled that which Alice afterwards experienced when she stepped through + the looking-glass into the room on the other side. The additional + accommodations were speedily filled; but after the first fascination had + worn off nobody regarded the new house as comparable with the old one, and + the people who roomed in it were looked down upon by their associates of + the original dwelling. They were, I believe, as much alike as two houses + could be, and that is saying much in this age, but the feeling was + different, and the feeling is everything if you have a soul. + </p> + <p> + If the Blodgett house, or houses, were unique, so were the Yankee + boarders. The race of our merchant-marine captains disappeared with their + ships, and they will return no more. The loss is irretrievable, for in + many respects they held the ideal of patriotic and energetic Americanism + higher than it is likely to go again. When at sea, in command of and + responsible for their ships and cargoes, they were, no doubt, upon + occasion, despots and slave-drivers; but their crews were often recruited + from among the dregs of men of all nations, who would interpret kindness + as timidity and take an ell where you gave them an inch. No doubt, too, + there were incarnate devils among these captains—actual monomaniacs + of cruelty and viciousness—though none of these were known at Mrs. + Blodgett's. Round her board sat men only of the manliest sort. They had + the handiness and versatility of the sailor, wide and various knowledge of + all quarters of the globe and of types of mankind, though, to be sure, + their investigations did not proceed far beyond their ports, and you were + sometimes more astonished at what they did not know than at what they did. + They had the self-poise and self-confidence of men who day by day and + month by month hold their lives in their hands, and are practised in + finding a way out of danger and difficulty. They had a code of good + manners and polite behavior which was not highly refined, but contained + the sound, essential elements of courtesy; not expressed in fancy, but + honest and solid. They had great shrewdness, and were capable of really + fine diplomacy, for the school they attended demanded such proficiency. + They had a dry, chuckling humor; a homely philosophy, often mingled with + the queerest superstitions; a racy wit, smacking somewhat, of course, of + the quarter-deck, or even of the forecastle; a seemingly incongruous + sensibility, so that tears easily sprang to their eyes if the right chord + of pathos were touched; a disposition to wear a high-colored necktie and a + broad, gold watch-chain, and to observe a certain smartness in their boots + and their general shore rigging; a good appetite for good food, and not a + little discernment of what was good; a great and boylike enjoyment of + primitive pleasures; a love of practical jokes and a hearty roar of + laughter for hearty fun; a self-respecting naturalness, which made them + gentlemen in substance if not in all technical details; a pungent contempt + for humbug and artifice, though they might not mind a good, swaggering lie + upon occasion; a robust sense of honor in all matters which were trusted + to their honorable feeling; and, to make an end of this long catalogue, a + practical command of language regarded as a means of expressing and + communicating the essential core of thoughts, though the words might not + always be discoverable in Johnson's dictionary or the grammatical + constructions such as would be warranted by Lindley Murray. They were, + upon the average, good-looking, active, able men, and most of them were on + the sunny side of forty. They were ready to converse on any subject, but + if left to themselves they would choose topics proper to their + calling-ships and shipwrecks, maritime usages of various countries, of + laws of insurance, of sea-rights, of feats of seamanship, of luck and ill + luck, and here and there a little politics of the old-fashioned, + elementary sort. They boasted themselves and their country not a little, + and criticised everybody else, and John Bull especially, very severely + often, but almost always very acutely, too. They would play euchre and + smoke cigars from nine o'clock till eleven, and would then go to bed and + sleep till the breakfast-bell. Altogether, they were fine company, and + they did me much good. Such were the captains of our merchant marine about + the middle of the last century. + </p> + <p> + Some of them would bring their wives with them for the voyage; uniformly + rather pretty women, a trifle dressy, somewhat fragile in appearance, but + really sound enough; naive, simple, good souls, loving their husbands and + magnifying them, and taking a vicarious pride in their ships and + sea-craft. The lady-paramount of these, in my estimation, was the wife of + old Captain Howes, the inventor of Howes' patent rig, which he was at that + time perfecting. He would sometimes invite me up to his room to see the + exquisitely finished model which he had made with his own hands. He was + the commodore of the captains, the oldest, wisest, and most impressive of + them; a handsome, massive, Jovelike old gentleman, with the gentlest and + most indulgent manners, and a straightforward, simple mariner withal. He + had ceased to make voyages, and was settled, for the time being, in + Liverpool. Mrs. Howes seemed, to my boyish apprehension, to be a sort of + princess of exquisite and gracious refinement; I could imagine nothing in + feminine shape more delicate, of more languid grace, of finer patrician + elegance. She was certainly immensely good-natured and indulgent towards + me, and, in the absence of my mother, tried to teach me to be less of an + Orson; she had hands which were true works of art, flexible, fine-grained, + taper-fingered, and lily-white; these she used very effectively, and would + fain have induced me to attempt the regeneration of my own dirty and + ragged little fists. She would beseech me, also, to part my hair straight, + to forbear to soil my jacket, and even to get my shoes blacked. I was + thankful for these attentions, though I was unable to profit by them. + Sometimes, at table, I would glance up to find her eyes dwelling with mild + reproach upon me; doubtless I was continually perpetrating terrible + enormities. Had she herself been less perfect and immaculate, I might have + felt more hopes of my own amendment; but I felt that I was not in her + class at all, and I gave up at the start. She was a wonderful human + ornament, the despair, I thought, of all pursuit, not to mention rivalry. + Beside the heroic figure of her captain, she looked like a lily mated with + an oak; but they were as happy a pair, and as well mated, as one could + hope to see. + </p> + <p> + I was, perhaps, more in my proper element among the captains down in the + smoking-room, which was at the back of the house, at the end of the + hallway, on the left. My father sat there foot to foot with them, played + euchre with them, listened to their yarns, laughed at their jokes, and + felt, probably, the spirit of his own old sea-captain ancestors stirring + within him. Some of them were a little shy of his official position at + first, and indeed he was occasionally constrained to adopt towards one or + another of them, in the consulate, a bearing very different from the easy + comradeship of the Blodgett evenings; but in process of time they came to + understand him, and accepted him, on the human basis, as a friend and + brother. My father had the rare faculty of retaining his dignity without + putting it on. No one ever took liberties with him, and he took none with + anybody; yet there was no trace in his intercourse of stiffness or pose; + there did not need to be, since there was behind his eye that potentiality + of self—protection which renders superfluous all outward + demonstration of personal sanctity. On the other hand, he obviously + elevated the tone of our little society; the stout captains, who feared + nothing else, feared their worser selves in his presence. None of them + knew or cared a straw for his literary genius and its productions; but + they were aware of something in him which they respected as well as liked, + and there was no member of the company who was more popular or + influential. + </p> + <p> + Without letting me feel that I was the object of special solicitude or + watchfulness, my father knew all that I did, and saw to it that my time + was decently occupied. In addition to the dancing-lessons already + mentioned (in which I became brilliantly proficient, and achieved such + feats in the way of polkas, mazurkas, hornpipes, and Scotch reels as + filled my instructor and myself with pride)—in addition to this, I + was closeted twice a week with a very serious and earnest drawing-master, + who taught me with infinite conscientiousness, and sighed heavily over the + efforts which I submitted to him. The captains, who were my champions and + abettors in all things, might take in their large hands a drawing of mine + and the copy by the master which had been my model, and say, one to the + other, "Well, now, I couldn't tell which was which—could you?" But + the master could tell, and the certainty of it steeped his soul in + constant gloom. I doubt if he recovered from the pangs I gave him. The + fact was, I thought an hour of dancing with lovely Mary Warren was worth + all the art in the world. Another instructor to whom I brought honor was + thick-shouldered, portly, unctuous M. Huguenin, a Swiss, proprietor of the + once-famous gymnasium which bore his name. He so anointed me with praise + that I waxed indiscreet, and one day, as I was swinging on the rings, and + he was pointing out to some prospective patrons my extraordinary merits, + my grasp relaxed at the wrong moment and I came sailing earthward from on + high. It seemed to me that, like Milton's Lucifer, "from dawn to eve I + fell," M. Huguenin sprinting to intercept my fall; but I landed on a mat + and was little the worse for it. I fear the prospective patrons were not + persuaded, by my performance, of the expediency of gymnastic training. On + the other hand, M. Huguenin managed to dispose to my father of one of his + multum-in-parvo exercising-machines, on the understanding that it was to + be taken back at half-price on the expiration of our stay in Liverpool; + but, when that time came, M. Huguenin failed to remember having been a + party to any such understanding; so the big framework was boxed up, and + finally was resurrected in Concord, where I labored with it for seven or + eight years more during my home-comings from Harvard. + </p> + <p> + In the intervals of my other pursuits, I was, at this period, sent into + society. The society at Mrs. Blodgett's was, indeed, all that I desired; + but it was doubtless perceived that it was not all that my polite + development required; my Orsonism was too much indulged. I was sent alone + to Sandheys, the Brights' and Heywoods' place, where I was moderately ill + at ease; and also to the house of a lady in town, who received a good deal + of company, and there I was, at first, acutely miserable. The formalities + of the drawing-room and the elegant conversation overwhelmed me with the + kind of torture which Swedenborg ascribes to those spirits of the lower + orders who are admitted temporarily into the upper heavens. Unlike these + unfortunates, however, I presently got acclimated; other boys of my age + appeared, and numbers of little girls (Mary Warren among them), and now + society occupied all my thoughts. The lady of the house got up private + theatricals—"Beauty and the Beast" was the play. I was cast for the + parts of the Second Sister and of the Beast; Mary Warren was the Beauty. I + got by heart not only my own lines, but those of all the other performers + and the stage directions. The play was received with applause, and after + it was done the actors were feted; my father was not present, but he + appeared greatly diverted by my account of the proceedings. He was + probably testing me in various ways to see what I was made of, and whether + anything could be made of me. He encouraged my predilection for natural + history by getting me books on conchology and taking me to museums to + study the specimens and make pencil drawings of them. In these avocations + I was also companioned by Frank Channing, whose specialty was ornithology, + and who was making a series of colored portraits of the birds in the + museum, very cleverly done. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING, 1855] + </p> + <p> + Frank was the son of the Rev. William Henry Channing, who was pastor of a + Unitarian church in Liverpool; he had brought his family to England at + about the same time that we came. He was a nephew, I believe, of the + William Ellery Channing who was one of the founders of American + Unitarianism, and the brother, therefore, of the Ellery Channing of + Concord. Frank inherited much of the talent of his family. He was + afterwards sent to Oxford, where he took the highest honors. All + intellectual operations came easy to him. He also showed a strong + proclivity to art, and he was wonderfully clever in all kinds of fine + handwork. He was at this time a tall and very handsome boy, about two + years my senior. He was, like myself, fanatically patriotic, an American + of Americans, and this brought us together in a foreign land; but, aside + from that, I have seldom met a more fascinating companion. I followed him + about with joy and admiration. He used to make for me tiny little + three-masted ships, about six inches long, with all the rigging complete; + they were named after the famous American clippers of the day, and he + painted microscopic American flags to hoist over the taff-rail. He tried + to teach me how to paint in water-colors, but I responded better to his + eloquence regarding the future of our country. He proved to me by a + mathematical demonstration, which I accepted without in the least + understanding it, that in fifty years New York would be larger and more + populous than London at the end of the same period. This brilliant boy + seemed fitted for the highest career in his native country; his father did + not contemplate a permanent stay in England, and in after years I used to + look for his name in our Senate, or among the occupants of the Supreme + Bench. But, as it turned out, he never revisited America, except for short + periods. His father was induced to remain abroad by the success of his + preaching, and Frank, after his career at Oxford, was overpowered by the + subtle attractions of English culture, and could not separate himself from + the old country. I saw him once while I was at Harvard. He was an + Englishman in all outward respects, and seemed to be so inwardly likewise. + The other day I heard of a Frank Channing in Parliament; probably the same + man. But either the effect upon him of his voluntary expatriation—his + failure to obey at eve the voice obeyed at prime—or some other + cause, has prevented him from ever doing anything to attract attention, or + to appear commensurate with his radiant promise. Henry James is the only + American I know who has not suffered from adopting England; and even he + might have risen higher than he has done had he overcome his distaste to + the external discomforts of the democracy and cast in his lot with ours. + </p> + <p> + Frank's father was a tall, intellectual, slender Yankee, endowed with + splendid natural gifts, which he had improved by assiduous cultivation. In + the pulpit he rose to an almost divine eloquence and passion, and a light + would shine over his face as if reflected from the Holy Spirit itself. My + father took a pew in his church, and sent me to sit in it every Sunday; he + never went himself. He was resolved, I suppose, if there was any religion + in me, to afford it an opportunity to come out. Now, I had a religious + reverence for divine things, but no understanding whatever of dogma of any + sort. I never learned to repeat a creed, far less to comprehend its + significance. I was moved and charmed by Mr. Channing's discourses, but I + did not like to sit in the pew; I did not like "church." I remember + nothing of the purport of any of those sermons; but, oddly enough, I do + recall one preached by a gentleman who united the profession of preacher + with that of medicine; he occupied Channing's pulpit on a certain + occasion, and preached on the text in John xix., 34: "But one of the + soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood + and water." The good doctor, drawing on his physiological erudition, + demonstrated at great length how it was possible that blood should be + mingled with the water, and showed at what precise point in Christ's body + the spear must have entered. I seem to hear again his mellifluous voice, + repeating at the close of each passage of his argument, "And forthwith + came thereout blood-AND WATER!" I did not approve of this sermon; I was + not carried to heaven in the spirit by it, as by Channing's; but somehow + it has stuck in my memory all these forty-eight years. + </p> + <p> + Often I stayed for a few days at a time at Channing's house; his wife was + a handsome, delicate, very nervous woman; his daughter Fanny was a beauty, + and became still more beautiful in after years; she was married, when past + her first youth, to Edwin Arnold, author of "The Light of Asia," and of + many rhetorical leading articles in the London Telegraph. She died a few + years ago. They were, all of them, kind to me. I did the best I could to + be a good little boy there; but I recollect Mrs. Channing's face of sorrow + and distress when, one day at dinner, I upset into my lap my plate, which + she had just filled with Irish stew—one of my best-loved dishes. + "Frank never does that," she murmured, as she wiped me up; "never-never!" + Nobody looked cheerful, and I never got over that mortification. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Bennoch and Bright like young housekeepers—"What did you + marry that woman for?"—"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures"— + "The worst book anybody ever wrote"—"Most magnificent eye I + ever saw"—A great deal of the feminine in Reade—Fire, + pathos, fun, and dramatic animation—A philosophical library + in itself—Amusing appanage of his own book—Oily and + voluble sanctimoniousness—Self-worship of the os-rotundus + sort—Inflamed rather than abated by years—"Every word of + it true; but—"—Better, or happier, because we had lived— + Appropriated somebody else's adventure—Filtering remarks + through the mind of a third person—A delightful Irishman— + Unparalleled audacity—An unregenerate opinion—The whole + line of Guelphs in it—"Oh, that somebody would invent a new + sin!"—"The Angel in the House"—Very well dressed— + Indomitable figure, aggressively American—Too much of the + elixir of life—A little strangeness between us—Sunshine + will always rest on it. +</pre> + <p> + The central event of 1856 was the return from Lisbon and Madeira of my + mother and sisters. Measuring time, as boys do (very sensibly), not by the + regulated pace of minutes, but by the vast spaces covered by desire, it + appeared to me, for some decades, that they had been absent in those + regions for years—two years at least; and I was astonished and + almost incredulous when dates seemed to prove that the interval had been + six or eight months only. It was long enough. + </p> + <p> + In the course of the previous spring my father made two or three little + excursions of a few days or a week or so in various directions, commonly + convoyed by Bright or Bennoch, who were most enterprising on his behalf, + feeling much the same sort of ambition to show him all possible of England + and leading English folk that a young housekeeper feels to show her + visiting school-friend her connubial dwelling and its arrangements, and to + take her up in the nursery and exhibit the children. Had my father + improved all his opportunities he would have seen a great deal, but the + consulate would have been administered by the clerks. He took trips + through Scotland and the north of England, and south to London and the + environs; dined at the Milton Club and elsewhere, visited the Houses of + Parliament, spent a day with Martin Farquhar Tupper, author of Proverbial + Philosophy, and still was not remarkably absent from the dingy little + office down by the docks, or from the euchre games in Mrs. Blodgett's + smoking-room. For the most part, I did not accompany him on these + excursions, being occupied in Liverpool with my pursuit of universal + culture; yet not so much occupied as to prevent me from feeling insolvent + while he was away, and rich as Aladdin when he got back. For his part, he + struggled with low spirits caused by anxiety lest the next mail from + Portugal should bring ill news of the beloved invalid there (instead of + the cheerful news which always did come); his real life was suspended + until she should return. Partings between persons who love each other seem + to be absolute loss of being; but that being revives, with a new spiritual + strength, when all partings are over. + </p> + <p> + Of the people whom he met on these sallies, I saw some, either then or + later: Disraeli, Douglas Jerrold, Charles Reade, Tom Taylor, Bailey, the + author of that once-famous philosophic poem, "Festus"; Samuel Carter Hall, + and a few more. Disraeli, in 1856, had already been chancellor of the + exchequer and leader of the house, and was to hold the same offices again + two years later. He had written all but two of his novels, and had married + the excellent but not outwardly attractive lady who did so much to sustain + him in his career. At a dinner of persons eminent in political life, about + this juncture, Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli were present, and also Bernal + Osborne, a personage more remarkable for cleverness and aggressiveness, in + the things of statesmanship, than for political loyalty or for a sense of + his obligations to his associates. This gentleman had drunk a good deal of + wine at dinner, and had sat next to Mrs. Disraeli; when the ladies had + left the table he burst out, with that British brutality which often + passes for wit, "I say, Disraeli, what on earth did you marry that woman + for?" All talk was hushed by this astounding query, and everybody looked + at the sallow and grim figure to whom it was addressed. Disraeli for some + moments played with his wineglass, apparently unmoved; then he slowly + lifted his extraordinary black, glittering eyes to those of his + questioner. "Partly for a reason," he said, measuring his words in the + silence, "which you will never be capable of understanding—gratitude!" + The answer meant much for both of them; it was never forgotten, and it + extinguished the clever and aggressive personage. It was ill crossing + swords with Disraeli. + </p> + <p> + Douglas Jerrold was at the height of his fame and success in this year; he + died, I think, the year following, at the age of fifty-four. He was very + popular during his later lifetime, but he seems to have just missed those + qualities of the humorist which insure immortality; he is little more than + a name to this generation. He was the son of an actor, and had himself + been on the stage; indeed, he had tried several things, including a short + service as midshipman in his Majesty's navy. He wrote some two-score + plays, and was a contributor to Punch from its outset; there are several + books to his credit; and he edited Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, which was + first called by his own name. But people who have read or heard of nothing + else of his, have heard of or read "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures." + Douglas Jerrold, however, is by no means fully pictured by anything which + he wrote; his charm and qualities came out in personal intercourse. Nor + does the mere quotation of his brightnesses do him justice; you had to + hear and see him say them in order to understand them or him. He was + rather a short man, with a short neck and thick shoulders, much bent, and + thick, black hair, turning gray. His features were striking and pleasing; + he had large, clear, prominent, expressive black eyes, and in these eyes, + and in his whimsical, sensitive mouth, he lived and uttered himself. They + took all the bitterness and sting out of whatever he might say. When he + was about to launch one of his witticisms, he fixed his eyes intently on + his interlocutor, as if to call his attention to the good thing coming, + and to ask his enjoyment of it, quite apart from such application to + himself as it might have. It was impossible to meet this look and to + resent whatever might go with it. Thus a friend of his, who wished to + write telling books but could not quite do it, came to him in haste one + day and exclaimed, aggrievedly, "Look here, Douglas, is this true that was + told me—that you said my last book was the worst I'd ever written?" + Douglas gazed earnestly into the flushed and troubled face, and said, in + his softest tones, "Oh no, my dear fellow, that isn't what I said at all; + what I did say was that it was the worst book anybody ever wrote." Such a + retort, so delivered, could not but placate even an outraged author. + </p> + <p> + Of Charles Reade my father saw little, and was not impressed by what he + saw; but Reade, writing of him to my sister Una, five-and-twenty years + after, said, "Your father had the most magnificent eye that I ever saw in + a human head." Reade was just past forty at the time he met my father, and + had just published <i>It Is Never Too Late to Mend</i>—the first of + his great series of reform novels. Christie Johnstone and Peg Woffington + were very clever, and written with immense vigor and keenness, but did not + give the measure of the man. I doubt if my father had as yet read any of + them; but later he was very fond of Reade's writings. Certainly he could + not but have been moved by The Cloister and the Hearth, the greatest and + most beautiful of all historical novels. He saw in him only a tall, + athletic, light-haired man with blue eyes. I was more fortunate. I not + only came to know Reade in 1879, but also knew several persons who knew + him intimately and loved and admired him prodigiously; they were all in + one story about him. He was then still tall and athletic, but his wavy + hair and beard were gray; his face was one of the most sensitive men's + faces I ever saw, and his forehead was straight and fine, full of + observation and humor; his eyes were by turns tender and sparkling. There + was a great deal of the feminine in Reade, together with his robust and + aggressive masculinity. The fault of his head was its lack of depth; there + was not much distance from the ear to the nostril, and the backhead was + deficient. It was high above. There was a discord or incongruity in his + nature, which made his life not what could be called a happy one. He had + the impulses of the radical and reformer, but not the iron or the + impassivity which would have enabled him to endure unmoved the attacks of + conservatism and ignorance. He kicked against the pricks and suffered for + it. He was passionate, impatient, and extreme; but what a lovely, + irresistible genius! He was never a society figure, and withdrew more and + more from personal contact with people; but he kept up to the last the + ardor of his attack upon the abuses of civilization—or what he + deemed to be such. He fell into some errors, but they were as nothing to + the good he effected even in external conditions; and the happiness and + benefit he brought to tens of thousands of readers by the fire, pathos, + fun, sweetness, and—dramatic animation of his stories, and by the + nobility and lovableness of many of the characters drawn in them, are + immeasurable, and will touch us and abide with us again when the welter of + the present transition state has passed. His devotion to the drama injured + his style as a novelist, and also led him to adopt a sort of staccato + manner of construction and statement which sometimes makes us smile. But + upon the ground proper to his genius Reade had no rival. A true and full + biography of him, by a man bold enough and broad enough to write it, would + be a stirring book. + </p> + <p> + Bailey, the amiable mystical poet, whom my father mildly liked, was + another man my glimpses of whom came at a date much later than this. He + was a small, placid, gently beaming little philosopher, with a large beard + and an oval brow, and though he wrote several things besides "Festus," + they never detached themselves in the public mind from the general theme + of that production. Bailey himself seemed finally to have recognized this, + and he spent his later years (he lived to a great age) in issuing + continually fresh editions of his book, with expansions and later + thoughts, until it got to be a sort of philosophical library in itself. He + appeared in society in order to give his admirers opportunity to offer up + their grateful homage, and to settle for them all questions relative to + the meaning of man and of religion. No misgivings troubled him; his smile + was as an unintermittent summer noonday. He was accompanied by his wife, + with whom he seemed to be, as Tennyson says, "twinned, like horse's ear + and eye." She relieved him from the embarrassing necessity of saying + illuminative and eulogistic things about himself and his great work. The + book, upon its first publication, was really read by appreciable numbers + of persons; later, I think, "Festus Bailey" came to be, to the general + mind, an amusing kind of appanage of his own work, which was now taken as + read, but ceased to have readers. How happy a little imperviousness may + make a good man! + </p> + <p> + Tom Taylor, the dramatist, Punch contributor, and society wit, I remember + only as a pale face and a black beard. His wit had something of a + professional tang. There are many like him in club-land and hanging about + the stage; they catch up and remember all the satirical sayings, the + comicalities, and quips that they hear, and they maintain a sort of + factory for the production of puns. Their repartee explodes like an + American boy's string of toy crackers, and involves, to set it going, no + greater intellectual effort. They are not, in their first state, less + intelligent than the common run of men—rather the contrary; but as + soon as they have gone so far as to acquire a reputation for wit, their + output begins to betray that sad, perfunctory quality which we find in + wound-up music-boxes, and that mechanical rattle makes us forget that they + ever had brains. However, Tom Taylor, with his century of plays and + adaptations—among them "Our American Cousin," which the genius of an + actor, if not its own merit, made memorable—should not be deemed + unworthy of the reputation which, in his time and place, he won. He was at + his best when, stimulated by applause and a good dinner, he portrayed + persons and things with a kind of laughable extravagance, in the mode + introduced by Dickens. Men of his ilk grow more easily in our soil than in + the English, and are much less regarded. + </p> + <p> + Henry Stevens—"the man of libraries," as my father calls him—was + a New-Englander, born in Vermont; he took betimes to books, came abroad, + and was employed by the British Museum in getting together Americana, and + by various collectors as an agent to procure books, and in these innocent + pursuits his amiable life was passed. He had a pleasing gift of drollery, + which made his companionship acceptable at stag-parties and in the + smoking-room of the clubs, and he had also a fund of special information + on literary subjects which was often of value. I met him in after-life—twenty-five + years after—and age had not altered him, though, perhaps, custom had + somewhat staled his variety. He was of medium stature, dark haired and + bearded. With him was often seen the egregious Mr. Pecksniff (as Samuel + Carter Hall was commonly known to his acquaintances since the publication + of Martin Chuzzlewit ten years before). Hall was a genuine comedy figure. + Such oily and voluble sanctimoniousness needed no modification to be + fitted to appear before the footlights in satirical drama. He might be + called an ingenuous hypocrite, an artless humbug, a veracious liar, so + obviously were the traits indicated innate and organic in him rather than + acquired. Dickens, after all, missed some of the finer shades of the + character; there can be little doubt that Hall was in his own private + contemplation as shining an object of moral perfection as he portrayed + himself before others. His perversity was of the spirit, not of the + letter, and thus escaped his own recognition. His indecency and falsehood + were in his soul, but not in his consciousness; so that he paraded them at + the very moment that he was claiming for himself all that was their + opposite. No one who knew him took him seriously, but admired the ability + of his performance, and so well was he understood that he did little or no + harm beyond the venting of a spite here and there and the boring of his + auditors after the absurdity of him became tedious. Self-worshippers of + the <i>os-rotundus</i> sort are seldom otherwise mischievous. He may be + sufficiently illustrated by two anecdotes. + </p> + <p> + They both occurred at a dinner where I was a guest, and Bennoch sat at the + head of the table. Hall sat at Bennoch's left hand, and my place was next + to Hall's. The old gentleman—he was at this period panoplied in the + dignity of a full suit of snow-white hair, and that unctuous solemnity and + simpering self-complacency of visage and demeanor which were inflamed + rather than abated by years—began the evening by telling in + sesquipedalian language a long tale of an alleged adventure of his with my + father, which, inasmuch as there was no point to it, need not be rehearsed + here; but I noticed that Bennoch was for some reason hugely diverted by + it, and found difficulty in keeping his hilarity within due bounds of + decorum, Hall's tone being all the while of the most earnest gravity. + Later I took occasion to ask Bennoch the secret of his mirth; was the tale + a fiction? "Not a bit of it," Bennoch replied; "it's every word of it + true; but what tickled me was that it was myself and not Hall who was in + the adventure with your father; but Hall has been telling it this way for + twenty years past, and has long since come to believe that his lie is the + truth." So ended the first lesson. + </p> + <p> + The second was administered shortly before the company dispersed. Mr. Hall + again got the floor to deliver one of his more formal moral homilies. + "And, my dear friends—my very dear friends," he went on, resting his + finger-ends upon the table, and inclining his body affectionately towards + his auditors, "may I, as an old man—I think the oldest of any of you + here present—conclude by asking your indulgence for an illustration + from the personal experience and custom of one who may, I think—who + at least has ever striven to be, a humble Christian gentleman—may I, + my dear friends, cite this simple example of what I have been attempting + to inculcate from my own personal practice, and that of my very dear and + valued wife, Mrs. Hall? It has for very many years been our constant + habit, before seeking rest at night, to kneel down together at our + bedside, and to implore, together, the Divine blessing upon the efforts + and labors of the foregoing day. And before offering up that petition to + the Throne of Grace, my friends "—here the orator's voice vibrated a + little with emotion—"we have ever been sedulous to ask each other, + and to question our own hearts, as to whether, during that day, some human + fellow-creature had been made better, or happier, because we had lived. + And very seldom has it happened—very seldom, indeed, my dear + friends, has it happened—that we were unable to say to ourselves, + and to each other, that, during that day, some fellow-creature, if not + more than one, had had cause for thankfulness because we had lived. And + now I will beg of you, my dear friends," added Mr. Hall, producing his + large, white pocket-handkerchief and patting his eyes with it, "to pardon + a personal allusion, made in fulness of heart and brotherly feeling, and + if there be found in it anything calculated to assist any of you towards a + right comprehension of our Christian responsibilities towards our + fellow-man, I entreat that you take it into your hearts and bosoms, and + may it be sanctified unto you. I have done." + </p> + <p> + This report may be relied upon as substantially accurate, for the reporter + made a note of the apologue and exhortation soon afterwards. Mrs. Hall, + like her husband, was of Irish birth, and an agreeable and clever woman. + They were both born in 1800, and died, she in her eighty-second, he in his + ninetieth year. He remained the same Hall to the very end of his long + chapter, and really, if no one was the better because he had lived, I + don't know that any one was the worse, in the long run, either; and there + have been Pecksniffs of whom as much could hardly be affirmed. There is, + however, an anecdote of Hall which my father tells, and seems to have + credited; if it be true, it would appear that once at least in his life he + could hardly have implored the Throne of Grace for a blessing on the deeds + of the day. "He told me," writes my father, "(laughing at the folly of the + affair, but, nevertheless, fully appreciating his own chivalry) how he and + Charles Lever, about ten years since, had been on the point of fighting a + duel. The quarrel was made up, however, and they parted good friends, + Lever returning to Ireland, whence Mr. Hall's challenge had summoned him." + I suspect good Mr. Hall must have once more appropriated somebody else's + adventure; it was not in the heat of youth that the bloody-minded and + unchristian episode is supposed to have occurred, but when Mr. Hall was in + his forty-seventh year. + </p> + <p> + Durham, the sculptor, was a lifelong friend of Bennoch's, and was often in + my father's company, and he manifested a friendly feeling towards my + father's son long afterwards. He was a man of medium height, compactly + built, with slightly curling hair, and a sympathetic, abstracted + expression of countenance. He was at this time making a bust of Queen + Victoria, and he told us that it was contrary to court etiquette for her + Majesty, during these sittings, to address herself directly to him, or, of + course, for him directly to address her; they must communicate through the + medium of the lady-in-waiting. The Queen, however, said Durham, sometimes + broke through this rule, and so did the sculptor, the democracy of art, it + would seem, enabling them to surmount the obligation to filter through the + mind of a third person all such remarks as they might wish to make to each + other. Durham also said that when the bust was nearly finished the Queen + proposed that a considerable thickness of the clay should be removed from + the model, which was done. The bust, as an ideal work, was thereby much + improved, but the likeness to her Majesty was correspondingly diminished. + Years afterwards I was talking with W. G. Wills, the painter and + dramatist, a delightful Irishman of the most incorrigibly republican and + bohemian type. He had, a little while before, been giving lessons in + painting to the Princess Louise, who married the Marquis of Lorne, and who + was, herself, exceptionally emancipated for a royal personage. One day, + said Wills (telling the story quite innocently), the Princess was + prevented from coming as usual to his studio, and he received a message + from Windsor Castle, where the Princess and the Queen were staying, from + the Queen's secretary, commanding his presence there to give the Princess + her lesson, and to spend the night. This would be regarded by the ordinary + British subject not only as an order to be instantly and unhesitatingly + obeyed, but as a high honor and distinction. "But the fact is," said + Wills, with his easy smile, "I'd promised to be at my friend Corkran's + reception that evening, and, of course, I couldn't think of disappointing + him; there was no time to write, so I just sent a telegram to the castle + saying I was engaged." Probably English society history does not contain a + parallel to this piece of audacity, and one would have liked to see the + face of the private secretary of her Majesty when he opened the telegram. + But Wills could not be made to recognize anything singular in the affair. + </p> + <p> + Commenting in one of his private note-books, at this time, upon the + subject of modern sculpture in general, my father utters one of his + unregenerate opinions. "It seems to me," he says, "time to leave off + sculpturing men and women naked; such statues mean nothing, and might as + well bear one name as another; they belong to the same category as the + ideal portraits in books of beauty or in the windows of print-shops. The + art does not naturally belong to this age, and the exercise of it, I + think, had better be confined to manufacture of marble fireplaces." As we + shall see, he modified this radical view before he left Italy; but there + is some ground of truth in it, nevertheless. + </p> + <p> + Here is another bit of art criticism. He has been giving a detailed + description of the sitting-room in one of our lodgings, and of the objects + contained in it, evidently as a part of his general practice to record the + minor facts of English life, to serve as a background for the English + romance he hoped to write afterwards. "On the mantle-piece," he writes, + "are two little glass vases, and over it a looking-glass (not flattering + to the beholder), and above hangs a colored view of some lake or seashore, + and on each side a cheap colored print of Prince Albert and one of Queen + Victoria. And, really, I have seen no picture, bust, or statue of her + Majesty which I feel to be so good a likeness as this cheap print. You see + the whole line of Guelphs in it—fair, blue-eyed, shallow-brained, + commonplace, yet with a simple kind of heartiness and truth that make one + somewhat good-natured towards them." + </p> + <p> + "I must see Dickens before I leave England," he wrote, commenting upon the + various tales he heard of him from henchmen and critics; but he never did + see him, nor Thackeray either, whom he perhaps wished still more to meet. + Thackeray visited America while we were abroad; and when Dickens came to + Boston to read, my father was dead. Nor did he see Bulwer, an apostrophe + by whom he quotes: "Oh, that somebody would invent a new sin, that I might + go in for it!" Tennyson he saw, but did not speak with him. He sat at + table, on one occasion, with Macaulay, and remarked upon the superiority + over his portraits of his actual appearance. He made the acquaintance, + which ripened into friendship, in Italy, of Robert Browning and his wife, + and of Coventry Patmore, the author of "The Angel in the House," a poem + which he greatly liked. But, upon the whole, he came in contact with the + higher class of literary men in England less than with others, whom he was + less likely to find sympathetic. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon, when I had accompanied him to the consulate, there entered + a tall, active man, very well dressed, with black, thick-curling hair and + keen, blue eyes. He seemed under thirty years of age, but had the + self-confident manner of a man of the world, and a great briskness of + demeanor and speech. He sat down and began to tell of his experiences; he + had been all over the world, and knew everything about the world's + affairs, even the secrets of courts and the coming movements of + international politics. He was a striking, handsome, indomitable figure, + and aggressively American. When he went away, he left with my father a + book which he had written, with an engraved portrait of the author for + frontispiece. This volume, faded and shelf-worn, but apparently unread, + bound in the execrable taste of a generation and a half ago, I recently + found among my father's volumes. It bore on the title-page the dashing + signature of George Francis Train. Train saw things in the large—in + their cosmic relations; from us he was going forth to make a fortune + compared with which that of Monte Cristo would be a trifle. He did make + fortunes, I believe; but there seems to have been in his blood a little + too much of the elixir of life—more than he could thoroughly digest. + His development was arrested, or was continued on lines which carried him + away from practical contact with that world which he believed he held in + the hollow of his hand. My father suspected his soundness; but in 1856 + there seemed to be no height to which he might not rise. The spiritual + steam-engine in him, however, somehow got uncoupled from the mass of the + machinery of human affairs, and has been plying in vacua, so to say, ever + since. On the 9th of June came a telegram from Southampton; my mother and + sisters had arrived from Madeira. My father and I left Liverpool the next + day, feeling that our troubles were over. In the afternoon we alighted at + the little seaport and took a cab to the Castle Hotel, close to the water. + My father, with a face full of light, sprang up-stairs to the room in + which my mother awaited him; I found myself with my sisters and Fannie + Wrigley, the faithful nurse and companion who had accompanied them on + their travels. How tall and mature Una was! What a big girl baby Rose had + become! There was a little strangeness between us, but great good-will; we + felt that there were a great many explanations to be made. In a few + minutes I was called up-stairs to my mother. At the first glance she + seemed smaller than formerly; her face appeared a little different from my + memory of it; I was overcome by an odd shyness. She smiled and held out + her arms; then I saw my beloved mother, and a great passion of affection + poured through me and swept me to her. I was whole again, and + indescribably happy. + </p> + <p> + There was never such another heavenly room as that parlor in the Castle + Hotel; never another hotel so delightful, or another town to be compared + with Southampton. I was united to all I loved there, and in my thoughts + sunshine will always rest on it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Talked familiarly with kings and queens—Half-witted girl + who giggled all the time—It gnawed me terribly—A Scotch + terrier named Towsey—A sentiment of diplomatic etiquette— + London as a physical entity—Ladies in low-necked dresses— + An elderly man like a garden-spider—Into the bowels of the + earth—The inner luminousness of genius—Isolated and tragic + situation—"Ate ever man such a morsel before!"—The great, + wild, mysterious Borrow—Her skeleton, huddled, dry, and + awful—"Ma'am, you expose yourself!"—Plane, spokeshave, + gouge, and chisel—"I-passed-the-Lightning"—Parallel-O- + grams-A graduate of Antioch—"Continual cursing"—A + catastrophe—"Troubles are a sociable sisterhood"—"In truth + I was very sorry"—He had dreamed wide—awake of these + things—A friend of Emerson and Henry James—Embarked at + Folkestone for France. +</pre> + <p> + We spent our first reunited week at the Castle Hotel, which was founded on + an ancient castle wall, or part of it; traces of it were shown to guests. + The harbor lapped the sea-wall in front; the Isle of Wight, + white-ramparted, gleamed through the haze in the offing. I suppose, during + that week, we were enough employed in telling one another our histories + during our separation; and naturally that of my mother and sisters filled + the larger space. They had brought home words and phrases in a foreign + tongue, which made me feel very ignorant; they had talked familiarly with + kings and queens; they had had exciting experiences in Madeira; they + brought with them photographs and colored prints of people and places, + unlike anything that I had seen. My mother, who was an unsurpassed + narrator of events, gave us wonderful and vivid accounts of all they had + seen and done, which I so completely assimilated that to this day I could + repeat a great deal of them; my father listened with eyes like stars (as + my mother would have said), and with a smile in the corners of his mouth. + It was glorious weather all the time, or so it seems to have been to me. + My sisters and I renewed our acquaintance, and found one another none the + worse. Nobody called on us except a Mrs. Hume, with whom a stay of a + fortnight was projected; she kept a girls' school, and, this being + vacation, she would take us as boarders. We were starved there, as only a + pinching, English, thin-bread-and-butter housekeeper can starve people; + and my sisters and I had for our playmate a half-witted girl who was + staying over the vacation, and who giggled all the time. Mrs. Hume had + aroused my enthusiasm by telling me that there were endless sea-anemones + along the coast; but Providence seemed hostile to my sea-anemone + proclivities; for it turned out that what Mrs. Hume understood by + sea-anemones was a small, white-flowering weed that grew on the low bluff + beside the water. I never told her my disappointment, imagining that it + would distress her; but it gnawed me terribly, and she did not merit such + forbearance. + </p> + <p> + We would much better have stayed at the hotel, only that they charged us + fourteen dollars a day, which was considered exorbitant in those days. + There were seven of us, including Fanny, the nurse. What an age, when two + dollars a head was exorbitant! What Mrs. Hume charged us I know not, but + it is only just to admit that it must have been a good deal less than one + hundred dollars a week; though, again, it must not be forgotten that + translucent bread-and-butter is not expensive. We were sent there, I + suppose, in order to remind us that this was still the world that we were + living in, after all, and not yet Paradise. We came out from her sobered + and chastened, but cheerful still; and meanwhile we visited Stonehenge and + other local things of beauty or interest. Then Mr. Bennoch (who, to tell + the truth, had introduced Mrs. Hume to us) invited us to spend a month at + his house in Blackheath, while he and his wife were making a little tour + in Germany, and we arrived at this agreeable refuge during the first half + of July. My father records that he was as happy there as he had ever been + since leaving his native land. It was a pleasant little house, in a + semi-countrified spot, and it contained, besides the usual furniture + proper to an English gentleman and his wife of moderate fortune, a little + Scotch terrier named Towsey, who commanded much of the attention of us + children, and one day inadvertently bit my thumb; and I carry the scar, + for remembrance, to this day. + </p> + <p> + Many well-known persons passed across our stage here; and London, with all + its wonders, was at our doors, the wide expanse of its smoke-piercing + towers visible in our distance. All the while my father kept the official + part of himself at Liverpool, where his consular duties still claimed his + attention; he went and came between Mrs. Blodgett's and Black-heath. The + popularity of the incomparable boarding-house in Duke Street had continued + to increase, and he was obliged to bestow himself in a small room at the + back of the building, which was reputed to be haunted by the spirit of one + of his predecessors in office, who had not only died in it, but had often + experienced there the terrors of delirium tremens; but the ghost, perhaps + from a sentiment of diplomatic etiquette, never showed itself to my + father. Or it may have been that the real self of him being in Blackheath, + what remained was not sufficient to be conscious of a spiritual presence. + He came and went, like sunlight on a partly cloudy day. I recollect taking + a walk over the Heath at evening with him and the doctor who was attending + my mother; Mr. Bennoch was with us; it must have been just before he and + his wife went to the Continent. After walking some distance (the gentlemen + chatting together, and I gambolling on ahead) we came to the summit of a + low rise, from which we beheld London, flung out, all its gloomy length, + before us; and in all my thoughts of London as a physical entity the + impression then received of it returns to me. It lay vast, low, and + obscure in front of the dull red of the sunset, with dim lights twinkling + dispersedly throughout it, and the dome of St. Paul's doubtfully defining + itself above the level. There is no other general view of London to be + compared with this, seen under those conditions. Soon after, we came to + some ridges and mounds, which, said Bennoch, marked the place where were + buried the heaps of the slain of some great prehistoric battle—one, + at least, which must have taken place while the Romans yet ruled Britain. + It was a noble scene for such an antique conflict, when man met man, foot + to foot and hand to hand, with sword and spear. My mind was full of King + Arthur and his Round-Table knights of the Pendragonship, and I doubted not + that their mightiest fight had been fought here. + </p> + <p> + There were many walks in London itself. One day, going west along the + Strand, we found ourselves drawn into the midst of a vast crowd near + Charing Cross; some royal function was in progress. Threading our way + slowly through the press, we saw a troop of horsemen in steel + breastplates, with nodding plumes on their helmets, and drawn swords + carried upright on their thighs—the famous Horse Guards; and farther + on we began to see carriages with highly ornamental coachmen and footmen + passing in dilatory procession; within them were glimpses of ladies in + low-necked dresses, feathers in their hair, and their necks sparkling with + jewels. + </p> + <p> + At length we turned off towards the north, and by-and-by were entering a + huge building of gray stone, with tall pillars in front of it, which my + father told me was the British Museum. What a place for a boy! Endless + halls of statues; enormous saloons filled with glass-cases of shells; + cases of innumerable birds; acres of butterflies and other insects; + strange objects which I did not understand—magic globes of shining + crystal, enormous masses of iron which were said to have fallen from the + sky; vases and jewels; and finally, at the farther end of a corridor, a + small door, softly opening, disclosed a circular room of stupendous + proportions, domed above, the curving walls filled with myriads of books. + In the centre was a circular arrangement of desks, and in the midst of + these an elderly man, like a garden-spider in his web; but it was his duty + to feed, not devour, the human flies who sat or walked to and fro with + literary meat gathered from all over the world. It was my first vision of + a great library. + </p> + <p> + Another time we went—all of us, I think—to the Tower of + London. I vibrated with joy at the spectacle of the array of figures in + armor, and picked out, a score of times, the suit I would most gladly + choose to put on. Here were St. George, King Arthur, Sir Scudamour, Sir + Lancelot—all but their living faces and their knightly deeds! Then I + found myself immured in dungeons with walls twenty feet thick, darksome + and low-browed, with tiny windows, and some of them bearing on their + stones strange inscriptions, cut there by captives who were nevermore to + issue thence, save to the block. Here the great Raleigh had been confined; + here, the lovable, rash-tempered Essex; here, the noble Sir Henry Vane, + who had once trod the rocky coast of my own New England. Everywhere stood + on the watch or paced about the Beef-eaters in their brilliant + fifteenth-century motley. I have never since then passed the portals of + the Tower, nor seen again the incomparable gleam of the Koh-i-noor—if + it were, indeed, the Koh-i-noor that I saw, and not a glass model foisted + on my innocence. + </p> + <p> + Again, I followed my father down many flights of steps, into the bowels of + the earth; but there were lights there, and presently we passed through a + sort of turnstile, and saw lengthening out before us two endless open + tubes, of diameter twice or thrice the height of a man, with people + walking in them, and disappearing in their interminable perspective. We, + too, entered and began to traverse them, and after we had proceeded about + half-way my father told me that the river Thames was flowing over our + heads, with its ships on its surface, and its fishes, and its bottom of + mud and gravel—under all these this illuminated corridor, with + ourselves breathing and seeing and walking therein. Would we ever again + behold the upper world and the sky? The atmosphere was not pleasant, and I + was glad to find myself climbing up another flight of stairs and emerging + on the other side of the river, which we had crossed on foot, dry-shod. + </p> + <p> + Of the famous personages of this epoch I did not see much; only I remember + that a woman who seemed taller than common, dressed in a dark silk gown, + and moving with a certain air of composure, as if she knew she was right, + and yet meant to be considerate of others; whose features were plain, and + whose voice had a resonance and modulation unlike other voices, was spoken + of in my hearing as bearing a name which I had heard often, and which had + a glamour for my boyish imagination—Jenny Lind. There also rises + before me the dark, courteous visage and urbane figure of Monckton Milnes; + but there was something more and better than mere courtesy and urbanity + about him; the inner luminousness, I suppose, of what was nearly genius, + and would have been altogether that but for the swaddling-clothes of rank + and society which hampered it. My father thought him like Longfellow; but + there was an English materialism about Milnes from which the American poet + was free. Henry James told me long afterwards a comical tale of how, being + left to browse in Mimes's library one afternoon, he strayed into an alcove + of pretty and inviting volumes, in sweet bindings, mellowed by age, and + was presently terrified by the discovery that he was enmeshed in the toils + of what bibliophiles term, I think, "Facetiae"—of which Milnes had a + collection unmatched among private book-owners. Milnes's social method was + The Breakfast, which he employed constantly, and nothing could be more + agreeable—in England; we cannot acclimate it here, because we work + in the afternoon. Of Miss Bacon, of the Bacon-wrote-Shakespeare theory, I + saw nothing, but heard much, for a time, in our family circle; my father + seemed to have little doubt of her insanity, and absolute certainty of the + despotic attitude she adopted towards her supporters, which was far more + intolerable than the rancor which she visited on those who disregarded her + monomaniacal convictions. My mother, out of pure compassion, I believe, + for the isolated and tragic situation in which the poor woman had placed + herself, tried with all her might to read the book and believe the theory; + she would take up the mass of manuscript night after night, and wade + through it with that truly saintlike self-abnegation which characterized + her, occasionally, too, reading out a passage which struck her. The result + was that she could not bring herself to disbelieve in Shakespeare, but she + conceived a higher admiration than ever of Bacon; and that, too, was + characteristic of her. + </p> + <p> + We made several incursions into the surrounding country. One was to + Newstead, where, from the talkative landlady of the hotel, we heard + endless stories about Byron and his wife; this was before Mrs. Harriet + Beecher Stowe published her well-intended but preposterous volume about + the poet. Then we visited Oxford, and were shown about by the mayor of the + town, and by Mr. S. C. Hall, and were at one moment bathed in the light + emanating from Lady Waldegrave, of which interview my father, in his + private note-book, speaks thus: "Lady Waldegrave appeared; whereupon Mr. + Speirs (the mayor) instantly was transfigured and transformed—like + the English snob he is, worthy man—and looked humbler than he does + in the presence of his Maker, and so respectful and so blest that it was + pleasant to behold him. Nevertheless, she is but a brummagem kind of + countess, after all, being the daughter of Braham, the famous singer, and + married first to an illegitimate son of an Earl Waldegrave—not to + the legitimate son and possessor of the title (who was her first love)—and + after the death of these two to the present old Mr. Harcourt. She is still + in her summer, even if it be waning, a lady of fresh complexion and light + hair, a Jewish nose (to which her descent entitles her), a kind and + generous expression of face, but an officer-like figure and bearing. There + seems to be a peculiarity of manner, a lack of simplicity, a + self-consciousness, which I suspect would not have been seen in a lady + born to the rank which she has attained. But, anyhow, she was kind to all + of us, and complimentary to me, and she showed us some curious things + which had formerly made part of Horace Walpole's collection at Twickenham—a + missal, for instance, splendidly bound and beset with jewels, but of such + value as no setting could increase, for it was exquisitely illuminated by + the own hand of Raphael himself! I held the precious volume in my grasp, + though I fancy (and so does my wife) that the countess scarcely thought it + safe out of her own hands. In truth, I suppose any virtuoso would steal it + if he could; and Lady Waldegrave has reason to look to the safe-keeping of + her treasures, as she exemplified by telling us a story while exhibiting a + little silver case. This once contained a portion of the heart of Louis + XII. (how the devil it was got I know not), and she was showing it one day + to Strickland, Dean of Westminster, when, to her horror and astonishment, + she saw him open the case and swallow the royal heart! Ate ever man such a + morsel before! It was a symptom of insanity in the dean, and I believe he + is since dead, insane." It was after this interview with the countess that + we visited Old Boston, and when my parents told old Mr. Porter about the + missal his jolly eyes took on a far-away expression, as if he saw himself + in the delightful act of purloining it, "in obedience to a higher law than + that which he broke." + </p> + <p> + The man who, of all writing men, was nearest to my heart in those years, + and long after, was George Borrow, whose book, Lavengro, I had already + begun to read. The publication of this work had made him famous, though he + had written two or three volumes before that, and was at this very time + bringing out its sequel, Romany Rye. But Borrow was never a hanger-on of + British society, and we never saw him. One day, however, Mr. Martineau + turned up, and, the conversation chancing to turn on Borrow, he said that + he and George had been school-mates, and that the latter's gypsy + proclivities had given him a singular influence over other boys. Finally, + he had persuaded half a dozen of them to run away from the school and lead + a life of freedom and adventure on the roads and lanes of England. To this + part of Mr. Martineau's tale I lent an eager and sympathetic ear; but the + narrator was lowered in my estimation by the confession that he himself + had not been a member of Borrow's party. He went on to say that the + fugitives had been pursued and captured and brought back to bondage; and + upon Borrow's admitting that he had been the instigator of the adventure, + he was sentenced to be flogged, and that it was on the back of this very + Martineau that he had been "horsed" to undergo the punishment! Imagine the + great, wild, mysterious Borrow mounted upon the ascetic and precise cleric + that was to be, and the pedagogue laying on! My father asked concerning + the accuracy of some of Borrow's statements in his books, to which + Martineau replied that he could not be entirely depended on; not that he + meant to mislead or misrepresent, but his imagination, or some + eccentricity in his mental equipment, caused him occasionally to depart + from literal fact. Very possibly; but Borrow's imagination brought him + much nearer to essential truth than adherence to what they supposed to be + literal facts could bring most men. + </p> + <p> + One of the most interesting expeditions of this epoch—though I + cannot fix the exact date—was to an old English country-seat, built + in the time of Henry VIII., or earlier, and added to from age to age since + then, until now it presented an irregularity and incongruousness of plan + which rendered it an interminable maze of delight to us children wandering + through it. We were taken in charge by the children of the family, of whom + there were no fewer than fourteen, all boys, with only twelve years + between the eldest and the youngest (some of them being twins). + Hide-and-seek at once suggested itself as the proper game for the + circumstances, but no set game was needed; the house itself was + Hide-and-seek House; you could not go twenty feet without getting lost, + and the walls of many of the rooms had sliding panels, and passages + through the thickness of them, and even staircases, so that when one of us + went into a room there was no predicting where he would come out. Finally + they brought us to a black, oaken door with a great, black lock on it, and + bolts at the top and bottom; it was near the end of a corridor, in the + oldest wing of the building. The door, in addition to its native + massiveness, was studded with great nails, and there were bands of iron or + steel crossing it horizontally. When we proposed to enter, our friends + informed us that this door had been closed one hundred and eighty years + before and had never been opened since then, and that it had shut in a + young woman who, for some reason, had become very objectionable or + dangerous to other persons concerned. The windows of the room, they added, + had been walled up at the same time; so there this unhappy creature slowly + starved to death in pitch darkness. There, doubtless, within a few feet of + where we stood, lay her skeleton, huddled, dry, and awful in the garments + she wore in life. Sometimes, too, by listening long at the key-hole, you + could hear a faint sound, like a human groan; but it was probably merely + the sigh of the draught through the aperture. This story so horrified me + and froze my young blood that the fancies of Mrs. Radcliffe and Edgar + Allan Poe seemed like frivolous chatter beside it. + </p> + <p> + About the middle of September the Bennochs returned from the Continent, + and we made ready to transfer ourselves to the lodgings in Southport which + had been prepared for us. Bennoch, who was soon to meet with the crucial + calamity of his career, was in abounding spirits, and he told my father an + anecdote of our friend Grace Greenwood, which is recorded in one of the + private note-books. "Grace, Bennoch says," he writes, "was invited to a + private reading of Shakespeare by Charles Kemble, and she thought it + behooved her to manifest her good taste and depth of feeling by going into + hysterics and finally fainting away upon the floor. Hereupon Charles + Kemble looked up from his book and addressed himself to her sternly and + severely. 'Ma'am,' said he, 'this won't do! Ma'am, you disturb the + company! Ma'am, you expose yourself!'" + </p> + <p> + This last hit had the desired effect, for poor Grace probably thought that + her drapery had not adjusted itself as it ought, and that perhaps she was + really exposing more of her charms than were good to be imparted to a + mixed company. So she came to herself in a hurry, and, after a few + flutterings, subsided into a decorous listener. Bennoch says he had this + story from an eye-witness, and that he fully believes it; and I think it + not impossible that, betwixt downright humbug and a morbid exaggeration of + her own emotions, Grace may have been betrayed into this awful fix. I + wonder how she survived it! + </p> + <p> + At Southport we remained from the middle of September to the following + July, 1857. In addition to my aquarium, I was deeply involved in the + ship-building industry, and, the more efficiently to carry out my designs, + was apprenticed to a carpenter, an elderly, shirt-sleeved, gray-bearded + man, who under a stern aspect concealed a warm and companionable heart. + There were boys at the beach who had little models of cutters and yachts, + and I conceived the project of making a sail-boat for myself. My father + seems to have thought that some practical acquaintance with the use of + carpenter's tools would do me no harm—by adding a knowledge of a + handicraft to my other culture—so he arranged with Mr. Chubbuck that + I should attend his work-shop for instruction. Mr. Chubbuck, accordingly, + gave me thorough lessons in the mysteries of the plane, the spokeshave, + the gouge, and the chisel, and finally presented me with a block of white + pine eighteen inches long and nine wide, and I set to work on my sloop. He + oversaw my labors, but conscientiously abstained from taking a hand in + them himself; the model gradually took shape, and there began to appear a + bluff-bowed, broad-beamed craft, a good deal resembling the French + fishing-boats which I afterwards saw off the harbors of Calais and Havre. + The outside form being done, I entered upon the delightful and exciting + work of hollowing it out with the gouge, narrowly avoiding, more than + once, piercing through from the hold into the outer world. But the little + ship became more buoyant every day, and finally stood ready for her deck. + This I prepared by planing down a bit of plank to the proper thickness—or + thinness—and carefully fitted it into its place, with companionways + fore and aft, covered with hatches made to slide in grooves. Next, with + chisel, spoke-shave, and sand-paper, I prepared the mast and fitted a + top-mast to it, and secured it in its place with shrouds and stays of + fine, waxed fishing-line. The boom and gaff were then put in place, and + Fanny Wrigley (who had aforetime made my pasteboard armor and helmet) now + made me a main-sail, top-sail, and jib out of the most delicate linen, + beautifully hemmed, and a tiny American flag to hoist to the peak. It only + remained to paint her; I was provided with three delectable cans of + oil-paint, and I gave her a bright-green under-body, a black upper-body, + and white port-holes with a narrow red line running underneath them. Thus + decorated, and with her sails set, she was a splendid object, and the boys + with bought models were depressed with envy, especially when I called + their attention to the stars and stripes. This boat-building mania of mine + had originated while we were at Mrs. Blodgett's, where the captain of one + of the clippers gave me a beautiful model of his own ship, fully rigged, + and perfect in every detail; only it would not sail, being solid. + Concerning his clipper, by-the-way, I once overheard a bit of dialogue in + Mrs. Blodgett's smoking-room between my captain and another. "Do you mean + to say," demanded the latter, "that you passed the Lightning?" To which my + captain replied, in measured and impressive tones, + "I-passed-the-Lightning!" The Lightning, it may be remarked, was at that + time considered the queen of the Atlantic passage; she had made the trip + between Boston and Liverpool in ten days. But my captain had once shown + her his heels, nevertheless. I wanted to christen my sloop The Sea Eagle, + but my father laughed so much at this name that I gave it up; he suggested + The Chub, The Mud-Pout, and other ignoble titles, which I indignantly + rejected, and what her name finally was I have forgotten. She afforded me + immense happiness. + </p> + <p> + At Southport we had a queer little governess, Miss Brown, who came to us + highly recommended both as to her personal character and for ability to + instruct us in arithmetic and geometry, geography, English composition, + and the rudiments of French. She was barely five feet in height, and as + thin and dry as an insect; and although her personal character came up to + any eulogium that could be pronounced upon it, her ignorance of the + "branches" specified was, if possible, greater than our own. She was + particularly perplexed by geometry; she aroused our hilarity by always + calling a parallelogram a parallel-O-gram, with a strong emphasis on the + penultimate syllable; and she spent several days repeating over to + herself, with a mystified countenance, the famous words, "The square of + the hypothenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two legs." What + were legs of a triangle, and how, if there were any, could they be square? + She never solved this enigma; and although we liked little Miss Brown very + much, she speedily lost all shadow of control over us; we treated her as a + sort of inferior sister, and would never be serious. "English governess" + became for us a synonym for an amiable little nonentity who knew nothing; + and I was surprised to learn, later, from the early works of Miss Rhoda + Broughton, that they could be beautiful and intelligent. Miss Brown did + not outlast our residence in Southport. + </p> + <p> + From Southport we removed to Manchester, and thence, after exhausting the + exposition, to Leamington, where we spent September and October of 1857. + We expected to proceed direct from Leamington to France and Italy, but we + were destined to be delayed in London till January of 1858. + </p> + <p> + It was in Leamington that we were joined by Ada Shepard. She was a + graduate of Antioch, a men-and-women's college in Ohio, renowned in its + day, when all manner of improvements in the human race were anticipated + from educating the sexes together. Miss Shepard had got a very thorough + education there, so that she knew as much as a professor, including—what + would be of especial service to us—a knowledge of most of the modern + European languages. What seemed, no doubt, of even more importance to her + was her betrothal to her classmate, Henry Clay Badger; they were to be + married on her return to America. Meanwhile, as a matter of mutual + convenience (which rapidly became mutual pleasure), she was to act as + governess of us children and accompany our travels. Ada (as my father and + mother presently called her) was then about twenty-two years old; she had + injured her constitution—never robust—by addiction to + learning, and had incidentally imbibed from the atmosphere of Antioch all + the women's-rights fads and other advanced opinions of the day. These, + however, affected mainly the region of her intellect; in her nature she + was a simple, affectionate, straightforward American maiden, with the + little weaknesses and foibles appertaining to that estate; and it was + curious to observe the frequent conflicts between these spontaneous + characteristics and her determination to live up to her acquired views. + But she was fresh-hearted and happy then, full of interest in the wonders + and beauties of the Old World; she wrote, weekly, long, criss-crossed + letters, in a running hand, home to "Clay," the king of men; and + periodically received, with an illuminated countenance, thick letters with + an American foreign postage-stamp on them, which she would shut herself + into her chamber to devour in secret. She was a little over the medium + height, with a blue-eyed face, not beautiful, but gentle and expressive, + and wearing her flaxen hair in long curls on each side of her pale cheeks. + She entered upon her duties as governess with energy and good-will, and we + soon found that an American governess was a very different thing from an + English one (barring the Rhoda Broughton sort). Her special aim at present + was to bring us forward in the French and Italian languages. We had + already, in Manchester, made some acquaintance with the books of the + celebrated Ollendorff; and my father, who knew Latin well, had taught me + something of Latin grammar, which aided me in my Italian studies. I liked + Latin, particularly as he taught it to me, and it probably amused him, + though it must also often have tried his patience to teach me. I had a + certain aptitude for the spirit of the language, but was much too prone to + leap at conclusions in my translations. I did not like to look out words + in the lexicon, and the result was sometimes queer. Thus, there was a + sentence in some Latin author describing the manner in which the Scythians + were wont to perform their journeys; relays of fresh horses would be + provided at fixed intervals, and thus they were enabled to traverse + immense distances at full speed. The words used were, I think, as follows: + "Itaque conficiunt iter continuo cursu." When I translated these, "So they + came to the end of their journey with continual cursing," I was astonished + to see my father burst into inextinguishable laughter, falling back in his + chair and throwing up his feet in the ebullience of his mirth. I heard a + good deal of that "continual cursing" for some years after, and I believe + the incident prompted me to pay stricter attention to the dictionary than + I might otherwise have done. + </p> + <p> + However, what with Ollendorff and Miss Shepard, we regarded ourselves, by + the time we were ready to set out for the Continent, as being in fair + condition to ask about trains and to order dinner. My mother, indeed, had + from her youth spoken French and Spanish fluently, but not Italian; my + father, though he read these languages easily enough, never attained any + proficiency in talking them. After he had wound up his consular affairs, + about the first week in October, we left Leamington and took the train for + a few days in London, stopping at lodgings in Great Russell Street, close + to the British Museum. + </p> + <p> + We were first delayed by friendly concern for the catastrophe which at + this moment befell Mr. Bennoch. He was a wholesale silk merchant, but his + literary and social tendencies had probably led him to trust too much to + the judgment and ability of his partners; at all events, on his return + from Germany he had found the affairs of his establishment much involved, + and he was now gazetted a bankrupt. In the England of those days + bankruptcy was no joke, still less the avenue to fortune which it is + sometimes thought to be in other countries; and a man who had built up his + business during twenty years by conscientious and honorable work, and who + was sensitively proud of his commercial honor, was for a time almost + overwhelmed by the disaster. My father felt the most tender sympathy and + grief for him, and we were additionally depressed by a report, + circumstantially detailed (but which proved to be unfounded), that Mrs. + Bennoch had died in childbirth—they had never had children. + "Troubles," commented my father "(as I myself have experienced, and many + others before me), are a sociable sisterhood; they love to come + hand-in-hand, or sometimes, even, to come side by side, with + long-looked-for and hoped-for good-fortune." He was doubtless thinking of + that dark and bright period when his mother lay dying in his house in + Salem and The Scarlet Letter was waiting to be born. + </p> + <p> + A few days later he went by appointment to Bennoch's office in Wood + Street, Cheapside, and I will quote the account of that interview for the + light it casts on the characters of the two friends: + </p> + <p> + "When I inquired for Bennoch, in the warehouse where two or three clerks + seemed to be taking account of stock, a boy asked me to write my name on a + slip of paper, and took it into his peculiar office. Then appeared Mr. + Riggs, the junior partner, looking haggard and anxious, poor man. He is + somewhat low of stature, and slightly deformed, and I fancied that he felt + the disgrace and trouble more on that account. But he greeted me in a + friendly way, though rather awkwardly, and asked me to sit down a little + while in his own apartment, where he left me. I sat a good while, reading + an old number of Blackwood's Magazine, a pile of which I found on the + desk, together with some well-worn ledgers and papers, that looked as if + they had been pulled out of drawers and pigeon-holes and dusty corners, + and were not there in the regular course of business. By-and-by Mr. Riggs + reappeared, and, telling me that I must lunch with them, conducted me + up-stairs, and through entries and passages where I had been more than + once before, but could not have found my way again through those extensive + premises; and everywhere the packages of silk were piled up and ranged on + shelves, in paper boxes, and otherwise—a rich stock, but which had + brought ruin with it. At last we came to that pleasant drawing-room, hung + with a picture or two, where I remember enjoying the hospitality of the + firm, with their clerks all at the table, and thinking that this was a + genuine scene of the old life of London City, when the master used to feed + his 'prentices at a patriarchal board. After all, the room still looked + cheerful enough; and there was a good fire, and the table was laid for + four. In two or three minutes Bennoch came in—not with that broad, + warm, lustrous presence that used to gladden me in our past encounters—not + with all that presence, at least—though still he was not less than a + very genial man, partially be-dimmed. He looked paler, it seemed to me, + thinner, and rather smaller, but nevertheless he smiled at greeting me, + more brightly, I suspect, than I smiled back at him, for in truth I was + very sorry. Mr. Twentyman, the middle partner, now came in, and appeared + as much or more depressed than his fellows in misfortune, and to bear it + with a greater degree of English incommunicativeness and reserve. But he, + too, met me hospitably, and I and these three poor ruined men sat down to + dinner—a good dinner enough, by-the-bye, and such as ruined men need + not be ashamed to eat, since they must needs eat something. It was roast + beef, and a boiled apple-pudding, and—which I was glad to see, my + heart being heavy—a decanter of sherry and another of port, remnants + of a stock which, I suppose, will not be replenished. They ate pretty + fairly, but scarcely like Englishmen, and drank a reasonable quantity, but + not as if their hearts were in it, or as if the liquor went to their + hearts and gladdened them. I gathered from them a strong idea of what + commercial failure means to English merchants—utter ruin, present + and prospective, and obliterating all the successful past; how little + chance they have of ever getting up again; how they feel that they must + plod heavily onward under a burden of disgrace—poor men and hopeless + men and men forever ashamed. I doubt whether any future prosperity (which + is unlikely enough to come to them) could ever compensate them for this + misfortune, or make them, to their own consciousness, the men they were. + They will be like a woman who has once lost her chastity: no after-life of + virtue will take out the stain. It is not so in America, nor ought it to + be so here; but they said themselves they would never again have put + unreserved confidence in a man who had been bankrupt, and they could not + but apply the same severe rule to their own case. I was touched by nothing + more than by their sorrowful patience, without any fierceness against + Providence or against mankind, or disposition to find fault with anything + but their own imprudence; and there was a simple dignity, too, in their + not assuming the aspect of stoicism. I could really have shed tears for + them, to see how like men and Christians they let the tears come to their + own eyes. This is the true way to do; a man ought not to be too proud to + let his eyes be moistened in the presence of God and of a friend. They + talked of some little annoyances, half laughingly. Bennoch has been dunned + for his gas-bill at Blackheath (only a pound or two) and has paid it. Mr. + Twentyman seems to have received an insulting message from some creditor. + Mr. Riggs spoke of wanting a little money to pay for some boots. It was + very sad, indeed, to see these men of uncommon energy and ability, all now + so helpless, and, from managing great enterprises, involving vast + expenditures, reduced almost to reckon the silver in their pockets. + Bennoch and I sat by the fireside a little while after his partners had + left the room, and then he told me that he blamed himself, as holding the + principal position in the firm, for not having exercised a stronger + controlling influence over their operations. The two other men had + recently gone into speculations, of the extent of which he had not been + fully aware, and he found the liabilities of the firm very much greater + than he had expected. He said this without bitterness, and said it not to + the world, but only to a friend. I am exceedingly sorry for him; it is + such a changed life that he must lead hereafter, and with none of the + objects before him which he might heretofore have hoped to grasp. No doubt + he was ambitious of civic, and even of broader public distinction; and not + unreasonably so, having the gift of ready and impressive speech, and a + behavior among men that wins them, and a tact in the management of + affairs, and many-sided and never-tiring activity. To be a member of + Parliament—to be lord mayor—whatever an eminent merchant of + the world's metropolis may be—beyond question he had dreamed + wide-awake of these things. And now fate itself could hardly accomplish + them, if ever so favorably inclined. He has to begin life over again, as + he began it twenty-five years ago, only under infinite disadvantages, and + with so much of his working-day gone forever. + </p> + <p> + "At parting, I spoke of his going to America; but he appeared to think + that there would be little hope for him there. Indeed, I should be loath + to see him transplanted thither myself, away from the warm, cheerful, + juicy English life into our drier and less genial sphere; he is a good + guest among us, but might not do well to live with us." + </p> + <p> + Bennoch was never lord mayor or member of Parliament; I do not know that + he cared to be either; but he lived to repay all his creditors with + interest, and to become once more a man in easy circumstances, honored and + trusted as well as loved by all who knew him, and active and happy in all + good works to the end of his days. There could be no keeping down such a + man, even in England; and when I knew him, in after years, he was the + Bennoch of yore, grown mellow and wise. + </p> + <p> + We were now ready for the Continent, when symptoms of some malady began to + manifest themselves among the younger persons of the family, which + presently culminated in an attack of the measles. It was six weeks before + we were in condition to take the road again. Meanwhile we were + professionally attended by Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, a homoeopathist, a + friend of Emerson and of Henry James the elder, a student of Swedenborg, + and, at this particular juncture, interested in spiritualism. In a + biography of my father and mother, which I published in 1884, I alluded to + this latter circumstance, and some time afterwards I received from his + wife a letter which I take this opportunity to print: + </p> + <p> + "4 FINCHLEY ROAD, N. W., June 19, 1885. + </p> + <p> + "DEAR SIR,—May I beg of you in any future edition of the Life of + your father to leave out your passage upon my husband and spiritualism? He + is utterly opposed to it now. On Mr. Home's first appearance in England + very remarkable things did occur; but from the first I was a most decided + opponent, and by my firmness I have kept all I know and love from having + anything to do with it for at least thirty-five years. You may imagine, + therefore, I feel hurt at seeing so spiritually minded a man as my husband + really is to be mixed up with so evil a thing as spiritism. You will + pardon a faithful wife her just appreciation of his character. One other + author took the liberty of using his name in a similar way, and I wrote to + him also. Believe me, + </p> + <p> + "Yours faithfully, + </p> + <p> + "E. A. WILKINSON." + </p> + <p> + The good doctor and his wife are now, I believe, both of them in the world + where good spirits go, and no doubt they have long ere this found out all + about the rights and wrongs of spiritism and other matters, but there is + no doubt that at the time of my father's acquaintance with him the doctor + was a very earnest supporter of the cult. He was a man of mark and of + brains and of most lovable personal quality; he wrote books well worth + deep study; Emerson speaks of "the long Atlantic roll" of their style. + Henry James named his third son after him—the gentle and brave + "Wilkie" James, who was my school-mate at Sanborn's school in Concord + after our return to America, and who was wounded in the fight at Fort + Fisher while leading his negro soldiers to the assault. But for the + present, Dr. Wilkinson, so far as we children knew him, was a delightful + and impressive physician, who helped us through our measles in masterly + style, under all the disadvantages of a foggy London winter. + </p> + <p> + On the 5th of January, 1858—we were ready to start the next day—Bennoch + came to take tea with us and bid us farewell. "He keeps up a manly front," + writes my father, "and an aspect of cheerfulness, though it is easy to see + that he is a very different man from the joyous one whom I knew a few + months since; and whatever may be his future fortune, he will never get + all the sunshine back again. There is a more determinate shadow on him + now, I think, than immediately after his misfortunes; the old, equable + truth weighs down upon him, and makes him sensible that the good days of + his life have probably all been enjoyed, and that the rest is likely to be + endurance, not enjoyment. His temper is still sweet and warm, yet, I half + fancy, not wholly unacidulated by his troubles—but now I have + written it, I decide that it is not so, and blame myself for surmising it. + But it seems most unnatural that so buoyant and expansive a character + should have fallen into the helplessness of commercial misfortune; it is + most grievous to hear his manly and cheerful allusions to it, and even his + jokes upon it; as, for example, when we suggested how pleasant it would be + to have him accompany us to Paris, and he jestingly spoke of the personal + restraint under which he now lived. On his departure, Julian and I walked + a good way down Oxford Street and Holborn with him, and I took leave of + him with the truest wishes for his welfare." + </p> + <p> + The next day we embarked at Folkestone for France, and our new life began. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Old-Homesickness—The Ideal and the Real—A beautiful but + perilous woman with a past—The Garden of Eden a Montreal + ice-palace—Confused mountain of family luggage—Poplars for + lances—Miraculous crimson comforters—Rivers of human gore— + Curling mustachios and nothing to do—Odd behavior of grown + people—Venus, the populace, and the MacDaniels—The + happiness to die in Paris—Lived alone with her + constellations—"O'Brien's Belt"—A hotel of peregrinations— + Sitting up late—Attempted assassination—My murderer—An + old passion reawakened—Italian shells and mediaeval sea- + anemones—If you were in the Garden of Eden—An umbrella + full of napoleons—Was Byron an Esquimau? +</pre> + <p> + No doubt my father had grown fond of England during his four years' + residence there. Except for its profits he had not, indeed, liked the + consular work; but even that had given zest to his several excursions from + it, which were in themselves edifying and enjoyable. The glamour of + tradition, too, had wrought upon him, and he had made friends and formed + associations. Such influences, outwardly gentle and unexacting, take + deeper hold of the soul than we are at the time aware. They show their + strength only when we test them by removing ourselves from their physical + sphere. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, though he looked forward with pleasure to leaving England for + the Continent, he was no sooner on the farther side of the narrow seas + than he began to be conscious of discomfort, which was only partly bodily + or sensible. An unacknowledged homesickness afflicted him—an + Old-Homesickness, rather than a yearning for America. He may have imagined + that it was America that he wanted, but, when at last we returned there, + he still looked back towards England. As an ideal, America was still, and + always, foremost in his heart; and his death was hastened partly by his + misgiving, caused by the civil war, lest her best days were past. But + something there was in England that touched a deep, kindred chord in him + which responded to nothing else. America might be his ideal home, but his + real home was England, and thus he found himself, in the end, with no home + at all outside of the boundaries of his domestic circle. A subconscious + perception of this predicament, combined with his gradually failing + health, led him to say, in a moment of frank self-communion, "Since this + earthly life is to come to an end, I do not try to be contented, but weary + of it while it lasts." + </p> + <p> + It is true that Rome, vehemently as at first he rebelled against it, came + at last to hold a power over him. Rome, if you give it opportunity, subtly + fastens its grasp upon both brain and heart, and claims sympathies which + are as undeniable as our human nature itself. Yet there is something + morbid in our love for the mystic city, like a passion for some beautiful + but perilous woman with a past—such as Miriam in The Marble Faun, + for example. Only an exceptionally vigorous and healthy constitution can + risk it without danger. Had my father visited Rome in his young manhood, + he might have both cared for it less and in a sense have enjoyed it more + than he did during these latter years of his life. + </p> + <p> + But from the time we left London, and, indeed, a little before that, he + was never quite himself physically. Our departure was made at the most + inclement moment of a winter season of unusual inclemency; they said (as + they always do) that no weather to be compared with it had been known for + twenty years. We got up before dawn in London, and after a dismal ride in + the train to Folkestone, where the bitter waves of the English Channel + left edgings of ice on the shingle beach where I went to pick up shells, + we were frost-bitten all our two-hours passage across to Boulogne, where + it became cold in dead earnest, and so continued all through Paris, Lyons, + and Marseilles, and down the Mediterranean to Genoa and Civita Vecchia, + and thence up the long, lonely, bandit-haunted road to Rome, and in Rome, + with exasperating aggravations, right up to April, or later. My own first + recollection of St. Peter's is that I slid on the ice near one of the + fountains in the piazza of that famous edifice; and my father did the + same, with a savage satisfaction, no doubt, at thus proving that + everything was what it ought not to be. Either in London, or at some + intermediate point between that and Paris, he caught one of the heaviest + colds that ever he had; and its feverish and debilitating effects were + still perceptible in May. "And this is sunny Italy—and this is + genial Rome!" he wrathfully exclaims. It was like looking forward to the + Garden of Eden all one's life, and going to vast trouble and expense to + get there, and, on arriving, finding the renowned spot to be a sort of + Montreal ice-palace. The palaces of Rome are not naturally fitted to be + ice-palaces, and the cold feels all the colder in them by consequence. + </p> + <p> + But I am going too fast. The first thing my father did, after getting on + board the little Channel steamer, was to go down in the cabin and drink a + glass of brandy-and-water, hot, with sugar; and he afterwards remarked + that "this sea-passage was the only enjoyable part of the day." But the + wind cut like a scimitar, and he came on deck occasionally only—as + when I came plunging down the companion-way to tell him, with the pride of + a discoverer, that France was broad in sight, and the sun was shining on + it. "Oh!" exclaimed my mother, looking up from her, pale + discomfortableness on a sofa, with that radiant smile of hers, and + addressing poor Miss Shepard, who was still further under the sinister + influence of those historic alpine fluctuations which have upset so many. + "Oh, Ada, Julian says the sun is shining on France!" Ada never stirred. + She was the most amiable and philosophic of young ladies; but if thought + could visit her reeling brain at that moment, she probably wondered why + Providence had been so inconsiderate as to sever Britain from its Gallic + base in those old geologic periods before man was yet born to + sea-sickness. + </p> + <p> + Sunshine on the pale, smooth acclivities of France, and half a dozen + bluff-bowed fishing-boats, pitching to the swell, were all that was + notable on our trip across; and of Boulogne I remember nothing, except the + confused mountain of the family luggage on the pier, and afterwards of its + being fed into the baggage-car of the train. Ollendorff abandoned me thus + early in my travels; nor was my father much better off. But Miss Shepard, + now restored to life, made amends for her late incompetence by discoursing + with excited French officials with what seemed to me preternatural + intelligence; indeed, I half doubted whether there were not some + conspiracy to deceive in that torrent of outlandish sounds which she and + they were so rapidly pouring forth to one another. However, all turned out + well, and there we were, in a compartment of a French railway-train, + smelling of stale tobacco, with ineffective zinc foot-warmers, and an + increasing veil of white frost on the window-panes, which my sisters and + myself spent our time in trying to rub off that France might become + visible. But the white web was spun again as fast as we dissipated it, and + nothing was to be seen, at all events, but long processions of poplars, + which interested me only because I imagined myself using them as lances in + some romantic Spenserian adventure of knight-errantry—for the spell + of that chivalric dream still hung about me. So we came to Amiens, a + pallid, clean, chilly town, with high-shouldered houses and a tall + cathedral, and thence went on to Paris at five o'clock. It was already + dusk, and our transit to the Hotel de Louvre in crowded cabs, through + streets much unlike London, is the sum of my first impressions of the + wonderful city. + </p> + <p> + Then, marshalled by princely yet deferential personages in rich costumes, + we proceeded up staircases and along gilded corridors to a suite of + sumptuous apartments, with many wax candles in candelabra, which were + immediately lighted by an attendant, and their lustre was reflected from + tall mirrors which panelled the rooms. The furniture thus revealed was + costly and elegant, but hardly comfortable to an English-bred sense; the + ceilings were painted, the floor rich with glowing carpets. But the glow + of color was not answered by a glow of any other sort; a deadly chill + pervaded this palatial place, which fires, as big as one's fist, kindled + in fireplaces as large as hall bedrooms, did nothing to dissipate. + Hereupon our elders had compassion on us, and, taking from the tall, awful + bedsteads certain crimson comforters, they placed each of us in an + easy-chair and tucked the comforters in over us. These comforters, covered + with crimson silk, were of great thickness, but also of extraordinary + lightness, and for a few minutes we had no confidence in their power to + thaw us. But they were filled with swan's-down; and presently a novel and + delightful sensation—that of warmth—began to steal upon us. It + steadily increased, until in quarter of an hour there might be seen upon + our foreheads and noses, which were the only parts of us open to view, the + beads of perspiration. It was a marvellous experience. The memory of the + crimson comforters has remained with me through life; light as sunset + clouds, they accomplished the miracle of importing tropic warmth into the + circle of the frozen arctic. I think we must have been undressed and + night-gowned before this treatment; at any rate, I have forgotten how we + got to bed, but to bed we somehow got, and slept the blessed sleep of + childhood. + </p> + <p> + The next morning my father, apparently as an accompaniment of his cold, + was visited by a severe nosebleed; no importance was attached to it, + beyond its preventing him from going forth to superintend the examination + of our luggage at the custom-house—the mountain having been + registered through from London. This duty was, therefore, done by Miss + Shepard and my mother. The next day, at dinner, the nosebleeding began + again. "And thus," observed my father, "my blood must be reckoned among + the rivers of human gore which have been shed in Paris, and especially in + the Place de la Concorde, where the guillotines used to stand"—and + where our restaurant was. But these bleedings, which came upon him at + several junctures during his lifetime, and were uniformly severe and + prolonged, probably had a significance more serious than was supposed. The + last one occurred not many weeks before his death, and it lasted + twenty-four hours; he was never the same afterwards. He joked about it + then, as now, but there was the forewarning of death in it. + </p> + <p> + But that day lies still unsuspected in the future, six years away. For the + present, we were in splendid Paris, with Napoleon III. in the Tuileries, + and Baron Haussmann regnant in the stately streets. For a week we went to + and fro, admiring and—despite the cold, the occasional icy rains, + and once even a dark fog—delighted. In spirit and in substance, + nothing could be more different from London. For my part, I enjoyed it + without reservation; the cold, which depressed my sick father, exhilarated + me. For Notre Dame, the Tuileries, the Louvre, the Madeleine, the + pictures, and the statues, I cared little or nothing; I hardly even heeded + the column of the Place Vendome or the mighty mass of the Arc de Triomphe. + But the Frenchiness of it all captivated me. The throngs in the streets + were kaleidoscopic in costume and character: priests, soldiers, gendarmes, + strange figures with turbans and other Oriental accoutrements; women gayly + dressed and wearing their dresses with an air; men with curling + mustachios, and with nothing to do, apparently, but amuse themselves; + romantic artists with soft felt hats and eccentric beards; grotesque + figures of poverty in rags and with ominous visages, such as are never + seen in London; martial music, marching regiments, with gorgeous generals + on horseback, with shining swords; church processions; wedding pageants + crowding in and out of superb churches; newspapers, shop-signs, and + chatter, all in French, even down to the babble of the small children. And + the background of this parade was always the pleasant, light-hued + buildings, the majority of them large and of a certain uniformity of + aspect, as if they had been made in co-operation, and to look pretty, + instead of independently and incongruously, as in England. These people + seemed to be all playing and prattling; nobody worked; even the + shopkeepers held holiday in their shops. Such was my boyish idea of Paris. + Napoleon had been emperor only five or six years; he had been married to + Eugenie only four or five; and, so far as one could judge who knew nothing + of political coups d'etat and crimes, he was the right man in the right + place. Moreover, the French bread was a revelation; it tasted better than + cake, and was made in loaves six feet long; and the gingerbread, for sale + on innumerable out-door stalls, was better yet, with quite a new flavor. I + ate it as I walked about with my father. He once took a piece himself, + and, said he, "I desired never to taste any more." How odd is, sometimes, + the behavior of grown-up people! + </p> + <p> + But even my father enjoyed the French cookery, though he was in some doubt + whether it were not a snare of the evil one to lure men to indulgence. We + dined in the banquet-hall of our hotel once or twice only; in general we + went to neighboring restaurants, where the food was just as good, but cost + less. I was always hungry, but hungrier than ever in Paris. "I really + think," wrote my father, "that Julian would eat a whole sheep." In his + debilitated state he had little appetite either for dinners or for works + of art; he looked even upon the Venus of Milo with coldness. "It seemed," + wrote he, speaking of the weather one morning, "as if a cold, bitter, + sullen agony were interposed between each separate atom of our bodies. In + all my experience of bad atmospheres, methinks I never knew anything so + atrocious as this. England has nothing to compare with it." The "grip" was + a disease unnamed at that epoch, but I should suppose that it was very + vividly described in the above sentence. He had the grip, and for nearly + six months he saw everything through its medium. + </p> + <p> + Besides the Venus and the populace, we saw various particular persons. I + went with my father to the bank, and saw a clerk give him a long roll of + bright gold coins, done up in blue paper; and we visited, or were visited + by, a Miss MacDaniel and her mother, two Salem women, "of plain, New + England manners and appearance," wrote my father, "and they have been + living here for nearly two years. The daughter was formerly at Brook Farm. + The mother suffered so much from seasickness on the passage that she is + afraid to return to America, and so the daughter is kept here against her + will, and without enjoyment, and, as I judge, in narrow circumstances. It + is a singular misfortune. She told me that she had been to the Louvre but + twice since her arrival, and did not know Paris at all." This looks like a + good theme for Mr. Henry James. + </p> + <p> + We called on the American minister to Paris, Judge John Young Mason, a + simple and amiable personage. He was rubicund and stolid, and talked like + a man with a grievance; but, as my father afterwards remarked, it was + really Uncle Sam who was the aggrieved party, in being mulcted of + seventeen thousand dollars a year in order that the good old judge should + sleep after dinner in a French armchair. The judge was anticipating being + superseded in his post, but, as it turned out, was not driven to seek + second-rate employment to support himself in his old age; he had the + happiness to die in Paris the very next year. + </p> + <p> + But the most agreeable of our meetings was with Miss Maria Mitchell, the + astronomer, who, like ourselves, was stopping a few days in Paris on her + way to Rome. She desired the protection of our company on the journey, + though, as my father remarked, she looked well able to take care of + herself. She was at this time about forty years old; born in Nantucket; + the plainest, simplest, heartiest of women, with a face browned by the + sun, of which she evidently was accustomed to see as much as of the other + stars in the heavens. Her mouth was resolute and full of expression; but + her remarkable feature was her eyes, which were dark and powerful, and had + the kindest and most magnetic look of comradeship in them. Her dark hair + was a little grizzled. She was dressed in plain gray, and was active and + energetic in her movements. She was, as the world knows, a woman of + unusual intellect and character; but she had lived alone with her + constellations, having little contact with the world or practical + knowledge of it, so that in many respects she was still as much a child as + I was, and I immediately knew her for my friend and playmate and loved her + with all my heart. There was a charming quaintness and innocence about + her, and an immense, healthy curiosity about this new old world and its + contents. She had a great flow of native, spontaneous humor, and could say + nothing that was not juicy and poignant. She was old-fashioned, yet full + of modern impulses and tendencies; warmhearted and impulsive, but rich in + homely common-sense. Though bold as a lion, she was, nevertheless, beset + with the funniest feminine timidities and misgivings, due mainly, I + suppose, to her unfamiliarity with the ways of the world. There was + already a friendship of long standing between her and Miss Shepard, and + they did much of their sightseeing during the coming year together, and + debated between themselves over the statues and pictures. Her talk with us + children was of the fine, countrified, racy quality which we could not + resist; and in the evenings, as we journeyed along, she told us tales of + the stars and gave us their names. On the steamer going to Genoa, one + night, she pointed out to me the constellation Orion, then riding high + aloft in glittering beauty, and I kindly communicated to my parents the + information that the three mighty stars were known to men as O'Brien's + Belt. This was added to the ball of jolly as a household word. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: MARIA MITCHELL] + </p> + <p> + Miss Mitchell's trunk was contributed to our mountain, when we set out + anew on our pilgrimage, with a result at first deplorable, for the number + of our own pieces of luggage being known and registered in the official + documents, it turned out, at our first stopping-place, that the trunk of + our new companion had been substituted for one of our own, which, of + course, was left behind. It was ultimately recovered, I believe, but it + seemed as if the entire world of French officialdom had to be upheaved + from its foundations in order to accomplish it. + </p> + <p> + Our route lay through Lyons to Marseilles. At Lyons I remember only the + enormous hotel where we slept the first night, with corridors wandering + like interminable streets, up-stairs and down, turning corners, extending + into vistas, clean-swept, echoing, obscure, lit only by the glimmering + candle borne by our guide. We seemed to be hours on our journey through + these labyrinths; and when at last we reached our rooms, they were so cold + and so unwarmable that we were fain to journey back again, up and down, + along and athwart, marching and countermarching past regiments of closed + doors, until at length we attained the region of the hotel dining-saloon, + where it was at least two or three degrees less cold than elsewhere. After + dinner we had to undertake a third peregrination to bed, and a fourth the + next morning to get our train. The rooms of the hotel were on a scale + suited to the length of the connecting thoroughfares, and the hotel itself + stood hard by a great, empty square with a statue in the middle of it. But + the meals were not of a corresponding amplitude. And I think it was at the + railway station of this town that the loss of the trunk was discovered. + </p> + <p> + The region from Lyons to Marseilles, along the valley of the Rhone, with + the lower ranges of the Alps on our left hand, was much more picturesque + than anything France had shown us hitherto. Ancient castles crowned many + of the lower acclivities; there were villages in the vales, and presently + vineyards and olive groves. The Rhone, blue and swift as its traditions + demanded, kept us close company much of the way; the whole range of + country was made for summer, and the wintry conditions under which we saw + it seemed all the more improper. It must have been near midnight when our + train rolled into the station at Marseilles, and my pleasure in "sitting + up late" had long become stale. + </p> + <p> + The sun shone the next morning, and, being now in the latitude of Florence + and such places, it could not help being hot, though the shaded sides of + the streets were still icy cold; and most of the streets were so narrow + that there was a great deal of shade. The whole population seemed to be + out-of-doors and collecting in the sun, like flies, a very animated and + voluble population and of a democratic complexion; the proportion of poor + folks was noticeable, and the number of women, who seemed to camp out in + the squares and market-places, and there gossip and do their knitting, as + other women might at their firesides; but here the sun is the only fire. + But a good deal of the bustle this morning was occasioned by the news from + Paris that an attempt to assassinate Napoleon III. had been made the day + before; had we remained one day longer in Paris we might have assisted at + the spectacle. The Marseilles people seemed to take it comfortably; nobody + was very sorry that the attempt had been made, nor very glad that it had + not succeeded. It was something to talk about. It was ten years more + before the French got thoroughly used to the nephew of his uncle and + decided that he was, upon the whole, a good thing; and soon after they + lost him. And for a decade after Sedan, chatting with the boulevardiers in + Paris, they would commonly tell me that they wished they had the empire + back again. Perhaps they will have it, some day. + </p> + <p> + There was a great deal of filth in Marseilles streets and along her + wharves and in the corners of her many public squares; and even our hotel, + the "Angleterre," was anything but clean; it was a tall, old rookery, from + the windows of our rooms in which I looked down into an open space between + the strange, old buildings, and saw a juggler do his marvels on a bit of + carpet spread on the pavement, while a woman handed him the implements of + magic out of a very much travelled and soiled deal-box. Later in the day, + when the place was deserted, I heedlessly flung out of the window the + contents of a glass of water, and, looking after it in its long descent, I + was horrified to see approaching a man of very savage and piratical + aspect, with a terrible black beard and a slouch hat. As luck would have + it, the water struck him full on the side of the face, probably the first + time in many a year that he had felt the impact of the liquid there. I + withdrew my head from the window in alarm, mingled with the natural joy + that a boy cannot help feeling at such a catastrophe; and by-and-by, when + I felt certain that he must have passed on, I peeped out again, but what + were my emotions at beholding him planted terribly right under the window + where he had been baptized, and staring upward with a blood-thirsty + expression. I immediately drew back again, but too late—our eyes had + met, and he had made a threatening gesture at me. I now felt that a very + serious thing had happened, and that if I ventured out upon the streets + again I should assuredly be assassinated; that it would be no mere + attempt, as in the case of the Emperor, but a pronounced success. I did + not tell my fears to any of my family—I had not, to say the truth, + informed any of them of the incident which had imperilled my life, but I + no longer felt any curiosity to see more of Marseilles, and was sincerely + thankful when I found myself, betimes next morning, on board the + Calabrese, bound for Genoa. I never saw my murderer again, but I could + make a fair likeness of him, I believe, to-day. The trip to Genoa, and + onward to Civita Vecchia, lasted two or three days, the steamer generally + pursuing her course by night and laying up by day. + </p> + <p> + The first morning, soon after sunrise, found us approaching the bay of + Genoa, with the sun rising over the Mediterranean on our right and + throwing its light upon the curving acclivity on which the city stands. + The water had a beautiful blue-green color and was wonderfully clear, so + that, looking down through it over the ship's side, as we glided slowly to + our moorings, I saw sea-weeds and blocks of marble and other marine + curiosities which reawakened my old passion for aquariums. Indeed, to be + candid with the reader—as is my study throughout this narrative—nothing + in Genoa the Superb itself has, I find, remained with me so distinctly as + that glimpse of the floor of the bay through the clear sea-water. I did + not care to go up into the town and see the palaces and churches; I wanted + to stay on the beach and hunt for shells—Italian shells—and + classical or mediaeval sea-anemones. Of course, I had to go up into the + town; and I saw, no doubt, the churches and the palaces, with their rooms + radiant with the mellow brilliance of precious marbles and painted + ceilings, and statues and pictures, under the personal conduct of no less + an individual than Salvator Rosa himself—for that was the name of + our guide—and for years afterwards I never doubted that he was the + creator of the paintings which, in Rome and elsewhere, bore his signature. + I say I must have seen these things, but in memory I cannot disentangle + them from the innumerable similar objects which I beheld, later, in other + Italian cities; their soft splendor and beautiful art could not hold their + own for me beside that cool translucence of the Mediterranean inlet, with + its natural marvels dimly descried as'I bent over the boat's side. It was + for that, and not for the other, that my heart yearned, and that became a + part of me, all the more, no doubt, that it was denied me. Our aim in the + world is beauty and happiness; but we are late in learning that they exist + in the will and imagination, and not in this or that accredited and + venerable thing or circumstance that is mechanically obtruded on our + unready attention. If you were put down in the Garden of Eden, and told + that you might stay there an hour and no more, what would you do? How + would you "improve" your time? Would you run to and fro, and visit the + spot where Adam first stood erect, and the place where he sat when he + named the animals, and the thymey bank on which he slept while Eve was + taking form from his rib, and the tree on which grew the fruit of the + knowledge of good and evil, and the precise scene of the temptation and + the fall, and the spot on which stood the altars on which Cain and Abel + offered their sacrifices, and where, presently, wrathful Cain rose up + against his brother and slew him? Would you make sure of all these set + sights in order that you might reply satisfactorily to the cloud of + interviewers awaiting you outside the Garden? Or would you simply throw + yourself down on the grass wherever the angel happened to leave you, and + try to see or to realize or to recall nothing, but passively permit your + soul to feel and experience and grow what way it would, prompted by the + inner voice and guided by the inner light, heedless of what the + interviewers were expecting and of what duty and obligation and the unique + opportunity demanded? It is worth thinking about. It may be conceded that + there is some risk to run. + </p> + <p> + I next find myself in a coach, with four horses harnessed to it, trundling + along the road from Civita Vecchia to Rome; for of Monaco I recall + nothing, nor of Leghorn; and though we passed within sight of Elba, I saw + only a lonely island on our starboard beam. As for the coach, it was a + necessity, if we would continue our journey, for the railroad was still in + the future in 1858. The coach-road was not only as rugged and uneasy as it + had been any time during the past three hundred years, but it was + outrageously infested by banditti; and, indeed, a robbery had taken place + on it only a week or two before. For miles and miles on end it was totally + destitute of dwellings, and those that we saw might well have been the + harboring-places of iniquity. Moreover, we were so long delayed in making + our start that it was already afternoon before we were under way, and + finally one of our horses gave out ere we were many miles advanced, + compelling us to hobble along for the remainder of the trip at reduced + speed. As the shades of evening began to fall, we saw at intervals sundry + persons lurking along the roadway, clad in long cloaks and conical hats, + with the suggestion of the barrel of a musket about them, and it is + probable that we were preserved from a tragic fate only by the fortunate + accident that we were just behind the mail-coach and might theoretically + have hailed it for help had we been attacked. Meanwhile, my father, with + ostensible pleasantry, suggested that we should hide our gold coin (of + which we carried a considerable store) in various queer, out-of-the-way + receptacles. I remember that an umbrella was filled with a handful or two + of the shining pieces, and stuck with studied carelessness through the + straps in the roof of the vehicle. This was regarded by us children as + excellent sport, though I think there was a lingering feeling of + apprehension in the bottom of my soul. My father kept a moderate sum in + napoleons in his pockets, so that, should the worst happen, the bandits + might fancy it was our all. But then there was our mountain of luggage, + incredibly strapped on the top of the conveyance, and behind it, and no + reasonable bandits, one would suppose, could have failed to be satiated + with that. However, it was written that we were to reach Rome unscathed, + albeit long after dark, and though we did not get past the Porta del + Popolo without suffering legalized robbery on the part of the custom-house + officials. But by that time we were so weary, downcast, and chilled that + depredation and outrage could not rouse or kindle us. + </p> + <p> + We ended, at last, in one of those refrigerator hotels to which our + travels had made us accustomed, in one of the hollow, dull, untoward + caverns of which I was presently put to bed and to sleep. "Oh, Rome, my + country, City of the Soul!" Oh, Byron, were you an Esquimau? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Our unpalatial palace—"Cephas Giovanni"—She and George + Combe turned out to be right—A rousing temper—Bright + Titian hair—"All that's left of him"—The pyramidal man of + destiny—The thoughts of a boy are long, long thoughts— + Clausilia Bubigunia—Jabez Hogg and the microscope—A + stupendous surprise—A lifetime in fourteen months—My + father's jeremiades—"Thank Heaven, there is such a thing as + whitewash!"—"Terrible lack of variety in the old masters"— + "The brazen trollop that she is!"—Several distinct phases + of feeling—Springs of creative imagination roused—The + Roman fever—A sad book—Effects of the death-blow—The rest + is silence. +</pre> + <p> + We arrived in Rome on the 17th of January, 1858, at eleven o'clock at + night. After a day or two at Spillman's Hotel, we moved into lodgings in + the Via Porta Pinciana, the Palazzo Larazani. The street extended just + below the ridge of the Pincian Hill, and was not far from the broad flight + of steps mounting upward from the Piazza d' Espagna, on the left as you go + up. In spite of its resounding name, our new dwelling had not a palatial + aspect. It was of no commanding height or architectural pretensions; a + stuccoed edifice, attached on both sides to other edifices. The street, + like other Roman streets, was narrow; it was dirty like them, and, like + them, was paved with cobble-stones. The place had been secured for us by + (I think) our friends the Thompsons; Mr. Thompson—the same man who + had painted my father's portrait in 1853—had a studio hard by. The + Thompsons had been living in Rome for five years or more, and knew the + Roman ropes. They were very comfortable people to know; indeed, Rome to me + would have been a very different and less delightful place without them, + as will hereafter appear. The family consisted of Cephas Giovanni + Thompson, the father and artist; his wife and his two sons and one + daughter. "Cephas Giovanni," being interpreted, means plain Peter John; + and it was said (though, I believe, unjustifiably) that Peter John had + been the names originally given to Thompson by his parents at the + baptismal-font, but that his wife, who was a notable little woman, a + sister of Anna Cora Mowatt, the actress, well known in America and England + seventy years ago, had persuaded him to translate them into Greek and + Italian, as more suitable to the romantic career of an artist of the + beautiful. I fancy the story arose from the fact that Mrs. Thompson was a + woman who, it was felt, might imaginably conceive so ambitious a project. + She was small, active, entertaining, clever, and "spunky," as the + New-Englanders would have said; indeed, she had a rousing temper, on + occasion. Her husband, on the other hand, had the mildest, wisely smiling, + philosophic air, with a low, slow voice, and a beard of patriarchal + fashion and size, though as yet it was a rich brown, with scarcely a + thread of silver in it. Brown and abundant, also, was his hair; he had + steady, bright, brown eyes, and was rather under the average height of + Anglo-Saxon man. But for all this mild-shining aspect of his, his dark + eyebrows were sharply arched, or gabled rather; and my mother, who had + absorbed from her former friend, George Combe, a faith in the betrayals of + phrenology, expressed her private persuasion that good Mr. Thompson had a + temper, too. She and George Combe turned out to be right in this instance, + though I am not going to tell the tale of how we happened to be made + acquainted with the fact. Little thunder-storms once in a while occur in + human skies as well as in the meteorological ones; and the atmosphere is + afterwards all the sweeter and softer. No people could be more good, + honest, and kind than the Thompsons. + </p> + <p> + There was no other artist in Rome who could paint as well as Mr. Thompson. + That portrait of my father, to which reference has been made, which now + hangs in my house, looks even better, as a painting, to-day than it did + when it was fresh from his easel. Rubens could not have laid on the colors + with more solidity and with truer feeling for the hues of life. But the + trouble with Thompson was that he had never learned how to draw correctly; + and this defect appeared to some extent in his portraits as well as in his + figures. The latter were graceful, significant, full of feeling and + character; but they betrayed a weakness of anatomical knowledge and of + perspective. They had not the conventional incorrectness of the old + masters preceding Raphael, but an incorrectness belonging personally to + Thompson; it was not excessive or conspicuous to any one, and certainly + not to Thompson himself. But his color redeemed all and made his pictures + permanently valuable. He was at this time painting a picture of Saint + Peter being visited by an angel, which was rich and beautiful; and he had + some sketches of a series based on Shakespeare's Tempest; and standing on + one side in the studio was a glowing figure of a woman in Oriental + costume, an odalisque, or some such matter, which showed that his sympathy + with life was not a restricted one. Later in our acquaintance he fell in + love with the bright Titian hair of my sister Rose, and made a little + portrait of her, which was one of his best likenesses, apart from its + admirable color; it even showed the tears in the child's eyes, gathering + there by reason of her antipathy to posing. + </p> + <p> + Cora Thompson, the daughter, was the most good-natured and sunny-tempered + of girls; she may have been fifteen at this time; she inherited neither + the handsomeness of her father nor the sharp-edged cleverness of her + mother; but she was lovable. Of the two boys, the younger was named + Hubert; he was about ten years old, small of his age, and not robust in + make or constitution. He was, however, a smart, rather witty youth, a + little precocious, perhaps, and able to take care of himself. Some five + and twenty years after the date of which I am now writing I was at a large + political dinner in New York and was there introduced to a Mr. Thompson, + who was the commissioner of public works, and a party boss of no small + caliber and power. He was an immense personage, physically likewise, + weighing fully three hundred pounds, and, though not apparently advanced + in years, a thorough man of the world and of municipal politics. After we + had conversed for a few minutes, I was struck by a certain expression + about my interlocutor's eyebrows that recalled long-forgotten days and + things. I remembered that his name was Thompson, and had an impression + that his initials were H. O. "Are you little Hubert Thompson?" I suddenly + demanded. "Why, of course I am—all that's left of him!" he replied, + with a laugh. So this was the boy whom, a quarter of a century before, I + could have held out at arm's-length. We talked over the old days when we + played together about the Roman streets and ruins. Nothing more reveals + the essential strangeness of human life than this meeting after many years + with persons we have formerly known intimately, who are now so much + changed in outward guise. We feel the changes to be unreal, and yet, there + they are! Grover Cleveland was being groomed for his first Presidential + term then; Hubert was one of his supporters in New York, and he presented + me to the pyramidal man of destiny. Poor Hubert died, lamentably, not long + after. He was a good and affectionate son. He was perhaps too kind-hearted + and loyal for the political role which he enacted. + </p> + <p> + The elder Thompson boy was called Edmund, or, in my vernacular, Eddy. + There were in his nature a gravity, depth, and sweetness which won my + heart and respect, and we became friends in that intimate and complete way + that seems possible only to boys in their early teens. For that matter, + neither of us was yet over twelve; I think Eddy was part of a year my + junior. But you must search the annals of antiquity to find anything so + solid and unalterable as was our friendship. He was the most absolutely + good boy I ever knew, but by no means goody-goody; he had high principles, + noble ambitions, strong affections, the sweetest of tempers; his + seriousness formed a healthy foil to my own more impetuous and hazardous + character. "The thoughts of a boy are long, long thoughts"; and not in + many long lifetimes could a tithe of the splendid projects we resolved + upon have been carried out. We were together from morning till night, + month after month; we walked interminably about Rome and frequented its + ruins, and wandered far out over the Campagna and along the shores of + famous Tiber. We picked up precious antique marbles, coins, and ancient + curiosities of all sorts; we hunted for shells and butterflies and + lizards; our hearts were uplifted by the martial music of the French army + bands, which were continually resounding throughout Rome; and we admired + the gleaming swords of the officers and the sharp, punctual drill and + marching of the red-legged rank and file. We haunted the lovely Villa + Borghese, the Pincian Hill, the Villa Pamphili Doria; we knew every nook + and cranny of the Palace of the Csesars, the Baths of Caracalla, the Roman + Forum, the Coliseum, the Egerian Grove; we were familiar with every gate + that entered Rome; we drank at every fountain; we lingered through the + galleries of the Vatican and of the Capitol; we made St. Peter's Church + our refuge in inclement weather; we threaded every street and by-way of + the city; we were on friendly and confidential terms with the custode of + every treasure. And all the time we talked about what we thought, what we + felt, what we would do; there is no looking backward in boys' confidences; + they live in the instant present and in the infinite future. Eddy and I + arranged to spend one lifetime in Central Africa, in emulation of the + exploits of David Livingstone; there, freed from all civilized burdens, we + would live, and we would run, catch the wild goat by the hair, and hurl + our lances in the sun. At another epoch of our endless lives we would + enter the army and distinguish ourselves in heroic war; we would have + swords like sunbeams and ride steeds like Bucephalus. Then, and + interleaved with all this, as it were, there was an immense life of + natural history; we would have a private museum to rival the famous ones + of nations. Eddy was especially drawn towards insects, while my own + predilection was still for conchology; and both of us spent hours every + week in classifying and arranging our respective collections, not to speak + of the time we devoted to hunting for specimens. Eddy had a green net at + the end of a stick, and became very skilful in making his captures; and + how we triumphed over a "swallow-tail," so difficult to catch, or an + unfamiliar species! Eddy had his pins and his strips of cork, and paper + boxes; and his collections certainly were fairer to look upon, to the + ordinary view, than mine; moreover, his was the more scientific mind and + the nicer sense of order. For the display of my snail-shells I used bits + of card-board and plenty of gum-arabic; and I was affluent in + "duplicates," my plan being to get a large card and then cover it with + specimens of the shell, in serried ranks. I also called literature to my + aid, and produced several little books containing labored descriptions of + my collection, couched, so far as possible, in the stilted and formal + phraseology of the conchological works to which I had access, but with + occasional outbursts after a style of my own. Here is a chapter from one + of them; a pen-and-ink portrait of the shell is prefixed to the original + essay: + </p> + <p> + "CLAUSILIA BUBIGUNIA + </p> + <p> + "This handsome and elegant little shell is found in mossy places, or in + old ruins, such as the Coliseum—where it is found in immense numbers—or + the Palace of the Caesars. But in Italy it is common in any mossy ruin, in + the small, moss-covered holes, where it is seen at the farthest extremity. + After a rain they always crawl out of their places of concealment in such + numbers that one would think it had been raining clausilias. The shell, in + large and fine specimens, is five-eighths of an inch in length. The young + are very small and look like the top part of the spire of the adults. This + shell is also largest in the middle, shaped something like a grain of + wheat. It has nine whorls, marked by small white lines, which look like + fine white threads of sewing-cotton; and just below them are marks which + look like very fine and very small stitches of white cotton. The color of + the shell, down to next to the last whorl, is a brown color, but the very + last whorl is a little lighter. The shell is covered all over with fine + lines, but they need to be looked at through a magnifying-glass, they are + so fine. The lip is turning out, and very thin; inside there are three + ridges, two on the top part of the mouth, and the other, which is very + small, is below. The shell, when the animal is out of it, is + semi-transparent, and the little colomella, or pillar, can be indistinctly + seen through." + </p> + <p> + There follows a detailed and loving description of the animal inhabiting + the shell, which I must reserve for a future edition. Of another species + of snail, Helix strigata, our learned author observes that "This shell is, + when dead, one of those which is found on the banks of the Tiber. It is a + strange circumstance that, although it is a land shell, it should be found + more on the banks of a river than anywhere else, and also only on the + banks of the Tiber, for it is not found on the banks of any other river. + Any one would think that dead shells were gifted with the power of walking + about, for certainly it is an inexplicable wonder how they got there." Of + Helix muralis we are informed that "The Romans eat these snails, not the + whole of them, but only their feet. In ancient times the most wealthy + people used to eat snails, and perhaps they ate the very ones which the + poorest people eat nowadays. It is most probable, for there are a great + many different kinds of snails round Rome, and the Romans would probably + select the best." I may perhaps be permitted to remark that the correct + orthography of this writer fills me with astonishment, inasmuch as in + later life I have reason to know that he often went astray in this + respect. Of the uniform maturity of the literary style, I have no need to + speak. + </p> + <p> + Eddy's father was in the habit of giving him an income of two or three + pauls a week, dependent on his good behavior and punctual preparation of + his lessons; and since Eddy was always well behaved and faithful in his + studies, the income came in pretty regularly. Eddy saved up this revenue + with a view to buying himself a microscope, for the better prosecution of + his zoological labors; being, also, stimulated thereto by the fact that I + already possessed one of these instruments, given me by my father a year + or two before. Mine cost ten shillings, but Eddy meant to get one even + more expensive. I had, too, a large volume of six hundred pages on The + Microscope, Its History, Construction, and Uses, by Jabez Hogg, the + contents of which I had long since learned by heart, and which I gladly + communicated to my friend. At length Eddy's economies had proceeded so far + that he was able to calculate that on his twelfth birthday he would + possess a fortune of five scudi, and he decided that he would buy a + microscope at that figure; it is needless to add that the microscope had + long since been selected in the shop, and was decidedly superior to mine. + We could hardly contain our impatience to enter upon the marvellous world + whereof this instrument was the key; that twelfth birthday seemed long in + coming, but at last it came. + </p> + <p> + I was to go with my friend to the shop to see him make the purchase; and I + was at his house betimes in the morning. But what a stupendous surprise + awaited me! Eddy was too much excited to say anything; with a face beaming + with emotion, he led me into the sitting-room, and there, upon the table, + was a microscope. But such a microscope! It was of such unheard-of + magnificence and elaborateness that it took my breath away, and we both + stood gazing at it in voiceless rapture. It was tall and elegant, shining + with its polished brass and mirrors, and its magnifying powers were such + as to disclose to us the very heart of nature's mystery. It was quiet Mr. + Thompson's birthday present to his son. That gentleman sat smiling in his + armchair by the window, and presently he said, with a delightful archness, + "Well, Eddy, I suppose you are ready to give me back all that money you've + been collecting?" Eddy grinned radiantly. He spent his savings for + microscope-slides and other appurtenances, and for weeks thereafter he + could hardly take his eye away from the object-lens. He was luminous with + happiness, and I reflected his splendor from my sympathetic heart. Dear + old Eddy! In after years he entered West Point and became a soldier, and + he died early; I never saw him after parting from him in Italy in 1859. + But he is still my first friend, and there has been no other more dear. + </p> + <p> + I am not aware that Rome has ever been described from the point of view of + a twelve-year-old boy, and it might be worth doing; but I have delayed + attempting it somewhat too long; the moving pictures in my mind have + become too faded and confused. And yet I am surprised at the minuteness of + some of my recollections; they have, no doubt, been kept alive by the + numerous photographs of Rome which one carries about, and also by the + occasional perusal of The Marble Faun and other Roman literature. But much + is also due to the wonderful separateness which Rome retains in the mind. + It is like nothing else, and the spirit of it is immortal. It seems as if + I must have lived a lifetime there; and yet I cannot make out that our + total residence in the city extended over fourteen months. Certainly no + other passage of my boyhood time looms so large or is rooted so deep. + </p> + <p> + But the passion for Rome (unless one be a Byron) is not a plant of sudden + growth, and I dare say that, during those first frigid weeks, I may have + shared my father's whimsical aversion to the city. He has described, in + his journals, how all things seemed to be what they should not; and he was + terribly disgusted with the filth that defiled the ruins and the street + corners. He was impressed by the ruins, but deplored their nakedness. "The + marble of them grows black or brown, it is true," says he, "and shows its + age in that way; but it remains hard and sharp, and does not become again + a part of nature, as stone walls do in England; some dry and dusty grass + sprouts along the ledges of a ruin, as in the Coliseum; but there is no + green mantle of ivy spreading itself over the gray dilapidation." We + stumbled upon the Fountain of Trevi in one of our early rambles, not + knowing what it was. "One of these fountains," writes my father, referring + to it, "occupies the whole side of a great edifice, and represents Neptune + and his steeds, who seem to be sliding down with a cataract that tumbles + over a ledge of rocks into a marble-bordered lake, the whole—except + the fall of water itself—making up an exceedingly cumbrous and + ridiculous affair." He goes to St. Peter's, and "it disappointed me + terribly by its want of effect, and the little justice it does to its real + magnitude externally; as to the interior, I am not sure that it would not + be even more grand and majestic if it were less magnificent, though I + should be sorry to see the experiment tried. I had expected something dim + and vast, like the great English cathedrals, only more vast and dim and + gray; but there is as much difference as between noonday and twilight." + The pictures, too, were apt in these first days to go against the grain + with him. Contemplating a fresco representing scenes in purgatory, he + broke forth: "I cannot speak as to the truth of the representation, but, + at all events, it was purgatory to look at this poor, faded rubbish. Thank + Heaven, there is such a thing as whitewash; and I shall always be glad to + hear of its application to old frescoes, even at the sacrifice of remnants + of real excellence!" Such growlings torture the soul of the connoisseur; + but the unregenerate man, hearing them, leaps up and shouts for joy. He + found the old masters, in their sacred subjects, lacking in originality + and initiative; and when they would represent mythology, they engendered + an apotheosis of nakedness. His conclusion was that "there is something + forced, if not feigned, in our taste for pictures of the old Italian + school." Of the profane subjects, he instances the Fornarina, "with a deep + bright glow on her face, naked below the waist, and well pleased to be so, + for the sake of your admiration—ready for any extent of nudity, for + love or money—the brazen trollop that she is! Raphael must have been + capable of great sensuality to have painted this picture of his own + accord, and lovingly." These are the iconoclasms of the Goth and Vandal at + their first advent to Rome. They remained to alter their mood, and extol + what they had before assaulted; and so did my father, as we shall see + presently. But at first he was sick and cold and uncomfortable; and he + consoled himself by hitting out at everything, in the secret privacy of + his diary, since opened to the world. With warmer weather came equanimity + and kinder judgments; but there is a refreshing touch of truth and justice + even in these mutterings of exasperation. + </p> + <p> + It was not so much, I suppose, that Rome was cold as that my father had + expected it to be otherwise. When one is in a place where tradition and + association invite the soul forth to be warmed and soothed and rejoiced, + and the body, venturing out, finds nothing but chill winds and frigid + temperature and discomfort, the shock is much greater and more + disagreeable than if one had been in some northern Canada or Spitzbergen, + where such conditions are normal. Ice in the arctic circle is all right + and exhilarating, but in the Piazza of St. Peter's it is an outrage, and + affects the mind and heart even more than the flesh. + </p> + <p> + Circumstances caused my father to pass through several distinct phases of + feeling while he was in Rome. First, his own indisposition and the + inclement weather depressed and exasperated him. + </p> + <p> + Time, in due course, brought relief in these respects, and he began to + enjoy himself and his surroundings. Anon, the springs of creative + imagination, long dormant in him, were roused to activity by thoughts + connected with the Faun of Praxiteles in the Capitol. He now became happy + in the way of his genius and immediately took a new interest in all + things, looking at them from the point of view of possible backgrounds or + incidents for the romance which had begun to take form in his mind. He + describes what he saw con amore, and all manner of harmonious ideas bloom + through his thoughts, like anemones and other flowers in the Villa + Pamphili and the Borghese. This desirable mood continued until, after our + return to Rome from the Florentine visit, my sister caught the Roman + fever. She lay for weeks in danger of death; and her father's anxiety + about her not only destroyed in him all thoughts of literary production + and care for it, but made even keeping his journal no longer possible for + him. That strain, so long continued, broke him down, and he never + recovered from it so as to be what he had been before. Nevertheless, when + she became convalescent, the reaction from his dark misgivings made him, + for a time, as light-hearted as a boy; and, the carnival happening to be + coincident with her recovery, he entered into the fun of it with a zest + and enjoyment that surprised himself. But, again, it presently became + evident that her recovery was not complete, and probably never would be + so; the injury to her health was permanent, and she was liable to + recurrences of disease. His spirits sank again, not so low as before, but, + on the other hand, they never again rose to their normal level. It was in + this saddened mood that he once more took up the Roman romance and + finished it; it is a sad book, and when there is a ray of sunshine across + the page, it has a melancholy gleam. After we returned to Concord, his + apprehensions concerning Una's unsound condition were confirmed; and, in + addition, the bitter cleavage between North and South inspired in him the + gloomiest forebodings. A wasting away of his whole physical substance + ensued; and he died, almost suddenly, while in years he might be + considered hardly past the prime of his life. A sensitive eye can trace + the effects of the death-blow all through The Marble Faun, and still more + in Septimius and Grimshawe, published after his death. In The Dolliver + Romance fragment, which was the last thing he wrote, there is visible once + more some reminiscence of the old sunshine of humor that was so often + apparent in his time of youth and vigor; but it, too, has a sad touch in + it, such as belongs to the last rays of the star of day before it sinks + below the horizon forever. Night follows, and the rest is silence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XV + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The Roman carnival in three moods—Apples of Sodom—Poor, + battered, wilted, stained hearts—A living protest and + scourge—Dulce est desipere in loco—A rollicking world of + happy fools—Endless sunshine of some sort—Greenwich Fair + was worth a hundred of it—They thundered past, never + drawing rein—"Senza moccolo!"—Nothing more charming and + strange could be imagined—Girls surprised in the midst of + dressing themselves—A Unitarian clergyman with his fat + wife—Apparent license under courteous restraint—He laughed + and pelted and was pelted—William Story, as vivid as when I + saw him last—A too facile power—A deadly shadow gliding + close behind—Set afire by his own sallies—"Thy face is + like thy mother's, my fair child!"—Cleopatra in the clay— + "War nie sein Brod mit thranen ass." +</pre> + <p> + THE Roman carnival opened about a month after our arrival in Rome. The + weather was bad nearly all the time, and my father's point of view was + correspondingly unsympathetic. The contrast between his mood now and a + year later, when he was not only stimulated by his daughter's recovery + from illness, but, also, was looking at everything rather as the romancer + than as the man, is worth bringing out. My father likewise describes the + carnival in the romance; there we see it in a third phase—as art. + But the passages in the note-books are written from the realistic + stand-point. In her transcriptions of the journals for the press my mother + was always careful to omit from the former everything that had been "used" + in the book; the principle, no doubt, was sound, but it might be edifying + for once, in a way, to do just the opposite, in order to mark, if we + choose to take the trouble, what kind of changes or modifications + Hawthorne the romancer would make in the work of my father the observer of + nature. Take your Marble Faun and turn to two of the latter chapters and + compare them with the corresponding pages in my excerpts from the journals + in the Biography. In the latter you will find him always in a critical and + carping humor; seeing everything with abundant keenness, but recognizing + nothing worth while in it. The bouquets, he noticed, for example, were + often picked up out of the street and used again and again; "and," he + adds, "I suppose they aptly enough symbolized the poor, battered, wilted, + stained hearts that had flown from one hand to another along the muddy + pathway of life, instead of being treasured up in one faithful bosom. + Really, it was great nonsense." + </p> + <p> + It is true—such uncongenial interpretation—if you feel that + way about it. And I remember, in my rambles along the famous thoroughfare, + seeing a saturnine old fellow in a dingy black coat and slouch hat, with a + sour snarl on his unprepossessing features, who made it his business, all + day, to cuff and kick the little boys whom he caught throwing confetti, or + picking up the fallen bouquets, and to shove the latter down into the + sewer which ran beneath the street, through the apertures opening + underneath the curb. He seemed to have stationed himself there as a living + protest and scourge against and of the whole spirit of the carnival; to + hate it just because the rest of the world enjoyed it, and to wish that he + might make everybody else as miserable and uncharitable as he was. He was + like a wicked and ugly Mrs. Partington, trying to sweep back the Atlantic + of holiday merriment with his dirty mop. But this crabbed humor of his, + while it made him conspicuous against the broad background of gayety, of + course had no effect on the gayety itself. The flood of laughter, + jocundity, and semi-boisterous frolic continued to roll up and down the + Corso all day long, never attempting to be anything but pure nonsense, + indeed, but achieving, nevertheless, the wise end of nonsense in the right + time and place—that of refreshing and lightening the mind and heart. + Dulce est desipere in loco—that old saw might have been made + precisely to serve as the motto of the Roman carnival; and very likely it + was actually suggested to its renowned author by some similar sport + belonging to the old Roman days, before Christianity was thought of. The + young fellows—English, American, or of whatever other nationality—would + stride up and down the overflowing street hour after hour, clad in linen + dust-coats down to their heels, with a bag of confetti slung on one side + and another full of bouquets on the other; and they would plunge a warlike + hand into the former and hurl ammunition at their rivals; or they would, + pick out a bunch of flowers from the latter for a pretty girl—not + that the flowers were worth anything intrinsically, nor was that their + fault—but just to show the fitting sentiment. There was only one + rule, the unwritten one that everybody was to take everything that came + with a smile or a laugh, and never get angry at anything; and this + universal good-humor lifted the whole affair into a wholesome and + profitable sphere. Then there was the double row of carriages forever + moving in opposite directions, and passing within easy arm's-reach of each + other; and the jolly battle was waged between their occupants, with side + conflicts with the foot-farers at the same time. And as the same carriages + would repass one another every forty minutes or so, the persons in them + would soon get to recognize one another; and, if they were of the sterner + sex, they would be prepared to renew desperate battle; or if there was a + pretty girl or two in one of them, she would be the recipient of a deluge + of flowers or of really pretty bonbons. It was all play, all laughter, all + a new, rollicking world of happy fools, of comic chivalry, of humorous + gallantry. For my part, I thought it was the world which I had been born + to live in; and I was too happy in it to imagine even that anybody could + be less happy than I was. My sole grief was when my supply of confetti had + given out, and I had no money to buy more. I used to look at those great + baskets at the street-corners, filled with the white agglomeration, with + longing eyes, and wish I had it all in my pockets. I picked up the fallen + bouquets, muddy or not, with no misgiving, and flung them at the girls + with the unquestioning faith of boyhood. I looked up at the people in the + windows and on the draped balconies with romantic emotions, and exchanged + smiles and beckonings with them. The February days were never long enough + for me; I only wished that the whole year was made up of those days; if it + rained, or was cold, I never knew it. There was an endless sunshine of + some sort which sufficed for me. But my father, at this epoch, could catch + not a glimpse of it. "I never in my life knew a shallower joke than the + carnival at Rome; such a rainy and muddy day, too; Greenwich Fair (at the + very last of which I assisted) was worth a hundred of it." + </p> + <p> + The masking day, and the ensuing night of the moccolo, were the + culminating features of the carnival; and it was on the afternoon of this + day, I think, that the horse-race, with bare-backed horses, took place. + The backs of these horses, though bare of riders, had attached to them by + strings little balls with sharp points in them, which, as the horses ran, + bobbed up and down, and did the office of spurs. The race was preceded by + a thundering gallop of cavalry down the whole length of the Corso (the + street having been cleared of carriages beforehand), ostensibly to prevent + anybody from being run over by the race-horses; but, as a matter of fact, + if any one were killed, it was much more likely to be by the ruthless + riding of these helmeted dragoons than by the riderless steeds. They + thundered past, never drawing rein, no matter what stood or ran in their + way; and then, after an interval, during which the long crowds, packed + back on the opposite sidewalks, craned forward as far as they dared to see + them, came the eight or ten racers at a furious pace. They were come and + gone in a breath; and finally, after the body of them were passed, came a + laggard, who had been left at the post, and was trying to make up for lost + time. I believe it was this horse who actually killed somebody on the + course. The race over, back into the street thronged the crowd, filling it + from wall to wall; then there was a gradual thinning away, as the people + went home for supper; and finally came the night and the moccoli, with the + biggest crowd of all. I was there with my twist of moccolo and a box of + matches; except the moccoli, there was no other illumination along the + length of the Corso. But their soft lights were there by myriads, and made + a lovely sight, to my eyes at least. "Senza moccolo!" was the universal + cry; young knights-errant, singly or in groups, pressed their way up and + down, shouting the battle-cry, and quenching all lights within reach, + while striving to maintain the flame of their own; using now the whisk of + a handkerchief, now a puff of breath, now the fillip of a finger; + contriving to extinguish a fair lady's taper with the same effusion of + vain words wherewith they told her of their passion. Most of the ladies + thus assailed sat in the lower balconies, elevated only a foot or two + above the level of the sidewalk; but those in the higher retreats made war + upon one another, and upon their own cavaliers; none was immune from + peril. The cry, uttered at once by such innumerable voices far and near, + made a singular murmur up and down the Corso; and the soft twinkling of + the lights, winking in and out as they were put out or relighted, gave a + singular fire-fly effect to the whole illumination. It seemed to me then, + and it still seems in the retrospect, that nothing more charming and + strange could be imagined; and through it all was the constant blossoming + of laughter, more inextinguishable than the moccoletti themselves. The + colors of the tapestries and stuffs dependent from the windows and + balconies glowed out in light, or were dimmed by shadow; and the faces of + the thousandfold crowd of festival-makers glimmered forth and were lost + again on the background of the night, like the features of spirits in the + glimpses of a dream. How long it all lasted I know not; but it had its + term, like other mortal things, even in this fairyland of carnival; and + when the last light was out the carnival was no more, and Lent, unawares, + had softly settled down upon us with the darkness. + </p> + <p> + But let us now listen to my father when, for the second time, he made + proof of the carnival in the year following our return from Florence, and + after Una had left her sick-room and could be at his side. "The weather + has been splendid," he writes, "and the merriment far more free and + riotous than as I remember it in the preceding year. Tokens of the + festival were seen in flowers on street-stands, or borne aloft on people's + heads, while bushels of confetti were displayed, looking like veritable + sugarplums, so that a stranger might have thought that the whole commerce + and business of stern old Rome lay in flowers and sweets. One wonders, + however, that the scene should not be even more rich and various when + there has been so long a time (the immemorial existence of the carnival) + to prepare it, and adorn it with shapes of gayety and humor. There was an + infinite number of clowns and particolored harlequins; a host of white + dominoes; a multitude of masks, set in eternal grins, or with monstrous + noses, or made in the guise of monkeys, bears, dogs, or whatever beast the + wearer chooses to be akin to; a great many men in petticoats, and almost + as many girls and women, no doubt, in breeches; figures, too, with huge, + bulbous heads and all manner of such easy monstrosities and + exaggerations.. It is strange how the whole humor of the thing, and the + separate humor of each individual character, vanishes the moment I try to + grasp it and describe it; and yet there really was fun in the spectacle as + it flitted by—for instance, in the long line of carriages a company + of young men in flesh-colored tights and chemises, representing a party of + girls surprised in the midst of dressing themselves, while an old nurse in + the midst of them expressed ludicrous horror at their predicament. Then + the embarrassment of gentlemen who, while quietly looking at the scene, + are surrounded by groups of maskers, grimacing at them, squeaking in their + ears, hugging them, dancing round them, till they snatch an opportunity to + escape into some doorway; or when a poor man in a black coat and cylinder + hat is whitened all over with a half-bushel of confetti and lime-dust; the + mock sympathy with which his case is investigated by a company of maskers, + who poke their stupid, pasteboard faces close to his, still with the + unchangeable grin; or when a gigantic female figure singles out some shy, + harmless personage, and makes appeals to his heart, avowing her passionate + love in dumb show, and presenting him with her bouquet; and a hundred + other nonsensicalities, among which the rudest and simplest are not the + least effective. A resounding thump on the back with a harlequin's sword, + or a rattling blow with a bladder half full of dried pease or corn, + answers a very good purpose. There was a good deal of absurdity one day in + a figure in a crinoline petticoat, riding on an ass and almost filling the + Corso with the circumference of crinoline from side to side. Some figures + are dressed in old-fashioned garbs, perhaps of the last century, or, even + more ridiculous, of thirty years ago, or in the stately Elizabethan (as we + should call them) trunk hose, tunics, and cloaks of three centuries since. + I do not know anything that I have seen queerer than a Unitarian clergyman + (Mr. Mountford), who drives through the Corso daily with his fat wife in a + one-horse chaise, with a wreath of withered flowers and oak leaves round + his hat, the rest of his dress remaining unchanged, except that it is well + powdered with the dust of confetti. That withered wreath is the absurdest + thing he could wear (though, perhaps, he may not mean it to be so), and + so, of course, the best. I can think of no other masks just now, but will + go this afternoon and try to catch some more." You see, he has that + romance in view again. "Clowns, or zanies," he resumes, after fresh + inspection, "appear in great troupes, dancing extravagantly and scampering + wildly; everybody seems to do whatever folly comes into his head; and yet, + if you consider the matter, you see that all this apparent license is kept + under courteous restraint. There is no rudeness, except the authorized + pelting with confetti or blows of harlequins' swords, which, moreover, are + within a law of their own. But nobody takes rough hold of another, or + meddles with his mask, or does him any unmannerly violence. At first sight + you would think that the whole world had gone mad, but at the end you + wonder how people can let loose all their mirthful propensities without + unchaining the mischievous ones. It could not be so in America or in + England; in either of those countries the whole street would go mad in + earnest and come to blows and bloodshed were the populace to let + themselves loose to the extent we see here. All this restraint is + self-imposed and quite apart from the presence of the soldiery." + </p> + <p> + This mood, we see, is far more gentle and sympathetic than the former one; + there is sunshine within as well as without; and, indeed, I remember with + what glee my father took part in the frolic, as well as looked on at it; + he laughed and pelted and was pelted; he walked down the Corso and back + again; he drove to and fro in a carriage; he mounted to Mr. Motley's + balcony and took long shots at the crowd below. The sombre spirit of + criticism had ceased, for a time, to haunt him. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: WILLIAM WETMORE STORY] + </p> + <p> + We went quite often to the studio of William Story, whom my father had + slightly known in Salem before he became a voluntary exile from America. + Mr. Story was at this time a small, wiry, nervous personage, smiling + easily, but as much through nervousness as from any inner source or + outward provocation of mirth, and as he smiled he would stroke his cheeks, + which were covered with a short, brown beard, with the fingers and thumb + of his right hand, while wrinkles would appear round his bright, brown + eyes. "He looks thin and worn already," wrote my father; "a little bald + and a very little gray, but as vivid as when I saw him last; he cannot, + methinks, be over thirty-seven." He was thirty-nine in 1858. "The great + difficulty with him, I think, is a too facile power," my father goes on; + "he would do better things if it were more difficult for him to do merely + good ones. Then, too, his sensibility is too quick; being easily touched + by his own thoughts, he cannot estimate what is required to touch a colder + and duller person, and so stops short of the adequate expression." He + commented on the vein of melancholy beneath the sparkle of his surface, as + if, in the midst of prosperity, he was conscious of a "deadly shadow + gliding close behind." Boys of twelve are not troubled with insight, + unless of that unconscious, intuitive kind that tells them that a person + is likeable, or the reverse, no matter what the person may do or say. I + liked Mr. Story, and thought him as light of spirit as he seemed; not that + he was not often earnest enough in his talks with my father, to whom he + was wont to apply himself with a sort of intensity, suggesting ideas, and + watching, with his nervous smile, my father's reception of them; plunging + into deep matters, beyond my comprehension, dwelling there a few minutes, + and then emerging again with a sparkle of wit; he was certainly very + witty, and the wit was native and original, not memorized. When he got + into the current of drollery, he would, as it were, set himself afire by + his own sallies, and soar to astonishing heights, which had an + irresistible contagion for the hearers; and he would sometimes, sitting at + a table with pen and paper at hand, illustrate his whimsicalities with + lightning sketches of immense cleverness, considering their impromptu + character. I have preserved a sheet of letter-paper covered with such + drawings. The conversation had got upon Byron, whom Mr. Story chose to + ridicule; as he talked, he drew a head of "Byron as he thought he was," + followed by one of "Byron as he was," and by another of "Byron as he might + have been," showing a very pronounced negro type. Then he made a portrait + of "Ada, sole daughter of my house and heart," and wrote under it, "Thy + face was like thy mother's, my fair child!" a hideous, simpering miss, + with a snub nose and a wooden mouth—"A poet's dream!" He also showed + the appearance of the Falls of Terni, "as described by Byron," and added + studies of infant phenomena, mother's darlings, a Presidential candidate, + and other absurdities, accompanying it all with a running comment and + imaginative improvisations which had the charm of genius in them, and made + us ache with laughter, young and old alike. Such a man, nervous, + high-strung, of fine perceptions and sensibilities, must inevitably pass + through rapid and extreme alternations of feeling; and, no doubt, an hour + after that laughing seance of ours, Mr. Story was plunged deep in + melancholy. Yet surely his premonitions of evil were unfulfilled; Story + lived long and was never other than fortunate. Perhaps he was unable to + produce works commensurate with his conceptions; but unhappiness from such + a cause is of a noble sort, and better than most ordinary felicities. + </p> + <p> + I remember very well the statue of Cleopatra while yet in the clay. There + she sat in the centre of the large, empty studio, pondering on Augustus + and on the asp. The hue of the clay added a charm to the figure which even + the pure marble has not quite maintained. Story said that he never was + present while the cast of one of his statues was being made; he could not + endure the sight of the workmen throwing the handfuls of plaster at the + delicate clay. Cleopatra was substantially finished, but Story was + unwilling to let her go, and had no end of doubts as to the handling of + minor details. The hand that rests on her knee—should the forefinger + and thumb meet or be separated? If they were separated, it meant the + relaxation of despair; if they met, she was still meditating defiance or + revenge. After canvassing the question at great length with my father, he + decided that they should meet; but when I saw the marble statue in the + Metropolitan Museum the other day I noticed that they were separated. In + the end the artist had preferred despair. Such things indicate the man's + character, and, perhaps, explain his failure to reach the great heights of + art. He could not trust a great idea to manage itself, but sought subtler + expression through small touches, and thus, finally, lost the feeling of + the larger inspiration. A little more of the calm, Greek spirit would have + done him good. + </p> + <p> + He had many projects for other statues, which he would build up in fancy + before my father and discuss with him. His words and gestures made the + ideas he described seem actual and present, but he seldom got them into + marble; he probably found, upon trial, that they did not belong to + sculpture. He had the ambition to make marble speak not its own language + merely, but those of painting and of poetry likewise; and when this proved + impossible he was unhappy and out of conceit with himself, On the other + hand, he did good work in poetry and in prose; but neither did these + content him. After all, my father's observation hit the mark; things came + too easy to him. Goethe speaks the word for him: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Wer nie sein Brod mit thranen ass, + Er kennt euch nicht, ihr ewige Machte!" +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Drilled in Roman history—Lovely figures made of light and + morning—What superb figures!—The breath and strength of + immeasurable antiquity—Treasures coming direct from dead + hands into mine—A pleasant sound of coolness and + refreshment—Receptacles of death now dedicated to life—The + Borghese is a forest of Ardennes—Profound and important + communings—A smiling deceiver—Of an early-rising habit— + Hauling in on my slack—A miniature cabinet magically made + Titanic—"If I had a murder on my conscience"—None can tell + the secret origin of his thoughts—A singularly beautiful + young woman—She actually ripped the man open—No leagues of + chivalry needed in Rome—A resident army—Five foot six— + Corsets and padding—She was wounded in the house of her + friends. +</pre> + <p> + We children had been drilled in Roman history, from Romulus to Caesar, and + we could, and frequently did, repeat by heart the Lays of Ancient Rome by + Macaulay, which were at that period better known, perhaps, than they are + now. Consequently, everything in Rome had a certain degree of meaning for + us, and gave us a pleasure in addition to the intrinsic beauty or charm + that belonged thereto. Our imagination thronged the Capitol with senators; + saw in the Roman Forum the contentions of the tribunes and the patricians; + heard the populus Romanus roar in the Coliseum; beheld the splendid + processions of victory wind cityward through the Arch of Titus; saw Caesar + lie bleeding at the base of Pompey's statue; pondered over the fatal + precipice of the Tarpeian Rock; luxuriated in the hollow spaces of the + Baths of Caracalla; lost ourselves in gorgeous reveries in the palace of + the Caesars, and haunted the yellow stream of Tiber, beneath which lay + hidden precious treasures and forgotten secrets. And we were no less + captivated by the galleries and churches, which contained the preserved + relics of the great old times, and were in themselves so beautiful. My + taste for blackened old pictures and faded frescoes was, indeed, even more + undeveloped than my father's; but I liked the brilliant reproductions in + mosaic at St. Peter's and certain individual works in various places. I + formed a romantic attachment for the alleged Beatrice Cenci of Guido, or + of some other artist, and was very sorry that she should be so unhappy, + though, of course, I was ignorant of the occasion of her low spirits. But + I liked much better Guide's large design of Aurora, partly because I had + long been familiar with it on the head-board of my mother's bedstead. + Before her marriage she had bought a set of bedroom furniture, and had + painted it a dull gold color, and on this surface she had drawn in fine + black lines the outlines of several classical subjects, most of them from + Flaxman; but in the space mentioned she had executed an outline of this + glorious work of the Italian artist. I knew every line of the composition + thoroughly; and, by-the-way, I doubt if a truer, more inspired copy of the + picture was ever produced by anybody. But the color had to be supplied by + the observer's imagination; now, for the first time, I saw the hues as + laid on by the original painter. In spite of time, they were pure and + exquisite beyond description; these lovely figures seemed made of light + and morning. Another favorite picture of mine was the same artist's + "Michael Overcoming the Evil One," and I even had the sense to like the + painting better than the mosaic copy. Raphael's "Transfiguration" I also + knew well from the old engraving of it that used to hang on our parlor + wall from my earliest recollections; it still hangs yonder. But I never + cared for this picture; it was too complicated and ingenious—it + needed too much co-operation from the observer's mind. Besides, I had + never seen a boy with anything approaching the muscular development of the + epileptic youth in the centre. The thing in the picture that I most + approved of was the end of the log in the little pool, in the foreground; + it looked true to life. + </p> + <p> + But my delight in the statues was endless. It seems to me that I knew + personally every statue and group in the Vatican and in the Capitol. Again + and again, either with my parents, or with Eddy, or even alone, I would + pass the warders at the doors and enter those interminable galleries, and + look and look at those quiet, stained-marble effigies. My early studies of + Flaxman had, in a measure, educated me towards appreciation of them. I + never tired of them, as I did of the Cleopatras and the Greek Slaves. What + superb figures! What power and grace and fleetness and athletic loins! The + divine, severe Minerva, musing under the shadow of her awful helmet; the + athlete with the strigil, resting so lightly on his tireless feet; the + royal Apollo, disdaining his own victory; the Venus, half shrinking from + the exquisiteness of her own beauty; the swaying poise of the Discobulus, + caught forever as he drew his breath for the throw; the smooth-limbed, + brooding Antinous; the terrible Laocoon, which fascinated me, though it + always repelled me, too; the austere simplicity of the Dying Gladiator's + stoop to death—the most human of all the great statues; the heads of + heroic Miltiades, of Antony, of solitary Caesar, of indifferent Augustus; + the tranquil indolence of mighty Nile, clambered over by his many children—these, + and a hundred others, spoke to me out of their immortal silence. I can + conceive of no finer discipline for a boy; I emulated while I adored them. + Power, repose, beauty, nobility, were in their message: "Do you, too, + possess limbs and shoulders like ours!" they said to me; "such a bearing, + such a spirit within!" I cannot overestimate even the physical good they + did me; it was from them that I gained the inspiration for bodily + development and for all athletic exercise which has, since then, helped me + over many a rough passage in the path of life. But they also awoke higher + ambitions and conferred finer benefits. + </p> + <p> + From these excursions into the ideal I would return to out-of-doors with + another inexhaustible zest. That ardent, blue Roman sky and penetrating, + soft sunshine filled me with life and joy. The breath and strength of + immeasurable antiquity emanated from those massive ruins, which time could + deface but never conquer. Emerald lizards basked on the hot walls; flowers + grew in the old crevices; butterflies floated round them; they were + haunted by spirits of heroes. There is nothing else to be compared with + the private, intimate, human, yet sublimated affection which these antique + monuments wrought in me. They were my mighty brothers, condescending to my + boyish thoughts and fancies, smiling upon me, welcoming me, conscious of + my love for them. Each ruin had its separate individuality for me, so that + to-day I must play with the Coliseum, to-morrow with the Forum, or the + far-ranging arches of the Aqueduct, or the Temple of Vesta. Always, too, + my eyes were alert for treasures in the old Roman soil, coming, as it + seemed, direct from the dead hands of the vanished people into mine. I + valued the scraps that I picked up thus more than anything to be bought in + shops or seen in museums. These bits of tinted marble had felt the touch + of real Romans; their feet had trodden on them, on them their arms had + rested, their hands had grasped them. Two thousand years had dulled the + polish of their surfaces; I took them to the stone-workers, who made them + glow and bloom again—yellow, red, black, green, white. They were + good-natured but careless men, those marble-polishers, and would sometimes + lose my precious relics, and when I called for them would say, every day, + "Domane—domane," or try to put me off with some substitute—as + if a boy could be deceived in such a matter! I once found in the + neighborhood of a recent excavation a semi-transparent tourmaline of a + cool green hue when held to the light; it had once been set in the ring of + some Roman beauty. It had, from long abiding in the earth, that wonderful + iridescent surface which ancient glass acquires. Rose, my sister, picked + up out of a rubbish heap a little bronze statuette, hardly three inches + high, but, as experts said, of the best artistic period. Such things made + our Roman history books seem like a tale of yesterday, or they transported + us back across the centuries, so that we trod in the footsteps of those + who had been but a moment before us. + </p> + <p> + In those warm days, after our walks and explorations, Eddy and I, and + little Hubert, who sometimes was permitted to accompany us, though we + deemed him hardly in our class, would greatly solace ourselves with the + clear and gurgling fountains which everywhere in Rome flow forth into + their marble and moss-grown basins with a pleasant sound of coolness and + refreshment. Rome without her fountains would not be Rome; every memory of + her includes them. In the streets, in the piazzas, in the wide pleasaunces + and gardens, the fountains allure us onward, and comfort us for our + weariness. In the Piazza d' Espagna, at the foot of the famous steps, was + that great, boat-shaped fountain whose affluent waters cool the air which + broods over the wide, white stairway; and not far away is the mighty + Trevi, with its turmoil of obstreperous figures swarming round bragging + Neptune, and its cataract of innumerable rills welling forth and plunging + downward by devious ways to meet at last in the great basin, forever + agitated with baby waves lapping against the margins. These, and many + similar elaborate structures, are for the delight of the eye; but there + are scores of modest fountains, at the corners of the ways, in shady or in + sunny places, formed of an ancient sarcophagus receiving the everlasting + tribute of two open-mouthed lion-heads, or other devices, whose arching + outgush splashes into the receptacle made to hold death, but now + immortally dedicated to the refreshment of life. It was at these minor + fountains that we quenched our boyish thirst, each drinking at the mouth + of a spout; and when we discovered that by stopping up one spout with our + thumb the other would discharge with double force, we played roguish + tricks on each other, deluging each other at unawares with unmanageable + gushes of water, till we were forced to declare a mutual truce of honor. + But what delicious draughts did we suck in from those lion-mouths into our + own; never elsewhere did water seem so sweet and revivifying. And then we + would peer into the transparent depths of the old sarcophagus, with its + fringes of green, silky moss waving slightly with the movement of the + water, and fish out tiny-spired water-shells; or dip in them the bits of + ancient marbles we had collected on our walk, to see the hues revive to + their former splendor. Many-fountained Rome ought to be a cure for + wine-bibbers; yet I never saw an Italian drink at these springs; they + would rather quaff the thin red and white wines that are sold for a few + baiocchi at the inns. + </p> + <p> + The Pincian Hill and the adjoining grounds of the Borghese Palace came at + length to be our favorite haunts. The Borghese is a delectable spot, as my + father remarks in one of those passages in his diary which was afterwards + expanded into the art-picture of his romance. "Broad carriageways," he + says, "and wood-paths wander beneath long vistas of sheltering boughs; + there are ilex-trees, ancient and sombre, which, in the long peace of + their lifetime, have assumed attitudes of indolent repose; and stone-pines + that look like green islands in the air, so high above earth are they, and + connected with it by such a slender length of stem; and cypresses, + resembling dark flames of huge, funereal candles. These wooded lawns are + more beautiful than English park scenery; all the more beautiful for the + air of neglect about them, as if not much care of men were bestowed upon + them, though enough to keep wildness from growing into deformity, and to + make the whole scene like nature idealized—the woodland scenes the + poet dreamed of—a forest of Ardennes, for instance. These lawns and + gentle valleys are beautiful, moreover, with fountains flashing into + marble basins, or gushing like natural cascades from rough rocks; with + bits of architecture, as pillared porticos, arches, columns, of marble or + granite, with a touch of artful ruin on them; and, indeed, the pillars and + fragments seem to be remnants of antiquity, though put together anew, + hundreds of years old, perhaps, even in their present form, for weeds and + flowers grow out of the chinks and cluster on the tops of arches and + porticos. There are altars, too, with old Roman inscriptions on them. + Statues stand here and there among the trees, in solitude, or in a long + range, lifted high on pedestals, moss-grown, some of them shattered, all + grown gray with the corrosion of the atmosphere. In the midst of these + sunny and shadowy tracts rises the stately front of the villa, adorned + with statues in niches, with busts, and ornamented architecture blossoming + in stone-work. Take away the malaria, and it might be a very happy place." + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: PENCIL SKETCHES IN ITALY, BY MRS. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE] + </p> + <p> + Here was a playground for boys of imaginative but not too destructive + proclivities, such as the world hardly furnishes elsewhere. But much of my + enjoyment of it I ascribe to my friend Eddy. My conversation with no + person since then has rivalled the profundity and importance of my + communings with his sympathetic soul. We not only discussed our future + destinies and philosophical convictions, but we located in these delicious + retreats the various worlds which we purposed to explore and inhabit + during the next few hundred years. Here we passed through by anticipation + all our future experiences. Sometimes we were accompanied by other boys; + but then our visits lost their distinction; we merely had good times in + the ordinary way of boys; we were robber barons, intrenched in our + strongholds, and attacked by other robbers; or we ran races, or held other + trials of strength and activity, or we set snares for the bright-colored + fishes which lurked in some of the fountains. The grounds were + occasionally invaded by gangs of Italian boys, between whom and ourselves + existed an irreconcilable feud. We could easily thrash them in the + Anglo-Saxon manner, with nature's weapons; but they would ambush us and + assail us with stones; and once one of them struck at me with a knife, + which was prevented from entering my side only by the stout leather belt + which I chanced to wear. We denounced these assassins to the smiling + custode of the grounds, and he promised, smilingly, to bar the entrance to + them thenceforth; but he was a smiling deceiver; our enemies came just the + same. After all, we would have regretted their absence; they added the + touch of peril to our chronic romance which made it perfect. It is + forty-four years since then. Are there any other Borghese Gardens to come + for me in the future, I wonder? There was a rough pathway along the banks + of the Tiber, extending up the stream for two or three miles, as far as + the Ponte Molle, where the corktrees grew, and farther, for aught I know. + This was a favorite walk of mine, because of the fragments of antique + marbles to be found there, and also the shells which so mysteriously + abounded along the margin, as shown by the learned conchological author + hereinbefore cited. And, being of an early rising habit, it was my wont to + get up long before breakfast and tramp up and down along the river for an + hour or two, thinking, I suppose, as I gazed upon the turbulent flood, of + brave Horatius disdainfully escaping from the serried hosts of Lars + Porsena and false Sextus, or of Caesar and Cassius buffeting the torrent + on a "dare," and with lusty sinews flinging it aside. There were also + lovely effects of dawn upon the dome of St. Peter's, and the redoubtable + mass of St. Angelo, with its sword-sheathing angel. Moreover, sunrise, at + twelve years of age, is an exhilarating and congenial phenomenon. And I + painted my experiences in colors so attractive that our Ada Shepard was + inflamed with the idea of accompanying me on my rambles. She was a child + in heart, though so mature in intellect, and her spirit was valiant, + though her flesh was comparatively infirm. It was my custom to set out + about five o'clock in the morning, and Miss Shepard promised to be ready + at that hour. But after keeping awake most of the night in order not to + fail of the appointment, she fell asleep and dreamed only of getting up; + and, after waiting for her for near an hour, I went without her. She was + much mortified at her failure, and suggested a plan to insure her + punctuality, in which I readily agreed to collaborate. When she went to + bed she attached a piece of string to one of her toes, the other end of + the filament being carried underneath doors and along passages to my own + room. I was instructed to haul in on my slack at the proper hour; and this + I accordingly did, with good-will, and was at once made conscious that I + had caught something, not only by the resistance which my efforts + encountered, but by the sound of cries of feminine distress and + supplication, heard in the distance. However, my companion appeared in due + season, and we took our walk, which, she declared, fulfilled all the + anticipations which my reports had led her to form. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, I cannot remember that we ever again made the expedition + together; it is a mistake to try to repeat a perfect joy. + </p> + <p> + It seems to me that I must have been a pretty constant visitor at St. + Peter's. The stiff, heavy, leathern curtain which protects the entrance + having been strenuously pushed aside (always with remembrance of Corinne's + impossible act of grace and courtesy in holding it aside with one hand for + Lord Neville), the glorious interior expanded, mildly radiant, before me. + As has been the case with so many other observers, the real magnitude of + the spectacle did not at first affect me; the character of the decoration + and detail prevented the impression of greatness; it was only after many + times traversing that illimitable pavement, and after frequent comparisons + with ordinary human measurements of the aerial heights of those arches and + that dome, that one conies to understand, by a sort of logical compulsion, + how immense it all is. It is a miniature cabinet magically made titanic; + but the magic which could transform inches into roods could not + correspondingly enlarge the innate character of the ornament; so that, + instead of making the miniature appear truly vast, it only makes us seem + unnaturally small. Still, after all criticisms, St. Peter's remains one of + the most delightful places in the world; its sweet sumptuousness and + imperial harmonies seem somehow to enter into us and make us harmonious, + rich, and sweet. The air that we inhale is just touched with the spirit of + incense, and mellowed as with the still memories of the summers of five + hundred years ago. The glistening surfaces of the colored marbles, dimmed + with faint, fragrant mists, and glorified with long slants of brooding + sunshine, soothe the eye like materialized music; and the soft twinkle of + the candles on the altars, seen in daylight, has a jewel-like charm. As I + look back upon it, however, and contrast it with the cathedrals of + England, the total influence upon the mind of St. Peter's seems to me + voluptuous rather than religious. It is a human palace of art more than a + shrine of the Almighty. A prince might make love to a princess there + without feeling guilty of profanation. St. Peter himself, sitting there in + his chair, with his highly polished toe advanced, is a doll for us to play + with. On one occasion I was in the church with my father, and the great + nave was thronged with people and lined with soldiers, and down the midst + went slowly a gorgeous procession, with Pope Pio Nono borne aloft, + swayingly, the triple crown upon his head. He blessed the crowd, as he + passed along, with outstretched hand. One can never forget such a + spectacle; but I was not nearly so much impressed in a religious sense as + when, forty years later, I stood in the portals of a Mohammedan mosque in + Central India and saw a thousand turbaned Moslems prostrate themselves + with their foreheads in the dust before a voice which proclaimed the + presence of the awful, unseen God. + </p> + <p> + My father enjoyed the church more after each visit to it. But it was the + confessionals and their significance that most interested him. "What an + institution the confessional is! Man needs it so, that it seems as if God + must have ordained it." And he dwells upon the idea with remarkable + elaboration and persistence. Those who have followed the painful + wanderings of heart-oppressed Hilda to the carven confessional in the + great church, where she found peace, will recognize the amply unfolded + flower of this seed. What I supposed to be my notion of St. Peter's + looking like the enlargement of some liliputian edifice is also there, + though I had forgotten it till I myself reread the pages. In this book of + my memories, which is also the book of my forgettings, I must walk to and + fro freely, if I am to walk at all. None can tell the secret origin of his + thoughts. + </p> + <p> + Besides the monumental and artistic features of Rome, the human side of it + appealed to me. There was something congenial in the Romans, and, indeed, + in the Italians generally, so that I seemed to be renewing my acquaintance + with people whom I had partly forgotten. I picked up the conversational + language with unusual ease, perhaps owing to the drilling in Latin which + my father had given me; and I liked the easy, objectless ways of the + people, and the smiles which so readily took the place of the sallow + gravity which their faces wore in repose. But it was the Transteverini + women who chiefly attracted me; they wore an antique costume familiar + enough in paintings, and they claimed to be descendants of the ancient + race; they had the noble features and bearing which one would have looked + for in such descendants, at all events. Looking in their dark, haughty + eyes, one seemed to pass back through the terrible picturesqueness of + mediaeval Italy, with its Borgias and Bella Donnas, its Lorenzos and + Fornarinas, to the Rome of Nero, Augustus, Scipio, and Tarquin. Eddy and I + would sometimes make excursions across the river to Transtevere, and + stroll up and down those narrow streets, imagining all manner of suitable + adventures and histories for the inhabitants, stalking there in their + black and scarlet and yellow habiliments, and glancing imperially from + under the black brows of their dark countenances. One afternoon during the + carnival I was in a dense crowd in the piazza, towards the lower end of + the Corso, and found myself pushed into the neighborhood of a singularly + beautiful young woman of this class, dressed in the height of her fashion, + who was slowly making her way in my direction through the press. All at + once a man, smartly clad in the garb of recent civilization, stepped in + front of her and said something to her; what it was I knew not. She drew + herself back, as from something poisonous or revolting, and the expression + of her face became terrible. At the same time her right hand went swiftly + to the masses of her sable hair, and as swiftly back again, armed with the + small, narrow dagger which these women wear by way of hair-pin. Before the + unhappy creature who had accosted her knew what was happening, she thrust + the dagger, with a powerful movement—while her white teeth showed, + set edge to edge, through her drawn lips—deep into his body. As he + collapsed forward she drew the weapon upward, putting the whole strength + of her body into the effort, and actually ripped the man open. Down he + fell at her feet. There was a score or more of Roman citizens within + arm's-reach of her at the moment; no one spoke, still less attempted to + restrain her. On the contrary, as she turned they respectfully opened a + way for her through the midst of them, and none made an offer to assist + the dying wretch who lay writhing and faintly coughing on the cobble-stone + pavement of the piazza. I was soon elbowed quietly away from the spot + where he lay; I caught a glimpse of the crimson head-dress of his slayer + passing away afar amid the crowd; presently the cocked hat of a gendarme + appeared from another direction, advancing slowly against manifest + obstructions; everybody seemed to get in his way, without appearing to + intend it. Such was the attitude towards assassination of the Roman people + in those days. I have often thought over the incident since then. Their + sympathy is with private vengeance, never with ordained statute law. They + love to use the poniard and to see it used, and will do their best to + shield the users. Pity for the victim they have none; they assume that he + has his deserts. For that matter, my own sympathies, filled though I was + with horror at the spectacle of actual murder done before my eyes, were + wholly with the savage beauty, and not with the fatuous creature who had + probably insulted her. It is needless to say that the women of Transtevere + were not so often called upon to resent insults as are the ladies of New + York and other American cities. They did not wait for policemen or for + "leagues of chivalry" to avenge them. + </p> + <p> + Towards the French soldiers I was cordially disposed. Their dark-blue + tunics and baggy, red peg-tops were never out of sight, and though I had + seen troops in England, and had once observed the march of a British + regiment in Liverpool going to embark for the Crimea (whence, I believe, + very few of this particular regiment returned), yet the conception of a + resident army first came to me in Rome. About the French army of those + days still hovered the lustre bestowed upon it by the deeds of the great + Napoleon, which their recent exploits in the Crimea had not diminished. + There were among them regiments of fierce and romantic looking zouaves, + with Oriental complexions and semi-barbaric attire, marching with a long + swing, and appearing savage and impetuous enough to annihilate anything; + and there was also a brigade, the special designation of which I have + forgotten, every man of which was a trained athlete, and whose drill was + something marvellous to witness. But the average French soldier was simply + a first-class soldier, good-natured, light-hearted, active, trim, and + efficient; in height averaging not more than five foot six; carrying + muskets which seemed out of proportion large, though they handled them + lightly enough, and wearing at their sides a short sword, like the sword + of ancient Rome, which was also used as a bayonet. There was always a + drill or a march in progress somewhere, and sentinels paced up and down + before the palaces. The officers were immensely impressive; the young ones + had wasp waists, surpassing those of the most remorseless belles of + fashion; and the old ones were, en revanche, immensely stout in that + region, as if outraged nature were resolved to assert herself at last. + But, young or old, their swords were sun-bright and lovely to behold—I + used to polish my own little weapon in vain in the attempt to emulate + them. Hopelessly envious was I, too, of the heroic chests of these + warriors (not knowing them to be padded, as the waists were corseted), and + I would swell out my own little pectoral region to its utmost extent as I + walked along the streets, thereby, though I knew it not, greatly + benefiting my physical organism. Of course I had no personal commerce with + the officers, but the rank and file fraternized with me and my companions + readily; there was always a number of them strolling about Rome and its + environs on leave, in pairs or groups, and they were just as much boys as + we were. They would let me heft their short, strong swords, and when they + understood that I was gathering shells they would climb lightly about the + ruins, and bring me specimens displayed in their broad, open palms. Our + conversation was restricted to few words and many grunts and gestures, but + we understood one another and were on terms of gay camaraderie. A dozen + years afterwards, when there was war between France and Germany, my + sympathies were ardently with the former, and great were my astonishment + and regret at the issue of the conflict. Man for man, and rightly led and + managed, I still believe that Gaul could wipe up the ground with the + Teuton, without half trying. But there were other forces than those of + Moltke and Bismarck fighting against poor France in that fatal campaign. + She was wounded in the house of her friends. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Miss Lander makes a bust—The twang of his native place— + Wholly unlike anybody else—Wise, humorous Sarah Clarke— + Back to the Gods and the Fleas—Horace Mann's statue—Miss + Bremer and the Tarpeian Rock—"I was in a state of some + little tremor"—Mrs. Jameson and Ruskin—Most thorough-going + of the classic tragedies—A well-grown calf—An adventure in + Monte Testaccio—A vision of death—A fantastic and + saturnine genius—A pitch-black place—Illuminations and + fireworks—The Faun-Enjoying Rome—First impressions— + Lalla's curses. +</pre> + <p> + While my father was conscientiously making acquaintance with the + achievements of old-time art, modern artists were trying to practise their + skill on him; he had already sat to Cephas Giovanni Thompson, and he was + now asked to contribute his head to the studio of a certain Miss Lander, + late of Salem, Massachusetts, now settled, as she intended, permanently in + Rome. "When I dream of home," she told him, "it is merely of paying a + short visit and coming back here before my trunk is unpacked." Miss Lander + was not a painter, but a sculptor, and, in spite of what my father had + said against the nude in sculpture, I think he liked clay and marble as a + vehicle of art better than paint and canvas. At all events, he consented + to give her sittings. He was interested in the independence of her mode of + life, and they got on very comfortably together; the results of his + observation of her appear in the references to Hilda's and Miriam's + unhampered ways of life in The Marble Faun. She had, as I recall her, a + narrow, sallow face, sharp eyes, and a long chin. She might have been + thirty years old. Unlike Miss Harriet Hosmer, who lived not far away, Miss + Lander had no attractiveness for us children. I have reason to think, too, + that my father's final opinion of her was not so favorable as his first + one. Except photographs, no really good likeness of my father was ever + taken; the portrait painted in Washington, in 1862, by Leutze, was the + least successful of them all. The best, in my opinion, was an exquisitely + wrought miniature of him at the age of thirty, which I kept for a long + time, till it was stolen by a friend in London in 1880. + </p> + <p> + Paul Akers, a Maine Yankee, with the twang of his native place still + strong in him after ten years in Rome, was another sculptor of our + acquaintance; he was very voluble, and escorted us about Rome, and + entertained us at his own studio, where he was modelling his best group, + "The Drowned Fisher-boy," as he called it. The figure is supposed to be + lying at the bottom of the sea, face upward, with a fragment of rock + supporting on its sharp ridge the small of the back—a most painful + and uncomfortable attitude, suggesting that even in death there could be + no rest for the poor youth. Mr. Akers was rather sharply critical of his + more famous brother-artists, such as Greenough and Gibson, and was accused + by them, apparently not wholly without justification, of yielding too much + to the influence of other geniuses in the designing of his groups. But he + was a sensible and obliging little personage, and introduced us to the + studios of several of his fellow-artists in Rome, some of which were more + interesting than his own. + </p> + <p> + Bright little Miss Harriet Hosmer, with her hands in her jacket-pockets, + and her short hair curling up round her velvet cap, struts cheerfully + forth out of the obscurity of the past in my memory; her studio, I think, + adjoined that of Gibson, of whom I remember nothing whatever. Her most + notable production at that time was a Puck sitting on a toadstool, with a + conical shell of the limpet species by way of a cap; he somehow resembled + his animated and clever creator. Miss Hosmer's face, expressions, + gestures, dress, and her manifestations in general were perfectly in + keeping with one another; there never was a more succinct and distinct + individuality; she was wholly unlike anybody else, without being in the + least unnatural or affected. Her social manner was of a persistent + jollity; but no doubt she had her grave moments or hours, a good and + strong brain, and a susceptibility to tragic conceptions, as is shown by + the noble figure of her Zenobia. This figure I saw in clay in her studio + during our second season in Rome. Miss Hosmer's talk was quick, witty, and + pointed; her big eyes redeemed her round, small-featured face from + triviality; her warm heart glowed through all she said and did. Her studio + was a contrast to the classicality of Gibson's, whose influence, though + she had studied under him during her six years' residence in Rome, had + affected her technique only, not her conceptions or aims in art. We all + liked her much. She was made known to us, I believe, through the medium of + grave, wise, humorous Sarah Clarke, the sister of the James Freeman Clarke + who married my mother to my father, and who, twenty-two years later, read + over my father the burial service. Sarah Clarke was often abroad; she was + herself an admirable artist in water-color, and was always a dear friend + of my mother's. After we had returned to Concord, in 1860, Miss Hosmer + wrote to us, and one of her letters has been preserved; I quote it, + because it is like her: + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAR MRS. HAWTHORNE,—It is not unlikely that you may be somewhat + surprised to hear from me; but after you have received the four dozen + letters which, sooner or later, I intend writing you, you will cease to be + so. I begin at the present moment with the first of the forty-eight, + partly for business and partly for pleasure. Reversing, then, the order of + things which some unknown but well-regulated-minded individual considered + to be correct, I will go in for pleasure first, under which head I seek + information respecting the health and well-being of all members of your + family. It seems cruel that you should go off to the glorious Republic + when there are other places in Rome besides the Piazza Poli. Now that you + are safely out of it, I must try to persuade you that it was the most + unhealthy place in the whole city, not only because I really believe it to + be so, but that malaria may not be mingled and cherished with every + remembrance of this delicious, artistic, fleay, malarious paradise. But I + suppose little short of a miracle would transport you here again, not only + because Una is probably becoming the size of Daniel Lambert, in her native + air, but because Julian is probably weaving a future President's chair out + of the rattans he is getting at school. However that may be, the result is + the same, I fear, as to your getting back to the Gods and the Fleas; and I + must look forward to a meeting in America. Well, as that carries me over + the ocean, in my mind's eye, Mrs. Hawthorne, the business clause of my + epistle is suggested—and it is this: I have just had a letter from + my best of friends, Mr. Crow, of St. Louis [she had studied anatomy in St. + Louis before coming to Rome], who has been passing the summer in New York + and Boston, and he writes: 'They are talking in Boston of a monument to + the memory of Mr. Horace Mann, and I have said to one of the active men + engaged in it that if you could have the commission I would subscribe + handsomely towards it.' Now, it occurred to me that perhaps you or yours + might have an opportunity of saying a good word for me, in which case I + would have you know how pleased and grateful I should be. You may not have + the occasion offered you, but if it chances, I commend myself to you + distintamente, and trust to your good-nature not to consider me pushing + for having suggested it. I send this through our well-beloved Sarah + Clarke, and hope it will arrive before 1861. When you have nothing better + to do, pray give me a line, always in care of Pakenham & Hooker. + Good-bye, dear Mrs. Hawthorne—my best love to Mr. Hawthorne and the + chicks—and the best wish I can make is that you are all as fat as + yours always affectionately, + </p> + <p> + "HARRIET HOSMER." + </p> + <p> + All the influence which my father and mother possessed was given to Miss + Hosmer's cause, but some other person got the commission. I remember, too, + that my mother, at Mrs. Mann's request, was at great pains to make + drawings for the face of the statue which now confronts from the slopes of + Beacon Hill the culture and intelligence of Boston, which Horace Mann did + so much to promote. But he was not a subject which accommodated itself + readily to the requirements of plastic art. There is a glimpse of Miss + Hosmer in one of my father's diaries, which I will reproduce, for the sake + of indicating his amused and benevolent attitude towards her. "She had + on," says he, "a neat little jacket, a man's shirt-bosom, and a cravat + with a brooch in it; her hair is cut short, and curls jauntily round her + bright and smart little physiognomy; and, sitting opposite me at table, I + never should have imagined that she terminated in a petticoat any more + than in a fish's tail. However, I do not mean to speak disrespectfully of + Miss Hosmer, of whom I think very favorably; but, it seems to me, her + reform of the female dress begins with its least objectionable part, and + is no real improvement." + </p> + <p> + One evening we visited Miss Bremer, the novelist, of Sweden, who was then + near the end of her foreign travels, which had begun with her visit to + America in 1849. She had met my father in Lenox, and had written of him in + the book of her travels. She was a small woman, with a big heart and broad + mind, packed full of sense, sentiment, and philanthropy. She had an + immense nose, designed, evidently, for some much larger person; her + conversation in English, though probably correct, was so oddly accented + that it was difficult to follow her. She was a very lovable little + creature, then nearing her sixtieth year. Most of her voluminous literary + work was done. Her house in Rome was near the Capitol and the Tarpeian + Rock; and after we had forgathered with her there for a while, she + accompanied us forth—the moon being up—to see the famous + precipice. It was to this incident that we owe the scene in The Marble + Faun, the most visibly tragic in my father's writings. "The court-yard," + he writes in his notes, "is bordered by a parapet, leaning over which we + saw a sheer precipice of the Tarpeian Rock, about the height of a + four-story house; not that the precipice was a bare face of rock, but it + appeared to be cased in some sort of cement, or ancient stone-work, + through which the primeval rock, here and there, looked grimly and + doubtfully. Bright as the Roman moonlight was, it would not show the front + of the wall, or rock, so well as I should have liked to see it, but left + it pretty much in the same degree of dubiety and half-knowledge in which + the antiquarians leave most of the Roman ruins. Perhaps this precipice may + have been the Traitor's Leap; perhaps it was the one on which Miss + Bremer's garden verges; perhaps neither of the two. At any rate, it was a + good idea of the stern old Romans to fling political criminals down from + the very height of the Capitoline Hill on which stood the temples and + public edifices, symbols of the institutions which they sought to + violate." But there was no tragic suggestion in our little party, + conducted about by the prattling, simple, affectionate little woman, so + homely, tender, and charitable. "At parting," wrote my father, "she kissed + my wife most affectionately on each cheek, 'because,' she said, 'you look + so sweetly'; and then she turned towards myself. I was in a state of some + little tremor, not knowing what might be about to befall me, but she + merely pressed my hand, and we parted, probably never to meet again. God + bless her good heart, and every inch of her little body, not forgetting + her red nose, big as it is in proportion to the rest of her! She is a most + amiable little woman, worthy to be the maiden aunt of the whole human + race!" + </p> + <p> + Venerable Mrs. Jameson, author of a little library of writings on Italian + art, was likewise of our company occasionally; and she evinced a marked + liking for my father, which was remarkable, inasmuch as he was able to + keep no sort of pace with her in her didactic homilies, which were + delivered with a tranquil, ex-cathedra manner, befitting one who was the + authority on her subject; one would no more have thought of questioning + her verdicts than those of Ruskin; but I should have liked to see the + latter and her together, with a difference between them. Her legs were + less active than her mind, and most of our expeditions with her were made + in carriages, from which she dispensed her wisdom placidly as we went + along, laying the dust of our ignorance with the droppings of her + erudition, like a watering-cart. However, she so far condescended from her + altitudes as to speak very cordially of my father's books, for which he + expressed proper acknowledgment; and she had a motherly way of holding his + hand in hers when he took leave of her, and looking maternally in his + face, which made him somewhat uneasy. "Were we to meet often," he + remarked, + </p> + <p> + "I should be a little afraid of her embracing me outright—a thing to + be grateful for, but by no means to be glad of!" We drove one day to some + excavations which had just been opened near the tomb of Cecilia Metella, + outside the walls of Rome. Both Christian and Roman graves had been found, + and they had been so recently discovered that, as my father observed, + there could have been very little intervention of persons (though much of + time) between the departure of the friends of the dead and our own visit. + The large, excavated chambers were filled with sarcophagi, beautifully + sculptured, and their walls were ornamented with free-hand decoration done + in wet plaster, a marvellous testimony to the rapid skill of the artists. + The sarcophagi were filled with the bones and the dust of the ancient + people who had once, in the imperial prime of Rome, walked about her + streets, prayed to her gods, and feasted at her banquets. My father + remarked on the fact that many of the sarcophagi were sculptured with + figures that seemed anything but mournful in their demeanor; but Mrs. + Jameson said that there was almost always, in the subject chosen, some + allusion to death, instancing the story of Meleager, an Argonaut, who, I + think, slew the Calydonian boar, and afterwards his two uncles, who had + tried to get the boar's hide away from Meleager's beloved Atalanta; + whereupon the young hero was brought to death by his mother, who in turn + killed herself. It is one of the most thoroughgoing of the classic + tragedies, and was a favorite theme for the sculptors of sarcophagi. + Certainly, in the sarcophagi of the Vatican the bas-reliefs are often + scenes of battle, the rush of men and horses, and the ground strewn with + dead; and in others, a dying person seems to be represented, with his + friends weeping along the sides of the sarcophagus; but often, too, the + allusion to death, if it exists at all, is very remote. The old Romans, + like ourselves, had individual ways of regarding the great change; + according to their mood and faith, they were hopeful or despairing. But + death is death, think of it how we will. + </p> + <p> + I think it was on a previous occasion that I went with my father, afoot, + along this same mighty Appian Way, beside which rise so many rounded + structures, vast as fortresses, containing the remains of the dead of long + ago, and culminating in the huge mass of the Cecilia Metella tomb, with + the mediaeval battlements on its summit. And it was on that walk that we + met the calf of The Marble Faun: "A well-grown calf," my father says in + his notes, "who seemed frolicsome, shy, and sociable all at the same time; + for he capered and leaped to one side, and shook his head, as I passed + him, but soon came galloping behind me, and again started aside when I + looked round." How little I suspected then (or the bull-calf either, for + that matter) that he was to frolic his way into literature, and go + gambolling down the ages to distract the anxious soul of the lover of + Hilda! Another walk of ours was to the huge, green mound of the Monte + Testaccio; it was, at that period, pierced by numerous cavities, in the + dark coolness of which stores of native wines were kept; and they were + sold to customers at the rude wooden tables in front of the excavations, + in flasks shaped like large drops of water, protected with plaited straw. + When, nowadays, in New York or other cities here, I go to an Italian + restaurant, I always call for one of these flasks, and think, as I drink + its contents, of that afternoon with my father. It was the first time I + had been permitted to taste a fermented liquor. I liked it very much, and + got two glasses of it; and when we rose to depart I was greatly perplexed, + and my father was vastly tickled, to discover a lack of coherence between + my legs and my intentions. It speedily passed off, for the wines are of + the lightest and airiest description; but when, a little later on in life, + I came to read that Horatian verse describing how, turning from barbaric + splendors such as the Persians affect, he binds his brows with simple + myrtle, and sips, beneath the shadow of his garden bower, the pure vintage + of the native grape, I better appreciated the poetry of the theme from + having enjoyed that Testaccionesque experience. + </p> + <p> + It was in Rome, too, that I first came in contact with death. It aroused + my liveliest curiosity, but, as I remember, no alarm; partly, I suspect, + because I was unable to believe that there was anything real in the + spectacle. The scene has been woven into the texture of the Italian + romance; it is there described almost as it actually presented itself to + the author's observation. A dead monk of the Capuchin order lay on a bier + in the nave of their church, and while we looked at him a stream of blood + flowed from his nostrils. We went down afterwards, I recollect, into the + vaults, and saw the fine, Oriental loam in which the body was to lie; and + it seems to me there were arches and other architectural features composed + of skulls and bones of long-dead brothers of the order. He must have been + a fantastic and saturnine genius who first suggested this idea. + </p> + <p> + Another subterranean expedition of ours was to the Catacombs, the midnight + passages of which seemed to be made of bones, and niches containing the + dust of unknown mortality, which were duskily revealed in the glimmer of + our moccoli as we passed along in single file. Sometimes we came to + chambers, one of which had in it a bier covered with glass, in which was a + body which still preserved some semblance of the human form. There were + occasional openings in the vaulted roof of the corridors, but for the most + part the darkness was Egyptian, and for a few moments a thrill of anxiety + was caused by the disappearance either of my sister Una or of Ada Shepard; + I forget which. They were soon found, but the guide read us a homily upon + the awful peril of lifelong entombment which encompassed us. But the air + was dry and cool, and the whole adventure, from my point of view, + enjoyable. + </p> + <p> + Again, we went down a long flight of steps somewhere near the Forum, till + we reached a pitch-black place, where we waited till a guide came up from + still lower depths, down into which we followed him—each with a + moccolo—till we felt level earth or stone beneath our feet, and + stood in what I suppose is as lightless a hole as can exist in nature. It + was wet, too, and the smell of it was deadly and dismal. This, however, + was the prison in which the old Romans used to confine important + prisoners, such as Jugurtha and the Apostle Peter; and here they were + strangled to death or left to starve. It was the Mamertine Prison. I did + not like it. I also recall the opening of an oubliette in the castle of + San Angelo, which affected me like a nightmare. Before leaving Concord, in + 1853, I had once tumbled through a rotten board into a well, dug by the + side of the road ages before, and had barely saved myself from dropping to + the bottom, sixty feet below, by grabbing the weeds which grew on the + margin of the hole. I was not much scared at the moment; but the next day, + taking my father to the scene of the accident, he remarked that had I + fallen in I never could have got out again; upon which I conceived a + horror of the well which haunts me in my dreams even to this day. Only a + tuft of grass between me and such a fate! I was, therefore, far from + comfortable beside the oubliette, and was glad to emerge again into the + Roman sunshine. + </p> + <p> + One night we climbed the Pincian Hill, and saw, far out across Rome, the + outlines of St. Peter's dome in silver light. While we were thinking that + nothing could be more beautiful, all of a sudden the delicate silver + bloomed out into a golden glory, which made everybody say, "Oh!" Was it + more beautiful or not? Theoretically, I prefer the silver illumination; + but, as a matter of fact, I must confess that I liked the golden + illumination better. We were told that the wonder was performed by + convicts, who lay along the dome and applied their matches to the lamps at + the word of command, and that, inasmuch as the service was apt to prove + fatal to the operators, these convicts were allowed certain alleviations + of their condition for doing it. I suppose it is done by electricity now, + and the convicts neither are killed nor obtain any concessions. Such are + the helps and hindrances of civilization! + </p> + <p> + Shortly after this, on a cool and cloudy night, I was down in the Piazza, + del Popolo and saw the fireworks, the only other pyrotechnic exhibition I + had witnessed having been a private one in Rock Park, which, I think, I + have described. This Roman one was very different, and I do not believe I + have ever since seen another so fine. The whole front of the Pincian was + covered with fiery designs, and in the air overhead wonderful fiery + serpents and other devices skimmed, arched, wriggled, shot aloft, and + detonated. A boy accepts appearances as realities; and these fireworks + doubtless enlarged my conceptions of the possibilities of nature, and + substantiated the fables of the enchanters. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: THE MARBLE FAUN] + </p> + <p> + The Faun of Praxiteles, as the world knows, attracted my father, though he + could not have visited it often; for both in his notes and in his romance + he makes the same mistake as to the pose of the figure: "He has a pipe," + he says in the former, "or some such instrument of music in the hand which + rests upon the tree, and the other, I think, hangs carelessly by his + side." Of course, the left arm, the one referred to, is held akimbo on his + left hip. That my father's eyes were, however, already awake to the + literary and moral possibilities of the Faun is shown by his further + observations, which are much the same as those which appear in the book. + "The whole person," he says, "conveys the idea of an amiable and sensual + nature, easy, mirthful, apt for jollity, yet not incapable of being + touched by pathos. The Faun has no principle, nor could comprehend it, yet + is true and honest by virtue of his simplicity; very capable, too, of + affection. He might be refined through his feelings, so that the coarser, + animal part of his nature would be thrown into the background, though + liable to assert itself at any time. Praxiteles has only expressed the + animal part of the nature by one (or, rather, two) definite signs—the + two ears, which go up in a little peak, not likely to be discovered on + slight inspection, and, I suppose, they are covered with downy fur. A tail + is probably hidden under the garment. Only a sculptor of the finest + imagination, most delicate taste, and sweetest feeling would have dreamed + of representing a faun under this guise; and, if you brood over it long + enough, all the pleasantness of sylvan life, and all the genial and happy + characteristics of the brute creation, seem to be mixed in him with + humanity—trees, grass, flowers, cattle, deer, and unsophisticated + man." This passage shows how much my father was wont to trust to first + impressions, and even more on the moral than on the material side. He + recognized a truth in the first touch—the first thought—which + he was wary of meddling with afterwards, contenting himself with slightly + developing it now and then, and smoothing a little the form and manner of + its presentation. The finest art is nearest to the most veritable nature—to + such as have the eye to see the latter aright. Rome, like other ancient + cities which have fallen from the positive activity of their original + estate, has one great advantage over other places which one wishes to see + (like London, for instance), that the whole business of whoever goes + there, who has any business whatever, is to see it; and when the + duty-sights have been duly done, the sight-seer then first begins to live + his true life in independence and happiness, going where he lists, staying + no longer than he pleases, and never knowing, when he sallies forth in the + morning, what, or how many, or how few things he will have accomplished by + nightfall. + </p> + <p> + The duty to see is indeed the death of real vision; the official cicerone + leads you anywhere but to the place or thing that you are in the mood to + behold or understand. But with his disappearance the fun and the pageant + begin; one's eyes are at last opened, and beauty and significance flow in + through every pore of the senses. It is in this better phase of his Roman + sojourn that I picture my father; he trudges tranquilly and happily to and + fro, with no programme and no obligations, absorbing all things with that + quiet, omnivorous glance of his; pausing whenever he takes the fancy, and + contemplating for moments or minutes whatever strikes his fancy; often + turning aside from egregious spectacles and giving his attention to + apparent trifles, to the mere passing show; pondering on the tuft of + flowers in a cranny of the Coliseum wall, on the azure silhouette of the + Alban Mountains, on the moss collected on the pavement beneath the + aperture in the roof of the Pantheon, on the picturesque deformity of old, + begging Beppo on the steps of the Piazza, d' Espagna. I am trudging + joyously beside him, hanging on to his left hand (the other being occupied + with his hook-headed cane), asking him innumerable questions, to which he + comfortably, or abstractedly, or with humorous impatience, replies; or I + run on before him, or lag behind, busy with my endless occupation of + picking up things to me curious and valuable, and filling with them my + much-enduring pockets; in this way drinking in Rome in my own way, also, + and to my boyish advantage. He tells me tales of old Rome, always apposite + to the occasion; draws from me, sometimes, my private views as to persons, + places, and scenes, and criticises those views in his own terse, arch, + pregnant way, the force and pertinency whereof are revealed to me only in + my later meditations upon them. It is only after one has begun to deal in + this way with Rome that its magic and spell begin to work upon one; and + they are never to be shaken off. Anxiety and pain may be mingled with + them, as was the case with my father before we said our final farewell to + the mighty city; but it is thereby only the more endeared to one. Rome is + one of the few central facts of the world, because it is so much more than + a fact. Byron is right—it is the city of the soul. + </p> + <p> + On one of the last evenings of our first season we went to the Thompsons', + and were there shown, among other things, a portfolio of sketches. There + is in The Marble Faun a chapter called "Miriam's Studio," in which occurs + a reference to a portfolio of sketches by Miriam herself; the hint for it + may have been taken from the portfolio of Mr. Thompson, though the + sketches themselves were of a very different quality and character. The + latter collection pleased me, because I was just beginning to fill an + album of my own with such lopsided attempts to represent real objects, and + yet more preposterous imaginative sallies as my age and nature suggested. + My father was interested in them on account of the spiritual vigor which + belongs to the artist's first vision of his subject. In their case, as + well as in his own, he felt that it was impossible, as Browning put it, to + "recapture that first, fine, careless rapture." But the man of letters has + an advantage over the man of paint and canvas in the matter of being able + to preserve the original spirit in the later, finished design. + </p> + <p> + Towards the close of this first season in Rome the Bryants came to town, + and the old poet, old in aspect even then, called on us; but he was not a + childly man, and we youngsters stood aloof and contemplated with awe his + white, Merlin beard and tranquil but chilly eyes. Near the end of May + William Story invited us to breakfast with him; the Bryants and Miss + Hosmer and some English people were there; and I understood nothing of + what passed except the breakfast, which was good, until, at the end of the + session, my father and Story began to talk about the superstition as to + Friday, and they agreed that, of course, it was nonsense, but that, + nevertheless, it did have an influence on both of them. It probably has an + influence on everybody who has ever heard of it. Many of us protest + indignantly that we don't believe in it, but the protest itself implies + something not unlike believing. + </p> + <p> + Finally, on the 24th of May, we left our Pincian palace, and got into and + on the huge <i>vettura</i> which was to carry us to Florence, a week's + journey. It was to be one of the most delightful and blessed of our + foreign experiences; my father often said that he had enjoyed nothing else + so much, the vetturino (who happened to be one of the honestest and + sweetest-tempered old fellows in Italy) taking upon himself the entire + management of everything, down to ordering the meals and paying the tolls, + thus leaving us wholly unembarrassed and free from responsibility while + traversing a route always historically and generally scenically charming. + But we were destined, on the threshold of the adventure, to undergo one of + those evil quarters of an hour which often usher in a period of special + sunshine; for we were forced into a desperate conflict with our + servant-girl, Lalla, and her mother over a question of wages. The girl had + done chores for us during our residence at the Palazzo Larazani, and had + seemed to be a very amiable little personage; she was small, slim, and + smiling, and, though dirty and inefficient, was no worse, so far as we + could discover, than any other Roman servant-girl. When we had fixed on + the date of our departure, Lalla had been asked how much warning she + wanted; she replied, a fortnight; which, accordingly, was given her, with + a few days thrown in for good measure. But when the day arrived she + claimed a week's more pay, and her old mother had a bill of her own for + fetching water. According to my observation, travelling Americans have + little or no conscience; to avoid trouble they will submit to imposition, + not to mention their habit of spoiling tradesmen, waiters, and other + foreign attendants by excessive tips and payments. But my father and + mother, though apt enough to make liberal bargains, were absolutely + incorruptible and immovable when anything like barefaced robbery was + attempted upon them; and they refused to present Lalla and her mother with + a single baioccho more than was their due. Moreover, the patrone, or + proprietor, of the Palazzo had mulcted them some six scudi for Lalla's + profuse breakages of glass and crockery during our stay. + </p> + <p> + It was early morning when we set out, and only the faithful Thompsons were + there to bid us farewell. Lalla and her tribe, however, were on hand, and + violently demanded the satisfaction of their iniquitous claims. "No!" said + my father, and "No!" said my mother, like the judges of the Medes and + Persians. Thereupon the whole House of Lalla, but Lalla and her mother + especially, gave us an example of what an Italian can do in the way of + cursing an enemy. Ancient forms of malediction, which had been current in + the days of the early Roman kings, were mingled with every damning + invention that had been devised during the Middle Ages, and ever since + then; and they were all hurled at us in shrill, screaming tones, + accompanied by fell and ominous gestures and inarticulate yells of + superheated frenzy. Nothing could surpass the volubility of this cursing, + unless it were the animosity which prompted it; no crime that anybody, + since Cain slew Abel, had or could have committed deserved a tenth part of + the calamities and evil haps which this preposterous family called down + upon our heads, who had committed no crime at all, but quite the contrary. + When, in after-years, I heard Booth, as Richelieu, threaten "the curse of + Rome" upon his opponents, I shuddered, wondering whether he had any notion + what the threat meant. Through it all my mother's ordinarily lovely and + peaceful countenance expressed a sad but unalterable determination; and my + father kept smiling in a certain dangerous way that he sometimes had in + moments of great peril or stress, but said nothing; while Mr. Thompson + indignantly called upon the cursers to cease and to beware, and my dear + friend Eddy looked distressed to the verge of tears. He squeezed my hand + as I got into the <i>vettura</i>, and told me not to mind—the Lalla + people were wicked, and their ill-wishes would return upon their own + heads. A handful of ten-cent pieces, or their Roman equivalent, would have + stopped the whole outcry and changed it into blessings; but I think my + father would not have yielded had the salvation of Rome and of all Italy + depended upon it. His eyes gleamed, as I have seen them do on one or two + other occasions only, as we drove away, with the screams pursuing us, and + that smile still hovered about his mouth. But we drove on; Gaetano cracked + his long whip, our four steeds picked up their feet and rattled our + vehicle over the Roman cobble-stones; we passed the Porta del Popolo, and + were stretching along, under the summer sunshine, upon the white road that + led to Florence. It was a divine morning; the turmoil and the strife were + soon forgotten, and for a week thenceforward there was only unalloyed + felicity before us. Poor, evil-invoking Lalla had passed forever out of + our sphere. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVIII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + In Othello's predicament—Gaetano—Crystals and snail- + shells—Broad, flagstone pavements—Fishing-rods and blow- + pipes—Ghostly yarns—Conservative effects of genius—An + ideal bust and a living one—The enigma of spiritualism—A + difficult combination to overthrow—The dream-child and the + Philistine—Dashing and plunging this way and that—Teresa + screamed for mercy—Grapes and figs and ghostly voices—My + father would have settled there—Kirkup the necromancer—A + miraculous birth—A four-year-old medium—The mysterious + touch—An indescribable horror—Not even a bone of her was + left—Providence takes very long views. +</pre> + <p> + The railroad which now unites Rome with Florence defrauds travellers of + some of the most agreeable scenery in Italy, and one of the most + time-honored experiences; and as for the beggars who infested the route, + they must long since have perished of inanition—not that they needed + what travellers gave them in the way of alms, but that, like Othello, + their occupation being gone, they must cease to exist. Never again could + they look forward to pestering a tourist; never exhibit a withered arm or + an artistic ulcer; never mutter anathemas against the obdurate, or call + down blessings upon the profuse. What was left them in life? And what has + become of the wayside inns, and what of the vetturinos? A man like + Gaetano, by himself, was enough to modify radically one's conception of + the possibilities of the Italian character. In appearance he was a + strong-bodied Yankee farmer, with the sun-burned, homely, kindly, shrewd + visage, the blue jumper, the slow, canny ways, the silent perception and + enjoyment of humorous things, the infrequent but timely speech. It was + astonishing to hear him speaking Italian out of a mouth which seemed + formed only to emit a Down-East drawl and to chew tobacco. In disposition + and character this son of old Rome was, so far as we, during our week of + constant and intimate association with him, could judge, absolutely + without fault; he was mild, incorruptible, and placid, as careful of us as + a father of his children, and he grew as fond of us as we were of him, so + that the final parting, after the journey was done, was really a moving + scene. I have found the tribe of cabbies, in all countries, to be, as a + rule, somewhat cantankerous and sinister; but Gaetano compensated for all + his horse-driving brethren. To be sure, <i>vettura</i> driving is not like + cabbing, and Gaetano was in the habit of getting out often and walking up + the hills, thus exercising his liver. But he must have been born with a + strong predisposition to goodness, which he never outgrew. + </p> + <p> + Save for a few showers, it was fine weather all the way, and a good part + of the way was covered on foot by my father and me; for the hills were + many, and the winding ascents long, and we would alight and leave the + slow-moving vehicle, with its ponderous freight, behind us, to be + overtaken perhaps an hour or two later on the levels or declivities. + Gaetano was a consummate whip, and he carried his team down the descents + and round the exciting turns at a thrilling pace, while the yards of + whiplash cracked and detonated overhead like a liliputian thunder-storm. + On the mountain-tops were romantic villages, surrounding rock-built + castles which had been robber strongholds centuries before, and we + traversed peaceful plains which had been the scenes of famous Roman + battles, and whose brooks had run red with blood before England's history + began. We paused a day in Perugia, and received the Bronze Pontiff's + benediction; the silent voices of history were everywhere speaking to the + spiritual ear. Meanwhile I regarded the trip as being, primarily, an + opportunity to collect unusual snail-shells; and we passed through a + region full of natural crystals, some of them of such size as to prompt my + father to forbid their being added to our luggage. I could not understand + his insensibility. Could I have had my way, I would have loaded a wain + with them. I liked the villages and castles, too, and the good dinners at + the inns, and the sound sleeps in mediaeval beds at night; but the + crystals and the snail-shells were the true aim and sustenance of my life. + My mother and sister sketched continually, and Miss Shepard was always + ready to tell us the story of the historical features which we + encountered; it astounded me to note how much she knew about things which + she had never before seen. One afternoon we drove down from surrounding + heights to Florence, which lay in a golden haze characteristic of Italian + Junes in this latitude. Powers, the sculptor, had promised to engage + lodgings for us, but he had not expected us so soon, and meanwhile we put + up at a hotel near by, and walked out a little in the long evening, + admiring the broad, flagstone pavements and all the minor features which + made Florence so unlike Rome. The next day began our acquaintance with the + Powers family, who, with the Brownings, constituted most of the social + element of our sojourn. Powers had an agreeable wife, two lovely + daughters, and a tall son, a few years older than I, and a pleasant + companion, though he could not take the place of Eddy Thompson in my + heart. He was clever with his hands, and soon began to make fishing-rods + for me, having learned of my predilection for the sport. There were no + opportunities to fish in Florence; but the rods which Bob Powers produced + were works of art, straight and tapering, and made in lengths, which + fitted into one another—a refinement which was new to me, who had + hitherto imagined nothing better than a bamboo pole. Bob finally confided + to me that he straightened his rods by softening the wood in steam; but I + found that they did not long retain their straightness; and, there being + no use for them, except the delight of the eye, I presently lost interest + in them. Then Bob showed me how to make blow-pipes by pushing out the pith + from the stems of some species of bushy shrub that grew outside the walls. + He made pellets of clay from his father's studio; and I was deeply + affected by the long range and accuracy of these weapons. We used to + ensconce ourselves behind the blinds of the front windows of Powers's + house, and practise through the slats at the passers-by in the street. + They would feel a smart hit and look here and there, indignant; but, after + a while, seeing nothing but the innocent fronts of sleepy houses, would + resume their way. Bob inherited his handiness from his father, who seemed + a master of all crafts, a true Yankee genius. He might have made his + fortune as an inventor had he not happened to turn the main stream of his + energy in the direction of sculpture. I believe that the literary art was + the only one in which he did not claim proficiency, and that was a pity, + because Powers's autobiography would have been a book of books. He was a + Swedenborgian by faith, but he also dabbled somewhat in spiritualism, + which was having a vogue at that time, owing partly to the exploits of the + American medium Home. Marvellous, indeed, were the ghostly yarns Powers + used to spin, and they lost nothing by the physical appearance of the + narrator, with his tall figure, square brow, great, black eyes, and + impressive gestures; his voice, too, was deep and flexible, and could sink + into the most blood-curdling tones. My recollection is that Powers was + always clad in a long, linen pinafore, reaching from his chin to his feet, + and daubed with clay, and on his head a cap made either of paper, like a + baker's, or, for dress occasions, of black velvet. His homely ways and + speech, which smacked of the Vermont farm as strongly as if he had just + come thence, whereas in truth he had lived in Florence, at this time, + about twenty years, and had won high fame as a sculptor, tempted one to + suspect him of affectation—of a pose; and there is no doubt that + Powers was aware of the contrast between his physical presentment and his + artistic reputation, and felt a sort of dramatic pleasure in it. + Nevertheless, it would be unjust to call him affected; he was a big man, + in all senses of the term, and his instinct of independence led him to + repudiate all external polish and ear-marks of social culture, and to say, + as it were, "You see, a plain Vermont countryman can live half a lifetime + in the centre of artificial refinement and rival by the works of his + native genius the foremost living artists, and yet remain the same simple, + honest old sixpence that he was at home!" It was certainly a more manly + and wholesome attitude than that of the ordinary American foreign + resident, who makes a point of forgetting his native ways and point of + view, and aping the habits and traits of his alien associates. And, + besides, Powers had such an immense temperament and individuality that + very likely he could not have modified them successfully even had he been + disposed to do so. + </p> + <p> + [IMAGE: HIRAM POWERS] + </p> + <p> + His daughters, as I have said, were lovely creatures. Powers was at this + time modelling an ideal bust of a woman, and one day I went into his + studio expecting to find Bob there, but the studio was empty but for the + bust, which I now had an opportunity to contemplate at my ease for the + first time. I thought it very beautiful, and there was something about the + face which reminded me of somebody, I could not decide who. Just then a + portiere in the doorway parted, and in came a living bust, a reality in + warm flesh and blood, compared with which the ideal seemed second-rate. It + belonged to one of Powers's daughters, who had come for a sitting; she was + serving as her father's model. Upon seeing the unexpected boy, fixed there + in speechless admiration, the young lady uttered a scream and vanished. I + now knew whom the face of the clay effigy reminded me of, and afterwards + when I saw beautiful statues I thought of her, and shook my head. + </p> + <p> + My father and Powers took a strong fancy to each other, and met and talked + a great deal. As I just said now, spiritualism was a fad at that time, and + Powers was pregnant with marvels which he had either seen or heard of, and + which he was always ready to attempt to explain on philosophical grounds. + My father would listen to it all, and both believe it and not believe it. + He felt, I suppose, that Powers was telling the truth, but he was not + persuaded that all the truth was in Powers's possession, or in any one + else's. Powers also had a great deal to say concerning the exoteric and + esoteric truths of sculpture; his racy individuality marked it all. He + would not admit that there was any limit to what might be done with + marble; and when my father asked him one day whether he could model a + blush on a woman's cheek, he said, stoutly, that the thing was possible. + My father, as his manner was with people, went with the sculptor as far as + he chose to carry him, accepting all his opinions and judgments, and + becoming Powers, so far as he might, for the time being, in order the + better to get to the root of his position. And then, afterwards, he would + return to his own self, and quietly examine Powers's assertions and + theories in the dry light. My father was two men, one sympathetic and + intuitional, the other critical and logical; together they formed a + combination which could not be thrown off its feet. + </p> + <p> + We had already met the Brownings in London; but at this period they + belonged in Italy more than anywhere else, and Florence formed the best + setting for the authors both of Aurora Leigh and of Sordello. They lived + in a villa called Casa Guidi, and with them was their son, a boy younger + than myself, whom they called Pennini, though his real name was something + much less fastidious. Penni, I believe, used to be an assistant of Raphael + early in the sixteenth century, and Pennini may have been nicknamed after + him. His mother, who was an extravagant woman on the emotional and + spiritual plane, made the poor little boy wear his hair curled in long + ringlets down his back, and clad him in a fancy costume of black velvet, + with knickerbockers and black silk stockings; he was homely of face, and + looked "soft," as normal boys would say. But his parents were determined + to make an ideal dream-child of him, and, of course, he had to submit. I + had the contempt for him which a philistine boy feels for a creature whom + he knows he can lick with one hand tied behind his back, and I had nothing + whatever to say to him. But Pennini was not such a mollycoddle and ass as + he looked, and when he grew up he gave evidence enough of having a mind + and a way of his own. My mother took him at his mother's valuation, and + both she and my father have expressed admiration of the whole Browning + tribe in their published journals. Mrs. Browning seemed to me a sort of + miniature monstrosity; there was no body to her, only a mass of dark curls + and queer, dark eyes, and an enormous mouth with thick lips; no portrait + of her has dared to show the half of it. Her hand was like a bird's claw. + Browning was a lusty, active, energetic person, dashing and plunging this + way and that with wonderful impetus and suddenness; he was never still a + moment, and he talked with extraordinary velocity and zeal. There was a + mass of wild hair on his head, and he wore bushy whiskers. He appeared + very different twenty years later, when I met him in London, after his + wife's death; he was quiet and sedate, with close-cut silvery hair and + pointed beard, and the rather stout, well-dressed figure of a British + gentleman of the sober middle class. It is difficult to harmonize either + of these outsides with the poet within—that remarkable imagination, + intellect, and analytical faculty which have made him one of the men of + the century. There was a genial charm in Browning, emphasized, in this + earlier time, with a bewildering vivacity and an affluence of courtesy. In + his mature phase he was still courteous and agreeable when he chose to be + so, but was also occasionally supercilious and repellent, and assiduously + cultivated smart society. I once asked him, in 1879, why he made his + poetry so often obscure, and he replied, frankly, that he did so because + he couldn't help it; the inability to put his thoughts in clear phrases + had always been a grief to him. This statement was, to me, unexpected, and + it has a certain importance. + </p> + <p> + After a few weeks in Casa Bella, opposite Powers's house, Florence grew so + hot that we were glad of an opportunity to rent the Villa Montauto, up on + the hill of Bellosguardo, less than a mile beyond the city gate. The + villa, with two stories and an attic, must have been nearly two hundred + feet long, and was two or three rooms deep; at the hither end rose a tower + evidently much older than the house attached to it. Near the foot of the + tower grew an ancient tree, on a projecting branch of which we soon had a + swing suspended, and all of us children did some very tall swinging. There + was a little girl of ten belonging to the estate, named Teresa, an + amiable, brown-haired, homely little personage. We admitted her to our + intimacy, and swung her in the swing till she screamed for mercy. The road + from Florence, after passing our big iron gate on the east, continued on + westward, beneath the tower and the parapet of the grounds; beyond + extended the wide valley of the Arno, with mountains hemming it in, and to + the left of the mountains, every evening, Donati's comet shone, with a + golden sweep of tail subtending twenty degrees along the horizon. The + peasant folk regarded it with foreboding; and I remember seeing in the + book-shops of Rome, before we left, pamphlets in both Italian and English, + with such titles as "Will the great comet, now rapidly approaching, strike + the earth?" It did not strike the earth, but it afforded us a magnificent + spectacle during our stay in Montauto, and the next year it was followed + by war between Austria and France and the evacuation of Venice. + </p> + <p> + The elevation of Bellosguardo sloped from the villa north and east, and + this declivity was occupied by a podere of some dozen acres, on which grew + grape-vines, olive and fig trees. Every morning, about ten o'clock, the + peasants on the estate would come in loaded with grapes, which they piled + up on a large table in the reception-hall on the ground floor. We ate them + by handfuls, but were never able to finish them. Between times we would go + out among the fruit trees and devour fresh figs, luscious with purple + pulp. I had three or four rooms to myself at the western extremity of the + house; they were always cool on the hottest days. There I was wont to + retire to pursue my literary labors; I was still writing works on + conchology. My sister Una had rooms on the ground floor, adjoining the + chapel. They were haunted by the ghost of a nun, and several times the + candle which she took in there at night was moved by invisible hands from + its place and set down elsewhere. Ghostly voices called to us, and various + unaccountable noises were heard now and then, both within and without the + house; but we children did not mind them, not having been bred in the fear + of spirits. Indeed, at the instance of Mrs. Browning, who was often with + us, we held spirit seances, Miss Shepard being the medium, though she + mildly protested. Long communications were written down, but the sceptics + were not converted, nor were the believers discouraged. "I discern in the + alleged communications from my wife's mother," wrote my father, "much of + her own beautiful fancy and many of her preconceived ideas, although + thinner and weaker than at first hand. They are the echoes of her own + voice, returning out of the lovely chambers of her heart, and mistaken by + her for the tones of her mother." + </p> + <p> + Almost every day some of us made an incursion into Florence. The town + itself seemed to me more agreeable than Rome; but the Boboli Gardens could + not rival the Borghese, and the Pitti and Uffizi galleries were not so + captivating as the Vatican and the Capitol. However, the Cascine and the + Lung' Arno were delightful, and the Arno, shallow and placid, flowing + through the midst of the city, was a fairer object than the muddy and + turbulent Tiber. Men and boys bathed along the banks in the afternoons and + evenings; and the Ponte Vecchio, crowded with grotesque little houses, was + a favorite promenade of mine. There was also a large marketplace, where + the peasant women sold the produce of their farms. My insatiable appetite + for such things prompted me often to go thither and eat everything I had + money to buy. One day I consumed so many fresh tomatoes that I had a + giddiness in the back of my head, and ate no more tomatoes for some years. + But the place I best liked was the great open square of the Palazzo + Vecchio, with the statues of David and of Perseus under the Loggia dei + Lanzi, a retreat from sun and rain; and the Duomo and Giotto's Campanile, + hard by. The pavements of Florence, smooth as the surface of stone canals, + were most soothing and comfortable after the relentless, sharp + cobble-stones of Rome; the low houses that bordered them seemed to slumber + in the hot, still sunshine. What a sunshine was that! Not fierce and + feverish, as in the tropics, but soft and intense and white. Who would not + live in Florence if he could? I think my father would have settled there + but for his children, to whom he wished to give an American education. The + thought was often in his mind; and he perhaps cherished some hope of + returning thither later in life, and letting old age steal gently upon him + and his wife in the delicious city. But the Celestial City was nearer to + him than he suspected. + </p> + <p> + There was a magical old man in Florence named Kirkup, an Englishman, + though he had dwelt abroad so many years that he seemed more Florentine + than the Florentines themselves. He had known, in his youth, Byron, + Shelley, Hunt, and Edward Trelawney. After that famous group was + disparted, Kirkup, having an income sufficient for his needs, came to + Florence and settled there. He took to antiquarianism, which is a sort of + philtre, driving its votaries mildly insane, and filling them with + emotions which, on the whole, are probably more often happy than grievous. + But Kirkup, in the course of his researches into the past, came upon the + books of the necromancers, and bought and studied them, and began to + practise their spells and conjurations; and by-and-by, being a great + admirer and student of Dante, that poet manifested himself to him in his + lonely vigils and told him many unknown facts about his career on earth, + and incidentally revealed to him the whereabouts of the now-familiar + fresco of Dante on the wall of the Bargello Chapel, where it had been + hidden for ages beneath a coat of whitewash. In these occult researches, + Kirkup, of course, had need of a medium, and he found among the Florentine + peasants a young girl, radiantly beautiful, who possessed an extraordinary + susceptibility to spiritual influences. Through her means he conversed + with the renowned dead men of the past times. But one day Regina (such was + the girl's name), much to the old man's surprise, gave birth to a child. + She herself died, in Kirkup's house, soon after, and on her death-bed she + swore a solemn oath on the crucifix that the baby's father was none other + than Kirkup himself. The poor old gentleman had grown so accustomed to + believing in miracles that he made little ado about accepting this one + also; he received the child as his daughter, and made provision for her in + his will. No one had the heart or thought it worth while to enlighten him + as to certain facts which might have altered his attitude; but it was well + known that Regina had a lover, a handsome young Italian peasant, much more + capable of begetting children than of taking care of them afterwards. + </p> + <p> + These interesting circumstances I did not learn until long after Florence + had receded into the distance in my memory. But one afternoon, with my + father and mother, I entered the door of a queer old house close to the + Ponte Vecchio; I was told that it had formerly been a palace of the + Knights Templars. We ascended a very darksome flight of stairs, and a door + was opened by a strange little man. He may have been, at that time, some + seventy years my senior, but he was little above my height; he had long, + soft, white hair and a flowing white beard; his features bore a + resemblance to those of Bulwer Lytton, only Bulwer never lived to anything + like Mr. Kirkup's age. Old as he was, our host was very brisk and polite, + and did the honors of his suite of large rooms with much grace and + fantastic hospitality. Dancing about him, and making friends freely with + us all meanwhile, was the little girl, Imogen by name, who was accredited + as the octogenarian's offspring. She was some four or five years of age, + but intellectually precocious, though a complete child, too. Mr. Kirkup + said that she, like her beautiful mother, was a powerful medium, and that + he often used to communicate through her with her mother, who would seem + to have kept her secret even after death. The house was stuffed full of + curiosities, but was very dirty and cobwebby; the pictures and the books + looked much in need of a caretaker. The little child frolicked and flitted + about the dusky apartments, or seated herself like a butterfly on the + great tomes of magic that were piled in corners. Nothing could be stronger + or stranger than the contrast between her and this environment. My father + wrote it all down in his journal, and it evidently impressed his + imagination; and she and Kirkup himself—<i>mutatis mutandis</i>—appear + in Dr. Grimshawe's Secret, and again, in a somewhat different form, in The + Dolliver Romance. There was even a Persian kitten, too, to bear little + Imogen company. But no fiction could surpass the singularity of this + withered old magician living with the pale, tiny sprite of a child of + mysterious birth in the ghost-haunted rooms of the ancient palace. + </p> + <p> + It seemed as if the world of the occult were making a determined attack + upon us during this Florentine sojourn; whichever way we turned we came in + contact with something mysterious. In one of my father's unpublished + diaries he writes, in reference to the stories with which he was being + regaled by Powers, the Brownings, and others, that he was reminded "of an + incident that took place at the old manse, in the first summer of our + marriage. One night, about eleven o'clock, before either my wife or I had + fallen asleep (we had been talking together just before), she suddenly + asked me why I had touched her shoulder? The next instant she had a sense + that the touch was not mine, but that of some third presence in the + chamber. She clung to me in great affright, but I got out of bed and + searched the chamber and adjacent entry, and, finding nothing, concluded + that the touch was a fancied one. My wife, however, has never varied in + her belief that the incident was supernatural and connected with the + apparition of old Dr. Harris, who used to show himself to me daily in the + reading-room of the Boston Athenaeum. I am still incredulous both as to + the doctor's identity and as to the reality of the mysterious touch. That + same summer of our honeymoon, too, George Hillard and his wife were + sitting with us in our parlor, when a rustling as of a silken robe passed + from corner to corner of the room, right among my wife and the two guests, + and was heard, I think, by all three. Mrs. Hillard, I remember, was + greatly startled. As for myself, I was reclining on the sofa at a little + distance, and neither heard the rustle nor believed it." + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, such things affect one in a degree. Here is a straw to show + which way the wind of doctrine was blowing with my father: We were in + Siena immediately after the date of our Florentine residence, and he and + I, leaving the rest of the family at our hotel, sallied forth in quest of + adventures. "We went to the cathedral," he writes, "and while standing + near the entrance, or about midway in the nave, we saw a female figure + approaching through the dimness and distance, far away in the region of + the high altar; as it drew nearer its air reminded me of Una, whom we had + left at home. Finally, it came close to us, and proved to be Una herself; + she had come, immediately after we left the hotel, with Miss Shepard, and + was looking for objects to sketch. It is an empty thing to write down, but + the surprise made the incident stand out very vividly." Una was to pass + near the gates of the next world a little while later, and doubtless my + father often during that dark period pictured her to himself as a spirit. + To make an end of this subject, I will quote here my father's account of a + story told him by Mrs. Story when we were living in Rome for the second + time. The incident of the woman's face at the carriage window reappears in + The Marble Faun. "She told it," he says, "on the authority of Mrs. + Gaskell, to whom the personages were known. A lady, recently married, was + observed to be in a melancholy frame of mind, and fell into a bad state of + health. She told her husband that she was haunted with the constant vision + of a certain face, which affected her with an indescribable horror, and + was the cause of her melancholy and illness. The physician prescribed + travel, and they went first to Paris, where the lady's spirits grew + somewhat better, and the vision haunted her less constantly. They purposed + going to Italy, and before their departure from Paris a letter of + introduction was given them by a friend, directed to a person in Rome. On + their arrival in Rome the letter was delivered; the person called, and in + his face the lady recognized the precise reality of her vision. + By-the-bye, I think the lady saw this face in the streets of Rome before + the introduction took place. The end of the story is that the husband was + almost immediately recalled to England by an urgent summons; the wife + disappeared that very night, and was recognized driving out of Rome, in a + carriage, in tears, and accompanied by the visionary unknown. It is a very + foolish story, but told as truth. Mrs. Story also said that in an Etruscan + tomb, on the Barberini estate, the form and impression, in dust, of a + female figure were discovered. Not even a bone of her was left; but where + her neck had been there lay a magnificent necklace, all of gold and of the + richest workmanship. The necklace, just as it was found (except, I + suppose, for a little furbishing), is now worn by the Princess Barberini + as her richest adornment. Mrs. Story herself had on a bracelet composed, I + think, of seven ancient Etruscan scorabei in carnelian, every one of which + has been taken from a separate tomb, and on one side of each was engraved + the signet of the person to whom it had belonged and who had carried it to + the grave with him. This bracelet would make a good connecting link for a + series of Etruscan tales, the more fantastic the better!" + </p> + <p> + On the first day of October, 1859, we left Florence by railway for Siena + on our way back to Rome. There had been no drawbacks to our enjoyment of + the city and of our villa and of the people we had met. We departed with + regret; had we stayed on there, instead, and not again attempted the fatal + air of the Seven Hills, our after chronicles might have been very + different. But we walk over precipices with our eyes open, or pass safely + along their verge in the dark, and only the Power who made us knows why. + Providence takes very long views. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIX + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Burnt Sienna—The Aquila Nera—A grand, noble, gentle + creature—The most beautiful woman in the world—Better + friends than ever—A shadow brooded—Boys are whole-souled + creatures—Franklin Pierce—Miriam, Hilda, Kenyon, + Donatello—The historian of the Netherlands—When New + England makes a man—The spell of Trevi—An accession of + mishaps—My father's mustache—Three steps of stone, the + fourth, death—Havre, Redcar, Bath, London, Liverpool. +</pre> + <p> + Siena is distant from Florence, in a direct line, not more than fifty + miles, but the railway turns the western flank of the mountains, and kept + us full three hours on the trip. I had long been familiar with a paint in + my color-box called Burnt Sienna, and was now much interested to learn + that it was made of the yellow clay on which the city of Siena stands; and + when I discovered for myself that this clay, having formed the bed of some + antediluvian ocean, was full of fossil shells, I thought that Siena was a + place where I would do well to spend one of my lifetimes. The odd, + parti-colored architecture of the town did not so much appeal to me, and + certainly the streets and squares were less attractive in themselves than + either the Roman or the Florentine ones. The shells were personally ugly, + but they were shells, and fossils into the bargain, and they sufficed for + my happiness. + </p> + <p> + The Storys had a villa in Siena, and my father certainly had in the back + part of his mind an idea of settling there, or elsewhere in Italy, now or + later; but after ten days we were on our travels again. There were no + ruins to be seen, that I remember, but many churches and frescoes and old + oil-paintings, which I regarded with indifference. Mediaeval remains did + not attract me like classic ones. It was here that Story drew the + caricatures which I have already spoken of, and from the windows of the + room, as the twilight fell, we could see the great comet, then in its + apogee of brilliance. Where will the world be when it comes again? We had + rooms at the Aquila Nera, looking out on the venerable, gray Palazzo + Tolomei. The narrow streets were full of people; the steepness and + irregularity of the thoroughfares of the city produced a feeling of energy + and activity in the midst of the ancient historic peace. Siena is, I + believe, built about the crater of an extinct volcano. The old brick wall + of the city was still extant, running up hill and down, and confining the + rusty heaps of houses within its belt. There were projecting balconies, + crumbling with age, and irregular arcades, resembling tunnels hewn out of + the solid rock. From the windows of our sitting-room in the hotel we + commanded the piazza, in front of the Palazzo Tolomei, with a pillar in + the midst of it, on which was a group of Romulus and Remus suckled by the + wolf, the tradition of the city being that it was founded during the epoch + of the Roman kings. My mother made a sketch of this monument in her little + sketch-book, and my father, according to a common custom of his, sat for + an hour at the window one day and made a note of every person who passed + through the little square, thus getting an idea of the character of the + local population not otherwise obtainable. I can imagine that, were one + born in Siena, one might conceive an ardent affection for it; but, in + spite of its picturesqueness, it never touched my heart like Rome or + Florence, or even London or Paris. I left it without regret, but with + specimens of its fossils in my pockets. + </p> + <p> + It often happens with miracles that they occur in doubles or trebles, in + order, I suppose, to suggest to us that they may be simply instances of an + undiscovered law. Gaetano was a miracle, and he was followed by + Constantino, who, though of an altogether different human type, was of no + less sweet and shining a nature than the other. He was a grand, noble, + gentle creature, and my mother soon dubbed him "The Emperor," though it + may be doubted whether the original emperor of that name was as good a man + as ours; he was certainly not nearly so good-looking. He was only the + driver of our <i>vettura</i> from Siena to Rome, but there was a princely + munificence in his treatment of us that made us feel his debtors in an + indefinitely greater sum than that which technically discharged our + obligations. He was massive, quiescent, oxlike, with great, slow-moving, + black eyes. He had the air of extending to us the hospitalities of Italy, + and our journey assumed the character of a royal progress. He was + especially devoted to my small sister Rose, and often, going up the hills, + he would have her beside him on foot, one of his great hands clasping + hers, while with the other he wielded the long whip that encouraged the + horses. His garments were of the humblest fashion, but he so wore them as + to make them seem imperial robes. My mother caught an excellent likeness + of him as he sat before her on the driver's seat. The second trip was as + enjoyable as the first, though it was two or three days shorter. The route + was west of our former one, passing through Radicofani, incrusted round + its hill-top; and Bolsena, climbing backward from the poisonous shore of + its beautiful lake; and Viterbo, ugly and beggar-ridden, though famous + forever on account of the war for Galiana waged between Viterbo and Rome. + In the front of an old church in the town I saw the carved side of her + sarcophagus, incorporate with the wall. She was the most beautiful woman + in the world in her day, and in the fight for the possession of her her + townsmen overcame the Romans, but the latter were permitted, as a salve + for their defeat, to have one final glimpse of Galiana as they marched + homeward without her. From a window in a tower of one of the gates of the + city, therefore, her heavenly face looked forth and shed a farewell gleam + over the dusty, defeated ranks of Rome as they filed past, up-looking. The + tale is as old as the incident itself, but I always love to recall it; + there is in it something that touches the soul more inwardly than even the + legend of Grecian Helen. + </p> + <p> + By the middle of October we were back again in Rome, and though we were + now in new lodgings, the feeling was that of getting home after travels. + The weather was fine, and we revisited the familiar ruins and gardens, and + renewed our acquaintance with our favorite statues and pictures with fresh + enjoyment. Eddy Thompson and I found each other better friends than ever—we + had written each other laborious but sincerely affectionate letters during + our separation—and he and I, with one or more favored companions + sometimes, perambulated Rome incessantly, and felt that the world had + begun again. But by the 1st of November there came to pass an untoward + change, and our rejoicing was changed to lamentation. First, my father + himself had a touch of malaria, which clouded his view of all outward + things; and then my sister Una, disregarding the law which provides that + all persons must be in-doors in Rome by six o'clock in the evening, caught + the veritable Roman fever, and during four months thereafter a shadow + brooded over our snug little lodgings in the Piazza, Poli. "It is not a + severe attack," my father wrote at the beginning, "yet it is attended by + fits of exceeding discomfort, occasional comatoseness, and even delirium + to the extent of making the poor child talk in rhythmic measure, like a + tragic heroine—as if the fever lifted her feet off the earth; the + fever being seldom dangerous, but is liable to recur on slight occasion + hereafter." But, as it turned out, Una's attack was of the worst kind, and + she sank and sank, till it seemed at last as if she must vanish from us + altogether. Eddy and I held melancholy consultations together, for Eddy, + besides being my special crony and confidant, had allowed himself to + conceive a heroic and transcendental passion for my sister—one of + the antique, Spenserian sort—and his concern for her condition was + only less than mine. So we went about with solemn faces, comforting each + other as best we might. I remember, when the crisis of the fever was + reached, taking him into a room and closing the door, and there imparting + to him the news that Una might not recover. We stared drearily into each + other's faces, and felt that the world would never again be bright for us. + Boys are whole-souled creatures; they feel one thing at a time, and feel + it with their might. + </p> + <p> + However, Una safely passed her crisis, thanks mainly to the wonderful + nursing of her mother, and by carnival-time was able to be out again and + to get her share of sugar-plums and flowers. But my mother was exhausted + by her ceaseless vigils in the sick-room, and my father, as I have before + intimated, never recovered from the long-drawn fear; it sapped his + energies at the root, and the continued infirmity of Una's health + prevented what chance there might have been of his recuperation. Yet for + the moment he could find fun and pleasure in the carnival, and he felt as + never before the searching beauty of the Borghese, the Pincian, and the + galleries. He was also comforted by the companionship of his friend + Franklin Pierce, who, his Presidential term over, had come to Europe to + get the scent of Washington out of his garments. There was a winning, + irresistible magnetism in the presence of this man. Except my father, + there was no man in whose company I liked to be so much as in his. I had + little to say to him, and demanded nothing more than a silent recognition + from him; but his voice, his look, his gestures, his gait, the spiritual + sphere of him, were delightful to me; and I suspect that his rise to the + highest office in our nation was due quite as much to this power or + quality in him as to any intellectual or even executive ability that he + may have possessed. He was a good, conscientious, patriotic, strong man, + and gentle and tender as a woman. He had the old-fashioned ways, the + courtesy, and the personal dignity which are not often seen nowadays. His + physical frame was immensely powerful and athletic; but life used him + hard, and he was far from considerate of himself, and he died at + sixty-five, when he might, under more favorable conditions, have rounded + out his century. + </p> + <p> + My father had written nothing, not even his journal, during the period of + Una's illness; but he began to work again now, being moved thereto not + only as a man whose nature is spontaneously impelled to express itself on + the imaginative side, but also in order to recoup himself for some part of + the loss of the ten thousand dollars which he had loaned to John + O'Sullivan, which, it was now evident, could never be repaid. His first + conception of the story of The Marble Faun had been as a novelette; but he + now decided to expand it so as to contain a large amount of descriptive + matter; and although the strict rules of artistic construction may have + been somewhat relaxed in order to admit these passages, there is no doubt + that the book gained thereby in value as a permanent addition to + literature, the plot, powerful though it is, being of importance secondary + to the creation of an atmosphere which should soften the outlines and + remove the whole theme into a suitable remoteness from the domain of + matter-of-fact. The Eternal City is, after all, as vital a portion of the + story as are the adventures of Miriam, Hilda, Kenyon, and Donatello. They + could not have existed and played their parts in any other city of the + world. + </p> + <p> + In selecting local habitations for the creatures of his imagination, he + strolled into the Via Portoghese, and there found the "Virgin's Shrine," + which, with minor modifications, was to become the home of Hilda. I quote + from his journal the description of the actual place as he saw it. "The + tower in the Via Portoghese," he says, "has battlements and + machicolations, and the upper half of it is covered with gray, + ancient-looking stucco. On the summit, at one corner, is the shrine of the + Virgin, rising quite above the battlements, and with its lamp before it. + Beneath the machicolations is a window, probably belonging to the upper + chamber; and there seems to be a level space on the top of the tower. + Close at hand is the facade of a church, the highest pinnacle of which + appears to be at about the same level as the battlements of the tower, and + there are two or more stone figures (either angels or allegorical) + ornamenting the top of the facade, and, I think, blowing trumpets. These + personages are the nearest neighbors of any person inhabiting the upper + story of the tower, and the sound of their angelic trumpets must needs be + very loud in that close vicinity: The lower story of the palace extends + out and round the lower part of the tower, and is surrounded by a stone + balustrade. The entrance from the street is through a long, arched doorway + and passage, giving admittance into a small, enclosed court; and deep + within the passage there is a very broad staircase, which branches off, + apparently, on one side, and leads to the height of the tower. At the base + of the tower, and along the front of the palace, the street widens, so as + to form something like a small piazza, in which there are two or three + bakers' shops, one or two shoe-shops, a lottery-office, and, at one + corner, the stand of a woman who sells, I think, vegetables; a little + further, a stand of oranges. Not so many doors from the palace entrance + there is a station of French soldiers and a sentinel on duty. The palace, + judging from the broad staircase, the balustraded platform, the tower + itself, and other tokens, may have been a grand one centuries ago; but the + locality is now a poor one, and the edifice itself seems to have fallen to + unaristocratic occupants. A man was cleaning a carriage in the enclosed + court-yard, but I rather conceive it was a cab for hire, and not the + equipage of a dweller in the palace." + </p> + <p> + John Lothrop Motley, the historian of the Netherlands, had come to Rome + this winter and brought his family with him. I believe my father had met + Motley in America; at all events, we saw a good deal of him now. He was an + exceedingly handsome man, not only on account of the beauty of physical + features which marked him, but in the sensitiveness and vividness of + expression which constantly illuminated them. He was at this time about + five-and-forty years of age, and lacked a couple of inches of six feet in + height. His hair, a dark, chestnut brown, had the hyacinthine wave through + it, and was slightly streaked with gray; his beard, which was full and + rather short, was likewise wavy; he was quietly and harmoniously dressed, + but the artistic temperament declared itself in a touch of color in his + cravat. His voice was melodious and finely modulated; his bearing gravely + cheerful and very courteous. No type of man finer than Motley's has + existed in modern times; all the elements of the best and purest society + were illustrated in him. He had the depth of the scholar, the breadth and + self-poise of the man of the world, the genial warmth of the human + fellow-creature, and, over all, the harmonizing, individualizing charm of + the artist. When New England gathers her resources to make a man she + achieves a result hardly to be surpassed. + </p> + <p> + The Storys were also in Rome during these last months of our stay, and + Miss Mitchell, I think, still lingered in her little lodgings in the Via + Bocca di Leone. Miss Cushman likewise reappeared for a time, with all her + former greatness and fascination, and many other friends, new and old, + made that spring season memorable. As the moment for our departure drew + near, the magical allurement of Rome laid upon us a grasp more than ever + potent; it was impossible to realize that we were leaving it forever. On + the last evening we walked in the moonlight to the fountain of Trevi, near + our lodgings, and drank of the water—a ceremony which, according to + tradition, insures the return of the drinker. It was the 25th of May, + forty-four years ago. None of us has gone back since then, and, of the + five who drank, three have passed to the country whence no traveller + returns. For my own part, as a patriotic American nearly thirteen years + old, I had no wish ever again to see Rome, and declared myself glad to + turn my back upon it, not that I had any fault to find with it—I had + always had a good time there—but my imagination was full of my + native land, with which nothing else could be comparable. I did not learn + of the fabled spell of Trevi until afterwards; then I scoffed at and + defied it, and possibly Rome may have decided that it could do without me. + </p> + <p> + The railway to Civita Vecchia had just been completed, and we passed + swiftly over the route which had been so full of dangers and discomforts + eighteen months before. Embarking on the steamer for Marseilles, we kept + on thence to Avignon, where we spent about a week. This venerable town had + few attractions for me; I did not much care for the fourteenth-century + popes, nor for the eighteenth-century silks, nor even for Petrarch and + Laura; and the architecture of the palace, after I had tried to sketch it, + ceased to exhilarate me. My father was in no mood for sight-seeing, + either, but he went through it all conscientiously. My mother, of course, + enjoyed herself, but she met with an accident. While sketching some + figures of saints and monsters that adorned the arch of the northern + portal of the palace, she made an incautious movement and sprained her + ankle. The pain was excessive for the moment, but it soon passed off, so + as to enable her to limp back to our hotel. But the next day the pain was + worse; my father had a headache, a rare affliction with him; I had caught + a bad cold from swimming in the arrowy Rhone, and Una and Miss Shepard + were both in a state of exhaustion from sight-seeing; and in this + condition the journey to Geneva had to be made. We had intended to remain + there but a day, but we stayed longer, breathing the pure air from the + Alps, and feeling better as we breathed. I stood on a bridge and looked + down at that wonderful azure water rushing into the lovely lake; I looked + up and beheld those glorious mountains soaring into the sky, and I forgot + Rome and Florence, and almost America, in my joy. Everything that life + needs for life seemed present there. + </p> + <p> + We got into a little steamer and made the trip up the lake, the mountains + all about us. Up to this time I had imagined that the acclivities in the + north of England and in Scotland were mountains. We sat on deck, in the + stern of the steamer, my father gazing out and up from beneath the rim of + his soft felt hat, with his dark cloak over his shoulders. He looked + revived and vigorous again. Shortly before we left Rome he had ceased to + shave his upper lip, for what reason I know not; I think it was simply + indisposition to take that trouble any longer. My mother had at first + gently protested; she did not want his upper lip and mouth to be hidden. + But as the brown mustache, thick and soldier-like, appeared, she became + reconciled, and he wore it to the end of his life. "Field-Marshal + Hawthorne" James T. Fields used to call him after we got home. Owing to + the preponderance of expression of the upper part of his head, the + addition did not change his look as much as might have been expected; we + soon got used to it, and, inasmuch as all his photographs were taken after + the mustache was established, the world does not know him otherwise. + </p> + <p> + The view became more and more enchanting as we penetrated farther into the + depths of the embrace of the mountains, and at last, at its most ravishing + point, the lake ceased, and the lonely little pile of dingy white masonry, + which is Chillon, appeared. Few works of man have a more romantic interest + than this castle; but, seen from the lake, its environment was too much + for it. Had it plunged downward into the smooth waters and vanished, its + absence would not have been marked in that stupendous landscape. But it + improved greatly upon closer acquaintance; and when we stood in its + vaults, and saw the pillar to which the prisoner was chained, and the hole + in the floor, with its three steps of stone, and the fourth of death, we + felt that Chillon was not unequal to its reputation. + </p> + <p> + After leaving Chillon and Geneva our faces were turned homeward, and we + hastened our steps. My father wrote to England to engage our passage for + the first of August. We were now at midsummer. We returned to Paris, and + after a few days there proceeded to Havre, in order to see Ada Shepard + safe on board her steamer for home; her Wanderjahre was over, and she was + now to be married to Henry Clay Badger. We were sorry to say good-bye to + her; she had been a faithful and valuable element in our household, and + she had become a dear friend and comrade. She stood waving her + handkerchief to us as her steamer slipped away down the harbor. She, too, + was sorry for the parting. She once had said to me: "I think your father + is the wisest man I ever knew; he does not seem ever to say much, but what + he does say is always the truest and best thing that could be said." + </p> + <p> + From Havre we crossed the Channel to Southampton, and were soon in London. + Boston and Concord were only six weeks distant. Such, at any rate, had + been the original design. But after we reached London the subject of the + English copyright of The Marble Faun came up for discussion. Henry Bright + introduced Mr. Smith, of the firm of Smith, Elder & Company, who made + such proposals for the English publication of the book as were not to be + disregarded; but, in order to make them available, it was necessary that + the manuscript should be completed in England. Nothing but the short + sketch of it was as yet in existence; it could not be written in much less + than a year; either the English offer must be rejected, or we must stay + out that year in her Majesty's dominions. My father decided, not + altogether unwillingly, perhaps, to stay. He had written in his journal a + few weeks before: "Bennoch and Henry Bright are the only two men in + England to whom I shall be much grieved to say farewell; but to the island + itself I cannot bear to say that word as a finality. I shall dreamily hope + to come back again at some indefinite time, rather foolishly, perhaps, for + it will tend to take the substance out of my life in my own land. But + this, I suspect, is apt to be the penalty of those who stay abroad and + stay too long." + </p> + <p> + But my father could not write in London, and, casting about for a fitting + spot, he finally fixed upon the remote hamlet of Redcar, far up on the + bleak coast of Redcar, in Yorkshire. It was not far from Whitby, where we + had been two or three years before. The gray German Ocean tumbled in there + upon the desolate sands, and the contrast of the scene with those which we + had been of late familiar with made the latter, no doubt, start forward + intensely in the romancer's imagination. So there he wrote and wrote; and + he walked far along the sands, with his boy dogging his steps and stopping + for shells and crabs; and at a certain point of the beach, where the waves + ran over a bar and formed a lake a few feet in depth, he would seat + himself on a tussock of sand-grass, and I would undress and run into the + cold water and continue my swimming-lessons, which had been begun in + Stockbridge Bowl, continued in Lake Leman, and were now brought to a + satisfactory conclusion. Both my feet were finally off the bottom, and I + felt the wonderful sensation of the first cousin to flying. While I + floundered there my father looked off towards the gray horizon, and saw + the visions of Hilda, Miriam, Kenyon, and Donatello which the world of + readers was presently to behold through his eyes. As we walked home in the + twilight, the dull-red glow of the sunset would throw the outlines of the + town into dark shadows, and shed a faint light on the surf roaming in from + the east. I found, in my old album, the black silhouette of the scene + which I made one day. The arms of an old mill are flung appealingly + upward, the highest object of the landscape, above the irregular sky-line + of the clustering houses. There is also, on the next page, a water-color + drawing of a sailor in a blue jersey and a sou'wester, standing, with his + hands in his pockets, on the beach beside one of the boats of the region—a + slender, clipper-built craft, painted yellow below and black above, good + for oars or sail. Her bow rests on a shaft connecting two wheels, for + convenience of running her down into the water. There was a dozen or more + of these boats always ready on the beach in front of our lodgings. These + lodgings were just back of the esplanade, which, during our sojourn, was + treated to a coat of tar from end to end—a delightful entertainment + for us children—and I have loved the smell of tar ever since. There + is little else that I remember about Redcar, except that, in the winter, + there was skating on a part of the beach; but it was "salt ice," and not + to be compared with the skating I was to enjoy a year or two later in + Concord, which I shall describe if ever I come to that epoch in my + narrative. + </p> + <p> + From Redcar, with the romance more than half done, we went south to our + old Leamington, which seemed half like home; and there the loveliness of + an English spring at its best came to greet us, and there the book was + finished, and sent to the printer. We spent a month or two at Bath, and + found it very pleasant; my father rested from his labors, except the + proof-reading; and I was instructed in the use of the broadsword by an old + Peninsular officer, Major Johnstone, who had fought at Waterloo, and had + the bearing of such majors as Thackeray puts into Vanity Fair. I once + asked him whether he had ever killed a man; it was on the day when he + first allowed me to use a real broadsword in our lesson. "Well," replied + the major, hesitatingly, "I was riding in a charge, and there came a + fellow at me, with his sword up, and made a swing for my head. I dodged, + and his blade just grazed me; but I let him have it, downright, at the + same moment, and I caught him where the neck joins the shoulder, and he + went down, and I went on, and what became of him I don't know; I hope + nothing serious!" The major sighed and looked serious himself. "And was + this the sword?" I demanded, balancing the heavy weapon in my hand. "No—no—it + wasn't that one," said the major, hastily. "I've never used the other + since! Now, then, sir, if you please, on guard!" + </p> + <p> + We went to London, and there were our old friends Bright and Bennoch, and + the Motleys appeared from Italy, and a book called (by the publishers) + Transformation came out in three volumes, being the latest romance by the + author of The Scarlet Letter. The title was not bestowed with my father's + consent. He had, at the publishers' request, sent them a list of several + titles, beginning with The Marble Faun, and among others on the list was + "The Faun's Transformation." The publishers took the "Transformation," and + left out "The Faun." My father laughed, but let it go. The book was to + come out under its proper title in America, and he was indifferent as to + what they called it in England. + </p> + <p> + The end of our tarrying in the Old World was now at hand. Seven years had + we lived there, and we were eager and yet loath to go. My father's friends + gathered about him, men who had hardly so much as heard his name a little + while ago, but who now loved him as a brother. For a few days Mrs. + Blodgett's hospitable face glowed upon us once more, and pale Miss + Williams, and trig little Miss Maria, and many of the old captains whom we + had known. It was the middle of June, and the sun shone even in Liverpool. + Our red-funnelled steamer lay at her moorings in the yellow Mersey, with + her steam up. It was not The Niagara, but on her bridge stood our handsome + little Captain Leitch, with his black whiskers, smiling at us in friendly + greeting. How much had passed since we had seen him last! How much were we + changed! What experiences lay behind us! What memories would abide with us + always! My father leaned on the rail and looked across the river at the + dingy, brick building, near the wharves, where he had spent four wearisome + but pregnant years. The big, black steamer, with her little, puffing tug, + slipped her moorings, and slid slowly down the stream. After a few miles + the hue of the water became less turbid, the engines worked more rapidly + and regularly. Liverpool was now a smoky mass off our starboard quarter. + It sank and dwindled, till the smoke alone was left; the blue channel + spread around us; we were at sea, and home lay yonder, across three + thousand miles of tumbling waves. But my father still leaned on the rail, + and looked backward towards the old home that he loved and would never see + again. It was the hour for good-bye; there would come another hour for the + other home and for welcome. + </p> + <p> + THE END <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hawthorne and His Circle, by Julian Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE *** + +***** This file should be named 6982-h.htm or 6982-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/9/8/6982/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/6982.txt b/6982.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a97cc10 --- /dev/null +++ b/6982.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9412 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawthorne and His Circle, by Julian Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hawthorne and His Circle + +Author: Julian Hawthorne + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6982] +Posting Date: April 2, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + + + + +HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE + +By Julian Hawthorne + + +ILLUSTRATED + + +[IMAGE: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (From a crayon drawing by Samuel Rowse)] + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + +Inheritance of friendships--Gracious giants--My own good fortune--My +father the central figure--What did his gift to me cost him?--A +revelation in Colorado--Privileges make difficulties--Lights and shadows +of memory--An informal narrative--Contrast between my father's life and +mine + +I + +Value of dates--My aunt Lizzie's efforts--My father's decapitation--My +mother's strong-box--The spirit of The Scarlet Letter--The strain of +imaginative composition--My grandmother Hawthorne's death--Infantile +indifference to calamity--The children's plays and books--The house on +Mall Street--Scarlet fever--The study on the third floor--The haunted +mahogany writing-desk--The secret drawers--The upright Egyptian--Mr. +Pickwick--My father in 1850--The flowered writing-gown, and the +ink butterfly--Driving the quill pen--The occupants of the second +floor--Aunt Louisa and Aunt Ebe--The dowager Mrs. Hawthorne--I kick my +aunt Lizzie--The kittens and the great mystery--The greatest book of the +age + +II + +Horatio Bridge's "I-told-you-so"--What a house by the sea might have +done--Unknown Lenox--The restlessness of youth--The Unpardonable Sin +and the Death--less Man--The little red house--Materials of culture--Our +best playmates--The mystery of Mrs. Peter's dough--Our intellectual +hen-fishing for poultry--Yacht-building--Swimming with one foot on the +ground--Shipwreck--Our playfellow the brook--Tanglewood--Nuts--Giants +and enchanters--Coasting--Wet noses, dark eyes, ambrosial breath-My +first horseback ride--Herman Melville's stories--Another kind +of James--The thunder-storm--Yearning ladies and +melancholy-sinners--Hindlegs--Probable murder--"I abominate the sight of +it!"--The peril of Tanglewood--The truth of fiction--An eighteen-months' +work--We leave five cats behind + +III + +Chariots of delight--West Newton--Raw American life--Baby's fingers--Our +cousin Benjamin's untoward head--Our uncle Horace--His vacuum--A +reformer's bristles--Grace Greenwood's first tears--The heralding +of Kossuth--The decorated engine--The chief incident of the +reception--Blithedale and Brook Farm--Notes from real +life--Rough draughts--Paths of composition--The struggle with the +Pensioner--Hawthorne's method--The invitation of Concord--Four wooden +walls and a roof--Mr. Alcott's aesthetic carpentering--Appurtenances of +"The Wayside"--Franklin Pierce for President--"The most homeless people +in the world" + +IV + +A transfigured cattle-pen--Emerson the hub of Concord--His incorrigible +modesty--Grocery-store sages--To make common men feel more like Emerson +than he did--His personal appearance--His favorite gesture--A glance +like the reveille of a trumpet--The creaking boots--"The muses are +in the woods"--Emerson could not read Hawthorne--Typical versus +individual--Benefit from child-prattle--Concord-grape Bull--Sounds of +distant battle--Politics, sociology, and grape-culture--The great white +fence--Richard Henry Stoddard--A country youth of genius--Whipple's +Attic salt--An unwritten romance--The consulship retires +literature--Louisa's tragedy--Hard hit--The spiritual sphere of good +men--Nearer than in the world--The return of the pilgrim + +V + +A paddle-wheel ocean-liner--The hens, the cow, and the carpenter--W. +D. Ticknor--Our first Englishman--An aristocratic acrobat--Speech that +beggars eulogy--The boots of great travellers--Complimentary cannon--The +last infirmity of noble republican minds--The golden promise: the +spiritual fulfilment--Fatuous serenity--Past and future--The coquetry +of chalk cliffs--Two kinds of imagination--The thirsty island--Gloomy +English comforts--Systematic geniality--A standing puzzle--The +respirator--Scamps, fools, mendicants, and desperadoes--The wrongs of +sailor-men--"Is this myself?"--"Profoundly akin"--Henry Bright--Charm +of insular prejudice--No stooping to compromise--The battle against +dinner--"I'm glad you liked it!"--An English-, Irish-, and Scotchman--An +Englishman owns his country--A contradiction in Englishmen--A hospitable +gateway--Years of memorable trifles + +VI + +Patricians and plebeians--The discomforts of democracy--Varieties of +equality--Social rights of beggars--The coming peril--Being dragged +to the rich--Frankness of vulgarity and hopelessness of +destitution--Villages rooted in the landscape--Evanescence of the +spiritual and survival of the material--"Of Bebbington the holy +peak"--The Old Yew of Eastham--Malice--prepense interest--History and +afternoon tea--An East--Indian Englishman--The merchantman sticks in +the mud--A poetical man of the world--Likeness to Longfellow--Real +breakfasts--Heads and stomachs--A poet-pugilist--Clean-cut, cold, +gentle, dry--A respectable female atheist--The tragedy of the red +ants--Voluptuous struggles--A psalm of praise + +VII + +Life in Rock Park--Inconvenient independence of lodgings--The average +man--"How many gardeners have you got?"--Shielded by rose-leaves +of culture and refinement--The English middle class--Prejudice, +complacency, and Burke's Peerage--Never heard of Tennyson or +Browning--Satisfaction in the solid earth--A bond of fellowship--A damp, +winding, verdurous street--The parent of stucco villas--Inactivity of +individual conscience--A plateau and a cliff--dwelling--"The Campbells +are Coming!"--Sortes Virgilianae--A division in the family--Precaution +against famine--English praying and card-playing--Exercise for mind and +body--Knight-errantry--Sentimentality and mawkishness--The policeman and +the cobbler--A profound truth--Fireworks by lamplight--Mr. Squarey and +Mrs. Roundey--Sandford and Merton--The ball of jolly + +VIII + +Cataclysmic adventures--On the trail of dazzling fortunes--"Lovely, +but reprehensible Madham"--The throne saves the artist--English robin +redbreast--A sad and weary old man--"Most indelicate woman I've ever +known"--Perfectly chaste--Something human stirred dimly--"She loves me; +she loves me!"--The Prince of Wales and half-a-crown--Portentous +and thundering title--Honest English simplicity--"The spirit +lacking"--Abelard, Isaac Newton, and Ruskin--A famous and charming woman +of genius--Deep and wide well of human sympathy--The whooping-cough + +IX + +Two New England consciences--Inexhaustible faith and energy--Deep and +abiding love of England--"'How the Water Comes Down at Lodore"--"He took +an' he let go"--Naked mountains--The unsentimental little quadruped--The +human element in things sticks--The coasts of England--A string of +sleepy donkeys--Unutterable boy-thoughts--Grins and chuckles like +an ogress---Hideous maternal parody---The adorable inverted +bell-glass--Strange things happen in the world--An ominous clouding of +the water--Something the world has never known--Overweening security--An +admonition not to climb too high--How vice may become virtue by +repetition--Corporal Blair's chest--Black-Bottle Cardigan--Called to +Lisbon + + +X + +If there were boarding-houses in paradise--Blodgett, the delight of +mankind--Solomon foresaw her--A withering retort--A modest, puny +poise about her--Hidden thoughts derived from Mother Eve and Grecian +Helen--The feminine council that ruled the Yankee captains--Bonds +of fraternity, double-riveted and copper-fastened--Through the +looking-glass--Men only of the manliest sort--The lady-paramount--Hands +which were true works of art--Retained his dignity without putting it +on--Sighed heavily over my efforts--Unctuous M. Huguenin--"From dawn to +eve I fell"--The multum-in-parvo machine--"Beauty and the Beast"--Frank +Channing--"Blood-and water!"--A lapful of Irish stew + +XI + +Bennoch and Bright like young housekeepers--"What did you marry that +woman for?"--"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures"--"The worst book anybody +ever wrote"--"Most magnificent eye I ever saw"--A great deal of +the feminine in Reade--Fire, pathos, fun, and dramatic animation--A +philosophical library in itself--Amusing appanage of his own book--Oily +and voluble sanctimoniousness--Self-worship of the _os-rotundas_ +sort--Inflamed rather than abated by years--"Every word of it true; +but--"--Better, or happier, because we had lived--Appropriated somebody +else's adventure--Filtering remarks through the mind of a third +person--A delightful Irishman--Unparalleled audacity--An unregenerate +opinion--The whole line of Guelphs in it--"Oh, that somebody +would invent a new sin!"--"The Angel in the House"--Very well +dressed--Indomitable figure, aggressively American--Too much of the +elixir of life--A little strangeness between us--Sunshine will always +rest on it + +XII + +Talked familiarly with kings and queens--Half-witted girl who giggled +all the time--It gnawed me terribly--A Scotch terrier named Towsey--A +sentiment of diplomatic etiquette--London as a physical entity--Ladies +in low-necked dresses--An elderly man like a garden-spider--Into the +bowels of the earth--The inner luminousness of genius--Isolated and +tragic situation--"Ate ever man such a morsel before!"--The great, wild, +mysterious Borrow--Her skeleton, huddled, dry, and awful--"Ma'am, +you expose yourself!"--Plane, spokeshave, gouge, and +chisel--"I-passed-the-Lightning"--Parallel-O-grams--A graduate of +Antioch--"Continual cursing"--A catastrophe--"Troubles are a sociable +sisterhood"--"In truth I was very sorry"--He had dreamed wide-awake +of these things--A friend of Emerson and Henry James--Embarked at +Folkestone for France + +XIII + +Old-Homesickness--The Ideal and the Real--A beautiful but perilous woman +with a past--The Garden of Eden a Montreal ice-palace--Confused +mountain of family luggage--Poplars for lances--Miraculous crimson +comforters--Rivers of human gore--Curling mustachios and nothing +to do--Odd behavior of grown people--Venus, the populace, and the +MacDaniels--The happiness to die in Paris--Lived alone with her +constellations--"O'Brien's Belt"--A hotel of peregrinations--Sitting +up late--Attempted assassination--My murderer--An old passion +reawakened--Italian shells and mediaeval sea-anemones--If you were +in the Garden of Eden--An umbrella full of napoleons--Was Byron an +Esquimau? + + +XIV + +Our unpalatial palace--"Cephas Giovanni"--She and George Combe turned +out to be right--A rousing temper--Bright Titian hair--"All that's left +of him"--The pyramidal man of destiny--The thoughts of a boy are long, +long thoughts--Clausilia Bubigunia--Jabez Hogg and the microscope--A +stupendous surprise--A lifetime in fourteen months--My +father's jeremiades--"Thank Heaven, there is such a thing as +whitewash!"--"Terrible lack of variety in the old masters"--"The brazen +trollop that she is!"--Several distinct phases of feeling--Springs of +creative imagination roused--The Roman fever--A sad book--Effects of the +death-blow--The rest is silence + +XV + +The Roman carnival in three moods--Apples of Sodom--Poor, battered, +wilted, stained hearts--A living protest and scourge--Dulce est desipere +in loco--A rollicking world of happy fools--Endless sunshine of some +sort--Greenwich Fair was worth a hundred of it--They thundered past, +never drawing rein--"Senza moccolo!"--Nothing more charming and +strange could be imagined--Girls surprised in the midst of dressing +themselves--A Unitarian clergyman with his fat wife--Apparent license +under courteous restraint--He laughed and pelted and was pelted--William +Story, as vivid as when I saw him last--A too facile power--A deadly +shadow gliding close behind--Set afire by his own sallies--"Thy face is +like thy mother's, my fair child!"--Cleopatra in the clay--"Wer nie sein +Brod mit thranen ass." + +XVI + +Drilled in Roman history--Lovely figures made of light and +morning--What superb figures!--The breath and strength of immeasurable +antiquity--Treasures coming direct from dead hands into mine--A pleasant +sound of coolness and refreshment--Receptacles of death now dedicated +to life--The Borghese is a forest of Ardennes--Profound and important +communings--A smiling deceiver--Of an early-rising habit--Hauling in on +my slack--A miniature cabinet magically made Titanic--"If I had a murder +on my conscience"--None can tell the secret origin of his thoughts--A +singularly beautiful young woman--She actually ripped the man open--No +leagues of chivalry needed in Rome--A resident army--Five foot +six--Corsets and padding--She was wounded in the house of her friends + +XVII + +Miss Lander makes a bust--The twang of his native place--Wholly unlike +anybody else--Wise, humorous Sarah Clarke--Back to the Gods and the +Fleas--Horace Mann's statue--Miss Bremer and the Tarpeian Rock--"I +was in a state of some little tremor"--Mrs. Jameson and Ruskin--Most +thorough-going of the classic tragedies--A well-grown calf--An adventure +in Monte Testaccio--A vision of death--A fantastic and saturnine +genius--A pitch-black place--Illuminations and fireworks--The +Faun--Enjoying Rome--First impressions--Lalla's curses + +XVIII + +In Othello's predicament--Gaetano--Crystals and snail-shells--Broad, +flagstone pavements--Fishing-rods and blow-pipes--Ghostly +yarns--Conservative effects of genius--An ideal bust and a living +one--The enigma of spiritualism--A difficult combination to +overthrow--The dream-child and the Philistine--Dashing and plunging this +way and that--Teresa screamed for mercy--Grapes and figs and ghostly +voices--My father would have settled there--Kirkup the necromancer--A +miraculous birth--A four-year-old medium--The mysterious touch--An +indescribable horror--Not even a bone of her was left--Providence takes +very long views + +XIX + +Burnt Sienna--The Aquila Nera--A grand, noble, gentle creature--The +most beautiful woman in the world--Better friends than ever--A shadow +brooded--Boys are whole-souled creatures--Franklin Pierce--Miriam, +Hilda, Kenyon, Donatello--The historian of the Netherlands--When New +England makes a man--The spell of Trevi--An accession of mishaps--My +father's mustache--Three steps of stone, the fourth, death--Havre, +Redcar, Bath, London, Liverpool + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (From a crayon drawing by Samuel Rowse) + +BIRTHPLACE OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AT SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS + +HERMAN MELVILLE + +JAMES T. FIELDS + +THE WAYSIDE (Showing Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife) + +EDWIN P. WHIPPLE + +JAMES T. FIELDS, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, AND WILLIAM D. TICKNOR + +RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES + +ROBERT BROWNING + +FRANCIS BANNOCH + +REV. WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING, 1855 + +MARIA MITCHELL + +WILLIAM WETMORE STORY + +PENCIL SKETCHES IN ITALY, BY MRS. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + +THE MARBLE FAUN + +HIRAM POWERS + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + + Inheritance of friendships--Gracious giants--My own good + fortune--My father the central figure--What did his gift to + me cost him?--A revelation in Colorado--Privileges make + difficulties--Lights and shadows of memory--An informal + narrative--Contrast between my father's life and mine. + +The best use we can make of good fortune is to share it with our +fellows. Those to whom good things come by way of inheritance, however, +are often among the latest to comprehend their own advantage; they +suppose it to be the common condition. And no doubt I had nearly arrived +at man's estate before it occurred to me that the lines of few fishers +of men were cast in places so pleasant as mine. I was the son of a +man of high desert, who had such friends as he deserved; and these +companions and admirers of his gave to me in the beginning of my days +a kindly welcome and encouragement generated from their affection and +reverence for him. Without doing a stroke of work for it, I found myself +early in the enjoyment of a principality of good will and fellowship--a +species of freemasonry, I might call it, though the secret was patent +enough--for the rights in which, unaided, I might have contended my +lifetime long in vain. Men and women whose names are consecrated apart +in the dearest thoughts of thousands were familiars and playmates of my +childhood; they supported my youth and bade my manhood godspeed. But +to me, for a long while, the favor of these gracious giants of mind and +character seemed agreeable indeed, but nothing out of the ordinary; my +tacit presumption was that other children as well as I could if they +would walk hand in hand with Emerson along the village street, seek in +the meadows for arrow-heads with Thoreau, watch Powers thump the brown +clay of the "Greek Slave," or listen to the voice of Charlotte Cushman, +which could sway assembled thousands, modulate itself to tell stories to +the urchin who leaned, rapt, against her knees. Were human felicity so +omnipresent as a happy child imagines it, what a world would this be! + +In time, my misapprehension was corrected, rather, I think, through the +application to it of cold logic than by any rude awakening. I learned +of my riches not by losing them--the giants did not withdraw their +graciousness--but by comparing the lot of others with my own. And yet, +to tell the truth--perhaps I might better leave it untold; only in these +chapters, especially, I will not begin with reserves--to say truth, +then, my world, during my father's lifetime, and afterwards for I will +not say how long, was divided into two natural parts, my father being +one of them, and everybody else the other. Hence I was led to regard the +parties of the latter part, rich or poor, giants or pygmies, as being, +after all, of much the same stature and value. The brightness (in the +boy's estimation) of the paternal figure rendered distinctions between +other brightnesses unimportant. The upshot was, in short, that I +inclined to the opinion that while compassion was unquestionably due to +other children for not having a father like mine, yet in other respects +my condition was not egregiously superior to theirs. They might not know +the Brownings or the Julia Ward Howes; but then, very likely, the Smiths +and the Joneses, whom they did know, were nearly as good. + +After fifty years, of course, such prepossessions yield to experience. +My father was the best friend I ever had, and he will always stand in +my estimation distinct from all other friends and persons; but I can now +recognize that in addition to the immeasurable debt I owe him for being +to me what he was in his own person, he bestowed upon me a privilege +also immeasurable in the hospitality of these shining ones who were his +intimates. Did the gift cost him nothing? Nothing, in one sense. But, +again, what does it cost a man to walk upright and cleanly during +the years of his pilgrimage: to deal justly with all, and charitably: +diligently to cultivate and develop every natural endowment: always to +seek truth, tell it, and vindicate it: to discharge to the utmost of his +ability every duty that was intrusted to him: to rest content, in the +line of his calling, with no work inferior to his best: to say no word +and do no act which, were they known, might weaken the struggle against +temptation of any fellow-creature? These qualities were the price at +which Hawthorne bought his friends; and in receiving those friends from +him, his children could not but feel that the bequest represented his +unfaltering grasp upon whatever is pure, lofty, and generous in human +life. + +Yes, whatever it may cost a man of genius to be all his life a good +man, and to use and develop his genius to the noblest ends only, that my +father's friends cost him, and in that amount am I his debtor; and the +longer I myself live, and the more I see of other men, the higher and +rarer do I esteem the obligation. Moreover, in speaking of his friends, +I was thinking of those who personally knew him; but the world is full +to-day of friends of his who never saw him, to whom his name is my best +and surest introduction. Once, only three years since, in the remote +heart of the Colorado mountains, I chanced to enter the hut of an aged +miner; he sat in a corner of the little family room; on the wall near +his hand was fixed a small bookshelf, filled with a dozen dog-eared +volumes. The man had for years been paralyzed; he could do little more +than to raise to that book-shelf his trembling hand, and take from it +one or other of the volumes. When this helpless veteran learned my name, +he uttered a strange cry, and his face worked with eager emotion; the +wife of his broad-shouldered son brought me to him in his corner; his +old eyes glowed as they perused me. I could not gather the meaning of +his broken, trembling speech; the young woman interpreted for me. Was I +related to the great Hawthorne? "Yes; I am his son." "His son!" Seldom +have I met a gaze harder to sustain than that which the paralytic bent +upon me. Would I might have worn, for the time being, the countenance of +an archangel, so to fill out the lineaments, drawn during so many lonely +years by his imagination and his reverence, of his ideal writer! "The +son of Hawthorne!" He said no more, save by the strengthless pressure of +his hands upon my own; the woman told me how all the books on the little +shelf were my father's books, and for fifteen years the old man had read +no others. Helpless tears of joy, of gratitude, of wonder ran down the +furrows of his cheeks into his white beard. And how could I at whom he +so gazed help being moved: on that desolate, unknown mountain-side, far +from the world, the name which I had inherited was loved and honored! +One does not get one's privileges for nothing. My father gave me power +to make my way, and cast sunshine on the path; but he made the path +arduous, too! + +Be that as it may, I now ask who will to look in my mirror, and see +reflected there some of the figures and the scenes that have made my +life worth living. As I peer into the dark abysm of things gone by, many +places that seemed at first indistinct, grow clearer; but many more must +remain impenetrable. Upon the whole, however, I am surprised to find how +much is still discernible. Nearly a score of years ago I published, +in the shape of a formal biography of Hawthorne and his wife, the +consecutive facts of their lives, and numerous passages from their +journals and correspondence. My aim is different now; I wish to indite +an informal narrative from my own point of view, as child, youth, and +man. There will be gaps in it--involuntary ones; and others occasioned +by the obligation to retain those pictures only that seem likely to +arouse a catholic interest. Yet there will be a certain intimacy in the +story; and some matters which history would omit as trivial will be here +adduced, for the sake of such color and character as they may contain. +I shall not stalk on stilts, or mouth phrases, but converse comfortably +and trustfully as between friends. If a writing of this kind be not +flexible, unpretending, discursive, it has no right to be at all. Art is +not in question, save the minor art that lives from line to line. Gossip +about men, women, and things--it can amount to little more than that. + +In the earlier chapters the dramatis personae and the incidents must +naturally group themselves about the figure of my father; for it was +thus that I saw them. To his boy he was the fountain of love, honor, and +energy; and to the boy he seemed the animating or organizing principle +of other persons and events. With his death, in my eighteenth year, the +world appeared disordered for a season; then, gradually, I learned to do +my own orientation. I was destined to an experience superficially +much more active and varied than his had been; and it was a world +superficially very different from his in which I moved and dealt +There must follow a corresponding modification in the character of the +narrative; yet that, after all is superficial, too. For the memory of +my father has always been with me, and has doubtless influenced me more +than I am myself aware. And certainly but for him this book would never +have been attempted. + + + + +I + + + Value of dates--My aunt Lizzie's efforts--My father's + decapitation--My mother's strong-box--The spirit of The + Scarlet Letter--The strain of imaginative composition--My + grandmother Hawthorne's death--Infantile indifference to + calamity--The children's plays and books--The house on Mall + Street--Scarlet fever--The study on the third floor--The + haunted mahogany writing-desk--The secret drawers--The + upright Egyptian--Mr. Pickwick--My father in 1850--The + flowered writing-gown, and the ink butterfly--Driving the + quill pen--The occupants of the second floor--Aunt Louisa + and Aunt Ebe--The dowager Mrs. Hawthorne--I kick my aunt + Lizzie--The kittens and the great mystery--The greatest book + of the age. + +My maternal aunt, Miss Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, was a very learned +woman, and a great student of history, and teacher of it; and by the aid +of huge, colored charts, done by my uncle Nat Peabody and hung on the +walls of our sitting-room, she labored during some years to teach me all +the leading dates of human history--the charts being designed according +to a novel and ingenious plan to fix those facts in childish memory. But +as a pupil I was always most inapt and grievous, in dates and in matters +mathematical especially; so that I gave her inexhaustible patience many +a sad hour. To this day I cannot tell in what year was fought the battle +of Marathon, or when John signed Magna Charta; though the battle itself, +and the scene of the barons with menacing brows gathered about John, +stood clearly pictured in my imagination. Dates were arbitrary, and to +my memory nothing arbitrary would stick. Nevertheless, when I am myself +constructing a narrative, whether it be true or fictitious, I am +wedded to dates, and cannot be divorced from them. It must be set +down precisely when the events took place, in what years the dramatis +personae were born, and how old they were when each juncture of their +fortunes came to pass. I can no more dispense with dates than I can talk +without consonants; they carry form, order, and credibility. Or they +are like the skeleton which gives recognizable shape to men and animals. +Nothing mortal can get on without them.. + +Whether this addiction be in the nature of a reaction from my childish +perversity, giving my erudite and beloved aunt Lizzie (as I called her) +her revenge so long after our lessons are over; or how else to explain +it, I know not; but it leads me to affirm here that the nadir of my +father's material fortunes was reached about the year 1849. At that time +his age was five-and-forty, and I was three. + +The causes of this financial depression were several. One morning he +awoke to find himself deprived, by political chicanery, of the income +of a custom-house surveyorship which for some while past had served +to support his small family. Now, some men could have gone on writing +stories in the intervals between surveying customs, and have thus placed +an anchor to windward against the time when the political storm should +set in; but Nathaniel Hawthorne was devoid of that useful ability. Nor +had he been able to spend less than he earned; so, suddenly, there he +was on his beam-ends. Leisure to write, certainly, was now abundant +enough; but he never was a rapid composer, and even had he been so, the +market for the kind of things he wrote was, in the middle of the past +century, in New England, neither large nor eager. The emoluments were +meagre to match; twenty dollars for four pages of the Democratic Review +was about the figure; and to produce a short tale or sketch of that +length would take him a month at least. How were a husband and wife and +their two children to live for a month on the mere expectation of +twenty dollars from the Democratic Review--which was, into the bargain, +terribly slow pay? Such was the problem which confronted the dark-haired +and grave-visaged gentleman as he closed his desk in the Salem +custom-house for the last time, and put on his hat to walk home. + +Thanks, however, to some divine foresight on my mother's part, aided by +a wonderful talent for practical economy, she had secretly contrived +to save, out of her weekly stipends, small sums which in the aggregate +bulked large enough to make an important difference in the situation. So +when her husband disclosed his bad news, she opened her private drawer +and disclosed her banknotes, with such a smile in her eyes as I can +easily picture to myself. Stimulated by the miracle, he remembered that +the inchoate elements of a story, in which was to figure prominently a +letter A, cut out of red cloth, or embroidered in scarlet thread, and +affixed to a woman's bosom, had been for months past rumbling round in +his mind; now was the time of times to shape it forth. Yonder upon the +table by the window stood the old mahogany writing-desk so long unused; +here were his flowered dressing-gown and slippers down-at-heel. He ought +to be able to finish the story before the miraculous savings gave out; +and then all he would have to do would be to write others. And, after +all, to be rid of the surveyorship was a relief. + +But matters were not to be run off quite so easily as this. The Scarlet +Letter, upon coming to close quarters with it, turned out to be not a +story of such moderate caliber as Hawthorne had hitherto been used to +write, but an affair likely to extend over two or three hundred pages, +which, instead of a month or so, might not be completed in a year; yet +it was too late to substitute something more manageable for it--in the +first place, because nothing else happened to be at his disposal, and +secondly, because The Scarlet Letter took such intimate hold upon +the vitals of his heart and mind that he was by no means able to free +himself from it until all had been fulfilled. Only men of creative +genius know in what glorious and harrowing thraldom their creations hold +them. Having once been fairly begun, The Scarlet Letter must inevitably +finish itself for good or ill, come what might to the writer of it. + +[IMAGE: BIRTHPLACE OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AT SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS] + +This is a story of people and events, not a study in literary criticism; +but the writing of The Scarlet Letter was an event of no trifling +importance in the story of its author's life. To read the book is an +experience which its readers cannot forget; what its writing must have +been to a man organized as my father was is hardly to be conveyed in +words. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth--he must live through each +one of them, feel their passion, remorse, hatred, terror, love; and he +must enter into the soul of the mysterious nature of Pearl. Such things +cannot with impunity be done by any one; the mere physical strain, all +conditions being favorable, would be almost past bearing. But my father, +though uniformly his bodily health was all his life sound, was never +what I would call a robust man; he was exquisitely balanced. At the time +he began his book he was jaded from years of office drudgery, and he was +in some anxiety as to the issue of his predicament. The house in +which he dwelt, small and ill-placed in a narrow side-street, with no +possibility of shutting out the noise of traffic and of domestic alarms, +could not but make the work tell more heavily upon him. But in addition +to this there were fortuitous occasions of emotional stress, all of +which I shall not mention; but among them were the distasteful turmoil +aroused by his political mishap; and, far more poignant, the critical +illness of his mother. Circumstances led to her being housed under his +roof; there she lingered long at death's door, and there at last she +died. He profoundly loved her; but deep-rooted, too, in both of them was +that strange, New England shyness, masking in visible ice the underlying +emotion. Not since his boyhood had their mutual affection found free, +natural expression; and now, in this final hour, that bondage of habit +caused the words of tenderness to stumble on their lips. The awful +majesty of approaching death, prompting them to "catch up the whole +of love and utter it" ere it be too late, wrought this involuntary +self-repression into silent agony. + +She died; his own health was shaken to its foundations; his children +fell ill, his wife underwent acute suffering; and through all this, and +more, The Scarlet Letter must be written. No wonder that, when he came +to read the story in manuscript to his wife, his voice faltered and +broke; and she slipped to her knees and hid her face on her arms in the +chair. "I had been suffering," he commentated, long afterwards, "from +a great diversity and severity of emotion." Great works of art--things +with the veritable spirit of enduring life in them--are destined to be +born in sore travail and pain. Those who give them birth yield up their +own life to them. + +It was at this period--say, about 1850--that my own personal +recollections, in a shadowy and incoherent way, begin. The shadows are +exclusively of time's making; they were not of the heart. All through +the trials of my parents I retained a jocund equanimity (save for some +trifling childish ailments) and esteemed this world a friendly and +agreeable place. The Scarlet Letter dashed my spirits not a whit; I +knew not of its existence, by personal evidence, till full a dozen years +later; and even the death of my grandmother left me light of heart, for +the passing of the spirit from the body can but awaken the transient +curiosity of a child of four. For the rest, my physical environment, in +itself amusing and interesting enough to me, had its chief importance +from the material it afforded on which to construct the imaginary +scenes and characters of my play. My sister Una and myself were forever +enacting something or somebody not ourselves: childish egoism oddly +decking itself in the non-ego. We believed in fairies, in magic, in +angels, in transformations; Hans Christian Andersen, Grimm, The Black +Aunt (oh, delectable, lost volume) were our sober history-books, and +Robinson Crusoe was our autobiography. But I did occasionally take note +of concrete appearances, too; and some of them I remember. + +The house--the third which we had inhabited since my father became +surveyor--was on Mall Street, and was three stories in height, with a +yard behind and at one end; this yard, which was of importance to my +sister and myself, had access to the street by a swinging gate. There +were three or four trees in it, and space for play. The house was but +one room deep, and lying as it did about north and south, the rooms were +open to both the morning and the afternoon sunshine. They opened one +into the other in a series; and when my father was safe up-stairs in +his study, my mother would open all the doors of the suite on the lower +floor, and allow the children to career triumphantly to and fro. No +noise that we could make ever troubled her nerves, unless it was the +noise of conflict; the shriek of joy, however shrill, passed by her +harmless; but the lowest mutter of wrath or discontent distressed her; +for of such are the mothers of the kingdom of heaven! And so zealous was +our regard for her just and gentle law that I really think we gave way +as little as most children to the latter. + +Of course, whenever the weather permitted, we were out in the yard, +or even promenaded for short distances up and down the street. And +once--"How are you?" inquired a friend of the family, as he drove by +in his wagon. "Oh, we've got the scarlet fever!" we proudly replied, +stepping out gallantly along the sidewalk. For we were treated by a +homoeopathic doctor of the old school, who was a high-dilutionist, and +mortal ills could never get a firm grip on us. In winter we rejoiced in +the snow; and my father's story of the Snow Image got most of its local +color from our gambols in this fascinating substance, which he could +observe from the window of his study. + +The study was on the third floor of the house, secluded from the turmoil +of earth, so far as anything could be in a city street. No one +was supposed to intrude upon him there; but such suppositions are +ineffectual against children. From time to time the adamantine gates +fell ajar, and in we slipped. It seemed a heavenly place, tenanted by a +being possessed of every attribute that our imaginations could ascribe +to an angel. The room and its tenant glimmer before me as I write, +luminous with the sunshine of more than fifty years ago. Both were +equipped for business rather than for beauty; furniture and garments +were simple in those Salem days. A homely old paper covered the walls, a +brownish old carpet the floor. There was an old rocking-chair, its black +paint much worn and defaced; another chair was drawn up to the table, +which stood to the left of the eastern window; and on the table was a +mahogany desk, concerning which I must enter into some particulars. +It was then, and for years afterwards, an object of my most earnest +scrutiny. Such desks are not made nowadays. + +When closed, it was an oblong mahogany box, two feet long by half that +width, and perhaps nine inches high. It had brass corners, and a brass +plate on the top, inscribed with the name, "N. Hawthorne." At one end +was a drawer, with a brass handle playing on a hinge and fitting into +a groove or socket when down; there was a corresponding handle at the +other end, but that was for symmetry only; the one drawer went clear +through the desk. I often mused over the ethics of this deception. + +Being opened, the desk presented a sloping surface two feet square, +covered with black velvet, which had been cut here and there and pasted +down again, and was stiffened with many ink-spatterings. This writing +surface consisted of two lids, hinged at their junction in the centre; +lifting them, you discovered two receptacles to hold writing-paper and +other desk furniture. They were of about equal capacity; for although +the upper half of the desk was the more capacious, you must not forget +that two inches of it, at the bottom, was taken up by the long drawer +already mentioned. + +But there was, also, a more interesting curtailment of this interior +space. Along the very top of the desk, as it lay open, was a narrow +channel, perhaps a couple of inches wide and deep, divided into three +sections; two square ones, at the opposite ends, held the ink-bottle and +the sand-bottle; the long central one was for quill pens. These, in +the aggregate, appeared to the superficial eye to account for all that +remained of the cubic contents of the structure; but the supreme mystery +and charm of the affair was that they did not! + +No; there was an esoteric secret still in reserve; and for years it +remained a secret to me. The bottle-sockets and pen-tray did not reach +down to the level of the long drawer by nearly an inch. Measurement +would prove that; but you would have said that the interval must be +solid wood; for nothing but a smooth panel met the eye when you pulled +aside the sheets of writing-paper in their receptacle to investigate. +But the lesson of this world, and of the desk as a part of it, is that +appearances are not to be trusted. The guile of those old desk-makers +passes belief. + +I will expose it. In the pen-tray lay a sort of brass nail, as long as +your little finger, and blunt at the end. Now take the sand-bottle from +its hole. In one corner of the bottom thereof you will see a minute +aperture, just big enough to admit the seemingly useless brass nail. +Stick it in and press hard. With an abrupt noise that makes you jump, if +you are four or five years old, that smooth, unsuspected strip of +panel starts violently forward (propelled by a released spring) and +reveals--what? Nothing less than the fronts of two minute drawers. They +fit in underneath the pen-tray, and might remain undiscovered for a +hundred years unless you had the superhuman wit to divine the purpose of +the brass nail. The drawers contain diamonds, probably, or some closely +folded document making you the heir to a vast estate. As a matter of +fact, I don't know what they contained; the surprise of the drawers +themselves was enough for me. I need not add that I did not guess the +riddle myself; but nothing that I can call to mind impressed me more +than when, one day, my father solved it for me with his little brass +wand. At intervals, afterwards, I was allowed to work the miracle +myself, always with the same thrill of mysterious delight. The desk was +human to me; it was alive. + +There were little square covers for the ink and sand-bottles; and on +the under sides of these were painted a pair of faces; very ruddy in the +cheeks they were, with staring eyes and smiling mouths; and one of them +wore a pair of black side-whiskers. They were done by my father, with +oil--colors filched from my mother's paint-box. They seemed to me +portraits of the people who lived in the desk; evidently they enjoyed +their existence hugely. And when I considered that the desk was also +somehow instrumental in the production of stories--such as the Snow +Image--of a delectable and magical character, the importance to my mind +of the whole contrivance may be conceived. When I grew beyond child's +estate, I learned that it had also assisted at the composition of The +Scarlet Letter. If ever there were a haunted writing-desk, this should +have been it; but the ghosts have long since carried it away, whither I +know not. + +On the table were two ornaments; one, the finely moulded figure of +an Egyptian in bronze, the wide Egyptian head-dress falling on the +shoulders, the arms lying rigidly at the sides, with fists clinched. +Generations of handling had made it almost black, but the amiable +expression of the little countenance--the figure was about seven inches +tall--greatly endeared it to me. Its feet were pressed close together +on a small round stand; but one day somebody set it down on a hot stove, +where it remained without flinching till the feet were melted off. After +some years my mother had an ebony stump affixed to it, preserving the +proportions of the figure and setting it once more erect. He was of +greater endurance and of finer physical if not of moral development than +the Tin Soldier of Hans Christian Andersen. The other ornament, less +than half the Egyptian's size, and also made of bronze, was a warrior in +mediaeval armor, whose head lifted off, showing a sharp-pointed rod +the sheath of which was the body. Its use was to pick the wicks of the +oil-lamps of that epoch, and its name was Mr. Pickwick. When afterwards +I became acquainted with the world's Mr. Pickwick, I supposed his +creator had adopted the name from our bronze warrior; but the world's +Pickwick was made of stuff more enduring than bronze; he remains, but +our little warrior has vanished. + +I come now to the human occupant of this chamber of marvels. I see a +tall, strong man, whose wide-domed head was covered with wavy black +hair, bushing out at the sides. It thinned somewhat over the lofty crown +and brow; the forehead was hollowed at the temple and rounded out above, +after the Moorish style of architecture. Under heavy, dark eyebrows were +eyes deep-set and full of light, marvellous in range of expression, +with black eyelashes. All seemed well with me when I met their look. The +straight, rather salient nose had a perceptible cleft at the tip, which, +I was told, was a sign of good lineage; muddy-mettled rascals lacked it; +so that I was much distressed by the smooth, plebeian bluntness, at that +time, of my own little snub. The mouth, then unshaded by a mustache, +had a slight upward turn at the corners, indicative of vitality and +good-humor; the chin rounded out sharply convex from the lip. The round, +strong column of the neck well supported the head; my mother compared it +with that of the Apollo Belvedere, a bust of which stood in the corner +of our sitting-room. The head was deep--a great distance between the +base of the ear and the wing of the nostril--and was well filled out +behind. Above the blue of the shaven beard the complexion showed clear +white and red, announcing a strong heart and good digestion. My father +shaved himself daily; I was not permitted to see the operation, but +I knew he lathered, and wondered why. He was naturally athletic; +broad-shouldered and deep in the chest, lean about the loins, weighing +never over one hundred and eighty pounds; his height was five feet ten +and three-quarter inches; his legs and feet were slender and graceful, +his gait long and springy, and he could stand and leap as high as his +shoulder. In the house he wore slippers, which seemed always old and +down-at-heel. + +In the house, also, he wore a writing-gown, made for him some years +before by my mother; it reached nearly to his heels, and had been a +gorgeous affair, though now much defaced. The groundwork was purple, +covered all over with conventional palm-leaf in old-gold color; the +lining was red. This lining, under the left-hand skirt of the gown, was +blackened with ink over a space as large as your hand; for the author +was in the habit of wiping his pen thereon; but my mother finally +parried this attack by sewing in the centre of the place a penwiper in +the shape of a butterfly. + +While story-writing, the door of the study was locked against all the +world; but after noon he became approachable, except during The Scarlet +Letter period, when he wrote till evening. He did not mind my seeing him +write letters; he would sit with his right shoulder and head inclined +towards the desk; the quill squeaked softly over the smooth paper, with +frequent quick dips into the ink-bottle; a few words would be written +swiftly; then a pause, with suspended pen, while the next sentence was +forming in the writer's mind. When he miswrote, instead of crossing out +the word, he would smear it out with his finger, and rewrite over +the smear; so that his page had a mottled appearance. The writing was +accompanied by intermittent nods of the head, as one would say, "Sic +cogito!" So far as he is concerned, the shadows close in on me here. + +But I have said that the house was of three stories, and I have +accounted for two of them only. The second was occupied by my +grandmother Hawthorne and her two daughters, Aunt Louisa and Aunt Ebe +(the latter appellation being an infantile version of her name invented +by my father, who was her junior, and used by us to distinguish between +her and that other Elizabeth who was Aunt Lizzie Peabody). Of my +grandmother Hawthorne I have no personal recollection at all; she was +a Manning, a beautiful old lady, whom her son resembled. She had been +a recluse from society for forty years; it was held to be good form, in +that age and place, to observe such Hindoo rites after the death of a +husband; hers had died in his thirty-fourth year in Surinam. But she +had also insensibly fallen into the habit of isolating herself in some +degree from her own family; they were all of them addicted to solitude +of the body, though kindly enough disposed in the abstract. When we +went to live in the Mall Street house, the old lady and her daughters +uprooted themselves from their home of many years in Herbert Street and +dwelt with us; and that quaint crystallization of their habits was in a +measure broken up. But the dowager Mrs. Hawthorne, it soon appeared, had +come there to die; she was more than seventy years old. My aunt Louisa I +seem dimly to recall as a tall, fragile, pale, amiable figure, not very +effective. My aunt Ebe I afterwards came to know well, and shall defer +mention of her. So I was encompassed by kindly petticoats, and was very +happy, but might have been better for a stout playmate of my own sex. +I had a hobby-horse, which I rode constantly to fairy-land in quest of +treasure to bestow upon my friends. I swung with Una on the gate, and +looked out upon the wonder of the passing world. The tragedy of my +grandmother's death, which, as I have said, interrupted the birth of +The Scarlet Letter, passed me by unknowing, or rather without leaving a +trace upon my memory. On the other hand, I can reconstitute vividly two +absurd incidents, destitute of historical value. After my grandmother +Hawthorne's death I fell ill; but the night before the disease declared +itself, I was standing in a chair at the nursery window, looking out at +the street-lamp on the corner, and my aunt Lizzie Peabody, who had just +come on from Boston, was standing behind me, lest I should fall off. +Now, I was normally the most sweet-tempered little urchin imaginable; +yet suddenly, without the faintest warning or provocation, I turned +round and dealt my loving aunt a fierce kick in the stomach. It deprived +her of breath for a space; but her saintly nature is illustrated by the +fact that the very first use she made of her recovered faculties was +to gasp out, "Sophie, the child must be ill!" Fortunately for my +reputation, the illness was not long in arriving. The other episode must +have happened at about the same period, and is likewise concerned with +Aunt Lizzie. We had a cat, and the cat had had kittens a day or two +before. Aunt Lizzie came into the nursery, where Una and I were building +houses of blocks, and sat down in the big easy-chair. The cat was in +the room, and she immediately came up to my aunt and began to mew and to +pluck at her dress with her claws. Such attentions were rare on pussy's +part, and my aunt noticed them with pleasure, and caressed the animal, +which still continued to devote its entire attention to her. But there +was something odd in the sound of her mewing and in the intent regard of +her yellow eyes. "Can anything be the matter with pussy?" speculated +my aunt. At that moment my father entered the room, and my aunt rose to +greet him. Then the massacre was revealed, for she had been sitting upon +the kittens. Their poor mother pounced upon them with a yowl, but it +was too late. My dear aunt was rather a heavy woman, and she had been +sitting there fifteen minutes. We all stood appalled in the presence of +the great mystery. + + +One day a big man, with a brown beard and shining brown eyes, who +bubbled over with enthusiasm and fun, made his appearance and talked +volubly about something, and went away again, and my father and mother +smiled at each other. The Scarlet Letter had been written, and James +T. Fields had read it, and declared it the greatest book of the age. So +that was the last of Salem. + + + + +II + + + Horatio Bridge's "I-told-you-so"--What a house by the sea + might have done--Unknown Lenox--The restlessness of youth-- + The Unpardonable Sin and the Deathless Man--The little red + house--Materials of culture--Our best playmates--The mystery + of Mrs. Peter's dough--Our intellectual hen--Fishing for + poultry--Yacht-building--Swimming with one foot on the + ground--Shipwreck--Our playfellow the brook--Tanglewood-- + Nuts--Giants and enchanters--Coasting--Wet noses, dark eyes, + ambrosial breath--My first horseback ride--Herman Melville's + stories--Another kind of James--The thunder-storm--Yearning + ladies and melancholy sinners--Hindlegs--Probable murder--"I + abominate the sight of it!"--The peril of Tanglewood--The + truth of fiction--An eighteen-months' work--We leave five + cats behind. + +Horatio Bridge, my father's college friend, was a purser in the navy and +lived in Augusta, Maine, his official residence being at Portsmouth. He +had kept in closer touch with the romancer than any of his other friends +had since their graduating days, and he had been from the first a +believer in his coming literary renown. So, when The Scarlet Letter +shone eminent in the firmament of book-land, it was his triumphant +"I-told-you-so" that was among the earliest to be heard. And when my +father cast about for a more congenial place than Salem to live in, it +was to Bridge that he applied for suggestions. He stipulated that the +place should be somewhere along the New England sea-coast. + +Had this wish of his been fulfilled it might have made great +differences. Hawthorne had always dwelt within sight and sound of the +Atlantic, on which his forefathers had sailed so often between the +Indies and Salem port, and Atlantic breezes were necessary to his +complete well-being. At this juncture physical health had for the first +time become an object to him; he was run down by a year of suffering and +hard work, and needed nature's kindest offices. A suitable house of +his own by the sea-side would probably have brought him up to his best +physical condition to begin with, and kept him so; and it would so have +endeared itself to him that when, two or three years later, Pierce had +offered him a foreign appointment he might have been moved to decline +it, and have gone on writing American romances to the end--to the +advantage of American letters. Concord had its own attractions; but it +never held him as the sea would have done, nor nourished his health, nor +stimulated his genius. A house of his own beside the Atlantic might well +have added twenty years to his life. + +But it was not upon the knees of the gods. + +Bridge's zealous efforts failed to find a place available, and after an +uneasy interval, during which his friend wandered uncomfortably about +Boston and the neighborhood (incidentally noting down some side-scenes +afterwards to be incorporated in The Blithedale Romance), a cottage +in the Berkshire Hills was spoken of, and upon examination seemed +practicable. Lenox, at that time, was as little known as Mount Desert; +it was not until long afterwards that fashion found them out and made +them uninhabitable to any but fashionable folks. Moreover, my father had +seen something of Lenox a dozen years before. + +A dozen years before he was not yet betrothed to Sophia Peabody; he +already loved her and she him; but her health seemed an insuperable +barrier between them. This and certain other matters were weighing +heavily upon his soul, and his future seemed dark and uncertain. He +thought of taking a voyage round the world; he thought of getting into +politics; he even thought--as young men full of life sometimes will--of +death. What he finally did, with native good sense, was to make a +two-months' trip in the mountainous region to the westward, to change +the scene and his state of mind, and to get what artists call a fresh +eye. He chose North Adams as his headquarters, and forayed thence in +various directions over a radius of twenty miles. He was then beginning +to revolve one of the two great romance themes that preoccupied his +whole after-life, neither of which was he destined to write. This was +the idea of the Unpardonable Sin; the other was the conception of the +Deathless Man. The only essay we have towards the embodiment of the +first vision is the short fragment published in Mosses from an Old +Manse, called "Ethan Brand." The other was attempted in various forms, +of which Septimius, Dr. Grimshawe's Secret, and The Dolliver Romance, +all posthumously published, are the most important. + +But Stockbridge, Pittsfield, and Lenox had been included among his +haunts during the break-away above mentioned, and he remembered that the +scenery was beautiful, the situation remote, and the air noble. Next to +the sea it seemed an ideal place to recuperate and write in. Thither, +at all events, he resolved to go, and early in the summer of 1850 we +arrived at the little red house above the shores of Stockbridge Bowl, +with bag and baggage. Little though the house was, the bag and baggage +were none too much to find easy accommodation in it. + +A fair-sized city drawing-room of these sumptuous contemporary days +could stow away in a corner the entire structure which then became our +habitation, and retain space enough outside it for the exploitation of +social functions. Nevertheless, by the simple expedient of making the +interior divisions small enough, this liliputian edifice managed to +contain eight rooms on its two floors (including the kitchen). One of +the rooms was, in fact, the entrance-hall; you stepped into it across +the threshold of the outer door, and the staircase ascended from it. It +was used as an extension of the drawing-room, which opened out of it. +The drawing-room adjoined the dining-room, with windows facing the +west, with a view of the mountains across the lake, and the dining-room +communicated with the kitchen. One of the western-looking up-stairs +rooms served as my father's study; my sister Una had her chamber, I mine +(which was employed as the guest-chamber upon occasion), and our parents +the other. What more could be asked? for when Rose was born, her crib +stood beside her mother's bedstead. + +When we were not asleep--that is, during twelve hours out of the +twenty-four--Una's existence and mine were passed mainly in the outer +sitting-room and in the dining-room. There was plenty to entertain us. +I had my rocking-horse, which I bestrode with perfect fearlessness; my +porcelain lion, which still survives unscathed after the cataclysms +of half a century; my toy sloop, made for me by Uncle Nat; and a +jack-knife, all but the edge and point, which had been removed out of +deference to my youth. Una had a doll, a miniature mahogany centre-table +and bureau, and other things in which I felt no interest. In common, +we possessed the box of wooden bricks, and the big portfolio containing +tracings by my mother, exquisitely done, of Flaxman's "Outlines of the +Iliad and Odyssey" and other classic subjects. We knew by heart the +story of all these mythological personages, and they formed a large +part of our life. They also served the important use of suggesting to my +father his Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales stories, and, together with +the figures of Gothic fairy-lore, they were the only playmates, with the +exception of our father and mother, that we had or desired. + +But our father and mother were, of course, the main thing, after all. +She was with us all day long; he, from the time he stopped writing, +early in the afternoon, till our bed-time. They answered all our +questions about things animate and inanimate, physical and metaphysical; +and that must have taken time, for our curiosity was magnificent; and +"The Old Boy," my father records, "asked me today what were sensible +questions--I suppose with a view to asking me some." They superintended +our projections of creation on the black-board--a great, old-fashioned +black-board, the like of which I have not since beheld; they read to us +and told us stories. Many of these stories were of incidents of their +own child-life; and there was also the narrative of our mother's voyage +to Cuba and back, and residence there when she was about eighteen or +twenty--a fascinating chronicle. Meal-times were delectable festivals, +not only because the bread-and-milk, the boiled rice and tapioca +pudding, and eggs and fruit tasted so good, but by reason of the broad +outlook out of window over the field, the wood, the lake, and the +mountains; supper-time, with the declining sun pouring light into +the little room and making the landscape glorious, was especially +exhilarating. Ambrosial was the bread baked by Mrs. Peters, the taciturn +and serious religious person of color who attended to our cooking; the +prize morsels were the ends, golden brown in hue, crunching so crisply +between our teeth. I used to wonder how a being with hands so dark as +those of Mrs. Peters managed to turn out dough so immaculate. She would +plunge them right into the ivory-hued substance, yet it became only +whiter than before. But the life of life was, of course, out-doors. +There was a barn containing a hay-mow and a large hen-coop, soon +populous with hens and chickens, with an heroic snow-white rooster to +keep them in order. Hens are the most audacious and presuming of pets, +and they have strong individuality. + +One of our brood was more intellectual and enterprising than the others; +she found a way of getting out of the coop, no matter how tightly it +was shut up; and she would jump in our laps as we sat eating a piece +of bread in the barn doorway and snatch it away from us; but I think we +sometimes sat there with the bread on purpose to have her do it. Once or +twice--until I was detected and stopped--I enjoyed the poignant delight +of fishing for hens out of the barn loft; my tackle consisted of a bent +pin at the end of a string tied to a stick. It was baited with a grain +of corn, or a bit of rag would do as well, for hens have no hereditary +suspicion of anglers, and are much more readily entrapped than fishes. +Pulling them up, squawking and fluttering, was thrilling, but, of +course, it was wrong, like other thrilling things, and had to be +foregone. A less unregenerate experiment was fastening two grains of +corn to the ends of a long bit of thread; two hens would seize each +a grain and begin swallowing thread until they interfered, with each +other, when a disgorgement would take place. It was an economical +sport--the one bit of thread and the two corn-grains would last all +day--and, in view of the joy afforded to the spectators, did not seem +too unkind. My father had mechanical talent, and with an old door-knob +and some strips of shingle he would make a figure of a man with a saw; +you fixed it to the edge of a table, set the door-knob swinging, and the +creature would saw with the most absurd diligence. From the same shingle +he would construct a pugilist, who, being set up where the wind played +upon him, would swing his arms interminably. It was yacht-building, +however, that afforded us most entertainment. A shingle was whittled to +a point at one end; a stick with a square paper slipped on it was stuck +up in the middle, and a rudder made fast to the stern; such a boat would +sail boldly out upon the vastness of the lake, till the eye could no +longer follow the diminishing white speck. These days beside the lake +were full of good things. The water was clear, with a white sand bottom; +we were given swimming-lessons in the hot summer weather; having waded +in up to our middles, we faced towards the shore, where sat our father +with a long fishing-pole, the end of which he kept within our reach, +and bade us lean forward on the water and kick up our feet. But, for my +part, I kept one foot on the bottom. It was not till years afterwards +that I mustered courage to take it off, and that was in a lake three +thousand miles from Stockbridge Bowl, with the towers of the castle of +Chillon reflected in its calm surface. + +We also made limited use of a leaky old punt, which one day capsized and +emptied its whole crew into the water, luckily close to shore. We fished +for gold carp for hours together, and during our two summers we caught a +couple of them; there were thousands of them swimming about; but a bent +pin with the bait washed off is not a good lure. In winter, the lake had +five feet of ice on it, which lasted far into the spring, and once or +twice we got aboard this great raft and tracked across it, with as much +awe and enthusiasm as ever Kane had felt in his arctic explorations. In +all, we became intimate friends with the lake idea, new to us then, but +never to grow stale; and our good fortune favored us during after-life +with many lovely lakes and ponds, including such gems as Rydal, Walden, +and Geneva. + +Water, in another enchanting guise, dashed and gurgled for us in the +brook that penetrated like a happy dream the slumber of the forest that +bordered on the lake. The wooded declivity through which it went was +just enough to keep it ever vocal and animated. Gazing down upon it, it +was clear brown, with glancing gleams of interior green, and sparkles +diamond white; tiny fishes switched themselves against the current with +quivering tails; the shaggy margins were flecked with sunshine, and +beautiful with columbines, violets, arbutus, and houstonias. Fragments +of rock and large pebbles interrupted its flow and deepened its mellow +song; above it brooded the twilight of the tall pines and walnuts, +responding to its merriment with solemn murmurings. What playfellow is +more inexhaustible than such a brook, so full of life, of motion, of +sound and color, of variety and constancy. A child welcomes it as an +answer to its own soul, with its mystery and transparency, its bounded +lawlessness, its love of earth and its echoes of the sky. In winter our +brook had a new charm: it ran beneath a roof of ice, often mounded with +snow; its voice sounding cheerful as ever in those inscrutable caverns, +as if it discoursed secret wonders of fairy-land, and carried treasures +of the elves and gnomes. Zero, with his utmost rigors, could not still +its speech for a day or fix his grip upon those elastic limbs. Indeed, +the frosty god conspired with it for our delight; building crystal +bridges, with tracery of lace delicater than Valenciennes, and spangled +string-pieces, and fretted vaultings, whimsical sierras, stalactite and +stalagmite. An icicle is one of those careless toys of nature which +the decorative art of man imitates in vain. They are among the myriad +decorations of children's palaces. + +To Tanglewood, as we called it, at all seasons of the year, came +Hawthorne and his wife and children. In spring there was the issuing +forth of the new life from beneath the winter coverlid; the first +discovery of sociable houstonias, and the exquisite tints and fragrance +of the mayflower on its dark, bearded stalk. When June became perfect, +and afterwards till nuts were ripe, my father loved to lie at full +length upon the mossy and leaf-strewn floor, looking up at the green +roof, the lofty whispering-gallery of vaulted boughs, with its azure +lattices and descending sunlight-shafts; wrapped in imaginings some of +which were afterwards to delight the world; but many more of them, no +doubt, were fated to join the glorious company of untold tales. Beside +him sat our mother, on a throne which we had fashioned for her from the +upright stump of a tree; round about them played the little girl and +boy. They brought all the treasures which this wonderfully affluent +world afforded: flowers in all seasons; strawberries, small but of +potent flavor, which the little boy would gather with earnest diligence, +and fetch to the persons he loved, mashed into premature jam in his +small fist; exciting turtles with variegated carapaces, and heads and +feet that went in and out; occasional newts from the plashy places; and +in autumn, hatfuls of walnuts. There were chestnuts, too, upon whose +prickly hulls the preoccupied children would sometimes inadvertently +plump themselves. Our father was a great tree-climber, and he was also +fond of playing the role of magician. "Hide your eyes!" he would say, +and the next moment, from being there beside us on the moss, we would +hear his voice descending from the sky, and behold! he swung among the +topmost branches, showering down upon us a hail-storm of nuts. There was +a big cavern behind the kitchen chimney, which gradually became filled +with these harvests, and on winter evenings they were brought forth and +cracked with a hammer on the hearth-stone. + +The wide field, or croft, which sloped from the house to the wood was +thickly grown with mullein-stalks, against which I waged war with an +upper section of one of my father's old broken canes, for I took them +for giants, and stubborn, evil-minded enchanters. I slew them by scores; +but I could make no way against the grasshoppers, which jumped against +my bare legs and pricked them. There were wasps, too; one of them stung +Una on the lower lip as she was climbing over a rail-fence. Her lip at +once assumed a Bourbon contour, and I reached the conclusion, by some +tacit syllogism of infancy, that the rail-fence was at least half to +blame for the catastrophe, and always carefully avoided it. I likewise +avoided the wasps; a certain trick they have of giving a hitch to their +after-parts as they walk along always struck me as being obviously +diabolical. + +When the snows came, two and three feet deep, we got out the family +sled from its summer lodging in the barn and went forth, muffled in +interminable knit tippets and other woollen armor, to coast down the +long slope. Our father sat in front with the reins in his hands and his +feet thrust out to steer, and away we went clinging fast behind him. +Sometimes we swept triumphantly to the bottom; at other times we +would collide with some hidden obstacle, and describe each a separate +trajectory into the snow-banks. We made enormous snow-balls by beginning +with a small one and rolling it over and over in the soft snow till +it waxed too vast for our strength; two or three of these piled one on +another would be sculptured by the author of The Scarlet Letter into a +snow-man, who would stand stanch for weeks. Snow-storms in Lenox began +early and lasted till far into April. The little red house had all it +could do, sometimes, to lift its upper windows above them. In the front +yard there was a symmetrical balsam fir-tree, tapering like a Chinese +pagoda. One winter morning we found upon one of its lower boughs a +little brown sparrow frozen stiff. We put it in a card-board coffin, and +dug out a grave for it beneath the fir, with a shingle head-stone. The +funeral ceremonies had for the two mourners a solemnity such as is not +always felt at such functions in later life. + +Of the regular daily routine was the journey to Luther Butler's, quarter +of a mile up the road, for milk and butter. I generally accompanied +my father, and saw placid Luther's cows, placid as himself, with their +broad, wet noses, amiable dark eyes, questionable horns, and ambrosial +breath. Mr. Tappan, our landlord, had horses, and once he mounted me on +the bare back of one of the largest of these quadrupeds, which, to the +stupefaction of everybody, instantly set off at full gallop. Down +the road we thundered, the rider, with his legs sticking out at right +angles, screaming with joy, for this transcended any rocking-horse +experiences. A hundred yards away there was a bend in the road. Just at +that point there was a manure-pile, which had long bided its time. I had +hold of a strand of the horse's mane; but when he swerved at the bend I +had to let go, and after a short flight in air, the manure-pile received +me in its soft embrace. Looking up the road, I saw Mr. Tappan, with +dilated eyes and a countenance expressing keen emotion, coming towards +me at a wonderful pace, and my father and mother following him at a +short distance. I did not myself mind the smell of manure, and the +others were glad to put up with it in consideration of my having escaped +broken bones. + +We did not keep a dog, but Herman Melville, who often came over from +Pittsfield, had a large Newfoundland which he sometimes brought with, +him, and Mr. G. P. R. James, a novelist of the Walter Scott school, had +another, and I was permitted to bestride both of them; they were safe +enough, but they would turn back their heads and lay their cold noses on +my leg; I preferred the now-forbidden horse. But Melville himself made +up for everything by the tremendous stories he used to tell about the +South Sea Islands and the whale fishery. Normally he was not a man of +noticeable appearance; but when the narrative inspiration was on him, he +looked like all the things he was describing--savages, sea-captains, the +lovely Fayaway in her canoe, or the terrible Moby Dick himself. There +was vivid genius in this man, and he was the strangest being that ever +came into our circle. Through all his wild and reckless adventures, +of which a small part only got into his fascinating books, he had been +unable to rid himself of a Puritan conscience; he afterwards tried to +loosen its grip by studying German metaphysics, but in vain. He was +restless and disposed to dark hours, and there is reason to suspect +that there was in him a vein of insanity. His later writings were +incomprehensible. When we were living in England, he passed through the +midst of us on one of his aimless, mysterious journeys round the world; +and when I was in New York, in 1884, I met him, looking pale, sombre, +nervous, but little touched by age. He died a few years later. He +conceived the highest admiration for my father's genius, and a deep +affection for him personally; but he told me, during our talk, that he +was convinced that there was some secret in my father's life which had +never been revealed, and which accounted for the gloomy passages in +his books. It was characteristic in him to imagine so; there were many +secrets untold in his own career. But there were few honester or more +lovable men than Herman Melville. + +[IMAGE: HERMAN MELVILLE] + +James (no relation of our distinguished contemporary) was a commonplace, +meritorious person, with much blameless and intelligent conversation; +but the only thing that recalls him personally to my memory is the fact +of his being associated with a furious thunder-storm. My father and I +were alone in the house at the time; my mother had gone to West Newton +on a three weeks' visit. In the midst of the thunder and lightning, the +downpour and the hurricane, the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds, +our door burst open, and behold! of all persons in the world to be +heralded by such circumstances, G. P. R. James! Not he only, but close +upon his heels his entire family, numerous, orthodox, admirable, and +infinitely undesirable to two secluded gentlemen without a wife +and mother to help them out. But it was a choice between murder and +hospitality, and come in they must. Never before or after did our +liliputian drawing-room harbor so large an assemblage. They dripped on +the carpet, they were conventional and courteous; we made conversation +between us; but whenever the thunder rolled, Mrs. James became ghastly +pale. Mr. James explained that this was his birthday, and that they were +on a pleasure excursion. He conciliated me by anecdotes of a pet magpie +or raven who stole spoons. At last, the thunder-storm and the G. P. R. +Jameses passed off together. + +There were many other visitors, not only old friends, but persons +attracted thither out of the void by the fame of the book "along whose +burning leaves," as Oliver Wendell Holmes sang of it, "his scarlet web +our wild romancer weaves." It was a novel experience for the man who had +become accustomed to regarding himself as the obscurest man of letters +in America. Lonely, yearning ladies came; enthusiastic young men; +melancholy sinners. The little red house was not a literary Mecca only, +but a moral one. The dark-browed, kindly smiling author received them +all courteously; he was invariably courteous. "I would not have a +drunken man politer than I," he once answered me, when I asked him why +he had returned the salutation of a toper. What counsel he gave to +those who came to him as to a father confessor of course I know not; but +later, when I used to sit in his office in the Liverpool consulate, +I sometimes heard him speak plain truths to the waifs and strays who +drifted in there; and truth more plain, yet bestowed with more humanity +and brotherly purpose, I have never heard since. It made them tremble, +but it did them good. Such things made him suffer, but he never +flinched from the occasion by a hair's-breadth. He must have loved his +fellow-creatures. + +Somebody gave me a rabbit, which I named Hind-legs. I was deeply +interested in him for a while, especially when I learned that he could +not drink water; but he lasted only two weeks, and I am under the +impression that I killed him. Not that I loved him less; but children +are prone to experiment with this singular thing called life when it +is in their power. They do not believe that death can be other than +a transient phenomenon; the lifeless body may puzzle, but it does not +convince them. I was certainly not a cruel urchin, and I can recall +none but cordial sentiments towards Hindlegs on my part. I remember no +details of the murder, if murder were done; but I do remember feeling +no surprise when, one morning, Hindlegs was found dead. After so many +years, I will not bring against the owner of Hindlegs a verdict of +positive guilt; but I suspect him. Hindlegs, at all events, achieved +an immortality which can belong to few of his brethren; for my father, +after pooh-poohing the imbecile little bundle of fur for a day or two, +conceived an involuntary affection for him, and reported his character +and habits in his journal in a manner which is likely to keep his memory +alive long after the hand that (perhaps) slew him is dust. + +In default of dogs and Hindlegs, we had abundant cats. My father was +always fond of these mysterious deities of ancient Egypt, and they were +never turned away from our doors; but how so many of them happened +to find us out in this remote region I cannot explain. It seems as if +goodwill towards cats spontaneously generated them. They appeared, one +after another, to the number of five; but when the time came for us to +leave the red house forever, the cats would not and could not be packed +up, and they were left behind. In my mind's eye I still see them, +squatting abreast, silhouetted against the sky, on the brow of the hill +as we drove down the road; for they had scampered after our carry-all +when we drove away. Cats teach Americans what they are slow to +learn--the sanctity and permanence of home. + +But Lenox could not be a home for us. It was, indeed, a paradise for +the children; but the children's father was never well there. He had a +succession of colds--as those affections are called; it was ascribed to +the variations of temperature during the summers; but the temperature +would not have troubled him had he not been hard hit before he went +to Berkshire. He got out of patience with the climate, and was wont +to anathematize it with humorous extravagance, as his way was: "It is +horrible. One knows not for ten minutes together whether he is too cool +or too warm. I detest it! I hate Berkshire with my whole soul. Here, +where I had hoped for perfect health, I have for the first time been +made sensible that I cannot with impunity encounter nature in all her +moods." It was the summers that disagreed with him. "Upon the whole," +he said, "I think that the best time for living in the country is the +winter." It was during the winter that he did most of his writing. The +House of the Seven Gables was written between September of 1850 and +January or February of 1851. + +But composition took more out of him than formerly. He admitted to his +sister Louisa that he was "a little worn down with constant work," and +added that he could not afford any idle time now, being evidently of the +opinion that his popularity would be short-lived, and that it behooved +him, therefore, to make the most of it. But "the pen is so constantly +in my fingers that I abominate the sight of it!" he exclaimed. This was +after he had transgressed his custom of never writing in the hot months. +He began in June and finished in forty days the whole volume of The +Wonder-Book. He also read the tales to his domestic audience as fast as +they were written, and benefited, perhaps, by the expert criticism of +the small people. Many passages in the intercalated chapters, describing +the adventures of Eustace Bright and the Tangle-wood children, are based +on facts well known to his own two youngsters. And when Eustace tells +his hearers that if the dark-haired man dwelling in the cottage yonder +were simply to put some sheets of writing-paper in the fire, all of them +and Tangle-wood itself would turn into cinders and vanish in smoke up +the chimney--even the present chronicler saw the point; though, at +the same time, he somehow could not help believing in the reality of +Primrose, Buttercup, Dandelion, Squash-blossom, and the rest. Thus early +did he begin to grasp the philosophy of the truth of fiction. + +The House of the Seven Gables and The Wonder-Book were a fair +eighteen-months' work, and in addition to them Hawthorne had, before +leaving Lenox, planned out the story of The Blithedale Romance; so +that after we got to West Newton--our half-way station on the road to +Concord--he was prepared to sit down and write it. Long before we left +Concord for England he had published Tangle-wood Tales, not to mention +the biography of Franklin Pierce. Una and her brother knew nothing about +the romances; they knew and approved the fairy tales; but their feeling +about all their father's writings was, that he was being wasted in his +study, when he might be with them, and there could be nothing in any +books, whether his own or other authors', that could for a moment bear +comparison with his actual companionship. What he set down upon the page +was but a less free and rich version of the things that came from his +living mouth in our heedless playtimes. "If only papa wouldn't write, +how nice it would be!" And, indeed, a book is but a poor substitute for +the mind and heart of a man, and it exists only as one of the numberless +sorry makeshifts to which time constrains us, while we are waiting for +eternity and full communion. + +It was a dreary day in the beginning of the second winter that we set +out on our eastward journey; but Hawthorne's face was brighter than the +weather warranted, for it was turned once more towards the sea. We were +destined, ere we turned back, to go much farther towards the rising +sun than any of us then suspected. We took with us one who had not been +present at our coming--a little auburn-haired baby, born in May. Which +are the happiest years of a man's life? Those in which he is too much +occupied with present felicity to look either forward or backward--to +hope or to remember. There are no such years; but such moments there may +be, and perhaps there were as many such moments awaiting Hawthorne as +had already passed. + +His greatest work was done before he left his native land, and within +a year or two of his death he wrote to Richard Stoddard: "I have been a +happy man, and yet I cannot remember any moment of such happy conspiring +circumstances that I would have rung a joy-bell at it." + + + + +III + + + Chariots of delight--West Newton--Raw American life--Baby's + fingers--Our cousin Benjamin's untoward head--Our uncle + Horace--His vacuum--A reformer's bristles--Grace Greenwood's + first tears--The heralding of Kossuth--The decorated engine-- + The chief incident of the reception--Blithedale and Brook + Farm--Notes from real life--Rough draughts--Paths of + composition--The struggle with the Pensioner--Hawthorne's + method--The invitation of Concord--Four wooden walls and a + roof--Mr. Alcott's aesthetic carpentering--Appurtenances of + "The Wayside"--Franklin Pierce for President"--The most + homeless people in the world." + +The sky that overhung Hawthorne's departure from Lenox was gray with +impending snow, and the flakes had begun to fall ere the vehicle in +which his family was ensconced had reached the railway station in +Pittsfield. Travel had few amenities in those days. The cars were +all plain cars, with nothing to recommend them except that they went +tolerably fast--from twenty to thirty miles an hour. They were chariots +of delight to the children, who were especially happy in occupying the +last car of the train, from the rear windows of which they could look +down upon the tracks, which seemed to slide miraculously away from +beneath them. The conductor collected the tickets--a mysterious rite. +The gradually whitening landscape fled past, becoming ever more level +as we proceeded; by-and-by there was a welcome unpacking of the +luncheon-basket, and all the while there were the endless questions to +be asked and faithfully answered. It was already dark by the time we +were bundled out at the grimy shed which was called the depot, at West +Newton, where we were met by the Horace Manns, and somehow the transit +to the latter's house, which we were to occupy for the winter, was made. +The scene was gloomy and unpleasant; the change from the mountains +of the west depressing; and, for my part, I cannot remember anything +agreeable in this raw little suburb. American life half a century ago +had a great deal of rawness about it, and its external aspect was ugly +beyond present belief. We may be a less virtuous nation now than we were +then, but we are indescribably more good to look at. And the West Newton +of to-day, as compared with that of 1851, will serve for an illustration +of this truth. + +Horace Mann's house was a small frame dwelling, painted white, with +green blinds, and furnished with a furnace stiflingly hot. One of +the first things the baby did was to crawl under the sofa in the +sitting-room and lay her small fingers against the radiator or register, +or whatever it is called, through which the heat came. She withdrew them +with a bitter outcry, and on the tip of each was a blister as big as the +tip itself. We had no glorious out-door playground in West Newton; it +was a matter of back yards and sullen streets. The snow kept piling up, +week after week; but there was no opportunity to put it to its proper +use of coasting. The only redeeming feature of the physical situation +that I recall is the momentous fact of a first pair of red-topped boots. +They were very uncomfortable, and always either wet or stiff as iron +from over-dryness; but they made their wearer as happy as they have made +all other boys since boots began. A boy of six with high boots is bigger +than most men. + +But if the outward life was on the whole unprepossessing, inward +succulence was not lacking. We had the Manns, to begin with, and the +first real acquaintance between the two sets of children opened here. +Mary Peabody, my mother's elder sister, had married Horace Mann, whose +name is honorably identified with the development in this country of +common-school education. They had three children, of about our age, +all boys. A statue in bronze of Horace Mann stands in front of the +State-house in Boston, and the memory of the strenuous reformer well +merits the distinction. He took things seriously and rather grimly, and +was always emphatically in earnest. He was a friend of George Combe, the +phrenologist, after whom his second boy was named; and he was himself +so ardent a believer in the new science that when his younger son, +Benjamin, was submitted to him for criticism at a very early age he +declared, after a strict phrenological examination, that he was not +worth bringing up. But children's heads sometimes undergo strange +transformations as they grow up, and Benjamin lived to refute abundantly +his father's too hasty conclusion in his case. He became eminent as an +entomologist; George followed the example of his father on educational +lines. Horace, who died comparatively early, was an enthusiastic +naturalist, who received the unstinted praise and confidence of the +great Agassiz. My uncle Horace, as I remember him, was a very tall +man, of somewhat meagre build, a chronic sufferer from headaches and +dyspepsia. His hair was sandy, straight, rather long, and very thick; it +hung down uncompromisingly round his head. His face was a long square, +with a mouth and chin large and immitigably firm. His eyes were +reinforced by a glistening pair of gold-bowed spectacles. He always wore +a long-skirted black coat. His aspect was a little intimidating to small +people; but there were lovely qualities in his nature, his character +was touchingly noble and generous, and the world knows the worth of his +intellect. He was anxious, exacting, and dogmatic, and was not always +able to concede that persons who differed from him in opinion could +be morally normal. This was especially noticeable when the topic of +abolition happened to come up for discussion; Horace Mann was ready +to out-Garrison Garrison; he thought Uncle Tom's Cabin a somewhat +milk-and-water tract. He was convinced that Tophet was the future home +of all slave-holders, and really too good for them, and he practically +worshipped the negro. Had he occupied a seat in Congress at that +juncture, it is likely that the civil war might have been started a +decade sooner than it was. My father and mother were much more moderate +in their view of the situation, and my mother used to say that if +slavery was really so evil and demoralizing a thing as the abolitionists +asserted, it was singular that they should canonize all the subjects of +the institution. But, as a rule, all controversy with the indignant zeal +of our relative was avoided; in his eyes any approach to a philosophical +attitude on the burning question was a crime. Nor were his convictions +less pronounced on the subject of total abstinence from liquor and +tobacco. Now, my father smoked an occasional cigar, and it once came +about that he was led to mention the fact in Horace Mann's hearing. The +reformer's bristles were set in a moment. "Do I understand you to say, +Mr. Hawthorne, that you actually use tobacco?" "Yes, I smoke a cigar +once in a while," replied my father, comfortably. Horace Mann could not +keep his seat; he started up and paced the room menacingly. He had a +high admiration for my father's genius, and a deep affection for him +as a man, and this infidelity to the true faith seemed to him the more +appalling. But he would be true to his colors at all costs, and after +a few moments he planted himself, tall and tragic, before his +interlocutor, and spoke, in a husky voice, to this effect: "Then, Mr. +Hawthorne, it is my duty to tell you that I no longer have the same +respect for you that I have had." Then he turned and strode from the +room, leaving the excommunicated one to his reflections. Faithful are +the wounds of a friend, and my father was as much touched as he was +amused by this example of my uncle's candor. Of course, there was a +great vacuum in the place where my uncle's sense of humor might have +been; but there are a time and place for such men as he, and more than +once the men without sense of humor have moved the world. + +In addition to the Manns, there were visitors--the succession of whom, +indeed, was henceforth to continue till the end of my father's earthly +pilgrimage. Among the earliest to arrive was Grace Greenwood, wading +energetically to our door through the December snow. She was one of the +first, if not the first, of the tribe of women correspondents; she had +lately returned, I think, from England, and the volume of her letters +from that strange country was in everybody's hands. She was then a young +woman, large and handsome, with dark hair and complexion, and large, +expressive eyes, harmonious, aquiline features, and a picturesque +appearance. She wore her hair in abundant curls; she exhaled an +atmosphere of romance, of graceful and ardent emotions, and of almost +overpowering sentiment. In fact, she had a genuine gift for expression +and description, and she made an impression in contemporary letters. We +might smile now--and, in truth, we sometimes did then--over some of her +pages; but much of her work would still be called good, if resuscitated +from the dusty book-shelves of the past. I remember one passage in her +English Letters which was often quoted in our family circle as a typical +illustration of the intensity of the period: "The first tears," wrote +Grace, "that I had shed since leaving my dear native land fell fast into +the red heart of an English rose!" Nothing could be better than that; +but the volume was full of similar felicities. You were swimming in +radiant tides of enthusiastic appreciation, quotations from the poets +and poetical rhapsodies; incidents of travel, humorous, pathetic, and +graphic; swirling eddies of word-painting, of moral and ethical and +historical reflection; withal, an immense, amiable, innocent, sprawling +temperament. And as was her book, so was Grace herself; indeed, if any +one could outdo the book in personal conversation, Grace was that happy +individual. What she accomplished when she embarked, full-sailed, upon +the topic of The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables may +be pictured to themselves by persons endowed with the rudiments of +imagination; I must not attempt to adorn this sober page with an +attempted reproduction of the scene. Mortal language reeled and cracked +under the strain of giving form to her admiration; but it was so honest +and well meant that it could not but give pleasure even in the midst of +bewilderment. My father bowed his head with a painful smile; but I dare +say it did him good when the ordeal was over. + +At this time the reverberations of the European revolutionary year, +1848, were still breaking upon our shores. President Polk had given +mortal offence to Austria by sending over a special commissioner to +determine whether the seceding state of Hungary might be recognized as +a belligerent. In 1850 the Austrian representative, Baron Huelsmann, +had entered upon a correspondence with our own Daniel Webster. The baron +remonstrated, and Daniel mounted upon the national bird and soared in +the patriotic empyrean. The eloquence of the Secretary of State perhaps +aroused unwarranted expectations in the breasts of the struggling +revolutionists, and the Hungarian man of eloquence set out for the +United States to take the occasion by the forelock. Not since the visit +of Lafayette had any foreigner been received here with such testimonials +of public enthusiasm, or listened to by such applausive audiences: +certainly none had ever been sent home again with less wool to show for +so much cry. In 1851, the name of Kossuth was the most popular in the +country, and when it was learned that he had accepted an invitation to +speak in our little West Newton, we felt as if we were almost embarked +upon a campaign--upon an altruistic campaign of emancipation against the +Hapsburg oppressor. The excitement was not confined to persons of mature +age and understanding; it raged among the smaller fry, and every boy +was a champion of Kossuth. The train conveying the hero from New York +to Boston (whence he was to return to West Newton after the reception +there) was timed to pass through our midst at three o 'clock in the +afternoon, and our entire population was at the track-side to see it go +by. After one or two false alarms it came in sight round the curve, the +smokestack of the engine swathed in voluminous folds of Old Glory. The +smoke-stacks of those days were not like our scientific present-day +ones; they were huge, inverted cones, affording ample surface for +decoration. The train did not stop at our station; but Kossuth no doubt +looked out of the window as he flew past and bowed his acknowledgments +of our cheers. He was to return to us the next day, and, meanwhile, the +town-hall, or the church, or whatever building it was that was to be the +scene of his West Newton triumph was put in order for his reception. The +person who writes these words, whose ears had eagerly devoured the story +of the Hungarian revolt, wished to give the august visitor some personal +assurance of his distinguished consideration, and it was finally agreed +by his indulgent parents that he should print upon a card the legend, +"GOD BLESS YOU, KOSSUTH," and be afforded an opportunity personally to +present it to the guest of the nation. Many cards had been used and +cast aside before the scribe, his fingers tremulous with emotion, had +produced something which the Hungarian might be reasonably expected to +find legible. Then, supported by his father and mother, and with his +uncles, aunts, and cousins doubtless not far off, he proceeded proudly +but falteringly to the scene of the presentation. He dimly recalls a +large interior space, profusely decorated with stars and stripes, and +also the colors of Hungary. At the head of the room was a great placard +with "WELCOME, KOSSUTH" inscribed upon it. There was a great throng +and press of men and women, a subdued, omnipresent roar of talk, and a +setting of the tide towards the place where the patriot stood to receive +our personal greetings. The scribe whom I have mentioned, being as +yet brief of stature, was unable to see anything except coat-tails +and petticoats, until of a sudden there was a breaking away of these +obstacles and he found himself in close proximity to a gentleman +of medium height, strongly built, with a mop of dark hair framing a +handsome, pale, smiling face, the lower parts of which were concealed +by a thick brown beard. It was Kossuth, and there was that in his +countenance and expression which satisfied all the dreams of his +admirer. He was chatting and shaking hands with the elder persons; and +in a minute we were moving on again, and the printed card, for which +the whole function had been created, had not been presented. At the +last moment, in an agony of apprehension, the boy pulled at his mother's +skirt and whispered piteously, "But my card!" She heard and remembered; +but need was for haste; we had already passed the vantage-point. She +snatched it from the tightly gripping fingers of the bearer, handed +it to Kossuth, and at the same moment, with a gesture, directed his +attention to her small companion. The Hungarian read the inscription +at a glance, looked me in the eyes with a quick smile of comprehension, +and, stepping towards me, laid his hand upon my head. It was a great +moment for me; but as I went away I suddenly dissolved in tears, whether +from the reaction of emotion, or because I had not myself succeeded in +delivering my gift, I cannot now determine. But Kossuth thereby became, +and for years he continued to be, the most superb figure in my political +horizon. + +All this while The Blithedale Romance was being written. Inasmuch as it +was finished on the last day of April, 1852, it could not have occupied +the writer more than five months in the composition. Winter was his best +time for literary work, and there was winter enough that year in West +Newton. In the middle of April came the heaviest snowstorm of the +season. Brook Farm (modified in certain respects to suit the conditions) +was the scene of the story, and Brook Farm was within a fair walk of +West Newton. I visited the place some thirty years later, and found the +general topographical features substantially as described in the book. +In 1852 it was ten years since Hawthorne had lived there, and though he +might have renewed his acquaintance with it while the writing was +going on, there is no record of his having done so; and considering the +unfavorable weather, and the fact that the imaginative atmosphere which +writers seek is enhanced by distance in time, just as the physical +effect of a landscape is improved by distance of space, makes it +improbable that he availed himself of the opportunity. His note-books +contain but few comments upon the routine of life of the community; his +letters to his wife (then Sophia Peabody) are somewhat fuller; one can +trace several of these passages, artistically metamorphosed, in the +romance. The episode of the masquerade picnic is based on fact, and the +scene of the recovery of Zenobia's body from the river is a tolerably +close reproduction of an event in Concord, in which, several years +before, Hawthorne had been an actor. + +The portrayal in the story of city life from the back windows of the +hotel, is derived from notes made just before we went to Lenox; there +are the enigmatic drawing-room windows, the kitchen, the stable, the +spectral cat, and the emblematic dove; the rain-storm; the glimpse +of the woman sewing in one of the windows. There is also a passage +containing a sketch of the personage who served as the groundwork for +Old Moody. "An elderly ragamuffin, in a dingy and battered hat, an old +surtout, and a more than shabby general aspect; a thin face and a red +nose, a patch over one eye, and the other half drowned in moisture. He +leans in a slightly stooping posture on a stick, forlorn and silent, +addressing nobody but fixing his one moist eye on you with a certain +intentness. He is a man who has been in decent circumstances at some +former period of his life, but, falling into decay, he now haunts about +the place, as a ghost haunts the spot where he was murdered. The word +ragamuffin," he adds, with characteristic determination to be exact, +"does not accurately express the man, because there is a sort of shadow +or delusion of respectability about him, and a sobriety, too, and a kind +of dignity in his groggy and red-nosed destitution." Out of this subtle +correction of his own description arose the conception of making Old +Moody the later state of the once wealthy and magnificent Fauntleroy. +But one of the most striking and imaginative touches in the passage, +likening the old waif to a ghost haunting the spot (Parker's liquor-bar) +where he was murdered, is omitted in the book, because, striking though +it was, it was a little too strong to be in keeping with the rest of the +fictitious portrait. How many writers, having hit upon such a simile, +would have had conscience and self-denial enough, not to mention fine +enough artistic sense, to delete it! + +The craftsman's workmanship may occasionally be traced in this way; but, +as a rule, it is difficult to catch a glimpse of him in his creative +moments. If he made rough draughts of his stories, he must have +destroyed them after the stories themselves were completed; for none +such, in the case of his finished products, was left. I have seen +the manuscripts of all his tales except The Scarlet Letter, which was +destroyed by James T. Fields's printers--Fields having at that time +no notion of the fame the romance was to achieve, or of the value that +would attach to every scrap of Hawthorne's writing. All the extant +manuscripts are singularly free from erasures and interlineations; page +after page is clear as a page of print. He would seem to have taught +himself so thoroughly how to write that, by the time the series of his +longer romances began, he was able to say what he wished to say at a +first attempt. He had the habit, undoubtedly, of planning out the work +of each day on the day previous, generally while walking in solitude +either out-of-doors or, if that were impracticable, up and down the +floor of his study. It was this habit which created the pathway along +the summit of the ridge of the hill at Wayside, in Concord; it was a +deeply trodden path, in the hard, root-inwoven soil, hardly nine inches +wide and about two hundred and fifty yards in length. The monotonous +movement of walking seemed to put his mind in the receptive state +favorable for hearing the voices of imagination. The external faculties +were quiescent, the veil of matter was lifted, and he was able to peruse +the vision beyond. + +[MAGE: JAMES T. FIELDS] + +But there is an important exception to this rule to be noted in the +matter of his fictitious narratives which were posthumously published. +These, as I have elsewhere said, are all concerned with a single +theme--the never-dying man. There are two complete versions of +Septimius, of about equal length, and many passages in the two are +identical. There is a short sketch on somewhat different lines, called +(by the editor) The Bloody Footstep; and there is still another, and +a much more elaborate attempt to embody the idea in the volume which +I have entitled Doctor Grimshawe's Secret. All these, in short, are +studies of one subject, and they were all unsatisfactory to the author. +The true vein of which he had been in search was finally discovered in +The Dolliver Romance, but the author's death prevented its completion. + +In this series of posthumous manuscripts there is a unique opportunity +for making a study of the esoteric qualities of my father's style and +methods, and on a future occasion I hope to present the result of my +investigations in this direction. There is, furthermore, in connection +with them, a mass of material of a yet more interesting and interior +character. While writing the Grimshawe, he was deeply perplexed by +certain details of the plot; the meaning of the Pensioner, and his +proper function in the story, was one of these stumbling-blocks. But +the prosperity of the tale depended directly upon the solution of this +problem. Constantly, therefore, in the midst of the composition, he +would break off and enter upon a wrestling-match with the difficulty. +These wrestling-matches are of an absorbing significance; they reveal to +us the very inmost movements of the author's mind. He tries, and +tries again, to get at the idea that continues to elude him; he forms +innumerable hypotheses; he sets forth on the widest excursions; he gets +out of patience with himself and with his Pensioner, and often damns +the latter in good set terms; but he will not give up the struggle; his +resolve to conquer is adamantine, and the conflict is always renewed. +And there it all stands in black and white; one of the most instructive +chapters in literary criticism in the world--the battle of a great +writer with himself. The final issue, after all, was hardly decisive, +for although a tolerable modus vivendi was reached and a truce declared, +it is evident that Hawthorne regarded the entire scheme of the story as +a mistake, and it is concluded in a perfunctory and indifferent manner. + +But it may be doubted whether anything of this sort ever took place +in the making of any of the other stories. These depend but in a +subordinate degree upon what is called technically plot interest. The +author's method was to take a natural, even a familiar incident, and +to transmute it into immortal gold by simply elucidating its inner +spiritual significance. The Scarlet Letter is a mere plain story of love +and jealousy; there is no serious attempt to hide the identity of Roger +Chillingworth or the guilt of the minister. The only surprise in The +House of the Seven Gables consists in the revelation of the fact that +Maule reappears after several generations in the person of his modern +descendant. The structure of The Blithedale Romance appears more +complicated; but that is mainly because, in a masterly manner, the +author keeps the structural lines out of sight and concentrates +attention upon the interplay of character. The scaffolding upon which +are hung the splendid draperies of The Marble Faun is, again, of the +simplest formation, though the nature of the materials is unfamiliar. + +This is a digression; the present volume, as I have already stated, +is not designed to include--except incidentally-anything in the way of +literary criticism. + +Blithedale having been finished and published, the question of where to +settle down permanently once more came up for an answer. Of course, our +sojourn at Mr. Mann's house had been a temporary expedient only; and for +that matter, the Manns, following the example of most Americans before +and since, had rented the place merely as a stepping-stone to something +else. My father's eyes again turned with longing towards the sea-shore; +but the fitting nook for him there still failed to offer itself. People +are naturally disposed to return to places in which they have formerly +lived, and Concord could not but suggest itself to one who had passed +some of the happiest years of his life among its serene pastures and +piney forests. This suggestion, moreover, was supplemented by the +urgent invitations of his old friends there, and Mr. Emerson, who was a +practical man as well as a philosopher, substantiated his arguments by +throwing into the scale a concrete dwelling. It was an edifice which +not even the most imaginative and optimistic of house-agents would have +found it easy to picture as a sumptuous country-seat; it was just four +wooden walls and a roof, and they had been standing for a hundred years +at least. The occupants of this house had seen the British march past +from Boston on the 19th of April, 1775, and a few hours later they had +seen them return along the same dusty highway at a greatly accelerated +pace and under annoying circumstances. There was a legend that a man had +once lived there who had announced that death was not an indispensable +detail of life, and that he for his part intended never to die; but +after many years he had grown weary of the monotony of his success, or +had realized that it would take too long a time to prove himself in +the right, and rather than see the thing through he allowed himself to +depart. The old structure, in its original state, consisted of a big, +brick chimney surrounded by four rooms and an attic, with a kitchen +tacked on at the rear. It stood almost flush with the side-path along +the highway; behind it rose a steep hill-side to a height of about one +hundred feet; in front, on the other side of the road, stretched broad +meadows with a brook flowing through the midst of them. Such conditions +would not seem altogether to favor a man wedded to seclusion. + +But the thing was not at this juncture quite so bad as it had been. Mr. +Alcott, whose unselfish devotion to the welfare of the human race made +it incumbent upon his friends to supply him with the means of earthly +subsistence, had been recently domiciled in the house by Mr. Emerson +(how the latter came into possession of it I have forgotten, if ever +I knew), and he had at once proceeded to wreak upon it his unique +architectural talent. At any rate, either he himself or somebody in his +behalf had set up a small gable in the midst of the front, thrown out a +double bow-window, and added a room on the west side. This interrupted +the deadly, four-square uniformity, and suggested further improvements. +Mr. Alcott certainly built the summer-house on the hill-side, and +terraced the hill, which was also planted with apple-trees. Another +summer-house arose in the meadow opposite, which went with the property, +and rustic fences separated the domain from the road. The dwelling was +now fully as commodious as the red house at Lenox, though it had no +Monument Mountain and Stockbridge Bowl to look out upon. + +[IMAGE: THE WAYSIDE (Showing Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife)] + +The estate, comprising, I think, forty-two acres, all told, including +upward of twenty acres of second-growth woodland above the hill, +perfectly useless except for kindling-wood and for the sea-music which +the pine-trees made, was offered to my father at a reasonable enough +figure, to be his own and his heirs' forever. He came over and looked +at the place, thought "The Wayside" would be a good name for it, and +was perhaps helped to decide upon taking it by the felicity of this +appellation. It was close upon the highway, undeniably; but then the +highway was so little travelled that it might almost as well not have +been there. One might, also, plant a high hedge in place of the fence +and make shift to hide behind it. One could enlarge the house as need +demanded; an affluent vegetable garden could be laid out in the meadow, +and fruit and ornamental trees could be added to the slopes of the +hill-side. The village was removed to a distance of a trifle over a +mile, so that the roar of its traffic would not invade this retreat; and +Mr. Emerson sat radiating peace and wisdom between the village and +"The Wayside"; while Mr. Alcott shone with ancillary lustre only a +stone's-throw away. Thoreau and Ellery Channing were tramping about +in the neighborhood, and Judge Hoar and his beautiful sister dispensed +sweetness and light in the village itself. Walden Pond, still secluded +as when only the Indians had seen the sky and the trees reflected in +it, was within a two-mile walk, and the silent Musketaquid stole on its +level way beyond the hill on the other side. Surely, a man might travel +far and not find a spot better suited for work and meditation and +discreet society than Concord was. + +But, of course, the necessity of settling down somewhere was a main +consideration. Concord, was inviting in itself, but it was also +recommended by the argument of exclusion; no other place so desirable +and at the same time so easy of attainment happened to present itself. +It did not lie within sound and sight of the ocean; but that was the +worst that could be urged against it. A man must choose, and Concord +was, finally, Hawthorne's choice. + +At this epoch he had not contemplated, save in day-dreams, the +possibility of visiting the Old World. His friend, Franklin Pierce, had +just become President-elect, but that fact had not suggested to his mind +the change in his own fortunes which it was destined to bring about. +He was too modest a critic of his own abilities to think that his work +would ever bring him money enough for foreign travel, and, therefore, +in accepting Concord as his home, he believed that he was fixing the +boundaries of his future earthly experience. It was not his ideal; +no imaginative man can ever hope to find that; but as soon as we have +called a place our Home, it acquires a charm that has nothing to do with +material conditions. The best-known song in American poesy has impressed +that truth upon Americans--who are the most homeless people in the +world. + + + + +IV + + + A transfigured cattle-pen--Emerson the hub of Concord--His + incorrigible modesty--Grocery-store sages--To make common + men feel more like Emerson than he did--His personal + appearance--His favorite gesture--A glance like the reveille + of a trumpet--The creaking boots--"The muses are in the + woods"--Emerson could not read Hawthorne--Typical versus + individual--Benefit from child-prattle--Concord-grape Bull-- + Sounds of distant battle--Politics, sociology, and grape- + culture--The great white fence--Richard Henry Stoddard--A + country youth of genius--Whipple's Attic salt--An unwritten + romance--The consulship retires literature--Louisa's + tragedy--Hard hit--The spiritual sphere of good men--Nearer + than in the world--The return of the pilgrim. + +My father's first look at "The Wayside" had been while snow was still +on the ground, and he had reported to his wife that it resembled a +cattle-pen. + +But the family advent was effected in June, and although a heavy rain +had fallen while the domestic impedimenta were in transit, wetting the +mattresses and other exposed furniture, yet when the summer sun came out +things began to mend. My mother and Una came a day ahead of the others, +and with the help of carpenters and upholsterers, and a neighboring +Irishman and his wife for cleaning and moving purposes, they soon got +human order into the place of savage chaos. The new carpet was down in +the study, the walls had been already papered and the wood-work grained, +the pictures were hung in their places, and the books placed on their +shelves. By the time the father, the boy, the baby, and the nurse drove +up in the hot afternoon a home had been created for their reception. + +Mr. Emerson was, and he always remained, the hub round which the wheel +of Concord's fortunes slowly and contentedly revolved. He was at +this time between forty-five and fifty years old, in the prime of +his beneficent powers. He had fulfilled the promise of his unique +youth--obeyed the voice at eve, obeyed at prime. The sweet austerity of +his nature had been mellowed by human sorrows--the loss of his brothers +and of his eldest son; he had the breadth and poise that are given by +knowledge of foreign lands, and friendships with the best men in them; +he had the unstained and indomitable independence of a man who has +always avowed his belief, and never failed to be true to each occasion +for truth; he had the tranquillity of faith and insight, and he was +alert with that immortal curiosity for noble knowledge the fruit of +which enriches his writings. Upon his modestly deprecating brows was +already set the wreath of a world-wide fame, and yet every village +farmer and store-keeper, and every child, found in his conversation the +wisdom and companionship suited to his needs, and was made to feel +that his own companionship was a valued gift. Emerson becomes more +extraordinary the further we get away from him in years; illustrating +the truth which Landor puts into the mouth of Barrow in one of his +Imaginary Conversations, that "No very great man ever reached the +standard of his greatness in the crowd of his contemporaries: this hath +always been reserved for the secondary." The wealth contained in his +essays has only begun to be put in general circulation, and the harvest +of his poetry is still more remote; while the sincere humility of the +man himself, who was the best incarnate example of many of his ideals, +still puzzles those critics who believe every one must needs be inferior +to his professions. + +"Though I am fond of writing and of public speaking," said Emerson, "I +am a very poor talker, and for the most part prefer silence"; and he +went on to compare himself in this respect with Alcott, "the prince of +conversers." Alcott was undoubtedly the prince of fluency, and +Emerson rarely, in private dialogue, ventured to string together many +consecutive sentences; but the things he did say, on small occasion or +great, always hit the gold. On being appealed to, or when his turn came, +he would hang a moment in the wind, and then pay off before the +breeze of thought with an accuracy and force that gave delight with +enlightenment. The form was often epigrammatic, but the air with which +it was said beautifully disclaimed any epigrammatic consciousness or +intention. It was, rather, "I am little qualified to speak adequately, +but this, at least, does seem to me to be true." In the end, therefore, +as the interlocutor thought it all over, he was perhaps surprised to +discover that, little in quantity as Emerson may have said during the +talk, he had yet said more than any one else in substance. But it may be +admitted that he was even better in listening than in speech; his +look, averted but attentive, with a smile which seemed to postpone full +development to the moment when his companion should have uttered the +expected apple of gold in the picture of silver, was subtly stimulating +to the latter's intellect, and prompted him to outdo himself. His +questions were often revelations, discovering truth which the other +only then perceived, and thus beguiling him into admiration of his own +supposed intelligence. In this, as in other things, he acted upon the +precept that it is more blessed to give than to receive gratification; +he never seemed to need any other happiness than that of imparting it. +And so selflessly and insensibly were the riches of his mind and nature +communicated to the community that innocent little Concord could not +quite help believing that its wealth and renown were somehow a creation +of its own. The loafers in Walcott & Holden's grocery store were, in +their own estimation, of heroic stature, because of the unegoistic +citizen who dwelt over yonder among the pines. Emerson was a great man, +no doubt; but then he was no more than their own confessed equal, or +inferior! + +This will and power to secularize himself is perhaps Emerson's unique +attribute. It is comparatively easy to stand on mountain-tops and to +ride Pegasus; but how many of those competent to such feats could at the +same time sit cheek by jowl with hucksters and teamsters without a trace +of condescension, and while rubbing shoulders with the rabble of the +street in town-meeting, speak without arrogance the illuminating and +deciding word? This, at last, is the true democracy that levels up +instead of down. An Emerson who can make common men feel more like +Emerson than he himself did is the kind of man we need to bring America +up to her ideals. + +Emerson was ungainly in build, with narrow, sloping shoulders, large +feet and hands, and a projecting carriage of the head, which enhanced +the eagle-like expression of his glance and features. His head was +small; it was covered (in 1852) with light brown hair, fine and +straight; he was cleanshaven save for a short whisker; the peaked ends +of an uncomfortable collar appeared above the folds of a high, black +silk stock. His long-skirted black coat was commonly buttoned up; he +wore, on different occasions, a soft felt hat or a high silk one, the +latter, from use, having become in a manner humanized. On the street he +kept his face up as he walked along, and perceived the approach of an +acquaintance afar off, and the wise, slow smile gleamed about his mouth +as he drew near. "How do you do?" was sometimes his greeting; but more +often, "Good-bye!" or "Good-night!"--an original and more sensible +greeting. Though ungainly in formation, he was not ungraceful in bearing +and action; there was a fitness and harmony in his manifestations +even on the physical plan. On the lecture platform he stood erect and +unadorned, his hands hanging folded in front, save when he changed the +leaf of his manuscript, or emphasized his words with a gesture: his +customary one, simple but effective, was to clinch his right fist, +knuckles upward, the arm bent at the elbow, then a downward blow of the +forearm, full of power bridled. It was accompanied by such a glance +of the eyes as no one ever saw except from Emerson: a glance like the +reveille of a trumpet. Yet his eyes were not noticeably large, and their +color was greenish-gray; but they were well set and outlined in his +head, and, more than is the case with most men, they were the windows +of his soul. Wendell Phillips had an eloquent and intrepid eye, but it +possessed nothing approaching the eloquence and spiritual influence of +Emerson's. In every Lyceum course in Concord, Emerson lectured once or +twice, and the hall was always filled. One night he had the misfortune +to wear a pair of abominably creaking boots; every slightest change of +posture would be followed by an outcry from the sole-leather, and +the audience soon became nervously preoccupied in expecting them. The +sublimest thoughts were mingled with these base material accompaniments. +But there was nothing to be done, unless the lecturer would finish his +lecture in his stocking-feet, and we were fain to derive a fortuitous +inspiration from observing the unfaltering meekness with which our +philosopher accepted the predicament. I have forgotten the subject of +the lecture on that occasion, but the voice of the boots will always +sound in my memory. + +In his own house Emerson shone with essential hospitality, and yet he +wonderfully effaced himself; any one but he might hold the centre of +the stage. You felt him everywhere, but if you would see him, you must +search the wings. He sat in his chair, bending forward, one leg crossed +over the other, his elbows often supported on his knee; his legs were +rather long and slender, and he had a way, after crossing his leg, of +hitching the instep of that foot under the calf of the other leg, so +that he seemed braided up. He seldom stood in a room, or paced to and +fro, as my father was fond of doing. But the two men were almost equally +addicted to outdoor walking, and both preferred to walk alone. Emerson +formed the habit of betaking himself to Walden woods, which extended to +within a mile or so of his door; thence would he return with an exalted +look, saying, "The muses are in the woods to-day"; and no one who has +read his Woodnotes can doubt that he found them there. Occasionally +Channing, Thoreau, or my father would be his companion; Alcott preferred +to busy himself about his rustic fences and summer-houses, or to sit +the centre of a circle and converse, as he called it; meaning to +soliloquize, looking round from face to face with unalterable faith and +complacency. + +My father read Emerson with enjoyment; though more and more, as he +advanced in life, he was disposed to question the expediency of stating +truth in a disembodied form; he preferred it incarnate, as it appears in +life and in story. But he could not talk to Emerson; his pleasure in his +society did not express itself in that form. Emerson, on the other hand, +assiduously cultivated my father's company, and, contrary to his general +habit, talked to him continuously; but he could not read his romances; +he admitted that he had never been able to finish one of them. He loved +to observe him; to watch his silence, which was full of a kind of speech +which he was able to appreciate; "Hawthorne rides well his horse of the +night!" My father was Gothic; Emerson was Roman and Greek. But each was +profoundly original and independent. My father was the shyer and more +solitary of the two, and yet persons in need of human sympathy were able +to reach a more interior region in him than they could in Emerson. For +the latter's thought was concerned with types and classes, while the +former had the individual touch. He distrusted rules, but had faith +in exceptions and idiosyncrasies. Emerson was nobly and magnanimously +public; my father, exquisitely and inevitably private; together they met +the needs of nearly all that is worthy in human nature. + +Emerson rose upon us frequently during our early struggles with our +new abode, like a milder sun; the children of the two families became +acquainted, the surviving son, Edward, two years my elder, falling to +my share. But Emerson himself also became my companion, with a humanity +which to-day fills me with grateful wonder. I remember once being taken +by him on a long walk through the sacred pine woods, and on another +occasion he laid aside the poem or the essay he was writing to entertain +Una in his study, whither she had gone alone and of her own initiative +to make him a call! It is easy to compliment a friend upon his children, +but how many of us will allow themselves to be caught and utilized by +them in this fashion? But Emerson's mind was so catholic, so humble, and +so deep that I doubt not he derived benefit even from child-prattle. His +wife rivalled him in hospitality, though her frail health disabled her +from entering into the physical part of social functions with the same +fortitude; in these first months we were invited to a party where we +were fellow-guests with all the other children of Concord. There they +were, their mothers with them, and everything in sight that a child at +a party could require. My new friend Edward mounted me on his pony, and +his father was at hand to catch me when I fell off. Such things sound +incredible, but they are true. A great man is great at all times, and +all over. + +Thoreau, Channing, and Alcott were also visible to us at this time, but +of none of them do I find any trace in my memory; though I know, as +a matter of fact, that Channing and my father once permitted me to +accompany them on a walk round the country roads, which inadvertently +prolonged itself to ten miles, and I knew what it was to feel +foot-weary. But another neighbor of ours, hardly less known to fame, +though in a widely different line of usefulness, makes a very distinct +picture in my mind; this was Ephraim Wales Bull, the inventor of the +Concord grape. He was as eccentric as his name; but he was a genuine +and substantive man, and my father took a great liking to him, which was +reciprocated. He was short and powerful, with long arms, and a big head +covered with bushy hair and a jungle beard, from which looked out a pair +of eyes singularly brilliant and penetrating. He had brains to think +with, as well as strong and skilful hands to work with; he personally +did three-fourths of the labor on his vineyard, and every grape-vine had +his separate care. He was married and had three children, amiable +but less interesting than himself. He had, also, a tremendous temper, +evidenced by his heavy and high-arched eyebrows, and once in a while he +let slip upon his helpers in the vineyard this formidable wrath, which +could easily be heard in our peaceful precincts, like sounds of distant +battle. He often came over and sat with my father in the summer-house on +the hill, and there talked about politics, sociology (though under some +other name, probably), morals, and human nature, with an occasional +lecture on grape-culture. He permitted my sister and me to climb the +fence and eat all the grapes we could hold; it seems to me he could +hardly have realized our capacity. During our second summer he built a +most elaborate fence along the road-front of his estate; it must have +been three hundred yards long and it was as high as a man could reach; +the palings, instead of being upright, were criss-crossed over one +another, leaving small diamond-shaped interstices. The whole was painted +brilliant white, to match the liliputian cottage in which the Bull +family contrived (I know not how) to ensconce itself. When the fence was +built, Mr. Bull would every day come forth and pace slowly up and down +the road, contemplating it with the pride of a parent; indeed, it was no +puny achievement, and when I revisited Concord, thirty years later, +the great white fence was still there, with a few gaps in it, but still +effective. But the builder, and the grapes--where were they? Where are +Cheops, and the hanging gardens of Babylon? + +Among many visitors came Richard Henry Stoddard, already a poet, but +anxious to supplement the income from his verses by a regular stipend +from the big pocket of Uncle Sam. His first coming was in summer, and +he and my father went up on the hill and sat in the summer-house there, +looking out upon the wide prospect of green meadows and distant woods, +but probably seeing nothing of them, their attention being withdrawn to +scenes yet fairer in the land of imagination and memory. Stoddard was +then, as always, a handsome man, strong and stanch, black-haired and +black-bearded, with strong eyes that could look both fierce and tender. +He was masculine, sensitive, frank, and humorous; his chuckle had +infinite merriment in it; but, as his mood shifted, there might be +tears in his eyes the next moment. He was at that time little more +than five-and-twenty years old, and he looked hardly that; he was a New +England country youth of genius. Nature had kindled a fire in him which +has never gone out. Like my father, he was affiliated with the sea, and +had its freshness and daring, though combined with great modesty, and he +felt honored by the affection with which he inspired the author of The +Scarlet Letter. It was not until his second visit, in the winter, +that the subject of a custom-house appointment for him came up; for my +father, being known as a close friend of the President, whose biography +he had written for the campaign, became the object of pilgrimages other +than literary ones. He received sound advice, and introductions, which +aided him in getting the appointment, and he held it for nearly twenty +years--more to the benefit of the custom-house than of poetry, no +doubt, though he never let poetry escape him, and he is to-day a mine +of knowledge and wisdom on literary subjects. There is an immense human +ardor, power, and pathos in Stoddard; better than any other American +poet does he realize the conception of his great English brother--the +love of love, the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn. The world has proved +impotent to corrupt his heroic simplicity; he loved fame much, but truth +more. He is a boy in his heart still, and he has sung songs which touch +whatever is sweetest, tenderest, and manliest in the soul of man. + +[IMAGE: EDWIN P. WHIFFLE] + +E. P. Whipple, essentially a man of letters, and famous in his day as a +critic of literature, appeared often in "The Wayside." His verdict on a +book carried weight; it was an era when literary criticism was regarded +seriously, and volumes devoted to critical studies had something more +than, a perfunctory vogue. He had written penetrating and cordial things +about my father's books, and foretold the high place which he would +ultimately occupy in our Pantheon. He was rich in the kind of Attic salt +which, was characteristic of Boston in the middle century; the product +of an almost excessive culture erected on sound, native brains. He had +abounding wit; not only wit of the sort that begets mirth, but that +larger and graver wit which Macaulay notices in Bacon's writings--a +pure, irradiating, intellectual light. It had often the effect of an +actual physical illumination cast upon the topic. He was magnificent as +a dinner-table companion. He was rather a short, thick-shouldered man, +with a big head on a short neck, a broad, projecting forehead, prominent +eyes, defended by shiny spectacles, and bushy whiskers. He is not +remembered now, probably because he never produced any organic work +commensurate with his huge talent. Analyses of the work of others, +however just, useful, and creative, do not endure unless they are +associated with writing of the independent sort. Whipple, with all his +ability and insight, never entered the imaginative field on his own +account, and in the press of wits he falls behind and is forgotten. + +My father had come to Concord with the idea of a new romance in his +mind; he designed it to be of a character more cheerful than the +foregoing ones. It was never written, and but the slightest traces of +what it might have been are extant. Herman Melville had spent a day +with us at Concord, and he had suggested a story to Hawthorne; but the +latter, after turning it over in his mind, came to the conclusion that +Melville could treat the subject better than he could; but Melville +finally relinquished it also. It seems likely, however, that this +projected tale was not the one which Hawthorne had originally been +meditating. At all events, it was postponed in favor of a new book of +wonder-stories from Greek mythology--the first one having had immediate +popularity, and by the time this was finished, the occasion had arrived +which led to the writing of Pierce's biography. This, in turn, was +followed by the offer by the President to his friend of the Liverpool +consulate, then the most lucrative appointment in the gift of the +administration; and Hawthorne's acceptance of it caused all literary +projects to be indefinitely abandoned. + +But even had there been time for the writing of another book, the death +of Hawthorne's sister Louisa would doubtless have unfitted him for a +while from undertaking it. This was the most painful episode connected +with his life; Louisa was a passenger on a Hudson River steamboat which +was burned. She was a gentle, rather fragile woman, with a playful humor +and a lovable nature; she had not the intellectual force either of her +brother or of her sister Elizabeth; but her social inclinations were +stronger than theirs. She was a delightful person to have in the house, +and her nephew and niece were ardently in love with her. She was on her +way to "The Wayside" when the calamity occurred, and we were actually +expecting her on the day she perished. Standing on the blazing deck, +with the panic and the death-scenes around her, the gentle woman had to +make the terrible choice between the river and the fire. She was alone; +there was none to advise or help her or be her companion in inevitable +death. Her thoughts must have gone to her brother, with his strength and +courage, his skill as a swimmer; but he was far away, unconscious of her +desperate extremity. She had to choose, and the river was her choice. +With that tragic conception of the drowning of Zenobia fresh in his +mind, the realization of his sister's fate must have gained additional +poignancy in my father's imagination. He was hard hit, and the traces of +the blow were manifest on him. After about a month, he made a journey to +the Isles of Shoals with Franklin Pierce, and in that breezy outpost +of the land he spent some weeks, much to his advantage. This was in the +autumn of 1852, and I recall well enough the gap in things which his +long absence made for me, and my perfect joy when the whistle of the +train at the distant railway station signalled his return. Twenty +minutes had to elapse before the railroad carriage could bring him +to our door; they were long and they were brief, after the manner +of minutes in such circumstances. He came, and there was a moment of +indescribable glory while he leaped from the carriage and faced the +situation on the doorstep of his home. His countenance was glowing with +health and the happiness of home-coming. I thought him, as I always did, +the most beautiful of human beings, by which I do not mean beautiful +in feature, for of that I was not competent to hold an opinion; but +beautiful in the feelings which he aroused in me beholding him. He was +beautiful to be with, to hear, touch, and experience. Such is the effect +of the spiritual sphere of good men, in whom nature and character +are harmonious. My father got his appointment from Washington in the +following March, 1853. His wife had but one solicitude in leaving +America; her mother was aged and in delicate health, and their parting +might be forever in this world. But a month before the appointment was +confirmed, her mother quietly and painlessly died. It was as if she had +wished not to be separated from her beloved daughter, and had entered +into the spiritual state in the expectation of being nearer to her there +than she could be in the world. My mother always affirmed that she +was conscious of her mother's presence with her on momentous occasions +during the remainder of her own life. + +June came; the farewells were said, we were railroaded to Boston, +embarked on the Cunard steamship Niagara, Captain Leitch, and steamed +out of Boston Harbor on a day of cloudlessness and calm. Incoming +vessels, drifting in the smoothness, saluted us with their flags, and +the idle seamen stared at us, leaning over their bulwarks. The last +of the low headlands grew dim and vanished in the golden haze of the +afternoon. "Go away, tiresome old land!" sang out my sister and myself; +but my father, standing beside us, gazing westward with a serious look, +bade us be silent. Two hundred and twenty years had passed since our +first ancestor had sought freedom on those disappearing shores, and our +father was the first of his descendants to visit the Old Home whence he +came. What was to be the outcome? But the children only felt that the +ocean was pleasant and strange, and they longed to explore it. The +future and the past did not concern them. + + + + +V + + + A paddle-wheel ocean-liner--The hens, the cow, and the + carpenter--W. D. Ticknor--Our first Englishman--An + aristocratic acrobat--Speech that beggars eulogy--The boots + of great travellers--Complimentary cannon--The last + infirmity of noble republican minds--The golden promise: the + spiritual fulfilment--Fatuous serenity--Past and future--The + coquetry of chalk cliffs--Two kinds of imagination--The + thirsty island--Gloomy English comforts--Systematic + geniality--A standing puzzle--The respirator--Scamps, fools, + mendicants, and desperadoes--The wrongs of sailor-men--"Is + this myself?"--"Profoundly akin"--Henry Bright--Charm of + insular prejudice--No stooping to compromise--The battle + against dinner--"I'm glad you liked it!"--An English-, + Irish-, and Scotchman--An Englishman owns his country--A + contradiction in Englishmen--A hospitable gateway--Years of + memorable trifles. + +The steamship Niagara was, in 1853, a favorable specimen of nautical +architecture; the Cunard Company had then been in existence rather less +than a score of years, and had already established its reputation for +safety and convenience. But, with the exception of the red smoke-stack +with the black ring round the top, there was little similarity between +the boat that took us to England and the mammoths that do that service +for travellers now adays. The Niagara was about two hundred and fifty +feet long, and was propelled by paddle-wheels, upon the summits of +whose curving altitudes we were permitted to climb in calm weather. +The interior decorations were neat and pretty, but had nothing of the +palatial and aesthetic gorgeousness which educates us in these later +ages. The company of passengers was so small that a single cow, housed +in a pen on deck, sufficed for their needs in the way of milk, and there +were still left alive and pecking contentedly about their coop a number +of fowls, after we had eaten all we could of their brethren at the ten +dinners that were served during the voyage. The crew, from the captain +down, were all able seamen, friendly and companionable, and not so +numerous but that it was easy to make their individual acquaintance. The +most engaging friend of the small people was the carpenter, who had his +shop on deck, and from whom I acquired that passion for the profession +which every normal boy ought to have, and from the practice of which I +derived deep enjoyment and many bloody thumbs and fingers for ten years +afterwards. + +But we had companionship historically at least more edifying. William +D. Ticknor, the senior partner of my father's publishers, was the only +figure familiar at the outset. He was one of the most amiable of men, +with thick whiskers all round his face and spectacles shining over +his kindly eyes; a sturdy, thick-set personage, active in movement and +genial in conversation. It was James T. Fields who usually made the +trips to England; but on this occasion Fields got no farther than +the wharf, where the last object visible was his comely and smiling +countenance as he waved his adieux. Conspicuous among the group on the +after-deck, as we glided out of the smooth harbor of Boston, was an +urbane and dignified gentleman of perhaps sixty years of age, with a +clean-shaven mouth and chin, finely moulded, and with what Tennyson +would call an educated whisker, short and gray, defining the region +in front of and below his ears. He spoke deliberately, and in language +carefully and yet easily chosen, with intonations singularly distinct +and agreeable, giving its full value to every word. This was our first +native Englishman; no less a personage than Mr. Crampton, in fact, the +British Minister, who was on his way to Halifax. He had fine, calm, +quietly observant eyes, which were pleasantly employed in contemplating +the beauty of that summer seascape--an opalescent ocean, and islands +slumbering in the July haze. Near him stood a light-built, tall, +athletic individual, also obviously English, but thirty years younger; +full, also, of artistic appreciation; this was Field Talfourd, who was +an artist, and many things besides; a man proficient in all forms +of culture. His features were high and refined, and, without being +handsome, irresistibly attractive. He turned out to be a delightful +playmate for the children, and astonished them and the rest of the +company by surprising gymnastic feats in the rigging. The speech of +these two Britishers gave the untravelled American a new appreciation of +the beauty and significance of the English language. Not all Englishmen +speak good English, but when they do, they beggar eulogy. + +[IMAGE: JAMES T. FIELDS, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, AND WILLIAM D. TICKNOR] + +George Silsbee was likewise of our party; he was an American of the +Brahman type, a child of Cambridge and Boston, a man of means, and an +indefatigable traveller. He had the delicate health and physique of the +American student of those days, when out-door life and games made no +part of our scholastic curricula. He may have been forty years old, +slight and frail, with a thin, clean-shaven face and pallid complexion, +but full of mind and sensibility. We do not heed travellers now, and I +am inclined to think they are less worth heeding than they used to be. +It is so easy to see the world in these latter days that few persons see +it to any purpose even when they go through the motions of doing so. But +to hear George Bradford or Silsbee talk of England, France, and Italy, +in the fifties, was a liberal education, and I used sometimes to stare +fascinated at the boots of these wayfarers, admiring them for the +wondrous places in which they had trodden. Silsbee travelled with his +artistic and historic consciousness all on board, and had so much to say +that he never was able to say it all. + +But to my father himself were accorded the honors of the captain's +table, and for him were fired the salutes of cannon which thundered us +out of Boston Harbor and into Halifax. These compliments, however, were +paid to him not as a man of letters, but as a political representative +of his country, and, let a man be as renowned as he will on his personal +account, he will still find it convenient, in order to secure smooth and +agreeable conditions on his way through the world, to supplement that +distinction with recommendations from the State Department. Respect for +rank is the last infirmity even of noble republican minds, and it oils +the wheels of the progress of those who possess it. An American widow +of my later acquaintance, a lady of two marriageable daughters and small +social pretensions in her own country, toured Europe with success +and distinction, getting all the best accommodations and profoundest +obeisances by the simple device of placing the word "Lady" before her +modest signature in the hotel registers. She was a lady, of course, and +had a right so to style herself, and if snobbish persons chose to read +into the word more than it literally meant, that was not Mrs. Green's +affair. + +American commerce still existed in 1853, and the Liverpool consulate was +supposed to have more money in it than any other office in the gift +of the administration. As a matter of fact, several of my father's +predecessors had retired from their tenure of office with something +handsome (pecuniarily speaking) to their credit; whether the means by +which it had been acquired were as handsome is another question. Be +that as it may, Congress, soon after my father's accession, passed a +law cutting down the profits about three-fourths, and he was obliged to +practise the strictest economy during his residence abroad in order to +come home with a few thousand dollars in his pocket. Nevertheless, the +dignity, in the official sense, of this consular post was considerable, +and it brought him, in combination with his literary fame, a good deal +more attention in England than he well knew what to do with. But, in one +way or another, he also made friends there who remained to the end among +the dearest of his life and more than countervailed all the time and +energy wasted on the Philistines. + +The Atlantic, all the way across, with the exception of one brief +emotional disturbance between lunch and dinner-time, wore a smile of +fatuous serenity. The sun shone; the vast pond-surface oilily undulated, +or lay in absolute flatness, or at most defiled under our eyes in +endless squadrons of low-riding crests. My mother, whose last experience +of sea-ways had been the voyage to Cuba, in which the ship was all but +lost in a series of hurricanes, was captivated by this soft behavior, +and enjoyed the whole of it as much, almost, as her husband, who +expanded and drank in delight like a plant in the rain. But, in truth, +these must have been blessed hours for them both. Behind them lay nearly +eleven years of married life, spent in narrow outward circumstances, +lightened only towards the last by the promise of some relaxation from +strain, during which they had found their happiness in each other, and +in the wise and tender care of their children, and in the converse of +chosen friends. They had filled their minds with knowledge concerning +the beauties and interests of foreign lands, with but a slender +expectation of ever beholding them with bodily sight, but none the less +well prepared to understand and appreciate them should the opportunity +arrive. And now, suddenly, it had arrived, and they were on the way to +the regions of their dreams, with the prospect of comparative affluence +added. They had nearly twelve years of earthly sojourn together before +them, the afternoon sunshine to be clouded a little near the close by +the husband's failing health, but glorified more and more by mutual +love, and enriched with memories of all that had before been unfulfilled +imaginings. This voyage eastward was the space of contemplation between +the two periods, and the balm of its tranquillity well symbolized the +peace of soul and mind with which they awaited what the horizons were to +disclose. + +The right way to approach England for the first time is not by the +west coast, but by the south, as Julius Caesar did, beckoned on by the +ghostly, pallid cliffs that seem to lift themselves like battlements +against the invader. It is historically open to question whether there +would have been any Roman occupation, or any Saxon or Norman one +either, for that matter, but for the coquetry of those chalk cliffs. +An adventurer, sighting the low and marshy shores of Lancashire, and +muddying his prows in the yellow waters of the Mersey, would be apt +to think that such a land were a good place to avoid. But the race of +adventurers has long since died out, and their place is occupied by the +wide-flying cormorants of commerce, to whom mud flats and rock deserts +present elysian beauties, provided only there be profit in them. +One kind of imagination has been superseded by another, and both are +necessary to the full exploitation of this remarkable globe that we +inhabit. + +But even the level capes of Lancashire were alluring to eyes that saw +England, our venerable mother, loom behind them, with her thousand +years' pageantry of warfare and civilization. The egregious little +island is a thirsty place; the land drinks rain as assiduously as do its +inhabitants beer and other liquors. Heavy mists and clouds enveloped it +as we drew near, and ushered us up the Mersey into a brown omnipresence +of rain. The broad, clear sunshine of the Atlantic was left behind, and +we stood on wet decks and were transported to sloppy wharfs by means +of a rain-sodden and abominably smoking little tug-boat--as the way +was fifty years ago. Liverpool was a gray-stone labyrinth open to the +deluge, and its inhabitants went to and fro with umbrellas over their +heads and black respirators over their mouths, looking as if such were +their normal plight--as, indeed, it was. Much of this was not needed to +quench the enthusiasm of the children. The Waterloo Hotel, to which, by +advice of friends, we were driven, seemed by its very name to carry out +the idea of saturation, which the activities of nature so insistently +conveyed. It was intensely discomfortable, and though the inside of the +hotel was well supplied with gloomy English comforts, and the solemn +meals were administered with a ceremonious gravity that suggested their +being preliminaries to funerals, yet it was hard to be light-hearted. +The open-grate coal fires were the most welcome feature of this summer +season, and no doubt the wine list offered the best available substitute +for sunlight; but we had not been trained to avail ourselves of it. +We drank water, which certainly appeared an idle proceeding in such a +climate. In Liverpool, however, or in its suburbs, we were to live for +the better part of four years, and we must make the best of it. And +there is in English people, when rightly approached, a steady and +systematic geniality that not only makes handsome amends for their +weather, but also accounts for the otherwise singular fact that the +country is inhabited at all. A people with a smaller fund of interior +warmth could not have endured it. The French talk about conquering +England, but they could not hold it if they did, and it is one of the +standing puzzles of history how the Romans, an Italian race, were able +to maintain themselves under these skies during four centuries. It may +be objected that the present English population is not indigenous to the +island; but they are the survival of the fittest and toughest selected +from many aspirants. Nor can it be doubted that the British hunger for +empire in all parts of the world is due to nothing so much as to their +anxiety to have a plausible pretext for living elsewhere than at home. + +My father took the rain, as he took everything that could not be helped, +philosophically, and it seemed to do him no harm; indeed, his health +was uniformly good all through his English residence. It did not suit so +well my mother, who was constitutionally delicate in the lungs; she was +soon obliged to adopt the English respirator, and finally was driven +to take refuge for the greater part of a year in Lisbon and Madeira, +returning only a little before the departure of the family for Italy in +1858. But there must have been in him an ancestral power of resistance +still effective after more than two centuries of transplantation; he +grew ruddy and robust while facing the mist and mirk, and inhaling the +smoky moisture that did service for air. Nor was his health impaired by +the long hours in the daily consulate--a grimy little room barely five +paces from end to end, with its dusty windows so hemmed in by taller +buildings that even had there been any sunshine to make the attempt, it +could never have succeeded in effecting an entrance through them. Here, +from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon, he dealt with all +varieties of scamps and mendicants, fools and desperadoes, and all the +tribe of piratical cutthroats which in those days constituted a large +part of the merchant marine. Calamity, imbecility, and rascality were +his constant companions in that dingy little den; and the gloomy and +sooty skies without but faintly pictured the moral atmosphere which +they exhaled; he entered deeply into all their affairs, projects, and +complaints, feeling their troubles, probably, at least as keenly as +they did themselves, and yet he came out of it all with clear eyes and a +sound digestion. I presume the fact may have been that he unconsciously +regarded the whole affair somewhat as we do a drama in a theatre; it +works upon our sensibilities, and yet we do not believe that it is real. +There was nothing in the experience germane to his proper life; it could +not become a part of him, and therefore its posture towards him +remained inveterately objective. The only feature of it that quickened a +responsive chord in him was the revelation of the intolerable condition +of the sailors in many of our ships, and upon these abuses he enlarged +in his communications to Washington. Improvements were made in +consequence of his remonstrances; but the American merchant service had +already begun its downward career, and it is only very lately, owing to +causes which are too novel and peculiar to be intelligently discussed +as yet, that our flag is once more promising to compete against that of +England. + +It would be misleading to say, however, that my father was not +interested in his consulate work; there was a practical side in him +which took hold of the business in man-fashion, and transacted it so +efficiently as to leave no room for criticism, and nobody can produce +voluntary effects without feeling in himself a reaction from them. He had +occasion to look into the privacy of many human hearts, to pity them and +advise them, and from such services and insights he no doubt obtained a +residue of wisdom which might be applied to his own ulterior uses. +These were indirect and incidental issues; but from the consulate qua +consulate Hawthorne was radically alien, and when he quitted it, he +carried away with him no taint or trace of it. As he says in his remarks +upon the subject, he soon came to doubt whether it were actually himself +who had been the incumbent of the office at all. + +But Providence does not deny manna to man in his extremity, and to my +father it came in the shape of a few English friends, and in occasional +escapes from the office into the outside England where, after the +centuries of separation, he found so much with which he could still feel +profoundly akin. His most constant friendly visitor was Henry A. Bright, +a university man, the son of a wealthy local merchant, who sent ships +to Australia, and was related (as most agreeable Englishmen are--though +there are shining exceptions) to the aristocratic class. Bright, at this +time, could not have been over thirty years of age; he was intensely +English, though his slender figure and mental vivacity might make him +seem near to the conventional American type. But through him, as through +an open window, Hawthorne was enabled to see far into the very heart of +England. Bright not merely knew England; he was England, and England at +its best, and therefore also at its most insular and prejudiced. It +was unspeakably satisfying and agreeable to encounter a man at once so +uncompromising and so amiable, so wrong-headed (from the American point +of view) and so right-hearted. He was drawn to my father as iron is +drawn to the magnet; on every outward point they fought each other like +the knight errants of old, while agreeing inwardly, beneath the surface +of things, as few friends are able to agree. Each admired the other's +onslaughts and his prowess, and, by way of testifying his admiration, +strove to excel himself in his counter attacks. The debate was always +beginning, and in the nature of things it could never end; the effect +of their blows was only to hammer each the other more firmly into his +previous convictions. Probably all the things that are English and all +the things that are American never before or since received such full +and trenchant exposition as was given them by Hawthorne and by Bright. +The whole subject of monarchy and aristocracy as against republicanism +and democracy was threshed out to the last kernel by champions each of +whom was thoroughly qualified to vindicate his cause. Each, constrained +by the stress of battle to analyze and expound his beliefs more +punctually than ever before, thereby convinced himself while leaving his +adversary undaunted; and, of course, both were right. For this world is +so constituted that two things incompatible in outward manifestation may +in their roots be one and the same, and equally appeal to the suffrages +of honest men. England and America are healthy and vigorous in +proportion as they differ from each other, and a morbid and vicious +tendency in either is noticeable the moment either begins to take a +leaf from the other's book. My father and Bright could not have been the +lifelong friends that they were had either of them yielded his point or +stooped to compromise. + +Apart from political matters, and such social themes as were nearly +allied to them, the two friends had many points of agreement and +sympathy. Bright had from the first been an ardent and intelligent +admirer of the romancer's writings, and though they might often differ +in their estimates of individual works, they were in hearty accord as +to the principles which underlie all literature and art. Upon matters +relating to society, my father was more apt to accept theories which +Bright might propound than to permit of their being illustrated in his +own person; he would admit, for example, that a consul ought to mingle +socially with the people to whom he was accredited; but when it came +to getting him out to dinner, in evening dress and with a speech in +prospect, obstacles started up like the armed progeny of the Dragon's +Teeth. For, though no one enjoyed real society more than he did, he was +ardently averse from conversing as an official with persons between whom +and himself as a man there could be little sympathy. Almost as much, +too, did he dislike to meet the polite world merely on the basis of the +books that he had written, which his entertainers were bound to +praise whether or not they had read or comprehended them, and to whose +well-meant but inexpert eulogies he must constantly respond with the +threadbare and pathetic phrase, "I'm glad you liked it." Bright, of +course, insisted that fame and position carried obligations which must +be met, and he was constantly laying plots to inveigle or surprise +his friend into compliance. He often succeeded, but he failed quite as +frequently, so that, as a Mrs. Malaprop might have said, Hawthorne as +a social lion was a rara avis, from first to last. The foible of +artificial, as distinguished from spontaneous, society is that it so +seldom achieves simple human relations. + +Another chief friend of his was Francis Bennoch. England would never +have seemed "our old home" to my father, without the presence and +companionship of these two men. Both had literary leanings, both were +genial, true, and faithful; but in other respects they were widely +dissimilar. Bright was of the pure Saxon type; Bennoch represented Great +Britain at large; there were mingled in him English, Irish, and +Scotch ancestry. In himself he was a superb specimen of a human being; +broad-shouldered, straight, and vigorous, massive but active, with a +mellow, joyful voice, an inimitable brogue, sparkling black eyes full +of hearty sunshine and kindness, a broad and high forehead over bushy +brows, and black, wavy hair. He bubbled over with high spirits, humor, +and poetry, being, indeed, a poet in achievement, with a printed +and bound volume to show for it--songs, lyrics, and narrative poems, +composed in the spirit of Burns and Scott. He was at this time one +of the handsomest men in England, with a great heart, warmer than any +summer England ever knew, and a soul of ardor and courage, which sent +through his face continual flashes of sympathy and fellowship. One +naturally thought and spoke of him in superlatives; he was the kindest, +jolliest, most hospitable, most generous and chivalrous of men, and +his affection and admiration for my father were also of the superlative +kind. He had made a fortune in the wool business, and had an office +in Wood Street, London; but his affairs permitted him to make frequent +excursions to Liverpool, and to act as his American friend's guide +and cicerone to many places in England which would otherwise have been +unknown to him. My father enjoyed these trips immensely; Bennoch's +companionship gave the right keynote and atmosphere to the sights they +saw. A real Englishman owns his country, and does the honors of it to a +visitor as if it were his private estate. Discussions of politics and of +the principles of government never arose between these two, as they did +between my father and Bright; for Bennoch, though one of the most loyal +and enthusiastic of her Majesty's subjects, and full of traditional +respect for the British nobility, was by nature broadly democratic, +and met every man as an equal and a brother. One often finds this +contradiction in Englishmen; but it is such logically only. A man +born to the traditions of monarchy and aristocracy accepts them as the +natural background of his ideas, just as the English landscape is the +setting of his house and park; he will vindicate them if assailed; but +ordinarily they do not consciously affect his mental activities, and he +will talk good republicanism without being aware of it. The monarchy is +a decoration, a sentiment, a habit; as a matter of fact, England is more +democratic in many essentials than we have as yet learned how to +be. Bennoch was not a university man, and lacked the historical +consciousness that Bright so assiduously cultivated; he lived by feeling +and intuition more than by deliberate intellectual judgments. He was +emotional; tears would start to his eyes at a touch of pathos or pity, +as readily as the laughter of a moment before. So lovable, gallant, +honest, boyish a man is seldom born into this modern world-boyish as +only the manliest men can be. He died thirty years after the time I +write of, the same fresh and ardent character as ever, and loving and +serving Hawthorne's children for Hawthorne's sake. I shall have occasion +to mention him hereafter; but I have dwelt upon him here, both because +he made it forever impossible for any one who knew him well to do other +than love the land which could breed such a man, and because, for the +American Hawthorne, he was as a hospitable gate-way through which the +England of his dreams and imaginings was entered upon as a concrete and +delightful reality. + +With Bright and Bennoch on his right hand and on his left, then, my +father began his English experience. The two are frequently mentioned +in his English journals, and Bennoch figures as one of the subordinate +characters in the posthumous romance called Doctor Grimshawe's Secret. +It is but a sketch of him, however, and considerably modified from the +brilliant and energetic reality. Meanwhile the consul began to accustom +himself to the routine of the consulate, and his family, leaving the +sombre respectability of the Waterloo Hotel, moved, first, to the +hospitable boarding-house of Mrs. Blodgett, and afterwards to a private +dwelling in Rock Park, Rock Ferry, on the opposite side of the Mersey, +where we were destined to dwell for several years. They were years full +of events very trifling in themselves, but so utterly different from +everything American as to stamp themselves upon the attention and the +memory. It is the trifling things that tell, and give character to +nations; extraordinary things may occur anywhere, and possess little +national flavor. In another chapter I will attempt some portrayal of +this English life of fifty years since. + + + + +VI + + + Patricians and plebeians--The discomforts of democracy-- + Varieties of equality--Social rights of beggars--The coming + peril--Being dragged to the rich--Frankness of vulgarity and + hopelessness of destitution--Villages rooted in the + landscape--Evanescence of the spiritual and survival of the + material--"Of Bebbington the holy peak"--The Old Yew of + Eastham--Malice--prepense interest--History and afternoon + tea--An East-Indian Englishman--The merchantman sticks in + the mud--A poetical man of the world--Likeness to + Longfellow--Real breakfasts--Heads and stomachs--A poet- + pugilist--Clean-cut, cold, gentle, dry--A respectable female + atheist--The tragedy of the red ants--Voluptuous struggles-- + A psalm of praise. + +In a country whose ruling principle is caste, it might be expected that +the line of cleavage between the upper and the lower grades would be +punctually observed. It is assumed that democracy levels and aristocracy +distinguishes and separates. My father was not long in remarking, +however, that there was a freedom of intercourse between the patrician +and the plebeian--between people of all orders--such as did not exist in +America. And the fact, once perceived, was not difficult of explanation. +In a monarchy of a thousand years' standing, every individual knows his +place in the social scale and never thinks of leaving it. He represents +a fixed function or element in the general organism, and holds to it as +a matter of course, just as, in the human body, the body does not aspire +to be the head, nor the liver or heart to take the place of lungs +or stomach. The laborer looks back upon an ancestry of laborers; the +shopkeeper has been a shopkeeper for unnumbered generations; the artisan +on the bench to-day does the same work that his father and grandfathers +did before him; the noble inherits his acres as inevitably as the sun +rises, and sits in the House of Lords by immemorial usage and privilege. +Social position all along the line being thus anchored in the nature +of things, as it were, there is no anxiety on any one's part as to +maintaining his status. He is secure where he is, and nothing and nobody +can change him. There is no individual striving to rise nor fear to +fall. Consequently there can and must be entire freedom of mutual +conversation; the marquis with a revenue of half a million a year meets +as an equal his gardener who gets ten pounds a month, and the tailor +in his measuring-room offers a glass of sherry to his noble patron who +comes to him for a new coat. Each is at his ease, conscious that he +performs a use and fills a place which no one else can fill or perform, +and that nothing else matters. The population is a vast mutual-benefit +association, without envy on the one side or contempt on the other. And +social existence moves as smoothly as a well-oiled and adjusted machine. + +This agreeable condition is impossible in a democracy--at all events, in +a democracy like ours, which is based upon the assumption that all men +are equal. Nevertheless, we are on the right track, and the English +are on the wrong one; for the agreeable English system obstructs the +insensible infiltration of fresh material into old forms, which is +essential to the continued health of the latter; while the democracy, +on the other hand, will gradually learn that it is just as honorable and +desirable to be a good shoemaker, for example, as a good millionaire; +that human life, in short, is a complex of countless different uses, +each one of which is as important on its own plane as any of the others. +But the intermediate period is undeniably irksome. + +So my father noticed, not without a certain satisfaction, that even +beggars, in England, are not looked down upon, and that their rights, +such as they are, are recognized. In the steamboat waiting-room at Rock +Ferry, and in the boats themselves, he saw tramps and mendicants take +the best place at the fire or on the companion-way without rebuke and +without consciousness of presumption, and he saw the landlord of a +hotel, with a fortune of six hundred thousand pounds, wait at table +as deferentially as any footman in his employ. He was struck by the +contentment with which, in winter, women went barefoot in the streets, +and by the unpretentious composure with which the common herd, on +holidays, disported themselves in public, not seeking to disguise their +native vulgarity and shabbiness. At the same time, he could not help +a misgiving that the portentous inequality between rich and poor must +finally breed disaster; the secluded luxury of the rich was too strongly +contrasted with the desperate needs of the poor. This contrast was very +marked in England fifty years ago, and was comparatively unknown in our +own country--though to-day we can hardly lay to our souls the nattering +unction of such a difference. The rage for wealth has done for us in a +generation what caste did for England in a thousand years. + +My father, when opportunity offered, was always finding himself among +the poor and their dwellings; he had to be dragged to the rich, though +among them, too, he found, when brought in contact with them, many +interesting points of dissimilarity from ourselves. His office as consul +naturally took him often to the police courts, where magistrates passed +upon the squalid cases cited before them, and in the consulate itself +he saw specimens enough of human crime and misery. He visited the +poor-house and the insane asylum, he was approached by swindlers of all +types, and often he went to fairs and other resorts of public out-door +amusement and watched the unwashed populace at its play. Beggars +followed him on the streets, awaited him in their chosen coigns of +vantage on the corners, or haunted him on the ferry-boat that took +him each day from his home to his office. Wherever he encountered +the forsaken of fortune, he found food for sympathy, and, in spite of +assurances that he was only encouraging mendicancy, he often gave them +money. It was hard for him to believe that there could be abject poverty +where there was work for all, and the appeal of man in want to man in +plenty was too strong for him easily to resist it. He liked the very +frankness of vulgarity and hopeless destitution of these people, and was +appalled by the simplicity with which they accepted things as they were. +There was no restlessness, as in America--no protest against fate. It +was harrowing enough to see conditions so miserable; it was intolerable +to see them acquiesced in by the victims as inevitable. He learned, +after a while, to harden himself somewhat against manifest imposition; +but the refusal to give cost him quite as much in discomfort as giving +did in purse. + +The country villages and cottages, however, afforded him compensating +pleasure. In the neighborhood of Rock Ferry, on the shore of the +Mersey opposite from Liverpool, there were two or three ancient little +settlements which he loved to visit. The thatched and whitewashed +cottages, with their tiny gardens of hollyhocks and marigolds, seemed +like parts of the framework of the land; the passage of centuries only +served to weld them more firmly in their places. The villages were +massed together, each in a small space, instead of being dispread +loosely over a township, as in his native New England, and enduring +stone and plaster took the place of timber and shingles. But the +churches, small and fabulously ancient, affected him most. He placed his +hand on stones which had been set in place before William the Conqueror +landed in England, and this physical survival seemed to bring into his +actual presence the long succession of all the intervening ages. These +structures, still so solid and serviceable, had witnessed the passing of +the entire procession of English history; all the mighty men and events +of her career had come and gone while they remained unscathed. Under his +feet were the graves of the unknown dead; within the narrow precincts he +inhaled that strange, antique odor of mortality that made him feel as +if he were breathing the air of long-dead centuries. This apparent +evanescence of the spiritual attested by the survival of the material is +one of the most singular and impressive of sensations; it takes history +out of the realm of the mind, and brings it into sensible manifestation. +It is almost as affecting as if the very figures of departed actors of +former ages were to reappear and rub shoulders with us of today, and +cast their shadows in the contemporary sunshine. + +On most of these walks in the neighborhood of Rock Ferry I was my +father's companion, but, though my legs could march beside his, my +mental-equipment could not participate in his meditations. He would +occasionally make some half-playful, imaginative remark, calculated to +help me realize the situation that was so vividly present to himself. +His thoughts, however deep, were always ready to break into playfulness +outwardly. We often walked through the village of Bebbington, whose +church had a high stone steeple, nearly to the summit of which the +ancient ivy had clambered. And as it came in view he would always say, +in a sort of recitative, perhaps reminiscent of Scott's narrative poems, +which he was at that time reading aloud to us, "There is of Bebbington +the holy peak!" To which I would as constantly rejoin, "'Of Bebbington +the holy spire,' father!"--being offended by his use of a word so +unmusical as peak. He would only smile and trudge onward. He was +somewhat solicitous, I suspect, to check in his son any tendency towards +mere poetical sentiment; his own imaginative faculty was rooted in +common-sense, and he knew the value of the latter in curbing undue +excursions into the fanciful and transcendental. + +In Eastham, on the village green, stood an old yew-tree which, six +centuries before, had been traditionally called The Old Yew of Eastham, +and was probably at least coeval with the village itself, which was one +of the oldest in England. It was of enormous girth, and was still in +leaf; but nothing but the bark was left of the great trunk; all the wood +had decayed away so long ago that the memory of man held no record of +it. There was a great conical gap in one side, like an open door, and it +was my custom--as it had doubtless been that of innumerable children of +ages gone--to enter this door and "play house" in the spacious interior. +Meanwhile my father would seat himself on the twisted roots without, and +let his thoughts drift back to the time when this huge hulk had first +cast a slender shadow over the greensward of primitive, Saxon England. +It was a massive tree before the Domesday Book was begun; Chaucer +would not be heard of for four hundred years to come; and where was +Shakespeare? What was suspected of America? Yet here was this venerable +vegetable, still with life enough left in it, perhaps, to see the end of +English monarchy. The yew was a fact; but the ghosts were the reality, +after all. + +These obscure village antiquities, which had no special history +attaching to them, were in a way more impressive than the great ruins of +England, which had formed the scene and background of famous events. The +latter had become conventional sights, which the tourist felt bound to +inspect under the voluble and exasperating guidance of a professional +showman; and this malice-prepense sort of interest and picturesqueness +always tried Hawthorne's patience and sympathy a little. It is the +unknown past that is most fascinating, that comes home closest to the +heart. The things told of in history books are hackneyed, and they +partake of the unreality inherent in the descriptions of the writers. +But the unrecorded things are virgin, and enter into our most private +sympathies and realization. My father viewed and duly admired the +great castles, palaces, and cathedrals of England; but he loved the old +villages and their appurtenances, and could dream dreams more moving +under the shadow of Eastham Yew than in Westminster Abbey itself. + +The historic houses and country-seats which were still inhabited were +still more difficult to get in touch with from the historic point of +view; the present dazzled the past out of sight. One was told who built +this facade, who added that wing, who was imprisoned in yonder tower; +where Queen Elizabeth slept, and the foot of what martyr imprinted the +Bloody Footstep on the threshold. + +But you listened to these tales over a cup of tea in the drawing-room, +or between the soup and the roast beef at the dinner-table, and +they were not convincing. How were these ruddy-cheeked, full-bodied, +hospitable personages who sat about you to be held compatible with the +romantic periods and characters that they described? The duck and the +green pease, the plum-pudding and the port, the white neck-cloths and +the bare necks were too immediate and potent. In many cases, too, +the denizens of the ancient houses were not lineal descendants of the +original founders; they were interlopers, by purchase or otherwise. In +themselves they were kind and agreeable, their manners were excellent, +they helped one to comprehend the England of the passing moment; but +they only clipped the wings of imagination and retrospect. It was +only after an interval of some years that Hawthorne was able so far to +recover from the effect of their obtrusive existence as to be able to +see through them and beyond them to the splendid and gloomy vistas in +front of which they were grouped. + +Yet England, past and present, rich and poor, real and ideal, did +somehow enter into him and become a part of his permanent consciousness, +and he liked it better than anything else he had known. Even the social +life, though he came to it under some compulsion, rewarded him in the +long run. One of the first personal invitations was to the country-seat +of the Brights, where he met the family and relatives of his friend +Henry Bright. Bright's father was a remarkable figure; he resembled an +East-Indian more than an Englishman. He was dark, slender, courteous, +and vivid; in long after-years I saw Brahmins like him in India. I would +liken him to a rajah, except that rajahs of his age are commonly become +gross and heavy from indulgence, whereas he had an almost ascetic +aspect. His manners were singularly soft and caressing; he courted his +wife, when he returned each day from business, as if they were still +in their honeymoon, and his conduct towards all who surrounded him was +similarly polished. He did not in the least resemble his Saxon son; and +for my part, looking at him from the primitive boy stand-point, I never +suspected that he was related to my father's young friend. He had made a +fortune in colonial trade, and may possibly have been born in India. At +this juncture the dealings of his firm were chiefly with Australia, and +the largest merchant steamship then in the world had just been built for +them, and Hawthorne was invited to the launching. For a British merchant +prince such an occasion could not but be of supreme importance and +pride. Mr. Bright's Oriental visage was radiant; his white hair seemed +to shine with an added lustre; the reserve of the Englishman was +forgotten, and he showed the excitement and emotion that he felt. There +was a distinguished company on the great deck to witness his triumph +and congratulate him upon it. All went well; at the appointed signal the +retaining obstructions were cut away, and the mighty vessel began its +descent into the waiting river. A lady of his family smashed a bottle +of wine over the graceful bows. For a few moments there was a majestic, +sweeping movement downward; then, of a sudden, it was checked. It was +as if a great life had been quenched at the instant when its heart first +began to throb. A murmur of dismay ran through the assemblage; but it +was in the face of Mr. Bright that the full tragedy of the disaster was +displayed. Never was seen a swifter change from the highest exultation +to the depths of consternation. The color left his cheeks; heavy lines +appeared about his handsome mouth; his eyes became fixed, and seemed to +sink into his head; his erect figure drooped like that of one who has +received a mortal blow. It was only that the ship had stuck in the deep +mud of the river bottom; but all ship-owners are superstitious, and the +old man foreboded the worst. The ship was floated again some days later; +but the omens were fulfilled; she was lost on her first voyage. I do not +remember seeing Mr. Bright after this event, but I know he never again +was the same man as before. + +Richard Monckton Milnes, who was afterwards Lord Houghton, was greatly +attracted towards my father, who liked him; but circumstances prevented +their seeing much of each other. Milnes was then forty-five years old; +he was a Cambridge man, and intimate with Tennyson, Hallam, and other +men of literary mark, and he was himself a minor poet, and warm in the +cause of literature. During his parliamentary career, in 1837, he was +instrumental in passing the copyright act. He had travelled in Greece +and Italy in his twenties; was fond of society, and society of him. A +more urbane and attractive English gentleman did not exist; everything +that a civilized man could care for was at his disposal, and he made the +most of his opportunities. His manners were quiet and cordial, with a +touch of romance and poetry mingling with the man-of-the-world tone in +his conversation, and he was quite an emotional man. I have more than +once seen tears in his eyes and heard a sob in his voice when matters +that touched his heart or imagination were discussed. There was, indeed, +a vein of sadness and pessimism in Milnes, though only his intimates +were aware of it; it was the pessimism of a man who has too much leisure +for intellectual analysis and not enough actual work to do to keep him +occupied. It lent a fine flavor of irony to some of his conversation. +He was liberal in politics and liberal in his attitude towards life in +general; but there was not force enough in him, or, at any rate, not +stimulus enough, to lift him to distinction. Some of his poems, however, +betrayed a deep and radical vein of thought. He was of middle height, +well made, light built, with a large and well-formed head and wavy, dark +hair. His likeness to Longfellow was marked, though he was hardly so +handsome a man; but the type of head and face was the same--the forehead +and brain well developed, the lower parts of the countenance small and +refined, though sensuous. His eyes were dark, brilliant, and expressive. +He, like the old poet Rogers, made a feature of giving breakfasts to +chosen friends, and as he had the whole social world to choose from, +and unfailing good taste, his breakfasts were well worth attending. They +were real breakfasts--so far as the hour was concerned--not lunches or +early dinners in masquerade; but wine was served at them, and Milnes +was very hospitable and had an Anacreontic or Omar touch in him. +To breakfast with him, therefore, meant--unless you were singularly +abstemious and strong-minded--to discount the remaining meals of the +day. But the amount of good cheer that an Englishman can carry and seem +not obscured by it surprises an American. A bottle or so of hock of a +morning will make most Americans feel that business, for the rest of +that day, is an iridescent dream; but an Englishman does not seem to be +burdened by it--at any rate, he did not fifty years ago. + +[IMAGE: RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES] + +Another hearty companion was Bryan Waller Procter, who, for literary +uses, anagrammed his name into Barry Cornwall, and made it famous, fifty +years ago, as that of the best song-writer in contemporary England. But +he had made a literary reputation before the epoch of his songs; there +were four or five dramatic and narrative poems to his credit published +during the first quarter of the last century. Procter was, indeed, +already a veteran in 1854, having been born in 1787, and bred to the +bar, to which he was admitted in 1831. But he spent the active thirty +years of his life in the discharge of that function which seems often +sought by respectable Englishmen-commissioner of lunacy. He sent my +father a small volume containing the Songs, and some fragments; they +fully deserved their reputation. The fragments were mostly scraps of +dramatic dialogue, of which one at least sticks in my memory: + +"She was a princess; but she fell; and now Her shame goes blushing down +a line of kings." + +As I recollect him, he may have looked like a commissioner of lunacy, +but he did not look like a poet; he was rather undersized, with a +compact head and a solemn face, and the quietest, most unobtrusive +bearing imaginable. He was a well-made little man, and he lived to a +great age, dying some time in the seventies, at the age of eighty-seven. +He told my father that after leaving Harrow School he was distinguished +in athletics, and for a time sparred in public with some professional +bruiser. He had been a school-mate of Byron and Sir Robert Peel, and had +known Lamb, Kean, and the other lights of that generation. He was a most +likeable and remunerative companion. His wife, who survived him (living, +I think, to be over ninety), was a woman of intellect and charm, and she +retained her attractiveness to the end of her life. There are poets who +are consumed early by their own fires, and others who are gently warmed +by them beyond the common span of human existence, and Barry Cornwall +was one of these, and transmitted his faculty, through sympathetic +affection, to his wife. + +Of renown not less than the song-writer's was the metaphysical +theologian, James Martineau, then in the Liverpool epoch of his career. +He was a clean-cut, cold, gentle, dry character, with a somewhat +Emersonian cast of countenance, but with the Emersonian humanity and +humility left out. Like Emerson, he had ascended a Unitarian pulpit, +but, unlike Emerson, he stayed there long after what he was pleased to +regard as his convictions had ceased to possess even a Unitarian degree +of religious quality. He was always apostolic in his manner, and his +utterances were ex cathedra, and yet his whole long life was a story +of changing views on the subjects he had chosen to be the theme of his +career. + +He was the great opponent of orthodoxy in his day, yet he led his +followers to no goal more explicit than might be surmised from a study +of Kant and Hegel. He was, however, sincere in his devotion to +the will-o'-the-wisp that he conceived to be the truth, and he was +courageous enough to admit that he never satisfied himself. There was +chilly and austere attraction about the man; he was so elevated +and superior that one could hardly help believing that he must know +something of value, and this illusion was the easier because he did know +so much in the way of scholarly learning. My father felt respect for +his character, but was bored by his metaphysics--a form of intellectual +athletics which he had exhausted while still a young man. James's sister +Harriet was also of the company. She was so deaf as to be obliged to use +an ear-trumpet, and she was as positive in her views (which had become +avowedly atheistic) as her brother, and whenever any one began to +utter anything with which she disagreed, she silenced him by the simple +expedient of dropping the ear-trumpet. In herself, she was an agreeable +old lady; but she seldom let her opinions rest long enough for one to +get at her on the merely human side, and she cultivated a retired life, +partly on account of her deafness, partly because her opinions made +society shy of her, and partly because she did not think society worth +her time and attention. She was a good woman, with a mind of exceptional +caliber, but the world admired more than it desired her. + +As a relief from the consideration of these exalted personages, I am +disposed to relate a tragic anecdote about our friend Henry Bright. +Early in our Rock Ferry residence he came to dine with us--or I rather +think it was to supper. At any rate, it was an informal occasion, and +the children were admitted to table. My mother had in the cupboard a jar +of excellent raspberry jam, and she brought it forth for the delectation +of our guest. He partook of it liberally, and said he had never eaten +any jam so good; it had a particular tang to it, he declared, which +outdid his best recollections of all previous raspberry jam from his +boyhood up. While he was in the midst of these rhapsodies, and still +consuming their subject with enthusiasm, my mother, who had taken some +of the jam on her own plate, suddenly made a ghastly discovery. The +jam-pot had been for several days standing in the cupboard with its top +off, or ajar, and an innumerable colony of almost microscopic red ants +had discovered it, and launched themselves fervently upon it and into +it; it had held them fast in its sweet but fatal embrace, and other +myriads had followed their fellows into the same delicious and +destructive abyss. What the precise color of the ants may have been +before they became incorporate with the jam is not known; but as the +case was, they could be distinguished from it only by their voluptuous +struggles in its controlling stickiness. Only the keenest eye could +discern them, and the eyes of Henry Bright were among the most +near-sighted in England. Besides, according to his custom, he was +talking with the utmost volubility all the time. + +What was to be done? My father and mother stealthily exchanged an awful +look, and the question was settled. It was too late to recall the +ants which our friend had devoured by tens of thousands. It seemed not +probable that, were he kept in ignorance of his predicament, they +would do him any serious bodily injury; whereas, were he enlightened, +imagination might get in her fatal work. Accordingly, a rigorous silence +upon the subject was maintained, and the dear innocent actually devoured +nearly that whole potful of red ants, accompanying the meal with a +continual psalm of praise of their exquisite flavor; and never till the +day of his death did he suspect what the secret of that flavor was. I +believe the Chinese eat ants and regard them as a luxury. Very likely +they are right; but at that period of my boyhood I had not heard of +this, and then and often afterwards did I meditate with misgivings upon +the predicament of Henry Bright's stomach after his banquet. + + + + +VII + + + Life in Rock Park--Inconvenient independence of lodgings-- + The average man--"How many gardeners have you got?"-- + Shielded by rose-leaves of culture and refinement--The + English middle class--Prejudice, complacency, and Burke's + Peerage--Never heard of Tennyson or Browning--Satisfaction + in the solid earth--A bond of fellowship--A damp, winding, + verdurous street--The parent of stucco villas--Inactivity of + individual conscience--A plateau and a cliff-dwelling--"The + Campbells are Coming!"--Sortes Virgiliance--A division in + the family--Precaution against famine--English praying and + card-playing--Exercise for mind and body--Knight-errantry-- + Sentimentality and mawkishness--The policeman and the + cobbler--A profound truth--Fireworks by lamplight--Mr. + Squarey and Mrs. Roundey--Sandford and Merton--The ball of + jolly. + +That life at Rock Park had in it more unadulterated English quality than +any other with which we became conversant while in England. With the +exception of a short sojourn in Leamington, it was the only experience +vouchsafed us of renting a house. All the rest of the time we lived in +lodging or boarding houses, or in hotels. The boarding-houses of England +are like other boarding-houses; the hotels, or inns, in the middle of +the last century, were for the most part plain and homely compared with +what we have latterly been used to; but the English lodging-house system +had peculiarities. You enjoyed independence, but you paid for it with +inconveniences. The owner of the house furnished you with nothing except +the house, with its dingy beds, chairs, tables, and carpets. Everything +else necessary to existence you got for yourself. You made your own +contracts with butcher, baker, and grocer. You did your own firing and +lighting. Your sole conversation with the owner was over the weekly bill +for the rooms. You might cater to yourself to the tune of the prince or +of the pauper, as your means or your inclination suggested, but you +must do it upon the background of the same dingy rooms. Dingy or not so +dingy, the rooms, of course, never fitted you; they were a Procrustes +bed, always incompatible, in one way or in another, with the proportions +which nature had bestowed upon you. You wondered, in your misanthropic +moments, whether there ever was or could be any one whom English +lodgings would exactly fit. Probably they were designed for the average +man, a person, as we all know, who exists only in the imagination of +statisticians. And if the environment shows the man, one cannot help +rejoicing that there is so little likelihood of one's forming the +average man's acquaintance. + +There was nothing peculiar about rented houses in England beyond the +innate peculiarities attaching to them as English. If the house were +unfurnished, and you had leisure to pick and choose, you might suit +yourself tolerably well, always with the proviso that things English +could be suitable to the foreigner. And certainly, in the 1850's, the +English commanded living conditions more desirable, on the whole, than +Americans did. They understood comfort, as distinct from luxury--a pitch +of civilization to which we are even now but just attaining. There +was not then, and until the millennium there will probably never be, +anything else in the world which so ministered to physical ease and +general satisfaction as did the conditions of life among the English +upper classes. Kublai Khan, in Xanadu, never devised a pleasure-dome so +alluring to mere human nature-especially the English variety of it--as +was afforded by an English nobleman's country-seat. Tennyson's Palace +of Art is very good in poetry, but in real life the most imaginative and +energetic real-estate dealer could not have got so good a price for it +as would gladly have been paid for the dwelling of, for example, +the Duke of Westminster. "How many gardeners have you got?" asked an +American Minister of the duke of the period, after meeting a fresh +gardener, during a long afternoon stroll through the grounds, at each +new turn of the path. "Oh, I don't know--I fancy about forty," replied +the duke, somewhat taken aback by this demand for precise information +concerning the facts of his own establishment, which, until that moment, +he probably supposed had been attended to by Providence. And really, +the machinery of life in such a place is so hidden, it is so nearly +automatic, that one might easily believe it to be operated according to +some law of nature. The servants are (or were) so well trained, they did +their jobs so well, that you were conscious only of their being done; +you never saw them a-doing. The thought happened to cross your mind, of +a morning, that you would like to take a drive at eleven o'clock; you +were not aware that you had mentioned the matter; but at eleven o'clock +the carriage was, somehow, at the door. At dinner, the dishes appeared +and disappeared, the courses succeeded one another, invisibly, or as if +by mere fiat of the will; you must be very wide-awake to catch a footman +or butler meddling with the matter. You went up to the bedroom to change +your dress; you came down with it changed; but only by an effort could +you recall the fact that a viewless but supremely efficient valet had +been concerned in the transaction. The coal fire in the grate needed +poking; you glanced away for a moment; when you looked at the fire again +it had been poked--had, to all appearance, poked itself. And so in all +relations; to desire was to get; to picture a condition was to realize +it. You were shielded on every side by rose-leaves of culture and +refinement; all you had to do was to allow your mind to lapse from +one conception to another, and then, lifting your languorous eyelids, +behold! there you were--as Mr. James would say. + +But I set out to tell not of noblemen's country-seats, but of Rock +Park. Rock Park was one of the typical abodes of the English respectable +middle-class, and the English middle-class, respectable, or not +altogether respectable, is the substance of England. Not until you have +felt and smelt and tasted that do you know what England really is. +Fifty years ago, the people in question were dull, ignorant, material, +selfish, prejudiced, conventional; they were hospitable, on conventional +lines; they were affable and even social, so long as you did not awaken +their prejudices; they were confidential and communicative, if you +conceded at the outset that England was the best of all countries and +the English the leading nation of the world. They read a newspaper +resembling in every particular themselves; usually several of them +united in a subscription to a single copy, which passed solemnly from +hand to hand. They were slow and methodical, never taking short-cuts +across lots; but they were punctual; they knew their own business and +business associates, their circle of relatives, their dwelling and +social place, and Burke's Peerage; but they knew nothing else. In a +group of intelligent persons of this degree, question was raised, once +upon a time, of two English poets; but not one of the group had heard +of either; the poets were Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning. This may +seem merely absurd or apocryphal; but consider the terrible power of +concentration which it implies! And consider the effect which the impact +against such a clay wall must make upon a man and an American like my +father! + +Well, the very surprise and novelty of the adventure amused and +interested him, and even won a good deal upon his sympathies. He loved +the solid earth as well as the sky above it, and he was glad of the +assurance that this people existed, though he might be devoutly thankful +that two hundred years of America had opened so impassable a gulf +between him and them. Indeed, the very fact of that impassability may +have made his intercourse with them the easier--at any rate, on +his side. On their side, they regarded him with a dim but always +self-complacent curiosity; had he not been a consul, they would probably +not have regarded him at all. Of course they--the Rock Park sort of +people--had never read his books; literary cultivation was not to +be found in England lower down than the gentleman class. My father, +therefore, was never obliged to say, "I'm glad you liked it" to them. +And that relief, of itself, must have served as a substantial bond of +fellowship. + +Rock Park, as I remember it, was a damp, winding, verdurous street, +protected at each end by a small granite lodge, and studded throughout +its length with stuccoed villas. The villas were mended-on to each other +(as one of the children expressed it) two and two; they had front yards +filled with ornamental shrubbery, and gardens at the back, an acre or +two in extent; they were fenced in with iron pickets, and there were +gates to the driveways, on which the children swung. Every normal child +supposes that gates are made for no other purpose. The trees were not +large, but there were many of them, and they were thick with leaves. +There was a damp, arboreal smell everywhere, mingled with the finer +perfume of flowers and of the hawthorns and yellow laburnums. Flowers, +especially purple English violets, grew profusely in the gardens, and +gooseberry-bushes, bearing immense gooseberries such as our climate +does not nourish. There were also armies of garden--snails, handsome +gasteropods, which were of great interest to me; for I was entering, +at this period, upon a passionate pursuit of natural history. For many +years I supposed that the odor of the violets proceeded from snails, and +to this day I always associate snails with violets, or vice versa. Una, +Rose, and I were given each a section of a garden-bed for our own; I +cultivated mine so assiduously that it became quite a deep hole; but I +do not recall that anything ever grew in it. The soil was a very rich +loam, and ceaseless diligence must have been required in me to keep it +barren. + +Gray skies, frequent showers, a cool or semi-chilly mildness, varied +every little while by the intrusion of a yellow fog from Liverpool, +over the river--such was the climate of Rock Park. There were occasional +passages of sunshine; but never, that I recollect, an entire day of it. +The stucco of the villas was streaked with green dampness, and peeling +off here and there. I suspect that the fashion of castellated, stuccoed +villas may have been set in the eighteenth century by Horace Walpole +when he built that marvellous edifice known as Strawberry Hill. I first +saw that achievement twenty years after the time of which I now write, +and recognized in it, as I thought, the parent of my former Rock Park +home and of innumerable of the latter's kindred. Strawberry Hill is +sprawling and vast, the progeny are liliputian, but the family likeness +is striking. The idea is to build something which shall seem to be all +that it is not. The gray-white stucco pretends to be stone, and the +lines of the stone courses are carefully painted on the roughened +surface; but nobody, since Horace's time, could ever have been deceived +by them. The castellated additions and ornamentation are all bogus, of +the cheapest and vulgarest sort. It is singular that a people so sincere +and solid as the English are supposed to be should adopt this fashion +for their dwellings. But then they are used to follow conventions and +adopt fashions set them by those whom they esteem to be their betters, +without thought, or activity of individual conscience. It is rather +matter for wonder, remembering what rascals and humbugs many of their +"betters" have been, that middle-class England is not more of a whited +sepulchre than it is. I do not mean to cast any reflections upon the +admirable and beguiling Horace; but he was a highly civilized person, +and had a brother named Robert, and perhaps solid sincerity should not +be expected from such a combination. + +Our villa, within, was close and comfortable enough, for its era +and degree; but the furniture was ponderous and ugly to the point of +nightmare. The chairs, tables, and sofas wore the semblance of solid +mahogany, twisted and tortured in a futile struggle to achieve elegance; +the carvings, or mouldings, were screwed or glued on, and the lines of +structure, intended to charm the eye, accomplished only the discomfort +of the body. The dining-table was like a plateau; the sideboard +resembled a cliff-dwelling. The carpets were of the Brussels ilk: +acanthus-leaves and roses and dahlias wreathed in inextricable +convolutions, glowing with the brightest and most uncompromising +hues. The lace curtains were imitation lace; the damask curtains +were imitation damask. The bedsteads.... But this is not a History of +England. After all, we were snug and comfortable. On the walls were +portraits of the family whose house this was; by name, Campbell; the +house-painter, or wood-grainer, one would suppose, had a leaning towards +this branch of art. I never saw the originals of these portraits, but, +upon the assumption that they had been faithfully interpreted by the +artist, I used to think, in my childish folly, that the refrain of the +old song, "The Campbells are Coming," was meant as a phrase or threat to +frighten people. Who would not have run upon such an announcement? As +I have already made one confession in these pages not reflecting credit +upon myself, I may as well make another now. Just thirty years after +the events I am describing, somebody wrote to me from Rock Park, stating +that the local inhabitants were desirous of putting up on the house +which Hawthorne had occupied there a marble or bronze slab, recording +the fact for the benefit of pilgrims. The committee, however, did not +know which of three or four houses was the right one, and the writer +enclosed photographs of them all, and requested me to put a cross over +our former habitation. Now, all the houses in Rock Park had been turned +out of the same mould, and I knew no more than my interrogator which was +which. But I reflected that the committee had been put to trouble and +expense for photographs, postage-stamps, and what not, and that all that +was really wanted was something to be sentimental over. So, rather than +disappoint them, I resorted to a kind of sortes Virgillana; I shut my +eyes, turned round thrice, and made a mark at hazard on the line of +photographs. The chances against my having hit it right were only four +to one; the committee were satisfied, the pilgrims have been made happy, +and it is difficult to see where harm has been done. Nevertheless, the +matter has weighed somewhat on my conscience ever since, and I am glad +to have thus lightened myself of it. What would one better do in such +circumstances? Is history written in this way? + +The custom of our family in America had been to take all our meals +together; but in England the elders take lunch at noon, tea at four or +five, and dinner at seven or eight, while the children dine at noon and +sup at six. This arrangement was adopted in Rock Park. My father used to +leave home for the consulate at nine, and return--unless kept away by an +official or social engagement--at five or six. There was appointed +for us children a nurse or governess, to oversee and administer our +supplies; our father and mother dining, with such guests as might happen +to be present, late in the evening. We were sometimes allowed to come in +at dessert, to eat a few nuts and raisins and exhibit our infantile good +manners. This domestic separation was a matter of much speculation and +curiosity to our immature minds; we used to haunt the hall through which +the servants carried the dishes, smoking and fragrant, from the kitchen +to the dining-room, and once in a while the too-indulgent creatures +would allow us to steal something. How ravishingly delicious things thus +acquired taste! And we, fancying, of course, that they must be not less +delicious for the folks at table, used to marvel how they could ever +bear to leave off eating. The dinners were certainly rather elaborate +compared with the archaic repasts of Salem or of Concord; but they were +as far inferior in grandeur and interminableness to the astonishing +banquets at which, in some great houses, our father and mother were +present. Consider, for example, this dinner, in no way remarkable among +such functions, at the Hollands's, about this time. There were twelve +persons at table. The service was of solid silver; two enormous covers +were on the table before the soup was served; being removed, they +revealed turbot and fried fish. Then followed boiled turkey and +roast goose, and between them innumerable smaller dishes, including +chicken-pies, ragouts, cutlets, fricasees, tongue, and ham, all being +placed in their silver receptacles on the table; on the sideboard was +a vast round of boiled beef, as a precaution against famine. With the +sweets were served grouse and pheasants; there were five kinds of wine, +not including the champagne, which was consumed as a collateral all +the way along. The pudding which followed these trifles was an heroic +compound, which Gargantua might have flinched from; then came the nuts +and raisins, then the coffee, then the whiskey and brandy. There were +people in England, half a century ago, who ate this sort of dinners six +or seven times a week, and thought nothing of it. They actually ate and +drank them--did not merely glance at them and shake their heads. The +ancient Scandinavians, Gauls, Saxons, and Normans, of whom they were +descendants, could not have done more. One cannot help respecting such +prodigious trencher-men and women, or wonder that the poverty-stricken +class were ill-fed. Dinner in England had become a very different thing +when I lived there twenty years later, and though port and Madeira were +generally on the table, the only man whom I saw habitually drink them +was Robert Browning! Possibly this is the reason the British got such a +thrashing in South Africa the other day. + +After dinner at Rock Park--or, if it were to be a late affair, +before--we would have family prayers, in which the servants joined. This +was in deference to English custom; not that we were irreligious, but we +had not before been accustomed to express our religious feelings in just +that manner. All being grouped in a semicircle, my father would open the +Bible and read a chapter; then he would take a prayer-book containing +thirty or forty well-considered addresses to the Almighty, and everybody +would kneel down and cover their eyes with their hands. The "Amen" +having been reached, and echoed by every one, all would rise to their +former positions, and the servants would file out of the room. It +must have been somewhat of an effort for my father to go through +this ceremony; but I think he did it, not only for the reason above +mentioned, but also because he thought it right that his children +should have the opportunity of gaining whatever religious sentiment such +proceedings might inculcate. But I do not think that he had much faith +in the practice as an English institution. Indeed, he has somewhere +written that the English "bring themselves no nearer to God when they +pray than when they play cards." + +[IMAGE: ROBERT BROWNING] + +I understood long afterwards, as I did not at the time, how closely my +father and mother studied in all things the welfare and cultivation of +their children. They were not formal or oppressive about it; all went +pleasantly and with seeming spontaneity, as if in accordance with our +own desire; but we were wisely and needfully guided. We were never sent +to school during our seven years in Europe; but either we were taught +our lessons by our parents at home or by governesses. In addition to the +constant walks which I took with my father, he encouraged me to join +a cricket club in the Park, and sent me to Huguenin's gymnasium in +Liverpool, to the Cornwallis swimming-baths, and to a dancing-academy +kept by a highly ornamental Frenchman, and he bought me an enormous +steel hoop, and set me racing after it at headlong speed. Nor did he +neglect to stimulate us in the imaginative and aesthetic side. From the +date of our settlement in England to the end of his life, he read aloud +to us in the evenings many of the classics of literature. Spenser's The +Faerie Queene, the Don Quixote of Cervantes, the poems and novels of +Scott, Grimm's and Andersen's Fairy Tales, much of Defoe and Swift, +Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake field, Coleridge's Ancient Mariner (he +himself was very fond of that poem), and many other things, and I cannot +overestimate the good they did me. His talks to me during our walks +gave me, under the guise of pleasantry, not so much specific information +concerning things (though that was not wanting), but--character; that +is, the questions he put to me, the remarks and comments he made, the +stories he told, were all calculated to give me a high idea of human +duties and aspirations; to encourage generosity, charity, courage, +patriotism, and independence. From the reading of The Faerie Queene and +of Don Quixote I conceived a vehement infatuation for mediaeval chivalry +and knight-errantry; I adopted the motto of the order, "Be faithful, +brave, and true in deed and word"; and I indulged in waking dreams of +heroic adventures in quest of fair renown, and to succor the oppressed. +All this he encouraged and abetted, though always, too, with a sort +of twinkle of the eye, lest I should take myself too seriously and wax +priggish. He permitted me to have a breastplate and a helmet with a +golden dragon crest (made by our nurse out of pasteboard covered with +tinsel-paper), and he bought me a real steel sword with a brass hilt +wrought in open-work; I used to spend hours polishing it, and picturing +to myself the giants and ogres I would slay with it. Finally--with that +humorous arching of the eyebrow of his--he bade me kneel down, and with +my sword smote me on the shoulder, and dubbed me knight, saying, "Rise +up, Sir Julian!" It was worth many set moral homilies to me. He knew the +advantage of leading a boy to regard the practice of boyish and manly +virtues not as a burden but as a privilege and boon, and of making +the boy's own conscience his judge. His handling of the matter was, +of course, modified so as to reach the inner springs of my particular +nature and temperament, which he thoroughly understood. Withal, he +never failed to hold up to ridicule anything showing a tendency to the +sentimental; he would test me on this point in various ways, and always +betrayed pleasure when he found me quick to detect the sentimental or +mawkish taint in literature or life. I breathed a manly, robust, and +bracing atmosphere in his company, and when I reflect upon what were +my proclivities to folly during this impressionable period, I thank my +stars for such a father. + +There was abundant quiet and seclusion in Rock Park, and had my father +been able to do any writing, he could hardly have found a retreat more +suitable. The tradesmen called early at the houses in the Park, their +wagon-wheels making no sound upon the unpaved street, and the two +policemen, who lived in the stone lodges, kept the place free from +beggars and peddlers. These policemen, pacing slowly along in their +uniforms, rigid and dignified, had quite an imposing aspect, and it was +some time before we children discovered that they were only men, after +all. Each had a wife and children, who filled to overflowing the tiny +habitations; when their blue coats and steel-framed hats were off, they +were quite humble persons; one of them eked out his official salary by +mending shoes. After following with awe the progress along the sidewalk +of the officer of public order, stalking with solemn and measured gait, +and touching his hat, with a hand encased in a snow-white cotton glove, +to such of the denizens of the Park as he might encounter, it was +quite like a fairy-tale transformation to see him squatting in soiled +shirt-sleeves on his cobbler's bench, drawing waxed thread through holes +in a boot-sole. I once saw one of them, of a Sunday afternoon, standing +at ease in the doorway of his lodge, clad in an old sack-coat which I +recognized as having been my father's. I am constitutionally reverent +of law and order; but the revelation of the domestic lives of these +policemen gave me an insight, which I have never since lost, into the +profound truth that the man and the officer are twain. + +There were perhaps twenty families living in the Park, of whom we became +acquainted with two only; the people who lived next door to us (whose +name I have forgotten), and Mr. and Mrs. Squarey, who dwelt higher up +the street. The people next door had two boys of about my own age, with +whom I played cricket, and it was from the back windows of their house +that I saw for the first time an exhibition of fireworks in their +garden; I remember that when, just before the show began, they put out +the lamp in the room, I asked to have it relighted, in order that +I might see the as yet unexperienced wonder. There are folks who go +hunting for the sun with a lantern. + +Mr. Squarey was tall and stiff of figure, with a singularly square +countenance, with a short whisker on each side of it; but spiritually he +was most affable and obliging; so was his wife; but as she was short and +globular, my father was wont to refer to her, in the privacy of domestic +intercourse, as Mrs. Roundey. They were profuse in invitations to go +with us to places--to Chester, to the Welsh show-places, and so forth; +and although I think my father and mother would rather have gone alone, +they felt constrained to accept these suggestions. It was in their +company, at all events, that I first saw Chester "Rows"; and also, +from some coign of vantage on those delightful old walls, an English +horse-race, with jockeys in silk caps and jackets tinted like the +rainbow. Mr. Squarey's demeanor towards my sisters and myself was +like that of the benevolent tutor in Sandford and Merton, with which +excellent work we were very conversant at that time; as, likewise, with +Edgeworth's Parents' Assistant, and with still another engaging volume +called, I think, the Budget of something; at any rate, it had two or +three little boys and girls in it, who were anxious to acquire useful +and curious information on many subjects, which was afforded them +in generous measure by their highly cultivated elders. Such +flower-garlanded instruction was the best specifically juvenile +literature which those primitive ages afforded. "Pray, mamma, why does +the sun rise in the east instead of in the west?" "Pray, papa, why was +King Alfred called 'The Good'?" Mrs. Markham's History of England was +constructed upon the same artless principle. What a distance we have +travelled since then! + +But it was a good and happy life in Rock Park, and I think our father +and mother enjoyed it almost as much as we children did. They were +meeting people many of whom were delightful--I shall try to paint the +portraits of some of them in the next chapter--and they were seeing +towns and castles and places of historic and picturesque interest; and +my father was earning more money than ever before, though less than a +quarter as much as he would have earned had not Congress, soon after his +accession to office, cut down the emoluments. This was England; the +Old Home, and the Old World, for the understanding of which they had +prepared themselves all their lives previous. My father once said, "If +England were all the world, it would still have been worth while for the +Creator to have made it." The children were radiantly content with their +lot; and it is on record that the little boy once remarked, "I don't +remember when I came down from heaven; but I'm glad I happened to +tumble into so good a family." The same individual, rolling on the +floor in excess of mirth over some childish comicality, panted out, "Oh, +mamma, my ball of jolly is so big I can't breathe!" The ball of jolly +became a household word for years thereafter. It was well nourished in +those days. + + + + +VIII + + + Cataclysmic adventures--On the trail of dazzling fortunes-- + "Lovely, but reprehensible Madham"--The throne saves the + artist--English robin redbreast--A sad and weary old man-- + "Most indelicate woman I've ever known"--Perfectly chaste-- + Something human stirred dimly--"She loves me; she loves + me!"--The Prince of Wales and half-a-crown--Portentous and + thundering title--Honest English simplicity--"The spirit + lacking"--Abelard, Isaac Newton, and Ruskin--A famous and + charming woman of genius--Deep and wide well of human + sympathy--The whooping-cough. + +In the spring of 1854 we were visited by John O'Sullivan, his wife and +mother, and a young relative of theirs, Miss Ella Rogers. O'Sullivan +had been appointed Minister to the Court of Portugal, and was on his way +thither. He was a Democrat of old standing; had edited the Democratic +Review in 1837, and had made my father's acquaintance at that time +through soliciting contributions from him; later they became close +friends, and when my sister Una was born, he sent her a silver cup, +and was ever after called "Uncle John" in the family, and, also, +occasionally, "the Count"--a title which, I believe, had some warrant in +his ancestry. For, although an American, Uncle John was born at sea +off the coast of Spain, of an Irish father and a mother of aristocratic +connections or extraction (I am a little uncertain, I find, on this +point); I think her parents were Italian. Uncle John had all the +charming qualities of the nations mentioned, and none of their +objectionable ones; though this is not to say that he was devoid of +tender faults, which were, if anything, more lovable than his virtues. +Beneath a tranquil, comely, and gentle exterior burned all the fire +and romance of the Celt; his faith and enthusiasm in "projects" knew no +bounds; he might be deceived and bankrupted a hundred times, and +would toe the mark the next time with undiminished confidence. He was +continually, and in the quietest way, having the most astonishing and +cataclysmic adventures; he would be blown up, as it were, by a dynamite +explosion, and presently would return from the sky undisturbed, with +only a slight additional sparkle in his soft eyes, and with the lock of +hair that fell gracefully over his forehead only a trifle disordered. +The most courteous and affectionate of men, with the most yielding and +self-effacing manners, he had the spirit of a paladin, and was afraid of +nothing. He would empty his pockets--or if, as too often happened, they +were already empty, he would pledge his credit to help a friend out of +a hole; and, on the other hand, he was always hot upon the trail of +a dazzling fortune, which, like Emerson's Forerunners, never was +overtaken. It would not long have availed him, had it been otherwise, +for never was there a Monte Cristo who lavished wealth as O'Sullivan +habitually did in anticipation, and would undoubtedly have done in +fact had the opportunity been afforded him. He was gifted with a low, +melodious, exquisitely modulated voice, and a most engaging and winning +manner, and when he set out to picture the simple and easy methods +whereby he proposed to make millions, it was next to impossible to +resist him. He was like a beautiful, innocent, brilliant child, grown +up, endowed with an enchanter's wand, which was forever promising all +the kingdoms of the earth to him, but never (as our modern phrase is) +delivered the goods. He regarded my father as a king of men, and he had, +times without number, been on the very edge of making him, as well as +himself, a multifold millionaire. However, President Pierce did what he +could for him by giving him the Portuguese mission (after first offering +it to my father), and O'Sullivan did excellent work there. But he became +interested--abstractly--in some copper-mines in Spain, which, as he +clearly demonstrated, could be bought for a song, and would pay a +thousand per cent, from the start. Partly to gratify him, and partly +with the hope of at least getting his money back, my father finally, in +1858 or 1859, advanced him ten thousand dollars to finance the scheme. I +saw the dear old gentleman, a generation later, in New York; he had the +same clear, untroubled, tranquil face as of old; his hair, though +gray, was as thick and graceful as ever; his manner was as sweet and +attractive; but though, in addition to his other accomplishments, he had +become an advanced spiritualist, he had not yet coined into bullion his +golden imagination. He had forgotten the Spanish copper-mines, and I +took care not to remind him of them. Peace to his generous, ardent, and +loving soul! + +Uncle John's wife was a good mate for him, in her own way as brilliant +and fascinating as he and with an unalterable belief in her husband's +destiny. She was a tall, slender woman, with kindling eyes, a lovely +smile, and a wonderful richness and vivacity of conversation; nor have +I ever since known so truly witty a woman. But she lacked the delightful +mellowness and tenderness for which Uncle John was so remarkable. +The mother, Madame O'Sullivan, as she was called, was a type of the +finegrained, gently bred aristocrat, every outline softened and made +gracious by the long lapse of years through which she had lived. She sat +like a picture of reverend but still animated age, with white, delicate +lace about her pale cheeks and dark, kindly, weary eyes, and making a +frost-work over her silvery hair. As for Miss Ella Rogers, it is with +some embarrassment that I refer to her; inasmuch as I fell violently in +love with her at first sight, and I have reason to think that she never +fully appreciated or adequately responded to my passion, though, at the +time, I was nearly one-third of her age--she being five-and-twenty. She +was a dark and lively beauty, thoroughly self-possessed, and versed in +social accomplishments, and gifted with dramatic talent. She afterwards +made a great impression in the court of the Portuguese monarch, and more +than once the King himself chose her as his partner in the ball. Reports +of these gayeties came to my ears; and I found the other day part of +a letter which I addressed to her, remonstrating against these royal +flirtations. It is written in pencil, upon the blue office-paper of +the consulate, and I can recall distinctly the small, indignant boy and +knight-errant, sitting at the desk opposite his hugely diverted father, +and beginning his epistle thus: "Lovely, but reprehensible Madham!" +I suspect that I consulted my father as to the spelling of the second +adjective, for it shows signs of having been overhauled; but after that +my feelings became too strong for me, and the remainder of the letter is +orthographically so eccentric that it was probably cast aside and a copy +made of it. But the rough draught, by some inconceivable chance, was +kept, and turns up now, after half a century, with a strange thread of +pathos woven by time into the texture of its absurdity. Poor, little, +lovely reprehensible Madham! Her after-career was not a happy one. + +These agreeable persons filled our stuccoed villa full, and gave +poignant addition to the quiet, gray beauty of that English spring. A +year or so later, when my mother's health compelled her to escape to a +warmer climate from fog-ridden Liverpool, she went with my sisters to +Lisbon, where the O'Sullivans were by that time established, and spent +several months with them, and saw all the splendors of the naive but +brilliant little court of Dom Pedro V. She brought home a portfolio +of etchings presented to her, and done by his youthful Majesty; which +indicate that his throne, little as he cared for it, preserved him from +the mortification of failing as an artist. + +Early in the winter of the following year (1855), Mr. James Buchanan, +appointed Minister to the Court of St. James, found his way to my +father's retreat in Rock Park. The English winter was a mild affair +compared with our recent experiences of the arctic snows of Lenox; there +was no coasting, and not much snow-balling; but we had the pleasure of +making friends with the English robin-redbreast, a most lovable little +creature, who, every morning, hopped confidingly on our window-sill and +took bread-crumbs almost from our hands. The old American diplomatist +and President that was to be (though he vehemently disclaimed any such +possibility) distracted our attention from robin for a day or two. +He had the aspect, perhaps cultivated for political and democratic +purposes, of a Pennsylvania farmer; he was, I believe, born on a farm in +Franklin County, in that State, at the beginning of the last decade of +the eighteenth century. He was tall and ungainly in figure, though he +bore himself with a certain security and dignity; his head was high +and thinly covered with gray hair; he carried it oddly, a little on +one side; it was said at the time that this was due to his having once +attempted suicide by cutting his throat. His visage--heavy, long, and +noticeable--had the typical traits of the American politician of that +epoch; his eyes were small, shrewd, and twinkling; there was a sort of +professional candor in his bearing, but he looked like a sad and weary +old man. He talked somewhat volubly to my father, who kept him going by +a question now and then, as his way generally was with visitors. There +was a flavor of rusticity in his speech; he was not a man of culture or +polish, though unquestionably of great experience of the world. He was +dressed in a wide-skirted coat of black broadcloth, and wore a white +choker put on a little askew. The English, who were prone to be critical +of our representatives, made a good deal of fun of Mr. Buchanan, and +told anecdotes about him which were probably exaggerated or apocryphal. +It was alleged, for example, that, speaking of the indisposition of a +female relative of his, he had observed that it was due to the severity +of the English climate. "She never enjoyed delicate health at home," he +had declared; "in fact, she was always one of the most indelicate women +I've ever known." And it was asserted that he had been admonished by +the Lord High Chamberlain, or by the Gold Stick-in-Waiting, for +expectorating upon the floor of her Majesty's palace at a levee. Such +ribaldries used to be popular in English mouths concerning American +visitors before the war; they were all of similar tenor. Mrs. Abbott +Lawrence was described as having bought a handsome shawl at a shop +on Lord Street, in Liverpool, and to have walked down that populous +thoroughfare with her new purchase on her shoulders, ignorant that +it bore the legend, inscribed on a white card, which the salesman had +neglected to remove, "Perfectly chaste." The same lady was reported as +saying, in asking an invitation to a ball on behalf of Mrs. Augustus +Peabody, of Boston, "I assure you, on our side of the water, Mrs. +Peabody is much more accustomed to grant favors than to ask them." Such +anecdotes seem to bear upon them the stamp of the British manufacturer. +There would not seem to be much harm in them, yet it is such things +that sometimes interfere most acutely with the entente cordials between +nations. We had another glimpse of Mr. Buchanan, in London, about a year +later, and he then remarked to my mother, indirectly referring to such +reports, that the Queen had treated him very kindly. For the present, he +faded from the Rock Park horizon, and we returned to the robin; nor have +I been able to understand how it happened that he made so distinct an +impression upon my memory. But a child's memory is unaccountable, both +in what it loses and in what it retains. + + +One Sunday forenoon, when it was not too cold for the young folks to +be swinging on that gate which has been mentioned, and the elders were +in-doors, enjoying the holiday in their own way, we descried an old +gentleman approaching up the winding street. As he drew nearer he +presented rather a shabby, or, at least, rusty appearance. His felt hat +was not so black as it had been; his coat was creased and soiled; his +boots needed a blacking. He swung a cane as he stumped along, and there +was a sort of faded smartness in his bearing and a knowingness in +his grim old visage, indicating some incongruous familiarity with the +manners of the great world. He came to a halt in front of the house, +and, after quizzing it for a moment, went up the steps and beat a +fashionable tattoo with the knocker. + +Summoned in-doors soon afterwards, we found this questionable personage +sitting in the drawing-room. His voice was husky, but modulated to the +inflections of polite breeding; he used a good many small gestures, and +grinned often, revealing the yellow remains of his ancient teeth; he +laughed, too, with a hoarse sound in his throat. There was about him +an air of determined cheerfulness and affability, though between the +efforts the light died down in his wrinkled old eyes and the lines of +his face sagged and deepened. He offered to kiss my sisters, but they +drew back; he took my hand in his own large, dry one with its ragged +nails and swollen joints. At length he inveigled my younger sister to +his knee, where she sat gazing unflinchingly and solemnly into him with +that persistence which characterizes little girls of four or five who +are not quite sure of their ground. Her smooth, pink-and-white cheeks +and unwinking eyes contrasted vividly with his seamed yellowness and +blinking grin; for a long time he coquetted at her, and played peep-bo, +without disturbing her gravity, making humorous side comments to the +on-lookers meanwhile. There was a ragged and disorderly mop of gray +hair on his head, which showed very dingy beside the clear auburn of +the child's. One felt a repulsion from him, and yet, as he chatted and +smirked and acted, there was a sort of fascination in him, too. Some +original force and fire of nature still glowed and flickered in his +old carcass; something human stirred dimly under the crust of +self-consciousness and artificiality. Rose's adamantine seriousness +finally relaxed in a faint smile, upon which he threw up his hands, +emitted a hoarse cackle of triumph, and exclaimed, "There--there it is! +I knew I'd get it; she loves me--she loves me!" He then permitted her to +slip down from his knee and withdraw to her mother, and resumed the talk +which our entrance had interrupted. It was chiefly about people of whom +we youngsters knew nothing--though our ignorance only argued ourselves +unknown, for he named persons all famous in their day. He had seen +George IV., Napoleon, Talleyrand, Wellington; he had been intimate with +Coleridge, De Quincey, Wordsworth, Lamb, Monk Lewis; he was a sort of +elder brother or deputy uncle to Tennyson, Browning, Dickens; he +had quaffed mountain-dew with Walter Scott and had tramped the moors +shoulder to shoulder with Kit North; the courts of Europe were his +familiar stamping-grounds; he had the nobility and gentry at his +finger-ends; he was privileged, petted, and sought after everywhere; if +there were any august door we wished to enter, any high-placed personage +we desired to approach, any difficult service we wanted rendered, he was +the man to help us to our object. Who, then, was he? He has long been +utterly forgotten; but he was well known, or notorious, during the first +half of the last century; he was such a character as could flourish only +in England. His name was William Jerdan; he was born in 1785, and was +now, therefore, about seventy years old. He had started in life +poor, with no family distinction, but with some more or less useful +connections either on the father's or the mother's side. He had somehow +got an English education, and he had pursued his career on the basis of +his native wits, his indomitable effrontery and persistence, his +faculty of familiarity, his indifference to rebuffs, his lack of shame, +conscience, and morality. How he found the means to live nobody could +tell, but he uniformly lived well and had enjoyed the good things of the +world. After maintaining his ground during the first twenty or thirty +years, it had probably been easier for him to forge along afterwards, +for he could impose upon the new generation with his stories of success +in the former one. Uncouth and ugly though he was by nature, the +external polish and trick of good form which he had acquired, and, no +doubt, some inner force of social genius in him, had influenced men +to tolerate and often to like him, and had given him extraordinary +good-fortune with women. He had not only been twice married, and had +many children born in wedlock, but his intrigues and liaisons had been +innumerable, and they had by no means been confined to the lower ranks +of society. That he was a practised liar there can be no doubt, but he +had the long memory which the proverb recommends to liars, and he was +so circumspect that few of his claims and pretensions lacked solid basis +enough to make them pass current in a hurrying and heedless world. Now, +however, in his age, he was wellnigh at the end of his tether; what we +should call his "pull" was losing its efficiency; he was lapsing to the +condition where he would offer to introduce a man to the Prince of Wales +or to Baron Rothschild, and then ask him for the loan of five pounds--or +half a crown, as the case might be. He was a character for Thackeray. He +haunted my father for a year or two more, and then vanished I know not +where. + +Poor, dingy old Jerdan purported to be himself a literary man, +though the only thing of his that I ever heard of was a work in +four pretentious volumes of "wretched twaddle"--as my father called +them--which he published under the title of My Autobiography. It +contained a long array of renowned names, with passages appended of +perfectly empty and conventional comment. + +But other men crossed our path who had much sounder claims to renown in +literature; among them Samuel Warren, author of half a dozen books, two +of which are still sometimes heard of--_The Diary of a Late Physician_ +and _Ten Thousand a Year_. He lived upon the reputation which these +brought him, though they were published, the first as long ago as 1830 +and the other only ten years later. Like many other authors, he fancied +himself capable of things far better than belonged to his true metier; +and among the books in my father's library is one called _The Moral and +Intellectual Development of the Present Age_--a thin volume, despite +its portentous and thundering title--it carries the gloss, in Warren's +handwriting, "the fruit of many a long year's reflection." So does every +light comedian imagine that he can play Hamlet. Of Warren himself I +barely recall a slight, light figure with a sharp nose and a manner +lacking in repose; indeed, he was very much like a light comedian in +light comedy, eager to hold the centre of the stage, full of small +movements and remarks, and--which more interested us children--with +a gift for turning himself into other people by slight contortions +of countenance and alterations of voice. The histrionic abilities of +Dickens probably affected the social antics of many writers at this +epoch. Warren also told stories in a vivacious and engaging manner, +though, as they were about things and people out of the sphere of his +younger auditors, I remember only the way of the telling, not what was +told. I recalled, later, his anecdotes of Kit North, who was a friend of +his, on account of the contrast between the stalwart proportions of that +old worthy and the diminutive physique of the novelist; they must have +looked, together, like a bear and a monkey. Warren was born in Wales, +though whether of Welsh ancestry I know not. + +When we saw him he was only a trifle over five-and-forty years of age, +so his famous books must have been written when he was hardly more than +a boy. + +As for Layard, eminent in his time for his work in Nineveh and Babylon, +and afterwards as a statesman, he did not, I think, come to Rock Park, +nor am I sure that I ever saw him. And yet it seems to me that I have +the picture in my mind of a vigorous, frank, agreeable personage who +was he; not a large man, still less a handsome one, but full of life, +manliness, and honest English simplicity. He was at this time, like so +many of his countrymen, very anxious concerning the Crimean War, then in +its first stages, and vehemently opposed to the policy which had brought +it about, for, up to that time, England and Russia had been on friendly +terms, and Layard could see no promising or useful future for the +Turk. My father shared his views, and he wrote the following passage +in commenting upon the general European situation of that day and the +prospects for England. It has never been printed, because it stood only +for the sentiment of the moment, but may be opportunely quoted now that +the aspect of European politics shows symptoms of soon undergoing vital +changes. "The truth is," wrote my father, "there is a spirit lacking in +England which we in America do not lack; and for the want of it she will +have to resign a foremost position among the nations, even if there +were not enough other circumstances to compel her to do so. Her good +qualities are getting out of date; at all events, there should be +something added to them in the present stage of the world." England has +a good deal changed since those words were written, and the changes have +probably been mainly for the better, though all the important ones have +caused our old mother discomfort and embarrassment. The medicine of +a new age, the subtle infiltration of anti-insular ideas, the slow +emergence of the democracy have given her many qualms, but they are +wholesome ones. Her best and most cultivated minds are now on the side +of progress, instead of holding by the past, and, should the pinch come, +these may avail to save her better than martinet generals or unwieldy +fleets. The "spirit lacking" in her in 1855 may, perhaps, be found in +them. Whether the spirit in question be as conspicuous with us as it +used to be is another matter. + +Henry Bright was still our most frequent visitor, and he brought us the +news and gossip of the world. It was in 1855 that Millais married the +lady who had been Mrs. Ruskin. English society was much fluttered +by this event, and many of Ruskin's friends cut him for a time in +consequence of it. Ruskin was a man of a rare type, not readily +understood in England, where a man is expected, in the fundamental +qualities of his nature at least, to be like everybody else. There are +two noted characters in history with whom, in some respects, he might be +compared, Isaac Newton being one and Abelard the other. All three were +men in whom, owing to causes either natural or accidental, the intellect +was able to absorb all the energies of the nature. The intellect thus +acquired extraordinary power and brilliance, and appropriated to itself, +in a sort of image, as it were, the qualities which no longer possessed +manifestation on the material plane. Nothing out of the way would, +therefore, be noticed, unless or until some combination of circumstances +should bring the exceptional condition into every-day light. This +happened with Ruskin, and he was, of course, unable to regard the +matter in the same light as his critics did. He viewed his wife's +disinclination towards him by the light of mere cold logic; and the +reason his friends were alienated from him was, not that her grounds +of objection to him were justifiable, but that Ruskin (according to the +common report of the time, as quoted by Mr. Bright) did not see why he +and she and Millais should discontinue their life in common as before. +Neither Millais nor Mrs. Ruskin would, of course, accede to this +proposition, and the divorce was accordingly obtained. Ruskin intended +simply to show magnanimity, and in the course of years this was +recognized and he was forgiven, just as we forgive a person for being +color-blind. In our present stage of civilization we must, in certain +matters, follow strict convention on peril of ostracism, and nothing +is less readily condoned in a man's conduct than any suspicion of +complaisance. I did not see either Ruskin or Millais until 1879 or 1880, +of which beholding I will speak when the time comes. + +But we had with us for a short time a famous and charming woman of +genius, who made me for a season forget my infatuation for the beautiful +Ella Rogers. This was Charlotte Cushman. The acquaintance then begun was +renewed in Italy, and maintained till the end of her life. Such is the +power of the spiritual in nature and character to dominate and even +render invisible the physical, that I was astonished, in after years, to +hear Charlotte referred to as a woman of plain or unattractive features. +To me, won from the first by the expression, the voice, the sphere, the +warmth, strength, and nobility of her presence, she had always seemed +one of the handsomest as well as most delightful of women. She was in +her fortieth year, but she had already announced her purpose of retiring +from the stage. Some of her best work was done in the following twenty +years. Critics might call her face plain, or ugly, if they chose, but +there was no doubt that its range of expression was vast and poignant, +that it could reflect with immense energy the thoughts of the mind, and +could radiate the very soul of tragedy. Her figure was tall and superb +and her carriage stately without any stiffness, and appalling though she +was as Lady Macbeth or Meg Merrilies, in our little drawing-room she was +only simple, sincere, gentle, and winning. Born actress though she was, +her horizon was by no means restricted to things histrionic; she talked +well on many subjects, and was at no loss for means to entertain even so +small and inexperienced a person as myself. I had never seen a theatre, +and did not know what an actress was, but I loved her, and she was good +to me. It was not the interest of the stories she told me, so much as +the personal influence that went with them, that entranced me. I was +sensible of her kindness, and of the hearty good-will with which she +bent her great and gracious self to the task of making me happy. That +wonderful array of tiny charms on her watch-chain was beautiful and +absorbing, owing less to anything intrinsic in themselves than to some +sparkling and lovable communication from their wearer. If a woman be +only large enough and vigorous enough to begin with, the stage seems to +develop her as nothing else could--to bring out the best in her. It was +perhaps the deep and wide well of human sympathy in Charlotte Cushman +that was at the bottom of her success in her profession, though, of +course, she was greatly aided by her mental and physical gifts. I +suppose there may be women now capable of being actresses as great as +she was, but the audience to call forth their latent powers and ambition +seems, just at present, to be lacking. + +Our social diversions at Rock Park were interrupted, at about this +period, by the whooping-cough, which seized upon all of us together, +and I well remember my father almost climbing up the wall of the room in +some of his paroxysms; but he treated it all as a joke, and was always +ready to laugh as soon as he got through coughing. It left no ill +effects except upon my mother, who had bronchial trouble which, as I +have intimated, finally led to the breaking-up of our household. She was +not made for England. + + + + +IX + + + Two New England consciences--Inexhaustible faith and energy-- + Deep and abiding love of England--"How the Water Comes Down + at Lodore"--"He took an' he let go"--Naked mountains--The + unsentimental little quadruped--The human element in things + sticks--The coasts of England--A string of sleepy donkeys-- + Unutterable boy-thoughts--Grins and chuckles like an ogress-- + Hideous maternal parody--The adorable inverted bell-glass-- + Strange things happen in the world--An ominous clouding of + the water--Something the world has never known--Overweening + security--An admonition not to climb too high--How vice may + become virtue by repetition--Corporal Blair's chest--Black- + Bottle Cardigan--Called to Lisbon. + +Emerson, as a matter of principle, was rather averse from travel, though +he made the trip to England twice; but he fortified his theory by his +practice of searching out great men rather than historic or picturesque +places. Ruskin's Modern Painters had not been written when Emerson first +left home, and I doubt if he read it at any time. He found his mountain +scenery in Carlyle and his lakes and vales elsewhere among agreeable +people. My father's conscience worked in a different way; he thought +himself under obligations to see whatever in the way of towns, ruins, +cathedrals, and scenery was accounted worthy a foreigner's attention; +but I think he would have enjoyed seeing them much more had that +feeling of obligation not been imposed upon him. Set sights, as he +often remarked, wearied him, just because they were set; things that he +happened upon unpremeditatedly, especially if they were not described +in guide-books, pleased him more and tired him less. It can hardly be +affirmed, however, that he would have missed the set sights if he could +have done so, and no doubt he was glad, after the job was done, that he +had done it. And he was greatly helped along by the inexhaustible faith +and energy in such matters of his wife; she shrank from no enterprise, +and seemed always in precisely the right mood to appreciate whatever she +beheld. She could go day after day to a picture-gallery, and stay all +day long; she would make herself as familiar with churches, castles, and +cathedrals as she was with her own house; she would wander interminably +and delightedly about old towns and cities, or gaze with never-waning +joy upon lakes and mountains, and my father, accompanying her, was, in a +measure, recuperated and strengthened by her enthusiasm. In the end, as +is evidenced by Our Old Home and The Marble Faun, he got a good deal out +of Europe. On the other hand, he seemed to think himself justified +in avoiding persons as much as he decently might, even the most +distinguished; and if he had not been a consul, and a writer of books +that had been read, I doubt if he would have formed any acquaintances +during his foreign residence, and he would thereby have missed one of +the greatest and most enduring pleasures of memory that he took back +with him. For no one cared more for a friend, or was more stimulated and +emancipated by one, than he. It may have been that he had passed the age +of youthful buoyancy, of appetite for novelties; that he had begun to +lack initiative. "I have seen many specimens of mankind," he wrote down, +in a mood of depression, in one of his note-books, "but come to the +conclusion that there is little variety among them all." That was +scarcely a full thought, and he would never have let it pass in one +of his considered books. He made and published many other remarks +on similar subjects of quite an opposite tenor, and these more truly +represented his true feeling. But he did flag a little, once in a while, +and the deep and abiding love of England which was his final sentiment +had somewhat the appearance of having been forced upon him against his +inclination. We may surmise that he feared disappointment more than he +craved gratification. + +[IMAGE: FRANCIS BANNOCH] + +From Liverpool we explored the strangeness of the land in all +directions. Bennoch or Bright sometimes took off my father alone; +sometimes my father and mother would go with me, leaving my sisters at +home with the governess. Once in a while we all went together, as, +for example, to the Isle of Man or to Rhyl. So far as practicable, we +children were made acquainted with the literature of places we were +to visit before going there. Thus, before journeying to the Lakes and +Scotland, I had by heart a good deal of Wordsworth, Southey, Burns, and +Walter Scott, and was able, standing amid the lovely uproar of Lodore, +to shout out the story of how the water comes down there; and, again, on +the shores of Loch Katrine, at sunset, after spending a long hour on +the little white beach opposite Ellen's Isle, I ran along the road in +advance of my parents, and, climbing a cliff, saw the breadth of the +lake below me, golden under the sunset clouds, and very aptly recited, +as they came up, Sir Walter's descriptive verse: + + "One burnished sheet of living gold, + Loch Katrine lay, beneath him rolled!" + +But I was not always so well attuned to the environment. I had got hold +of a hook and line at some hotel on the Lakes, and the old passion +for fishing, which had remained latent since Lenox days for lack of +opportunity, returned upon me with great virulence. So, one day, when +we had set out in a row-boat to visit Rob Roy's cave, I requested, on +arriving there, to be permitted to stay in the boat, moored at the foot +of the cliff, while the others climbed up into the cave, and, as soon as +they had disappeared, I pulled out my line, with a dried-up worm on the +hook, and cast it over the side. I wanted to see the cave, but I wanted +to catch a fish more. Up to that time, I think, I had caught nothing in +all our pilgrimages. If ever Providence is going to give me success (I +said to myself, devoutly), let it be now! Accordingly, just before the +others came back, I felt a strong pull on my line and hauled in amain. +In a moment the fish, which may have been nine inches long, but which +seemed to me leviathan himself, broke the surface, wriggling this way +and that vigorously; but that was the extent to which my prayer was +granted, for, in the words of a rustic fisherman who related his own +experience to me long afterwards, "Just as I was a-goin' to land 'im, +sir, he took an' he let go!" My fish not only took and let go, but he +carried off the hook with him. + +I remember wandering with my father through a grassy old church-yard in +search of Wordsworth's grave, which we found at last, looking quite +as simple as his own most severely unadorned pastoral; but I had not +attained as yet to the region of sentiment which makes such things +impressive. The bare mountains, the blue lakes, and the gray ruins +filled me with riotous intoxication. The North of England and Scotch +mountains were much more effective in their nakedness than the wooded +hills I had seen in Berkshire of Massachusetts, and their contours were +more sharply modelled and various. They were just large enough to make +their ascent seem easy until you undertook it, then those seemingly +moderate slopes lengthened out unaccountably. The day we reached the +hotel at the base of Helvellyn, I started, nothing doubting, to climb to +its summit before supper; the weather was clear, the top looked close +at hand, and I felt great surprise that the young gentleman mentioned in +Scott's poem ("I climbed the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn," etc.) +should have allowed himself to be lost. But after a breathless struggle +of fifteen or twenty minutes, finding myself apparently no nearer my +goal than at first, I thought differently. Mr. Bright told my father, +by-the-way, that the legend of the fidelity of the dead adventurer's +little dog, "who scared the hill-fox and the raven away," was far from +being in accordance with the prosaic facts. This unsentimental little +quadruped had, in truth, eaten up a large part of her master by the +time his remains were discovered, and had, furthermore, brought into the +world a litter of pups. Well, nothing can deprive us of the poem; but it +is wholesome to face realities once in a while. + +Unless one have a vein of Ruskin in him, one does not recollect scenery, +however enchanting, with the same particularity as persons. It is the +human element in things that sticks to us. Scenes are more punctually +recalled in proportion as they are steeped in historic or personal +interest. The thatched cottages of Burns and of Shakespeare stand clear +in my memory; I recall our ramble over the battlements of Carlisle, +where imprisoned Queen Mary had walked three centuries before; I +remember the dark stain on the floor of the dark room in which one of +her lovers was slain; I can see the gray towers of Warwick rising above +the green trees and reflected in the still water; and, entering the keep +of the castle, I behold myself again trying on the ponderous helmet of +the gigantic Guy, and climbing into his monstrous porridge-pot. But +vain would be the attempt to marshal before my mind's eye the glorious +pageantry of the Trosachs, though, at the time of its actual revelation, +it certainly seemed to make a far more vivid impression. The delight and +exhilaration which such magnificence inspired are easily summoned back, +but not the incarnate features of them. Wild nature takes us out of +ourselves and refreshes us; but she does not reveal her secret to us, or +ally herself with anything in us less deep than the abstract soul--which +also is beyond our reach. + +I am not sure that my father did not like the seaside sojourns as well +as anything else, apart from the historical connections; for the spirits +of many seafaring forefathers murmured in his heart. But he did not so +much care for the soft, yielding, brown sands on which the sea-waves +broke. The coasts to which he had been used in his youth were either +rocky or firm as a macadamized road. Nor was he beguiled into +forgetting the tedium of walking over them, as his companion was, by the +fascination of the shells and sea curiosities to be picked up on them. +Many a mile have I trotted along beside him or behind him, gathering +these treasures, while he strode forward, abstracted, with his gaze +fixed towards the long ridge of the horizon. The sands at Rhyl, near +which Milton's friend was said to have been lost, were like a rolling +prairie; at low tide the white fringe of the surf could scarcely be +descried at their outermost verge, yet within a few hours it would +come tumbling back, flowing in between the higher levels, flooding and +brimming and overcoming, till it broke at our feet once more. Behind us +rose the tumultuous curves and peaks of the Welsh hills; before us, but +invisible across the Irish Channel, the black coast of rainy Ireland. +One night, during a gale, a ship came ashore, so far out that it still +seemed, in the morning, to be at sea, except for its motionlessness, and +the drenched and draggled crew came straggling in--or some of them. +At Southport the beach was narrower and the little sea-side settlement +larger and livelier; a string of sleepy donkeys always waited there, +with the rout of ragged and naughty little boys with sticks to thrash +them into a perfunctory and reluctant gallop for their riders. There was +always one boy, larger and also naughtier than the rest, who thrashed +the thrashers and took their pennies away from them. The prevailing +occupation of the children at these places, as on all civilized shores, +apparently, was the building of sand-mountains and the digging of pits +with their little wooden spades. One day an elderly gentleman, with a +square, ruddy face, edged with gray whiskers, who had stood observing my +labors in this kind for a long time, stepped up to me as I paused, and +said, with a sort of amused seriousness, "You'll do something when you +grow up, my little lad; your hill is bigger than any of the others'." +He nodded kindly to me and walked off, and I sat down beside my +mountain and watched the tide come up and level it, thinking unutterable +boy-thoughts. + +The only approach to sea-side cliffs that we saw was at Whitby, on the +Yorkshire coast, where the abbey of St. Hilda stood, after whom the +American maiden in The Marble Faun was named. But the German Ocean was +bleak and cold, and my experiences in it were even more harrowing than +elsewhere; I can imagine nothing more dispiriting to a small boy than +to be dragged down over a harsh beach in an old-fashioned British +bathing-machine, its damp floor covered with gritty sand, with a tiny +window too high up for him to look out of; undressing in the cold +draughtiness and trying to hang up his clothes on pegs too high for +him to reach; being tossed from side to side, and forward and +backward, meanwhile, by the irregular jerking and swaying of the dismal +contrivance, drawn by the amphibious horses of the region; until at last +he hears the waves begin to dash against it, and it comes to a pause in +a depth which he feels must be fathomless. Then comes a thumping at +the door, and he knows that the bathing-woman is hungrily awaiting his +issuing forth. Nothing else is so terrible in the world--nothing even +in Alice in Wonderland--to a small, naked, shivering boy as the British +bathing-woman. There she stands, waist-deep in the swelling brine; she +grins and chuckles like an ogress; her red, grasping hands stretch +forth like the tentacles of an octopus; she seizes her victim in an +irresistible embrace, and with horrid glee plunges him head-under the +advancing wave. Ere he can fetch his breath to scream, down again he +goes, and yet again. The frigid, heavy water stings his cowering body; +he has swallowed quarts of it; his foot has come in contact with a crab +or a starfish; before him rolls the tumultuous expanse of desolation, +surging forward to take his life; behind him are the rickety steps of +the bathing-machine, which, but now a chamber of torture, has become his +sole haven of refuge. Buffeted by the billows, he makes shift at last +frantically to clamber back into it; he snatches the small, damp towels, +and attempts to dry his shivering limbs; his clothes have fallen on the +wet floor; he cannot force his blue toes into his oozy socks. At the +moment he is attempting to wriggle himself into his trousers the horse +is hitched-to again, and the jerky and jolty journey back up the +beach begins. If the hair of a boy of ten could turn white in a single +morning, there would be many a hoary-headed youngster in British +watering-places. John Leech, in Punch, used to make pictures of the +experiences I have outlined, and I studied them with deep attention and +sympathy. The artist, too, must have suffered from the sea-ogresses in +his youth, else he could not have portrayed the outrage so vividly. The +mock-cheerfulness and hideous maternal parody of their "Come, my little +man!" has no parallel in life or fiction. Nevertheless, such is the +fortunate recuperative faculty of boyhood that day after day I would +forget the horrors of that hour, and be happy in climbing over the +decayed chalk acclivities of Whitby, picking up the fossil shells that +nestle there. Yonder on my table, as I write, lies a coiled ammonite +found there; it had been there ten thousand years or ages before I +detached it from its bed, and, for aught I know, my remotest posterity +may use it, as I have done, for a paper-weight. Thanks to eternal +justice, the bathing-machines and the bathing-women will have gone to +their place long ere then! + +My father had given me a book called The Aquarium, written by Philip +Henry Gosse (father of the present poet, essayist, and critic), +illustrated with pictures of sea-anemones and other marine creatures +done from his own drawings in color, and so well done that nothing which +has been done since in the way of color-reproductions surpasses them. +It was delightfully written, and I absorbed it into my very soul, and my +dreams by night and longings by day were for an aquarium of my own. At +last--I think this was at Southport--a glass jar was given me; it was +an inverted bell-glass, mounted on a wooden stand, and it cost ten +shillings. I wonder if men often love their wives or children with +the adoring tenderness that I lavished upon that bell-glass and its +contents! I got sand and covered the bottom; I found two jagged stones +and leaned them against each other on the sand; I gathered fronds of +ulva latissima; I persuaded a boatman to bring me a bucket of salt-water +from beyond the line of breakers, and I poured it carefully into the +jar. During the next twenty-four hours I waited impatiently for the +water to settle and clear; then I began to introduce the living inmates. +I collected prawns and crabs and sea-snails, and a tiny sole or two, a +couple of inches long, and by good chance I found a small sepiola, or +cuttle-fish, as big as a beetle, which burrowed in the sand and changed +color magically from dark brown to faintest buff. I also had a pair of +soldier-crabs, which fought each other continually. When the sunlight +fell on my aquarium, I saw the silver bubbles of oxygen form on the +green fronds of the sea-weed; the little snails crawled along the sides +of the glass, sweeping out their tiny, scythelike tongues at every step; +the prawns hovered in the shade of the stones or darted back and forward +light as thoughts; the soles scuffled over the surface of the sand or +hid themselves in it from the stalking, felonious crabs. But I had +no sea-anemones; they are not found on sandy coasts, and without +sea-anemones my felicity could not be complete. + +But strange things happen in this world occasionally, good as well as +bad. There came up a heavy storm, and the next morning, walking with my +father on the beach, strewn with deep-sea flotsam and jetsam, we came +upon the mast of a ship, water-logged till it had the weight of iron; it +might have been, as my father remarked, a relic of the Spanish Armada. +And it was covered from end to end with the rarest and most beautiful +species of sea-anemones! + +This was fairy-land come true. I chipped off a handkerchiefful of the +best specimens, wishing I could take them all, and carried them to +my aquarium. I deposited them, each in a coign of vantage, and in the +course of an hour or two they had swelled out their tinted bodies and +expanded their lovely tentacles, and the cup of my joy was full. This +prosperity continued for near a week, during which I remained with my +nose against the glass, as the street boys of Liverpool held theirs +against the windows of pastry-cooks' shops. At length I noticed an +ominous clouding of the water, which, as Mr. Gosse had forewarned me, +signified disaster of some sort, and, searching for the cause, I finally +discovered the body of the little sepiola, which had died without being +missed, and was contaminating with his decay the purity of the aquarium. +The water must be changed at once. I sent out the servant for a fresh +bucketful from the sea, while I poured the polluted liquid from the jar. + +Presently the bucket of water was brought in. It was unusually clear. +I filled the jar with it, and then, as bedtime was near, I left the +aquarium to settle down to business again. The next morning I hastened +to it in my night-gown, and was confronted by a ghastly spectacle. The +crabs lay dead on the bottom, stomachs upward; the prawns hung lifeless +and white from the rocks; the soldier-crabs were motionless, half out of +their shells; the sea-anemones had contracted themselves into buttons, +and most of them had dropped from their perches. Death had been rampant +during the night; but what could be the cause? + +A sudden suspicion caused me to put a finger in the water and apply it +to my tongue. It was not salt-water at all, but had been taken fresh +from the cistern. That traitress servant-girl, to save her indolence a +few steps, had destroyed my aquarium! + +I was too heart-broken to think of killing her; but she had killed +something in me which does not readily grow again. My trust in my +fellow-creatures was as shrunken and inanimate as the sea-anemones. We +left Southport soon after, and that was my last aquarium. + +Let us turn to lighter matters. I accompanied my father and mother on +that pilgrimage to Old Boston which is described in Our Old Home. The +world does not know that it is to my presence on the little steamer +on the trip down the level river, through the Lincolnshire fens, with +nothing but the three-hundred-foot tower of St. Botolph's Church, in the +extreme distance, to relieve the tedium of a twenty-four-mile journey +made at the rate of never more than six miles per hour--it is not known, +I say, that to that circumstance is due my father's description of the +only incident which enlivened the way--the tragedy, namely, of the duck +family. For it was that tragedy which stood out clearest in my memory, +and when I learned, in Concord, that my father was preparing his paper +about Old Boston for the Atlantic Monthly, I besought him to insert an +account of the episode. The duck and her five ducklings had probably +seen the steamer many times before, and had acquired a contempt for its +rate of progression, imagining that it would always be easy to escape +from it. But, somehow, in their overweening security, they lingered on +this occasion a little too long, and we succeeded in running them down. +Even then, as my father notes, it was only one of them that was carried +under; but the shock to the nerves of the other youngsters must have +stunted their growth, and the old bird cannot but have suffered tortures +from anxiety and remorse. + +The sadness caused by this event, added to the chilliness of the +sea-wind which blew against us all the way down the river, rendered my +first impressions of the ancient town, which had given its name to the +one I was born in, somewhat gloomy. But the next morning it brightened +up, and our own spirits were correspondingly improved; insomuch that +I struck my head a violent blow against the stone roof of the topmost +pinnacle of St. Botolph's tower, such was the zeal of my ascent into +it. All this happened two years after the aquarium, in 1857, when I was +older and wiser, but had not yet outgrown the ambition to climb to the +top of all high places; this bump may have been an admonition not +to climb too high. We went down and strayed into Mr. Porter's little +book-shop, and he transformed himself into a new and more genial +proprietor of a virtuoso's collection, and showed us treasures, some +of which his predecessor in Mosses from an Old Manse might not have +despised. I have never since then heard of his portrait in crayon of +the youthful Sterne; it would be worth a good deal to any latter-day +publisher of his works in a de luxe edition. As for the green tassel +from the bed of Queen Mary, in Holyrood House, there is a passage in +my father's description of it in his journal which, out of regard, +doubtless, for the feelings of Mr. Porter, he forbore to quote in his +published article; but as the good old gentleman (unless he has lived +to be more than one hundred and twenty years old) must have gone to the +place where treasures are indestructible, I will reproduce it now. "This +tassel," says my father, "Mr. Porter told us (with a quiet chuckle and +humorous self-gratulation), he had personally stolen, and really, for my +part, though I hope I would not have done it myself, I thought it no sin +in him--such valuables being attracted by a natural magnetism towards +such a man. He obeys, in stealing them, a higher law than he breaks. +I should like to know precisely what portion of his rich and rare +collection he has obtained in a similar manner. But far be it from me +to speak unkindly or sneeringly of the good man; for he showed us great +kindness, and obliged us so much the more by being greatly and evidently +pleased with the trouble that he took on our behalf." It may be added +that each new stealing enhances the value of all the previous ones, +and therefore creates an obligation to steal yet more. Thus does an act +which would, standing by itself, be criminal, become a virtue if often +enough repeated. + +I am not arranging this narrative in chronological sequence; but I think +it was in this year that we went to Manchester to see the exposition. +The town itself was unlovely; but, as we had Italy in prospect, it +was deemed expedient to accustom ourselves in some measure to the +companionship of works of art, and the exhibition professed to contain +an exceptionally fine and catholic collection of them. My father made a +thorough study of them, going to learn and not to judge, and he learned +much, though not quite to believe in Turner or to like the old masters. +For my own part, when not taken on these expeditions, I busied myself +with the building of a kite six feet high, of engineer's cambric, with a +face painted on it, and used to go out and fly it on a vacant lot in the +rear of our lodgings, accompanied by a large portion of the unoccupied +population of Manchester. The kite broke its string one day, and I saw +it descend over the roofs of a remote slum region towards the south, and +I never recaptured it. But my chief energies were devoted to acquiring +the art of fencing with the small-sword from one Corporal Blair, of the +Fourth Dragoon Guards--a regiment which had distinguished itself in the +Crimean War. The corporal was a magnificent-looking creature, and he +was as admirable inwardly as outwardly--the model of an English +non-commissioned officer. He used to come to our lodgings in his +short scarlet jacket and black trousers, and my father once asked +him, remarking the extraordinary prominence of his chest, what kind of +padding was used to produce so impressive a contour. "There's nothing +here but my linen, sir," answered the corporal, modestly, and blushing +a good deal; a fact which I, having often taken my lessons at the +barracks, in the private quarters of the corporal, where he permitted +himself to appear in his shirt-sleeves, already knew. My experience of +the British army not being so large as that of some other persons, I +am unable to say whether there were many other soldiers in it fit to be +compared with Blair; but my acquaintance with mankind in general would +lead me to infer that there could not have been then, and that there are +still less of such to-day. An army of six--footers like him, with his +intelligence, instincts of discipline, capacity and expertness, physical +strength and activity, and personal courage, would easily account for +more than all of England's warlike renown and success; the puzzle is, +how to account for anything but disaster without them--though, to be +sure, other armies might be equally lacking in Blairs. He was well +educated, modest, and moral; he was a married man, with a wife who was +the model of a soldier's consort, and two or three little sons, all +of them experts with the foils and the broadsword. It was against the +regulations of the service for privates or non-commissioned officers to +have families, and, when Blair's connubial condition became known to the +authorities, he was degraded in rank from sergeant to corporal, though +he wore the Balaklava medal; for he had taken part in that immortal +charge, and I only wish I could recall the story of it as he +told it to me. His regiment had been under the command of Lord +Cardigan--"Black-Bottle Cardigan," as he was nicknamed in the army, +on account of the well-known (real or apocryphal) incident. It was +my good--fortune, by-the-way, once to see this eminent captain. I was +taking my lesson at the barracks, when Blair told me that his lordship +was expected to visit them that afternoon. The hour appointed was three +o'clock. Punctually at three o'clock a carriage drove rapidly through +the gates of the barracks, and the guard turned out on the run and +lined up to salute the noble occupant. But, much to their disgust, the +occupant turned out to be some one else, not meriting a salute. The +men returned to the guard-room feeling as men do when they have been +betrayed into exertion and enthusiasm for nothing. However, in about ten +minutes more, another carriage drove up, and out came the guard again +and ranged themselves smartly, to please the eye of their martinet +commander, when lo! they had again been deceived. Again they retired +with dark looks, not being at all in a mood to recognize the humor of +the situation. This same thing actually occurred twice more, by which +time it was near four o'clock, and the men were wellnigh mutinous, and +it became evident that, for some reason, Cardigan had been prevented +from coming. Such being the case, the approach of still another carriage +attracted no attention whatever, until it came to a half-pause, and I +saw, thrust out of the window, a stern, dark, warlike, soldierly face, +full of surprise and indignation--and this was Cardigan himself. The +unhappy guard tumbled over themselves in vain efforts to get into form; +it was too late, and the haughty and hot-tempered commander drove on +without his salute. Blair, not being on guard duty, had no part in this +catastrophe, but I well remember his unaffected sorrow over it. He was +a grave man, though of an equable and cheerful temper, and he felt his +comrades' misfortune as his own. But I never heard that any casualties +occurred in consequence of the mishap. + +I have left two years of our English sojourn unaccounted for. In +the summer of 1855, my father nearly made up his mind to resign his +consulship (since it had become hardly worth keeping from the money +point of view), and, after making a visit to Italy, going back to +Concord. This plan seemed the more advisable, because my mother's lungs +could not endure the English climate. But while he was weighing the +matter, John O'Sullivan wrote from Lisbon, urgently inviting my mother +and sisters to come out and spend a few months with him and his family +there. The Lisbon climate was a specific for bronchial disease; my +father could complete his term, and we could go to Italy the following +year. There was only one objection to this--it involved the parting of +my father from my mother, a thing which had never before happened. But +it did not take him long to decide that it would be a good thing for +her, and, therefore, in the long run, for him. Each loved the other +unselfishly, and had the courage of such love. Liverpool without my +mother would be a dismal trial for him to face; Lisbon without my father +would be tenfold an exile for her. But they made up their minds, each +for the other's sake, to undergo the separation, and accordingly, in the +autumn of the year, she and my sisters sailed from Southampton, and my +father and I went back to Liverpool. How we fared there shall be told in +the next chapter. + + + + +X + + + If there were boarding-houses in paradise--Blodgett, the + delight of mankind--Solomon foresaw her--A withering retort-- + A modest, puny poise about her--Hidden thoughts derived + from Mother Eve and Grecian Helen--The feminine council that + ruled the Yankee captains--Bonds of fraternity, double- + riveted and copper-fastened--Through the looking-glass--Men + only of the manliest sort--The lady-paramount--Hands which + were true works of art--Retained his dignity without putting + it on--Sighed heavily over my efforts--Unctuous M. Huguenin-- + "From dawn to eve I fell"--The multum-in-parvo machine-- + "Beauty and the Beast"--Frank Channing--"Blood-and water!"-- + A lapful of Irish stew. + +It was observed a little way back that English boarding-houses were much +like other boarding-houses in the civilized world. The rule is proved +by the exception of Mrs. Blodgett's establishment. There never was such +another; there never will be; it was unique. It has vanished from earth +long since; but if there were boarding-houses in paradise, I should +certainly expect it to be found again there. Who was Mrs. Blodgett? Save +that she was a widow of the British middle class, I doubt if any one of +her boarders knew. She had once been rich, and had lived at Gibraltar. I +have often meditated with fruitless longing about what manner of man Mr. +Blodgett could have been. He must have been, like the Emperor Titus, +the delight of mankind in his day. He was a man, we must surmise, whose +charms and virtues were such that his wife, having felt the bliss and +privilege of knowing and living with him, registered a vow over his bier +that she would devote her future career to the attempt to make others as +happy as he had made her; that she would serve others as faithfully +and generously as she had served him. It was a lofty and beautiful +conception, for she must have perceived that only in that way could she +keep his blessed spirit near her; that the little heaven she would make +in Duke Street, Liverpool, would attract him from the kindred heaven +above; that he would choose to hover, invisible, above her plenteous +table, inhaling the grateful aromas that arose from it as from a savory +sacrifice, basking in the smiles and sympathizing in the satisfaction +of the fortunate guests, triumphing in their recognition of his beloved +consort as a queen among women. One might almost fancy that the steam +arising from the portly soup-tureen assumed as it arose something +suggesting a human form; that from its airy and fragrant mistiness a +shadowy countenance beamed down upon the good lady in black, with +the white cap, who ladled out the delicious compound to her waiting +devotees. The murmur of the tea-urn would seem to fashion itself into +airy accents, syllabling, "Mary, thy Blodgett is here!" His genial +spirit would preside over her labors in the kitchen, suggesting ever +more delightsome dishes and delicate desserts. He would warn her against +undesirable inmates and intractable servants, and would inspire her +tradesmen to serve her with the choicest comestibles and to temper +their bills to the unprotected widow. At night he would bless her lonely +pillow with peace, and would gently rouse her in the morning to a new +day of beneficences. + +Mrs. Blodgett was about five feet four inches high, and may have weighed +twelve stone; into such limits were her virtues packed. She was perhaps +in the neighborhood of her fiftieth year; her dark hair was threaded +with honorable gray. Her countenance was rotund and ruddy; it was the +flower of kindness and hospitality in full bloom; but there was also +power in the thick eyebrows and in the massy substance of the chin--of +the chins, indeed, for here, as in other gifts, nature had been generous +with her. There was shrewdness and discernment in the good-nature of her +eyes; she knew human nature, although no one judged it with more charity +than she. Her old men were her brothers, her young men were her sons, +all children were her children. Solomon foresaw her in the most engaging +of his Proverbs. Her maid-servants arose at six in the morning and +called her blessed, for though her rule was strict it was just and +loving. She was at once the mistress and the friend of her household; no +Yankee captain so audacious that he ventured to oppose her law; no cynic +so cold as not to be melted by her tenderness. She was clad always in +black, with a white cap and ribbons, always spotless amid the grime of +Liverpool; in her more active moments--though she was always active--she +added a white apron to her attire. She was ever anywhere where she +was needed; she was never anywhere where she could be dispensed with. +Wherever she went she brought comfort and a cheerful but not restless +animation. Her boarders were busy men, but it was always with an effort +that they wrenched themselves from her breakfast-table, and they sat +down to dinner as one man. She made them happy, but she would not spoil +them. "You're a pretty young man!" she said, severely, to complacent +Mr. Crane, when, one morning, he came late to breakfast. "I always knew +that," returned he, reaching self-satisfiedly for the toast-rack. "Well, +I'm sure your glass never told you so!" was the withering retort. Mr. +Crane did not lift his neck so high after that. The grin that went round +the table was too crushingly unanimous. + +Mrs. Blodgett was helped in her duties by her niece, Miss Maria, and by +her sister, Miss Williams. Miss Maria was a little wisp of a woman; I +do not know her age then, but I think, were she alive today, she would +confess to about eighty-three. She wore ringlets, after the fashion +of the early nineteenth-century books of beauty. Her face was thin and +narrow, and ordinarily pale; but when Miss Maria had been a little while +in conversation with one or more of the gallant Yankee captains you +might see in the upper corner of each cheek a slight touch of red. For +though I would not call the little lady coquettish--that is too coarse +and obvious a word--yet there was in her that inalienable consciousness +of maidenhood, that sentiment, at once of attraction and of recoil, +towards creatures of the opposite sex, that gentle hope of pleasing man, +that secret emotion of being pleased by him, that tremor at the idea of +being desired, and that flush at the thought of being desirable, which, +I suppose, may animate the mystic sensibilities of spinsterhood. She +was anything but aggressive and confident, yet there was a modest, puny +poise about her; she was like a plant that has always lived in a narrow, +city flower-pot, at a window too seldom visited by the sun, which has +never known the freedom of the rain, but has been skimpingly watered +out of a toy watering-pot; which has never so much as conceived of the +daring and voluptuous charms of its remote sisters of the forest and +garden, but has cherished its rudimentary perfume and its incipient +tints in a light reflected from brick walls and in the thin, stale +atmosphere of rear sitting-rooms. Yet it knows that it is a flower, and +that it might, somehow, fulfil its destiny and be beautiful. So Miss +Maria had, no doubt, hidden thoughts remotely derived from Mother Eve +and from Grecian Helen; she was aware of the potentiality in herself of +all virgin privileges and powers, and assumed thereupon her own little +dignity. Never but once did I see a masculine arm round Miss Maria's +trig, stiff little waist, and that was at Christmas-time, when there +were sprigs of mistletoe over every doorway; but, mistletoe or not, the +owner of that arm, if he did succeed in ravishing a kiss, got his ears +smartly boxed the next moment. I don't know precisely what was Miss +Maria's function in the economy of the household; I can fancy her +setting the table, and adding touches of neatness and prettiness; +dusting the ornaments and fine china on the shelves of the whatnot; +straightening the frames of the pictures on the walls; and, in her less +romantic moments, hemming towels or sheets, or putting up preserved +fruits. I know she was always amiable and obliging and that everybody +loved her. + +Miss Williams was a good deal the elder of her sister, and was of a +clear white pallor and an aged delicacy and shyness that were very +captivating. She had judgment and a clear, dispassionate brain, and +I presume she acted the part in the little firm of a sort of court of +appeals and final adviser and referee. She talked little and had little +to do with outward affairs, but she sat observant and penetrating +and formed conclusions in her mind. There had been no brother of The +Blodgett to induce her to change her maidenly state, but I think there +must have been a quiet, touching romance somewhere hidden in the shadows +of the previous forty or fifty years. She admired and delighted in her +energetic, practical sister as much as the latter adored her for her +serenity and wisdom. There was between them an intimacy, confidence, +and mutual understanding that were charming to behold. When the blessed +Blodgett had died, one can imagine the vital support and consolation +which Miss Williams had been able to afford to her afflicted sister. +Each of them seemed, in some way, to explain and enlarge one's +conception of the other. Widely different as they appeared outwardly, +there was a true sisterly likeness deep down in them. Such was the +feminine council that ruled the destinies of the Yankee captains and of +their consul. + +These captains and this consul formed nine-tenths of the population of +the house, and such other denizens as it had were at least Americans. I +never learned the cause of this predilection for representatives of the +great republic and for the seafaring variety of them in particular. Be +that as it might (and it is an interesting inquiry in itself), it can +be readily understood that it worked out well as a business idea. There +were no quarrels or heart-burnings among the jolly occupants of Mrs. +Blodgett's table; first, because they were all Americans in the country +of their hereditary enemies, and, secondly, because they were all men +of the same calling, and that calling the sea. The bonds of fraternity +between them were double-riveted and copper-fastened. Thus all who had +experienced the Blodgett regime proclaimed its excellence far and wide, +and the number of applicants always exceeded the accommodations; in +fact, during this year 1855-56, our hostess was compelled to buy the +house adjoining her own, and I had the rare delight of watching every +stroke of work done by the carpenters and bricklayers who had the job +of cutting a doorway through the wall from the old house to the new one. +There was something magical and adventurous in stepping through that +opening for the first time--crossing a boundary which had maintained +itself so long. Probably the sensation resembled that which Alice +afterwards experienced when she stepped through the looking-glass into +the room on the other side. The additional accommodations were speedily +filled; but after the first fascination had worn off nobody regarded the +new house as comparable with the old one, and the people who roomed in +it were looked down upon by their associates of the original dwelling. +They were, I believe, as much alike as two houses could be, and that is +saying much in this age, but the feeling was different, and the feeling +is everything if you have a soul. + +If the Blodgett house, or houses, were unique, so were the Yankee +boarders. The race of our merchant-marine captains disappeared with +their ships, and they will return no more. The loss is irretrievable, +for in many respects they held the ideal of patriotic and energetic +Americanism higher than it is likely to go again. When at sea, in +command of and responsible for their ships and cargoes, they were, no +doubt, upon occasion, despots and slave-drivers; but their crews were +often recruited from among the dregs of men of all nations, who would +interpret kindness as timidity and take an ell where you gave them +an inch. No doubt, too, there were incarnate devils among these +captains--actual monomaniacs of cruelty and viciousness--though none of +these were known at Mrs. Blodgett's. Round her board sat men only of +the manliest sort. They had the handiness and versatility of the sailor, +wide and various knowledge of all quarters of the globe and of types of +mankind, though, to be sure, their investigations did not proceed far +beyond their ports, and you were sometimes more astonished at what +they did not know than at what they did. They had the self-poise and +self-confidence of men who day by day and month by month hold their +lives in their hands, and are practised in finding a way out of danger +and difficulty. They had a code of good manners and polite behavior +which was not highly refined, but contained the sound, essential +elements of courtesy; not expressed in fancy, but honest and solid. They +had great shrewdness, and were capable of really fine diplomacy, for +the school they attended demanded such proficiency. They had a dry, +chuckling humor; a homely philosophy, often mingled with the queerest +superstitions; a racy wit, smacking somewhat, of course, of the +quarter-deck, or even of the forecastle; a seemingly incongruous +sensibility, so that tears easily sprang to their eyes if the right +chord of pathos were touched; a disposition to wear a high-colored +necktie and a broad, gold watch-chain, and to observe a certain +smartness in their boots and their general shore rigging; a good +appetite for good food, and not a little discernment of what was good; a +great and boylike enjoyment of primitive pleasures; a love of practical +jokes and a hearty roar of laughter for hearty fun; a self-respecting +naturalness, which made them gentlemen in substance if not in all +technical details; a pungent contempt for humbug and artifice, though +they might not mind a good, swaggering lie upon occasion; a robust sense +of honor in all matters which were trusted to their honorable feeling; +and, to make an end of this long catalogue, a practical command of +language regarded as a means of expressing and communicating the +essential core of thoughts, though the words might not always be +discoverable in Johnson's dictionary or the grammatical constructions +such as would be warranted by Lindley Murray. They were, upon the +average, good-looking, active, able men, and most of them were on the +sunny side of forty. They were ready to converse on any subject, but +if left to themselves they would choose topics proper to their +calling-ships and shipwrecks, maritime usages of various countries, of +laws of insurance, of sea-rights, of feats of seamanship, of luck and +ill luck, and here and there a little politics of the old-fashioned, +elementary sort. They boasted themselves and their country not a little, +and criticised everybody else, and John Bull especially, very severely +often, but almost always very acutely, too. They would play euchre and +smoke cigars from nine o'clock till eleven, and would then go to bed and +sleep till the breakfast-bell. Altogether, they were fine company, and +they did me much good. Such were the captains of our merchant marine +about the middle of the last century. + +Some of them would bring their wives with them for the voyage; uniformly +rather pretty women, a trifle dressy, somewhat fragile in appearance, +but really sound enough; naive, simple, good souls, loving their +husbands and magnifying them, and taking a vicarious pride in their +ships and sea-craft. The lady-paramount of these, in my estimation, was +the wife of old Captain Howes, the inventor of Howes' patent rig, which +he was at that time perfecting. He would sometimes invite me up to his +room to see the exquisitely finished model which he had made with his +own hands. He was the commodore of the captains, the oldest, wisest, and +most impressive of them; a handsome, massive, Jovelike old gentleman, +with the gentlest and most indulgent manners, and a straightforward, +simple mariner withal. He had ceased to make voyages, and was settled, +for the time being, in Liverpool. Mrs. Howes seemed, to my boyish +apprehension, to be a sort of princess of exquisite and gracious +refinement; I could imagine nothing in feminine shape more delicate, +of more languid grace, of finer patrician elegance. She was certainly +immensely good-natured and indulgent towards me, and, in the absence of +my mother, tried to teach me to be less of an Orson; she had hands which +were true works of art, flexible, fine-grained, taper-fingered, and +lily-white; these she used very effectively, and would fain have induced +me to attempt the regeneration of my own dirty and ragged little fists. +She would beseech me, also, to part my hair straight, to forbear to soil +my jacket, and even to get my shoes blacked. I was thankful for these +attentions, though I was unable to profit by them. Sometimes, at table, +I would glance up to find her eyes dwelling with mild reproach upon me; +doubtless I was continually perpetrating terrible enormities. Had she +herself been less perfect and immaculate, I might have felt more hopes +of my own amendment; but I felt that I was not in her class at all, and +I gave up at the start. She was a wonderful human ornament, the despair, +I thought, of all pursuit, not to mention rivalry. Beside the heroic +figure of her captain, she looked like a lily mated with an oak; but +they were as happy a pair, and as well mated, as one could hope to see. + +I was, perhaps, more in my proper element among the captains down in +the smoking-room, which was at the back of the house, at the end of the +hallway, on the left. My father sat there foot to foot with them, played +euchre with them, listened to their yarns, laughed at their jokes, and +felt, probably, the spirit of his own old sea-captain ancestors stirring +within him. Some of them were a little shy of his official position at +first, and indeed he was occasionally constrained to adopt towards one +or another of them, in the consulate, a bearing very different from the +easy comradeship of the Blodgett evenings; but in process of time they +came to understand him, and accepted him, on the human basis, as a +friend and brother. My father had the rare faculty of retaining his +dignity without putting it on. No one ever took liberties with him, and +he took none with anybody; yet there was no trace in his intercourse of +stiffness or pose; there did not need to be, since there was behind his +eye that potentiality of self--protection which renders superfluous +all outward demonstration of personal sanctity. On the other hand, he +obviously elevated the tone of our little society; the stout captains, +who feared nothing else, feared their worser selves in his presence. +None of them knew or cared a straw for his literary genius and its +productions; but they were aware of something in him which they +respected as well as liked, and there was no member of the company who +was more popular or influential. + + +Without letting me feel that I was the object of special solicitude or +watchfulness, my father knew all that I did, and saw to it that my +time was decently occupied. In addition to the dancing-lessons already +mentioned (in which I became brilliantly proficient, and achieved such +feats in the way of polkas, mazurkas, hornpipes, and Scotch reels as +filled my instructor and myself with pride)--in addition to this, I was +closeted twice a week with a very serious and earnest drawing-master, +who taught me with infinite conscientiousness, and sighed heavily +over the efforts which I submitted to him. The captains, who were my +champions and abettors in all things, might take in their large hands a +drawing of mine and the copy by the master which had been my model, +and say, one to the other, "Well, now, I couldn't tell which was +which--could you?" But the master could tell, and the certainty of it +steeped his soul in constant gloom. I doubt if he recovered from the +pangs I gave him. The fact was, I thought an hour of dancing with lovely +Mary Warren was worth all the art in the world. Another instructor to +whom I brought honor was thick-shouldered, portly, unctuous M. Huguenin, +a Swiss, proprietor of the once-famous gymnasium which bore his name. +He so anointed me with praise that I waxed indiscreet, and one day, as +I was swinging on the rings, and he was pointing out to some prospective +patrons my extraordinary merits, my grasp relaxed at the wrong moment +and I came sailing earthward from on high. It seemed to me that, like +Milton's Lucifer, "from dawn to eve I fell," M. Huguenin sprinting to +intercept my fall; but I landed on a mat and was little the worse +for it. I fear the prospective patrons were not persuaded, by my +performance, of the expediency of gymnastic training. On the other +hand, M. Huguenin managed to dispose to my father of one of his +multum-in-parvo exercising-machines, on the understanding that it was to +be taken back at half-price on the expiration of our stay in Liverpool; +but, when that time came, M. Huguenin failed to remember having been a +party to any such understanding; so the big framework was boxed up, and +finally was resurrected in Concord, where I labored with it for seven or +eight years more during my home-comings from Harvard. + +In the intervals of my other pursuits, I was, at this period, sent into +society. The society at Mrs. Blodgett's was, indeed, all that I desired; +but it was doubtless perceived that it was not all that my polite +development required; my Orsonism was too much indulged. I was sent +alone to Sandheys, the Brights' and Heywoods' place, where I was +moderately ill at ease; and also to the house of a lady in town, who +received a good deal of company, and there I was, at first, acutely +miserable. The formalities of the drawing-room and the elegant +conversation overwhelmed me with the kind of torture which Swedenborg +ascribes to those spirits of the lower orders who are admitted +temporarily into the upper heavens. Unlike these unfortunates, however, +I presently got acclimated; other boys of my age appeared, and numbers +of little girls (Mary Warren among them), and now society occupied all +my thoughts. The lady of the house got up private theatricals--"Beauty +and the Beast" was the play. I was cast for the parts of the Second +Sister and of the Beast; Mary Warren was the Beauty. I got by heart not +only my own lines, but those of all the other performers and the stage +directions. The play was received with applause, and after it was +done the actors were feted; my father was not present, but he appeared +greatly diverted by my account of the proceedings. He was probably +testing me in various ways to see what I was made of, and whether +anything could be made of me. He encouraged my predilection for natural +history by getting me books on conchology and taking me to museums +to study the specimens and make pencil drawings of them. In these +avocations I was also companioned by Frank Channing, whose specialty +was ornithology, and who was making a series of colored portraits of the +birds in the museum, very cleverly done. + +[IMAGE: WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING, 1855] + +Frank was the son of the Rev. William Henry Channing, who was pastor of +a Unitarian church in Liverpool; he had brought his family to England +at about the same time that we came. He was a nephew, I believe, of +the William Ellery Channing who was one of the founders of American +Unitarianism, and the brother, therefore, of the Ellery Channing of +Concord. Frank inherited much of the talent of his family. He was +afterwards sent to Oxford, where he took the highest honors. All +intellectual operations came easy to him. He also showed a strong +proclivity to art, and he was wonderfully clever in all kinds of fine +handwork. He was at this time a tall and very handsome boy, about two +years my senior. He was, like myself, fanatically patriotic, an American +of Americans, and this brought us together in a foreign land; but, aside +from that, I have seldom met a more fascinating companion. I followed +him about with joy and admiration. He used to make for me tiny little +three-masted ships, about six inches long, with all the rigging +complete; they were named after the famous American clippers of the day, +and he painted microscopic American flags to hoist over the taff-rail. +He tried to teach me how to paint in water-colors, but I responded +better to his eloquence regarding the future of our country. He proved +to me by a mathematical demonstration, which I accepted without in the +least understanding it, that in fifty years New York would be larger and +more populous than London at the end of the same period. This brilliant +boy seemed fitted for the highest career in his native country; his +father did not contemplate a permanent stay in England, and in after +years I used to look for his name in our Senate, or among the occupants +of the Supreme Bench. But, as it turned out, he never revisited America, +except for short periods. His father was induced to remain abroad by +the success of his preaching, and Frank, after his career at Oxford, was +overpowered by the subtle attractions of English culture, and could not +separate himself from the old country. I saw him once while I was at +Harvard. He was an Englishman in all outward respects, and seemed to +be so inwardly likewise. The other day I heard of a Frank Channing in +Parliament; probably the same man. But either the effect upon him of his +voluntary expatriation--his failure to obey at eve the voice obeyed at +prime--or some other cause, has prevented him from ever doing anything +to attract attention, or to appear commensurate with his radiant +promise. Henry James is the only American I know who has not suffered +from adopting England; and even he might have risen higher than he has +done had he overcome his distaste to the external discomforts of the +democracy and cast in his lot with ours. + +Frank's father was a tall, intellectual, slender Yankee, endowed with +splendid natural gifts, which he had improved by assiduous cultivation. +In the pulpit he rose to an almost divine eloquence and passion, and +a light would shine over his face as if reflected from the Holy Spirit +itself. My father took a pew in his church, and sent me to sit in it +every Sunday; he never went himself. He was resolved, I suppose, if +there was any religion in me, to afford it an opportunity to come out. +Now, I had a religious reverence for divine things, but no understanding +whatever of dogma of any sort. I never learned to repeat a creed, far +less to comprehend its significance. I was moved and charmed by Mr. +Channing's discourses, but I did not like to sit in the pew; I did +not like "church." I remember nothing of the purport of any of those +sermons; but, oddly enough, I do recall one preached by a gentleman who +united the profession of preacher with that of medicine; he occupied +Channing's pulpit on a certain occasion, and preached on the text in +John xix., 34: "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, +and forthwith came thereout blood and water." The good doctor, drawing +on his physiological erudition, demonstrated at great length how it was +possible that blood should be mingled with the water, and showed at what +precise point in Christ's body the spear must have entered. I seem to +hear again his mellifluous voice, repeating at the close of each passage +of his argument, "And forthwith came thereout blood-AND WATER!" I did +not approve of this sermon; I was not carried to heaven in the spirit +by it, as by Channing's; but somehow it has stuck in my memory all these +forty-eight years. + +Often I stayed for a few days at a time at Channing's house; his wife +was a handsome, delicate, very nervous woman; his daughter Fanny was a +beauty, and became still more beautiful in after years; she was married, +when past her first youth, to Edwin Arnold, author of "The Light of +Asia," and of many rhetorical leading articles in the London Telegraph. +She died a few years ago. They were, all of them, kind to me. I did +the best I could to be a good little boy there; but I recollect Mrs. +Channing's face of sorrow and distress when, one day at dinner, I upset +into my lap my plate, which she had just filled with Irish stew--one +of my best-loved dishes. "Frank never does that," she murmured, as she +wiped me up; "never-never!" Nobody looked cheerful, and I never got over +that mortification. + + + + +XI + + + Bennoch and Bright like young housekeepers--"What did you + marry that woman for?"--"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures"-- + "The worst book anybody ever wrote"--"Most magnificent eye I + ever saw"--A great deal of the feminine in Reade--Fire, + pathos, fun, and dramatic animation--A philosophical library + in itself--Amusing appanage of his own book--Oily and + voluble sanctimoniousness--Self-worship of the os-rotundus + sort--Inflamed rather than abated by years--"Every word of + it true; but--"--Better, or happier, because we had lived-- + Appropriated somebody else's adventure--Filtering remarks + through the mind of a third person--A delightful Irishman-- + Unparalleled audacity--An unregenerate opinion--The whole + line of Guelphs in it--"Oh, that somebody would invent a new + sin!"--"The Angel in the House"--Very well dressed-- + Indomitable figure, aggressively American--Too much of the + elixir of life--A little strangeness between us--Sunshine + will always rest on it. + + + +The central event of 1856 was the return from Lisbon and Madeira of my +mother and sisters. Measuring time, as boys do (very sensibly), not by +the regulated pace of minutes, but by the vast spaces covered by desire, +it appeared to me, for some decades, that they had been absent in those +regions for years--two years at least; and I was astonished and almost +incredulous when dates seemed to prove that the interval had been six or +eight months only. It was long enough. + +In the course of the previous spring my father made two or three little +excursions of a few days or a week or so in various directions, commonly +convoyed by Bright or Bennoch, who were most enterprising on his behalf, +feeling much the same sort of ambition to show him all possible of +England and leading English folk that a young housekeeper feels to show +her visiting school-friend her connubial dwelling and its arrangements, +and to take her up in the nursery and exhibit the children. Had my +father improved all his opportunities he would have seen a great deal, +but the consulate would have been administered by the clerks. He took +trips through Scotland and the north of England, and south to London and +the environs; dined at the Milton Club and elsewhere, visited the +Houses of Parliament, spent a day with Martin Farquhar Tupper, author +of Proverbial Philosophy, and still was not remarkably absent from the +dingy little office down by the docks, or from the euchre games in Mrs. +Blodgett's smoking-room. For the most part, I did not accompany him +on these excursions, being occupied in Liverpool with my pursuit of +universal culture; yet not so much occupied as to prevent me from +feeling insolvent while he was away, and rich as Aladdin when he got +back. For his part, he struggled with low spirits caused by anxiety lest +the next mail from Portugal should bring ill news of the beloved invalid +there (instead of the cheerful news which always did come); his real +life was suspended until she should return. Partings between persons +who love each other seem to be absolute loss of being; but that being +revives, with a new spiritual strength, when all partings are over. + +Of the people whom he met on these sallies, I saw some, either then or +later: Disraeli, Douglas Jerrold, Charles Reade, Tom Taylor, Bailey, +the author of that once-famous philosophic poem, "Festus"; Samuel Carter +Hall, and a few more. Disraeli, in 1856, had already been chancellor of +the exchequer and leader of the house, and was to hold the same offices +again two years later. He had written all but two of his novels, and had +married the excellent but not outwardly attractive lady who did so +much to sustain him in his career. At a dinner of persons eminent in +political life, about this juncture, Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli were present, +and also Bernal Osborne, a personage more remarkable for cleverness +and aggressiveness, in the things of statesmanship, than for political +loyalty or for a sense of his obligations to his associates. This +gentleman had drunk a good deal of wine at dinner, and had sat next to +Mrs. Disraeli; when the ladies had left the table he burst out, with +that British brutality which often passes for wit, "I say, Disraeli, +what on earth did you marry that woman for?" All talk was hushed by this +astounding query, and everybody looked at the sallow and grim figure +to whom it was addressed. Disraeli for some moments played with his +wineglass, apparently unmoved; then he slowly lifted his extraordinary +black, glittering eyes to those of his questioner. "Partly for a +reason," he said, measuring his words in the silence, "which you will +never be capable of understanding--gratitude!" The answer meant much for +both of them; it was never forgotten, and it extinguished the clever and +aggressive personage. It was ill crossing swords with Disraeli. + +Douglas Jerrold was at the height of his fame and success in this year; +he died, I think, the year following, at the age of fifty-four. He was +very popular during his later lifetime, but he seems to have just missed +those qualities of the humorist which insure immortality; he is little +more than a name to this generation. He was the son of an actor, and +had himself been on the stage; indeed, he had tried several things, +including a short service as midshipman in his Majesty's navy. He wrote +some two-score plays, and was a contributor to Punch from its outset; +there are several books to his credit; and he edited Lloyd's Weekly +Newspaper, which was first called by his own name. But people who +have read or heard of nothing else of his, have heard of or read "Mrs. +Caudle's Curtain Lectures." Douglas Jerrold, however, is by no means +fully pictured by anything which he wrote; his charm and qualities +came out in personal intercourse. Nor does the mere quotation of his +brightnesses do him justice; you had to hear and see him say them in +order to understand them or him. He was rather a short man, with a short +neck and thick shoulders, much bent, and thick, black hair, turning +gray. His features were striking and pleasing; he had large, clear, +prominent, expressive black eyes, and in these eyes, and in his +whimsical, sensitive mouth, he lived and uttered himself. They took all +the bitterness and sting out of whatever he might say. When he was +about to launch one of his witticisms, he fixed his eyes intently on his +interlocutor, as if to call his attention to the good thing coming, and +to ask his enjoyment of it, quite apart from such application to himself +as it might have. It was impossible to meet this look and to resent +whatever might go with it. Thus a friend of his, who wished to write +telling books but could not quite do it, came to him in haste one day +and exclaimed, aggrievedly, "Look here, Douglas, is this true that was +told me--that you said my last book was the worst I'd ever written?" +Douglas gazed earnestly into the flushed and troubled face, and said, +in his softest tones, "Oh no, my dear fellow, that isn't what I said at +all; what I did say was that it was the worst book anybody ever wrote." +Such a retort, so delivered, could not but placate even an outraged +author. + +Of Charles Reade my father saw little, and was not impressed by what he +saw; but Reade, writing of him to my sister Una, five-and-twenty years +after, said, "Your father had the most magnificent eye that I ever +saw in a human head." Reade was just past forty at the time he met my +father, and had just published _It Is Never Too Late to Mend_--the +first of his great series of reform novels. Christie Johnstone and +Peg Woffington were very clever, and written with immense vigor and +keenness, but did not give the measure of the man. I doubt if my father +had as yet read any of them; but later he was very fond of Reade's +writings. Certainly he could not but have been moved by The Cloister and +the Hearth, the greatest and most beautiful of all historical novels. He +saw in him only a tall, athletic, light-haired man with blue eyes. I +was more fortunate. I not only came to know Reade in 1879, but also +knew several persons who knew him intimately and loved and admired him +prodigiously; they were all in one story about him. He was then still +tall and athletic, but his wavy hair and beard were gray; his face was +one of the most sensitive men's faces I ever saw, and his forehead was +straight and fine, full of observation and humor; his eyes were by turns +tender and sparkling. There was a great deal of the feminine in Reade, +together with his robust and aggressive masculinity. The fault of his +head was its lack of depth; there was not much distance from the ear to +the nostril, and the backhead was deficient. It was high above. There +was a discord or incongruity in his nature, which made his life not +what could be called a happy one. He had the impulses of the radical and +reformer, but not the iron or the impassivity which would have enabled +him to endure unmoved the attacks of conservatism and ignorance. He +kicked against the pricks and suffered for it. He was passionate, +impatient, and extreme; but what a lovely, irresistible genius! He was +never a society figure, and withdrew more and more from personal contact +with people; but he kept up to the last the ardor of his attack upon the +abuses of civilization--or what he deemed to be such. He fell into +some errors, but they were as nothing to the good he effected even in +external conditions; and the happiness and benefit he brought to tens of +thousands of readers by the fire, pathos, fun, sweetness, and--dramatic +animation of his stories, and by the nobility and lovableness of many +of the characters drawn in them, are immeasurable, and will touch us and +abide with us again when the welter of the present transition state has +passed. His devotion to the drama injured his style as a novelist, and +also led him to adopt a sort of staccato manner of construction and +statement which sometimes makes us smile. But upon the ground proper to +his genius Reade had no rival. A true and full biography of him, by a +man bold enough and broad enough to write it, would be a stirring book. + +Bailey, the amiable mystical poet, whom my father mildly liked, was +another man my glimpses of whom came at a date much later than this. +He was a small, placid, gently beaming little philosopher, with a large +beard and an oval brow, and though he wrote several things besides +"Festus," they never detached themselves in the public mind from the +general theme of that production. Bailey himself seemed finally to have +recognized this, and he spent his later years (he lived to a great age) +in issuing continually fresh editions of his book, with expansions and +later thoughts, until it got to be a sort of philosophical library in +itself. He appeared in society in order to give his admirers opportunity +to offer up their grateful homage, and to settle for them all questions +relative to the meaning of man and of religion. No misgivings troubled +him; his smile was as an unintermittent summer noonday. He was +accompanied by his wife, with whom he seemed to be, as Tennyson +says, "twinned, like horse's ear and eye." She relieved him from the +embarrassing necessity of saying illuminative and eulogistic things +about himself and his great work. The book, upon its first publication, +was really read by appreciable numbers of persons; later, I think, +"Festus Bailey" came to be, to the general mind, an amusing kind of +appanage of his own work, which was now taken as read, but ceased to +have readers. How happy a little imperviousness may make a good man! + +Tom Taylor, the dramatist, Punch contributor, and society wit, I +remember only as a pale face and a black beard. His wit had something +of a professional tang. There are many like him in club-land and hanging +about the stage; they catch up and remember all the satirical sayings, +the comicalities, and quips that they hear, and they maintain a sort +of factory for the production of puns. Their repartee explodes like an +American boy's string of toy crackers, and involves, to set it going, +no greater intellectual effort. They are not, in their first state, less +intelligent than the common run of men--rather the contrary; but as +soon as they have gone so far as to acquire a reputation for wit, their +output begins to betray that sad, perfunctory quality which we find in +wound-up music-boxes, and that mechanical rattle makes us forget that +they ever had brains. However, Tom Taylor, with his century of plays and +adaptations--among them "Our American Cousin," which the genius of +an actor, if not its own merit, made memorable--should not be deemed +unworthy of the reputation which, in his time and place, he won. He was +at his best when, stimulated by applause and a good dinner, he portrayed +persons and things with a kind of laughable extravagance, in the mode +introduced by Dickens. Men of his ilk grow more easily in our soil than +in the English, and are much less regarded. + +Henry Stevens--"the man of libraries," as my father calls him--was a +New-Englander, born in Vermont; he took betimes to books, came abroad, +and was employed by the British Museum in getting together Americana, +and by various collectors as an agent to procure books, and in these +innocent pursuits his amiable life was passed. He had a pleasing gift of +drollery, which made his companionship acceptable at stag-parties and +in the smoking-room of the clubs, and he had also a fund of special +information on literary subjects which was often of value. I met him +in after-life--twenty-five years after--and age had not altered him, +though, perhaps, custom had somewhat staled his variety. He was of +medium stature, dark haired and bearded. With him was often seen the +egregious Mr. Pecksniff (as Samuel Carter Hall was commonly known to +his acquaintances since the publication of Martin Chuzzlewit ten +years before). Hall was a genuine comedy figure. Such oily and voluble +sanctimoniousness needed no modification to be fitted to appear before +the footlights in satirical drama. He might be called an ingenuous +hypocrite, an artless humbug, a veracious liar, so obviously were +the traits indicated innate and organic in him rather than acquired. +Dickens, after all, missed some of the finer shades of the character; +there can be little doubt that Hall was in his own private contemplation +as shining an object of moral perfection as he portrayed himself before +others. His perversity was of the spirit, not of the letter, and thus +escaped his own recognition. His indecency and falsehood were in his +soul, but not in his consciousness; so that he paraded them at the very +moment that he was claiming for himself all that was their opposite. +No one who knew him took him seriously, but admired the ability of his +performance, and so well was he understood that he did little or no +harm beyond the venting of a spite here and there and the boring of his +auditors after the absurdity of him became tedious. Self-worshippers +of the _os-rotundus_ sort are seldom otherwise mischievous. He may be +sufficiently illustrated by two anecdotes. + +They both occurred at a dinner where I was a guest, and Bennoch sat at +the head of the table. Hall sat at Bennoch's left hand, and my place was +next to Hall's. The old gentleman--he was at this period panoplied +in the dignity of a full suit of snow-white hair, and that unctuous +solemnity and simpering self-complacency of visage and demeanor which +were inflamed rather than abated by years--began the evening by telling +in sesquipedalian language a long tale of an alleged adventure of his +with my father, which, inasmuch as there was no point to it, need not +be rehearsed here; but I noticed that Bennoch was for some reason hugely +diverted by it, and found difficulty in keeping his hilarity within due +bounds of decorum, Hall's tone being all the while of the most earnest +gravity. Later I took occasion to ask Bennoch the secret of his mirth; +was the tale a fiction? "Not a bit of it," Bennoch replied; "it's every +word of it true; but what tickled me was that it was myself and not Hall +who was in the adventure with your father; but Hall has been telling it +this way for twenty years past, and has long since come to believe that +his lie is the truth." So ended the first lesson. + +The second was administered shortly before the company dispersed. +Mr. Hall again got the floor to deliver one of his more formal moral +homilies. "And, my dear friends--my very dear friends," he went +on, resting his finger-ends upon the table, and inclining his body +affectionately towards his auditors, "may I, as an old man--I think the +oldest of any of you here present--conclude by asking your indulgence +for an illustration from the personal experience and custom of one who +may, I think--who at least has ever striven to be, a humble Christian +gentleman--may I, my dear friends, cite this simple example of what I +have been attempting to inculcate from my own personal practice, and +that of my very dear and valued wife, Mrs. Hall? It has for very many +years been our constant habit, before seeking rest at night, to kneel +down together at our bedside, and to implore, together, the Divine +blessing upon the efforts and labors of the foregoing day. And before +offering up that petition to the Throne of Grace, my friends "--here +the orator's voice vibrated a little with emotion--"we have ever been +sedulous to ask each other, and to question our own hearts, as to +whether, during that day, some human fellow-creature had been made +better, or happier, because we had lived. And very seldom has it +happened--very seldom, indeed, my dear friends, has it happened--that +we were unable to say to ourselves, and to each other, that, during +that day, some fellow-creature, if not more than one, had had cause for +thankfulness because we had lived. And now I will beg of you, my dear +friends," added Mr. Hall, producing his large, white pocket-handkerchief +and patting his eyes with it, "to pardon a personal allusion, made in +fulness of heart and brotherly feeling, and if there be found in it +anything calculated to assist any of you towards a right comprehension +of our Christian responsibilities towards our fellow-man, I entreat that +you take it into your hearts and bosoms, and may it be sanctified unto +you. I have done." + +This report may be relied upon as substantially accurate, for the +reporter made a note of the apologue and exhortation soon afterwards. +Mrs. Hall, like her husband, was of Irish birth, and an agreeable +and clever woman. They were both born in 1800, and died, she in her +eighty-second, he in his ninetieth year. He remained the same Hall to +the very end of his long chapter, and really, if no one was the better +because he had lived, I don't know that any one was the worse, in the +long run, either; and there have been Pecksniffs of whom as much could +hardly be affirmed. There is, however, an anecdote of Hall which my +father tells, and seems to have credited; if it be true, it would appear +that once at least in his life he could hardly have implored the Throne +of Grace for a blessing on the deeds of the day. "He told me," writes my +father, "(laughing at the folly of the affair, but, nevertheless, fully +appreciating his own chivalry) how he and Charles Lever, about ten years +since, had been on the point of fighting a duel. The quarrel was made +up, however, and they parted good friends, Lever returning to Ireland, +whence Mr. Hall's challenge had summoned him." I suspect good Mr. Hall +must have once more appropriated somebody else's adventure; it was not +in the heat of youth that the bloody-minded and unchristian episode is +supposed to have occurred, but when Mr. Hall was in his forty-seventh +year. + +Durham, the sculptor, was a lifelong friend of Bennoch's, and was often +in my father's company, and he manifested a friendly feeling towards my +father's son long afterwards. He was a man of medium height, compactly +built, with slightly curling hair, and a sympathetic, abstracted +expression of countenance. He was at this time making a bust of Queen +Victoria, and he told us that it was contrary to court etiquette for her +Majesty, during these sittings, to address herself directly to him, +or, of course, for him directly to address her; they must communicate +through the medium of the lady-in-waiting. The Queen, however, said +Durham, sometimes broke through this rule, and so did the sculptor, +the democracy of art, it would seem, enabling them to surmount the +obligation to filter through the mind of a third person all such remarks +as they might wish to make to each other. Durham also said that when +the bust was nearly finished the Queen proposed that a considerable +thickness of the clay should be removed from the model, which was done. +The bust, as an ideal work, was thereby much improved, but the likeness +to her Majesty was correspondingly diminished. Years afterwards I +was talking with W. G. Wills, the painter and dramatist, a delightful +Irishman of the most incorrigibly republican and bohemian type. He had, +a little while before, been giving lessons in painting to the Princess +Louise, who married the Marquis of Lorne, and who was, herself, +exceptionally emancipated for a royal personage. One day, said Wills +(telling the story quite innocently), the Princess was prevented from +coming as usual to his studio, and he received a message from Windsor +Castle, where the Princess and the Queen were staying, from the Queen's +secretary, commanding his presence there to give the Princess her +lesson, and to spend the night. This would be regarded by the ordinary +British subject not only as an order to be instantly and unhesitatingly +obeyed, but as a high honor and distinction. "But the fact is," said +Wills, with his easy smile, "I'd promised to be at my friend +Corkran's reception that evening, and, of course, I couldn't think of +disappointing him; there was no time to write, so I just sent a telegram +to the castle saying I was engaged." Probably English society history +does not contain a parallel to this piece of audacity, and one would +have liked to see the face of the private secretary of her Majesty +when he opened the telegram. But Wills could not be made to recognize +anything singular in the affair. + +Commenting in one of his private note-books, at this time, upon the +subject of modern sculpture in general, my father utters one of his +unregenerate opinions. "It seems to me," he says, "time to leave off +sculpturing men and women naked; such statues mean nothing, and might as +well bear one name as another; they belong to the same category as the +ideal portraits in books of beauty or in the windows of print-shops. +The art does not naturally belong to this age, and the exercise of it, +I think, had better be confined to manufacture of marble fireplaces." +As we shall see, he modified this radical view before he left Italy; but +there is some ground of truth in it, nevertheless. + +Here is another bit of art criticism. He has been giving a detailed +description of the sitting-room in one of our lodgings, and of the +objects contained in it, evidently as a part of his general practice to +record the minor facts of English life, to serve as a background for the +English romance he hoped to write afterwards. "On the mantle-piece," he +writes, "are two little glass vases, and over it a looking-glass (not +flattering to the beholder), and above hangs a colored view of some lake +or seashore, and on each side a cheap colored print of Prince Albert +and one of Queen Victoria. And, really, I have seen no picture, bust, +or statue of her Majesty which I feel to be so good a likeness as this +cheap print. You see the whole line of Guelphs in it--fair, blue-eyed, +shallow-brained, commonplace, yet with a simple kind of heartiness and +truth that make one somewhat good-natured towards them." + +"I must see Dickens before I leave England," he wrote, commenting upon +the various tales he heard of him from henchmen and critics; but he +never did see him, nor Thackeray either, whom he perhaps wished still +more to meet. Thackeray visited America while we were abroad; and when +Dickens came to Boston to read, my father was dead. Nor did he see +Bulwer, an apostrophe by whom he quotes: "Oh, that somebody would invent +a new sin, that I might go in for it!" Tennyson he saw, but did not +speak with him. He sat at table, on one occasion, with Macaulay, +and remarked upon the superiority over his portraits of his actual +appearance. He made the acquaintance, which ripened into friendship, +in Italy, of Robert Browning and his wife, and of Coventry Patmore, the +author of "The Angel in the House," a poem which he greatly liked. But, +upon the whole, he came in contact with the higher class of literary +men in England less than with others, whom he was less likely to find +sympathetic. + +One afternoon, when I had accompanied him to the consulate, there +entered a tall, active man, very well dressed, with black, thick-curling +hair and keen, blue eyes. He seemed under thirty years of age, but had +the self-confident manner of a man of the world, and a great +briskness of demeanor and speech. He sat down and began to tell of his +experiences; he had been all over the world, and knew everything about +the world's affairs, even the secrets of courts and the coming movements +of international politics. He was a striking, handsome, indomitable +figure, and aggressively American. When he went away, he left with my +father a book which he had written, with an engraved portrait of +the author for frontispiece. This volume, faded and shelf-worn, but +apparently unread, bound in the execrable taste of a generation and a +half ago, I recently found among my father's volumes. It bore on the +title-page the dashing signature of George Francis Train. Train saw +things in the large--in their cosmic relations; from us he was going +forth to make a fortune compared with which that of Monte Cristo would +be a trifle. He did make fortunes, I believe; but there seems to have +been in his blood a little too much of the elixir of life--more than he +could thoroughly digest. His development was arrested, or was continued +on lines which carried him away from practical contact with that world +which he believed he held in the hollow of his hand. My father suspected +his soundness; but in 1856 there seemed to be no height to which he +might not rise. The spiritual steam-engine in him, however, somehow got +uncoupled from the mass of the machinery of human affairs, and has +been plying in vacua, so to say, ever since. On the 9th of June came +a telegram from Southampton; my mother and sisters had arrived from +Madeira. My father and I left Liverpool the next day, feeling that our +troubles were over. In the afternoon we alighted at the little seaport +and took a cab to the Castle Hotel, close to the water. My father, with +a face full of light, sprang up-stairs to the room in which my mother +awaited him; I found myself with my sisters and Fannie Wrigley, the +faithful nurse and companion who had accompanied them on their travels. +How tall and mature Una was! What a big girl baby Rose had become! There +was a little strangeness between us, but great good-will; we felt that +there were a great many explanations to be made. In a few minutes I was +called up-stairs to my mother. At the first glance she seemed smaller +than formerly; her face appeared a little different from my memory of +it; I was overcome by an odd shyness. She smiled and held out her arms; +then I saw my beloved mother, and a great passion of affection poured +through me and swept me to her. I was whole again, and indescribably +happy. + +There was never such another heavenly room as that parlor in the Castle +Hotel; never another hotel so delightful, or another town to be compared +with Southampton. I was united to all I loved there, and in my thoughts +sunshine will always rest on it. + + + + +XII + + + Talked familiarly with kings and queens--Half-witted girl + who giggled all the time--It gnawed me terribly--A Scotch + terrier named Towsey--A sentiment of diplomatic etiquette-- + London as a physical entity--Ladies in low-necked dresses-- + An elderly man like a garden-spider--Into the bowels of the + earth--The inner luminousness of genius--Isolated and tragic + situation--"Ate ever man such a morsel before!"--The great, + wild, mysterious Borrow--Her skeleton, huddled, dry, and + awful--"Ma'am, you expose yourself!"--Plane, spokeshave, + gouge, and chisel--"I-passed-the-Lightning"--Parallel-O- + grams-A graduate of Antioch--"Continual cursing"--A + catastrophe--"Troubles are a sociable sisterhood"--"In truth + I was very sorry"--He had dreamed wide--awake of these + things--A friend of Emerson and Henry James--Embarked at + Folkestone for France. + +We spent our first reunited week at the Castle Hotel, which was founded +on an ancient castle wall, or part of it; traces of it were shown to +guests. The harbor lapped the sea-wall in front; the Isle of Wight, +white-ramparted, gleamed through the haze in the offing. I suppose, +during that week, we were enough employed in telling one another our +histories during our separation; and naturally that of my mother and +sisters filled the larger space. They had brought home words and phrases +in a foreign tongue, which made me feel very ignorant; they had talked +familiarly with kings and queens; they had had exciting experiences in +Madeira; they brought with them photographs and colored prints of people +and places, unlike anything that I had seen. My mother, who was an +unsurpassed narrator of events, gave us wonderful and vivid accounts of +all they had seen and done, which I so completely assimilated that to +this day I could repeat a great deal of them; my father listened with +eyes like stars (as my mother would have said), and with a smile in the +corners of his mouth. It was glorious weather all the time, or so it +seems to have been to me. My sisters and I renewed our acquaintance, +and found one another none the worse. Nobody called on us except a Mrs. +Hume, with whom a stay of a fortnight was projected; she kept a girls' +school, and, this being vacation, she would take us as boarders. We +were starved there, as only a pinching, English, thin-bread-and-butter +housekeeper can starve people; and my sisters and I had for our playmate +a half-witted girl who was staying over the vacation, and who giggled +all the time. Mrs. Hume had aroused my enthusiasm by telling me that +there were endless sea-anemones along the coast; but Providence seemed +hostile to my sea-anemone proclivities; for it turned out that what Mrs. +Hume understood by sea-anemones was a small, white-flowering weed +that grew on the low bluff beside the water. I never told her my +disappointment, imagining that it would distress her; but it gnawed me +terribly, and she did not merit such forbearance. + +We would much better have stayed at the hotel, only that they charged us +fourteen dollars a day, which was considered exorbitant in those days. +There were seven of us, including Fanny, the nurse. What an age, when +two dollars a head was exorbitant! What Mrs. Hume charged us I know not, +but it is only just to admit that it must have been a good deal less +than one hundred dollars a week; though, again, it must not be forgotten +that translucent bread-and-butter is not expensive. We were sent there, +I suppose, in order to remind us that this was still the world that we +were living in, after all, and not yet Paradise. We came out from her +sobered and chastened, but cheerful still; and meanwhile we visited +Stonehenge and other local things of beauty or interest. Then Mr. +Bennoch (who, to tell the truth, had introduced Mrs. Hume to us) invited +us to spend a month at his house in Blackheath, while he and his wife +were making a little tour in Germany, and we arrived at this agreeable +refuge during the first half of July. My father records that he was as +happy there as he had ever been since leaving his native land. It was +a pleasant little house, in a semi-countrified spot, and it contained, +besides the usual furniture proper to an English gentleman and his wife +of moderate fortune, a little Scotch terrier named Towsey, who commanded +much of the attention of us children, and one day inadvertently bit my +thumb; and I carry the scar, for remembrance, to this day. + +Many well-known persons passed across our stage here; and London, +with all its wonders, was at our doors, the wide expanse of its +smoke-piercing towers visible in our distance. All the while my father +kept the official part of himself at Liverpool, where his consular +duties still claimed his attention; he went and came between Mrs. +Blodgett's and Black-heath. The popularity of the incomparable +boarding-house in Duke Street had continued to increase, and he was +obliged to bestow himself in a small room at the back of the building, +which was reputed to be haunted by the spirit of one of his predecessors +in office, who had not only died in it, but had often experienced there +the terrors of delirium tremens; but the ghost, perhaps from a sentiment +of diplomatic etiquette, never showed itself to my father. Or it may +have been that the real self of him being in Blackheath, what remained +was not sufficient to be conscious of a spiritual presence. He came and +went, like sunlight on a partly cloudy day. I recollect taking a walk +over the Heath at evening with him and the doctor who was attending my +mother; Mr. Bennoch was with us; it must have been just before he +and his wife went to the Continent. After walking some distance (the +gentlemen chatting together, and I gambolling on ahead) we came to the +summit of a low rise, from which we beheld London, flung out, all its +gloomy length, before us; and in all my thoughts of London as a physical +entity the impression then received of it returns to me. It lay vast, +low, and obscure in front of the dull red of the sunset, with dim +lights twinkling dispersedly throughout it, and the dome of St. Paul's +doubtfully defining itself above the level. There is no other general +view of London to be compared with this, seen under those conditions. +Soon after, we came to some ridges and mounds, which, said Bennoch, +marked the place where were buried the heaps of the slain of some great +prehistoric battle--one, at least, which must have taken place while +the Romans yet ruled Britain. It was a noble scene for such an antique +conflict, when man met man, foot to foot and hand to hand, with sword +and spear. My mind was full of King Arthur and his Round-Table knights +of the Pendragonship, and I doubted not that their mightiest fight had +been fought here. + +There were many walks in London itself. One day, going west along the +Strand, we found ourselves drawn into the midst of a vast crowd near +Charing Cross; some royal function was in progress. Threading our +way slowly through the press, we saw a troop of horsemen in steel +breastplates, with nodding plumes on their helmets, and drawn swords +carried upright on their thighs--the famous Horse Guards; and farther +on we began to see carriages with highly ornamental coachmen and footmen +passing in dilatory procession; within them were glimpses of ladies in +low-necked dresses, feathers in their hair, and their necks sparkling +with jewels. + +At length we turned off towards the north, and by-and-by were entering a +huge building of gray stone, with tall pillars in front of it, which my +father told me was the British Museum. What a place for a boy! Endless +halls of statues; enormous saloons filled with glass-cases of shells; +cases of innumerable birds; acres of butterflies and other insects; +strange objects which I did not understand--magic globes of shining +crystal, enormous masses of iron which were said to have fallen from the +sky; vases and jewels; and finally, at the farther end of a corridor, +a small door, softly opening, disclosed a circular room of stupendous +proportions, domed above, the curving walls filled with myriads of +books. In the centre was a circular arrangement of desks, and in the +midst of these an elderly man, like a garden-spider in his web; but it +was his duty to feed, not devour, the human flies who sat or walked to +and fro with literary meat gathered from all over the world. It was my +first vision of a great library. + +Another time we went--all of us, I think--to the Tower of London. I +vibrated with joy at the spectacle of the array of figures in armor, and +picked out, a score of times, the suit I would most gladly choose to put +on. Here were St. George, King Arthur, Sir Scudamour, Sir Lancelot--all +but their living faces and their knightly deeds! Then I found myself +immured in dungeons with walls twenty feet thick, darksome and +low-browed, with tiny windows, and some of them bearing on their stones +strange inscriptions, cut there by captives who were nevermore to issue +thence, save to the block. Here the great Raleigh had been confined; +here, the lovable, rash-tempered Essex; here, the noble Sir Henry Vane, +who had once trod the rocky coast of my own New England. Everywhere +stood on the watch or paced about the Beef-eaters in their brilliant +fifteenth-century motley. I have never since then passed the portals of +the Tower, nor seen again the incomparable gleam of the Koh-i-noor--if +it were, indeed, the Koh-i-noor that I saw, and not a glass model +foisted on my innocence. + +Again, I followed my father down many flights of steps, into the bowels +of the earth; but there were lights there, and presently we passed +through a sort of turnstile, and saw lengthening out before us two +endless open tubes, of diameter twice or thrice the height of a man, +with people walking in them, and disappearing in their interminable +perspective. We, too, entered and began to traverse them, and after we +had proceeded about half-way my father told me that the river Thames was +flowing over our heads, with its ships on its surface, and its fishes, +and its bottom of mud and gravel--under all these this illuminated +corridor, with ourselves breathing and seeing and walking therein. Would +we ever again behold the upper world and the sky? The atmosphere was not +pleasant, and I was glad to find myself climbing up another flight of +stairs and emerging on the other side of the river, which we had crossed +on foot, dry-shod. + +Of the famous personages of this epoch I did not see much; only I +remember that a woman who seemed taller than common, dressed in a dark +silk gown, and moving with a certain air of composure, as if she knew +she was right, and yet meant to be considerate of others; whose features +were plain, and whose voice had a resonance and modulation unlike other +voices, was spoken of in my hearing as bearing a name which I had heard +often, and which had a glamour for my boyish imagination--Jenny Lind. +There also rises before me the dark, courteous visage and urbane figure +of Monckton Milnes; but there was something more and better than mere +courtesy and urbanity about him; the inner luminousness, I suppose, of +what was nearly genius, and would have been altogether that but for +the swaddling-clothes of rank and society which hampered it. My father +thought him like Longfellow; but there was an English materialism about +Milnes from which the American poet was free. Henry James told me +long afterwards a comical tale of how, being left to browse in Mimes's +library one afternoon, he strayed into an alcove of pretty and inviting +volumes, in sweet bindings, mellowed by age, and was presently terrified +by the discovery that he was enmeshed in the toils of what bibliophiles +term, I think, "Facetiae"--of which Milnes had a collection unmatched +among private book-owners. Milnes's social method was The Breakfast, +which he employed constantly, and nothing could be more agreeable--in +England; we cannot acclimate it here, because we work in the afternoon. +Of Miss Bacon, of the Bacon-wrote-Shakespeare theory, I saw nothing, but +heard much, for a time, in our family circle; my father seemed to have +little doubt of her insanity, and absolute certainty of the despotic +attitude she adopted towards her supporters, which was far more +intolerable than the rancor which she visited on those who disregarded +her monomaniacal convictions. My mother, out of pure compassion, I +believe, for the isolated and tragic situation in which the poor woman +had placed herself, tried with all her might to read the book and +believe the theory; she would take up the mass of manuscript night after +night, and wade through it with that truly saintlike self-abnegation +which characterized her, occasionally, too, reading out a passage +which struck her. The result was that she could not bring herself to +disbelieve in Shakespeare, but she conceived a higher admiration than +ever of Bacon; and that, too, was characteristic of her. + +We made several incursions into the surrounding country. One was to +Newstead, where, from the talkative landlady of the hotel, we heard +endless stories about Byron and his wife; this was before Mrs. Harriet +Beecher Stowe published her well-intended but preposterous volume about +the poet. Then we visited Oxford, and were shown about by the mayor of +the town, and by Mr. S. C. Hall, and were at one moment bathed in the +light emanating from Lady Waldegrave, of which interview my father, in +his private note-book, speaks thus: "Lady Waldegrave appeared; whereupon +Mr. Speirs (the mayor) instantly was transfigured and transformed--like +the English snob he is, worthy man--and looked humbler than he does in +the presence of his Maker, and so respectful and so blest that it was +pleasant to behold him. Nevertheless, she is but a brummagem kind of +countess, after all, being the daughter of Braham, the famous singer, +and married first to an illegitimate son of an Earl Waldegrave--not +to the legitimate son and possessor of the title (who was her first +love)--and after the death of these two to the present old Mr. Harcourt. +She is still in her summer, even if it be waning, a lady of fresh +complexion and light hair, a Jewish nose (to which her descent entitles +her), a kind and generous expression of face, but an officer-like +figure and bearing. There seems to be a peculiarity of manner, a lack +of simplicity, a self-consciousness, which I suspect would not have been +seen in a lady born to the rank which she has attained. But, anyhow, she +was kind to all of us, and complimentary to me, and she showed us +some curious things which had formerly made part of Horace Walpole's +collection at Twickenham--a missal, for instance, splendidly bound and +beset with jewels, but of such value as no setting could increase, for +it was exquisitely illuminated by the own hand of Raphael himself! I +held the precious volume in my grasp, though I fancy (and so does my +wife) that the countess scarcely thought it safe out of her own hands. +In truth, I suppose any virtuoso would steal it if he could; and Lady +Waldegrave has reason to look to the safe-keeping of her treasures, as +she exemplified by telling us a story while exhibiting a little silver +case. This once contained a portion of the heart of Louis XII. (how +the devil it was got I know not), and she was showing it one day to +Strickland, Dean of Westminster, when, to her horror and astonishment, +she saw him open the case and swallow the royal heart! Ate ever man such +a morsel before! It was a symptom of insanity in the dean, and I believe +he is since dead, insane." It was after this interview with the countess +that we visited Old Boston, and when my parents told old Mr. Porter +about the missal his jolly eyes took on a far-away expression, as if he +saw himself in the delightful act of purloining it, "in obedience to a +higher law than that which he broke." + +The man who, of all writing men, was nearest to my heart in those years, +and long after, was George Borrow, whose book, Lavengro, I had already +begun to read. The publication of this work had made him famous, though +he had written two or three volumes before that, and was at this +very time bringing out its sequel, Romany Rye. But Borrow was never a +hanger-on of British society, and we never saw him. One day, however, +Mr. Martineau turned up, and, the conversation chancing to turn on +Borrow, he said that he and George had been school-mates, and that the +latter's gypsy proclivities had given him a singular influence over +other boys. Finally, he had persuaded half a dozen of them to run away +from the school and lead a life of freedom and adventure on the roads +and lanes of England. To this part of Mr. Martineau's tale I lent an +eager and sympathetic ear; but the narrator was lowered in my estimation +by the confession that he himself had not been a member of Borrow's +party. He went on to say that the fugitives had been pursued and +captured and brought back to bondage; and upon Borrow's admitting that +he had been the instigator of the adventure, he was sentenced to be +flogged, and that it was on the back of this very Martineau that he +had been "horsed" to undergo the punishment! Imagine the great, wild, +mysterious Borrow mounted upon the ascetic and precise cleric that +was to be, and the pedagogue laying on! My father asked concerning the +accuracy of some of Borrow's statements in his books, to which Martineau +replied that he could not be entirely depended on; not that he meant to +mislead or misrepresent, but his imagination, or some eccentricity in +his mental equipment, caused him occasionally to depart from literal +fact. Very possibly; but Borrow's imagination brought him much nearer to +essential truth than adherence to what they supposed to be literal facts +could bring most men. + +One of the most interesting expeditions of this epoch--though I cannot +fix the exact date--was to an old English country-seat, built in the +time of Henry VIII., or earlier, and added to from age to age since +then, until now it presented an irregularity and incongruousness of +plan which rendered it an interminable maze of delight to us children +wandering through it. We were taken in charge by the children of the +family, of whom there were no fewer than fourteen, all boys, with only +twelve years between the eldest and the youngest (some of them being +twins). Hide-and-seek at once suggested itself as the proper game for +the circumstances, but no set game was needed; the house itself was +Hide-and-seek House; you could not go twenty feet without getting lost, +and the walls of many of the rooms had sliding panels, and passages +through the thickness of them, and even staircases, so that when one +of us went into a room there was no predicting where he would come out. +Finally they brought us to a black, oaken door with a great, black +lock on it, and bolts at the top and bottom; it was near the end of a +corridor, in the oldest wing of the building. The door, in addition to +its native massiveness, was studded with great nails, and there were +bands of iron or steel crossing it horizontally. When we proposed +to enter, our friends informed us that this door had been closed one +hundred and eighty years before and had never been opened since then, +and that it had shut in a young woman who, for some reason, had become +very objectionable or dangerous to other persons concerned. The windows +of the room, they added, had been walled up at the same time; so there +this unhappy creature slowly starved to death in pitch darkness. There, +doubtless, within a few feet of where we stood, lay her skeleton, +huddled, dry, and awful in the garments she wore in life. Sometimes, +too, by listening long at the key-hole, you could hear a faint sound, +like a human groan; but it was probably merely the sigh of the draught +through the aperture. This story so horrified me and froze my young +blood that the fancies of Mrs. Radcliffe and Edgar Allan Poe seemed like +frivolous chatter beside it. + +About the middle of September the Bennochs returned from the Continent, +and we made ready to transfer ourselves to the lodgings in Southport +which had been prepared for us. Bennoch, who was soon to meet with the +crucial calamity of his career, was in abounding spirits, and he told my +father an anecdote of our friend Grace Greenwood, which is recorded in +one of the private note-books. "Grace, Bennoch says," he writes, "was +invited to a private reading of Shakespeare by Charles Kemble, and she +thought it behooved her to manifest her good taste and depth of feeling +by going into hysterics and finally fainting away upon the floor. +Hereupon Charles Kemble looked up from his book and addressed himself to +her sternly and severely. 'Ma'am,' said he, 'this won't do! Ma'am, you +disturb the company! Ma'am, you expose yourself!'" + +This last hit had the desired effect, for poor Grace probably thought +that her drapery had not adjusted itself as it ought, and that perhaps +she was really exposing more of her charms than were good to be imparted +to a mixed company. So she came to herself in a hurry, and, after a few +flutterings, subsided into a decorous listener. Bennoch says he had this +story from an eye-witness, and that he fully believes it; and I think it +not impossible that, betwixt downright humbug and a morbid exaggeration +of her own emotions, Grace may have been betrayed into this awful fix. I +wonder how she survived it! + +At Southport we remained from the middle of September to the following +July, 1857. In addition to my aquarium, I was deeply involved in the +ship-building industry, and, the more efficiently to carry out my +designs, was apprenticed to a carpenter, an elderly, shirt-sleeved, +gray-bearded man, who under a stern aspect concealed a warm and +companionable heart. There were boys at the beach who had little models +of cutters and yachts, and I conceived the project of making a sail-boat +for myself. My father seems to have thought that some practical +acquaintance with the use of carpenter's tools would do me no harm--by +adding a knowledge of a handicraft to my other culture--so he arranged +with Mr. Chubbuck that I should attend his work-shop for instruction. +Mr. Chubbuck, accordingly, gave me thorough lessons in the mysteries +of the plane, the spokeshave, the gouge, and the chisel, and finally +presented me with a block of white pine eighteen inches long and +nine wide, and I set to work on my sloop. He oversaw my labors, but +conscientiously abstained from taking a hand in them himself; the +model gradually took shape, and there began to appear a bluff-bowed, +broad-beamed craft, a good deal resembling the French fishing-boats +which I afterwards saw off the harbors of Calais and Havre. The outside +form being done, I entered upon the delightful and exciting work of +hollowing it out with the gouge, narrowly avoiding, more than once, +piercing through from the hold into the outer world. But the little ship +became more buoyant every day, and finally stood ready for her +deck. This I prepared by planing down a bit of plank to the proper +thickness--or thinness--and carefully fitted it into its place, with +companionways fore and aft, covered with hatches made to slide in +grooves. Next, with chisel, spoke-shave, and sand-paper, I prepared +the mast and fitted a top-mast to it, and secured it in its place with +shrouds and stays of fine, waxed fishing-line. The boom and gaff +were then put in place, and Fanny Wrigley (who had aforetime made my +pasteboard armor and helmet) now made me a main-sail, top-sail, and jib +out of the most delicate linen, beautifully hemmed, and a tiny American +flag to hoist to the peak. It only remained to paint her; I was provided +with three delectable cans of oil-paint, and I gave her a bright-green +under-body, a black upper-body, and white port-holes with a narrow red +line running underneath them. Thus decorated, and with her sails +set, she was a splendid object, and the boys with bought models were +depressed with envy, especially when I called their attention to the +stars and stripes. This boat-building mania of mine had originated while +we were at Mrs. Blodgett's, where the captain of one of the clippers +gave me a beautiful model of his own ship, fully rigged, and perfect +in every detail; only it would not sail, being solid. Concerning +his clipper, by-the-way, I once overheard a bit of dialogue in Mrs. +Blodgett's smoking-room between my captain and another. "Do you mean to +say," demanded the latter, "that you passed the Lightning?" To which +my captain replied, in measured and impressive tones, +"I-passed-the-Lightning!" The Lightning, it may be remarked, was at that +time considered the queen of the Atlantic passage; she had made the trip +between Boston and Liverpool in ten days. But my captain had once shown +her his heels, nevertheless. I wanted to christen my sloop The Sea +Eagle, but my father laughed so much at this name that I gave it up; +he suggested The Chub, The Mud-Pout, and other ignoble titles, which I +indignantly rejected, and what her name finally was I have forgotten. +She afforded me immense happiness. + +At Southport we had a queer little governess, Miss Brown, who came to us +highly recommended both as to her personal character and for ability to +instruct us in arithmetic and geometry, geography, English composition, +and the rudiments of French. She was barely five feet in height, and as +thin and dry as an insect; and although her personal character came up +to any eulogium that could be pronounced upon it, her ignorance of the +"branches" specified was, if possible, greater than our own. She was +particularly perplexed by geometry; she aroused our hilarity by always +calling a parallelogram a parallel-O-gram, with a strong emphasis on +the penultimate syllable; and she spent several days repeating over to +herself, with a mystified countenance, the famous words, "The square +of the hypothenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two legs." +What were legs of a triangle, and how, if there were any, could they be +square? She never solved this enigma; and although we liked little Miss +Brown very much, she speedily lost all shadow of control over us; we +treated her as a sort of inferior sister, and would never be serious. +"English governess" became for us a synonym for an amiable little +nonentity who knew nothing; and I was surprised to learn, later, from +the early works of Miss Rhoda Broughton, that they could be beautiful +and intelligent. Miss Brown did not outlast our residence in Southport. + +From Southport we removed to Manchester, and thence, after exhausting +the exposition, to Leamington, where we spent September and October of +1857. We expected to proceed direct from Leamington to France and Italy, +but we were destined to be delayed in London till January of 1858. + +It was in Leamington that we were joined by Ada Shepard. She was a +graduate of Antioch, a men-and-women's college in Ohio, renowned in its +day, when all manner of improvements in the human race were anticipated +from educating the sexes together. Miss Shepard had got a very +thorough education there, so that she knew as much as a professor, +including--what would be of especial service to us--a knowledge of most +of the modern European languages. What seemed, no doubt, of even more +importance to her was her betrothal to her classmate, Henry Clay Badger; +they were to be married on her return to America. Meanwhile, as a matter +of mutual convenience (which rapidly became mutual pleasure), she was +to act as governess of us children and accompany our travels. Ada (as my +father and mother presently called her) was then about twenty-two years +old; she had injured her constitution--never robust--by addiction to +learning, and had incidentally imbibed from the atmosphere of Antioch +all the women's-rights fads and other advanced opinions of the day. +These, however, affected mainly the region of her intellect; in her +nature she was a simple, affectionate, straightforward American maiden, +with the little weaknesses and foibles appertaining to that estate; +and it was curious to observe the frequent conflicts between these +spontaneous characteristics and her determination to live up to her +acquired views. But she was fresh-hearted and happy then, full of +interest in the wonders and beauties of the Old World; she wrote, +weekly, long, criss-crossed letters, in a running hand, home to +"Clay," the king of men; and periodically received, with an illuminated +countenance, thick letters with an American foreign postage-stamp on +them, which she would shut herself into her chamber to devour in secret. +She was a little over the medium height, with a blue-eyed face, not +beautiful, but gentle and expressive, and wearing her flaxen hair in +long curls on each side of her pale cheeks. She entered upon her duties +as governess with energy and good-will, and we soon found that an +American governess was a very different thing from an English one +(barring the Rhoda Broughton sort). Her special aim at present was to +bring us forward in the French and Italian languages. We had already, +in Manchester, made some acquaintance with the books of the celebrated +Ollendorff; and my father, who knew Latin well, had taught me something +of Latin grammar, which aided me in my Italian studies. I liked Latin, +particularly as he taught it to me, and it probably amused him, though +it must also often have tried his patience to teach me. I had a certain +aptitude for the spirit of the language, but was much too prone to leap +at conclusions in my translations. I did not like to look out words +in the lexicon, and the result was sometimes queer. Thus, there was +a sentence in some Latin author describing the manner in which the +Scythians were wont to perform their journeys; relays of fresh horses +would be provided at fixed intervals, and thus they were enabled to +traverse immense distances at full speed. The words used were, I think, +as follows: "Itaque conficiunt iter continuo cursu." When I translated +these, "So they came to the end of their journey with continual +cursing," I was astonished to see my father burst into inextinguishable +laughter, falling back in his chair and throwing up his feet in the +ebullience of his mirth. I heard a good deal of that "continual cursing" +for some years after, and I believe the incident prompted me to pay +stricter attention to the dictionary than I might otherwise have done. + +However, what with Ollendorff and Miss Shepard, we regarded ourselves, +by the time we were ready to set out for the Continent, as being in fair +condition to ask about trains and to order dinner. My mother, indeed, +had from her youth spoken French and Spanish fluently, but not Italian; +my father, though he read these languages easily enough, never attained +any proficiency in talking them. After he had wound up his consular +affairs, about the first week in October, we left Leamington and took +the train for a few days in London, stopping at lodgings in Great +Russell Street, close to the British Museum. + +We were first delayed by friendly concern for the catastrophe which at +this moment befell Mr. Bennoch. He was a wholesale silk merchant, but +his literary and social tendencies had probably led him to trust too +much to the judgment and ability of his partners; at all events, on his +return from Germany he had found the affairs of his establishment much +involved, and he was now gazetted a bankrupt. In the England of those +days bankruptcy was no joke, still less the avenue to fortune which it +is sometimes thought to be in other countries; and a man who had built +up his business during twenty years by conscientious and honorable work, +and who was sensitively proud of his commercial honor, was for a time +almost overwhelmed by the disaster. My father felt the most tender +sympathy and grief for him, and we were additionally depressed by a +report, circumstantially detailed (but which proved to be unfounded), +that Mrs. Bennoch had died in childbirth--they had never had children. +"Troubles," commented my father "(as I myself have experienced, and +many others before me), are a sociable sisterhood; they love to +come hand-in-hand, or sometimes, even, to come side by side, with +long-looked-for and hoped-for good-fortune." He was doubtless thinking +of that dark and bright period when his mother lay dying in his house in +Salem and The Scarlet Letter was waiting to be born. + +A few days later he went by appointment to Bennoch's office in Wood +Street, Cheapside, and I will quote the account of that interview for +the light it casts on the characters of the two friends: + +"When I inquired for Bennoch, in the warehouse where two or three clerks +seemed to be taking account of stock, a boy asked me to write my name on +a slip of paper, and took it into his peculiar office. Then appeared Mr. +Riggs, the junior partner, looking haggard and anxious, poor man. He is +somewhat low of stature, and slightly deformed, and I fancied that he +felt the disgrace and trouble more on that account. But he greeted me +in a friendly way, though rather awkwardly, and asked me to sit down a +little while in his own apartment, where he left me. I sat a good while, +reading an old number of Blackwood's Magazine, a pile of which I found +on the desk, together with some well-worn ledgers and papers, that +looked as if they had been pulled out of drawers and pigeon-holes and +dusty corners, and were not there in the regular course of business. +By-and-by Mr. Riggs reappeared, and, telling me that I must lunch with +them, conducted me up-stairs, and through entries and passages where I +had been more than once before, but could not have found my way again +through those extensive premises; and everywhere the packages of silk +were piled up and ranged on shelves, in paper boxes, and otherwise--a +rich stock, but which had brought ruin with it. At last we came to that +pleasant drawing-room, hung with a picture or two, where I remember +enjoying the hospitality of the firm, with their clerks all at the +table, and thinking that this was a genuine scene of the old life +of London City, when the master used to feed his 'prentices at a +patriarchal board. After all, the room still looked cheerful enough; and +there was a good fire, and the table was laid for four. In two or three +minutes Bennoch came in--not with that broad, warm, lustrous presence +that used to gladden me in our past encounters--not with all that +presence, at least--though still he was not less than a very genial +man, partially be-dimmed. He looked paler, it seemed to me, thinner, +and rather smaller, but nevertheless he smiled at greeting me, more +brightly, I suspect, than I smiled back at him, for in truth I was very +sorry. Mr. Twentyman, the middle partner, now came in, and appeared as +much or more depressed than his fellows in misfortune, and to bear it +with a greater degree of English incommunicativeness and reserve. But +he, too, met me hospitably, and I and these three poor ruined men sat +down to dinner--a good dinner enough, by-the-bye, and such as ruined men +need not be ashamed to eat, since they must needs eat something. It was +roast beef, and a boiled apple-pudding, and--which I was glad to see, my +heart being heavy--a decanter of sherry and another of port, remnants +of a stock which, I suppose, will not be replenished. They ate pretty +fairly, but scarcely like Englishmen, and drank a reasonable quantity, +but not as if their hearts were in it, or as if the liquor went to their +hearts and gladdened them. I gathered from them a strong idea of what +commercial failure means to English merchants--utter ruin, present and +prospective, and obliterating all the successful past; how little chance +they have of ever getting up again; how they feel that they must plod +heavily onward under a burden of disgrace--poor men and hopeless men +and men forever ashamed. I doubt whether any future prosperity (which +is unlikely enough to come to them) could ever compensate them for this +misfortune, or make them, to their own consciousness, the men they were. +They will be like a woman who has once lost her chastity: no after-life +of virtue will take out the stain. It is not so in America, nor ought it +to be so here; but they said themselves they would never again have put +unreserved confidence in a man who had been bankrupt, and they could +not but apply the same severe rule to their own case. I was touched by +nothing more than by their sorrowful patience, without any fierceness +against Providence or against mankind, or disposition to find fault with +anything but their own imprudence; and there was a simple dignity, too, +in their not assuming the aspect of stoicism. I could really have shed +tears for them, to see how like men and Christians they let the tears +come to their own eyes. This is the true way to do; a man ought not to +be too proud to let his eyes be moistened in the presence of God and +of a friend. They talked of some little annoyances, half laughingly. +Bennoch has been dunned for his gas-bill at Blackheath (only a pound or +two) and has paid it. Mr. Twentyman seems to have received an insulting +message from some creditor. Mr. Riggs spoke of wanting a little money +to pay for some boots. It was very sad, indeed, to see these men of +uncommon energy and ability, all now so helpless, and, from managing +great enterprises, involving vast expenditures, reduced almost to reckon +the silver in their pockets. Bennoch and I sat by the fireside a little +while after his partners had left the room, and then he told me that he +blamed himself, as holding the principal position in the firm, for not +having exercised a stronger controlling influence over their operations. +The two other men had recently gone into speculations, of the extent of +which he had not been fully aware, and he found the liabilities of +the firm very much greater than he had expected. He said this without +bitterness, and said it not to the world, but only to a friend. I am +exceedingly sorry for him; it is such a changed life that he must +lead hereafter, and with none of the objects before him which he might +heretofore have hoped to grasp. No doubt he was ambitious of civic, and +even of broader public distinction; and not unreasonably so, having the +gift of ready and impressive speech, and a behavior among men that +wins them, and a tact in the management of affairs, and many-sided +and never-tiring activity. To be a member of Parliament--to be lord +mayor--whatever an eminent merchant of the world's metropolis may +be--beyond question he had dreamed wide-awake of these things. And now +fate itself could hardly accomplish them, if ever so favorably inclined. +He has to begin life over again, as he began it twenty-five years ago, +only under infinite disadvantages, and with so much of his working-day +gone forever. + +"At parting, I spoke of his going to America; but he appeared to think +that there would be little hope for him there. Indeed, I should be loath +to see him transplanted thither myself, away from the warm, cheerful, +juicy English life into our drier and less genial sphere; he is a good +guest among us, but might not do well to live with us." + +Bennoch was never lord mayor or member of Parliament; I do not know +that he cared to be either; but he lived to repay all his creditors with +interest, and to become once more a man in easy circumstances, honored +and trusted as well as loved by all who knew him, and active and happy +in all good works to the end of his days. There could be no keeping down +such a man, even in England; and when I knew him, in after years, he was +the Bennoch of yore, grown mellow and wise. + +We were now ready for the Continent, when symptoms of some malady began +to manifest themselves among the younger persons of the family, which +presently culminated in an attack of the measles. It was six weeks +before we were in condition to take the road again. Meanwhile we were +professionally attended by Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, a homoeopathist, a +friend of Emerson and of Henry James the elder, a student of Swedenborg, +and, at this particular juncture, interested in spiritualism. In a +biography of my father and mother, which I published in 1884, I alluded +to this latter circumstance, and some time afterwards I received from +his wife a letter which I take this opportunity to print: + +"4 FINCHLEY ROAD, N. W., June 19, 1885. + +"DEAR SIR,--May I beg of you in any future edition of the Life of your +father to leave out your passage upon my husband and spiritualism? He +is utterly opposed to it now. On Mr. Home's first appearance in England +very remarkable things did occur; but from the first I was a most +decided opponent, and by my firmness I have kept all I know and love +from having anything to do with it for at least thirty-five years. You +may imagine, therefore, I feel hurt at seeing so spiritually minded +a man as my husband really is to be mixed up with so evil a thing as +spiritism. You will pardon a faithful wife her just appreciation of +his character. One other author took the liberty of using his name in a +similar way, and I wrote to him also. Believe me, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"E. A. WILKINSON." + +The good doctor and his wife are now, I believe, both of them in the +world where good spirits go, and no doubt they have long ere this found +out all about the rights and wrongs of spiritism and other matters, but +there is no doubt that at the time of my father's acquaintance with him +the doctor was a very earnest supporter of the cult. He was a man of +mark and of brains and of most lovable personal quality; he wrote books +well worth deep study; Emerson speaks of "the long Atlantic roll" of +their style. Henry James named his third son after him--the gentle and +brave "Wilkie" James, who was my school-mate at Sanborn's school in +Concord after our return to America, and who was wounded in the fight at +Fort Fisher while leading his negro soldiers to the assault. But for the +present, Dr. Wilkinson, so far as we children knew him, was a delightful +and impressive physician, who helped us through our measles in masterly +style, under all the disadvantages of a foggy London winter. + +On the 5th of January, 1858--we were ready to start the next +day--Bennoch came to take tea with us and bid us farewell. "He keeps up +a manly front," writes my father, "and an aspect of cheerfulness, though +it is easy to see that he is a very different man from the joyous one +whom I knew a few months since; and whatever may be his future +fortune, he will never get all the sunshine back again. There is a +more determinate shadow on him now, I think, than immediately after his +misfortunes; the old, equable truth weighs down upon him, and makes him +sensible that the good days of his life have probably all been enjoyed, +and that the rest is likely to be endurance, not enjoyment. His temper +is still sweet and warm, yet, I half fancy, not wholly unacidulated by +his troubles--but now I have written it, I decide that it is not so, +and blame myself for surmising it. But it seems most unnatural that +so buoyant and expansive a character should have fallen into the +helplessness of commercial misfortune; it is most grievous to hear his +manly and cheerful allusions to it, and even his jokes upon it; as, +for example, when we suggested how pleasant it would be to have him +accompany us to Paris, and he jestingly spoke of the personal restraint +under which he now lived. On his departure, Julian and I walked a good +way down Oxford Street and Holborn with him, and I took leave of him +with the truest wishes for his welfare." + +The next day we embarked at Folkestone for France, and our new life +began. + + + + +XIII + + + Old-Homesickness--The Ideal and the Real--A beautiful but + perilous woman with a past--The Garden of Eden a Montreal + ice-palace--Confused mountain of family luggage--Poplars for + lances--Miraculous crimson comforters--Rivers of human gore-- + Curling mustachios and nothing to do--Odd behavior of grown + people--Venus, the populace, and the MacDaniels--The + happiness to die in Paris--Lived alone with her + constellations--"O'Brien's Belt"--A hotel of peregrinations-- + Sitting up late--Attempted assassination--My murderer--An + old passion reawakened--Italian shells and mediaeval sea- + anemones--If you were in the Garden of Eden--An umbrella + full of napoleons--Was Byron an Esquimau? + + + +No doubt my father had grown fond of England during his four years' +residence there. Except for its profits he had not, indeed, liked the +consular work; but even that had given zest to his several excursions +from it, which were in themselves edifying and enjoyable. The glamour of +tradition, too, had wrought upon him, and he had made friends and formed +associations. Such influences, outwardly gentle and unexacting, take +deeper hold of the soul than we are at the time aware. They show +their strength only when we test them by removing ourselves from their +physical sphere. + +Accordingly, though he looked forward with pleasure to leaving England +for the Continent, he was no sooner on the farther side of the narrow +seas than he began to be conscious of discomfort, which was only partly +bodily or sensible. An unacknowledged homesickness afflicted him--an +Old-Homesickness, rather than a yearning for America. He may have +imagined that it was America that he wanted, but, when at last we +returned there, he still looked back towards England. As an ideal, +America was still, and always, foremost in his heart; and his death was +hastened partly by his misgiving, caused by the civil war, lest her best +days were past. But something there was in England that touched a deep, +kindred chord in him which responded to nothing else. America might +be his ideal home, but his real home was England, and thus he found +himself, in the end, with no home at all outside of the boundaries of +his domestic circle. A subconscious perception of this predicament, +combined with his gradually failing health, led him to say, in a moment +of frank self-communion, "Since this earthly life is to come to an end, +I do not try to be contented, but weary of it while it lasts." + +It is true that Rome, vehemently as at first he rebelled against it, +came at last to hold a power over him. Rome, if you give it opportunity, +subtly fastens its grasp upon both brain and heart, and claims +sympathies which are as undeniable as our human nature itself. Yet there +is something morbid in our love for the mystic city, like a passion for +some beautiful but perilous woman with a past--such as Miriam in The +Marble Faun, for example. Only an exceptionally vigorous and healthy +constitution can risk it without danger. Had my father visited Rome in +his young manhood, he might have both cared for it less and in a sense +have enjoyed it more than he did during these latter years of his life. + +But from the time we left London, and, indeed, a little before that, he +was never quite himself physically. Our departure was made at the most +inclement moment of a winter season of unusual inclemency; they said (as +they always do) that no weather to be compared with it had been known +for twenty years. We got up before dawn in London, and after a dismal +ride in the train to Folkestone, where the bitter waves of the English +Channel left edgings of ice on the shingle beach where I went to pick +up shells, we were frost-bitten all our two-hours passage across to +Boulogne, where it became cold in dead earnest, and so continued all +through Paris, Lyons, and Marseilles, and down the Mediterranean to +Genoa and Civita Vecchia, and thence up the long, lonely, bandit-haunted +road to Rome, and in Rome, with exasperating aggravations, right up to +April, or later. My own first recollection of St. Peter's is that I +slid on the ice near one of the fountains in the piazza of that famous +edifice; and my father did the same, with a savage satisfaction, no +doubt, at thus proving that everything was what it ought not to be. +Either in London, or at some intermediate point between that and Paris, +he caught one of the heaviest colds that ever he had; and its feverish +and debilitating effects were still perceptible in May. "And this is +sunny Italy--and this is genial Rome!" he wrathfully exclaims. It was +like looking forward to the Garden of Eden all one's life, and going +to vast trouble and expense to get there, and, on arriving, finding the +renowned spot to be a sort of Montreal ice-palace. The palaces of Rome +are not naturally fitted to be ice-palaces, and the cold feels all the +colder in them by consequence. + +But I am going too fast. The first thing my father did, after getting on +board the little Channel steamer, was to go down in the cabin and drink +a glass of brandy-and-water, hot, with sugar; and he afterwards remarked +that "this sea-passage was the only enjoyable part of the day." But the +wind cut like a scimitar, and he came on deck occasionally only--as when +I came plunging down the companion-way to tell him, with the pride of a +discoverer, that France was broad in sight, and the sun was shining +on it. "Oh!" exclaimed my mother, looking up from her, pale +discomfortableness on a sofa, with that radiant smile of hers, and +addressing poor Miss Shepard, who was still further under the sinister +influence of those historic alpine fluctuations which have upset so +many. "Oh, Ada, Julian says the sun is shining on France!" Ada never +stirred. She was the most amiable and philosophic of young ladies; but +if thought could visit her reeling brain at that moment, she probably +wondered why Providence had been so inconsiderate as to sever Britain +from its Gallic base in those old geologic periods before man was yet +born to sea-sickness. + +Sunshine on the pale, smooth acclivities of France, and half a dozen +bluff-bowed fishing-boats, pitching to the swell, were all that was +notable on our trip across; and of Boulogne I remember nothing, except +the confused mountain of the family luggage on the pier, and afterwards +of its being fed into the baggage-car of the train. Ollendorff abandoned +me thus early in my travels; nor was my father much better off. But Miss +Shepard, now restored to life, made amends for her late incompetence +by discoursing with excited French officials with what seemed to me +preternatural intelligence; indeed, I half doubted whether there were +not some conspiracy to deceive in that torrent of outlandish sounds +which she and they were so rapidly pouring forth to one another. +However, all turned out well, and there we were, in a compartment of a +French railway-train, smelling of stale tobacco, with ineffective zinc +foot-warmers, and an increasing veil of white frost on the window-panes, +which my sisters and myself spent our time in trying to rub off that +France might become visible. But the white web was spun again as fast +as we dissipated it, and nothing was to be seen, at all events, but +long processions of poplars, which interested me only because I imagined +myself using them as lances in some romantic Spenserian adventure of +knight-errantry--for the spell of that chivalric dream still hung +about me. So we came to Amiens, a pallid, clean, chilly town, with +high-shouldered houses and a tall cathedral, and thence went on to Paris +at five o'clock. It was already dusk, and our transit to the Hotel de +Louvre in crowded cabs, through streets much unlike London, is the sum +of my first impressions of the wonderful city. + +Then, marshalled by princely yet deferential personages in rich +costumes, we proceeded up staircases and along gilded corridors to a +suite of sumptuous apartments, with many wax candles in candelabra, +which were immediately lighted by an attendant, and their lustre was +reflected from tall mirrors which panelled the rooms. The furniture +thus revealed was costly and elegant, but hardly comfortable to an +English-bred sense; the ceilings were painted, the floor rich with +glowing carpets. But the glow of color was not answered by a glow of any +other sort; a deadly chill pervaded this palatial place, which fires, as +big as one's fist, kindled in fireplaces as large as hall bedrooms, did +nothing to dissipate. Hereupon our elders had compassion on us, and, +taking from the tall, awful bedsteads certain crimson comforters, they +placed each of us in an easy-chair and tucked the comforters in over us. +These comforters, covered with crimson silk, were of great thickness, +but also of extraordinary lightness, and for a few minutes we had +no confidence in their power to thaw us. But they were filled with +swan's-down; and presently a novel and delightful sensation--that of +warmth--began to steal upon us. It steadily increased, until in quarter +of an hour there might be seen upon our foreheads and noses, which were +the only parts of us open to view, the beads of perspiration. It was a +marvellous experience. The memory of the crimson comforters has remained +with me through life; light as sunset clouds, they accomplished the +miracle of importing tropic warmth into the circle of the frozen +arctic. I think we must have been undressed and night-gowned before this +treatment; at any rate, I have forgotten how we got to bed, but to bed +we somehow got, and slept the blessed sleep of childhood. + + +The next morning my father, apparently as an accompaniment of his cold, +was visited by a severe nosebleed; no importance was attached to +it, beyond its preventing him from going forth to superintend the +examination of our luggage at the custom-house--the mountain having been +registered through from London. This duty was, therefore, done by Miss +Shepard and my mother. The next day, at dinner, the nosebleeding began +again. "And thus," observed my father, "my blood must be reckoned among +the rivers of human gore which have been shed in Paris, and especially +in the Place de la Concorde, where the guillotines used to stand"--and +where our restaurant was. But these bleedings, which came upon him at +several junctures during his lifetime, and were uniformly severe and +prolonged, probably had a significance more serious than was supposed. +The last one occurred not many weeks before his death, and it lasted +twenty-four hours; he was never the same afterwards. He joked about it +then, as now, but there was the forewarning of death in it. + +But that day lies still unsuspected in the future, six years away. +For the present, we were in splendid Paris, with Napoleon III. in the +Tuileries, and Baron Haussmann regnant in the stately streets. For a +week we went to and fro, admiring and--despite the cold, the occasional +icy rains, and once even a dark fog--delighted. In spirit and in +substance, nothing could be more different from London. For my part, +I enjoyed it without reservation; the cold, which depressed my sick +father, exhilarated me. For Notre Dame, the Tuileries, the Louvre, the +Madeleine, the pictures, and the statues, I cared little or nothing; I +hardly even heeded the column of the Place Vendome or the mighty mass +of the Arc de Triomphe. But the Frenchiness of it all captivated me. +The throngs in the streets were kaleidoscopic in costume and character: +priests, soldiers, gendarmes, strange figures with turbans and other +Oriental accoutrements; women gayly dressed and wearing their dresses +with an air; men with curling mustachios, and with nothing to do, +apparently, but amuse themselves; romantic artists with soft felt hats +and eccentric beards; grotesque figures of poverty in rags and with +ominous visages, such as are never seen in London; martial music, +marching regiments, with gorgeous generals on horseback, with shining +swords; church processions; wedding pageants crowding in and out of +superb churches; newspapers, shop-signs, and chatter, all in French, +even down to the babble of the small children. And the background of +this parade was always the pleasant, light-hued buildings, the majority +of them large and of a certain uniformity of aspect, as if they had been +made in co-operation, and to look pretty, instead of independently and +incongruously, as in England. These people seemed to be all playing and +prattling; nobody worked; even the shopkeepers held holiday in their +shops. Such was my boyish idea of Paris. Napoleon had been emperor only +five or six years; he had been married to Eugenie only four or five; +and, so far as one could judge who knew nothing of political coups +d'etat and crimes, he was the right man in the right place. Moreover, +the French bread was a revelation; it tasted better than cake, and +was made in loaves six feet long; and the gingerbread, for sale on +innumerable out-door stalls, was better yet, with quite a new flavor. I +ate it as I walked about with my father. He once took a piece himself, +and, said he, "I desired never to taste any more." How odd is, +sometimes, the behavior of grown-up people! + +But even my father enjoyed the French cookery, though he was in some +doubt whether it were not a snare of the evil one to lure men to +indulgence. We dined in the banquet-hall of our hotel once or twice +only; in general we went to neighboring restaurants, where the food was +just as good, but cost less. I was always hungry, but hungrier than ever +in Paris. "I really think," wrote my father, "that Julian would eat a +whole sheep." In his debilitated state he had little appetite either for +dinners or for works of art; he looked even upon the Venus of Milo with +coldness. "It seemed," wrote he, speaking of the weather one morning, +"as if a cold, bitter, sullen agony were interposed between each +separate atom of our bodies. In all my experience of bad atmospheres, +methinks I never knew anything so atrocious as this. England has nothing +to compare with it." The "grip" was a disease unnamed at that epoch, +but I should suppose that it was very vividly described in the above +sentence. He had the grip, and for nearly six months he saw everything +through its medium. + +Besides the Venus and the populace, we saw various particular persons. I +went with my father to the bank, and saw a clerk give him a long roll +of bright gold coins, done up in blue paper; and we visited, or were +visited by, a Miss MacDaniel and her mother, two Salem women, "of plain, +New England manners and appearance," wrote my father, "and they have +been living here for nearly two years. The daughter was formerly at +Brook Farm. The mother suffered so much from seasickness on the passage +that she is afraid to return to America, and so the daughter is kept +here against her will, and without enjoyment, and, as I judge, in narrow +circumstances. It is a singular misfortune. She told me that she had +been to the Louvre but twice since her arrival, and did not know Paris +at all." This looks like a good theme for Mr. Henry James. + +We called on the American minister to Paris, Judge John Young Mason, +a simple and amiable personage. He was rubicund and stolid, and talked +like a man with a grievance; but, as my father afterwards remarked, it +was really Uncle Sam who was the aggrieved party, in being mulcted +of seventeen thousand dollars a year in order that the good old +judge should sleep after dinner in a French armchair. The judge was +anticipating being superseded in his post, but, as it turned out, was +not driven to seek second-rate employment to support himself in his old +age; he had the happiness to die in Paris the very next year. + +But the most agreeable of our meetings was with Miss Maria Mitchell, the +astronomer, who, like ourselves, was stopping a few days in Paris on her +way to Rome. She desired the protection of our company on the journey, +though, as my father remarked, she looked well able to take care of +herself. She was at this time about forty years old; born in Nantucket; +the plainest, simplest, heartiest of women, with a face browned by the +sun, of which she evidently was accustomed to see as much as of +the other stars in the heavens. Her mouth was resolute and full of +expression; but her remarkable feature was her eyes, which were dark and +powerful, and had the kindest and most magnetic look of comradeship +in them. Her dark hair was a little grizzled. She was dressed in plain +gray, and was active and energetic in her movements. She was, as the +world knows, a woman of unusual intellect and character; but she had +lived alone with her constellations, having little contact with the +world or practical knowledge of it, so that in many respects she was +still as much a child as I was, and I immediately knew her for my friend +and playmate and loved her with all my heart. There was a charming +quaintness and innocence about her, and an immense, healthy curiosity +about this new old world and its contents. She had a great flow of +native, spontaneous humor, and could say nothing that was not juicy +and poignant. She was old-fashioned, yet full of modern impulses and +tendencies; warmhearted and impulsive, but rich in homely common-sense. +Though bold as a lion, she was, nevertheless, beset with the funniest +feminine timidities and misgivings, due mainly, I suppose, to her +unfamiliarity with the ways of the world. There was already a friendship +of long standing between her and Miss Shepard, and they did much of +their sightseeing during the coming year together, and debated between +themselves over the statues and pictures. Her talk with us children was +of the fine, countrified, racy quality which we could not resist; and in +the evenings, as we journeyed along, she told us tales of the stars +and gave us their names. On the steamer going to Genoa, one night, she +pointed out to me the constellation Orion, then riding high aloft +in glittering beauty, and I kindly communicated to my parents the +information that the three mighty stars were known to men as O'Brien's +Belt. This was added to the ball of jolly as a household word. + +[IMAGE: MARIA MITCHELL] + +Miss Mitchell's trunk was contributed to our mountain, when we set +out anew on our pilgrimage, with a result at first deplorable, for the +number of our own pieces of luggage being known and registered in the +official documents, it turned out, at our first stopping-place, that +the trunk of our new companion had been substituted for one of our +own, which, of course, was left behind. It was ultimately recovered, I +believe, but it seemed as if the entire world of French officialdom had +to be upheaved from its foundations in order to accomplish it. + +Our route lay through Lyons to Marseilles. At Lyons I remember only the +enormous hotel where we slept the first night, with corridors wandering +like interminable streets, up-stairs and down, turning corners, +extending into vistas, clean-swept, echoing, obscure, lit only by the +glimmering candle borne by our guide. We seemed to be hours on our +journey through these labyrinths; and when at last we reached our rooms, +they were so cold and so unwarmable that we were fain to journey back +again, up and down, along and athwart, marching and countermarching past +regiments of closed doors, until at length we attained the region of +the hotel dining-saloon, where it was at least two or three degrees +less cold than elsewhere. After dinner we had to undertake a third +peregrination to bed, and a fourth the next morning to get our train. +The rooms of the hotel were on a scale suited to the length of the +connecting thoroughfares, and the hotel itself stood hard by a great, +empty square with a statue in the middle of it. But the meals were not +of a corresponding amplitude. And I think it was at the railway station +of this town that the loss of the trunk was discovered. + +The region from Lyons to Marseilles, along the valley of the Rhone, with +the lower ranges of the Alps on our left hand, was much more picturesque +than anything France had shown us hitherto. Ancient castles crowned +many of the lower acclivities; there were villages in the vales, and +presently vineyards and olive groves. The Rhone, blue and swift as its +traditions demanded, kept us close company much of the way; the whole +range of country was made for summer, and the wintry conditions under +which we saw it seemed all the more improper. It must have been near +midnight when our train rolled into the station at Marseilles, and my +pleasure in "sitting up late" had long become stale. + +The sun shone the next morning, and, being now in the latitude of +Florence and such places, it could not help being hot, though the shaded +sides of the streets were still icy cold; and most of the streets were +so narrow that there was a great deal of shade. The whole population +seemed to be out-of-doors and collecting in the sun, like flies, a very +animated and voluble population and of a democratic complexion; the +proportion of poor folks was noticeable, and the number of women, who +seemed to camp out in the squares and market-places, and there gossip +and do their knitting, as other women might at their firesides; but here +the sun is the only fire. But a good deal of the bustle this morning +was occasioned by the news from Paris that an attempt to assassinate +Napoleon III. had been made the day before; had we remained one day +longer in Paris we might have assisted at the spectacle. The Marseilles +people seemed to take it comfortably; nobody was very sorry that the +attempt had been made, nor very glad that it had not succeeded. It was +something to talk about. It was ten years more before the French got +thoroughly used to the nephew of his uncle and decided that he was, upon +the whole, a good thing; and soon after they lost him. And for a decade +after Sedan, chatting with the boulevardiers in Paris, they would +commonly tell me that they wished they had the empire back again. +Perhaps they will have it, some day. + +There was a great deal of filth in Marseilles streets and along her +wharves and in the corners of her many public squares; and even our +hotel, the "Angleterre," was anything but clean; it was a tall, old +rookery, from the windows of our rooms in which I looked down into an +open space between the strange, old buildings, and saw a juggler do his +marvels on a bit of carpet spread on the pavement, while a woman handed +him the implements of magic out of a very much travelled and soiled +deal-box. Later in the day, when the place was deserted, I heedlessly +flung out of the window the contents of a glass of water, and, looking +after it in its long descent, I was horrified to see approaching a man +of very savage and piratical aspect, with a terrible black beard and a +slouch hat. As luck would have it, the water struck him full on the side +of the face, probably the first time in many a year that he had felt the +impact of the liquid there. I withdrew my head from the window in alarm, +mingled with the natural joy that a boy cannot help feeling at such a +catastrophe; and by-and-by, when I felt certain that he must have passed +on, I peeped out again, but what were my emotions at beholding him +planted terribly right under the window where he had been baptized, and +staring upward with a blood-thirsty expression. I immediately drew back +again, but too late--our eyes had met, and he had made a threatening +gesture at me. I now felt that a very serious thing had happened, and +that if I ventured out upon the streets again I should assuredly be +assassinated; that it would be no mere attempt, as in the case of the +Emperor, but a pronounced success. I did not tell my fears to any of +my family--I had not, to say the truth, informed any of them of +the incident which had imperilled my life, but I no longer felt any +curiosity to see more of Marseilles, and was sincerely thankful when I +found myself, betimes next morning, on board the Calabrese, bound for +Genoa. I never saw my murderer again, but I could make a fair likeness +of him, I believe, to-day. The trip to Genoa, and onward to Civita +Vecchia, lasted two or three days, the steamer generally pursuing her +course by night and laying up by day. + +The first morning, soon after sunrise, found us approaching the bay +of Genoa, with the sun rising over the Mediterranean on our right and +throwing its light upon the curving acclivity on which the city stands. +The water had a beautiful blue-green color and was wonderfully clear, so +that, looking down through it over the ship's side, as we glided slowly +to our moorings, I saw sea-weeds and blocks of marble and other marine +curiosities which reawakened my old passion for aquariums. Indeed, to +be candid with the reader--as is my study throughout this +narrative--nothing in Genoa the Superb itself has, I find, remained with +me so distinctly as that glimpse of the floor of the bay through the +clear sea-water. I did not care to go up into the town and see the +palaces and churches; I wanted to stay on the beach and hunt for +shells--Italian shells--and classical or mediaeval sea-anemones. Of +course, I had to go up into the town; and I saw, no doubt, the churches +and the palaces, with their rooms radiant with the mellow brilliance of +precious marbles and painted ceilings, and statues and pictures, +under the personal conduct of no less an individual than Salvator Rosa +himself--for that was the name of our guide--and for years afterwards +I never doubted that he was the creator of the paintings which, in Rome +and elsewhere, bore his signature. I say I must have seen these things, +but in memory I cannot disentangle them from the innumerable similar +objects which I beheld, later, in other Italian cities; their soft +splendor and beautiful art could not hold their own for me beside that +cool translucence of the Mediterranean inlet, with its natural marvels +dimly descried as'I bent over the boat's side. It was for that, and not +for the other, that my heart yearned, and that became a part of me, +all the more, no doubt, that it was denied me. Our aim in the world is +beauty and happiness; but we are late in learning that they exist in the +will and imagination, and not in this or that accredited and venerable +thing or circumstance that is mechanically obtruded on our unready +attention. If you were put down in the Garden of Eden, and told that you +might stay there an hour and no more, what would you do? How would you +"improve" your time? Would you run to and fro, and visit the spot where +Adam first stood erect, and the place where he sat when he named the +animals, and the thymey bank on which he slept while Eve was taking form +from his rib, and the tree on which grew the fruit of the knowledge of +good and evil, and the precise scene of the temptation and the fall, and +the spot on which stood the altars on which Cain and Abel offered their +sacrifices, and where, presently, wrathful Cain rose up against his +brother and slew him? Would you make sure of all these set sights in +order that you might reply satisfactorily to the cloud of interviewers +awaiting you outside the Garden? Or would you simply throw yourself down +on the grass wherever the angel happened to leave you, and try to see or +to realize or to recall nothing, but passively permit your soul to feel +and experience and grow what way it would, prompted by the inner voice +and guided by the inner light, heedless of what the interviewers were +expecting and of what duty and obligation and the unique opportunity +demanded? It is worth thinking about. It may be conceded that there is +some risk to run. + +I next find myself in a coach, with four horses harnessed to it, +trundling along the road from Civita Vecchia to Rome; for of Monaco I +recall nothing, nor of Leghorn; and though we passed within sight of +Elba, I saw only a lonely island on our starboard beam. As for the +coach, it was a necessity, if we would continue our journey, for the +railroad was still in the future in 1858. The coach-road was not only as +rugged and uneasy as it had been any time during the past three hundred +years, but it was outrageously infested by banditti; and, indeed, a +robbery had taken place on it only a week or two before. For miles and +miles on end it was totally destitute of dwellings, and those that we +saw might well have been the harboring-places of iniquity. Moreover, we +were so long delayed in making our start that it was already afternoon +before we were under way, and finally one of our horses gave out ere +we were many miles advanced, compelling us to hobble along for the +remainder of the trip at reduced speed. As the shades of evening began +to fall, we saw at intervals sundry persons lurking along the roadway, +clad in long cloaks and conical hats, with the suggestion of the barrel +of a musket about them, and it is probable that we were preserved from a +tragic fate only by the fortunate accident that we were just behind the +mail-coach and might theoretically have hailed it for help had we been +attacked. Meanwhile, my father, with ostensible pleasantry, suggested +that we should hide our gold coin (of which we carried a considerable +store) in various queer, out-of-the-way receptacles. I remember that +an umbrella was filled with a handful or two of the shining pieces, and +stuck with studied carelessness through the straps in the roof of the +vehicle. This was regarded by us children as excellent sport, though I +think there was a lingering feeling of apprehension in the bottom of +my soul. My father kept a moderate sum in napoleons in his pockets, so +that, should the worst happen, the bandits might fancy it was our all. +But then there was our mountain of luggage, incredibly strapped on the +top of the conveyance, and behind it, and no reasonable bandits, one +would suppose, could have failed to be satiated with that. However, +it was written that we were to reach Rome unscathed, albeit long after +dark, and though we did not get past the Porta del Popolo without +suffering legalized robbery on the part of the custom-house officials. +But by that time we were so weary, downcast, and chilled that +depredation and outrage could not rouse or kindle us. + +We ended, at last, in one of those refrigerator hotels to which our +travels had made us accustomed, in one of the hollow, dull, untoward +caverns of which I was presently put to bed and to sleep. "Oh, Rome, my +country, City of the Soul!" Oh, Byron, were you an Esquimau? + + + + +XIV + + + Our unpalatial palace--"Cephas Giovanni"--She and George + Combe turned out to be right--A rousing temper--Bright + Titian hair--"All that's left of him"--The pyramidal man of + destiny--The thoughts of a boy are long, long thoughts-- + Clausilia Bubigunia--Jabez Hogg and the microscope--A + stupendous surprise--A lifetime in fourteen months--My + father's jeremiades--"Thank Heaven, there is such a thing as + whitewash!"--"Terrible lack of variety in the old masters"-- + "The brazen trollop that she is!"--Several distinct phases + of feeling--Springs of creative imagination roused--The + Roman fever--A sad book--Effects of the death-blow--The rest + is silence. + +We arrived in Rome on the 17th of January, 1858, at eleven o'clock at +night. After a day or two at Spillman's Hotel, we moved into lodgings in +the Via Porta Pinciana, the Palazzo Larazani. The street extended just +below the ridge of the Pincian Hill, and was not far from the broad +flight of steps mounting upward from the Piazza d' Espagna, on the left +as you go up. In spite of its resounding name, our new dwelling had +not a palatial aspect. It was of no commanding height or architectural +pretensions; a stuccoed edifice, attached on both sides to other +edifices. The street, like other Roman streets, was narrow; it was dirty +like them, and, like them, was paved with cobble-stones. The place +had been secured for us by (I think) our friends the Thompsons; Mr. +Thompson--the same man who had painted my father's portrait in 1853--had +a studio hard by. The Thompsons had been living in Rome for five years +or more, and knew the Roman ropes. They were very comfortable people +to know; indeed, Rome to me would have been a very different and less +delightful place without them, as will hereafter appear. The family +consisted of Cephas Giovanni Thompson, the father and artist; his wife +and his two sons and one daughter. "Cephas Giovanni," being +interpreted, means plain Peter John; and it was said (though, I believe, +unjustifiably) that Peter John had been the names originally given to +Thompson by his parents at the baptismal-font, but that his wife, who +was a notable little woman, a sister of Anna Cora Mowatt, the actress, +well known in America and England seventy years ago, had persuaded +him to translate them into Greek and Italian, as more suitable to the +romantic career of an artist of the beautiful. I fancy the story arose +from the fact that Mrs. Thompson was a woman who, it was felt, might +imaginably conceive so ambitious a project. She was small, active, +entertaining, clever, and "spunky," as the New-Englanders would have +said; indeed, she had a rousing temper, on occasion. Her husband, on +the other hand, had the mildest, wisely smiling, philosophic air, with a +low, slow voice, and a beard of patriarchal fashion and size, though as +yet it was a rich brown, with scarcely a thread of silver in it. Brown +and abundant, also, was his hair; he had steady, bright, brown eyes, and +was rather under the average height of Anglo-Saxon man. But for all this +mild-shining aspect of his, his dark eyebrows were sharply arched, or +gabled rather; and my mother, who had absorbed from her former friend, +George Combe, a faith in the betrayals of phrenology, expressed her +private persuasion that good Mr. Thompson had a temper, too. She and +George Combe turned out to be right in this instance, though I am not +going to tell the tale of how we happened to be made acquainted with the +fact. Little thunder-storms once in a while occur in human skies as well +as in the meteorological ones; and the atmosphere is afterwards all the +sweeter and softer. No people could be more good, honest, and kind than +the Thompsons. + +There was no other artist in Rome who could paint as well as Mr. +Thompson. That portrait of my father, to which reference has been made, +which now hangs in my house, looks even better, as a painting, to-day +than it did when it was fresh from his easel. Rubens could not have laid +on the colors with more solidity and with truer feeling for the hues of +life. But the trouble with Thompson was that he had never learned how to +draw correctly; and this defect appeared to some extent in his portraits +as well as in his figures. The latter were graceful, significant, full +of feeling and character; but they betrayed a weakness of anatomical +knowledge and of perspective. They had not the conventional +incorrectness of the old masters preceding Raphael, but an incorrectness +belonging personally to Thompson; it was not excessive or conspicuous to +any one, and certainly not to Thompson himself. But his color redeemed +all and made his pictures permanently valuable. He was at this time +painting a picture of Saint Peter being visited by an angel, which +was rich and beautiful; and he had some sketches of a series based on +Shakespeare's Tempest; and standing on one side in the studio was a +glowing figure of a woman in Oriental costume, an odalisque, or +some such matter, which showed that his sympathy with life was not +a restricted one. Later in our acquaintance he fell in love with the +bright Titian hair of my sister Rose, and made a little portrait of her, +which was one of his best likenesses, apart from its admirable color; it +even showed the tears in the child's eyes, gathering there by reason of +her antipathy to posing. + +Cora Thompson, the daughter, was the most good-natured and +sunny-tempered of girls; she may have been fifteen at this time; she +inherited neither the handsomeness of her father nor the sharp-edged +cleverness of her mother; but she was lovable. Of the two boys, the +younger was named Hubert; he was about ten years old, small of his age, +and not robust in make or constitution. He was, however, a smart, rather +witty youth, a little precocious, perhaps, and able to take care of +himself. Some five and twenty years after the date of which I am now +writing I was at a large political dinner in New York and was there +introduced to a Mr. Thompson, who was the commissioner of public works, +and a party boss of no small caliber and power. He was an immense +personage, physically likewise, weighing fully three hundred pounds, +and, though not apparently advanced in years, a thorough man of the +world and of municipal politics. After we had conversed for a few +minutes, I was struck by a certain expression about my interlocutor's +eyebrows that recalled long-forgotten days and things. I remembered that +his name was Thompson, and had an impression that his initials were +H. O. "Are you little Hubert Thompson?" I suddenly demanded. "Why, of +course I am--all that's left of him!" he replied, with a laugh. So this +was the boy whom, a quarter of a century before, I could have held out +at arm's-length. We talked over the old days when we played together +about the Roman streets and ruins. Nothing more reveals the essential +strangeness of human life than this meeting after many years with +persons we have formerly known intimately, who are now so much changed +in outward guise. We feel the changes to be unreal, and yet, there they +are! Grover Cleveland was being groomed for his first Presidential term +then; Hubert was one of his supporters in New York, and he presented me +to the pyramidal man of destiny. Poor Hubert died, lamentably, not +long after. He was a good and affectionate son. He was perhaps too +kind-hearted and loyal for the political role which he enacted. + +The elder Thompson boy was called Edmund, or, in my vernacular, Eddy. +There were in his nature a gravity, depth, and sweetness which won my +heart and respect, and we became friends in that intimate and complete +way that seems possible only to boys in their early teens. For that +matter, neither of us was yet over twelve; I think Eddy was part of +a year my junior. But you must search the annals of antiquity to find +anything so solid and unalterable as was our friendship. He was the most +absolutely good boy I ever knew, but by no means goody-goody; he had +high principles, noble ambitions, strong affections, the sweetest of +tempers; his seriousness formed a healthy foil to my own more impetuous +and hazardous character. "The thoughts of a boy are long, long +thoughts"; and not in many long lifetimes could a tithe of the splendid +projects we resolved upon have been carried out. We were together from +morning till night, month after month; we walked interminably about Rome +and frequented its ruins, and wandered far out over the Campagna and +along the shores of famous Tiber. We picked up precious antique marbles, +coins, and ancient curiosities of all sorts; we hunted for shells and +butterflies and lizards; our hearts were uplifted by the martial music +of the French army bands, which were continually resounding throughout +Rome; and we admired the gleaming swords of the officers and the sharp, +punctual drill and marching of the red-legged rank and file. We haunted +the lovely Villa Borghese, the Pincian Hill, the Villa Pamphili Doria; +we knew every nook and cranny of the Palace of the Csesars, the Baths +of Caracalla, the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, the Egerian Grove; we were +familiar with every gate that entered Rome; we drank at every fountain; +we lingered through the galleries of the Vatican and of the Capitol; +we made St. Peter's Church our refuge in inclement weather; we +threaded every street and by-way of the city; we were on friendly and +confidential terms with the custode of every treasure. And all the time +we talked about what we thought, what we felt, what we would do; there +is no looking backward in boys' confidences; they live in the instant +present and in the infinite future. Eddy and I arranged to spend one +lifetime in Central Africa, in emulation of the exploits of David +Livingstone; there, freed from all civilized burdens, we would live, and +we would run, catch the wild goat by the hair, and hurl our lances in +the sun. At another epoch of our endless lives we would enter the army +and distinguish ourselves in heroic war; we would have swords like +sunbeams and ride steeds like Bucephalus. Then, and interleaved with all +this, as it were, there was an immense life of natural history; we would +have a private museum to rival the famous ones of nations. Eddy was +especially drawn towards insects, while my own predilection was still +for conchology; and both of us spent hours every week in classifying +and arranging our respective collections, not to speak of the time we +devoted to hunting for specimens. Eddy had a green net at the end of +a stick, and became very skilful in making his captures; and how we +triumphed over a "swallow-tail," so difficult to catch, or an unfamiliar +species! Eddy had his pins and his strips of cork, and paper boxes; +and his collections certainly were fairer to look upon, to the ordinary +view, than mine; moreover, his was the more scientific mind and the +nicer sense of order. For the display of my snail-shells I used bits of +card-board and plenty of gum-arabic; and I was affluent in "duplicates," +my plan being to get a large card and then cover it with specimens of +the shell, in serried ranks. I also called literature to my aid, and +produced several little books containing labored descriptions of my +collection, couched, so far as possible, in the stilted and formal +phraseology of the conchological works to which I had access, but with +occasional outbursts after a style of my own. Here is a chapter from one +of them; a pen-and-ink portrait of the shell is prefixed to the original +essay: + +"CLAUSILIA BUBIGUNIA + +"This handsome and elegant little shell is found in mossy places, or +in old ruins, such as the Coliseum--where it is found in immense +numbers--or the Palace of the Caesars. But in Italy it is common in any +mossy ruin, in the small, moss-covered holes, where it is seen at the +farthest extremity. After a rain they always crawl out of their places +of concealment in such numbers that one would think it had been raining +clausilias. The shell, in large and fine specimens, is five-eighths of +an inch in length. The young are very small and look like the top part +of the spire of the adults. This shell is also largest in the middle, +shaped something like a grain of wheat. It has nine whorls, marked by +small white lines, which look like fine white threads of sewing-cotton; +and just below them are marks which look like very fine and very small +stitches of white cotton. The color of the shell, down to next to +the last whorl, is a brown color, but the very last whorl is a little +lighter. The shell is covered all over with fine lines, but they need +to be looked at through a magnifying-glass, they are so fine. The lip +is turning out, and very thin; inside there are three ridges, two on the +top part of the mouth, and the other, which is very small, is below. The +shell, when the animal is out of it, is semi-transparent, and the little +colomella, or pillar, can be indistinctly seen through." + +There follows a detailed and loving description of the animal inhabiting +the shell, which I must reserve for a future edition. Of another species +of snail, Helix strigata, our learned author observes that "This shell +is, when dead, one of those which is found on the banks of the Tiber. It +is a strange circumstance that, although it is a land shell, it should +be found more on the banks of a river than anywhere else, and also only +on the banks of the Tiber, for it is not found on the banks of any other +river. Any one would think that dead shells were gifted with the power +of walking about, for certainly it is an inexplicable wonder how they +got there." Of Helix muralis we are informed that "The Romans eat these +snails, not the whole of them, but only their feet. In ancient times the +most wealthy people used to eat snails, and perhaps they ate the very +ones which the poorest people eat nowadays. It is most probable, for +there are a great many different kinds of snails round Rome, and the +Romans would probably select the best." I may perhaps be permitted +to remark that the correct orthography of this writer fills me with +astonishment, inasmuch as in later life I have reason to know that +he often went astray in this respect. Of the uniform maturity of the +literary style, I have no need to speak. + +Eddy's father was in the habit of giving him an income of two or three +pauls a week, dependent on his good behavior and punctual preparation of +his lessons; and since Eddy was always well behaved and faithful in his +studies, the income came in pretty regularly. Eddy saved up this revenue +with a view to buying himself a microscope, for the better prosecution +of his zoological labors; being, also, stimulated thereto by the fact +that I already possessed one of these instruments, given me by my father +a year or two before. Mine cost ten shillings, but Eddy meant to get one +even more expensive. I had, too, a large volume of six hundred pages on +The Microscope, Its History, Construction, and Uses, by Jabez Hogg, the +contents of which I had long since learned by heart, and which I gladly +communicated to my friend. At length Eddy's economies had proceeded so +far that he was able to calculate that on his twelfth birthday he would +possess a fortune of five scudi, and he decided that he would buy a +microscope at that figure; it is needless to add that the microscope +had long since been selected in the shop, and was decidedly superior +to mine. We could hardly contain our impatience to enter upon the +marvellous world whereof this instrument was the key; that twelfth +birthday seemed long in coming, but at last it came. + +I was to go with my friend to the shop to see him make the purchase; +and I was at his house betimes in the morning. But what a stupendous +surprise awaited me! Eddy was too much excited to say anything; with a +face beaming with emotion, he led me into the sitting-room, and there, +upon the table, was a microscope. But such a microscope! It was of such +unheard-of magnificence and elaborateness that it took my breath away, +and we both stood gazing at it in voiceless rapture. It was tall and +elegant, shining with its polished brass and mirrors, and its magnifying +powers were such as to disclose to us the very heart of nature's +mystery. It was quiet Mr. Thompson's birthday present to his son. That +gentleman sat smiling in his armchair by the window, and presently he +said, with a delightful archness, "Well, Eddy, I suppose you are ready +to give me back all that money you've been collecting?" Eddy grinned +radiantly. He spent his savings for microscope-slides and other +appurtenances, and for weeks thereafter he could hardly take his +eye away from the object-lens. He was luminous with happiness, and I +reflected his splendor from my sympathetic heart. Dear old Eddy! In +after years he entered West Point and became a soldier, and he died +early; I never saw him after parting from him in Italy in 1859. But he +is still my first friend, and there has been no other more dear. + +I am not aware that Rome has ever been described from the point of +view of a twelve-year-old boy, and it might be worth doing; but I have +delayed attempting it somewhat too long; the moving pictures in my +mind have become too faded and confused. And yet I am surprised at the +minuteness of some of my recollections; they have, no doubt, been kept +alive by the numerous photographs of Rome which one carries about, +and also by the occasional perusal of The Marble Faun and other Roman +literature. But much is also due to the wonderful separateness which +Rome retains in the mind. It is like nothing else, and the spirit of it +is immortal. It seems as if I must have lived a lifetime there; and yet +I cannot make out that our total residence in the city extended over +fourteen months. Certainly no other passage of my boyhood time looms so +large or is rooted so deep. + +But the passion for Rome (unless one be a Byron) is not a plant of +sudden growth, and I dare say that, during those first frigid weeks, +I may have shared my father's whimsical aversion to the city. He has +described, in his journals, how all things seemed to be what they should +not; and he was terribly disgusted with the filth that defiled the ruins +and the street corners. He was impressed by the ruins, but deplored +their nakedness. "The marble of them grows black or brown, it is true," +says he, "and shows its age in that way; but it remains hard and +sharp, and does not become again a part of nature, as stone walls do in +England; some dry and dusty grass sprouts along the ledges of a ruin, +as in the Coliseum; but there is no green mantle of ivy spreading itself +over the gray dilapidation." We stumbled upon the Fountain of Trevi +in one of our early rambles, not knowing what it was. "One of these +fountains," writes my father, referring to it, "occupies the whole side +of a great edifice, and represents Neptune and his steeds, who seem to +be sliding down with a cataract that tumbles over a ledge of rocks +into a marble-bordered lake, the whole--except the fall of water +itself--making up an exceedingly cumbrous and ridiculous affair." He +goes to St. Peter's, and "it disappointed me terribly by its want of +effect, and the little justice it does to its real magnitude externally; +as to the interior, I am not sure that it would not be even more grand +and majestic if it were less magnificent, though I should be sorry to +see the experiment tried. I had expected something dim and vast, like +the great English cathedrals, only more vast and dim and gray; but there +is as much difference as between noonday and twilight." The pictures, +too, were apt in these first days to go against the grain with him. +Contemplating a fresco representing scenes in purgatory, he broke forth: +"I cannot speak as to the truth of the representation, but, at all +events, it was purgatory to look at this poor, faded rubbish. Thank +Heaven, there is such a thing as whitewash; and I shall always be glad +to hear of its application to old frescoes, even at the sacrifice of +remnants of real excellence!" Such growlings torture the soul of the +connoisseur; but the unregenerate man, hearing them, leaps up and shouts +for joy. He found the old masters, in their sacred subjects, lacking +in originality and initiative; and when they would represent mythology, +they engendered an apotheosis of nakedness. His conclusion was that +"there is something forced, if not feigned, in our taste for pictures +of the old Italian school." Of the profane subjects, he instances the +Fornarina, "with a deep bright glow on her face, naked below the waist, +and well pleased to be so, for the sake of your admiration--ready for +any extent of nudity, for love or money--the brazen trollop that she is! +Raphael must have been capable of great sensuality to have painted this +picture of his own accord, and lovingly." These are the iconoclasms +of the Goth and Vandal at their first advent to Rome. They remained to +alter their mood, and extol what they had before assaulted; and so did +my father, as we shall see presently. But at first he was sick and cold +and uncomfortable; and he consoled himself by hitting out at everything, +in the secret privacy of his diary, since opened to the world. With +warmer weather came equanimity and kinder judgments; but there is +a refreshing touch of truth and justice even in these mutterings of +exasperation. + +It was not so much, I suppose, that Rome was cold as that my father had +expected it to be otherwise. When one is in a place where tradition and +association invite the soul forth to be warmed and soothed and rejoiced, +and the body, venturing out, finds nothing but chill winds and +frigid temperature and discomfort, the shock is much greater and +more disagreeable than if one had been in some northern Canada or +Spitzbergen, where such conditions are normal. Ice in the arctic circle +is all right and exhilarating, but in the Piazza of St. Peter's it is an +outrage, and affects the mind and heart even more than the flesh. + +Circumstances caused my father to pass through several distinct phases +of feeling while he was in Rome. First, his own indisposition and the +inclement weather depressed and exasperated him. + +Time, in due course, brought relief in these respects, and he began +to enjoy himself and his surroundings. Anon, the springs of creative +imagination, long dormant in him, were roused to activity by thoughts +connected with the Faun of Praxiteles in the Capitol. He now became +happy in the way of his genius and immediately took a new interest +in all things, looking at them from the point of view of possible +backgrounds or incidents for the romance which had begun to take form +in his mind. He describes what he saw con amore, and all manner of +harmonious ideas bloom through his thoughts, like anemones and other +flowers in the Villa Pamphili and the Borghese. This desirable mood +continued until, after our return to Rome from the Florentine visit, my +sister caught the Roman fever. She lay for weeks in danger of death; and +her father's anxiety about her not only destroyed in him all thoughts of +literary production and care for it, but made even keeping his journal +no longer possible for him. That strain, so long continued, broke +him down, and he never recovered from it so as to be what he had been +before. Nevertheless, when she became convalescent, the reaction from +his dark misgivings made him, for a time, as light-hearted as a boy; +and, the carnival happening to be coincident with her recovery, he +entered into the fun of it with a zest and enjoyment that surprised +himself. But, again, it presently became evident that her recovery was +not complete, and probably never would be so; the injury to her health +was permanent, and she was liable to recurrences of disease. His spirits +sank again, not so low as before, but, on the other hand, they never +again rose to their normal level. It was in this saddened mood that he +once more took up the Roman romance and finished it; it is a sad book, +and when there is a ray of sunshine across the page, it has a melancholy +gleam. After we returned to Concord, his apprehensions concerning Una's +unsound condition were confirmed; and, in addition, the bitter cleavage +between North and South inspired in him the gloomiest forebodings. A +wasting away of his whole physical substance ensued; and he died, almost +suddenly, while in years he might be considered hardly past the prime +of his life. A sensitive eye can trace the effects of the death-blow +all through The Marble Faun, and still more in Septimius and Grimshawe, +published after his death. In The Dolliver Romance fragment, which was +the last thing he wrote, there is visible once more some reminiscence +of the old sunshine of humor that was so often apparent in his time of +youth and vigor; but it, too, has a sad touch in it, such as belongs +to the last rays of the star of day before it sinks below the horizon +forever. Night follows, and the rest is silence. + + + + +XV + + + The Roman carnival in three moods--Apples of Sodom--Poor, + battered, wilted, stained hearts--A living protest and + scourge--Dulce est desipere in loco--A rollicking world of + happy fools--Endless sunshine of some sort--Greenwich Fair + was worth a hundred of it--They thundered past, never + drawing rein--"Senza moccolo!"--Nothing more charming and + strange could be imagined--Girls surprised in the midst of + dressing themselves--A Unitarian clergyman with his fat + wife--Apparent license under courteous restraint--He laughed + and pelted and was pelted--William Story, as vivid as when I + saw him last--A too facile power--A deadly shadow gliding + close behind--Set afire by his own sallies--"Thy face is + like thy mother's, my fair child!"--Cleopatra in the clay-- + "War nie sein Brod mit thranen ass." + + + +THE Roman carnival opened about a month after our arrival in Rome. The +weather was bad nearly all the time, and my father's point of view was +correspondingly unsympathetic. The contrast between his mood now and a +year later, when he was not only stimulated by his daughter's recovery +from illness, but, also, was looking at everything rather as the +romancer than as the man, is worth bringing out. My father likewise +describes the carnival in the romance; there we see it in a third +phase--as art. But the passages in the note-books are written from the +realistic stand-point. In her transcriptions of the journals for the +press my mother was always careful to omit from the former everything +that had been "used" in the book; the principle, no doubt, was sound, +but it might be edifying for once, in a way, to do just the opposite, in +order to mark, if we choose to take the trouble, what kind of changes or +modifications Hawthorne the romancer would make in the work of my father +the observer of nature. Take your Marble Faun and turn to two of the +latter chapters and compare them with the corresponding pages in my +excerpts from the journals in the Biography. In the latter you will +find him always in a critical and carping humor; seeing everything +with abundant keenness, but recognizing nothing worth while in it. +The bouquets, he noticed, for example, were often picked up out of the +street and used again and again; "and," he adds, "I suppose they aptly +enough symbolized the poor, battered, wilted, stained hearts that had +flown from one hand to another along the muddy pathway of life, instead +of being treasured up in one faithful bosom. Really, it was great +nonsense." + +It is true--such uncongenial interpretation--if you feel that way about +it. And I remember, in my rambles along the famous thoroughfare, seeing +a saturnine old fellow in a dingy black coat and slouch hat, with a sour +snarl on his unprepossessing features, who made it his business, all +day, to cuff and kick the little boys whom he caught throwing confetti, +or picking up the fallen bouquets, and to shove the latter down into +the sewer which ran beneath the street, through the apertures opening +underneath the curb. He seemed to have stationed himself there as +a living protest and scourge against and of the whole spirit of the +carnival; to hate it just because the rest of the world enjoyed it, and +to wish that he might make everybody else as miserable and uncharitable +as he was. He was like a wicked and ugly Mrs. Partington, trying to +sweep back the Atlantic of holiday merriment with his dirty mop. But +this crabbed humor of his, while it made him conspicuous against the +broad background of gayety, of course had no effect on the gayety +itself. The flood of laughter, jocundity, and semi-boisterous frolic +continued to roll up and down the Corso all day long, never attempting +to be anything but pure nonsense, indeed, but achieving, nevertheless, +the wise end of nonsense in the right time and place--that of refreshing +and lightening the mind and heart. Dulce est desipere in loco--that old +saw might have been made precisely to serve as the motto of the Roman +carnival; and very likely it was actually suggested to its renowned +author by some similar sport belonging to the old Roman days, before +Christianity was thought of. The young fellows--English, American, or +of whatever other nationality--would stride up and down the overflowing +street hour after hour, clad in linen dust-coats down to their heels, +with a bag of confetti slung on one side and another full of bouquets on +the other; and they would plunge a warlike hand into the former and hurl +ammunition at their rivals; or they would, pick out a bunch of flowers +from the latter for a pretty girl--not that the flowers were worth +anything intrinsically, nor was that their fault--but just to show +the fitting sentiment. There was only one rule, the unwritten one that +everybody was to take everything that came with a smile or a laugh, and +never get angry at anything; and this universal good-humor lifted the +whole affair into a wholesome and profitable sphere. Then there was +the double row of carriages forever moving in opposite directions, and +passing within easy arm's-reach of each other; and the jolly battle was +waged between their occupants, with side conflicts with the foot-farers +at the same time. And as the same carriages would repass one another +every forty minutes or so, the persons in them would soon get to +recognize one another; and, if they were of the sterner sex, they would +be prepared to renew desperate battle; or if there was a pretty girl or +two in one of them, she would be the recipient of a deluge of flowers +or of really pretty bonbons. It was all play, all laughter, all a +new, rollicking world of happy fools, of comic chivalry, of humorous +gallantry. For my part, I thought it was the world which I had been born +to live in; and I was too happy in it to imagine even that anybody could +be less happy than I was. My sole grief was when my supply of confetti +had given out, and I had no money to buy more. I used to look at +those great baskets at the street-corners, filled with the white +agglomeration, with longing eyes, and wish I had it all in my pockets. +I picked up the fallen bouquets, muddy or not, with no misgiving, and +flung them at the girls with the unquestioning faith of boyhood. I +looked up at the people in the windows and on the draped balconies with +romantic emotions, and exchanged smiles and beckonings with them. The +February days were never long enough for me; I only wished that the +whole year was made up of those days; if it rained, or was cold, I never +knew it. There was an endless sunshine of some sort which sufficed for +me. But my father, at this epoch, could catch not a glimpse of it. "I +never in my life knew a shallower joke than the carnival at Rome; such +a rainy and muddy day, too; Greenwich Fair (at the very last of which I +assisted) was worth a hundred of it." + +The masking day, and the ensuing night of the moccolo, were the +culminating features of the carnival; and it was on the afternoon of +this day, I think, that the horse-race, with bare-backed horses, took +place. The backs of these horses, though bare of riders, had attached +to them by strings little balls with sharp points in them, which, as the +horses ran, bobbed up and down, and did the office of spurs. The race +was preceded by a thundering gallop of cavalry down the whole length +of the Corso (the street having been cleared of carriages beforehand), +ostensibly to prevent anybody from being run over by the race-horses; +but, as a matter of fact, if any one were killed, it was much more +likely to be by the ruthless riding of these helmeted dragoons than by +the riderless steeds. They thundered past, never drawing rein, no matter +what stood or ran in their way; and then, after an interval, during +which the long crowds, packed back on the opposite sidewalks, craned +forward as far as they dared to see them, came the eight or ten racers +at a furious pace. They were come and gone in a breath; and finally, +after the body of them were passed, came a laggard, who had been left at +the post, and was trying to make up for lost time. I believe it was this +horse who actually killed somebody on the course. The race over, back +into the street thronged the crowd, filling it from wall to wall; then +there was a gradual thinning away, as the people went home for supper; +and finally came the night and the moccoli, with the biggest crowd of +all. I was there with my twist of moccolo and a box of matches; except +the moccoli, there was no other illumination along the length of the +Corso. But their soft lights were there by myriads, and made a lovely +sight, to my eyes at least. "Senza moccolo!" was the universal cry; +young knights-errant, singly or in groups, pressed their way up and +down, shouting the battle-cry, and quenching all lights within reach, +while striving to maintain the flame of their own; using now the whisk +of a handkerchief, now a puff of breath, now the fillip of a finger; +contriving to extinguish a fair lady's taper with the same effusion of +vain words wherewith they told her of their passion. Most of the ladies +thus assailed sat in the lower balconies, elevated only a foot or two +above the level of the sidewalk; but those in the higher retreats made +war upon one another, and upon their own cavaliers; none was immune from +peril. The cry, uttered at once by such innumerable voices far and near, +made a singular murmur up and down the Corso; and the soft twinkling of +the lights, winking in and out as they were put out or relighted, gave +a singular fire-fly effect to the whole illumination. It seemed to me +then, and it still seems in the retrospect, that nothing more charming +and strange could be imagined; and through it all was the constant +blossoming of laughter, more inextinguishable than the moccoletti +themselves. The colors of the tapestries and stuffs dependent from the +windows and balconies glowed out in light, or were dimmed by shadow; and +the faces of the thousandfold crowd of festival-makers glimmered forth +and were lost again on the background of the night, like the features of +spirits in the glimpses of a dream. How long it all lasted I know not; +but it had its term, like other mortal things, even in this fairyland of +carnival; and when the last light was out the carnival was no more, and +Lent, unawares, had softly settled down upon us with the darkness. + +But let us now listen to my father when, for the second time, he made +proof of the carnival in the year following our return from Florence, +and after Una had left her sick-room and could be at his side. "The +weather has been splendid," he writes, "and the merriment far more free +and riotous than as I remember it in the preceding year. Tokens of +the festival were seen in flowers on street-stands, or borne aloft on +people's heads, while bushels of confetti were displayed, looking like +veritable sugarplums, so that a stranger might have thought that the +whole commerce and business of stern old Rome lay in flowers and sweets. +One wonders, however, that the scene should not be even more rich and +various when there has been so long a time (the immemorial existence +of the carnival) to prepare it, and adorn it with shapes of gayety +and humor. There was an infinite number of clowns and particolored +harlequins; a host of white dominoes; a multitude of masks, set in +eternal grins, or with monstrous noses, or made in the guise of monkeys, +bears, dogs, or whatever beast the wearer chooses to be akin to; a great +many men in petticoats, and almost as many girls and women, no doubt, in +breeches; figures, too, with huge, bulbous heads and all manner of such +easy monstrosities and exaggerations.. It is strange how the whole +humor of the thing, and the separate humor of each individual character, +vanishes the moment I try to grasp it and describe it; and yet there +really was fun in the spectacle as it flitted by--for instance, in the +long line of carriages a company of young men in flesh-colored tights +and chemises, representing a party of girls surprised in the midst of +dressing themselves, while an old nurse in the midst of them expressed +ludicrous horror at their predicament. Then the embarrassment of +gentlemen who, while quietly looking at the scene, are surrounded by +groups of maskers, grimacing at them, squeaking in their ears, hugging +them, dancing round them, till they snatch an opportunity to escape into +some doorway; or when a poor man in a black coat and cylinder hat is +whitened all over with a half-bushel of confetti and lime-dust; the mock +sympathy with which his case is investigated by a company of maskers, +who poke their stupid, pasteboard faces close to his, still with the +unchangeable grin; or when a gigantic female figure singles out some +shy, harmless personage, and makes appeals to his heart, avowing her +passionate love in dumb show, and presenting him with her bouquet; and a +hundred other nonsensicalities, among which the rudest and simplest +are not the least effective. A resounding thump on the back with a +harlequin's sword, or a rattling blow with a bladder half full of dried +pease or corn, answers a very good purpose. There was a good deal of +absurdity one day in a figure in a crinoline petticoat, riding on an ass +and almost filling the Corso with the circumference of crinoline from +side to side. Some figures are dressed in old-fashioned garbs, perhaps +of the last century, or, even more ridiculous, of thirty years ago, or +in the stately Elizabethan (as we should call them) trunk hose, tunics, +and cloaks of three centuries since. I do not know anything that I have +seen queerer than a Unitarian clergyman (Mr. Mountford), who drives +through the Corso daily with his fat wife in a one-horse chaise, with a +wreath of withered flowers and oak leaves round his hat, the rest of his +dress remaining unchanged, except that it is well powdered with the dust +of confetti. That withered wreath is the absurdest thing he could wear +(though, perhaps, he may not mean it to be so), and so, of course, the +best. I can think of no other masks just now, but will go this afternoon +and try to catch some more." You see, he has that romance in view again. +"Clowns, or zanies," he resumes, after fresh inspection, "appear in +great troupes, dancing extravagantly and scampering wildly; everybody +seems to do whatever folly comes into his head; and yet, if you consider +the matter, you see that all this apparent license is kept under +courteous restraint. There is no rudeness, except the authorized pelting +with confetti or blows of harlequins' swords, which, moreover, are +within a law of their own. But nobody takes rough hold of another, or +meddles with his mask, or does him any unmannerly violence. At first +sight you would think that the whole world had gone mad, but at the +end you wonder how people can let loose all their mirthful propensities +without unchaining the mischievous ones. It could not be so in America +or in England; in either of those countries the whole street would go +mad in earnest and come to blows and bloodshed were the populace to +let themselves loose to the extent we see here. All this restraint is +self-imposed and quite apart from the presence of the soldiery." + +This mood, we see, is far more gentle and sympathetic than the former +one; there is sunshine within as well as without; and, indeed, I +remember with what glee my father took part in the frolic, as well as +looked on at it; he laughed and pelted and was pelted; he walked down +the Corso and back again; he drove to and fro in a carriage; he mounted +to Mr. Motley's balcony and took long shots at the crowd below. The +sombre spirit of criticism had ceased, for a time, to haunt him. + +[IMAGE: WILLIAM WETMORE STORY] + +We went quite often to the studio of William Story, whom my father had +slightly known in Salem before he became a voluntary exile from America. +Mr. Story was at this time a small, wiry, nervous personage, smiling +easily, but as much through nervousness as from any inner source or +outward provocation of mirth, and as he smiled he would stroke his +cheeks, which were covered with a short, brown beard, with the fingers +and thumb of his right hand, while wrinkles would appear round his +bright, brown eyes. "He looks thin and worn already," wrote my father; +"a little bald and a very little gray, but as vivid as when I saw him +last; he cannot, methinks, be over thirty-seven." He was thirty-nine in +1858. "The great difficulty with him, I think, is a too facile power," +my father goes on; "he would do better things if it were more difficult +for him to do merely good ones. Then, too, his sensibility is too quick; +being easily touched by his own thoughts, he cannot estimate what is +required to touch a colder and duller person, and so stops short of the +adequate expression." He commented on the vein of melancholy beneath +the sparkle of his surface, as if, in the midst of prosperity, he was +conscious of a "deadly shadow gliding close behind." Boys of twelve are +not troubled with insight, unless of that unconscious, intuitive kind +that tells them that a person is likeable, or the reverse, no matter +what the person may do or say. I liked Mr. Story, and thought him as +light of spirit as he seemed; not that he was not often earnest enough +in his talks with my father, to whom he was wont to apply himself with +a sort of intensity, suggesting ideas, and watching, with his nervous +smile, my father's reception of them; plunging into deep matters, beyond +my comprehension, dwelling there a few minutes, and then emerging again +with a sparkle of wit; he was certainly very witty, and the wit was +native and original, not memorized. When he got into the current of +drollery, he would, as it were, set himself afire by his own sallies, +and soar to astonishing heights, which had an irresistible contagion +for the hearers; and he would sometimes, sitting at a table with pen and +paper at hand, illustrate his whimsicalities with lightning sketches +of immense cleverness, considering their impromptu character. I have +preserved a sheet of letter-paper covered with such drawings. The +conversation had got upon Byron, whom Mr. Story chose to ridicule; as he +talked, he drew a head of "Byron as he thought he was," followed by one +of "Byron as he was," and by another of "Byron as he might have been," +showing a very pronounced negro type. Then he made a portrait of "Ada, +sole daughter of my house and heart," and wrote under it, "Thy face was +like thy mother's, my fair child!" a hideous, simpering miss, with +a snub nose and a wooden mouth--"A poet's dream!" He also showed the +appearance of the Falls of Terni, "as described by Byron," and +added studies of infant phenomena, mother's darlings, a Presidential +candidate, and other absurdities, accompanying it all with a running +comment and imaginative improvisations which had the charm of genius in +them, and made us ache with laughter, young and old alike. Such a +man, nervous, high-strung, of fine perceptions and sensibilities, must +inevitably pass through rapid and extreme alternations of feeling; and, +no doubt, an hour after that laughing seance of ours, Mr. Story was +plunged deep in melancholy. Yet surely his premonitions of evil were +unfulfilled; Story lived long and was never other than fortunate. +Perhaps he was unable to produce works commensurate with his +conceptions; but unhappiness from such a cause is of a noble sort, and +better than most ordinary felicities. + +I remember very well the statue of Cleopatra while yet in the clay. +There she sat in the centre of the large, empty studio, pondering on +Augustus and on the asp. The hue of the clay added a charm to the figure +which even the pure marble has not quite maintained. Story said that he +never was present while the cast of one of his statues was being made; +he could not endure the sight of the workmen throwing the handfuls of +plaster at the delicate clay. Cleopatra was substantially finished, but +Story was unwilling to let her go, and had no end of doubts as to the +handling of minor details. The hand that rests on her knee--should the +forefinger and thumb meet or be separated? If they were separated, it +meant the relaxation of despair; if they met, she was still meditating +defiance or revenge. After canvassing the question at great length with +my father, he decided that they should meet; but when I saw the marble +statue in the Metropolitan Museum the other day I noticed that they +were separated. In the end the artist had preferred despair. Such things +indicate the man's character, and, perhaps, explain his failure to reach +the great heights of art. He could not trust a great idea to manage +itself, but sought subtler expression through small touches, and thus, +finally, lost the feeling of the larger inspiration. A little more of +the calm, Greek spirit would have done him good. + +He had many projects for other statues, which he would build up in fancy +before my father and discuss with him. His words and gestures made the +ideas he described seem actual and present, but he seldom got them +into marble; he probably found, upon trial, that they did not belong to +sculpture. He had the ambition to make marble speak not its own language +merely, but those of painting and of poetry likewise; and when this +proved impossible he was unhappy and out of conceit with himself, On +the other hand, he did good work in poetry and in prose; but neither +did these content him. After all, my father's observation hit the mark; +things came too easy to him. Goethe speaks the word for him: + + "Wer nie sein Brod mit thranen ass, + Er kennt euch nicht, ihr ewige Machte!" + + + + +XVI + + + Drilled in Roman history--Lovely figures made of light and + morning--What superb figures!--The breath and strength of + immeasurable antiquity--Treasures coming direct from dead + hands into mine--A pleasant sound of coolness and + refreshment--Receptacles of death now dedicated to life--The + Borghese is a forest of Ardennes--Profound and important + communings--A smiling deceiver--Of an early-rising habit-- + Hauling in on my slack--A miniature cabinet magically made + Titanic--"If I had a murder on my conscience"--None can tell + the secret origin of his thoughts--A singularly beautiful + young woman--She actually ripped the man open--No leagues of + chivalry needed in Rome--A resident army--Five foot six-- + Corsets and padding--She was wounded in the house of her + friends. + +We children had been drilled in Roman history, from Romulus to Caesar, +and we could, and frequently did, repeat by heart the Lays of Ancient +Rome by Macaulay, which were at that period better known, perhaps, than +they are now. Consequently, everything in Rome had a certain degree +of meaning for us, and gave us a pleasure in addition to the intrinsic +beauty or charm that belonged thereto. Our imagination thronged the +Capitol with senators; saw in the Roman Forum the contentions of the +tribunes and the patricians; heard the populus Romanus roar in the +Coliseum; beheld the splendid processions of victory wind cityward +through the Arch of Titus; saw Caesar lie bleeding at the base of +Pompey's statue; pondered over the fatal precipice of the Tarpeian +Rock; luxuriated in the hollow spaces of the Baths of Caracalla; lost +ourselves in gorgeous reveries in the palace of the Caesars, and haunted +the yellow stream of Tiber, beneath which lay hidden precious treasures +and forgotten secrets. And we were no less captivated by the galleries +and churches, which contained the preserved relics of the great old +times, and were in themselves so beautiful. My taste for blackened old +pictures and faded frescoes was, indeed, even more undeveloped than +my father's; but I liked the brilliant reproductions in mosaic at St. +Peter's and certain individual works in various places. I formed a +romantic attachment for the alleged Beatrice Cenci of Guido, or of some +other artist, and was very sorry that she should be so unhappy, though, +of course, I was ignorant of the occasion of her low spirits. But I +liked much better Guide's large design of Aurora, partly because I had +long been familiar with it on the head-board of my mother's bedstead. +Before her marriage she had bought a set of bedroom furniture, and had +painted it a dull gold color, and on this surface she had drawn in fine +black lines the outlines of several classical subjects, most of them +from Flaxman; but in the space mentioned she had executed an outline +of this glorious work of the Italian artist. I knew every line of +the composition thoroughly; and, by-the-way, I doubt if a truer, more +inspired copy of the picture was ever produced by anybody. But the color +had to be supplied by the observer's imagination; now, for the first +time, I saw the hues as laid on by the original painter. In spite of +time, they were pure and exquisite beyond description; these lovely +figures seemed made of light and morning. Another favorite picture of +mine was the same artist's "Michael Overcoming the Evil One," and I +even had the sense to like the painting better than the mosaic copy. +Raphael's "Transfiguration" I also knew well from the old engraving of +it that used to hang on our parlor wall from my earliest recollections; +it still hangs yonder. But I never cared for this picture; it was too +complicated and ingenious--it needed too much co-operation from +the observer's mind. Besides, I had never seen a boy with anything +approaching the muscular development of the epileptic youth in the +centre. The thing in the picture that I most approved of was the end of +the log in the little pool, in the foreground; it looked true to life. + +But my delight in the statues was endless. It seems to me that I knew +personally every statue and group in the Vatican and in the Capitol. +Again and again, either with my parents, or with Eddy, or even alone, +I would pass the warders at the doors and enter those interminable +galleries, and look and look at those quiet, stained-marble effigies. +My early studies of Flaxman had, in a measure, educated me towards +appreciation of them. I never tired of them, as I did of the Cleopatras +and the Greek Slaves. What superb figures! What power and grace and +fleetness and athletic loins! The divine, severe Minerva, musing under +the shadow of her awful helmet; the athlete with the strigil, resting +so lightly on his tireless feet; the royal Apollo, disdaining his own +victory; the Venus, half shrinking from the exquisiteness of her own +beauty; the swaying poise of the Discobulus, caught forever as he drew +his breath for the throw; the smooth-limbed, brooding Antinous; the +terrible Laocoon, which fascinated me, though it always repelled me, +too; the austere simplicity of the Dying Gladiator's stoop to death--the +most human of all the great statues; the heads of heroic Miltiades, +of Antony, of solitary Caesar, of indifferent Augustus; the tranquil +indolence of mighty Nile, clambered over by his many children--these, +and a hundred others, spoke to me out of their immortal silence. I can +conceive of no finer discipline for a boy; I emulated while I adored +them. Power, repose, beauty, nobility, were in their message: "Do you, +too, possess limbs and shoulders like ours!" they said to me; "such a +bearing, such a spirit within!" I cannot overestimate even the physical +good they did me; it was from them that I gained the inspiration for +bodily development and for all athletic exercise which has, since then, +helped me over many a rough passage in the path of life. But they also +awoke higher ambitions and conferred finer benefits. + +From these excursions into the ideal I would return to out-of-doors with +another inexhaustible zest. That ardent, blue Roman sky and penetrating, +soft sunshine filled me with life and joy. The breath and strength of +immeasurable antiquity emanated from those massive ruins, which time +could deface but never conquer. Emerald lizards basked on the hot walls; +flowers grew in the old crevices; butterflies floated round them; they +were haunted by spirits of heroes. There is nothing else to be compared +with the private, intimate, human, yet sublimated affection which +these antique monuments wrought in me. They were my mighty brothers, +condescending to my boyish thoughts and fancies, smiling upon me, +welcoming me, conscious of my love for them. Each ruin had its separate +individuality for me, so that to-day I must play with the Coliseum, +to-morrow with the Forum, or the far-ranging arches of the Aqueduct, or +the Temple of Vesta. Always, too, my eyes were alert for treasures in +the old Roman soil, coming, as it seemed, direct from the dead hands of +the vanished people into mine. I valued the scraps that I picked up thus +more than anything to be bought in shops or seen in museums. These +bits of tinted marble had felt the touch of real Romans; their feet had +trodden on them, on them their arms had rested, their hands had grasped +them. Two thousand years had dulled the polish of their surfaces; I took +them to the stone-workers, who made them glow and bloom again--yellow, +red, black, green, white. They were good-natured but careless men, those +marble-polishers, and would sometimes lose my precious relics, and when +I called for them would say, every day, "Domane--domane," or try to put +me off with some substitute--as if a boy could be deceived in such +a matter! I once found in the neighborhood of a recent excavation a +semi-transparent tourmaline of a cool green hue when held to the light; +it had once been set in the ring of some Roman beauty. It had, from long +abiding in the earth, that wonderful iridescent surface which ancient +glass acquires. Rose, my sister, picked up out of a rubbish heap a +little bronze statuette, hardly three inches high, but, as experts said, +of the best artistic period. Such things made our Roman history books +seem like a tale of yesterday, or they transported us back across the +centuries, so that we trod in the footsteps of those who had been but a +moment before us. + +In those warm days, after our walks and explorations, Eddy and I, and +little Hubert, who sometimes was permitted to accompany us, though we +deemed him hardly in our class, would greatly solace ourselves with the +clear and gurgling fountains which everywhere in Rome flow forth into +their marble and moss-grown basins with a pleasant sound of coolness and +refreshment. Rome without her fountains would not be Rome; every memory +of her includes them. In the streets, in the piazzas, in the wide +pleasaunces and gardens, the fountains allure us onward, and comfort us +for our weariness. In the Piazza d' Espagna, at the foot of the famous +steps, was that great, boat-shaped fountain whose affluent waters cool +the air which broods over the wide, white stairway; and not far away +is the mighty Trevi, with its turmoil of obstreperous figures swarming +round bragging Neptune, and its cataract of innumerable rills welling +forth and plunging downward by devious ways to meet at last in the great +basin, forever agitated with baby waves lapping against the margins. +These, and many similar elaborate structures, are for the delight of +the eye; but there are scores of modest fountains, at the corners of +the ways, in shady or in sunny places, formed of an ancient sarcophagus +receiving the everlasting tribute of two open-mouthed lion-heads, or +other devices, whose arching outgush splashes into the receptacle made +to hold death, but now immortally dedicated to the refreshment of life. +It was at these minor fountains that we quenched our boyish thirst, +each drinking at the mouth of a spout; and when we discovered that by +stopping up one spout with our thumb the other would discharge with +double force, we played roguish tricks on each other, deluging each +other at unawares with unmanageable gushes of water, till we were forced +to declare a mutual truce of honor. But what delicious draughts did we +suck in from those lion-mouths into our own; never elsewhere did +water seem so sweet and revivifying. And then we would peer into the +transparent depths of the old sarcophagus, with its fringes of green, +silky moss waving slightly with the movement of the water, and fish out +tiny-spired water-shells; or dip in them the bits of ancient marbles +we had collected on our walk, to see the hues revive to their former +splendor. Many-fountained Rome ought to be a cure for wine-bibbers; yet +I never saw an Italian drink at these springs; they would rather quaff +the thin red and white wines that are sold for a few baiocchi at the +inns. + +The Pincian Hill and the adjoining grounds of the Borghese Palace came +at length to be our favorite haunts. The Borghese is a delectable spot, +as my father remarks in one of those passages in his diary which +was afterwards expanded into the art-picture of his romance. "Broad +carriageways," he says, "and wood-paths wander beneath long vistas of +sheltering boughs; there are ilex-trees, ancient and sombre, which, in +the long peace of their lifetime, have assumed attitudes of indolent +repose; and stone-pines that look like green islands in the air, so high +above earth are they, and connected with it by such a slender length of +stem; and cypresses, resembling dark flames of huge, funereal candles. +These wooded lawns are more beautiful than English park scenery; all the +more beautiful for the air of neglect about them, as if not much care of +men were bestowed upon them, though enough to keep wildness from growing +into deformity, and to make the whole scene like nature idealized--the +woodland scenes the poet dreamed of--a forest of Ardennes, for instance. +These lawns and gentle valleys are beautiful, moreover, with fountains +flashing into marble basins, or gushing like natural cascades from rough +rocks; with bits of architecture, as pillared porticos, arches, columns, +of marble or granite, with a touch of artful ruin on them; and, indeed, +the pillars and fragments seem to be remnants of antiquity, though put +together anew, hundreds of years old, perhaps, even in their present +form, for weeds and flowers grow out of the chinks and cluster on the +tops of arches and porticos. There are altars, too, with old Roman +inscriptions on them. Statues stand here and there among the trees, in +solitude, or in a long range, lifted high on pedestals, moss-grown, some +of them shattered, all grown gray with the corrosion of the atmosphere. +In the midst of these sunny and shadowy tracts rises the stately front +of the villa, adorned with statues in niches, with busts, and ornamented +architecture blossoming in stone-work. Take away the malaria, and it +might be a very happy place." + +[IMAGE: PENCIL SKETCHES IN ITALY, BY MRS. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE] + +Here was a playground for boys of imaginative but not too destructive +proclivities, such as the world hardly furnishes elsewhere. But much of +my enjoyment of it I ascribe to my friend Eddy. My conversation with +no person since then has rivalled the profundity and importance of my +communings with his sympathetic soul. We not only discussed our future +destinies and philosophical convictions, but we located in these +delicious retreats the various worlds which we purposed to explore and +inhabit during the next few hundred years. Here we passed through by +anticipation all our future experiences. Sometimes we were accompanied +by other boys; but then our visits lost their distinction; we merely +had good times in the ordinary way of boys; we were robber barons, +intrenched in our strongholds, and attacked by other robbers; or we ran +races, or held other trials of strength and activity, or we set snares +for the bright-colored fishes which lurked in some of the fountains. The +grounds were occasionally invaded by gangs of Italian boys, between whom +and ourselves existed an irreconcilable feud. We could easily thrash +them in the Anglo-Saxon manner, with nature's weapons; but they would +ambush us and assail us with stones; and once one of them struck at +me with a knife, which was prevented from entering my side only by the +stout leather belt which I chanced to wear. We denounced these assassins +to the smiling custode of the grounds, and he promised, smilingly, to +bar the entrance to them thenceforth; but he was a smiling deceiver; +our enemies came just the same. After all, we would have regretted their +absence; they added the touch of peril to our chronic romance which +made it perfect. It is forty-four years since then. Are there any other +Borghese Gardens to come for me in the future, I wonder? There was a +rough pathway along the banks of the Tiber, extending up the stream for +two or three miles, as far as the Ponte Molle, where the corktrees grew, +and farther, for aught I know. This was a favorite walk of mine, because +of the fragments of antique marbles to be found there, and also the +shells which so mysteriously abounded along the margin, as shown by the +learned conchological author hereinbefore cited. And, being of an early +rising habit, it was my wont to get up long before breakfast and tramp +up and down along the river for an hour or two, thinking, I suppose, +as I gazed upon the turbulent flood, of brave Horatius disdainfully +escaping from the serried hosts of Lars Porsena and false Sextus, or +of Caesar and Cassius buffeting the torrent on a "dare," and with lusty +sinews flinging it aside. There were also lovely effects of dawn upon +the dome of St. Peter's, and the redoubtable mass of St. Angelo, with +its sword-sheathing angel. Moreover, sunrise, at twelve years of age, is +an exhilarating and congenial phenomenon. And I painted my experiences +in colors so attractive that our Ada Shepard was inflamed with the idea +of accompanying me on my rambles. She was a child in heart, though so +mature in intellect, and her spirit was valiant, though her flesh was +comparatively infirm. It was my custom to set out about five o'clock +in the morning, and Miss Shepard promised to be ready at that hour. +But after keeping awake most of the night in order not to fail of the +appointment, she fell asleep and dreamed only of getting up; and, after +waiting for her for near an hour, I went without her. She was +much mortified at her failure, and suggested a plan to insure her +punctuality, in which I readily agreed to collaborate. When she went to +bed she attached a piece of string to one of her toes, the other end of +the filament being carried underneath doors and along passages to my own +room. I was instructed to haul in on my slack at the proper hour; and +this I accordingly did, with good-will, and was at once made conscious +that I had caught something, not only by the resistance which my +efforts encountered, but by the sound of cries of feminine distress and +supplication, heard in the distance. However, my companion appeared in +due season, and we took our walk, which, she declared, fulfilled all the +anticipations which my reports had led her to form. + +Nevertheless, I cannot remember that we ever again made the expedition +together; it is a mistake to try to repeat a perfect joy. + +It seems to me that I must have been a pretty constant visitor at St. +Peter's. The stiff, heavy, leathern curtain which protects the entrance +having been strenuously pushed aside (always with remembrance of +Corinne's impossible act of grace and courtesy in holding it aside +with one hand for Lord Neville), the glorious interior expanded, mildly +radiant, before me. As has been the case with so many other observers, +the real magnitude of the spectacle did not at first affect me; the +character of the decoration and detail prevented the impression of +greatness; it was only after many times traversing that illimitable +pavement, and after frequent comparisons with ordinary human +measurements of the aerial heights of those arches and that dome, that +one conies to understand, by a sort of logical compulsion, how immense +it all is. It is a miniature cabinet magically made titanic; but the +magic which could transform inches into roods could not correspondingly +enlarge the innate character of the ornament; so that, instead of making +the miniature appear truly vast, it only makes us seem unnaturally +small. Still, after all criticisms, St. Peter's remains one of the most +delightful places in the world; its sweet sumptuousness and imperial +harmonies seem somehow to enter into us and make us harmonious, rich, +and sweet. The air that we inhale is just touched with the spirit of +incense, and mellowed as with the still memories of the summers of +five hundred years ago. The glistening surfaces of the colored marbles, +dimmed with faint, fragrant mists, and glorified with long slants of +brooding sunshine, soothe the eye like materialized music; and the soft +twinkle of the candles on the altars, seen in daylight, has a jewel-like +charm. As I look back upon it, however, and contrast it with the +cathedrals of England, the total influence upon the mind of St. Peter's +seems to me voluptuous rather than religious. It is a human palace of +art more than a shrine of the Almighty. A prince might make love to a +princess there without feeling guilty of profanation. St. Peter himself, +sitting there in his chair, with his highly polished toe advanced, is +a doll for us to play with. On one occasion I was in the church with +my father, and the great nave was thronged with people and lined with +soldiers, and down the midst went slowly a gorgeous procession, with +Pope Pio Nono borne aloft, swayingly, the triple crown upon his head. He +blessed the crowd, as he passed along, with outstretched hand. One can +never forget such a spectacle; but I was not nearly so much impressed in +a religious sense as when, forty years later, I stood in the portals of +a Mohammedan mosque in Central India and saw a thousand turbaned Moslems +prostrate themselves with their foreheads in the dust before a voice +which proclaimed the presence of the awful, unseen God. + +My father enjoyed the church more after each visit to it. But it was the +confessionals and their significance that most interested him. "What an +institution the confessional is! Man needs it so, that it seems as if +God must have ordained it." And he dwells upon the idea with remarkable +elaboration and persistence. Those who have followed the painful +wanderings of heart-oppressed Hilda to the carven confessional in the +great church, where she found peace, will recognize the amply unfolded +flower of this seed. What I supposed to be my notion of St. Peter's +looking like the enlargement of some liliputian edifice is also there, +though I had forgotten it till I myself reread the pages. In this book +of my memories, which is also the book of my forgettings, I must walk to +and fro freely, if I am to walk at all. None can tell the secret origin +of his thoughts. + +Besides the monumental and artistic features of Rome, the human side +of it appealed to me. There was something congenial in the Romans, and, +indeed, in the Italians generally, so that I seemed to be renewing my +acquaintance with people whom I had partly forgotten. I picked up the +conversational language with unusual ease, perhaps owing to the drilling +in Latin which my father had given me; and I liked the easy, objectless +ways of the people, and the smiles which so readily took the place of +the sallow gravity which their faces wore in repose. But it was the +Transteverini women who chiefly attracted me; they wore an antique +costume familiar enough in paintings, and they claimed to be descendants +of the ancient race; they had the noble features and bearing which one +would have looked for in such descendants, at all events. Looking in +their dark, haughty eyes, one seemed to pass back through the terrible +picturesqueness of mediaeval Italy, with its Borgias and Bella Donnas, +its Lorenzos and Fornarinas, to the Rome of Nero, Augustus, Scipio, and +Tarquin. Eddy and I would sometimes make excursions across the river to +Transtevere, and stroll up and down those narrow streets, imagining +all manner of suitable adventures and histories for the inhabitants, +stalking there in their black and scarlet and yellow habiliments, +and glancing imperially from under the black brows of their dark +countenances. One afternoon during the carnival I was in a dense crowd +in the piazza, towards the lower end of the Corso, and found myself +pushed into the neighborhood of a singularly beautiful young woman of +this class, dressed in the height of her fashion, who was slowly making +her way in my direction through the press. All at once a man, smartly +clad in the garb of recent civilization, stepped in front of her and +said something to her; what it was I knew not. She drew herself back, +as from something poisonous or revolting, and the expression of her face +became terrible. At the same time her right hand went swiftly to the +masses of her sable hair, and as swiftly back again, armed with the +small, narrow dagger which these women wear by way of hair-pin. Before +the unhappy creature who had accosted her knew what was happening, +she thrust the dagger, with a powerful movement--while her white teeth +showed, set edge to edge, through her drawn lips--deep into his body. +As he collapsed forward she drew the weapon upward, putting the whole +strength of her body into the effort, and actually ripped the man open. +Down he fell at her feet. There was a score or more of Roman citizens +within arm's-reach of her at the moment; no one spoke, still less +attempted to restrain her. On the contrary, as she turned they +respectfully opened a way for her through the midst of them, and none +made an offer to assist the dying wretch who lay writhing and faintly +coughing on the cobble-stone pavement of the piazza. I was soon elbowed +quietly away from the spot where he lay; I caught a glimpse of the +crimson head-dress of his slayer passing away afar amid the crowd; +presently the cocked hat of a gendarme appeared from another direction, +advancing slowly against manifest obstructions; everybody seemed to +get in his way, without appearing to intend it. Such was the attitude +towards assassination of the Roman people in those days. I have often +thought over the incident since then. Their sympathy is with private +vengeance, never with ordained statute law. They love to use the poniard +and to see it used, and will do their best to shield the users. Pity for +the victim they have none; they assume that he has his deserts. For +that matter, my own sympathies, filled though I was with horror at the +spectacle of actual murder done before my eyes, were wholly with the +savage beauty, and not with the fatuous creature who had probably +insulted her. It is needless to say that the women of Transtevere were +not so often called upon to resent insults as are the ladies of New +York and other American cities. They did not wait for policemen or for +"leagues of chivalry" to avenge them. + +Towards the French soldiers I was cordially disposed. Their dark-blue +tunics and baggy, red peg-tops were never out of sight, and though I +had seen troops in England, and had once observed the march of a British +regiment in Liverpool going to embark for the Crimea (whence, I believe, +very few of this particular regiment returned), yet the conception of a +resident army first came to me in Rome. About the French army of those +days still hovered the lustre bestowed upon it by the deeds of the great +Napoleon, which their recent exploits in the Crimea had not diminished. +There were among them regiments of fierce and romantic looking zouaves, +with Oriental complexions and semi-barbaric attire, marching with a long +swing, and appearing savage and impetuous enough to annihilate anything; +and there was also a brigade, the special designation of which I have +forgotten, every man of which was a trained athlete, and whose drill +was something marvellous to witness. But the average French soldier was +simply a first-class soldier, good-natured, light-hearted, active, trim, +and efficient; in height averaging not more than five foot six; carrying +muskets which seemed out of proportion large, though they handled them +lightly enough, and wearing at their sides a short sword, like the sword +of ancient Rome, which was also used as a bayonet. There was always a +drill or a march in progress somewhere, and sentinels paced up and down +before the palaces. The officers were immensely impressive; the young +ones had wasp waists, surpassing those of the most remorseless belles +of fashion; and the old ones were, en revanche, immensely stout in that +region, as if outraged nature were resolved to assert herself at last. +But, young or old, their swords were sun-bright and lovely to behold--I +used to polish my own little weapon in vain in the attempt to emulate +them. Hopelessly envious was I, too, of the heroic chests of these +warriors (not knowing them to be padded, as the waists were corseted), +and I would swell out my own little pectoral region to its utmost extent +as I walked along the streets, thereby, though I knew it not, greatly +benefiting my physical organism. Of course I had no personal commerce +with the officers, but the rank and file fraternized with me and my +companions readily; there was always a number of them strolling about +Rome and its environs on leave, in pairs or groups, and they were just +as much boys as we were. They would let me heft their short, strong +swords, and when they understood that I was gathering shells they would +climb lightly about the ruins, and bring me specimens displayed in their +broad, open palms. Our conversation was restricted to few words and many +grunts and gestures, but we understood one another and were on terms of +gay camaraderie. A dozen years afterwards, when there was war between +France and Germany, my sympathies were ardently with the former, and +great were my astonishment and regret at the issue of the conflict. Man +for man, and rightly led and managed, I still believe that Gaul could +wipe up the ground with the Teuton, without half trying. But there were +other forces than those of Moltke and Bismarck fighting against poor +France in that fatal campaign. She was wounded in the house of her +friends. + + + + +XVII + + + Miss Lander makes a bust--The twang of his native place-- + Wholly unlike anybody else--Wise, humorous Sarah Clarke-- + Back to the Gods and the Fleas--Horace Mann's statue--Miss + Bremer and the Tarpeian Rock--"I was in a state of some + little tremor"--Mrs. Jameson and Ruskin--Most thorough-going + of the classic tragedies--A well-grown calf--An adventure in + Monte Testaccio--A vision of death--A fantastic and + saturnine genius--A pitch-black place--Illuminations and + fireworks--The Faun-Enjoying Rome--First impressions-- + Lalla's curses. + +While my father was conscientiously making acquaintance with the +achievements of old-time art, modern artists were trying to practise +their skill on him; he had already sat to Cephas Giovanni Thompson, and +he was now asked to contribute his head to the studio of a certain Miss +Lander, late of Salem, Massachusetts, now settled, as she intended, +permanently in Rome. "When I dream of home," she told him, "it is +merely of paying a short visit and coming back here before my trunk is +unpacked." Miss Lander was not a painter, but a sculptor, and, in spite +of what my father had said against the nude in sculpture, I think he +liked clay and marble as a vehicle of art better than paint and canvas. +At all events, he consented to give her sittings. He was interested in +the independence of her mode of life, and they got on very comfortably +together; the results of his observation of her appear in the references +to Hilda's and Miriam's unhampered ways of life in The Marble Faun. +She had, as I recall her, a narrow, sallow face, sharp eyes, and a long +chin. She might have been thirty years old. Unlike Miss Harriet Hosmer, +who lived not far away, Miss Lander had no attractiveness for us +children. I have reason to think, too, that my father's final opinion of +her was not so favorable as his first one. Except photographs, no really +good likeness of my father was ever taken; the portrait painted in +Washington, in 1862, by Leutze, was the least successful of them all. +The best, in my opinion, was an exquisitely wrought miniature of him at +the age of thirty, which I kept for a long time, till it was stolen by a +friend in London in 1880. + +Paul Akers, a Maine Yankee, with the twang of his native place still +strong in him after ten years in Rome, was another sculptor of our +acquaintance; he was very voluble, and escorted us about Rome, and +entertained us at his own studio, where he was modelling his best group, +"The Drowned Fisher-boy," as he called it. The figure is supposed to +be lying at the bottom of the sea, face upward, with a fragment of rock +supporting on its sharp ridge the small of the back--a most painful and +uncomfortable attitude, suggesting that even in death there could be no +rest for the poor youth. Mr. Akers was rather sharply critical of his +more famous brother-artists, such as Greenough and Gibson, and was +accused by them, apparently not wholly without justification, of +yielding too much to the influence of other geniuses in the designing +of his groups. But he was a sensible and obliging little personage, and +introduced us to the studios of several of his fellow-artists in Rome, +some of which were more interesting than his own. + +Bright little Miss Harriet Hosmer, with her hands in her jacket-pockets, +and her short hair curling up round her velvet cap, struts cheerfully +forth out of the obscurity of the past in my memory; her studio, I +think, adjoined that of Gibson, of whom I remember nothing whatever. Her +most notable production at that time was a Puck sitting on a toadstool, +with a conical shell of the limpet species by way of a cap; he +somehow resembled his animated and clever creator. Miss Hosmer's face, +expressions, gestures, dress, and her manifestations in general were +perfectly in keeping with one another; there never was a more succinct +and distinct individuality; she was wholly unlike anybody else, without +being in the least unnatural or affected. Her social manner was of a +persistent jollity; but no doubt she had her grave moments or hours, a +good and strong brain, and a susceptibility to tragic conceptions, as is +shown by the noble figure of her Zenobia. This figure I saw in clay +in her studio during our second season in Rome. Miss Hosmer's talk +was quick, witty, and pointed; her big eyes redeemed her round, +small-featured face from triviality; her warm heart glowed through +all she said and did. Her studio was a contrast to the classicality of +Gibson's, whose influence, though she had studied under him during her +six years' residence in Rome, had affected her technique only, not her +conceptions or aims in art. We all liked her much. She was made known to +us, I believe, through the medium of grave, wise, humorous Sarah Clarke, +the sister of the James Freeman Clarke who married my mother to my +father, and who, twenty-two years later, read over my father the burial +service. Sarah Clarke was often abroad; she was herself an admirable +artist in water-color, and was always a dear friend of my mother's. +After we had returned to Concord, in 1860, Miss Hosmer wrote to us, and +one of her letters has been preserved; I quote it, because it is like +her: + +"MY DEAR MRS. HAWTHORNE,--It is not unlikely that you may be somewhat +surprised to hear from me; but after you have received the four dozen +letters which, sooner or later, I intend writing you, you will cease to +be so. I begin at the present moment with the first of the forty-eight, +partly for business and partly for pleasure. Reversing, then, the +order of things which some unknown but well-regulated-minded individual +considered to be correct, I will go in for pleasure first, under which +head I seek information respecting the health and well-being of all +members of your family. It seems cruel that you should go off to the +glorious Republic when there are other places in Rome besides the Piazza +Poli. Now that you are safely out of it, I must try to persuade you that +it was the most unhealthy place in the whole city, not only because +I really believe it to be so, but that malaria may not be mingled and +cherished with every remembrance of this delicious, artistic, fleay, +malarious paradise. But I suppose little short of a miracle would +transport you here again, not only because Una is probably becoming +the size of Daniel Lambert, in her native air, but because Julian is +probably weaving a future President's chair out of the rattans he is +getting at school. However that may be, the result is the same, I fear, +as to your getting back to the Gods and the Fleas; and I must look +forward to a meeting in America. Well, as that carries me over the +ocean, in my mind's eye, Mrs. Hawthorne, the business clause of my +epistle is suggested--and it is this: I have just had a letter from my +best of friends, Mr. Crow, of St. Louis [she had studied anatomy in St. +Louis before coming to Rome], who has been passing the summer in +New York and Boston, and he writes: 'They are talking in Boston of a +monument to the memory of Mr. Horace Mann, and I have said to one of the +active men engaged in it that if you could have the commission I would +subscribe handsomely towards it.' Now, it occurred to me that perhaps +you or yours might have an opportunity of saying a good word for me, in +which case I would have you know how pleased and grateful I should be. +You may not have the occasion offered you, but if it chances, I commend +myself to you distintamente, and trust to your good-nature not to +consider me pushing for having suggested it. I send this through our +well-beloved Sarah Clarke, and hope it will arrive before 1861. When +you have nothing better to do, pray give me a line, always in care of +Pakenham & Hooker. Good-bye, dear Mrs. Hawthorne--my best love to Mr. +Hawthorne and the chicks--and the best wish I can make is that you are +all as fat as yours always affectionately, + +"HARRIET HOSMER." + +All the influence which my father and mother possessed was given to Miss +Hosmer's cause, but some other person got the commission. I remember, +too, that my mother, at Mrs. Mann's request, was at great pains to make +drawings for the face of the statue which now confronts from the slopes +of Beacon Hill the culture and intelligence of Boston, which Horace +Mann did so much to promote. But he was not a subject which accommodated +itself readily to the requirements of plastic art. There is a glimpse of +Miss Hosmer in one of my father's diaries, which I will reproduce, for +the sake of indicating his amused and benevolent attitude towards her. +"She had on," says he, "a neat little jacket, a man's shirt-bosom, and +a cravat with a brooch in it; her hair is cut short, and curls jauntily +round her bright and smart little physiognomy; and, sitting opposite +me at table, I never should have imagined that she terminated in a +petticoat any more than in a fish's tail. However, I do not mean to +speak disrespectfully of Miss Hosmer, of whom I think very favorably; +but, it seems to me, her reform of the female dress begins with its +least objectionable part, and is no real improvement." + +One evening we visited Miss Bremer, the novelist, of Sweden, who was +then near the end of her foreign travels, which had begun with her visit +to America in 1849. She had met my father in Lenox, and had written of +him in the book of her travels. She was a small woman, with a big heart +and broad mind, packed full of sense, sentiment, and philanthropy. She +had an immense nose, designed, evidently, for some much larger person; +her conversation in English, though probably correct, was so oddly +accented that it was difficult to follow her. She was a very lovable +little creature, then nearing her sixtieth year. Most of her voluminous +literary work was done. Her house in Rome was near the Capitol and the +Tarpeian Rock; and after we had forgathered with her there for a +while, she accompanied us forth--the moon being up--to see the famous +precipice. It was to this incident that we owe the scene in The Marble +Faun, the most visibly tragic in my father's writings. "The court-yard," +he writes in his notes, "is bordered by a parapet, leaning over which +we saw a sheer precipice of the Tarpeian Rock, about the height of a +four-story house; not that the precipice was a bare face of rock, but +it appeared to be cased in some sort of cement, or ancient stone-work, +through which the primeval rock, here and there, looked grimly and +doubtfully. Bright as the Roman moonlight was, it would not show the +front of the wall, or rock, so well as I should have liked to see it, +but left it pretty much in the same degree of dubiety and half-knowledge +in which the antiquarians leave most of the Roman ruins. Perhaps this +precipice may have been the Traitor's Leap; perhaps it was the one on +which Miss Bremer's garden verges; perhaps neither of the two. At any +rate, it was a good idea of the stern old Romans to fling political +criminals down from the very height of the Capitoline Hill on which +stood the temples and public edifices, symbols of the institutions +which they sought to violate." But there was no tragic suggestion in +our little party, conducted about by the prattling, simple, affectionate +little woman, so homely, tender, and charitable. "At parting," wrote +my father, "she kissed my wife most affectionately on each cheek, +'because,' she said, 'you look so sweetly'; and then she turned towards +myself. I was in a state of some little tremor, not knowing what might +be about to befall me, but she merely pressed my hand, and we parted, +probably never to meet again. God bless her good heart, and every +inch of her little body, not forgetting her red nose, big as it is +in proportion to the rest of her! She is a most amiable little woman, +worthy to be the maiden aunt of the whole human race!" + +Venerable Mrs. Jameson, author of a little library of writings on +Italian art, was likewise of our company occasionally; and she evinced +a marked liking for my father, which was remarkable, inasmuch as he was +able to keep no sort of pace with her in her didactic homilies, which +were delivered with a tranquil, ex-cathedra manner, befitting one who +was the authority on her subject; one would no more have thought of +questioning her verdicts than those of Ruskin; but I should have liked +to see the latter and her together, with a difference between them. Her +legs were less active than her mind, and most of our expeditions with +her were made in carriages, from which she dispensed her wisdom placidly +as we went along, laying the dust of our ignorance with the droppings +of her erudition, like a watering-cart. However, she so far condescended +from her altitudes as to speak very cordially of my father's books, for +which he expressed proper acknowledgment; and she had a motherly way +of holding his hand in hers when he took leave of her, and looking +maternally in his face, which made him somewhat uneasy. "Were we to meet +often," he remarked, + +"I should be a little afraid of her embracing me outright--a thing to be +grateful for, but by no means to be glad of!" We drove one day to some +excavations which had just been opened near the tomb of Cecilia Metella, +outside the walls of Rome. Both Christian and Roman graves had been +found, and they had been so recently discovered that, as my father +observed, there could have been very little intervention of persons +(though much of time) between the departure of the friends of the +dead and our own visit. The large, excavated chambers were filled with +sarcophagi, beautifully sculptured, and their walls were ornamented with +free-hand decoration done in wet plaster, a marvellous testimony to the +rapid skill of the artists. The sarcophagi were filled with the bones +and the dust of the ancient people who had once, in the imperial prime +of Rome, walked about her streets, prayed to her gods, and feasted at +her banquets. My father remarked on the fact that many of the sarcophagi +were sculptured with figures that seemed anything but mournful in their +demeanor; but Mrs. Jameson said that there was almost always, in +the subject chosen, some allusion to death, instancing the story of +Meleager, an Argonaut, who, I think, slew the Calydonian boar, and +afterwards his two uncles, who had tried to get the boar's hide away +from Meleager's beloved Atalanta; whereupon the young hero was brought +to death by his mother, who in turn killed herself. It is one of the +most thoroughgoing of the classic tragedies, and was a favorite theme +for the sculptors of sarcophagi. Certainly, in the sarcophagi of the +Vatican the bas-reliefs are often scenes of battle, the rush of men and +horses, and the ground strewn with dead; and in others, a dying person +seems to be represented, with his friends weeping along the sides of the +sarcophagus; but often, too, the allusion to death, if it exists at all, +is very remote. The old Romans, like ourselves, had individual ways of +regarding the great change; according to their mood and faith, they were +hopeful or despairing. But death is death, think of it how we will. + +I think it was on a previous occasion that I went with my father, afoot, +along this same mighty Appian Way, beside which rise so many rounded +structures, vast as fortresses, containing the remains of the dead of +long ago, and culminating in the huge mass of the Cecilia Metella tomb, +with the mediaeval battlements on its summit. And it was on that walk +that we met the calf of The Marble Faun: "A well-grown calf," my father +says in his notes, "who seemed frolicsome, shy, and sociable all at the +same time; for he capered and leaped to one side, and shook his head, as +I passed him, but soon came galloping behind me, and again started aside +when I looked round." How little I suspected then (or the bull-calf +either, for that matter) that he was to frolic his way into literature, +and go gambolling down the ages to distract the anxious soul of the +lover of Hilda! Another walk of ours was to the huge, green mound of the +Monte Testaccio; it was, at that period, pierced by numerous cavities, +in the dark coolness of which stores of native wines were kept; and +they were sold to customers at the rude wooden tables in front of the +excavations, in flasks shaped like large drops of water, protected with +plaited straw. When, nowadays, in New York or other cities here, I go to +an Italian restaurant, I always call for one of these flasks, and think, +as I drink its contents, of that afternoon with my father. It was the +first time I had been permitted to taste a fermented liquor. I liked it +very much, and got two glasses of it; and when we rose to depart I was +greatly perplexed, and my father was vastly tickled, to discover a lack +of coherence between my legs and my intentions. It speedily passed off, +for the wines are of the lightest and airiest description; but when, a +little later on in life, I came to read that Horatian verse describing +how, turning from barbaric splendors such as the Persians affect, he +binds his brows with simple myrtle, and sips, beneath the shadow of his +garden bower, the pure vintage of the native grape, I better appreciated +the poetry of the theme from having enjoyed that Testaccionesque +experience. + +It was in Rome, too, that I first came in contact with death. It aroused +my liveliest curiosity, but, as I remember, no alarm; partly, I suspect, +because I was unable to believe that there was anything real in the +spectacle. The scene has been woven into the texture of the Italian +romance; it is there described almost as it actually presented itself +to the author's observation. A dead monk of the Capuchin order lay on a +bier in the nave of their church, and while we looked at him a stream +of blood flowed from his nostrils. We went down afterwards, I recollect, +into the vaults, and saw the fine, Oriental loam in which the body was +to lie; and it seems to me there were arches and other architectural +features composed of skulls and bones of long-dead brothers of the +order. He must have been a fantastic and saturnine genius who first +suggested this idea. + +Another subterranean expedition of ours was to the Catacombs, the +midnight passages of which seemed to be made of bones, and niches +containing the dust of unknown mortality, which were duskily revealed in +the glimmer of our moccoli as we passed along in single file. Sometimes +we came to chambers, one of which had in it a bier covered with glass, +in which was a body which still preserved some semblance of the +human form. There were occasional openings in the vaulted roof of the +corridors, but for the most part the darkness was Egyptian, and for a +few moments a thrill of anxiety was caused by the disappearance either +of my sister Una or of Ada Shepard; I forget which. They were soon +found, but the guide read us a homily upon the awful peril of lifelong +entombment which encompassed us. But the air was dry and cool, and the +whole adventure, from my point of view, enjoyable. + +Again, we went down a long flight of steps somewhere near the Forum, +till we reached a pitch-black place, where we waited till a guide came +up from still lower depths, down into which we followed him--each with +a moccolo--till we felt level earth or stone beneath our feet, and stood +in what I suppose is as lightless a hole as can exist in nature. It was +wet, too, and the smell of it was deadly and dismal. This, however, was +the prison in which the old Romans used to confine important prisoners, +such as Jugurtha and the Apostle Peter; and here they were strangled to +death or left to starve. It was the Mamertine Prison. I did not like it. +I also recall the opening of an oubliette in the castle of San Angelo, +which affected me like a nightmare. Before leaving Concord, in 1853, I +had once tumbled through a rotten board into a well, dug by the side of +the road ages before, and had barely saved myself from dropping to the +bottom, sixty feet below, by grabbing the weeds which grew on the margin +of the hole. I was not much scared at the moment; but the next day, +taking my father to the scene of the accident, he remarked that had I +fallen in I never could have got out again; upon which I conceived a +horror of the well which haunts me in my dreams even to this day. Only +a tuft of grass between me and such a fate! I was, therefore, far from +comfortable beside the oubliette, and was glad to emerge again into the +Roman sunshine. + +One night we climbed the Pincian Hill, and saw, far out across Rome, +the outlines of St. Peter's dome in silver light. While we were thinking +that nothing could be more beautiful, all of a sudden the delicate +silver bloomed out into a golden glory, which made everybody say, +"Oh!" Was it more beautiful or not? Theoretically, I prefer the silver +illumination; but, as a matter of fact, I must confess that I liked the +golden illumination better. We were told that the wonder was performed +by convicts, who lay along the dome and applied their matches to the +lamps at the word of command, and that, inasmuch as the service was apt +to prove fatal to the operators, these convicts were allowed certain +alleviations of their condition for doing it. I suppose it is done by +electricity now, and the convicts neither are killed nor obtain any +concessions. Such are the helps and hindrances of civilization! + +Shortly after this, on a cool and cloudy night, I was down in the +Piazza, del Popolo and saw the fireworks, the only other pyrotechnic +exhibition I had witnessed having been a private one in Rock Park, +which, I think, I have described. This Roman one was very different, and +I do not believe I have ever since seen another so fine. The whole front +of the Pincian was covered with fiery designs, and in the air overhead +wonderful fiery serpents and other devices skimmed, arched, wriggled, +shot aloft, and detonated. A boy accepts appearances as realities; and +these fireworks doubtless enlarged my conceptions of the possibilities +of nature, and substantiated the fables of the enchanters. + +[IMAGE: THE MARBLE FAUN] + +The Faun of Praxiteles, as the world knows, attracted my father, though +he could not have visited it often; for both in his notes and in his +romance he makes the same mistake as to the pose of the figure: "He has +a pipe," he says in the former, "or some such instrument of music in the +hand which rests upon the tree, and the other, I think, hangs carelessly +by his side." Of course, the left arm, the one referred to, is held +akimbo on his left hip. That my father's eyes were, however, already +awake to the literary and moral possibilities of the Faun is shown by +his further observations, which are much the same as those which appear +in the book. "The whole person," he says, "conveys the idea of an +amiable and sensual nature, easy, mirthful, apt for jollity, yet not +incapable of being touched by pathos. The Faun has no principle, nor +could comprehend it, yet is true and honest by virtue of his simplicity; +very capable, too, of affection. He might be refined through his +feelings, so that the coarser, animal part of his nature would be +thrown into the background, though liable to assert itself at any time. +Praxiteles has only expressed the animal part of the nature by one (or, +rather, two) definite signs--the two ears, which go up in a little peak, +not likely to be discovered on slight inspection, and, I suppose, they +are covered with downy fur. A tail is probably hidden under the garment. +Only a sculptor of the finest imagination, most delicate taste, and +sweetest feeling would have dreamed of representing a faun under this +guise; and, if you brood over it long enough, all the pleasantness of +sylvan life, and all the genial and happy characteristics of the brute +creation, seem to be mixed in him with humanity--trees, grass, flowers, +cattle, deer, and unsophisticated man." This passage shows how much +my father was wont to trust to first impressions, and even more on the +moral than on the material side. He recognized a truth in the first +touch--the first thought--which he was wary of meddling with afterwards, +contenting himself with slightly developing it now and then, and +smoothing a little the form and manner of its presentation. The finest +art is nearest to the most veritable nature--to such as have the eye to +see the latter aright. Rome, like other ancient cities which have fallen +from the positive activity of their original estate, has one great +advantage over other places which one wishes to see (like London, for +instance), that the whole business of whoever goes there, who has any +business whatever, is to see it; and when the duty-sights have been +duly done, the sight-seer then first begins to live his true life in +independence and happiness, going where he lists, staying no longer than +he pleases, and never knowing, when he sallies forth in the morning, +what, or how many, or how few things he will have accomplished by +nightfall. + +The duty to see is indeed the death of real vision; the official +cicerone leads you anywhere but to the place or thing that you are in +the mood to behold or understand. But with his disappearance the fun +and the pageant begin; one's eyes are at last opened, and beauty and +significance flow in through every pore of the senses. It is in this +better phase of his Roman sojourn that I picture my father; he trudges +tranquilly and happily to and fro, with no programme and no obligations, +absorbing all things with that quiet, omnivorous glance of his; pausing +whenever he takes the fancy, and contemplating for moments or minutes +whatever strikes his fancy; often turning aside from egregious +spectacles and giving his attention to apparent trifles, to the mere +passing show; pondering on the tuft of flowers in a cranny of the +Coliseum wall, on the azure silhouette of the Alban Mountains, on the +moss collected on the pavement beneath the aperture in the roof of the +Pantheon, on the picturesque deformity of old, begging Beppo on the +steps of the Piazza, d' Espagna. I am trudging joyously beside +him, hanging on to his left hand (the other being occupied with his +hook-headed cane), asking him innumerable questions, to which he +comfortably, or abstractedly, or with humorous impatience, replies; or +I run on before him, or lag behind, busy with my endless occupation of +picking up things to me curious and valuable, and filling with them my +much-enduring pockets; in this way drinking in Rome in my own way, +also, and to my boyish advantage. He tells me tales of old Rome, always +apposite to the occasion; draws from me, sometimes, my private views as +to persons, places, and scenes, and criticises those views in his own +terse, arch, pregnant way, the force and pertinency whereof are revealed +to me only in my later meditations upon them. It is only after one has +begun to deal in this way with Rome that its magic and spell begin to +work upon one; and they are never to be shaken off. Anxiety and pain may +be mingled with them, as was the case with my father before we said +our final farewell to the mighty city; but it is thereby only the more +endeared to one. Rome is one of the few central facts of the world, +because it is so much more than a fact. Byron is right--it is the city +of the soul. + +On one of the last evenings of our first season we went to the +Thompsons', and were there shown, among other things, a portfolio +of sketches. There is in The Marble Faun a chapter called "Miriam's +Studio," in which occurs a reference to a portfolio of sketches by +Miriam herself; the hint for it may have been taken from the portfolio +of Mr. Thompson, though the sketches themselves were of a very different +quality and character. The latter collection pleased me, because I was +just beginning to fill an album of my own with such lopsided attempts to +represent real objects, and yet more preposterous imaginative sallies as +my age and nature suggested. My father was interested in them on account +of the spiritual vigor which belongs to the artist's first vision of +his subject. In their case, as well as in his own, he felt that it was +impossible, as Browning put it, to "recapture that first, fine, careless +rapture." But the man of letters has an advantage over the man of paint +and canvas in the matter of being able to preserve the original spirit +in the later, finished design. + +Towards the close of this first season in Rome the Bryants came to town, +and the old poet, old in aspect even then, called on us; but he was not +a childly man, and we youngsters stood aloof and contemplated with awe +his white, Merlin beard and tranquil but chilly eyes. Near the end of +May William Story invited us to breakfast with him; the Bryants and Miss +Hosmer and some English people were there; and I understood nothing of +what passed except the breakfast, which was good, until, at the end of +the session, my father and Story began to talk about the superstition as +to Friday, and they agreed that, of course, it was nonsense, but that, +nevertheless, it did have an influence on both of them. It probably has +an influence on everybody who has ever heard of it. Many of us protest +indignantly that we don't believe in it, but the protest itself implies +something not unlike believing. + +Finally, on the 24th of May, we left our Pincian palace, and got into +and on the huge _vettura_ which was to carry us to Florence, a week's +journey. It was to be one of the most delightful and blessed of our +foreign experiences; my father often said that he had enjoyed nothing +else so much, the vetturino (who happened to be one of the honestest and +sweetest-tempered old fellows in Italy) taking upon himself the entire +management of everything, down to ordering the meals and paying the +tolls, thus leaving us wholly unembarrassed and free from responsibility +while traversing a route always historically and generally scenically +charming. But we were destined, on the threshold of the adventure, to +undergo one of those evil quarters of an hour which often usher in a +period of special sunshine; for we were forced into a desperate conflict +with our servant-girl, Lalla, and her mother over a question of wages. +The girl had done chores for us during our residence at the Palazzo +Larazani, and had seemed to be a very amiable little personage; she +was small, slim, and smiling, and, though dirty and inefficient, was no +worse, so far as we could discover, than any other Roman servant-girl. +When we had fixed on the date of our departure, Lalla had been asked how +much warning she wanted; she replied, a fortnight; which, accordingly, +was given her, with a few days thrown in for good measure. But when the +day arrived she claimed a week's more pay, and her old mother had a bill +of her own for fetching water. According to my observation, travelling +Americans have little or no conscience; to avoid trouble they will +submit to imposition, not to mention their habit of spoiling tradesmen, +waiters, and other foreign attendants by excessive tips and payments. +But my father and mother, though apt enough to make liberal bargains, +were absolutely incorruptible and immovable when anything like barefaced +robbery was attempted upon them; and they refused to present Lalla and +her mother with a single baioccho more than was their due. Moreover, the +patrone, or proprietor, of the Palazzo had mulcted them some six scudi +for Lalla's profuse breakages of glass and crockery during our stay. + +It was early morning when we set out, and only the faithful Thompsons +were there to bid us farewell. Lalla and her tribe, however, were +on hand, and violently demanded the satisfaction of their iniquitous +claims. "No!" said my father, and "No!" said my mother, like the judges +of the Medes and Persians. Thereupon the whole House of Lalla, but Lalla +and her mother especially, gave us an example of what an Italian can do +in the way of cursing an enemy. Ancient forms of malediction, which had +been current in the days of the early Roman kings, were mingled with +every damning invention that had been devised during the Middle Ages, +and ever since then; and they were all hurled at us in shrill, screaming +tones, accompanied by fell and ominous gestures and inarticulate yells +of superheated frenzy. Nothing could surpass the volubility of this +cursing, unless it were the animosity which prompted it; no crime that +anybody, since Cain slew Abel, had or could have committed deserved +a tenth part of the calamities and evil haps which this preposterous +family called down upon our heads, who had committed no crime at +all, but quite the contrary. When, in after-years, I heard Booth, as +Richelieu, threaten "the curse of Rome" upon his opponents, I shuddered, +wondering whether he had any notion what the threat meant. Through it +all my mother's ordinarily lovely and peaceful countenance expressed +a sad but unalterable determination; and my father kept smiling in a +certain dangerous way that he sometimes had in moments of great peril or +stress, but said nothing; while Mr. Thompson indignantly called upon +the cursers to cease and to beware, and my dear friend Eddy looked +distressed to the verge of tears. He squeezed my hand as I got into the +_vettura_, and told me not to mind--the Lalla people were wicked, +and their ill-wishes would return upon their own heads. A handful of +ten-cent pieces, or their Roman equivalent, would have stopped the whole +outcry and changed it into blessings; but I think my father would not +have yielded had the salvation of Rome and of all Italy depended +upon it. His eyes gleamed, as I have seen them do on one or two other +occasions only, as we drove away, with the screams pursuing us, and that +smile still hovered about his mouth. But we drove on; Gaetano cracked +his long whip, our four steeds picked up their feet and rattled our +vehicle over the Roman cobble-stones; we passed the Porta del Popolo, +and were stretching along, under the summer sunshine, upon the white +road that led to Florence. It was a divine morning; the turmoil and the +strife were soon forgotten, and for a week thenceforward there was +only unalloyed felicity before us. Poor, evil-invoking Lalla had passed +forever out of our sphere. + + + + +XVIII + + + In Othello's predicament--Gaetano--Crystals and snail- + shells--Broad, flagstone pavements--Fishing-rods and blow- + pipes--Ghostly yarns--Conservative effects of genius--An + ideal bust and a living one--The enigma of spiritualism--A + difficult combination to overthrow--The dream-child and the + Philistine--Dashing and plunging this way and that--Teresa + screamed for mercy--Grapes and figs and ghostly voices--My + father would have settled there--Kirkup the necromancer--A + miraculous birth--A four-year-old medium--The mysterious + touch--An indescribable horror--Not even a bone of her was + left--Providence takes very long views. + +The railroad which now unites Rome with Florence defrauds travellers +of some of the most agreeable scenery in Italy, and one of the most +time-honored experiences; and as for the beggars who infested the route, +they must long since have perished of inanition--not that they needed +what travellers gave them in the way of alms, but that, like Othello, +their occupation being gone, they must cease to exist. Never again could +they look forward to pestering a tourist; never exhibit a withered arm +or an artistic ulcer; never mutter anathemas against the obdurate, or +call down blessings upon the profuse. What was left them in life? And +what has become of the wayside inns, and what of the vetturinos? A +man like Gaetano, by himself, was enough to modify radically one's +conception of the possibilities of the Italian character. In appearance +he was a strong-bodied Yankee farmer, with the sun-burned, homely, +kindly, shrewd visage, the blue jumper, the slow, canny ways, the silent +perception and enjoyment of humorous things, the infrequent but timely +speech. It was astonishing to hear him speaking Italian out of a mouth +which seemed formed only to emit a Down-East drawl and to chew tobacco. +In disposition and character this son of old Rome was, so far as we, +during our week of constant and intimate association with him, could +judge, absolutely without fault; he was mild, incorruptible, and placid, +as careful of us as a father of his children, and he grew as fond of +us as we were of him, so that the final parting, after the journey was +done, was really a moving scene. I have found the tribe of cabbies, in +all countries, to be, as a rule, somewhat cantankerous and sinister; +but Gaetano compensated for all his horse-driving brethren. To be sure, +_vettura_ driving is not like cabbing, and Gaetano was in the habit of +getting out often and walking up the hills, thus exercising his liver. +But he must have been born with a strong predisposition to goodness, +which he never outgrew. + +Save for a few showers, it was fine weather all the way, and a good part +of the way was covered on foot by my father and me; for the hills were +many, and the winding ascents long, and we would alight and leave +the slow-moving vehicle, with its ponderous freight, behind us, to be +overtaken perhaps an hour or two later on the levels or declivities. +Gaetano was a consummate whip, and he carried his team down the descents +and round the exciting turns at a thrilling pace, while the yards of +whiplash cracked and detonated overhead like a liliputian thunder-storm. +On the mountain-tops were romantic villages, surrounding rock-built +castles which had been robber strongholds centuries before, and we +traversed peaceful plains which had been the scenes of famous Roman +battles, and whose brooks had run red with blood before England's +history began. We paused a day in Perugia, and received the Bronze +Pontiff's benediction; the silent voices of history were everywhere +speaking to the spiritual ear. Meanwhile I regarded the trip as being, +primarily, an opportunity to collect unusual snail-shells; and we passed +through a region full of natural crystals, some of them of such size as +to prompt my father to forbid their being added to our luggage. I could +not understand his insensibility. Could I have had my way, I would have +loaded a wain with them. I liked the villages and castles, too, and +the good dinners at the inns, and the sound sleeps in mediaeval beds +at night; but the crystals and the snail-shells were the true aim and +sustenance of my life. My mother and sister sketched continually, and +Miss Shepard was always ready to tell us the story of the historical +features which we encountered; it astounded me to note how much she knew +about things which she had never before seen. One afternoon we drove +down from surrounding heights to Florence, which lay in a golden haze +characteristic of Italian Junes in this latitude. Powers, the sculptor, +had promised to engage lodgings for us, but he had not expected us +so soon, and meanwhile we put up at a hotel near by, and walked out a +little in the long evening, admiring the broad, flagstone pavements and +all the minor features which made Florence so unlike Rome. The next day +began our acquaintance with the Powers family, who, with the Brownings, +constituted most of the social element of our sojourn. Powers had an +agreeable wife, two lovely daughters, and a tall son, a few years older +than I, and a pleasant companion, though he could not take the place of +Eddy Thompson in my heart. He was clever with his hands, and soon began +to make fishing-rods for me, having learned of my predilection for the +sport. There were no opportunities to fish in Florence; but the rods +which Bob Powers produced were works of art, straight and tapering, and +made in lengths, which fitted into one another--a refinement which was +new to me, who had hitherto imagined nothing better than a bamboo pole. +Bob finally confided to me that he straightened his rods by softening +the wood in steam; but I found that they did not long retain their +straightness; and, there being no use for them, except the delight of +the eye, I presently lost interest in them. Then Bob showed me how to +make blow-pipes by pushing out the pith from the stems of some species +of bushy shrub that grew outside the walls. He made pellets of clay from +his father's studio; and I was deeply affected by the long range and +accuracy of these weapons. We used to ensconce ourselves behind the +blinds of the front windows of Powers's house, and practise through the +slats at the passers-by in the street. They would feel a smart hit and +look here and there, indignant; but, after a while, seeing nothing +but the innocent fronts of sleepy houses, would resume their way. Bob +inherited his handiness from his father, who seemed a master of all +crafts, a true Yankee genius. He might have made his fortune as an +inventor had he not happened to turn the main stream of his energy in +the direction of sculpture. I believe that the literary art was the only +one in which he did not claim proficiency, and that was a pity, because +Powers's autobiography would have been a book of books. He was a +Swedenborgian by faith, but he also dabbled somewhat in spiritualism, +which was having a vogue at that time, owing partly to the exploits of +the American medium Home. Marvellous, indeed, were the ghostly yarns +Powers used to spin, and they lost nothing by the physical appearance of +the narrator, with his tall figure, square brow, great, black eyes, and +impressive gestures; his voice, too, was deep and flexible, and could +sink into the most blood-curdling tones. My recollection is that Powers +was always clad in a long, linen pinafore, reaching from his chin to his +feet, and daubed with clay, and on his head a cap made either of paper, +like a baker's, or, for dress occasions, of black velvet. His homely +ways and speech, which smacked of the Vermont farm as strongly as if he +had just come thence, whereas in truth he had lived in Florence, at this +time, about twenty years, and had won high fame as a sculptor, tempted +one to suspect him of affectation--of a pose; and there is no doubt that +Powers was aware of the contrast between his physical presentment and +his artistic reputation, and felt a sort of dramatic pleasure in it. +Nevertheless, it would be unjust to call him affected; he was a big man, +in all senses of the term, and his instinct of independence led him to +repudiate all external polish and ear-marks of social culture, and to +say, as it were, "You see, a plain Vermont countryman can live half a +lifetime in the centre of artificial refinement and rival by the works +of his native genius the foremost living artists, and yet remain the +same simple, honest old sixpence that he was at home!" It was certainly +a more manly and wholesome attitude than that of the ordinary American +foreign resident, who makes a point of forgetting his native ways and +point of view, and aping the habits and traits of his alien associates. +And, besides, Powers had such an immense temperament and individuality +that very likely he could not have modified them successfully even had +he been disposed to do so. + +[IMAGE: HIRAM POWERS] + +His daughters, as I have said, were lovely creatures. Powers was at this +time modelling an ideal bust of a woman, and one day I went into his +studio expecting to find Bob there, but the studio was empty but for the +bust, which I now had an opportunity to contemplate at my ease for the +first time. I thought it very beautiful, and there was something about +the face which reminded me of somebody, I could not decide who. Just +then a portiere in the doorway parted, and in came a living bust, a +reality in warm flesh and blood, compared with which the ideal seemed +second-rate. It belonged to one of Powers's daughters, who had come +for a sitting; she was serving as her father's model. Upon seeing the +unexpected boy, fixed there in speechless admiration, the young lady +uttered a scream and vanished. I now knew whom the face of the clay +effigy reminded me of, and afterwards when I saw beautiful statues I +thought of her, and shook my head. + +My father and Powers took a strong fancy to each other, and met and +talked a great deal. As I just said now, spiritualism was a fad at that +time, and Powers was pregnant with marvels which he had either seen +or heard of, and which he was always ready to attempt to explain on +philosophical grounds. My father would listen to it all, and both +believe it and not believe it. He felt, I suppose, that Powers was +telling the truth, but he was not persuaded that all the truth was in +Powers's possession, or in any one else's. Powers also had a great deal +to say concerning the exoteric and esoteric truths of sculpture; his +racy individuality marked it all. He would not admit that there was any +limit to what might be done with marble; and when my father asked him +one day whether he could model a blush on a woman's cheek, he said, +stoutly, that the thing was possible. My father, as his manner was +with people, went with the sculptor as far as he chose to carry him, +accepting all his opinions and judgments, and becoming Powers, so far as +he might, for the time being, in order the better to get to the root of +his position. And then, afterwards, he would return to his own self, and +quietly examine Powers's assertions and theories in the dry light. My +father was two men, one sympathetic and intuitional, the other critical +and logical; together they formed a combination which could not be +thrown off its feet. + +We had already met the Brownings in London; but at this period they +belonged in Italy more than anywhere else, and Florence formed the best +setting for the authors both of Aurora Leigh and of Sordello. They lived +in a villa called Casa Guidi, and with them was their son, a boy +younger than myself, whom they called Pennini, though his real name +was something much less fastidious. Penni, I believe, used to be an +assistant of Raphael early in the sixteenth century, and Pennini may +have been nicknamed after him. His mother, who was an extravagant woman +on the emotional and spiritual plane, made the poor little boy wear +his hair curled in long ringlets down his back, and clad him in a fancy +costume of black velvet, with knickerbockers and black silk stockings; +he was homely of face, and looked "soft," as normal boys would say. But +his parents were determined to make an ideal dream-child of him, and, of +course, he had to submit. I had the contempt for him which a philistine +boy feels for a creature whom he knows he can lick with one hand tied +behind his back, and I had nothing whatever to say to him. But Pennini +was not such a mollycoddle and ass as he looked, and when he grew up he +gave evidence enough of having a mind and a way of his own. My mother +took him at his mother's valuation, and both she and my father have +expressed admiration of the whole Browning tribe in their published +journals. Mrs. Browning seemed to me a sort of miniature monstrosity; +there was no body to her, only a mass of dark curls and queer, dark +eyes, and an enormous mouth with thick lips; no portrait of her has +dared to show the half of it. Her hand was like a bird's claw. Browning +was a lusty, active, energetic person, dashing and plunging this way and +that with wonderful impetus and suddenness; he was never still a moment, +and he talked with extraordinary velocity and zeal. There was a mass +of wild hair on his head, and he wore bushy whiskers. He appeared very +different twenty years later, when I met him in London, after his wife's +death; he was quiet and sedate, with close-cut silvery hair and pointed +beard, and the rather stout, well-dressed figure of a British gentleman +of the sober middle class. It is difficult to harmonize either of these +outsides with the poet within--that remarkable imagination, intellect, +and analytical faculty which have made him one of the men of the +century. There was a genial charm in Browning, emphasized, in this +earlier time, with a bewildering vivacity and an affluence of courtesy. +In his mature phase he was still courteous and agreeable when he chose +to be so, but was also occasionally supercilious and repellent, and +assiduously cultivated smart society. I once asked him, in 1879, why he +made his poetry so often obscure, and he replied, frankly, that he did +so because he couldn't help it; the inability to put his thoughts in +clear phrases had always been a grief to him. This statement was, to me, +unexpected, and it has a certain importance. + +After a few weeks in Casa Bella, opposite Powers's house, Florence grew +so hot that we were glad of an opportunity to rent the Villa Montauto, +up on the hill of Bellosguardo, less than a mile beyond the city gate. +The villa, with two stories and an attic, must have been nearly two +hundred feet long, and was two or three rooms deep; at the hither end +rose a tower evidently much older than the house attached to it. Near +the foot of the tower grew an ancient tree, on a projecting branch of +which we soon had a swing suspended, and all of us children did some +very tall swinging. There was a little girl of ten belonging to the +estate, named Teresa, an amiable, brown-haired, homely little personage. +We admitted her to our intimacy, and swung her in the swing till she +screamed for mercy. The road from Florence, after passing our big iron +gate on the east, continued on westward, beneath the tower and the +parapet of the grounds; beyond extended the wide valley of the Arno, +with mountains hemming it in, and to the left of the mountains, every +evening, Donati's comet shone, with a golden sweep of tail subtending +twenty degrees along the horizon. The peasant folk regarded it with +foreboding; and I remember seeing in the book-shops of Rome, before we +left, pamphlets in both Italian and English, with such titles as "Will +the great comet, now rapidly approaching, strike the earth?" It did not +strike the earth, but it afforded us a magnificent spectacle during +our stay in Montauto, and the next year it was followed by war between +Austria and France and the evacuation of Venice. + +The elevation of Bellosguardo sloped from the villa north and east, and +this declivity was occupied by a podere of some dozen acres, on which +grew grape-vines, olive and fig trees. Every morning, about ten o'clock, +the peasants on the estate would come in loaded with grapes, which they +piled up on a large table in the reception-hall on the ground floor. We +ate them by handfuls, but were never able to finish them. Between times +we would go out among the fruit trees and devour fresh figs, luscious +with purple pulp. I had three or four rooms to myself at the western +extremity of the house; they were always cool on the hottest days. There +I was wont to retire to pursue my literary labors; I was still writing +works on conchology. My sister Una had rooms on the ground floor, +adjoining the chapel. They were haunted by the ghost of a nun, and +several times the candle which she took in there at night was moved by +invisible hands from its place and set down elsewhere. Ghostly voices +called to us, and various unaccountable noises were heard now and then, +both within and without the house; but we children did not mind them, +not having been bred in the fear of spirits. Indeed, at the instance +of Mrs. Browning, who was often with us, we held spirit seances, +Miss Shepard being the medium, though she mildly protested. Long +communications were written down, but the sceptics were not converted, +nor were the believers discouraged. "I discern in the alleged +communications from my wife's mother," wrote my father, "much of her own +beautiful fancy and many of her preconceived ideas, although thinner +and weaker than at first hand. They are the echoes of her own voice, +returning out of the lovely chambers of her heart, and mistaken by her +for the tones of her mother." + +Almost every day some of us made an incursion into Florence. The town +itself seemed to me more agreeable than Rome; but the Boboli Gardens +could not rival the Borghese, and the Pitti and Uffizi galleries were +not so captivating as the Vatican and the Capitol. However, the Cascine +and the Lung' Arno were delightful, and the Arno, shallow and placid, +flowing through the midst of the city, was a fairer object than the +muddy and turbulent Tiber. Men and boys bathed along the banks in the +afternoons and evenings; and the Ponte Vecchio, crowded with grotesque +little houses, was a favorite promenade of mine. There was also a large +marketplace, where the peasant women sold the produce of their farms. My +insatiable appetite for such things prompted me often to go thither +and eat everything I had money to buy. One day I consumed so many fresh +tomatoes that I had a giddiness in the back of my head, and ate no more +tomatoes for some years. But the place I best liked was the great open +square of the Palazzo Vecchio, with the statues of David and of Perseus +under the Loggia dei Lanzi, a retreat from sun and rain; and the Duomo +and Giotto's Campanile, hard by. The pavements of Florence, smooth as +the surface of stone canals, were most soothing and comfortable after +the relentless, sharp cobble-stones of Rome; the low houses that +bordered them seemed to slumber in the hot, still sunshine. What a +sunshine was that! Not fierce and feverish, as in the tropics, but soft +and intense and white. Who would not live in Florence if he could? I +think my father would have settled there but for his children, to whom +he wished to give an American education. The thought was often in his +mind; and he perhaps cherished some hope of returning thither later +in life, and letting old age steal gently upon him and his wife in +the delicious city. But the Celestial City was nearer to him than he +suspected. + +There was a magical old man in Florence named Kirkup, an Englishman, +though he had dwelt abroad so many years that he seemed more Florentine +than the Florentines themselves. He had known, in his youth, Byron, +Shelley, Hunt, and Edward Trelawney. After that famous group was +disparted, Kirkup, having an income sufficient for his needs, came to +Florence and settled there. He took to antiquarianism, which is a sort +of philtre, driving its votaries mildly insane, and filling them +with emotions which, on the whole, are probably more often happy than +grievous. But Kirkup, in the course of his researches into the past, +came upon the books of the necromancers, and bought and studied them, +and began to practise their spells and conjurations; and by-and-by, +being a great admirer and student of Dante, that poet manifested himself +to him in his lonely vigils and told him many unknown facts about his +career on earth, and incidentally revealed to him the whereabouts of the +now-familiar fresco of Dante on the wall of the Bargello Chapel, where +it had been hidden for ages beneath a coat of whitewash. In these occult +researches, Kirkup, of course, had need of a medium, and he found among +the Florentine peasants a young girl, radiantly beautiful, who possessed +an extraordinary susceptibility to spiritual influences. Through her +means he conversed with the renowned dead men of the past times. But one +day Regina (such was the girl's name), much to the old man's surprise, +gave birth to a child. She herself died, in Kirkup's house, soon after, +and on her death-bed she swore a solemn oath on the crucifix that the +baby's father was none other than Kirkup himself. The poor old gentleman +had grown so accustomed to believing in miracles that he made little ado +about accepting this one also; he received the child as his daughter, +and made provision for her in his will. No one had the heart or thought +it worth while to enlighten him as to certain facts which might have +altered his attitude; but it was well known that Regina had a lover, a +handsome young Italian peasant, much more capable of begetting children +than of taking care of them afterwards. + +These interesting circumstances I did not learn until long after +Florence had receded into the distance in my memory. But one afternoon, +with my father and mother, I entered the door of a queer old house close +to the Ponte Vecchio; I was told that it had formerly been a palace of +the Knights Templars. We ascended a very darksome flight of stairs, and +a door was opened by a strange little man. He may have been, at that +time, some seventy years my senior, but he was little above my height; +he had long, soft, white hair and a flowing white beard; his features +bore a resemblance to those of Bulwer Lytton, only Bulwer never lived to +anything like Mr. Kirkup's age. Old as he was, our host was very brisk +and polite, and did the honors of his suite of large rooms with much +grace and fantastic hospitality. Dancing about him, and making friends +freely with us all meanwhile, was the little girl, Imogen by name, who +was accredited as the octogenarian's offspring. She was some four or +five years of age, but intellectually precocious, though a complete +child, too. Mr. Kirkup said that she, like her beautiful mother, was a +powerful medium, and that he often used to communicate through her with +her mother, who would seem to have kept her secret even after death. The +house was stuffed full of curiosities, but was very dirty and cobwebby; +the pictures and the books looked much in need of a caretaker. The +little child frolicked and flitted about the dusky apartments, or seated +herself like a butterfly on the great tomes of magic that were piled in +corners. Nothing could be stronger or stranger than the contrast between +her and this environment. My father wrote it all down in his journal, +and it evidently impressed his imagination; and she and Kirkup +himself--_mutatis mutandis_--appear in Dr. Grimshawe's Secret, and +again, in a somewhat different form, in The Dolliver Romance. There +was even a Persian kitten, too, to bear little Imogen company. But no +fiction could surpass the singularity of this withered old magician +living with the pale, tiny sprite of a child of mysterious birth in the +ghost-haunted rooms of the ancient palace. + +It seemed as if the world of the occult were making a determined attack +upon us during this Florentine sojourn; whichever way we turned we came +in contact with something mysterious. In one of my father's unpublished +diaries he writes, in reference to the stories with which he was being +regaled by Powers, the Brownings, and others, that he was reminded "of +an incident that took place at the old manse, in the first summer of our +marriage. One night, about eleven o'clock, before either my wife or +I had fallen asleep (we had been talking together just before), she +suddenly asked me why I had touched her shoulder? The next instant she +had a sense that the touch was not mine, but that of some third presence +in the chamber. She clung to me in great affright, but I got out of +bed and searched the chamber and adjacent entry, and, finding nothing, +concluded that the touch was a fancied one. My wife, however, has never +varied in her belief that the incident was supernatural and connected +with the apparition of old Dr. Harris, who used to show himself to +me daily in the reading-room of the Boston Athenaeum. I am still +incredulous both as to the doctor's identity and as to the reality of +the mysterious touch. That same summer of our honeymoon, too, George +Hillard and his wife were sitting with us in our parlor, when a rustling +as of a silken robe passed from corner to corner of the room, right +among my wife and the two guests, and was heard, I think, by all three. +Mrs. Hillard, I remember, was greatly startled. As for myself, I was +reclining on the sofa at a little distance, and neither heard the rustle +nor believed it." + +Nevertheless, such things affect one in a degree. Here is a straw to +show which way the wind of doctrine was blowing with my father: We were +in Siena immediately after the date of our Florentine residence, and +he and I, leaving the rest of the family at our hotel, sallied forth in +quest of adventures. "We went to the cathedral," he writes, "and while +standing near the entrance, or about midway in the nave, we saw a female +figure approaching through the dimness and distance, far away in the +region of the high altar; as it drew nearer its air reminded me of Una, +whom we had left at home. Finally, it came close to us, and proved to +be Una herself; she had come, immediately after we left the hotel, with +Miss Shepard, and was looking for objects to sketch. It is an empty +thing to write down, but the surprise made the incident stand out very +vividly." Una was to pass near the gates of the next world a little +while later, and doubtless my father often during that dark period +pictured her to himself as a spirit. To make an end of this subject, I +will quote here my father's account of a story told him by Mrs. Story +when we were living in Rome for the second time. The incident of the +woman's face at the carriage window reappears in The Marble Faun. +"She told it," he says, "on the authority of Mrs. Gaskell, to whom the +personages were known. A lady, recently married, was observed to be in a +melancholy frame of mind, and fell into a bad state of health. She told +her husband that she was haunted with the constant vision of a certain +face, which affected her with an indescribable horror, and was the cause +of her melancholy and illness. The physician prescribed travel, and they +went first to Paris, where the lady's spirits grew somewhat better, and +the vision haunted her less constantly. They purposed going to Italy, +and before their departure from Paris a letter of introduction was given +them by a friend, directed to a person in Rome. On their arrival in Rome +the letter was delivered; the person called, and in his face the lady +recognized the precise reality of her vision. By-the-bye, I think the +lady saw this face in the streets of Rome before the introduction took +place. The end of the story is that the husband was almost immediately +recalled to England by an urgent summons; the wife disappeared that very +night, and was recognized driving out of Rome, in a carriage, in tears, +and accompanied by the visionary unknown. It is a very foolish story, +but told as truth. Mrs. Story also said that in an Etruscan tomb, on the +Barberini estate, the form and impression, in dust, of a female figure +were discovered. Not even a bone of her was left; but where her neck had +been there lay a magnificent necklace, all of gold and of the richest +workmanship. The necklace, just as it was found (except, I suppose, +for a little furbishing), is now worn by the Princess Barberini as her +richest adornment. Mrs. Story herself had on a bracelet composed, I +think, of seven ancient Etruscan scorabei in carnelian, every one of +which has been taken from a separate tomb, and on one side of each was +engraved the signet of the person to whom it had belonged and who +had carried it to the grave with him. This bracelet would make a good +connecting link for a series of Etruscan tales, the more fantastic the +better!" + +On the first day of October, 1859, we left Florence by railway for Siena +on our way back to Rome. There had been no drawbacks to our enjoyment of +the city and of our villa and of the people we had met. We departed with +regret; had we stayed on there, instead, and not again attempted the +fatal air of the Seven Hills, our after chronicles might have been +very different. But we walk over precipices with our eyes open, or pass +safely along their verge in the dark, and only the Power who made us +knows why. Providence takes very long views. + + + + +XIX + + + Burnt Sienna--The Aquila Nera--A grand, noble, gentle + creature--The most beautiful woman in the world--Better + friends than ever--A shadow brooded--Boys are whole-souled + creatures--Franklin Pierce--Miriam, Hilda, Kenyon, + Donatello--The historian of the Netherlands--When New + England makes a man--The spell of Trevi--An accession of + mishaps--My father's mustache--Three steps of stone, the + fourth, death--Havre, Redcar, Bath, London, Liverpool. + +Siena is distant from Florence, in a direct line, not more than fifty +miles, but the railway turns the western flank of the mountains, and +kept us full three hours on the trip. I had long been familiar with a +paint in my color-box called Burnt Sienna, and was now much interested +to learn that it was made of the yellow clay on which the city of Siena +stands; and when I discovered for myself that this clay, having formed +the bed of some antediluvian ocean, was full of fossil shells, I +thought that Siena was a place where I would do well to spend one of my +lifetimes. The odd, parti-colored architecture of the town did not +so much appeal to me, and certainly the streets and squares were less +attractive in themselves than either the Roman or the Florentine ones. +The shells were personally ugly, but they were shells, and fossils into +the bargain, and they sufficed for my happiness. + +The Storys had a villa in Siena, and my father certainly had in the back +part of his mind an idea of settling there, or elsewhere in Italy, now +or later; but after ten days we were on our travels again. There were +no ruins to be seen, that I remember, but many churches and frescoes and +old oil-paintings, which I regarded with indifference. Mediaeval remains +did not attract me like classic ones. It was here that Story drew the +caricatures which I have already spoken of, and from the windows of the +room, as the twilight fell, we could see the great comet, then in its +apogee of brilliance. Where will the world be when it comes again? We +had rooms at the Aquila Nera, looking out on the venerable, gray Palazzo +Tolomei. The narrow streets were full of people; the steepness and +irregularity of the thoroughfares of the city produced a feeling of +energy and activity in the midst of the ancient historic peace. Siena +is, I believe, built about the crater of an extinct volcano. The old +brick wall of the city was still extant, running up hill and down, +and confining the rusty heaps of houses within its belt. There were +projecting balconies, crumbling with age, and irregular arcades, +resembling tunnels hewn out of the solid rock. From the windows of +our sitting-room in the hotel we commanded the piazza, in front of the +Palazzo Tolomei, with a pillar in the midst of it, on which was a group +of Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf, the tradition of the city +being that it was founded during the epoch of the Roman kings. My mother +made a sketch of this monument in her little sketch-book, and my father, +according to a common custom of his, sat for an hour at the window +one day and made a note of every person who passed through the little +square, thus getting an idea of the character of the local population +not otherwise obtainable. I can imagine that, were one born in Siena, +one might conceive an ardent affection for it; but, in spite of its +picturesqueness, it never touched my heart like Rome or Florence, or +even London or Paris. I left it without regret, but with specimens of +its fossils in my pockets. + +It often happens with miracles that they occur in doubles or trebles, in +order, I suppose, to suggest to us that they may be simply instances +of an undiscovered law. Gaetano was a miracle, and he was followed by +Constantino, who, though of an altogether different human type, was +of no less sweet and shining a nature than the other. He was a grand, +noble, gentle creature, and my mother soon dubbed him "The Emperor," +though it may be doubted whether the original emperor of that name was +as good a man as ours; he was certainly not nearly so good-looking. He +was only the driver of our _vettura_ from Siena to Rome, but there was +a princely munificence in his treatment of us that made us feel his +debtors in an indefinitely greater sum than that which technically +discharged our obligations. He was massive, quiescent, oxlike, with +great, slow-moving, black eyes. He had the air of extending to us the +hospitalities of Italy, and our journey assumed the character of a royal +progress. He was especially devoted to my small sister Rose, and often, +going up the hills, he would have her beside him on foot, one of his +great hands clasping hers, while with the other he wielded the long whip +that encouraged the horses. His garments were of the humblest fashion, +but he so wore them as to make them seem imperial robes. My mother +caught an excellent likeness of him as he sat before her on the driver's +seat. The second trip was as enjoyable as the first, though it was two +or three days shorter. The route was west of our former one, passing +through Radicofani, incrusted round its hill-top; and Bolsena, climbing +backward from the poisonous shore of its beautiful lake; and Viterbo, +ugly and beggar-ridden, though famous forever on account of the war for +Galiana waged between Viterbo and Rome. In the front of an old church in +the town I saw the carved side of her sarcophagus, incorporate with the +wall. She was the most beautiful woman in the world in her day, and in +the fight for the possession of her her townsmen overcame the Romans, +but the latter were permitted, as a salve for their defeat, to have one +final glimpse of Galiana as they marched homeward without her. From +a window in a tower of one of the gates of the city, therefore, her +heavenly face looked forth and shed a farewell gleam over the dusty, +defeated ranks of Rome as they filed past, up-looking. The tale is as +old as the incident itself, but I always love to recall it; there is in +it something that touches the soul more inwardly than even the legend of +Grecian Helen. + +By the middle of October we were back again in Rome, and though we were +now in new lodgings, the feeling was that of getting home after travels. +The weather was fine, and we revisited the familiar ruins and gardens, +and renewed our acquaintance with our favorite statues and pictures with +fresh enjoyment. Eddy Thompson and I found each other better +friends than ever--we had written each other laborious but sincerely +affectionate letters during our separation--and he and I, with one or +more favored companions sometimes, perambulated Rome incessantly, and +felt that the world had begun again. But by the 1st of November there +came to pass an untoward change, and our rejoicing was changed to +lamentation. First, my father himself had a touch of malaria, which +clouded his view of all outward things; and then my sister Una, +disregarding the law which provides that all persons must be in-doors +in Rome by six o'clock in the evening, caught the veritable Roman fever, +and during four months thereafter a shadow brooded over our snug little +lodgings in the Piazza, Poli. "It is not a severe attack," my father +wrote at the beginning, "yet it is attended by fits of exceeding +discomfort, occasional comatoseness, and even delirium to the extent +of making the poor child talk in rhythmic measure, like a tragic +heroine--as if the fever lifted her feet off the earth; the fever being +seldom dangerous, but is liable to recur on slight occasion hereafter." +But, as it turned out, Una's attack was of the worst kind, and she +sank and sank, till it seemed at last as if she must vanish from us +altogether. Eddy and I held melancholy consultations together, for Eddy, +besides being my special crony and confidant, had allowed himself to +conceive a heroic and transcendental passion for my sister--one of the +antique, Spenserian sort--and his concern for her condition was only +less than mine. So we went about with solemn faces, comforting each +other as best we might. I remember, when the crisis of the fever +was reached, taking him into a room and closing the door, and there +imparting to him the news that Una might not recover. We stared drearily +into each other's faces, and felt that the world would never again be +bright for us. Boys are whole-souled creatures; they feel one thing at a +time, and feel it with their might. + +However, Una safely passed her crisis, thanks mainly to the wonderful +nursing of her mother, and by carnival-time was able to be out again and +to get her share of sugar-plums and flowers. But my mother was exhausted +by her ceaseless vigils in the sick-room, and my father, as I have +before intimated, never recovered from the long-drawn fear; it sapped +his energies at the root, and the continued infirmity of Una's health +prevented what chance there might have been of his recuperation. Yet for +the moment he could find fun and pleasure in the carnival, and he felt +as never before the searching beauty of the Borghese, the Pincian, and +the galleries. He was also comforted by the companionship of his friend +Franklin Pierce, who, his Presidential term over, had come to Europe to +get the scent of Washington out of his garments. There was a winning, +irresistible magnetism in the presence of this man. Except my father, +there was no man in whose company I liked to be so much as in his. I +had little to say to him, and demanded nothing more than a silent +recognition from him; but his voice, his look, his gestures, his gait, +the spiritual sphere of him, were delightful to me; and I suspect that +his rise to the highest office in our nation was due quite as much to +this power or quality in him as to any intellectual or even executive +ability that he may have possessed. He was a good, conscientious, +patriotic, strong man, and gentle and tender as a woman. He had the +old-fashioned ways, the courtesy, and the personal dignity which are +not often seen nowadays. His physical frame was immensely powerful and +athletic; but life used him hard, and he was far from considerate of +himself, and he died at sixty-five, when he might, under more favorable +conditions, have rounded out his century. + +My father had written nothing, not even his journal, during the period +of Una's illness; but he began to work again now, being moved thereto +not only as a man whose nature is spontaneously impelled to express +itself on the imaginative side, but also in order to recoup himself for +some part of the loss of the ten thousand dollars which he had loaned to +John O'Sullivan, which, it was now evident, could never be repaid. +His first conception of the story of The Marble Faun had been as a +novelette; but he now decided to expand it so as to contain a large +amount of descriptive matter; and although the strict rules of artistic +construction may have been somewhat relaxed in order to admit these +passages, there is no doubt that the book gained thereby in value as a +permanent addition to literature, the plot, powerful though it is, being +of importance secondary to the creation of an atmosphere which +should soften the outlines and remove the whole theme into a suitable +remoteness from the domain of matter-of-fact. The Eternal City is, after +all, as vital a portion of the story as are the adventures of Miriam, +Hilda, Kenyon, and Donatello. They could not have existed and played +their parts in any other city of the world. + +In selecting local habitations for the creatures of his imagination, he +strolled into the Via Portoghese, and there found the "Virgin's Shrine," +which, with minor modifications, was to become the home of Hilda. I +quote from his journal the description of the actual place as he saw +it. "The tower in the Via Portoghese," he says, "has battlements +and machicolations, and the upper half of it is covered with gray, +ancient-looking stucco. On the summit, at one corner, is the shrine of +the Virgin, rising quite above the battlements, and with its lamp before +it. Beneath the machicolations is a window, probably belonging to the +upper chamber; and there seems to be a level space on the top of the +tower. Close at hand is the facade of a church, the highest pinnacle of +which appears to be at about the same level as the battlements of +the tower, and there are two or more stone figures (either angels or +allegorical) ornamenting the top of the facade, and, I think, blowing +trumpets. These personages are the nearest neighbors of any person +inhabiting the upper story of the tower, and the sound of their angelic +trumpets must needs be very loud in that close vicinity: The lower story +of the palace extends out and round the lower part of the tower, and +is surrounded by a stone balustrade. The entrance from the street is +through a long, arched doorway and passage, giving admittance into a +small, enclosed court; and deep within the passage there is a very broad +staircase, which branches off, apparently, on one side, and leads to the +height of the tower. At the base of the tower, and along the front of +the palace, the street widens, so as to form something like a small +piazza, in which there are two or three bakers' shops, one or two +shoe-shops, a lottery-office, and, at one corner, the stand of a woman +who sells, I think, vegetables; a little further, a stand of oranges. +Not so many doors from the palace entrance there is a station of French +soldiers and a sentinel on duty. The palace, judging from the broad +staircase, the balustraded platform, the tower itself, and other tokens, +may have been a grand one centuries ago; but the locality is now a +poor one, and the edifice itself seems to have fallen to unaristocratic +occupants. A man was cleaning a carriage in the enclosed court-yard, +but I rather conceive it was a cab for hire, and not the equipage of a +dweller in the palace." + +John Lothrop Motley, the historian of the Netherlands, had come to Rome +this winter and brought his family with him. I believe my father had met +Motley in America; at all events, we saw a good deal of him now. He +was an exceedingly handsome man, not only on account of the beauty +of physical features which marked him, but in the sensitiveness and +vividness of expression which constantly illuminated them. He was at +this time about five-and-forty years of age, and lacked a couple of +inches of six feet in height. His hair, a dark, chestnut brown, had the +hyacinthine wave through it, and was slightly streaked with gray; +his beard, which was full and rather short, was likewise wavy; he was +quietly and harmoniously dressed, but the artistic temperament declared +itself in a touch of color in his cravat. His voice was melodious and +finely modulated; his bearing gravely cheerful and very courteous. No +type of man finer than Motley's has existed in modern times; all the +elements of the best and purest society were illustrated in him. He had +the depth of the scholar, the breadth and self-poise of the man of the +world, the genial warmth of the human fellow-creature, and, over all, +the harmonizing, individualizing charm of the artist. When New England +gathers her resources to make a man she achieves a result hardly to be +surpassed. + +The Storys were also in Rome during these last months of our stay, and +Miss Mitchell, I think, still lingered in her little lodgings in the Via +Bocca di Leone. Miss Cushman likewise reappeared for a time, with all +her former greatness and fascination, and many other friends, new and +old, made that spring season memorable. As the moment for our departure +drew near, the magical allurement of Rome laid upon us a grasp more +than ever potent; it was impossible to realize that we were leaving it +forever. On the last evening we walked in the moonlight to the fountain +of Trevi, near our lodgings, and drank of the water--a ceremony which, +according to tradition, insures the return of the drinker. It was the +25th of May, forty-four years ago. None of us has gone back since then, +and, of the five who drank, three have passed to the country whence +no traveller returns. For my own part, as a patriotic American nearly +thirteen years old, I had no wish ever again to see Rome, and declared +myself glad to turn my back upon it, not that I had any fault to find +with it--I had always had a good time there--but my imagination was full +of my native land, with which nothing else could be comparable. I did +not learn of the fabled spell of Trevi until afterwards; then I scoffed +at and defied it, and possibly Rome may have decided that it could do +without me. + +The railway to Civita Vecchia had just been completed, and we passed +swiftly over the route which had been so full of dangers and discomforts +eighteen months before. Embarking on the steamer for Marseilles, we kept +on thence to Avignon, where we spent about a week. This venerable +town had few attractions for me; I did not much care for the +fourteenth-century popes, nor for the eighteenth-century silks, nor even +for Petrarch and Laura; and the architecture of the palace, after I had +tried to sketch it, ceased to exhilarate me. My father was in no mood +for sight-seeing, either, but he went through it all conscientiously. My +mother, of course, enjoyed herself, but she met with an accident. While +sketching some figures of saints and monsters that adorned the arch of +the northern portal of the palace, she made an incautious movement and +sprained her ankle. The pain was excessive for the moment, but it soon +passed off, so as to enable her to limp back to our hotel. But the next +day the pain was worse; my father had a headache, a rare affliction with +him; I had caught a bad cold from swimming in the arrowy Rhone, and Una +and Miss Shepard were both in a state of exhaustion from sight-seeing; +and in this condition the journey to Geneva had to be made. We had +intended to remain there but a day, but we stayed longer, breathing the +pure air from the Alps, and feeling better as we breathed. I stood on +a bridge and looked down at that wonderful azure water rushing into the +lovely lake; I looked up and beheld those glorious mountains soaring +into the sky, and I forgot Rome and Florence, and almost America, in my +joy. Everything that life needs for life seemed present there. + +We got into a little steamer and made the trip up the lake, the +mountains all about us. Up to this time I had imagined that the +acclivities in the north of England and in Scotland were mountains. We +sat on deck, in the stern of the steamer, my father gazing out and up +from beneath the rim of his soft felt hat, with his dark cloak over his +shoulders. He looked revived and vigorous again. Shortly before we left +Rome he had ceased to shave his upper lip, for what reason I know not; +I think it was simply indisposition to take that trouble any longer. My +mother had at first gently protested; she did not want his upper lip and +mouth to be hidden. But as the brown mustache, thick and soldier-like, +appeared, she became reconciled, and he wore it to the end of his life. +"Field-Marshal Hawthorne" James T. Fields used to call him after we got +home. Owing to the preponderance of expression of the upper part of his +head, the addition did not change his look as much as might have been +expected; we soon got used to it, and, inasmuch as all his photographs +were taken after the mustache was established, the world does not know +him otherwise. + +The view became more and more enchanting as we penetrated farther into +the depths of the embrace of the mountains, and at last, at its most +ravishing point, the lake ceased, and the lonely little pile of dingy +white masonry, which is Chillon, appeared. Few works of man have a +more romantic interest than this castle; but, seen from the lake, its +environment was too much for it. Had it plunged downward into the smooth +waters and vanished, its absence would not have been marked in that +stupendous landscape. But it improved greatly upon closer acquaintance; +and when we stood in its vaults, and saw the pillar to which the +prisoner was chained, and the hole in the floor, with its three steps of +stone, and the fourth of death, we felt that Chillon was not unequal to +its reputation. + +After leaving Chillon and Geneva our faces were turned homeward, and we +hastened our steps. My father wrote to England to engage our passage for +the first of August. We were now at midsummer. We returned to Paris, and +after a few days there proceeded to Havre, in order to see Ada Shepard +safe on board her steamer for home; her Wanderjahre was over, and +she was now to be married to Henry Clay Badger. We were sorry to say +good-bye to her; she had been a faithful and valuable element in our +household, and she had become a dear friend and comrade. She stood +waving her handkerchief to us as her steamer slipped away down the +harbor. She, too, was sorry for the parting. She once had said to me: "I +think your father is the wisest man I ever knew; he does not seem ever +to say much, but what he does say is always the truest and best thing +that could be said." + +From Havre we crossed the Channel to Southampton, and were soon in +London. Boston and Concord were only six weeks distant. Such, at any +rate, had been the original design. But after we reached London +the subject of the English copyright of The Marble Faun came up for +discussion. Henry Bright introduced Mr. Smith, of the firm of Smith, +Elder & Company, who made such proposals for the English publication +of the book as were not to be disregarded; but, in order to make them +available, it was necessary that the manuscript should be completed in +England. Nothing but the short sketch of it was as yet in existence; it +could not be written in much less than a year; either the English +offer must be rejected, or we must stay out that year in her Majesty's +dominions. My father decided, not altogether unwillingly, perhaps, to +stay. He had written in his journal a few weeks before: "Bennoch and +Henry Bright are the only two men in England to whom I shall be much +grieved to say farewell; but to the island itself I cannot bear to say +that word as a finality. I shall dreamily hope to come back again at +some indefinite time, rather foolishly, perhaps, for it will tend to +take the substance out of my life in my own land. But this, I suspect, +is apt to be the penalty of those who stay abroad and stay too long." + +But my father could not write in London, and, casting about for a +fitting spot, he finally fixed upon the remote hamlet of Redcar, far up +on the bleak coast of Redcar, in Yorkshire. It was not far from Whitby, +where we had been two or three years before. The gray German Ocean +tumbled in there upon the desolate sands, and the contrast of the scene +with those which we had been of late familiar with made the latter, no +doubt, start forward intensely in the romancer's imagination. So there +he wrote and wrote; and he walked far along the sands, with his boy +dogging his steps and stopping for shells and crabs; and at a certain +point of the beach, where the waves ran over a bar and formed a lake a +few feet in depth, he would seat himself on a tussock of sand-grass, +and I would undress and run into the cold water and continue my +swimming-lessons, which had been begun in Stockbridge Bowl, continued in +Lake Leman, and were now brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Both my +feet were finally off the bottom, and I felt the wonderful sensation of +the first cousin to flying. While I floundered there my father looked +off towards the gray horizon, and saw the visions of Hilda, Miriam, +Kenyon, and Donatello which the world of readers was presently to behold +through his eyes. As we walked home in the twilight, the dull-red glow +of the sunset would throw the outlines of the town into dark shadows, +and shed a faint light on the surf roaming in from the east. I found, +in my old album, the black silhouette of the scene which I made one day. +The arms of an old mill are flung appealingly upward, the highest object +of the landscape, above the irregular sky-line of the clustering houses. +There is also, on the next page, a water-color drawing of a sailor in a +blue jersey and a sou'wester, standing, with his hands in his pockets, +on the beach beside one of the boats of the region--a slender, +clipper-built craft, painted yellow below and black above, good for oars +or sail. Her bow rests on a shaft connecting two wheels, for convenience +of running her down into the water. There was a dozen or more of these +boats always ready on the beach in front of our lodgings. These lodgings +were just back of the esplanade, which, during our sojourn, was treated +to a coat of tar from end to end--a delightful entertainment for us +children--and I have loved the smell of tar ever since. There is little +else that I remember about Redcar, except that, in the winter, there +was skating on a part of the beach; but it was "salt ice," and not to be +compared with the skating I was to enjoy a year or two later in Concord, +which I shall describe if ever I come to that epoch in my narrative. + + +From Redcar, with the romance more than half done, we went south to our +old Leamington, which seemed half like home; and there the loveliness of +an English spring at its best came to greet us, and there the book was +finished, and sent to the printer. We spent a month or two at Bath, and +found it very pleasant; my father rested from his labors, except the +proof-reading; and I was instructed in the use of the broadsword by an +old Peninsular officer, Major Johnstone, who had fought at Waterloo, +and had the bearing of such majors as Thackeray puts into Vanity Fair. I +once asked him whether he had ever killed a man; it was on the day when +he first allowed me to use a real broadsword in our lesson. "Well," +replied the major, hesitatingly, "I was riding in a charge, and there +came a fellow at me, with his sword up, and made a swing for my head. I +dodged, and his blade just grazed me; but I let him have it, downright, +at the same moment, and I caught him where the neck joins the shoulder, +and he went down, and I went on, and what became of him I don't know; I +hope nothing serious!" The major sighed and looked serious himself. "And +was this the sword?" I demanded, balancing the heavy weapon in my hand. +"No--no--it wasn't that one," said the major, hastily. "I've never used +the other since! Now, then, sir, if you please, on guard!" + +We went to London, and there were our old friends Bright and Bennoch, +and the Motleys appeared from Italy, and a book called (by the +publishers) Transformation came out in three volumes, being the latest +romance by the author of The Scarlet Letter. The title was not bestowed +with my father's consent. He had, at the publishers' request, sent them +a list of several titles, beginning with The Marble Faun, and among +others on the list was "The Faun's Transformation." The publishers took +the "Transformation," and left out "The Faun." My father laughed, but +let it go. The book was to come out under its proper title in America, +and he was indifferent as to what they called it in England. + +The end of our tarrying in the Old World was now at hand. Seven years +had we lived there, and we were eager and yet loath to go. My father's +friends gathered about him, men who had hardly so much as heard his name +a little while ago, but who now loved him as a brother. For a few days +Mrs. Blodgett's hospitable face glowed upon us once more, and pale Miss +Williams, and trig little Miss Maria, and many of the old captains +whom we had known. It was the middle of June, and the sun shone even in +Liverpool. Our red-funnelled steamer lay at her moorings in the yellow +Mersey, with her steam up. It was not The Niagara, but on her bridge +stood our handsome little Captain Leitch, with his black whiskers, +smiling at us in friendly greeting. How much had passed since we had +seen him last! How much were we changed! What experiences lay behind us! +What memories would abide with us always! My father leaned on the rail +and looked across the river at the dingy, brick building, near the +wharves, where he had spent four wearisome but pregnant years. The big, +black steamer, with her little, puffing tug, slipped her moorings, and +slid slowly down the stream. After a few miles the hue of the water +became less turbid, the engines worked more rapidly and regularly. +Liverpool was now a smoky mass off our starboard quarter. It sank and +dwindled, till the smoke alone was left; the blue channel spread around +us; we were at sea, and home lay yonder, across three thousand miles +of tumbling waves. But my father still leaned on the rail, and looked +backward towards the old home that he loved and would never see again. +It was the hour for good-bye; there would come another hour for the +other home and for welcome. + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hawthorne and His Circle, by Julian Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE *** + +***** This file should be named 6982.txt or 6982.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/9/8/6982/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/6982.zip b/6982.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e30a395 --- /dev/null +++ b/6982.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b217ed --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #6982 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6982) diff --git a/old/hcirc10.txt b/old/hcirc10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51cb827 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/hcirc10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9586 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawthorne and His Circle, by Julian Hawthorne + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Hawthorne and His Circle + +Author: Julian Hawthorne + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6982] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 19, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE *** + + + + + +HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE + +BY + +JULIAN HAWTHORNE + +ILLUSTRATED + + +[IMAGE: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (From a crayon drawing by Samuel Rowse)] + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + +Inheritance of friendships--Gracious giants--My own good fortune--My +father the central figure--What did his gift to me cost him?--A +revelation in Colorado--Privileges make difficulties--Lights and +shadows of memory--An informal narrative--Contrast between my father's +life and mine + +I + +Value of dates--My aunt Lizzie's efforts--My father's decapitation--My +mother's strong-box--The spirit of The Scarlet Letter--The strain of +imaginative composition--My grandmother Hawthorne's death--Infantile +indifference to calamity--The children's plays and books--The house on +Mall Street--Scarlet fever--The study on the third floor--The haunted +mahogany writing-desk--The secret drawers--The upright Egyptian--Mr. +Pickwick--My father in 1850--The flowered writing-gown, and the ink +butterfly--Driving the quill pen--The occupants of the second +floor--Aunt Louisa and Aunt Ebe--The dowager Mrs. Hawthorne--I kick my +aunt Lizzie--The kittens and the great mystery--The greatest book of +the age + +II + +Horatio Bridge's "I-told-you-so"--What a house by the sea might have +done--Unknown Lenox--The restlessness of youth--The Unpardonable Sin +and the Death--less Man--The little red house--Materials of +culture--Our best playmates--The mystery of Mrs. Peter's dough--Our +intellectual hen-fishing for poultry--Yacht-building--Swimming with +one foot on the ground--Shipwreck--Our playfellow the +brook--Tanglewood--Nuts--Giants and enchanters--Coasting--Wet noses, +dark eyes, ambrosial breath-My first horseback ride--Herman Melville's +stories--Another kind of James--The thunder-storm--Yearning ladies and +melancholy-sinners--Hindlegs--Probable murder--"I abominate the sight +of it!"--The peril of Tanglewood--The truth of fiction--An +eighteen-months' work--We leave five cats behind + +III + +Chariots of delight--West Newton--Raw American life--Baby's +fingers--Our cousin Benjamin's untoward head--Our uncle Horace--His +vacuum--A reformer's bristles--Grace Greenwood's first tears--The +heralding of Kossuth--The decorated engine--The chief incident of the +reception--Blithedale and Brook Farm--Notes from real life--Rough +draughts--Paths of composition--The struggle with the +Pensioner--Hawthorne's method--The invitation of Concord--Four wooden +walls and a roof--Mr. Alcott's assthetic carpentering--Appurtenances +of "The Wayside"--Franklin Pierce for President--"The most homeless +people in the world" + +IV + +A transfigured cattle-pen--Emerson the hub of Concord--His +incorrigible modesty--Grocery-store sages--To make common men feel +more like Emerson than he did--His personal appearance--His favorite +gesture--A glance like the reveille of a trumpet--The creaking +boots--"The muses are in the woods"--Emerson could not read +Hawthorne--Typical versus individual--Benefit from +child-prattle--Concord-grape Bull--Sounds of distant battle--Politics, +sociology, and grape-culture--The great white fence--Richard Henry +Stoddard--A country youth of genius--Whipple's Attic salt--An +unwritten romance--The consulship retires literature--Louisa's +tragedy--Hard hit--The spiritual sphere of good men--Nearer than in +the world--The return of the pilgrim + +V + +A paddle-wheel ocean-liner--The hens, the cow, and the carpenter--W. +D. Ticknor--Our first Englishman--An aristocratic acrobat--Speech that +beggars eulogy--The boots of great travellers--Complimentary +cannon--The last infirmity of noble republican minds--The golden +promise: the spiritual fulfilment--Fatuous serenity--Past and +future--The coquetry of chalk cliffs--Two kinds of imagination--The +thirsty island--Gloomy English comforts--Systematic geniality--A +standing puzzle--The respirator--Scamps, fools, mendicants, and +desperadoes--The wrongs of sailor-men--"Is this myself?"--"Profoundly +akin"--Henry Bright--Charm of insular prejudice--No stooping to +compromise--The battle against dinner--"I'm glad you liked it!"--An +English-, Irish-, and Scotchman--An Englishman owns his country--A +contradiction in Englishmen--A hospitable gateway--Years of memorable +trifles + +VI + +Patricians and plebeians--The discomforts of democracy--Varieties of +equality--Social rights of beggars--The coming peril--Being dragged to +the rich--Frankness of vulgarity and hopelessness of +destitution--Villages rooted in the landscape--Evanescence of the +spiritual and survival of the material--"Of Bebbington the holy +peak"--The Old Yew of Eastham--Malice--prepense interest--History and +afternoon tea--An East--Indian Englishman--The merchantman sticks in +the mud--A poetical man of the world--Likeness to Longfellow--Real +breakfasts--Heads and stomachs--A poet-pugilist--Clean-cut, cold, +gentle, dry--A respectable female atheist--The tragedy of the red +ants--Voluptuous struggles--A psalm of praise + +VII + +Life in Rock Park--Inconvenient independence of lodgings--The average +man--"How many gardeners have you got?"--Shielded by rose-leaves of +culture and refinement--The English middle class--Prejudice, +complacency, and Burke's Peerage--Never heard of Tennyson or +Browning--Satisfaction in the solid earth--A bond of fellowship--A +damp, winding, verdurous street--The parent of stucco +villas--Inactivity of individual conscience--A plateau and a +cliff--dwelling--"The Campbells are Coming!"--Sortes Virgilianae--A +division in the family--Precaution against famine--English praying and +card-playing--Exercise for mind and +body--Knight-errantry--Sentimentality and mawkishness--The policeman +and the cobbler--A profound truth--Fireworks by lamplight--Mr. Squarey +and Mrs. Roundey--Sandford and Merton--The ball of jolly + +VIII + +Cataclysmic adventures--On the trail of dazzling fortunes--"Lovely, +but reprehensible Madham"--The throne saves the artist--English robin +redbreast--A sad and weary old man--"Most indelicate woman I've ever +known"--Perfectly chaste--Something human stirred dimly--"She loves +me; she loves me!"--The Prince of Wales and half-a-crown--Portentous +and thundering title--Honest English simplicity--"The spirit +lacking"--Abelard, Isaac Newton, and Ruskin--A famous and charming +woman of genius--Deep and wide well of human sympathy--The +whooping-cough + +IX + +Two New England consciences--Inexhaustible faith and energy--Deep and +abiding love of England--"'How the Water Comes Down at Lodore"--"He +took an' he let go"--Naked mountains--The unsentimental little +quadruped--The human element in things sticks--The coasts of +England--A string of sleepy donkeys--Unutterable boy-thoughts--Grins +and chuckles like an ogress---Hideous maternal parody---The adorable +inverted bell-glass--Strange things happen in the world--An ominous +clouding of the water--Something the world has never +known--Overweening security--An admonition not to climb too high--How +vice may become virtue by repetition--Corporal Blair's +chest--Black-Bottle Cardigan--Called to Lisbon + + +X + +If there were boarding-houses in paradise--Blodgett, the delight of +mankind--Solomon foresaw her--A withering retort--A modest, puny poise +about her--Hidden thoughts derived from Mother Eve and Grecian +Helen--The feminine council that ruled the Yankee captains--Bonds of +fraternity, double-riveted and copper-fastened--Through the +looking-glass--Men only of the manliest sort--The +lady-paramount--Hands which were true works of art--Retained his +dignity without putting it on--Sighed heavily over my +efforts--Unctuous M. Huguenin--"From dawn to eve I fell"--The +multum-in-parvo machine--"Beauty and the Beast"--Frank +Channing--"Blood-and water!"--A lapful of Irish stew + +XI + +Bennoch and Bright like young housekeepers--"What did you marry that +woman for?"--"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures"--"The worst book anybody +ever wrote"--"Most magnificent eye I ever saw"--A great deal of the +feminine in Reade--Fire, pathos, fun, and dramatic animation--A +philosophical library in itself--Amusing appanage of his own +book--Oily and voluble sanctimoniousness--Self-worship of the +_os-rotundas_ sort--Inflamed rather than abated by years--"Every word +of it true; but--"--Better, or happier, because we had +lived--Appropriated somebody else's adventure--Filtering remarks +through the mind of a third person--A delightful +Irishman--Unparalleled audacity--An unregenerate opinion--The whole +line of Guelphs in it--"Oh, that somebody would invent a new +sin!"--"The Angel in the House"--Very well dressed--Indomitable +figure, aggressively American--Too much of the elixir of life--A +little strangeness between us--Sunshine will always rest on it + +XII + +Talked familiarly with kings and queens--Half-witted girl who giggled +all the time--It gnawed me terribly--A Scotch terrier named Towsey--A +sentiment of diplomatic etiquette--London as a physical entity--Ladies +in low-necked dresses--An elderly man like a garden-spider--Into the +bowels of the earth--The inner luminousness of genius--Isolated and +tragic situation--"Ate ever man such a morsel before!"--The great, +wild, mysterious Borrow--Her skeleton, huddled, dry, and +awful--"Ma'am, you expose yourself!"--Plane, spokeshave, gouge, and +chisel--"I-passed-the-Lightning"--Parallel-O-grams--A graduate of +Antioch--"Continual cursing"--A catastrophe--"Troubles are a sociable +sisterhood"--"In truth I was very sorry"--He had dreamed wide-awake of +these things--A friend of Emerson and Henry James--Embarked at +Folkestone for France + +XIII + +Old-Homesickness--The Ideal and the Real--A beautiful but perilous +woman with a past--The Garden of Eden a Montreal ice-palace--Confused +mountain of family luggage--Poplars for lances--Miraculous crimson +comforters--Rivers of human gore--Curling mustachios and nothing to +do--Odd behavior of grown people--Venus, the populace, and the +MacDaniels--The happiness to die in Paris--Lived alone with her +constellations--"O'Brien's Belt"--A hotel of peregrinations--Sitting +up late--Attempted assassination--My murderer--An old passion +reawakened--Italian shells and mediaeval sea-anemones--If you were in +the Garden of Eden--An umbrella full of napoleons--Was Byron an +Esquimau? + + +XIV + +Our unpalatial palace--"Cephas Giovanni"--She and George Combe turned +out to be right--A rousing temper--Bright Titian hair--"All that's +left of him"--The pyramidal man of destiny--The thoughts of a boy are +long, long thoughts--Clausilia Bubigunia--Jabez Hogg and the +microscope--A stupendous surprise--A lifetime in fourteen months--My +father's jeremiades--Thank Heaven, there is such a thing as +whitewash!"--"Terrible lack of variety in the old masters"--"The +brazen trollop that she is!"--Several distinct phases of +feeling--Springs of creative imagination roused--The Roman fever--A +sad book--Effects of the death-blow--The rest is silence + +XV + +The Roman carnival in three moods--Apples of Sodom--Poor, battered, +wilted, stained hearts--A living protest and scourge--Dulce est +desipere in loco--A rollicking world of happy fools--Endless sunshine +of some sort--Greenwich Fair was worth a hundred of it--They thundered +past, never drawing rein--"Senza moccolo!"--Nothing more charming and +strange could be imagined--Girls surprised in the midst of dressing +themselves--A Unitarian clergyman with his fat wife--Apparent license +under courteous restraint--He laughed and pelted and was +pelted--William Story, as vivid as when I saw him last--A too facile +power--A deadly shadow gliding close behind--Set afire by his own +sallies--"Thy face is like thy mother's, my fair child!"--Cleopatra in +the clay--"Wer nie sein Brod mit thranen ass." + +XVI + +Drilled in Roman history--Lovely figures made of light and +morning--What superb figures!--The breath and strength of immeasurable +antiquity--Treasures coming direct from dead hands into mine--A +pleasant sound of coolness and refreshment--Receptacles of death now +dedicated to life--The Borghese is a forest of Ardennes--Profound and +important communings--A smiling deceiver--Of an early-rising +habit--Hauling in on my slack--A miniature cabinet magically made +Titanic--"If I had a murder on my conscience"--None can tell the +secret origin of his thoughts--A singularly beautiful young woman--She +actually ripped the man open--No leagues of chivalry needed in Rome--A +resident army--Five foot six--Corsets and padding--She was wounded in +the house of her friends + +XVII + +Miss Lander makes a bust--The twang of his native place--Wholly unlike +anybody else--Wise, humorous Sarah Clarke--Back to the Gods and the +Fleas--Horace Mann's statue--Miss Bremer and the Tarpeian Rock--"I was +in a state of some little tremor"--Mrs. Jameson and Ruskin--Most +thorough-going of the classic tragedies--A well-grown calf--An +adventure in Monte Testaccio--A vision of death--A fantastic and +saturnine genius--A pitch-black place--Illuminations and +fireworks--The Faun--Enjoying Rome--First impressions--Lalla's curses + +XVIII + +In Othello's predicament--Gaetano--Crystals and snail-shells--Broad, +flagstone pavements--Fishing-rods and blow-pipes--Ghostly +yarns--Conservative effects of genius--An ideal bust and a living +one--The enigma of spiritualism--A difficult combination to +overthrow--The dream-child and the Philistine--Dashing and plunging +this way and that--Teresa screamed for mercy--Grapes and figs and +ghostly voices--My father would have settled there--Kirkup the +necromancer--A miraculous birth--A four-year-old medium--The +mysterious touch--An indescribable horror--Not even a bone of her was +left--Providence takes very long views + +XIX + +Burnt Sienna--The Aquila Nera--A grand, noble, gentle creature--The +most beautiful woman in the world--Better friends than ever--A shadow +brooded--Boys are whole-souled creatures--Franklin Pierce--Miriam, +Hilda, Kenyon, Donatello--The historian of the Netherlands--When New +England makes a man--The spell of Trevi--An accession of mishaps--My +father's mustache--Three steps of stone, the fourth, death--Havre, +Redcar, Bath, London, Liverpool + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE +(From a crayon drawing by Samuel Rowse) + +BIRTHPLACE OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AT +SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS + +HERMAN MELVILLE + +JAMES T. FIELDS + +THE WAYSIDE +(Showing Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife) + +EDWIN P. WHIPPLE + +JAMES T. FIELDS, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, AND +WILLIAM D. TICKNOR + +RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES + +ROBERT BROWNING + +FRANCIS BANNOCH + +REV. WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING, 1855 + +MARIA MITCHELL + +WILLIAM WETMORE STORY + +PENCIL SKETCHES IN ITALY, BY MRS. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + +THE MARBLE FAUN + +HIRAM POWERS + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Inheritance of friendships--Gracious giants--My own good fortune--My +father the central figure--What did his gift to me cost him?--A +revelation in Colorado--Privileges make difficulties--Lights and +shadows of memory--An informal narrative--Contrast between my father's +life and mine. + +The best use we can make of good fortune is to share it with our +fellows. Those to whom good things come by way of inheritance, +however, are often among the latest to comprehend their own advantage; +they suppose it to be the common condition. And no doubt I had nearly +arrived at man's estate before it occurred to me that the lines of few +fishers of men were cast in places so pleasant as mine. I was the son +of a man of high desert, who had such friends as he deserved; and +these companions and admirers of his gave to me in the beginning of my +days a kindly welcome and encouragement generated from their affection +and reverence for him. Without doing a stroke of work for it, I found +myself early in the enjoyment of a principality of good will and +fellowship--a species of freemasonry, I might call it, though the +secret was patent enough--for the rights in which, unaided, I might +have contended my lifetime long in vain. Men and women whose names are +consecrated apart in the dearest thoughts of thousands were familiars +and playmates of my childhood; they supported my youth and bade my +manhood godspeed. But to me, for a long while, the favor of these +gracious giants of mind and character seemed agreeable indeed, but +nothing out of the ordinary; my tacit presumption was that other +children as well as I could if they would walk hand in hand with +Emerson along the village street, seek in the meadows for arrow-heads +with Thoreau, watch Powers thump the brown clay of the "Greek Slave," +or listen to the voice of Charlotte Cushman, which could sway +assembled thousands, modulate itself to tell stories to the urchin who +leaned, rapt, against her knees. Were human felicity so omnipresent +as a happy child imagines it, what a world would this be! + +In time, my misapprehension was corrected, rather, I think, through +the application to it of cold logic than by any rude awakening. I +learned of my riches not by losing them--the giants did not withdraw +their graciousness--but by comparing the lot of others with my own. +And yet, to tell the truth--perhaps I might better leave it untold; +only in these chapters, especially, I will not begin with reserves--to +say truth, then, my world, during my father's lifetime, and afterwards +for I will not say how long, was divided into two natural parts, my +father being one of them, and everybody else the other. Hence I was +led to regard the parties of the latter part, rich or poor, giants or +pygmies, as being, after all, of much the same stature and value. The +brightness (in the boy's estimation) of the paternal figure rendered +distinctions between other brightnesses unimportant. The upshot was, +in short, that I inclined to the opinion that while compassion was +unquestionably due to other children for not having a father like +mine, yet in other respects my condition was not egregiously superior +to theirs. They might not know the Brownings or the Julia Ward Howes; +but then, very likely, the Smiths and the Joneses, whom they did know, +were nearly as good. + +After fifty years, of course, such prepossessions yield to experience. +My father was the best friend I ever had, and he will always stand in +my estimation distinct from all other friends and persons; but I can +now recognize that in addition to the immeasurable debt I owe him for +being to me what he was in his own person, he bestowed upon me a +privilege also immeasurable in the hospitality of these shining ones +who were his intimates. Did the gift cost him nothing? Nothing, in one +sense. But, again, what does it cost a man to walk upright and +cleanly during the years of his pilgrimage: to deal justly with all, +and charitably: diligently to cultivate and develop every natural +endowment: always to seek truth, tell it, and vindicate it: to +discharge to the utmost of his ability every duty that was intrusted +to him: to rest content, in the line of his calling, with no work +inferior to his best: to say no word and do no act which, were they +known, might weaken the struggle against temptation of any +fellow-creature? These qualities were the price at which Hawthorne +bought his friends; and in receiving those friends from him, his +children could not but feel that the bequest represented his +unfaltering grasp upon whatever is pure, lofty, and generous in human +life. + +Yes, whatever it may cost a man of genius to be all his life a good +man, and to use and develop his genius to the noblest ends only, that +my father's friends cost him, and in that amount am I his debtor; and +the longer I myself live, and the more I see of other men, the higher +and rarer do I esteem the obligation. Moreover, in speaking of his +friends, I was thinking of those who personally knew him; but the +world is full to-day of friends of his who never saw him, to whom his +name is my best and surest introduction. Once, only three years since, +in the remote heart of the Colorado mountains, I chanced to enter the +hut of an aged miner; he sat in a corner of the little family room; on +the wall near his hand was fixed a small bookshelf, filled with a +dozen dog-eared volumes. The man had for years been paralyzed; he +could do little more than to raise to that book-shelf his trembling +hand, and take from it one or other of the volumes. When this +helpless veteran learned my name, he uttered a strange cry, and his +face worked with eager emotion; the wife of his broad-shouldered son +brought me to him in his corner; his old eyes glowed as they perused +me. I could not gather the meaning of his broken, trembling speech; +the young woman interpreted for me. Was I related to the great +Hawthorne? "Yes; I am his son." "His son!" Seldom have I met a gaze +harder to sustain than that which the paralytic bent upon me. Would I +might have worn, for the time being, the countenance of an archangel, +so to fill out the lineaments, drawn during so many lonely years by +his imagination and his reverence, of his ideal writer! "The son of +Hawthorne!" He said no more, save by the strengthless pressure of his +hands upon my own; the woman told me how all the books on the little +shelf were my father's books, and for fifteen years the old man had +read no others. Helpless tears of joy, of gratitude, of wonder ran +down the furrows of his cheeks into his white beard. And how could I +at whom he so gazed help being moved: on that desolate, unknown +mountain-side, far from the world, the name which I had inherited was +loved and honored! One does not get one's privileges for nothing. My +father gave me power to make my way, and cast sunshine on the path; +but he made the path arduous, too! + +Be that as it may, I now ask who will to look in my mirror, and see +reflected there some of the figures and the scenes that have made my +life worth living. As I peer into the dark abysm of things gone by, +many places that seemed at first indistinct, grow clearer; but many +more must remain impenetrable. Upon the whole, however, I am +surprised to find how much is still discernible. Nearly a score of +years ago I published, in the shape of a formal biography of Hawthorne +and his wife, the consecutive facts of their lives, and numerous +passages from their journals and correspondence. My aim is different +now; I wish to indite an informal narrative from my own point of view, +as child, youth, and man. There will be gaps in it--involuntary ones; +and others occasioned by the obligation to retain those pictures only +that seem likely to arouse a catholic interest. Yet there will be a +certain intimacy in the story; and some matters which history would +omit as trivial will be here adduced, for the sake of such color and +character as they may contain. I shall not stalk on stilts, or mouth +phrases, but converse comfortably and trustfully as between friends. +If a writing of this kind be not flexible, unpretending, discursive, +it has no right to be at all. Art is not in question, save the minor +art that lives from line to line. Gossip about men, women, and +things--it can amount to little more than that. + +In the earlier chapters the dramatis personae and the incidents must +naturally group themselves about the figure of my father; for it was +thus that I saw them. To his boy he was the fountain of love, honor, +and energy; and to the boy he seemed the animating or organizing +principle of other persons and events. With his death, in my +eighteenth year, the world appeared disordered for a season; then, +gradually, I learned to do my own orientation. I was destined to an +experience superficially much more active and varied than his had +been; and it was a world superficially very different from his in +which I moved and dealt There must follow a corresponding modification +in the character of the narrative; yet that, after all is superficial, +too. For the memory of my father has always been with me, and has +doubtless influenced me more than I am myself aware. And certainly but +for him this book would never have been attempted. + + + +I + + + +Value of dates--My aunt Lizzie's efforts--My father's decapitation--My +mother's strong-box--The spirit of The Scarlet Letter--The strain of +imaginative composition--My grandmother Hawthorne's death--Infantile +indifference to calamity--The children's plays and books--The house on +Mall Street--Scarlet fever--The study on the third floor--The haunted +mahogany writing-desk--The secret drawers--The upright Egyptian--Mr. +Pickwick--My father in l850--The flowered writing-gown, and the ink +butterfly--Driving the quill pen--The occupants of the second +floor--Aunt Louisa and Aunt Ebe--The dowager Mrs. Hawthorne--I kick my +aunt Lizzie--The kittens and the great mystery--The greatest book of +the age. + +My maternal aunt, Miss Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, was a very learned +woman, and a great student of history, and teacher of it; and by the +aid of huge, colored charts, done by my uncle Nat Peabody and hung on +the walls of our sitting-room, she labored during some years to teach +me all the leading dates of human history--the charts being designed +according to a novel and ingenious plan to fix those facts in childish +memory. But as a pupil I was always most inapt and grievous, in dates +and in matters mathematical especially; so that I gave her +inexhaustible patience many a sad hour. To this day I cannot tell in +what year was fought the battle of Marathon, or when John signed Magna +Charta; though the battle itself, and the scene of the barons with +menacing brows gathered about John, stood clearly pictured in my +imagination. Dates were arbitrary, and to my memory nothing arbitrary +would stick. Nevertheless, when I am myself constructing a narrative, +whether it be true or fictitious, I am wedded to dates, and cannot be +divorced from them. It must be set down precisely when the events took +place, in what years the dramatis personae were born, and how old they +were when each juncture of their fortunes came to pass. I can no more +dispense with dates than I can talk without consonants; they carry +form, order, and credibility. Or they are like the skeleton which +gives recognizable shape to men and animals. Nothing mortal can get on +without them.. + +Whether this addiction be in the nature of a reaction from my childish +perversity, giving my erudite and beloved aunt Lizzie (as I called +her) her revenge so long after our lessons are over; or how else to +explain it, I know not; but it leads me to affirm here that the nadir +of my father's material fortunes was reached about the year 1849. At +that time his age was five-and-forty, and I was three. + +The causes of this financial depression were several. One morning he +awoke to find himself deprived, by political chicanery, of the income +of a custom-house surveyorship which for some while past had served to +support his small family. Now, some men could have gone on writing +stories in the intervals between surveying customs, and have thus +placed an anchor to windward against the time when the political storm +should set in; but Nathaniel Hawthorne was devoid of that useful +ability. Nor had he been able to spend less than he earned; so, +suddenly, there he was on his beam-ends. Leisure to write, certainly, +was now abundant enough; but he never was a rapid composer, and even +had he been so, the market for the kind of things he wrote was, in the +middle of the past century, in New England, neither large nor eager. +The emoluments were meagre to match; twenty dollars for four pages of +the Democratic Review was about the figure; and to produce a short +tale or sketch of that length would take him a month at least. How +were a husband and wife and their two children to live for a month on +the mere expectation of twenty dollars from the Democratic +Review--which was, into the bargain, terribly slow pay? Such was the +problem which confronted the dark-haired and grave-visaged gentleman +as he closed his desk in the Salem custom-house for the last time, and +put on his hat to walk home. + +Thanks, however, to some divine foresight on my mother's part, aided +by a wonderful talent for practical economy, she had secretly +contrived to save, out of her weekly stipends, small sums which in the +aggregate bulked large enough to make an important difference in the +situation. So when her husband disclosed his bad news, she opened her +private drawer and disclosed her banknotes, with such a smile in her +eyes as I can easily picture to myself. Stimulated by the miracle, he +remembered that the inchoate elements of a story, in which was to +figure prominently a letter A, cut out of red cloth, or embroidered in +scarlet thread, and affixed to a woman's bosom, had been for months +past rumbling round in his mind; now was the time of times to shape it +forth. Yonder upon the table by the window stood the old mahogany +writing-desk so long unused; here were his flowered dressing-gown and +slippers down-at-heel. He ought to be able to finish the story before +the miraculous savings gave out; and then all he would have to do +would be to write others. And, after all, to be rid of the +surveyorship was a relief. + +But matters were not to be run off quite so easily as this. The +Scarlet Letter, upon coming to close quarters with it, turned out to +be not a story of such moderate caliber as Hawthorne had hitherto been +used to write, but an affair likely to extend over two or three +hundred pages, which, instead of a month or so, might not be completed +in a year; yet it was too late to substitute something more manageable +for it--in the first place, because nothing else happened to be at his +disposal, and secondly, because The Scarlet Letter took such intimate +hold upon the vitals of his heart and mind that he was by no means +able to free himself from it until all had been fulfilled. Only men of +creative genius know in what glorious and harrowing thraldom their +creations hold them. Having once been fairly begun, The Scarlet Letter +must inevitably finish itself for good or ill, come what might to the +writer of it. + +[IMAGE: BIRTHPLACE OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AT SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS] + +This is a story of people and events, not a study in literary +criticism; but the writing of The Scarlet Letter was an event of no +trifling importance in the story of its author's life. To read the +book is an experience which its readers cannot forget; what its +writing must have been to a man organized as my father was is hardly +to be conveyed in words. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth--he +must live through each one of them, feel their passion, remorse, +hatred, terror, love; and he must enter into the soul of the +mysterious nature of Pearl. Such things cannot with impunity be done +by any one; the mere physical strain, all conditions being favorable, +would be almost past bearing. But my father, though uniformly his +bodily health was all his life sound, was never what I would call a +robust man; he was exquisitely balanced. At the time he began his book +he was jaded from years of office drudgery, and he was in some anxiety +as to the issue of his predicament. The house in which he dwelt, small +and ill-placed in a narrow side-street, with no possibility of +shutting out the noise of traffic and of domestic alarms, could not +but make the work tell more heavily upon him. But in addition to this +there were fortuitous occasions of emotional stress, all of which I +shall not mention; but among them were the distasteful turmoil aroused +by his political mishap; and, far more poignant, the critical illness +of his mother. Circumstances led to her being housed under his roof; +there she lingered long at death's door, and there at last she died. +He profoundly loved her; but deep-rooted, too, in both of them was +that strange, New England shyness, masking in visible ice the +underlying emotion. Not since his boyhood had their mutual affection +found free, natural expression; and now, in this final hour, that +bondage of habit caused the words of tenderness to stumble on their +lips. The awful majesty of approaching death, prompting them to "catch +up the whole of love and utter it" ere it be too late, wrought this +involuntary self-repression into silent agony. + +She died; his own health was shaken to its foundations; his children +fell ill, his wife underwent acute suffering; and through all this, +and more, The Scarlet Letter must be written. No wonder that, when he +came to read the story in manuscript to his wife, his voice faltered +and broke; and she slipped to her knees and hid her face on her arms +in the chair. "I had been suffering," he commentated, long afterwards, +"from a great diversity and severity of emotion." Great works of +art--things with the veritable spirit of enduring life in them--are +destined to be born in sore travail and pain. Those who give them +birth yield up their own life to them. + +It was at this period--say, about l850--that my own personal +recollections, in a shadowy and incoherent way, begin. The shadows are +exclusively of time's making; they were not of the heart. All through +the trials of my parents I retained a jocund equanimity (save for some +trifling childish ailments) and esteemed this world a friendly and +agreeable place. The Scarlet Letter dashed my spirits not a whit; I +knew not of its existence, by personal evidence, till full a dozen +years later; and even the death of my grandmother left me light of +heart, for the passing of the spirit from the body can but awaken the +transient curiosity of a child of four. For the rest, my physical +environment, in itself amusing and interesting enough to me, had its +chief importance from the material it afforded on which to construct +the imaginary scenes and characters of my play. My sister Una and +myself were forever enacting something or somebody not ourselves: +childish egoism oddly decking itself in the non-ego. We believed in +fairies, in magic, in angels, in transformations; Hans Christian +Andersen, Grimm, The Black Aunt (oh, delectable, lost volume) were our +sober history-books, and Robinson Crusoe was our autobiography. But I +did occasionally take note of concrete appearances, too; and some of +them I remember. + +The house--the third which we had inhabited since my father became +surveyor--was on Mall Street, and was three stories in height, with a +yard behind and at one end; this yard, which was of importance to my +sister and myself, had access to the street by a swinging gate. There +were three or four trees in it, and space for play. The house was but +one room deep, and lying as it did about north and south, the rooms +were open to both the morning and the afternoon sunshine. They opened +one into the other in a series; and when my father was safe up-stairs +in his study, my mother would open all the doors of the suite on the +lower floor, and allow the children to career triumphantly to and fro. +No noise that we could make ever troubled her nerves, unless it was +the noise of conflict; the shriek of joy, however shrill, passed by +her harmless; but the lowest mutter of wrath or discontent distressed +her; for of such are the mothers of the kingdom of heaven! And so +zealous was our regard for her just and gentle law that I really think +we gave way as little as most children to the latter. + +Of course, whenever the weather permitted, we were out in the yard, or +even promenaded for short distances up and down the street. And +once--"How are you?" inquired a friend of the family, as he drove by +in his wagon. "Oh, we've got the scarlet fever!" we proudly replied, +stepping out gallantly along the sidewalk. For we were treated by a +homoeopathic doctor of the old school, who was a high-dilutionist, and +mortal ills could never get a firm grip on us. In winter we rejoiced +in the snow; and my father's story of the Snow Image got most of its +local color from our gambols in this fascinating substance, which he +could observe from the window of his study. + +The study was on the third floor of the house, secluded from the +turmoil of earth, so far as anything could be in a city street. No one +was supposed to intrude upon him there; but such suppositions are +ineffectual against children. From time to time the adamantine gates +fell ajar, and in we slipped. It seemed a heavenly place, tenanted by +a being possessed of every attribute that our imaginations could +ascribe to an angel. The room and its tenant glimmer before me as I +write, luminous with the sunshine of more than fifty years ago. Both +were equipped for business rather than for beauty; furniture and +garments were simple in those Salem days. A homely old paper covered +the walls, a brownish old carpet the floor. There was an old +rocking-chair, its black paint much worn and defaced; another chair +was drawn up to the table, which stood to the left of the eastern +window; and on the table was a mahogany desk, concerning which I must +enter into some particulars. It was then, and for years afterwards, +an object of my most earnest scrutiny. Such desks are not made +nowadays. + +When closed, it was an oblong mahogany box, two feet long by half that +width, and perhaps nine inches high. It had brass corners, and a brass +plate on the top, inscribed with the name, "N. Hawthorne." At one end +was a drawer, with a brass handle playing on a hinge and fitting into +a groove or socket when down; there was a corresponding handle at the +other end, but that was for symmetry only; the one drawer went clear +through the desk. I often mused over the ethics of this deception. + +Being opened, the desk presented a sloping surface two feet square, +covered with black velvet, which had been cut here and there and +pasted down again, and was stiffened with many ink-spatterings. This +writing surface consisted of two lids, hinged at their junction in the +centre; lifting them, you discovered two receptacles to hold +writing-paper and other desk furniture. They were of about equal +capacity; for although the upper half of the desk was the more +capacious, you must not forget that two inches of it, at the bottom, +was taken up by the long drawer already mentioned. + +But there was, also, a more interesting curtailment of this interior +space. Along the very top of the desk, as it lay open, was a narrow +channel, perhaps a couple of inches wide and deep, divided into three +sections; two square ones, at the opposite ends, held the ink-bottle +and the sand-bottle; the long central one was for quill pens. These, +in the aggregate, appeared to the superficial eye to account for all +that remained of the cubic contents of the structure; but the supreme +mystery and charm of the affair was that they did not! + +No; there was an esoteric secret still in reserve; and for years it +remained a secret to me. The bottle-sockets and pen-tray did not reach +down to the level of the long drawer by nearly an inch. Measurement +would prove that; but you would have said that the interval must be +solid wood; for nothing but a smooth panel met the eye when you pulled +aside the sheets of writing-paper in their receptacle to investigate. +But the lesson of this world, and of the desk as a part of it, is that +appearances are not to be trusted. The guile of those old desk-makers +passes belief. + +I will expose it. In the pen-tray lay a sort of brass nail, as long as +your little finger, and blunt at the end. Now take the sand-bottle +from its hole. In one corner of the bottom thereof you will see a +minute aperture, just big enough to admit the seemingly useless brass +nail. Stick it in and press hard. With an abrupt noise that makes you +jump, if you are four or five years old, that smooth, unsuspected +strip of panel starts violently forward (propelled by a released +spring) and reveals--what? Nothing less than the fronts of two minute +drawers. They fit in underneath the pen-tray, and might remain +undiscovered for a hundred years unless you had the superhuman wit to +divine the purpose of the brass nail. The drawers contain diamonds, +probably, or some closely folded document making you the heir to a +vast estate. As a matter of fact, I don't know what they contained; +the surprise of the drawers themselves was enough for me. I need not +add that I did not guess the riddle myself; but nothing that I can +call to mind impressed me more than when, one day, my father solved it +for me with his little brass wand. At intervals, afterwards, I was +allowed to work the miracle myself, always with the same thrill of +mysterious delight. The desk was human to me; it was alive. + +There were little square covers for the ink and sand-bottles; and on +the under sides of these were painted a pair of faces; very ruddy in +the cheeks they were, with staring eyes and smiling mouths; and one of +them wore a pair of black side-whiskers. They were done by my father, +with oil--colors filched from my mother's paint-box. They seemed to me +portraits of the people who lived in the desk; evidently they enjoyed +their existence hugely. And when I considered that the desk was also +somehow instrumental in the production of stories--such as the Snow +Image--of a delectable and magical character, the importance to my +mind of the whole contrivance may be conceived. When I grew beyond +child's estate, I learned that it had also assisted at the composition +of The Scarlet Letter. If ever there were a haunted writing-desk, this +should have been it; but the ghosts have long since carried it away, +whither I know not. + +On the table were two ornaments; one, the finely moulded figure of an +Egyptian in bronze, the wide Egyptian head-dress falling on the +shoulders, the arms lying rigidly at the sides, with fists clinched. +Generations of handling had made it almost black, but the amiable +expression of the little countenance--the figure was about seven +inches tall--greatly endeared it to me. Its feet were pressed close +together on a small round stand; but one day somebody set it down on a +hot stove, where it remained without flinching till the feet were +melted off. After some years my mother had an ebony stump affixed to +it, preserving the proportions of the figure and setting it once more +erect. He was of greater endurance and of finer physical if not of +moral development than the Tin Soldier of Hans Christian Andersen. The +other ornament, less than half the Egyptian's size, and also made of +bronze, was a warrior in mediaeval armor, whose head lifted off, +showing a sharp-pointed rod the sheath of which was the body. Its use +was to pick the wicks of the oil-lamps of that epoch, and its name was +Mr. Pickwick. When afterwards I became acquainted with the world's +Mr. Pickwick, I supposed his creator had adopted the name from our +bronze warrior; but the world's Pickwick was made of stuff more +enduring than bronze; he remains, but our little warrior has vanished. + +I come now to the human occupant of this chamber of marvels. I see a +tall, strong man, whose wide-domed head was covered with wavy black +hair, bushing out at the sides. It thinned somewhat over the lofty +crown and brow; the forehead was hollowed at the temple and rounded +out above, after the Moorish style of architecture. Under heavy, dark +eyebrows were eyes deep-set and full of light, marvellous in range of +expression, with black eyelashes. All seemed well with me when I met +their look. The straight, rather salient nose had a perceptible cleft +at the tip, which, I was told, was a sign of good lineage; +muddy-mettled rascals lacked it; so that I was much distressed by the +smooth, plebeian bluntness, at that time, of my own little snub. The +mouth, then unshaded by a mustache, had a slight upward turn at the +corners, indicative of vitality and good-humor; the chin rounded out +sharply convex from the lip. The round, strong column of the neck well +supported the head; my mother compared it with that of the Apollo +Belvedere, a bust of which stood in the corner of our sitting-room. +The head was deep--a great distance between the base of the ear and +the wing of the nostril--and was well filled out behind. Above the +blue of the shaven beard the complexion showed clear white and red, +announcing a strong heart and good digestion. My father shaved himself +daily; I was not permitted to see the operation, but I knew he +lathered, and wondered why. He was naturally athletic; +broad-shouldered and deep in the chest, lean about the loins, weighing +never over one hundred and eighty pounds; his height was five feet ten +and three-quarter inches; his legs and feet were slender and graceful, +his gait long and springy, and he could stand and leap as high as his +shoulder. In the house he wore slippers, which seemed always old and +down-at-heel. + +In the house, also, he wore a writing-gown, made for him some years +before by my mother; it reached nearly to his heels, and had been a +gorgeous affair, though now much defaced. The groundwork was purple, +covered all over with conventional palm-leaf in old-gold color; the +lining was red. This lining, under the left-hand skirt of the gown, +was blackened with ink over a space as large as your hand; for the +author was in the habit of wiping his pen thereon; but my mother +finally parried this attack by sewing in the centre of the place a +penwiper in the shape of a butterfly. + +While story-writing, the door of the study was locked against all the +world; but after noon he became approachable, except during The +Scarlet Letter period, when he wrote till evening. He did not mind my +seeing him write letters; he would sit with his right shoulder and +head inclined towards the desk; the quill squeaked softly over the +smooth paper, with frequent quick dips into the ink-bottle; a few +words would be written swiftly; then a pause, with suspended pen, +while the next sentence was forming in the writer's mind. When he +miswrote, instead of crossing out the word, he would smear it out with +his finger, and rewrite over the smear; so that his page had a mottled +appearance. The writing was accompanied by intermittent nods of the +head, as one would say, "Sic cogito!" So far as he is concerned, the +shadows close in on me here. + +But I have said that the house was of three stories, and I have +accounted for two of them only. The second was occupied by my +grandmother Hawthorne and her two daughters, Aunt Louisa and Aunt Ebe +(the latter appellation being an infantile version of her name +invented by my father, who was her junior, and used by us to +distinguish between her and that other Elizabeth who was Aunt Lizzie +Peabody). Of my grandmother Hawthorne I have no personal recollection +at all; she was a Manning, a beautiful old lady, whom her son +resembled. She had been a recluse from society for forty years; it +was held to be good form, in that age and place, to observe such +Hindoo rites after the death of a husband; hers had died in his +thirty-fourth year in Surinam. But she had also insensibly fallen into +the habit of isolating herself in some degree from her own family; +they were all of them addicted to solitude of the body, though kindly +enough disposed in the abstract. When we went to live in the Mall +Street house, the old lady and her daughters uprooted themselves from +their home of many years in Herbert Street and dwelt with us; and that +quaint crystallization of their habits was in a measure broken up. But +the dowager Mrs. Hawthorne, it soon appeared, had come there to die; +she was more than seventy years old. My aunt Louisa I seem dimly to +recall as a tall, fragile, pale, amiable figure, not very effective. +My aunt Ebe I afterwards came to know well, and shall defer mention of +her. So I was encompassed by kindly petticoats, and was very happy, +but might have been better for a stout playmate of my own sex. I had a +hobby-horse, which I rode constantly to fairy-land in quest of +treasure to bestow upon my friends. I swung with Una on the gate, and +looked out upon the wonder of the passing world. The tragedy of my +grandmother's death, which, as I have said, interrupted the birth of +The Scarlet Letter, passed me by unknowing, or rather without leaving +a trace upon my memory. On the other hand, I can reconstitute vividly +two absurd incidents, destitute of historical value. After my +grandmother Hawthorne's death I fell ill; but the night before the +disease declared itself, I was standing in a chair at the nursery +window, looking out at the street-lamp on the corner, and my aunt +Lizzie Peabody, who had just come on from Boston, was standing behind +me, lest I should fall off. Now, I was normally the most +sweet-tempered little urchin imaginable; yet suddenly, without the +faintest warning or provocation, I turned round and dealt my loving +aunt a fierce kick in the stomach. It deprived her of breath for a +space; but her saintly nature is illustrated by the fact that the very +first use she made of her recovered faculties was to gasp out, +"Sophie, the child must be ill!" Fortunately for my reputation, the +illness was not long in arriving. The other episode must have +happened at about the same period, and is likewise concerned with Aunt +Lizzie. We had a cat, and the cat had had kittens a day or two before. +Aunt Lizzie came into the nursery, where Una and I were building +houses of blocks, and sat down in the big easy-chair. The cat was in +the room, and she immediately came up to my aunt and began to mew and +to pluck at her dress with her claws. Such attentions were rare on +pussy's part, and my aunt noticed them with pleasure, and caressed the +animal, which still continued to devote its entire attention to her. +But there was something odd in the sound of her mewing and in the +intent regard of her yellow eyes. "Can anything be the matter with +pussy?" speculated my aunt. At that moment my father entered the room, +and my aunt rose to greet him. Then the massacre was revealed, for she +had been sitting upon the kittens. Their poor mother pounced upon them +with a yowl, but it was too late. My dear aunt was rather a heavy +woman, and she had been sitting there fifteen minutes. We all stood +appalled in the presence of the great mystery. + + +One day a big man, with a brown beard and shining brown eyes, who +bubbled over with enthusiasm and fun, made his appearance and talked +volubly about something, and went away again, and my father and mother +smiled at each other. The Scarlet Letter had been written, and James +T. Fields had read it, and declared it the greatest book of the age. +So that was the last of Salem. + + + + +II + + +Horatio Bridge's "I-told-you-so"--What a house by the sea might have +done--Unknown Lenox--The restlessness of youth--The Unpardonable Sin +and the Deathless Man--The little red house--Materials of culture--Our +best playmates--The mystery of Mrs. Peter's dough--Our intellectual +hen--Fishing for poultry--Yacht-building--Swimming with one foot on +the ground--Shipwreck--Our playfellow the +brook--Tanglewood--Nuts--Giants and enchanters--Coasting--Wet noses, +dark eyes, ambrosial breath--My first horseback ride--Herman +Melville's stories--Another kind of James--The thunder-storm--Yearning +ladies and melancholy sinners--Hindlegs--Probable murder--"I abominate +the sight of it!"--The peril of Tanglewood--The truth of fiction--An +eighteen-months' work--We leave five cats behind. + +Horatio Bridge, my father's college friend, was a purser in the navy +and lived in Augusta, Maine, his official residence being at +Portsmouth. He had kept in closer touch with the romancer than any of +his other friends had since their graduating days, and he had been +from the first a believer in his coming literary renown. So, when The +Scarlet Letter shone eminent in the firmament of book-land, it was his +triumphant "I-told-you-so" that was among the earliest to be heard. +And when my father cast about for a more congenial place than Salem to +live in, it was to Bridge that he applied for suggestions. He +stipulated that the place should be somewhere along the New England +sea-coast. + +Had this wish of his been fulfilled it might have made great +differences. Hawthorne had always dwelt within sight and sound of the +Atlantic, on which his forefathers had sailed so often between the +Indies and Salem port, and Atlantic breezes were necessary to his +complete well-being. At this juncture physical health had for the +first time become an object to him; he was run down by a year of +suffering and hard work, and needed nature's kindest offices. A +suitable house of his own by the sea-side would probably have brought +him up to his best physical condition to begin with, and kept him so; +and it would so have endeared itself to him that when, two or three +years later, Pierce had offered him a foreign appointment he might +have been moved to decline it, and have gone on writing American +romances to the end--to the advantage of American letters. Concord had +its own attractions; but it never held him as the sea would have done, +nor nourished his health, nor stimulated his genius. A house of his +own beside the Atlantic might well have added twenty years to his +life. + +But it was not upon the knees of the gods. + +Bridge's zealous efforts failed to find a place available, and after +an uneasy interval, during which his friend wandered uncomfortably +about Boston and the neighborhood (incidentally noting down some +side-scenes afterwards to be incorporated in The Blithedale Romance), +a cottage in the Berkshire Hills was spoken of, and upon examination +seemed practicable. Lenox, at that time, was as little known as Mount +Desert; it was not until long afterwards that fashion found them out +and made them uninhabitable to any but fashionable folks. Moreover, my +father had seen something of Lenox a dozen years before. + +A dozen years before he was not yet betrothed to Sophia Peabody; he +already loved her and she him; but her health seemed an insuperable +barrier between them. This and certain other matters were weighing +heavily upon his soul, and his future seemed dark and uncertain. He +thought of taking a voyage round the world; he thought of getting into +politics; he even thought--as young men full of life sometimes +will--of death. What he finally did, with native good sense, was to +make a two-months' trip in the mountainous region to the westward, to +change the scene and his state of mind, and to get what artists call a +fresh eye. He chose North Adams as his headquarters, and forayed +thence in various directions over a radius of twenty miles. He was +then beginning to revolve one of the two great romance themes that +preoccupied his whole after-life, neither of which was he destined to +write. This was the idea of the Unpardonable Sin; the other was the +conception of the Deathless Man. The only essay we have towards the +embodiment of the first vision is the short fragment published in +Mosses from an Old Manse, called "Ethan Brand." The other was +attempted in various forms, of which Septimius, Dr. Grimshawe's +Secret, and The Dolliver Romance, all posthumously published, are the +most important. + +But Stockbridge, Pittsfield, and Lenox had been included among his +haunts during the break-away above mentioned, and he remembered that +the scenery was beautiful, the situation remote, and the air noble. +Next to the sea it seemed an ideal place to recuperate and write in. +Thither, at all events, he resolved to go, and early in the summer of +1850 we arrived at the little red house above the shores of +Stockbridge Bowl, with bag and baggage. Little though the house was, +the bag and baggage were none too much to find easy accommodation in +it. + +A fair-sized city drawing-room of these sumptuous contemporary days +could stow away in a corner the entire structure which then became our +habitation, and retain space enough outside it for the exploitation of +social functions. Nevertheless, by the simple expedient of making the +interior divisions small enough, this liliputian edifice managed to +contain eight rooms on its two floors (including the kitchen). One of +the rooms was, in fact, the entrance-hall; you stepped into it across +the threshold of the outer door, and the staircase ascended from it. +It was used as an extension of the drawing-room, which opened out of +it. The drawing-room adjoined the dining-room, with windows facing the +west, with a view of the mountains across the lake, and the +dining-room communicated with the kitchen. One of the western-looking +up-stairs rooms served as my father's study; my sister Una had her +chamber, I mine (which was employed as the guest-chamber upon +occasion), and our parents the other. What more could be asked? for +when Rose was born, her crib stood beside her mother's bedstead. + +When we were not asleep--that is, during twelve hours out of the +twenty-four--Una's existence and mine were passed mainly in the outer +sitting-room and in the dining-room. There was plenty to entertain us. +I had my rocking-horse, which I bestrode with perfect fearlessness; my +porcelain lion, which still survives unscathed after the cataclysms of +half a century; my toy sloop, made for me by Uncle Nat; and a +jack-knife, all but the edge and point, which had been removed out of +deference to my youth. Una had a doll, a miniature mahogany +centre-table and bureau, and other things in which I felt no interest. +In common, we possessed the box of wooden bricks, and the big +portfolio containing tracings by my mother, exquisitely done, of +Flaxman's "Outlines of the Iliad and Odyssey" and other classic +subjects. We knew by heart the story of all these mythological +personages, and they formed a large part of our life. They also served +the important use of suggesting to my father his Wonder-Book and +Tanglewood Tales stories, and, together with the figures of Gothic +fairy-lore, they were the only playmates, with the exception of our +father and mother, that we had or desired. + +But our father and mother were, of course, the main thing, after all. +She was with us all day long; he, from the time he stopped writing, +early in the afternoon, till our bed-time. They answered all our +questions about things animate and inanimate, physical and +metaphysical; and that must have taken time, for our curiosity was +magnificent; and "The Old Boy," my father records, "asked me today +what were sensible questions--I suppose with a view to asking me +some." They superintended our projections of creation on the +black-board--a great, old-fashioned black-board, the like of which I +have not since beheld; they read to us and told us stories. Many of +these stories were of incidents of their own child-life; and there was +also the narrative of our mother's voyage to Cuba and back, and +residence there when she was about eighteen or twenty--a fascinating +chronicle. Meal-times were delectable festivals, not only because the +bread-and-milk, the boiled rice and tapioca pudding, and eggs and +fruit tasted so good, but by reason of the broad outlook out of window +over the field, the wood, the lake, and the mountains; supper-time, +with the declining sun pouring light into the little room and making +the landscape glorious, was especially exhilarating. Ambrosial was +the bread baked by Mrs. Peters, the taciturn and serious religious +person of color who attended to our cooking; the prize morsels were +the ends, golden brown in hue, crunching so crisply between our teeth. +I used to wonder how a being with hands so dark as those of Mrs. +Peters managed to turn out dough so immaculate. She would plunge them +right into the ivory-hued substance, yet it became only whiter than +before. But the life of life was, of course, out-doors. There was a +barn containing a hay-mow and a large hen-coop, soon populous with +hens and chickens, with an heroic snow-white rooster to keep them in +order. Hens are the most audacious and presuming of pets, and they +have strong individuality. + +One of our brood was more intellectual and enterprising than the +others; she found a way of getting out of the coop, no matter how +tightly it was shut up; and she would jump in our laps as we sat +eating a piece of bread in the barn doorway and snatch it away from +us; but I think we sometimes sat there with the bread on purpose to +have her do it. Once or twice--until I was detected and stopped--I +enjoyed the poignant delight of fishing for hens out of the barn loft; +my tackle consisted of a bent pin at the end of a string tied to a +stick. It was baited with a grain of corn, or a bit of rag would do as +well, for hens have no hereditary suspicion of anglers, and are much +more readily entrapped than fishes. Pulling them up, squawking and +fluttering, was thrilling, but, of course, it was wrong, like other +thrilling things, and had to be foregone. A less unregenerate +experiment was fastening two grains of corn to the ends of a long bit +of thread; two hens would seize each a grain and begin swallowing +thread until they interfered, with each other, when a disgorgement +would take place. It was an economical sport--the one bit of thread +and the two corn-grains would last all day--and, in view of the joy +afforded to the spectators, did not seem too unkind. My father had +mechanical talent, and with an old door-knob and some strips of +shingle he would make a figure of a man with a saw; you fixed it to +the edge of a table, set the door-knob swinging, and the creature +would saw with the most absurd diligence. From the same shingle he +would construct a pugilist, who, being set up where the wind played +upon him, would swing his arms interminably. It was yacht-building, +however, that afforded us most entertainment. A shingle was whittled +to a point at one end; a stick with a square paper slipped on it was +stuck up in the middle, and a rudder made fast to the stern; such a +boat would sail boldly out upon the vastness of the lake, till the eye +could no longer follow the diminishing white speck. These days beside +the lake were full of good things. The water was clear, with a white +sand bottom; we were given swimming-lessons in the hot summer weather; +having waded in up to our middles, we faced towards the shore, where +sat our father with a long fishing-pole, the end of which he kept +within our reach, and bade us lean forward on the water and kick up +our feet. But, for my part, I kept one foot on the bottom. It was not +till years afterwards that I mustered courage to take it off, and that +was in a lake three thousand miles from Stockbridge Bowl, with the +towers of the castle of Chillon reflected in its calm surface. + +We also made limited use of a leaky old punt, which one day capsized +and emptied its whole crew into the water, luckily close to shore. We +fished for gold carp for hours together, and during our two summers we +caught a couple of them; there were thousands of them swimming about; +but a bent pin with the bait washed off is not a good lure. In winter, +the lake had five feet of ice on it, which lasted far into the spring, +and once or twice we got aboard this great raft and tracked across it, +with as much awe and enthusiasm as ever Kane had felt in his arctic +explorations. In all, we became intimate friends with the lake idea, +new to us then, but never to grow stale; and our good fortune favored +us during after-life with many lovely lakes and ponds, including such +gems as Rydal, Walden, and Geneva. + +Water, in another enchanting guise, dashed and gurgled for us in the +brook that penetrated like a happy dream the slumber of the forest +that bordered on the lake. The wooded declivity through which it went +was just enough to keep it ever vocal and animated. Gazing down upon +it, it was clear brown, with glancing gleams of interior green, and +sparkles diamond white; tiny fishes switched themselves against the +current with quivering tails; the shaggy margins were flecked with +sunshine, and beautiful with columbines, violets, arbutus, and +houstonias. Fragments of rock and large pebbles interrupted its flow +and deepened its mellow song; above it brooded the twilight of the +tall pines and walnuts, responding to its merriment with solemn +murmurings. What playfellow is more inexhaustible than such a brook, +so full of life, of motion, of sound and color, of variety and +constancy. A child welcomes it as an answer to its own soul, with its +mystery and transparency, its bounded lawlessness, its love of earth +and its echoes of the sky. In winter our brook had a new charm: it ran +beneath a roof of ice, often mounded with snow; its voice sounding +cheerful as ever in those inscrutable caverns, as if it discoursed +secret wonders of fairy-land, and carried treasures of the elves and +gnomes. Zero, with his utmost rigors, could not still its speech for a +day or fix his grip upon those elastic limbs. Indeed, the frosty god +conspired with it for our delight; building crystal bridges, with +tracery of lace delicater than Valenciennes, and spangled +string-pieces, and fretted vaultings, whimsical sierras, stalactite +and stalagmite. An icicle is one of those careless toys of nature +which the decorative art of man imitates in vain. They are among the +myriad decorations of children's palaces. + +To Tanglewood, as we called it, at all seasons of the year, came +Hawthorne and his wife and children. In spring there was the issuing +forth of the new life from beneath the winter coverlid; the first +discovery of sociable houstonias, and the exquisite tints and +fragrance of the mayflower on its dark, bearded stalk. When June +became perfect, and afterwards till nuts were ripe, my father loved to +lie at full length upon the mossy and leaf-strewn floor, looking up at +the green roof, the lofty whispering-gallery of vaulted boughs, with +its azure lattices and descending sunlight-shafts; wrapped in +imaginings some of which were afterwards to delight the world; but +many more of them, no doubt, were fated to join the glorious company +of untold tales. Beside him sat our mother, on a throne which we had +fashioned for her from the upright stump of a tree; round about them +played the little girl and boy. They brought all the treasures which +this wonderfully affluent world afforded: flowers in all seasons; +strawberries, small but of potent flavor, which the little boy would +gather with earnest diligence, and fetch to the persons he loved, +mashed into premature jam in his small fist; exciting turtles with +variegated carapaces, and heads and feet that went in and out; +occasional newts from the plashy places; and in autumn, hatfuls of +walnuts. There were chestnuts, too, upon whose prickly hulls the +preoccupied children would sometimes inadvertently plump themselves. +Our father was a great tree-climber, and he was also fond of playing +the role of magician. "Hide your eyes!" he would say, and the next +moment, from being there beside us on the moss, we would hear his +voice descending from the sky, and behold! he swung among the topmost +branches, showering down upon us a hail-storm of nuts. There was a big +cavern behind the kitchen chimney, which gradually became filled with +these harvests, and on winter evenings they were brought forth and +cracked with a hammer on the hearth-stone. + +The wide field, or croft, which sloped from the house to the wood was +thickly grown with mullein-stalks, against which I waged war with an +upper section of one of my father's old broken canes, for I took them +for giants, and stubborn, evil-minded enchanters. I slew them by +scores; but I could make no way against the grasshoppers, which jumped +against my bare legs and pricked them. There were wasps, too; one of +them stung Una on the lower lip as she was climbing over a rail-fence. +Her lip at once assumed a Bourbon contour, and I reached the +conclusion, by some tacit syllogism of infancy, that the rail-fence +was at least half to blame for the catastrophe, and always carefully +avoided it. I likewise avoided the wasps; a certain trick they have of +giving a hitch to their after-parts as they walk along always struck +me as being obviously diabolical. + +When the snows came, two and three feet deep, we got out the family +sled from its summer lodging in the barn and went forth, muffled in +interminable knit tippets and other woollen armor, to coast down the +long slope. Our father sat in front with the reins in his hands and +his feet thrust out to steer, and away we went clinging fast behind +him. Sometimes we swept triumphantly to the bottom; at other times we +would collide with some hidden obstacle, and describe each a separate +trajectory into the snow-banks. We made enormous snow-balls by +beginning with a small one and rolling it over and over in the soft +snow till it waxed too vast for our strength; two or three of these +piled one on another would be sculptured by the author of The Scarlet +Letter into a snow-man, who would stand stanch for weeks. Snow-storms +in Lenox began early and lasted till far into April. The little red +house had all it could do, sometimes, to lift its upper windows above +them. In the front yard there was a symmetrical balsam fir-tree, +tapering like a Chinese pagoda. One winter morning we found upon one +of its lower boughs a little brown sparrow frozen stiff. We put it in +a card-board coffin, and dug out a grave for it beneath the fir, with +a shingle head-stone. The funeral ceremonies had for the two mourners +a solemnity such as is not always felt at such functions in later +life. + +Of the regular daily routine was the journey to Luther Butler's, +quarter of a mile up the road, for milk and butter. I generally +accompanied my father, and saw placid Luther's cows, placid as +himself, with their broad, wet noses, amiable dark eyes, questionable +horns, and ambrosial breath. Mr. Tappan, our landlord, had horses, +and once he mounted me on the bare back of one of the largest of these +quadrupeds, which, to the stupefaction of everybody, instantly set off +at full gallop. Down the road we thundered, the rider, with his legs +sticking out at right angles, screaming with joy, for this transcended +any rocking-horse experiences. A hundred yards away there was a bend +in the road. Just at that point there was a manure-pile, which had +long bided its time. I had hold of a strand of the horse's mane; but +when he swerved at the bend I had to let go, and after a short flight +in air, the manure-pile received me in its soft embrace. Looking up +the road, I saw Mr. Tappan, with dilated eyes and a countenance +expressing keen emotion, coming towards me at a wonderful pace, and my +father and mother following him at a short distance. I did not myself +mind the smell of manure, and the others were glad to put up with it +in consideration of my having escaped broken bones. + +We did not keep a dog, but Herman Melville, who often came over from +Pittsfield, had a large Newfoundland which he sometimes brought with, +him, and Mr. G. P. R. James, a novelist of the Walter Scott school, +had another, and I was permitted to bestride both of them; they were +safe enough, but they would turn back their heads and lay their cold +noses on my leg; I preferred the now-forbidden horse. But Melville +himself made up for everything by the tremendous stories he used to +tell about the South Sea Islands and the whale fishery. Normally he +was not a man of noticeable appearance; but when the narrative +inspiration was on him, he looked like all the things he was +describing--savages, sea-captains, the lovely Fayaway in her canoe, or +the terrible Moby Dick himself. There was vivid genius in this man, +and he was the strangest being that ever came into our circle. Through +all his wild and reckless adventures, of which a small part only got +into his fascinating books, he had been unable to rid himself of a +Puritan conscience; he afterwards tried to loosen its grip by studying +German metaphysics, but in vain. He was restless and disposed to dark +hours, and there is reason to suspect that there was in him a vein of +insanity. His later writings were incomprehensible. When we were +living in England, he passed through the midst of us on one of his +aimless, mysterious journeys round the world; and when I was in New +York, in 1884, I met him, looking pale, sombre, nervous, but little +touched by age. He died a few years later. He conceived the highest +admiration for my father's genius, and a deep affection for him +personally; but he told me, during our talk, that he was convinced +that there was some secret in my father's life which had never been +revealed, and which accounted for the gloomy passages in his books. It +was characteristic in him to imagine so; there were many secrets +untold in his own career. But there were few honester or more lovable +men than Herman Melville. + +[IMAGE: HERMAN MELVILLE] + +James (no relation of our distinguished contemporary) was a +commonplace, meritorious person, with much blameless and intelligent +conversation; but the only thing that recalls him personally to my +memory is the fact of his being associated with a furious +thunder-storm. My father and I were alone in the house at the time; my +mother had gone to West Newton on a three weeks' visit. In the midst +of the thunder and lightning, the downpour and the hurricane, the +crash of matter and the wreck of worlds, our door burst open, and +behold! of all persons in the world to be heralded by such +circumstances, G. P. R. James! Not he only, but close upon his heels +his entire family, numerous, orthodox, admirable, and infinitely +undesirable to two secluded gentlemen without a wife and mother to +help them out. But it was a choice between murder and hospitality, and +come in they must. Never before or after did our liliputian +drawing-room harbor so large an assemblage. They dripped on the +carpet, they were conventional and courteous; we made conversation +between us; but whenever the thunder rolled, Mrs. James became ghastly +pale. Mr. James explained that this was his birthday, and that they +were on a pleasure excursion. He conciliated me by anecdotes of a pet +magpie or raven who stole spoons. At last, the thunder-storm and the +G. P. R. Jameses passed off together. + +There were many other visitors, not only old friends, but persons +attracted thither out of the void by the fame of the book "along whose +burning leaves," as Oliver Wendell Holmes sang of it, "his scarlet web +our wild romancer weaves." It was a novel experience for the man who +had become accustomed to regarding himself as the obscurest man of +letters in America. Lonely, yearning ladies came; enthusiastic young +men; melancholy sinners. The little red house was not a literary Mecca +only, but a moral one. The dark-browed, kindly smiling author received +them all courteously; he was invariably courteous. "I would not have a +drunken man politer than I," he once answered me, when I asked him why +he had returned the salutation of a toper. What counsel he gave to +those who came to him as to a father confessor of course I know not; +but later, when I used to sit in his office in the Liverpool +consulate, I sometimes heard him speak plain truths to the waifs and +strays who drifted in there; and truth more plain, yet bestowed with +more humanity and brotherly purpose, I have never heard since. It made +them tremble, but it did them good. Such things made him suffer, but +he never flinched from the occasion by a hair's-breadth. He must have +loved his fellow-creatures. + +Somebody gave me a rabbit, which I named Hind-legs. I was deeply +interested in him for a while, especially when I learned that he could +not drink water; but he lasted only two weeks, and I am under the +impression that I killed him. Not that I loved him less; but children +are prone to experiment with this singular thing called life when it +is in their power. They do not believe that death can be other than a +transient phenomenon; the lifeless body may puzzle, but it does not +convince them. I was certainly not a cruel urchin, and I can recall +none but cordial sentiments towards Hindlegs on my part. I remember no +details of the murder, if murder were done; but I do remember feeling +no surprise when, one morning, Hindlegs was found dead. After so many +years, I will not bring against the owner of Hindlegs a verdict of +positive guilt; but I suspect him. Hindlegs, at all events, achieved +an immortality which can belong to few of his brethren; for my father, +after pooh-poohing the imbecile little bundle of fur for a day or two, +conceived an involuntary affection for him, and reported his character +and habits in his journal in a manner which is likely to keep his +memory alive long after the hand that (perhaps) slew him is dust. + +In default of dogs and Hindlegs, we had abundant cats. My father was +always fond of these mysterious deities of ancient Egypt, and they +were never turned away from our doors; but how so many of them +happened to find us out in this remote region I cannot explain. It +seems as if goodwill towards cats spontaneously generated them. They +appeared, one after another, to the number of five; but when the time +came for us to leave the red house forever, the cats would not and +could not be packed up, and they were left behind. In my mind's eye I +still see them, squatting abreast, silhouetted against the sky, on the +brow of the hill as we drove down the road; for they had scampered +after our carry-all when we drove away. Cats teach Americans what they +are slow to learn--the sanctity and permanence of home. + +But Lenox could not be a home for us. It was, indeed, a paradise for +the children; but the children's father was never well there. He had a +succession of colds--as those affections are called; it was ascribed +to the variations of temperature during the summers; but the +temperature would not have troubled him had he not been hard hit +before he went to Berkshire. He got out of patience with the climate, +and was wont to anathematize it with humorous extravagance, as his way +was: "It is horrible. One knows not for ten minutes together whether +he is too cool or too warm. I detest it! I hate Berkshire with my +whole soul. Here, where I had hoped for perfect health, I have for the +first time been made sensible that I cannot with impunity encounter +nature in all her moods." It was the summers that disagreed with him. +"Upon the whole," he said, "I think that the best time for living in +the country is the winter." It was during the winter that he did most +of his writing. The House of the Seven Gables was written between +September of 1850 and January or February of 1851. + +But composition took more out of him than formerly. He admitted to +his sister Louisa that he was "a little worn down with constant work," +and added that he could not afford any idle time now, being evidently +of the opinion that his popularity would be short-lived, and that it +behooved him, therefore, to make the most of it. But "the pen is so +constantly in my fingers that I abominate the sight of it!" he +exclaimed. This was after he had transgressed his custom of never +writing in the hot months. He began in June and finished in forty days +the whole volume of The Wonder-Book. He also read the tales to his +domestic audience as fast as they were written, and benefited, +perhaps, by the expert criticism of the small people. Many passages in +the intercalated chapters, describing the adventures of Eustace Bright +and the Tangle-wood children, are based on facts well known to his own +two youngsters. And when Eustace tells his hearers that if the +dark-haired man dwelling in the cottage yonder were simply to put some +sheets of writing-paper in the fire, all of them and Tangle-wood +itself would turn into cinders and vanish in smoke up the +chimney--even the present chronicler saw the point; though, at the +same time, he somehow could not help believing in the reality of +Primrose, Buttercup, Dandelion, Squash-blossom, and the rest. Thus +early did he begin to grasp the philosophy of the truth of fiction. + +The House of the Seven Gables and The Wonder-Book were a fair +eighteen-months' work, and in addition to them Hawthorne had, before +leaving Lenox, planned out the story of The Blithedale Romance; so +that after we got to West Newton--our half-way station on the road to +Concord--he was prepared to sit down and write it. Long before we left +Concord for England he had published Tangle-wood Tales, not to mention +the biography of Franklin Pierce. Una and her brother knew nothing +about the romances; they knew and approved the fairy tales; but their +feeling about all their father's writings was, that he was being +wasted in his study, when he might be with them, and there could be +nothing in any books, whether his own or other authors', that could +for a moment bear comparison with his actual companionship. What he +set down upon the page was but a less free and rich version of the +things that came from his living mouth in our heedless playtimes. "If +only papa wouldn't write, how nice it would be!" And, indeed, a book +is but a poor substitute for the mind and heart of a man, and it +exists only as one of the numberless sorry makeshifts to which time +constrains us, while we are waiting for eternity and full communion. + +It was a dreary day in the beginning of the second winter that we set +out on our eastward journey; but Hawthorne's face was brighter than +the weather warranted, for it was turned once more towards the sea. We +were destined, ere we turned back, to go much farther towards the +rising sun than any of us then suspected. We took with us one who had +not been present at our coming--a little auburn-haired baby, born in +May. Which are the happiest years of a man's life? Those in which he +is too much occupied with present felicity to look either forward or +backward--to hope or to remember. There are no such years; but such +moments there may be, and perhaps there were as many such moments +awaiting Hawthorne as had already passed. + +His greatest work was done before he left his native land, and within +a year or two of his death he wrote to Richard Stoddard: "I have been +a happy man, and yet I cannot remember any moment of such happy +conspiring circumstances that I would have rung a joy-bell at it." + + + + +III + + +Chariots of delight--West Newton--Raw American life--Baby's +fingers--Our cousin Benjamin's untoward head--Our uncle Horace--His +vacuum--A reformer's bristles--Grace Greenwood's first tears--The +heralding of Kossuth--The decorated engine--The chief incident of the +reception--Blithedale and Brook Farm--Notes from real life--Rough +draughts--Paths of composition--The struggle with the +Pensioner--Hawthorne's method--The invitation of Concord--Four wooden +walls and a roof--Mr. Alcott's aesthetic carpentering--Appurtenances +of "The Wayside"--Franklin Pierce for President"--The most homeless +people in the world." + +The sky that overhung Hawthorne's departure from Lenox was gray with +impending snow, and the flakes had begun to fall ere the vehicle in +which his family was ensconced had reached the railway station in +Pittsfield. Travel had few amenities in those days. The cars were all +plain cars, with nothing to recommend them except that they went +tolerably fast--from twenty to thirty miles an hour. They were +chariots of delight to the children, who were especially happy in +occupying the last car of the train, from the rear windows of which +they could look down upon the tracks, which seemed to slide +miraculously away from beneath them. The conductor collected the +tickets--a mysterious rite. The gradually whitening landscape fled +past, becoming ever more level as we proceeded; by-and-by there was a +welcome unpacking of the luncheon-basket, and all the while there were +the endless questions to be asked and faithfully answered. It was +already dark by the time we were bundled out at the grimy shed which +was called the depot, at West Newton, where we were met by the Horace +Manns, and somehow the transit to the latter's house, which we were to +occupy for the winter, was made. The scene was gloomy and unpleasant; +the change from the mountains of the west depressing; and, for my +part, I cannot remember anything agreeable in this raw little suburb. +American life half a century ago had a great deal of rawness about it, +and its external aspect was ugly beyond present belief. We may be a +less virtuous nation now than we were then, but we are indescribably +more good to look at. And the West Newton of to-day, as compared with +that of 1851, will serve for an illustration of this truth. + +Horace Mann's house was a small frame dwelling, painted white, with +green blinds, and furnished with a furnace stiflingly hot. One of the +first things the baby did was to crawl under the sofa in the +sitting-room and lay her small fingers against the radiator or +register, or whatever it is called, through which the heat came. She +withdrew them with a bitter outcry, and on the tip of each was a +blister as big as the tip itself. We had no glorious out-door +playground in West Newton; it was a matter of back yards and sullen +streets. The snow kept piling up, week after week; but there was no +opportunity to put it to its proper use of coasting. The only +redeeming feature of the physical situation that I recall is the +momentous fact of a first pair of red-topped boots. They were very +uncomfortable, and always either wet or stiff as iron from +over-dryness; but they made their wearer as happy as they have made +all other boys since boots began. A boy of six with high boots is +bigger than most men. + +But if the outward life was on the whole unprepossessing, inward +succulence was not lacking. We had the Manns, to begin with, and the +first real acquaintance between the two sets of children opened here. +Mary Peabody, my mother's elder sister, had married Horace Mann, whose +name is honorably identified with the development in this country of +common-school education. They had three children, of about our age, +all boys. A statue in bronze of Horace Mann stands in front of the +State-house in Boston, and the memory of the strenuous reformer well +merits the distinction. He took things seriously and rather grimly, +and was always emphatically in earnest. He was a friend of George +Combe, the phrenologist, after whom his second boy was named; and he +was himself so ardent a believer in the new science that when his +younger son, Benjamin, was submitted to him for criticism at a very +early age he declared, after a strict phrenological examination, that +he was not worth bringing up. But children's heads sometimes undergo +strange transformations as they grow up, and Benjamin lived to refute +abundantly his father's too hasty conclusion in his case. He became +eminent as an entomologist; George followed the example of his father +on educational lines. Horace, who died comparatively early, was an +enthusiastic naturalist, who received the unstinted praise and +confidence of the great Agassiz. My uncle Horace, as I remember him, +was a very tall man, of somewhat meagre build, a chronic sufferer from +headaches and dyspepsia. His hair was sandy, straight, rather long, +and very thick; it hung down uncompromisingly round his head. His face +was a long square, with a mouth and chin large and immitigably firm. +His eyes were reinforced by a glistening pair of gold-bowed +spectacles. He always wore a long-skirted black coat. His aspect was a +little intimidating to small people; but there were lovely qualities +in his nature, his character was touchingly noble and generous, and +the world knows the worth of his intellect. He was anxious, exacting, +and dogmatic, and was not always able to concede that persons who +differed from him in opinion could be morally normal. This was +especially noticeable when the topic of abolition happened to come up +for discussion; Horace Mann was ready to out-Garrison Garrison; he +thought Uncle Tom's Cabin a somewhat milk-and-water tract. He was +convinced that Tophet was the future home of all slave-holders, and +really too good for them, and he practically worshipped the negro. Had +he occupied a seat in Congress at that juncture, it is likely that the +civil war might have been started a decade sooner than it was. My +father and mother were much more moderate in their view of the +situation, and my mother used to say that if slavery was really so +evil and demoralizing a thing as the abolitionists asserted, it was +singular that they should canonize all the subjects of the +institution. But, as a rule, all controversy with the indignant zeal +of our relative was avoided; in his eyes any approach to a +philosophical attitude on the burning question was a crime. Nor were +his convictions less pronounced on the subject of total abstinence +from liquor and tobacco. Now, my father smoked an occasional cigar, +and it once came about that he was led to mention the fact in Horace +Mann's hearing. The reformer's bristles were set in a moment. "Do I +understand you to say, Mr. Hawthorne, that you actually use tobacco?" +"Yes, I smoke a cigar once in a while," replied my father, +comfortably. Horace Mann could not keep his seat; he started up and +paced the room menacingly. He had a high admiration for my father's +genius, and a deep affection for him as a man, and this infidelity to +the true faith seemed to him the more appalling. But he would be true +to his colors at all costs, and after a few moments he planted +himself, tall and tragic, before his interlocutor, and spoke, in a +husky voice, to this effect: "Then, Mr. Hawthorne, it is my duty to +tell you that I no longer have the same respect for you that I have +had." Then he turned and strode from the room, leaving the +excommunicated one to his reflections. Faithful are the wounds of a +friend, and my father was as much touched as he was amused by this +example of my uncle's candor. Of course, there was a great vacuum in +the place where my uncle's sense of humor might have been; but there +are a time and place for such men as he, and more than once the men +without sense of humor have moved the world. + +In addition to the Manns, there were visitors--the succession of whom, +indeed, was henceforth to continue till the end of my father's earthly +pilgrimage. Among the earliest to arrive was Grace Greenwood, wading +energetically to our door through the December snow. She was one of +the first, if not the first, of the tribe of women correspondents; she +had lately returned, I think, from England, and the volume of her +letters from that strange country was in everybody's hands. She was +then a young woman, large and handsome, with dark hair and complexion, +and large, expressive eyes, harmonious, aquiline features, and a +picturesque appearance. She wore her hair in abundant curls; she +exhaled an atmosphere of romance, of graceful and ardent emotions, and +of almost overpowering sentiment. In fact, she had a genuine gift for +expression and description, and she made an impression in contemporary +letters. We might smile now--and, in truth, we sometimes did +then--over some of her pages; but much of her work would still be +called good, if resuscitated from the dusty book-shelves of the past. +I remember one passage in her English Letters which was often quoted +in our family circle as a typical illustration of the intensity of the +period: "The first tears," wrote Grace, "that I had shed since leaving +my dear native land fell fast into the red heart of an English rose!" +Nothing could be better than that; but the volume was full of similar +felicities. You were swimming in radiant tides of enthusiastic +appreciation, quotations from the poets and poetical rhapsodies; +incidents of travel, humorous, pathetic, and graphic; swirling eddies +of word-painting, of moral and ethical and historical reflection; +withal, an immense, amiable, innocent, sprawling temperament. And as +was her book, so was Grace herself; indeed, if any one could outdo the +book in personal conversation, Grace was that happy individual. What +she accomplished when she embarked, full-sailed, upon the topic of The +Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables may be pictured to +themselves by persons endowed with the rudiments of imagination; I +must not attempt to adorn this sober page with an attempted +reproduction of the scene. Mortal language reeled and cracked under +the strain of giving form to her admiration; but it was so honest and +well meant that it could not but give pleasure even in the midst of +bewilderment. My father bowed his head with a painful smile; but I +dare say it did him good when the ordeal was over. + +At this time the reverberations of the European revolutionary year, +1848, were still breaking upon our shores. President Polk had given +mortal offence to Austria by sending over a special commissioner to +determine whether the seceding state of Hungary might be recognized as +a belligerent. In 1850 the Austrian representative, Baron Huelsmann, +had entered upon a correspondence with our own Daniel Webster. The +baron remonstrated, and Daniel mounted upon the national bird and +soared in the patriotic empyrean. The eloquence of the Secretary of +State perhaps aroused unwarranted expectations in the breasts of the +struggling revolutionists, and the Hungarian man of eloquence set out +for the United States to take the occasion by the forelock. Not since +the visit of Lafayette had any foreigner been received here with such +testimonials of public enthusiasm, or listened to by such applausive +audiences: certainly none had ever been sent home again with less wool +to show for so much cry. In 1851, the name of Kossuth was the most +popular in the country, and when it was learned that he had accepted +an invitation to speak in our little West Newton, we felt as if we +were almost embarked upon a campaign--upon an altruistic campaign of +emancipation against the Hapsburg oppressor. The excitement was not +confined to persons of mature age and understanding; it raged among +the smaller fry, and every boy was a champion of Kossuth. The train +conveying the hero from New York to Boston (whence he was to return to +West Newton after the reception there) was timed to pass through our +midst at three o 'clock in the afternoon, and our entire population +was at the track-side to see it go by. After one or two false alarms +it came in sight round the curve, the smokestack of the engine swathed +in voluminous folds of Old Glory. The smoke-stacks of those days were +not like our scientific present-day ones; they were huge, inverted +cones, affording ample surface for decoration. The train did not stop +at our station; but Kossuth no doubt looked out of the window as he +flew past and bowed his acknowledgments of our cheers. He was to +return to us the next day, and, meanwhile, the town-hall, or the +church, or whatever building it was that was to be the scene of his +West Newton triumph was put in order for his reception. The person who +writes these words, whose ears had eagerly devoured the story of the +Hungarian revolt, wished to give the august visitor some personal +assurance of his distinguished consideration, and it was finally +agreed by his indulgent parents that he should print upon a card the +legend, "GOD BLESS YOU, KOSSUTH," and be afforded an opportunity +personally to present it to the guest of the nation. Many cards had +been used and cast aside before the scribe, his fingers tremulous with +emotion, had produced something which the Hungarian might be +reasonably expected to find legible. Then, supported by his father and +mother, and with his uncles, aunts, and cousins doubtless not far off, +he proceeded proudly but falteringly to the scene of the presentation. +He dimly recalls a large interior space, profusely decorated with +stars and stripes, and also the colors of Hungary. At the head of the +room was a great placard with "WELCOME, KOSSUTH" inscribed upon it. +There was a great throng and press of men and women, a subdued, +omnipresent roar of talk, and a setting of the tide towards the place +where the patriot stood to receive our personal greetings. The scribe +whom I have mentioned, being as yet brief of stature, was unable to +see anything except coat-tails and petticoats, until of a sudden there +was a breaking away of these obstacles and he found himself in close +proximity to a gentleman of medium height, strongly built, with a mop +of dark hair framing a handsome, pale, smiling face, the lower parts +of which were concealed by a thick brown beard. It was Kossuth, and +there was that in his countenance and expression which satisfied all +the dreams of his admirer. He was chatting and shaking hands with the +elder persons; and in a minute we were moving on again, and the +printed card, for which the whole function had been created, had not +been presented. At the last moment, in an agony of apprehension, the +boy pulled at his mother's skirt and whispered piteously, "But my +card!" She heard and remembered; but need was for haste; we had +already passed the vantage-point. She snatched it from the tightly +gripping fingers of the bearer, handed it to Kossuth, and at the same +moment, with a gesture, directed his attention to her small companion. +The Hungarian read the inscription at a glance, looked me in the eyes +with a quick smile of comprehension, and, stepping towards me, laid +his hand upon my head. It was a great moment for me; but as I went +away I suddenly dissolved in tears, whether from the reaction of +emotion, or because I had not myself succeeded in delivering my gift, +I cannot now determine. But Kossuth thereby became, and for years he +continued to be, the most superb figure in my political horizon. + +All this while The Blithedale Romance was being written. Inasmuch as +it was finished on the last day of April, 1852, it could not have +occupied the writer more than five months in the composition. Winter +was his best time for literary work, and there was winter enough that +year in West Newton. In the middle of April came the heaviest +snowstorm of the season. Brook Farm (modified in certain respects to +suit the conditions) was the scene of the story, and Brook Farm was +within a fair walk of West Newton. I visited the place some thirty +years later, and found the general topographical features +substantially as described in the book. In 1852 it was ten years since +Hawthorne had lived there, and though he might have renewed his +acquaintance with it while the writing was going on, there is no +record of his having done so; and considering the unfavorable weather, +and the fact that the imaginative atmosphere which writers seek is +enhanced by distance in time, just as the physical effect of a +landscape is improved by distance of space, makes it improbable that +he availed himself of the opportunity. His note-books contain but few +comments upon the routine of life of the community; his letters to his +wife (then Sophia Peabody) are somewhat fuller; one can trace several +of these passages, artistically metamorphosed, in the romance. The +episode of the masquerade picnic is based on fact, and the scene of +the recovery of Zenobia's body from the river is a tolerably close +reproduction of an event in Concord, in which, several years before, +Hawthorne had been an actor. + +The portrayal in the story of city life from the back windows of the +hotel, is derived from notes made just before we went to Lenox; +there are the enigmatic drawing-room windows, the kitchen, the +stable, the spectral cat, and the emblematic dove; the rain-storm; the +glimpse of the woman sewing in one of the windows. There is also a +passage containing a sketch of the personage who served as the +groundwork for Old Moody. "An elderly ragamuffin, in a dingy and +battered hat, an old surtout, and a more than shabby general aspect; a +thin face and a red nose, a patch over one eye, and the other half +drowned in moisture. He leans in a slightly stooping posture on a +stick, forlorn and silent, addressing nobody but fixing his one moist +eye on you with a certain intentness. He is a man who has been in +decent circumstances at some former period of his life, but, falling +into decay, he now haunts about the place, as a ghost haunts the spot +where he was murdered. The word ragamuffin," he adds, with +characteristic determination to be exact, "does not accurately express +the man, because there is a sort of shadow or delusion of +respectability about him, and a sobriety, too, and a kind of dignity +in his groggy and red-nosed destitution." Out of this subtle +correction of his own description arose the conception of making Old +Moody the later state of the once wealthy and magnificent Fauntleroy. +But one of the most striking and imaginative touches in the passage, +likening the old waif to a ghost haunting the spot (Parker's +liquor-bar) where he was murdered, is omitted in the book, because, +striking though it was, it was a little too strong to be in keeping +with the rest of the fictitious portrait. How many writers, having hit +upon such a simile, would have had conscience and self-denial enough, +not to mention fine enough artistic sense, to delete it! + +The craftsman's workmanship may occasionally be traced in this way; +but, as a rule, it is difficult to catch a glimpse of him in his +creative moments. If he made rough draughts of his stories, he must +have destroyed them after the stories themselves were completed; for +none such, in the case of his finished products, was left. I have seen +the manuscripts of all his tales except The Scarlet Letter, which was +destroyed by James T. Fields's printers--Fields having at that time no +notion of the fame the romance was to achieve, or of the value that +would attach to every scrap of Hawthorne's writing. All the extant +manuscripts are singularly free from erasures and interlineations; +page after page is clear as a page of print. He would seem to have +taught himself so thoroughly how to write that, by the time the series +of his longer romances began, he was able to say what he wished to say +at a first attempt. He had the habit, undoubtedly, of planning out the +work of each day on the day previous, generally while walking in +solitude either out-of-doors or, if that were impracticable, up and +down the floor of his study. It was this habit which created the +pathway along the summit of the ridge of the hill at Wayside, in +Concord; it was a deeply trodden path, in the hard, root-inwoven soil, +hardly nine inches wide and about two hundred and fifty yards in +length. The monotonous movement of walking seemed to put his mind in +the receptive state favorable for hearing the voices of imagination. +The external faculties were quiescent, the veil of matter was lifted, +and he was able to peruse the vision beyond. + +[MAGE: JAMES T. FIELDS] + +But there is an important exception to this rule to be noted in the +matter of his fictitious narratives which were posthumously published. +These, as I have elsewhere said, are all concerned with a single +theme--the never-dying man. There are two complete versions of +Septimius, of about equal length, and many passages in the two are +identical. There is a short sketch on somewhat different lines, called +(by the editor) The Bloody Footstep; and there is still another, and a +much more elaborate attempt to embody the idea in the volume which I +have entitled Doctor Grimshawe's Secret. All these, in short, are +studies of one subject, and they were all unsatisfactory to the +author. The true vein of which he had been in search was finally +discovered in The Dolliver Romance, but the author's death prevented +its completion. + +In this series of posthumous manuscripts there is a unique opportunity +for making a study of the esoteric qualities of my father's style and +methods, and on a future occasion I hope to present the result of my +investigations in this direction. There is, furthermore, in connection +with them, a mass of material of a yet more interesting and interior +character. While writing the Grimshawe, he was deeply perplexed by +certain details of the plot; the meaning of the Pensioner, and his +proper function in the story, was one of these stumbling-blocks. But +the prosperity of the tale depended directly upon the solution of this +problem. Constantly, therefore, in the midst of the composition, he +would break off and enter upon a wrestling-match with the difficulty. +These wrestling-matches are of an absorbing significance; they reveal +to us the very inmost movements of the author's mind. He tries, and +tries again, to get at the idea that continues to elude him; he forms +innumerable hypotheses; he sets forth on the widest excursions; he +gets out of patience with himself and with his Pensioner, and often +damns the latter in good set terms; but he will not give up the +struggle; his resolve to conquer is adamantine, and the conflict is +always renewed. And there it all stands in black and white; one of +the most instructive chapters in literary criticism in the world--the +battle of a great writer with himself. The final issue, after all, +was hardly decisive, for although a tolerable modus vivendi was +reached and a truce declared, it is evident that Hawthorne regarded +the entire scheme of the story as a mistake, and it is concluded in a +perfunctory and indifferent manner. + +But it may be doubted whether anything of this sort ever took place in +the making of any of the other stories. These depend but in a +subordinate degree upon what is called technically plot interest. The +author's method was to take a natural, even a familiar incident, and +to transmute it into immortal gold by simply elucidating its inner +spiritual significance. The Scarlet Letter is a mere plain story of +love and jealousy; there is no serious attempt to hide the identity of +Roger Chillingworth or the guilt of the minister. The only surprise in +The House of the Seven Gables consists in the revelation of the fact +that Maule reappears after several generations in the person of his +modern descendant. The structure of The Blithedale Romance appears +more complicated; but that is mainly because, in a masterly manner, +the author keeps the structural lines out of sight and concentrates +attention upon the interplay of character. The scaffolding upon which +are hung the splendid draperies of The Marble Faun is, again, of the +simplest formation, though the nature of the materials is unfamiliar. + +This is a digression; the present volume, as I have already stated, is +not designed to include--except incidentally-anything in the way of +literary criticism. + +Blithedale having been finished and published, the question of where +to settle down permanently once more came up for an answer. Of course, +our sojourn at Mr. Mann's house had been a temporary expedient only; +and for that matter, the Manns, following the example of most +Americans before and since, had rented the place merely as a +stepping-stone to something else. My father's eyes again turned with +longing towards the sea-shore; but the fitting nook for him there +still failed to offer itself. People are naturally disposed to return +to places in which they have formerly lived, and Concord could not but +suggest itself to one who had passed some of the happiest years of his +life among its serene pastures and piney forests. This suggestion, +moreover, was supplemented by the urgent invitations of his old +friends there, and Mr. Emerson, who was a practical man as well as a +philosopher, substantiated his arguments by throwing into the scale a +concrete dwelling. It was an edifice which not even the most +imaginative and optimistic of house-agents would have found it easy to +picture as a sumptuous country-seat; it was just four wooden walls and +a roof, and they had been standing for a hundred years at least. The +occupants of this house had seen the British march past from Boston on +the l9th of April, 1775, and a few hours later they had seen them +return along the same dusty highway at a greatly accelerated pace and +under annoying circumstances. There was a legend that a man had once +lived there who had announced that death was not an indispensable +detail of life, and that he for his part intended never to die; but +after many years he had grown weary of the monotony of his success, or +had realized that it would take too long a time to prove himself in +the right, and rather than see the thing through he allowed himself to +depart. The old structure, in its original state, consisted of a big, +brick chimney surrounded by four rooms and an attic, with a kitchen +tacked on at the rear. It stood almost flush with the side-path along +the highway; behind it rose a steep hill-side to a height of about one +hundred feet; in front, on the other side of the road, stretched broad +meadows with a brook flowing through the midst of them. Such +conditions would not seem altogether to favor a man wedded to +seclusion. + +But the thing was not at this juncture quite so bad as it had been. +Mr. Alcott, whose unselfish devotion to the welfare of the human race +made it incumbent upon his friends to supply him with the means of +earthly subsistence, had been recently domiciled in the house by Mr. +Emerson (how the latter came into possession of it I have forgotten, +if ever I knew), and he had at once proceeded to wreak upon it his +unique architectural talent. At any rate, either he himself or +somebody in his behalf had set up a small gable in the midst of the +front, thrown out a double bow-window, and added a room on the west +side. This interrupted the deadly, four-square uniformity, and +suggested further improvements. Mr. Alcott certainly built the +summer-house on the hill-side, and terraced the hill, which was also +planted with apple-trees. Another summer-house arose in the meadow +opposite, which went with the property, and rustic fences separated +the domain from the road. The dwelling was now fully as commodious as +the red house at Lenox, though it had no Monument Mountain and +Stockbridge Bowl to look out upon. + +[IMAGE: THE WAYSIDE (Showing Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife)] + +The estate, comprising, I think, forty-two acres, all told, including +upward of twenty acres of second-growth woodland above the hill, +perfectly useless except for kindling-wood and for the sea-music which +the pine-trees made, was offered to my father at a reasonable enough +figure, to be his own and his heirs' forever. He came over and looked +at the place, thought "The Wayside" would be a good name for it, and +was perhaps helped to decide upon taking it by the felicity of this +appellation. It was close upon the highway, undeniably; but then the +highway was so little travelled that it might almost as well not have +been there. One might, also, plant a high hedge in place of the fence +and make shift to hide behind it. One could enlarge the house as need +demanded; an affluent vegetable garden could be laid out in the +meadow, and fruit and ornamental trees could be added to the slopes of +the hill-side. The village was removed to a distance of a trifle over +a mile, so that the roar of its traffic would not invade this retreat; +and Mr. Emerson sat radiating peace and wisdom between the village and +"The Wayside"; while Mr. Alcott shone with ancillary lustre only a +stone's-throw away. Thoreau and Ellery Channing were tramping about +in the neighborhood, and Judge Hoar and his beautiful sister dispensed +sweetness and light in the village itself. Walden Pond, still secluded +as when only the Indians had seen the sky and the trees reflected in +it, was within a two-mile walk, and the silent Musketaquid stole on +its level way beyond the hill on the other side. Surely, a man might +travel far and not find a spot better suited for work and meditation +and discreet society than Concord was. + +But, of course, the necessity of settling down somewhere was a main +consideration. Concord, was inviting in itself, but it was also +recommended by the argument of exclusion; no other place so desirable +and at the same time so easy of attainment happened to present itself. +It did not lie within sound and sight of the ocean; but that was the +worst that could be urged against it. A man must choose, and Concord +was, finally, Hawthorne's choice. + +At this epoch he had not contemplated, save in day-dreams, the +possibility of visiting the Old World. His friend, Franklin Pierce, +had just become President-elect, but that fact had not suggested to +his mind the change in his own fortunes which it was destined to bring +about. He was too modest a critic of his own abilities to think that +his work would ever bring him money enough for foreign travel, and, +therefore, in accepting Concord as his home, he believed that he was +fixing the boundaries of his future earthly experience. It was not his +ideal; no imaginative man can ever hope to find that; but as soon as +we have called a place our Home, it acquires a charm that has nothing +to do with material conditions. The best-known song in American poesy +has impressed that truth upon Americans--who are the most homeless +people in the world. + + + + +IV + + +A transfigured cattle-pen--Emerson the hub of Concord--His +incorrigible modesty--Grocery-store sages--To make common men feel +more like Emerson than he did--His personal appearance--His favorite +gesture--A glance like the reveille of a trumpet--The creaking +boots--"The muses are in the woods"--Emerson could not read +Hawthorne--Typical versus individual--Benefit from +child-prattle--Concord-grape Bull--Sounds of distant battle--Politics, +sociology, and grape-culture--The great white fence--Richard Henry +Stoddard--A country youth of genius--Whipple's Attic salt--An +unwritten romance--The consulship retires literature--Louisa's +tragedy--Hard hit--The spiritual sphere of good men--Nearer than in +the world--The return of the pilgrim. + +My father's first look at "The Wayside" had been while snow was still +on the ground, and he had reported to his wife that it resembled a +cattle-pen. + +But the family advent was effected in June, and although a heavy rain +had fallen while the domestic impedimenta were in transit, wetting the +mattresses and other exposed furniture, yet when the summer sun came +out things began to mend. My mother and Una came a day ahead of the +others, and with the help of carpenters and upholsterers, and a +neighboring Irishman and his wife for cleaning and moving purposes, +they soon got human order into the place of savage chaos. The new +carpet was down in the study, the walls had been already papered and +the wood-work grained, the pictures were hung in their places, and the +books placed on their shelves. By the time the father, the boy, the +baby, and the nurse drove up in the hot afternoon a home had been +created for their reception. + +Mr. Emerson was, and he always remained, the hub round which the wheel +of Concord's fortunes slowly and contentedly revolved. He was at this +time between forty-five and fifty years old, in the prime of his +beneficent powers. He had fulfilled the promise of his unique +youth--obeyed the voice at eve, obeyed at prime. The sweet austerity +of his nature had been mellowed by human sorrows--the loss of his +brothers and of his eldest son; he had the breadth and poise that are +given by knowledge of foreign lands, and friendships with the best men +in them; he had the unstained and indomitable independence of a man +who has always avowed his belief, and never failed to be true to each +occasion for truth; he had the tranquillity of faith and insight, and +he was alert with that immortal curiosity for noble knowledge the +fruit of which enriches his writings. Upon his modestly deprecating +brows was already set the wreath of a world-wide fame, and yet every +village farmer and store-keeper, and every child, found in his +conversation the wisdom and companionship suited to his needs, and was +made to feel that his own companionship was a valued gift. Emerson +becomes more extraordinary the further we get away from him in years; +illustrating the truth which Landor puts into the mouth of Barrow in +one of his Imaginary Conversations, that "No very great man ever +reached the standard of his greatness in the crowd of his +contemporaries: this hath always been reserved for the secondary." The +wealth contained in his essays has only begun to be put in general +circulation, and the harvest of his poetry is still more remote; while +the sincere humility of the man himself, who was the best incarnate +example of many of his ideals, still puzzles those critics who believe +every one must needs be inferior to his professions. + +"Though I am fond of writing and of public speaking," said Emerson, "I +am a very poor talker, and for the most part prefer silence"; and he +went on to compare himself in this respect with Alcott, "the prince of +conversers." Alcott was undoubtedly the prince of fluency, and Emerson +rarely, in private dialogue, ventured to string together many +consecutive sentences; but the things he did say, on small occasion or +great, always hit the gold. On being appealed to, or when his turn +came, he would hang a moment in the wind, and then pay off before the +breeze of thought with an accuracy and force that gave delight with +enlightenment. The form was often epigrammatic, but the air with which +it was said beautifully disclaimed any epigrammatic consciousness or +intention. It was, rather, "I am little qualified to speak adequately, +but this, at least, does seem to me to be true." In the end, therefore, +as the interlocutor thought it all over, he was perhaps surprised to +discover that, little in quantity as Emerson may have said during the +talk, he had yet said more than any one else in substance. But it may +be admitted that he was even better in listening than in speech; his +look, averted but attentive, with a smile which seemed to postpone +full development to the moment when his companion should have uttered +the expected apple of gold in the picture of silver, was subtly +stimulating to the latter's intellect, and prompted him to outdo +himself. His questions were often revelations, discovering truth which +the other only then perceived, and thus beguiling him into admiration +of his own supposed intelligence. In this, as in other things, he +acted upon the precept that it is more blessed to give than to receive +gratification; he never seemed to need any other happiness than that +of imparting it. And so selflessly and insensibly were the riches of +his mind and nature communicated to the community that innocent little +Concord could not quite help believing that its wealth and renown were +somehow a creation of its own. The loafers in Walcott & Holden's +grocery store were, in their own estimation, of heroic stature, +because of the unegoistic citizen who dwelt over yonder among the +pines. Emerson was a great man, no doubt; but then he was no more than +their own confessed equal, or inferior! + +This will and power to secularize himself is perhaps Emerson's unique +attribute. It is comparatively easy to stand on mountain-tops and to +ride Pegasus; but how many of those competent to such feats could at +the same time sit cheek by jowl with hucksters and teamsters without a +trace of condescension, and while rubbing shoulders with the rabble of +the street in town-meeting, speak without arrogance the illuminating +and deciding word? This, at last, is the true democracy that levels up +instead of down. An Emerson who can make common men feel more like +Emerson than he himself did is the kind of man we need to bring +America up to her ideals. + +Emerson was ungainly in build, with narrow, sloping shoulders, large +feet and hands, and a projecting carriage of the head, which enhanced +the eagle-like expression of his glance and features. His head was +small; it was covered (in 1852) with light brown hair, fine and +straight; he was cleanshaven save for a short whisker; the peaked ends +of an uncomfortable collar appeared above the folds of a high, black +silk stock. His long-skirted black coat was commonly buttoned up; he +wore, on different occasions, a soft felt hat or a high silk one, the +latter, from use, having become in a manner humanized. On the street +he kept his face up as he walked along, and perceived the approach of +an acquaintance afar off, and the wise, slow smile gleamed about his +mouth as he drew near. "How do you do?" was sometimes his greeting; +but more often, "Good-bye!" or "Good-night!"--an original and more +sensible greeting. Though ungainly in formation, he was not ungraceful +in bearing and action; there was a fitness and harmony in his +manifestations even on the physical plan. On the lecture platform he +stood erect and unadorned, his hands hanging folded in front, save +when he changed the leaf of his manuscript, or emphasized his words +with a gesture: his customary one, simple but effective, was to clinch +his right fist, knuckles upward, the arm bent at the elbow, then a +downward blow of the forearm, full of power bridled. It was +accompanied by such a glance of the eyes as no one ever saw except +from Emerson: a glance like the reveille of a trumpet. Yet his eyes +were not noticeably large, and their color was greenish-gray; but they +were well set and outlined in his head, and, more than is the case +with most men, they were the windows of his soul. Wendell Phillips had +an eloquent and intrepid eye, but it possessed nothing approaching the +eloquence and spiritual influence of Emerson's. In every Lyceum course +in Concord, Emerson lectured once or twice, and the hall was always +filled. One night he had the misfortune to wear a pair of abominably +creaking boots; every slightest change of posture would be followed by +an outcry from the sole-leather, and the audience soon became +nervously preoccupied in expecting them. The sublimest thoughts were +mingled with these base material accompaniments. But there was +nothing to be done, unless the lecturer would finish his lecture in +his stocking-feet, and we were fain to derive a fortuitous inspiration +from observing the unfaltering meekness with which our philosopher +accepted the predicament. I have forgotten the subject of the lecture +on that occasion, but the voice of the boots will always sound in my +memory. + +In his own house Emerson shone with essential hospitality, and yet he +wonderfully effaced himself; any one but he might hold the centre of +the stage. You felt him everywhere, but if you would see him, you +must search the wings. He sat in his chair, bending forward, one leg +crossed over the other, his elbows often supported on his knee; his +legs were rather long and slender, and he had a way, after crossing +his leg, of hitching the instep of that foot under the calf of the +other leg, so that he seemed braided up. He seldom stood in a room, or +paced to and fro, as my father was fond of doing. But the two men were +almost equally addicted to outdoor walking, and both preferred to walk +alone. Emerson formed the habit of betaking himself to Walden woods, +which extended to within a mile or so of his door; thence would he +return with an exalted look, saying, "The muses are in the woods +to-day"; and no one who has read his Woodnotes can doubt that he found +them there. Occasionally Channing, Thoreau, or my father would be his +companion; Alcott preferred to busy himself about his rustic fences +and summer-houses, or to sit the centre of a circle and converse, as +he called it; meaning to soliloquize, looking round from face to face +with unalterable faith and complacency. + +My father read Emerson with enjoyment; though more and more, as he +advanced in life, he was disposed to question the expediency of +stating truth in a disembodied form; he preferred it incarnate, as it +appears in life and in story. But he could not talk to Emerson; his +pleasure in his society did not express itself in that form. Emerson, +on the other hand, assiduously cultivated my father's company, and, +contrary to his general habit, talked to him continuously; but he +could not read his romances; he admitted that he had never been able +to finish one of them. He loved to observe him; to watch his silence, +which was full of a kind of speech which he was able to appreciate; +"Hawthorne rides well his horse of the night!" My father was Gothic; +Emerson was Roman and Greek. But each was profoundly original and +independent. My father was the shyer and more solitary of the two, and +yet persons in need of human sympathy were able to reach a more +interior region in him than they could in Emerson. For the latter's +thought was concerned with types and classes, while the former had the +individual touch. He distrusted rules, but had faith in exceptions and +idiosyncrasies. Emerson was nobly and magnanimously public; my father, +exquisitely and inevitably private; together they met the needs of +nearly all that is worthy in human nature. + +Emerson rose upon us frequently during our early struggles with our +new abode, like a milder sun; the children of the two families became +acquainted, the surviving son, Edward, two years my elder, falling to +my share. But Emerson himself also became my companion, with a +humanity which to-day fills me with grateful wonder. I remember once +being taken by him on a long walk through the sacred pine woods, and +on another occasion he laid aside the poem or the essay he was writing +to entertain Una in his study, whither she had gone alone and of her +own initiative to make him a call! It is easy to compliment a friend +upon his children, but how many of us will allow themselves to be +caught and utilized by them in this fashion? But Emerson's mind was so +catholic, so humble, and so deep that I doubt not he derived benefit +even from child-prattle. His wife rivalled him in hospitality, though +her frail health disabled her from entering into the physical part of +social functions with the same fortitude; in these first months we +were invited to a party where we were fellow-guests with all the other +children of Concord. There they were, their mothers with them, and +everything in sight that a child at a party could require. My new +friend Edward mounted me on his pony, and his father was at hand to +catch me when I fell off. Such things sound incredible, but they are +true. A great man is great at all times, and all over. + +Thoreau, Channing, and Alcott were also visible to us at this time, +but of none of them do I find any trace in my memory; though I know, +as a matter of fact, that Channing and my father once permitted me to +accompany them on a walk round the country roads, which inadvertently +prolonged itself to ten miles, and I knew what it was to feel +foot-weary. But another neighbor of ours, hardly less known to fame, +though in a widely different line of usefulness, makes a very distinct +picture in my mind; this was Ephraim Wales Bull, the inventor of the +Concord grape. He was as eccentric as his name; but he was a genuine +and substantive man, and my father took a great liking to him, which +was reciprocated. He was short and powerful, with long arms, and a big +head covered with bushy hair and a jungle beard, from which looked out +a pair of eyes singularly brilliant and penetrating. He had brains to +think with, as well as strong and skilful hands to work with; he +personally did three-fourths of the labor on his vineyard, and every +grape-vine had his separate care. He was married and had three +children, amiable but less interesting than himself. He had, also, a +tremendous temper, evidenced by his heavy and high-arched eyebrows, +and once in a while he let slip upon his helpers in the vineyard this +formidable wrath, which could easily be heard in our peaceful +precincts, like sounds of distant battle. He often came over and sat +with my father in the summer-house on the hill, and there talked about +politics, sociology (though under some other name, probably), morals, +and human nature, with an occasional lecture on grape-culture. He +permitted my sister and me to climb the fence and eat all the grapes +we could hold; it seems to me he could hardly have realized our +capacity. During our second summer he built a most elaborate fence +along the road-front of his estate; it must have been three hundred +yards long and it was as high as a man could reach; the palings, +instead of being upright, were criss-crossed over one another, leaving +small diamond-shaped interstices. The whole was painted brilliant +white, to match the liliputian cottage in which the Bull family +contrived (I know not how) to ensconce itself. When the fence was +built, Mr. Bull would every day come forth and pace slowly up and down +the road, contemplating it with the pride of a parent; indeed, it was +no puny achievement, and when I revisited Concord, thirty years later, +the great white fence was still there, with a few gaps in it, but +still effective. But the builder, and the grapes--where were they? +Where are Cheops, and the hanging gardens of Babylon? + +Among many visitors came Richard Henry Stoddard, already a poet, but +anxious to supplement the income from his verses by a regular stipend +from the big pocket of Uncle Sam. His first coming was in summer, and +he and my father went up on the hill and sat in the summer-house +there, looking out upon the wide prospect of green meadows and distant +woods, but probably seeing nothing of them, their attention being +withdrawn to scenes yet fairer in the land of imagination and memory. +Stoddard was then, as always, a handsome man, strong and stanch, +black-haired and black-bearded, with strong eyes that could look both +fierce and tender. He was masculine, sensitive, frank, and humorous; +his chuckle had infinite merriment in it; but, as his mood shifted, +there might be tears in his eyes the next moment. He was at that time +little more than five-and-twenty years old, and he looked hardly that; +he was a New England country youth of genius. Nature had kindled a +fire in him which has never gone out. Like my father, he was +affiliated with the sea, and had its freshness and daring, though +combined with great modesty, and he felt honored by the affection with +which he inspired the author of The Scarlet Letter. It was not until +his second visit, in the winter, that the subject of a custom-house +appointment for him came up; for my father, being known as a close +friend of the President, whose biography he had written for the +campaign, became the object of pilgrimages other than literary ones. +He received sound advice, and introductions, which aided him in +getting the appointment, and he held it for nearly twenty years--more +to the benefit of the custom-house than of poetry, no doubt, though he +never let poetry escape him, and he is to-day a mine of knowledge and +wisdom on literary subjects. There is an immense human ardor, power, +and pathos in Stoddard; better than any other American poet does he +realize the conception of his great English brother--the love of love, +the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn. The world has proved impotent to +corrupt his heroic simplicity; he loved fame much, but truth more. He +is a boy in his heart still, and he has sung songs which touch +whatever is sweetest, tenderest, and manliest in the soul of man. + +[IMAGE: EDWIN P. WHIFFLE] + +E. P. Whipple, essentially a man of letters, and famous in his day as +a critic of literature, appeared often in "The Wayside." His verdict +on a book carried weight; it was an era when literary criticism was +regarded seriously, and volumes devoted to critical studies had +something more than, a perfunctory vogue. He had written penetrating +and cordial things about my father's books, and foretold the high +place which he would ultimately occupy in our Pantheon. He was rich in +the kind of Attic salt which, was characteristic of Boston in the +middle century; the product of an almost excessive culture erected on +sound, native brains. He had abounding wit; not only wit of the sort +that begets mirth, but that larger and graver wit which Macaulay +notices in Bacon's writings--a pure, irradiating, intellectual light. +It had often the effect of an actual physical illumination cast upon +the topic. He was magnificent as a dinner-table companion. He was +rather a short, thick-shouldered man, with a big head on a short neck, +a broad, projecting forehead, prominent eyes, defended by shiny +spectacles, and bushy whiskers. He is not remembered now, probably +because he never produced any organic work commensurate with his huge +talent. Analyses of the work of others, however just, useful, and +creative, do not endure unless they are associated with writing of the +independent sort. Whipple, with all his ability and insight, never +entered the imaginative field on his own account, and in the press of +wits he falls behind and is forgotten. + +My father had come to Concord with the idea of a new romance in his +mind; he designed it to be of a character more cheerful than the +foregoing ones. It was never written, and but the slightest traces of +what it might have been are extant. Herman Melville had spent a day +with us at Concord, and he had suggested a story to Hawthorne; but the +latter, after turning it over in his mind, came to the conclusion that +Melville could treat the subject better than he could; but Melville +finally relinquished it also. It seems likely, however, that this +projected tale was not the one which Hawthorne had originally been +meditating. At all events, it was postponed in favor of a new book of +wonder-stories from Greek mythology--the first one having had. +immediate popularity, and by the time this was finished, the occasion +had arrived which led to the writing of Pierce's biography. This, in +turn, was followed by the offer by the President to his friend of the +Liverpool consulate, then the most lucrative appointment in the gift +of the administration; and Hawthorne's acceptance of it caused all +literary projects to be indefinitely abandoned. + +But even had there been time for the writing of another book, the +death of Hawthorne's sister Louisa would doubtless have unfitted him +for a while from undertaking it. This was the most painful episode +connected with his life; Louisa was a passenger on a Hudson River +steamboat which was burned. She was a gentle, rather fragile woman, +with a playful humor and a lovable nature; she had not the +intellectual force either of her brother or of her sister Elizabeth; +but her social inclinations were stronger than theirs. She was a +delightful person to have in the house, and her nephew and niece were +ardently in love with her. She was on her way to "The Wayside" when +the calamity occurred, and we were actually expecting her on the day +she perished. Standing on the blazing deck, with the panic and the +death-scenes around her, the gentle woman had to make the terrible +choice between the river and the fire. She was alone; there was none +to advise or help her or be her companion in inevitable death. Her +thoughts must have gone to her brother, with his strength and courage, +his skill as a swimmer; but he was far away, unconscious of her +desperate extremity. She had to choose, and the river was her choice. +With that tragic conception of the drowning of Zenobia fresh in his +mind, the realization of his sister's fate must have gained additional +poignancy in my father's imagination. He was hard hit, and the traces +of the blow were manifest on him. After about a month, he made a +journey to the Isles of Shoals with Franklin Pierce, and in that +breezy outpost of the land he spent some weeks, much to his advantage. +This was in the autumn of 1852, and I recall well enough the gap in +things which his long absence made for me, and my perfect joy when the +whistle of the train at the distant railway station signalled his +return. Twenty minutes had to elapse before the railroad carriage +could bring him to our door; they were long and they were brief, after +the manner of minutes in such circumstances. He came, and there was a +moment of indescribable glory while he leaped from the carriage and +faced the situation on the doorstep of his home. His countenance was +glowing with health and the happiness of home-coming. I thought him, +as I always did, the most beautiful of human beings, by which I do not +mean beautiful in feature, for of that I was not competent to hold an +opinion; but beautiful in the feelings which he aroused in me +beholding him. He was beautiful to be with, to hear, touch, and +experience. Such is the effect of the spiritual sphere of good men, +in whom nature and character are harmonious. My father got his +appointment from Washington in the following March, 1853. His wife had +but one solicitude in leaving America; her mother was aged and in +delicate health, and their parting might be forever in this world. But +a month before the appointment was confirmed, her mother quietly and +painlessly died. It was as if she had wished not to be separated from +her beloved daughter, and had entered into the spiritual state in the +expectation of being nearer to her there than she could be in the +world. My mother always affirmed that she was conscious of her +mother's presence with her on momentous occasions during the remainder +of her own life. + +June came; the farewells were said, we were railroaded to Boston, +embarked on the Cunard steamship Niagara, Captain Leitch, and steamed +out of Boston Harbor on a day of cloudlessness and calm. Incoming +vessels, drifting in the smoothness, saluted us with their flags, and +the idle seamen stared at us, leaning over their bulwarks. The last of +the low headlands grew dim and vanished in the golden haze of the +afternoon. "Go away, tiresome old land!" sang out my sister and +myself; but my father, standing beside us, gazing westward with a +serious look, bade us be silent. Two hundred and twenty years had +passed since our first ancestor had sought freedom on those +disappearing shores, and our father was the first of his descendants +to visit the Old Home whence he came. What was to be the outcome? But +the children only felt that the ocean was pleasant and strange, and +they longed to explore it. The future and the past did not concern +them. + + + + +V + + +A paddle-wheel ocean-liner--The hens, the cow, and the carpenter--W. +D. Ticknor--Our first Englishman--An aristocratic acrobat--Speech that +beggars eulogy--The boots of great travellers--Complimentary +cannon--The last infirmity of noble republican minds--The golden +promise: the spiritual fulfilment--Fatuous serenity--Past and +future--The coquetry of chalk cliffs--Two kinds of imagination--The +thirsty island--Gloomy English comforts--Systematic geniality--A +standing puzzle--The respirator--Scamps, fools, mendicants, and +desperadoes--The wrongs of sailor-men--"Is this myself?"--"Profoundly +akin"--Henry Bright--Charm of insular prejudice--No stooping to +compromise--The battle against dinner--"I'm glad you liked it!"--An +English-, Irish-, and Scotchman--An Englishman owns his country--A +contradiction in Englishmen--A hospitable gateway--Years of memorable +trifles. + +The steamship Niagara was, in 1853, a favorable specimen of nautical +architecture; the Cunard Company had then been in existence rather +less than a score of years, and had already established its reputation +for safety and convenience. But, with the exception of the red +smoke-stack with the black ring round the top, there was little +similarity between the boat that took us to England and the mammoths +that do that service for travellers now adays. The Niagara was about +two hundred and fifty feet long, and was propelled by paddle-wheels, +upon the summits of whose curving altitudes we were permitted to climb +in calm weather. The interior decorations were neat and pretty, but +had nothing of the palatial and aesthetic gorgeousness which educates +us in these later ages. The company of passengers was so small that a +single cow, housed in a pen on deck, sufficed for their needs in the +way of milk, and there were still left alive and pecking contentedly +about their coop a number of fowls, after we had eaten all we could of +their brethren at the ten dinners that were served during the voyage. +The crew, from the captain down, were all able seamen, friendly and +companionable, and not so numerous but that it was easy to make their +individual acquaintance. The most engaging friend of the small people +was the carpenter, who had his shop on deck, and from whom I acquired +that passion for the profession which every normal boy ought to have, +and from the practice of which I derived deep enjoyment and many +bloody thumbs and fingers for ten years afterwards. + +But we had companionship historically at least more edifying. William +D. Ticknor, the senior partner of my father's publishers, was the only +figure familiar at the outset. He was one of the most amiable of men, +with thick whiskers all round his face and spectacles shining over his +kindly eyes; a sturdy, thick-set personage, active in movement and +genial in conversation. It was James T. Fields who usually made the +trips to England; but on this occasion Fields got no farther than the +wharf, where the last object visible was his comely and smiling +countenance as he waved his adieux. Conspicuous among the group on the +after-deck, as we glided out of the smooth harbor of Boston, was an +urbane and dignified gentleman of perhaps sixty years of age, with a +clean-shaven mouth and chin, finely moulded, and with what Tennyson +would call an educated whisker, short and gray, defining the region in +front of and below his ears. He spoke deliberately, and in language +carefully and yet easily chosen, with intonations singularly distinct +and agreeable, giving its full value to every word. This was our first +native Englishman; no less a personage than Mr. Crampton, in fact, +the British Minister, who was on his way to Halifax. He had fine, +calm, quietly observant eyes, which were pleasantly employed in +contemplating the beauty of that summer seascape--an opalescent ocean, +and islands slumbering in the July haze. Near him stood a light-built, +tall, athletic individual, also obviously English, but thirty years +younger; full, also, of artistic appreciation; this was Field +Talfourd, who was an artist, and many things besides; a man proficient +in all forms of culture. His features were high and refined, and, +without being handsome, irresistibly attractive. He turned out to be +a delightful playmate for the children, and astonished them and the +rest of the company by surprising gymnastic feats in the rigging. The +speech of these two Britishers gave the untravelled American a new +appreciation of the beauty and significance of the English language. +Not all Englishmen speak good English, but when they do, they beggar +eulogy. + +[IMAGE: JAMES T. FIELDS, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, AND WILLIAM D. TICKNOR] + +George Silsbee was likewise of our party; he was an American of the +Brahman type, a child of Cambridge and Boston, a man of means, and an +indefatigable traveller. He had the delicate health and physique of +the American student of those days, when out-door life and games made +no part of our scholastic curricula. He may have been forty years old, +slight and frail, with a thin, clean-shaven face and pallid +complexion, but full of mind and sensibility. We do not heed +travellers now, and I am inclined to think they are less worth heeding +than they used to be. It is so easy to see the world in these latter +days that few persons see it to any purpose even when they go through +the motions of doing so. But to hear George Bradford or Silsbee talk +of England, France, and Italy, in the fifties, was a liberal +education, and I used sometimes to stare fascinated at the boots of +these wayfarers, admiring them for the wondrous places in which they +had trodden. Silsbee travelled with his artistic and historic +consciousness all on board, and had so much to say that he never was +able to say it all. + +But to my father himself were accorded the honors of the captain's +table, and for him were fired the salutes of cannon which thundered us +out of Boston Harbor and into Halifax. These compliments, however, +were paid to him not as a man of letters, but as a political +representative of his country, and, let a man be as renowned as he +will on his personal account, he will still find it convenient, in +order to secure smooth and agreeable conditions on his way through the +world, to supplement that distinction with recommendations from the +State Department. Respect for rank is the last infirmity even of +noble republican minds, and it oils the wheels of the progress of +those who possess it. An American widow of my later acquaintance, a +lady of two marriageable daughters and small social pretensions in her +own country, toured Europe with success and distinction, getting all +the best accommodations and profoundest obeisances by the simple +device of placing the word "Lady" before her modest signature in the +hotel registers. She was a lady, of course, and had a right so to +style herself, and if snobbish persons chose to read into the word +more than it literally meant, that was not Mrs. Green's affair. + +American commerce still existed in 1853, and the Liverpool consulate +was supposed to have more money in it than any other office in the +gift of the administration. As a matter of fact, several of my +father's predecessors had retired from their tenure of office with +something handsome (pecuniarily speaking) to their credit; whether the +means by which it had been acquired were as handsome is another +question. Be that as it may, Congress, soon after my father's +accession, passed a law cutting down the profits about three-fourths, +and he was obliged to practise the strictest economy during his +residence abroad in order to come home with a few thousand dollars in +his pocket. Nevertheless, the dignity, in the official sense, of this +consular post was considerable, and it brought him, in combination +with his literary fame, a good deal more attention in England than he +well knew what to do with. But, in one way or another, he also made +friends there who remained to the end among the dearest of his life +and more than countervailed all the time and energy wasted on the +Philistines. + +The Atlantic, all the way across, with the exception of one brief +emotional disturbance between lunch and dinner-time, wore a smile of +fatuous serenity. The sun shone; the vast pond-surface oilily +undulated, or lay in absolute flatness, or at most defiled under our +eyes in endless squadrons of low-riding crests. My mother, whose last +experience of sea-ways had been the voyage to Cuba, in which the ship +was all but lost in a series of hurricanes, was captivated by this +soft behavior, and enjoyed the whole of it as much, almost, as her +husband, who expanded and drank in delight like a plant in the rain. +But, in truth, these must have been blessed hours for them both. +Behind them lay nearly eleven years of married life, spent in narrow +outward circumstances, lightened only towards the last by the promise +of some relaxation from strain, during which they had found their +happiness in each other, and in the wise and tender care of their +children, and in the converse of chosen friends. They had filled their +minds with knowledge concerning the beauties and interests of foreign +lands, with but a slender expectation of ever beholding them with +bodily sight, but none the less well prepared to understand and +appreciate them should the opportunity arrive. And now, suddenly, it +had arrived, and they were on the way to the regions of their dreams, +with the prospect of comparative affluence added. They had nearly +twelve years of earthly sojourn together before them, the afternoon +sunshine to be clouded a little near the close by the husband's +failing health, but glorified more and more by mutual love, and +enriched with memories of all that had before been unfulfilled +imaginings. This voyage eastward was the space of contemplation +between the two periods, and the balm of its tranquillity well +symbolized the peace of soul and mind with which they awaited what the +horizons were to disclose. + +The right way to approach England for the first time is not by the +west coast, but by the south, as Julius Caesar did, beckoned on by the +ghostly, pallid cliffs that seem to lift themselves like battlements +against the invader. It is historically open to question whether there +would have been any Roman occupation, or any Saxon or Norman one +either, for that matter, but for the coquetry of those chalk cliffs. +An adventurer, sighting the low and marshy shores of Lancashire, and +muddying his prows in the yellow waters of the Mersey, would be apt to +think that such a land were a good place to avoid. But the race of +adventurers has long since died out, and their place is occupied by +the wide-flying cormorants of commerce, to whom mud flats and rock +deserts present elysian beauties, provided only there be profit in +them. One kind of imagination has been superseded by another, and both +are necessary to the full exploitation of this remarkable globe that +we inhabit. + +But even the level capes of Lancashire were alluring to eyes that saw +England, our venerable mother, loom behind them, with her thousand +years' pageantry of warfare and civilization. The egregious little +island is a thirsty place; the land drinks rain as assiduously as do +its inhabitants beer and other liquors. Heavy mists and clouds +enveloped it as we drew near, and ushered us up the Mersey into a +brown omnipresence of rain. The broad, clear sunshine of the Atlantic +was left behind, and we stood on wet decks and were transported to +sloppy wharfs by means of a rain-sodden and abominably smoking little +tug-boat--as the way was fifty years ago. Liverpool was a gray-stone +labyrinth open to the deluge, and its inhabitants went to and fro with +umbrellas over their heads and black respirators over their mouths, +looking as if such were their normal plight--as, indeed, it was. Much +of this was not needed to quench the enthusiasm of the children. The +Waterloo Hotel, to which, by advice of friends, we were driven, seemed +by its very name to carry out the idea of saturation, which the +activities of nature so insistently conveyed. It was intensely +discomfortable, and though the inside of the hotel was well supplied +with gloomy English comforts, and the solemn meals were administered +with a ceremonious gravity that suggested their being preliminaries to +funerals, yet it was hard to be light-hearted. The open-grate coal +fires were the most welcome feature of this summer season, and no +doubt the wine list offered the best available substitute for +sunlight; but we had not been trained to avail ourselves of it. We +drank water, which certainly appeared an idle proceeding in such a +climate. In Liverpool, however, or in its suburbs, we were to live +for the better part of four years, and we must make the best of it. +And there is in English people, when rightly approached, a steady and +systematic geniality that not only makes handsome amends for their +weather, but also accounts for the otherwise singular fact that the +country is inhabited at all. A people with a smaller fund of interior +warmth could not have endured it. The French talk about conquering +England, but they could not hold it if they did, and it is one of the +standing puzzles of history how the Romans, an Italian race, were able +to maintain themselves under these skies during four centuries. It may +be objected that the present English population is not indigenous to +the island; but they are the survival of the fittest and toughest +selected from many aspirants. Nor can it be doubted that the British +hunger for empire in all parts of the world is due to nothing so much +as to their anxiety to have a plausible pretext for living elsewhere +than at home. + +My father took the rain, as he took everything that could not be +helped, philosophically, and it seemed to do him no harm; indeed, his +health was uniformly good all through his English residence. It did +not suit so well my mother, who was constitutionally delicate in the +lungs; she was soon obliged to adopt the English respirator, and +finally was driven to take refuge for the greater part of a year in +Lisbon and Madeira, returning only a little before the departure of +the family for Italy in 1858. But there must have been in him an +ancestral power of resistance still effective after more than two +centuries of transplantation; he grew ruddy and robust while facing +the mist and mirk, and inhaling the smoky moisture that did service +for air. Nor was his health impaired by the long hours in the daily +consulate--a grimy little room barely five paces from end to end, with +its dusty windows so hemmed in by taller buildings that even had there +been any sunshine to make the attempt, it could never have succeeded +in effecting an entrance through them. Here, from ten in the morning +until four in the afternoon, he dealt with all varieties of scamps and +mendicants, fools and desperadoes, and all the tribe of piratical +cutthroats which in those days constituted a large part of the +merchant marine. Calamity, imbecility, and rascality were his constant +companions in that dingy little den; and the gloomy and sooty skies +without but faintly pictured the moral atmosphere which they exhaled; +he entered deeply into all their affairs, projects, and complaints, +feeling their troubles, probably, at least as keenly as they did +themselves, and yet he came out of it all with clear eyes and a sound +digestion. I presume the fact may have been that he unconsciously +regarded the whole affair somewhat as we do a drama in a theatre; it +works upon our sensibilities, and yet we do not believe that it is +real. There was nothing in the experience germane to his proper life; +it could not become a part of him, and therefore its posture towards +him remained inveterately objective. The only feature of it that +quickened a responsive chord in him was the revelation of the +intolerable condition of the sailors in many of our ships, and upon +these abuses he enlarged in his communications to Washington. +Improvements were made in consequence of his remonstrances; but the +American merchant service had already begun its downward career, and +it is only very lately, owing to causes which are too novel and +peculiar to be intelligently discussed as yet, that our flag is once +more promising to compete against that of England. + +It would be misleading to say, however, that my father was not +interested in his consulate work; there was a practical side in him +which took hold of the business in man-fashion, and transacted it so +efficiently as to leave no room for criticism, and nobody can produce +voluntary effects without feelng in himself a reaction from them. He +had occasion to look into the privacy of many human hearts, to pity +them and advise them, and from such services and insights he no doubt +obtained a residue of wisdom which might be applied to his own +ulterior uses. These were indirect and incidental issues; but from the +consulate qua consulate Hawthorne was radically alien, and when he +quitted it, he carried away with him no taint or trace of it. As he +says in his remarks upon the subject, he soon came to doubt whether it +were actually himself who had been the incumbent of the office at all. + +But Providence does not deny manna to man in his extremity, and to my +father it came in the shape of a few English friends, and in +occasional escapes from the office into the outside England where, +after the centuries of separation, he found so much with which he +could still feel profoundly akin. His most constant friendly visitor +was Henry A. Bright, a university man, the son of a wealthy local +merchant, who sent ships to Australia, and was related (as most +agreeable Englishmen are--though there are shining exceptions) to the +aristocratic class. Bright, at this time, could not have been over +thirty years of age; he was intensely English, though his slender +figure and mental vivacity might make him seem near to the +conventional American type. But through him, as through an open +window, Hawthorne was enabled to see far into the very heart of +England. Bright not merely knew England; he was England, and England +at its best, and therefore also at its most insular and prejudiced. It +was unspeakably satisfying and agreeable to encounter a man at once so +uncompromising and so amiable, so wrong-headed (from the American +point of view) and so right-hearted. He was drawn to my father as +iron is drawn to the magnet; on every outward point they fought each +other like the knight errants of old, while agreeing inwardly, beneath +the surface of things, as few friends are able to agree. Each admired +the other's onslaughts and his prowess, and, by way of testifying his +admiration, strove to excel himself in his counter attacks. The debate +was always beginning, and in the nature of things it could never end; +the effect of their blows was only to hammer each the other more +firmly into his previous convictions. Probably all the things that +are English and all the things that are American never before or since +received such full and trenchant exposition as was given them by +Hawthorne and by Bright. The whole subject of monarchy and aristocracy +as against republicanism and democracy was threshed out to the last +kernel by champions each of whom was thoroughly qualified to vindicate +his cause. Each, constrained by the stress of battle to analyze and +expound his beliefs more punctually than ever before, thereby +convinced himself while leaving his adversary undaunted; and, of +course, both were right. For this world is so constituted that two +things incompatible in outward manifestation may in their roots be one +and the same, and equally appeal to the suffrages of honest men. +England and America are healthy and vigorous in proportion as they +differ from each other, and a morbid and vicious tendency in either is +noticeable the moment either begins to take a leaf from the other's +book. My father and Bright could not have been the lifelong friends +that they were had either of them yielded his point or stooped to +compromise. + +Apart from political matters, and such social themes as were nearly +allied to them, the two friends had many points of agreement and +sympathy. Bright had from the first been an ardent and intelligent +admirer of the romancer's writings, and though they might often differ +in their estimates of individual works, they were in hearty accord as +to the principles which underlie all literature and art. Upon matters +relating to society, my father was more apt to accept theories which +Bright might propound than to permit of their being illustrated in his +own person; he would admit, for example, that a consul ought to mingle +socially with the people to whom he was accredited; but when it came +to getting him out to dinner, in evening dress and with a speech in +prospect, obstacles started up like the armed progeny of the Dragon's +Teeth. For, though no one enjoyed real society more than he did, he +was ardently averse from conversing as an official with persons +between whom and himself as a man there could be little sympathy. +Almost as much, too, did he dislike to meet the polite world merely on +the basis of the books that he had written, which his entertainers +were bound to praise whether or not they had read or comprehended +them, and to whose well-meant but inexpert eulogies he must constantly +respond with the threadbare and pathetic phrase, "I'm glad you liked +it." Bright, of course, insisted that fame and position carried +obligations which must be met, and he was constantly laying plots to +inveigle or surprise his friend into compliance. He often succeeded, +but he failed quite as frequently, so that, as a Mrs. Malaprop might +have said, Hawthorne as a social lion was a rara avis, from first to +last. The foible of artificial, as distinguished from spontaneous, +society is that it so seldom achieves simple human relations. + +Another chief friend of his was Francis Bennoch. England would never +have seemed "our old home" to my father, without the presence and +companionship of these two men. Both had literary leanings, both were +genial, true, and faithful; but in other respects they were widely +dissimilar. Bright was of the pure Saxon type; Bennoch represented +Great Britain at large; there were mingled in him English, Irish, and +Scotch ancestry. In himself he was a superb specimen of a human being; +broad-shouldered, straight, and vigorous, massive but active, with a +mellow, joyful voice, an inimitable brogue, sparkling black eyes full +of hearty sunshine and kindness, a broad and high forehead over bushy +brows, and black, wavy hair. He bubbled over with high spirits, humor, +and poetry, being, indeed, a poet in achievement, with a printed and +bound volume to show for it--songs, lyrics, and narrative poems, +composed in the spirit of Burns and Scott. He was at this time one of +the handsomest men in England, with a great heart, warmer than any +summer England ever knew, and a soul of ardor and courage, which sent +through his face continual flashes of sympathy and fellowship. One +naturally thought and spoke of him in superlatives; he was the +kindest, joiliest, most hospitable, most generous and chivalrous of +men, and his affection and admiration for my father were also of the +superlative kind. He had made a fortune in the wool business, and had +an office in Wood Street, London; but his affairs permitted him to +make frequent excursions to Liverpool, and to act as his American +friend's guide and cicerone to many places in England which would +otherwise have been unknown to him. My father enjoyed these trips +immensely; Bennoch's companionship gave the right keynote and +atmosphere to the sights they saw. A real Englishman owns his country, +and does the honors of it to a visitor as if it were his private +estate. Discussions of politics and of the principles of government +never arose between these two, as they did between my father and +Bright; for Bennoch, though one of the most loyal and enthusiastic of +her Majesty's subjects, and full of traditional respect for the +British nobility, was by nature broadly democratic, and met every man +as an equal and a brother. One often finds this contradiction in +Englishmen; but it is such logically only. A man born to the +traditions of monarchy and aristocracy accepts them as the natural +background of his ideas, just as the English landscape is the setting +of his house and park; he will vindicate them if assailed; but +ordinarily they do not consciously affect his mental activities, and +he will talk good republicanism without being aware of it. The +monarchy is a decoration, a sentiment, a habit; as a matter of fact, +England is more democratic in many essentials than we have as yet +learned how to be. Bennoch was not a university man, and lacked the +historical consciousness that Bright so assiduously cultivated; he +lived by feeling and intuition more than by deliberate intellectual +judgments. He was emotional; tears would start to his eyes at a touch +of pathos or pity, as readily as the laughter of a moment before. So +lovable, gallant, honest, boyish a man is seldom born into this modern +world-boyish as only the manliest men can be. He died thirty years +after the time I write of, the same fresh and ardent character as +ever, and loving and serving Hawthorne's children for Hawthorne's +sake. I shall have occasion to mention him hereafter; but I have dwelt +upon him here, both because he made it forever impossible for any one +who knew him well to do other than love the land which could breed +such a man, and because, for the American Hawthorne, he was as a +hospitable gate-way through which the England of his dreams and +imaginings was entered upon as a concrete and delightful reality. + +With Bright and Bennoch on his right hand and on his left, then, my +father began his English experience. The two are frequently mentioned +in his English journals, and Bennoch figures as one of the subordinate +characters in the posthumous romance called Doctor Grimshawe's Secret. +It is but a sketch of him, however, and considerably modified from the +brilliant and energetic reality. Meanwhile the consul began to +accustom himself to the routine of the consulate, and his family, +leaving the sombre respectability of the Waterloo Hotel, moved, first, +to the hospitable boarding-house of Mrs. Blodgett, and afterwards to a +private dwelling in Rock Park, Rock Ferry, on the opposite side of the +Mersey, where we were destined to dwell for several years. They were +years full of events very trifling in themselves, but so utterly +different from everything American as to stamp themselves upon the +attention and the memory. It is the trifling things that tell, and +give character to nations; extraordinary things may occur anywhere, +and possess little national flavor. In another chapter I will attempt +some portrayal of this English life of fifty years since. + + + + +VI + + +Patricians and plebeians--The discomforts of democracy--Varieties of +equality--Social rights of beggars--The coming peril--Being dragged to +the rich--Frankness of vulgarity and hopelessness of +destitution--Villages rooted in the landscape--Evanescence of the +spiritual and survival of the material--"Of Bebbington the holy +peak"--The Old Yew of Eastham--Malice--prepense interest--History and +afternoon tea--An East-Indian Englishman--The merchantman sticks in +the mud--A poetical man of the world--Likeness to Longfellow--Real +breakfasts--Heads and stomachs--A poet-pugilist--Clean-cut, cold, +gentle, dry--A respectable female atheist--The tragedy of the red +ants--Voluptuous struggles--A psalm of praise. + +In a country whose ruling principle is caste, it might be expected +that the line of cleavage between the upper and the lower grades would +be punctually observed. It is assumed that democracy levels and +aristocracy distinguishes and separates. My father was not long in +remarking, however, that there was a freedom of intercourse between +the patrician and the plebeian--between people of all orders--such as +did not exist in America. And the fact, once perceived, was not +difficult of explanation. In a monarchy of a thousand years' +standing, every individual knows his place in the social scale and +never thinks of leaving it. He represents a fixed function or element +in the general organism, and holds to it as a matter of course, just +as, in the human body, the body does not aspire to be the head, nor +the liver or heart to take the place of lungs or stomach. The laborer +looks back upon an ancestry of laborers; the shopkeeper has been a +shopkeeper for unnumbered generations; the artisan on the bench to-day +does the same work that his father and grandfathers did before him; +the noble inherits his acres as inevitably as the sun rises, and sits +in the House of Lords by immemorial usage and privilege. Social +position all along the line being thus anchored in the nature of +things, as it were, there is no anxiety on any one's part as to +maintaining his status. He is secure where he is, and nothing and +nobody can change him. There is no individual striving to rise nor +fear to fall. Consequently there can and must be entire freedom of +mutual conversation; the marquis with a revenue of half a million a +year meets as an equal his gardener who gets ten pounds a month, and +the tailor in his measuring-room offers a glass of sherry to his noble +patron who comes to him for a new coat. Each is at his ease, +conscious that he performs a use and fills a place which no one else +can fill or perform, and that nothing else matters. The population is +a vast mutual-benefit association, without envy on the one side or +contempt on the other. And social existence moves as smoothly as a +well-oiled and adjusted machine. + +This agreeable condition is impossible in a democracy--at all events, +in a democracy like ours, which is based upon the assumption that all +men are equal. Nevertheless, we are on the right track, and the +English are on the wrong one; for the agreeable English system +obstructs the insensible infiltration of fresh material into old +forms, which is essential to the continued health of the latter; while +the democracy, on the other hand, will gradually learn that it is just +as honorable and desirable to be a good shoemaker, for example, as a +good millionaire; that human life, in short, is a complex of countless +different uses, each one of which is as important on its own plane as +any of the others. But the intermediate period is undeniably irksome. + +So my father noticed, not without a certain satisfaction, that even +beggars, in England, are not looked down upon, and that their rights, +such as they are, are recognized. In the steamboat waiting-room at +Rock Ferry, and in the boats themselves, he saw tramps and mendicants +take the best place at the fire or on the companion-way without rebuke +and without consciousness of presumption, and he saw the landlord of a +hotel, with a fortune of six hundred thousand pounds, wait at table as +deferentially as any footman in his employ. He was struck by the +contentment with which, in winter, women went barefoot in the streets, +and by the unpretentious composure with which the common herd, on +holidays, disported themselves in public, not seeking to disguise +their native vulgarity and shabbiness. At the same time, he could not +help a misgiving that the portentous inequality between rich and poor +must finally breed disaster; the secluded luxury of the rich was too +strongly contrasted with the desperate needs of the poor. This +contrast was very marked in England fifty years ago, and was +comparatively unknown in our own country--though to-day we can hardly +lay to our souls the nattering unction of such a difference. The rage +for wealth has done for us in a generation what caste did for England +in a thousand years. + +My father, when opportunity offered, was always finding himself among +the poor and their dwellings; he had to be dragged to the rich, though +among them, too, he found, when brought in contact with them, many +interesting points of dissimilarity from ourselves. His office as +consul naturally took him often to the police courts, where +magistrates passed upon the squalid cases cited before them, and in +the consulate itself he saw specimens enough of human crime and +misery. He visited the poor-house and the insane asylum, he was +approached by swindlers of all types, and often he went to fairs and +other resorts of public out-door amusement and watched the unwashed +populace at its play. Beggars followed him on the streets, awaited him +in their chosen coigns of vantage on the corners, or haunted him on +the ferry-boat that took him each day from his home to his office. +Wherever he encountered the forsaken of fortune, he found food for +sympathy, and, in spite of assurances that he was only encouraging +mendicancy, he often gave them money. It was hard for him to believe +that there could be abject poverty where there was work for all, and +the appeal of man in want to man in plenty was too strong for him +easily to resist it. He liked the very frankness of vulgarity and +hopeless destitution of these people, and was appalled by the +simplicity with which they accepted things as they were. There was no +restlessness, as in America--no protest against fate. It was harrowing +enough to see conditions so miserable; it was intolerable to see them +acquiesced in by the victims as inevitable. He learned, after a +while, to harden himself somewhat against manifest imposition; but the +refusal to give cost him quite as much in discomfort as giving did in +purse. + +The country villages and cottages, however, afforded him compensating +pleasure. In the neighborhood of Rock Ferry, on the shore of the +Mersey opposite from Liverpool, there were two or three ancient little +settlements which he loved to visit. The thatched and whitewashed +cottages, with their tiny gardens of hollyhocks and marigolds, seemed +like parts of the framework of the land; the passage of centuries only +served to weld them more firmly in their places. The villages were +massed together, each in a small space, instead of being dispread +loosely over a township, as in his native New England, and enduring +stone and plaster took the place of timber and shingles. But the +churches, small and fabulously ancient, affected him most. He placed +his hand on stones which had been set in place before William the +Conqueror landed in England, and this physical survival seemed to +bring into his actual presence the long succession of all the +intervening ages. These structures, still so solid and serviceable, +had witnessed the passing of the entire procession of English history; +all the mighty men and events of her career had come and gone while +they remained unscathed. Under his feet were the graves of the unknown +dead; within the narrow precincts he inhaled that strange, antique +odor of mortality that made him feel as if he were breathing the air +of long-dead centuries. This apparent evanescence of the spiritual +attested by the survival of the material is one of the most singular +and impressive of sensations; it takes history out of the realm of the +mind, and brings it into sensible manifestation. It is almost as +affecting as if the very figures of departed actors of former ages +were to reappear and rub shoulders with us of today, and cast their +shadows in the contemporary sunshine. + +On most of these walks in the neighborhood of Rock Ferry I was my +father's companion, but, though my legs could march beside his, my +mental-equipment could not participate in his meditations. He would +occasionally make some half-playful, imaginative remark, calculated to +help me realize the situation that was so vividly present to +himself. His thoughts, however deep, were always ready to break into +playfulness outwardly. We often walked through the village of +Bebbington, whose church had a high stone steeple, nearly to the +summit of which the ancient ivy had clambered. And as it came in view +he would always say, in a sort of recitative, perhaps reminiscent of +Scott's narrative poems, which he was at that time reading aloud to +us, "There is of Bebbington the holy peak!" To which I would as +constantly rejoin, "'Of Bebbington the holy spire,' father!"--being +offended by his use of a word so unmusical as peak. He would only +smile and trudge onward. He was somewhat solicitous, I suspect, to +check in his son any tendency towards mere poetical sentiment; his own +imaginative faculty was rooted in common-sense, and he knew the value +of the latter in curbing undue excursions into the fanciful and +transcendental. + +In Eastham, on the village green, stood an old yew-tree which, six +centuries before, had been traditionally called The Old Yew of +Eastham, and was probably at least coeval with the village itself, +which was one of the oldest in England. It was of enormous girth, and +was still in leaf; but nothing but the bark was left of the great +trunk; all the wood had decayed away so long ago that the memory of +man held no record of it. There was a great conical gap in one side, +like an open door, and it was my custom--as it had doubtless been that +of innumerable children of ages gone--to enter this door and "play +house" in the spacious interior. Meanwhile my father would seat +himself on the twisted roots without, and let his thoughts drift back +to the time when this huge hulk had first cast a slender shadow over +the greensward of primitive, Saxon England. It was a massive tree +before the Domesday Book was begun; Chaucer would not be heard of for +four hundred years to come; and where was Shakespeare? What was +suspected of America? Yet here was this venerable vegetable, still +with life enough left in it, perhaps, to see the end of English +monarchy. The yew was a fact; but the ghosts were the reality, after +all. + +These obscure village antiquities, which had no special history +attaching to them, were in a way more impressive than the great ruins +of England, which had formed the scene and background of famous +events. The latter had become conventional sights, which the tourist +felt bound to inspect under the voluble and exasperating guidance of a +professional showman; and this malice-prepense sort of interest and +picturesqueness always tried Hawthorne's patience and sympathy a +little. It is the unknown past that is most fascinating, that comes +home closest to the heart. The things told of in history books are +hackneyed, and they partake of the unreality inherent in the +descriptions of the writers. But the unrecorded things are virgin, and +enter into our most private sympathies and realization. My father +viewed and duly admired the great castles, palaces, and cathedrals of +England; but he loved the old villages and their appurtenances, and +could dream dreams more moving under the shadow of Eastham Yew than in +Westminster Abbey itself. + +The historic houses and country-seats which were still inhabited were +still more difficult to get in touch with from the historic point of +view; the present dazzled the past out of sight. One was told who +built this facade, who added that wing, who was imprisoned in yonder +tower; where Queen Elizabeth slept, and the foot of what martyr +imprinted the Bloody Footstep on the threshold. + +But you listened to these tales over a cup of tea in the drawing-room, +or between the soup and the roast beef at the dinner-table, and they +were not convincing. How were these ruddy-cheeked, full-bodied, +hospitable personages who sat about you to be held compatible with the +romantic periods and characters that they described? The duck and the +green pease, the plum-pudding and the port, the white neck-cloths and +the bare necks were too immediate and potent. In many cases, too, the +denizens of the ancient houses were not lineal descendants of the +original founders; they were interlopers, by purchase or otherwise. In +themselves they were kind and agreeable, their manners were excellent, +they helped one to comprehend the England of the passing moment; but +they only clipped the wings of imagination and retrospect. It was only +after an interval of some years that Hawthorne was able so far to +recover from the effect of their obtrusive existence as to be able to +see through them and beyond them to the splendid and gloomy vistas in +front of which they were grouped. + +Yet England, past and present, rich and poor, real and ideal, did +somehow enter into him and become a part of his permanent +consciousness, and he liked it better than anything else he had known. +Even the social life, though he came to it under some compulsion, +rewarded him in the long run. One of the first personal invitations +was to the country-seat of the Brights, where he met the family and +relatives of his friend Henry Bright. Bright's father was a +remarkable figure; he resembled an East-Indian more than an +Englishman. He was dark, slender, courteous, and vivid; in long +after-years I saw Brahmins like him in India. I would liken him to a +rajah, except that rajahs of his age are commonly become gross and +heavy from indulgence, whereas he had an almost ascetic aspect. His +manners were singularly soft and caressing; he courted his wife, when +he returned each day from business, as if they were still in their +honeymoon, and his conduct towards all who surrounded him was +similarly polished. He did not in the least resemble his Saxon son; +and for my part, looking at him from the primitive boy stand-point, I +never suspected that he was related to my father's young friend. He +had made a fortune in colonial trade, and may possibly have been born +in India. At this juncture the dealings of his firm were chiefly with +Australia, and the largest merchant steamship then in the world had +just been built for them, and Hawthorne was invited to the launching. +For a British merchant prince such an occasion could not but be of +supreme importance and pride. Mr. Bright's Oriental visage was +radiant; his white hair seemed to shine with an added lustre; the +reserve of the Englishman was forgotten, and he showed the excitement +and emotion that he felt. There was a distinguished company on the +great deck to witness his triumph and congratulate him upon it. All +went well; at the appointed signal the retaining obstructions were cut +away, and the mighty vessel began its descent into the waiting river. +A lady of his family smashed a bottle of wine over the graceful bows. +For a few moments there was a majestic, sweeping movement downward; +then, of a sudden, it was checked. It was as if a great life had been +quenched at the instant when its heart first began to throb. A murmur +of dismay ran through the assemblage; but it was in the face of Mr. +Bright that the full tragedy of the disaster was displayed. Never was +seen a swifter change from the highest exultation to the depths of +consternation. The color left his cheeks; heavy lines appeared about +his handsome mouth; his eyes became fixed, and seemed to sink into his +head; his erect figure drooped like that of one who has received a +mortal blow. It was only that the ship had stuck in the deep mud of +the river bottom; but all ship-owners are superstitious, and the old +man foreboded the worst. The ship was floated again some days later; +but the omens were fulfilled; she was lost on her first voyage. I do +not remember seeing Mr. Bright after this event, but I know he never +again was the same man as before. + +Richard Monckton Milnes, who was afterwards Lord Houghton, was greatly +attracted towards my father, who liked him; but circumstances +prevented their seeing much of each other. Milnes was then forty-five +years old; he was a Cambridge man, and intimate with Tennyson, Hallam, +and other men of literary mark, and he was himself a minor poet, and +warm in the cause of literature. During his parliamentary career, in +1837, he was instrumental in passing the copyright act. He had +travelled in Greece and Italy in his twenties; was fond of society, +and society of him. A more urbane and attractive English gentleman did +not exist; everything that a civilized man could care for was at his +disposal, and he made the most of his opportunities. His manners were +quiet and cordial, with a touch of romance and poetry mingling with +the man-of-the-world tone in his conversation, and he was quite an +emotional man. I have more than once seen tears in his eyes and heard +a sob in his voice when matters that touched his heart or imagination +were discussed. There was, indeed, a vein of sadness and pessimism in +Milnes, though only his intimates were aware of it; it was the +pessimism of a man who has too much leisure for intellectual analysis +and not enough actual work to do to keep him occupied. It lent a fine +flavor of irony to some of his conversation. He was liberal in +politics and liberal in his attitude towards life in general; but +there was not force enough in him, or, at any rate, not stimulus +enough, to lift him to distinction. Some of his poems, however, +betrayed a deep and radical vein of thought. He was of middle +height, well made, light built, with a large and well-formed head and +wavy, dark hair. His likeness to Longfellow was marked, though he was +hardly so handsome a man; but the type of head and face was the +same--the forehead and brain well developed, the lower parts of the +countenance small and refined, though sensuous. His eyes were dark, +brilliant, and expressive. He, like the old poet Rogers, made a +feature of giving breakfasts to chosen friends, and as he had the +whole social world to choose from, and unfailing good taste, his +breakfasts were well worth attending. They were real breakfasts--so +far as the hour was concerned--not lunches or early dinners in +masquerade; but wine was served at them, and Milnes was very +hospitable and had an Anacreontic or Omar touch in him. To breakfast +with him, therefore, meant--unless you were singularly abstemious and +strong-minded--to discount the remaining meals of the day. But the +amount of good cheer that an Englishman can carry and seem not +obscured by it surprises an American. A bottle or so of hock of a +morning will make most Americans feel that business, for the rest of +that day, is an iridescent dream; but an Englishman does not seem to +be burdened by it--at any rate, he did not fifty years ago. + +[IMAGE: RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES] + +Another hearty companion was Bryan Waller Procter, who, for literary +uses, anagrammed his name into Barry Cornwall, and made it famous, +fifty years ago, as that of the best song-writer in contemporary +England. But he had made a literary reputation before the epoch of his +songs; there were four or five dramatic and narrative poems to his +credit published during the first quarter of the last century. Procter +was, indeed, already a veteran in 1854, having been born in 1787, and +bred to the bar, to which he was admitted in 1831. But he spent the +active thirty years of his life in the discharge of that function +which seems often sought by respectable Englishmen-commissioner of +lunacy. He sent my father a small volume containing the Songs, and +some fragments; they fully deserved their reputation. The fragments +were mostly scraps of dramatic dialogue, of which one at least sticks +in my memory: + +"She was a princess; but she fell; and now Her shame goes blushing +down a line of kings." + +As I recollect him, he may have looked like a commissioner of lunacy, +but he did not look like a poet; he was rather undersized, with a +compact head and a solemn face, and the quietest, most unobtrusive +bearing imaginable. He was a well-made little man, and he lived to a +great age, dying some time in the seventies, at the age of +eighty-seven. He told my father that after leaving Harrow School he +was distinguished in athletics, and for a time sparred in public with +some professional bruiser. He had been a school-mate of Byron and Sir +Robert Peel, and had known Lamb, Kean, and the other lights of that +generation. He was a most likeable and remunerative companion. His +wife, who survived him (living, I think, to be over ninety), was a +woman of intellect and charm, and she retained her attractiveness to +the end of her life. There are poets who are consumed early by their +own fires, and others who are gently warmed by them beyond the common +span of human existence, and Barry Cornwall was one of these, and +transmitted his faculty, through sympathetic affection, to his wife. + +Of renown not less than the song-writer's was the metaphysical +theologian, James Martineau, then in the Liverpool epoch of his +career. He was a clean-cut, cold, gentle, dry character, with a +somewhat Emersonian cast of countenance, but with the Emersonian +humanity and humility left out. Like Emerson, he had ascended a +Unitarian pulpit, but, unlike Emerson, he stayed there long after what +he was pleased to regard as his convictions had ceased to possess even +a Unitarian degree of religious quality. He was always apostolic in +his manner, and his utterances were ex cathedra, and yet his whole +long life was a story of changing views on the subjects he had chosen +to be the theme of his career. + +He was the great opponent of orthodoxy in his day, yet he led his +followers to no goal more explicit than might be surmised from a study +of Kant and Hegel. He was, however, sincere in his devotion to the +will-o'-the-wisp that he conceived to be the truth, and he was +courageous enough to admit that he never satisfied himself. There was +chilly and austere attraction about the man; he was so elevated and +superior that one could hardly help believing that he must know +something of value, and this illusion was the easier because he did +know so much in the way of scholarly learning. My father felt respect +for his character, but was bored by his metaphysics--a form of +intellectual athletics which he had exhausted while still a young man. +James's sister Harriet was also of the company. She was so deaf as to +be obliged to use an ear-trumpet, and she was as positive in her views +(which had become avowedly atheistic) as her brother, and whenever any +one began to utter anything with which she disagreed, she silenced him +by the simple expedient of dropping the ear-trumpet. In herself, she +was an agreeable old lady; but she seldom let her opinions rest long +enough for one to get at her on the merely human side, and she +cultivated a retired life, partly on account of her deafness, partly +because her opinions made society shy of her, and partly because she +did not think society worth her time and attention. She was a good +woman, with a mind of exceptional caliber, but the world admired more +than it desired her. + +As a relief from the consideration of these exalted personages, I am +disposed to relate a tragic anecdote about our friend Henry Bright. +Early in our Rock Ferry residence he came to dine with us--or I rather +think it was to supper. At any rate, it was an informal occasion, and +the children were admitted to table. My mother had in the cupboard +a jar of excellent raspberry jam, and she brought it forth for the +delectation of our guest. He partook of it liberally, and said he had +never eaten any jam so good; it had a particular tang to it, he +declared, which outdid his best recollections of all previous +raspberry jam from his boyhood up. While he was in the midst of these +rhapsodies, and still consuming their subject with enthusiasm, my +mother, who had taken some of the jam on her own plate, suddenly made +a ghastly discovery. The jam-pot had been for several days standing in +the cupboard with its top off, or ajar, and an innumerable colony of +almost microscopic red ants had discovered it, and launched themselves +fervently upon it and into it; it had held them fast in its sweet but +fatal embrace, and other myriads had followed their fellows into the +same delicious and destructive abyss. What the precise color of the +ants may have been before they became incorporate with the jam is not +known; but as the case was, they could be distinguished from it only +by their voluptuous struggles in its controlling stickiness. Only the +keenest eye could discern them, and the eyes of Henry Bright were +among the most near-sighted in England. Besides, according to his +custom, he was talking with the utmost volubility all the time. + +What was to be done? My father and mother stealthily exchanged an +awful look, and the question was settled. It was too late to recall +the ants which our friend had devoured by tens of thousands. It +seemed not probable that, were he kept in ignorance of his +predicament, they would do him any serious bodily injury; whereas, +were he enlightened, imagination might get in her fatal work. +Accordingly, a rigorous silence upon the subject was maintained, and +the dear innocent actually devoured nearly that whole potful of red +ants, accompanying the meal with a continual psalm of praise of their +exquisite flavor; and never till the day of his death did he suspect +what the secret of that flavor was. I believe the Chinese eat ants and +regard them as a luxury. Very likely they are right; but at that +period of my boyhood I had not heard of this, and then and often +afterwards did I meditate with misgivings upon the predicament of +Henry Bright's stomach after his banquet. + + + + +VII + + +Life in Rock Park--Inconvenient independence of lodgings--The average +man--"How many gardeners have you got?"--Shielded by rose-leaves of +culture and refinement--The English middle class--Prejudice, +complacency, and Burke's Peerage--Never heard of Tennyson or +Browning--Satisfaction in the solid earth--A bond of fellowship--A +damp, winding, verdurous street--The parent of stucco +villas--Inactivity of individual conscience--A plateau and a +cliff-dwelling--"The Campbells are Coming!"--Sortes Virgiliance--A +division in the family--Precaution against famine--English praying and +card-playing--Exercise for mind and body--Knight-errantry-- +Sentimentality and mawkishness--The policeman and the cobbler-- +A profound truth--Fireworks by lamplight--Mr. Squarey and Mrs. +Roundey--Sandford and Merton--The ball of jolly. + +That life at Rock Park had in it more unadulterated English quality +than any other with which we became conversant while in England. With +the exception of a short sojourn in Leamington, it was the only +experience vouchsafed us of renting a house. All the rest of the time +we lived in lodging or boarding houses, or in hotels. The +boarding-houses of England are like other boarding-houses; the hotels, +or inns, in the middle of the last century, were for the most part +plain and homely compared with what we have latterly been used to; but +the English lodging-house system had peculiarities. You enjoyed +independence, but you paid for it with inconveniences. The owner of +the house furnished you with nothing except the house, with its dingy +beds, chairs, tables, and carpets. Everything else necessary to +existence you got for yourself. You made your own contracts with +butcher, baker, and grocer. You did your own firing and lighting. +Your sole conversation with the owner was over the weekly bill for the +rooms. You might cater to yourself to the tune of the prince or of the +pauper, as your means or your inclination suggested, but you must do +it upon the background of the same dingy rooms. Dingy or not so dingy, +the rooms, of course, never fitted you; they were a Procrustes bed, +always incompatible, in one way or in another, with the proportions +which nature had bestowed upon you. You wondered, in your misanthropic +moments, whether there ever was or could be any one whom English +lodgings would exactly fit. Probably they were designed for the +average man, a person, as we all know, who exists only in the +imagination of statisticians. And if the environment shows the man, +one cannot help rejoicing that there is so little likelihood of one's +forming the average man's acquaintance. + +There was nothing peculiar about rented houses in England beyond the +innate peculiarities attaching to them as English. If the house were +unfurnished, and you had leisure to pick and choose, you might suit +yourself tolerably well, always with the proviso that things English +could be suitable to the foreigner. And certainly, in the 1850's, the +English commanded living conditions more desirable, on the whole, than +Americans did. They understood comfort, as distinct from luxury--a +pitch of civilization to which we are even now but just attaining. +There was not then, and until the millennium there will probably never +be, anything else in the world which so ministered to physical ease +and general satisfaction as did the conditions of life among the +English upper classes. Kublai Khan, in Xanadu, never devised a +pleasure-dome so alluring to mere human nature-especially the English +variety of it--as was afforded by an English nobleman's country-seat. +Tennyson's Palace of Art is very good in poetry, but in real life the +most imaginative and energetic real-estate dealer could not have got +so good a price for it as would gladly have been paid for the dwelling +of, for example, the Duke of Westminster. "How many gardeners have you +got?" asked an American Minister of the duke of the period, after +meeting a fresh gardener, during a long afternoon stroll through the +grounds, at each new turn of the path. "Oh, I don't know--I fancy +about forty," replied the duke, somewhat taken aback by this demand +for precise information concerning the facts of his own establishment, +which, until that moment, he probably supposed had been attended to by +Providence. And really, the machinery of life in such a place is so +hidden, it is so nearly automatic, that one might easily believe it to +be operated according to some law of nature. The servants are (or +were) so well trained, they did their jobs so well, that you were +conscious only of their being done; you never saw them a-doing. The +thought happened to cross your mind, of a morning, that you would like +to take a drive at eleven o'clock; you were not aware that you had +mentioned the matter; but at eleven o'clock the carriage was, somehow, +at the door. At dinner, the dishes appeared and disappeared, the +courses succeeded one another, invisibly, or as if by mere fiat of the +will; you must be very wide-awake to catch a footman or butler +meddling with the matter. You went up to the bedroom to change your +dress; you came down with it changed; but only by an effort could you +recall the fact that a viewless but supremely efficient valet had been +concerned in the transaction. The coal fire in the grate needed +poking; you glanced away for a moment; when you looked at the fire +again it had been poked--had, to all appearance, poked itself. And so +in all relations; to desire was to get; to picture a condition was to +realize it. You were shielded on every side by rose-leaves of culture +and refinement; all you had to do was to allow your mind to lapse from +one conception to another, and then, lifting your languorous eyelids, +behold! there you were--as Mr. James would say. + +But I set out to tell not of noblemen's country-seats, but of Rock +Park. Rock Park was one of the typical abodes of the English +respectable middle-class, and the English middle-class, respectable, +or not altogether respectable, is the substance of England. Not until +you have felt and smelt and tasted that do you know what England +really is. Fifty years ago, the people in question were dull, +ignorant, material, selfish, prejudiced, conventional; they were +hospitable, on conventional lines; they were affable and even social, +so long as you did not awaken their prejudices; they were confidential +and communicative, if you conceded at the outset that England was the +best of all countries and the English the leading nation of the world. +They read a newspaper resembling in every particular themselves; +usually several of them united in a subscription to a single copy, +which passed solemnly from hand to hand. They were slow and +methodical, never taking short-cuts across lots; but they were +punctual; they knew their own business and business associates, their +circle of relatives, their dwelling and social place, and Burke's +Peerage; but they knew nothing else. In a group of intelligent persons +of this degree, question was raised, once upon a time, of two English +poets; but not one of the group had heard of either; the poets were +Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning. This may seem merely absurd or +apocryphal; but consider the terrible power of concentration which it +implies! And consider the effect which the impact against such a clay +wall must make upon a man and an American like my father! + +Well, the very surprise and novelty of the adventure amused and +interested him, and even won a good deal upon his sympathies. He loved +the solid earth as well as the sky above it, and he was glad of the +assurance that this people existed, though he might be devoutly +thankful that two hundred years of America had opened so impassable a +gulf between him and them. Indeed, the very fact of that impassability +may have made his intercourse with them the easier--at any rate, on +his side. On their side, they regarded him with a dim but always +self-complacent curiosity; had he not been a consul, they would +probably not have regarded him at all. Of course they--the Rock Park +sort of people--had never read his books; literary cultivation was not +to be found in England lower down than the gentleman class. My father, +therefore, was never obliged to say, "I'm glad you liked it" to them. +And that relief, of itself, must have served as a substantial bond of +fellowship. + +Rock Park, as I remember it, was a damp, winding, verdurous street, +protected at each end by a small granite lodge, and studded throughout +its length with stuccoed villas. The villas were mended-on to each +other (as one of the children expressed it) two and two; they had +front yards filled with ornamental shrubbery, and gardens at the back, +an acre or two in extent; they were fenced in with iron pickets, and +there were gates to the driveways, on which the children swung. Every +normal child supposes that gates are made for no other purpose. The +trees were not large, but there were many of them, and they were thick +with leaves. There was a damp, arboreal smell everywhere, mingled with +the finer perfume of flowers and of the hawthorns and yellow +laburnums. Flowers, especially purple English violets, grew profusely +in the gardens, and gooseberry-bushes, bearing immense gooseberries +such as our climate does not nourish. There were also armies of +garden--snails, handsome gasteropods, which were of great interest to +me; for I was entering, at this period, upon a passionate pursuit of +natural history. For many years I supposed that the odor of the +violets proceeded from snails, and to this day I always associate +snails with violets, or vice versa. Una, Rose, and I were given each a +section of a garden-bed for our own; I cultivated mine so assiduously +that it became quite a deep hole; but I do not recall that anything +ever grew in it. The soil was a very rich loam, and ceaseless +diligence must have been required in me to keep it barren. + +Gray skies, frequent showers, a cool or semi-chilly mildness, varied +every little while by the intrusion of a yellow fog from Liverpool, +over the river--such was the climate of Rock Park. There were +occasional passages of sunshine; but never, that I recollect, an +entire day of it. The stucco of the villas was streaked with green +dampness, and peeling off here and there. I suspect that the fashion +of castellated, stuccoed villas may have been set in the eighteenth +century by Horace Walpole when he built that marvellous edifice known +as Strawberry Hill. I first saw that achievement twenty years after +the time of which I now write, and recognized in it, as I thought, the +parent of my former Rock Park home and of innumerable of the latter's +kindred. Strawberry Hill is sprawling and vast, the progeny are +liliputian, but the family likeness is striking. The idea is to build +something which shall seem to be all that it is not. The gray-white +stucco pretends to be stone, and the lines of the stone courses are +carefully painted on the roughened surface; but nobody, since Horace's +time, could ever have been deceived by them. The castellated additions +and ornamentation are all bogus, of the cheapest and vulgarest sort. +It is singular that a people so sincere and solid as the English are +supposed to be should adopt this fashion for their dwellings. But then +they are used to follow conventions and adopt fashions set them by +those whom they esteem to be their betters, without thought, or +activity of individual conscience. It is rather matter for wonder, +remembering what rascals and humbugs many of their "betters" have +been, that middle-class England is not more of a whited sepulchre than +it is. I do not mean to cast any reflections upon the admirable and +beguiling Horace; but he was a highly civilized person, and had a +brother named Robert, and perhaps solid sincerity should not be +expected from such a combination. + +Our villa, within, was close and comfortable enough, for its era and +degree; but the furniture was ponderous and ugly to the point of +nightmare. The chairs, tables, and sofas wore the semblance of solid +mahogany, twisted and tortured in a futile struggle to achieve +elegance; the carvings, or mouldings, were screwed or glued on, and +the lines of structure, intended to charm the eye, accomplished only +the discomfort of the body. The dining-table was like a plateau; the +sideboard resembled a cliff-dwelling. The carpets were of the Brussels +ilk: acanthus-leaves and roses and dahlias wreathed in inextricable +convolutions, glowing with the brightest and most uncompromising hues. +The lace curtains were imitation lace; the damask curtains were +imitation damask. The bedsteads. ... But this is not a History of +England. After all, we were snug and comfortable. On the walls were +portraits of the family whose house this was; by name, Campbell; the +house-painter, or wood-grainer, one would suppose, had a leaning +towards this branch of art. I never saw the originals of these +portraits, but, upon the assumption that they had been faithfully +interpreted by the artist, I used to think, in my childish folly, that +the refrain of the old song, "The Campbells are Coming," was meant as +a phrase or threat to frighten people. Who would not have run upon +such an announcement? As I have already made one confession in these +pages not reflecting credit upon myself, I may as well make another +now. Just thirty years after the events I am describing, somebody +wrote to me from Rock Park, stating that the local inhabitants were +desirous of putting up on the house which Hawthorne had occupied there +a marble or bronze slab, recording the fact for the benefit of +pilgrims. The committee, however, did not know which of three or four +houses was the right one, and the writer enclosed photographs of them +all, and requested me to put a cross over our former habitation. Now, +all the houses in Rock Park had been turned out of the same mould, and +I knew no more than my interrogator which was which. But I reflected +that the committee had been put to trouble and expense for +photographs, postage-stamps, and what not, and that all that was +really wanted was something to be sentimental over. So, rather than +disappoint them, I resorted to a kind of sortes Virgillana; I shut my +eyes, turned round thrice, and made a mark at hazard on the line of +photographs. The chances against my having hit it right were only +four to one; the committee were satisfied, the pilgrims have been made +happy, and it is difficult to see where harm has been done. +Nevertheless, the matter has weighed somewhat on my conscience ever +since, and I am glad to have thus lightened myself of it. What would +one better do in such circumstances? Is history written in this way? + +The custom of our family in America had been to take all our meals +together; but in England the elders take lunch at noon, tea at four or +five, and dinner at seven or eight, while the children dine at noon +and sup at six. This arrangement was adopted in Rock Park. My father +used to leave home for the consulate at nine, and return--unless kept +away by an official or social engagement--at five or six. There was +appointed for us children a nurse or governess, to oversee and +administer our supplies; our father and mother dining, with such +guests as might happen to be present, late in the evening. We were +sometimes allowed to come in at dessert, to eat a few nuts and raisins +and exhibit our infantile good manners. This domestic separation was a +matter of much speculation arid curiosity to our immature minds; we +used to haunt the hall through which the servants carried the dishes, +smoking and fragrant, from the kitchen to the dining-room, and once in +a while the too-indulgent creatures would allow us to steal something. +How ravishingly delicious things thus acquired taste! And we, +fancying, of course, that they must be not less delicious for the +folks at table, used to marvel how they could ever bear to leave off +eating. The dinners were certainly rather elaborate compared with the +archaic repasts of Salem or of Concord; but they were as far inferior +in grandeur and interminableness to the astonishing banquets at which, +in some great houses, our father and mother were present. Consider, +for example, this dinner, in no way remarkable among such functions, +at the Hollands's, about this time. There were twelve persons at +table. The service was of solid silver; two enormous covers were on +the table before the soup was served; being removed, they revealed +turbot and fried fish. Then followed boiled turkey and roast goose, +and between them innumerable smaller dishes, including chicken-pies, +ragouts, cutlets, fricasees, tongue, and ham, all being placed in +their silver receptacles on the table; on the sideboard was a vast +round of boiled beef, as a precaution against famine. With the sweets +were served grouse and pheasants; there were five kinds of wine, not +including the champagne, which was consumed as a collateral all the +way along. The pudding which followed these trifles was an heroic +compound, which Gargantua might have flinched from; then came the nuts +and raisins, then the coffee, then the whiskey and brandy. There were +people in England, half a century ago, who ate this sort of dinners +six or seven times a week, and thought nothing of it. They actually +ate and drank them--did not merely glance at them and shake their +heads. The ancient Scandinavians, Gauls, Saxons, and Normans, of whom +they were descendants, could not have done more. One cannot help +respecting such prodigious trencher-men and women, or wonder that the +poverty-stricken class were ill-fed. Dinner in England had become a +very different thing when I lived there twenty years later, and though +port and Madeira were generally on the table, the only man whom I saw +habitually drink them was Robert Browning! Possibly this is the reason +the British got such a thrashing in South Africa the other day. + +After dinner at Rock Park--or, if it were to be a late affair, +before--we would have family prayers, in which the servants joined. +This was in deference to English custom; not that we were irreligious, +but we had not before been accustomed to express our religious +feelings in just that manner. All being grouped in a semicircle, my +father would open the Bible and read a chapter; then he would take a +prayer-book containing thirty or forty well-considered addresses to +the Almighty, and everybody would kneel down and cover their eyes with +their hands. The "Amen" having been reached, and echoed by every one, +all would rise to their former positions, and the servants would file +out of the room. It must have been somewhat of an effort for my father +to go through this ceremony; but I think he did it, not only for the +reason above mentioned, but also because he thought it right that his +children should have the opportunity of gaining whatever religious +sentiment such proceedings might inculcate. But I do not think that he +had much faith in the practice as an English institution. Indeed, he +has somewhere written that the English "bring themselves no nearer to +God when they pray than when they play cards." + +[IMAGE: ROBERT BROWNING] + +I understood long afterwards, as I did not at the time, how closely my +father and mother studied in all things the welfare and cultivation of +their children. They were not formal or oppressive about it; all went +pleasantly and with seeming spontaneity, as if in accordance with our +own desire; but we were wisely and needfully guided. We were never +sent to school during our seven years in Europe; but either we were +taught our lessons by our parents at home or by governesses. In +addition to the constant walks which I took with my father, he +encouraged me to join a cricket club in the Park, and sent me to +Huguenin's gymnasium in Liverpool, to the Cornwallis swimming-baths, +and to a dancing-academy kept by a highly ornamental Frenchman, and he +bought me an enormous steel hoop, and set me racing after it at +headlong speed. Nor did he neglect to stimulate us in the imaginative +and aesthetic side. From the date of our settlement in England to the +end of his life, he read aloud to us in the evenings many of the +classics of literature. Spenser's The Faerie Queene, the Don Quixote +of Cervantes, the poems and novels of Scott, Grimm's and Andersen's +Fairy Tales, much of Defoe and Swift, Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake field, +Coleridge's Ancient Mariner (he himself was very fond of that poem), +and many other things, and I cannot overestimate the good they did me. +His talks to me during our walks gave me, under the guise of +pleasantry, not so much specific information concerning things (though +that was not wanting), but--character; that is, the questions he put +to me, the remarks and comments he made, the stories he told, were all +calculated to give me a high idea of human duties and aspirations; to +encourage generosity, charity, courage, patriotism, and independence. +From the reading of The Faerie Queene and of Don Quixote I conceived a +vehement infatuation for mediaeval chivalry and knight-errantry; I +adopted the motto of the order, "Be faithful, brave, and true in deed +and word"; and I indulged in waking dreams of heroic adventures in +quest of fair renown, and to succor the oppressed. All this he +encouraged and abetted, though always, too, with a sort of twinkle of +the eye, lest I should take myself too seriously and wax priggish. He +permitted me to have a breastplate and a helmet with a golden dragon +crest (made by our nurse out of pasteboard covered with tinsel-paper), +and he bought me a real steel sword with a brass hilt wrought in +open-work; I used to spend hours polishing it, and picturing to myself +the giants and ogres I would slay with it. Finally--with that +humorous arching of the eyebrow of his--he bade me kneel down, and +with my sword smote me on the shoulder, and dubbed me knight, saying, +"Rise up, Sir Julian!" It was worth many set moral homilies to me. He +knew the advantage of leading a boy to regard the practice of boyish +and manly virtues not as a burden but as a privilege and boon, and of +making the boy's own conscience his judge. His handling of the matter +was, of course, modified so as to reach the inner springs of my +particular nature and temperament, which he thoroughly understood. +Withal, he never failed to hold up to ridicule anything showing a +tendency to the sentimental; he would test me on this point in various +ways, and always betrayed pleasure when he found me quick to detect +the sentimental or mawkish taint in literature or life. I breathed a +manly, robust, and bracing atmosphere in his company, and when I +reflect upon what were my proclivities to folly during this +impressionable period, I thank my stars for such a father. + +There was abundant quiet and seclusion in Rock Park, and had my father +been able to do any writing, he could hardly have found a retreat more +suitable. The tradesmen called early at the houses in the Park, their +wagon-wheels making no sound upon the unpaved street, and the two +policemen, who lived in the stone lodges, kept the place free from +beggars and peddlers. These policemen, pacing slowly along in their +uniforms, rigid and dignified, had quite an imposing aspect, and it +was some time before we children discovered that they were only men, +after all. Each had a wife and children, who filled to overflowing the +tiny habitations; when their blue coats and steel-framed hats were +off, they were quite humble persons; one of them eked out his official +salary by mending shoes. After following with awe the progress along +the sidewalk of the officer of public order, stalking with solemn and +measured gait, and touching his hat, with a hand encased in a +snow-white cotton glove, to such of the denizens of the Park as he +might encounter, it was quite like a fairy-tale transformation to see +him squatting in soiled shirt-sleeves on his cobbler's bench, drawing +waxed thread through holes in a boot-sole. I once saw one of them, of +a Sunday afternoon, standing at ease in the doorway of his lodge, clad +in an old sack-coat which I recognized as having been my father's. I +am constitutionally reverent of law and order; but the revelation of +the domestic lives of these policemen gave me an insight, which I have +never since lost, into the profound truth that the man and the officer +are twain. + +There were perhaps twenty families living in the Park, of whom we +became acquainted with two only; the people who lived next door to us +(whose name I have forgotten), and Mr. and Mrs. Squarey, who dwelt +higher up the street. The people next door had two boys of about my +own age, with whom I played cricket, and it was from the back windows +of their house that I saw for the first time an exhibition of +fireworks in their garden; I remember that when, just before the show +began, they put out the lamp in the room, I asked to have it +relighted, in order that I might see the as yet unexperienced wonder. +There are folks who go hunting for the sun with a lantern. + +Mr. Squarey was tall and stiff of figure, with a singularly square +countenance, with a short whisker on each side of it; but spiritually +he was most affable and obliging; so was his wife; but as she was +short and globular, my father was wont to refer to her, in the privacy +of domestic intercourse, as Mrs. Roundey. They were profuse in +invitations to go with us to places--to Chester, to the Welsh +show-places, and so forth; and although I think my father and mother +would rather have gone alone, they felt constrained to accept these +suggestions. It was in their company, at all events, that I first saw +Chester "Rows"; and also, from some coign of vantage on those +delightful old walls, an English horse-race, with jockeys in silk caps +and jackets tinted like the rainbow. Mr. Squarey's demeanor towards my +sisters and myself was like that of the benevolent tutor in Sandford +and Merton, with which excellent work we were very conversant at that +time; as, likewise, with Edgeworth's Parents' Assistant, and with +still another engaging volume called, I think, the Budget of +something; at any rate, it had two or three little boys and girls in +it, who were anxious to acquire useful and curious information on many +subjects, which was afforded them in generous measure by their highly +cultivated elders. Such flower-garlanded instruction was the best +specifically juvenile literature which those primitive ages afforded. +"Pray, mamma, why does the sun rise in the east instead of in the +west?" "Pray, papa, why was King Alfred called 'The Good'?" Mrs. +Markham's History of England was constructed upon the same artless +principle. What a distance we have travelled since then! + +But it was a good and happy life in Rock Park, and I think our father +and mother enjoyed it almost as much as we children did. They were +meeting people many of whom were delightful--I shall try to paint the +portraits of some of them in the next chapter--and they were seeing +towns and castles and places of historic and picturesque interest; and +my father was earning more money than ever before, though less than a +quarter as much as he would have earned had not Congress, soon after +his accession to office, cut down the emoluments. This was England; +the Old Home, and the Old World, for the understanding of which they +had prepared themselves all their lives previous. My father once said, +"If England were all the world, it would still have been worth while +for the Creator to have made it." The children were radiantly content +with their lot; and it is on record that the little boy once remarked, +"I don't remember when I carne down from heaven; but I'm glad I +happened to tumble into so good a family." The same individual, +rolling on the floor in excess of mirth over some childish comicality, +panted out, "Oh, mamma, my ball of jolly is so big I can't breathe!" +The ball of jolly became a household word for years thereafter. It +was well nourished in those days. + + + + +VIII + + +Cataclysmic adventures--On the trail of dazzling fortunes--"Lovely, +but reprehensible Madham"--The throne saves the artist--English robin +redbreast--A sad and weary old man--"Most indelicate woman I've ever +known"--Perfectly chaste--Something human stirred dimly--"She loves +me; she loves me!"--The Prince of Wales and half-a-crown--Portentous +and thundering title--Honest English simplicity--"The spirit +lacking"--Abelard, Isaac Newton, and Ruskin--A famous and charming +woman of genius--Deep and wide well of human sympathy--The +whooping-cough. + +In the spring of 1854 we were visited by John O'Sullivan, his wife and +mother, and a young relative of theirs, Miss Ella Rogers. O'Sullivan +had been appointed Minister to the Court of Portugal, and was on his +way thither. He was a Democrat of old standing; had edited the +Democratic Review in 1837, and had made my father's acquaintance at +that time through soliciting contributions from him; later they became +close friends, and when my sister Una was born, he sent her a silver +cup, and was ever after called "Uncle John" in the family, and, also, +occasionally, "the Count"--a title which, I believe, had some warrant +in his ancestry. For, although an American, Uncle John was born at sea +off the coast of Spain, of an Irish father and a mother of +aristocratic connections or extraction (I am a little uncertain, I +find, on this point); I think her parents were Italian. Uncle John had +all the charming qualities of the nations mentioned, and none of their +objectionable ones; though this is not to say that he was devoid of +tender faults, which were, if anything, more lovable than his virtues. +Beneath a tranquil, comely, and gentle exterior burned all the fire +and romance of the Celt; his faith and enthusiasm in "projects" knew +no bounds; he might be deceived and bankrupted a hundred times, and +would toe the mark the next time with undiminished confidence. He was +continually, and in the quietest way, having the most astonishing and +cataclysmic adventures; he would be blown up, as it were, by a +dynamite explosion, and presently would return from the sky +undisturbed, with only a slight additional sparkle in his soft eyes, +and with the lock of hair that fell gracefully over his forehead only +a trifle disordered. The most courteous and affectionate of men, with +the most yielding and self-effacing manners, he had the spirit of a +paladin, and was afraid of nothing. He would empty his pockets--or if, +as too often happened, they were already empty, he would pledge his +credit to help a friend out of a hole; and, on the other hand, he was +always hot upon the trail of a dazzling fortune, which, like Emerson's +Forerunners, never was overtaken. It would not long have availed him, +had it been otherwise, for never was there a Monte Cristo who lavished +wealth as O'Sullivan habitually did in anticipation, and would +undoubtedly have done in fact had the opportunity been afforded him. +He was gifted with a low, melodious, exquisitely modulated voice, and +a most engaging and winning manner, and when he set out to picture the +simple and easy methods whereby he proposed to make millions, it was +next to impossible to resist him. He was like a beautiful, innocent, +brilliant child, grown up, endowed with an enchanter's wand, which was +forever promising all the kingdoms of the earth to him, but never (as +our modern phrase is) delivered the goods. He regarded my father as a +king of men, and he had, times without number, been on the very edge +of making him, as well as himself, a multifold millionaire. However, +President Pierce did what he could for him by giving him the +Portuguese mission (after first offering it to my father), and +O'Sullivan did excellent work there. But he became +interested--abstractly--in some copper-mines in Spain, which, as he +clearly demonstrated, could be bought for a song, and would pay a +thousand per cent, from the start. Partly to gratify him, and partly +with the hope of at least getting his money back, my father finally, +in 1858 or 1859, advanced him ten thousand dollars to finance the +scheme. I saw the dear old gentleman, a generation later, in New York; +he had the same clear, untroubled, tranquil face as of old; his hair, +though gray, was as thick and graceful as ever; his manner was as +sweet and attractive; but though, in addition to his other +accomplishments, he had become an advanced spiritualist, he had not +yet coined into bullion his golden imagination. He had forgotten the +Spanish copper-mines, and I took care not to remind him of them. Peace +to his generous, ardent, and loving soul! + +Uncle John's wife was a good mate for him, in her own way as brilliant +and fascinating as he and with an unalterable belief in her husband's +destiny. She was a tall, slender woman, with kindling eyes, a lovely +smile, and a wonderful richness and vivacity of conversation; nor have +I ever since known so truly witty a woman. But she lacked the +delightful mellowness and tenderness for which Uncle John was so +remarkable. The mother, Madame O'Sullivan, as she was called, was a +type of the finegrained, gently bred aristocrat, every outline +softened and made gracious by the long lapse of years through which +she had lived. She sat like a picture of reverend but still animated +age, with white, delicate lace about her pale cheeks and dark, kindly, +weary eyes, and making a frost-work over her silvery hair. As for Miss +Ella Rogers, it is with some embarrassment that I refer to her; +inasmuch as I fell violently in love with her at first sight, and I +have reason to think that she never fully appreciated or adequately +responded to my passion, though, at the time, I was nearly one-third +of her age--she being five-and-twenty. She was a dark and lively +beauty, thoroughly self-possessed, and versed in social +accomplishments, and gifted with dramatic talent. She afterwards made +a great impression in the court of the Portuguese monarch, and more +than once the King himself chose her as his partner in the ball. +Reports of these gayeties came to my ears; and I found the other day +part of a letter which I addressed to her, remonstrating against these +royal flirtations. It is written in pencil, upon the blue office-paper +of the consulate, and I can recall distinctly the small, indignant boy +and knight-errant, sitting at the desk opposite his hugely diverted +father, and beginning his epistle thus: "Lovely, but reprehensible +Madham!" I suspect that I consulted my father as to the spelling of +the second adjective, for it shows signs of having been overhauled; +but after that my feelings became too strong for me, and the remainder +of the letter is orthographically so eccentric that it was probably +cast aside and a copy made of it. But the rough draught, by some +inconceivable chance, was kept, and turns up now, after half a +century, with a strange thread of pathos woven by time into the +texture of its absurdity. Poor, little, lovely reprehensible Madham! +Her after-career was not a happy one. + +These agreeable persons filled our stuccoed villa full, and gave +poignant addition to the quiet, gray beauty of that English spring. A +year or so later, when my mother's health compelled her to escape to a +warmer climate from fog-ridden Liverpool, she went with my sisters to +Lisbon, where the O'Sullivans were by that time established, and spent +several months with them, and saw all the splendors of the naive but +brilliant little court of Dom Pedro V. She brought home a portfolio of +etchings presented to her, and done by his youthful Majesty; which +indicate that his throne, little as he cared for it, preserved him +from the mortification of failing as an artist. + +Early in the winter of the following year (1855), Mr. James Buchanan, +appointed Minister to the Court of St. James, found his way to my +father's retreat in Rock Park. The English winter was a mild affair +compared with our recent experiences of the arctic snows of Lenox; +there was no coasting, and not much snow-balling; but we had the +pleasure of making friends with the English robin-redbreast, a most +lovable little creature, who, every morning, hopped confidingly on our +window-sill and took bread-crumbs almost from our hands. The old +American diplomatist and President that was to be (though he +vehemently disclaimed any such possibility) distracted our attention +from robin for a day or two. He had the aspect, perhaps cultivated for +political and democratic purposes, of a Pennsylvania farmer; he was, I +believe, born on a farm in Franklin County, in that State, at the +beginning of the last decade of the eighteenth century. He was tall +and ungainly in figure, though he bore himself with a certain security +and dignity; his head was high and thinly covered with gray hair; he +carried it oddly, a little on one side; it was said at the time that +this was due to his having once attempted suicide by cutting his +throat. His visage--heavy, long, and noticeable--had the typical +traits of the American politician of that epoch; his eyes were small, +shrewd, and twinkling; there was a sort of professional candor in his +bearing, but he looked like a sad and weary old man. He talked +somewhat volubly to my father, who kept him going by a question now +and then, as his way generally was with visitors. There was a flavor +of rusticity in his speech; he was not a man of culture or polish, +though unquestionably of great experience of the world. He was dressed +in a wide-skirted coat of black broadcloth, and wore a white choker +put on a little askew. The English, who were prone to be critical of +our representatives, made a good deal of fun of Mr. Buchanan, and told +anecdotes about him which were probably exaggerated or apocryphal. It +was alleged, for example, that, speaking of the indisposition of a +female relative of his, he had observed that it was due to the +severity of the English climate. "She never enjoyed delicate health +at home," he had declared; "in fact, she was always one of the most +indelicate women I've ever known." And it was asserted that he had +been admonished by the Lord High Chamberlain, or by the Gold +Stick-in-Waiting, for expectorating upon the floor of her Majesty's +palace at a levee. Such ribaldries used to be popular in English +mouths concerning American visitors before the war; they were all of +similar tenor. Mrs. Abbott Lawrence was described as having bought a +handsome shawl at a shop on Lord Street, in Liverpool, and to have +walked down that populous thoroughfare with her new purchase on her +shoulders, ignorant that it bore the legend, inscribed on a white +card, which the salesman had neglected to remove, "Perfectly chaste." +The same lady was reported as saying, in asking an invitation to a +ball on behalf of Mrs. Augustus Peabody, of Boston, "I assure you, on +our side of the water, Mrs. Peabody is much more accustomed to grant +favors than to ask them." Such anecdotes seem to bear upon them the +stamp of the British manufacturer. There would not seem to be much +harm in them, yet it is such things that sometimes interfere most +acutely with the entente cordials between nations. We had another +glimpse of Mr. Buchanan, in London, about a year later, and he then +remarked to my mother, indirectly referring to such reports, that the +Queen had treated him very kindly. For the present, he faded from the +Rock Park horizon, and we returned to the robin; nor have I been able +to understand how it happened that he made so distinct an impression +upon my memory. But a child's memory is unaccountable, both in what it +loses and in what it retains. + + +One Sunday forenoon, when it was not too cold for the young folks to +be swinging on that gate which has been mentioned, and the elders were +in-doors, enjoying the holiday in their own way, we descried an old +gentleman approaching up the winding street. As he drew nearer he +presented rather a shabby, or, at least, rusty appearance. His felt +hat was not so black as it had been; his coat was creased and soiled; +his boots needed a blacking. He swung a cane as he stumped along, and +there was a sort of faded smartness in his bearing and a knowingness +in his grim old visage, indicating some incongruous familiarity with +the manners of the great world. He came to a halt in front of the +house, and, after quizzing it for a moment, went up the steps and beat +a fashionable tattoo with the knocker. + +Summoned in-doors soon afterwards, we found this questionable +personage sitting in the drawing-room. His voice was husky, but +modulated to the inflections of polite breeding; he used a good many +small gestures, and grinned often, revealing the yellow remains of his +ancient teeth; he laughed, too, with a hoarse sound in his throat. +There was about him an air of determined cheerfulness and affability, +though between the efforts the light died down in his wrinkled old +eyes and the lines of his face sagged and deepened. He offered to kiss +my sisters, but they drew back; he took my hand in his own large, dry +one with its ragged nails and swollen joints. At length he inveigled +my younger sister to his knee, where she sat gazing unflinchingly and +solemnly into him with that persistence which characterizes little +girls of four or five who are not quite sure of their ground. Her +smooth, pink-and-white cheeks and unwinking eyes contrasted vividly +with his seamed yellowness and blinking grin; for a long time he +coquetted at her, and played peep-bo, without disturbing her gravity, +making humorous side comments to the on-lookers meanwhile. There was a +ragged and disorderly mop of gray hair on his head, which showed very +dingy beside the clear auburn of the child's. One felt a repulsion +from him, and yet, as he chatted and smirked and acted, there was a +sort of fascination in him, too. Some original force and fire of +nature still glowed and flickered in his old carcass; something human +stirred dimly under the crust of self-consciousness and artificiality. +Rose's adamantine seriousness finally relaxed in a faint smile, upon +which he threw up his hands, emitted a hoarse cackle of triumph, and +exclaimed, "There--there it is! I knew I'd get it; she loves me--she +loves me!" He then permitted her to slip down from his knee and +withdraw to her mother, and resumed the talk which our entrance had +interrupted. It was chiefly about people of whom we youngsters knew +nothing--though our ignorance only argued ourselves unknown, for he +named persons all famous in their day. He had seen George IV., +Napoleon, Talleyrand, Wellington; he had been intimate with Coleridge, +De Quincey, Wordsworth, Lamb, Monk Lewis; he was a sort of elder +brother or deputy uncle to Tennyson, Browning, Dickens; he had quaffed +mountain-dew with Walter Scott and had tramped the moors shoulder to +shoulder with Kit North; the courts of Europe were his familiar +stamping-grounds; he had the nobility and gentry at his finger-ends; +he was privileged, petted, and sought after everywhere; if there were +any august door we wished to enter, any high-placed personage we +desired to approach, any difficult service we wanted rendered, he was +the man to help us to our object. Who, then, was he? He has long been +utterly forgotten; but he was well known, or notorious, during the +first half of the last century; he was such a character as could +flourish only in England. His name was William Jerdan; he was born in +1785, and was now, therefore, about seventy years old. He had started +in life poor, with no family distinction, but with some more or less +useful connections either on the father's or the mother's side. He had +somehow got an English education, and he had pursued his career on the +basis of his native wits, his indomitable effrontery and persistence, +his faculty of familiarity, his indifference to rebuffs, his lack of +shame, conscience, and morality. How he found the means to live nobody +could tell, but he uniformly lived well and had enjoyed the good +things of the world. After maintaining his ground during the first +twenty or thirty years, it had probably been easier for him to forge +along afterwards, for he could impose upon the new generation with his +stories of success in the former one. Uncouth and ugly though he was +by nature, the external polish and trick of good form which he had +acquired, and, no doubt, some inner force of social genius in him, had +influenced men to tolerate and often to like him, and had given him +extraordinary good-fortune with women. He had not only been twice +married, and had many children born in wedlock, but his intrigues and +liaisons had been innumerable, and they had by no means been confined +to the lower ranks of society. That he was a practised liar there can +be no doubt, but he had the long memory which the proverb recommends +to liars, and he was so circumspect that few of his claims and +pretensions lacked solid basis enough to make them pass current in a +hurrying and heedless world. Now, however, in his age, he was wellnigh +at the end of his tether; what we should call his "pull" was losing +its efficiency; he was lapsing to the condition where he would offer +to introduce a man to the Prince of Wales or to Baron Rothschild, and +then ask him for the loan of five pounds--or half a crown, as the case +might be. He was a character for Thackeray. He haunted my father for a +year or two more, and then vanished I know not where. + +Poor, dingy old Jerdan purported to be himself a literary man, though +the only thing of his that I ever heard of was a work in four +pretentious volumes of "wretched twaddle"--as my father called +them--which he published under the title of My Autobiography. It +contained a long array of renowned names, with passages appended of +perfectly empty and conventional comment. + +But other men crossed our path who had much sounder claims to renown +in literature; among them Samuel Warren, author of half a dozen books, +two of which are still sometimes heard of--_The Diary of a Late +Physician_ and _Ten Thousand a Year_. He lived upon the reputation +which these brought him, though they were published, the first as long +ago as 1830 and the other only ten years later. Like many other +authors, he fancied himself capable of things far better than belonged +to his true metier; and among the books in my father's library is one +called _The Moral and Intellectual Development of the Present Age_--a +thin volume, despite its portentous and thundering title--it carries +the gloss, in Warren's handwriting, "the fruit of many a long year's +reflection." So does every light comedian imagine that he can play +Hamlet. Of Warren himself I barely recall a slight, light figure with +a sharp nose and a manner lacking in repose; indeed, he was very much +like a light comedian in light comedy, eager to hold the centre of the +stage, full of small movements and remarks, and--which more interested +us children--with a gift for turning himself into other people by +slight contortions of countenance and alterations of voice. The +histrionic abilities of Dickens probably affected the social antics of +many writers at this epoch. Warren also told stories in a vivacious +and engaging manner, though, as they were about things and people out +of the sphere of his younger auditors, I remember only the way of the +telling, not what was told. I recalled, later, his anecdotes of Kit +North, who was a friend of his, on account of the contrast between the +stalwart proportions of that old worthy and the diminutive physique of +the novelist; they must have looked, together, like a bear and a +monkey. Warren was born in Wales, though whether of Welsh ancestry I +know not. + +When we saw him he was only a trifle over five-and-forty years of age, +so his famous books must have been written when he was hardly more +than a boy. + +As for Layard, eminent in his time for his work in Nineveh and +Babylon, and afterwards as a statesman, he did not, I think, come to +Rock Park, nor am I sure that I ever saw him. And yet it seems to me +that I have the picture in my mind of a vigorous, frank, agreeable +personage who was he; not a large man, still less a handsome one, but +full of life, manliness, and honest English simplicity. He was at this +time, like so many of his countrymen, very anxious concerning the +Crimean War, then in its first stages, and vehemently opposed to the +policy which had brought it about, for, up to that time, England and +Russia had been on friendly terms, and Layard could see no promising +or useful future for the Turk. My father shared his views, and he +wrote the following passage in commenting upon the general European +situation of that day and the prospects for England. It has never been +printed, because it stood only for the sentiment of the moment, but +may be opportunely quoted now that the aspect of European politics +shows symptoms of soon undergoing vital changes. "The truth is," wrote +my father, "there is a spirit lacking in England which we in America +do not lack; and for the want of it she will have to resign a foremost +position among the nations, even if there were not enough other +circumstances to compel her to do so. Her good qualities are getting +out of date; at all events, there should be something added to them in +the present stage of the world." England has a good deal changed since +those words were written, and the changes have probably been mainly +for the better, though all the important ones have caused our old +mother discomfort and embarrassment. The medicine of a new age, the +subtle infiltration of anti-insular ideas, the slow emergence of the +democracy have given her many qualms, but they are wholesome ones. Her +best and most cultivated minds are now on the side of progress, +instead of holding by the past, and, should the pinch come, these may +avail to save her better than martinet generals or unwieldy fleets. +The "spirit lacking" in her in 1855 may, perhaps, be found in them. +Whether the spirit in question be as conspicuous with us as it used to +be is another matter. + +Henry Bright was still our most frequent visitor, and he brought us +the news and gossip of the world. It was in 1855 that Millais married +the lady who had been Mrs. Ruskin. English society was much fluttered +by this event, and many of Ruskin's friends cut him for a time in +consequence of it. Ruskin was a man of a rare type, not readily +understood in England, where a man is expected, in the fundamental +qualities of his nature at least, to be like everybody else. There are +two noted characters in history with whom, in some respects, he might +be compared, Isaac Newton being one and Abelard the other. All three +were men in whom, owing to causes either natural or accidental, the +intellect was able to absorb all the energies of the nature. The +intellect thus acquired extraordinary power and brilliance, and +appropriated to itself, in a sort of image, as it were, the qualities +which no longer possessed manifestation on the material plane. Nothing +out of the way would, therefore, be noticed, unless or until some +combination of circumstances should bring the exceptional condition +into every-day light. This happened with Ruskin, and he was, of +course, unable to regard the matter in the same light as his critics +did. He viewed his wife's disinclination towards him by the light of +mere cold logic; and the reason his friends were alienated from him +was, not that her grounds of objection to him were justifiable, but +that Ruskin (according to the common report of the time, as quoted by +Mr. Bright) did not see why he and she and Millais should discontinue +their life in common as before. Neither Millais nor Mrs. Ruskin would, +of course, accede to this proposition, and the divorce was accordingly +obtained. Ruskin intended simply to show magnanimity, and in the +course of years this was recognized and he was forgiven, just as we +forgive a person for being color-blind. In our present stage of +civilization we must, in certain matters, follow strict convention on +peril of ostracism, and nothing is less readily condoned in a man's +conduct than any suspicion of complaisance. I did not see either +Ruskin or Millais until 1879 or 1880, of which beholding I will speak +when the time comes. + +But we had with us for a short time a famous and charming woman of +genius, who made me for a season forget my infatuation for the +beautiful Ella Rogers. This was Charlotte Cushman. The acquaintance +then begun was renewed in Italy, and maintained till the end of her +life. Such is the power of the spiritual in nature and character to +dominate and even render invisible the physical, that I was +astonished, in after years, to hear Charlotte referred to as a woman +of plain or unattractive features. To me, won from the first by the +expression, the voice, the sphere, the warmth, strength, and nobility +of her presence, she had always seemed one of the handsomest as well +as most delightful of women. She was in her fortieth year, but she had +already announced her purpose of retiring from the stage. Some of her +best work was done in the following twenty years. Critics might call +her face plain, or ugly, if they chose, but there was no doubt that +its range of expression was vast and poignant, that it could reflect +with immense energy the thoughts of the mind, and could radiate the +very soul of tragedy. Her figure was tall and superb and her carriage +stately without any stiffness, and appalling though she was as Lady +Macbeth or Meg Merrilies, in our little drawing-room she was only +simple, sincere, gentle, and winning. Born actress though she was, her +horizon was by no means restricted to things histrionic; she talked +well on many subjects, and was at no loss for means to entertain even +so small and inexperienced a person as myself. I had never seen a +theatre, and did not know what an actress was, but I loved her, and +she was good to me. It was not the interest of the stories she told +me, so much as the personal influence that went with them, that +entranced me. I was sensible of her kindness, and of the hearty +good-will with which she bent her great and gracious self to the task +of making me happy. That wonderful array of tiny charms on her +watch-chain was beautiful and absorbing, owing less to anything +intrinsic in themselves than to some sparkling and lovable +communication from their wearer. If a woman be only large enough and +vigorous enough to begin with, the stage seems to develop her as +nothing else could--to bring out the best in her. It was perhaps the +deep and wide well of human sympathy in Charlotte Cushman that was at +the bottom of her success in her profession, though, of course, she +was greatly aided by her mental and physical gifts. I suppose there +may be women now capable of being actresses as great as she was, but +the audience to call forth their latent powers and ambition seems, +just at present, to be lacking. + +Our social diversions at Rock Park were interrupted, at about this +period, by the whooping-cough, which seized upon all of us together, +and I well remember my father almost climbing up the wall of the room +in some of his paroxysms; but he treated it all as a joke, and was +always ready to laugh as soon as he got through coughing. It left no +ill effects except upon my mother, who had bronchial trouble which, as +I have intimated, finally led to the breaking-up of our household. She +was not made for England. + + + + +IX + + +Two New England consciences--Inexhaustible faith and energy--Deep and +abiding love of England--"How the Water Comes Down at Lodore"--"He +took an' he let go"--Naked mountains--The unsentimental little +quadruped--The human element in things sticks--The coasts of +England--A string of sleepy donkeys--Unutterable boy-thoughts--Grins +and chuckles like an ogress--Hideous maternal parody--The adorable +inverted bell-glass--Strange things happen in the world--An ominous +clouding of the water--Something the world has never +known--Overweening security--An admonition not to climb too high--How +vice may become virtue by repetition--Corporal Blair's +chest--Black-Bottle Cardigan--Called to Lisbon. + +Emerson, as a matter of principle, was rather averse from travel, +though he made the trip to England twice; but he fortified his theory +by his practice of searching out great men rather than historic or +picturesque places. Ruskin's Modern Painters had not been written when +Emerson first left home, and I doubt if he read it at any time. He +found his mountain scenery in Carlyle and his lakes and vales +elsewhere among agreeable people. My father's conscience worked in a +different way; he thought himself under obligations to see whatever in +the way of towns, ruins, cathedrals, and scenery was accounted worthy +a foreigner's attention; but I think he would have enjoyed seeing them +much more had that feeling of obligation not been imposed upon him. +Set sights, as he often remarked, wearied him, just because they were +set; things that he happened upon unpremeditatedly, especially if they +were not described in guide-books, pleased him more and tired him +less. It can hardly be affirmed, however, that he would have missed +the set sights if he could have done so, and no doubt he was glad, +after the job was done, that he had done it. And he was greatly helped +along by the inexhaustible faith and energy in such matters of his +wife; she shrank from no enterprise, and seemed always in precisely +the right mood to appreciate whatever she beheld. She could go day +after day to a picture-gallery, and stay all day long; she would make +herself as familiar with churches, castles, and cathedrals as she was +with her own house; she would wander interminably and delightedly +about old towns and cities, or gaze with never-waning joy upon lakes +and mountains, and my father, accompanying her, was, in a measure, +recuperated and strengthened by her enthusiasm. In the end, as is +evidenced by Our Old Home and The Marble Faun, he got a good deal out +of Europe. On the other hand, he seemed to think himself justified in +avoiding persons as much as he decently might, even the most +distinguished; and if he had not been a consul, and a writer of books +that had been read, I doubt if he would have formed any acquaintances +during his foreign residence, and he would thereby have missed one of +the greatest and most enduring pleasures of memory that he took back +with him. For no one cared more for a friend, or was more stimulated +and emancipated by one, than he. It may have been that he had passed +the age of youthful buoyancy, of appetite for novelties; that he had +begun to lack initiative. "I have seen many specimens of mankind," he +wrote down, in a mood of depression, in one of his note-books, "but +come to the conclusion that there is little variety among them all." +That was scarcely a full thought, and he would never have let it pass +in one of his considered books. He made and published many other +remarks on similar subjects of quite an opposite tenor, and these more +truly represented his true feeling. But he did flag a little, once in +a while, and the deep and abiding love of England which was his final +sentiment had somewhat the appearance of having been forced upon him +against his inclination. We may surmise that he feared disappointment +more than he craved gratification. + +[IMAGE: FRANCIS BANNOCH] + +From Liverpool we explored the strangeness of the land in all +directions. Bennoch or Bright sometimes took off my father alone; +sometimes my father and mother would go with me, leaving my sisters at +home with the governess. Once in a while we all went together, as, for +example, to the Isle of Man or to Rhyl. So far as practicable, we +children were made acquainted with the literature of places we were to +visit before going there. Thus, before journeying to the Lakes and +Scotland, I had by heart a good deal of Wordsworth, Southey, Burns, +and Walter Scott, and was able, standing amid the lovely uproar of +Lodore, to shout out the story of how the water comes down there; and, +again, on the shores of Loch Katrine, at sunset, after spending a long +hour on the little white beach opposite Ellen's Isle, I ran along the +road in advance of my parents, and, climbing a cliff, saw the breadth +of the lake below me, golden under the sunset clouds, and very aptly +recited, as they came up, Sir Walter's descriptive verse: + + "One burnished sheet of living gold, + Loch Katrine lay, beneath him rolled!" + +But I was not always so well attuned to the environment. I had got +hold of a hook and line at some hotel on the Lakes, and the old +passion for fishing, which had remained latent since Lenox days for +lack of opportunity, returned upon me with great virulence. So, one +day, when we had set out in a row-boat to visit Rob Roy's cave, I +requested, on arriving there, to be permitted to stay in the boat, +moored at the foot of the cliff, while the others climbed up into the +cave, and, as soon as they had disappeared, I pulled out my line, with +a dried-up worm on the hook, and cast it over the side. I wanted to +see the cave, but I wanted to catch a fish more. Up to that time, I +think, I had caught nothing in all our pilgrimages. If ever Providence +is going to give me success (I said to myself, devoutly), let it be +now! Accordingly, just before the others came back, I felt a strong +pull on my line and hauled in amain. In a moment the fish, which may +have been nine inches long, but which seemed to me leviathan himself, +broke the surface, wriggling this way and that vigorously; but that +was the extent to which my prayer was granted, for, in the words of a +rustic fisherman who related his own experience to me long afterwards, +"Just as I was a-goin' to land 'im, sir, he took an' he let go!" My +fish not only took and let go, but he carried off the hook with him. + +I remember wandering with my father through a grassy old church-yard +in search of Wordsworth's grave, which we found at last, looking quite +as simple as his own most severely unadorned pastoral; but I had not +attained as yet to the region of sentiment which makes such things +impressive. The bare mountains, the blue lakes, and the gray ruins +filled me with riotous intoxication. The North of England and Scotch +mountains were much more effective in their nakedness than the wooded +hills I had seen in Berkshire of Massachusetts, and their contours +were more sharply modelled and various. They were just large enough +to make their ascent seem easy until you undertook it, then those +seemingly moderate slopes lengthened out unaccountably. The day we +reached the hotel at the base of Helvellyn, I started, nothing +doubting, to climb to its summit before supper; the weather was clear, +the top looked close at hand, and I felt great surprise that the young +gentleman mentioned in Scott's poem ("I climbed the dark brow of the +mighty Helvellyn," etc.) should have allowed himself to be lost. But +after a breathless struggle of fifteen or twenty minutes, finding +myself apparently no nearer my goal than at first, I thought +differently. Mr. Bright told my father, by-the-way, that the legend +of the fidelity of the dead adventurer's little dog, "who scared the +hill-fox and the raven away," was far from being in accordance with +the prosaic facts. This unsentimental little quadruped had, in truth, +eaten up a large part of her master by the time his remains were +discovered, and had, furthermore, brought into the world a litter of +pups. Well, nothing can deprive us of the poem; but it is wholesome to +face realities once in a while. + +Unless one have a vein of Ruskin in him, one does not recollect +scenery, however enchanting, with the same particularity as persons. +It is the human element in things that sticks to us. Scenes are more +punctually recalled in proportion as they are steeped in historic or +personal interest. The thatched cottages of Burns and of Shakespeare +stand clear in my memory; I recall our ramble over the battlements of +Carlisle, where imprisoned Queen Mary had walked three centuries +before; I remember the dark stain on the floor of the dark room in +which one of her lovers was slain; I can see the gray towers of +Warwick rising above the green trees and reflected in the still water; +and, entering the keep of the castle, I behold myself again trying on +the ponderous helmet of the gigantic Guy, and climbing into his +monstrous porridge-pot. But vain would be the attempt to marshal +before my mind's eye the glorious pageantry of the Trosachs, though, +at the time of its actual revelation, it certainly seemed to make a +far more vivid impression. The delight and exhilaration which such +magnificence inspired are easily summoned back, but not the incarnate +features of them. Wild nature takes us out of ourselves and refreshes +us; but she does not reveal her secret to us, or ally herself with +anything in us less deep than the abstract soul--which also is beyond +our reach. + +I am not sure that my father did not like the seaside sojourns as well +as anything else, apart from the historical connections; for the +spirits of many seafaring forefathers murmured in his heart. But he +did not so much care for the soft, yielding, brown sands on which the +sea-waves broke. The coasts to which he had been used in his youth +were either rocky or firm as a macadamized road. Nor was he beguiled +into forgetting the tedium of walking over them, as his companion was, +by the fascination of the shells and sea curiosities to be picked up +on them. Many a mile have I trotted along beside him or behind him, +gathering these treasures, while he strode forward, abstracted, with +his gaze fixed towards the long ridge of the horizon. The sands at +Rhyl, near which Milton's friend was said to have been lost, were like +a rolling prairie; at low tide the white fringe of the surf could +scarcely be descried at their outermost verge, yet within a few +hours it would come tumbling back, flowing in between the higher +levels, flooding and brimming and overcoming, till it broke at our +feet once more. Behind us rose the tumultuous curves and peaks of the +Welsh hills; before us, but invisible across the Irish Channel, the +black coast of rainy Ireland. One night, during a gale, a ship came +ashore, so far out that it still seemed, in the morning, to be at sea, +except for its motionlessness, and the drenched and draggled crew came +straggling in--or some of them. At Southport the beach was narrower +and the little sea-side settlement larger and livelier; a string of +sleepy donkeys always waited there, with the rout of ragged and +naughty little boys with sticks to thrash them into a perfunctory and +reluctant gallop for their riders. There was always one boy, larger +and also naughtier than the rest, who thrashed the thrashers and took +their pennies away from them. The prevailing occupation of the +children at these places, as on all civilized shores, apparently, was +the building of sand-mountains and the digging of pits with their +little wooden spades. One day an elderly gentleman, with a square, +ruddy face, edged with gray whiskers, who had stood observing my +labors in this kind for a long time, stepped up to me as I paused, and +said, with a sort of amused seriousness, "You'll do something when you +grow up, my little lad; your hill is bigger than any of the others'." +He nodded kindly to me and walked off, and I sat down beside my +mountain and watched the tide come up and level it, thinking +unutterable boy-thoughts. + +The only approach to sea-side cliffs that we saw was at Whitby, on the +Yorkshire coast, where the abbey of St. Hilda stood, after whom the +American maiden in The Marble Faun was named. But the German Ocean was +bleak and cold, and my experiences in it were even more harrowing than +elsewhere; I can imagine nothing more dispiriting to a small boy than +to be dragged down over a harsh beach in an old-fashioned British +bathing-machine, its damp floor covered with gritty sand, with a tiny +window too high up for him to look out of; undressing in the cold +draughtiness and trying to hang up his clothes on pegs too high for +him to reach; being tossed from side to side, and forward and +backward, meanwhile, by the irregular jerking and swaying of the +dismal contrivance, drawn by the amphibious horses of the region; +until at last he hears the waves begin to dash against it, and it +comes to a pause in a depth which he feels must be fathomless. Then +comes a thumping at the door, and he knows that the bathing-woman is +hungrily awaiting his issuing forth. Nothing else is so terrible in +the world--nothing even in Alice in Wonderland--to a small, naked, +shivering boy as the British bathing-woman. There she stands, +waist-deep in the swelling brine; she grins and chuckles like an +ogress; her red, grasping hands stretch forth like the tentacles of an +octopus; she seizes her victim in an irresistible embrace, and with +horrid glee plunges him head-under the advancing wave. Ere he can +fetch his breath to scream, down again he goes, and yet again. The +frigid, heavy water stings his cowering body; he has swallowed quarts +of it; his foot has come in contact with a crab or a starfish; before +him rolls the tumultuous expanse of desolation, surging forward to +take his life; behind him are the rickety steps of the bathing- +machine, which, but now a chamber of torture, has become his +sole haven of refuge. Buffeted by the billows, he makes shift at last +frantically to clamber back into it; he snatches the small, damp +towels, and attempts to dry his shivering limbs; his clothes have +fallen on the wet floor; he cannot force his blue toes into his oozy +socks. At the moment he is attempting to wriggle himself into his +trousers the horse is hitched-to again, and the jerky and jolty +journey back up the beach begins. If the hair of a boy of ten could +turn white in a single morning, there would be many a hoary-headed +youngster in British watering-places. John Leech, in Punch, used to +make pictures of the experiences I have outlined, and I studied them +with deep attention and sympathy. The artist, too, must have suffered +from the sea-ogresses in his youth, else he could not have portrayed +the outrage so vividly. The mock-cheerfulness and hideous maternal +parody of their "Come, my little man!" has no parallel in life or +fiction. Nevertheless, such is the fortunate recuperative faculty of +boyhood that day after day I would forget the horrors of that hour, +and be happy in climbing over the decayed chalk acclivities of Whitby, +picking up the fossil shells that nestle there. Yonder on my table, as +I write, lies a coiled ammonite found there; it had been there ten +thousand years or ages before I detached it from its bed, and, for +aught I know, my remotest posterity may use it, as I have done, for a +paper-weight. Thanks to eternal justice, the bathing-machines and the +bathing-women will have gone to their place long ere then! + +My father had given me a book called The Aquarium, written by Philip +Henry Gosse (father of the present poet, essayist, and critic), +illustrated with pictures of sea-anemones and other marine creatures +done from his own drawings in color, and so well done that nothing +which has been done since in the way of color-reproductions surpasses +them. It was delightfully written, and I absorbed it into my very +soul, and my dreams by night and longings by day were for an aquarium +of my own. At last--I think this was at Southport--a glass jar was +given me; it was an inverted bell-glass, mounted on a wooden stand, +and it cost ten shillings. I wonder if men often love their wives or +children with the adoring tenderness that I lavished upon that +bell-glass and its contents! I got sand and covered the bottom; I +found two jagged stones and leaned them against each other on the +sand; I gathered fronds of ulva latissima; I persuaded a boatman to +bring me a bucket of salt-water from beyond the line of breakers, and +I poured it carefully into the jar. During the next twenty-four hours +I waited impatiently for the water to settle and clear; then I began +to introduce the living inmates. I collected prawns and crabs and +sea-snails, and a tiny sole or two, a couple of inches long, and by +good chance I found a small sepiola, or cuttle-fish, as big as a +beetle, which burrowed in the sand and changed color magically from +dark brown to faintest buff. I also had a pair of soldier-crabs, which +fought each other continually. When the sunlight fell on my aquarium, +I saw the silver bubbles of oxygen form on the green fronds of the +sea-weed; the little snails crawled along the sides of the glass, +sweeping out their tiny, scythelike tongues at every step; the prawns +hovered in the shade of the stones or darted back and forward light as +thoughts; the soles scuffled over the surface of the sand or hid +themselves in it from the stalking, felonious crabs. But I had no +sea-anemones; they are not found on sandy coasts, and without +sea-anemones my felicity could not be complete. + +But strange things happen in this world occasionally, good as well as +bad. There came up a heavy storm, and the next morning, walking with +my father on the beach, strewn with deep-sea flotsam and jetsam, we +came upon the mast of a ship, water-logged till it had the weight of +iron; it might have been, as my father remarked, a relic of the +Spanish Armada. And it was covered from end to end with the rarest and +most beautiful species of sea-anemones! + +This was fairy-land come true. I chipped off a handkerchiefful of the +best specimens, wishing I could take them all, and carried them to my +aquarium. I deposited them, each in a coign of vantage, and in the +course of an hour or two they had swelled out their tinted bodies and +expanded their lovely tentacles, and the cup of my joy was full. This +prosperity continued for near a week, during which I remained with my +nose against the glass, as the street boys of Liverpool held theirs +against the windows of pastry-cooks' shops. At length I noticed an +ominous clouding of the water, which, as Mr. Gosse had forewarned me, +signified disaster of some sort, and, searching for the cause, I +finally discovered the body of the little sepiola, which had died +without being missed, and was contaminating with his decay the purity +of the aquarium. The water must be changed at once. I sent out the +servant for a fresh bucketful from the sea, while I poured the +polluted liquid from the jar. + +Presently the bucket of water was brought in. It was unusually clear. +I filled the jar with it, and then, as bedtime was near, I left the +aquarium to settle down to business again. The next morning I hastened +to it in my night-gown, and was confronted by a ghastly spectacle. The +crabs lay dead on the bottom, stomachs upward; the prawns hung +lifeless and white from the rocks; the soldier-crabs were motionless, +half out of their shells; the sea-anemones had contracted themselves +into buttons, and most of them had dropped from their perches. Death +had been rampant during the night; but what could be the cause? + +A sudden suspicion caused me to put a finger in the water and apply it +to my tongue. It was not salt-water at all, but had been taken fresh +from the cistern. That traitress servant-girl, to save her indolence a +few steps, had destroyed my aquarium! + +I was too heart-broken to think of killing her; but she had killed +something in me which does not readily grow again. My trust in my +fellow-creatures was as shrunken and inanimate as the sea-anemones. +We left Southport soon after, and that was my last aquarium. + +Let us turn to lighter matters. I accompanied my father and mother on +that pilgrimage to Old Boston which is described in Our Old Home. The +world does not know that it is to my presence on the little steamer on +the trip down the level river, through the Lincolnshire fens, with +nothing but the three-hundred-foot tower of St. Botolph's Church, in +the extreme distance, to relieve the tedium of a twenty-four-mile +journey made at the rate of never more than six miles per hour--it is +not known, I say, that to that circumstance is due my father's +description of the only incident which enlivened the way--the tragedy, +namely, of the duck family. For it was that tragedy which stood out +clearest in my memory, and when I learned, in Concord, that my father +was preparing his paper about Old Boston for the Atlantic Monthly, I +besought him to insert an account of the episode. The duck and her +five ducklings had probably seen the steamer many times before, and +had acquired a contempt for its rate of progression, imagining that it +would always be easy to escape from it. But, somehow, in their +overweening security, they lingered on this occasion a little too +long, and we succeeded in running them down. Even then, as my father +notes, it was only one of them that was carried under; but the shock +to the nerves of the other youngsters must have stunted their growth, +and the old bird cannot but have suffered tortures from anxiety and +remorse. + +The sadness caused by this event, added to the chilliness of the +sea-wind which blew against us all the way down the river, rendered my +first impressions of the ancient town, which had given its name to the +one I was born in, somewhat gloomy. But the next morning it +brightened up, and our own spirits were correspondingly improved; +insomuch that I struck my head a violent blow against the stone roof +of the topmost pinnacle of St. Botolph's tower, such was the zeal of +my ascent into it. All this happened two years after the aquarium, in +1857, when I was older and wiser, but had not yet outgrown the +ambition to climb to the top of all high places; this bump may have +been an admonition not to climb too high. We went down and strayed +into Mr. Porter's little book-shop, and he transformed himself into a +new and more genial proprietor of a virtuoso's collection, and showed +us treasures, some of which his predecessor in Mosses from an Old +Manse might not have despised. I have never since then heard of his +portrait in crayon of the youthful Sterne; it would be worth a good +deal to any latter-day publisher of his works in a de luxe edition. As +for the green tassel from the bed of Queen Mary, in Holyrood House, +there is a passage in my father's description of it in his journal +which, out of regard, doubtless, for the feelings of Mr. Porter, he +forbore to quote in his published article; but as the good old +gentleman (unless he has lived to be more than one hundred and twenty +years old) must have gone to the place where treasures are +indestructible, I will reproduce it now. "This tassel," says my +father, "Mr. Porter told us (with a quiet chuckle and humorous +self-gratulation), he had personally stolen, and really, for my part, +though I hope I would not have done it myself, I thought it no sin in +him--such valuables being attracted by a natural magnetism towards +such a man. He obeys, in stealing them, a higher law than he breaks. I +should like to know precisely what portion of his rich and rare +collection he has obtained in a similar manner. But far be it from me +to speak unkindly or sneeringly of the good man; for he showed us +great kindness, and obliged us so much the more by being greatly and +evidently pleased with the trouble that he took on our behalf." It may +be added that each new stealing enhances the value of all the previous +ones, and therefore creates an obligation to steal yet more. Thus +does an act which would, standing by itself, be criminal, become a +virtue if often enough repeated. + +I am not arranging this narrative in chronological sequence; but I +think it was in this year that we went to Manchester to see the +exposition. The town itself was unlovely; but, as we had Italy in +prospect, it was deemed expedient to accustom ourselves in some +measure to the companionship of works of art, and the exhibition +professed to contain an exceptionally fine and catholic collection of +them. My father made a thorough study of them, going to learn and not +to judge, and he learned much, though not quite to believe in Turner +or to like the old masters. For my own part, when not taken on these +expeditions, I busied myself with the building of a kite six feet +high, of engineer's cambric, with a face painted on it, and used to go +out and fly it on a vacant lot in the rear of our lodgings, +accompanied by a large portion of the unoccupied population of +Manchester. The kite broke its string one day, and I saw it descend +over the roofs of a remote slum region towards the south, and I never +recaptured it. But my chief energies were devoted to acquiring the art +of fencing with the small-sword from one Corporal Blair, of the Fourth +Dragoon Guards--a regiment which had distinguished itself in the +Crimean War. The corporal was a magnificent-looking creature, and he +was as admirable inwardly as outwardly--the model of an English +non-commissioned officer. He used to come to our lodgings in his short +scarlet jacket and black trousers, and my father once asked him, +remarking the extraordinary prominence of his chest, what kind of +padding was used to produce so impressive a contour. "There's nothing +here but my linen, sir," answered the corporal, modestly, and blushing +a good deal; a fact which I, having often taken my lessons at the +barracks, in the private quarters of the corporal, where he permitted +himself to appear in his shirt-sleeves, already knew. My experience of +the British army not being so large as that of some other persons, I +am unable to say whether there were many other soldiers in it fit to +be compared with Blair; but my acquaintance with mankind in general +would lead me to infer that there could not have been then, and that +there are still less of such to-day. An army of six--footers like him, +with his intelligence, instincts of discipline, capacity and +expertness, physical strength and activity, and personal courage, +would easily account for more than all of England's warlike renown and +success; the puzzle is, how to account for anything but disaster +without them--though, to be sure, other armies might be equally +lacking in Blairs. He was well educated, modest, and moral; he was a +married man, with a wife who was the model of a soldier's consort, and +two or three little sons, all of them experts with the foils and the +broadsword. It was against the regulations of the service for +privates or non-commissioned officers to have families, and, when +Blair's connubial condition became known to the authorities, he was +degraded in rank from sergeant to corporal, though he wore the +Balaklava medal; for he had taken part in that immortal charge, and I +only wish I could recall the story of it as he told it to me. His +regiment had been under the command of Lord Cardigan--"Black-Bottle +Cardigan," as he was nicknamed in the army, on account of the +well-known (real or apocryphal) incident. It was my good--fortune, +by-the-way, once to see this eminent captain. I was taking my lesson +at the barracks, when Blair told me that his lordship was expected to +visit them that afternoon. The hour appointed was three o'clock. +Punctually at three o'clock a carriage drove rapidly through the gates +of the barracks, and the guard turned out on the run and lined up to +salute the noble occupant. But, much to their disgust, the occupant +turned out to be some one else, not meriting a salute. The men +returned to the guard-room feeling as men do when they have been +betrayed into exertion and enthusiasm for nothing. However, in about +ten minutes more, another carriage drove up, and out came the guard +again and ranged themselves smartly, to please the eye of their +martinet commander, when lo! they had again been deceived. Again they +retired with dark looks, not being at all in a mood to recognize the +humor of the situation. This same thing actually occurred twice more, +by which time it was near four o'clock, and the men were wellnigh +mutinous, and it became evident that, for some reason, Cardigan had +been prevented from coming. Such being the case, the approach of still +another carriage attracted no attention whatever, until it came to a +half-pause, and I saw, thrust out of the window, a stern, dark, +warlike, soldierly face, full of surprise and indignation--and this +was Cardigan himself. The unhappy guard tumbled over themselves in +vain efforts to get into form; it was too late, and the haughty and +hot-tempered commander drove on without his salute. Blair, not being +on guard duty, had no part in this catastrophe, but I well remember +his unaffected sorrow over it. He was a grave man, though of an +equable and cheerful temper, and he felt his comrades' misfortune as +his own. But I never heard that any casualties occurred in consequence +of the mishap. + +I have left two years of our English sojourn unaccounted for. In the +summer of 1855, my father nearly made up his mind to resign his +consulship (since it had become hardly worth keeping from the money +point of view), and, after making a visit to Italy, going back to +Concord. This plan seemed the more advisable, because my mother's +lungs could not endure the English climate. But while he was weighing +the matter, John O'Sullivan wrote from Lisbon, urgently inviting my +mother and sisters to come out and spend a few months with him and his +family there. The Lisbon climate was a specific for bronchial disease; +my father could complete his term, and we could go to Italy the +following year. There was only one objection to this--it involved the +parting of my father from my mother, a thing which had never before +happened. But it did not take him long to decide that it would be a +good thing for her, and, therefore, in the long run, for him. Each +loved the other unselfishly, and had the courage of such love. +Liverpool without my mother would be a dismal trial for him to face; +Lisbon without my father would be tenfold an exile for her. But they +made up their minds, each for the other's sake, to undergo the +separation, and accordingly, in the autumn of the year, she and my +sisters sailed from Southampton, and my father and I went back to +Liverpool. How we fared there shall be told in the next chapter. + + + + +X + + +If there were boarding-houses in paradise--Blodgett, the delight of +mankind--Solomon foresaw her--A withering retort--A modest, puny poise +about her--Hidden thoughts derived from Mother Eve and Grecian +Helen--The feminine council that ruled the Yankee captains--Bonds of +fraternity, double-riveted and copper-fastened--Through the +looking-glass--Men only of the manliest sort--The +lady-paramount--Hands which were true works of art--Retained his +dignity without putting it on--Sighed heavily over my +efforts--Unctuous M. Huguenin--"From dawn to eve I fell"--The +multum-in-parvo machine--"Beauty and the Beast"--Frank +Channing--"Blood-and water!"--A lapful of Irish stew. + +It was observed a little way back that English boarding-houses were +much like other boarding-houses in the civilized world. The rule is +proved by the exception of Mrs. Blodgett's establishment. There never +was such another; there never will be; it was unique. It has vanished +from earth long since; but if there were boarding-houses in paradise, +I should certainly expect it to be found again there. Who was Mrs. +Blodgett? Save that she was a widow of the British middle class, I +doubt if any one of her boarders knew. She had once been rich, and had +lived at Gibraltar. I have often meditated with fruitless longing +about what manner of man Mr. Blodgett could have been. He must have +been, like the Emperor Titus, the delight of mankind in his day. He +was a man, we must surmise, whose charms and virtues were such that +his wife, having felt the bliss and privilege of knowing and living +with him, registered a vow over his bier that she would devote her +future career to the attempt to make others as happy as he had made +her; that she would serve others as faithfully and generously as she +had served him. It was a lofty and beautiful conception, for she must +have perceived that only in that way could she keep his blessed spirit +near her; that the little heaven she would make in Duke Street, +Liverpool, would attract him from the kindred heaven above; that he +would choose to hover, invisible, above her plenteous table, inhaling +the grateful aromas that arose from it as from a savory sacrifice, +basking in the smiles and sympathizing in the satisfaction of the +fortunate guests, triumphing in their recognition of his beloved +consort as a queen among women. One might almost fancy that the steam +arising from the portly soup-tureen assumed as it arose something +suggesting a human form; that from its airy and fragrant mistiness a +shadowy countenance beamed down upon the good lady in black, with the +white cap, who ladled out the delicious compound to her waiting +devotees. The murmur of the tea-urn would seem to fashion itself into +airy accents, syllabling, "Mary, thy Blodgett is here!" His genial +spirit would preside over her labors in the kitchen, suggesting ever +more delightsome dishes and delicate desserts. He would warn her +against undesirable inmates and intractable servants, and would +inspire her tradesmen to serve her with the choicest comestibles and +to temper their bills to the unprotected widow. At night he would +bless her lonely pillow with peace, and would gently rouse her in the +morning to a new day of beneficences. + +Mrs. Blodgett was about five feet four inches high, and may have +weighed twelve stone; into such limits were her virtues packed. She +was perhaps in the neighborhood of her fiftieth year; her dark hair +was threaded with honorable gray. Her countenance was rotund and +ruddy; it was the flower of kindness and hospitality in full bloom; +but there was also power in the thick eyebrows and in the massy +substance of the chin--of the chins, indeed, for here, as in other +gifts, nature had been generous with her. There was shrewdness and +discernment in the good-nature of her eyes; she knew human nature, +although no one judged it with more charity than she. Her old men were +her brothers, her young men were her sons, all children were her +children. Solomon foresaw her in the most engaging of his Proverbs. +Her maid-servants arose at six in the morning and called her blessed, +for though her rule was strict it was just and loving. She was at +once the mistress and the friend of her household; no Yankee captain +so audacious that he ventured to oppose her law; no cynic so cold as +not to be melted by her tenderness. She was clad always in black, with +a white cap and ribbons, always spotless amid the grime of Liverpool; +in her more active moments--though she was always active--she added a +white apron to her attire. She was ever anywhere where she was +needed; she was never anywhere where she could be dispensed with. +Wherever she went she brought comfort and a cheerful but not restless +animation. Her boarders were busy men, but it was always with an +effort that they wrenched themselves from her breakfast-table, and +they sat down to dinner as one man. She made them happy, but she +would not spoil them. "You're a pretty young man!" she said, severely, +to complacent Mr. Crane, when, one morning, he came late to breakfast. +"I always knew that," returned he, reaching self-satisfiedly for the +toast-rack. "Well, I'm sure your glass never told you so!" was the +withering retort. Mr. Crane did not lift his neck so high after that. +The grin that went round the table was too crushingly unanimous. + +Mrs. Blodgett was helped in her duties by her niece, Miss Maria, and +by her sister, Miss Williams. Miss Maria was a little wisp of a +woman; I do not know her age then, but I think, were she alive today, +she would confess to about eighty-three. She wore ringlets, after the +fashion of the early nineteenth-century books of beauty. Her face was +thin and narrow, and ordinarily pale; but when Miss Maria had been a +little while in conversation with one or more of the gallant Yankee +captains you might see in the upper corner of each cheek a slight +touch of red. For though I would not call the little lady +coquettish--that is too coarse and obvious a word--yet there was in +her that inalienable consciousness of maidenhood, that sentiment, at +once of attraction and of recoil, towards creatures of the opposite +sex, that gentle hope of pleasing man, that secret emotion of being +pleased by him, that tremor at the idea of being desired, and that +flush at the thought of being desirable, which, I suppose, may animate +the mystic sensibilities of spinsterhood. She was anything but +aggressive and confident, yet there was a modest, puny poise about +her; she was like a plant that has always lived in a narrow, city +flower-pot, at a window too seldom visited by the sun, which has never +known the freedom of the rain, but has been skimpingly watered out of +a toy watering-pot; which has never so much as conceived of the daring +and voluptuous charms of its remote sisters of the forest and garden, +but has cherished its rudimentary perfume and its incipient tints in a +light reflected from brick walls and in the thin, stale atmosphere of +rear sitting-rooms. Yet it knows that it is a flower, and that it +might, somehow, fulfil its destiny and be beautiful. So Miss Maria +had, no doubt, hidden thoughts remotely derived from Mother Eve and +from Grecian Helen; she was aware of the potentiality in herself of +all virgin privileges and powers, and assumed thereupon her own little +dignity. Never but once did I see a masculine arm round Miss Maria's +trig, stiff little waist, and that was at Christmas-time, when there +were sprigs of mistletoe over every doorway; but, mistletoe or not, +the owner of that arm, if he did succeed in ravishing a kiss, got his +ears smartly boxed the next moment. I don't know precisely what was +Miss Maria's function in the economy of the household; I can fancy her +setting the table, and adding touches of neatness and prettiness; +dusting the ornaments and fine china on the shelves of the whatnot; +straightening the frames of the pictures on the walls; and, in her +less romantic moments, hemming towels or sheets, or putting up +preserved fruits. I know she was always amiable and obliging and that +everybody loved her. + +Miss Williams was a good deal the elder of her sister, and was of a +clear white pallor and an aged delicacy and shyness that were very +captivating. She had judgment and a clear, dispassionate brain, and I +presume she acted the part in the little firm of a sort of court of +appeals and final adviser and referee. She talked little and had +little to do with outward affairs, but she sat observant and +penetrating and formed conclusions in her mind. There had been no +brother of The Blodgett to induce her to change her maidenly state, +but I think there must have been a quiet, touching romance somewhere +hidden in the shadows of the previous forty or fifty years. She +admired and delighted in her energetic, practical sister as much as +the latter adored her for her serenity and wisdom. There was between +them an intimacy, confidence, and mutual understanding that were +charming to behold. When the blessed Blodgett had died, one can +imagine the vital support and consolation which Miss Williams had been +able to afford to her afflicted sister. Each of them seemed, in some +way, to explain and enlarge one's conception of the other. Widely +different as they appeared outwardly, there was a true sisterly +likeness deep down in them. Such was the feminine council that ruled +the destinies of the Yankee captains and of their consul. + +These captains and this consul formed nine-tenths of the population of +the house, and such other denizens as it had were at least Americans. +I never learned the cause of this predilection for representatives of +the great republic and for the seafaring variety of them in +particular. Be that as it might (and it is an interesting inquiry in +itself), it can be readily understood that it worked out well as a +business idea. There were no quarrels or heart-burnings among the +jolly occupants of Mrs. Blodgett's table; first, because they were all +Americans in the country of their hereditary enemies, and, secondly, +because they were all men of the same calling, and that calling the +sea. The bonds of fraternity between them were double-riveted and +copper-fastened. Thus all who had experienced the Blodgett regime +proclaimed its excellence far and wide, and the number of applicants +always exceeded the accommodations; in fact, during this year 1855-56, +our hostess was compelled to buy the house adjoining her own, and I +had the rare delight of watching every stroke of work done by the +carpenters and bricklayers who had the job of cutting a doorway +through the wall from the old house to the new one. There was +something magical and adventurous in stepping through that opening for +the first time--crossing a boundary which had maintained itself so +long. Probably the sensation resembled that which Alice afterwards +experienced when she stepped through the looking-glass into the room +on the other side. The additional accommodations were speedily filled; +but after the first fascination had worn off nobody regarded the new +house as comparable with the old one, and the people who roomed in it +were looked down upon by their associates of the original dwelling. +They were, I believe, as much alike as two houses could be, and that +is saying much in this age, but the feeling was different, and the +feeling is everything if you have a soul. + +If the Blodgett house, or houses, were unique, so were the Yankee +boarders. The race of our merchant-marine captains disappeared with +their ships, and they will return no more. The loss is irretrievable, +for in many respects they held the ideal of patriotic and energetic +Americanism higher than it is likely to go again. When at sea, in +command of and responsible for their ships and cargoes, they were, no +doubt, upon occasion, despots and slave-drivers; but their crews were +often recruited from among the dregs of men of all nations, who would +interpret kindness as timidity and take an ell where you gave them an +inch. No doubt, too, there were incarnate devils among these +captains--actual monomaniacs of cruelty and viciousness--though none +of these were known at Mrs. Blodgett's. Round her board sat men only +of the manliest sort. They had the handiness and versatility of the +sailor, wide and various knowledge of all quarters of the globe and of +types of mankind, though, to be sure, their investigations did not +proceed far beyond their ports, and you were sometimes more astonished +at what they did not know than at what they did. They had the +self-poise and self-confidence of men who day by day and month by +month hold their lives in their hands, and are practised in finding a +way out of danger and difficulty. They had a code of good manners and +polite behavior which was not highly refined, but contained the sound, +essential elements of courtesy; not expressed in fancy, but honest and +solid. They had great shrewdness, and were capable of really fine +diplomacy, for the school they attended demanded such proficiency. +They had a dry, chuckling humor; a homely philosophy, often mingled +with the queerest superstitions; a racy wit, smacking somewhat, of +course, of the quarter-deck, or even of the forecastle; a seemingly +incongruous sensibility, so that tears easily sprang to their eyes if +the right chord of pathos were touched; a disposition to wear a +high-colored necktie and a broad, gold watch-chain, and to observe a +certain smartness in their boots and their general shore rigging; a +good appetite for good food, and not a little discernment of what was +good; a great and boylike enjoyment of primitive pleasures; a love of +practical jokes and a hearty roar of laughter for hearty fun; a +self-respecting naturalness, which made them gentlemen in substance if +not in all technical details; a pungent contempt for humbug and +artifice, though they might not mind a good, swaggering lie upon +occasion; a robust sense of honor in all matters which were trusted to +their honorable feeling; and, to make an end of this long catalogue, a +practical command of language regarded as a means of expressing and +communicating the essential core of thoughts, though the words might +not always be discoverable in Johnson's dictionary or the grammatical +constructions such as would be warranted by Lindley Murray. They were, +upon the average, good-looking, active, able men, and most of them +were on the sunny side of forty. They were ready to converse on any +subject, but if left to themselves they would choose topics proper to +their calling-ships and shipwrecks, maritime usages of various +countries, of laws of insurance, of sea-rights, of feats of +seamanship, of luck and ill luck, and here and there a little politics +of the old-fashioned, elementary sort. They boasted themselves and +their country not a little, and criticised everybody else, and John +Bull especially, very severely often, but almost always very acutely, +too. They would play euchre and smoke cigars from nine o'clock till +eleven, and would then go to bed and sleep till the breakfast-bell. +Altogether, they were fine company, and they did me much good. Such +were the captains of our merchant marine about the middle of the last +century. + +Some of them would bring their wives with them for the voyage; +uniformly rather pretty women, a trifle dressy, somewhat fragile in +appearance, but really sound enough; naive, simple, good souls, loving +their husbands and magnifying them, and taking a vicarious pride in +their ships and sea-craft. The lady-paramount of these, in my +estimation, was the wife of old Captain Howes, the inventor of Howes' +patent rig, which he was at that time perfecting. He would sometimes +invite me up to his room to see the exquisitely finished model which +he had made with his own hands. He was the commodore of the captains, +the oldest, wisest, and most impressive of them; a handsome, massive, +Jovelike old gentleman, with the gentlest and most indulgent manners, +and a straightforward, simple mariner withal. He had ceased to make +voyages, and was settled, for the time being, in Liverpool. Mrs. +Howes seemed, to my boyish apprehension, to be a sort of princess of +exquisite and gracious refinement; I could imagine nothing in feminine +shape more delicate, of more languid grace, of finer patrician +elegance. She was certainly immensely good-natured and indulgent +towards me, and, in the absence of my mother, tried to teach me to be +less of an Orson; she had hands which were true works of art, +flexible, fine-grained, taper-fingered, and lily-white; these she used +very effectively, and would fain have induced me to attempt the +regeneration of my own dirty and ragged little fists. She would +beseech me, also, to part my hair straight, to forbear to soil my +jacket, and even to get my shoes blacked. I was thankful for these +attentions, though I was unable to profit by them. Sometimes, at +table, I would glance up to find her eyes dwelling with mild reproach +upon me; doubtless I was continually perpetrating terrible enormities. +Had she herself been less perfect and immaculate, I might have felt +more hopes of my own amendment; but I felt that I was not in her class +at all, and I gave up at the start. She was a wonderful human +ornament, the despair, I thought, of all pursuit, not to mention +rivalry. Beside the heroic figure of her captain, she looked like a +lily mated with an oak; but they were as happy a pair, and as well +mated, as one could hope to see. + +I was, perhaps, more in my proper element among the captains down in +the smoking-room, which was at the back of the house, at the end of +the hallway, on the left. My father sat there foot to foot with them, +played euchre with them, listened to their yarns, laughed at their +jokes, and felt, probably, the spirit of his own old sea-captain +ancestors stirring within him. Some of them were a little shy of his +official position at first, and indeed he was occasionally constrained +to adopt towards one or another of them, in the consulate, a bearing +very different from the easy comradeship of the Blodgett evenings; but +in process of time they came to understand him, and accepted him, on +the human basis, as a friend and brother. My father had the rare +faculty of retaining his dignity without putting it on. No one ever +took liberties with him, and he took none with anybody; yet there was +no trace in his intercourse of stiffness or pose; there did not need +to be, since there was behind his eye that potentiality of +self--protection which renders superfluous all outward demonstration +of personal sanctity. On the other hand, he obviously elevated the +tone of our little society; the stout captains, who feared nothing +else, feared their worser selves in his presence. None of them knew or +cared a straw for his literary genius and its productions; but they +were aware of something in him which they respected as well as liked, +and there was no member of the company who was more popular or +influential. + + +Without letting me feel that I was the object of special solicitude or +watchfulness, my father knew all that I did, and saw to it that my +time was decently occupied. In addition to the dancing-lessons already +mentioned (in which I became brilliantly proficient, and achieved such +feats in the way of polkas, mazurkas, hornpipes, and Scotch reels as +filled my instructor and myself with pride)--in addition to this, I +was closeted twice a week with a very serious and earnest +drawing-master, who taught me with infinite conscientiousness, and +sighed heavily over the efforts which I submitted to him. The +captains, who were my champions and abettors in all things, might take +in their large hands a drawing of mine and the copy by the master +which had been my model, and say, one to the other, "Well, now, I +couldn't tell which was which--could you?" But the master could tell, +and the certainty of it steeped his soul in constant gloom. I doubt +if he recovered from the pangs I gave him. The fact was, I thought an +hour of dancing with lovely Mary Warren was worth all the art in the +world. Another instructor to whom I brought honor was thick- +shouldered, portly, unctuous M. Huguenin, a Swiss, proprietor +of the once-famous gymnasium which bore his name. He so anointed me +with praise that I waxed indiscreet, and one day, as I was swinging on +the rings, and he was pointing out to some prospective patrons my +extraordinary merits, my grasp relaxed at the wrong moment and I came +sailing earthward from on high. It seemed to me that, like Milton's +Lucifer, "from dawn to eve I fell," M. Huguenin sprinting to intercept +my fall; but I landed on a mat and was little the worse for it. I fear +the prospective patrons were not persuaded, by my performance, of the +expediency of gymnastic training. On the other hand, M. Huguenin +managed to dispose to my father of one of his multum-in-parvo +exercising-machines, on the understanding that it was to be taken back +at half-price on the expiration of our stay in Liverpool; but, when +that time came, M. Huguenin failed to remember having been a party to +any such understanding; so the big framework was boxed up, and finally +was resurrected in Concord, where I labored with it for seven or eight +years more during my home-comings from Harvard. + +In the intervals of my other pursuits, I was, at this period, sent +into society. The society at Mrs. Blodgett's was, indeed, all that I +desired; but it was doubtless perceived that it was not all that my +polite development required; my Orsonism was too much indulged. I was +sent alone to Sandheys, the Brights' and Heywoods' place, where I was +moderately ill at ease; and also to the house of a lady in town, who +received a good deal of company, and there I was, at first, acutely +miserable. The formalities of the drawing-room and the elegant +conversation overwhelmed me with the kind of torture which Swedenborg +ascribes to those spirits of the lower orders who are admitted +temporarily into the upper heavens. Unlike these unfortunates, +however, I presently got acclimated; other boys of my age appeared, +and numbers of little girls (Mary Warren among them), and now society +occupied all my thoughts. The lady of the house got up private +theatricals--"Beauty and the Beast" was the play. I was cast for the +parts of the Second Sister and of the Beast; Mary Warren was the +Beauty. I got by heart not only my own lines, but those of all the +other performers and the stage directions. The play was received with +applause, and after it was done the actors were feted; my father was +not present, but he appeared greatly diverted by my account of the +proceedings. He was probably testing me in various ways to see what I +was made of, and whether anything could be made of me. He encouraged +my predilection for natural history by getting me books on conchology +and taking me to museums to study the specimens and make pencil +drawings of them. In these avocations I was also companioned by Frank +Channing, whose specialty was ornithology, and who was making a series +of colored portraits of the birds in the museum, very cleverly done. + +[IMAGE: WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING, 1855] + +Frank was the son of the Rev. William Henry Channing, who was pastor +of a Unitarian church in Liverpool; he had brought his family to +England at about the same time that we came. He was a nephew, I +believe, of the William Ellery Channing who was one of the founders of +American Unitarianism, and the brother, therefore, of the Ellery +Channing of Concord. Frank inherited much of the talent of his family. +He was afterwards sent to Oxford, where he took the highest honors. +All intellectual operations came easy to him. He also showed a strong +proclivity to art, and he was wonderfully clever in all kinds of fine +handwork. He was at this time a tall and very handsome boy, about two +years my senior. He was, like myself, fanatically patriotic, an +American of Americans, and this brought us together in a foreign land; +but, aside from that, I have seldom met a more fascinating companion. +I followed him about with joy and admiration. He used to make for me +tiny little three-masted ships, about six inches long, with all the +rigging complete; they were named after the famous American clippers +of the day, and he painted microscopic American flags to hoist over +the taff-rail. He tried to teach me how to paint in water-colors, but +I responded better to his eloquence regarding the future of our +country. He proved to me by a mathematical demonstration, which I +accepted without in the least understanding it, that in fifty years +New York would be larger and more populous than London at the end of +the same period. This brilliant boy seemed fitted for the highest +career in his native country; his father did not contemplate a +permanent stay in England, and in after years I used to look for his +name in our Senate, or among the occupants of the Supreme Bench. But, +as it turned out, he never revisited America, except for short +periods. His father was induced to remain abroad by the success of his +preaching, and Frank, after his career at Oxford, was overpowered by +the subtle attractions of English culture, and could not separate +himself from the old country. I saw him once while I was at Harvard. +He was an Englishman in all outward respects, and seemed to be so +inwardly likewise. The other day I heard of a Frank Channing in +Parliament; probably the same man. But either the effect upon him of +his voluntary expatriation--his failure to obey at eve the voice +obeyed at prime--or some other cause, has prevented him from ever +doing anything to attract attention, or to appear commensurate with +his radiant promise. Henry James is the only American I know who has +not suffered from adopting England; and even he might have risen +higher than he has done had he overcome his distaste to the external +discomforts of the democracy and cast in his lot with ours. + +Frank's father was a tall, intellectual, slender Yankee, endowed with +splendid natural gifts, which he had improved by assiduous +cultivation. In the pulpit he rose to an almost divine eloquence and +passion, and a light would shine over his face as if reflected from +the Holy Spirit itself. My father took a pew in his church, and sent +me to sit in it every Sunday; he never went himself. He was resolved, +I suppose, if there was any religion in me, to afford it an +opportunity to come out. Now, I had a religious reverence for divine +things, but no understanding whatever of dogma of any sort. I never +learned to repeat a creed, far less to comprehend its significance. I +was moved and charmed by Mr. Channing's discourses, but I did not like +to sit in the pew; I did not like "church." I remember nothing of the +purport of any of those sermons; but, oddly enough, I do recall one +preached by a gentleman who united the profession of preacher with +that of medicine; he occupied Channing's pulpit on a certain occasion, +and preached on the text in John xix., 34: "But one of the soldiers +with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and +water." The good doctor, drawing on his physiological erudition, +demonstrated at great length how it was possible that blood should be +mingled with the water, and showed at what precise point in Christ's +body the spear must have entered. I seem to hear again his mellifluous +voice, repeating at the close of each passage of his argument, "And +forthwith came thereout blood-AND WATER!" I did not approve of this +sermon; I was not carried to heaven in the spirit by it, as by +Channing's; but somehow it has stuck in my memory all these +forty-eight years. + +Often I stayed for a few days at a time at Channing's house; his wife +was a handsome, delicate, very nervous woman; his daughter Fanny was a +beauty, and became still more beautiful in after years; she was +married, when past her first youth, to Edwin Arnold, author of "The +Light of Asia," and of many rhetorical leading articles in the London +Telegraph. She died a few years ago. They were, all of them, kind to +me. I did the best I could to be a good little boy there; but I +recollect Mrs. Channing's face of sorrow and distress when, one day +at dinner, I upset into my lap my plate, which she had just filled +with Irish stew--one of my best-loved dishes. "Frank never does that," +she murmured, as she wiped me up; "never-never!" Nobody looked +cheerful, and I never got over that mortification. + + + + +XI + + +Bennoch and Bright like young housekeepers--"What did you marry that +woman for?"--"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures"--"The worst book anybody +ever wrote"--"Most magnificent eye I ever saw"--A great deal of the +feminine in Reade--Fire, pathos, fun, and dramatic animation--A +philosophical library in itself--Amusing appanage of his own +book--Oily and voluble sanctimoniousness--Self-worship of the +os-rotundus sort--Inflamed rather than abated by years--"Every word of +it true; but--"--Better, or happier, because we had +lived--Appropriated somebody else's adventure--Filtering remarks +through the mind of a third person--A delightful +Irishman--Unparalleled audacity--An unregenerate opinion--The whole +line of Guelphs in it--"Oh, that somebody would invent a new +sin!"--"The Angel in the House"--Very well dressed--Indomitable +figure, aggressively American--Too much of the elixir of life--A +little strangeness between us--Sunshine will always rest on it. + + + +The central event of 1856 was the return from Lisbon and Madeira of my +mother and sisters. Measuring time, as boys do (very sensibly), not by +the regulated pace of minutes, but by the vast spaces covered by +desire, it appeared to me, for some decades, that they had been absent +in those regions for years--two years at least; and I was astonished +and almost incredulous when dates seemed to prove that the interval +had been six or eight months only. It was long enough. + +In the course of the previous spring my father made two or three +little excursions of a few days or a week or so in various directions, +commonly convoyed by Bright or Bennoch, who were most enterprising on +his behalf, feeling much the same sort of ambition to show him all +possible of England and leading English folk that a young housekeeper +feels to show her visiting school-friend her connubial dwelling and +its arrangements, and to take her up in the nursery and exhibit the +children. Had my father improved all his opportunities he would have +seen a great deal, but the consulate would have been administered by +the clerks. He took trips through Scotland and the north of England, +and south to London and the environs; dined at the Milton Club and +elsewhere, visited the Houses of Parliament, spent a day with Martin +Farquhar Tupper, author of Proverbial Philosophy, and still was not +remarkably absent from the dingy little office down by the docks, or +from the euchre games in Mrs. Blodgett's smoking-room. For the most +part, I did not accompany him on these excursions, being occupied in +Liverpool with my pursuit of universal culture; yet not so much +occupied as to prevent me from feeling insolvent while he was away, +and rich as Aladdin when he got back. For his part, he struggled with +low spirits caused by anxiety lest the next mail from Portugal should +bring ill news of the beloved invalid there (instead of the cheerful +news which always did come); his real life was suspended until she +should return. Partings between persons who love each other seem to be +absolute loss of being; but that being revives, with a new spiritual +strength, when all partings are over. + +Of the people whom he met on these sallies, I saw some, either then or +later: Disraeli, Douglas Jerrold, Charles Reade, Tom Taylor, Bailey, +the author of that once-famous philosophic poem, "Festus"; Samuel +Carter Hall, and a few more. Disraeli, in 1856, had already been +chancellor of the exchequer and leader of the house, and was to hold +the same offices again two years later. He had written all but two of +his novels, and had married the excellent but not outwardly attractive +lady who did so much to sustain him in his career. At a dinner of +persons eminent in political life, about this juncture, Mr. and Mrs. +Disraeli were present, and also Bernal Osborne, a personage more +remarkable for cleverness and aggressiveness, in the things of +statesmanship, than for political loyalty or for a sense of his +obligations to his associates. This gentleman had drunk a good deal +of wine at dinner, and had sat next to Mrs. Disraeli; when the ladies +had left the table he burst out, with that British brutality which +often passes for wit, "I say, Disraeli, what on earth did you marry +that woman for?" All talk was hushed by this astounding query, and +everybody looked at the sallow and grim figure to whom it was +addressed. Disraeli for some moments played with his wineglass, +apparently unmoved; then he slowly lifted his extraordinary black, +glittering eyes to those of his questioner. "Partly for a reason," he +said, measuring his words in the silence, "which you will never be +capable of understanding--gratitude!" The answer meant much for both +of them; it was never forgotten, and it extinguished the clever and +aggressive personage. It was ill crossing swords with Disraeli. + +Douglas Jerrold was at the height of his fame and success in this +year; he died, I think, the year following, at the age of fifty-four. +He was very popular during his later lifetime, but he seems to have +just missed those qualities of the humorist which insure immortality; +he is little more than a name to this generation. He was the son of an +actor, and had himself been on the stage; indeed, he had tried several +things, including a short service as midshipman in his Majesty's navy. +He wrote some two-score plays, and was a contributor to Punch from its +outset; there are several books to his credit; and he edited Lloyd's +Weekly Newspaper, which was first called by his own name. But people +who have read or heard of nothing else of his, have heard of or read +"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures." Douglas Jerrold, however, is by no +means fully pictured by anything which he wrote; his charm and +qualities came out in personal intercourse. Nor does the mere +quotation of his brightnesses do him justice; you had to hear and see +him say them in order to understand them or him. He was rather a short +man, with a short neck and thick shoulders, much bent, and thick, +black hair, turning gray. His features were striking and pleasing; he +had large, clear, prominent, expressive black eyes, and in these eyes, +and in his whimsical, sensitive mouth, he lived and uttered himself. +They took all the bitterness and sting out of whatever he might say. +When he was about to launch one of his witticisms, he fixed his eyes +intently on his interlocutor, as if to call his attention to the good +thing coming, and to ask his enjoyment of it, quite apart from such +application to himself as it might have. It was impossible to meet +this look and to resent whatever might go with it. Thus a friend of +his, who wished to write telling books but could not quite do it, came +to him in haste one day and exclaimed, aggrievedly, "Look here, +Douglas, is this true that was told me--that you said my last book was +the worst I'd ever written?" Douglas gazed earnestly into the flushed +and troubled face, and said, in his softest tones, "Oh no, my dear +fellow, that isn't what I said at all; what I did say was that it was +the worst book anybody ever wrote." Such a retort, so delivered, could +not but placate even an outraged author. + +Of Charles Reade my father saw little, and was not impressed by what +he saw; but Reade, writing of him to my sister Una, five-and-twenty +years after, said, "Your father had the most magnificent eye that I +ever saw in a human head." Reade was just past forty at the time he +met my father, and had just published _It Is Never Too Late to +Mend_--the first of his great series of reform novels. Christie +Johnstone and Peg Woffington were very clever, and written with +immense vigor and keenness, but did not give the measure of the man. I +doubt if my father had as yet read any of them; but later he was very +fond of Reade's writings. Certainly he could not but have been moved +by The Cloister and the Hearth, the greatest and most beautiful of all +historical novels. He saw in him only a tall, athletic, light-haired +man with blue eyes. I was more fortunate. I not only came to know +Reade in 1879, but also knew several persons who knew him intimately +and loved and admired him prodigiously; they were all in one story +about him. He was then still tall and athletic, but his wavy hair and +beard were gray; his face was one of the most sensitive men's faces I +ever saw, and his forehead was straight and fine, full of observation +and humor; his eyes were by turns tender and sparkling. There was a +great deal of the feminine in Reade, together with his robust and +aggressive masculinity. The fault of his head was its lack of depth; +there was not much distance from the ear to the nostril, and the +backhead was deficient. It was high above. There was a discord or +incongruity in his nature, which made his life not what could be +called a happy one. He had the impulses of the radical and reformer, +but not the iron or the impassivity which would have enabled him to +endure unmoved the attacks of conservatism and ignorance. He kicked +against the pricks and suffered for it. He was passionate, impatient, +and extreme; but what a lovely, irresistible genius! He was never a +society figure, and withdrew more and more from personal contact with +people; but he kept up to the last the ardor of his attack upon the +abuses of civilization--or what he deemed to be such. He fell into +some errors, but they were as nothing to the good he effected even in +external conditions; and the happiness and benefit he brought to tens +of thousands of readers by the fire, pathos, fun, sweetness, +and--dramatic animation of his stories, and by the nobility and +lovableness of many of the characters drawn in them, are immeasurable, +and will touch us and abide with us again when the welter of the +present transition state has passed. His devotion to the drama injured +his style as a novelist, and also led him to adopt a sort of staccato +manner of construction and statement which sometimes makes us smile. +But upon the ground proper to his genius Reade had no rival. A true +and full biography of him, by a man bold enough and broad enough to +write it, would be a stirring book. + +Bailey, the amiable mystical poet, whom my father mildly liked, was +another man my glimpses of whom came at a date much later than this. +He was a small, placid, gently beaming little philosopher, with a +large beard and an oval brow, and though he wrote several things +besides "Festus," they never detached themselves in the public mind +from the general theme of that production. Bailey himself seemed +finally to have recognized this, and he spent his later years (he +lived to a great age) in issuing continually fresh editions of his +book, with expansions and later thoughts, until it got to be a sort of +philosophical library in itself. He appeared in society in order to +give his admirers opportunity to offer up their grateful homage, and +to settle for them all questions relative to the meaning of man and of +religion. No misgivings troubled him; his smile was as an +unintermittent summer noonday. He was accompanied by his wife, with +whom he seemed to be, as Tennyson says, "twinned, like horse's ear and +eye." She relieved him from the embarrassing necessity of saying +illuminative and eulogistic things about himself and his great work. +The book, upon its first publication, was really read by appreciable +numbers of persons; later, I think, "Festus Bailey" came to be, to the +general mind, an amusing kind of appanage of his own work, which was +now taken as read, but ceased to have readers. How happy a little +imperviousness may make a good man! + +Tom Taylor, the dramatist, Punch contributor, and society wit, I +remember only as a pale face and a black beard. His wit had something +of a professional tang. There are many like him in club-land and +hanging about the stage; they catch up and remember all the satirical +sayings, the comicalities, and quips that they hear, and they maintain +a sort of factory for the production of puns. Their repartee explodes +like an American boy's string of toy crackers, and involves, to set it +going, no greater intellectual effort. They are not, in their first +state, less intelligent than the common run of men--rather the +contrary; but as soon as they have gone so far as to acquire a +reputation for wit, their output begins to betray that sad, +perfunctory quality which we find in wound-up music-boxes, and that +mechanical rattle makes us forget that they ever had brains. However, +Tom Taylor, with his century of plays and adaptations--among them "Our +American Cousin," which the genius of an actor, if not its own merit, +made memorable--should not be deemed unworthy of the reputation which, +in his time and place, he won. He was at his best when, stimulated by +applause and a good dinner, he portrayed persons and things with a +kind of laughable extravagance, in the mode introduced by Dickens. +Men of his ilk grow more easily in our soil than in the English, and +are much less regarded. + +Henry Stevens--"the man of libraries," as my father calls him--was a +New-Englander, born in Vermont; he took betimes to books, came abroad, +and was employed by the British Museum in getting together Americana, +and by various collectors as an agent to procure books, and in these +innocent pursuits his amiable life was passed. He had a pleasing gift +of drollery, which made his companionship acceptable at stag-parties +and in the smoking-room of the clubs, and he had also a fund of +special information on literary subjects which was often of value. I +met him in after-life--twenty-five years after--and age had not +altered him, though, perhaps, custom had somewhat staled his variety. +He was of medium stature, dark haired and bearded. With him was often +seen the egregious Mr. Pecksniff (as Samuel Carter Hall was commonly +known to his acquaintances since the publication of Martin Chuzzlewit +ten years before). Hall was a genuine comedy figure. Such oily and +voluble sanctimoniousness needed no modification to be fitted to +appear before the footlights in satirical drama. He might be called an +ingenuous hypocrite, an artless humbug, a veracious liar, so obviously +were the traits indicated innate and organic in him rather than +acquired. Dickens, after all, missed some of the finer shades of the +character; there can be little doubt that Hall was in his own private +contemplation as shining an object of moral perfection as he portrayed +himself before others. His perversity was of the spirit, not of the +letter, and thus escaped his own recognition. His indecency and +falsehood were in his soul, but not in his consciousness; so that he +paraded them at the very moment that he was claiming for himself all +that was their opposite. No one who knew him took him seriously, but +admired the ability of his performance, and so well was he understood +that he did little or no harm beyond the venting of a spite here and +there and the boring of his auditors after the absurdity of him became +tedious. Self-worshippers of the _os-rotundus_ sort are seldom +otherwise mischievous. He may be sufficiently illustrated by two +anecdotes. + +They both occurred at a dinner where I was a guest, and Bennoch sat at +the head of the table. Hall sat at Bennoch's left hand, and my place +was next to Hall's. The old gentleman--he was at this period panoplied +in the dignity of a full suit of snow-white hair, and that unctuous +solemnity and simpering self-complacency of visage and demeanor which +were inflamed rather than abated by years--began the evening by +telling in sesquipedalian language a long tale of an alleged adventure +of his with my father, which, inasmuch as there was no point to it, +need not be rehearsed here; but I noticed that Bennoch was for some +reason hugely diverted by it, and found difficulty in keeping his +hilarity within due bounds of decorum, Hall's tone being all the while +of the most earnest gravity. Later I took occasion to ask Bennoch the +secret of his mirth; was the tale a fiction? "Not a bit of it," +Bennoch replied; "it's every word of it true; but what tickled me was +that it was myself and not Hall who was in the adventure with your +father; but Hall has been telling it this way for twenty years past, +and has long since come to believe that his lie is the truth." So +ended the first lesson. + +The second was administered shortly before the company dispersed. Mr. +Hall again got the floor to deliver one of his more formal moral +homilies. "And, my dear friends--my very dear friends," he went on, +resting his finger-ends upon the table, and inclining his body +affectionately towards his auditors, "may I, as an old man--I think +the oldest of any of you here present--conclude by asking your +indulgence for an illustration from the personal experience and custom +of one who may, I think--who at least has ever striven to be, a humble +Christian gentleman--may I, my dear friends, cite this simple example +of what I have been attempting to inculcate from my own personal +practice, and that of my very dear and valued wife, Mrs. Hall? It has +for very many years been our constant habit, before seeking rest at +night, to kneel down together at our bedside, and to implore, +together, the Divine blessing upon the efforts and labors of the +foregoing day. And before offering up that petition to the Throne of +Grace, my friends "--here the orator's voice vibrated a little with +emotion--"we have ever been sedulous to ask each other, and to +question our own hearts, as to whether, during that day, some human +fellow-creature had been made better, or happier, because we had +lived. And very seldom has it happened--very seldom, indeed, my dear +friends, has it happened--that we were unable to say to ourselves, and +to each other, that, during that day, some fellow-creature, if not +more than one, had had cause for thankfulness because we had lived. +And now I will beg of you, my dear friends," added Mr. Hall, producing +his large, white pocket-handkerchief and patting his eyes with it, "to +pardon a personal allusion, made in fulness of heart and brotherly +feeling, and if there be found in it anything calculated to assist any +of you towards a right comprehension of our Christian responsibilities +towards our fellow-man, I entreat that you take it into your hearts +and bosoms, and may it be sanctified unto you. I have done." + +This report may be relied upon as substantially accurate, for the +reporter made a note of the apologue and exhortation soon afterwards. +Mrs. Hall, like her husband, was of Irish birth, and an agreeable and +clever woman. They were both born in 1800, and died, she in her +eighty-second, he in his ninetieth year. He remained the same Hall to +the very end of his long chapter, and really, if no one was the better +because he had lived, I don't know that any one was the worse, in the +long run, either; and there have been Pecksniffs of whom as much could +hardly be affirmed. There is, however, an anecdote of Hall which my +father tells, and seems to have credited; if it be true, it would +appear that once at least in his life he could hardly have implored +the Throne of Grace for a blessing on the deeds of the day. "He told +me," writes my father, "(laughing at the folly of the affair, but, +nevertheless, fully appreciating his own chivalry) how he and Charles +Lever, about ten years since, had been on the point of fighting a +duel. The quarrel was made up, however, and they parted good friends, +Lever returning to Ireland, whence Mr. Hall's challenge had summoned +him." I suspect good Mr. Hall must have once more appropriated +somebody else's adventure; it was not in the heat of youth that the +bloody-minded and unchristian episode is supposed to have occurred, +but when Mr. Hall was in his forty-seventh year. + +Durham, the sculptor, was a lifelong friend of Bennoch's, and was +often in my father's company, and he manifested a friendly feeling +towards my father's son long afterwards. He was a man of medium +height, compactly built, with slightly curling hair, and a +sympathetic, abstracted expression of countenance. He was at this time +making a bust of Queen Victoria, and he told us that it was contrary +to court etiquette for her Majesty, during these sittings, to address +herself directly to him, or, of course, for him directly to address +her; they must communicate through the medium of the lady-in-waiting. +The Queen, however, said Durham, sometimes broke through this rule, +and so did the sculptor, the democracy of art, it would seem, enabling +them to surmount the obligation to filter through the mind of a third +person all such remarks as they might wish to make to each other. +Durham also said that when the bust was nearly finished the Queen +proposed that a considerable thickness of the clay should be removed +from the model, which was done. The bust, as an ideal work, was +thereby much improved, but the likeness to her Majesty was +correspondingly diminished. Years afterwards I was talking with W. G. +Wills, the painter and dramatist, a delightful Irishman of the most +incorrigibly republican and bohemian type. He had, a little while +before, been giving lessons in painting to the Princess Louise, who +married the Marquis of Lorne, and who was, herself, exceptionally +emancipated for a royal personage. One day, said Wills (telling the +story quite innocently), the Princess was prevented from coming as +usual to his studio, and he received a message from Windsor Castle, +where the Princess and the Queen were staying, from the Queen's +secretary, commanding his presence there to give the Princess her +lesson, and to spend the night. This would be regarded by the ordinary +British subject not only as an order to be instantly and +unhesitatingly obeyed, but as a high honor and distinction. "But the +fact is," said Wills, with his easy smile, "I'd promised to be at my +friend Corkran's reception that evening, and, of course, I couldn't +think of disappointing him; there was no time to write, so I just sent +a telegram to the castle saying I was engaged." Probably English +society history does not contain a parallel to this piece of audacity, +and one would have liked to see the face of the private secretary of +her Majesty when he opened the telegram. But Wills could not be made +to recognize anything singular in the affair. + +Commenting in one of his private note-books, at this time, upon the +subject of modern sculpture in general, my father utters one of his +unregenerate opinions. "It seems to me," he says, "time to leave off +sculpturing men and women naked; such statues mean nothing, and might +as well bear one name as another; they belong to the same category as +the ideal portraits in books of beauty or in the windows of +print-shops. The art does not naturally belong to this age, and the +exercise of it, I think, had better be confined to manufacture of +marble fireplaces." As we shall see, he modified this radical view +before he left Italy; but there is some ground of truth in it, +nevertheless. + +Here is another bit of art criticism. He has been giving a detailed +description of the sitting-room in one of our lodgings, and of the +objects contained in it, evidently as a part of his general practice +to record the minor facts of English life, to serve as a background +for the English romance he hoped to write afterwards. "On the +mantle-piece," he writes, "are two little glass vases, and over it a +looking-glass (not flattering to the beholder), and above hangs a +colored view of some lake or seashore, and on each side a cheap +colored print of Prince Albert and one of Queen Victoria. And, really, +I have seen no picture, bust, or statue of her Majesty which I feel to +be so good a likeness as this cheap print. You see the whole line of +Guelphs in it--fair, blue-eyed, shallow-brained, commonplace, yet with +a simple kind of heartiness and truth that make one somewhat +good-natured towards them." + +"I must see Dickens before I leave England," he wrote, commenting upon +the various tales he heard of him from henchmen and critics; but he +never did see him, nor Thackeray either, whom he perhaps wished still +more to meet. Thackeray visited America while we were abroad; and when +Dickens came to Boston to read, my father was dead. Nor did he see +Bulwer, an apostrophe by whom he quotes: "Oh, that somebody would +invent a new sin, that I might go in for it!" Tennyson he saw, but did +not speak with him. He sat at table, on one occasion, with Macaulay, +and remarked upon the superiority over his portraits of his actual +appearance. He made the acquaintance, which ripened into friendship, +in Italy, of Robert Browning and his wife, and of Coventry Patmore, +the author of "The Angel in the House," a poem which he greatly liked. +But, upon the whole, he came in contact with the higher class of +literary men in England less than with others, whom he was less likely +to find sympathetic. + +One afternoon, when I had accompanied him to the consulate, there +entered a tall, active man, very well dressed, with black, +thick-curling hair and keen, blue eyes. He seemed under thirty years +of age, but had the self-confident manner of a man of the world, and a +great briskness of demeanor and speech. He sat down and began to tell +of his experiences; he had been all over the world, and knew +everything about the world's affairs, even the secrets of courts and +the coming movements of international politics. He was a striking, +handsome, indomitable figure, and aggressively American. When he went +away, he left with my father a book which he had written, with an +engraved portrait of the author for frontispiece. This volume, faded +and shelf-worn, but apparently unread, bound in the execrable taste of +a generation and a half ago, I recently found among my father's +volumes. It bore on the title-page the dashing signature of George +Francis Train. Train saw things in the large--in their cosmic +relations; from us he was going forth to make a fortune compared with +which that of Monte Cristo would be a trifle. He did make fortunes, I +believe; but there seems to have been in his blood a little too much +of the elixir of life--more than he could thoroughly digest. His +development was arrested, or was continued on lines which carried him +away from practical contact with that world which he believed he held +in the hollow of his hand. My father suspected his soundness; but in +1856 there seemed to be no height to which he might not rise. The +spiritual steam-engine in him, however, somehow got uncoupled from the +mass of the machinery of human affairs, and has been plying in vacua, +so to say, ever since. On the 9th of June came a telegram from +Southampton; my mother and sisters had arrived from Madeira. My father +and I left Liverpool the next day, feeling that our troubles were +over. In the afternoon we alighted at the little seaport and took a +cab to the Castle Hotel, close to the water. My father, with a face +full of light, sprang up-stairs to the room in which my mother awaited +him; I found myself with my sisters and Fannie Wrigley, the faithful +nurse and companion who had accompanied them on their travels. How +tall and mature Una was! What a big girl baby Rose had become! There +was a little strangeness between us, but great good-will; we felt that +there were a great many explanations to be made. In a few minutes I +was called up-stairs to my mother. At the first glance she seemed +smaller than formerly; her face appeared a little different from my +memory of it; I was overcome by an odd shyness. She smiled and held +out her arms; then I saw my beloved mother, and a great passion of +affection poured through me and swept me to her. I was whole again, +and indescribably happy. + +There was never such another heavenly room as that parlor in the +Castle Hotel; never another hotel so delightful, or another town to be +compared with Southampton. I was united to all I loved there, and in +my thoughts sunshine will always rest on it. + + + + +XII + + +Talked familiarly with kings and queens--Half-witted girl who giggled +all the time--It gnawed me terribly--A Scotch terrier named Towsey--A +sentiment of diplomatic etiquette--London as a physical entity--Ladies +in low-necked dresses--An elderly man like a garden-spider--Into the +bowels of the earth--The inner luminousness of genius--Isolated and +tragic situation--"Ate ever man such a morsel before!"--The great, +wild, mysterious Borrow--Her skeleton, huddled, dry, and +awful--"Ma'am, you expose yourself!"--Plane, spokeshave, gouge, and +chisel--"I-passed-the-Lightning"--Parallel-O-grams-A graduate of +Antioch--"Continual cursing"--A catastrophe--"Troubles are a sociable +sisterhood"--"In truth I was very sorry"--He had dreamed wide--awake +of these things--A friend of Emerson and Henry James--Embarked at +Folkestone for France. + +We spent our first reunited week at the Castle Hotel, which was +founded on an ancient castle wall, or part of it; traces of it were +shown to guests. The harbor lapped the sea-wall in front; the Isle of +Wight, white-ramparted, gleamed through the haze in the offing. I +suppose, during that week, we were enough employed in telling one +another our histories during our separation; and naturally that of my +mother and sisters filled the larger space. They had brought home +words and phrases in a foreign tongue, which made me feel very +ignorant; they had talked familiarly with kings and queens; they had +had exciting experiences in Madeira; they brought with them +photographs and colored prints of people and places, unlike anything +that I had seen. My mother, who was an unsurpassed narrator of events, +gave us wonderful and vivid accounts of all they had seen and done, +which I so completely assimilated that to this day I could repeat a +great deal of them; my father listened with eyes like stars (as my +mother would have said), and with a smile in the corners of his mouth. +It was glorious weather all the time, or so it seems to have been to +me. My sisters and I renewed our acquaintance, and found one another +none the worse. Nobody called on us except a Mrs. Hume, with whom a +stay of a fortnight was projected; she kept a girls' school, and, this +being vacation, she would take us as boarders. We were starved there, +as only a pinching, English, thin-bread-and-butter housekeeper can +starve people; and my sisters and I had for our playmate a half-witted +girl who was staying over the vacation, and who giggled all the time. +Mrs. Hume had aroused my enthusiasm by telling me that there were +endless sea-anemones along the coast; but Providence seemed hostile to +my sea-anemone proclivities; for it turned out that what Mrs. Hume +understood by sea-anemones was a small, white-flowering weed that grew +on the low bluff beside the water. I never told her my disappointment, +imagining that it would distress her; but it gnawed me terribly, and +she did not merit such forbearance. + +We would much better have stayed at the hotel, only that they charged +us fourteen dollars a day, which was considered exorbitant in those +days. There were seven of us, including Fanny, the nurse. What an +age, when two dollars a head was exorbitant! What Mrs. Hume charged us +I know not, but it is only just to admit that it must have been a good +deal less than one hundred dollars a week; though, again, it must not +be forgotten that translucent bread-and-butter is not expensive. We +were sent there, I suppose, in order to remind us that this was still +the world that we were living in, after all, and not yet Paradise. We +came out from her sobered and chastened, but cheerful still; and +meanwhile we visited Stonehenge and other local things of beauty or +interest. Then Mr. Bennoch (who, to tell the truth, had introduced +Mrs. Hume to us) invited us to spend a month at his house in +Blackheath, while he and his wife were making a little tour in +Germany, and we arrived at this agreeable refuge during the first half +of July. My father records that he was as happy there as he had ever +been since leaving his native land. It was a pleasant little house, in +a semi-countrified spot, and it contained, besides the usual furniture +proper to an English gentleman and his wife of moderate fortune, a +little Scotch terrier named Towsey, who commanded much of the +attention of us children, and one day inadvertently bit my thumb; and +I carry the scar, for remembrance, to this day. + +Many well-known persons passed across our stage here; and London, with +all its wonders, was at our doors, the wide expanse of its +smoke-piercing towers visible in our distance. All the while my father +kept the official part of himself at Liverpool, where his consular +duties still claimed his attention; he went and came between Mrs. +Blodgett's and Black-heath. The popularity of the incomparable +boarding-house in Duke Street had continued to increase, and he was +obliged to bestow himself in a small room at the back of the building, +which was reputed to be haunted by the spirit of one of his +predecessors in office, who had not only died in it, but had often +experienced there the terrors of delirium tremens; but the ghost, +perhaps from a sentiment of diplomatic etiquette, never showed itself +to my father. Or it may have been that the real self of him being in +Blackheath, what remained was not sufficient to be conscious of a +spiritual presence. He came and went, like sunlight on a partly +cloudy day. I recollect taking a walk over the Heath at evening with +him and the doctor who was attending my mother; Mr. Bennoch was with +us; it must have been just before he and his wife went to the +Continent. After walking some distance (the gentlemen chatting +together, and I gambolling on ahead) we came to the summit of a low +rise, from which we beheld London, flung out, all its gloomy length, +before us; and in all my thoughts of London as a physical entity the +impression then received of it returns to me. It lay vast, low, and +obscure in front of the dull red of the sunset, with dim lights +twinkling dispersedly throughout it, and the dome of St. Paul's +doubtfully defining itself above the level. There is no other general +view of London to be compared with this, seen under those conditions. +Soon after, we came to some ridges and mounds, which, said Bennoch, +marked the place where were buried the heaps of the slain of some +great prehistoric battle--one, at least, which must have taken place +while the Romans yet ruled Britain. It was a noble scene for such an +antique conflict, when man met man, foot to foot and hand to hand, +with sword and spear. My mind was full of King Arthur and his +Round-Table knights of the Pendragonship, and I doubted not that their +mightiest fight had been fought here. + +There were many walks in London itself. One day, going west along the +Strand, we found ourselves drawn into the midst of a vast crowd near +Charing Cross; some royal function was in progress. Threading our way +slowly through the press, we saw a troop of horsemen in steel +breastplates, with nodding plumes on their helmets, and drawn swords +carried upright on their thighs--the famous Horse Guards; and farther +on we began to see carriages with highly ornamental coachmen and +footmen passing in dilatory procession; within them were glimpses of +ladies in low-necked dresses, feathers in their hair, and their necks +sparkling with jewels. + +At length we turned off towards the north, and by-and-by were entering +a huge building of gray stone, with tall pillars in front of it, which +my father told me was the British Museum. What a place for a boy! +Endless halls of statues; enormous saloons filled with glass-cases of +shells; cases of innumerable birds; acres of butterflies and other +insects; strange objects which I did not understand--magic globes of +shining crystal, enormous masses of iron which were said to have +fallen from the sky; vases and jewels; and finally, at the farther end +of a corridor, a small door, softly opening, disclosed a circular room +of stupendous proportions, domed above, the curving walls filled with +myriads of books. In the centre was a circular arrangement of desks, +and in the midst of these an elderly man, like a garden-spider in his +web; but it was his duty to feed, not devour, the human flies who sat +or walked to and fro with literary meat gathered from all over the +world. It was my first vision of a great library. + +Another time we went--all of us, I think--to the Tower of London. I +vibrated with joy at the spectacle of the array of figures in armor, +and picked out, a score of times, the suit I would most gladly choose +to put on. Here were St. George, King Arthur, Sir Scudamour, Sir +Lancelot--all but their living faces and their knightly deeds! Then I +found myself immured in dungeons with walls twenty feet thick, +darksome and low-browed, with tiny windows, and some of them bearing +on their stones strange inscriptions, cut there by captives who were +nevermore to issue thence, save to the block. Here the great Raleigh +had been confined; here, the lovable, rash-tempered Essex; here, the +noble Sir Henry Vane, who had once trod the rocky coast of my own New +England. Everywhere stood on the watch or paced about the Beef-eaters +in their brilliant fifteenth-century motley. I have never since then +passed the portals of the Tower, nor seen again the incomparable gleam +of the Koh-i-noor--if it were, indeed, the Koh-i-noor that I saw, and +not a glass model foisted on my innocence. + +Again, I followed my father down many flights of steps, into the +bowels of the earth; but there were lights there, and presently we +passed through a sort of turnstile, and saw lengthening out before us +two endless open tubes, of diameter twice or thrice the height of a +man, with people walking in them, and disappearing in their +interminable perspective. We, too, entered and began to traverse them, +and after we had proceeded about half-way my father told me that the +river Thames was flowing over our heads, with its ships on its +surface, and its fishes, and its bottom of mud and gravel--under all +these this illuminated corridor, with ourselves breathing and seeing +and walking therein. Would we ever again behold the upper world and +the sky? The atmosphere was not pleasant, and I was glad to find +myself climbing up another flight of stairs and emerging on the other +side of the river, which we had crossed on foot, dry-shod. + +Of the famous personages of this epoch I did not see much; only I +remember that a woman who seemed taller than common, dressed in a dark +silk gown, and moving with a certain air of composure, as if she knew +she was right, and yet meant to be considerate of others; whose +features were plain, and whose voice had a resonance and modulation +unlike other voices, was spoken of in my hearing as bearing a name +which I had heard often, and which had a glamour for my boyish +imagination--Jenny Lind. There also rises before me the dark, +courteous visage and urbane figure of Monckton Milnes; but there was +something more and better than mere courtesy and urbanity about him; +the inner luminousness, I suppose, of what was nearly genius, and +would have been altogether that but for the swaddling-clothes of rank +and society which hampered it. My father thought him like Longfellow; +but there was an English materialism about Milnes from which the +American poet was free. Henry James told me long afterwards a comical +tale of how, being left to browse in Mimes's library one afternoon, he +strayed into an alcove of pretty and inviting volumes, in sweet +bindings, mellowed by age, and was presently terrified by the +discovery that he was enmeshed in the toils of what bibliophiles term, +I think, "Facetiae"--of which Milnes had a collection unmatched among +private book-owners. Milnes's social method was The Breakfast, which +he employed constantly, and nothing could be more agreeable--in +England; we cannot acclimate it here, because we work in the +afternoon. Of Miss Bacon, of the Bacon-wrote-Shakespeare theory, I saw +nothing, but heard much, for a time, in our family circle; my father +seemed to have little doubt of her insanity, and absolute certainty of +the despotic attitude she adopted towards her supporters, which was +far more intolerable than the rancor which she visited on those who +disregarded her monomaniacal convictions. My mother, out of pure +compassion, I believe, for the isolated and tragic situation in which +the poor woman had placed herself, tried with all her might to read +the book and believe the theory; she would take up the mass of +manuscript night after night, and wade through it with that truly +saintlike self-abnegation which characterized her, occasionally, too, +reading out a passage which struck her. The result was that she could +not bring herself to disbelieve in Shakespeare, but she conceived a +higher admiration than ever of Bacon; and that, too, was +characteristic of her. + +We made several incursions into the surrounding country. One was to +Newstead, where, from the talkative landlady of the hotel, we heard +endless stories about Byron and his wife; this was before Mrs. Harriet +Beecher Stowe published her well-intended but preposterous volume +about the poet. Then we visited Oxford, and were shown about by the +mayor of the town, and by Mr. S. C. Hall, and were at one moment +bathed in the light emanating from Lady Waldegrave, of which interview +my father, in his private note-book, speaks thus: "Lady Waldegrave +appeared; whereupon Mr. Speirs (the mayor) instantly was transfigured +and transformed--like the English snob he is, worthy man--and looked +humbler than he does in the presence of his Maker, and so respectful +and so blest that it was pleasant to behold him. Nevertheless, she is +but a brummagem kind of countess, after all, being the daughter of +Braham, the famous singer, and married first to an illegitimate son of +an Earl Waldegrave--not to the legitimate son and possessor of the +title (who was her first love)--and after the death of these two to +the present old Mr. Harcourt. She is still in her summer, even if it +be waning, a lady of fresh complexion and light hair, a Jewish nose +(to which her descent entitles her), a kind and generous expression of +face, but an officer-like figure and bearing. There seems to be a +peculiarity of manner, a lack of simplicity, a self-consciousness, +which I suspect would not have been seen in a lady born to the rank +which she has attained. But, anyhow, she was kind to all of us, and +complimentary to me, and she showed us some curious things which had +formerly made part of Horace Walpole's collection at Twickenham--a +missal, for instance, splendidly bound and beset with jewels, but of +such value as no setting could increase, for it was exquisitely +illuminated by the own hand of Raphael himself! I held the precious +volume in my grasp, though I fancy (and so does my wife) that the +countess scarcely thought it safe out of her own hands. In truth, I +suppose any virtuoso would steal it if he could; and Lady Waldegrave +has reason to look to the safe-keeping of her treasures, as she +exemplified by telling us a story while exhibiting a little silver +case. This once contained a portion of the heart of Louis XII. (how +the devil it was got I know not), and she was showing it one day to +Strickland, Dean of Westminster, when, to her horror and astonishment, +she saw him open the case and swallow the royal heart! Ate ever man +such a morsel before! It was a symptom of insanity in the dean, and I +believe he is since dead, insane." It was after this interview with +the countess that we visited Old Boston, and when my parents told old +Mr. Porter about the missal his jolly eyes took on a far-away +expression, as if he saw himself in the delightful act of purloining +it, "in obedience to a higher law than that which he broke." + +The man who, of all writing men, was nearest to my heart in those +years, and long after, was George Borrow, whose book, Lavengro, I had +already begun to read. The publication of this work had made him +famous, though he had written two or three volumes before that, and +was at this very time bringing out its sequel, Romany Rye. But Borrow +was never a hanger-on of British society, and we never saw him. One +day, however, Mr. Martineau turned up, and, the conversation chancing +to turn on Borrow, he said that he and George had been school-mates, +and that the latter's gypsy proclivities had given him a singular +influence over other boys. Finally, he had persuaded half a dozen of +them to run away from the school and lead a life of freedom and +adventure on the roads and lanes of England. To this part of Mr. +Martineau's tale I lent an eager and sympathetic ear; bat the narrator +was lowered in my estimation by the confession that he himself had not +been a member of Borrow's party. He went on to say that the fugitives +had been pursued and captured and brought back to bondage; and upon +Borrow's admitting that he had been the instigator of the adventure, +he was sentenced to be flogged, and that it was on the back of this +very Martineau that he had been "horsed" to undergo the punishment! +Imagine the great, wild, mysterious Borrow mounted upon the ascetic +and precise cleric that was to be, and the pedagogue laying on! My +father asked concerning the accuracy of some of Borrow's statements in +his books, to which Martineau replied that he could not be entirely +depended on; not that he meant to mislead or misrepresent, but his +imagination, or some eccentricity in his mental equipment, caused him +occasionally to depart from literal fact. Very possibly; but Borrow's +imagination brought him much nearer to essential truth than adherence +to what they supposed to be literal facts could bring most men. + +One of the most interesting expeditions of this epoch--though I cannot +fix the exact date--was to an old English country-seat, built in the +time of Henry VIII., or earlier, and added to from age to age since +then, until now it presented an irregularity and incongruousness of +plan which rendered it an interminable maze of delight to us children +wandering through it. We were taken in charge by the children of the +family, of whom there were no fewer than fourteen, all boys, with only +twelve years between the eldest and the youngest (some of them being +twins). Hide-and-seek at once suggested itself as the proper game for +the circumstances, but no set game was needed; the house itself was +Hide-and-seek House; you could not go twenty feet without getting +lost, and the walls of many of the rooms had sliding panels, and +passages through the thickness of them, and even staircases, so that +when one of us went into a room there was no predicting where he would +come out. Finally they brought us to a black, oaken door with a great, +black lock on it, and bolts at the top and bottom; it was near the end +of a corridor, in the oldest wing of the building. The door, in +addition to its native massiveness, was studded with great nails, and +there were bands of iron or steel crossing it horizontally. When we +proposed to enter, our friends informed us that this door had been +closed one hundred and eighty years before and had never been opened +since then, and that it had shut in a young woman who, for some +reason, had become very objectionable or dangerous to other persons +concerned. The windows of the room, they added, had been walled up at +the same time; so there this unhappy creature slowly starved to death +in pitch darkness. There, doubtless, within a few feet of where we +stood, lay her skeleton, huddled, dry, and awful in the garments she +wore in life. Sometimes, too, by listening long at the key-hole, you +could hear a faint sound, like a human groan; but it was probably +merely the sigh of the draught through the aperture. This story so +horrified me and froze my young blood that the fancies of Mrs. +Radcliffe and Edgar Allan Poe seemed like frivolous chatter beside it. + +About the middle of September the Bennochs returned from the +Continent, and we made ready to transfer ourselves to the lodgings in +Southport which had been prepared for us. Bennoch, who was soon to +meet with the crucial calamity of his career, was in abounding +spirits, and he told my father an anecdote of our friend Grace +Greenwood, which is recorded in one of the private note-books. +"Grace, Bennoch says," he writes, "was invited to a private reading of +Shakespeare by Charles Kemble, and she thought it behooved her to +manifest her good taste and depth of feeling by going into hysterics +and finally fainting away upon the floor. Hereupon Charles Kemble +looked up from his book and addressed himself to her sternly and +severely. 'Ma'am,' said he, 'this won't do! Ma'am, you disturb the +company! Ma'am, you expose yourself!'" + +This last hit had the desired effect, for poor Grace probably thought +that her drapery had not adjusted itself as it ought, and that perhaps +she was really exposing more of her charms than were good to be +imparted to a mixed company. So she came to herself in a hurry, and, +after a few flutterings, subsided into a decorous listener. Bennoch +says he had this story from an eye-witness, and that he fully believes +it; and I think it not impossible that, betwixt downright humbug and a +morbid exaggeration of her own emotions, Grace may have been betrayed +into this awful fix. I wonder how she survived it! + +At Southport we remained from the middle of September to the following +July, 1857. In addition to my aquarium, I was deeply involved in the +ship-building industry, and, the more efficiently to carry out my +designs, was apprenticed to a carpenter, an elderly, shirt-sleeved, +gray-bearded man, who under a stern aspect concealed a warm and +companionable heart. There were boys at the beach who had little +models of cutters and yachts, and I conceived the project of making a +sail-boat for myself. My father seems to have thought that some +practical acquaintance with the use of carpenter's tools would do me +no harm--by adding a knowledge of a handicraft to my other culture--so +he arranged with Mr. Chubbuck that I should attend his work-shop for +instruction. Mr. Chubbuck, accordingly, gave me thorough lessons in +the mysteries of the plane, the spokeshave, the gouge, and the chisel, +and finally presented me with a block of white pine eighteen inches +long and nine wide, and I set to work on my sloop. He oversaw my +labors, but conscientiously abstained from taking a hand in them +himself; the model gradually took shape, and there began to appear a +bluff-bowed, broad-beamed craft, a good deal resembling the French +fishing-boats which I afterwards saw off the harbors of Calais and +Havre. The outside form being done, I entered upon the delightful and +exciting work of hollowing it out with the gouge, narrowly avoiding, +more than once, piercing through from the hold into the outer world. +But the little ship became more buoyant every day, and finally stood +ready for her deck. This I prepared by planing down a bit of plank to +the proper thickness--or thinness--and carefully fitted it into its +place, with companionways fore and aft, covered with hatches made to +slide in grooves. Next, with chisel, spoke-shave, and sand-paper, I +prepared the mast and fitted a top-mast to it, and secured it in its +place with shrouds and stays of fine, waxed fishing-line. The boom +and gaff were then put in place, and Fanny Wrigley (who had aforetime +made my pasteboard armor and helmet) now made me a main-sail, +top-sail, and jib out of the most delicate linen, beautifully hemmed, +and a tiny American flag to hoist to the peak. It only remained to +paint her; I was provided with three delectable cans of oil-paint, and +I gave her a bright-green under-body, a black upper-body, and white +port-holes with a narrow red line running underneath them. Thus +decorated, and with her sails set, she was a splendid object, and the +boys with bought models were depressed with envy, especially when I +called their attention to the stars and stripes. This boat-building +mania of mine had originated while we were at Mrs. Blodgett's, where +the captain of one of the clippers gave me a beautiful model of his +own ship, fully rigged, and perfect in every detail; only it would not +sail, being solid. Concerning his clipper, by-the-way, I once +overheard a bit of dialogue in Mrs. Blodgett's smoking-room between my +captain and another. "Do you mean to say," demanded the latter, "that +you passed the Lightning?" To which my captain replied, in measured +and impressive tones, "I-passed-the-Lightning!" The Lightning, it may +be remarked, was at that time considered the queen of the Atlantic +passage; she had made the trip between Boston and Liverpool in ten +days. But my captain had once shown her his heels, nevertheless. I +wanted to christen my sloop The Sea Eagle, but my father laughed so +much at this name that I gave it up; he suggested The Chub, The +Mud-Pout, and other ignoble titles, which I indignantly rejected, and +what her name finally was I have forgotten. She afforded me immense +happiness. + +At Southport we had a queer little governess, Miss Brown, who came to +us highly recommended both as to her personal character and for +ability to instruct us in arithmetic and geometry, geography, English +composition, and the rudiments of French. She was barely five feet in +height, and as thin and dry as an insect; and although her personal +character came up to any eulogium that could be pronounced upon it, +her ignorance of the "branches" specified was, if possible, greater +than our own. She was particularly perplexed by geometry; she aroused +our hilarity by always calling a parallelogram a parallel-O-gram, with +a strong emphasis on the penultimate syllable; and she spent several +days repeating over to herself, with a mystified countenance, the +famous words, "The square of the hypothenuse is equal to the sum of +the squares of the two legs." What were legs of a triangle, and how, +if there were any, could they be square? She never solved this enigma; +and although we liked little Miss Brown very much, she speedily lost +all shadow of control over us; we treated her as a sort of inferior +sister, and would never be serious. "English governess" became for us +a synonym for an amiable little nonentity who knew nothing; and I was +surprised to learn, later, from the early works of Miss Rhoda +Broughton, that they could be beautiful and intelligent. Miss Brown +did not outlast our residence in Southport. + +From Southport we removed to Manchester, and thence, after exhausting +the exposition, to Leamington, where we spent September and October of +1857. We expected to proceed direct from Leamington to France and +Italy, but we were destined to be delayed in London till January of +1858. + +It was in Leamington that we were joined by Ada Shepard. She was a +graduate of Antioch, a men-and-women's college in Ohio, renowned in +its day, when all manner of improvements in the human race were +anticipated from educating the sexes together. Miss Shepard had got a +very thorough education there, so that she knew as much as a +professor, including--what would be of especial service to us--a +knowledge of most of the modern European languages. What seemed, no +doubt, of even more importance to her was her betrothal to her +classmate, Henry Clay Badger; they were to be married on her return to +America. Meanwhile, as a matter of mutual convenience (which rapidly +became mutual pleasure), she was to act as governess of us children +and accompany our travels. Ada (as my father and mother presently +called her) was then about twenty-two years old; she had injured her +constitution--never robust--by addiction to learning, and had +incidentally imbibed from the atmosphere of Antioch all the +women's-rights fads and other advanced opinions of the day. These, +however, affected mainly the region of her intellect; in her nature +she was a simple, affectionate, straightforward American maiden, with +the little weaknesses and foibles appertaining to that estate; and it +was curious to observe the frequent conflicts between these +spontaneous characteristics and her determination to live up to her +acquired views. But she was fresh-hearted and happy then, full of +interest in the wonders and beauties of the Old World; she wrote, +weekly, long, criss-crossed letters, in a running hand, home to +"Clay," the king of men; and periodically received, with an +illuminated countenance, thick letters with an American foreign +postage-stamp on them, which she would shut herself into her chamber +to devour in secret. She was a little over the medium height, with a +blue-eyed face, not beautiful, but gentle and expressive, and wearing +her flaxen hair in long curls on each side of her pale cheeks. She +entered upon her duties as governess with energy and good-will, and we +soon found that an American governess was a very different thing from +an English one (barring the Rhoda Broughton sort). Her special aim at +present was to bring us forward in the French and Italian languages. +We had already, in Manchester, made some acquaintance with the books +of the celebrated Ollendorff; and my father, who knew Latin well, had +taught me something of Latin grammar, which aided me in my Italian +studies. I liked Latin, particularly as he taught it to me, and it +probably amused him, though it must also often have tried his patience +to teach me. I had a certain aptitude for the spirit of the language, +but was much too prone to leap at conclusions in my translations. I +did not like to look out words in the lexicon, and the result was +sometimes queer. Thus, there was a sentence in some Latin author +describing the manner in which the Scythians were wont to perform +their journeys; relays of fresh horses would be provided at fixed +intervals, and thus they were enabled to traverse immense distances at +full speed. The words used were, I think, as follows: "Itaque +conficiunt iter continuo cursu." When I translated these, "So they +came to the end of their journey with continual cursing," I was +astonished to see my father burst into inextinguishable laughter, +falling back in his chair and throwing up his feet in the ebullience +of his mirth. I heard a good deal of that "continual cursing" for some +years after, and I believe the incident prompted me to pay stricter +attention to the dictionary than I might otherwise have done. + +However, what with Ollendorff and Miss Shepard, we regarded ourselves, +by the time we were ready to set out for the Continent, as being in +fair condition to ask about trains and to order dinner. My mother, +indeed, had from her youth spoken French and Spanish fluently, but not +Italian; my father, though he read these languages easily enough, +never attained any proficiency in talking them. After he had wound up +his consular affairs, about the first week in October, we left +Leamington and took the train for a few days in London, stopping at +lodgings in Great Russell Street, close to the British Museum. + +We were first delayed by friendly concern for the catastrophe which at +this moment befell Mr. Bennoch. He was a wholesale silk merchant, but +his literary and social tendencies had probably led him to trust too +much to the judgment and ability of his partners; at all events, on +his return from Germany he had found the affairs of his establishment +much involved, and he was now gazetted a bankrupt. In the England of +those days bankruptcy was no joke, still less the avenue to fortune +which it is sometimes thought to be in other countries; and a man who +had built up his business during twenty years by conscientious and +honorable work, and who was sensitively proud of his commercial honor, +was for a time almost overwhelmed by the disaster. My father felt the +most tender sympathy and grief for him, and we were additionally +depressed by a report, circumstantially detailed (but which proved to +be unfounded), that Mrs. Bennoch had died in childbirth--they had +never had children. "Troubles," commented my father "(as I myself +have experienced, and many others before me), are a sociable +sisterhood; they love to come hand-in-hand, or sometimes, even, to +come side by side, with long-looked-for and hoped-for good-fortune." +He was doubtless thinking of that dark and bright period when his +mother lay dying in his house in Salem and The Scarlet Letter was +waiting to be born. + +A few days later he went by appointment to Bennoch's office in Wood +Street, Cheapside, and I will quote the account of that interview for +the light it casts on the characters of the two friends: + +"When I inquired for Bennoch, in the warehouse where two or three +clerks seemed to be taking account of stock, a boy asked me to write +my name on a slip of paper, and took it into his peculiar office. Then +appeared Mr. Riggs, the junior partner, looking haggard and anxious, +poor man. He is somewhat low of stature, and slightly deformed, and I +fancied that he felt the disgrace and trouble more on that account. +But he greeted me in a friendly way, though rather awkwardly, and +asked me to sit down a little while in his own apartment, where he +left me. I sat a good while, reading an old number of Blackwood's +Magazine, a pile of which I found on the desk, together with some +well-worn ledgers and papers, that looked as if they had been pulled +out of drawers and pigeon-holes and dusty corners, and were not there +in the regular course of business. By-and-by Mr. Riggs reappeared, +and, telling me that I must lunch with them, conducted me up-stairs, +and through entries and passages where I had been more than once +before, but could not have found my way again through those extensive +premises; and everywhere the packages of silk were piled up and ranged +on shelves, in paper boxes, and otherwise--a rich stock, but which had +brought ruin with it. At last we came to that pleasant drawing-room, +hung with a picture or two, where I remember enjoying the hospitality +of the firm, with their clerks all at the table, and thinking that +this was a genuine scene of the old life of London City, when the +master used to feed his 'prentices at a patriarchal board. After all, +the room still looked cheerful enough; and there was a good fire, and +the table was laid for four. In two or three minutes Bennoch came +in--not with that broad, warm, lustrous presence that used to gladden +me in our past encounters--not with all that presence, at +least--though still he was not less than a very genial man, partially +be-dimmed. He looked paler, it seemed to me, thinner, and rather +smaller, but nevertheless he smiled at greeting me, more brightly, I +suspect, than I smiled back at him, for in truth I was very sorry. Mr. +Twentyman, the middle partner, now came in, and appeared as much or +more depressed than his fellows in misfortune, and to bear it with a +greater degree of English incommunicativeness and reserve. But he, +too, met me hospitably, and I and these three poor ruined men sat down +to dinner--a good dinner enough, by-the-bye, and such as ruined men +need not be ashamed to eat, since they must needs eat something. It +was roast beef, and a boiled apple-pudding, and--which I was glad to +see, my heart being heavy--a decanter of sherry and another of port, +remnants of a stock which, I suppose, will not be replenished. They +ate pretty fairly, but scarcely like Englishmen, and drank a +reasonable quantity, but not as if their hearts were in it, or as if +the liquor went to their hearts and gladdened them. I gathered from +them a strong idea of what commercial failure means to English +merchants--utter ruin, present and prospective, and obliterating all +the successful past; how little chance they have of ever getting up +again; how they feel that they must plod heavily onward under a burden +of disgrace--poor men and hopeless men and men forever ashamed. I +doubt whether any future prosperity (which is unlikely enough to come +to them) could ever compensate them for this misfortune, or make them, +to their own consciousness, the men they were. They will be like a +woman who has once lost her chastity: no after-life of virtue will +take out the stain. It is not so in America, nor ought it to be so +here; but they said themselves they would never again have put +unreserved confidence in a man who had been bankrupt, and they could +not but apply the same severe rule to their own case. I was touched by +nothing more than by their sorrowful patience, without any fierceness +against Providence or against mankind, or disposition to find fault +with anything but their own imprudence; and there was a simple +dignity, too, in their not assuming the aspect of stoicism. I could +really have shed tears for them, to see how like men and Christians +they let the tears come to their own eyes. This is the true way to do; +a man ought not to be too proud to let his eyes be moistened in the +presence of God and of a friend. They talked of some little +annoyances, half laughingly. Bennoch has been dunned for his gas-bill +at Blackheath (only a pound or two) and has paid it. Mr. Twentyman +seems to have received an insulting message from some creditor. Mr. +Riggs spoke of wanting a little money to pay for some boots. It was +very sad, indeed, to see these men of uncommon energy and ability, all +now so helpless, and, from managing great enterprises, involving vast +expenditures, reduced almost to reckon the silver in their pockets. +Bennoch and I sat by the fireside a little while after his partners +had left the room, and then he told me that he blamed himself, as +holding the principal position in the firm, for not having exercised a +stronger controlling influence over their operations. The two other +men had recently gone into speculations, of the extent of which he had +not been fully aware, and he found the liabilities of the firm very +much greater than he had expected. He said this without bitterness, +and said it not to the world, but only to a friend. I am exceedingly +sorry for him; it is such a changed life that he must lead hereafter, +and with none of the objects before him which he might heretofore have +hoped to grasp. No doubt he was ambitious of civic, and even of +broader public distinction; and not unreasonably so, having the gift +of ready and impressive speech, and a behavior among men that wins +them, and a tact in the management of affairs, and many-sided and +never-tiring activity. To be a member of Parliament--to be lord +mayor--whatever an eminent merchant of the world's metropolis may +be--beyond question he had dreamed wide-awake of these things. And now +fate itself could hardly accomplish them, if ever so favorably +inclined. He has to begin life over again, as he began it twenty-five +years ago, only under infinite disadvantages, and with so much of his +working-day gone forever. + +"At parting, I spoke of his going to America; but he appeared to think +that there would be little hope for him there. Indeed, I should be +loath to see him transplanted thither myself, away from the warm, +cheerful, juicy English life into our drier and less genial sphere; he +is a good guest among us, but might not do well to live with us." + +Bennoch was never lord mayor or member of Parliament; I do not know +that he cared to be either; but he lived to repay all his creditors +with interest, and to become once more a man in easy circumstances, +honored and trusted as well as loved by all who knew him, and active +and happy in all good works to the end of his days. There could be no +keeping down such a man, even in England; and when I knew him, in +after years, he was the Bennoch of yore, grown mellow and wise. + +We were now ready for the Continent, when symptoms of some malady +began to manifest themselves among the younger persons of the family, +which presently culminated in an attack of the measles. It was six +weeks before we were in condition to take the road again. Meanwhile we +were professionally attended by Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, a +homoeopathist, a friend of Emerson and of Henry James the elder, a +student of Swedenborg, and, at this particular juncture, interested in +spiritualism. In a biography of my father and mother, which I +published in 1884, I alluded to this latter circumstance, and some +time afterwards I received from his wife a letter which I take this +opportunity to print: + +"4 FINCHLEY ROAD, N. W., June 19, 1885. + +"DEAR SIR,--May I beg of you in any future edition of the Life of your +father to leave out your passage upon my husband and spiritualism? He +is utterly opposed to it now. On Mr. Home's first appearance in +England very remarkable things did occur; but from the first I was a +most decided opponent, and by my firmness I have kept all I know and +love from having anything to do with it for at least thirty-five +years. You may imagine, therefore, I feel hurt at seeing so +spiritually minded a man as my husband really is to be mixed up with +so evil a thing as spiritism. You will pardon a faithful wife her just +appreciation of his character. One other author took the liberty of +using his name in a similar way, and I wrote to him also. Believe me, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"E. A. WILKINSON." + +The good doctor and his wife are now, I believe, both of them in the +world where good spirits go, and no doubt they have long ere this +found out all about the rights and wrongs of spiritism and other +matters, but there is no doubt that at the time of my father's +acquaintance with him the doctor was a very earnest supporter of the +cult. He was a man of mark and of brains and of most lovable personal +quality; he wrote books well worth deep study; Emerson speaks of "the +long Atlantic roll" of their style. Henry James named his third son +after him--the gentle and brave "Wilkie" James, who was my school-mate +at Sanborn's school in Concord after our return to America, and who +was wounded in the fight at Fort Fisher while leading his negro +soldiers to the assault. But for the present, Dr. Wilkinson, so far +as we children knew him, was a delightful and impressive physician, +who helped us through our measles in masterly style, under all the +disadvantages of a foggy London winter. + +On the 5th of January, 1858--we were ready to start the next +day--Bennoch came to take tea with us and bid us farewell. "He keeps +up a manly front," writes my father, "and an aspect of cheerfulness, +though it is easy to see that he is a very different man from the +joyous one whom I knew a few months since; and whatever may be his +future fortune, he will never get all the sunshine back again. There +is a more determinate shadow on him now, I think, than immediately +after his misfortunes; the old, equable truth weighs down upon him, +and makes him sensible that the good days of his life have probably +all been enjoyed, and that the rest is likely to be endurance, not +enjoyment. His temper is still sweet and warm, yet, I half fancy, not +wholly unacidulated by his troubles--but now I have written it, I +decide that it is not so, and blame myself for surmising it. But it +seems most unnatural that so buoyant and expansive a character should +have fallen into the helplessness of commercial misfortune; it is most +grievous to hear his manly and cheerful allusions to it, and even his +jokes upon it; as, for example, when we suggested how pleasant it +would be to have him accompany us to Paris, and he jestingly spoke of +the personal restraint under which he now lived. On his departure, +Julian and I walked a good way down Oxford Street and Holborn with +him, and I took leave of him with the truest wishes for his welfare." + +The next day we embarked at Folkestone for France, and our new life +began. + + + + +XIII + + +Old-Homesickness--The Ideal and the Real--A beautiful but perilous +woman with a past--The Garden of Eden a Montreal ice-palace--Confused +mountain of family luggage--Poplars for lances--Miraculous crimson +comforters--Rivers of human gore--Curling mustachios and nothing to +do--Odd behavior of grown people--Venus, the populace, and the +MacDaniels--The happiness to die in Paris--Lived alone with her +constellations--"O'Brien's Belt"--A hotel of peregrinations--Sitting +up late--Attempted assassination--My murderer--An old passion +reawakened--Italian shells and mediaeval sea-anemones--If you were in +the Garden of Eden--An umbrella full of napoleons--Was Byron an +Esquimau? + + + +No doubt my father had grown fond of England during his four years' +residence there. Except for its profits he had not, indeed, liked the +consular work; but even that had given zest to his several excursions +from it, which were in themselves edifying and enjoyable. The glamour +of tradition, too, had wrought upon him, and he had made friends and +formed associations. Such influences, outwardly gentle and unexacting, +take deeper hold of the soul than we are at the time aware. They show +their strength only when we test them by removing ourselves from their +physical sphere. + +Accordingly, though he looked forward with pleasure to leaving England +for the Continent, he was no sooner on the farther side of the narrow +seas than he began to be conscious of discomfort, which was only +partly bodily or sensible. An unacknowledged homesickness afflicted +him--an Old-Homesickness, rather than a yearning for America. He may +have imagined that it was America that he wanted, but, when at last we +returned there, he still looked back towards England. As an ideal, +America was still, and always, foremost in his heart; and his death +was hastened partly by his misgiving, caused by the civil war, lest +her best days were past. But something there was in England that +touched a deep, kindred chord in him which responded to nothing else. +America might be his ideal home, but his real home was England, and +thus he found himself, in the end, with no home at all outside of the +boundaries of his domestic circle. A subconscious perception of this +predicament, combined with his gradually failing health, led him to +say, in a moment of frank self-communion, "Since this earthly life is +to come to an end, I do not try to be contented, but weary of it while +it lasts." + +It is true that Rome, vehemently as at first he rebelled against it, +came at last to hold a power over him. Rome, if you give it +opportunity, subtly fastens its grasp upon both brain and heart, and +claims sympathies which are as undeniable as our human nature itself. +Yet there is something morbid in our love for the mystic city, like a +passion for some beautiful but perilous woman with a past--such as +Miriam in The Marble Faun, for example. Only an exceptionally +vigorous and healthy constitution can risk it without danger. Had my +father visited Rome in his young manhood, he might have both cared for +it less and in a sense have enjoyed it more than he did during these +latter years of his life. + +But from the time we left London, and, indeed, a little before that, +he was never quite himself physically. Our departure was made at the +most inclement moment of a winter season of unusual inclemency; they +said (as they always do) that no weather to be compared with it had +been known for twenty years. We got up before dawn in London, and +after a dismal ride in the train to Folkestone, where the bitter waves +of the English Channel left edgings of ice on the shingle beach where +I went to pick up shells, we were frost-bitten all our two-hours +passage across to Boulogne, where it became cold in dead earnest, and +so continued all through Paris, Lyons, and Marseilles, and down the +Mediterranean to Genoa and Civita Vecchia, and thence up the long, +lonely, bandit-haunted road to Rome, and in Rome, with exasperating +aggravations, right up to April, or later. My own first recollection +of St. Peter's is that I slid on the ice near one of the fountains in +the piazza of that famous edifice; and my father did the same, with a +savage satisfaction, no doubt, at thus proving that everything was +what it ought not to be. Either in London, or at some intermediate +point between that and Paris, he caught one of the heaviest colds that +ever he had; and its feverish and debilitating effects were still +perceptible in May. "And this is sunny Italy--and this is genial +Rome!" he wrathfully exclaims. It was like looking forward to the +Garden of Eden all one's life, and going to vast trouble and expense +to get there, and, on arriving, finding the renowned spot to be a sort +of Montreal ice-palace. The palaces of Rome are not naturally fitted +to be ice-palaces, and the cold feels all the colder in them by +consequence. + +But I am going too fast. The first thing my father did, after getting +on board the little Channel steamer, was to go down in the cabin and +drink a glass of brandy-and-water, hot, with sugar; and he afterwards +remarked that "this sea-passage was the only enjoyable part of the +day." But the wind cut like a scimitar, and he came on deck +occasionally only--as when I came plunging down the companion-way to +tell him, with the pride of a discoverer, that France was broad in +sight, and the sun was shining on it. "Oh!" exclaimed my mother, +looking up from her, pale discomfortableness on a sofa, with that +radiant smile of hers, and addressing poor Miss Shepard, who was still +further under the sinister influence of those historic alpine +fluctuations which have upset so many. "Oh, Ada, Julian says the sun +is shining on France!" Ada never stirred. She was the most amiable and +philosophic of young ladies; but if thought could visit her reeling +brain at that moment, she probably wondered why Providence had been so +inconsiderate as to sever Britain from its Gallic base in those old +geologic periods before man was yet born to sea-sickness. + +Sunshine on the pale, smooth acclivities of France, and half a dozen +bluff-bowed fishing-boats, pitching to the swell, were all that was +notable on our trip across; and of Boulogne I remember nothing, except +the confused mountain of the family luggage on the pier, and +afterwards of its being fed into the baggage-car of the train. +Ollendorff abandoned me thus early in my travels; nor was my father +much better off. But Miss Shepard, now restored to life, made amends +for her late incompetence by discoursing with excited French officials +with what seemed to me preternatural intelligence; indeed, I half +doubted whether there were not some conspiracy to deceive in that +torrent of outlandish sounds which she and they were so rapidly +pouring forth to one another. However, all turned out well, and there +we were, in a compartment of a French railway-train, smelling of stale +tobacco, with ineffective zinc foot-warmers, and an increasing veil of +white frost on the window-panes, which my sisters and myself spent our +time in trying to rub off that France might become visible. But the +white web was spun again as fast as we dissipated it, and nothing was +to be seen, at all events, but long processions of poplars, which +interested me only because I imagined myself using them as lances in +some romantic Spenserian adventure of knight-errantry--for the spell +of that chivalric dream still hung about me. So we came to Amiens, a +pallid, clean, chilly town, with high-shouldered houses and a tall +cathedral, and thence went on to Paris at five o'clock. It was already +dusk, and our transit to the Hotel de Louvre in crowded cabs, through +streets much unlike London, is the sum of my first impressions of the +wonderful city. + +Then, marshalled by princely yet deferential personages in rich +costumes, we proceeded up staircases and along gilded corridors to a +suite of sumptuous apartments, with many wax candles in candelabra, +which were immediately lighted by an attendant, and their lustre was +reflected from tall mirrors which panelled the rooms. The furniture +thus revealed was costly and elegant, but hardly comfortable to an +English-bred sense; the ceilings were painted, the floor rich with +glowing carpets. But the glow of color was not answered by a glow of +any other sort; a deadly chill pervaded this palatial place, which +fires, as big as one's fist, kindled in fireplaces as large as hall +bedrooms, did nothing to dissipate. Hereupon our elders had compassion +on us, and, taking from the tall, awful bedsteads certain crimson +comforters, they placed each of us in an easy-chair and tucked the +comforters in over us. These comforters, covered with crimson silk, +were of great thickness, but also of extraordinary lightness, and for +a few minutes we had no confidence in their power to thaw us. But they +were filled with swan's-down; and presently a novel and delightful +sensation--that of warmth--began to steal upon us. It steadily +increased, until in quarter of an hour there might be seen upon our +foreheads and noses, which were the only parts of us open to view, the +beads of perspiration. It was a marvellous experience. The memory of +the crimson comforters has remained with me through life; light as +sunset clouds, they accomplished the miracle of importing tropic +warmth into the circle of the frozen arctic. I think we must have been +undressed and night-gowned before this treatment; at any rate, I have +forgotten how we got to bed, but to bed we somehow got, and slept the +blessed sleep of childhood. + + +The next morning my father, apparently as an accompaniment of his +cold, was visited by a severe nosebleed; no importance was attached to +it, beyond its preventing him from going forth to superintend the +examination of our luggage at the custom-house--the mountain having +been registered through from London. This duty was, therefore, done by +Miss Shepard and my mother. The next day, at dinner, the nosebleeding +began again. "And thus," observed my father, "my blood must be +reckoned among the rivers of human gore which have been shed in Paris, +and especially in the Place de la Concorde, where the guillotines used +to stand"--and where our restaurant was. But these bleedings, which +came upon him at several junctures during his lifetime, and were +uniformly severe and prolonged, probably had a significance more +serious than was supposed. The last one occurred not many weeks before +his death, and it lasted twenty-four hours; he was never the same +afterwards. He joked about it then, as now, but there was the +forewarning of death in it. + +But that day lies still unsuspected in the future, six years away. For +the present, we were in splendid Paris, with Napoleon III. in the +Tuileries, and Baron Haussmann regnant in the stately streets. For a +week we went to and fro, admiring and--despite the cold, the +occasional icy rains, and once even a dark fog--delighted. In spirit +and in substance, nothing could be more different from London. For my +part, I enjoyed it without reservation; the cold, which depressed my +sick father, exhilarated me. For Notre Dame, the Tuileries, the +Louvre, the Madeleine, the pictures, and the statues, I cared little +or nothing; I hardly even heeded the column of the Place Vendome or +the mighty mass of the Arc de Triomphe. But the Frenchiness of it all +captivated me. The throngs in the streets were kaleidoscopic in +costume and character: priests, soldiers, gendarmes, strange figures +with turbans and other Oriental accoutrements; women gayly dressed and +wearing their dresses with an air; men with curling mustachios, and +with nothing to do, apparently, but amuse themselves; romantic artists +with soft felt hats and eccentric beards; grotesque figures of poverty +in rags and with ominous visages, such as are never seen in London; +martial music, marching regiments, with gorgeous generals on +horseback, with shining swords; church processions; wedding pageants +crowding in and out of superb churches; newspapers, shop-signs, and +chatter, all in French, even down to the babble of the small children. +And the background of this parade was always the pleasant, light-hued +buildings, the majority of them large and of a certain uniformity of +aspect, as if they had been made in co-operation, and to look pretty, +instead of independently and incongruously, as in England. These +people seemed to be all playing and prattling; nobody worked; even the +shopkeepers held holiday in their shops. Such was my boyish idea of +Paris. Napoleon had been emperor only five or six years; he had been +married to Eugenie only four or five; and, so far as one could judge +who knew nothing of political coups d'etat and crimes, he was the +right man in the right place. Moreover, the French bread was a +revelation; it tasted better than cake, and was made in loaves six +feet long; and the gingerbread, for sale on innumerable out-door +stalls, was better yet, with quite a new flavor. I ate it as I walked +about with my father. He once took a piece himself, and, said he, "I +desired never to taste any more." How odd is, sometimes, the behavior +of grown-up people! + +But even my father enjoyed the French cookery, though he was in some +doubt whether it were not a snare of the evil one to lure men to +indulgence. We dined in the banquet-hall of our hotel once or twice +only; in general we went to neighboring restaurants, where the food +was just as good, but cost less. I was always hungry, but hungrier +than ever in Paris. "I really think," wrote my father, "that Julian +would eat a whole sheep." In his debilitated state he had little +appetite either for dinners or for works of art; he looked even upon +the Venus of Milo with coldness. "It seemed," wrote he, speaking of +the weather one morning, "as if a cold, bitter, sullen agony were +interposed between each separate atom of our bodies. In all my +experience of bad atmospheres, methinks I never knew anything so +atrocious as this. England has nothing to compare with it." The "grip" +was a disease unnamed at that epoch, but I should suppose that it was +very vividly described in the above sentence. He had the grip, and +for nearly six months he saw everything through its medium. + +Besides the Venus and the populace, we saw various particular persons. +I went with my father to the bank, and saw a clerk give him a long +roll of bright gold coins, done up in blue paper; and we visited, or +were visited by, a Miss MacDaniel and her mother, two Salem women, "of +plain, New England manners and appearance," wrote my father, "and they +have been living here for nearly two years. The daughter was formerly +at Brook Farm. The mother suffered so much from seasickness on the +passage that she is afraid to return to America, and so the daughter +is kept here against her will, and without enjoyment, and, as I judge, +in narrow circumstances. It is a singular misfortune. She told me that +she had been to the Louvre but twice since her arrival, and did not +know Paris at all." This looks like a good theme for Mr. Henry James. + +We called on the American minister to Paris, Judge John Young Mason, a +simple and amiable personage. He was rubicund and stolid, and talked +like a man with a grievance; but, as my father afterwards remarked, it +was really Uncle Sam who was the aggrieved party, in being mulcted of +seventeen thousand dollars a year in order that the good old judge +should sleep after dinner in a French armchair. The judge was +anticipating being superseded in his post, but, as it turned out, was +not driven to seek second-rate employment to support himself in his +old age; he had the happiness to die in Paris the very next year. + +But the most agreeable of our meetings was with Miss Maria Mitchell, +the astronomer, who, like ourselves, was stopping a few days in Paris +on her way to Rome. She desired the protection of our company on the +journey, though, as my father remarked, she looked well able to take +care of herself. She was at this time about forty years old; born in +Nantucket; the plainest, simplest, heartiest of women, with a face +browned by the sun, of which she evidently was accustomed to see as +much as of the other stars in the heavens. Her mouth was resolute and +full of expression; but her remarkable feature was her eyes, which +were dark and powerful, and had the kindest and most magnetic look of +comradeship in them. Her dark hair was a little grizzled. She was +dressed in plain gray, and was active and energetic in her movements. +She was, as the world knows, a woman of unusual intellect and +character; but she had lived alone with her constellations, having +little contact with the world or practical knowledge of it, so that in +many respects she was still as much a child as I was, and I +immediately knew her for my friend and playmate and loved her with all +my heart. There was a charming quaintness and innocence about her, and +an immense, healthy curiosity about this new old world and its +contents. She had a great flow of native, spontaneous humor, and could +say nothing that was not juicy and poignant. She was old-fashioned, +yet full of modern impulses and tendencies; warmhearted and impulsive, +but rich in homely common-sense. Though bold as a lion, she was, +nevertheless, beset with the funniest feminine timidities and +misgivings, due mainly, I suppose, to her unfamiliarity with the ways +of the world. There was already a friendship of long standing between +her and Miss Shepard, and they did much of their sightseeing during +the coming year together, and debated between themselves over the +statues and pictures. Her talk with us children was of the fine, +countrified, racy quality which we could not resist; and in the +evenings, as we journeyed along, she told us tales of the stars and +gave us their names. On the steamer going to Genoa, one night, she +pointed out to me the constellation Orion, then riding high aloft in +glittering beauty, and I kindly communicated to my parents the +information that the three mighty stars were known to men as O'Brien's +Belt. This was added to the ball of jolly as a household word. + +[IMAGE: MARIA MITCHELL] + +Miss Mitchell's trunk was contributed to our mountain, when we set out +anew on our pilgrimage, with a result at first deplorable, for the +number of our own pieces of luggage being known and registered in the +official documents, it turned out, at our first stopping-place, that +the trunk of our new companion had been substituted for one of our +own, which, of course, was left behind. It was ultimately recovered, I +believe, but it seemed as if the entire world of French officialdom +had to be upheaved from its foundations in order to accomplish it. + +Our route lay through Lyons to Marseilles. At Lyons I remember only +the enormous hotel where we slept the first night, with corridors +wandering like interminable streets, up-stairs and down, turning +corners, extending into vistas, clean-swept, echoing, obscure, lit +only by the glimmering candle borne by our guide. We seemed to be +hours on our journey through these labyrinths; and when at last we +reached our rooms, they were so cold and so unwarmable that we were +fain to journey back again, up and down, along and athwart, marching +and countermarching past regiments of closed doors, until at length we +attained the region of the hotel dining-saloon, where it was at least +two or three degrees less cold than elsewhere. After dinner we had to +undertake a third peregrination to bed, and a fourth the next morning +to get our train. The rooms of the hotel were on a scale suited to +the length of the connecting thoroughfares, and the hotel itself stood +hard by a great, empty square with a statue in the middle of it. But +the meals were not of a corresponding amplitude. And I think it was at +the railway station of this town that the loss of the trunk was +discovered. + +The region from Lyons to Marseilles, along the valley of the Rhone, +with the lower ranges of the Alps on our left hand, was much more +picturesque than anything France had shown us hitherto. Ancient +castles crowned many of the lower acclivities; there were villages in +the vales, and presently vineyards and olive groves. The Rhone, blue +and swift as its traditions demanded, kept us close company much of +the way; the whole range of country was made for summer, and the +wintry conditions under which we saw it seemed all the more improper. +It must have been near midnight when our train rolled into the station +at Marseilles, and my pleasure in "sitting up late" had long become +stale. + +The sun shone the next morning, and, being now in the latitude of +Florence and such places, it could not help being hot, though the +shaded sides of the streets were still icy cold; and most of the +streets were so narrow that there was a great deal of shade. The +whole population seemed to be out-of-doors and collecting in the sun, +like flies, a very animated and voluble population and of a democratic +complexion; the proportion of poor folks was noticeable, and the +number of women, who seemed to camp out in the squares and +market-places, and there gossip and do their knitting, as other women +might at their firesides; but here the sun is the only fire. But a +good deal of the bustle this morning was occasioned by the news from +Paris that an attempt to assassinate Napoleon III. had been made the +day before; had we remained one day longer in Paris we might have +assisted at the spectacle. The Marseilles people seemed to take it +comfortably; nobody was very sorry that the attempt had been made, nor +very glad that it had not succeeded. It was something to talk about. +It was ten years more before the French got thoroughly used to the +nephew of his uncle and decided that he was, upon the whole, a good +thing; and soon after they lost him. And for a decade after Sedan, +chatting with the boulevardiers in Paris, they would commonly tell me +that they wished they had the empire back again. Perhaps they will +have it, some day. + +There was a great deal of filth in Marseilles streets and along her +wharves and in the corners of her many public squares; and even our +hotel, the "Angleterre," was anything but clean; it was a tall, old +rookery, from the windows of our rooms in which I looked down into an +open space between the strange, old buildings, and saw a juggler do +his marvels on a bit of carpet spread on the pavement, while a woman +handed him the implements of magic out of a very much travelled and +soiled deal-box. Later in the day, when the place was deserted, I +heedlessly flung out of the window the contents of a glass of water, +and, looking after it in its long descent, I was horrified to see +approaching a man of very savage and piratical aspect, with a terrible +black beard and a slouch hat. As luck would have it, the water struck +him full on the side of the face, probably the first time in many a +year that he had felt the impact of the liquid there. I withdrew my +head from the window in alarm, mingled with the natural joy that a boy +cannot help feeling at such a catastrophe; and by-and-by, when I felt +certain that he must have passed on, I peeped out again, but what were +my emotions at beholding him planted terribly right under the window +where he had been baptized, and staring upward with a blood-thirsty +expression. I immediately drew back again, but too late--our eyes had +met, and he had made a threatening gesture at me. I now felt that a +very serious thing had happened, and that if I ventured out upon the +streets again I should assuredly be assassinated; that it would be no +mere attempt, as in the case of the Emperor, but a pronounced success. +I did not tell my fears to any of my family--I had not, to say the +truth, informed any of them of the incident which had imperilled my +life, but I no longer felt any curiosity to see more of Marseilles, +and was sincerely thankful when I found myself, betimes next morning, +on board the Calabrese, bound for Genoa. I never saw my murderer +again, but I could make a fair likeness of him, I believe, to-day. +The trip to Genoa, and onward to Civita Vecchia, lasted two or three +days, the steamer generally pursuing her course by night and laying up +by day. + +The first morning, soon after sunrise, found us approaching the bay of +Genoa, with the sun rising over the Mediterranean on our right and +throwing its light upon the curving acclivity on which the city +stands. The water had a beautiful blue-green color and was wonderfully +clear, so that, looking down through it over the ship's side, as we +glided slowly to our moorings, I saw sea-weeds and blocks of marble +and other marine curiosities which reawakened my old passion for +aquariums. Indeed, to be candid with the reader--as is my study +throughout this narrative--nothing in Genoa the Superb itself has, I +find, remained with me so distinctly as that glimpse of the floor of +the bay through the clear sea-water. I did not care to go up into the +town and see the palaces and churches; I wanted to stay on the beach +and hunt for shells--Italian shells--and classical or mediaeval +sea-anemones. Of course, I had to go up into the town; and I saw, no +doubt, the churches and the palaces, with their rooms radiant with the +mellow brilliance of precious marbles and painted ceilings, and +statues and pictures, under the personal conduct of no less an +individual than Salvator Rosa himself--for that was the name of our +guide--and for years afterwards I never doubted that he was the +creator of the paintings which, in Rome and elsewhere, bore his +signature. I say I must have seen these things, but in memory I cannot +disentangle them from the innumerable similar objects which I beheld, +later, in other Italian cities; their soft splendor and beautiful art +could not hold their own for me beside that cool translucence of the +Mediterranean inlet, with its natural marvels dimly descried as'I bent +over the boat's side. It was for that, and not for the other, that my +heart yearned, and that became a part of me, all the more, no doubt, +that it was denied me. Our aim in the world is beauty and happiness; +but we are late in learning that they exist in the will and +imagination, and not in this or that accredited and venerable thing or +circumstance that is mechanically obtruded on our unready attention. +If you were put down in the Garden of Eden, and told that you might +stay there an hour and no more, what would you do? How would you +"improve" your time? Would you run to and fro, and visit the spot +where Adam first stood erect, and the place where he sat when he named +the animals, and the thymey bank on which he slept while Eve was +taking form from his rib, and the tree on which grew the fruit of the +knowledge of good and evil, and the precise scene of the temptation +and the fall, and the spot on which stood the altars on which Cain and +Abel offered their sacrifices, and where, presently, wrathful Cain +rose up against his brother and slew him? Would you make sure of all +these set sights in order that you might reply satisfactorily to the +cloud of interviewers awaiting you outside the Garden? Or would you +simply throw yourself down on the grass wherever the angel happened to +leave you, and try to see or to realize or to recall nothing, but +passively permit your soul to feel and experience and grow what way it +would, prompted by the inner voice and guided by the inner light, +heedless of what the interviewers were expecting and of what duty and +obligation and the unique opportunity demanded? It is worth thinking +about. It may be conceded that there is some risk to run. + +I next find myself in a coach, with four horses harnessed to it, +trundling along the road from Civita Vecchia to Rome; for of Monaco I +recall nothing, nor of Leghorn; and though we passed within sight of +Elba, I saw only a lonely island on our starboard beam. As for the +coach, it was a necessity, if we would continue our journey, for the +railroad was still in the future in 1858. The coach-road was not only +as rugged and uneasy as it had been any time during the past three +hundred years, but it was outrageously infested by banditti; and, +indeed, a robbery had taken place on it only a week or two before. For +miles and miles on end it was totally destitute of dwellings, and +those that we saw might well have been the harboring-places of +iniquity. Moreover, we were so long delayed in making our start that +it was already afternoon before we were under way, and finally one of +our horses gave out ere we were many miles advanced, compelling us to +hobble along for the remainder of the trip at reduced speed. As the +shades of evening began to fall, we saw at intervals sundry persons +lurking along the roadway, clad in long cloaks and conical hats, with +the suggestion of the barrel of a musket about them, and it is +probable that we were preserved from a tragic fate only by the +fortunate accident that we were just behind the mail-coach and might +theoretically have hailed it for help had we been attacked. Meanwhile, +my father, with ostensible pleasantry, suggested that we should hide +our gold coin (of which we carried a considerable store) in various +queer, out-of-the-way receptacles. I remember that an umbrella was +filled with a handful or two of the shining pieces, and stuck with +studied carelessness through the straps in the roof of the vehicle. +This was regarded by us children as excellent sport, though I think +there was a lingering feeling of apprehension in the bottom of my +soul. My father kept a moderate sum in napoleons in his pockets, so +that, should the worst happen, the bandits might fancy it was our all. +But then there was our mountain of luggage, incredibly strapped on the +top of the conveyance, and behind it, and no reasonable bandits, one +would suppose, could have failed to be satiated with that. However, it +was written that we were to reach Rome unscathed, albeit long after +dark, and though we did not get past the Porta del Popolo without +suffering legalized robbery on the part of the custom-house officials. +But by that time we were so weary, downcast, and chilled that +depredation and outrage could not rouse or kindle us. + +We ended, at last, in one of those refrigerator hotels to which our +travels had made us accustomed, in one of the hollow, dull, untoward +caverns of which I was presently put to bed and to sleep. "Oh, Rome, +my country, City of the Soul!" Oh, Byron, were you an Esquimau? + + + + +XIV + + +Our unpalatial palace--"Cephas Giovanni"--She and George Combe turned +out to be right--A rousing temper--Bright Titian hair--"All that's +left of him"--The pyramidal man of destiny--The thoughts of a boy are +long, long thoughts--Clausilia Bubigunia--Jabez Hogg and the +microscope--A stupendous surprise--A lifetime in fourteen months--My +father's jeremiades--"Thank Heaven, there is such a thing as +whitewash!"--"Terrible lack of variety in the old masters"--"The +brazen trollop that she is!"--Several distinct phases of +feeling--Springs of creative imagination roused--The Roman fever--A +sad book--Effects of the death-blow--The rest is silence. + +We arrived in Rome on the 17th of January, 1858, at eleven o'clock at +night. After a day or two at Spillman's Hotel, we moved into lodgings +in the Via Porta Pinciana, the Palazzo Larazani. The street extended +just below the ridge of the Pincian Hill, and was not far from the +broad flight of steps mounting upward from the Piazza d' Espagna, on +the left as you go up. In spite of its resounding name, our new +dwelling had not a palatial aspect. It was of no commanding height or +architectural pretensions; a stuccoed edifice, attached on both sides +to other edifices. The street, like other Roman streets, was narrow; +it was dirty like them, and, like them, was paved with cobble-stones. +The place had been secured for us by (I think) our friends the +Thompsons; Mr. Thompson--the same man who had painted my father's +portrait in 1853--had a studio hard by. The Thompsons had been living +in Rome for five years or more, and knew the Roman ropes. They were +very comfortable people to know; indeed, Rome to me would have been a +very different and less delightful place without them, as will +hereafter appear. The family consisted of Cephas Giovanni Thompson, +the father and artist; his wife and his two sons and one daughter. +"Cephas Giovanni," being interpreted, means plain Peter John; and it +was said (though, I believe, unjustifiably) that Peter John had been +the names originally given to Thompson by his parents at the +baptismal-font, but that his wife, who was a notable little woman, a +sister of Anna Cora Mowatt, the actress, well known in America and +England seventy years ago, had persuaded him to translate them into +Greek and Italian, as more suitable to the romantic career of an +artist of the beautiful. I fancy the story arose from the fact that +Mrs. Thompson was a woman who, it was felt, might imaginably conceive +so ambitious a project. She was small, active, entertaining, clever, +and "spunky," as the New-Englanders would have said; indeed, she had a +rousing temper, on occasion. Her husband, on the other hand, had the +mildest, wisely smiling, philosophic air, with a low, slow voice, and +a beard of patriarchal fashion and size, though as yet it was a rich +brown, with scarcely a thread of silver in it. Brown and abundant, +also, was his hair; he had steady, bright, brown eyes, and was rather +under the average height of Anglo-Saxon man. But for all this +mild-shining aspect of his, his dark eyebrows were sharply arched, or +gabled rather; and my mother, who had absorbed from her former friend, +George Combe, a faith in the betrayals of phrenology, expressed her +private persuasion that good Mr. Thompson had a temper, too. She and +George Combe turned out to be right in this instance, though I am not +going to tell the tale of how we happened to be made acquainted with +the fact. Little thunder-storms once in a while occur in human skies +as well as in the meteorological ones; and the atmosphere is +afterwards all the sweeter and softer. No people could be more good, +honest, and kind than the Thompsons. + +There was no other artist in Rome who could paint as well as Mr. +Thompson. That portrait of my father, to which reference has been +made, which now hangs in my house, looks even better, as a painting, +to-day than it did when it was fresh from his easel. Rubens could not +have laid on the colors with more solidity and with truer feeling for +the hues of life. But the trouble with Thompson was that he had never +learned how to draw correctly; and this defect appeared to some extent +in his portraits as well as in his figures. The latter were graceful, +significant, full of feeling and character; but they betrayed a +weakness of anatomical knowledge and of perspective. They had not the +conventional incorrectness of the old masters preceding Raphael, but +an incorrectness belonging personally to Thompson; it was not +excessive or conspicuous to any one, and certainly not to Thompson +himself. But his color redeemed all and made his pictures permanently +valuable. He was at this time painting a picture of Saint Peter being +visited by an angel, which was rich and beautiful; and he had some +sketches of a series based on Shakespeare's Tempest; and standing on +one side in the studio was a glowing figure of a woman in Oriental +costume, an odalisque, or some such matter, which showed that his +sympathy with life was not a restricted one. Later in our acquaintance +he fell in love with the bright Titian hair of my sister Rose, and +made a little portrait of her, which was one of his best likenesses, +apart from its admirable color; it even showed the tears in the +child's eyes, gathering there by reason of her antipathy to posing. + +Cora Thompson, the daughter, was the most good-natured and +sunny-tempered of girls; she may have been fifteen at this time; she +inherited neither the handsomeness of her father nor the sharp-edged +cleverness of her mother; but she was lovable. Of the two boys, the +younger was named Hubert; he was about ten years old, small of his +age, and not robust in make or constitution. He was, however, a smart, +rather witty youth, a little precocious, perhaps, and able to take +care of himself. Some five and twenty years after the date of which I +am now writing I was at a large political dinner in New York and was +there introduced to a Mr. Thompson, who was the commissioner of public +works, and a party boss of no small caliber and power. He was an +immense personage, physically likewise, weighing fully three hundred +pounds, and, though not apparently advanced in years, a thorough man +of the world and of municipal politics. After we had conversed for a +few minutes, I was struck by a certain expression about my +interlocutor's eyebrows that recalled long-forgotten days and things. +I remembered that his name was Thompson, and had an impression that +his initials were H. O. "Are you little Hubert Thompson?" I suddenly +demanded. "Why, of course I am--all that's left of him!" he replied, +with a laugh. So this was the boy whom, a quarter of a century before, +I could have held out at arm's-length. We talked over the old days +when we played together about the Roman streets and ruins. Nothing +more reveals the essential strangeness of human life than this meeting +after many years with persons we have formerly known intimately, who +are now so much changed in outward guise. We feel the changes to be +unreal, and yet, there they are! Grover Cleveland was being groomed +for his first Presidential term then; Hubert was one of his supporters +in New York, and he presented me to the pyramidal man of destiny. +Poor Hubert died, lamentably, not long after. He was a good and +affectionate son. He was perhaps too kind-hearted and loyal for the +political role which he enacted. + +The elder Thompson boy was called Edmund, or, in my vernacular, Eddy. +There were in his nature a gravity, depth, and sweetness which won my +heart and respect, and we became friends in that intimate and complete +way that seems possible only to boys in their early teens. For that +matter, neither of us was yet over twelve; I think Eddy was part of a +year my junior. But you must search the annals of antiquity to find +anything so solid and unalterable as was our friendship. He was the +most absolutely good boy I ever knew, but by no means goody-goody; he +had high principles, noble ambitions, strong affections, the sweetest +of tempers; his seriousness formed a healthy foil to my own more +impetuous and hazardous character. "The thoughts of a boy are long, +long thoughts"; and not in many long lifetimes could a tithe of the +splendid projects we resolved upon have been carried out. We were +together from morning till night, month after month; we walked +interminably about Rome and frequented its ruins, and wandered far out +over the Campagna and along the shores of famous Tiber. We picked up +precious antique marbles, coins, and ancient curiosities of all sorts; +we hunted for shells and butterflies and lizards; our hearts were +uplifted by the martial music of the French army bands, which were +continually resounding throughout Rome; and we admired the gleaming +swords of the officers and the sharp, punctual drill and marching of +the red-legged rank and file. We haunted the lovely Villa Borghese, +the Pincian Hill, the Villa Pamphili Doria; we knew every nook and +cranny of the Palace of the Csesars, the Baths of Caracalla, the Roman +Forum, the Coliseum, the Egerian Grove; we were familiar with every +gate that entered Rome; we drank at every fountain; we lingered +through the galleries of the Vatican and of the Capitol; we made St. +Peter's Church our refuge in inclement weather; we threaded every +street and by-way of the city; we were on friendly and confidential +terms with the custode of every treasure. And all the time we talked +about what we thought, what we felt, what we would do; there is no +looking backward in boys' confidences; they live in the instant +present and in the infinite future. Eddy and I arranged to spend one +lifetime in Central Africa, in emulation of the exploits of David +Livingstone; there, freed from all civilized burdens, we would live, +and we would run, catch the wild goat by the hair, and hurl our lances +in the sun. At another epoch of our endless lives we would enter the +army and distinguish ourselves in heroic war; we would have swords +like sunbeams and ride steeds like Bucephalus. Then, and interleaved +with all this, as it were, there was an immense life of natural +history; we would have a private museum to rival the famous ones of +nations. Eddy was especially drawn towards insects, while my own +predilection was still for conchology; and both of us spent hours +every week in classifying and arranging our respective collections, +not to speak of the time we devoted to hunting for specimens. Eddy +had a green net at the end of a stick, and became very skilful in +making his captures; and how we triumphed over a "swallow-tail," so +difficult to catch, or an unfamiliar species! Eddy had his pins and +his strips of cork, and paper boxes; and his collections certainly +were fairer to look upon, to the ordinary view, than mine; moreover, +his was the more scientific mind and the nicer sense of order. For the +display of my snail-shells I used bits of card-board and plenty of +gum-arabic; and I was affluent in "duplicates," my plan being to get a +large card and then cover it with specimens of the shell, in serried +ranks. I also called literature to my aid, and produced several little +books containing labored descriptions of my collection, couched, so +far as possible, in the stilted and formal phraseology of the +conchological works to which I had access, but with occasional +outbursts after a style of my own. Here is a chapter from one of them; +a pen-and-ink portrait of the shell is prefixed to the original essay: + +"CLAUSILIA BUBIGUNIA + +"This handsome and elegant little shell is found in mossy places, or +in old ruins, such as the Coliseum--where it is found in immense +numbers--or the Palace of the Caesars. But in Italy it is common in +any mossy ruin, in the small, moss-covered holes, where it is seen at +the farthest extremity. After a rain they always crawl out of their +places of concealment in such numbers that one would think it had been +raining clausilias. The shell, in large and fine specimens, is +five-eighths of an inch in length. The young are very small and look +like the top part of the spire of the adults. This shell is also +largest in the middle, shaped something like a grain of wheat. It has +nine whorls, marked by small white lines, which look like fine white +threads of sewing-cotton; and just below them are marks which look +like very fine and very small stitches of white cotton. The color of +the shell, down to next to the last whorl, is a brown color, but the +very last whorl is a little lighter. The shell is covered all over +with fine lines, but they need to be looked at through a +magnifying-glass, they are so fine. The lip is turning out, and very +thin; inside there are three ridges, two on the top part of the mouth, +and the other, which is very small, is below. The shell, when the +animal is out of it, is semi-transparent, and the little colomella, or +pillar, can be indistinctly seen through." + +There follows a detailed and loving description of the animal +inhabiting the shell, which I must reserve for a future edition. Of +another species of snail, Helix strigata, our learned author observes +that "This shell is, when dead, one of those which is found on the +banks of the Tiber. It is a strange circumstance that, although it is +a land shell, it should be found more on the banks of a river than +anywhere else, and also only on the banks of the Tiber, for it is not +found on the banks of any other river. Any one would think that dead +shells were gifted with the power of walking about, for certainly it +is an inexplicable wonder how they got there." Of Helix muralis we are +informed that "The Romans eat these snails, not the whole of them, but +only their feet. In ancient times the most wealthy people used to eat +snails, and perhaps they ate the very ones which the poorest people +eat nowadays. It is most probable, for there are a great many +different kinds of snails round Rome, and the Romans would probably +select the best." I may perhaps be permitted to remark that the correct +orthography of this writer fills me with astonishment, inasmuch as in +later life I have reason to know that he often went astray in this +respect. Of the uniform maturity of the literary style, I have no need +to speak. + +Eddy's father was in the habit of giving him an income of two or three +pauls a week, dependent on his good behavior and punctual preparation +of his lessons; and since Eddy was always well behaved and faithful in +his studies, the income came in pretty regularly. Eddy saved up this +revenue with a view to buying himself a microscope, for the better +prosecution of his zoological labors; being, also, stimulated thereto +by the fact that I already possessed one of these instruments, given +me by my father a year or two before. Mine cost ten shillings, but +Eddy meant to get one even more expensive. I had, too, a large volume +of six hundred pages on The Microscope, Its History, Construction, and +Uses, by Jabez Hogg, the contents of which I had long since learned by +heart, and which I gladly communicated to my friend. At length Eddy's +economies had proceeded so far that he was able to calculate that on +his twelfth birthday he would possess a fortune of five scudi, and he +decided that he would buy a microscope at that figure; it is needless +to add that the microscope had long since been selected in the shop, +and was decidedly superior to mine. We could hardly contain our +impatience to enter upon the marvellous world whereof this instrument +was the key; that twelfth birthday seemed long in coming, but at last +it came. + +I was to go with my friend to the shop to see him make the purchase; +and I was at his house betimes in the morning. But what a stupendous +surprise awaited me! Eddy was too much excited to say anything; with a +face beaming with emotion, he led me into the sitting-room, and there, +upon the table, was a microscope. But such a microscope! It was of +such unheard-of magnificence and elaborateness that it took my breath +away, and we both stood gazing at it in voiceless rapture. It was tall +and elegant, shining with its polished brass and mirrors, and its +magnifying powers were such as to disclose to us the very heart of +nature's mystery. It was quiet Mr. Thompson's birthday present to his +son. That gentleman sat smiling in his armchair by the window, and +presently he said, with a delightful archness, "Well, Eddy, I suppose +you are ready to give me back all that money you've been collecting?" +Eddy grinned radiantly. He spent his savings for microscope-slides +and other appurtenances, and for weeks thereafter he could hardly take +his eye away from the object-lens. He was luminous with happiness, and +I reflected his splendor from my sympathetic heart. Dear old Eddy! In +after years he entered West Point and became a soldier, and he died +early; I never saw him after parting from him in Italy in 1859. But he +is still my first friend, and there has been no other more dear. + +I am not aware that Rome has ever been described from the point of +view of a twelve-year-old boy, and it might be worth doing; but I have +delayed attempting it somewhat too long; the moving pictures in my +mind have become too faded and confused. And yet I am surprised at the +minuteness of some of my recollections; they have, no doubt, been kept +alive by the numerous photographs of Rome which one carries about, and +also by the occasional perusal of The Marble Faun and other Roman +literature. But much is also due to the wonderful separateness which +Rome retains in the mind. It is like nothing else, and the spirit of +it is immortal. It seems as if I must have lived a lifetime there; and +yet I cannot make out that our total residence in the city extended +over fourteen months. Certainly no other passage of my boyhood time +looms so large or is rooted so deep. + +But the passion for Rome (unless one be a Byron) is not a plant of +sudden growth, and I dare say that, during those first frigid weeks, I +may have shared my father's whimsical aversion to the city. He has +described, in his journals, how all things seemed to be what they +should not; and he was terribly disgusted with the filth that defiled +the ruins and the street corners. He was impressed by the ruins, but +deplored their nakedness. "The marble of them grows black or brown, it +is true," says he, "and shows its age in that way; but it remains hard +and sharp, and does not become again a part of nature, as stone walls +do in England; some dry and dusty grass sprouts along the ledges of a +ruin, as in the Coliseum; but there is no green mantle of ivy +spreading itself over the gray dilapidation." We stumbled upon the +Fountain of Trevi in one of our early rambles, not knowing what it +was. "One of these fountains," writes my father, referring to it, +"occupies the whole side of a great edifice, and represents Neptune +and his steeds, who seem to be sliding down with a cataract that +tumbles over a ledge of rocks into a marble-bordered lake, the +whole--except the fall of water itself--making up an exceedingly +cumbrous and ridiculous affair." He goes to St. Peter's, and "it +disappointed me terribly by its want of effect, and the little justice +it does to its real magnitude externally; as to the interior, I am not +sure that it would not be even more grand and majestic if it were less +magnificent, though I should be sorry to see the experiment tried. I +had expected something dim and vast, like the great English +cathedrals, only more vast and dim and gray; but there is as much +difference as between noonday and twilight." The pictures, too, were +apt in these first days to go against the grain with him. +Contemplating a fresco representing scenes in purgatory, he broke +forth: "I cannot speak as to the truth of the representation, but, at +all events, it was purgatory to look at this poor, faded rubbish. +Thank Heaven, there is such a thing as whitewash; and I shall always +be glad to hear of its application to old frescoes, even at the +sacrifice of remnants of real excellence!" Such growlings torture the +soul of the connoisseur; but the unregenerate man, hearing them, leaps +up and shouts for joy. He found the old masters, in their sacred +subjects, lacking in originality and initiative; and when they would +represent mythology, they engendered an apotheosis of nakedness. His +conclusion was that "there is something forced, if not feigned, in our +taste for pictures of the old Italian school." Of the profane +subjects, he instances the Fornarina, "with a deep bright glow on her +face, naked below the waist, and well pleased to be so, for the sake +of your admiration--ready for any extent of nudity, for love or +money--the brazen trollop that she is! Raphael must have been capable +of great sensuality to have painted this picture of his own accord, +and lovingly." These are the iconoclasms of the Goth and Vandal at +their first advent to Rome. They remained to alter their mood, and +extol what they had before assaulted; and so did my father, as we +shall see presently. But at first he was sick and cold and +uncomfortable; and he consoled himself by hitting out at everything, +in the secret privacy of his diary, since opened to the world. With +warmer weather came equanimity and kinder judgments; but there is a +refreshing touch of truth and justice even in these mutterings of +exasperation. + +It was not so much, I suppose, that Rome was cold as that my father +had expected it to be otherwise. When one is in a place where +tradition and association invite the soul forth to be warmed and +soothed and rejoiced, and the body, venturing out, finds nothing but +chill winds and frigid temperature and discomfort, the shock is much +greater and more disagreeable than if one had been in some northern +Canada or Spitzbergen, where such conditions are normal. Ice in the +arctic circle is all right and exhilarating, but in the Piazza of St. +Peter's it is an outrage, and affects the mind and heart even more +than the flesh. + +Circumstances caused my father to pass through several distinct phases +of feeling while he was in Rome. First, his own indisposition and the +inclement weather depressed and exasperated him. + +Time, in due course, brought relief in these respects, and he began to +enjoy himself and his surroundings. Anon, the springs of creative +imagination, long dormant in him, were roused to activity by thoughts +connected with the Faun of Praxiteles in the Capitol. He now became +happy in the way of his genius and immediately took a new interest in +all things, looking at them from the point of view of possible +backgrounds or incidents for the romance which had begun to take form +in his mind. He describes what he saw con amore, and all manner of +harmonious ideas bloom through his thoughts, like anemones and other +flowers in the Villa Pamphili and the Borghese. This desirable mood +continued until, after our return to Rome from the Florentine visit, +my sister caught the Roman fever. She lay for weeks in danger of +death; and her father's anxiety about her not only destroyed in him +all thoughts of literary production and care for it, but made even +keeping his journal no longer possible for him. That strain, so long +continued, broke him down, and he never recovered from it so as to be +what he had been before. Nevertheless, when she became convalescent, +the reaction from his dark misgivings made him, for a time, as +light-hearted as a boy; and, the carnival happening to be coincident +with her recovery, he entered into the fun of it with a zest and +enjoyment that surprised himself. But, again, it presently became +evident that her recovery was not complete, and probably never would +be so; the injury to her health was permanent, and she was liable to +recurrences of disease. His spirits sank again, not so low as before, +but, on the other hand, they never again rose to their normal level. +It was in this saddened mood that he once more took up the Roman +romance and finished it; it is a sad book, and when there is a ray of +sunshine across the page, it has a melancholy gleam. After we +returned to Concord, his apprehensions concerning Una's unsound +condition were confirmed; and, in addition, the bitter cleavage +between North and South inspired in him the gloomiest forebodings. A +wasting away of his whole physical substance ensued; and he died, +almost suddenly, while in years he might be considered hardly past the +prime of his life. A sensitive eye can trace the effects of the +death-blow all through The Marble Faun, and still more in Septimius +and Grimshawe, published after his death. In The Dolliver Romance +fragment, which was the last thing he wrote, there is visible once +more some reminiscence of the old sunshine of humor that was so often +apparent in his time of youth and vigor; but it, too, has a sad touch +in it, such as belongs to the last rays of the star of day before it +sinks below the horizon forever. Night follows, and the rest is +silence. + + + + +XV + + +The Roman carnival in three moods--Apples of Sodom--Poor, battered, +wilted, stained hearts--A living protest and scourge--Dulce est +desipere in loco--A rollicking world of happy fools--Endless sunshine +of some sort--Greenwich Fair was worth a hundred of it--They thundered +past, never drawing rein--"Senza moccolo!"--Nothing more charming and +strange could be imagined--Girls surprised in the midst of dressing +themselves--A Unitarian clergyman with his fat wife--Apparent license +under courteous restraint--He laughed and pelted and was +pelted--William Story, as vivid as when I saw him last--A too facile +power--A deadly shadow gliding close behind--Set afire by his own +sallies--"Thy face is like thy mother's, my fair child!"--Cleopatra in +the clay--"War nie sein Brod mit thranen ass." + + + +THE Roman carnival opened about a month after our arrival in Rome. The +weather was bad nearly all the time, and my father's point of view was +correspondingly unsympathetic. The contrast between his mood now and a +year later, when he was not only stimulated by his daughter's recovery +from illness, but, also, was looking at everything rather as the +romancer than as the man, is worth bringing out. My father likewise +describes the carnival in the romance; there we see it in a third +phase--as art. But the passages in the note-books are written from the +realistic stand-point. In her transcriptions of the journals for the +press my mother was always careful to omit from the former everything +that had been "used" in the book; the principle, no doubt, was sound, +but it might be edifying for once, in a way, to do just the opposite, +in order to mark, if we choose to take the trouble, what kind of +changes or modifications Hawthorne the romancer would make in the work +of my father the observer of nature. Take your Marble Faun and turn to +two of the latter chapters and compare them with the corresponding +pages in my excerpts from the journals in the Biography. In the latter +you will find him always in a critical and carping humor; seeing +everything with abundant keenness, but recognizing nothing worth while +in it. The bouquets, he noticed, for example, were often picked up out +of the street and used again and again; "and," he adds, "I suppose +they aptly enough symbolized the poor, battered, wilted, stained +hearts that had flown from one hand to another along the muddy pathway +of life, instead of being treasured up in one faithful bosom. Really, +it was great nonsense." + +It is true--such uncongenial interpretation--if you feel that way +about it. And I remember, in my rambles along the famous thoroughfare, +seeing a saturnine old fellow in a dingy black coat and slouch hat, +with a sour snarl on his unprepossessing features, who made it his +business, all day, to cuff and kick the little boys whom he caught +throwing confetti, or picking up the fallen bouquets, and to shove the +latter down into the sewer which ran beneath the street, through the +apertures opening underneath the curb. He seemed to have stationed +himself there as a living protest and scourge against and of the whole +spirit of the carnival; to hate it just because the rest of the world +enjoyed it, and to wish that he might make everybody else as miserable +and uncharitable as he was. He was like a wicked and ugly Mrs. +Partington, trying to sweep back the Atlantic of holiday merriment +with his dirty mop. But this crabbed humor of his, while it made him +conspicuous against the broad background of gayety, of course had no +effect on the gayety itself. The flood of laughter, jocundity, and +semi-boisterous frolic continued to roll up and down the Corso all day +long, never attempting to be anything but pure nonsense, indeed, but +achieving, nevertheless, the wise end of nonsense in the right time +and place--that of refreshing and lightening the mind and heart. Dulce +est desipere in loco--that old saw might have been made precisely to +serve as the motto of the Roman carnival; and very likely it was +actually suggested to its renowned author by some similar sport +belonging to the old Roman days, before Christianity was thought of. +The young fellows--English, American, or of whatever other +nationality--would stride up and down the overflowing street hour +after hour, clad in linen dust-coats down to their heels, with a bag +of confetti slung on one side and another full of bouquets on the +other; and they would plunge a warlike hand into the former and hurl +ammunition at their rivals; or they would, pick out a bunch of flowers +from the latter for a pretty girl--not that the flowers were worth +anything intrinsically, nor was that their fault--but just to show the +fitting sentiment. There was only one rule, the unwritten one that +everybody was to take everything that came with a smile or a laugh, +and never get angry at anything; and this universal good-humor lifted +the whole affair into a wholesome and profitable sphere. Then there +was the double row of carriages forever moving in opposite directions, +and passing within easy arm's-reach of each other; and the jolly +battle was waged between their occupants, with side conflicts with the +foot-farers at the same time. And as the same carriages would repass +one another every forty minutes or so, the persons in them would soon +get to recognize one another; and, if they were of the sterner sex, +they would be prepared to renew desperate battle; or if there was a +pretty girl or two in one of them, she would be the recipient of a +deluge of flowers or of really pretty bonbons. It was all play, all +laughter, all a new, rollicking world of happy fools, of comic +chivalry, of humorous gallantry. For my part, I thought it was the +world which I had been born to live in; and I was too happy in it to +imagine even that anybody could be less happy than I was. My sole +grief was when my supply of confetti had given out, and I had no money +to buy more. I used to look at those great baskets at the +street-corners, filled with the white agglomeration, with longing +eyes, and wish I had it all in my pockets. I picked up the fallen +bouquets, muddy or not, with no misgiving, and flung them at the girls +with the unquestioning faith of boyhood. I looked up at the people in +the windows and on the draped balconies with romantic emotions, and +exchanged smiles and beckonings with them. The February days were +never long enough for me; I only wished that the whole year was made +up of those days; if it rained, or was cold, I never knew it. There +was an endless sunshine of some sort which sufficed for me. But my +father, at this epoch, could catch not a glimpse of it. "I never in my +life knew a shallower joke than the carnival at Rome; such a rainy and +muddy day, too; Greenwich Fair (at the very last of which I assisted) +was worth a hundred of it." + +The masking day, and the ensuing night of the moccolo, were the +culminating features of the carnival; and it was on the afternoon of +this day, I think, that the horse-race, with bare-backed horses, took +place. The backs of these horses, though bare of riders, had attached +to them by strings little balls with sharp points in them, which, as +the horses ran, bobbed up and down, and did the office of spurs. The +race was preceded by a thundering gallop of cavalry down the whole +length of the Corso (the street having been cleared of carriages +beforehand), ostensibly to prevent anybody from being run over by the +race-horses; but, as a matter of fact, if any one were killed, it was +much more likely to be by the ruthless riding of these helmeted +dragoons than by the riderless steeds. They thundered past, never +drawing rein, no matter what stood or ran in their way; and then, +after an interval, during which the long crowds, packed back on the +opposite sidewalks, craned forward as far as they dared to see them, +came the eight or ten racers at a furious pace. They were come and +gone in a breath; and finally, after the body of them were passed, +came a laggard, who had been left at the post, and was trying to make +up for lost time. I believe it was this horse who actually killed +somebody on the course. The race over, back into the street thronged +the crowd, filling it from wall to wall; then there was a gradual +thinning away, as the people went home for supper; and finally came +the night and the moccoli, with the biggest crowd of all. I was there +with my twist of moccolo and a box of matches; except the moccoli, +there was no other illumination along the length of the Corso. But +their soft lights were there by myriads, and made a lovely sight, to +my eyes at least. "Senza moccolo!" was the universal cry; young +knights-errant, singly or in groups, pressed their way up and down, +shouting the battle-cry, and quenching all lights within reach, while +striving to maintain the flame of their own; using now the whisk of a +handkerchief, now a puff of breath, now the fillip of a finger; +contriving to extinguish a fair lady's taper with the same effusion of +vain words wherewith they told her of their passion. Most of the +ladies thus assailed sat in the lower balconies, elevated only a foot +or two above the level of the sidewalk; but those in the higher +retreats made war upon one another, and upon their own cavaliers; none +was immune from peril. The cry, uttered at once by such innumerable +voices far and near, made a singular murmur up and down the Corso; and +the soft twinkling of the lights, winking in and out as they were put +out or relighted, gave a singular fire-fly effect to the whole +illumination. It seemed to me then, and it still seems in the +retrospect, that nothing more charming and strange could be imagined; +and through it all was the constant blossoming of laughter, more +inextinguishable than the moccoletti themselves. The colors of the +tapestries and stuffs dependent from the windows and balconies glowed +out in light, or were dimmed by shadow; and the faces of the +thousandfold crowd of festival-makers glimmered forth and were lost +again on the background of the night, like the features of spirits in +the glimpses of a dream. How long it all lasted I know not; but it +had its term, like other mortal things, even in this fairyland of +carnival; and when the last light was out the carnival was no more, +and Lent, unawares, had softly settled down upon us with the darkness. + +But let us now listen to my father when, for the second time, he made +proof of the carnival in the year following our return from Florence, +and after Una had left her sick-room and could be at his side. "The +weather has been splendid," he writes, "and the merriment far more +free and riotous than as I remember it in the preceding year. Tokens +of the festival were seen in flowers on street-stands, or borne aloft +on people's heads, while bushels of confetti were displayed, looking +like veritable sugarplums, so that a stranger might have thought that +the whole commerce and business of stern old Rome lay in flowers and +sweets. One wonders, however, that the scene should not be even more +rich and various when there has been so long a time (the immemorial +existence of the carnival) to prepare it, and adorn it with shapes of +gayety and humor. There was an infinite number of clowns and +particolored harlequins; a host of white dominoes; a multitude of +masks, set in eternal grins, or with monstrous noses, or made in the +guise of monkeys, bears, dogs, or whatever beast the wearer chooses to +be akin to; a great many men in petticoats, and almost as many girls +and women, no doubt, in breeches; figures, too, with huge, bulbous +heads and all manner of such easy monstrosities and exaggerations.. +It is strange how the whole humor of the thing, and the separate humor +of each individual character, vanishes the moment I try to grasp it +and describe it; and yet there really was fun in the spectacle as it +flitted by--for instance, in the long line of carriages a company of +young men in flesh-colored tights and chemises, representing a party +of girls surprised in the midst of dressing themselves, while an old +nurse in the midst of them expressed ludicrous horror at their +predicament. Then the embarrassment of gentlemen who, while quietly +looking at the scene, are surrounded by groups of maskers, grimacing +at them, squeaking in their ears, hugging them, dancing round them, +till they snatch an opportunity to escape into some doorway; or when a +poor man in a black coat and cylinder hat is whitened all over with a +half-bushel of confetti and lime-dust; the mock sympathy with which +his case is investigated by a company of maskers, who poke their +stupid, pasteboard faces close to his, still with the unchangeable +grin; or when a gigantic female figure singles out some shy, harmless +personage, and makes appeals to his heart, avowing her passionate love +in dumb show, and presenting him with her bouquet; and a hundred other +nonsensicalities, among which the rudest and simplest are not the +least effective. A resounding thump on the back with a harlequin's +sword, or a rattling blow with a bladder half full of dried pease or +corn, answers a very good purpose. There was a good deal of absurdity +one day in a figure in a crinoline petticoat, riding on an ass and +almost filling the Corso with the circumference of crinoline from side +to side. Some figures are dressed in old-fashioned garbs, perhaps of +the last century, or, even more ridiculous, of thirty years ago, or in +the stately Elizabethan (as we should call them) trunk hose, tunics, +and cloaks of three centuries since. I do not know anything that I +have seen queerer than a Unitarian clergyman (Mr. Mountford), who +drives through the Corso daily with his fat wife in a one-horse +chaise, with a wreath of withered flowers and oak leaves round his +hat, the rest of his dress remaining unchanged, except that it is well +powdered with the dust of confetti. That withered wreath is the +absurdest thing he could wear (though, perhaps, he may not mean it to +be so), and so, of course, the best. I can think of no other masks +just now, but will go this afternoon and try to catch some more." You +see, he has that romance in view again. "Clowns, or zanies," he +resumes, after fresh inspection, "appear in great troupes, dancing +extravagantly and scampering wildly; everybody seems to do whatever +folly comes into his head; and yet, if you consider the matter, you +see that all this apparent license is kept under courteous restraint. +There is no rudeness, except the authorized pelting with confetti or +blows of harlequins' swords, which, moreover, are within a law of +their own. But nobody takes rough hold of another, or meddles with his +mask, or does him any unmannerly violence. At first sight you would +think that the whole world had gone mad, but at the end you wonder how +people can let loose all their mirthful propensities without +unchaining the mischievous ones. It could not be so in America or in +England; in either of those countries the whole street would go mad in +earnest and come to blows and bloodshed were the populace to let +themselves loose to the extent we see here. All this restraint is +self-imposed and quite apart from the presence of the soldiery." + +This mood, we see, is far more gentle and sympathetic than the former +one; there is sunshine within as well as without; and, indeed, I +remember with what glee my father took part in the frolic, as well as +looked on at it; he laughed and pelted and was pelted; he walked down +the Corso and back again; he drove to and fro in a carriage; he +mounted to Mr. Motley's balcony and took long shots at the crowd +below. The sombre spirit of criticism had ceased, for a time, to haunt +him. + +[IMAGE: WILLIAM WETMORE STORY] + +We went quite often to the studio of William Story, whom my father had +slightly known in Salem before he became a voluntary exile from +America. Mr. Story was at this time a small, wiry, nervous personage, +smiling easily, but as much through nervousness as from any inner +source or outward provocation of mirth, and as he smiled he would +stroke his cheeks, which were covered with a short, brown beard, with +the fingers and thumb of his right hand, while wrinkles would appear +round his bright, brown eyes. "He looks thin and worn already," wrote +my father; "a little bald and a very little gray, but as vivid as when +I saw him last; he cannot, methinks, be over thirty-seven." He was +thirty-nine in 1858. "The great difficulty with him, I think, is a too +facile power," my father goes on; "he would do better things if it +were more difficult for him to do merely good ones. Then, too, his +sensibility is too quick; being easily touched by his own thoughts, he +cannot estimate what is required to touch a colder and duller person, +and so stops short of the adequate expression." He commented on the +vein of melancholy beneath the sparkle of his surface, as if, in the +midst of prosperity, he was conscious of a "deadly shadow gliding +close behind." Boys of twelve are not troubled with insight, unless of +that unconscious, intuitive kind that tells them that a person is +likeable, or the reverse, no matter what the person may do or say. I +liked Mr. Story, and thought him as light of spirit as he seemed; not +that he was not often earnest enough in his talks with my father, to +whom he was wont to apply himself with a sort of intensity, suggesting +ideas, and watching, with his nervous smile, my father's reception of +them; plunging into deep matters, beyond my comprehension, dwelling +there a few minutes, and then emerging again with a sparkle of wit; he +was certainly very witty, and the wit was native and original, not +memorized. When he got into the current of drollery, he would, as it +were, set himself afire by his own sallies, and soar to astonishing +heights, which had an irresistible contagion for the hearers; and he +would sometimes, sitting at a table with pen and paper at hand, +illustrate his whimsicalities with lightning sketches of immense +cleverness, considering their impromptu character. I have preserved a +sheet of letter-paper covered with such drawings. The conversation had +got upon Byron, whom Mr. Story chose to ridicule; as he talked, he +drew a head of "Byron as he thought he was," followed by one of "Byron +as he was," and by another of "Byron as he might have been," showing a +very pronounced negro type. Then he made a portrait of "Ada, sole +daughter of my house and heart," and wrote under it, "Thy face was like +thy mother's, my fair child!" a hideous, simpering miss, with a snub +nose and a wooden mouth--"A poet's dream!" He also showed the +appearance of the Falls of Terni, "as described by Byron," and added +studies of infant phenomena, mother's darlings, a Presidential +candidate, and other absurdities, accompanying it all with a running +comment and imaginative improvisations which had the charm of genius +in them, and made us ache with laughter, young and old alike. Such a +man, nervous, high-strung, of fine perceptions and sensibilities, must +inevitably pass through rapid and extreme alternations of feeling; +and, no doubt, an hour after that laughing seance of ours, Mr. Story +was plunged deep in melancholy. Yet surely his premonitions of evil +were unfulfilled; Story lived long and was never other than fortunate. +Perhaps he was unable to produce works commensurate with his +conceptions; but unhappiness from such a cause is of a noble sort, and +better than most ordinary felicities. + +I remember very well the statue of Cleopatra while yet in the clay. +There she sat in the centre of the large, empty studio, pondering on +Augustus and on the asp. The hue of the clay added a charm to the +figure which even the pure marble has not quite maintained. Story said +that he never was present while the cast of one of his statues was +being made; he could not endure the sight of the workmen throwing the +handfuls of plaster at the delicate clay. Cleopatra was substantially +finished, but Story was unwilling to let her go, and had no end of +doubts as to the handling of minor details. The hand that rests on her +knee--should the forefinger and thumb meet or be separated? If they +were separated, it meant the relaxation of despair; if they met, she +was still meditating defiance or revenge. After canvassing the +question at great length with my father, he decided that they should +meet; but when I saw the marble statue in the Metropolitan Museum the +other day I noticed that they were separated. In the end the artist +had preferred despair. Such things indicate the man's character, and, +perhaps, explain his failure to reach the great heights of art. He +could not trust a great idea to manage itself, but sought subtler +expression through small touches, and thus, finally, lost the feeling +of the larger inspiration. A little more of the calm, Greek spirit +would have done him good. + +He had many projects for other statues, which he would build up in +fancy before my father and discuss with him. His words and gestures +made the ideas he described seem actual and present, but he seldom got +them into marble; he probably found, upon trial, that they did not +belong to sculpture. He had the ambition to make marble speak not its +own language merely, but those of painting and of poetry likewise; and +when this proved impossible he was unhappy and out of conceit with +himself, On the other hand, he did good work in poetry and in prose; +but neither did these content him. After all, my father's observation +hit the mark; things came too easy to him. Goethe speaks the word for +him: + + "Wer nie sein Brod mit thranen ass, + Er kennt euch nicht, ihr ewige Machte!" + + + + +XVI + + +Drilled in Roman history--Lovely figures made of light and +morning--What superb figures!--The breath and strength of immeasurable +antiquity--Treasures coming direct from dead hands into mine--A +pleasant sound of coolness and refreshment--Receptacles of death now +dedicated to life--The Borghese is a forest of Ardennes--Profound and +important communings--A smiling deceiver--Of an early-rising +habit--Hauling in on my slack--A miniature cabinet magically made +Titanic--"If I had a murder on my conscience"--None can tell the +secret origin of his thoughts--A singularly beautiful young woman--She +actually ripped the man open--No leagues of chivalry needed in Rome--A +resident army--Five foot six--Corsets and padding--She was wounded in +the house of her friends. + +We children had been drilled in Roman history, from Romulus to Caesar, +and we could, and frequently did, repeat by heart the Lays of Ancient +Rome by Macaulay, which were at that period better known, perhaps, +than they are now. Consequently, everything in Rome had a certain +degree of meaning for us, and gave us a pleasure in addition to the +intrinsic beauty or charm that belonged thereto. Our imagination +thronged the Capitol with senators; saw in the Roman Forum the +contentions of the tribunes and the patricians; heard the populus +Romanus roar in the Coliseum; beheld the splendid processions of +victory wind cityward through the Arch of Titus; saw Caesar lie +bleeding at the base of Pompey's statue; pondered over the fatal +precipice of the Tarpeian Rock; luxuriated in the hollow spaces of the +Baths of Caracalla; lost ourselves in gorgeous reveries in the palace +of the Caesars, and haunted the yellow stream of Tiber, beneath which +lay hidden precious treasures and forgotten secrets. And we were no +less captivated by the galleries and churches, which contained the +preserved relics of the great old times, and were in themselves so +beautiful. My taste for blackened old pictures and faded frescoes was, +indeed, even more undeveloped than my father's; but I liked the +brilliant reproductions in mosaic at St. Peter's and certain +individual works in various places. I formed a romantic attachment for +the alleged Beatrice Cenci of Guido, or of some other artist, and was +very sorry that she should be so unhappy, though, of course, I was +ignorant of the occasion of her low spirits. But I liked much better +Guide's large design of Aurora, partly because I had long been +familiar with it on the head-board of my mother's bedstead. Before her +marriage she had bought a set of bedroom furniture, and had painted it +a dull gold color, and on this surface she had drawn in fine black +lines the outlines of several classical subjects, most of them from +Flaxman; but in the space mentioned she had executed an outline of +this glorious work of the Italian artist. I knew every line of the +composition thoroughly; and, by-the-way, I doubt if a truer, more +inspired copy of the picture was ever produced by anybody. But the +color had to be supplied by the observer's imagination; now, for the +first time, I saw the hues as laid on by the original painter. In +spite of time, they were pure and exquisite beyond description; these +lovely figures seemed made of light and morning. Another favorite +picture of mine was the same artist's "Michael Overcoming the Evil +One," and I even had the sense to like the painting better than the +mosaic copy. Raphael's "Transfiguration" I also knew well from the old +engraving of it that used to hang on our parlor wall from my earliest +recollections; it still hangs yonder. But I never cared for this +picture; it was too complicated and ingenious--it needed too much +co-operation from the observer's mind. Besides, I had never seen a boy +with anything approaching the muscular development of the epileptic +youth in the centre. The thing in the picture that I most approved of +was the end of the log in the little pool, in the foreground; it +looked true to life. + +But my delight in the statues was endless. It seems to me that I knew +personally every statue and group in the Vatican and in the Capitol. +Again and again, either with my parents, or with Eddy, or even alone, +I would pass the warders at the doors and enter those interminable +galleries, and look and look at those quiet, stained-marble effigies. +My early studies of Flaxman had, in a measure, educated me towards +appreciation of them. I never tired of them, as I did of the +Cleopatras and the Greek Slaves. What superb figures! What power and +grace and fleetness and athletic loins! The divine, severe Minerva, +musing under the shadow of her awful helmet; the athlete with the +strigil, resting so lightly on his tireless feet; the royal Apollo, +disdaining his own victory; the Venus, half shrinking from the +exquisiteness of her own beauty; the swaying poise of the Discobulus, +caught forever as he drew his breath for the throw; the smooth-limbed, +brooding Antinous; the terrible Laocoon, which fascinated me, though +it always repelled me, too; the austere simplicity of the Dying +Gladiator's stoop to death--the most human of all the great statues; +the heads of heroic Miltiades, of Antony, of solitary Cassar, of +indifferent Augustus; the tranquil indolence of mighty Nile, clambered +over by his many children--these, and a hundred others, spoke to me +out of their immortal silence. I can conceive of no finer discipline +for a boy; I emulated while I adored them. Power, repose, beauty, +nobility, were in their message: "Do you, too, possess limbs and +shoulders like ours!" they said to me; "such a bearing, such a spirit +within!" I cannot overestimate even the physical good they did me; it +was from them that I gained the inspiration for bodily development and +for all athletic exercise which has, since then, helped me over many a +rough passage in the path of life. But they also awoke higher +ambitions and conferred finer benefits. + +From these excursions into the ideal I would return to out-of-doors +with another inexhaustible zest. That ardent, blue Roman sky and +penetrating, soft sunshine filled me with life and joy. The breath +and strength of immeasurable antiquity emanated from those massive +ruins, which time could deface but never conquer. Emerald lizards +basked on the hot walls; flowers grew in the old crevices; butterflies +floated round them; they were haunted by spirits of heroes. There is +nothing else to be compared with the private, intimate, human, yet +sublimated affection which these antique monuments wrought in me. They +were my mighty brothers, condescending to my boyish thoughts and +fancies, smiling upon me, welcoming me, conscious of my love for them. +Each ruin had its separate individuality for me, so that to-day I must +play with the Coliseum, to-morrow with the Forum, or the far-ranging +arches of the Aqueduct, or the Temple of Vesta. Always, too, my eyes +were alert for treasures in the old Roman soil, coming, as it seemed, +direct from the dead hands of the vanished people into mine. I valued +the scraps that I picked up thus more than anything to be bought in +shops or seen in museums. These bits of tinted marble had felt the +touch of real Romans; their feet had trodden on them, on them their +arms had rested, their hands had grasped them. Two thousand years had +dulled the polish of their surfaces; I took them to the stone-workers, +who made them glow and bloom again--yellow, red, black, green, white. +They were good-natured but careless men, those marble-polishers, and +would sometimes lose my precious relics, and when I called for them +would say, every day, "Domane--domane," or try to put me off with some +substitute--as if a boy could be deceived in such a matter! I once +found in the neighborhood of a recent excavation a semi-transparent +tourmaline of a cool green hue when held to the light; it had once +been set in the ring of some Roman beauty. It had, from long abiding +in the earth, that wonderful iridescent surface which ancient glass +acquires. Rose, my sister, picked up out of a rubbish heap a little +bronze statuette, hardly three inches high, but, as experts said, of +the best artistic period. Such things made our Roman history books +seem like a tale of yesterday, or they transported us back across the +centuries, so that we trod in the footsteps of those who had been but +a moment before us. + +In those warm days, after our walks and explorations, Eddy and I, and +little Hubert, who sometimes was permitted to accompany us, though we +deemed him hardly in our class, would greatly solace ourselves with +the clear and gurgling fountains which everywhere in Rome flow forth +into their marble and moss-grown basins with a pleasant sound of +coolness and refreshment. Rome without her fountains would not be +Rome; every memory of her includes them. In the streets, in the +piazzas, in the wide pleasaunces and gardens, the fountains allure us +onward, and comfort us for our weariness. In the Piazza d' Espagna, +at the foot of the famous steps, was that great, boat-shaped fountain +whose affluent waters cool the air which broods over the wide, white +stairway; and not far away is the mighty Trevi, with its turmoil of +obstreperous figures swarming round bragging Neptune, and its cataract +of innumerable rills welling forth and plunging downward by devious +ways to meet at last in the great basin, forever agitated with baby +waves lapping against the margins. These, and many similar elaborate +structures, are for the delight of the eye; but there are scores of +modest fountains, at the corners of the ways, in shady or in sunny +places, formed of an ancient sarcophagus receiving the everlasting +tribute of two open-mouthed lion-heads, or other devices, whose +arching outgush splashes into the receptacle made to hold death, but +now immortally dedicated to the refreshment of life. It was at these +minor fountains that we quenched our boyish thirst, each drinking at +the mouth of a spout; and when we discovered that by stopping up one +spout with our thumb the other would discharge with double force, we +played roguish tricks on each other, deluging each other at unawares +with unmanageable gushes of water, till we were forced to declare a +mutual truce of honor. But what delicious draughts did we suck in from +those lion-mouths into our own; never elsewhere did water seem so +sweet and revivifying. And then we would peer into the transparent +depths of the old sarcophagus, with its fringes of green, silky moss +waving slightly with the movement of the water, and fish out +tiny-spired water-shells; or dip in them the bits of ancient marbles +we had collected on our walk, to see the hues revive to their former +splendor. Many-fountained Rome ought to be a cure for wine-bibbers; +yet I never saw an Italian drink at these springs; they would rather +quaff the thin red and white wines that are sold for a few baiocchi at +the inns. + +The Pincian Hill and the adjoining grounds of the Borghese Palace came +at length to be our favorite haunts. The Borghese is a delectable +spot, as my father remarks in one of those passages in his diary which +was afterwards expanded into the art-picture of his romance. "Broad +carriageways," he says, "and wood-paths wander beneath long vistas of +sheltering boughs; there are ilex-trees, ancient and sombre, which, in +the long peace of their lifetime, have assumed attitudes of indolent +repose; and stone-pines that look like green islands in the air, so +high above earth are they, and connected with it by such a slender +length of stem; and cypresses, resembling dark flames of huge, +funereal candles. These wooded lawns are more beautiful than English +park scenery; all the more beautiful for the air of neglect about +them, as if not much care of men were bestowed upon them, though +enough to keep wildness from growing into deformity, and to make the +whole scene like nature idealized--the woodland scenes the poet +dreamed of--a forest of Ardennes, for instance. These lawns and gentle +valleys are beautiful, moreover, with fountains flashing into marble +basins, or gushing like natural cascades from rough rocks; with bits +of architecture, as pillared porticos, arches, columns, of marble or +granite, with a touch of artful ruin on them; and, indeed, the pillars +and fragments seem to be remnants of antiquity, though put together +anew, hundreds of years old, perhaps, even in their present form, for +weeds and flowers grow out of the chinks and cluster on the tops of +arches and porticos. There are altars, too, with old Roman +inscriptions on them. Statues stand here and there among the trees, in +solitude, or in a long range, lifted high on pedestals, moss-grown, +some of them shattered, all grown gray with the corrosion of the +atmosphere. In the midst of these sunny and shadowy tracts rises the +stately front of the villa, adorned with statues in niches, with +busts, and ornamented architecture blossoming in stone-work. Take +away the malaria, and it might be a very happy place." + +[IMAGE: PENCIL SKETCHES IN ITALY, BY MRS. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE] + +Here was a playground for boys of imaginative but not too destructive +proclivities, such as the world hardly furnishes elsewhere. But much +of my enjoyment of it I ascribe to my friend Eddy. My conversation +with no person since then has rivalled the profundity and importance +of my communings with his sympathetic soul. We not only discussed our +future destinies and philosophical convictions, but we located in +these delicious retreats the various worlds which we purposed to +explore and inhabit during the next few hundred years. Here we passed +through by anticipation all our future experiences. Sometimes we were +accompanied by other boys; but then our visits lost their distinction; +we merely had good times in the ordinary way of boys; we were robber +barons, intrenched in our strongholds, and attacked by other robbers; +or we ran races, or held other trials of strength and activity, or we +set snares for the bright-colored fishes which lurked in some of the +fountains. The grounds were occasionally invaded by gangs of Italian +boys, between whom and ourselves existed an irreconcilable feud. We +could easily thrash them in the Anglo-Saxon manner, with nature's +weapons; but they would ambush us and assail us with stones; and once +one of them struck at me with a knife, which was prevented from +entering my side only by the stout leather belt which I chanced to +wear. We denounced these assassins to the smiling custode of the +grounds, and he promised, smilingly, to bar the entrance to them +thenceforth; but he was a smiling deceiver; our enemies came just the +same. After all, we would have regretted their absence; they added the +touch of peril to our chronic romance which made it perfect. It is +forty-four years since then. Are there any other Borghese Gardens to +come for me in the future, I wonder? There was a rough pathway along +the banks of the Tiber, extending up the stream for two or three +miles, as far as the Ponte Molle, where the corktrees grew, and +farther, for aught I know. This was a favorite walk of mine, because +of the fragments of antique marbles to be found there, and also the +shells which so mysteriously abounded along the margin, as shown by +the learned conchological author hereinbefore cited. And, being of an +early rising habit, it was my wont to get up long before breakfast and +tramp up and down along the river for an hour or two, thinking, I +suppose, as I gazed upon the turbulent flood, of brave Horatius +disdainfully escaping from the serried hosts of Lars Porsena and false +Sextus, or of Caesar and Cassius buffeting the torrent on a "dare," +and with lusty sinews flinging it aside. There were also lovely +effects of dawn upon the dome of St. Peter's, and the redoubtable mass +of St. Angelo, with its sword-sheathing angel. Moreover, sunrise, at +twelve years of age, is an exhilarating and congenial phenomenon. And +I painted my experiences in colors so attractive that our Ada Shepard +was inflamed with the idea of accompanying me on my rambles. She was a +child in heart, though so mature in intellect, and her spirit was +valiant, though her flesh was comparatively infirm. It was my custom +to set out about five o'clock in the morning, and Miss Shepard +promised to be ready at that hour. But after keeping awake most of the +night in order not to fail of the appointment, she fell asleep and +dreamed only of getting up; and, after waiting for her for near an +hour, I went without her. She was much mortified at her failure, and +suggested a plan to insure her punctuality, in which I readily agreed +to collaborate. When she went to bed she attached a piece of string to +one of her toes, the other end of the filament being carried +underneath doors and along passages to my own room. I was instructed +to haul in on my slack at the proper hour; and this I accordingly did, +with good-will, and was at once made conscious that I had caught +something, not only by the resistance which my efforts encountered, +but by the sound of cries of feminine distress and supplication, heard +in the distance. However, my companion appeared in due season, and we +took our walk, which, she declared, fulfilled all the anticipations which +my reports had led her to form. + +Nevertheless, I cannot remember that we ever again made the expedition +together; it is a mistake to try to repeat a perfect joy. + +It seems to me that I must have been a pretty constant visitor at St. +Peter's. The stiff, heavy, leathern curtain which protects the +entrance having been strenuously pushed aside (always with remembrance +of Corinne's impossible act of grace and courtesy in holding it aside +with one hand for Lord Neville), the glorious interior expanded, +mildly radiant, before me. As has been the case with so many other +observers, the real magnitude of the spectacle did not at first affect +me; the character of the decoration and detail prevented the +impression of greatness; it was only after many times traversing that +illimitable pavement, and after frequent comparisons with ordinary +human measurements of the aerial heights of those arches and that +dome, that one conies to understand, by a sort of logical compulsion, +how immense it all is. It is a miniature cabinet magically made +titanic; but the magic which could transform inches into roods could +not correspondingly enlarge the innate character of the ornament; so +that, instead of making the miniature appear truly vast, it only makes +us seem unnaturally small. Still, after all criticisms, St. Peter's +remains one of the most delightful places in the world; its sweet +sumptuousness and imperial harmonies seem somehow to enter into us and +make us harmonious, rich, and sweet. The air that we inhale is just +touched with the spirit of incense, and mellowed as with the still +memories of the summers of five hundred years ago. The glistening +surfaces of the colored marbles, dimmed with faint, fragrant mists, +and glorified with long slants of brooding sunshine, soothe the eye +like materialized music; and the soft twinkle of the candles on the +altars, seen in daylight, has a jewel-like charm. As I look back upon +it, however, and contrast it with the cathedrals of England, the total +influence upon the mind of St. Peter's seems to me voluptuous rather +than religious. It is a human palace of art more than a shrine of the +Almighty. A prince might make love to a princess there without feeling +guilty of profanation. St. Peter himself, sitting there in his chair, +with his highly polished toe advanced, is a doll for us to play with. +On one occasion I was in the church with my father, and the great nave +was thronged with people and lined with soldiers, and down the midst +went slowly a gorgeous procession, with Pope Pio Nono borne aloft, +swayingly, the triple crown upon his head. He blessed the crowd, as +he passed along, with outstretched hand. One can never forget such a +spectacle; but I was not nearly so much impressed in a religious sense +as when, forty years later, I stood in the portals of a Mohammedan +mosque in Central India and saw a thousand turbaned Moslems prostrate +themselves with their foreheads in the dust before a voice which +proclaimed the presence of the awful, unseen God. + +My father enjoyed the church more after each visit to it. But it was +the confessionals and their significance that most interested him. +"What an institution the confessional is! Man needs it so, that it +seems as if God must have ordained it." And he dwells upon the idea +with remarkable elaboration and persistence. Those who have followed +the painful wanderings of heart-oppressed Hilda to the carven +confessional in the great church, where she found peace, will +recognize the amply unfolded flower of this seed. What I supposed to +be my notion of St. Peter's looking like the enlargement of some +liliputian edifice is also there, though I had forgotten it till I +myself reread the pages. In this book of my memories, which is also +the book of my forgettings, I must walk to and fro freely, if I am to +walk at all. None can tell the secret origin of his thoughts. + +Besides the monumental and artistic features of Rome, the human side +of it appealed to me. There was something congenial in the Romans, +and, indeed, in the Italians generally, so that I seemed to be +renewing my acquaintance with people whom I had partly forgotten. I +picked up the conversational language with unusual ease, perhaps owing +to the drilling in Latin which my father had given me; and I liked the +easy, objectless ways of the people, and the smiles which so readily +took the place of the sallow gravity which their faces wore in repose. +But it was the Transteverini women who chiefly attracted me; they wore +an antique costume familiar enough in paintings, and they claimed to +be descendants of the ancient race; they had the noble features and +bearing which one would have looked for in such descendants, at all +events. Looking in their dark, haughty eyes, one seemed to pass back +through the terrible picturesqueness of mediaeval Italy, with its +Borgias and Bella Donnas, its Lorenzos and Fornarinas, to the Rome of +Nero, Augustus, Scipio, and Tarquin. Eddy and I would sometimes make +excursions across the river to Transtevere, and stroll up and down +those narrow streets, imagining all manner of suitable adventures and +histories for the inhabitants, stalking there in their black and +scarlet and yellow habiliments, and glancing imperially from under the +black brows of their dark countenances. One afternoon during the +carnival I was in a dense crowd in the piazza, towards the lower end +of the Corso, and found myself pushed into the neighborhood of a +singularly beautiful young woman of this class, dressed in the height +of her fashion, who was slowly making her way in my direction through +the press. All at once a man, smartly clad in the garb of recent +civilization, stepped in front of her and said something to her; what +it was I knew not. She drew herself back, as from something poisonous +or revolting, and the expression of her face became terrible. At the +same time her right hand went swiftly to the masses of her sable hair, +and as swiftly back again, armed with the small, narrow dagger which +these women wear by way of hair-pin. Before the unhappy creature who +had accosted her knew what was happening, she thrust the dagger, with +a powerful movement--while her white teeth showed, set edge to edge, +through her drawn lips--deep into his body. As he collapsed forward +she drew the weapon upward, putting the whole strength of her body +into the effort, and actually ripped the man open. Down he fell at +her feet. There was a score or more of Roman citizens within +arm's-reach of her at the moment; no one spoke, still less attempted +to restrain her. On the contrary, as she turned they respectfully +opened a way for her through the midst of them, and none made an offer +to assist the dying wretch who lay writhing and faintly coughing on +the cobble-stone pavement of the piazza. I was soon elbowed quietly +away from the spot where he lay; I caught a glimpse of the crimson +head-dress of his slayer passing away afar amid the crowd; presently +the cocked hat of a gendarme appeared from another direction, +advancing slowly against manifest obstructions; everybody seemed to +get in his way, without appearing to intend it. Such was the attitude +towards assassination of the Roman people in those days. I have often +thought over the incident since then. Their sympathy is with private +vengeance, never with ordained statute law. They love to use the +poniard and to see it used, and will do their best to shield the +users. Pity for the victim they have none; they assume that he has his +deserts. For that matter, my own sympathies, filled though I was with +horror at the spectacle of actual murder done before my eyes, were +wholly with the savage beauty, and not with the fatuous creature who +had probably insulted her. It is needless to say that the women of +Transtevere were not so often called upon to resent insults as are the +ladies of New York and other American cities. They did not wait for +policemen or for "leagues of chivalry" to avenge them. + +Towards the French soldiers I was cordially disposed. Their dark-blue +tunics and baggy, red peg-tops were never out of sight, and though I +had seen troops in England, and had once observed the march of a +British regiment in Liverpool going to embark for the Crimea (whence, +I believe, very few of this particular regiment returned), yet the +conception of a resident army first came to me in Rome. About the +French army of those days still hovered the lustre bestowed upon it by +the deeds of the great Napoleon, which their recent exploits in the +Crimea had not diminished. There were among them regiments of fierce +and romantic looking zouaves, with Oriental complexions and +semi-barbaric attire, marching with a long swing, and appearing savage +and impetuous enough to annihilate anything; and there was also a +brigade, the special designation of which I have forgotten, every man +of which was a trained athlete, and whose drill was something +marvellous to witness. But the average French soldier was simply a +first-class soldier, good-natured, light-hearted, active, trim, and +efficient; in height averaging not more than five foot six; carrying +muskets which seemed out of proportion large, though they handled them +lightly enough, and wearing at their sides a short sword, like the +sword of ancient Rome, which was also used as a bayonet. There was +always a drill or a march in progress somewhere, and sentinels paced +up and down before the palaces. The officers were immensely +impressive; the young ones had wasp waists, surpassing those of the +most remorseless belles of fashion; and the old ones were, en +revanche, immensely stout in that region, as if outraged nature were +resolved to assert herself at last. But, young or old, their swords +were sun-bright and lovely to behold--I used to polish my own little +weapon in vain in the attempt to emulate them. Hopelessly envious was +I, too, of the heroic chests of these warriors (not knowing them to be +padded, as the waists were corseted), and I would swell out my own +little pectoral region to its utmost extent as I walked along the +streets, thereby, though I knew it not, greatly benefiting my physical +organism. Of course I had no personal commerce with the officers, but +the rank and file fraternized with me and my companions readily; there +was always a number of them strolling about Rome and its environs on +leave, in pairs or groups, and they were just as much boys as we were. +They would let me heft their short, strong swords, and when they +understood that I was gathering shells they would climb lightly about +the ruins, and bring me specimens displayed in their broad, open +palms. Our conversation was restricted to few words and many grunts +and gestures, but we understood one another and were on terms of gay +camaraderie. A dozen years afterwards, when there was war between +France and Germany, my sympathies were ardently with the former, and +great were my astonishment and regret at the issue of the conflict. +Man for man, and rightly led and managed, I still believe that Gaul +could wipe up the ground with the Teuton, without half trying. But +there were other forces than those of Moltke and Bismarck fighting +against poor France in that fatal campaign. She was wounded in the +house of her friends. + + + + +XVII + + +Miss Lander makes a bust--The twang of his native place--Wholly unlike +anybody else--Wise, humorous Sarah Clarke--Back to the Gods and the +Fleas--Horace Mann's statue--Miss Bremer and the Tarpeian Rock--"I was +in a state of some little tremor"--Mrs. Jameson and Ruskin--Most +thorough-going of the classic tragedies--A well-grown calf--An +adventure in Monte Testaccio--A vision of death--A fantastic and +saturnine genius--A pitch-black place--Illuminations and +fireworks--The Faun-Enjoying Rome--First impressions--Lalla's curses. + +While my father was conscientiously making acquaintance with the +achievements of old-time art, modern artists were trying to practise +their skill on him; he had already sat to Cephas Giovanni Thompson, +and he was now asked to contribute his head to the studio of a certain +Miss Lander, late of Salem, Massachusetts, now settled, as she +intended, permanently in Rome. "When I dream of home," she told him, +"it is merely of paying a short visit and coming back here before my +trunk is unpacked." Miss Lander was not a painter, but a sculptor, +and, in spite of what my father had said against the nude in +sculpture, I think he liked clay and marble as a vehicle of art better +than paint and canvas. At all events, he consented to give her +sittings. He was interested in the independence of her mode of life, +and they got on very comfortably together; the results of his +observation of her appear in the references to Hilda's and Miriam's +unhampered ways of life in The Marble Faun. She had, as I recall her, +a narrow, sallow face, sharp eyes, and a long chin. She might have +been thirty years old. Unlike Miss Harriet Hosmer, who lived not far +away, Miss Lander had no attractiveness for us children. I have reason +to think, too, that my father's final opinion of her was not so +favorable as his first one. Except photographs, no really good +likeness of my father was ever taken; the portrait painted in +Washington, in 1862, by Leutze, was the least successful of them all. +The best, in my opinion, was an exquisitely wrought miniature of him +at the age of thirty, which I kept for a long time, till it was stolen +by a friend in London in 1880. + +Paul Akers, a Maine Yankee, with the twang of his native place still +strong in him after ten years in Rome, was another sculptor of our +acquaintance; he was very voluble, and escorted us about Rome, and +entertained us at his own studio, where he was modelling his best +group, "The Drowned Fisher-boy," as he called it. The figure is +supposed to be lying at the bottom of the sea, face upward, with a +fragment of rock supporting on its sharp ridge the small of the +back--a most painful and uncomfortable attitude, suggesting that even +in death there could be no rest for the poor youth. Mr. Akers was +rather sharply critical of his more famous brother-artists, such as +Greenough and Gibson, and was accused by them, apparently not wholly +without justification, of yielding too much to the influence of other +geniuses in the designing of his groups. But he was a sensible and +obliging little personage, and introduced us to the studios of several +of his fellow-artists in Rome, some of which were more interesting +than his own. + +Bright little Miss Harriet Hosmer, with her hands in her +jacket-pockets, and her short hair curling up round her velvet cap, +struts cheerfully forth out of the obscurity of the past in my memory; +her studio, I think, adjoined that of Gibson, of whom I remember +nothing whatever. Her most notable production at that time was a Puck +sitting on a toadstool, with a conical shell of the limpet species by +way of a cap; he somehow resembled his animated and clever creator. +Miss Hosmer's face, expressions, gestures, dress, and her +manifestations in general were perfectly in keeping with one another; +there never was a more succinct and distinct individuality; she was +wholly unlike anybody else, without being in the least unnatural or +affected. Her social manner was of a persistent jollity; but no doubt +she had her grave moments or hours, a good and strong brain, and a +susceptibility to tragic conceptions, as is shown by the noble figure +of her Zenobia. This figure I saw in clay in her studio during our +second season in Rome. Miss Hosmer's talk was quick, witty, and +pointed; her big eyes redeemed her round, small-featured face from +triviality; her warm heart glowed through all she said and did. Her +studio was a contrast to the classicality of Gibson's, whose +influence, though she had studied under him during her six years' +residence in Rome, had affected her technique only, not her +conceptions or aims in art. We all liked her much. She was made known +to us, I believe, through the medium of grave, wise, humorous Sarah +Clarke, the sister of the James Freeman Clarke who married my mother +to my father, and who, twenty-two years later, read over my father the +burial service. Sarah Clarke was often abroad; she was herself an +admirable artist in water-color, and was always a dear friend of my +mother's. After we had returned to Concord, in 1860, Miss Hosmer wrote +to us, and one of her letters has been preserved; I quote it, because +it is like her: + +"MY DEAR MRS. HAWTHORNE,--It is not unlikely that you may be somewhat +surprised to hear from me; but after you have received the four dozen +letters which, sooner or later, I intend writing you, you will cease +to be so. I begin at the present moment with the first of the +forty-eight, partly for business and partly for pleasure. Reversing, +then, the order of things which some unknown but well-regulated-minded +individual considered to be correct, I will go in for pleasure first, +under which head I seek information respecting the health and +well-being of all members of your family. It seems cruel that you +should go off to the glorious Republic when there are other places in +Rome besides the Piazza Poli. Now that you are safely out of it, I +must try to persuade you that it was the most unhealthy place in the +whole city, not only because I really believe it to be so, but that +malaria may not be mingled and cherished with every remembrance of +this delicious, artistic, fleay, malarious paradise. But I suppose +little short of a miracle would transport you here again, not only +because Una is probably becoming the size of Daniel Lambert, in her +native air, but because Julian is probably weaving a future +President's chair out of the rattans he is getting at school. However +that may be, the result is the same, I fear, as to your getting back +to the Gods and the Fleas; and I must look forward to a meeting in +America. Well, as that carries me over the ocean, in my mind's eye, +Mrs. Hawthorne, the business clause of my epistle is suggested--and +it is this: I have just had a letter from my best of friends, Mr. +Crow, of St. Louis [she had studied anatomy in St. Louis before coming +to Rome], who has been passing the summer in New York and Boston, and +he writes: 'They are talking in Boston of a monument to the memory of +Mr. Horace Mann, and I have said to one of the active men engaged in +it that if you could have the commission I would subscribe handsomely +towards it.' Now, it occurred to me that perhaps you or yours might +have an opportunity of saying a good word for me, in which case I +would have you know how pleased and grateful I should be. You may not +have the occasion offered you, but if it chances, I commend myself to +you distintamente, and trust to your good-nature not to consider me +pushing for having suggested it. I send this through our well-beloved +Sarah Clarke, and hope it will arrive before 1861. When you have +nothing better to do, pray give me a line, always in care of Pakenham +& Hooker. Good-bye, dear Mrs. Hawthorne--my best love to Mr. +Hawthorne and the chicks--and the best wish I can make is that you are +all as fat as yours always affectionately, + +"HARRIET HOSMER." + +All the influence which my father and mother possessed was given to +Miss Hosmer's cause, but some other person got the commission. I +remember, too, that my mother, at Mrs. Mann's request, was at great +pains to make drawings for the face of the statue which now confronts +from the slopes of Beacon Hill the culture and intelligence of Boston, +which Horace Mann did so much to promote. But he was not a subject +which accommodated itself readily to the requirements of plastic art. +There is a glimpse of Miss Hosmer in one of my father's diaries, which +I will reproduce, for the sake of indicating his amused and benevolent +attitude towards her. "She had on," says he, "a neat little jacket, a +man's shirt-bosom, and a cravat with a brooch in it; her hair is cut +short, and curls jauntily round her bright and smart little +physiognomy; and, sitting opposite me at table, I never should have +imagined that she terminated in a petticoat any more than in a fish's +tail. However, I do not mean to speak disrespectfully of Miss Hosmer, +of whom I think very favorably; but, it seems to me, her reform of the +female dress begins with its least objectionable part, and is no real +improvement." + +One evening we visited Miss Bremer, the novelist, of Sweden, who was +then near the end of her foreign travels, which had begun with her +visit to America in 1849. She had met my father in Lenox, and had +written of him in the book of her travels. She was a small woman, with +a big heart and broad mind, packed full of sense, sentiment, and +philanthropy. She had an immense nose, designed, evidently, for some +much larger person; her conversation in English, though probably +correct, was so oddly accented that it was difficult to follow her. +She was a very lovable little creature, then nearing her sixtieth +year. Most of her voluminous literary work was done. Her house in Rome +was near the Capitol and the Tarpeian Rock; and after we had +forgathered with her there for a while, she accompanied us forth--the +moon being up--to see the famous precipice. It was to this incident +that we owe the scene in The Marble Faun, the most visibly tragic in +my father's writings. "The court-yard," he writes in his notes, "is +bordered by a parapet, leaning over which we saw a sheer precipice of +the Tarpeian Rock, about the height of a four-story house; not that +the precipice was a bare face of rock, but it appeared to be cased in +some sort of cement, or ancient stone-work, through which the primeval +rock, here and there, looked grimly and doubtfully. Bright as the +Roman moonlight was, it would not show the front of the wall, or rock, +so well as I should have liked to see it, but left it pretty much in +the same degree of dubiety and half-knowledge in which the +antiquarians leave most of the Roman ruins. Perhaps this precipice may +have been the Traitor's Leap; perhaps it was the one on which Miss +Bremer's garden verges; perhaps neither of the two. At any rate, it +was a good idea of the stern old Romans to fling political criminals +down from the very height of the Capitoline Hill on which stood the +temples and public edifices, symbols of the institutions which they +sought to violate." But there was no tragic suggestion in our little +party, conducted about by the prattling, simple, affectionate little +woman, so homely, tender, and charitable. "At parting," wrote my +father, "she kissed my wife most affectionately on each cheek, +'because,' she said, 'you look so sweetly'; and then she turned +towards myself. I was in a state of some little tremor, not knowing +what might be about to befall me, but she merely pressed my hand, and +we parted, probably never to meet again. God bless her good heart, and +every inch of her little body, not forgetting her red nose, big as it +is in proportion to the rest of her! She is a most amiable little +woman, worthy to be the maiden aunt of the whole human race!" + +Venerable Mrs. Jameson, author of a little library of writings on +Italian art, was likewise of our company occasionally; and she evinced +a marked liking for my father, which was remarkable, inasmuch as he +was able to keep no sort of pace with her in her didactic homilies, +which were delivered with a tranquil, ex-cathedra manner, befitting +one who was the authority on her subject; one would no more have +thought of questioning her verdicts than those of Ruskin; but I should +have liked to see the latter and her together, with a difference +between them. Her legs were less active than her mind, and most of +our expeditions with her were made in carriages, from which she +dispensed her wisdom placidly as we went along, laying the dust of our +ignorance with the droppings of her erudition, like a watering-cart. +However, she so far condescended from her altitudes as to speak very +cordially of my father's books, for which he expressed proper +acknowledgment; and she had a motherly way of holding his hand in hers +when he took leave of her, and looking maternally in his face, which +made him somewhat uneasy. "Were we to meet often," he remarked, + +"I should be a little afraid of her embracing me outright--a thing to +be grateful for, but by no means to be glad of!" We drove one day to +some excavations which had just been opened near the tomb of Cecilia +Metella, outside the walls of Rome. Both Christian and Roman graves +had been found, and they had been so recently discovered that, as my +father observed, there could have been very little intervention of +persons (though much of time) between the departure of the friends of +the dead and our own visit. The large, excavated chambers were filled +with sarcophagi, beautifully sculptured, and their walls were +ornamented with free-hand decoration done in wet plaster, a marvellous +testimony to the rapid skill of the artists. The sarcophagi were +filled with the bones and the dust of the ancient people who had once, +in the imperial prime of Rome, walked about her streets, prayed to her +gods, and feasted at her banquets. My father remarked on the fact that +many of the sarcophagi were sculptured with figures that seemed +anything but mournful in their demeanor; but Mrs. Jameson said that +there was almost always, in the subject chosen, some allusion to +death, instancing the story of Meleager, an Argonaut, who, I think, +slew the Calydonian boar, and afterwards his two uncles, who had tried +to get the boar's hide away from Meleager's beloved Atalanta; +whereupon the young hero was brought to death by his mother, who in +turn killed herself. It is one of the most thoroughgoing of the +classic tragedies, and was a favorite theme for the sculptors of +sarcophagi. Certainly, in the sarcophagi of the Vatican the +bas-reliefs are often scenes of battle, the rush of men and horses, +and the ground strewn with dead; and in others, a dying person seems +to be represented, with his friends weeping along the sides of the +sarcophagus; but often, too, the allusion to death, if it exists at +all, is very remote. The old Romans, like ourselves, had individual +ways of regarding the great change; according to their mood and faith, +they were hopeful or despairing. But death is death, think of it how +we will. + +I think it was on a previous occasion that I went with my father, +afoot, along this same mighty Appian Way, beside which rise so many +rounded structures, vast as fortresses, containing the remains of the +dead of long ago, and culminating in the huge mass of the Cecilia +Metella tomb, with the mediseval battlements on its summit. And it was +on that walk that we met the calf of The Marble Faun: "A well-grown +calf," my father says in his notes, "who seemed frolicsome, shy, and +sociable all at the same time; for he capered and leaped to one side, +and shook his head, as I passed him, but soon came galloping behind +me, and again started aside when I looked round." How little I +suspected then (or the bull-calf either, for that matter) that he was +to frolic his way into literature, and go gambolling down the ages to +distract the anxious soul of the lover of Hilda! Another walk of ours +was to the huge, green mound of the Monte Testaccio; it was, at that +period, pierced by numerous cavities, in the dark coolness of which +stores of native wines were kept; and they were sold to customers at +the rude wooden tables in front of the excavations, in flasks shaped +like large drops of water, protected with plaited straw. When, +nowadays, in New York or other cities here, I go to an Italian +restaurant, I always call for one of these flasks, and think, as I +drink its contents, of that afternoon with my father. It was the first +time I had been permitted to taste a fermented liquor. I liked it very +much, and got two glasses of it; and when we rose to depart I was +greatly perplexed, and my father was vastly tickled, to discover a +lack of coherence between my legs and my intentions. It speedily +passed off, for the wines are of the lightest and airiest description; +but when, a little later on in life, I came to read that Horatian +verse describing how, turning from barbaric splendors such as the +Persians affect, he binds his brows with simple myrtle, and sips, +beneath the shadow of his garden bower, the pure vintage of the native +grape, I better appreciated the poetry of the theme from having +enjoyed that Testaccionesque experience. + +It was in Rome, too, that I first came in contact with death. It +aroused my liveliest curiosity, but, as I remember, no alarm; partly, +I suspect, because I was unable to believe that there was anything +real in the spectacle. The scene has been woven into the texture of +the Italian romance; it is there described almost as it actually +presented itself to the author's observation. A dead monk of the +Capuchin order lay on a bier in the nave of their church, and while we +looked at him a stream of blood flowed from his nostrils. We went down +afterwards, I recollect, into the vaults, and saw the fine, Oriental +loam in which the body was to lie; and it seems to me there were +arches and other architectural features composed of skulls and bones +of long-dead brothers of the order. He must have been a fantastic and +saturnine genius who first suggested this idea. + +Another subterranean expedition of ours was to the Catacombs, the +midnight passages of which seemed to be made of bones, and niches +containing the dust of unknown mortality, which were duskily revealed +in the glimmer of our moccoli as we passed along in single file. +Sometimes we came to chambers, one of which had in it a bier covered +with glass, in which was a body which still preserved some semblance +of the human form. There were occasional openings in the vaulted roof +of the corridors, but for the most part the darkness was Egyptian, and +for a few moments a thrill of anxiety was caused by the disappearance +either of my sister Una or of Ada Shepard; I forget which. They were +soon found, but the guide read us a homily upon the awful peril of +lifelong entombment which encompassed us. But the air was dry and +cool, and the whole adventure, from my point of view, enjoyable. + +Again, we went down a long flight of steps somewhere near the Forum, +till we reached a pitch-black place, where we waited till a guide came +up from still lower depths, down into which we followed him--each with +a moccolo--till we felt level earth or stone beneath our feet, and +stood in what I suppose is as lightless a hole as can exist in nature. +It was wet, too, and the smell of it was deadly and dismal. This, +however, was the prison in which the old Romans used to confine +important prisoners, such as Jugurtha and the Apostle Peter; and here +they were strangled to death or left to starve. It was the Mamertine +Prison. I did not like it. I also recall the opening of an oubliette +in the castle of San Angelo, which affected me like a nightmare. +Before leaving Concord, in 1853, I had once tumbled through a rotten +board into a well, dug by the side of the road ages before, and had +barely saved myself from dropping to the bottom, sixty feet below, by +grabbing the weeds which grew on the margin of the hole. I was not +much scared at the moment; but the next day, taking my father to the +scene of the accident, he remarked that had I fallen in I never could +have got out again; upon which I conceived a horror of the well which +haunts me in my dreams even to this day. Only a tuft of grass between +me and such a fate! I was, therefore, far from comfortable beside the +oubliette, and was glad to emerge again into the Roman sunshine. + +One night we climbed the Pincian Hill, and saw, far out across Rome, +the outlines of St. Peter's dome in silver light. While we were +thinking that nothing could be more beautiful, all of a sudden the +delicate silver bloomed out into a golden glory, which made everybody +say, "Oh!" Was it more beautiful or not? Theoretically, I prefer the +silver illumination; but, as a matter of fact, I must confess that I +liked the golden illumination better. We were told that the wonder was +performed by convicts, who lay along the dome and applied their +matches to the lamps at the word of command, and that, inasmuch as the +service was apt to prove fatal to the operators, these convicts were +allowed certain alleviations of their condition for doing it. I +suppose it is done by electricity now, and the convicts neither are +killed nor obtain any concessions. Such are the helps and hindrances +of civilization! + +Shortly after this, on a cool and cloudy night, I was down in the +Piazza, del Popolo and saw the fireworks, the only other pyrotechnic +exhibition I had witnessed having been a private one in Rock Park, +which, I think, I have described. This Roman one was very different, +and I do not believe I have ever since seen another so fine. The whole +front of the Pincian was covered with fiery designs, and in the air +overhead wonderful fiery serpents and other devices skimmed, arched, +wriggled, shot aloft, and detonated. A boy accepts appearances as +realities; and these fireworks doubtless enlarged my conceptions of +the possibilities of nature, and substantiated the fables of the +enchanters. + +[IMAGE: THE MARBLE FAUN] + +The Faun of Praxiteles, as the world knows, attracted my father, +though he could not have visited it often; for both in his notes and +in his romance he makes the same mistake as to the pose of the figure: +"He has a pipe," he says in the former, "or some such instrument of +music in the hand which rests upon the tree, and the other, I think, +hangs carelessly by his side." Of course, the left arm, the one +referred to, is held akimbo on his left hip. That my father's eyes +were, however, already awake to the literary and moral possibilities +of the Faun is shown by his further observations, which are much the +same as those which appear in the book. "The whole person," he says, +"conveys the idea of an amiable and sensual nature, easy, mirthful, +apt for jollity, yet not incapable of being touched by pathos. The +Faun has no principle, nor could comprehend it, yet is true and honest +by virtue of his simplicity; very capable, too, of affection. He might +be refined through his feelings, so that the coarser, animal part of +his nature would be thrown into the background, though liable to +assert itself at any time. Praxiteles has only expressed the animal +part of the nature by one (or, rather, two) definite signs--the two +ears, which go up in a little peak, not likely to be discovered on +slight inspection, and, I suppose, they are covered with downy fur. A +tail is probably hidden under the garment. Only a sculptor of the +finest imagination, most delicate taste, and sweetest feeling would +have dreamed of representing a faun under this guise; and, if you +brood over it long enough, all the pleasantness of sylvan life, and +all the genial and happy characteristics of the brute creation, seem +to be mixed in him with humanity--trees, grass, flowers, cattle, deer, +and unsophisticated man." This passage shows how much my father was +wont to trust to first impressions, and even more on the moral than on +the material side. He recognized a truth in the first touch--the first +thought--which he was wary of meddling with afterwards, contenting +himself with slightly developing it now and then, and smoothing a +little the form and manner of its presentation. The finest art is +nearest to the most veritable nature--to such as have the eye to see +the latter aright. Rome, like other ancient cities which have fallen +from the positive activity of their original estate, has one great +advantage over other places which one wishes to see (like London, for +instance), that the whole business of whoever goes there, who has any +business whatever, is to see it; and when the duty-sights have been +duly done, the sight-seer then first begins to live his true life in +independence and happiness, going where he lists, staying no longer +than he pleases, and never knowing, when he sallies forth in the +morning, what, or how many, or how few things he will have +accomplished by nightfall. + +The duty to see is indeed the death of real vision; the official +cicerone leads you anywhere but to the place or thing that you are in +the mood to behold or understand. But with his disappearance the fun +and the pageant begin; one's eyes are at last opened, and beauty and +significance flow in through every pore of the senses. It is in this +better phase of his Roman sojourn that I picture my father; he trudges +tranquilly and happily to and fro, with no programme and no +obligations, absorbing all things with that quiet, omnivorous glance +of his; pausing whenever he takes the fancy, and contemplating for +moments or minutes whatever strikes his fancy; often turning aside +from egregious spectacles and giving his attention to apparent +trifles, to the mere passing show; pondering on the tuft of flowers in +a cranny of the Coliseum wall, on the azure silhouette of the Alban +Mountains, on the moss collected on the pavement beneath the aperture +in the roof of the Pantheon, on the picturesque deformity of old, +begging Beppo on the steps of the Piazza, d' Espagna. I am trudging +joyously beside him, hanging on to his left hand (the other being +occupied with his hook-headed cane), asking him innumerable questions, +to which he comfortably, or abstractedly, or with humorous impatience, +replies; or I run on before him, or lag behind, busy with my endless +occupation of picking up things to me curious and valuable, and +filling with them my much-enduring pockets; in this way drinking in +Rome in my own way, also, and to my boyish advantage. He tells me +tales of old Rome, always apposite to the occasion; draws from me, +sometimes, my private views as to persons, places, and scenes, and +criticises those views in his own terse, arch, pregnant way, the force +and pertinency whereof are revealed to me only in my later meditations +upon them. It is only after one has begun to deal in this way with +Rome that its magic and spell begin to work upon one; and they are +never to be shaken off. Anxiety and pain may be mingled with them, as +was the case with my father before we said our final farewell to the +mighty city; but it is thereby only the more endeared to one. Rome is +one of the few central facts of the world, because it is so much more +than a fact. Byron is right--it is the city of the soul. + +On one of the last evenings of our first season we went to the +Thompsons', and were there shown, among other things, a portfolio of +sketches. There is in The Marble Faun a chapter called "Miriam's +Studio," in which occurs a reference to a portfolio of sketches by +Miriam herself; the hint for it may have been taken from the portfolio +of Mr. Thompson, though the sketches themselves were of a very +different quality and character. The latter collection pleased me, +because I was just beginning to fill an album of my own with such +lopsided attempts to represent real objects, and yet more preposterous +imaginative sallies as my age and nature suggested. My father was +interested in them on account of the spiritual vigor which belongs to +the artist's first vision of his subject. In their case, as well as in +his own, he felt that it was impossible, as Browning put it, to +"recapture that first, fine, careless rapture." But the man of letters +has an advantage over the man of paint and canvas in the matter of +being able to preserve the original spirit in the later, finished +design. + +Towards the close of this first season in Rome the Bryants came to +town, and the old poet, old in aspect even then, called on us; but he +was not a childly man, and we youngsters stood aloof and contemplated +with awe his white, Merlin beard and tranquil but chilly eyes. Near +the end of May William Story invited us to breakfast with him; the +Bryants and Miss Hosmer and some English people were there; and I +understood nothing of what passed except the breakfast, which was +good, until, at the end of the session, my father and Story began to +talk about the superstition as to Friday, and they agreed that, of +course, it was nonsense, but that, nevertheless, it did have an +influence on both of them. It probably has an influence on everybody +who has ever heard of it. Many of us protest indignantly that we don't +believe in it, but the protest itself implies something not unlike +believing. + +Finally, on the 24th of May, we left our Pincian palace, and got into +and on the huge _vettura_ which was to carry us to Florence, a week's +journey. It was to be one of the most delightful and blessed of our +foreign experiences; my father often said that he had enjoyed nothing +else so much, the vetturino (who happened to be one of the honestest +and sweetest-tempered old fellows in Italy) taking upon himself the +entire management of everything, down to ordering the meals and paying +the tolls, thus leaving us wholly unembarrassed and free from +responsibility while traversing a route always historically and +generally scenically charming. But we were destined, on the threshold +of the adventure, to undergo one of those evil quarters of an hour +which often usher in a period of special sunshine; for we were forced +into a desperate conflict with our servant-girl, Lalla, and her mother +over a question of wages. The girl had done chores for us during our +residence at the Palazzo Larazani, and had seemed to be a very amiable +little personage; she was small, slim, and smiling, and, though dirty +and inefficient, was no worse, so far as we could discover, than any +other Roman servant-girl. When we had fixed on the date of our +departure, Lalla had been asked how much warning she wanted; she +replied, a fortnight; which, accordingly, was given her, with a few +days thrown in for good measure. But when the day arrived she claimed +a week's more pay, and her old mother had a bill of her own for +fetching water. According to my observation, travelling Americans +have little or no conscience; to avoid trouble they will submit to +imposition, not to mention their habit of spoiling tradesmen, waiters, +and other foreign attendants by excessive tips and payments. But my +father and mother, though apt enough to make liberal bargains, were +absolutely incorruptible and immovable when anything like barefaced +robbery was attempted upon them; and they refused to present Lalla and +her mother with a single baioccho more than was their due. Moreover, +the patrone, or proprietor, of the Palazzo had mulcted them some six +scudi for Lalla's profuse breakages of glass and crockery during our +stay. + +It was early morning when we set out, and only the faithful Thompsons +were there to bid us farewell. Lalla and her tribe, however, were on +hand, and violently demanded the satisfaction of their iniquitous +claims. "No!" said my father, and "No!" said my mother, like the +judges of the Medes and Persians. Thereupon the whole House of Lalla, +but Lalla and her mother especially, gave us an example of what an +Italian can do in the way of cursing an enemy. Ancient forms of +malediction, which had been current in the days of the early Roman +kings, were mingled with every damning invention that had been devised +during the Middle Ages, and ever since then; and they were all hurled +at us in shrill, screaming tones, accompanied by fell and ominous +gestures and inarticulate yells of superheated frenzy. Nothing could +surpass the volubility of this cursing, unless it were the animosity +which prompted it; no crime that anybody, since Cain slew Abel, had or +could have committed deserved a tenth part of the calamities and evil +haps which this preposterous family called down upon our heads, who +had committed no crime at all, but quite the contrary. When, in +after-years, I heard Booth, as Richelieu, threaten "the curse of Rome" +upon his opponents, I shuddered, wondering whether he had any notion +what the threat meant. Through it all my mother's ordinarily lovely +and peaceful countenance expressed a sad but unalterable +determination; and my father kept smiling in a certain dangerous way +that he sometimes had in moments of great peril or stress, but said +nothing; while Mr. Thompson indignantly called upon the cursers to +cease and to beware, and my dear friend Eddy looked distressed to the +verge of tears. He squeezed my hand as I got into the _vettura_, and +told me not to mind--the Lalla people were wicked, and their +ill-wishes would return upon their own heads. A handful of ten-cent +pieces, or their Roman equivalent, would have stopped the whole outcry +and changed it into blessings; but I think my father would not have +yielded had the salvation of Rome and of all Italy depended upon it. +His eyes gleamed, as I have seen them do on one or two other occasions +only, as we drove away, with the screams pursuing us, and that smile +still hovered about his mouth. But we drove on; Gaetano cracked his +long whip, our four steeds picked up their feet and rattled our +vehicle over the Roman cobble-stones; we passed the Porta del Popolo, +and were stretching along, under the summer sunshine, upon the white +road that led to Florence. It was a divine morning; the turmoil and +the strife were soon forgotten, and for a week thenceforward there was +only unalloyed felicity before us. Poor, evil-invoking Lalla had +passed forever out of our sphere. + + + + +XVIII + + +In Othello's predicament--Gaetano--Crystals and snail-shells--Broad, +flagstone pavements--Fishing-rods and blow-pipes--Ghostly +yarns--Conservative effects of genius--An ideal bust and a living +one--The enigma of spiritualism--A difficult combination to +overthrow--The dream-child and the Philistine--Dashing and plunging +this way and that--Teresa screamed for mercy--Grapes and figs and +ghostly voices--My father would have settled there--Kirkup the +necromancer--A miraculous birth--A four-year-old medium--The +mysterious touch--An indescribable horror--Not even a bone of her was +left--Providence takes very long views. + +The railroad which now unites Rome with Florence defrauds travellers +of some of the most agreeable scenery in Italy, and one of the most +time-honored experiences; and as for the beggars who infested the +route, they must long since have perished of inanition--not that they +needed what travellers gave them in the way of alms, but that, like +Othello, their occupation being gone, they must cease to exist. Never +again could they look forward to pestering a tourist; never exhibit a +withered arm or an artistic ulcer; never mutter anathemas against the +obdurate, or call down blessings upon the profuse. What was left them +in life? And what has become of the wayside inns, and what of the +vetturinos? A man like Gaetano, by himself, was enough to modify +radically one's conception of the possibilities of the Italian +character. In appearance he was a strong-bodied Yankee farmer, with +the sun-burned, homely, kindly, shrewd visage, the blue jumper, the +slow, canny ways, the silent perception and enjoyment of humorous +things, the infrequent but timely speech. It was astonishing to hear +him speaking Italian out of a mouth which seemed formed only to emit a +Down-East drawl and to chew tobacco. In disposition and character +this son of old Rome was, so far as we, during our week of constant +and intimate association with him, could judge, absolutely without +fault; he was mild, incorruptible, and placid, as careful of us as a +father of his children, and he grew as fond of us as we were of him, +so that the final parting, after the journey was done, was really a +moving scene. I have found the tribe of cabbies, in all countries, to +be, as a rule, somewhat cantankerous and sinister; but Gaetano +compensated for all his horse-driving brethren. To be sure, _vettura_ +driving is not like cabbing, and Gaetano was in the habit of getting +out often and walking up the hills, thus exercising his liver. But he +must have been born with a strong predisposition to goodness, which he +never outgrew. + +Save for a few showers, it was fine weather all the way, and a good +part of the way was covered on foot by my father and me; for the hills +were many, and the winding ascents long, and we would alight and leave +the slow-moving vehicle, with its ponderous freight, behind us, to be +overtaken perhaps an hour or two later on the levels or declivities. +Gaetano was a consummate whip, and he carried his team down the +descents and round the exciting turns at a thrilling pace, while the +yards of whiplash cracked and detonated overhead like a liliputian +thunder-storm. On the mountain-tops were romantic villages, +surrounding rock-built castles which had been robber strongholds +centuries before, and we traversed peaceful plains which had been the +scenes of famous Roman battles, and whose brooks had run red with +blood before England's history began. We paused a day in Perugia, and +received the Bronze Pontiff's benediction; the silent voices of +history were everywhere speaking to the spiritual ear. Meanwhile I +regarded the trip as being, primarily, an opportunity to collect +unusual snail-shells; and we passed through a region full of natural +crystals, some of them of such size as to prompt my father to forbid +their being added to our luggage. I could not understand his +insensibility. Could I have had my way, I would have loaded a wain +with them. I liked the villages and castles, too, and the good dinners +at the inns, and the sound sleeps in mediaeval beds at night; but the +crystals and the snail-shells were the true aim and sustenance of my +life. My mother and sister sketched continually, and Miss Shepard was +always ready to tell us the story of the historical features which we +encountered; it astounded me to note how much she knew about things +which she had never before seen. One afternoon we drove down from +surrounding heights to Florence, which lay in a golden haze +characteristic of Italian Junes in this latitude. Powers, the +sculptor, had promised to engage lodgings for us, but he had not +expected us so soon, and meanwhile we put up at a hotel near by, and +walked out a little in the long evening, admiring the broad, flagstone +pavements and all the minor features which made Florence so unlike +Rome. The next day began our acquaintance with the Powers family, who, +with the Brownings, constituted most of the social element of our +sojourn. Powers had an agreeable wife, two lovely daughters, and a +tall son, a few years older than I, and a pleasant companion, though +he could not take the place of Eddy Thompson in my heart. He was +clever with his hands, and soon began to make fishing-rods for me, +having learned of my predilection for the sport. There were no +opportunities to fish in Florence; but the rods which Bob Powers +produced were works of art, straight and tapering, and made in +lengths, which fitted into one another--a refinement which was new to +me, who had hitherto imagined nothing better than a bamboo pole. Bob +finally confided to me that he straightened his rods by softening the +wood in steam; but I found that they did not long retain their +straightness; and, there being no use for them, except the delight of +the eye, I presently lost interest in them. Then Bob showed me how to +make blow-pipes by pushing out the pith from the stems of some species +of bushy shrub that grew outside the walls. He made pellets of clay +from his father's studio; and I was deeply affected by the long range +and accuracy of these weapons. We used to ensconce ourselves behind +the blinds of the front windows of Powers's house, and practise +through the slats at the passers-by in the street. They would feel a +smart hit and look here and there, indignant; but, after a while, +seeing nothing but the innocent fronts of sleepy houses, would resume +their way. Bob inherited his handiness from his father, who seemed a +master of all crafts, a true Yankee genius. He might have made his +fortune as an inventor had he not happened to turn the main stream of +his energy in the direction of sculpture. I believe that the literary +art was the only one in which he did not claim proficiency, and that +was a pity, because Powers's autobiography would have been a book of +books. He was a Swedenborgian by faith, but he also dabbled somewhat +in spiritualism, which was having a vogue at that time, owing partly +to the exploits of the American medium Home. Marvellous, indeed, were +the ghostly yarns Powers used to spin, and they lost nothing by the +physical appearance of the narrator, with his tall figure, square +brow, great, black eyes, and impressive gestures; his voice, too, was +deep and flexible, and could sink into the most blood-curdling tones. +My recollection is that Powers was always clad in a long, linen +pinafore, reaching from his chin to his feet, and daubed with clay, +and on his head a cap made either of paper, like a baker's, or, for +dress occasions, of black velvet. His homely ways and speech, which +smacked of the Vermont farm as strongly as if he had just come thence, +whereas in truth he had lived in Florence, at this time, about twenty +years, and had won high fame as a sculptor, tempted one to suspect him +of affectation--of a pose; and there is no doubt that Powers was aware +of the contrast between his physical presentment and his artistic +reputation, and felt a sort of dramatic pleasure in it. Nevertheless, +it would be unjust to call him affected; he was a big man, in all +senses of the term, and his instinct of independence led him to +repudiate all external polish and ear-marks of social culture, and to +say, as it were, "You see, a plain Vermont countryman can live half a +lifetime in the centre of artificial refinement and rival by the works +of his native genius the foremost living artists, and yet remain the +same simple, honest old sixpence that he was at home!" It was +certainly a more manly and wholesome attitude than that of the +ordinary American foreign resident, who makes a point of forgetting +his native ways and point of view, and aping the habits and traits of +his alien associates. And, besides, Powers had such an immense +temperament and individuality that very likely he could not have +modified them successfully even had he been disposed to do so. + +[IMAGE: HIRAM POWERS] + +His daughters, as I have said, were lovely creatures. Powers was at +this time modelling an ideal bust of a woman, and one day I went into +his studio expecting to find Bob there, but the studio was empty but +for the bust, which I now had an opportunity to contemplate at my ease +for the first time. I thought it very beautiful, and there was +something about the face which reminded me of somebody, I could not +decide who. Just then a portiere in the doorway parted, and in came a +living bust, a reality in warm flesh and blood, compared with which +the ideal seemed second-rate. It belonged to one of Powers's +daughters, who had come for a sitting; she was serving as her father's +model. Upon seeing the unexpected boy, fixed there in speechless +admiration, the young lady uttered a scream and vanished. I now knew +whom the face of the clay effigy reminded me of, and afterwards when I +saw beautiful statues I thought of her, and shook my head. + +My father and Powers took a strong fancy to each other, and met and +talked a great deal. As I just said now, spiritualism was a fad at +that time, and Powers was pregnant with marvels which he had either +seen or heard of, and which he was always ready to attempt to explain +on philosophical grounds. My father would listen to it all, and both +believe it and not believe it. He felt, I suppose, that Powers was +telling the truth, but he was not persuaded that all the truth was in +Powers's possession, or in any one else's. Powers also had a great +deal to say concerning the exoteric and esoteric truths of sculpture; +his racy individuality marked it all. He would not admit that there +was any limit to what might be done with marble; and when my father +asked him one day whether he could model a blush on a woman's cheek, +he said, stoutly, that the thing was possible. My father, as his +manner was with people, went with the sculptor as far as he chose to +carry him, accepting all his opinions and judgments, and becoming +Powers, so far as he might, for the time being, in order the better to +get to the root of his position. And then, afterwards, he would return +to his own self, and quietly examine Powers's assertions and theories +in the dry light. My father was two men, one sympathetic and +intuitional, the other critical and logical; together they formed a +combination which could not be thrown off its feet. + +We had already met the Brownings in London; but at this period they +belonged in Italy more than anywhere else, and Florence formed the +best setting for the authors both of Aurora Leigh and of Sordello. +They lived in a villa called Casa Guidi, and with them was their son, +a boy younger than myself, whom they called Pennini, though his real +name was something much less fastidious. Penni, I believe, used to be +an assistant of Raphael early in the sixteenth century, and Pennini +may have been nicknamed after him. His mother, who was an extravagant +woman on the emotional and spiritual plane, made the poor little boy +wear his hair curled in long ringlets down his back, and clad him in a +fancy costume of black velvet, with knickerbockers and black silk +stockings; he was homely of face, and looked "soft," as normal boys +would say. But his parents were determined to make an ideal +dream-child of him, and, of course, he had to submit. I had the +contempt for him which a philistine boy feels for a creature whom he +knows he can lick with one hand tied behind his back, and I had +nothing whatever to say to him. But Pennini was not such a mollycoddle +and ass as he looked, and when he grew up he gave evidence enough of +having a mind and a way of his own. My mother took him at his mother's +valuation, and both she and my father have expressed admiration of the +whole Browning tribe in their published journals. Mrs. Browning seemed +to me a sort of miniature monstrosity; there was no body to her, only +a mass of dark curls and queer, dark eyes, and an enormous mouth with +thick lips; no portrait of her has dared to show the half of it. Her +hand was like a bird's claw. Browning was a lusty, active, energetic +person, dashing and plunging this way and that with wonderful impetus +and suddenness; he was never still a moment, and he talked with +extraordinary velocity and zeal. There was a mass of wild hair on his +head, and he wore bushy whiskers. He appeared very different twenty +years later, when I met him in London, after his wife's death; he was +quiet and sedate, with close-cut silvery hair and pointed beard, and +the rather stout, well-dressed figure of a British gentleman of the +sober middle class. It is difficult to harmonize either of these +outsides with the poet within--that remarkable imagination, intellect, +and analytical faculty which have made him one of the men of the +century. There was a genial charm in Browning, emphasized, in this +earlier time, with a bewildering vivacity and an affluence of +courtesy. In his mature phase he was still courteous and agreeable +when he chose to be so, but was also occasionally supercilious and +repellent, and assiduously cultivated smart society. I once asked him, +in 1879, why he made his poetry so often obscure, and he replied, +frankly, that he did so because he couldn't help it; the inability to +put his thoughts in clear phrases had always been a grief to him. This +statement was, to me, unexpected, and it has a certain importance. + +After a few weeks in Casa Bella, opposite Powers's house, Florence +grew so hot that we were glad of an opportunity to rent the Villa +Montauto, up on the hill of Bellosguardo, less than a mile beyond the +city gate. The villa, with two stories and an attic, must have been +nearly two hundred feet long, and was two or three rooms deep; at the +hither end rose a tower evidently much older than the house attached +to it. Near the foot of the tower grew an ancient tree, on a +projecting branch of which we soon had a swing suspended, and all of +us children did some very tall swinging. There was a little girl of +ten belonging to the estate, named Teresa, an amiable, brown-haired, +homely little personage. We admitted her to our intimacy, and swung +her in the swing till she screamed for mercy. The road from Florence, +after passing our big iron gate on the east, continued on westward, +beneath the tower and the parapet of the grounds; beyond extended the +wide valley of the Arno, with mountains hemming it in, and to the left +of the mountains, every evening, Donati's comet shone, with a golden +sweep of tail subtending twenty degrees along the horizon. The peasant +folk regarded it with foreboding; and I remember seeing in the +book-shops of Rome, before we left, pamphlets in both Italian and +English, with such titles as "Will the great comet, now rapidly +approaching, strike the earth?" It did not strike the earth, but it +afforded us a magnificent spectacle during our stay in Montauto, and +the next year it was followed by war between Austria and France and +the evacuation of Venice. + +The elevation of Bellosguardo sloped from the villa north and east, +and this declivity was occupied by a podere of some dozen acres, on +which grew grape-vines, olive and fig trees. Every morning, about ten +o'clock, the peasants on the estate would come in loaded with grapes, +which they piled up on a large table in the reception-hall on the +ground floor. We ate them by handfuls, but were never able to finish +them. Between times we would go out among the fruit trees and devour +fresh figs, luscious with purple pulp. I had three or four rooms to +myself at the western extremity of the house; they were always cool on +the hottest days. There I was wont to retire to pursue my literary +labors; I was still writing works on conchology. My sister Una had +rooms on the ground floor, adjoining the chapel. They were haunted by +the ghost of a nun, and several times the candle which she took in +there at night was moved by invisible hands from its place and set +down elsewhere. Ghostly voices called to us, and various unaccountable +noises were heard now and then, both within and without the house; but +we children did not mind them, not having been bred in the fear of +spirits. Indeed, at the instance of Mrs. Browning, who was often with +us, we held spirit seances, Miss Shepard being the medium, though she +mildly protested. Long communications were written down, but the +sceptics were not converted, nor were the believers discouraged. "I +discern in the alleged communications from my wife's mother," wrote my +father, "much of her own beautiful fancy and many of her preconceived +ideas, although thinner and weaker than at first hand. They are the +echoes of her own voice, returning out of the lovely chambers of her +heart, and mistaken by her for the tones of her mother." + +Almost every day some of us made an incursion into Florence. The town +itself seemed to me more agreeable than Rome; but the Boboli Gardens +could not rival the Borghese, and the Pitti and Uffizi galleries were +not so captivating as the Vatican and the Capitol. However, the +Cascine and the Lung' Arno were delightful, and the Arno, shallow and +placid, flowing through the midst of the city, was a fairer object +than the muddy and turbulent Tiber. Men and boys bathed along the +banks in the afternoons and evenings; and the Ponte Vecchio, crowded +with grotesque little houses, was a favorite promenade of mine. There +was also a large marketplace, where the peasant women sold the produce +of their farms. My insatiable appetite for such things prompted me +often to go thither and eat everything I had money to buy. One day I +consumed so many fresh tomatoes that I had a giddiness in the back of +my head, and ate no more tomatoes for some years. But the place I +best liked was the great open square of the Palazzo Vecchio, with the +statues of David and of Perseus under the Loggia dei Lanzi, a retreat +from sun and rain; and the Duomo and Giotto's Campanile, hard by. The +pavements of Florence, smooth as the surface of stone canals, were +most soothing and comfortable after the relentless, sharp +cobble-stones of Rome; the low houses that bordered them seemed to +slumber in the hot, still sunshine. What a sunshine was that! Not +fierce and feverish, as in the tropics, but soft and intense and +white. Who would not live in Florence if he could? I think my father +would have settled there but for his children, to whom he wished to +give an American education. The thought was often in his mind; and he +perhaps cherished some hope of returning thither later in life, and +letting old age steal gently upon him and his wife in the delicious +city. But the Celestial City was nearer to him than he suspected. + +There was a magical old man in Florence named Kirkup, an Englishman, +though he had dwelt abroad so many years that he seemed more +Florentine than the Florentines themselves. He had known, in his +youth, Byron, Shelley, Hunt, and Edward Trelawney. After that famous +group was disparted, Kirkup, having an income sufficient for his +needs, came to Florence and settled there. He took to antiquarianism, +which is a sort of philtre, driving its votaries mildly insane, and +filling them with emotions which, on the whole, are probably more +often happy than grievous. But Kirkup, in the course of his researches +into the past, came upon the books of the necromancers, and bought and +studied them, and began to practise their spells and conjurations; and +by-and-by, being a great admirer and student of Dante, that poet +manifested himself to him in his lonely vigils and told him many +unknown facts about his career on earth, and incidentally revealed to +him the whereabouts of the now-familiar fresco of Dante on the wall of +the Bargello Chapel, where it had been hidden for ages beneath a coat +of whitewash. In these occult researches, Kirkup, of course, had need +of a medium, and he found among the Florentine peasants a young girl, +radiantly beautiful, who possessed an extraordinary susceptibility to +spiritual influences. Through her means he conversed with the +renowned dead men of the past times. But one day Regina (such was the +girl's name), much to the old man's surprise, gave birth to a child. +She herself died, in Kirkup's house, soon after, and on her death-bed +she swore a solemn oath on the crucifix that the baby's father was +none other than Kirkup himself. The poor old gentleman had grown so +accustomed to believing in miracles that he made little ado about +accepting this one also; he received the child as his daughter, and +made provision for her in his will. No one had the heart or thought it +worth while to enlighten him as to certain facts which might have +altered his attitude; but it was well known that Regina had a lover, a +handsome young Italian peasant, much more capable of begetting +children than of taking care of them afterwards. + +These interesting circumstances I did not learn until long after +Florence had receded into the distance in my memory. But one +afternoon, with my father and mother, I entered the door of a queer +old house close to the Ponte Vecchio; I was told that it had formerly +been a palace of the Knights Templars. We ascended a very darksome +flight of stairs, and a door was opened by a strange little man. He +may have been, at that time, some seventy years my senior, but he was +little above my height; he had long, soft, white hair and a flowing +white beard; his features bore a resemblance to those of Bulwer +Lytton, only Bulwer never lived to anything like Mr. Kirkup's age. Old +as he was, our host was very brisk and polite, and did the honors of +his suite of large rooms with much grace and fantastic hospitality. +Dancing about him, and making friends freely with us all meanwhile, +was the little girl, Imogen by name, who was accredited as the +octogenarian's offspring. She was some four or five years of age, but +intellectually precocious, though a complete child, too. Mr. Kirkup +said that she, like her beautiful mother, was a powerful medium, and +that he often used to communicate through her with her mother, who +would seem to have kept her secret even after death. The house was +stuffed full of curiosities, but was very dirty and cobwebby; the +pictures and the books looked much in need of a caretaker. The little +child frolicked and flitted about the dusky apartments, or seated +herself like a butterfly on the great tomes of magic that were piled +in corners. Nothing could be stronger or stranger than the contrast +between her and this environment. My father wrote it all down in his +journal, and it evidently impressed his imagination; and she and +Kirkup himself--_mutatis mutandis_--appear in Dr. Grimshawe's Secret, +and again, in a somewhat different form, in The Dolliver Romance. +There was even a Persian kitten, too, to bear little Imogen company. +But no fiction could surpass the singularity of this withered old +magician living with the pale, tiny sprite of a child of mysterious +birth in the ghost-haunted rooms of the ancient palace. + +It seemed as if the world of the occult were making a determined +attack upon us during this Florentine sojourn; whichever way we turned +we came in contact with something mysterious. In one of my father's +unpublished diaries he writes, in reference to the stories with which +he was being regaled by Powers, the Brownings, and others, that he was +reminded "of an incident that took place at the old manse, in the +first summer of our marriage. One night, about eleven o'clock, before +either my wife or I had fallen asleep (we had been talking together +just before), she suddenly asked me why I had touched her shoulder? +The next instant she had a sense that the touch was not mine, but that +of some third presence in the chamber. She clung to me in great +affright, but I got out of bed and searched the chamber and adjacent +entry, and, finding nothing, concluded that the touch was a fancied +one. My wife, however, has never varied in her belief that the +incident was supernatural and connected with the apparition of old Dr. +Harris, who used to show himself to me daily in the reading-room of +the Boston Athenaeum. I am still incredulous both as to the doctor's +identity and as to the reality of the mysterious touch. That same +summer of our honeymoon, too, George Hillard and his wife were sitting +with us in our parlor, when a rustling as of a silken robe passed from +corner to corner of the room, right among my wife and the two guests, +and was heard, I think, by all three. Mrs. Hillard, I remember, was +greatly startled. As for myself, I was reclining on the sofa at a +little distance, and neither heard the rustle nor believed it." + +Nevertheless, such things affect one in a degree. Here is a straw to +show which way the wind of doctrine was blowing with my father: We +were in Siena immediately after the date of our Florentine residence, +and he and I, leaving the rest of the family at our hotel, sallied +forth in quest of adventures. "We went to the cathedral," he writes, +"and while standing near the entrance, or about midway in the nave, we +saw a female figure approaching through the dimness and distance, far +away in the region of the high altar; as it drew nearer its air +reminded me of Una, whom we had left at home. Finally, it came close +to us, and proved to be Una herself; she had come, immediately after +we left the hotel, with Miss Shepard, and was looking for objects to +sketch. It is an empty thing to write down, but the surprise made the +incident stand out very vividly." Una was to pass near the gates of +the next world a little while later, and doubtless my father often +during that dark period pictured her to himself as a spirit. To make +an end of this subject, I will quote here my father's account of a +story told him by Mrs. Story when we were living in Rome for the +second time. The incident of the woman's face at the carriage window +reappears in The Marble Faun. "She told it," he says, "on the authority +of Mrs. Gaskell, to whom the personages were known. A lady, recently +married, was observed to be in a melancholy frame of mind, and fell +into a bad state of health. She told her husband that she was haunted +with the constant vision of a certain face, which affected her with an +indescribable horror, and was the cause of her melancholy and illness. +The physician prescribed travel, and they went first to Paris, where +the lady's spirits grew somewhat better, and the vision haunted her +less constantly. They purposed going to Italy, and before their +departure from Paris a letter of introduction was given them by a +friend, directed to a person in Rome. On their arrival in Rome the +letter was delivered; the person called, and in his face the lady +recognized the precise reality of her vision. By-the-bye, I think the +lady saw this face in the streets of Rome before the introduction took +place. The end of the story is that the husband was almost immediately +recalled to England by an urgent summons; the wife disappeared that +very night, and was recognized driving out of Rome, in a carriage, in +tears, and accompanied by the visionary unknown. It is a very foolish +story, but told as truth. Mrs. Story also said that in an Etruscan +tomb, on the Barberini estate, the form and impression, in dust, of a +female figure were discovered. Not even a bone of her was left; but +where her neck had been there lay a magnificent necklace, all of gold +and of the richest workmanship. The necklace, just as it was found +(except, I suppose, for a little furbishing), is now worn by the +Princess Barberini as her richest adornment. Mrs. Story herself had +on a bracelet composed, I think, of seven ancient Etruscan scorabei in +carnelian, every one of which has been taken from a separate tomb, and +on one side of each was engraved the signet of the person to whom it +had belonged and who had carried it to the grave with him. This +bracelet would make a good connecting link for a series of Etruscan +tales, the more fantastic the better!" + +On the first day of October, 1859, we left Florence by railway for +Siena on our way back to Rome. There had been no drawbacks to our +enjoyment of the city and of our villa and of the people we had met. +We departed with regret; had we stayed on there, instead, and not +again attempted the fatal air of the Seven Hills, our after chronicles +might have been very different. But we walk over precipices with our +eyes open, or pass safely along their verge in the dark, and only the +Power who made us knows why. Providence takes very long views. + + + + +XIX + + +Burnt Sienna--The Aquila Nera--A grand, noble, gentle creature--The +most beautiful woman in the world--Better friends than ever--A shadow +brooded--Boys are whole-souled creatures--Franklin Pierce--Miriam, +Hilda, Kenyon, Donatello--The historian of the Netherlands--When New +England makes a man--The spell of Trevi--An accession of mishaps--My +father's mustache--Three steps of stone, the fourth, death--Havre, +Redcar, Bath, London, Liverpool. + +Siena is distant from Florence, in a direct line, not more than fifty +miles, but the railway turns the western flank of the mountains, and +kept us full three hours on the trip. I had long been familiar with a +paint in my color-box called Burnt Sienna, and was now much interested +to learn that it was made of the yellow clay on which the city of +Siena stands; and when I discovered for myself that this clay, having +formed the bed of some antediluvian ocean, was full of fossil shells, +I thought that Siena was a place where I would do well to spend one of +my lifetimes. The odd, parti-colored architecture of the town did not +so much appeal to me, and certainly the streets and squares were less +attractive in themselves than either the Roman or the Florentine ones. +The shells were personally ugly, but they were shells, and fossils +into the bargain, and they sufficed for my happiness. + +The Storys had a villa in Siena, and my father certainly had in the +back part of his mind an idea of settling there, or elsewhere in +Italy, now or later; but after ten days we were on our travels again. +There were no ruins to be seen, that I remember, but many churches and +frescoes and old oil-paintings, which I regarded with indifference. +Mediaeval remains did not attract me like classic ones. It was here +that Story drew the caricatures which I have already spoken of, and +from the windows of the room, as the twilight fell, we could see the +great comet, then in its apogee of brilliance. Where will the world be +when it comes again? We had rooms at the Aquila Nera, looking out on +the venerable, gray Palazzo Tolomei. The narrow streets were full of +people; the steepness and irregularity of the thoroughfares of the +city produced a feeling of energy and activity in the midst of the +ancient historic peace. Siena is, I believe, built about the crater of +an extinct volcano. The old brick wall of the city was still extant, +running up hill and down, and confining the rusty heaps of houses +within its belt. There were projecting balconies, crumbling with age, +and irregular arcades, resembling tunnels hewn out of the solid rock. +From the windows of our sitting-room in the hotel we commanded the +piazza, in front of the Palazzo Tolomei, with a pillar in the midst of +it, on which was a group of Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf, the +tradition of the city being that it was founded during the epoch of +the Roman kings. My mother made a sketch of this monument in her +little sketch-book, and my father, according to a common custom of +his, sat for an hour at the window one day and made a note of every +person who passed through the little square, thus getting an idea of +the character of the local population not otherwise obtainable. I can +imagine that, were one born in Siena, one might conceive an ardent +affection for it; but, in spite of its picturesqueness, it never +touched my heart like Rome or Florence, or even London or Paris. I +left it without regret, but with specimens of its fossils in my +pockets. + +It often happens with miracles that they occur in doubles or trebles, +in order, I suppose, to suggest to us that they may be simply +instances of an undiscovered law. Gaetano was a miracle, and he was +followed by Constantino, who, though of an altogether different human +type, was of no less sweet and shining a nature than the other. He was +a grand, noble, gentle creature, and my mother soon dubbed him "The +Emperor," though it may be doubted whether the original emperor of +that name was as good a man as ours; he was certainly not nearly so +good-looking. He was only the driver of our _vettura_ from Siena to +Rome, but there was a princely munificence in his treatment of us that +made us feel his debtors in an indefinitely greater sum than that +which technically discharged our obligations. He was massive, +quiescent, oxlike, with great, slow-moving, black eyes. He had the air +of extending to us the hospitalities of Italy, and our journey assumed +the character of a royal progress. He was especially devoted to my +small sister Rose, and often, going up the hills, he would have her +beside him on foot, one of his great hands clasping hers, while with +the other he wielded the long whip that encouraged the horses. His +garments were of the humblest fashion, but he so wore them as to make +them seem imperial robes. My mother caught an excellent likeness of +him as he sat before her on the driver's seat. The second trip was as +enjoyable as the first, though it was two or three days shorter. The +route was west of our former one, passing through Radicofani, +incrusted round its hill-top; and Bolsena, climbing backward from the +poisonous shore of its beautiful lake; and Viterbo, ugly and +beggar-ridden, though famous forever on account of the war for Galiana +waged between Viterbo and Rome. In the front of an old church in the +town I saw the carved side of her sarcophagus, incorporate with the +wall. She was the most beautiful woman in the world in her day, and in +the fight for the possession of her her townsmen overcame the Romans, +but the latter were permitted, as a salve for their defeat, to have +one final glimpse of Galiana as they marched homeward without her. +From a window in a tower of one of the gates of the city, therefore, +her heavenly face looked forth and shed a farewell gleam over the +dusty, defeated ranks of Rome as they filed past, up-looking. The tale +is as old as the incident itself, but I always love to recall it; +there is in it something that touches the soul more inwardly than even +the legend of Grecian Helen. + +By the middle of October we were back again in Rome, and though we +were now in new lodgings, the feeling was that of getting home after +travels. The weather was fine, and we revisited the familiar ruins +and gardens, and renewed our acquaintance with our favorite statues +and pictures with fresh enjoyment. Eddy Thompson and I found each +other better friends than ever--we had written each other laborious +but sincerely affectionate letters during our separation--and he and +I, with one or more favored companions sometimes, perambulated Rome +incessantly, and felt that the world had begun again. But by the ist +of November there came to pass an untoward change, and our rejoicing +was changed to lamentation. First, my father himself had a touch of +malaria, which clouded his view of all outward things; and then my +sister Una, disregarding the law which provides that all persons must +be in-doors in Rome by six o'clock in the evening, caught the +veritable Roman fever, and during four months thereafter a shadow +brooded over our snug little lodgings in the Piazza, Poli. "It is not +a severe attack," my father wrote at the beginning, "yet it is +attended by fits of exceeding discomfort, occasional comatoseness, and +even delirium to the extent of making the poor child talk in rhythmic +measure, like a tragic heroine--as if the fever lifted her feet off +the earth; the fever being seldom dangerous, but is liable to recur on +slight occasion hereafter." But, as it turned out, Una's attack was of +the worst kind, and she sank and sank, till it seemed at last as if +she must vanish from us altogether. Eddy and I held melancholy +consultations together, for Eddy, besides being my special crony and +confidant, had allowed himself to conceive a heroic and transcendental +passion for my sister--one of the antique, Spenserian sort--and his +concern for her condition was only less than mine. So we went about +with solemn faces, comforting each other as best we might. I remember, +when the crisis of the fever was reached, taking him into a room and +closing the door, and there imparting to him the news that Una might +not recover. We stared drearily into each other's faces, and felt that +the world would never again be bright for us. Boys are whole-souled +creatures; they feel one thing at a time, and feel it with their +might. + +However, Una safely passed her crisis, thanks mainly to the wonderful +nursing of her mother, and by carnival-time was able to be out again +and to get her share of sugar-plums and flowers. But my mother was +exhausted by her ceaseless vigils in the sick-room, and my father, as +I have before intimated, never recovered from the long-drawn fear; +it sapped his energies at the root, and the continued infirmity of +Una's health prevented what chance there might have been of his +recuperation. Yet for the moment he could find fun and pleasure in the +carnival, and he felt as never before the searching beauty of the +Borghese, the Pincian, and the galleries. He was also comforted by the +companionship of his friend Franklin Pierce, who, his Presidential +term over, had come to Europe to get the scent of Washington out of +his garments. There was a winning, irresistible magnetism in the +presence of this man. Except my father, there was no man in whose +company I liked to be so much as in his. I had little to say to him, +and demanded nothing more than a silent recognition from him; but +his voice, his look, his gestures, his gait, the spiritual sphere of +him, were delightful to me; and I suspect that his rise to the highest +office in our nation was due quite as much to this power or quality in +him as to any intellectual or even executive ability that he may have +possessed. He was a good, conscientious, patriotic, strong man, and +gentle and tender as a woman. He had the old-fashioned ways, the +courtesy, and the personal dignity which are not often seen nowadays. +His physical frame was immensely powerful and athletic; but life used +him hard, and he was far from considerate of himself, and he died at +sixty-five, when he might, under more favorable conditions, have +rounded out his century. + +My father had written nothing, not even his journal, during the period +of Una's illness; but he began to work again now, being moved thereto +not only as a man whose nature is spontaneously impelled to express +itself on the imaginative side, but also in order to recoup himself +for some part of the loss of the ten thousand dollars which he had +loaned to John O'Sullivan, which, it was now evident, could never be +repaid. His first conception of the story of The Marble Faun had been +as a novelette; but he now decided to expand it so as to contain a +large amount of descriptive matter; and although the strict rules of +artistic construction may have been somewhat relaxed in order to admit +these passages, there is no doubt that the book gained thereby in +value as a permanent addition to literature, the plot, powerful though +it is, being of importance secondary to the creation of an atmosphere +which should soften the outlines and remove the whole theme into a +suitable remoteness from the domain of matter-of-fact. The Eternal +City is, after all, as vital a portion of the story as are the +adventures of Miriam, Hilda, Kenyon, and Donatello. They could not +have existed and played their parts in any other city of the world. + +In selecting local habitations for the creatures of his imagination, +he strolled into the Via Portoghese, and there found the "Virgin's +Shrine," which, with minor modifications, was to become the home of +Hilda. I quote from his journal the description of the actual place as +he saw it. "The tower in the Via Portoghese," he says, "has +battlements and machicolations, and the upper half of it is covered +with gray, ancient-looking stucco. On the summit, at one corner, is +the shrine of the Virgin, rising quite above the battlements, and with +its lamp before it. Beneath the machicolations is a window, probably +belonging to the upper chamber; and there seems to be a level space on +the top of the tower. Close at hand is the facade of a church, the +highest pinnacle of which appears to be at about the same level as the +battlements of the tower, and there are two or more stone figures +(either angels or allegorical) ornamenting the top of the fagade, and, +I think, blowing trumpets. These personages are the nearest neighbors +of any person inhabiting the upper story of the tower, and the sound +of their angelic trumpets must needs be very loud in that close +vicinity: The lower story of the palace extends out and round the +lower part of the tower, and is surrounded by a stone balustrade. The +entrance from the street is through a long, arched doorway and +passage, giving admittance into a small, enclosed court; and deep +within the passage there is a very broad staircase, which branches +off, apparently, on one side, and leads to the height of the tower. At +the base of the tower, and along the front of the palace, the street +widens, so as to form something like a small piazza, in which there +are two or three bakers' shops, one or two shoe-shops, a +lottery-office, and, at one corner, the stand of a woman who sells, I +think, vegetables; a little further, a stand of oranges. Not so many +doors from the palace entrance there is a station of French soldiers +and a sentinel on duty. The palace, judging from the broad staircase, +the balustraded platform, the tower itself, and other tokens, may have +been a grand one centuries ago; but the locality is now a poor one, +and the edifice itself seems to have fallen to unaristocratic +occupants. A man was cleaning a carriage in the enclosed court-yard, +but I rather conceive it was a cab for hire, and not the equipage of a +dweller in the palace." + +John Lothrop Motley, the historian of the Netherlands, had come to +Rome this winter and brought his family with him. I believe my father +had met Motley in America; at all events, we saw a good deal of him +now. He was an exceedingly handsome man, not only on account of the +beauty of physical features which marked him, but in the sensitiveness +and vividness of expression which constantly illuminated them. He was +at this time about five-and-forty years of age, and lacked a couple of +inches of six feet in height. His hair, a dark, chestnut brown, had +the hyacinthine wave through it, and was slightly streaked with gray; +his beard, which was full and rather short, was likewise wavy; he was +quietly and harmoniously dressed, but the artistic temperament +declared itself in a touch of color in his cravat. His voice was +melodious and finely modulated; his bearing gravely cheerful and very +courteous. No type of man finer than Motley's has existed in modern +times; all the elements of the best and purest society were +illustrated in him. He had the depth of the scholar, the breadth and +self-poise of the man of the world, the genial warmth of the human +fellow-creature, and, over all, the harmonizing, individualizing charm +of the artist. When New England gathers her resources to make a man +she achieves a result hardly to be surpassed. + +The Storys were also in Rome during these last months of our stay, and +Miss Mitchell, I think, still lingered in her little lodgings in the +Via Bocca di Leone. Miss Cushman likewise reappeared for a time, with +all her former greatness and fascination, and many other friends, new +and old, made that spring season memorable. As the moment for our +departure drew near, the magical allurement of Rome laid upon us a +grasp more than ever potent; it was impossible to realize that we were +leaving it forever. On the last evening we walked in the moonlight to +the fountain of Trevi, near our lodgings, and drank of the water--a +ceremony which, according to tradition, insures the return of the +drinker. It was the 25th of May, forty-four years ago. None of us has +gone back since then, and, of the five who drank, three have passed to +the country whence no traveller returns. For my own part, as a +patriotic American nearly thirteen years old, I had no wish ever again +to see Rome, and declared myself glad to turn my back upon it, not +that I had any fault to find with it--I had always had a good time +there--but my imagination was full of my native land, with which +nothing else could be comparable. I did not learn of the fabled spell +of Trevi until afterwards; then I scoffed at and defied it, and +possibly Rome may have decided that it could do without me. + +The railway to Civita Vecchia had just been completed, and we passed +swiftly over the route which had been so full of dangers and +discomforts eighteen months before. Embarking on the steamer for +Marseilles, we kept on thence to Avignon, where we spent about a week. +This venerable town had few attractions for me; I did not much care +for the fourteenth-century popes, nor for the eighteenth-century +silks, nor even for Petrarch and Laura; and the architecture of the +palace, after I had tried to sketch it, ceased to exhilarate me. My +father was in no mood for sight-seeing, either, but he went through it +all conscientiously. My mother, of course, enjoyed herself, but she +met with an accident. While sketching some figures of saints and +monsters that adorned the arch of the northern portal of the palace, +she made an incautious movement and sprained her ankle. The pain was +excessive for the moment, but it soon passed off, so as to enable her +to limp back to our hotel. But the next day the pain was worse; my +father had a headache, a rare affliction with him; I had caught a bad +cold from swimming in the arrowy Rhone, and Una and Miss Shepard were +both in a state of exhaustion from sight-seeing; and in this condition +the journey to Geneva had to be made. We had intended to remain there +but a day, but we stayed longer, breathing the pure air from the Alps, +and feeling better as we breathed. I stood on a bridge and looked down +at that wonderful azure water rushing into the lovely lake; I looked +up and beheld those glorious mountains soaring into the sky, and I +forgot Rome and Florence, and almost America, in my joy. Everything +that life needs for life seemed present there. + +We got into a little steamer and made the trip up the lake, the +mountains all about us. Up to this time I had imagined that the +acclivities in the north of England and in Scotland were mountains. We +sat on deck, in the stern of the steamer, my father gazing out and up +from beneath the rim of his soft felt hat, with his dark cloak over +his shoulders. He looked revived and vigorous again. Shortly before we +left Rome he had ceased to shave his upper lip, for what reason I know +not; I think it was simply indisposition to take that trouble any +longer. My mother had at first gently protested; she did not want his +upper lip and mouth to be hidden. But as the brown mustache, thick and +soldier-like, appeared, she became reconciled, and he wore it to the +end of his life. "Field-Marshal Hawthorne" James T. Fields used to +call him after we got home. Owing to the preponderance of expression +of the upper part of his head, the addition did not change his look as +much as might have been expected; we soon got used to it, and, +inasmuch as all his photographs were taken after the mustache was +established, the world does not know him otherwise. + +The view became more and more enchanting as we penetrated farther into +the depths of the embrace of the mountains, and at last, at its most +ravishing point, the lake ceased, and the lonely little pile of dingy +white masonry, which is Chillon, appeared. Few works of man have a +more romantic interest than this castle; but, seen from the lake, its +environment was too much for it. Had it plunged downward into the +smooth waters and vanished, its absence would not have been marked in +that stupendous landscape. But it improved greatly upon closer +acquaintance; and when we stood in its vaults, and saw the pillar to +which the prisoner was chained, and the hole in the floor, with its +three steps of stone, and the fourth of death, we felt that Chillon +was not unequal to its reputation. + +After leaving Chillon and Geneva our faces were turned homeward, and +we hastened our steps. My father wrote to England to engage our +passage for the first of August. We were now at midsummer. We +returned to Paris, and after a few days there proceeded to Havre, in +order to see Ada Shepard safe on board her steamer for home; her +Wanderjahre was over, and she was now to be married to Henry Clay +Badger. We were sorry to say good-bye to her; she had been a faithful +and valuable element in our household, and she had become a dear +friend and comrade. She stood waving her handkerchief to us as her +steamer slipped away down the harbor. She, too, was sorry for the +parting. She once had said to me: "I think your father is the wisest +man I ever knew; he does not seem ever to say much, but what he does +say is always the truest and best thing that could be said." + +From Havre we crossed the Channel to Southampton, and were soon in +London. Boston and Concord were only six weeks distant. Such, at any +rate, had been the original design. But after we reached London the +subject of the English copyright of The Marble Faun came up for +discussion. Henry Bright introduced Mr. Smith, of the firm of Smith, +Elder & Company, who made such proposals for the English publication +of the book as were not to be disregarded; but, in order to make them +available, it was necessary that the manuscript should be completed in +England. Nothing but the short sketch of it was as yet in existence; +it could not be written in much less than a year; either the English +offer must be rejected, or we must stay out that year in her Majesty's +dominions. My father decided, not altogether unwillingly, perhaps, to +stay. He had written in his journal a few weeks before: "Bennoch and +Henry Bright are the only two men in England to whom I shall be much +grieved to say farewell; but to the island itself I cannot bear to say +that word as a finality. I shall dreamily hope to come back again at +some indefinite time, rather foolishly, perhaps, for it will tend to +take the substance out of my life in my own land. But this, I suspect, +is apt to be the penalty of those who stay abroad and stay too long." + +But my father could not write in London, and, casting about for a +fitting spot, he finally fixed upon the remote hamlet of Redcar, far +up on the bleak coast of Redcar, in Yorkshire. It was not far from +Whitby, where we had been two or three years before. The gray German +Ocean tumbled in there upon the desolate sands, and the contrast of +the scene with those which we had been of late familiar with made the +latter, no doubt, start forward intensely in the romancer's +imagination. So there he wrote and wrote; and he walked far along the +sands, with his boy dogging his steps and stopping for shells and +crabs; and at a certain point of the beach, where the waves ran over a +bar and formed a lake a few feet in depth, he would seat himself on a +tussock of sand-grass, and I would undress and run into the cold water +and continue my swimming-lessons, which had been begun in Stockbridge +Bowl, continued in Lake Leman, and were now brought to a satisfactory +conclusion. Both my feet were finally off the bottom, and I felt the +wonderful sensation of the first cousin to flying. While I floundered +there my father looked off towards the gray horizon, and saw the +visions of Hilda, Miriam, Kenyon, and Donatello which the world of +readers was presently to behold through his eyes. As we walked home in +the twilight, the dull-red glow of the sunset would throw the outlines +of the town into dark shadows, and shed a faint light on the surf +roaming in from the east. I found, in my old album, the black +silhouette of the scene which I made one day. The arms of an old mill +are flung appealingly upward, the highest object of the landscape, +above the irregular sky-line of the clustering houses. There is also, +on the next page, a water-color drawing of a sailor in a blue jersey +and a sou'wester, standing, with his hands in his pockets, on the +beach beside one of the boats of the region--a slender, clipper-built +craft, painted yellow below and black above, good for oars or sail. +Her bow rests on a shaft connecting two wheels, for convenience of +running her down into the water. There was a dozen or more of these +boats always ready on the beach in front of our lodgings. These +lodgings were just back of the esplanade, which, during our sojourn, +was treated to a coat of tar from end to end--a delightful +entertainment for us children--and I have loved the smell of tar ever +since. There is little else that I remember about Redcar, except that, +in the winter, there was skating on a part of the beach; but it was +"salt ice," and not to be compared with the skating I was to enjoy a +year or two later in Concord, which I shall describe if ever I come to +that epoch in my narrative. + + +From Redcar, with the romance more than half done, we went south to +our old Leamington, which seemed half like home; and there the +loveliness of an English spring at its best came to greet us, and +there the book was finished, and sent to the printer. We spent a +month or two at Bath, and found it very pleasant; my father rested +from his labors, except the proof-reading; and I was instructed in the +use of the broadsword by an old Peninsular officer, Major Johnstone, +who had fought at Waterloo, and had the bearing of such majors as +Thackeray puts into Vanity Fair. I once asked him whether he had ever +killed a man; it was on the day when he first allowed me to use a real +broadsword in our lesson. "Well," replied the major, hesitatingly, "I +was riding in a charge, and there came a fellow at me, with his sword +up, and made a swing for my head. I dodged, and his blade just grazed +me; but I let him have it, downright, at the same moment, and I caught +him where the neck joins the shoulder, and he went down, and I went +on, and what became of him I don't know; I hope nothing serious!" The +major sighed and looked serious himself. "And was this the sword?" I +demanded, balancing the heavy weapon in my hand. "No--no--it wasn't +that one," said the major, hastily. "I've never used the other since! +Now, then, sir, if you please, on guard!" + +We went to London, and there were our old friends Bright and Bennoch, +and the Motleys appeared from Italy, and a book called (by the +publishers) Transformation came out in three volumes, being the latest +romance by the author of The Scarlet Letter. The title was not +bestowed with my father's consent. He had, at the publishers' request, +sent them a list of several titles, beginning with The Marble Faun, +and among others on the list was "The Faun's Transformation." The +publishers took the "Transformation," and left out "The Faun." My +father laughed, but let it go. The book was to come out under its +proper title in America, and he was indifferent as to what they called +it in England. + +The end of our tarrying in the Old World was now at hand. Seven years +had we lived there, and we were eager and yet loath to go. My father's +friends gathered about him, men who had hardly so much as heard his +name a, little while ago, but who now loved him as a brother. For a +few days Mrs. Blodgett's hospitable face glowed upon us once more, +and pale Miss Williams, and trig little Miss Maria, and many of the +old captains whom we had known. It was the middle of June, and the sun +shone even in Liverpool. Our red-funnelled steamer lay at her moorings +in the yellow Mersey, with her steam up. It was not The Niagara, but +on her bridge stood our handsome little Captain Leitch, with his black +whiskers, smiling at us in friendly greeting. How much had passed +since we had seen him last! How much were we changed! What experiences +lay behind us! What memories would abide with us always! My father +leaned on the rail and looked across the river at the dingy, brick +building, near the wharves, where he had spent four wearisome but +pregnant years. The big, black steamer, with her little, puffing tug, +slipped her moorings, and slid slowly down the stream. After a few +miles the hue of the water became less turbid, the engines worked more +rapidly and regularly. Liverpool was now a smoky mass off our +starboard quarter. It sank and dwindled, till the smoke alone was +left; the blue channel spread around us; we were at sea, and home lay +yonder, across three thousand miles of tumbling waves. But my father +still leaned on the rail, and looked backward towards the old home +that he loved and would never see again. It was the hour for good-bye; +there would come another hour for the other home and for welcome. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hawthorne and His Circle, by Julian Hawthorne + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWTHORNE AND HIS CIRCLE *** + +This file should be named hcirc10.txt or hcirc10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, hcirc11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, hcirc10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/hcirc10.zip b/old/hcirc10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dae136d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/hcirc10.zip |