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diff --git a/7994-8.txt b/7994-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1b26ea --- /dev/null +++ b/7994-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8403 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crayon Papers, by Washington Irving + +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: The Crayon Papers + +Author: Washington Irving + +Posting Date: October 8, 2012 [EBook #7994] +Release Date: April, 2005 +First Posted: June 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRAYON PAPERS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, William +Craig, Charles Franks, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + + +THE CRAYON PAPERS + +by GEOFFREY CRAYON, GENT. + + + + + + + +MOUNTJOY: or Some Passages out of the Life of a Castle-Builder + +THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE--"A Time of Unexampled Prosperity" + +DON JUAN: A Spectral Research + +BROEK: or the Dutch Paradise + +SKETCHES IN PARIS IN 1825--From the Traveling Note-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, +Gent. + +My French Neighbor The Englishman at Paris English and French Character The +Tuileries and Windsor Castle The Field of Waterloo Paris at the Restoration + +AMERICAN RESEARCHES IN ITALY--Life of Tasso: Recovery of a Lost Portrait of +Dante + +THE TAKING OF THE VEIL The Charming Letorières + +THE EARLY EXPERIENCES OF RALPH RINGWOOD--Noted Down from his Conversations + +THE SEMINOLES + +ORIGIN OF THE WHITE, THE RED, AND THE BLACK MEN--A Seminole Tradition + +THE CONSPIRACY OF NEAMATHLA--An Authentic Sketch + +LETTER FROM GRANADA + +ABDERAHMAN: Founder of the Dynasty of the Ommiades in Spain + +THE WIDOW'S ORDEAL: or a Judicial Trial by Combat + +THE CREOLE VILLAGE: A Sketch from a Steamboat + +A CONTENTED MAN + + + + + + * * * * * + +MOUNTJOY +OR SOME PASSAGES OUT OF THE LIFE OF A CASTLE-BUILDER + +I was born among romantic scenery, in one of the wildest parts of the +Hudson, which at that time was not so thickly settled as at present. My +father was descended from one of the old Huguenot families that came over +to this country on the revocation of the edict of Nantz. He lived in a +style of easy, rural independence, on a patrimonial estate that had been +for two or three generations in the family. He was an indolent, +good-natured man, who took the world as it went, and had a kind of laughing +philosophy, that parried all rubs and mishaps, and served him in the place +of wisdom. This was the part of his character least to my taste; for I was +of an enthusiastic, excitable temperament, prone to kindle up with new +schemes and projects, and he was apt to dash my sallying enthusiasm by some +unlucky joke; so that whenever I was in a glow with any sudden excitement, +I stood in mortal dread of his good-humor. + +Yet he indulged me in every vagary; for I was an only son, and of course a +personage of importance in the household. I had two sisters older than +myself, and one younger. The former were educated at New York, under the +eye of a maiden aunt; the latter remained at home, and was my cherished +playmate, the companion of my thoughts. We were two imaginative little +beings, of quick susceptibility, and prone to see wonders and mysteries in +everything around us. Scarce had we learned to read, when our mother made +us holiday presents of all the nursery literature of the day; which at that +time consisted of little books covered with gilt paper, adorned with +"cuts," and filled with tales of fairies, giants, and enchanters. What +draughts of delightful fiction did we then inhale! My sister Sophy was of a +soft and tender nature. She would weep over the woes of the Children in the +Wood, or quake at the dark romance of Blue-Beard, and the terrible +mysteries of the blue chamber. But I was all for enterprise and adventure. +I burned to emulate the deeds of that heroic prince who delivered the white +cat from her enchantment; or he of no less royal blood, and doughty +enterprise, who broke the charmed slumber of the Beauty in the Wood! + +The house in which we lived was just the kind of place to foster such +propensities. It was a venerable mansion, half villa, half farmhouse. The +oldest part was of stone, with loop-holes for musketry, having served as a +family fortress in the time of the Indians. To this there had been made +various additions, some of brick, some of wood, according to the exigencies +of the moment; so that it was full of nooks and crooks, and chambers of all +sorts and sizes. It was buried among willows, elms, and cherry trees, and +surrounded with roses and hollyhocks, with honeysuckle and sweetbrier +clambering about every window. A brood of hereditary pigeons sunned +themselves upon the roof; hereditary swallows and martins built about the +eaves and chimneys; and hereditary bees hummed about the flower-beds. + +Under the influence of our story-books every object around us now assumed a +new character, and a charmed interest. The wild flowers were no longer the +mere ornaments of the fields, or the resorts of the toilful bee; they were +the lurking-places of fairies. We would watch the humming-bird, as it +hovered around the trumpet creeper at our porch, and the butterfly as it +flitted up into the blue air, above the sunny tree-tops, and fancy them +some of the tiny beings from fairyland. I would call to mind all that I had +read of Robin Goodfellow and his power of transformation. Oh, how I envied +him that power! How I longed to be able to compress my form into utter +littleness; to ride the bold dragonfly; swing on the tall bearded grass; +follow the ant into his subterraneous habitation, or dive into the +cavernous depths of the honeysuckle! + +While I was yet a mere child I was sent to a daily school, about two miles +distant. The schoolhouse was on the edge of a wood, close by a brook +overhung with birches, alders, and dwarf willows. We of the school who +lived at some distance came with our dinners put up in little baskets. In +the intervals of school hours we would gather round a spring, under a tuft +of hazel-bushes, and have a kind of picnic; interchanging the rustic +dainties with which our provident mothers had fitted us out. Then, when our +joyous repast was over, and my companions were disposed for play, I would +draw forth one of my cherished story-books, stretch myself on the green +sward, and soon lose myself in its bewitching contents. + +I became an oracle among my schoolmates on account of my superior +erudition, and soon imparted to them the contagion of my infected fancy. +Often in the evening, after school hours, we would sit on the trunk of some +fallen tree in the woods, and vie with each other in telling extravagant +stories, until the whip-poor-will began his nightly moaning, and the +fireflies sparkled in the gloom. Then came the perilous journey homeward. +What delight we would take in getting up wanton panics in some dusky part +of the wood; scampering like frightened deer; pausing to take breath; +renewing the panic, and scampering off again, wild with fictitious terror! + +Our greatest trial was to pass a dark, lonely pool, covered with +pond-lilies, peopled with bullfrogs and water snakes, and haunted by two +white cranes. Oh! the terrors of that pond! How our little hearts would +beat as we approached it; what fearful glances we would throw around! And +if by chance a plash of a wild duck, or the guttural twang of a bullfrog, +struck our ears, as we stole quietly by--away we sped, nor paused until +completely out of the woods. Then, when I reached home, what a world of +adventures and imaginary terrors would I have to relate to my sister Sophy! + +As I advanced in years, this turn of mind increased upon me, and became +more confirmed. I abandoned myself to the impulses of a romantic +imagination, which controlled my studies, and gave a bias to all my habits. +My father observed me continually with a book in my hand, and satisfied +himself that I was a profound student; but what were my studies? Works of +fiction; tales of chivalry; voyages of discovery; travels in the East; +everything, in short, that partook of adventure and romance. I well +remember with what zest I entered upon that part of my studies which +treated of the heathen mythology, and particularly of the sylvan deities. +Then indeed my school books became dear to me. The neighborhood was well +calculated to foster the reveries of a mind like mine. It abounded with +solitary retreats, wild streams, solemn forests, and silent valleys. I +would ramble about for a whole day with a volume of Ovid's Metamorphoses in +my pocket, and work myself into a kind of self-delusion, so as to identify +the surrounding scenes with those of which I had just been reading. I would +loiter about a brook that glided through the shadowy depths of the forest, +picturing it to myself the haunt of Naiads. I would steal round some bushy +copse that opened upon a glade, as if I expected to come suddenly upon +Diana and her nymphs, or to behold Pan and his satyrs bounding, with whoop +and halloo, through the woodland. I would throw myself, during the panting +heats of a summer noon, under the shade of some wide-spreading tree, and +muse and dream away the hours, in a state of mental intoxication. I drank +in the very light of day, as nectar, and my soul seemed to bathe with +ecstasy in the deep blue of a summer sky. + +In these wanderings nothing occurred to jar my feelings, or bring me back +to the realities of life. There is a repose in our mighty forests that +gives full scope to the imagination. Now and then I would hear the distant +sound of the woodcutter's ax, or the crash of some tree which he had laid +low; but these noises, echoing along the quiet landscape, could easily be +wrought by fancy into harmony with its illusions. In general, however, the +woody recesses of the neighborhood were peculiarly wild and unfrequented. I +could ramble for a whole day, without coming upon any traces of +cultivation. The partridge of the wood scarcely seemed to shun my path, and +the squirrel, from his nut-tree, would gaze at me for an instant, with +sparkling eye, as if wondering at the unwonted intrusion. + +I cannot help dwelling on this delicious period of my life; when as yet I +had known no sorrow, nor experienced any worldly care. I have since studied +much, both of books and men, and of course have grown too wise to be so +easily pleased; yet with all my wisdom, I must confess I look back with a +secret feeling of regret to the days of happy ignorance before I had begun +to be a philosopher. + + * * * * * + +It must be evident that I was in a hopeful training for one who was to +descend into the arena of life, and wrestle with the world. The tutor, +also, who superintended my studies in the more advanced stage of my +education, was just fitted to complete the _fata morgana_ which was +forming in my mind. His name was Glencoe. He was a pale, melancholy-looking +man, about forty years of age; a native of Scotland, liberally educated, +and who had devoted himself to the instruction of youth from taste rather +than necessity; for, as he said, he loved the human heart, and delighted to +study it in its earlier impulses. My two elder sisters, having returned +home from a city boarding-school, were likewise placed under his care, to +direct their reading in history and belles-lettres. + +We all soon became attached to Glencoe. It is true, we were at first +somewhat prepossessed against him. His meager, pallid countenance, his +broad pronunciation, his inattention to the little forms of society, and an +awkward and embarrassed manner, on first acquaintance, were much against +him; but we soon discovered that under this unpromising exterior existed +the kindest urbanity of temper; the warmest sympathies; the most +enthusiastic benevolence. His mind was ingenious and acute. His reading had +been various, but more abstruse than profound; his memory was stored, on +all subjects, with facts, theories, and quotations, and crowded with crude +materials for thinking. These, in a moment of excitement, would be, as it +were, melted down, and poured forth in the lava of a heated imagination. At +such moments, the change in the whole man was wonderful. His meager form +would acquire a dignity and grace; his long, pale visage would flash with a +hectic glow; his eyes would beam with intense speculation; and there would +be pathetic tones and deep modulations in his voice, that delighted the +ear, and spoke movingly to the heart. + +But what most endeared him to us was the kindness and sympathy with which +he entered into all our interests and wishes. Instead of curbing and +checking our young imaginations with the reins of sober reason, he was a +little too apt to catch the impulse and be hurried away with us. He could +not withstand the excitement of any sally of feeling or fancy, and was +prone to lend heightening tints to the illusive coloring of youthful +anticipation. + +Under his guidance my sisters and myself soon entered upon a more extended +range of studies; but while they wandered, with delighted minds, through +the wide field of history and belles-lettres, a nobler walk was opened to +my superior intellect. + +The mind of Glencoe presented a singular mixture of philosophy and poetry. +He was fond of metaphysics and prone to indulge in abstract speculations, +though his metaphysics were somewhat fine spun and fanciful, and his +speculations were apt to partake of what my father most irreverently termed +"humbug." For my part, I delighted in them, and the more especially because +they set my father to sleep and completely confounded my sisters. I entered +with my accustomed eagerness into this new branch of study. Metaphysics +were now my passion. My sisters attempted to accompany me, but they soon +faltered, and gave out before they had got half way through Smith's Theory +of the Moral Sentiments. I, however, went on, exulting in my strength. +Glencoe supplied me with books, and I devoured them with appetite, if not +digestion. We walked and talked together under the trees before the house, +or sat apart, like Milton's angels, and held high converse upon themes +beyond the grasp of ordinary intellects. Glencoe possessed a kind of +philosophic chivalry, in imitation of the old peripatetic sages, and was +continually dreaming of romantic enterprises in morals, and splendid +systems for the improvement of society. He had a fanciful mode of +illustrating abstract subjects, peculiarly to my taste; clothing them with +the language of poetry, and throwing round them almost the magic hues of +fiction. "How charming," thought I, "is divine philosophy;" not harsh and +crabbed, as dull fools suppose, + + "But a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, + Where no crude surfeit reigns." + +I felt a wonderful self-complacency at being on such excellent terms with a +man whom I considered on a parallel with the sages of antiquity, and looked +down with a sentiment of pity on the feebler intellects of my sisters, who +could comprehend nothing of metaphysics. It is true, when I attempted to +study them by myself, I was apt to get in a fog; but when Glencoe came to +my aid, everything was soon as clear to me as day. My ear drank in the +beauty of his words; my imagination was dazzled with the splendor of his +illustrations. It caught up the sparkling sands of poetry that glittered +through his speculations, and mistook them for the golden ore of wisdom. +Struck with the facility with which I seemed to imbibe and relish the most +abstract doctrines, I conceived a still higher opinion of my mental powers, +and was convinced that I also was a philosopher. + + * * * * * + +I was now verging toward man's estate, and though my education had been +extremely irregular--following the caprices of my humor, which I mistook +for the impulses of my genius--yet I was regarded with wonder and delight +by my mother and sisters, who considered me almost as wise and infallible +as I considered myself. This high opinion of me was strengthened by a +declamatory habit, which made me an oracle and orator at the domestic +board. The time was now at hand, however, that was to put my philosophy to +the test. + +We had passed through a long winter, and the spring at length opened upon +us with unusual sweetness. The soft serenity of the weather; the beauty of +the surrounding country; the joyous notes of the birds; the balmy breath of +flower and blossom, all combined to fill my bosom with indistinct +sensations, and nameless wishes. Amid the soft seductions of the season, I +lapsed into a state of utter indolence, both of body and mind. + +Philosophy had lost its charms for me. Metaphysics--faugh! I tried to +study; took down volume after volume, ran my eye vacantly over a few pages, +and threw them by with distaste. I loitered about the house, with my hands +in my pockets, and an air of complete vacancy. Something was necessary to +make me happy; but what was that something? I sauntered to the apartments +of my sisters, hoping their conversation might amuse me. They had walked +out, and the room was vacant. On the table lay a volume which they had been +reading. It was a novel. I had never read a novel, having conceived a +contempt for works of the kind, from hearing them universally condemned. It +is true, I had remarked that they were as universally read; but I +considered them beneath the attention of a philosopher, and never would +venture to read them, lest I should lessen my mental superiority in the +eyes of my sisters. Nay, I had taken up a work of the kind now and then, +when I knew my sisters were observing me, looked into it for a moment, and +then laid it down, with a slight supercilious smile. On the present +occasion, out of mere listlessness, I took up the volume and turned over a +few of the first pages. I thought I heard some one coming, and laid it +down. I was mistaken; no one was near, and what I had read tempted my +curiosity to read a little further. I leaned against a window-frame, and in +a few minutes was completely lost in the story. How long I stood there +reading I know not, but I believe for nearly two hours. Suddenly I heard my +sisters on the stairs, when I thrust the book into my bosom, and the two +other volumes which lay near into my pockets, and hurried out of the house +to my beloved woods. Here I remained all day beneath the trees, bewildered, +bewitched, devouring the contents of these delicious volumes, and only +returned to the house when it was too dark to peruse their pages. + +This novel finished, I replaced it in my sisters' apartment, and looked for +others. Their stock was ample, for they had brought home all that were +current in the city; but my appetite demanded an immense supply. All this +course of reading was carried on clandestinely, for I was a little ashamed +of it, and fearful that my wisdom might be called in question; but this +very privacy gave it additional zest. It was "bread eaten in secret"; it +had the charm of a private amour. + +But think what must have been the effect of such a course of reading on a +youth of my temperament and turn of mind; indulged, too, amid romantic +scenery and in the romantic season of the year. It seemed as if I had +entered upon a new scene of existence. A train of combustible feelings were +lighted up in me, and my soul was all tenderness and passion. Never was +youth more completely love-sick, though as yet it was a mere general +sentiment, and wanted a definite object. Unfortunately, our neighborhood +was particularly deficient in female society, and I languished in vain for +some divinity to whom I might offer up this most uneasy burden of +affections. I was at one time seriously enamored of a lady whom I saw +occasionally in my rides, reading at the window of a country-seat; and +actually serenaded her with my flute; when, to my confusion, I discovered +that she was old enough to be my mother. It was a sad damper to my romance; +especially as my father heard of it, and made it the subject of one of +those household jokes which he was apt to serve up at every meal-time. + +I soon recovered from this check, however, but it was only to relapse into +a state of amorous excitement. I passed whole days in the fields, and along +the brooks; for there is something in the tender passion that makes us +alive to the beauties of nature. A soft sunshiny morning infused a sort of +rapture into my breast. I flung open my arms, like the Grecian youth in +Ovid, as if I would take in and embrace the balmy atmosphere. [Footnote: +Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book vii] The song of the birds melted me to +tenderness. I would lie by the side of some rivulet for hours, and form +garlands of the flowers on its banks, and muse on ideal beauties, and sigh +from the crowd of undefined emotions that swelled my bosom. + +In this state of amorous delirium, I was strolling one morning along a +beautiful wild brook, which I had discovered in a glen. There was one place +where a small waterfall, leaping from among rocks into a natural basin, +made a scene such as a poet might have chosen as the haunt of some shy +Naiad. It was here I usually retired to banquet on my novels. In visiting +the place this morning I traced distinctly, on the margin of the basin, +which was of fine clear sand, the prints of a female foot of the most +slender and delicate proportions. This was sufficient for an imagination +like mine. Robinson Crusoe himself, when he discovered the print of a +savage foot on the beach of his lonely island, could not have been more +suddenly assailed with thick-coming fancies. + +I endeavored to track the steps, but they only passed for a few paces along +the fine sand, and then were lost among the herbage. I remained gazing in +reverie upon this passing trace of loveliness. It evidently was not made by +any of my sisters, for they knew nothing of this haunt; besides, the foot +was smaller than theirs; it was remarkable for its beautiful delicacy. + +My eye accidentally caught two or three half-withered wild flowers lying on +the ground. The unknown nymph had doubtless dropped them from her bosom! +Here was a new document of taste and sentiment. I treasured them up as +invaluable relics. The place, too, where I found them, was remarkably +picturesque, and the most beautiful part of the brook. It was overhung with +a fine elm, entwined with grapevines. She who could select such a spot, who +could delight in wild brooks, and wild flowers, and silent solitudes, must +have fancy, and feeling, and tenderness; and with all these qualities, she +must be beautiful! + +But who could be this Unknown, that had thus passed by, as in a morning +dream, leaving merely flowers and fairy footsteps to tell of her +loveliness? There was a mystery in it that bewildered me. It was so vague +and disembodied, like those "airy tongues that syllable men's names" in +solitude. Every attempt to solve the mystery was vain. I could hear of no +being in the neighborhood to whom this trace could be ascribed. I haunted +the spot, and became daily more and more enamored. Never, surely, was +passion more pure and spiritual, and never lover in more dubious situation. +My case could be compared only to that of the amorous prince in the fairy +tale of Cinderella; but he had a glass slipper on which to lavish his +tenderness. I, alas! was in love with a footstep! + +The imagination is alternately a cheat and a dupe; nay, more, it is the +most subtle of cheats, for it cheats itself and becomes the dupe of its own +delusions. It conjures up "airy nothings," gives to them a "local +habitation and a name," and then bows to their control as implicitly as +though they were realities. Such was now my case. The good Numa could not +more thoroughly have persuaded himself that the nymph Egeria hovered about +her sacred fountain and communed with him in spirit than I had deceived +myself into a kind of visionary intercourse with the airy phantom +fabricated in my brain. I constructed a rustic seat at the foot of the tree +where I had discovered the footsteps. I made a kind of bower there, where I +used to pass my mornings reading poetry and romances. I carved hearts and +darts on the tree, and hung it with garlands. My heart was full to +overflowing, and wanted some faithful bosom into which it might relieve +itself. What is a lover without a confidante? I thought at once of my +sister Sophy, my early playmate, the sister of my affections. She was so +reasonable, too, and of such correct feelings, always listening to my words +as oracular sayings, and admiring my scraps of poetry as the very +inspirations of the muse. From such a devoted, such a rational being, what +secrets could I have? + +I accordingly took her one morning to my favorite retreat. She looked +around, with delighted surprise, upon the rustic seat, the bower, the tree +carved with emblems of the tender passion. She turned her eyes upon me to +inquire the meaning. + +"Oh, Sophy," exclaimed I, clasping both her hands in mine, and looking +earnestly in her face, "I am in love." + +She started with surprise. + +"Sit down," said I, "and I will tell you all." + +She seated herself upon the rustic bench, and I went into a full history of +the footstep, with all the associations of idea that had been conjured up +by my imagination. + +Sophy was enchanted; it was like a fairy tale; she had read of such +mysterious visitations in books, and the loves thus conceived were always +for beings of superior order, and were always happy. She caught the +illusion in all its force; her cheek glowed; her eye brightened. + +"I daresay she's pretty," said Sophy. + +"Pretty!" echoed I, "she is beautiful." I went through all the reasoning by +which I had logically proved the fact to my own satisfaction. I dwelt upon +the evidences of her taste, her sensibility to the beauties of nature; her +soft meditative habit that delighted in solitude. "Oh," said I, clasping my +hands, "to have such a companion to wander through these scenes; to sit +with her by this murmuring stream; to wreathe garlands round her brows; to +hear the music of her voice mingling with the whisperings of these groves; +to--" + +"Delightful! delightful!" cried Sophy; "what a sweet creature she must be! +She is just the friend I want. How I shall dote upon her! Oh, my dear +brother! you must not keep her all to yourself. You must let _me_ have +some share of her!" + +I caught her to my bosom: "You shall--you shall!" cried I, "my dear Sophy; +we will all live for each other!" + + * * * * * + +The conversation with Sophy heightened the illusions of my mind; and the +manner in which she had treated my daydream identified it with facts and +persons and gave it still more the stamp of reality. I walked about as one +in a trance, heedless of the world around and lapped in an elysium of the +fancy. + +In this mood I met one morning with Glencoe. He accosted me with his usual +smile, and was proceeding with some general observations, but paused and +fixed on me an inquiring eye. + +"What is the matter with you?" said he, "you seem agitated; has anything in +particular happened?" + +"Nothing," said I, hesitating; "at least nothing worth communicating to +you." + +"Nay, my dear young friend," said he, "whatever is of sufficient importance +to agitate you is worthy of being communicated to me." + +"Well; but my thoughts are running on what you would think a frivolous +subject." + +"No subject is frivolous that has the power to awaken strong feelings." + +"What think you," said I, hesitating, "what think you of love?" + +Glencoe almost started at the question. "Do you call that a frivolous +subject?" replied he. "Believe me, there is none fraught with such deep, +such vital interest. If you talk, indeed, of the capricious inclination +awakened by the mere charm of perishable beauty, I grant it to be idle in +the extreme; but that love which springs from the concordant sympathies of +virtuous hearts; that love which is awakened by the perception of moral +excellence, and fed by meditation on intellectual as well as personal +beauty; that is a passion which refines and ennobles the human heart. Oh, +where is there a sight more nearly approaching to the intercourse of +angels, than that of two young beings, free from the sins and follies of +the world, mingling pure thoughts, and looks, and feelings, and becoming, +as it were, soul of one soul and heart of one heart! How exquisite the +silent converse that they hold; the soft devotion of the eye, that needs no +words to make it eloquent! Yes, my friend, if there be anything in this +weary world worthy of heaven, it is the pure bliss of such a mutual +affection!" + +The words of my worthy tutor overcame all further reserve. "Mr. Glencoe," +cried I, blushing still deeper, "I am in love." + +"And is that what you were ashamed to tell me? Oh, never seek to conceal +from your friend so important a secret. If your passion be unworthy, it is +for the steady hand of friendship to pluck it forth; if honorable, none but +an enemy would seek to stifle it. On nothing does the character and +happiness so much depend as on the first affection of the heart. Were you +caught by some fleeting and superficial charm--a bright eye, a blooming +cheek, a soft voice, or a voluptuous form--I would warn you to beware; I +would tell you that beauty is but a passing gleam of the morning, a +perishable flower; that accident may becloud and blight it, and that at +best it must soon pass away. But were you in love with such a one as I +could describe; young in years, but still younger in feelings; lovely in +person, but as a type of the mind's beauty; soft in voice, in token of +gentleness of spirit; blooming in countenance, like the rosy tints of +morning kindling with the promise of a genial day; an eye beaming with the +benignity of a happy heart; a cheerful temper, alive to all kind impulses, +and frankly diffusing its own felicity; a self-poised mind, that needs not +lean on others for support; an elegant taste, that can embellish solitude, +and furnish out its own enjoyments--" + +"My dear sir," cried I, for I could contain myself no longer, "you have +described the very person!" + +"Why, then, my dear young friend," said he, affectionately pressing my +hand, "in God's name, love on!" + + * * * * * + +For the remainder of the day I was in some such state of dreamy beatitude +as a Turk is said to enjoy when under the influence of opium. It must be +already manifest how prone I was to bewilder myself with picturings of the +fancy, so as to confound them with existing realities. In the present +instance, Sophy and Glencoe had contributed to promote the transient +delusion. Sophy, dear girl, had as usual joined with me in my +castle-building, and indulged in the same train of imaginings, while +Glencoe, duped by my enthusiasm, firmly believed that I spoke of a being I +had seen and known. By their sympathy with my feelings they in a manner +became associated with the Unknown in my mind, and thus linked her with the +circle of my intimacy. + +In the evening, our family party was assembled in the hall, to enjoy the +refreshing breeze. Sophy was playing some favorite Scotch airs on the +piano, while Glencoe, seated apart, with his forehead resting on his hand, +was buried in one of those pensive reveries that made him so interesting to +me. + +"What a fortunate being I am!" thought I, "blessed with such a sister and +such a friend! I have only to find out this amiable Unknown, to wed her, +and be happy! What a paradise will be my home, graced with a partner of +such exquisite refinement! It will be a perfect fairy bower, buried among +sweets and roses. Sophy shall live with us, and be the companion of all our +enjoyments. Glencoe, too, shall no more be the solitary being that he now +appears. He shall have a home with us. He shall have his study, where, when +he pleases, he may shut himself up from the world, and bury himself in his +own reflections. His retreat shall be sacred; no one shall intrude there; +no one but myself, who will visit him now and then, in his seclusion, where +we will devise grand schemes together for the improvement of mankind. How +delightfully our days will pass, in a round of rational pleasures and +elegant employments! Sometimes we will have music; sometimes we will read; +sometimes we will wander through the flower garden, when I will smile with +complacency on every flower my wife has planted; while in the long winter +evenings the ladies will sit at their work, and listen with hushed +attention to Glencoe and myself, as we discuss the abstruse doctrines of +metaphysics." + +From this delectable reverie, I was startled by my father's slapping me on +the shoulder. "What possesses the lad?" cried he; "here have I been +speaking to you half a dozen times, without receiving an answer." + +"Pardon me, sir," replied I; "I was so completely lost in thought, that I +did not hear you." + +"Lost in thought! And pray what were you thinking of? Some of your +philosophy, I suppose." + +"Upon my word," said my sister Charlotte, with an arch laugh, "I suspect +Harry's in love again." + +"And if were in love, Charlotte," said I, somewhat nettled, and +recollecting Glencoe's enthusiastic eulogy of the passion, "if I were in +love, is that a matter of jest and laughter? Is the tenderest and most +fervid affection that can animate the human breast to be made a matter of +cold-hearted ridicule?" + +My sister colored. "Certainly not, brother!--nor did I mean to make it so, +or to say anything that should wound your feelings. Had I really suspected +you had formed some genuine attachment, it would have been sacred in my +eyes; but--but," said she, smiling, as if at some whimsical recollection, +"I thought that you--you might be indulging in another little freak of the +imagination." + +"Ill wager any money," cried my father, "he has fallen in love again with +some old lady at a window!" + +"Oh, no!" cried my dear sister Sophy, with the most gracious warmth; "she +is young and beautiful." + +"From what I understand," said Glencoe, rousing himself, "she must be +lovely in mind as in person." + +I found my friends were getting me into a fine scrape. I began to perspire +at every pore, and felt my ears tingle. + +"Well, but," cried my father, "who is she?--what is she? Let us hear +something about her." + +This was no time to explain so delicate a matter. I caught up my hat, and +vanished out of the house. + +The moment I was in the open air, and alone, my heart upbraided me. Was +this respectful treatment to my father--to _such_ a father, too--who +had always regarded me as the pride of his age--the staff of his hopes? It +is true, he was apt sometimes to laugh at my enthusiastic flights, and did +not treat my philosophy with due respect; but when had he ever thwarted a +wish of my heart? Was I then to act with reserve toward him, in a matter +which might affect the whole current of my future life? "I have done +wrong," thought I; "but it is not too late to remedy it. I will hasten back +and open my whole heart to my father!" + +I returned accordingly, and was just on the point of entering the house, +with my heart full of filial piety and a contrite speech upon my lips, when +I heard a burst of obstreperous laughter from my father, and a loud titter +from my two elder sisters. + +"A footstep!" shouted he, as soon as he could recover himself; "in love +with a footstep! Why, this beats the old lady at the window!" And then +there was another appalling burst of laughter. Had it been a clap of +thunder, it could hardly have astounded me more completely. Sophy, in the +simplicity of her heart, had told all, and had set my father's risible +propensities in full action. + +Never was poor mortal so thoroughly crestfallen as myself. The whole +delusion was at an end. I drew off silently from the house, shrinking +smaller and smaller at every fresh peal of laughter; and, wandering about +until the family had retired, stole quietly to my bed. Scarce any sleep, +however, visited my eyes that night! I lay overwhelmed with mortification, +and meditating how I might meet the family in the morning. The idea of +ridicule was always intolerable to me; but to endure it on a subject by +which my feelings had been so much excited seemed worse than death. I +almost determined, at one time, to get up, saddle my horse, and ride off, I +knew not whither. + +At length I came to a resolution. Before going down to breakfast, I sent +for Sophy, and employed her as embassador to treat formally in the matter. +I insisted that the subject should be buried in oblivion; otherwise I would +not show my face at table. It was readily agreed to; for not one of the +family would have given me pain for the world. They faithfully kept their +promise. Not a word was said of the matter; but there were wry faces, and +suppressed titters, that went to my soul; and whenever my father looked me +in the face, it was with such a tragi-comical leer--such an attempt to pull +down a serious brow upon a whimsical mouth--that I had a thousand times +rather he had laughed outright. + + * * * * * + +For a day or two after the mortifying occurrence just related, I kept as +much as possible out of the way of the family, and wandered about the +fields and woods by myself. I was sadly out of tune; my feelings were all +jarred and unstrung. The birds sang from every grove, but I took no +pleasure in their melody; and the flowers of the field bloomed unheeded +around me. To be crossed in love is bad enough; but then one can fly to +poetry for relief, and turn one's woes to account in soul-subduing stanzas. +But to have one's whole passion, object and all, annihilated, dispelled, +proved to be such stuff as dreams are made of--or, worse than all, to be +turned into a proverb and a jest--what consolation is there in such a case? + +I avoided the fatal brook where I had seen the footstep. My favorite resort +was now the banks of the Hudson, where I sat upon the rocks and mused upon +the current that dimpled by, or the waves that laved the shore; or watched +the bright mutations of the clouds, and the shifting lights and shadows of +the distant mountain. By degrees a returning serenity stole over my +feelings; and a sigh now and then, gentle and easy, and unattended by pain, +showed that my heart was recovering its susceptibility. + +As I was sitting in this musing mood my eye became gradually fixed upon an +object that was borne along by the tide. It proved to be a little pinnace, +beautifully modeled, and gayly painted and decorated. It was an unusual +sight in this neighborhood, which was rather lonely; indeed, it was rare to +see any pleasure-barks in this part of the river. As it drew nearer, I +perceived that there was no one on board; it had apparently drifted from +its anchorage. There was not a breath of air; the little bark came floating +along on the glassy stream, wheeling about with the eddies. At length it +ran aground, almost at the foot of the rock on which I was seated. I +descended to the margin of the river, and drawing the bark to shore, +admired its light and elegant proportions and the taste with which it was +fitted up. The benches were covered with cushions, and its long streamer +was of silk. On one of the cushion's lay a lady's glove, of delicate size +and shape, with beautifully tapered fingers. I instantly seized it and +thrust it in my bosom; it seemed a match for the fairy footstep that had so +fascinated me. + +In a moment all the romance of my bosom was again in a glow. Here was one +of the very incidents of fairy tale; a bark sent by some invisible power, +some good genius, or benevolent fairy, to waft me to some delectable +adventure. I recollected something of an enchanted bark, drawn by white +swans, that conveyed a knight down the current of the Rhine, on some +enterprise connected with love and beauty. The glove, too, showed that +there was a lady fair concerned in the present adventure. It might be a +gauntlet of defiance, to dare me to the enterprise. + +In the spirit of romance and the whim of the moment, I sprang on board, +hoisted the light sail, and pushed from shore. As if breathed by some +presiding power, a light breeze at that moment sprang up, swelled out the +sail, and dallied with the silken streamer. For a time I glided along under +steep umbrageous banks, or across deep sequestered bays; and then stood out +over a wide expansion of the river toward a high rocky promontory. It was a +lovely evening; the sun was setting in a congregation of clouds that threw +the whole heavens in a glow, and were reflected in the river. I delighted +myself with all kinds of fantastic fancies, as to what enchanted island, or +mystic bower, or necromantic palace, I was to be conveyed by the fairy +bark. + +In the revel of my fancy I had not noticed that the gorgeous congregation +of clouds which had so much delighted me was in fact a gathering thunder +gust. I perceived the truth too late. The clouds came hurrying on, +darkening as they advanced. The whole face of nature was suddenly changed, +and assumed that baleful and livid tint, predictive of a storm. I tried to +gain the shore, but before I could reach it a blast of wind struck the +water and lashed it at once into foam. The next moment it overtook the +boat. Alas! I was nothing of a sailor; and my protecting fairy forsook me +in the moment of peril. I endeavored to lower the sail; but in so doing I +had to quit the helm; the bark was overturned in an instant, and I was +thrown into the water. I endeavored to cling to the wreck, but missed my +hold; being a poor swimmer I soon found myself sinking, but grasped a light +oar that was floating by me. It was not sufficient for my support; I again +sank beneath the surface; there was a rushing and bubbling sound in my +ears, and all sense forsook me. + +How long I remained insensible, I know not. I had a confused notion of +being moved and tossed about, and of hearing strange beings and strange +voices around me; but all this was like a hideous dream. When I at length +recovered full consciousness and perception, I found myself in bed in a +spacious chamber, furnished with more taste than I had been accustomed to. +The bright rays of a morning sun were intercepted by curtains of a delicate +rose color, that gave a soft, voluptuous tinge to every object. Not far +from my bed, on a classic tripod, was a basket of beautiful exotic flowers, +breathing the sweetest fragrance. + +"Where am I? How came I here?" + +I tasked my mind to catch at some previous event, from which I might trace +up the thread of existence to the present moment. By degrees I called to +mind the fairy pinnace, my daring embarkation, my adventurous voyage, and +my disastrous shipwreck. Beyond that, all was chaos. How came I here? What +unknown region had I landed upon? The people that inhabited it must be +gentle and amiable, and of elegant tastes, for they loved downy beds, +fragrant flowers, and rose-colored curtains. + +While I lay thus musing, the tones of a harp reached my ear. Presently they +were accompanied by a female voice. It came from the room below; but in the +profound stillness of my chamber not a modulation was lost. My sisters were +all considered good musicians, and sang very tolerably; but I had never +heard a voice like this. There was no attempt at difficult execution, or +striking effect; but there were exquisite inflections, and tender turns, +which art could not reach. Nothing but feeling and sentiment could produce +them. It was soul breathed forth in sound. I was always alive to the +influence of music; indeed, I was susceptible of voluptuous influences of +every kind--sounds, colors, shapes, and fragrant odors. I was the very +slave of sensation. + +I lay mute and breathless, and drank in every note of this siren strain. It +thrilled through my whole frame, and filled my soul with melody and love. I +pictured to myself, with curious logic, the form of the unseen musician. +Such melodious sounds and exquisite inflections could only be produced by +organs of the most delicate flexibility. Such organs do not belong to +coarse, vulgar forms; they are the harmonious results of fair proportions, +and admirable symmetry. A being so organized must be lovely. + +Again my busy imagination was at work. I called to mind the Arabian story +of a prince, borne away during sleep by a good genius, to the distant abode +of a princess of ravishing beauty. I do not pretend to say that I believed +in having experienced a similar transportation; but it was my inveterate +habit to cheat myself with fancies of the kind, and to give the tinge of +illusion to surrounding realities. + +The witching sound had ceased, but its vibrations still played round my +heart, and filled it with a tumult of soft emotions. At this moment, a +self-upbraiding pang shot through my bosom. "Ah, recreant!" a voice seemed +to exclaim, "is this the stability of thine affections? What! hast thou so +soon forgotten the nymph of the fountain? Has one song, idly piped in thine +ear, been sufficient to charm away the cherished tenderness of a whole +summer?" + +The wise may smile--but I am in a confiding mood, and must confess my +weakness. I felt a degree of compunction at this sudden infidelity, yet I +could not resist the power of present fascination. My peace of mind was +destroyed by conflicting claims. The nymph of the fountain came over my +memory, with all the associations of fairy footsteps, shady groves, soft +echoes, and wild streamlets; but this new passion was produced by a strain +of soul-subduing melody, still lingering in my ear, aided by a downy bed, +fragrant flowers, and rose-colored curtains. "Unhappy youth!" sighed I to +myself, "distracted by such rival passions, and the empire of thy heart +thus violently contested by the sound of a voice, and the print of a +footstep!" + + * * * * * + +I had not remained long in this mood, when I heard the door of the room +gently opened. I turned my head to see what inhabitant of this enchanted +palace should appear; whether page in green, a hideous dwarf, or haggard +fairy. It was my own man Scipio. He advanced with cautious step, and was +delighted, as he said, to find me so much myself again. My first questions +were as to where I was and how I came there? Scipio told me a long story of +his having been fishing in a canoe at the time of my hare-brained cruise; +of his noticing the gathering squall, and my impending danger; of his +hastening to join me, but arriving just in time to snatch me from a watery +grave; of the great difficulty in restoring me to animation; and of my +being subsequently conveyed, in a state of insensibility, to this mansion. + +"But where am I?" was the reiterated demand. + +"In the house of Mr. Somerville." + +"Somerville--Somerville!" I recollected to have heard that a gentleman of +that name had recently taken up his residence at some distance from my +father's abode, on the opposite side of the Hudson. He was commonly known +by the name of "French Somerville," from having passed part of his early +life in France, and from his exhibiting traces of French taste in his mode +of living, and the arrangements of his house. In fact, it was in his +pleasure-boat, which had got adrift, that I had made my fanciful and +disastrous cruise. All this was simple, straightforward matter of fact, and +threatened to demolish all the cobweb romance I had been spinning, when +fortunately I again heard the tinkling of a harp. I raised myself in bed +and listened. + +"Scipio," said I, with some little hesitation, "I heard some one singing +just now. Who was it?" + +"Oh, that was Miss Julia." + +"Julia! Julia! Delightful! what a name! And, Scipio--is she--is she +pretty?" + +Scipio grinned from ear to ear. "Except Miss Sophy, she was the most +beautiful young lady he had ever seen." + +I should observe, that my sister Sophia was considered by all the servants +a paragon of perfection. + +Scipio now offered to remove the basket of flowers; he was afraid their +odor might be too powerful; but Miss Julia had given them that morning to +be placed in my room. + +These flowers, then, had been gathered by the fairy fingers of my unseen +beauty; that sweet breath which had filled my ear with melody had passed +over them. I made Scipio hand them to me, culled several of the most +delicate, and laid them on my bosom. + +Mr. Somerville paid me a visit not long afterward. He was an interesting +study for me, for he was the father of my unseen beauty, and probably +resembled her. I scanned him closely. He was a tall and elegant man, with +an open, affable manner, and an erect and graceful carriage. His eyes were +bluish-gray, and, though not dark, yet at times were sparkling and +expressive. His hair was dressed and powdered, and being lightly combed up +from his forehead, added to the loftiness of his aspect. He was fluent in +discourse, but his conversation had the quiet tone of polished society, +without any of those bold flights of thought, and picturings of fancy, +which I so much admired. + +My imagination was a little puzzled, at first, to make out of this +assemblage of personal and mental qualities a picture that should harmonize +with my previous idea of the fair unseen. By dint, however, of selecting +what it liked, and giving a touch here and a touch there, it soon furnished +out a satisfactory portrait. + +"Julia must be tall," thought I, "and of exquisite grace and dignity. She +is not quite so courtly as her father, for she has been brought up in the +retirement of the country. Neither is she of such vivacious deportment; for +the tones of her voice are soft and plaintive, and she loves pathetic +music. She is rather pensive--yet not too pensive; just what is called +interesting. Her eyes are like her father's, except that they are of a +purer blue, and more tender and languishing. She has light hair--not +exactly flaxen, for I do not like flaxen hair, but between that and auburn. +In a word, she is a tall, elegant, imposing, languishing blue-eyed, +romantic-looking beauty." And having thus finished her picture, I felt ten +times more in love with her than ever. + + * * * * * + +I felt so much recovered that I would at once have left my room, but Mr. +Somerville objected to it. He had sent early word to my family of my +safety; and my father arrived in the course of the morning. He was shocked +at learning the risk I had run, but rejoiced to find me so much restored, +and was warm in his thanks to Mr. Somerville for his kindness. The other +only required, in return, that I might remain two or three days as his +guest, to give time for my recovery, and for our forming a closer +acquaintance; a request which my father readily granted. Scipio accordingly +accompanied my father home, and returned with a supply of clothes, and with +affectionate letters from my mother and sisters. + +The next morning, aided by Scipio, I made my toilet with rather more care +than usual, and descended the stairs with some trepidation, eager to see +the original of the portrait which had been so completely pictured in my +imagination. + +On entering the parlor, I found it deserted. Like the rest of the house, it +was furnished in a foreign style. The curtains were of French silk; there +were Grecian couches, marble tables, pier-glasses, and chandeliers. What +chiefly attracted my eye, were documents of female taste that I saw around +me; a piano, with an ample stock of Italian music: a book of poetry lying +on the sofa; a vase of fresh flowers on a table, and a portfolio open with +a skillful and half-finished sketch of them. In the window was a canary +bird, in a gilt cage, and near by, the harp that had been in Julia's arms. +Happy harp! But where was the being that reigned in this little empire of +delicacies?--that breathed poetry and song, and dwelt among birds and +flowers, and rose-colored curtains? + +Suddenly I heard the hall door fly open, the quick pattering of light +steps, a wild, capricious strain of music, and the shrill barking of a dog. +A light, frolic nymph of fifteen came tripping into the room, playing on a +flageolet, with a little spaniel romping after her. Her gypsy hat had +fallen back upon her shoulders; a profusion of glossy brown hair was blown +in rich ringlets about her face, which beamed through them with the +brightness of smiles and dimples. + +At sight of me she stopped short, in the most beautiful confusion, +stammered out a word or two about looking for her father, glided out of the +door, and I heard her bounding up the staircase, like a frightened fawn, +with the little dog barking after her. + +When Miss Somerville returned to the parlor, she was quite a different +being. She entered, stealing along by her mother's side with noiseless +step, and sweet timidity; her hair was prettily adjusted, and a soft blush +mantled on her damask cheek. Mr. Somerville accompanied the ladies, and +introduced me regularly to them. There were many kind inquiries and much +sympathy expressed, on the subject of my nautical accident, and some +remarks upon the wild scenery of the neighborhood, with which the ladies +seemed perfectly acquainted. + +"You must know," said Mr. Somerville, "that we are great navigators, and +delight in exploring every nook and corner of the river. My daughter, too, +is a great hunter of the picturesque, and transfers every rock and glen to +her portfolio. By the way, my dear, show Mr. Mountjoy that pretty scene you +have lately sketched." Julia complied, blushing, and drew from her +portfolio a colored sketch. I almost started at the sight. It was my +favorite brook. A sudden thought darted across my mind. I glanced down my +eye, and beheld the divinest little foot in the world. Oh, blissful +conviction! The struggle of my affections was at an end. The voice and the +footstep were no longer at variance. Julia Somerville was the nymph of the +fountain! + + * * * * * + +What conversation passed during breakfast I do not recollect, and hardly +was conscious of at the time, for my thoughts were in complete confusion. I +wished to gaze on Miss Somerville, but did not dare. Once, indeed, I +ventured a glance. She was at that moment darting a similar one from under +a covert of ringlets. Our eyes seemed shocked by the rencontre, and fell; +hers through the natural modesty of her sex, mine through a bashfulness +produced by the previous workings of my imagination. That glance, however, +went like a sunbeam to my heart. + +A convenient mirror favored my diffidence, and gave me the reflection of +Miss Somerville's form. It is true it only presented the back of her head, +but she had the merit of an ancient statue; contemplate her from any point +of view, she was beautiful. And yet she was totally different from +everything I had before conceived of beauty. She was not the serene, +meditative maid that I had pictured the nymph of the fountain; nor the +tall, soft, languishing, blue-eyed, dignified being that I had fancied the +minstrel of the harp. There was nothing of dignity about her: she was +girlish in her appearance, and scarcely of the middle size; but then there +was the tenderness of budding youth; the sweetness of the half-blown rose, +when not a tint of perfume has been withered or exhaled; there were smiles +and dimples, and all the soft witcheries of ever-varying expression. I +wondered that I could ever have admired any other style of beauty. + +After breakfast, Mr. Somerville departed to attend to the concerns of his +estate, and gave me in charge of the ladies. Mrs. Somerville also was +called away by her household cares, and I was left alone with Julia! Here, +then, was the situation which of all others I had most coveted. I was in +the presence of the lovely being that had so long been the desire of my +heart. We were alone; propitious opportunity for a lover! Did I seize upon +it? Did I break out in one of my accustomed rhapsodies? No such thing! +Never was being more awkwardly embarrassed. + +"What can be the cause of this?" thought I. "Surely, I cannot stand in awe +of this young girl. I am of course her superior in intellect, and am never +embarrassed in company with my tutor, notwithstanding all his wisdom." + +It was passing strange. I felt that if she were an old woman, I should be +quite at my ease; if she were even an ugly woman, I should make out very +well: it was her beauty that overpowered me. How little do lovely women +know what awful beings they are, in the eyes of inexperienced youth! Young +men brought up in the fashionable circles of our cities will smile at all +this. Accustomed to mingle incessantly in female society, and to have the +romance of the heart deadened by a thousand frivolous flirtations, women +are nothing but women in their eyes; but to a susceptible youth like +myself, brought up in the country, they are perfect divinities. + +Miss Somerville was at first a little embarrassed herself; but, somehow or +other, women have a natural adroitness in recovering their self-possession; +they are more alert in their minds, and graceful in their manners. Besides, +I was but an ordinary personage in Miss Somerville's eyes; she was not +under Hie influence of such a singular course of imaginings as had +surrounded her, in my eyes, with the illusions of romance. Perhaps, too, +she saw the confusion in the opposite camp and gained courage from the +discovery. At any rate she was the first to take the field. + +Her conversation, however, was only on commonplace topics, and in an easy, +well-bred style. I endeavored to respond in the same manner; but I was +strangely incompetent to the task. My ideas were frozen up; even words +seemed to fail me. I was excessively vexed at myself, for I wished to be +uncommonly elegant. I tried two or three times to turn a pretty thought, or +to utter a fine sentiment; but it would come forth so trite, so forced, so +mawkish, that I was ashamed of it. My very voice sounded discordantly, +though I sought to modulate it into the softest tones. "The truth is," +thought I to myself, "I cannot bring my mind down to the small talk +necessary for young girls; it is too masculine and robust for the mincing +measure of parlor gossip. I am a philosopher--and that accounts for it." + +The entrance of Mrs. Somerville at length gave me relief. I at once +breathed freely, and felt a vast deal of confidence come over me. "This is +strange," thought I, "that the appearance of another woman should revive my +courage; that I should be a better match for two women than one. However, +since it is so, I will take advantage of the circumstance, and let this +young lady see that I am not so great a simpleton as she probably thinks +me." + +I accordingly took up the book of poetry which lay upon the sofa. It was +Milton's Paradise Lost. Nothing could have been more fortunate; it afforded +a fine scope for my favorite vein of grandiloquence. I went largely into a +discussion of its merits, or rather an enthusiastic eulogy of them. My +observations were addressed to Mrs. Somerville, for I found I could talk to +her with more ease than to her daughter. She appeared alive to the beauties +of the poet and disposed to meet me in the discussion; but it was not my +object to hear her talk; it was to talk myself. I anticipated all she had +to say, overpowered her with the copiousness of my ideas, and supported and +illustrated them by long citations from the author. + +While thus holding forth, I cast a side glance to see how Miss Somerville +was affected. She had some embroidery stretched on a frame before her, but +had paused in her labor, and was looking down as if lost in mute attention. +I felt a glow of self-satisfaction, but I recollected, at the same time, +with a kind of pique, the advantage she had enjoyed over me in our +tete-a-tete. I determined to push my triumph, and accordingly kept on with +redoubled ardor, until I had fairly exhausted my subject, or rather my +thoughts. + +I had scarce come to a full stop, when Miss Somerville raised her eyes from +the work on which they had been fixed, and turning to her mother, observed: +"I have been considering, mamma, whether to work these flowers plain, or in +colors." + +Had an ice-bolt shot to my heart, it could not have chilled me more +effectually. "What a fool," thought I, "have I been making +myself--squandering away fine thoughts, and fine language, upon a light +mind and an ignorant ear! This girl knows nothing of poetry. She has no +soul, I fear, for its beauties. Can any one have real sensibility of heart, +and not be alive to poetry? However, she is young; this part of her +education has been neglected; there is time enough to remedy it. I will be +her preceptor. I will kindle in her mind the sacred flame, and lead her +through the fairy land of song. But after all, it is rather unfortunate +that I should have fallen in love with a woman who knows nothing of +poetry." + + * * * * * + +I passed a day not altogether satisfactory. I was a little disappointed +that Miss Somerville did not show more poetical feeling. "I am afraid, +after all," said I to myself, "she is light and girlish, and more fitted to +pluck wild flowers, play on the flageolet, and romp with little dogs than +to converse with a man of my turn." + +I believe, however, to tell the truth, I was more out of humor with myself. +I thought I had made the worst first appearance that ever hero made, either +in novel or fairy tale. I was out of all patience, when I called to mind my +awkward attempts at ease and elegance, in the tete-a-tete. And then my +intolerable long lecture about poetry to catch the applause of a heedless +auditor! But there I was not to blame. I had certainly been eloquent: it +was her fault that the eloquence was wasted. To meditate upon the +embroidery of a flower, when I was expatiating on the beauties of Milton! +She might at least have admired the poetry, if she did not relish the +manner in which it was delivered: though that was not despicable, for I had +recited passages in my best style, which my mother and sisters had always +considered equal to a play. "Oh, it is evident," thought I, "Miss +Somerville has very little soul!" + +Such were my fancies and cogitations during the day, the greater part of +which was spent in my chamber, for I was still languid. My evening was +passed in the drawing-room, where I overlooked Miss Somerville's portfolio +of sketches. They were executed with great taste, and showed a nice +observation of the peculiarities of nature. They were all her own, and free +from those cunning tints and touches of the drawing-master, by which young +ladies' drawings, like their heads, are dressed up for company. There was +no garish and vulgar trick of colors, either; all was executed with +singular truth and simplicity. + +"And yet," thought I, "this little being, who has so pure an eye to take +in, as in a limpid brook, all the graceful forms and magic tints of nature, +has no soul for poetry!" + +Mr. Somerville, toward the latter part of the evening, observing my eye to +wander occasionally to the harp, interpreted and met my wishes with his +accustomed civility. + +"Julia, my dear," said he, "Mr. Mountjoy would like to hear a little music +from your harp; let us hear, too, the sound of your voice." + +Julia immediately complied, without any of that hesitation and difficulty, +by which young ladies are apt to make company pay dear for bad music. She +sang a sprightly strain, in a brilliant style, that came trilling playfully +over the ear; and the bright eye and dimpling smile showed that her little +heart danced with the song. Her pet canary bird, who hung close by, was +awakened by the music, and burst forth into an emulating strain. Julia +smiled with a pretty air of defiance, and played louder. + +After some time the music changed, and ran into a plaintive strain, in a +minor key. Then it was that all the former witchery of her voice came over +me; then it was that she seemed to sing from the heart and to the heart. +Her fingers moved about the chords as if they scarcely touched them. Her +whole manner and appearance changed; her eyes beamed with the softest +expression; her countenance, her frame, all seemed subdued into tenderness. +She rose from the harp, leaving it still vibrating with sweet sounds, and +moved toward her father, to bid him good-night. + +His eyes had been fixed on her intently during her performance. As she came +before him he parted her shining ringlets with both his hands, and looked +down with the fondness of a father on her innocent face. The music seemed +still lingering in its lineaments, and the action of her father brought a +moist gleam in her eye. He kissed her fair forehead, after the French mode +of parental caressing: "Goodnight, and God bless you," said he, "my good +little girl!" + +Julia tripped away, with a tear in her eye, a dimple in her cheek, and a +light heart in her bosom. I thought it the prettiest picture of paternal +and filial affection I had ever seen. + +When I retired to bed, a new train of thoughts crowded into my brain. +"After all," said I to myself, "it is clear this girl has a soul, though +she was not moved by my eloquence. She has all the outward signs and +evidences of poetic feeling. She paints well, and has an eye for nature. +She is a fine musician, and enters into the very soul of song. What a pity +that she knows nothing of poetry! But we will see what is to be done? I am +irretrievably in love with her; what then am I to do? Come down to the +level of her mind, or endeavor to raise her to some kind of intellectual +equality with myself? That is the most generous course. She will look up to +me as a benefactor. I shall become associated in her mind with the lofty +thoughts and harmonious graces of poetry. She is apparently docile: besides +the difference of our ages will give me an ascendency over her. She cannot +be above sixteen years of age, and I am full turned to twenty." So, having +built this most delectable of air castles, I fell asleep. + + * * * * * + +The next morning I was quite a different being. I no longer felt fearful of +stealing a glance at Julia; on the contrary, I contemplated her steadily, +with the benignant eye of a benefactor. Shortly after breakfast I found +myself alone with her, as I had on the preceding morning; but I felt +nothing of the awkwardness of our previous tete-a-tete. I was elevated by +the consciousness of my intellectual superiority and should almost have +felt a sentiment of pity for the ignorance of the lovely little being, if I +had not felt also the assurance that I should be able to dispel it. "But it +is time," thought I, "to open school." + +Julia was occupied in arranging some music on her piano. I looked over two +or three songs; they were Moore's Irish melodies. + +"These are pretty things!" said I, flirting the leaves over lightly, and +giving a slight shrug, by way of qualifying the opinion. + +"Oh, I love them of all things," said Julia, "they're so touching!" + +"Then you like them for the poetry," said I, with an encouraging smile. + +"Oh, yes; she thought them charmingly written." + +Now was my time. "Poetry," said I, assuming a didactic attitude and air, +"poetry is one of the most pleasing studies that can occupy a youthful +mind. It renders us susceptible of the gentle impulses of humanity, and +cherishes a delicate perception of all that is virtuous and elevated in +morals, and graceful and beautiful in physics. It--" + +I was going on in a style that would have graced a professor of rhetoric, +when I saw a light smile playing about Miss Somerville's mouth, and that +she began to turn over the leaves of a music-book. I recollected her +inattention to my discourse of the preceding morning. "There is no fixing +her light mind," thought I, "by abstract theory; we will proceed +practically." As it happened, the identical volume of Milton's Paradise +Lost was lying at hand. + +"Let me recommend to you, my young friend," said I, in one of those tones +of persuasive admonition, which I had so often loved in Glencoe, "let me +recommend to you this admirable poem; you will find in it sources of +intellectual enjoyment far superior to those songs which have delighted +you." Julia looked at the book, and then at me, with a whimsically dubious +air. "Milton's Paradise Lost?" said she; "oh, I know the greater part of +that by heart." + +I had not expected to find my pupil so far advanced; however, the Paradise +Lost is a kind of school book, and its finest passages are given to young +ladies as tasks. + +"I find," said I to myself, "I must not treat her as so complete a novice; +her inattention yesterday could not have proceeded from absolute ignorance, +but merely from a want of poetic feeling. I'll try her again." + +I now determined to dazzle her with my own erudition, and launched into a +harangue that would have done honor to an institute. Pope, Spenser, +Chaucer, and the old dramatic writers were all dipped into, with the +excursive flight of a swallow. I did not confine myself to English poets, +but gave a glance at the French and Italian schools; I passed over Ariosto +in full wing, but paused on Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. I dwelt on the +character of Clorinda: "There's a character," said I, "that you will find +well worthy a woman's study. It shows to what exalted heights of heroism +the sex can rise, how gloriously they may share even in the stern concerns +of men." + +"For my part," said Julia, gently taking advantage of a pause, "for my +part, I prefer the character of Sophronia." + +I was thunderstruck. She then had read Tasso! This girl that I had been +treating as an ignoramus in poetry! She proceeded with a slight glow of the +cheek, summoned up perhaps by a casual glow of feeling: + +"I do not admire those masculine heroines," said she, "who aim at the bold +qualities of the opposite sex. Now Sophronia only exhibits the real +qualities of a woman, wrought up to their highest excitement. She is +modest, gentle, and retiring, as it becomes a woman to be; but she has all +the strength of affection proper to a woman. She cannot fight for her +people as Clorinda does, but she can offer herself up, and die to serve +them. You may admire Clorinda, but you surely would be more apt to love +Sophronia; at least," added she, suddenly appearing to recollect herself, +and blushing at having launched into such a discussion, "at least that is +what papa observed when we read the poem together." + +"Indeed," said I, dryly, for I felt disconcerted and nettled at being +unexpectedly lectured by my pupil; "indeed, I do not exactly recollect the +passage." + +"Oh," said Julia, "I can repeat it to you;" and she immediately gave it in +Italian. + +Heavens and earth!--here was a situation! I knew no more of Italian than I +did of the language of Psalmanazar. What a dilemma for a would-be-wise man +to be placed in! I saw Julia waited for my opinion. + +"In fact," said I, hesitating, "I--I do not exactly understand Italian." + +"Oh," said Julia, with the utmost naivete, "I have no doubt it is very +beautiful in the translation." + +I was glad to break up school, and get back to my chamber, full of the +mortification which a wise man in love experiences on finding his mistress +wiser than himself. "Translation! translation!" muttered I to myself, as I +jerked the door shut behind me: "I am surprised my father has never had me +instructed in the modern languages. They are all important. What is the +use of Latin and Greek? No one speaks them; but here, the moment I make my +appearance in the world, a little girl slaps Italian in my face. However, +thank heaven, a language is easily learned. The moment I return home, I'll +set about studying Italian; and to prevent future surprise, I will study +Spanish and German at the same time; and if any young lady attempts to +quote Italian upon me again, I'll bury her under a heap of High Dutch +poetry!" + + * * * * * + +I felt now like some mighty chieftain, who has carried the war into a weak +country, with full confidence of success, and been repulsed and obliged to +draw off his forces from before some inconsiderable fortress. + +"However," thought I, "I have as yet brought only my light artillery into +action; we shall see what is to be done with my heavy ordnance. Julia is +evidently well versed in poetry; but it is natural she should be so; it is +allied to painting and music, and is congenial to the light graces of the +female character. We will try her on graver themes." + +I felt all my pride awakened; it even for a time swelled higher than my +love. I was determined completely to establish my mental superiority, and +subdue the intellect of this little being; it would then be time to sway +the scepter of gentle empire, and win the affections of her heart. + +Accordingly, at dinner I again took the field, _en potence._ I now +addressed myself to Mr. Somerville, for I was about to enter upon topics in +which a young girl like her could not be well versed. I led, or rather +forced, the conversation into a vein of historical erudition, discussing +several of the most prominent facts of ancient history, and accompanying +them with sound, indisputable apothegms. + +Mr. Somerville listened to me with the air of a man receiving information. +I was encouraged, and went on gloriously from theme to theme of school +declamation. I sat with Marius on the ruins of Carthage; I defended the +bridge with Horatius Cocles; thrust my hand into the flame with Martius +Scaevola, and plunged with Curtius into the yawning gulf; I fought side by +side with Leonidas, at the straits of Thermopylae; and was going full drive +into the battle of Plataea, when my memory, which is the worst in the +world, failed me, just as I wanted the name of the Lacedemonian commander. + +"Julia, my dear," said Mr. Somerville, "perhaps you may recollect the name +of which Mr. Mountjoy is in quest?" + +Julia colored slightly. "I believe," said she, in a low voice, "I believe +it was Pausanius." + +This unexpected sally, instead of re-enforcing me, threw my whole scheme of +battle into confusion, and the Athenians remained unmolested in the field. + +I am half inclined, since, to think Mr. Somerville meant this as a sly hit +at my schoolboy pedantry; but he was too well bred not to seek to relieve +me from my mortification. "Oh!" said he, "Julia is our family book of +reference for names, dates, and distances, and has an excellent memory for +history and geography." + +I now became desperate; as a last resource I turned to metaphysics. "If she +is a philosopher in petticoats," thought I, "it is all over with me." Here, +however, I had the field to myself. I gave chapter and verse of my tutor's +lectures, heightened by all his poetical illustrations; I even went further +than he had ever ventured, and plunged into such depths of metaphysics that +I was in danger of sticking in the mire at the bottom. Fortunately, I had +auditors who apparently could not detect my flounderings. Neither Mr. +Somerville nor his daughter offered the least interruption. + +When the ladies had retired, Mr. Somerville sat some time with me; and as I +was no longer anxious to astonish, I permitted myself to listen, and found +that he was really agreeable. He was quite communicative, and from his +conversation I was enabled to form a juster idea of his daughter's +character, and the mode in which she had been brought up. Mr. Somerville +had mingled much with the world, and with what is termed fashionable +society. He had experienced its cold elegances and gay insincerities; its +dissipation of the spirits and squanderings of the heart. Like many men of +the world, though he had wandered too far from nature ever to return to it, +yet he had the good taste and good feeling to look back fondly to its +simple delights, and to determine that his child, if possible, should never +leave them. He had superintended her education with scrupulous care, +storing her mind with the graces of polite literature, and with such +knowledge as would enable it to furnish its own amusement and occupation, +and giving her all the accomplishments that sweeten and enliven the circle +of domestic life. He had been particularly sedulous to exclude all +fashionable affectations; all false sentiment, false sensibility, and false +romance. "Whatever advantages she may possess," said he, "she is quite +unconscious of them. She is a capricious little being, in everything but +her affections; she is, however, free from art; simple, ingenuous, amiable, +and, I thank God! happy." + +Such was the eulogy of a fond father, delivered with a tenderness that +touched me. I could not help making a casual inquiry, whether, among the +graces of polite literature, he had included a slight tincture of +metaphysics. He smiled, and told me he had not. + +On the whole, when, as usual, that night, I summed up the day's +observations on my pillow, I was not altogether dissatisfied. "Miss +Somerville," said I, "loves poetry, and I like her the better for it. She +has the advantage of me in Italian; agreed; what is it to know a variety of +languages, but merely to have a variety of sounds to express the same idea? +Original thought is the ore of the mind; language is but the accidental +stamp and coinage by which it is put into circulation. If I can furnish an +original idea, what care I how many languages she can translate it into? +She may be able also to quote names and dates and latitudes better than I; +but that is a mere effort of the memory. I admit she is more accurate in +history and geography than I; but then she knows nothing of metaphysics." + +I had now sufficiently recovered to return home; yet I could not think of +leaving Mr. Somerville's without having a little further conversation with +him on the subject of his daughter's education. + +"This Mr. Somerville," thought I, "is a very accomplished, elegant man; he +has seen a good deal of the world, and, upon the whole, has profited by +what he has seen. He is not without information, and, as far as he thinks, +appears to think correctly; but, after all, he is rather superficial, and +does not think profoundly. He seems to take no delight in those +metaphysical abstractions that are the proper aliment of masculine minds. I +called to mind various occasions in which I had indulged largely in +metaphysical discussions, but could recollect no instance where I had been +able to draw him out. He had listened, it is true, with attention, and +smiled as if in acquiescence, but had always appeared to avoid reply. +Besides, I had made several sad blunders in the glow of eloquent +declamation; but he had never interrupted me, to notice and correct them, +as he would have done had he been versed in the theme. + +"Now, it is really a great pity," resumed I, "that he should have the +entire management of Miss Somerville's education. What a vast advantage it +would be if she could be put for a little time under the superintendence of +Glencoe. He would throw some deeper shades of thought into her mind, which +at present is all sunshine; not but that Mr. Somerville has done very well, +as far as he has gone; but then he has merely prepared the soil for the +strong plants of useful knowledge. She is well versed in the leading facts +of history, and the general course of belles-lettres," said I; "a little +more philosophy would do wonders." + +I accordingly took occasion to ask Mr. Somerville for a few moments' +conversation in his study, the morning I was to depart. When we were alone +I opened the matter fully to him. I commenced with the warmest eulogium of +Glencoe's powers of mind and vast acquirements, and ascribed to him all my +proficiency in the higher branches of knowledge. I begged, therefore, to +recommend him as a friend calculated to direct the studies of Miss +Somerville; to lead her mind, by degrees, to the contemplation of abstract +principles, and to produce habits of philosophical analysis; "which," added +I, gently smiling, "are not often cultivated by young ladies." I ventured +to hint, in addition, that he would find Mr. Glencoe a most valuable and +interesting acquaintance for himself; one who would stimulate and evolve +the powers of his mind; and who might open to him tracts of inquiry and +speculation to which perhaps he had hitherto been a stranger. + +Mr. Somerville listened with grave attention. When I had finished, he +thanked me in the politest manner for the interest I took in the welfare of +his daughter and himself. He observed that, as it regarded himself, he was +afraid he was too old to benefit by the instruction of Mr. Glencoe, and +that as to his daughter, he was afraid her mind was but little fitted for +the study of metaphysics. "I do not wish," continued he, "to strain her +intellects with subjects they cannot grasp, but to make her familiarly +acquainted with those that are within the limits of her capacity. I do not +pretend to prescribe the boundaries of female genius, and am far from +indulging the vulgar opinion that women are unfitted by nature for the +highest intellectual pursuits. I speak only with reference to my daughter's +tastes and talents. She will never make a learned woman; nor, in truth, do +I desire it; for such is the jealousy of our sex, as to mental as well as +physical ascendency, that a learned woman is not always the happiest. I do +not wish my daughter to excite envy, or to battle with the prejudices of +the world; but to glide peaceably through life, on the good will and kind +opinions of her friends. She has ample employment for her little head, in +the course I have marked out for her; and is busy at present with some +branches of natural history, calculated to awaken her perceptions to the +beauties and wonders of nature, and to the inexhaustible volume of wisdom +constantly spread open before her eyes. I consider that woman most likely +to make an agreeable companion, who can draw topics of pleasing remark from +every natural object; and most likely to be cheerful and contented, who is +continually sensible of the order, the harmony, and the invariable +beneficence that reign throughout the beautiful world we inhabit." + +"But," added he, smiling, "I am betraying myself into a lecture, instead of +merely giving a reply to your kind offer. Permit me to take the liberty, in +return, of inquiring a little about your own pursuits. You speak of having +finished your education; but of course you have a line of private study and +mental occupation marked out; for you must know the importance, both in +point of interest and happiness, of keeping the mind employed. May I ask +what system you observe in your intellectual exercises?" + +"Oh, as to system," I observed, "I could never bring myself into anything +of the kind. I thought it best to let my genius take it own course, as it +always acted the most vigorously when stimulated by inclination." + +Mr. Somerville shook his head. "This same genius," said he, "is a wild +quality that runs away with our most promising young men. It has become so +much the fashion, too, to give it the reins that it is now thought an +animal of too noble and generous a nature to be brought to harness. But it +is all a mistake. Nature never designed these high endowments to run riot +through society, and throw the whole system into confusion. No, my dear +sir, genius, unless it acts upon system, is very apt to be a useless +quality to society; sometimes an injurious, and certainly a very +uncomfortable one, to its possessor. I have had many opportunities of +seeing the progress through life of young men who were accounted geniuses, +and have found it too often end in early exhaustion and bitter +disappointment; and have as often noticed that these effects might be +traced to a total want of system. There were no habits of business, of +steady purpose, and regular application, superinduced upon the mind; +everything was left to chance and impulse, and native luxuriance, and +everything of course ran to waste and wild entanglement. Excuse me if I am +tedious on this point, for I feel solicitous to impress it upon you, being +an error extremely prevalent in our country and one into which too many of +our youth have fallen. I am happy, however, to observe the zeal which still +appears to actuate you for the acquisition of knowledge, and augur every +good from the elevated bent of your ambition. May I ask what has been your +course of study for the last six months?" + +Never was question more unluckily timed. For the last six months I had been +absolutely buried in novels and romances. + +Mr. Somerville perceived that the question was embarrassing, and, with his +invariable good breeding, immediately resumed the conversation, without +waiting for a reply. He took care, however, to turn it in such a way as to +draw from me an account of the whole manner in which I had been educated, +and the various currents of reading into which my mind had run. He then +went on to discuss, briefly but impressively, the different branches of +knowledge most important to a young man in my situation; and to my surprise +I found him a complete master of those studies on which I had supposed him +ignorant, and on which I had been descanting so confidently. + +He complimented me, however, very graciously, upon the progress I had made, +but advised me for the present to turn my attention to the physical rather +than the moral sciences. "These studies," said he, "store a man's mind with +valuable facts, and at the same time repress self-confidence, by letting +him know how boundless are the realms of knowledge, and how little we can +possibly know. Whereas metaphysical studies, though of an ingenious order +of intellectual employment, are apt to bewilder some minds with vague +speculations. They never know how far they have advanced, or what may be +the correctness of their favorite theory. They render many of our young men +verbose and declamatory, and prone to mistake the aberrations of their +fancy for the inspirations of divine philosophy." + +I could not but interrupt him, to assent to the truth of these remarks, and +to say that it had been my lot, in the course of my limited experience, to +encounter young men of the kind, who had overwhelmed me by their verbosity. + +Mr. Somerville smiled. "I trust," said he, kindly, "that you will guard +against these errors. Avoid the eagerness with which a young man is apt to +hurry into conversation, and to utter the crude and ill-digested notions +which he has picked up in his recent studies. Be assured that extensive and +accurate knowledge is the slow acquisition of a studious lifetime; that a +young man, however pregnant his wit, and prompt his talent, can have +mastered but the rudiments of learning, and, in a manner, attained the +implements of study. Whatever may have been your past assiduity, you must +be sensible that as yet you have but reached the threshold of true +knowledge; but at the same time you have the advantage that you are still +very young, and have ample time to learn." + +Here our conference ended. I walked out of the study a very different being +from what I was on entering it. I had gone in with the air of a professor +about to deliver a lecture; I came out like a student who had failed in his +examination, and been degraded in his class. + +"Very young," and "on the threshold of knowledge!" This was extremely +flattering to one who had considererd himself an accomplished scholar and a +profound philosopher. + +"It is singular," thought I; "there seems to have been a spell upon my +faculties, ever since I have been in this house. I certainly have not been +able to do myself justice. Whenever I have undertaken to advise, I have had +the tables turned upon me. It must be that I am strange and diffident among +people I am not accustomed to. I wish they could hear me talk at home!" + +"After all," added I, on further reflection, "after all there is a great +deal of force in what Mr. Somerville has said. Somehow or other, these men +of the world do now and then hit upon remarks that would do credit to a +philosopher. Some of his general observations came so home that I almost +thought they were meant for myself. His advice about adopting a system of +study is very judicious. I will immediately put it hi practice. My mind +shall operate henceforward with the regularity of clock-work." + +How far I succeeded in adopting this plan, how I fared in the further +pursuit of knowledge, and how I succeeded in my suit to Julia Somerville, +may afford matter for a further communication to the public, if this simple +record of my early life is fortunate enough to excite any curiosity. + + + + + +THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE + +"A TIME OF UNEXAMPLED PROSPERITY" + + +In the course of a voyage from England, I once fell in with a convoy of +merchant ships bound for the West Indies. The weather was uncommonly bland; +and the ships vied with each other in spreading sail to catch a light, +favoring breeze, until their hulls were almost hidden beneath a cloud of +canvas. The breeze went down with the sun, and his last yellow rays shone +upon a thousand sails, idly flapping against the masts. + +I exulted in the beauty of the scene, and augured a prosperous voyage; but +the veteran master of the ship shook his head, and pronounced this halcyon +calm a "weather-breeder." And so it proved. A storm burst forth in the +night; the sea roared and raged; and when the day broke, I beheld the late +gallant convoy scattered in every direction; some dismasted, others +scudding under bare poles, and many firing signals of distress. + +I have since been occasionally reminded of this scene, by those calm, sunny +seasons in the commercial world, which are known by the name of "times of +unexampled prosperity." They are the sure weather-breeders of traffic. +Every now and then the world is visited by one of these delusive seasons, +when "the credit system," as it is called, expands to full luxuriance, +everybody trusts everybody; a bad debt is a thing unheard of; the broad way +to certain and sudden wealth lies plain and open; and men are tempted to +dash forward boldly, from the facility of borrowing. + +Promissory notes, interchanged between scheming individuals, are liberally +discounted at the banks, which become so many mints to coin words into +cash; and as the supply of words is inexhaustible, it may readily be +supposed what a vast amount of promissory capital is soon in circulation. +Every one now talks in thousands; nothing is heard but gigantic operations +in trade; great purchases and sales of real property, and immense sums made +at every transfer. All, to be sure, as yet exists in promise; but the +believer in promises calculates the aggregate as solid capital, and falls +back in amazement at the amount of public wealth, the "unexampled state of +public prosperity." + +Now is the time for speculative and dreaming or designing men. They relate +their dreams and projects to the ignorant and credulous, dazzle them with +golden visions, and set them madding after shadows. The example of one +stimulates another; speculation rises on speculation; bubble rises on +bubble; every one helps with his breath to swell the windy superstructure, +and admires and wonders at the magnitude of the inflation he has +contributed to produce. + +Speculation is the romance of trade, and casts contempt upon all its sober +realities. It renders the stock-jobber a magician, and the exchange a +region of enchantment. It elevates the merchant into a kind of +knight-errant, or rather a commercial Quixote. The slow but sure gains of +snug percentage become despicable in his eyes; no "operation" is thought +worthy of attention that does not double or treble the investment. No +business is worth following that does not promise an immediate fortune. As +he sits musing over his ledger, with pen behind his ear, he is like La +Mancha's hero in his study, dreaming over his books of chivalry. His dusty +counting-house fades before his eyes, or changes into a Spanish mine; he +gropes after diamonds, or dives after pearls. The subterranean garden of +Aladdin is nothing to the realms of wealth that break upon his imagination. + +Could this delusion always last, the life of a merchant would indeed be a +golden dream; but it is as short as it is brilliant. Let but a doubt enter, +and the "season of unexampled prosperity" is at end. The coinage of words +is suddenly curtailed; the promissory capital begins to vanish into smoke; +a panic succeeds, and the whole superstructure, built upon credit and +reared by speculation, crumbles to the ground, leaving scarce a wreck +behind: + + "It is such stuff as dreams are made of." + +When a man of business, therefore, hears on every side rumors of fortunes +suddenly acquired; when he finds banks liberal, and brokers busy; when he +sees adventurers flush of paper capital, and full of scheme and enterprise; +when he perceives a greater disposition to buy than to sell; when trade +overflows its accustomed channels and deluges the country; when he hears of +new regions of commercial adventure; of distant marts and distant mines, +swallowing merchandise and disgorging gold; when he finds joint-stock +companies of all kinds forming; railroads, canals, and locomotive engines, +springing up on every side; when idlers suddenly become men of business, +and dash into the game of commerce as they would into the hazards of the +faro table; when he beholds the streets glittering with new equipages, +palaces conjured up by the magic of speculation; tradesmen flushed with +sudden success, and vying with each other in ostentatious expense; in a +word, when he hears the whole community joining in the theme of "unexampled +prosperity," let him look upon the whole as a "weather-breeder," and +prepare for the impending storm. + +The foregoing remarks are intended merely as a prelude to a narrative I am +about to lay before the public, of one of the most memorable instances of +the infatuation of gain to be found in the whole history of commerce. I +allude to the famous Mississippi Bubble. It is a matter that has passed +into a proverb, and become a phrase in every one's mouth, yet of which not +one merchant in ten has probably a distinct idea. I have therefore thought +that an authentic account of it would be interesting and salutary, at the +present moment, when we are suffering under the effects of a severe access +of the credit system, and just recovering from one of its ruinous +delusions. + +Before entering into the story of this famous chimera, it is proper to give +a few particulars concerning the individual who engendered it. John Law was +born in Edinburgh in 1671. His father, William Law, was a rich goldsmith, +and left his son an estate of considerable value, called Lauriston, +situated about four miles from Edinburgh. Goldsmiths, in those days, acted +occasionally as bankers, and his father's operations, under this character, +may have originally turned the thoughts of the youth to the science of +calculation, in which he became an adept; so that at an early age he +excelled in playing at all games of combination. + +In 1694 he appeared in London, where a handsome person, and an easy and +insinuating address, gained him currency in the first circles and the +nickname of "Beau Law." The same personal advantages gave him success in +the world of gallantry, until he became involved in a quarrel with Beau +Wilson, his rival in fashion, whom he killed in a duel, and then fled to +France, to avoid prosecution. + +He returned to Edinburgh in 1700, and remained there several years; during +which time he first broached his great credit system, offering to supply +the deficiency of coin by the establishment of a bank, which, according to +his views, might emit a paper currency equivalent to the whole landed +estate of the kingdom. + +His scheme excited great astonishment in Edinburgh; but, though the +government was not sufficiently advanced in financial knowledge to detect +the fallacies upon which it was founded, Scottish caution and suspicion +served in the place of wisdom, and the project was rejected. Law met with +no better success with the English Parliament; and the fatal affair of the +death of Wilson still hanging over him, for which he had never been able to +procure a pardon, he again went to France. + +The financial affairs of France were at this time in a deplorable +condition. The wars, the pomp and profusion, of Louis XIV., and his +religious persecutions of whole classes of the most industrious of his +subjects, had exhausted his treasury, and overwhelmed the nation with debt. +The old monarch clung to his selfish magnificence, and could not be induced +to diminish his enormous expenditure; and his minister of finance was +driven to his wits' end to devise all kinds of disastrous expedients to +keep up the royal state, and to extricate the nation from its +embarrassments. + +In this state of things, Law ventured to bring forward his financial +project. It was founded on the plan of the Bank of England, which had +already been in successful operation several years. He met with immediate +patronage, and a congenial spirit, in the Duke of Orleans, who had married +a natural daughter of the king. The duke had been astonished at the +facility with which England had supported the burden of a public debt, +created by the wars of Anne and William, and which exceeded in amount that +under which France was groaning. The whole matter was soon explained by Law +to his satisfaction. The latter maintained that England had stopped at the +mere threshold of an art capable of creating unlimited sources of national +wealth. The duke was dazzled with his splendid views and specious +reasonings, and thought he clearly comprehended his system. Demarets, the +Comptroller-General of Finance, was not so easily deceived. He pronounced +the plan of Law more pernicious than any of the disastrous expedients that +the government had yet been driven to. The old king also, Louis XIV., +detested all innovations, especially those which came from a rival nation; +the project of a bank, therefore, was utterly rejected. + +Law remained for a while in Paris, leading a gay and affluent existence, +owing to his handsome person, easy manners, flexible temper, and a +faro-bank which he had set up. His agreeable career was interrupted by a +message from D'Argenson, Lieutenant-General of Police, ordering him to quit +Paris, alleging that he was "_rather too skillful at the game which he +had introduced_." + +For several succeeding years he shifted his residence from state to state +of Italy and Germany; offering his scheme of finance to every court that he +visited, but without success. The Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus, afterward +king of Sardinia, was much struck with his project; but after considering +it for a time, replied, _"I am not sufficiently powerful to ruin +myself."_ + +The shifting, adventurous life of Law, and the equivocal means by which he +appeared to live, playing high, and always with great success, threw a +cloud of suspicion over him wherever he went, and caused him to be expelled +by the magistracy from the semi-commercial, semi-aristocratical cities of +Venice and Genoa. + +The events of 1715 brought Law back again to Paris. Louis XIV. was dead. +Louis XV. was a mere child, and during his minority the Duke of Orleans +held the reins of government as Regent. Law had at length found his man. + +The Duke of Orleans has been differently represented by different +contemporaries. He appears to have had excellent natural qualities, +perverted by a bad education. He was of the middle size, easy and graceful, +with an agreeable countenance, and open, affable demeanor. His mind was +quick and sagacious, rather than profound; and his quickness of intellect, +and excellence of memory, supplied the lack of studious application. His +wit was prompt and pungent; he expressed himself with vivacity and +precision; his imagination was vivid, his temperament sanguine and joyous; +his courage daring. His mother, the Duchess of Orleans, expressed his +character in a jeu d'esprit. "The fairies," said she, "were invited to be +present at his birth, and each one conferring a talent on my son, he +possesses them all. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to invite an old fairy, +who, arriving after all the others, exclaimed, 'He shall have all the +talents, excepting that to make a good use of them.'" + +Under proper tuition, the duke might have risen to real greatness; but in +his early years he was put under the tutelage of the Abbe Dubois, one of +the subtlest and basest spirits that ever intrigued its way into eminent +place and power. The abbe was of low origin and despicable exterior, +totally destitute of morals, and perfidious in the extreme; but with a +supple, insinuating address, and an accommodating spirit, tolerant of all +kinds of profligacy in others. Conscious of his own inherent baseness, he +sought to secure an influence over his pupil, by corrupting his principles +and fostering his vices; he debased him, to keep himself from being +despised. Unfortunately he succeeded. To the early precepts of this +infamous pander have been attributed those excesses that disgraced the +manhood of the regent, and gave a licentious character to his whole course +of government. His love of pleasure, quickened and indulged by those who +should have restrained it, led him into all kinds of sensual indulgence. He +had been taught to think lightly of the most serious duties and sacred +ties; to turn virtue into a jest, and consider religion mere hypocrisy. He +was a gay misanthrope, that had a sovereign but sportive contempt for +mankind; believed that his most devoted servant would be his enemy, if +interest prompted; and maintained that an honest man was he who had the art +to conceal that he was the contrary. + +He surrounded himself with a set of dissolute men like himself; who, let +loose from the restraint under which they had been held, during the latter +hypocritical days of Louis XIV., now gave way to every kind of debauchery. +With these men the regent used to shut himself up, after the hours of +business, and excluding all graver persons and graver concerns, celebrate +the most drunken and disgusting orgies; where obscenity and blasphemy +formed the seasoning of conversation. For the profligate companions of +these revels, he invented the appellation of his _roués_, the literal +meaning of which is men broken on the wheel; intended, no doubt, to express +their broken-down characters and dislocated fortunes; although a +contemporary asserts that it designated the punishment that most of them +merited. Madame de Labran, who was present at one of the regent's suppers, +was disgusted by the conduct and conversation of the host and his guests, +and observed, at table, that God, after he had created man, took the refuse +clay that was left, and made of it the souls of lackeys and princes. + +Such was the man that now ruled the destinies of France. Law found him full +of perplexities, from the disastrous state of the finances. He had already +tampered with the coinage, calling in the coin of the nation, restamping +it, and issuing it at a nominal increase of one-fifth; thus defrauding the +nation out of twenty per cent of its capital. He was not likely, therefore, +to be scrupulous about any means likely to relieve him from financial +difficulties; he had even been led to listen to the cruel alternative of a +national bankruptcy. + +Under these circumstances, Law confidently brought forward his scheme of a +bank, that was to pay off the national debt, increase the revenue, and at +the same time diminish the taxes. The following is stated as the theory by +which he recommended his system to the regent. The credit enjoyed by a +banker or a merchant, he observed, increases his capital tenfold; that is +to say, he who has a capital of one thousand livres, may, if he possess +sufficient credit, extend his operations to a million, and reap profits to +that amount. In like manner, a state that can collect into a bank all the +current coin of the kingdom, would be as powerful as if its capital were +increased tenfold. The specie must be drawn into the bank, not by way of +loan, or by taxations, but in the way of deposit. This might be effected in +different modes, either by inspiring confidence or by exerting authority. +One mode, he observed, had already been in use. Each time that a state +makes a recoinage, it becomes momentarily the depositary of all the money +called in, belonging to the subjects of that state. His bank was to effect +the same purpose; that is to say, to receive in deposit all the coin of the +kingdom, but to give in exchange its bills, which, being of an invariable +value, bearing an interest, and being payable on demand, would not only +supply the place of coin, but prove a better and more profitable currency. + +The regent caught with avidity at the scheme. It suited his bold, reckless +spirit, and his grasping extravagance. Not that he was altogether the dupe +of Law's specious projects; still he was apt, like many other men, +unskilled in the arcana of finance, to mistake the multiplication of money +for the multiplication of wealth; not understanding that it was a mere +agent or instrument in the interchange of traffic, to represent the value +of the various productions of industry; and that an increased circulation +of coin or bank bills, in the shape of currency, only adds a proportionably +increased and fictitious value to such productions. Law enlisted the vanity +of the regent in his cause. He persuaded him that he saw more clearly than +others into sublime theories of finance, which were quite above the +ordinary apprehension. He used to declare that, excepting the regent and +the Duke of Savoy, no one had thoroughly comprehended his system. + +It is certain that it met with strong opposition from the regent's +ministers, the Duke de Noailles and the Chancellor d'Anguesseau; and it was +no less strenuously opposed by the Parliament of Paris. Law, however, had a +potent though secret coadjutor in the Abbe Dubois, now rising, during the +regency, into great political power, and who retained a baneful influence +over the mind of the regent. This wily priest, as avaricious as he was +ambitious, drew large sums from Law as subsidies, and aided him greatly in +many of his most pernicious operations. He aided him, in the present +instance, to fortify the mind of the regent against all the remonstrances +of his ministers and the parliament. + +Accordingly, on the 2d of May, 1716, letters patent were granted to Law, to +establish a bank of deposit, discount, and circulation, under the firm of +"Law & Company," to continue for twenty years. The capital was fixed at six +millions of livres, divided into shares of five hundred livres each, which +were to be sold for twenty-five per cent of the regent's debased coin, and +seventy-five per cent of the public securities; which were then at a great +reduction from their nominal value, and which then amounted to nineteen +hundred millions. The ostensible object of the bank, as set forth in the +patent, was to encourage the commerce and manufactures of France. The louis +d'ors and crowns of the bank were always to retain the same standard of +value, and its bills to be payable in them on demand. + +At the outset, while the bank was limited in its operations, and while its +paper really represented the specie in its vaults, it seemed to realize all +that had been promised from it. It rapidly acquired public confidence, and +an extended circulation, and produced an activity in commerce unknown under +the baneful government of Louis XIV. As the bills of the bank bore an +interest, and as it was stipulated they would be of invariable value, and +as hints had been artfully circulated that the coin would experience +successive diminution, everybody hastened to the bank to exchange gold and +silver for paper. So great became the throng of depositors, and so intense +their eagerness, that there was quite a press and struggle at the bank +door, and a ludicrous panic was awakened, as if there was danger of their +not being admitted. An anecdote of the time relates that one of the clerks, +with an ominous smile, called out to the struggling multitude, "Have a +little patience, my friends; we mean to take all your money;" an assertion +disastrously verified in the sequel. + +Thus, by the simple establishment of a bank, Law and the regent obtained +pledges of confidence for the consummation of further and more complicated +schemes, as yet hidden from the public. In a little while, the bank shares +rose enormously, and the amount of its notes in circulation exceeded one +hundred and ten millions of livres. A subtle stroke of policy had rendered +it popular with the aristocracy. Louis XIV. had several years previously +imposed an income tax of a tenth, giving his royal word that it should +cease in 1717. This tax had been exceedingly irksome to the privileged +orders; and in the present disastrous times they had dreaded an +augmentation of it. In consequence of the successful operation of Law's +scheme, however, the tax was abolished, and now nothing was to be heard +among the nobility and clergy but praises of the regent and the bank. + +Hitherto all had gone well, and all might have continued to go well, had +not the paper system been further expanded. But Law had yet the grandest +part of his scheme to develop. He had to open his ideal world of +speculation, his El Dorado of unbounded wealth. The English had brought the +vast imaginary commerce of the South Seas in aid of their banking +operations. Law sought to bring, as an immense auxiliary of his bank, the +whole trade of the Mississippi. Under this name was included not merely the +river so called, but the vast region known as Louisiana, extending from +north latitude 29° up to Canada in north latitude 40°. This country had +been granted by Louis XIV. to the Sieur Crozat, but he had been induced to +resign his patent. In conformity to the plea of Mr. Law, letters patent +were granted in August, 1717, for the creation of a commercial company, +which was to have the colonizing of this country, and the monopoly of its +trade and resources, and of the beaver or fur trade with Canada. It was +called the Western, but became better known as the Mississippi Company. The +capital was fixed at one hundred millions of livres, divided into shares, +bearing an Interest of four per cent, which were subscribed for in the +public securities. As the bank was to co-operate with the company, the +regent ordered that its bills should be received the same as coin, in all +payments of the public revenue. Law was appointed chief director of this +company, which was an exact copy of the Earl of Oxford's South Sea Company, +set on foot in 1711, and which distracted all England with the frenzy of +speculation. In like manner with the delusive picturings given in that +memorable scheme of the sources of rich trade to be opened in the South Sea +countries, Law held forth magnificent prospects of the fortunes to be made +in colonizing Louisiana, which was represented as a veritable land of +promise, capable of yielding every variety of the most precious produce. +Reports, too, were artfully circulated, with great mystery, as if to the +"chosen few," of mines of gold and silver recently discovered in Louisiana, +and which would insure instant wealth to the early purchasers. These +confidential whispers of course soon became public; and were confirmed by +travelers fresh from the Mississippi, and doubtless bribed, who had seen +the mines in question, and declared them superior in richness to those of +Mexico and Peru. Nay, more, ocular proof was furnished to public credulity, +in ingots of gold conveyed to the mint, as if just brought from the mines +of Louisiana. + +Extraordinary measures were adopted to force a colonization. An edict was +issued to collect and transport settlers to the Mississippi. The police +lent its aid. The streets and prisons of Paris, and of the provincial +cities, were swept of mendicants and vagabonds of all kinds, who were +conveyed to Havre de Grace. About six thousand were crowded into ships, +where no precautions had been taken for their health or accommodation. +Instruments of all kinds proper for the working of mines were +ostentatiously paraded in public, and put on board the vessels; and the +whole set sail for this fabled El Dorado, which was to prove the grave of +the greater part of its wretched colonists. + +D'Anguesseau, the chancellor, a man of probity and integrity, still lifted +his voice against the paper system of Law, and his project of colonization, +and was eloquent and prophetic in picturing the evils they were calculated +to produce; the private distress and public degradation; the corruption of +morals and manners; the triumph of knaves and schemers; the ruin of +fortunes, and downfall of families. He was incited more and more to this +opposition by the Duke de Noailles, the Minister of Finance, who was +jealous of the growing ascendency of Law over the mind of the regent, but +was less honest than the chancellor in his opposition. The regent was +excessively annoyed by the difficulties they conjured up in the way of his +darling schemes of finance, and the countenance they gave to the opposition +of parliament; which body, disgusted more and more with the abuses of the +regency, and the system of Law, had gone so far as to carry its +remonstrances to the very foot of the throne. + +He determined to relieve himself from these two ministers, who, either +through honesty or policy, interfered with all his plans. Accordingly, on +the 28th of January, 1718, he dismissed the chancellor from office, and +exiled him to his estate in the country; and shortly afterward removed the +Duke de Noailles from the administration of the finances. + +The opposition of parliament to the regent and his measures was carried on +with increasing violence. That body aspired to an equal authority with the +regent in the administration of affairs, and pretended, by its decree, to +suspend an edict of the regency, ordering a new coinage and altering the +value of the currency. But its chief hostility was leveled against Law, a +foreigner and a heretic, and one who was considered by a majority of the +members in the light of a malefactor. In fact, so far was this hostility +carried, that secret measures were taken to investigate his malversations, +and to collect evidence against him; and it was resolved in parliament +that, should the testimony collected justify their suspicions, they would +have him seized and brought before them; would give him a brief trial, and, +if convicted, would hang him in the courtyard of the palace, and throw open +the gates after the execution, that the public might behold his corpse! + +Law received intimation of the danger hanging over him, and was in terrible +trepidation. He took refuge in the Palais Royal, the residence of the +regent, and implored his protection. The regent himself was embarrassed by +the sturdy opposition of parliament, which contemplated nothing less than a +decree reversing most of his public measures, especially those of finance. +His indecision kept Law for a time in an agony of terror and suspense. +Finally, by assembling a board of justice, and bringing to his aid the +absolute authority of the king, he triumphed over parliament and relieved +Law from his dread of being hanged. + +The system now went on with flowing sail. The Western or Mississippi +Company, being identified with the bank, rapidly increased in power and +privileges. One monopoly after another was granted to it; the trade of the +Indian seas; the slave trade with Senegal and Guinea; the farming of +tobacco; the national coinage, etc. Each new privilege was made a pretext +for issuing more bills, and caused an immense advance in the price of +stock. At length, on the 4th of December, 1718, the regent gave the +establishment the imposing title of "The Royal Bank," and proclaimed that +he had effected the purchase of all the shares, the proceeds of which he +had added to its capital This measure seemed to shock the public feeling +more than any other connected with the system, and roused the indignation +of parliament. The French nation had been so accustomed to attach an idea +of everything noble, lofty, and magnificent to the royal name and person, +especially during the stately and sumptuous reign of Louis XIV., that they +could not at first tolerate the idea of royalty being in any degree mingled +with matters of traffic and finance, and the king being in a manner a +banker. It was one of the downward steps, however, by which royalty lost +its illusive splendor in France, and became gradually cheapened in the +public mind. + +Arbitrary measures now began to be taken to force the bills of the bank +into artificial currency. On the 27th of December appeared an order in +council, forbidding, under severe penalties, the payment of any sum above +six hundred livres in gold or silver. This decree rendered bank bills +necessary in all transactions of purchase and sale, and called for a new +emission. The prohibition was occasionally evaded or opposed; confiscations +were the consequence; informers were rewarded, and spies and traitors began +to spring up in all the domestic walks of life. + +The worst effect of this illusive system was the mania for gain, or rather +for gambling in stocks, that now seized upon the whole nation. Under the +exciting effects of lying reports, and the forcing effects of government +decrees, the shares of the company went on rising in value until they +reached thirteen hundred per cent. Nothing was now spoken of but the price +of shares, and the immense fortunes suddenly made by lucky speculators. +Those whom Law had deluded used every means to delude others. The most +extravagant dreams were indulged, concerning the wealth to flow in upon the +company from its colonies, its trade, and its various monopolies. It is +true nothing as yet had been realized, nor could in some time be realized, +from these distant sources, even if productive; but the imaginations of +speculators are ever in the advance, and their conjectures are immediately +converted into facts. Lying reports now flew from mouth to month, of sure +avenues to fortune suddenly thrown open. The more extravagant the fable, +the more readily was it believed. To doubt was to awaken anger, or incur +ridicule. In a time of public infatuation, it requires no small exercise of +courage to doubt a popular fallacy. + +Paris now became the center of attraction for the adventurous and the +avaricious, who flocked to it, not merely from the provinces, but from +neighboring countries. A stock exchange was established in a house in the +Rue Quincampoix, and became immediately the gathering place of +stock-jobbers. The exchange opened at seven o'clock, with the beat of drum +and sound of bell, and closed at night with the same signals. Guards were +stationed at each end of the street, to maintain order and exclude +carriages and horses. The whole street swarmed throughout the day like a +bee-hive. Bargains of all kinds were seized upon with avidity. Shares of +stock passed from hand to hand, mounting in value, one knew not why. +Fortunes were made in a moment, as if by magic; and every lucky bargain +prompted those around to a more desperate throw of the die. The fever went +on, increasing in intensity as the day declined; and when the drum beat, +and the bell rang, at night, to close the exchange, there were exclamations +of impatience and despair, as if the wheel of fortune had suddenly been +stopped when about to make its luckiest evolution. + +To engulf all classes in this ruinous vortex, Law now split the shares of +fifty millions of stock each into one hundred shares; thus, as in the +splitting of lottery tickets, accommodating the venture to the humblest +purse. Society was thus stirred up to its very dregs, and adventurers of +the lowest order hurried to the stock market. All honest, industrious +pursuits, and modest gains, were now despised. Wealth was to be obtained +instantly, without labor and without stint. The upper classes were as base +in their venality as the lower. The highest and most powerful nobles, +abandoning all generous pursuits and lofty aims, engaged in the vile +scuffle for gam. They were even baser than the lower classes; for some of +them, who were members of the council of the regency, abused their station +and their influence, and promoted measures by which shares rose while in +their hands, and they made immense profits. + +The Duke de Bourbon, the prince of Conti, the Dukes de la Force and D'Antin +were among the foremost of these illustrious stock-jobbers. They were +nicknamed the Mississippi Lords, and they smiled at the sneering title. In +fact, the usual distinctions of society had lost their consequence, under +the reign of this new passion. Bank, talent, military fame, no longer +inspired deference. All respect for others, all self-respect, were +forgotten in the mercenary struggle of the stock-market. Even prelates and +ecclesiastical corporations, forgetting their true objects of devotion, +mingled among the votaries of Mammon. They were not behind those who +wielded the civil power in fabricating ordinances suited to their +avaricious purposes. Theological decisions forthwith appeared, in which the +anathema launched by the Church against usury was conveniently construed as +not extending to the traffic in bank shares! + +The Abbe Dubois entered into the mysteries of stockjobbing with all the +zeal of an apostle, and enriched himself by the spoils of the credulous; +and he continually drew large sums from Law, as considerations for his +political influence. Faithless to his country, in the course of his +gambling speculations he transferred to England a great amount of specie, +which had been paid into the royal treasury; thus contributing to the +subsequent dearth of the precious metals. + +The female sex participated in this sordid frenzy. Princesses of the blood, +and ladies of the highest nobility, were among the most rapacious of +stock-jobbers. The regent seemed to have the riches of Croesus at his +command, and lavished money by hundreds of thousands upon his female +relatives and favorites, as well as upon his _roués_, the dissolute +companions of his debauches. "My son," writes the regent's mother, in her +correspondence, "gave me shares to the amount of two millions, which I +distributed among my household. The king also took several millions for his +own household. All the royal family have had them; all the children and +grandchildren of France, and the princes of the blood." + +Luxury and extravagance kept pace with this sudden inflation of fancied +wealth. The hereditary palaces of nobles were pulled down, and rebuilt on a +scale of augmented splendor. Entertainments were given of incredible cost +and magnificence. Never before had been such display in houses, furniture, +equipages, and amusements. This was particularly the case among persons of +the lower ranks, who had suddenly become possessed of millions. Ludicrous +anecdotes are related of some of these upstarts. One, who had just launched +a splendid carriage, when about to use it for the first time, instead of +getting in at the door, mounted, through habitude, to his accustomed place +behind. Some ladies of quality, seeing a well-dressed woman covered with +diamonds, but whom nobody knew, alight from a very handsome carriage, +inquired who she was of the footman. He replied, with a sneer: "It is a +lady who has recently tumbled from a garret into this carriage." Mr. Law's +domestics were said to become in like manner suddenly enriched by the +crumbs that fell from his table. His coachman, having made his fortune, +retired from his service. Mr. Law requested him to procure a coachman in +his place. He appeared the next day with two, whom he pronounced equally +good, and told Mr. Law: "Take which of them you choose, and I will take the +other!" + +Nor were these _novi homini_ treated with the distance and disdain +they would formerly have experienced from the haughty aristocracy of +France. The pride of the old noblesse had been stifled by the stronger +instinct of avarice. They rather sought the intimacy and confidence of +these lucky upstarts; and it has been observed that a nobleman would gladly +take his seat at the table of the fortunate lackey of yesterday, in hopes +of learning from him the secret of growing rich! + +Law now went about with a countenance radiant with success and apparently +dispensing wealth on every side. "He is admirably skilled in all that +relates to finance," writes the Duchess of Orleans, the regent's mother, +"and has put the affairs of the state in such good order that all the +king's debts have been paid. He is so much run after that he has no repose +night or day. A duchess even kissed his hand publicly. If a duchess can do +this, what will other ladies do?" + +Wherever he went, his path, we are told, was beset by a sordid throng, who +waited to see him pass, and sought to obtain the favor of a word, a nod, or +smile, as if a mere glance from him would bestow fortune. When at home, his +house was absolutely besieged by furious candidates for fortune. "They +forced the doors," says the Duke de St. Simon; "they scaled his windows +from the garden; they made their way into his cabinet down the chimney!" + +The same venal court was paid by all classes to his family. The highest +ladies of the court vied with each other in meannesses to purchase the +lucrative friendship of Mrs. Law and her daughter. They waited upon them +with as much assiduity and adulation as if they had been princesses of the +blood. The regent one day expressed a desire that some duchess should +accompany his daughter to Genoa. "My lord," said some one present, "if you +would have a choice from among the duchesses, you need but send to Mrs. +Law's, you will find them all assembled there." + +The wealth of Law rapidly increased with the expansion of the bubble. In +the course of a few months he purchased fourteen titled estates, paying for +them in paper; and the public hailed these sudden and vast acquisitions of +landed property as so many proofs of the soundness of his system. In one +instance he met with a shrewd bargainer, who had not the general faith in +his paper money. The President de Novion insisted on being paid for an +estate in hard coin. Law accordingly brought the amount, four hundred +thousand livres, in specie, saying, with a sarcastic smile, that he +preferred paying in money as its weight rendered it a mere encumbrance. As +it happened, the president could give no clear title to the land, and the +money had to be refunded. He paid it back _in paper_, which Law dared +not refuse, lest he should depreciate it in the market. + +The course of illusory credit went on triumphantly for eighteen months. Law +had nearly fulfilled one of his promises, for the greater part of the +public debt had been paid off; but how paid? In bank shares, which had been +trumped up several hundred per cent above their value, and which were to +vanish like smoke in the hands of the holders. + +One of the most striking attributes of Law was the imperturbable assurance +and self-possession with which he replied to every objection, and found a +solution for every problem. He had the dexterity of a juggler in evading +difficulties; and what was peculiar, made figures themselves, which are the +very elements of exact demonstration, the means to dazzle and bewilder. + +Toward the latter end of 1719 the Mississippi scheme had reached its +highest point of glory. Half a million of strangers had crowded into Paris +in quest of fortune. The hotels and lodging-houses were overflowing; +lodgings were procured with excessive difficulty; granaries were turned +into bedrooms; provisions had risen enormously in price; splendid houses +were multiplying on every side; the streets were crowded with carriages; +above a thousand new equipages had been launched. + +On the eleventh of December, Law obtained another prohibitory decree, for +the purpose of sweeping all the remaining specie in circulation into the +bank. By this it was forbidden to make any payment in silver above ten +livres, or in gold above three hundred. + +The repeated decrees of this nature, the object of which was to depreciate +the value of gold, and increase the illusive credit of paper, began to +awaken doubts of a system which required such bolstering. Capitalists +gradually awoke from their bewilderment. Sound and able financiers +consulted together, and agreed to make common cause against this continual +expansion of a paper system. The shares of the bank and of the company +began to decline in value. Wary men took the alarm, and began to +_realize_, a word now first brought into use, to express the +conversion of _ideal_ property into something _real_. + +The prince of Conti, one of the most prominent and grasping of the +Mississippi lords, was the first to give a blow to the credit of the bank. +There was a mixture of ingratitude in his conduct that characterized the +venal baseness of the times. He had received from time to time enormous +sums from Law, as the price of his influence and patronage. His avarice had +increased with every acquisition, until Law was compelled to refuse one of +his exactions. In revenge the prince immediately sent such an amount of +paper to the bank to be cashed that it required four wagons to bring away +the silver, and he had the meanness to loll out of the window of his hotel +and jest and exult as it was trundled into his portecochère. + +This was the signal for other drains of like nature. The English and Dutch +merchants, who had purchased a great amount of bank paper at low prices, +cashed them at the bank, and carried the money out of the country. Other +strangers did the like, thus draining the kingdom of its specie, and +leaving paper in its place. + +The regent, perceiving these symptoms of decay in the system, sought to +restore it to public confidence by conferring marks of confidence upon its +author. + +He accordingly resolved to make Law Comptroller General of the Finances of +France. There was a material obstacle in his way. Law was a Protestant, and +the regent, unscrupulous as he was himself, did not dare publicly to +outrage the severe edicts which Louis XIV., in his bigot days, had +fulminated against all heretics. Law soon let him know that there would be +no difficulty on that head. He was ready at any moment to abjure his +religion in the way of business. For decency's sake, however, it was judged +proper he should previously be convinced and converted. A ghostly +instructor was soon found, ready to accomplish his conversion in the +shortest possible time. This was the Abbe Tencin, a profligate creature of +the profligate Dubois, and like him working his way to ecclesiastical +promotion and temporal wealth, by the basest means. + +Under the instructions of the Abbe Tencin, Law soon mastered the mysteries +and dogmas of the Catholic doctrine; and, after a brief course of ghostly +training, declared himself thoroughly convinced and converted. To avoid the +sneers and jests of the Parisian public the ceremony of abjuration took +place at Melun. Law made a pious present of one hundred thousand livres to +the Church of St. Roque, and the Abbe Tencin was rewarded for his edifying +labors by sundry shares and bank bills; which he shrewdly took care to +convert into cash, having as little faith in the system as in the piety of +his new convert. A more grave and moral community might have been outraged +by this scandalous farce; but the Parisians laughed at it with their usual +levity, and contented themselves with making it the subject of a number of +songs and epigrams. + +Law now being orthodox in his faith, took out letters of naturalization, +and having thus surmounted the intervening obstacles, was elevated by the +regent to the post of comptroller-general. So accustomed had the community +become to all juggles and transmutations in this hero of finance, that no +one seemed shocked or astonished at his sudden elevation. On the contrary, +being now considered perfectly established in place and power, he became +more than ever the object of venal adoration. Men of rank and dignity +thronged his antechamber, waiting patiently their turn for an audience; and +titled dames demeaned themselves to take the front seats of the carriages +of his wife and daughter, as if they had been riding with princesses of the +blood royal. Law's head grew giddy with his elevation, and he began to +aspire after aristocratical distinction. There was to be a court ball, at +which several of the young noblemen were to dance in a ballet with the +youthful king. Law requested that his son might be admitted into the +ballet, and the regent consented. The young scions of nobility, however, +were indignant and scouted the "intruding upstart." Their more worldly +parents, fearful of displeasing the modern Midas, reprimanded them in vain. +The striplings had not yet imbibed the passion for gain, and still held to +their high blood. The son of the banker received slights and annoyances on +all sides, and the public applauded them for their spirit. A fit of illness +came opportunely to relieve the youth from an honor which would have cost +him a world of vexations and affronts. + +In February, 1720, shortly after Law's installment in office, a decree came +out uniting the bank to the India Company, by which last name the whole +establishment was now known. The decree stated that as the bank was royal, +the king was bound to make good the value of its bills; that he committed +to the company the government of the bank for fifty years, and sold to it +fifty millions of stock belonging to him, for nine hundred millions; a +simple advance of eighteen hundred per cent. The decree further declared, +in the king's name, that he would never draw on the bank until the value of +his drafts had first been lodged in it by his receivers-general. + +The bank, it was said, had by this time issued notes to the amount of one +thousand millions; being more paper than all the banks of Europe were able +to circulate. To aid its credit, the receivers of the revenue were directed +to take bank notes of the sub-receivers. All payments, also, of one hundred +livres and upward were ordered to be made in banknotes. These compulsory +measures for a short time gave a false credit to the bank, which proceeded +to discount merchants' notes, to lend money on jewels, plate, and other +valuables, as well as on mortgages. + +Still further to force on the system an edict next appeared, forbidding any +individual, or any corporate body, civil or religious, to hold in +possession more than five hundred livres in current coin; that is to say, +about seven louis d'ors: the value of the louis-d'or in paper being, at the +time, seventy-two livres. All the gold and silver they might have above +this pittance was to be brought to the royal bank and exchanged either for +shares or bills. + +As confiscation was the penalty of disobedience to this decree, and +informers were assured a share of the forfeitures, a bounty was in a manner +held out to domestic spies and traitors; and the most odious scrutiny was +awakened into the pecuniary affairs of families and individuals. The very +confidence between friends and relatives was unpaired, and all the domestic +ties and virtues of society were threatened, until a general sentiment of +indignation broke forth, that compelled the regent to rescind the odious +decree. Lord Stairs, the British embassador, speaking of the system of +espionage encouraged by this edict, observed that it was impossible to +doubt that Law was a thorough Catholic, since he had thus established the +_inquisition_, after having already proved _transubstantiation_, +by changing specie into paper. + +Equal abuses had taken place under the colonizing project. In his thousand +expedients to amass capital, Law had sold parcels of land in Mississippi, +at the rate of three thousand livres for a league square. Many capitalists +had purchased estates large enough to constitute almost a principality; the +only evil was, Law had sold a property which he could not deliver. The +agents of police, who aided in recruiting the ranks of the colonists, had +been guilty of scandalous impositions. Under pretense of taking up +mendicants and vagabonds, they had scoured the streets at night, seizing +upon honest mechanics, or their sons, and hurrying them to their +crimping-houses, for the sole purpose of extorting money from them as a +ransom. The populace was roused to indignation by these abuses. The +officers of police were mobbed in the exercise of their odious functions, +and several of them were killed; which put an end to this flagrant abuse of +power. + +In March, a most extraordinary decree of the council fixed the price of +shares of the India Company at nine thousand livres each. All +ecclesiastical communities and hospitals were now prohibited from investing +money at interest, in anything but India stock. With all these props and +stays, the system continued to totter. How could it be otherwise, under a +despotic government that could alter the value of property at every moment? +The very compulsory measures that were adopted to establish the credit of +the bank hastened its fall; plainly showing there was a want of solid +security. + +Law caused pamphlets to be published, setting forth, in eloquent language, +the vast profits that must accrue to holders of the stock, and the +impossibility of the king's ever doing it any harm. On the very back of +these assertions came forth an edict of the king, dated the 22d of May, +wherein, under pretense of having reduced the value of his coin, it was +declared necessary to reduce the value of his bank-notes one-half, and of +the India shares from nine thousand to five thousand livres. + +This decree came like a clap of thunder upon shareholders. They found +one-half of the pretended value of the paper in their hands annihilated in +an instant; and what certainty had they with respect to the other half? The +rich considered themselves ruined; those in humbler circumstances looked +forward to abject beggary. + +The parliament seized the occasion to stand forth as the protector of the +public, and refused to register the decree. It gained the credit of +compelling the regent to retrace his step, though it is more probable he +yielded to the universal burst of public astonishment and reprobation. On +the 27th of May the edict was revoked, and bank bills were restored to +their previous value. But the fatal blow had been struck; the delusion was +at an end. Government itself had lost all public confidence, equally with +the bank it had engendered, and which its own arbitrary acts had brought +into discredit. "All Paris," says the regent's mother, in her letters, "has +been mourning at the cursed decree which Law has persuaded my son to make. +I have received anonymous letters stating that I have nothing to fear on my +own account, but that my son shall be pursued with fire and sword." + +The regent now endeavored to avert the odium of his ruinous schemes from +himself. He affected to have suddenly lost confidence in Law, and, on the +29th of May, discharged bin from his employ as comptroller-general, and +stationed a Swiss guard of sixteen men in his house. He even refused to see +him, when, on the following day, he applied at the portal of the Palais +Royal for admission; but having played off this farce before the public, he +admitted him secretly the same night, by a private door, and continued as +before to co-operate with him in his financial schemes. + +On the first of June the regent issued a decree, permitting persons to have +as much money as they pleased in their possession. Few, however, were in a +state to benefit by this permission. There was a run upon the bank, but a +royal ordinance immediately suspended payment, until further orders. To +relieve the public mind, a city stock was created, of twenty-five millions, +bearing an interest of two and a half per cent, for which bank notes were +taken in exchange. The bank notes thus withdrawn from circulation were +publicly burned before the Hotel de Ville. The public, however, had lost +confidence in everything and everybody, and suspected fraud and collusion +in those who pretended to burn the bills. + +A general confusion now took place hi the financial world. Families who had +lived in opulence found themselves suddenly reduced to indigence. Schemers +who had been reveling in the delusion of princely fortune found their +estates vanishing into thin air. Those who had any property remaining +sought to secure it against reverses. Cautious persons found there was no +safety for property in a country where the coin was continually shifting in +value, and where a despotism was exercised over public securities, and even +over the private purses of individuals. They began to send their effects +into other countries; when lo! on the 20th of June a royal edict commanded +them to bring back their effects, under penalty of forfeiting twice their +value; and forbade them, under like penalty, from investing their money in +foreign stocks. This was soon followed by another decree, forbidding any +one to retain precious stones in his possession, or to sell them to +foreigners; all must be deposited in the bank, in exchange for depreciating +paper! + +Execrations were now poured out on all sides against Law, and menaces of +vengeance. What a contrast, in a short time, to the venal incense that was +offered up to him! "This person," writes the regent's mother, "who was +formerly worshiped as a god, is now not sure of his life. It is astonishing +how greatly terrified he is. He is as a dead man; he is pale as a sheet, +and it is said he can never get over it. My son is not dismayed, though he +is threatened on all sides; and is very much amused with Law's terrors." + +About the middle of July the last grand attempt was made by Law and the +regent to keep up the system and provide for the immense emission of paper. +A decree was fabricated, giving the India Company the entire monopoly of +commerce, on condition that it would, in the course of a year, reimburse +six hundred millions of livres of its bills, at the rate of fifty millions +per month. + +On the 17th this decree was sent to parliament to be registered. It at once +raised a storm of opposition in that assembly, and a vehement discussion +took place. While that was going on a disastrous scene was passing out of +doors. + +The calamitous effects of the system had reached the humblest concerns of +human life. Provisions had risen to an enormous price; paper money was +refused at all the shops; the people had not wherewithal to buy bread. It +had been found absolutely indispensable to relax a little from the +suspension of specie payments, and to allow small sums to be scantily +exchanged for paper. The doors of the bank and the neighboring streets were +immediately thronged with a famishing multitude, seeking cash for bank +notes of ten livres. So great was the press and struggle that several +persons were stifled and crushed to death. The mob carried three of the +bodies to the courtyard of the Palais Royal. Some cried for the regent to +come forth and behold the effect of his system; others demanded the death +of Law, the impostor, who had brought this misery and rum upon the nation. + +The moment was critical, the popular fury was rising to a tempest, when Le +Blanc, the Secretary of State, stepped forth. He had previously sent for +the military, and now only sought to gain tune. Singling out six or seven +stout fellows, who seemed to be the ringleaders of the mob: "My good +fellows," said he, calmly, "carry away these bodies and place them in some +church, and then come back quickly to me for your pay." They immediately +obeyed; a kind of funeral procession was formed; the arrival of troops +dispersed those who lingered behind; and Paris was probably saved from an +insurrection. + +About ten o'clock in the morning, all being quiet, Law ventured to go in +his carriage to the Palais Royal. He was saluted with cries and curses, as +he passed along the streets; and he reached the Palais Royal in a terrible +fright. The regent amused himself with his fears, but retained him with +him, and sent off his carriage, which was assailed by the mob, pelted with +stones, and the glasses shivered. The news of this outrage was communicated +to parliament in the midst of a furious discussion of the decree for the +commercial monopoly. The first president, who had been absent for a short +time, re-entered, and communicated the tidings in a whimsical couplet: + + "Messieurs, Messieurs! bonne nouvelle! + Le carrosse de Law est reduite en carrelle!" + + "Gentlemen, Gentlemen! good news! + The carriage of Law is shivered to atoms!" + +The members sprang up with joy; "And Law!" exclaimed they, "has he been +torn to pieces?" The president was ignorant of the result of the tumult; +whereupon the debate was cut short, the decree rejected, and the house +adjourned; the members hurrying to learn the particulars. Such was the +levity with which public affairs were treated at that dissolute and +disastrous period. + +On the following day there was an ordinance from the king, prohibiting all +popular assemblages; and troops were stationed at various points, and in +all public places. The regiment of guards was ordered to hold itself in +readiness; and the musketeers to be at their hotels, with their horses +ready saddled. A number of small offices were opened, where people might +cash small notes, though with great delay and difficulty. An edict was also +issued declaring that whoever should refuse to take bank notes in the +course of trade should forfeit double the amount! + +The continued and vehement opposition of parliament to the whole delusive +system of finance had been a constant source of annoyance to the regent; +but this obstinate rejection of his last grand expedient of a commercial +monopoly was not to be tolerated. He determined to punish that intractable +body. The Abbe Dubois and Law suggested a simple mode; it was to suppress +the parliament altogether, being, as they observed, so far from useful that +it was a constant impediment to the march of public affairs. The regent was +half inclined to listen to their advice; but upon calmer consideration, and +the advice of friends, he adopted a more moderate course. On the 20th of +July, early in the morning, all the doors of the parliament-house were +taken possession of by troops. Others were sent to surround the house of +the first president, and others to the houses of the various members; who +were all at first in great alarm, until an order from the king was put into +their hands, to render themselves at Pontoise, in the course of two days, +to which place the parliament was thus suddenly and arbitrarily +transferred. + +This despotic act, says Voltaire, would at any other time have caused an +insurrection; but one half of the Parisians were occupied by their ruin, +and the other half by their fancied riches, which were soon to vanish. The +president and members of parliament acquiesced in the mandate without a +murmur; they even went as if on a party of pleasure, and made every +preparation to lead a joyous life in their exile. The musketeers, who held +possession of the vacated parliament-house, a gay corps of fashionable +young fellows, amused themselves with making songs and pasquinades, at the +expense of the exiled legislators; and at length, to pass away time, formed +themselves into a mock parliament; elected their presidents, kings, +ministers, and advocates; took their seats in due form, arraigned a cat at +their bar, in place of the Sieur Law, and, after giving it a "fair trial," +condemned it to be hanged. In this manner public affairs and public +institutions were lightly turned to jest. + +As to the exiled parliament, it lived gayly and luxuriously at Pontoise, at +the public expense; for the regent had furnished funds, as usual, with a +lavish hand. The first president had the mansion of the Duke de Bouillon +put at his disposal, already furnished, with a vast and delightful garden +on the borders of a river. There he kept open house to all the members of +parliament. Several tables were spread every day, all furnished luxuriously +and splendidly; the most exquisite wines and liqueurs, the choicest fruits +and refreshments, of all kinds, abounded. A number of small chariots for +one and two horses were always at hand, for such ladies and old gentlemen +as wished to take an airing after dinner, and card and billiard tables for +such as chose to amuse themselves in that way until supper. The sister and +the daughter of the first president did the honors of the house, and he +himself presided there with an air of great ease, hospitality, and +magnificence. It became a party of pleasure to drive from Paris to +Pontoise, which was six leagues distant, and partake of the amusements and +festivities of the place. Business was openly slighted; nothing was thought +of but amusement. The regent and his government were laughed at, and made +the subjects of continual pleasantries; while the enormous expenses +incurred by this idle and lavish course of life more than doubled the +liberal sums provided. This was the way in which the parliament resented +their exile. + +During all this time the system was getting more and more involved. The +stock exchange had some time previously been removed to the Place Vendome; +but the tumult and noise becoming intolerable to the residents of that +polite quarter, and especially to the chancellor, whose hotel was there, +the Prince and Princess Carignan, both deep gamblers in Mississippi stock, +offered the extensive garden of the Hotel de Soissons as a rallying-place +for the worshipers of Mammon. The offer was accepted. A number of barracks +were immediately erected in the garden, as offices for the stock-brokers, +and an order was obtained from the regent, under pretext of police +regulations, that no bargain should be valid unless concluded in these +barracks. The rent of them immediately mounted to a hundred livres a month +for each, and the whole yielded these noble proprietors an ignoble revenue +of half a million of livres. + +The mania for gain, however, was now at an end. A universal panic +succeeded. "_Sauve qui peut!_" was the watchword. Every one was +anxious to exchange falling paper for something of intrinsic and permanent +value. Since money was not to be had, jewels, precious stones, plate, +porcelain, trinkets of gold and silver, all commanded any price in paper. +Land was bought at fifty years' purchase, and he esteemed himself happy who +could get it even at this price. Monopolies now became the rage among the +noble holders of paper. The Duke de la Force bought up nearly all the +tallow, grease, and soap; others the coffee and spices; others hay and +oats. Foreign exchanges were almost impracticable. The debts of Dutch and +English merchants were paid in this fictitious money, all the coin of the +realm having disappeared. All the relations of debtor and creditor were +confounded. With one thousand crowns one might pay a debt of eighteen +thousand livres! + +The regent's mother, who once exulted in the affluence of bank paper, now +wrote in a very different tone: "I have often wished," said she in her +letters, "that these bank-notes were in the depths of the infernal regions. +They have given my son more trouble than relief. Nobody in France has a +penny.... My son was once popular, but since the arrival of this cursed +Law, he is hated more and more. Not a week passes, without my receiving +letters filled with frightful threats, and speaking of him as a tyrant. I +have just received one threatening him with poison. When I showed it to +him, he did nothing but laugh." + +In the meantime, Law was dismayed by the increasing troubles, and terrified +at the tempest he had raised. He was not a man of real courage; and fearing +for his personal safety, from popular tumult, or the despair of ruined +individuals, he again took refuge in the palace of the regent. The latter, +as usual, amused himself with his terrors, and turned every new disaster +into a jest; but he too began to think of his own security. + +In pursuing the schemes of Law, he had no doubt calculated to carry through +his term of government with ease and splendor; and to enrich himself, his +connections, and his favorites; and had hoped that the catastrophe of the +system would not take place until after the expiration of the regency. + +He now saw his mistake; that it was impossible much longer to prevent an +explosion; and he determined at once to get Law out of the way, and then to +charge him with the whole tissue of delusions of this paper alchemy. He +accordingly took occasion of the recall of parliament in December, 1720, to +suggest to Law the policy of his avoiding an encounter with that hostile +and exasperated body. Law needed no urging to the measure. His only desire +was to escape from Paris and its tempestuous populace. Two days before the +return of parliament he took his sudden and secret departure. He traveled +in a chaise bearing the arms of the regent, and was escorted by a kind of +safeguard of servants in the duke's livery. His first place of refuge was +an estate of the regent's, about six leagues from Paris, from whence he +pushed forward to Bruxelles. + +As soon as Law was fairly out of the way, the Duke of Orleans summoned a +council of the regency, and informed them that they were assembled to +deliberate on the state of the finances, and the affairs of the India +Company. Accordingly La Houssaye, comptroller-general, rendered a perfectly +clear statement, by which it appeared that there were bank bills in +circulation to the amount of two milliards, seven hundred millions of +livres, without any evidence that this enormous sum had been emitted in +virtue of any ordinance from the general assembly of the India Company, +which alone had the right to authorize such emissions. + +The council was astonished at this disclosure, and looked to the regent for +explanation. Pushed to the extreme, the regent avowed that Law had emitted +bills to the amount of twelve hundred millions beyond what had been fixed +by ordinances, and in contradiction to express prohibitions; that the thing +being done, he, the regent, had legalized or rather covered the +transaction, by decrees ordering such emissions, which decrees he had +_antedated_. + +A stormy scene ensued between the regent and the Duke de Bourbon, little to +the credit of either, both having been deeply implicated in the cabalistic +operations of the system. In fact, the several members of the council had +been among the most venal "beneficiaries" of the scheme, and had interests +at stake which they were anxious to secure. From all the circumstances of +the case, I am inclined to think that others were more to blame than Law, +for the disastrous effects of his financial projects. His bank, had it been +confined to its original limits, and left to the control of its own +internal regulations, might have gone on prosperously, and been of great +benefit to the nation. It was an institution fitted for a free country; but +unfortunately it was subjected to the control of a despotic government, +that could, at its pleasure, alter the value of the specie within its +vaults, and compel the most extravagant expansions of its paper +circulation. The vital principle of a bank is security in the regularity of +its operations, and the immediate convertibility of its paper into coin; +and what confidence could be reposed in an institution or its paper +promises, when the sovereign could at any moment centuple those promises in +the market, and seize upon all the money in the bank? The compulsory +measures used, likewise, to force bank-notes into currency, against the +judgment of the public, was fatal to the system; for credit must be free +and uncontrolled as the common air. The regent was the evil spirit of the +system, that forced Law on to an expansion of his paper currency far beyond +what he had ever dreamed of. He it was that in a manner compelled the +unlucky projector to devise all kinds of collateral companies and +monopolies, by which to raise funds to meet the constantly and enormously +increasing emissions of shares and notes. Law was but like a poor conjurer +in the hands of a potent spirit that he has evoked, and that obliges him to +go on, desperately and ruinously, with his conjurations. He only thought at +the outset to raise the wind, but the regent compelled him to raise the +whirlwind. + +The investigation of the affairs of the company by the council resulted in +nothing beneficial to the public. The princes and nobles who had enriched +themselves by all kinds of juggles and extortions, escaped unpunished, and +retained the greater part of their spoils. Many of the "suddenly rich," who +had risen from obscurity to a giddy height of imaginary prosperity, and had +indulged in all kinds of vulgar and ridiculous excesses, awoke as out of a +dream, in their original poverty, now made more galling and humiliating by +their transient elevation. + +The weight of the evil, however, fell on more valuable classes of society; +honest tradesmen and artisans, who had been seduced away from the safe +pursuits of industry, to the specious chances of speculation. Thousands of +meritorious families also, once opulent, had been reduced to indigence, by +a too great confidence in government. There was a general derangement in +the finances, that long exerted a baneful influence over the national +prosperity; but the most disastrous effects of the system were upon the +morals and manners of the nation. The faith of engagements, the sanctity of +promises in affairs of business, were at an end. Every expedient to grasp +present profit, or to evade present difficulty, was tolerated. While such +deplorable laxity of principle was generated in the busy classes, the +chivalry of France had soiled their pennons; and honor and glory, so long +the idols of the Gallic nobility, had been tumbled to the earth, and +trampled in the dirt of the stock-market. + +As to Law, the originator of the system, he appears eventually to have +profited but little by his schemes. "He was a quack," says Voltaire, "to +whom the state was given to be cured, but who poisoned it with his drugs, +and who poisoned himself." The effects which he left behind in France were +sold at a low price and the proceeds dissipated. His landed estates were +confiscated. He carried away with him barely enough to maintain himself, +his wife, and daughter, with decency. The chief relic of his immense +fortune was a great diamond, which he was often obliged to pawn. He was in +England in 1721, and was presented to George the First. He returned shortly +afterward to the continent; shifting about from place to place, and died in +Venice, in 1729. His wife and daughter, accustomed to live with the +prodigality of princesses, could not conform to their altered fortunes, but +dissipated the scanty means left to them, and sank into abject poverty. "I +saw his wife," says Voltaire, "at Bruxelles, as much humiliated as she had +been haughty and triumphant in Paris." An elder brother of Law remained in +France, and was protected by the Duchess of Bourbon. His descendants have +acquitted themselves honorably, in various public employments; and one of +them is the Marquis Lauriston, some time lieutenant-general and peer of +France. + + * * * * * + + + + + +DON JUAN + +A SPECTRAL RESEARCH + + + "I have heard of spirits walking with aerial bodies, and have been + wondered at by others; but I must only wonder at myself, for if they + be not mad, I'me come to my own buriall."--SHIRLEY's _Witty Fairie + One_ + +Everybody has heard of the fate of Don Juan, the famous libertine of +Seville, who for his sins against the fair sex and other minor peccadilloes +was hurried away to the infernal regions. His story has been illustrated in +play, in pantomime, and farce, on every stage in Christendom; until at +length it has been rendered the theme of the operas, and embalmed to +endless duration in the glorious music of Mozart. I well recollect the +effect of this story upon my feelings in my boyish days, though represented +in grotesque pantomime; the awe with which I contemplated the monumental +statue on horseback of the murdered commander, gleaming by pale moonlight +in the convent cemetery; how my heart quaked as he bowed his marble head, +and accepted the impious invitation of Don Juan: how each footfall of the +statue smote upon my heart, as I heard it approach, step by step, through +the echoing corridor, and beheld it enter, and advance, a moving figure of +stone, to the supper table! But then the convivial scene in the +charnel-house, where Don Juan returned the visit of the statue; was offered +a banquet of skulls and bones, and on refusing to partake, was hurled into +a yawning gulf, under a tremendous shower of fire! These were accumulated +horrors enough to shake the nerves of the most pantomime-loving schoolboy. +Many have supposed the story of Don Juan a mere fable. I myself thought so +once; but "seeing is believing." I have since beheld the very scene where +it took place, and now to indulge any doubt on the subject would be +preposterous. + +I was one night perambulating the streets of Seville, in company with a +Spanish friend, a curious investigator of the popular traditions and other +good-for-nothing lore of the city, and who was kind enough to imagine he +had met, in me, with a congenial spirit. In the course of our rambles we +were passing by a heavy, dark gateway, opening into the courtyard of a +convent, when he laid his hand upon my arm: "Stop!" said he, "this is the +convent of San Francisco; there is a story connected with it which I am +sure must be known to you. You cannot but have heard of Don Juan and the +marble statue." + +"Undoubtedly," replied I, "it has been familiar to me from childhood." + +"Well, then, it was in the cemetery of this very convent that the events +took place." + +"Why, you do not mean to say that the story is founded on fact?" + +"Undoubtedly it is. The circumstances of the case are said to have occurred +during the reign of Alfonso XI. Don Juan was of the noble family of +Tenorio, one of the most illustrious houses of Andalusia. His father, Don +Diego Tenorio, was a favorite of the king, and his family ranked among the +_deintecuatros_, or magistrates, of the city. Presuming on his high +descent and powerful connections, Don Juan set no bounds to his excesses: +no female, high or low, was sacred from his pursuit: and he soon became the +scandal of Seville. One of his most daring outrages was, to penetrate by +night into the palace of Don Gonzalo de Ulloa, commander of the order of +Calatrava, and attempt to carry off his daughter. The household was +alarmed; a scuffle in the dark took place; Don Juan escaped, but the +unfortunate commander was found weltering in his blood, and expired without +being able to name his murderer. Suspicions attached to Don Juan; he did +not stop to meet the investigations of justice, and the vengeance of the +powerful family of Ulloa, but fled from Seville, and took refuge with his +uncle, Don Pedro Tenorio, at that time embassador at the court of Naples. +Here he remained until the agitation occasioned by the murder of Don +Gonzalo had time to subside; and the scandal which the affair might cause +to both the families of Ulloa and Tenorio had induced them to hush it up. +Don Juan, however, continued his libertine career at Naples, until at +length his excesses forfeited the protection of his uncle, the embassador, +and obliged him again to flee. He had made his way back to Seville, +trusting that his past misdeeds were forgotten, or rather trusting to his +dare-devil spirit and the power of his family to carry him through all +difficulties. + +"It was shortly after his return, and while in the height of his arrogance, +that on visiting this very convent of Francisco, he beheld on a monument +the equestrian statue of the murdered commander, who had been buried within +the walls of this sacred edifice, where the family of Ulloa had a chapel. +It was on this occasion that Don Juan, in a moment of impious levity, +invited the statue to the banquet, the awful catastrophe of which has given +such celebrity to his story." + +"And pray how much of this story," said I, "is believed in Seville?" + +"The whole of it by the populace; with whom it has been a favorite +tradition since time immemorial, and who crowd to the theaters to see it +represented in dramas written long since by Tyrso de Molina, and another of +our popular writers. Many in our higher ranks also, accustomed from +childhood to this story, would feel somewhat indignant at hearing it +treated with contempt. An attempt has been made to explain the whole, by +asserting that, to put an end to the extravagances of Don Juan, and to +pacify the family of Ulloa, without exposing the delinquent to the +degrading penalties of justice, he was decoyed into this convent under a +false pretext, and either plunged into a perpetual dungeon, or privately +hurried out of existence; while the story of the statue was circulated by +the monks, to account for his sudden disappearance. The populace, however, +are not to be cajoled out of a ghost story by any of these plausible +explanations; and the marble statue still strides the stage, and Don Juan +is still plunged into the infernal regions, as an awful warning to all +rake-helly youngsters, in like case offending." + +While my companion was relating these anecdotes, we had entered the +gateway, traversed the exterior courtyard of the convent, and made our way +into a great interior court; partly surrounded by cloisters and +dormitories, partly by chapels, and having a large fountain in the center. +The pile had evidently once been extensive and magnificent; but it was for +the greater part in ruins. By the light of the stars, and of twinkling +lamps placed here and there in the chapels and corridors, I could see that +many of the columns and arches were broken; the walls were rent and riven; +white burned beams and rafters showed the destructive effects of fire. The +whole place had a desolate air; the night breeze rustled through grass and +weeds flaunting out of the crevices of the walls, or from the shattered +columns; the bat flitted about the vaulted passages, and the owl hooted +from the ruined belfry. Never was any scene more completely fitted for a +ghost story. + +While I was indulging in picturings of the fancy, proper to such a place, +the deep chant of the monks from the convent church came swelling upon the +ear. "It is the vesper service," said my companion; "follow me." + +Leading the way across the court of the cloisters, and through one or two +ruined passages, he reached the distant portal of the church, and pushing +open a wicket, cut in the folding doors, we found ourselves in the deep +arched vestibule of the sacred edifice. To our left was the choir, forming +one end of the church, and having a low vaulted ceiling, which gave it the +look of a cavern. About this were ranged the monks, seated on stools, and +chanting from immense books placed on music-stands, and having the notes +scored in such gigantic characters as to be legible from every part of the +choir. A few lights on these music-stands dimly illumined the choir, +gleamed on the shaven heads of the monks and threw their shadows on the +walls. They were gross, blue-bearded, bullet-headed men, with bass voices, +of deep metallic tone, that reverberated out of the cavernous choir. + +To our right extended the great body of the church. It was spacious and +lofty; some of the side chapels had gilded grates, and were decorated with +images and paintings, representing the sufferings of our Saviour. Aloft was +a great painting by Murillo, but too much in the dark to be distinguished. +The gloom of the whole church was but faintly relieved by the reflected +light from the choir, and the glimmering here and there of a votive lamp +before the shrine of a saint. + +As my eye roamed about the shadowy pile, it was struck with the dimly seen +figure of a man on horseback, near a distant altar. I touched my companion, +and pointed to it: "The specter statue!" said I. + +"No," replied he; "it is the statue of the blessed St. Iago; the statue of +the commander was in the cemetery of the convent, and was destroyed at the +tune of the conflagration. But," added he, "as I see you take a proper +interest in these kind of stories, come with me to the other end of the +church, where our whisperings will not disturb these holy fathers at their +devotions, and I will tell you another story that has been current for some +generations in our city, by which you will find that Don Juan is not the +only libertine that has been the object of supernatural castigation in +Seville." + +I accordingly followed him with noiseless tread to the further part of the +church, where we took our seats on the steps of an altar, opposite to the +suspicious-looking figure on horseback, and there, in a low, mysterious +voice, he related to me the following narration: + +"There was once in Seville a gay young fellow, Don Manuel de Manara by +name, who, having come to a great estate by the death of his father, gave +the reins to his passions, and plunged into all kinds of dissipation. Like +Don Juan, whom he seemed to have taken for a model, he became famous for +his enterprises among the fair sex, and was the cause of doors being barred +and windows grated with more than usual strictness. All in vain. No balcony +was too high for him to scale; no bolt nor bar was proof against his +efforts; and his very name was a word of terror to all the jealous husbands +and cautious fathers of Seville. His exploits extended to country as well +as city; and in the village dependent on his castle, scarce a rural beauty +was safe from his arts and enterprises. + +"As he was one day ranging the streets of Seville, with several of his +dissolute companions, he beheld a procession about to enter the gate of a +convent. In the center was a young female arrayed in the dress of a bride; +it was a novice, who, having accomplished her year of probation, was about +to take the black veil, and consecrate herself to heaven. The companions of +Don Manuel drew back, out of respect to the sacred pageant; but he pressed +forward, with his usual impetuosity, to gain a near view of the novice. He +almost jostled her, in passing through the portal of the church, when, on +her turning round, he beheld the countenance of a beautiful village girl, +who had been the object of his ardent pursuit, but who had been spirited +secretly out of his reach by her relatives. She recognized him at the same +moment, and fainted; but was borne within the grate of the chapel. It was +supposed the agitation of the ceremony and the heat of the throng had +overcome her. After some time, the curtain which hung within the grate was +drawn up: there stood the novice, pale and trembling, surrounded by the +abbess and the nuns. The ceremony proceeded; the crown of flowers was taken +from her head; she was shorn of her silken tresses, received the black +veil, and went passively through the remainder of the ceremony. + +"Don Manuel de Manara, on the contrary, was roused to fury at the sight of +this sacrifice. His passion, which had almost faded away in the absence of +the object, now glowed with tenfold ardor, being inflamed by the +difficulties placed in his way, and piqued by the measures which had been +taken to defeat him. Never had the object of his pursuit appeared so lovely +and desirable as when within the grate of the convent; and he swore to have +her, in defiance of heaven and earth. By dint of bribing a female servant +of the convent he contrived to convey letters to her, pleading his passion +in the most eloquent and seductive terms. How successful they were is only +matter of conjecture; certain it is, he undertook one night to scale the +garden wall of the convent, either to carry off the nun or gain admission +to her cell. Just as he was mounting the wall he was suddenly plucked back, +and a stranger, muffled in a cloak, stood before him. + +"'Rash man, forbear!' cried he: 'is it not enough to have violated all +human ties? Wouldst thou steal a bride from heaven!' + +"The sword of Don Manuel had been drawn on the instant, and, furious at +this interruption, he passed it through the body of the stranger, who fell +dead at his feet. Hearing approaching footsteps, he fled the fatal spot, +and mounting his horse, which was at hand, retreated to his estate in the +country, at no great distance from Seville. Here he remained throughout the +next day, full of horror and remorse; dreading lest he should be known as +the murderer of the deceased, and fearing each moment the arrival of the +officers of justice. + +"The day passed, however, without molestation; and, as the evening +approached, unable any longer to endure this state of uncertainty and +apprehension, he ventured back to Seville. Irresistibly his footsteps took +the direction of the convent; but he paused and hovered at a distance from +the scene of blood. Several persons were gathered round the place, one of +whom was busy nailing something against the convent wall. After a while +they dispersed, and one passed near to Don Manuel. The latter addressed +him, with a hesitating voice. + +"'Señor,' said he, 'may I ask the reason of yonder throng?' + +"'A cavalier,' replied the other, 'has been murdered.' + +"'Murdered!' echoed Don Manuel; 'and can you tell me his name?' + +"'Don Manuel de Manara,' replied the stranger, and passed on. + +"Don Manuel was startled at this mention of his own name; especially when +applied to the murdered man. He ventured, when it was entirely deserted, to +approach the fatal spot. A small cross had been nailed against the wall, as +is customary in Spain, to mark the place where a murder has been committed; +and just below it, he read, by the twinkling light of a lamp: 'Here was +murdered Don Manuel de Manara. Pray to God for his soul!' + +"Still more confounded and perplexed by this inscription, he wandered about +the streets until the night was far advanced, and all was still and lonely. +As he entered the principal square, the light of torches suddenly broke on +him, and he beheld a grand funeral procession moving across it. There was a +great train of priests, and many persons of dignified appearance, in +ancient Spanish dresses, attending as mourners, none of whom he knew. +Accosting a servant who followed in the train, he demanded the name of the +defunct. + +"'Don Manuel de Manara,' was the reply; and it went cold to his heart. He +looked, and indeed beheld the armorial bearings of his family emblazoned on +the funeral escutcheons. Yet not one of his family was to be seen among the +mourners. The mystery was more and more incomprehensible. + +"He followed the procession as it moved on to the cathedral. The bier was +deposited before the high altar; the funeral service was commenced, and the +grand organ began to peal through the vaulted aisles. + +"Again the youth ventured to question this awful pageant. 'Father,' said +he, with trembling voice, to one of the priests, 'who is this you are about +to inter?' + +"'Don Manuel de Manara!' replied the priest. + +"'Father,' cried Don Manuel, impatiently, 'you are deceived. This is some +imposture. Know that Don Manuel de Manara la alive and well, and now stands +before you. _I_ am Don Manuel de Manara!' + +"'Avaunt, rash youth!' cried the priest; 'know that Don Manuel de Manara is +dead!--is dead!--is dead!--and we are all souls from purgatory, his +deceased relatives and ancestors, and others that have been aided by masses +of his family, who are permitted to come here and pray for the repose of +his soul!' + +"Don Manuel cast round a fearful glance upon the assemblage, in antiquated +Spanish garbs, and recognized in their pale and ghastly countenances the +portraits of many an ancestor that hung in the family picture-gallery. He +now lost all self-command, rushed up to the bier, and beheld the +counterpart of himself, but in the fixed and livid lineaments of death. +Just at that moment the whole choir burst forth with a 'Requiescat in +pace,' that shook the vaults of the cathedral. Don Manuel sank senseless on +the pavement. He was found there early the next morning by the sacristan, +and conveyed to his home. When sufficiently recovered, he sent for a friar +and made a full confession of all that had happened. + +"'My son,' said the friar, 'all this is a miracle and a mystery, intended +for thy conversion and salvation. The corpse thou hast seen was a token +that thou hadst died to sin and the world; take warning by it, and +henceforth live to righteousness and heaven!' + +"Don Manuel did take warning by it. Guided by the counsels of the worthy +friar, he disposed of all his temporal affairs; dedicated the greater part +of his wealth to pious uses, especially to the performance of masses for +souls in purgatory; and finally, entering a convent, became one of the most +zealous and exemplary monks in Seville." + + * * * * * + +While my companion was relating this story, my eyes wandered, from time to +time, about the dusky church. Methought the burly countenances of the monks +in their distant choir assumed a pallid, ghastly hue, and their deep +metallic voices had a sepulchral sound. By the time the story was ended, +they had ended their chant; and, extinguishing their lights, glided one by +one, like shadows, through a small door in the side of the choir. A deeper +gloom prevailed over the church; the figure opposite me on horseback grew +more and more spectral; and I almost expected to see it bow its head. + +"It is time to be off," said my companion, "unless we intend to sup with +the statue." + +"I have no relish for such fare or such company," replied I; and, following +my companion, we groped our way through the mouldering cloisters. As we +passed by the ruined cemetery, keeping up a casual conversation, by way of +dispelling the loneliness of the scene, I called to mind the words of the +poet: + + "--The tombs + And monumental caves of death look cold, + And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart! + Give me thy hand, and let me hear thy voice; + Nay, speak--and let me hear thy voice; + My own affrights me with its echoes." + +There wanted nothing but the marble statue of the commander striding along +the echoing cloisters to complete the haunted scene. + +Since that time I never fail to attend the theater whenever the story of +Don Juan is represented, whether in pantomime or opera. In the sepulchral +scene, I feel myself quite at home; and when the statue makes his +appearance, I greet him as an old acquaintance. When the audience applaud, +I look round upon them with a degree of compassion. "Poor souls!" I say to +myself, "they think they are pleased; they think they enjoy this piece, and +yet they consider the whole as a fiction! How much more would they enjoy +it, if like me they knew it to be true--_and had seen the very +place_!" + + * * * * * + + + + +BROEK + +OF THE DUTCH PARADISE + + +It has long been a matter of discussion and controversy among the pious and +the learned, as to the situation of the terrestrial paradise from whence +our first parents were exiled. This question has been put to rest by +certain of the faithful in Holland, who have decided in favor of the +village of Broek, about six miles from Amsterdam. It may not, they observe, +correspond in all respects to the description of the Garden of Eden, handed +down from days of yore, but it comes nearer to their ideas of a perfect +paradise than any other place on earth. + +This eulogium induced me to make some inquiries as to this favored spot in +the course of a sojourn at the city of Amsterdam, and the information I +procured fully justified the enthusiastic praises I had heard. The village +of Broek is situated in Waterland, in the midst of the greenest and richest +pastures of Holland, I may say, of Europe. These pastures are the source of +its wealth, for it is famous for its dairies, and for those oval cheeses +which regale and perfume the whole civilized world. The population consists +of about six hundred persons, comprising several families which have +inhabited the place since time immemorial, and have waxed rich on the +products of their meadows. They keep all their wealth among themselves, +intermarrying, and keeping all strangers at a wary distance. They are a +"hard money" people, and remarkable for turning the penny the right way. It +is said to have been an old rule, established by one of the primitive +financiers and legislators of Broek, that no one should leave the village +with more than six guilders in his pocket, or return with less than ten; a +shrewd regulation, well worthy the attention of modern political +economists, who are so anxious to fix the balance of trade. + +What, however, renders Broek so perfect an elysium in the eyes of all true +Hollanders is the matchless height to which the spirit of cleanliness is +carried there. It amounts almost to a religion among the inhabitants, who +pass the greater part of their time rubbing and scrubbing, and painting and +varnishing; each housewife vies with her neighbor in her devotion to the +scrubbing-brush, as zealous Catholics do in their devotion to the cross; +and it is said a notable housewife of the place in days of yore is held in +pious remembrance, and almost canonized as a saint, for having died of pure +exhaustion and chagrin in an ineffectual attempt to scour a black man +white. + +These particulars awakened my ardent curiosity to see a place which I +pictured to myself the very fountain-head of certain hereditary habits and +customs prevalent among the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of +my native State. I accordingly lost no time in performing a pilgrimage to +Broek. + +Before I reached the place I beheld symptoms of the tranquil character of +its inhabitants. A little clump-built boat was in full sail along the lazy +bosom of a canal, but its sail consisted of the blades of two paddles stood +on end, while the navigator sat steering with a third paddle in the stern, +crouched down like a toad, with a slouched hat drawn over his eyes. I +presumed him to be some nautical lover on the way to his mistress. After +proceeding a little further I came in sight of the harbor or port of +destination of this drowsy navigator. This was the Broeken-Meer, an +artificial basin, or sheet of olive-green water, tranquil as a mill-pond. +On this the village of Broek is situated, and the borders are laboriously +decorated with flower-beds, box-trees clipped into all kinds of ingenious +shapes and fancies, and little "lust" houses, or pavilions. + +I alighted outside of the village, for no horse nor vehicle is permitted to +enter its precincts, lest it should cause defilement of the well-scoured +pavements. Shaking the dust off my feet, therefore, I prepared to enter, +with due reverence and circumspection, this _sanctum sanctorum_ of +Dutch cleanliness. I entered by a narrow street, paved with yellow bricks, +laid edgewise, and so clean that one might eat from them. Indeed, they were +actually worn deep, not by the tread of feet, but by the friction of the +scrubbing-brush. + +The houses were built of wood, and all appeared to have been freshly +painted, of green, yellow, and other bright colors. They were separated +from each other by gardens and orchards, and stood at some little distance +from the street, with wide areas or courtyards, paved in mosaic, with +variegated stones, polished by frequent rubbing. The areas were divided +from the street by curiously-wrought railings, or balustrades, of iron, +surmounted with brass and copper balls, scoured into dazzling effulgence. +The very trunks of the trees in front of the houses were by the same +process made to look as if they had been varnished. The porches, doors, and +window-frames of the houses were of exotic woods, curiously carved, and +polished like costly furniture. The front doors are never opened, excepting +on christenings, marriages, or funerals; on all ordinary occasions, +visitors enter by the back door. In former times, persons when admitted had +to put on slippers, but this Oriental ceremony is no longer insisted upon. + +A poor devil Frenchman, who attended upon me as cicerone, boasted with some +degree of exultation of a triumph of his countrymen over the stern +regulations of the place. During the time that Holland was overrun by the +armies of the French republic, a French general, surrounded by his whole +état major, who had come from Amsterdam to view the wonders of Broek, +applied for admission at one of these taboo'd portals. The reply was that +the owner never received any one who did not come introduced by some +friend. "Very well," said the general, "take my compliments to your master, +and tell him I will return here to-morrow with a company of soldiers, +'_pour parler raison avec mon ami Hollandais_.'" Terrified at the idea +of having a company of soldiers billeted upon him, the owner threw open his +house, entertained the general and his retinue with unwonted hospitality; +though it is said it cost the family a month's scrubbing and scouring to +restore all things to exact order, after this military invasion. My +vagabond informant seemed to consider this one of the greatest victories of +the republic. + +I walked about the place in mute wonder and admiration. A dead stillness +prevailed around, like that in the deserted streets of Pompeii. No sign of +life was to be seen, excepting now and then a hand, and a long pipe, and an +occasional puff of smoke, out of the window of some "lusthaus" overhanging +a miniature canal; and on approaching a little nearer, the periphery in +profile of some robustious burgher. + +Among the grand houses pointed out to me were those of Claes Bakker, and +Cornelius Bakker, richly carved and gilded, with flower gardens and clipped +shrubberies; and that of the Great Ditmus, who, my poor devil cicerone +informed me, in a whisper, was worth two millions; all these were mansions +shut up from the world, and only kept to be cleaned. After having been +conducted from one wonder to another of the village, I was ushered by my +guide into the grounds and gardens of Mynheer Broekker, another mighty +cheese-manufacturer, worth eighty thousand guilders a year. I had +repeatedly been struck with the similarity of all that I had seen in this +amphibious little village to the buildings and landscapes on Chinese +platters and tea-pots; but here I found the similarity complete; for I was +told that these gardens were modeled upon Van Bramm's description of those +of Yuen min Yuen, in China. Here were serpentine walks, with trellised +borders; winding canals, with fanciful Chinese bridges; flower-beds +resembling huge baskets, with the flower of "love lies bleeding" falling +over to the ground. But mostly had the fancy of Mynheer Broekker been +displayed about a stagnant little lake, on which a corpulent little pinnace +lay at anchor. On the border was a cottage within which were a wooden man +and woman seated at table, and a wooden dog beneath, all the size of life; +on pressing a spring, the woman commenced spinning, and the dog barked +furiously. On the lake were wooden swans, painted to the life; some +floating, others on the nest among the rushes; while a wooden sportsman, +crouched among the bushes, was preparing his gun to take deadly aim. In +another part of the garden was a dominie in his clerical robes, with wig, +pipe, and cocked hat; and mandarins with nodding heads, amid red lions, +green tigers, and blue hares. Last of all, the heathen deities, in wood and +plaster, male and female, naked and bare-faced as usual, and seeming to +stare with wonder at finding themselves in such strange company. + +My shabby French guide, while he pointed out all these mechanical marvels +of the garden, was anxious to let me see that he had too polite a taste to +be pleased with them. At every new knick-knack he would screw down his +mouth, shrug up his shoulders, take a pinch of snuff, and exclaim: "_Ma +foi, Monsieur, ces Hollandais sont forts pour ces bétises là_!" + +To attempt to gain admission to any of these stately abodes was out of the +question, having no company of soldiers to enforce a solicitation. I was +fortunate enough, however, through the aid of my guide, to make my way into +the kitchen of the illustrious Ditmus, and I question whether the parlor +would have proved more worthy of observation. The cook, a little wiry, +hook-nosed woman, worn thin by incessant action and friction, was bustling +about among her kettles and saucepans, with the scullion at her heels, both +clattering in wooden shoes, which were as clean and white as the +milk-pails; rows of vessels, of brass and copper, regiments of pewter +dishes, and portly porringers, gave resplendent evidence of the intensity +of their cleanliness; the very trammels and hangers in the fireplace were +highly scoured, and the burnished face of the good Saint Nicholas shone +forth from the iron plate of the chimney back. + +Among the decorations of the kitchen was a printed sheet of woodcuts, +representing the various holiday customs of Holland, with explanatory +rhymes. Here I was delighted to recognize the jollities of New Year's Day; +the festivities of Paäs and Pinkster, and all the other merry-makings +handed down in my native place from the earliest times of New Amsterdam, +and which had been such bright spots in the year in my childhood. I eagerly +made myself master of this precious document for a trifling consideration, +and bore it off as a memento of the place; though I question if, in so +doing, I did not carry off with me the whole current literature of Broek. + +I must not omit to mention that this village is the paradise of cows as +well as men; indeed you would almost suppose the cow to be as much an +object of worship here as the bull was among the ancient Egyptians; and +well does she merit it, for she is in fact the patroness of the place. The +same scrupulous cleanliness, however, which pervades everything else, is +manifested in the treatment of this venerated animal. She is not permitted +to perambulate the place, but in winter, when she forsakes the rich +pasture, a well-built house is provided for her, well painted, and +maintained in the most perfect order. Her stall is of ample dimensions; the +floor is scrubbed and polished; her hide is daily curried and brushed and +sponged to her heart's content, and her tail is daintily tucked up to the +ceiling, and decorated with a ribbon! + +On my way back through the village, I passed the house of the prediger, or +preacher; a very comfortable mansion, which led me to augur well of the +state of religion in the village. On inquiry, I was told that for a long +time the inhabitants lived in a great state of indifference as to religious +matters; it was in vain that their preachers endeavored to arouse their +thoughts as to a future state; the joys of heaven, as commonly depicted, +were but little to their taste. At length a dominie appeared among them who +struck out in a different vein. He depicted the New Jerusalem as a place +all smooth and level; with beautiful dykes, and ditches, and canals; and +houses all shining with paint and varnish, and glazed tiles; and where +there should never come horse, or ass, or cat, or dog, or anything that +could make noise or dirt; but there should be nothing but rubbing and +scrubbing, and washing and painting, and gilding and varnishing, for ever +and ever, amen! Since that time, the good housewives of Broek have all +turned their faces Zionward. + + * * * * * + + + + +SKETCHES IN PARIS IN 1825 + +FROM THE TRAVELING NOTE-BOOK OF GEOFFREY CRAYON, GENT. + + +A Parisian hotel is a street set on end, the grand staircase forming the +highway, and every floor a separate habitation. Let me describe the one in +which I am lodged, which may serve as a specimen of its class. It is a huge +quadrangular pile of stone, built round a spacious paved court. The ground +floor is occupied by shops, magazines, and domestic offices. Then comes the +_entre-sol_, with low ceilings, short windows, and dwarf chambers; +then succeed a succession of floors, or stories, rising one above the +other, to the number of Mahomet's heavens. Each floor is like a distinct +mansion, complete in itself, with ante-chamber, saloons, dining and +sleeping rooms, kitchen and other conveniences for the accommodation of a +family. Some floors are divided into two or more suites of apartments. Each +apartment has its main door of entrance, opening upon the staircase, or +landing-places, and locked like a street door. Thus several families and +numerous single persons live under the same roof, totally independent of +each other, and may live so for years without holding more intercourse than +is kept up in other cities by residents in the same street. + +Like the great world, this little microcosm has its gradations of rank and +style and importance. The _Premier_, or first floor, with its grand +saloons, lofty ceilings, and splendid furniture, is decidedly the +aristocratical part of the establishment. The second floor is scarcely less +aristocratical and magnificent; the other floors go on lessening in +splendor as they gain in altitude, and end with the attics, the region of +petty tailors, clerks, and sewing-girls. To make the filling up of the +mansion complete, every odd nook and corner is fitted up as a _joli petit +appartement à garçon_ (a pretty little bachelor's apartment), that is to +say, some little dark inconvenient nestling-place for a poor devil of a +bachelor. + +The whole domain is shut up from the street by a great +_porte-cochère_, or portal, calculated for the admission of carriages. +This consists of two massy folding-doors, that swing heavily open upon a +spacious entrance, passing under the front of the edifice into the +courtyard. On one side is a spacious staircase leading to the upper +apartments. Immediately without the portal is the porter's lodge, a small +room with one or two bedrooms adjacent, for the accommodation of the +_concierge_, or porter and his family. This is one of the most +important functionaries of the hotel. He is, in fact, the Cerberus of the +establishment, and no one can pass in or out without his knowledge and +consent. The _porte-cochère_ in general is fastened by a sliding bolt, +from which a cord or wire passes into the porter's lodge. Whoever wishes to +go out must speak to the porter, who draws the bolt. A visitor from without +gives a single rap with the massive knocker; the bolt is immediately drawn, +as if by an invisible hand; the door stands ajar, the visitor pushes it +open, and enters. A face presents itself at the glass door of the porter's +little chamber; the stranger pronounces the name of the person he comes to +seek. If the person or family is of importance, occupying the first or +second floor, the porter sounds a bell once or twice, to give notice that a +visitor is at hand. The stranger in the meantime ascends the great +staircase, the highway common to all, and arrives at the outer door, +equivalent to a street door, of the suite of rooms inhabited by his +friends. + +Beside this hangs a bell-cord, with which he rings for admittance. + +When the family or person inquired for is of less importance, or lives in +some remote part of the mansion less easy to be apprised, no signal is +given. The applicant pronounces the name at the porter's door, and is told, +_"Montez au troisième, au quatrième; sonnez à la porte à droite ou à +gauche."_ ("Ascend to the third or fourth story; ring the bell on the +right or left hand door"); as the case may be. + +The porter and his wife act as domestics to such of the inmates of the +mansion as do not keep servants; making their beds, arranging their rooms, +lighting their fires, and doing other menial offices, for which they +receive a monthly stipend. They are also in confidential intercourse with +the servants of the other inmates, and, having an eye on all the incomers +and outgoers, are thus enabled, by hook and by crook, to learn the secrets +and domestic history of every member of the little territory within the +_porte-cochère_. + +The porter's lodge is accordingly a great scene of gossip, where all the +private affairs of this interior neighborhood are discussed. The courtyard, +also, is an assembling place in the evenings for the servants of the +different families, and a sisterhood of sewing girls from the entre-sols +and the attics, to play at various games, and dance to the music of their +own songs, and the echoes of their feet, at which assemblages the porter's +daughter takes the lead; a fresh, pretty, buxom girl, generally called +"_La Petite_," though almost as tall as a grenadier. These little +evening gatherings, so characteristic of this gay country, are countenanced +by the various families of the mansion, who often look down from their +windows and balconies, on moonlight evenings, and enjoy the simple revels +of their domestics. I must observe, however, that the hotel I am describing +is rather a quiet, retired one, where most of the inmates are permanent +residents from year to year, so that there is more of the spirit of +neighborhood than in the bustling, fashionable hotels in the gay parts of +Paris, which are continually changing their inhabitants. + +MY FRENCH NEIGHBOR + +I often amuse myself by watching from my window (which, by the bye, is +tolerably elevated) the movements of the teeming little world below me; and +as I am on sociable terms with the porter and his wife, I gather from them, +as they light my fire, or serve my breakfast, anecdotes of all my fellow +lodgers. I have been somewhat curious in studying a little antique +Frenchman, who occupies one of the _jolie chambres à garçon_ already +mentioned. He is one of those superannuated veterans who flourished before +the revolution, and have weathered all the storms of Paris, in consequence, +very probably, of being fortunately too insignificant to attract attention. +He has a small income, which he manages with the skill of a French +economist; appropriating so much for his lodgings, so much for his meals; +so much for his visits to St. Cloud and Versailles, and so much for his +seat at the theater. He has resided in the hotel for years, and always in +the same chamber, which he furnishes at his own expense. The decorations of +the room mark his various ages. There are some gallant pictures which he +hung up in his younger days; with a portrait of a lady of rank, whom he +speaks tenderly of, dressed in the old French taste; and a pretty opera +dancer, pirouetting in a hoop petticoat, who lately died at a good old age. +In a corner of this picture is stuck a prescription for rheumatism, and +below it stands an easy-chair. He has a small parrot at the window, to +amuse him when within doors, and a pug dog to accompany him in his daily +peregrinations. While I am writing he is crossing the court to go out. He +is attired in his best coat, of sky-blue, and is doubtless bound for the +Tuileries. His hair is dressed in the old style, with powdered ear-locks +and a pig-tail. His little dog trips after him, sometimes on four legs, +sometimes on three, and looking as if his leather small-clothes were too +tight for him. Now the old gentleman stops to have a word with an old crony +who lives in the entre-sol, and is just returning from his promenade. Now +they take a pinch of snuff together; now they pull out huge red cotton +handkerchiefs (those "flags of abomination," as they have well been called) +and blow their noses most sonorously. Now they turn to make remarks upon +their two little dogs, who are exchanging the morning's salutation; now +they part, and my old gentleman stops to have a passing word with the +porter's wife; and now he sallies forth, and is fairly launched upon the +town for the day. + +No man is so methodical as a complete idler, and none so scrupulous in +measuring and portioning out his time as he whose time is worth nothing. +The old gentleman in question has his exact hour for rising, and for +shaving himself by a small mirror hung against his casement. He sallies +forth at a certain hour every morning to take his cup of coffee and his +roll at a certain cafe, where he reads the papers. He has been a regular +admirer of the lady who presides at the bar, and always stops to have a +little _badinage_ with her _en passant_. He has his regular walks +on the Boulevards and in the Palais Royal, where he sets his watch by the +petard fired off by the sun at midday. He has his daily resort in the +Garden of the Tuileries, to meet with a knot of veteran idlers like +himself, who talk on pretty much the same subjects whenever they meet. He +has been present at all the sights and shows and rejoicings of Paris for +the last fifty years; has witnessed the great events of the revolution; the +guillotining of the king and queen; the coronation of Bonaparte; the +capture of Paris, and the restoration of the Bourbons. All these he speaks +of with the coolness of a theatrical critic; and I question whether he has +not been gratified by each in its turn; not from any inherent love of +tumult, but from that insatiable appetite for spectacle which prevails +among the inhabitants of this metropolis. I have been amused with a farce, +in which one of these systematic old triflers is represented. He sings a +song detailing his whole day's round of insignificant occupations, and goes +to bed delighted with the idea that his next day will be an exact +repetition of the same routine: + + "Je me couche le soir, + Enchanté de pouvoir + Recommencer mon train + Le lendemain + Matin." + + * * * * * + + +THE ENGLISHMAN AT PARIS + +In another part of the hotel a handsome suite of rooms is occupied by an +old English gentleman, of great probity, some understanding, and very +considerable crustiness, who has come to France to live economically. He +has a very fair property, but his wife, being of that blessed kind compared +in Scripture to the fruitful vine, has overwhelmed him with a family of +buxom daughters, who hang clustering about him, ready to be gathered by any +hand. He is seldom to be seen in public without one hanging on each arm, +and smiling on all the world, while his own mouth is drawn down at each +corner like a mastiff's with internal growling at everything about him. He +adheres rigidly to English fashion in dress, and trudges about in long +gaiters and broad-brimmed hat; while his daughters almost overshadow him +with feathers, flowers, and French bonnets. + +He contrives to keep up an atmosphere of English habits, opinions, and +prejudices, and to carry a semblance of London into the very heart of +Paris. His mornings are spent at Galignani's news-room, where he forms one +of a knot of inveterate quidnuncs, who read the same articles over a dozen +times in a dozen different papers. He generally dines in company with some +of his own countrymen, and they have what is called a "comfortable sitting" +after dinner, in the English fashion, drinking wine, discussing the news of +the London papers, and canvassing the French character, the French +metropolis, and the French revolution, ending with a unanimous admission of +English courage, English morality, English cookery, English wealth, the +magnitude of London, and the ingratitude of the French. + +His evenings are chiefly spent at a club of his countrymen, where the +London papers are taken. Sometimes his daughters entice him to the +theaters, but not often. He abuses French tragedy, as all fustian and +bombast, Talma as a ranter, and Duchesnois as a mere termagant. It is true +his ear is not sufficiently familiar with the language to understand French +verse, and he generally goes to sleep during the performance. The wit of +the French comedy is flat and pointless to him. He would not give one of +Munden's wry faces or Liston's inexpressible looks for the whole of it. + +He will not admit that Paris has any advantage over London. The Seine is a +muddy rivulet in comparison with the Thames; the West End of London +surpasses the finest parts of the French capital; and on some one's +observing that there was a very thick fog out of doors: "Pish!" said he, +crustily, "it's nothing to the fogs we have in London." + +He has infinite trouble in bringing his table into anything like conformity +to English rule. With his liquors, it is true, he is tolerably successful. +He procures London porter, and a stock of port and sherry, at considerable +expense; for he observes that he cannot stand those cursed thin French +wines, they dilute his blood so much as to give him the rheumatism. As to +their white wines, he stigmatizes them as mere substitutes for cider; and +as to claret, why, "it would be port if it could." He has continual +quarrels with his French cook, whom he renders wretched by insisting on his +conforming to Mrs. Glass; for it is easier to convert a Frenchman from his +religion than his cookery. The poor fellow, by dint of repeated efforts, +once brought himself to serve up _ros bif_ sufficiently raw to suit +what he considered the cannibal taste of his master; but then he could not +refrain, at the last moment, adding some exquisite sauce, that put the old +gentleman in a fury. + +He detests wood-fires, and has procured a quantity of coal; but not having +a grate, he is obliged to burn it on the hearth. Here he sits poking and +stirring the fire with one end of a tongs, while the room is as murky as a +smithy; railing at French chimneys, French masons, and French architects; +giving a poke at the end of every sentence, as though he were stirring up +the very bowels of the delinquents he is anathematizing. He lives in a +state militant with inanimate objects around him; gets into high dudgeon +with doors and casements, because they will not come under English law, and +has implacable feuds with sundry refractory pieces of furniture. Among +these is one in particular with which he is sure to have a high quarrel +every tune he goes to dress. It is a _commode_, one of those smooth, +polished, plausible pieces of French furniture that have the perversity of +five hundred devils. Each drawer has a will of its own, will open or not, +just as the whim takes it, and sets lock and key at defiance. Sometimes a +drawer will refuse to yield to either persuasion or force, and will part +with both handles rather than yield; another will come out in the most coy +and coquettish manner imaginable; elbowing along, zig-zag; one corner +retreating as the other advances; making a thousand difficulties and +objections at every move; until the old gentleman, out of all patience, +gives a sudden jerk, and brings drawer and contents into the middle of the +floor. His hostility to this unlucky piece of furniture increases every +day, as if incensed that it does not grow better. He is like the fretful +invalid who cursed his bed, that the longer he lay the harder it grew. The +only benefit he has derived from the quarrel is that it has furnished him +with a crusty joke, which he utters on all occasions. He swears that a +French _commode_ is the most _incommodious_ thing in existence, +and that although the nation cannot make a joint-stool that will stand +steady, yet they are always talking of everything's being +_perfectionée_. + +His servants understand his humor, and avail themselves of it. He was one +day disturbed by a pertinacious rattling and shaking at one of the doors, +and bawled out in an angry tone to know the cause of the disturbance. +"Sir," said the footman, testily, "it's this confounded French lock!" "Ah!" +said the old gentleman, pacified by this hit at the nation, "I thought +there was something French at the bottom of it!" + + * * * * * + + + + + +ENGLISH AND FRENCH CHARACTER + + +As I am a mere looker on in Europe, and hold myself as much as possible +aloof from its quarrels and prejudices, I feel something like one +overlooking a game, who, without any great skill of his own, can +occasionally perceive the blunders of much abler players. This neutrality +of feeling enables me to enjoy the contrasts of character presented in this +time of general peace, when the various peoples of Europe, who have so long +been sundered by wars, are brought together and placed side by side in this +great gathering-place of nations. No greater contrast, however, is +exhibited than that of the French and English. The peace has deluged this +gay capital with English visitors of all ranks and conditions. They throng +every place of curiosity and amusement; fill the public gardens, the +galleries, the cafes, saloons, theaters; always herding together, never +associating with the French. The two nations are like two threads of +different colors, tangled together but never blended. + +In fact they present a continual antithesis, and seem to value themselves +upon being unlike each other; yet each have their peculiar merits, which +should entitle them to each other's esteem. The French intellect is quick +and active. It flashes its way into a subject with the rapidity of +lightning; seizes upon remote conclusions with a sudden bound, and its +deductions are almost intuitive. The English intellect is less rapid, but +more persevering; less sudden, but more sure in its deductions. The +quickness and mobility of the French enable them to find enjoyment in the +multiplicity of sensations. They speak and act more from immediate +impressions than from reflection and meditation. They are therefore more +social and communicative; more fond of society, and of places of public +resort and amusement. An Englishman is more reflective in his habits. He +lives in the world of his own thoughts, and seems more self-existent and +self-dependent. He loves the quiet of his own apartment; even when abroad, +he in a manner makes a little solitude around him by his silence and +reserve; he moves about shy and solitary, and, as it were, buttoned up, +body and soul. + +The French are great optimists; they seize upon every good as it flies, and +revel in the passing pleasure. The Englishman is too apt to neglect the +present good, in preparing against the possible evil. However adversities +may lower, let the sun shine but for a moment, and forth sallies the +mercurial Frenchman, in holiday dress and holiday spirits, gay as a +butterfly, as though his sunshine were perpetual; but let the sun beam +never so brightly, so there be but a cloud in the horizon, the wary +Englishman ventures forth distrustfully, with his umbrella in his hand. + +The Frenchman has a wonderful facility at turning small things to +advantage. No one can be gay and luxurious on smaller means; no one +requires less expense to be happy. He practices a kind of gilding in his +style of living, and hammers out every guinea into gold leaf. The +Englishman, on the contrary, is expensive in his habits, and expensive in +his enjoyments. He values everything, whether useful or ornamental, by what +it costs. He has no satisfaction in show, unless it be solid and complete. +Everything goes with him by the square foot. Whatever display he makes, the +depth is sure to equal the surface. + +The Frenchman's habitation, like himself, is open, cheerful, bustling, and +noisy. He lives in a part of a great hotel, with wide portal, paved court, +a spacious dirty stone staircase, and a family on every floor. All is +clatter and chatter. He is good-humored and talkative with his servants, +sociable with his neighbors, and complaisant to all the world. Anybody has +access to himself and his apartments; his very bedroom is open to visitors, +whatever may be its state of confusion; and all this not from any +peculiarly hospitable feeling, but from that communicative habit which +predominates over his character. + +The Englishman, on the contrary, ensconces himself in a snug brick mansion, +which he has all to himself; locks the front door; puts broken bottles +along his walls, and spring guns and man-traps in his gardens; shrouds +himself with trees and window-curtains; exults in his quiet and privacy, +and seems disposed to keep out noise, daylight, and company. His house, +like himself, has a reserved, inhospitable exterior; yet whoever gains +admittance is apt to find a warm heart and warm fireside within. + +The French excel in wit, the English in humor; the French have gayer fancy, +the English richer imagination. The former are full of sensibility; easily +moved, and prone to sudden and great excitement; but their excitement is +not durable; the English are more phlegmatic; not so readily affected, but +capable of being aroused to great enthusiasm. The faults of these opposite +temperaments are that the vivacity of the French is apt to sparkle up and +be frothy, the gravity of the English to settle down and grow muddy. When +the two characters can be fixed in a medium, the French kept from +effervescence and the English from stagnation, both will be found +excellent. + +This contrast of character may also be noticed in the great concerns of the +two nations. The ardent Frenchman is all for military renown; he fights for +glory, that is to say, for success in arms. For, provided the national flag +is victorious, he cares little about the expense, the injustice, or the +inutility of the war. It is wonderful how the poorest Frenchman will revel +on a triumphant bulletin; a great victory is meat and drink to him; and at +the sight of a military sovereign, bringing home captured cannon and +captured standards, he throws up his greasy cap in the air, and is ready to +jump out of his wooden shoes for joy. + +John Bull, on the contrary, is a reasoning, considerate person. If he does +wrong, it is in the most rational way imaginable. He fights because the +good of the world requires it. He is a moral person, and makes war upon his +neighbor for the maintenance of peace and good order, and sound principles. +He is a money-making personage, and fights for the prosperity of commerce +and manufactures. Thus the two nations have been fighting, time out of +mind, for glory and good. The French, in pursuit of glory, have had their +capital twice taken; and John, in pursuit of good, has run himself over +head and ears in debt. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE TUILERIES AND WINDSOR CASTLE + + +I have sometimes fancied I could discover national characteristics in +national edifices. In the Chateau of the Tuileries, for instance, I +perceive the same jumble of contrarieties that marks the French character; +the same whimsical mixture of the great and the little; the splendid and +the paltry, the sublime and the grotesque. On visiting this famous pile, +the first thing that strikes both eye and ear is military display. The +courts glitter with steel-clad soldiery, and resound with the tramp of +horse, the roll of drum, and the bray of trumpet. Dismounted guardsmen +patrol its arcades, with loaded carbines, jingling spears, and clanking +sabers. Gigantic grenadiers are posted about its staircases; young officers +of the guards loll from the balconies, or lounge in groups upon the +terraces; and the gleam of bayonet from window to window, shows that +sentinels are pacing up and down the corridors and ante-chambers. The first +floor is brilliant with the splendors of a court. French taste has tasked +itself in adorning the sumptuous suites of apartments; nor are the gilded +chapel and the splendid theater forgotten, where piety and pleasure are +next-door neighbors, and harmonize together with perfect French +_bienseance_. + +Mingled up with all this regal and military magnificence is a world of +whimsical and make-shift detail. A great part of the huge edifice is cut up +into little chambers and nestling-places for retainers of the court, +dependents on retainers, and hangers-on of dependents. Some are squeezed +into narrow entre-sols, those low, dark, intermediate slices of apartments +between floors, the inhabitants of which seem shoved in edgewise, like +books between narrow shelves; others are perched like swallows, under the +eaves; the high roofs, too, which are as tall and steep as a French cocked +hat, have rows of little dormant windows, tier above tier, just large +enough to admit light and air for some dormitory, and to enable its +occupant to peep out at the sky. Even to the very ridge of the roof may be +seen here and there one of these air-holes, with a stove pipe beside it, to +carry off the smoke from the handful of fuel with which its weazen-faced +tenant simmers his _demi-tasse_ of coffee. + +On approaching the palace from the Pont Royal, you take in at a glance all +the various strata of inhabitants; the garreteer in the roof; the retainer +in the entre-sol; the courtiers at the casements of the royal apartments; +while on the ground-floor a steam of savory odors and a score or two of +cooks, in white caps, bobbing their heads about the windows, betray that +scientific and all-important laboratory, the Royal Kitchen. + +Go into the grand ante-chamber of the royal apartments on Sunday and see +the mixture of Old and New France; the old emigrés, returned with the +Bourbons; little withered, spindle-shanked old noblemen, clad in court +dresses, that figured in these saloons before the revolution, and have been +carefully treasured up during their exile; with the solitaires and _ailes +de pigeon_ of former days; and the court swords strutting out behind, +like pins stuck through dry beetles. See them haunting the scenes of their +former splendor, in hopes of a restitution of estates, like ghosts haunting +the vicinity of buried treasure; while around them you see the Young +France, that have grown up in the fighting school of Napoleon; all equipped +_en militaire_; tall, hardy, frank, vigorous, sunburned, +fierce-whiskered; with tramping boots, towering crests, and glittering +breast-plates. + +It is incredible the number of ancient and hereditary feeders on royalty +said to be housed in this establishment. Indeed all the royal palaces +abound with noble families returned from exile, and who have +nestling-places allotted them while they await the restoration of their +estates, or the much-talked-of law indemnity. Some of them have fine +quarters, but poor living. Some families have but five or six hundred +francs a year, and all their retinue consists of a servant-woman. With all +this, they maintain their old aristocratical hauteur, look down with vast +contempt upon the opulent families which have risen since the revolution; +stigmatize them all as _parvenues_ or upstarts, and refuse to visit +them. + +In regarding the exterior of the Tuileries, with all its outward signs of +internal populousness, I have often thought what a rare sight it would be +to see it suddenly unroofed, and all its nooks and corners laid open to the +day. It would be like turning up the stump of an old tree, and dislodging +the world of grubs, and ants, and beetles lodged beneath. Indeed there is a +scandalous anecdote current that in the time of one of the petty plots, +when petards were exploded under the windows of the Tuileries, the police +made a sudden investigation of the palace at four o'clock in the morning; +when a scene of the most whimsical confusion ensued. Hosts of supernumerary +inhabitants were found foisted into the huge edifice; every rat-hole had +its occupant; and places which had been considered as tenanted only by +spiders were found crowded with a surreptitious population. It is added +that many ludicrous accidents occurred; great scampering and slamming of +doors, and whisking away in nightgowns and slippers; and several persons, +who were found by accident in their neighbors' chambers, evinced +indubitable astonishment at the circumstance. + +As I have fancied I could read the French character in the national palace +of the Tuileries, so I have pictured to myself some of the traits of John +Bull in his royal abode of Windsor Castle. The Tuileries, outwardly a +peaceful palace, is in effect a swaggering military hold; while the old +castle, on the contrary, in spite of its bullying look, is completely under +petticoat government. Every corner and nook is built up into some snug, +cozy nestling place, some "procreant cradle," not tenanted by meager +expectants or whiskered warriors, but by sleek placemen; knowing realizers +of present pay and present pudding; who seem placed there not to kill and +destroy, but to breed and multiply. Nursery maids and children shine with +rosy faces at the windows, and swarm about the courts and terraces. The +very soldiers have a pacific look, and when off duty may be seen loitering +about the place with the nursery-maids; not making love to them in the gay +gallant style of the French soldiery, but with infinite bonhomie aiding +them to take care of the broods of children. + +Though the old castle is in decay, everything about it thrives; the very +crevices of the walls are tenanted by swallows, rooks, and pigeons, all +sure of quiet lodgment; the ivy strikes its roots deep in the fissures, and +flourishes about the mouldering tower. [Footnote: The above sketch was +written before the thorough repairs and magnificent additions that have +been made of late years to Windsor Castle.] Thus it is with honest John; +according to his own account, he is ever going to ruin, yet everything that +lives on him thrives and waxes fat. He would fain be a soldier, and swagger +like his neighbors; but his domestic, quiet-loving, uxorious nature +continually gets the upper hand; and though he may mount his helmet and +gird on his sword, yet he is apt to sink into the plodding, painstaking +father of a family; with a troop of children at his heels, and his +womenkind hanging on each arm. + + + + + +THE FIELD OF WATERLOO + + +I have spoken heretofore with some levity of the contrast that exists +between the English and French character; but it deserves more serious +consideration. They are the two great nations of modern times most +diametrically opposed, and most worthy of each other's rivalry; essentially +distinct in their characters, excelling in opposite qualities, and +reflecting luster on each other by their very opposition. In nothing is +this contrast more strikingly evinced than in their military conduct. For +ages have they been contending, and for ages have they crowded each other's +history with acts of splendid heroism. Take the Battle of Waterloo, for +instance, the last and most memorable trial of their rival prowess. Nothing +could surpass the brilliant daring on the one side, and the steadfast +enduring on the other. The French cavalry broke like waves on the compact +squares of English infantry. They were seen galloping round those serried +walls of men, seeking in vain for an entrance; tossing their arms in the +air, in the heat of their enthusiasm, and braving the whole front of +battle. The British troops, on the other hand, forbidden to move or fire, +stood firm and enduring. Their columns were ripped up by cannonry; whole +rows were swept down at a shot; the survivors closed their ranks, and stood +firm. In this way many columns stood through the pelting of the iron +tempest without firing a shot; without any action to stir their blood or +excite their spirits. Death thinned their ranks, but could not shake their +souls. + +A beautiful instance of the quick and generous impulses to which the French +are prone, is given in the case of a French cavalier, in the hottest of the +action, charging furiously upon a British officer, but perceiving in the +moment of assault that his adversary had lost his sword-arm, dropping the +point of his saber, and courteously riding on. Peace be with that generous +warrior, whatever were his fate! If he went down in the storm of battle, +with the foundering fortunes of his chieftain, may the turf of Waterloo +grow green above his grave! and happier far would be the fate of such a +spirit, to sink amid the tempest, unconscious of defeat, than to survive +and mourn over the blighted laurels of his country. + +In this way the two armies fought through a long and bloody day. The French +with enthusiastic valor, the English with cool, inflexible courage, until +Fate, as if to leave the question of superiority still undecided between +two such adversaries, brought up the Prussians to decide the fortunes of +the field. + +It was several years afterward that I visited the field of Waterloo. The +plowshare had been busy with its oblivious labors, and the frequent harvest +had nearly obliterated the vestiges of war. Still the blackened ruins of +Hoguemont stood, a monumental pile, to mark the violence of this vehement +struggle. Its broken walls, pierced by bullets, and shattered by +explosions, showed the deadly strife that had taken place within; when Gaul +and Briton, hemmed in between narrow walls, hand to hand and foot to foot, +fought from garden to courtyard, from courtyard to chamber, with intense +and concentrated rivalship. Columns of smoke turned from this vortex of +battle as from a volcano: "it was," said my guide, "like a little hell upon +earth." Not far off, two or three broad spots of rank, unwholesome green +still marked the places where these rival warriors, after their fierce and +fitful struggle, slept quietly together in the lap of their common mother +earth. Over all the rest of the field peace had resumed its sway. The +thoughtless whistle of the peasant floated on the air, instead of the +trumpet's clangor; the team slowly labored up the hillside, once shaken by +the hoofs of rushing squadrons; and wide fields of corn waved peacefully +over the soldiers' graves, as summer seas dimple over the place where many +a tall ship lies buried. + + * * * * * + +To the foregoing desultory notes on the French military character, let me +append a few traits which I picked up verbally in one of the French +provinces. They may have already appeared in print, but I have never met +with them. + +At the breaking out of the revolution, when so many of the old families +emigrated, a descendant of the great Turenne, by the name of De Latour +D'Auvergne, refused to accompany his relations, and entered into the +Republican army. He served in all the campaigns of the revolution, +distinguished himself by his valor, his accomplishments, and his generous +spirit, and might have risen to fortune, and to the highest honors. He +refused, however, all rank in the army, above that of captain, and would +receive no recompense for his achievements but a sword of honor. Napoleon, +in testimony of his merits, gave him the title of Premier Grenadier de +France (First Grenadier of France), which was the only title he would ever +bear. He was killed in Germany, in 1809 or '10. To honor his memory, his +place was always retained in his regiment, as if he still occupied it; and +whenever the regiment was mustered, and the name of De Latour D'Auvergne +was called out, the reply was, "Dead on the field of honor!" + + * * * * * + + + + +PARIS AT THE RESTORATION + + +Paris presented a singular aspect just after the downfall of Napoleon, and +the restoration of the Bourbons. It was filled with a restless, roaming +population; a dark, sallow race, with fierce mustaches, black cravats, and +feverish, menacing looks; men suddenly thrown out of employ by the return +of peace; officers cut short in their career, and cast loose with scanty +means, many of them in utter indigence, upon the world; the broken elements +of armies. They haunted the places of public resort, like restless, unhappy +spirits, taking no pleasure; hanging about, like lowering clouds that +linger after a storm, and giving a singular air of gloom to this otherwise +gay metropolis. + +The vaunted courtesy of the old school, the smooth urbanity that prevailed +in former days of settled government and long-established aristocracy, had +disappeared amid the savage republicanism of the revolution and the +military furor of the empire; recent reverses had stung the national vanity +to the quick; and English travelers, who crowded to Paris on the return of +peace, expecting to meet with a gay, good-humored, complaisant populace, +such as existed in the time of the "Sentimental Journey," were surprised at +finding them irritable and fractious, quick at fancying affronts, and not +unapt to offer insults. They accordingly inveighed with heat and bitterness +at the rudeness they experienced in the French metropolis; yet what better +had they to expect? Had Charles II. been reinstated in his kingdom by the +valor of French troops; had he been wheeled triumphantly to London over the +trampled bodies and trampled standards of England's bravest sons; had a +French general dictated to the English capital, and a French army been +quartered in Hyde Park; had Paris poured forth its motley population, and +the wealthy bourgeoise of every French trading town swarmed to London; +crowding its squares; filling its streets with their equipages; thronging +its fashionable hotels, and places of amusements; elbowing its impoverished +nobility out of their palaces and opera-boxes, and looking down on the +humiliated inhabitants as a conquered people; in such a reverse of the +case, what degree of courtesy would the populace of London have been apt to +exercise toward their visitors? [Footnote: The above remarks were suggested +by a conversation with the late Mr. Canning, whom the author met in Paris, +and who expressed himself in the most liberal way concerning the +magnanimity of the French on the occupation of their capital by strangers.] + +On the contrary, I have always admired the degree of magnanimity exhibited +by the French on the occupation of their capital by the English. When we +consider the military ambition of this nation, its love of glory; the +splendid height to which its renown in arms had recently been carried, and +with these, the tremendous reverses it had just undergone; its armies +shattered, annihilated; its capital captured, garrisoned, and overrun, and +that too by its ancient rival, the English, toward whom it had cherished +for centuries a jealous and almost religious hostility; could we have +wondered if the tiger spirit of this fiery people had broken out in bloody +feuds and deadly quarrels; and that they had sought to rid themselves in +any way of their invaders? But it is cowardly nations only, those who dare +not wield the sword, that revenge themselves with the lurking dagger. There +were no assassinations in Paris. The French had fought valiantly, +desperately, in the field; but, when valor was no longer of avail, they +submitted like gallant men to a fate they could not withstand. Some +instances of insult from the populace were experienced by their English +visitors; some personal rencontres, which led to duels, did take place; but +these smacked of open and honorable hostility. No instances of lurking and +perfidious revenge occurred, and the British soldier patroled the streets +of Paris safe from treacherous assault. + +If the English met with harshness and repulse in social intercourse, it was +in some degree a proof that the people are more sincere than has been +represented. The emigrants who had just returned were not yet reinstated. +Society was constituted of those who had flourished under the late regime; +the newly ennobled, the recently enriched, who felt their prosperity and +their consequence endangered by this change of things. The broken-down +officer, who saw his glory tarnished, his fortune ruined, his occupation +gone, could not be expected to look with complacency upon the authors of +his downfall. The English visitor, flushed with health, and wealth, and +victory, could little enter into the feelings of the blighted warrior, +scarred with a hundred battles, an exile from the camp, broken in +constitution by the wars, impoverished by the peace, and cast back, a needy +stranger in the splendid but captured metropolis of his country. + + "Oh! who can tell what heroes feel, + When all but life and honor's lost!" + +And here let me notice the conduct of the French soldiery on the +dismemberment of the army of the Loire, when two hundred thousand men were +suddenly thrown out of employ; men who had been brought up to the camp, and +scarce knew any other home. Few in civil, peaceful life, are aware of the +severe trial to the feelings that takes place on the dissolution of a +regiment. There is a fraternity in arms. The community of dangers, +hardships, enjoyments; the participation in battles and victories; the +companionship in adventures, at a time of life when men's feelings are most +fresh, susceptible, and ardent, all these bind the members of a regiment +strongly together. To them the regiment is friends, family, home. They +identify themselves with its fortunes, its glories, its disgraces. Imagine +this romantic tie suddenly dissolved; the regiment broken up; the +occupation of its members gone; their military pride mortified; the career +of glory closed behind them; that of obscurity, dependence, want, neglect, +perhaps beggary, before them. Such was the case with the soldiers of the +army of the Loire. They were sent off in squads, with officers, to the +principal towns where they were to be disarmed and discharged. In this way +they passed through the country with arms in their hands, often exposed to +slights and scoffs, to hunger and various hardships and privations; but +they conducted themselves magnanimously, without any of those outbreaks of +violence and wrong that so often attend the dismemberment of armies. + + * * * * * + +The few years that have elapsed since the time above alluded to, have +already had their effect. The proud and angry spirits which then roamed +about Paris unemployed begins to recover its old channels, though worn +deeper by recent torrents. The natural urbanity of the French begins to +find its way, like oil, to the surface, though there still remains a degree +of roughness and bluntness of manner, partly real, and partly affected, by +such as imagine it to indicate force and frankness. The events of the last +thirty years have rendered the French a more reflecting people. They have +acquired greater independence of mind and strength of judgment, together +with a portion of that prudence which results from experiencing the +dangerous consequences of excesses. However that period may have been +stained by crimes, and filled with extravagances, the French have certainly +come out of it a greater nation than before. One of their own philosophers +observes that in one or two generations the nation will probably combine +the ease and elegance of the old character with force and solidity. They +were light, he says, before the revolution; then wild and savage; they have +become more thoughtful and reflective. It is only old Frenchmen, nowadays, +that are gay and trivial; the young are very serious personages. + + * * * * * + +P.S.--In the course of a morning's walk, about the time the above remarks +were written, I observed the Duke of Wellington, who was on a brief visit +to Paris. He was alone, simply attired in a blue frock; with an umbrella +under his arm, and his hat drawn over his eyes, and sauntering across the +Place Vendome, close by the Column of Napoleon. He gave a glance up at the +column as he passed, and continued his loitering way up the Rue de la Paix; +stopping occasionally to gaze in at the shop-windows; elbowed now and then +by other gazers, who little suspected that the quiet, lounging individual +they were jostling so unceremoniously was the conqueror who had twice +entered their capital victoriously; had controlled the destinies of the +nation, and eclipsed the glory of the military idol, at the base of whose +column he was thus negligently sauntering. + +Some years afterward I was at an evening's entertainment given by the duke +at Apsley House, to William IV. The duke had manifested his admiration of +his great adversary, by having portraits of him in different parts of the +house. At the bottom of the grand staircase stood the colossal statue of +the emperor, by Canova. It was of marble, in the antique style, with one +arm partly extended, holding a figure of victory. Over this arm the ladies, +in tripping upstairs to the ball, had thrown their shawls. It was a +singular office for the statue of Napoleon to perform in the mansion of the +Duke of Wellington! + + "Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay," etc., etc. + + * * * * * + + + + +AMERICAN RESEARCHES IN ITALY + +LIFE OF TASSO: RECOVERY OF A LOST PORTRAIT OF DANTE + +_To the Editor of the Knickerbocker:_ + +Sir--Permit me through the pages of your magazine to call the attention of +the public to the learned and elegant researches in Europe of one of our +countrymen, Mr. R. H. Wilde, of Georgia, formerly a member of the House of +Representatives. After leaving Congress, Mr. Wilde a few years since spent +about eighteen months in traveling through different parts of Europe, until +he became stationary for a time in Tuscany. Here he occupied himself with +researches concerning the private life of Tasso, whose mysterious and +romantic love for the Princess Leonora, his madness and imprisonment, had +recently become the theme of a literary controversy, not yet ended; curious +in itself, and rendered still more curious by some alleged manuscripts of +the poet's, brought forward by Count Alberti. Mr. Wilde entered into the +investigation with the enthusiasm of a poet, and the patience and accuracy +of a case-hunter; and has produced a work now in the press, in which the +"vexed questions" concerning Tasso are most ably discussed, and lights +thrown upon them by his letters, and by various of his sonnets, which last +are rendered into English with rare felicity. While Mr. Wilde was occupied +upon this work, he became acquainted with Signer Carlo Liverati, an artist +of considerable merit, and especially well versed in the antiquities of +Florence. This gentleman mentioned incidentally one day, in the course of +conversation, that there once and probably still existed in the "Bargello," +anciently both the prison, and the palace of the republic, an authentic +portrait of Dante. It was believed to be in fresco, on a wall which +afterward, by some strange neglect or inadvertency, had been covered with +whitewash. Signor Liverati mentioned the circumstance merely to deplore the +loss of so precious a portrait, and to regret the almost utter hopelessness +of its recovery. + +As Mr. Wilde had not as yet imbibed that enthusiastic admiration for Dante +which possesses all Italians, by whom the poet is almost worshiped, this +conversation made but a slight impression on him at the time. Subsequently, +however, his researches concerning Tasso being ended, he began to amuse his +leisure hours with attempts to translate some specimens of Italian lyric +poetry, and to compose very short biographical sketches of the authors. In +these specimens, which as yet exist only in manuscript, he has shown the +same critical knowledge of the Italian language, and admirable command of +the English, that characterize his translations of Tasso. He had not +advanced far in these exercises, when the obscure and contradictory +accounts of many incidents in the life of Dante caused him much +embarrassment, and sorely piqued his curiosity. About the same time he +received, through the courtesy of Don Neri dei Principi Corsini, what he +had long most fervently desired, a permission from the grandduke to pursue +his investigations in the secret archives of Florence, with power to obtain +copies therefrom. This was a rich and almost unwrought mine of literary +research; for to Italians themselves, as well as to foreigners, their +archives, for the most part, have been long inaccessible. For two years Mr. +Wilde devoted himself with indefatigable ardor to explore the records of +the republic during the time of Dante. These being written in barbarous +Latin and semi-Gothic characters, on parchment more or less discolored and +mutilated, with ink sometimes faded, were rendered still more illegible by +the arbitrary abbreviations of the notaries. They require, in fact, an +especial study; few even of the officers employed in the "Archivio delle +Riformagione" can read them currently and correctly. + +Mr. Wilde however persevered in his laborious task with a patience severely +tried, but invincible. Being without an index, each file, each book, +required to be examined page by page, to ascertain whether any particular +of the immortal poet's political life had escaped the untiring industry of +his countrymen. This toil was not wholly fruitless, and several interesting +facts obscurely known, and others utterly unknown by the Italians +themselves, are drawn forth by Mr. Wilde from the oblivion of these +archives. + +While thus engaged, the circumstance of the lost portrait of Dante was +again brought to Mr. Wilde's mind, but now excited intense interest. In +perusing the notes of the late learned Canonico Moreri on Filelfo's life of +Dante, he found it stated that a portrait of the poet by Giotto was +formerly to be seen in the Bargello. He learned also that Signer Scotti, +who has charge of the original drawings of the old masters in the imperial +and royal gallery, had made several years previously an ineffectual attempt +to set on foot a project for the recovery of the lost treasure. Here was a +new vein of inquiry, which Mr. Wilde followed up with his usual energy and +sagacity. He soon satisfied himself, by reference to Vasari, and to the +still more ancient and decisive authority of Filippo Villari, who lived +shortly after the poet, that Giotto, the friend and contemporary of Dante, +did undoubtedly paint his likeness in the place indicated. Giotto died in +1336, but as Dante was banished, and was even sentenced to be burned, in +1302, it was obvious the work must have been executed before that time; +since the portrait of one outlawed and capitally convicted as an enemy to +the commonwealth would never have been ordered or tolerated in the chapel +of the royal palace. It was clear, then, that the portrait must have been +painted between 1290 and 1302. + +Mr. Wilde now revolved in his own mind the possibility that this precious +relic might remain undestroyed under its coat of whitewash, and might yet +be restored to the world. For a moment he felt an impulse to undertake the +enterprise; but feared that, in a foreigner from a new world, any part of +which is unrepresented at the Tuscan court, it might appear like an +intrusion. He soon however found a zealous coadjutor. This was one Giovanni +Aubrey Bezzi, a Piedmontese exile, who had long been a resident in England, +and was familiar with its language and literature. He was now on a visit to +Florence, which liberal and hospitable city is always open to men of merit +who for political reasons have been excluded from other parts of Italy. +Signer Bezzi partook deeply of the enthusiasm of his countrymen for the +memory of Dante, and sympathized with Mr. Wilde in his eagerness to +retrieve if possible the lost portrait. They had several consultations as +to the means to be adopted to effect their purpose, without incurring the +charge of undue officiousness. To lessen any objections that might occur +they resolved to ask for nothing but permission to search for the fresco +painting at their own expense; and should any remains of it be found, then +to propose to the nobility and gentry of Florence an association for the +purpose of completing the undertaking and effectually recovering the lost +portrait. + +For the same reason the formal memorial addressed to the grandduke was +drawn up in the name of Florentines; among whom were the celebrated +Bartolini, now President of the School of Sculpture in the Imperial and +Royal Academy, Signor Paolo Ferroni, of the noble family of that name, who +has exhibited considerable talent for painting, and Signor Gasparini, also +an artist. This petition was urged and supported with indefatigable zeal by +Signor Bezzi; and being warmly countenanced by Count Nerli and other +functionaries, met with more prompt success than had been anticipated. +Signor Marini, a skillful artist, who had succeeded in similar operations, +was now employed to remove the whitewash by a process of his own, by which +any fresco painting that might exist beneath would be protected from +injury. He set to work patiently and cautiously. In a short time he met +with evidence of the existence of the fresco. From under the coat of +whitewash the head of an angel gradually made its appearance, and was +pronounced to be by the pencil of Giotto. + +The enterprise was now prosecuted with increased ardor. Several months were +expended on the task, and three sides of the chapel wall were uncovered; +they were all painted in fresco by Giotto, with the history of the +Magdalen, exhibiting her conversion, her penance, and her beatification. +The figures, however, were all those of saints and angels; no historical +portraits had yet been discovered, and doubts began to be entertained +whether there were any. Still the recovery of an indisputable work of +Giotto's was considered an ample reward for any toil; and the Ministers of +the grandduke, acting under his directions, assumed on his behalf the past +charges and future management of the enterprise. + +At length, on the uncovering of the fourth wall, the undertaking was +crowned with complete success. A number of historical figures were brought +to light, and among them the undoubted likeness of Dante. He was +represented in full length, in the garb of the time, with a book under his +arm, designed most probably to represent the "Vita Nuova," for the +"Comedia" was not yet composed, and to all appearance from thirty to +thirty-five years of age. The face was in profile and in excellent +preservation, excepting that at some former period a nail had unfortunately +been driven into the eye. The outline of the eyelid was perfect, so that +the injury could easily be remedied. The countenance was extremely +handsome, yet bore a strong resemblance to the portraits of the poet taken +later in life. + +It is not easy to appreciate the delight of Mr. Wilde and his coadjutors at +this triumphant result of their researches; nor the sensation produced, not +merely in Florence but throughout Italy, by this discovery of a veritable +portrait of Dante, in the prime of his days. It was some such sensation as +would be produced in England by the sudden discovery of a perfectly well +authenticated likeness of Shakespeare; with a difference in intensity +proportioned to the superior sensitiveness of the Italians. + +The recovery of this portrait of the "divine poet" has occasioned fresh +inquiry into the origin of the masks said to have been made from a cast of +his face taken after death. One of these masks, in the possession of the +Marquess of Torrigiani, has been pronounced as certainly the +_original_. Several artists of high talent have concurred in this +opinion; among these may be named Jesi, the first engraver in Florence; +Seymour Kirkup, Esq., a painter and antiquary; and our own countryman +Powers, whose genius, by the way, is very highly appreciated by the +Italians. + +We may expect from the accomplished pen of Carlo Torrigiani, son of the +marquess, and who is advantageously known in this country, from having +traveled here, an account of this curious and valuable relic, which has +been upward of a century in the possession of his family. + +Should Mr. Wilde finish his biographical work concerning Dante, which +promises to be a proud achievement in American literature, he intends, I +understand, to apply for permission to have both likenesses copied, and +should circumstances warrant the expense, to have them engraved by eminent +artists. We shall then have the features of Dante while in the prime of +life as well as at the moment of his death. + +G. C. + + + + +THE TAKING OF THE VEIL + + +One of the most remarkable personages in Parisian society during the last +century was Renée Charlotte Victoire de Froulay De Tesse, Marchioness De +Crequi. She sprang from the highest and proudest of the old French +nobility, and ever maintained the most exalted notions of the purity and +antiquity of blood, looking upon all families that could not date back +further than three or four hundred years as mere upstarts. When a beautiful +girl, fourteen years of age, she was presented to Louis XIV., at +Versailles, and the ancient monarch kissed her hand with great gallantry; +after an interval of about eighty-five years, when nearly a hundred years +old, the same testimonial of respect was paid her at the Tuileries by +Bonaparte, then First Consul, who promised her the restitution of the +confiscated forests formerly belonging to her family. She was one of the +most celebrated women of her time for intellectual grace and superiority, +and had the courage to remain at Paris and brave all the horrors of the +revolution, which laid waste the aristocratical world around her. + +The memoirs she has left behind abound with curious anecdotes and vivid +pictures of Parisian life during the latter days of Louis XIV., the regency +of the Duke of Orleans, and the residue of the last century; and are highly +illustrative of the pride, splendor, and licentiousness of the French +nobility on the very eve of their tremendous downfall. + +I shall draw forth a few scenes from her memoirs, taken almost at random, +and which, though given as actual and well-known circumstances, have quite +the air of romance. + + * * * * * + +All the great world of Paris were invited to be present at a grand +ceremonial, to take place in the church of the Abbey Royal of Panthemont. +Henrietta de Lenoncour, a young girl, of a noble family, of great beauty, +and heiress to immense estates, was to take the black veil. Invitations had +been issued in grand form, by her aunt and guardian, the Countess Brigitte +de Rupelmonde, canoness of Mauberge. The circumstance caused great talk and +wonder in the fashionable circles of Paris; everybody was at a loss to +imagine why a young girl, beautiful and rich, in the very springtime of her +charms, should renounce a world which she was so eminently qualified to +embellish and enjoy. + +A lady of high rank, who visited the beautiful novice at the grate of her +convent-parlor, got a clew to the mystery. She found her in great +agitation; for a time she evidently repressed her feelings, but they at +length broke forth in passionate exclamations. "Heaven grant me grace," +said she, "some day or other to pardon my cousin Gondrecourt the sorrows he +has caused me!" + +"What do you mean?--what sorrows, my child?" inquired her visitor. "What +has your cousin done to affect you?" + +"He is married!" cried she in accents of despair, but endeavoring to +repress her sobs. + +"Married! I have heard nothing of the kind, my dear. Are you perfectly sure +of it?" + +"Alas! nothing is more certain; my aunt de Rupelmonde informed me of it." + +The lady retired, full of surprise and commiseration. She related the scene +in a circle of the highest nobility, in the saloon of the Marshal Prince of +Beauvau, where the unaccountable self-sacrifice of the beautiful novice was +under discussion. + +"Alas!" said she, "the poor girl is crossed in love; she is about to +renounce the world in despair, at the marriage of her cousin De +Gondrecourt." + +"What!" cried a gentleman present, "the Viscount de Gondrecourt married! +Never was there a greater falsehood. And 'her aunt told her so'! Oh! I +understand the plot. The countess is passionately fond of Gondrecourt, and +jealous of her beautiful niece; but her schemes are vain; the viscount +holds her in perfect detestation." + +There was a mingled expression of ridicule, disgust, and indignation at the +thought of such a rivalry. The Countess Rupelmonde was old enough to be the +grandmother of the viscount. She was a woman of violent passions, and +imperious temper; robust in person, with a masculine voice, a dusky +complexion, green eyes, and powerful eyebrows. + +"It is impossible," cried one of the company, "that a woman of the +countess's age and appearance can be guilty of such folly. No, no; you +mistake the aim of this detestable woman. She is managing to get possession +of the estate of her lovely niece." + +This was admitted to be the most probable; and all concurred in believing +the countess to be at the bottom of the intended sacrifice; for although a +canoness, a dignitary of a religious order, she was pronounced little +better than a devil incarnate. + +The Princess de Beauvau, a woman of generous spirit and intrepid zeal, +suddenly rose from the chair in which she had been reclining. "My prince," +said she, addressing her husband, "if you approve of it, I will go +immediately and have a conversation on this subject with the archbishop. +There is not a moment to spare. It is now past midnight; the ceremony is to +take place in the morning. A few hours and the irrevocable vows will be +pronounced." + +The prince inclined his head in respectful assent. The princess set about +her generous enterprise with a woman's promptness. Within a short time her +carriage was at the iron gate of the archiepiscopal palace, and her +servants rang for admission. Two Switzers, who had charge of the gate, were +fast asleep in the porter's lodge, for it was half-past two in the morning. +It was some time before they could be awakened, and longer before they +could be made to come forth. + +"The Princess de Beauvau is at the gate!" + +Such a personage was not to be received in deshabille. Her dignity and the +dignity of the archbishop demanded that the gate should be served in full +costume. For half an hour, therefore, had the princess to wait, in feverish +impatience, until the two dignitaries of the porter's lodge arrayed +themselves; and three o'clock sounded from the tower of Notre Dame before +they came forth. They were in grand livery, of a buff color, with amaranth +galloons, plaited with silver, and fringed sword-belts reaching to their +knees, in which were suspended long rapiers. They had small three-cornered +hats, surmounted with plumes; and each bore in his hand a halbert. Thus +equipped at all points, they planted themselves before the door of the +carriage; struck the ends of their halberts on the ground with emphasis; +and stood waiting with official importance, but profound respect, to know +the pleasure of the princess. + +She demanded to speak with the archbishop. A most reverential bow and shrug +accompanied the reply, that "His Grandeur was not at home." + +Not at home! Where was he to be found? Another bow and shrug: "His Grandeur +either was, or ought to be, in retirement in the seminary of St. Magloire; +unless he had gone to pass the Fete of St. Bruno with the reverend +Carthusian fathers of the Rue d'Enfer; or perhaps he might have gone to +repose himself in his castle of Conflans-sur-Seine. Though, on further +thought, it was not unlikely he might have gone to sleep at St. Cyr, where +the Bishop of Chartres never failed to invite him for the anniversary +soiree of Madame de Maintenon." + +The princess was in despair at this multiplicity of crossroads pointed out +for the chase; the brief interval of time was rapidly elapsing; day already +began to dawn; she saw there was no hope of finding the archbishop before +the moment of his entrance into the church for the morning's ceremony; so +she returned home quite distressed. + +At seven o'clock in the morning the princess was in the parlor of the +monastery of De Panthemont, and sent in an urgent request for a moment's +conversation with the Lady Abbess. The reply brought was, that the abbess +could not come to the parlor, being obliged to attend in the choir at the +canonical hours. The princess entreated permission to enter the convent, to +reveal to the Lady Abbess in two words something of the greatest +importance. The abbess sent word in reply, that the thing was impossible, +until she had obtained permission from the Archbishop of Paris. The +princess retired once more to her carriage, and now, as a forlorn hope, +took her station at the door of the church to watch for the arrival of the +prelate. + +After a while the splendid company invited to this great ceremony began to +arrive. The beauty, rank, and wealth of the novice had excited great +attention; and, as everybody was expected to be present on the occasion, +everybody pressed to secure a place. The street reverberated with the +continual roll of gilded carriages and chariots; coaches of princes and +dukes, designated by imperials of crimson velvet, and magnificent equipages +of six horses, decked out with nodding plumes and sumptuous harnessing. At +length the equipages ceased to arrive; empty vehicles filled the street; +and, with a noisy and party-colored crowd of lackeys in rich liveries, +obstructed all the entrances to De Panthemont. + +Eleven o'clock had struck; the last auditor had entered the church; the +deep tones of the organ began to swell through the sacred pile, yet still +the archbishop came not! The heart of the princess beat quicker and quicker +with vague apprehension; when a valet, dressed in cloth of silver, trimmed +with crimson velvet, approached her carriage precipitately. "Madame," said +he, "the archbishop is in the church; he entered by the portal of the +cloister; he is already in the sanctuary; the ceremony is about to +commence!" + +What was to be done? To speak with the archbishop was now impossible, and +yet on the revelation she was to make to him depended the fate of the +lovely novice. The princess drew forth her tablets of enameled gold, wrote +a few lines therein with a pencil, and ordered her lackey to make way for +her through the crowd, and conduct her with all speed to the sacristy. + +The description given of the church and the assemblage on this occasion +presents an idea of the aristocratical state of the times, and of the high +interest awakened by the affecting sacrifice about to take place. The +church was hung with superb tapestry, above which extended a band of white +damask, fringed with gold, and covered with armorial escutcheons. A large +pennon, emblazoned with the arms and alliances of the high-born damsel, was +suspended, according to custom, in place of the lamp of the sanctuary. The +lusters, girandoles, and candelabras of the king had been furnished in +profusion, to decorate the sacred edifice, and the pavements were all +covered with rich carpets. + +The sanctuary presented a reverend and august assemblage of bishops, +canons, and monks of various orders, Benedictines, Bernardines, Raccollets, +Capuchins, and others, all in their appropriate robes and dresses. In the +midst presided the Archbishop of Paris, Christopher de Beaumont; surrounded +by his four arch priests and his vicars-general. He was seated with his +back against the altar. When his eyes were cast down, his countenance, pale +and severe, is represented as having been somewhat sepulchral and +death-like; but the moment he raised his large, dark, sparkling eyes, the +whole became animated; beaming with ardor, and expressive of energy, +penetration, and firmness. + +The audience that crowded the church was no less illustrious. Excepting the +royal family, all that was elevated in rank and title was there; never had +a ceremonial of the kind attracted an equal concourse of the high +aristocracy of Paris. + +At length the grated gates of the choir creaked on their hinges, and Madame +de Richelieu, the high and noble Abbess of De Panthemont, advanced to +resign the novice into the hands of her aunt, the Countess Canoness De +Rupelmonde. Every eye was turned with intense curiosity to gain a sight of +the beautiful victim. She was sumptuously dressed, but her paleness and +languor accorded but little with her brilliant attire. The Canoness De +Rupelmonde conducted her niece to her praying-desk, where, as soon as the +poor girl knelt down, she sank as if exhausted. Just then a sort of murmur +was heard at the lower end of the church, where the servants in livery were +gathered. A young man was borne forth, struggling in convulsions. He was in +the uniform of an officer of the guards of King Stanislaus, Duke of +Lorraine. A whisper circulated that it was the young Viscount de +Gondrecourt, and that he was a lover of the novice. Almost all the young +nobles present hurried forth to proffer him sympathy and assistance. + +The Archbishop of Paris remained all this time seated before the altar; his +eyes cast down, his pallid countenance giving no signs of interest or +participation in the scene around him. It was noticed that in one of his +hands, which was covered with a violet glove, he grasped firmly a pair of +tablets, of enameled gold. + +The Canoness de Rupelmonde conducted her niece to the prelate, to make her +profession of self-devotion, and to utter the irrevocable vow. As the +lovely novice knelt at his feet, the archbishop fixed on her his dark, +beaming eyes, with a kind but earnest expression. "Sister!" said he, in the +softest and most benevolent tone of voice, "What is your age?" + +"Nineteen years, monseigneur," eagerly interposed the Countess de +Rupelmonde. + +"_You_ will reply to me by-and-by, madame," said the archbishop, +dryly. He then repeated his question to the novice, who replied in a +faltering voice, "Seventeen years." + +"In what diocese did you take the white veil?" + +"In the diocese of Toul." + +"How!" exclaimed the archbishop, vehemently. "In the diocese of Toul? The +chair of Toul is vacant! The bishop of Toul died fifteen months since; and +those who officiate in the chapter are not authorized to receive novices. +Your novitiate, mademoiselle, is null and void, and we cannot receive your +profession." + +The archbishop rose from his chair, resumed his miter, and took the crozier +from the hands of an attendant. + +"My dear brethren," said he, addressing the assembly, "there is no +necessity for our examining and interrogating Mademoiselle de Lenoncour on +the sincerity of her religious vocation. There is a canonical impediment to +her professing for the present; and, as to the future, we reserve to +ourselves the consideration of the matter; interdicting to all other +ecclesiastical persons the power of accepting her vows, under penalty of +interdiction, of suspension, and of nullification; all which is in virtue +of our metropolitan rights, contained in the terms of the bull _cum +proximis_:" "_Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini!_" pursued he, +chanting in a grave and solemn voice, and turning toward the altar to give +the benediction of the holy sacrament. + +The noble auditory had that habitude of reserve, that empire, or rather +tyranny, over all outward manifestations of internal emotions, which +belongs to high aristocratical breeding. The declaration of the archbishop, +therefore, was received as one of the most natural and ordinary things in +the world, and all knelt down and received the pontifical benediction with +perfect decorum. As soon, however, as they were released from the +self-restraint imposed by etiquette, they amply indemnified themselves; and +nothing was talked of for a month, in the fashionable saloons of Paris, but +the loves of the handsome Viscount and the charming Henrietta; the +wickedness of the canoness; the active benevolence and admirable address of +the Princess de Beauvau; and the great wisdom of the archbishop, who was +particularly extolled for his delicacy in defeating this maneuver without +any scandal to the aristocracy, or public stigma on the name of De +Rupelmonde, and without any departure from pastoral gentleness, by adroitly +seizing upon an informality, and turning it to beneficial account, with as +much authority as charitable circumspection. + +As to the Canoness de Rupelmonde, she was defeated at all points in her +wicked plans against her beautiful niece. In consequence of the caveat of +the archbishop, her superior ecclesiastic, the Abbess de Panthemont, +formally forbade Mademoiselle de Lenoncour to resume the white veil and the +dress of a novitiate, and instead of a novice's cell established her in a +beautiful apartment as a boarder. The next morning the Canoness de +Rupelmonde called at the convent to take away her niece; but, to her +confusion, the abbess produced a lettre-de-cachet, which she had just +received, and which forbade mademoiselle to leave the convent with any +other person save the Prince de Beauvau. + +Under the auspices and the vigilant attention of the prince, the whole +affair was wound up in the most technical and circumstantial manner. The +Countess de Rupelmonde, by a decree of the Grand Council, was divested of +the guardianship of her niece. All the arrears of revenues accumulated +during Mademoiselle de Lenoncour's minority were rigorously collected, the +accounts scrutinized and adjusted, and her noble fortune placed safely and +entirely in her hands. + +In a little while the noble personages who had been invited to the ceremony +of taking the veil received another invitation, on the part of the Countess +dowager de Gondrecourt, and the Marshal Prince de Beauvau, to attend the +marriage of Adrien de Gondrecourt, Viscount of Jean-sur-Moselle, and +Henrietta de Lenoncour, Countess de Hevouwal, etc., which duly took place +in the chapel of the archiepiscopal palace at Paris. + + * * * * * + +So much for the beautiful Henrietta de Lenoncour. We will now draw forth a +companion picture of a handsome young cavalier, who figured in the gay +world of Paris about the same time, and concerning whom the ancient +marchioness writes with the lingering feeling of youthful romance. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE CHARMING LETORIÈRES + + +"A good face is a letter of recommendation," says an old proverb; and it +was never more verified than in the case of the Chevalier Letorieres. He +was a young gentleman of good family, but who, according to the Spanish +phrase, had nothing but his cloak and sword (capa y espada), that is to +say, his gentle blood and gallant bearing, to help him forward in the +world. Through the interest of an uncle, who was an abbe, he received a +gratuitous education at a fashionable college, but finding the terms of +study too long, and the vacations too short, for his gay and indolent +temper, he left college without saying a word, and launched himself upon +Paris, with a light heart and still lighter pocket. Here he led a life to +his humor. It is true he had to make scanty meals, and to lodge in a +garret; but what of that? He was his own master; free from all task or +restraint. When cold or hungry, he sallied forth, like others of the +chameleon order, and banqueted on pure air and warm sunshine in the public +walks and gardens; drove off the thoughts of a dinner by amusing himself +with the gay and grotesque throngs of the metropolis; and if one of the +poorest, was one of the merriest gentlemen upon town. Wherever he went his +good looks and frank, graceful demeanor, had an instant and magical effect +in securing favor. There was but one word to express his fascinating +powers--he was "charming." + +Instances are given of the effect of his winning qualities upon minds of +coarse, ordinary mold. He had once taken shelter from a heavy shower under +a gateway. A hackney coachman, who was passing by, pulled up, and asked him +if he wished a cast in his carriage. Letorieres declined, with a melancholy +and dubious shake of the head. The coachman regarded him wistfully, +repeared his solicitations, and wished to know what place he was going to +"To the Palace of Justice, to walk in the galleries; but I will wait here +until the rain is over." + +"And why so?" inquired the coachman, pertinaciously. + +"Because I've no money; do let me be quiet." + +The coachman jumped down, and, opening the door of his carriage, "It shall +never be said," cried he, "that I left so charming a young gentleman to +weary himself, and catch cold, merely for the sake of twenty-four sous." + +Arrived at the Palace of Justice, he stopped before the saloon of a famous +restaurateur, opened the door of the carriage, and taking off his hat very +respectfully, begged the youth to accept of a Louis-d'or. "You will meet +with some young gentlemen within," said he, "with whom you may wish to take +a hand at cards. The number of my coach is 144. You can find me out, and +repay me whenever you please." + +The worthy Jehu was some years afterward made coachman to the Princess +Sophia, of France, through the recommendation of the handsome youth he had +so generously obliged. + +Another instance in point is given with respect to his tailor, to whom he +owed four hundred livres. The tailor had repeatedly dunned him, but was +always put off with the best grace in the world. The wife of the tailor +urged her husband to assume a harsher tone. He replied that he could not +find it in his heart to speak roughly to so charming a young gentleman. + +"I've no patience with such want of spirit!" cried the wife; "you have not +the courage to show your teeth: but I'm going out to get change for this +note of a hundred crowns; before I come home, I'll seek this 'charming' +youth myself, and see whether he has the power to charm me. I'll warrant he +won't be able to put _me_ off with fine looks and fine speeches." + +With these and many more vaunts, the good dame sallied forth. When she +returned home, however, she wore quite a different aspect. + +"Well," said her husband, "how much have you received from the 'charming' +young man?" + +"Let me alone," replied the wife; "I found him playing on the guitar, and +he looked so handsome, and was so amiable and genteel, that I had not the +heart to trouble him." + +"And the change for the hundred-crown note?" said the tailor. + +The wife hesitated a moment: "Faith," cried she, "you'll have to add the +amount to your next bill against him. The poor young gentleman had such a +melancholy air that--I know not how it was, but--I left the hundred crowns +on his mantel-piece in spite of him!" + +The captivating looks and manners of Letorieres made his way with equal +facility in the great world. His high connections entitled him to +presentation at court, but some questions arose about the sufficiency of +his proofs of nobility; whereupon the king, who had seen him walking in the +gardens of Versailles, and had been charmed with his appearance, put an end +to all demurs of etiquette by making him a viscount. + +The same kind of fascination is said to have attended him throughout his +career. He succeeded in various difficult family suits on questions of +honors and privileges; he had merely to appear in court to dispose the +judges in his favor. He at length became so popular that on one occasion, +when he appeared at the theater on recovering from a wound received in a +duel, the audience applauded him on his entrance. Nothing, it is said, +could have been in more perfect good taste and high breeding than his +conduct on this occasion. When he heard the applause, he rose in his box, +stepped forward, and surveyed both sides of the house, as if he could not +believe that it was himself they were treating like a favorite actor, or a +prince of the blood. + +His success with the fair sex may easily be presumed; but he had too much +honor and sensibility to render his intercourse with them a series of cold +gallantries and heartless triumphs. In the course of his attendance upon +court, where he held a post of honor about the king, he fell deeply in love +with the beautiful Princess Julia, of Savoy Carignan. She was young, +tender, and simple-hearted, and returned his love with equal fervor. Her +family took the alarm at this attachment, and procured an order that she +should inhabit the Abbey of Montmartre, where she was treated with all +befitting delicacy and distinction, but not permitted to go beyond the +convent walls. The lovers found means to correspond. One of their letters +was intercepted, and it is even hinted that a plan of elopement was +discovered. A duel was the consequence, with one of the fiery relations of +the princess. Letorieres received two sword-thrusts in his right side. His +wounds were serious, yet after two or three days' confinement he could not +resist his impatience to see the princess. He succeeded in scaling the +walls of the abbey, and obtaining an interview in an arcade leading to the +cloister of the cemetery. The interview of the lovers was long and tender. +They exchanged vows of eternal fidelity, and flattered themselves with +hopes of future happiness, which they were never to realize. After repeated +farewells, the princess re-entered the convent, never again to behold the +charming Letorieres. On the following morning his corpse was found stiff +and cold on the pavement of the cloister! + +It would seem that the wounds of the unfortunate youth had been reopened by +his efforts to get over the wall; that he had refrained from calling +assistance, lest he should expose the princess, and that he had bled to +death, without any one to aid him, or to close his dying eyes. + + + + +THE EARLY EXPERIENCES OF RALPH RINGWOOD [Footnote: Ralph Ringwood, though a +fictitious name, is a real personage: the worthy original is now living and +flourishing in honorable station. I have given some anecdotes of his early +and eccentric career in, as nearly as I can recollect, the very words in +which he related them. They certainly afforded strong temptations to the +embellishments of fiction; but I thought them so strikingly characteristic +of the individual, and of the scenes and society into which his peculiar +humors carried him, that I preferred giving them in their original +simplicity.--G. C.] + + +NOTED DOWN FROM HIS CONVERSATIONS + +"I am a Kentuckian by residence and choice, but a Virginian by birth. The +cause of my first leaving the 'Ancient Dominion,' and emigrating to +Kentucky was a jackass! You stare, but have a little patience, and I'll +soon show you how it came to pass. My father, who was of one of the old +Virginian families, resided in Richmond. He was a widower, and his domestic +affairs were managed by a housekeeper of the old school, such as used to +administer the concerns of opulent Virginian households. She was a +dignitary that almost rivaled my father in importance, and seemed to think +everything belonged to her; in fact, she was so considerate in her economy, +and so careful of expense, as sometimes to vex my father, who would swear +she was disgracing him by her meanness. She always appeared with that +ancient insignia of housekeeping trust and authority, a great bunch of keys +jingling at her girdle. She superintended the arrangement of the table at +every meal, and saw that the dishes were all placed according to her +primitive notions of symmetry. In the evening she took her stand and served +out tea with a mingled respectfulness and pride of station, truly +exemplary. Her great ambition was to have everything in order, and that the +establishment under her sway should be cited as a model of good +housekeeping. If anything went wrong, poor old Barbara would take it to +heart, and sit in her room and cry; until a few chapters in the Bible would +quiet her spirits, and make all calm again. The Bible, in fact, was her +constant resort in time of trouble. She opened it indiscriminately, and +whether she chanced among the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the Canticles of +Solomon, or the rough enumeration of the tribes in Deuteronomy, a chapter +was a chapter, and operated like balm to her soul. Such was our good old +housekeeper Barbara, who was destined, unwittingly, to have a most +important effect upon my destiny. + +"It came to pass, during the days of my juvenility, while I was yet what is +termed 'an unlucky boy,' that a gentleman of our neighborhood, a great +advocate for experiments and improvements of all kinds, took it into his +head that it would be an immense public advantage to introduce a breed of +mules, and accordingly imported three jacks to stock the neighborhood. This +in a part of the country where the people cared for nothing but blood +horses! Why, sir! they would have considered their mares disgraced and +their whole stud dishonored by such a misalliance. The whole matter was a +town talk and a town scandal. The worthy amalgamator of quadrupeds found +himself in a dismal scrape: so he backed out in time, abjured the whole +doctrine of amalgamation, and turned his jacks loose to shift for +themselves upon the town common. There they used to run about and lead an +idle, good-for-nothing, holiday life, the happiest animals in the country. + +"It so happened that my way to school lay across this common. The first +time that I saw one of these animals it set up a braying and frightened me +confoundedly. However, I soon got over my fright, and seeing that it had +something of a horse look, my Virginian love for anything of the equestrian +species predominated, and I determined to back it. I accordingly applied at +a grocer's shop, procured a cord that had been round a loaf of sugar, and +made a kind of halter; then summoning some of my schoolfellows, we drove +master Jack about the common until we hemmed him in an angle of a 'worm +fence.' After some difficulty, we fixed the halter round his muzzle, and I +mounted. Up flew his heels, away I went over his head, and off he +scampered. However, I was on my legs in a twinkling, gave chase, caught him +and remounted. By dint of repeated tumbles I soon learned to stick to his +back, so that he could no more cast me than he could his own skin. From +that time, master Jack and his companions had a scampering life of it, for +we all rode them between school hours, and on holiday afternoons; and you +may be sure schoolboys' nags are never permitted to suffer the grass to +grow under their feet. They soon became so knowing that they took to their +heels at the very sight of a schoolboy; and we were generally much longer +in chasing than we were in riding them. + +"Sunday approached, on which I projected an equestrian excursion on one of +these long-eared steeds. As I knew the jacks would be in great demand on +Sunday morning, I secured one overnight, and conducted him home, to be +ready for an early outset. But where was I to quarter him for the night? I +could not put him in the stable; our old black groom George was as absolute +in that domain as Barbara was within doors, and would have thought his +stable, his horses, and himself disgraced, by the introduction of a +jackass. I recollected the smoke-house; an out-building appended to all +Virginian establishments for the smoking of hams, and other kinds of meat. +So I got the key, put master Jack in, locked the door, returned the key to +its place, and went to bed, intending to release my prisoner at an early +hour, before any of the family were awake. I was so tired, however, by the +exertions I had made in catching the donkey, that I fell into a sound +sleep, and the morning broke without my awaking. + +"Not so with dame Barbara, the housekeeper. As usual, to use her own +phrase, 'she was up before the crow put his shoes on,' and bustled about to +get things in order for breakfast. Her first resort was to the smoke-house. +Scarce had she opened the door, when master Jack, tired of his confinement, +and glad to be released from darkness, gave a loud bray, and rushed forth. +Down dropped old Barbara; the animal trampled over her, and made off for +the common. Poor Barbara! She had never before seen a donkey, and having +read in the Bible that the devil went about like a roaring lion, seeking +whom he might devour, she took it for granted that this was Beelzebub +himself. The kitchen was soon in a hubbub; the servants hurried to the +spot. There lay old Barbara in fits; as fast as she got out of one, the +thoughts of the devil came over her, and she fell into another, for the +good soul was devoutly superstitious. + +"As ill luck would have it, among those attracted by the noise was a +little, cursed, fidgety, crabbed uncle of mine; one of those uneasy spirits +that cannot rest quietly in their beds in the morning, but must be up +early, to bother the household. He was only a kind of half-uncle, after +all, for he had married my father's sister; yet be assumed great authority +on the strength of this left-handed relationship, and was a universal +intermeddler and family pest. This prying little busybody soon ferreted out +the truth of the story, and discovered, by hook and by crook, that I was at +the bottom of the affair, and had locked up the donkey in the smoke-house. +He stopped to inquire no further, for he was one of those testy curmudgeons +with whom unlucky boys are always in the wrong. Leaving old Barbara to +wrestle in imagination with the devil, he made for my bedchamber, where I +still lay wrapped in rosy slumbers, little dreaming of the mischief I had +done, and the storm about to break over me. + +"In an instant I was awakened by a shower of thwacks, and started up in +wild amazement, I demanded the meaning of this attack, but received no +other reply than that I had murdered the housekeeper; while my uncle +continued whacking away during my confusion. I seized a poker, and put +myself on the defensive. I was a stout boy for my years, while my uncle was +a little wiffet of a man; one that in Kentucky we would not call even an +'individual'; nothing more than a 'remote circumstance.' I soon, therefore, +brought him to a parley, and learned the whole extent of the charge brought +against me. I confessed to the donkey and the smoke-house, but pleaded not +guilty of the murder of the housekeeper. I soon found out that old Barbara +was still alive. She continued under the doctor's hands, however, for +several days; and whenever she had an ill turn my uncle would seek to give +me another flogging. I appealed to my father, but got no redress. I was +considered an 'unlucky boy,' prone to all kinds of mischief; so that +prepossessions were against me in all cases of appeal. + +"I felt stung to the soul at all this. I had been beaten, degraded, and +treated with slighting when I complained. I lost my usual good spirits and +good humor; and, being out of temper with everybody, fancied everybody out +of temper with me. A certain wild, roving spirit of freedom, which I +believe is as inherent in me as it is in the partridge, was brought into +sudden activity by the checks and restraints I suffered. 'I'll go from +home,' thought I, 'and shift for myself.' Perhaps this notion was quickened +by the rage for emigrating to Kentucky, which was at that time prevalent in +Virginia. I had heard such stories of the romantic beauties of the country; +of the abundance of game of all kinds, and of the glorious independent life +of the hunters who ranged its noble forests, and lived by the rifle; that I +was as much agog to get there as boys who live in seaports are to launch +themselves among the wonders and adventures of the ocean. + +"After a time old Barbara got better in mind and body, and matters were +explained to her; and she became gradually convinced that it was not the +devil she had encountered. When she heard how harshly I had been treated on +her account, the good old soul was extremely grieved, and spoke warmly to +my father in my behalf. He had himself remarked the change in my behavior, +and thought punishment might have been carried too far. He sought, +therefore, to have some conversation with me, and to soothe my feelings; +but it was too late. I frankly told him the course of mortification that I +had experienced, and the fixed determination I had made to go from home. + +"'And where do you mean to go?' + +"'To Kentucky.' + +"'To Kentucky! Why, you know nobody there.' + +"'No matter: I can soon make acquaintances.' + +"'And what will you do when you get there?' + +"'Hunt!' + +"My father gave a long, low whistle, and looked in my face with a +serio-comic expression. I was not far in my teens, and to talk of setting +off alone for Kentucky, to turn hunter, seemed doubtless the idle prattle +of a boy. He was little aware of the dogged resolution of my character; and +his smile of incredulity but fixed me more obstinately in my purpose. I +assured him I was serious in what I said, and would certainly set off for +Kentucky in the spring. + +"Month after month passed away. My father now and then adverted slightly to +what had passed between us; doubtless for the purpose of sounding me. I +always expressed the same grave and fixed determination. By degrees he +spoke to me more directly on the subject, endeavoring earnestly but kindly +to dissuade me. My only reply was, 'I had made up my mind.' + +"Accordingly, as soon as the spring had fairly opened, I sought him one day +in his study, and informed him I was about to set out for Kentucky, and had +come to take my leave. He made no objection, for he had exhausted +persuasion and remonstrance, and doubtless thought it best to give way to +my humor, trusting that a little rough experience would soon bring me home +again. I asked money for my journey. He went to a chest, took out a long +green silk purse, well filled, and laid it on the table. I now asked for a +horse and servant. + +"'A horse!' said my father, sneeringly: 'why, you would not go a mile +without racing him, and breaking your neck; and, as to a servant, you +cannot take care of yourself much less of him.' + +"'How am I to travel, then?' + +"'Why, I suppose you are man enough to travel on foot.' + +"He spoke jestingly, little thinking I would take him at his word; but I +was thoroughly piqued in respect to my enterprise; so I pocketed the purse, +went to my room, tied up three or four shirts in a pocket-handkerchief, put +a dirk in my bosom, girt a couple of pistols round my waist, and felt like +a knight errant armed cap a-pie, and ready to rove the world in quest of +adventures. + +"My sister (I had but one) hung round me and wept, and entreated me to +stay. I felt my heart swell in my throat; but I gulped it back to its +place, and straightened myself up; I would not suffer myself to cry. I at +length disengaged myself from her, and got to the door. + +"'When will you come back?' cried she. + +"'Never, by heavens!' cried I, 'until I come back a member of Congress from +Kentucky. I am determined to show that I am not the tail-end of the +family.' + +"Such was my first outset from home. You may suppose what a greenhorn I +was, and how little I knew of the world I was launching into. + +"I do not recollect any incident of importance until I reached the borders +of Pennsylvania. I had stopped at an inn to get some refreshment; and as I +was eating in the back room, I overheard two men in the barroom conjecture +who and what I could be. One determined, at length, that I was a runaway +apprentice, and ought to be stopped, to which the other assented. When I +had finished my meal, and paid for it, I went out at the back door, lest I +should be stopped by my supervisors. Scorning, however, to steal off like a +culprit, I walked round to the front of the house. One of the men advanced +to the front door. He wore his hat on one side, and had a consequential air +that nettled me. + +"'Where are you going, youngster?' demanded he. + +"'That's none of your business!' replied I, rather pertly. + +"'Yes, but it is, though! You have run away from home, and must give an +account of yourself.' + +"He advanced to seize me, when I drew forth a pistol. 'If you advance +another step, I'll shoot you!' + +"He sprang back as if he had trodden upon a rattlesnake, and his hat fell +off in the movement. + +"'Let him alone!' cried his companion; 'he's a foolish, mad-headed boy, and +don't know what he's about. He'll shoot you, you may rely on it.' + +"He did not need any caution in the matter; he was afraid even to pick up +his hat: so I pushed forward on my way, without molestation. This incident, +however, had its effect upon me. I became fearful of sleeping in any house +at night, lest I should be stopped. I took my meals in the houses, in the +course of the day, but would turn aside at night into some wood or ravine, +make a fire, and sleep before it. This I considered was true hunter's +style, and I wished to inure myself to it. + +"At length I arrived at Brownsville, leg-weary and wayworn, and in a shabby +plight, as you may suppose, having been 'camping out' for some nights past. +I applied at some of the inferior inns, but could gain no admission. I was +regarded for a moment with a dubious eye, and then informed they did not +receive foot-passengers. At last I went boldly to the principal inn. The +landlord appeared as unwilling as the rest to receive a vagrant boy beneath +his roof; but his wife interfered in the midst of his excuses, and half +elbowing him aside: + +"'Where are you going, my lad?' said she. + +"'To Kentucky.' + +"'What are you going there for?' + +"'To hunt.' + +"She looked earnestly at me for a moment or two. 'Have you a mother +living?' said she at length. + +"'No, madam: she has been dead for some time.' + +"'I thought so!' cried she warmly. 'I knew if you had a mother living you +would not be here.' From that moment the good woman treated me with a +mother's kindness. + +"I remained several days beneath her roof recovering from the fatigue of my +journey. While here I purchased a rifle and practiced daily at a mark to +prepare myself for a hunter's life. When sufficiently recruited in strength +I took leave of my kind host and hostess and resumed my journey. + +"At Wheeling I embarked in a flat bottomed family boat, technically called +a broad-horn, a prime river conveyance in those days. In this ark for two +weeks I floated down the Ohio. The river was as yet in all its wild beauty. +Its loftiest trees had not been thinned out. The forest overhung the +water's edge and was occasionally skirted by immense cane-brakes. Wild +animals of all kinds abounded. We heard them rushing through the thickets +and plashing in the water. Deer and bears would frequently swim across the +river; others would come down to the bank and gaze at the boat as it +passed. I was incessantly on the alert with my rifle; but somehow or other +the game was never within shot. Sometimes I got a chance to land and try my +skill on shore. I shot squirrels and small birds and even wild turkeys; but +though I caught glimpses of deer bounding away through the woods, I never +could get a fair shot at them. + +"In this way we glided in our broad-horn past Cincinnati, the 'Queen of the +West' as she is now called, then a mere group of log cabins; and the site +of the bustling city of Louisville, then designated by a solitary house. As +I said before, the Ohio was as yet a wild river; all was forest, forest, +forest! Near the confluence of Green River with the Ohio, I landed, bade +adieu to the broad-horn, and struck for the interior of Kentucky. I had no +precise plan; my only idea was to make for one of the wildest parts of the +country. I had relatives in Lexington and other settled places, to whom I +thought it probable my father would write concerning me: so as I was full +of manhood and independence, and resolutely bent on making my way in the +world without assistance or control, I resolved to keep clear of them all. + +"In the course of my first day's trudge, I shot a wild turkey, and slung it +on my back for provisions. The forest was open and clear from underwood. I +saw deer in abundance, but always running, running. It seemed to me as if +these animals never stood still. + +"At length I came to where a gang of half-starved wolves were feasting on +the carcass of a deer which they had run down; and snarling and snapping +and fighting like so many dogs. They were all so ravenous and intent upon +their prey that they did not notice me, and I had time to make my +observations. One, larger and fiercer than the rest, seemed to claim the +larger share, and to keep the others in awe. If any one came too near him +while eating, he would fly off, seize and shake him, and then return to his +repast. 'This,' thought I, 'must be the captain; if I can kill him, I shall +defeat the whole army.' I accordingly took aim, fired, and down dropped +the old fellow. He might be only shamming dead; so I loaded and put a +second ball through him. He never budged; all the rest ran off, and my +victory was complete. + +"It would not be easy to describe my triumphant feelings on this great +achievement. I marched on with renovated spirit, regarding myself as +absolute lord of the forest. As night drew near, I prepared for camping. My +first care was to collect dry wood and make a roaring fire to cook and +sleep by, and to frighten off wolves, and bears, and panthers. I then began +to pluck my turkey for supper. I had camped out several times in the early +part of my expedition; but that was in comparatively more settled and +civilized regions, where there were no wild animals of consequence in the +forest. This was my first camping out in the real wilderness; and I was +soon made sensible of the loneliness and wildness of my situation. + +"In a little while a concert of wolves commenced: there might have been a +dozen or two, but it seemed to me as if there were thousands. I never heard +such howling and whining. Having prepared my turkey, I divided it into two +parts, thrust two sticks into one of the halves, and planted them on end +before the fire, the hunter's mode of roasting. The smell of roast meat +quickened the appetites of the wolves, and their concert became truly +infernal. They seemed to be all around me, but I could only now and then +get a glimpse of one of them, as he came within the glare of the light. + +"I did not much care for the wolves, who I knew to be a cowardly race, but +I had heard terrible stories of panthers, and began to fear their stealthy +prowlings in the surrounding darkness. I was thirsty, and heard a brook +bubbling and tinkling along at no great distance, but absolutely dared not +go there, lest some panther might lie in wait, and spring upon me. +By-and-by a deer whistled. I had never heard one before, and thought it +must be a panther. I now felt uneasy lest he might climb the trees, crawl +along the branches overhead, and plump down upon me; so I kept my eyes +fixed on the branches, until my head ached. I more than once thought I saw +fiery eyes glaring down from--among the leaves. At length I thought of my +supper and turned to see if my half-turkey was cooked. In crowding so near +the fire I had pressed the meat into the flames, and it was consumed. I had +nothing to do but toast the other half, and take better care of it. On that +half I made my supper, without salt or bread. I was still so possessed with +the dread of panthers that I could not close my eyes all night, but lay +watching the trees until daybreak, when all my fears were dispelled with +the darkness; and as I saw the morning sun sparkling down through the +branches of the trees, I smiled to think how I had suffered myself to be +dismayed by sounds and shadows; but I was a young woodsman, and a stranger +in Kentucky. + +"Having breakfasted on the remainder of my turkey, and slaked my thirst at +the bubbling stream, without further dread of panthers, I resumed my +wayfaring with buoyant feelings. I again saw deer, but as usual running, +running! I tried in vain to get a shot at them, and began to fear I never +should. I was gazing with vexation after a herd in full scamper, when I was +startled by a human voice. Turning round, I saw a man at a short distance +from me in a hunting dress. + +"'What are you after, my lad?' cried he. + +"'Those deer,' replied I, pettishly: 'but it seems as if they never stand +still.' + +"Upon that he burst out laughing. 'Where are you from?' said he. + +"'From Richmond.' + +"'What! In old Virginny?' + +"'The same.' + +"'And how on earth did you get here?' + +"'I landed at Green River from a broad-horn. + +"'And where are your companions?' + +"' I have none.' + +"'What?--all alone!" + +"'Yes.' + +"'Where are you going?' + +"'Anywhere.' + +"'And what have you come here for?' + +"'To hunt.' + +"'Well,' said he, laughingly, 'you'll make a real hunter; there's no +mistaking that! Have you killed anything?' + +"'Nothing but a turkey; I can't get within shot of a deer: they are always +running.' + +"'Oh, I'll tell you the secret of that. You're always pushing forward, and +starting the deer at a distance, and gazing at those that are scampering; +but you must step as slow, and silent, and cautious as a cat, and keep your +eyes close around you, and lurk from tree to tree, if you wish to get a +chance at deer. But come, go home with me. My name is Bill Smithers; I live +not far off: stay with me a little while, and I'll teach you how to hunt.' + +"I gladly accepted the invitation of honest Bill Smithers. We soon reached +his habitation; a mere log hut, with a square hole for a window and a +chimney made of sticks and clay. Here he lived with a wife and child. He +had 'girdled' the trees for an acre or two around, preparatory to clearing +a space for corn and potatoes. In the meantime he maintained his family +entirely by his rifle, and I soon found him to be a first-rate huntsman. +Under his tutelage I received my first effective lessons in 'woodcraft.' + +"The more I knew of a hunter's life, the more I relished it. The country, +too, which had been the promised land of my boyhood, did not, like most +promised lands, disappoint me. No wilderness could be more beautiful than +this part of Kentucky in those times. The forests were open and spacious, +with noble trees, some of which looked as if they had stood for centuries. +There were beautiful prairies, too, diversified with groves and clumps of +trees, which looked like vast parks, and in which you could see the deer +running, at a great distance. In the proper season these prairies would be +covered in many places with wild strawberries, where your horses' hoofs +would be dyed to the fetlock. I thought there could not be another place in +the world equal to Kentucky--and I think so still. + +"After I had passed ten or twelve days with Bill Smithers, I thought it +time to shift my quarters, for his house was scarce large enough for his +own family, and I had no idea of being an encumbrance to any one. I +accordingly made up my bundle, shouldered my rifle, took a friendly leave +of Smithers and his wife, and set out in quest of a Nimrod of the +wilderness, one John Miller, who lived alone, nearly forty miles off, and +who I hoped would be well pleased to have a hunting companion. + +"I soon found out that one of the most important items in woodcraft in a +new country was the skill to find one's way in the wilderness. There were +no regular roads in the forests, but they were cut up and perplexed by +paths leading in all directions. Some of these were made by the cattle of +the settlers, and were called 'stock-tracks,' but others had been made by +the immense droves of buffaloes which roamed about the country, from the +flood until recent times. These were called buffalo-tracks, and traversed +Kentucky from end to end, like highways. Traces of them may still be seen +in uncultivated parts, or deeply worn in the rocks where they crossed the +mountains. I was a young woodman, and sorely puzzled to distinguish one +kind of track from the other, or to make out my course through this tangled +labyrinth. While thus perplexed, I heard a distant roaring and rushing +sound; a gloom stole over the forest: on looking up, when I could catch a +stray glimpse of the sky, I beheld the clouds rolled up like balls, the +lower parts as black as ink. There was now and then an explosion, like a +burst of cannonry afar off, and the crash of a falling tree. I had heard of +hurricanes in the woods, and surmised that one was at hand. It soon came +crashing its way; the forest writhing, and twisting, and groaning before +it. The hurricane did not extend far on either side, but in a manner plowed +a furrow through the woodland; snapping off or uprooting trees that had +stood for centuries, and filling the air with whirling branches. I was +directly in its course, and took my stand behind an immense poplar, six +feet in diameter. It bore for a time the full fury of the blast, but at +length began to yield. Seeing it falling, I scrambled nimbly round the +trunk like a squirrel. Down it went, bearing down another tree with it. I +crept under the trunk as a shelter, and was protected from other trees +which fell around me, but was sore all over from the twigs and branches +driven against me by the blast. + +"This was the only incident of consequence that occurred on my way to John +Miller's, where I arrived on the following day, and was received by the +veteran with the rough kindness of a backwoodsman. He was a gray-haired +man, hardy and weather-beaten, with a blue wart, like a great beard, over +one eye, whence he was nicknamed by the hunters 'Bluebeard Miller.' He had +been in these parts from the earliest settlements, and had signalized +himself in the hard conflicts with the Indians, which gained Kentucky the +appellation of 'the Bloody Ground.' In one of these fights he had had an +arm broken; in another he had narrowly escaped, when hotly pursued, by +jumping from a precipice thirty feet high into a river. + +"Miller willingly received me into his house as an inmate, and seemed +pleased with the idea of making a hunter of me. His dwelling was a small +log-house, with a loft or garret of boards, so that there was ample room +for both of us. Under his instruction I soon made a tolerable proficiency +in hunting. My first exploit, of any consequence, was killing a bear. I was +hunting in company with two brothers, when we came upon the track of bruin, +in a wood where there was an undergrowth of canes and grapevines. He was +scrambling up a tree, when I shot him through the breast: he fell to the +ground and lay motionless. The brothers sent in their dog, who seized the +bear by the throat. Bruin raised one arm and gave the dog a hug that +crushed his ribs. One yell, and all was over. I don't know which was first +dead, the dog or the bear. The two brothers sat down and cried like +children over their unfortunate dog. Yet they were mere rough huntsmen, +almost as wild and untamable as Indians; but they were fine fellows. + +"By degrees I became known, and somewhat of a favorite among the hunters of +the neighborhood; that is to say, men who lived within a circle of thirty +or forty miles, and came occasionally to see John Miller, who was a +patriarch among them. They lived widely apart, in log huts and wigwams, +almost with the simplicity of Indians, and wellnigh as destitute of the +comforts and inventions of civilized life. They seldom saw each other; +weeks, and even months, would elapse, without their visiting. When they did +meet, it was very much after the manner of Indians; loitering about all +day, without having much to say, but becoming communicative as evening +advanced, and sitting up half the night before the fire, telling hunting +stories, and terrible tales of the fights of the Bloody Ground. + +"Sometimes several would join in a distant hunting expedition, or rather +campaign. Expeditions of this kind lasted from November until April; during +which we laid up our stock of summer provisions. We shifted our hunting +camps from place to place, according as we found the game. They were +generally pitched near a run of water, and close by a cane-brake, to screen +us from the wind. One side of our lodge was open toward the fire. Our +horses were hoppled and turned loose in the cane-brakes, with bells round +their necks. One of the party stayed at home to watch the camp, prepare the +meals and keep off the wolves; the others hunted. When a hunter killed a +deer at a distance from the camp, he would open it and take out the +entrails; then climbing a sapling he would bend it down, tie the deer to +the top, and let it spring up again, so as to suspend the carcass out of +reach of the wolves. At night he would return to the camp and give an +account of his luck. The next morning early he would get a horse out of the +canebrake and bring home his game. That day he would stay at home to cut up +the carcass, while the others hunted. + +"Our days were thus spent in silent and lonely occupations. It was only at +night that we would gather together before the fire and be sociable. I was +a novice, and used to listen with open eyes and ears to the strange and +wild stories told by the old hunters, and believed everything I heard. Some +of their stories bordered upon the supernatural. They believed that their +rifles might be spellbound, so as not to be able to kill a buffalo, even at +arms-length. This superstition they had derived from the Indians, who often +think the white hunters have laid a spell upon their rifles. Miller partook +of this superstition, and used to tell of his rifle's having a spell upon +it; but it often seemed to me to be a shuffling way of accounting for a bad +shot. If a hunter grossly missed his aim he would ask, 'Who shot last with +this rifle?'--and hint that he must have charmed it. The sure mode to +disenchant the gun was to shoot a silver bullet out of it. + +"By the opening of spring we would generally have quantities of bears'-meat +and venison salted, dried, and smoked, and numerous packs of skins. We +would then make the best of our way home from our distant hunting-grounds; +transporting our spoils, sometimes in canoes along the rivers, sometimes on +horseback over land, and our return would often be celebrated by feasting +and dancing, in true backwoods style. I have given you some idea of our +hunting; let me now give you a sketch of our frolicking. + +"It was on our return from a winter's hunting in the neighborhood of Green +River, when we received notice that there was to be a grand frolic at Bob +Mosely's, to greet the hunters. This Bob Mosely was a prime fellow +throughout the country. He was an indifferent hunter, it is true, and +rather lazy to boot; but then he could play the fiddle, and that was enough +to make him of consequence. There was no other man within a hundred miles +that could play the fiddle, so there was no having a regular frolic without +Bob Mosely. The hunters, therefore, were always ready to give him a share +of their game in exchange for his music, and Bob was always ready to get up +a carousal, whenever there was a party returning from a hunting expedition. +The present frolic was to take place at Bob Mosely's own house, which was +on the Pigeon Roost Fork of the Muddy, which is a branch of Rough Creek, +which is a branch of Green River. + +"Everybody was agog for the revel at Bob Mosely's; and as all the fashion +of the neighborhood was to be there, I thought I must brush up for the +occasion. My leathern hunting-dress, which was the only one I had, was +somewhat the worse for wear, it is true, and considerably japanned with +blood and grease; but I was up to hunting expedients. Getting into a +periogue, I paddled off to a part of the Green River where there was sand +and clay, that might serve for soap; then taking off my dress, I scrubbed +and scoured it, until I thought it looked very well. I then put it on the +end of a stick, and hung it out of the periogue to dry, while I stretched +myself very comfortably on the green bank of the river. Unluckily a flaw +struck the periogue, and tipped over the stick: down went my dress to the +bottom of the river, and I never saw it more. Here was I, left almost in a +state of nature. I managed to make a kind of Robinson Crusoe garb of +undressed skins, with the hair on, which enabled me to get home with +decency; but my dream of gayety and fashion was at an end; for how could I +think of figuring in high life at the Pigeon Roost, equipped like a mere +Orson? + +"Old Miller, who really began to take some pride in me, was confounded when +he understood that I did not intend to go to Bob Mosely's; but when I told +him my misfortune, and that I had no dress: 'By the powers,' cried he, 'but +you _shall_ go, and you shall be the best dressed and the best mounted +lad there!' + +"He immediately set to work to cut out and make up a hunting-shirt of +dressed deer-skin, gayly fringed at the shoulders, with leggings of the +same, fringed from hip to heel. He then made me a rakish raccoon-cap, with +a flaunting tail to it; mounted me on his best horse; and I may say, +without vanity, that I was one of the smartest fellows that figured on that +occasion at the Pigeon Roost Fork of the Muddy. + +"It was no small occasion, either, let me tell you. Bob Mosely's house was +a tolerably large bark shanty, with a clap-board roof; and there were +assembled all the young hunters and pretty girls of the country, for many a +mile round. The young men were in their best hunting-dresses, but not one +could compare with mine; and my raccoon-cap, with its flowing tail, was the +admiration of everybody. The girls were mostly in doe-skin dresses; for +there was no spinning and weaving as yet in the woods; nor any need of it. +I never saw girls that seemed to me better dressed; and I was somewhat of a +judge, having seen fashions at Richmond. We had a hearty dinner, and a +merry one; for there was Jemmy Kiel, famous for raccoon-hunting, and Bob +Tarleton, and Wesley Pigman, and Joe Taylor, and several other prime +fellows for a frolic, that made all ring again, and laughed that you might +have heard them a mile. + +"After dinner we began dancing, and were hard at it, when, about three +o'clock in the afternoon, there was a new arrival--the two daughters of old +Simon Schultz; two young ladies that affected fashion and late hours. Their +arrival had nearly put an end to all our merriment. I must go a little +roundabout in my story to explain to you how that happened. + +"As old Schultz, the father, was one day looking in the cane-brakes for his +cattle, he came upon the track of horses. He knew they were none of his, +and that none of his neighbors had horses about that place. They must be +stray horses; or must belong to some traveler who had lost his way, as the +track led nowhere. He accordingly followed it up, until he came to an +unlucky peddler, with two or three pack-horses, who had been bewildered +among the cattle-tracks, and had wandered for two or three days among woods +and cane-brakes, until he was almost famished. + +"Old Schultz brought him to his house; fed him on venison, bear's-meat, and +hominy, and at the end of a week put him in prime condition. The peddler +could not sufficiently express his thankfulness; and when about to depart +inquired what he had to pay? Old Schultz stepped back with surprise. +'Stranger,' said he, 'you have been welcome under my roof. I've given you +nothing but wild meat and hominy, because I had no better, but have been +glad of your company. You are welcome to stay as long as you please; but, +by Zounds! if any one offers to pay Simon Schultz for food he affronts +him!' So saying, he walked out in a huff. + +"The peddler admired the hospitality of his host, but could not reconcile +it to his conscience to go away without making some recompense. There were +honest Simon's two daughters, two strapping, red-haired girls. He opened +his packs and displayed riches before them of which they had no conception; +for in those days there were no country stores in those parts, with their +artificial finery and trinketry; and this was the first peddler that had +wandered into that part of the wilderness. The girls were for a time +completely dazzled, and knew not what to choose: but what caught their eyes +most were two looking-glasses, about the size of a dollar, set in gilt tin. +They had never seen the like before, having used no other mirror than a +pail of water. The peddler presented them these jewels, without the least +hesitation; nay, he gallantly hung them round their necks by red ribbons, +almost as fine as the glasses themselves. This done, he took his departure, +leaving them as much astonished as two princesses in a fairy tale that have +received a magic gift from an enchanter. + +"It was with these looking-glasses, hung round their necks as lockets, by +red ribbons, that old Schultz's daughters made their appearance at three +o'clock in the afternoon, at the frolic at Bob Mosely's, on the Pigeon +Roost Fork of the Muddy. + +"By the powers, but it was an event! Such a thing had never before been +seen in Kentucky. Bob Tarleton, a strapping fellow, with a head like a +chestnut-burr and a look like a boar in an apple orchard, stepped up, +caught hold of the looking-glass of one of the girls, and gazing at it for +a moment, cried out: 'Joe Taylor, come here! come here! I'll be darn'd if +Patty Schultz ain't got a locket that you can see your face in, as clear as +in a spring of water!' + +"In a twinkling all the young hunters gathered round old Schultz's +daughters. I, who knew what looking-glasses were, did not budge. Some of +the girls who sat near me were excessively mortified at finding themselves +thus deserted. I heard Peggy Pugh say to Sally Pigman, 'Goodness knows, +it's well Schultz's daughters is got them things round their necks, for +it's the first time the young men crowded round them!' + +"I saw immediately the danger of the case. We were a small community, and +could not afford to be split up by feuds. So I stepped up to the girls, and +whispered to them: 'Polly,' said I, 'those lockets are powerful fine, and +become you amazingly; but you don't consider that the country is not +advanced enough in these parts for such things. You and I understand these +matters, but these people don't. Fine things like these may do very well in +the old settlements, but they won't answer at the Pigeon Roost Fork of the +Muddy. You had better lay them aside for the present, or we shall have no +peace.' + +"Polly and her sister luckily saw their error; they took off the lockets, +laid them aside, and harmony was restored: otherwise, I verily believe +there would have been an end of our community. Indeed, notwithstanding the +great sacrifice they made on this occasion, I do not think old Schultz's +daughters were ever much liked afterward among the young women. + +"This was the first time that looking-glasses were ever seen in the Green +River part of Kentucky. + +"I had now lived some time with old Miller, and had become a tolerably +expert hunter. Game, however, began to grow scarce. The buffalo had +gathered together, as if by universal understanding, and had crossed the +Mississippi, never to return. Strangers kept pouring into the country, +clearing away the forests and building in all directions. The hunters began +to grow restive. Jemmy Kiel, the same of whom I have already spoken for his +skill in raccoon catching, came to me one day: 'I can't stand this any +longer,' said he; 'we're getting too thick here. Simon Schultz crowds me so +that I have no comfort of my life.' + +"'Why, how you talk!' said I; 'Simon Schultz lives twelve miles off.' + +"'No matter; his cattle run with mine, and I've no idea of living where +another man's cattle can run with mine. That's too close neighborhood; I +want elbow-room. This country, too, is growing too poor to live in; there's +no game; so two or three of us have made up our minds to follow the buffalo +to the Missouri, and we should like to have you of the party.' Other +hunters of my acquaintance talked in the same manner. This set me thinking; +but the more I thought the more I was perplexed. I had no one to advise +with; old Miller and his associates knew but of one mode of life, and I had +had no experience in any other; but I had a wide scope of thought. When out +hunting alone I used to forget the sport, and sit for hours together on the +trunk of a tree, with rifle in hand, buried in thought, and debating with +myself: 'Shall I go with Jemmy Kiel and his company, or shall I remain +here? If I remain here there will soon be nothing left to hunt; but am I to +be a hunter all my life? Have not I something more in me than to be +carrying a rifle on my shoulder, day after day, and dodging about after +bears, and deer, and other brute beasts?' My vanity told me I had; and I +called to mind my boyish boast to my sister, that I would never return home +until I returned a member of Congress from Kentucky; but was this the way +to fit myself for such a station? + +"Various plans passed through my mind, but they were abandoned almost as +soon as formed. At length I determined on becoming a lawyer. True it is, I +knew almost nothing. I had left school before I had learned beyond the +'rule of three.' 'Never mind,' said I to myself, resolutely; 'I am a +terrible fellow for hanging on to anything when I've once made up my mind; +and if a man has but ordinary capacity, and will set to work with heart and +soul, and stick to it, he can do almost anything.' With this maxim, which +has been pretty much my mainstay throughout life, I fortified myself in my +determination to attempt the law. But how was I to set about it? I must +quit this forest life, and go to one or other of the towns, where I might +be able to study, and to attend the courts. This too required funds. I +examined into the state of my finances. The purse given me by my father had +remained untouched, in the bottom of an old chest up in the loft, for money +was scarcely needed in these parts. I had bargained away the skins acquired +in hunting for a horse and various other matters, on which in case of need +I could raise funds. I therefore thought I could make shift to maintain +myself until I was fitted for the bar. + +"I informed my worthy host and patron, old Miller, of my plan. He shook his +head at my turning my back upon the woods, when I was in a fair way of +making a first-rate hunter; but he made no effort to dissuade me. I +accordingly set off in September, on horseback, intending to visit +Lexington, Frankfort, and other of the principal towns, in search of a +favorable place to prosecute my studies. My choice was made sooner than I +expected. I had put up one night at Bardstown, and found, on inquiry, that +I could get comfortable board and accommodation in a private family for a +dollar and a half a week. I liked the place, and resolved to look no +further. So the next morning I prepared to turn my face homeward, and take +my final leave of forest life. + +"I had taken my breakfast, and was waiting for my horse, when, in pacing up +and down the piazza, I saw a young girl seated near a window, evidently a +visitor. She was very pretty; with auburn hair and blue eyes, and was +dressed in white. I had seen nothing of the kind since I had left Richmond; +and at that time I was too much of a boy to be much struck by female +charms. She was so delicate and dainty-looking, so different from the hale, +buxom, brown girls of the woods; and then her white dress!--it was +perfectly dazzling! Never was poor youth more taken by surprise, and +suddenly bewitched. My heart yearned to know her; but how was I to accost +her? I had grown wild in the woods, and had none of the habitudes of polite +life. Had she been like Peggy Pugh or Sally Pigman, or any other of my +leathern-dressed belles of the Pigeon Roost, I should have approached her +without dread; nay, had she been as fair as Schultz's daughters, with their +looking-glass lockets, I should not have hesitated; but that white dress, +and those auburn ringlets, and blue eyes, and delicate looks, quite +daunted, while they fascinated me. I don't know what put it into my head, +but I thought, all at once, that I would kiss her! It would take a long +acquaintance to arrive at such a boon, but I might seize upon it by sheer +robbery. Nobody knew me here. I would just step in, snatch a kiss, mount my +horse, and ride off. She would not be the worse for it; and that kiss--oh! +I should die if I did not get it! + +"I gave no time for the thought to cool, but entered the house, and stepped +lightly into the room. She was seated with her back to the door, looking +out at the window, and did not hear my approach. I tapped her chair, and as +she turned and looked up, I snatched as sweet a kiss as ever was stolen, +and vanished in a twinkling. The next moment I was on horseback, galloping +homeward; my very ears tingling at what I had done. + +"On my return home I sold my horse, and turned everything to cash; and +found, with the remains of the paternal purse, that I had nearly four +hundred dollars; a little capital which I resolved to manage with the +strictest economy. + +"It was hard parting with old Miller, who had been like a father to me; it +cost me, too, something of a struggle to give up the free, independent +wild-wood life I had hitherto led; but I had marked out my course, and had +never been one to flinch or turn back. + +"I footed it sturdily to Bardstown; took possession of the quarters for +which I had bargained, shut myself up, and set to work with might and main +to study. But what a task I had before me! I had everything to learn; not +merely law, but all the elementary branches of knowledge. I read and read, +for sixteen hours out of the four-and-twenty; but the more I read the more +I became aware of my own ignorance, and shed bitter tears over my +deficiency. It seemed as if the wilderness of knowledge expanded and grew +more perplexed as I advanced. Every height gained only revealed a wider +region to be traversed, and nearly filled me with despair. I grew moody, +silent, and unsocial, but studied on doggedly and incessantly. The only +person with whom I held any conversation was the worthy man in whose house +I was quartered. He was honest and well meaning, but perfectly ignorant, +and I believe would have liked me much better if I had not been so much +addicted to reading. He considered all books filled with lies and +impositions, and seldom could look into one without finding something to +rouse his spleen. Nothing put him into a greater passion than the assertion +that the world turned on its own axis every four-and-twenty hours. He swore +it was an outrage upon common sense. 'Why, if it did,' said he, 'there +would not be a drop of water in the well by morning, and all the milk and +cream in the dairy would be turned topsy-turvy! And then to talk of the +earth going round the sun! How do they know it? I've seen the sun rise +every morning and set every evening for more than thirty years. They must +not talk to _me_ about the earth's going round the sun!' + +"At another time he was in a perfect fret at being told the distance +between the sun and moon. 'How can any one tell the distance?' cried he. +'Who surveyed it? who carried the chain? By Jupiter! they only talk this +way before me to annoy me. But then there's some people of sense who give +in to this cursed humbug! There's Judge Broadnax, now, one of the best +lawyers we have; isn't it surprising he should believe in such stuff? Why, +sir, the other day I heard him talk of the distance from a star he called +Mars to the sun! He must have got it out of one or other of those +confounded books he's so fond of reading; a book some impudent fellow has +written, who knew nobody could swear the distance was more or less.' + +"For my own part, feeling my own deficiency in scientific lore, I never +ventured to unsettle his conviction that the sun made his daily circuit +round the earth; and for aught I said to the contrary, he lived and died in +that belief. + +"I had been about a year at Bardstown, living thus studiously and +reclusely, when, as I was one day walking the street, I met two young +girls, in one of whom I immediately recalled the little beauty whom I had +kissed so impudently. She blushed up to the eyes, and so did I; but we both +passed on with further sign of recognition. This second glimpse of her, +however, caused an odd fluttering about my heart. I could not get her out +of my thoughts for days. She quite interfered with my studies. I tried to +think of her as a mere child, but it would not do; she had improved in +beauty, and was tending toward womanhood; and then I myself was but little +better than a stripling. However, I did not attempt to seek after her, or +even to find out who she was, but returned doggedly to my books. By degrees +she faded from my thoughts, or if she did cross them occasionally, it was +only to increase my despondency; for I feared that with all my exertions, I +should never be able to fit myself for the bar, or enable myself to support +a wife. + +"One cold stormy evening I was seated, in dumpish mood, in the bar-room of +the inn, looking into the fire, and turning over uncomfortable thoughts, +when I was accosted by some one who had entered the room without my +perceiving it. I looked up, and saw before me a tall and, as I thought, +pompous-looking man, arrayed in small clothes and knee-buckles, with +powdered head, and shoes nicely blacked and polished; a style of dress +unparalleled in those days, in that rough country. I took a pique against +him from the very portliness of his appearance, and stateliness of his +manner, and bristled up as he accosted me. He demanded if my name was not +Ringwood. + +"I was startled, for I supposed myself perfectly incog.; but I answered in +the affirmative. + +"'Your family, I believe, lives in Richmond?' + +"My gorge began to rise. 'Yes, sir,' replied I sulkily, 'my family does +live in Richmond.' + +"'And what, may I ask, has brought you into this part of the country?' + +"'Zounds, sir!' cried I, starting on my feet, 'what business is it of +yours? How dare you to question me in this manner?' + +"The entrance of some persons prevented a reply; but I walked up and down +the bar-room, fuming with conscious independence and insulted dignity, +while the pompous-looking personage, who had thus trespassed upon my +spleen, retired without proffering another word. + +"The next day, while seated in my room, some one tapped at the door, and, +on being bid to enter, the stranger in the powdered head, small-clothes, +and shining shoes and buckles, walked in with ceremonious courtesy. + +"My boyish pride was again in arms; but he subdued me. He was formal, but +kind and friendly. He knew my family and understood my situation, and the +dogged struggle I was making. A little conversation, when my jealous pride +was once put to rest, drew everything from me. He was a lawyer of +experience and of extensive practice, and offered at once to take me with +him, and direct my studies. The offer was too advantageous and gratifying +not to be immediately accepted. From that time I began to look up. I was +put into a proper track, and was enabled to study to a proper purpose. I +made acquaintance, too, with some of the young men of the place, who were +in the same pursuit, and was encouraged at finding that I could 'hold my +own' in argument with them. We instituted a debating club, in which I soon +became prominent and popular. Men of talents, engaged in other pursuits, +joined it, and this diversified our subjects and put me on various tracks +of inquiry. Ladies, too, attended some of our discussions, and this gave +them a polite tone, and had an influence on the manners of the debaters. My +legal patron also may have had a favorable effect in correcting any +roughness contracted in my hunter's life. He was calculated to bend me in +an opposite direction, for he was of the old school; quoted Chesterfield on +all occasions, and talked of Sir Charles Grandison, who was his beau +ideal. It was Sir Charles Grandison, however, Kentuckyized. + +"I had always been fond of female society. My experience, however, had +hitherto been among the rough daughters of the backwoodsmen; and I felt an +awe of young ladies in 'store clothes,' and delicately brought up. Two or +three of the married ladies of Bardstown, who had heard me at the debating +club, determined that I was a genius and undertook to bring me out. I +believe I really improved under their hands; became quiet where I had been +shy or sulky, and easy where I had been impudent. + +"I called to take tea one evening with one of these ladies, when to my +surprise, and somewhat to my confusion, I found with her the identical +blue-eyed little beauty whom I had so audaciously kissed. I was formally +introduced to her, but neither of us betrayed any sign of previous +acquaintance, except by blushing to the eyes. While tea was getting ready +the lady of the house went out of the room to give some directions, and +left us alone. + +"Heavens and earth, what a situation! I would have given all the pittance I +was worth to have been in the deepest dell of the forest. I felt the +necessity of saying something in excuse of my former rudeness, but I could +not conjure up an idea, nor utter a word. Every moment matters were growing +worse. I felt at one time tempted to do as I had done when I robbed her of +the kiss; bolt from the room, and take to flight; but I was chained to the +spot, for I really longed to gain her good-will. + +"At length I plucked up courage, on seeing that she was equally confused +with myself, and walking desperately up to her, I exclaimed: + +"'I have been trying to muster up something to say to you, but I cannot. I +feel that I am in a horrible scrape. Do have pity on me, and help me out of +it.' + +"A smile dimpled about her mouth, and played among the blushes of her +cheek. She looked up with a shy, but arch glance of the eye, that expressed +a volume of comic recollection; we both broke into a laugh, and from that +moment all went on well. + +"A few evenings afterward I met her at a dance, and prosecuted the +acquaintance. I soon became deeply attached to her; paid my court +regularly; and before I was nineteen years of age had engaged myself to +marry her. I spoke to her mother, a widow lady, to ask her consent. She +seemed to demur; upon which, with my customary haste, I told her there +would be no use in opposing the match, for if her daughter chose to have +me, I would take her, in defiance of her family, and the whole world. + +"She laughed, and told me I need not give myself any uneasiness; there +would be no unreasonable opposition. She knew my family and all about me. +The only obstacle was that I had no means of supporting a wife, and she had +nothing to give with her daughter. + +"No matter; at that moment everything was bright before me. I was in one of +my sanguine moods. I feared nothing, doubted nothing. So it was agreed that +I should prosecute my studies, obtain a license, and as soon as I should be +fairly launched in business we would be married. + +"I now prosecuted my studies with redoubled ardor, and was up to my ears in +law, when I received a letter from my father, who had heard of me and my +whereabout. He applauded the course I had taken, but advised me to lay a +foundation of general knowledge, and offered to defray my expenses, if I +would go to college. I felt the want of a general education, and was +staggered with this offer. It militated somewhat against the self-dependent +course I had so proudly or rather conceitedly marked out for myself, but it +would enable me to enter more advantageously upon my legal career. I talked +over the matter with the lovely girl to whom I was engaged. She sided in +opinion with my father, and talked so disinterestedly, yet tenderly, that, +if possible, I loved her more than ever. I reluctantly, therefore, agreed +to go to college for a couple of years, though it must necessarily postpone +our union. + +"Scarcely had I formed this resolution, when her mother was taken ill and +died, leaving her without a protector. This again altered all my plans. I +felt as if I could protect her. I gave up all idea of collegiate studies; +persuaded myself that by dint of industry and application I might overcome +the deficiencies of education, and resolved to take out a license as soon +as possible. + +"That very autumn I was admitted to the bar, and within a month afterward +was married. We were a young couple, she not much above sixteen, I not +quite twenty; and both almost without a dollar in the world. The +establishment which we set up was suited to our circumstances: a log-house, +with two small rooms; a bed, a table, a half dozen chairs, a half dozen +knives and forks, a half dozen spoons; everything by half dozens; a little +delf ware; everything in a small way; we were so poor, but then so happy! + +"We had not been married many days, when court was held at a county town, +about twenty-five miles distant. It was necessary for me to go there, and +put myself in the way of business; but how was I to go? I had expended all +my means on our establishment; and then it was hard parting with my wife so +soon after marriage. However, go I must. Money must be made, or we should +soon have the wolf at the door. I accordingly borrowed a horse, and +borrowed a little cash, and rode off from my door, leaving my wife standing +at it, and waving her hand after me. Her last look, so sweet and beaming, +went to my heart. I felt as if I could go through fire and water for her. + +"I arrived at the county town on a cool October evening. The inn was +crowded, for the court was to commence on the following day. I knew no one, +and wondered how I, a stranger, and a mere youngster, was to make my way in +such a crowd, and to get business. The public room was thronged with the +idlers of the country, who gather together on such occasions. There was +some drinking going forward, with much noise, and a little altercation. +Just as I entered the room I saw a rough bully of a fellow, who was partly +intoxicated, strike an old man. He came swaggering by me, and elbowed me as +he passed. I immediately knocked him down, and kicked him into the street. +I needed no better introduction. In a moment I had a dozen rough shakes of +the hand, and invitations to drink, and found myself quite a personage in +this rough assembly. + +"The next morning the court opened. I took my seat among the lawyers, but +felt as a mere spectator, not having a suit in progress or prospect, nor +having any idea where business was to come from. In the course of the +morning a man was put at the bar, charged with passing counterfeit money, +and was asked if he was ready for trial. He answered in the negative. He +had been confined in a place where there were no lawyers, and had not had +an opportunity of consulting any. He was told to choose counsel from the +lawyers present, and to be ready for trial on the following day. He looked +round the court and selected me. I was thunderstruck. I could not tell why +he should make such a choice. I, a beardless youngster; unpracticed at the +bar; perfectly unknown. I felt diffident yet delighted, and could have +hugged the rascal. + +"Before leaving the court he gave me one hundred dollars in a bag as a +retaining fee. I could scarcely believe my senses; it seemed like a dream. +The heaviness of the fee spoke but lightly in favor of his innocence, but +that was no affair of mine. I was to be advocate, not judge nor jury. I +followed him to jail, and learned from him all the particulars of his case; +from thence I went to the clerk's office and took minutes of the +indictment. I then examined the law on the subject, and prepared my brief +in my room. All this occupied me until midnight, when I went to bed and +tried to sleep. It was all in vain. Never in my life was I more wide-awake. +A host of thoughts and fancies kept rushing through my mind; the shower of +gold that had so unexpectedly fallen into my lap; the idea of my poor +little wife at home, that I was to astonish with my good fortune! But then +the awful responsibility I had undertaken!--to speak for the first time in +a strange court; the expectations the culprit had evidently formed of my +talents; all these, and a crowd of similar notions, kept whirling through +my mind. I tossed about all night, fearing the morning would find me +exhausted and incompetent; in a word, the day dawned on me, a miserable +fellow! + +"I got up feverish and nervous. I walked out before breakfast, striving to +collect my thoughts and tranquilize my feelings. It was a bright morning; +the air was pure and frosty. I bathed my forehead and my hands in a +beautiful running stream; but I could not allay the fever heat that raged +within. I returned to breakfast, but could not eat. A single cup of coffee +formed my repast. It was time to go to court, and I went there with a +throbbing heart. I believe if it had not been for the thoughts of my little +wife, in her lonely log house, I should have given back to the man his +hundred dollars, and relinquished the cause. I took my seat, looking, I am +convinced, more like a culprit than the rogue I was to defend. + +"When the time came for me to speak, my heart died within me. I rose +embarrassed and dismayed, and stammered in opening my cause. I went on from +bad to worse, and felt as if I was going down hill. Just then the public +prosecutor, a man of talents, but somewhat rough in his practice, made a +sarcastic remark on something I had said. It was like an electric spark, +and ran tingling through every vein in my body. In an instant my diffidence +was gone. My whole spirit was in arms. I answered with promptness and +bitterness, for I felt the cruelty of such an attack upon a novice in my +situation. The public prosecutor made a kind of apology: this, from a man +of his redoubted powers, was a vast concession. I renewed my argument with +a fearless glow; carried the case through triumphantly, and the man was +acquitted. + +"This was the making of me. Everybody was curious to know who this new +lawyer was, that had thus suddenly risen among them, and bearded the +attorney-general at the very outset. The story of my debut at the inn on +the preceding evening, when I had knocked down a bully, and kicked him out +of doors for striking an old man, was circulated with favorable +exaggerations. Even my very beardless chin and juvenile countenance were in +my favor, for people gave me far more credit than I really deserved. The +chance business which occurs in our country courts came thronging upon me. +I was repeatedly employed in other causes; and by Saturday night, when the +court closed, and I had paid my bill at the inn, I found myself with a +hundred and fifty dollars in silver, three hundred dollars in notes, and a +horse that I afterward sold for two hundred dollars more. + +"Never did miser gloat on his money with more delight. I locked the door of +my room; piled the money in a heap upon the table; walked round it; sat +with my elbows on the table, and my chin upon my hands, and gazed upon it. +Was I thinking of the money? No! I was thinking of my little wife at home. +Another sleepless night ensued; but what a night of golden fancies, and +splendid air-castle! As soon as morning dawned, I was up, mounted the +borrowed horse with which I had come to court, and led the other which I +had received as a fee. All the way I was delighting myself with the +thoughts of the surprise I had in store for my little wife; for both of us +had expected nothing but that I should spend all the money I had borrowed, +and should return in debt. + +"Our meeting was joyous, as you may suppose: but I played the part of the +Indian, hunter, who, when he returns from the chase, never for a time +speaks of his success. She had prepared a snug little rustic meal for me, +and while it was getting ready I seated myself at an old-fashioned desk in +one corner, and began to count over my money, and put it away. She came to +me before I had finished, and asked who I had collected the money for. + +"'For myself, to be sure,' replied I, with affected coolness; 'I made it at +court.' + +"She looked me for a moment in the face, incredulously. I tried to keep my +countenance, and to play Indian, but it would not do. My muscles began to +twitch; my feelings all at once gave way. I caught her in my arms; laughed, +cried, and danced about the room, like a crazy man. From that time forward, +we never wanted for money. + +"I had not been long in successful practice, when I was surprised one day +by a visit from my woodland patron, old Miller. The tidings of my +prosperity had reached him in the wilderness, and he had walked one hundred +and fifty miles on foot to see me. By that tame I had improved my domestic +establishment, and had all things comfortable about me. He looked around +him with a wondering eye, at what he considered luxuries and superfluities; +but supposed they were all right in my altered circumstances. He said he +did not know, upon the whole, but that I had acted for the best It is true, +if game had continued plenty, it would have been a folly for me to quit a +hunter's life; but hunting was pretty nigh done up in Kentucky. The buffalo +had gone to Missouri; the elk were nearly gone also; deer, too, were +growing scarce; they might last out his time, as he was growing old, but +they were not worth setting up life upon. He had once lived on the borders +of Virginia. Game grew scarce there; he followed it up across Kentucky, and +now it was again giving him the slip; but he was too old to follow it +further. + +"He remained with us three days. My wife did everything in her power to +make him comfortable; but at the end of that time he said he must be off +again to the woods. He was tired of the village, and of having so many +people about him. He accordingly returned to the wilderness and to hunting +life. But I fear he did not make a good end of it; for I understand that a +few years before his death he married Sukey Thomas, who lived at the White +Oak Run." + + + + +THE SEMINOLES + + +From the time of the chimerical cruising of Old Ponce de Leon in search of +the Fountain of Youth, the avaricious expedition of Pamphilo de Narvaez in +quest of gold, and the chivalrous enterprise of Hernando de Soto, to +discover and conquer a second Mexico, the natives of Florida have been +continually subjected to the invasions and encroachments of white men. They +have resisted them perseveringly but fruitlessly, and are now battling amid +swamps and morasses for the last foothold of their native soil, with all +the ferocity of despair. Can we wonder at the bitterness of a hostility +that has been handed down from father to son, for upward of three +centuries, and exasperated by the wrongs and miseries of each succeeding +generation! The very name of the savages with which we are fighting +betokens their fallen and homeless condition. Formed of the wrecks of once +powerful tribes, and driven from their ancient seats of prosperity and +dominion, they are known by the name of the Seminoles, or "Wanderers." + +Bartram, who traveled through Florida in the latter part of the last +century, speaks of passing through a great extent of ancient Indian fields, +now silent and deserted, overgrown with forests, orange groves, and rank +vegetation, the site of the ancient Alachua, the capital of a famous and +powerful tribe, who in days of old could assemble thousands at bull-play +and other athletic exercises "over these then happy fields and green +plains." "Almost every step we take," adds he, "over these fertile heights, +discovers the remains and traces of ancient human habitations and +cultivation." + +About the year 1763, when Florida was ceded by the Spaniards to the +English, we are told that the Indians generally retired from the towns and +the neighborhood of the whites, and burying themselves in the deep forests, +intricate swamps and hommocks, and vast savannas of the interior, devoted +themselves to a pastoral life, and the rearing of horses and cattle. These +are the people that received the name of the Seminoles, or Wanderers, which +they still retain. + +Bartram gives a pleasing picture of them at the time he visited them in +their wilderness; where their distance from the abodes of the white man +gave them a transient quiet and security. "This handful of people," says +he, "possesses a vast territory, all East and the greatest part of West +Florida, which being naturally cut and divided into thousands of islets, +knolls, and eminences, by the innumerable rivers, lakes, swamps, vast +savannas, and ponds, form so many secure retreats and temporary +dwelling-places that effectually guard them from any sudden invasions or +attacks from their enemies; and being such a swampy, hommocky country, +furnishes such a plenty and variety of supplies for the nourishment of +varieties of animals that I can venture to assert that no part of the globe +so abounds with wild game, or creatures fit for the food of man. + +"Thus they enjoy a superabundance of the necessaries and conveniences of +life, with the security of person and property, the two great concerns of +mankind. The hides of deer, bears, tigers, and wolves, together with honey, +wax, and other productions of the country, purchase their clothing equipage +and domestic utensils from the whites. They seem to be free from want or +desires. No cruel enemy to dread; nothing to give them disquietude but the +gradual encroachments of the white people. Thus contented and undisturbed, +they appear as blithe and free as the birds of the air, and like them as +volatile and active, tuneful and vociferous. The visage, action, and +deportment of the Seminoles form the most striking picture of happiness in +this life; joy, contentment, love, and friendship, without guile or +affectation, seem inherent in them, or predominant in their vital +principle, for it leaves them with but the last breath of life.... They are +fond of games and gambling, and amuse themselves like children, in relating +extravagant stories, to cause surprise and mirth." [Footnote: Bartram's +Travels in North America.] + +The same writer gives an engaging picture of his treatment by these +savages: + +"Soon after entering the forests, we were met in the path by a small +company of Indians, smiling and beckoning to us long before we joined them. +This was a family of Talahasochte, who had been out on a hunt and were +returning home loaded with barbecued meat, hides, and honey. Their company +consisted of the man, his wife and children, well mounted on fine horses, +with a number of pack-horses. The man offered us a fawn skin of honey, +which I accepted, and at parting presented him with some fish-hooks, +sewing-needles, etc. + +"On our return to camp in the evening, we were saluted by a party of young +Indian warriors, who had pitched their tents on a green eminence near the +lake, at a small distance from our camp, under a little grove of oaks and +palms. This company consisted of seven young Seminoles, under the conduct +of a young prince or chief of Talahasochte, a town southward in the +isthmus. They were all dressed and painted with singular elegance, and +richly ornamented with silver plates, chains, etc., after the Seminole +mode, with waving plumes of feathers on their crests. On our coming up to +them, they arose and shook hands; we alighted and sat a while with them by +their cheerful fire. + +"The young prince informed our chief that he was in pursuit of a young +fellow who had fled from the town carrying off with him one of his favorite +young wives. He said, merrily, he would have the ears of both of them +before he returned. He was rather above the middle stature, and the most +perfect human figure I ever saw; of an amiable, engaging countenance, air, +and deportment; free and familiar in conversation, yet retaining a becoming +gracefulness and dignity. We arose, took leave of them, and crossed a +little vale, covered with a charming green turf, already illuminated by the +soft light of the full moon. + +"Soon after joining our companions at camp, our neighbors, the prince and +his associates, paid us a visit. We treated them with the best fare we had, +having till this time preserved our spirituous liquors. They left us with +perfect cordiality and cheerfulness, wishing us a good repose, and retired +to their own camp. Having a band of music with them, consisting of a drum, +flutes, and a rattle-gourd, they entertained us during the night with their +music, vocal and instrumental. + +"There is a languishing softness and melancholy air in the Indian convivial +songs, especially of the amorous class, irresistibly moving attention, and +exquisitely pleasing, especially in their solitary recesses, when all +nature is silent." + +Travelers who have been among them, in more recent times, before they had +embarked in their present desperate struggle, represent them in much the +same light; as leading a pleasant, indolent life, in a climate that +required little shelter or clothing, and where the spontaneous fruits of +the earth furnished subsistence without toil. A cleanly race, delighting in +bathing, passing much of their time under the shade of their trees, with +heaps of oranges and other fine fruits for their refreshment; talking, +laughing, dancing and sleeping. Every chief had a fan hanging to his side, +made of feathers of the wild turkey, the beautiful pink-colored crane, or +the scarlet flamingo. With this he would sit and fan himself with great +stateliness, while the young people danced before him. The women joined in +the dances with the men, excepting the war-dances. They wore strings of +tortoise-shells and pebbles round their legs, which rattled in cadence to +the music. They were treated with more attention among the Seminoles than +among most Indian tribes. + + + + +ORIGIN OF THE WHITE, THE RED, AND THE BLACK MEN + +A SEMINOLE TRADITION + + +When the Floridas were erected into a territory of the United States, one +of the earliest cares of the Governor, William P. Duval, was directed to +the instruction and civilization of the natives. For this purpose he called +a meeting of the chiefs, in which he informed them of the wish of their +Great Father at Washington that they should have schools and teachers among +them, and that their children should be instructed like the children of +white men. The chiefs listened with their customary silence and decorum to +a long speech, setting forth the advantages that would accrue to them from +this measure, and when he had concluded, begged the interval of a day to +deliberate on it. + +On the following day a solemn convocation was held, at which one of the +chiefs addressed the governor in the name of all the rest. "My brother," +said he, "we have been thinking over the proposition of our Great Father at +Washington, to send teachers and set up schools among us. We are very +thankful for the interest be takes in our welfare; but after much +deliberation have concluded to decline his offer. What will do very well +for white men will not do for red men. I know you white men say we all come +from the same father and mother, but you are mistaken. We have a tradition +handed down from our forefathers, and we believe it, that the Great Spirit, +when he undertook to make men, made the black man; it was his first +attempt, and pretty well for a beginning; but he soon saw he had bungled; +so he determined to try his hand again. He did so, and made the red man. He +liked him much better than the black man, but still he was not exactly what +he wanted. So he tried once more, and made the white man; and then he was +satisfied. You see, therefore, that you were made last, and that is the +reason I call you my youngest brother. + +"When the Great Spirit had made the three men, he called them together and +showed them three boxes. The first was filled with books, and maps, and +papers; the second with bows and arrows, knives and tomahawks; the third +with spades, axes, hoes, and hammers. 'These, my sons,' said he, 'are the +means by which you are to live: choose among them according to your fancy.' + +"The white man, being the favorite, had the first choice. He passed by the +box of working-tools without notice; but when he came to the weapons for +war and hunting, he stopped and looked hard at them. The red man trembled, +for he had set his heart upon that box. The white man, however, after +looking upon it for a moment, passed on, and chose the box of books and +papers. The red man's turn came next; and you may be sure he seized with +joy upon the bows and arrows and tomahawks. As to the black man, he had no +choice left but to put up with the box of tools. + +"From this it is clear that the Great Spirit intended the white man should +learn to read and write; to understand all about the moon and stars; and to +make everything, even rum and whisky. That the red man should be a +first-rate hunter, and a mighty warrior, but he was not to learn anything +from books, as the Great Spirit had not given him any: nor was he to make +rum and whisky, lest he should kill himself with drinking. As to the black +man, as he had nothing but working-tools, it was clear he was to work for +the white and red man, which he has continued to do. + +"We must go according to the wishes of the Great Spirit, or we shall get +into trouble. To know how to read and write is very good for white men, but +very bad for red men. It makes white men better, but red men worse. Some of +the Creeks and Cherokees learned to read and write, and they are the +greatest rascals among all the Indians. They went on to Washington, and +said they were going to see their Great Father, to talk about the good of +the nation. And when they got there, they all wrote upon a little piece of +paper, without the nation at home knowing anything about it. And the first +thing the nation at home knew of the matter, they were called together by +the Indian agent, who showed them a little piece of paper, which he told +them was a treaty, which their brethren had made in their name, with their +Great Father at Washington. And as they knew not what a treaty was, he held +up the little piece of paper, and they looked under it, and lo! it covered +a great extent of country, and they found that their brethren, by knowing +how to read and write, had sold their houses and their lands and the graves +of their fathers; and that the white man, by knowing how to read and write, +had gained them. Tell our Great Father at Washington, therefore, that we +are very sorry we cannot receive teachers among us; for reading and +writing, though very good for white men, is very bad for the Indians." + + + + +THE CONSPIRACY OF NEAMATHLA + +AN AUTHENTIC SKETCH + + +In the autumn of 1823, Governor Duval, and other commissioners on the part +of the United States, concluded a treaty with the chiefs and warriors of +the Florida Indians, by which the latter, for certain considerations, ceded +all claims to the whole territory, excepting a district in the eastern +part, to which they were to remove, and within which they were to reside +for twenty years. Several of the chiefs signed the treaty with great +reluctance; but none opposed it more strongly than Neamathla, principal +chief of the Mickasookies, a fierce and warlike people, many of them Creeks +by origin, who lived about the Mickasookie lake. Neamathla had always been +active in those depredations on the frontiers of Georgia which had brought +vengeance and ruin on the Seminoles. He was a remarkable man; upward of +sixty years of age, about six feet high, with a fine eye, and a strongly +marked countenance, over which he possessed great command. His hatred of +the white men appeared to be mixed with contempt: on the common people he +looked down with infinite scorn. He seemed unwilling to acknowledge any +superiority of rank or dignity in Governor Duval, claiming to associate +with him on terms of equality, as two great chieftains. Though he had been +prevailed upon to sign the treaty, his heart revolted at it. In one of his +frank conversations with Governor Duval, he observed: "This country belongs +to the red man; and if I had the number of warriors at my command that this +nation once had I would not leave a white man on my lands. I would +exterminate the whole. I can say this to you, for you can understand me: +you are a man; but I would not say it to your people. They'd cry out I was +a savage, and would take my life. They cannot appreciate the feelings of a +man that loves his country." + +As Florida had but recently been erected into a territory, everything as +yet was in rude and simple style. The governor, to make himself acquainted +with the Indians, and to be near at hand to keep an eye upon them, fixed +his residence at Tallahassee, near the Fowel towns, inhabited by the +Mickasookies. His government palace for a time was a mere log house, and he +lived on hunters' fare. The village of Neamathla was but about three miles +off, and thither the governor occasionally rode, to visit the old +chieftain. In one of these visits he found Neamathla seated in his wigwam, +in the center of the village, surrounded by his warriors. The governor had +brought him some liquor as a present, but it mounted quickly into his brain +and rendered him quite boastful and belligerent. The theme ever uppermost +in his mind was the treaty with the whites. "It was true," he said, "the +red men had made such a treaty, but the white men had not acted up to it. +The red men had received none of the money and the cattle that had been +promised them: the treaty, therefore, was at an end, and they did not mean +to be bound by it." + +Governor Duval calmly represented to him that the time appointed in the +treaty for the payment and delivery of the money and the cattle had not yet +arrived. This the old chieftain knew full well, but he chose, for the +moment, to pretend ignorance. He kept on drinking and talking, his voice +growing louder and louder, until it resounded all over the village. He held +in his hand a long knife, with which he had been rasping tobacco; this he +kept flourishing backward and forward, as he talked, by way of giving +effect to his words, brandishing it at times within an inch of the +governor's throat. He concluded his tirade by repeating that the country +belonged to the red men, and that sooner than give it up his bones and the +bones of his people should bleach upon its soil. + +Duval saw that the object of all this bluster was to see whether he could +be intimidated. He kept his eye, therefore, fixed steadily on the chief, +and the moment he concluded with his menace, seized him by the bosom of his +hunting shirt, and clinching his other fist: + +"I've heard what you have said," replied he. "You have made a treaty, yet +you say your bones shall bleach before you comply with it. As sure as there +is a sun in heaven, your bones _shall_ bleach, if you do not fulfill +every article of that treaty I I'll let you know that I am _first_ +here, and will see that you do your duty!" + +Upon this, the old chieftain threw himself back, burst into a fit of +laughing, and declared that all he had said was in joke. The governor +suspected, however, that there was a grave meaning at the bottom of this +jocularity. + +For two months, everything went on smoothly: the Indians repaired daily to +the log-cabin palace of the governor, at Tallahassee, and appeared +perfectly contented. All at once they ceased their visits, and for three or +four days not one was to be seen. Governor Duval began to apprehend that +some mischief was brewing. On the evening of the fourth day a chief named +Yellow-Hair, a resolute, intelligent fellow, who had always evinced an +attachment for the governor, entered his cabin about twelve o'clock at +night, and informed him that between four and five hundred warriors, +painted and decorated, were assembled to hold a secret war-talk at +Neamathla's town. He had slipped off to give intelligence, at the risk of +his life, and hastened back lest his absence should be discovered. + +Governor Duval passed an anxious night after this intelligence. He knew the +talent and the daring character of Neamathla; he recollected the threats he +had thrown out; he reflected that about eighty white families were +scattered widely apart, over a great extent of country, and might be swept +away at once, should the Indians, as he feared, determine to clear the +country. That he did not exaggerate the dangers of the case has been proved +by the horrid scenes of Indian warfare that have since desolated that +devoted region. After a night of sleepless cogitation, Duval determined on +a measure suited to his prompt and resolute character. Knowing the +admiration of the savages for personal courage, he determined, by a sudden +surprise, to endeavor to overawe and check them. It was hazarding much; but +where so many lives were in jeopardy, he felt bound to incur the hazard. + +Accordingly, on the next morning, he set off on horseback, attended merely +by a white man who had been reared among the Seminoles, and understood +their language and manners, and who acted as interpreter. They struck into +an Indian "trail," leading to Neamathla's village. After proceeding about +half a mile, Governor Duval informed the interpreter of the object of his +expedition. The latter, though a bold man, paused and remonstrated. The +Indians among whom they were going were among the most desperate and +discontented of the nation. Many of them were veteran warriors, +impoverished and exasperated by defeat, and ready to set their lives at any +hazard. He said that if they were holding a war council, it must be with +desperate intent, and it would be certain death to intrude among them. + +Duval made light of his apprehensions: he said he was perfectly well +acquainted with the Indian character, and should certainly proceed. So +saying, he rode on. When within half a mile of the village, the interpreter +addressed him again, in such a tremulous tone that Duval turned and looked +him in the face. He was deadly pale, and once more urged the governor to +return, as they would certainly be massacred if they proceeded. + +Duval repeated his determination to go on, but advised the other to return, +lest his pale face should betray fear to the Indians, and they might take +advantage of it. The interpreter replied that he would rather die a +thousand deaths than have it said he had deserted his leader when in peril. + +Duval then told him he must translate faithfully all he should say to the +Indians, without softening a word. The interpreter promised faithfully to +do so, adding that he well knew, when they were once in the town, nothing +but boldness could save them. + +They now rode into the village, and advanced to the council house. This was +rather a group of four houses, forming a square, in the center of which was +a great council-fire. The houses were open in front, toward the fire, and +closed in the rear. At each corner of the square there was an interval +between the houses, for ingress and egress. In these houses sat the old men +and the chiefs; the young men were gathered round the fire. Neamathla +presided at the council, elevated on a higher seat than the rest. + +Governor Duval entered by one of the corner intervals, and rode boldly into +the center of the square. The young men made way for him; an old man who +was speaking paused in the midst of his harangue. In an instant thirty or +forty rifles were cocked and leveled. Never had Duval heard so loud a click +of triggers; it seemed to strike on his heart. He gave one glance at the +Indians, and turned off with an air of contempt. He did not dare, he says, +to look again, lest it might affect his nerves; and on the firmness of his +nerves everything depended. + +The chief threw up his arm. The rifles were lowered. Duval breathed more +freely: he felt disposed to leap from his horse, but restrained himself, +and dismounted leisurely. He then walked deliberately up to Neamathla, and +demanded, in an authoritative tone, what were his motives for holding that +council. The moment he made this demand the orator sat down. The chief made +no reply, but hung his head in apparent confusion. After a moment's pause, +Duval proceeded: + +"I am well aware of the meaning of this war-council; and deem it my duty to +warn you against prosecuting the schemes you have been devising. If a +single hair of a white man in this country falls to the ground, I will hang +you and your chiefs on the trees around your council house! You cannot +pretend to withstand the power of the white men. You are in the palm of the +hand of your Great Father at Washington, who can crush you like an +egg-shell. You may kill me: I am but one man; but recollect, white men are +numerous as the leaves on the trees. Remember the fate of your warriors +whose bones are whitening in battlefields. Remember your wives and children +who perished in swamps. Do you want to provoke more hostilities? Another +war with the white men, and there will not be a Seminole left to tell the +story of his race." + +Seeing the effect of his words, he concluded by appointing a day for the +Indians to meet him at St. Marks, and give an account of their conduct. He +then rode off, without giving them time to recover from their surprise. +That night he rode forty miles to Apalachicola River, to the tribe of the +same name, who were in feud with the Seminoles. They promptly put two +hundred and fifty warriors at his disposal, whom he ordered to be at St. +Marks at the appointed day. He sent out runners, also, and mustered one +hundred of the militia to repair to the same place, together with a number +of regulars from the army. All his arrangements were successful. + +Having taken these measures, he returned to Tallahassee, to the +neighborhood of the conspirators, to show them that he was not afraid. Here +he ascertained, through Yellow-Hair, that nine towns were disaffected, and +had been concerned in the conspiracy. He was careful to inform himself, +from the same source, of the names of the warriors in each of those towns +who were most popular, though poor, and destitute of rank and command. + +When the appointed day was at hand for the meeting at St. Marks, Governor +Duval set off with Neamathla, who was at the head of eight or nine hundred +warriors, but who feared to venture into the fort without him. As they +entered the fort, and saw troops and militia drawn up there, and a force of +Apalachicola soldiers stationed on the opposite bank of the river, they +thought they were betrayed, and were about to fly; but Duval assured them +they were safe, and that when the talk was over they might go home +unmolested. + +A grand talk was now held, in which the late conspiracy was discussed. As +he had foreseen, Neamathla and the other old chiefs threw all the blame +upon the young men, "Well," replied Duval, "with us white men, when we find +a man incompetent to govern those under him, we put him down, and appoint +another in his place. Now as you all acknowledge you cannot manage your +young men, we must put chiefs over them who can." + +So saying, he deposed Neamathla first; appointing another in his place; and +so on with all the rest; taking care to substitute the warriors who had +been pointed out to him as poor and popular; putting medals round their +necks, and investing them with great ceremony. The Indians were surprised +and delighted at finding the appointments fall upon the very men they would +themselves have chosen, and hailed them with acclamations. The warriors +thus unexpectedly elevated to command, and clothed with dignity, were +secured to the interests of the governor, and sure to keep an eye on the +disaffected. As to the great chief Neamathla, he left the country in +disgust, and returned to the Creek nation, who elected him a chief of one +of their towns. Thus by the resolute spirit and prompt sagacity of one man, +a dangerous conspiracy was completely defeated. Governor Duval was +afterward enabled to remove the whole nation, through his own personal +influence, without the aid of the general government. + +To the Editor of the Knickerbocker: + +SIR--The following letter was scribbled to a friend during my sojourn in +the Alhambra, in 1828. As it presents scenes and impressions noted down at +the time, I venture to offer it for the consideration of your readers. +Should it prove acceptable, I may from tune to time give other letters, +written in the course of my various ramblings, and which have been kindly +restored to me by my friends. + +Yours, G. C. + + + + +LETTER FROM GRANADA + +GRANADA, 1828. + + +My Dear--: Religious festivals furnish, in all Catholic countries, +occasions of popular pageant and recreation; but in none more so than in +Spain, where the great end of religion seems to be to create holidays and +ceremonials. For two days past, Granada has been in a gay turmoil with the +great annual fete of Corpus Christi. This most eventful and romantic city, +as you well know, has ever been the rallying point of a mountainous region, +studded with small towns and villages. Hither, during the time that Granada +was the splendid capital of a Moorish kingdom, the Moslem youth repaired +from all points, to participate in chivalrous festivities; and hither the +Spanish populace at the present day throng from all parts of the +surrounding country to attend the festivals of the church. + +As the populace like to enjoy things from the very commencement, the stir +of Corpus Christ! began in Granada on the preceding evening. Before dark +the gates of the city were thronged with the picturesque peasantry from the +mountain villages, and the brown laborers from the Vega, or vast fertile +plain. As the evening advanced, the Vivarambla thickened and swarmed with a +motley multitude. This is the great square in the center of the city, +famous for tilts and tourneys during the times of Moorish domination, and +incessantly mentioned in all the old Moorish ballads of love and chivalry. +For several days the hammer had resounded throughout this square. A gallery +of wood had been erected all round it, forming a covered way for the grand +procession of Corpus Christi. On this eve of the ceremonial this gallery +was a fashionable promenade. It was brilliantly illuminated, bands of music +were stationed in balconies on the four sides of the square, and all the +fashion and beauty of Granada, and all its population that could boast a +little finery of apparel, together with the majos and majas, the beaux and +belles of the villages, in their gay Andalusian costumes, thronged this +covered walk, anxious to see and to be seen. As to the sturdy peasantry of +the Vega, and such of the mountaineers as did not pretend to display, but +were content with hearty enjoyment, they swarmed in the center of the +square; some in groups listening to the guitar and the traditional ballad; +some dancing their favorite bolero; some seated on the ground making a +merry though frugal supper; and some stretched out for their night's +repose. + +The gay crowd of the gallery dispersed gradually toward midnight; but the +center of the square resembled the bivouac of an army; for hundreds of the +peasantry, men, women, and children, passed the night there, sleeping +soundly on the bare earth, under the open canopy of heaven. A summer's +night requires no shelter in this genial climate; and with a great part of +the hardy peasantry of Spain a bed is a superfluity which many of them +never enjoy, and which they affect to despise. The common Spaniard spreads +out his manta, or mule-cloth, or wraps himself in his cloak, and lies on +the ground, with his saddle for a pillow. + +The next morning I revisited the square at sunrise. It was still strewed +with groups of sleepers; some were reposing from the dance and revel of the +evening; others had left their villages after work, on the preceding day, +and having trudged on foot the greater part of the night, were taking a +sound sleep to freshen them for the festivities of the day. Numbers from +the mountains, and the remote villages of the plain, who had set out in the +night, continued to arrive, with their wives and children. All were in high +spirits; greeting each other, and exchanging jokes and pleasantries. The +gay tumult thickened as the day advanced. Now came pouring in at the city +gates, and parading through the streets, the deputations from the various +villages, destined to swell the grand procession. These village deputations +were headed by their priests, bearing their respective crosses and banners, +and images of the Blessed Virgin and of patron saints; all which were +matters of great rivalship and jealousy among the peasantry. It was like +the chivalrous gatherings of ancient days, when each town and village sent +its chiefs, and warriors, and standards, to defend the capital or grace its +festivities. + +At length, all these various detachments congregated into one grand +pageant, which slowly paraded round the Vivarambla, and through the +principal streets, where every window and balcony was hung with tapestry. +In this procession were all the religious orders, the civil and military +authorities, and the chief people of the parishes and villages; every +church and convent had contributed its banners, its images, its relics, and +poured forth its wealth for the occasion. In the center of the procession +walked the archbishop, under a damask canopy, and surrounded by inferior +dignitaries and their dependents. The whole moved to the swell and cadence +of numerous bands of music, and, passing through the midst of a countless +yet silent multitude, proceeded onward to the cathedral. + +I could not but be struck with the changes of times and customs, as I saw +this monkish pageant passing through the Vivarambla, the ancient seat of +Moslem pomp and chivalry. The contrast was indeed forced upon the mind by +the decorations of the square. The whole front of the wooden gallery +erected for the procession, extending several hundred feet, was faced with +canvas, on which some humble though patriotic artist had painted, by +contract, a series of the principal scenes and exploits of the conquest, as +recorded in chronicle and romance. It is thus the romantic legends of +Granada mingle themselves with everything, and are kept fresh in the public +mind. Another great festival at Granada, answering in its popular character +to our Fourth of July, is _El Dia de la Toma_; "The day of the +Capture"; that is to say, the anniversary of the capture of the city by +Ferdinand and Isabella. On this day all Granada is abandoned to revelry. +The alarm-bell on the Terre de la Campana, or watch-tower of the Alhambra, +keeps up a clangor from morn till night; and happy is the damsel that can +ring that bell; it is a charm to secure a husband in the course of the +year. + +The sound, which can be heard over the whole Vega, and to the top of the +mountains, summons the peasantry to the festivities. Throughout the day the +Alhambra is thrown open to the public. The halls and courts of the Moorish +monarchs resound with the guitar and castanet, and gay groups, in the +fanciful dresses of Andalusia, perform those popular dances which they have +inherited from the Moors. + +In the meantime a grand procession moves through the city. The banner of +Ferdinand and Isabella, that precious relic of the conquest, is brought +forth from its depository, and borne by the Alferez Mayor, or grand +standard-bearer, through the principal streets. The portable camp-altar, +which was carried about with them in all their campaigns, is transported +into the chapel royal, and placed before their sepulcher, where their +effigies lie in monumental marble. The procession fills the chapel. High +mass is performed in memory of the conquest; and at a certain part of the +ceremony the Alferez Mayor puts on his hat, and waves the standard above +the tomb of the conquerors. + +A more whimsical memorial of the conquest is exhibited on the same evening +at the theater, where a popular drama is performed, entitled "Ave Maria." +This turns on the oft-sung achievement of Hernando del Pulgar, surnamed El +de las Hazanas, "He of the Exploits," the favorite hero of the populace of +Granada. + +During the time that Ferdinand and Isabella besieged the city, the young +Moorish and Spanish knights vied with each other in extravagant bravadoes. +On one occasion Hernando del Pulgar, at the head of a handful of youthful +followers, made a dash into Granada at the dead of night, nailed the +inscription of Ave Maria, with his dagger, to the gate of the principal +mosque, as a token of having consecrated it to the Virgin, and effected his +retreat in safety. + +While the Moorish cavaliers admired this daring exploit, they felt bound to +revenge it. On the following day, therefore, Tarfe, one of the stoutest of +the infidel warriors, paraded in front of the Christian army, dragging the +sacred inscription of Ave Maria at his horse's tail. The cause of the +Virgin was eagerly vindicated by Garcilaso de la Vega, who slew the Moor in +single combat, and elevated the inscription of Ave Maria, in devotion and +triumph, at the end of his lance. + +The drama founded on this exploit is prodigiously popular with the common +people. Although it has been acted time out of mind, and the people have +seen it repeatedly, it never fails to draw crowds, and so completely to +engross the feelings of the audience, as to have almost the effect on them +of reality. When their favorite Pulgar strides about with many a mouthy +speech, in the very midst of the Moorish capital, he is cheered with +enthusiastic bravoes; and when he nails the tablet of Ave Maria to the door +of the mosque, the theater absolutely shakes with shouts and thunders of +applause. On the other hand, the actors who play the part of the Moors have +to bear the brunt of the temporary indignation of their auditors; and when +the infidel Tarfe plucks down the tablet to tie it to his horse's tail, +many of the people absolutely rise in fury, and are ready to jump upon the +stage to revenge this insult to the Virgin. + +Besides this annual festival at the capital, almost every village of the +Vega and the mountains has its own anniversary, wherein its own deliverance +from the Moorish yoke is celebrated with uncouth ceremony and rustic pomp. + +On these occasions a kind of resurrection takes place of ancient Spanish +dresses and armor; great two-handed swords, ponderous arquebuses, with +matchlocks, and other weapons and accouterments, once the equipments of the +village chivalry, and treasured up from generation to generation, since the +time of the conquest. In these hereditary and historical garbs some of the +most sturdy of the villagers array themselves as champions of the faith, +while its ancient opponents are represented by another band of villagers, +dressed up as Moorish warriors. A tent is pitched in the public square of +the village, within which is an altar and an image of the Virgin. The +Spanish warriors approach to perform their devotions at this shrine, but +are opposed by the infidel Moslems, who surround the tent. A mock fight +succeeds, in the course of which the combatants sometimes forget that they +are merely playing a part, and exchange dry blows of grievous weight; the +fictious Moors especially are apt to bear away pretty evident marks of the +pious zeal of their antagonists. The contest, however, invariably +terminates in favor of the good cause. The Moors are defeated and taken +prisoners. The image of the Virgin, rescued from thralldom, is elevated in +triumph; and a grand procession succeeds, in which the Spanish conquerors +figure with great vainglory and applause, and their captives are led in +chains, to the infinite delight and edification of the populace. These +annual festivals are the delight of the villagers, who expend considerable +sums in their celebration. In some villages they are occasionally obliged +to suspend them for want of funds; but when times grow better, or they have +been enabled to save money for the purpose, they are revived with all their +grotesque pomp and extravagance. + +To recur to the exploit of Hernando del Pulgar. However extravagant and +fabulous it may seem, it is authenticated by certain traditional usages, +and shows the vainglorious daring that prevailed between the youthful +warriors of both nations, in that romantic war. The mosque thus consecrated +to the Virgin was made the cathedral of the city after the conquest; and +there is a painting of the Virgin beside the royal chapel, which was put +there by Hernando del Pulgar. The lineal representative of the hare-brained +cavalier has the right to this day to enter the church, on certain +occasions, on horseback, to sit within the choir, and to put on his hat at +the elevation of the host, though these privileges have often been +obstinately contested by the clergy. + +The present lineal representative of Hernando del Pulgar is the Marquis de +Salar, whom I have met occasionally in society. He is a young man of +agreeable appearance and manners, and his bright black eyes would give +indication of his inheriting the fire of his ancestor. When the paintings +were put up in the Vivarambla, illustrating the scenes of the conquest, an +old gray-headed family servant of the Pulgars was so delighted with those +which related to the family hero, that he absolutely shed tears, and +hurrying home to the marquis, urged him to hasten and behold the family +trophies. The sudden zeal of the old man provoked the mirth of his young +master; upon which, turning to the brother of the marquis, with that +freedom allowed to family servants in Spain, "Come, señor," cried he, "you +are more grave and considerate than your brother; come and see your +ancestor in all his glory!" + + * * * * * + +Within two or three years after the above letter was written, the Marquis +de Salar was married to the beautiful daughter of the Count -----, +mentioned by the author in his anecdotes of the Alhambra. The match was +very agreeable to all parties, and the nuptials were celebrated with great +festivity. + + + + +ABDERAHMAN + +FOUNDER OF THE DYNASTY OF THE OMMIADES OF SPAIN + + +_To the Editor of the Knickerbocker:_ + +SIR--In the following memoir I have conformed to the facts furnished by the +Arabian chroniclers, as cited by the learned Conde. The story of Abderahman +has almost the charm of romance; but it derives a higher interest from the +heroic yet gentle virtues which it illustrates, and from recording the +fortunes of the founder of that splendid dynasty, which shed such a luster +upon Spain during the domination of the Arabs. Abderahman may, in some +respects, be compared to our own Washington. He achieved the independence +of Moslem Spain, freeing it from subjection to the caliphs; he united its +jarring parts under one government; he ruled over it with justice, +clemency, and moderation; his whole course of conduct was distinguished by +wonderful forbearance and magnanimity; and when he died he left a legacy of +good example and good counsel to his successors. + +G.C. + + * * * * * + +"Blessed be God!" exclaims an Arabian historian; "in His hands alone is the +destiny of princes. He overthrows the mighty, and humbles the haughty to +the dust; and he raises up the persecuted and afflicted from the very +depths of despair!" + +The illustrious house of Omeya had swayed the scepter at Damascus for +nearly a century, when a rebellion broke out, headed by Aboul Abbas Safah, +who aspired to the throne of the caliphs, as being descended from Abbas, +the uncle of the prophet. The rebellion was successful. Marvau, the last +caliph of the house of Omeya, was defeated and slain. A general +proscription of the Ommiades took place. Many of them fell in battle; many +were treacherously slain, in places where they had taken refuge; above +seventy most noble and distinguished were murdered at a banquet to which +they had been invited, and their dead bodies covered with cloths, and made +to serve as tables for the horrible festivity. Others were driven forth, +forlorn and desolate wanderers in various parts of the earth, and pursued +with relentless hatred; for it was the determination of the usurper that +not one of the persecuted family should escape. Aboul Abbas took possession +of three stately palaces and delicious gardens, and founded the powerful +dynasty of the Abbassides, which, for several centuries, maintained +dominion in the east. + +"Blessed be God!" again exclaims the Arabian historian; "it was written in +His eternal decrees that, notwithstanding the fury of the Abbassides, the +noble stock of Omeya should not be destroyed. One fruitful branch remained +to nourish with glory and greatness in another land." + +When the sanguinary proscription of the Ommiades took place, two young +princes of that line, brothers, by the names of Solyman and Abderahman were +spared for a time. Their personal graces, noble demeanor, and winning +affability, had made them many friends, while their extreme youth rendered +them objects of but little dread to the usurper. Their safety, however, was +but transient. In a little while the suspicions of Aboul Abbas were +aroused. The unfortunate Solyman fell beneath the scimiter of the +executioner. His brother Abderahman was warned of his danger in time. +Several of his friends hastened to him, bringing him jewels, a disguise, +and a fleet horse. "The emissaries of the caliph," said they, "are in +search of thee; thy brother lies weltering in his blood; fly to the desert! +There is no safety for thee in the habitations of man!" + +Abderahman took the jewels, clad himself in the disguise, and mounting his +steed, fled for his life. As he passed, a lonely fugitive, by the palaces +of his ancestors, in which his family had long held sway, their very walls +seemed disposed to betray him, as they echoed the swift clattering of his +steed. + +Abandoning his native country, Syria, where he was liable at each moment to +be recognized and taken, he took refuge among the Bedouin Arabs, a +half-savage race of shepherds. His youth, his inborn majesty and grace, and +the sweetness and affability that shone forth in his azure eyes, won the +hearts of these wandering men. He was but twenty years of age, and had been +reared in the soft luxury of a palace; but he was tall and vigorous, and in +a little while hardened himself so completely to the rustic life of the +fields that it seemed as though he had passed all his days in the rude +simplicity of a shepherd's cabin. + +His enemies, however, were upon his traces, and gave him but little rest. +By day he scoured the plain with the Bedouins, hearing in every blast the +sound of pursuit, and fancying in every distant cloud of dust a troop of +the caliph's horsemen. That night was passed in broken sleep and frequent +watchings, and at the earliest dawn he was the first to put the bridle to +his steed. + +Wearied by these perpetual alarms, he bade farewell to his friendly +Bedouins, and leaving Egypt behind, sought a safer refuge in Western +Africa. The province of Barea was at that time governed by Aben Habib, who +had risen to rank and fortune under the fostering favor of the Ommiades. +"Surely," thought the unhappy prince, "I shall receive kindness and +protection from this man; he will rejoice to show his gratitude for the +benefits showered upon him by my kindred." + +Abderahman was young, and as yet knew little of mankind. None are so +hostile to the victim of power as those whom he has befriended. They fear +being suspected of gratitude by his persecutors, and involved in his +misfortunes. + +The unfortunate Abderahman had halted for a few days to repose himself +among a horde of Bedouins, who had received him with their characteristic +hospitality. They would gather round him in the evenings, to listen to his +conversation, regarding with wonder this gently-spoken stranger from the +more refined country of Egypt. The old men marveled to find so much +knowledge and wisdom in such early youth, and the young men, won by his +frank and manly carriage, entreated him to remain among them. + +One night, when all were buried in sleep, they were roused by the tramp of +horsemen. The Wali Aben Habib, who, like all the governors of distant +ports, had received orders from the caliph to be on the watch for the +fugitive prince, had heard that a young man, answering the description, had +entered the province alone, from the frontiers of Egypt, on a steed worn +down by travel. He had immediately sent forth horsemen in his pursuit, with +orders to bring him to him dead or alive. The emissaries of the Wali had +traced him to his resting-place, and demanded of the Arabs whether a young +man, a stranger from Syria, did not sojourn among their tribe. The Bedouins +knew by the description that the stranger must be their guest, and feared +some evil was intended him. "Such a youth," said they, "has indeed +sojourned among us; but he has gone, with some of our young men, to a +distant valley, to hunt the lion." The emissaries inquired the way to the +place, and hastened on to surprise their expected prey. + +The Bedouins repaired to Abderahman, who was still sleeping. "If thou hast +aught to fear from man in power," said they, "arise and fly; for the +horsemen of the Wali are in quest of thee! We have sent them off for a time +on a wrong errand, but they will soon return." + +"Alas! whither shall I fly!" cried the unhappy prince; "my enemies hunt me +like the ostrich of the desert. They follow me like the wind, and allow me +neither safety nor repose!" + +Six of the bravest youth of the tribe stepped forward. "We have steeds," +said they, "that can outstrip the wind, and hands that can hurl the +javelin. We will accompany thee in thy flight, and will fight by thy side +while life lasts, and we have weapons to wield." + +Abderahman embraced them with tears of gratitude. They mounted their +steeds, and made for the most lonely parts of the desert. By the faint +light of the stars, they passed through dreary wastes and over hills of +sand. The lion roared, and the hyena howled unheeded, for they fled from +man, more cruel and relentless, when in pursuit of blood, than the savage +beasts of the desert. + +At sunrise they paused to refresh themselves beside a scanty well, +surrounded by a few palm-trees. One of the young Arabs climbed a tree, and +looked in every direction, but not a horseman was to be seen. + +"We have outstripped pursuit," said the Bedouins; "whither shall we conduct +thee? Where is thy home and the land of thy people?" + +"Home have I none!" replied Abderahman, mournfully, "nor family, nor +kindred! My native land is to me a land of destruction, and my people seek +my life!" + +The hearts of the youthful Bedouins were touched with compassion at these +words, and they marveled that one so young and gentle should have suffered +such great sorrow and persecution. + +Abderahman sat by the well and mused for a time. At length, breaking +silence, "In the midst of Mauritania," said he, "dwells the tribe of +Zeneta. My mother was of that tribe; and perhaps when her son presents +himself, a persecuted wanderer, at their door, they will not turn him from +the threshold." + +"The Zenetes," replied the Bedouins, "are among the bravest and most +hospitable of the people of Africa. Never did the unfortunate seek refuge +among them in vain, nor was the stranger repulsed from their door." So they +mounted their steeds with renewed spirits, and journeyed with all speed to +Tahart, the capital of the Zenetes. + +When Abderahman entered the place, followed by his six rustic Arabs, all +wayworn and travel-stained, his noble and majestic demeanor shone through +the simple garb of a Bedouin. A crowd gathered around him, as he alighted +from his weary steed. Confiding in the well known character of the tribe, +he no longer attempted concealment. + +"You behold before you," said he, "one of the proscribed house of Omeya. I +am that Abderahman upon whose head a price has been set, and who has been +driven from land to land. I come to you as my kindred. My mother was of +your tribe, and she told me with her dying breath that in all time of need +I would find a home and friends among the Zenetes." + +The words of Abderahman went straight to the hearts of his hearers. They +pitied his youth and his great misfortunes, while they were charmed by his +frankness, and by the manly graces of his person. The tribe was of a bold +and generous spirit, and not to be awed by the frown of power. "Evil be +upon us and upon our children," said they, "if we deceive the trust thou +hast placed in us!" + +Then one of the noblest Xeques took Abderahman to his house, and treated +him as his own child; and the principal people of the tribe strove who most +should cherish him, and do him honor; endeavoring to obliterate by their +kindness the recollection of his past misfortunes. + +Abderahman had resided some time among the hospitable Zenetes, when one day +two strangers, of venerable appearance, attended by a small retinue, +arrived at Tahart. They gave themselves out as merchants, and from the +simple style in which they traveled, excited no attention. In a little +while they sought out Abderahman, and, taking him apart: "Hearken," said +they, "Abderahman, of the royal line of Omeya; we are embassadors sent on +the part of the principal Moslems of Spain, to offer thee, not merely an +asylum, for that thou hast already among these brave Zenetes, but an +empire! Spain is a prey to distracting factions, and can no longer exist as +a dependency upon a throne too remote to watch over its welfare. It needs +to be independent of Asia and Africa, and to be under the government of a +good prince, who shall reside within it, and devote himself entirely to its +prosperity; a prince with sufficient title to silence all rival claims, and +bring the warring parties into unity and peace; and at the same time with +sufficient ability and virtue to insure the welfare of his dominions. For +this purpose the eyes of all the honorable leaders in Spain have been +turned to thee, as a descendant of the royal line of Omeya, and an offset +from the same stock as our holy prophet. They have heard of thy virtues, +and of thy admirable constancy under misfortunes; and invite thee to accept +the sovereignty of one of the noblest countries in the world. Thou wilt +have some difficulties to encounter from hostile men; but thou wilt have on +thy side the bravest captains that have signalized themselves in the +conquest of the unbelievers." + +The embassadors ceased, and Abderahman remained for a time lost in wonder +and admiration. "God is great!" exclaimed he, at length; "there is but one +God, who is God, and Mahomet is his prophet! Illustrious embassadors, you +have put new life into my soul, for you have shown me something to live +for. In the few years that I have lived, troubles and sorrows have been +heaped upon my head, and I have become inured to hardships and alarms. +Since it is the wish of the valiant Moslems of Spain, I am willing to +become their leader and defender, and devote myself to their cause, be it +happy or disastrous." + +The embassadors now cautioned him to be silent as to their errand, and to +depart secretly for Spain. "The seaboard of Africa," said they, "swarms +with your enemies, and a powerful faction in Spain would intercept you on +landing, did they know your name and rank, and the object of your coming." + +But Abderahman replied: "I have been cherished in adversity by these brave +Zenetes; I have been protected and honored by them, when a price was set +upon my head, and to harbor me was great peril. How can I keep my good +fortune from my benefactors, and desert their hospitable roofs in silence? +He is unworthy of friendship, who withholds confidence from his friend." + +Charmed with the generosity of his feelings, the embassadors made no +opposition to his wishes. The Zenetes proved themselves worthy of his +confidence. They hailed with joy the great change in his fortunes. The +warriors and the young men pressed forward to follow, and aid them with +horse and weapon; "for the honor of a noble house and family," said they, +"can be maintained only by lances and horsemen." In a few days he set +forth, with the embassadors, at the head of nearly a thousand horsemen +skilled in war, and exercised in the desert, and a large body of infantry, +armed with lances. The venerable Xeque, with whom he had resided, blessed +him and shed tears over him at parting, as though he had been his own +child; and when the youth passed over the threshold, the house was filled +with lamentations. + +Abderahman reached Spain in safely, and landed at Almanecar, with his +little band of warlike Zenetes. Spain was at that time in a state of great +confusion. Upward of forty years had elapsed since the conquest. The civil +wars in Syria and Egypt had prevented the main government at Damascus from +exercising control over this distant and recently acquired territory. Every +Moslem commander considered the town or province committed to his charge an +absolute property; and accordingly exercised the most arbitrary extortions. +These excesses at length became insupportable, and, at a convocation of +many of the principal leaders, it was determined, as a means to end these +dissensions, to unite all the Moslem provinces of Spain under one emir, or +general governor. Yusuf el Fehri, an ancient man, of honorable lineage, was +chosen for this station. He began his reign with policy, and endeavored to +conciliate all parties; but the distribution of offices soon created +powerful enemies among the disappointed leaders. A civil war was the +consequence, and Spain was deluged with blood. The troops of both parties +burned and ravaged and laid every thing waste, to distress their +antagonists; the villages were abandoned by their inhabitants, who fled to +the cities for refuge; and flourishing towns disappeared from the face of +the earth, or remained mere heaps of rubbish and ashes. At the time of the +landing of Abderahman in Spain, the old Emir Yusuf had obtained a signal +victory. He had captured Saragossa, in which was Ameer ben Amru, his +principal enemy, together with his son and secretary. Loading his prisoners +with chains, and putting them on camels, he set out in triumph for Cordova, +considering himself secure in the absolute domination of Spain. + +He had halted one day in a valley called Wadarambla, and was reposing with +his family in his pavilion, while his people and the prisoners made a +repast in the open air. In the midst of his repose, his confidential +adherent and general, the Wali Samael, galloped into the camp covered with +dust and exhausted with fatigue. He brought tidings of the arrival of +Abderahman and that the whole seaboard was flocking to his standard. +Messenger after messenger came hurrying into the camp, confirming the +fearful tidings, and adding that this descendant of the Omeyas had secretly +been invited to Spain by Amru and his followers. Yusuf waited not to +ascertain the truth of this accusation. Giving way to a transport of fury, +he ordered that Amru, his son and secretary, should be cut to pieces. His +commands were instantly executed. "And this cruelty," says the Arabian +chronicler, "lost him the favor of Allah; for from that time success +deserted his standard." + +Abderahman had indeed been hailed with joy on his landing in Spain. The old +people hoped to find tranquillity under the sway of one supreme chieftain, +descended from their ancient caliphs; the young men were rejoiced to have a +youthful warrior to lead them on to victories; and the populace, charmed +with his freshness and manly beauty, his majestic yet gracious and affable +demeanor, shouted: "Long live Abderahman ben Moavia Meramamolin of Spain!" + +In a few days the youthful sovereign saw himself at the head of more than +twenty thousand men, from the neighborhood of Elvira, Almeria, Malaga, +Xeres, and Sidonia. Fair Seville threw open its gates at his approach, and +celebrated his arrival with public rejoicings. He continued his march into +the country, vanquished one of the eons of Yusuf before the gates of +Cordova, and obliged him to take refuge within its walls, where he held him +in close siege. Hearing, however, of the approach of Yusuf, the father, +with a powerful army, he divided his forces, and leaving ten thousand men +to press the siege, he hastened with the other ten to meet the coming foe. + +Yusuf had indeed mustered a formidable force, from the east and south of +Spain, and accompanied by his veteran general, Samael, came with confident +boasting to drive this intruder from the land. His confidence increased on +beholding the small army of Abderahman. Turning to Samael, he repeated, +with a scornful sneer, a verse from an Arabian poetess, which says: + +"How hard is our lot! We come, a thirsty multitude, and lo! but this cup of +water to share among us!" + +There was indeed a fearful odds. On the one side were two veteran generals, +grown gray in victory, with a mighty host of warriors, seasoned in the wars +of Spain. On the other side was a mere youth, scarce attained to manhood, +with a hasty levy of half-disciplined troops; but the youth was a prince, +flushed with hope, and aspiring after fame and empire; and surrounded by a +devoted band of warriors from Africa, whose example infused desperate zeal +into the little army. + +The encounter took place at daybreak. The impetuous valor of the Zenetes +carried everything before it. The cavalry of Yusuf was broken, and driven +back upon the infantry, and before noon the whole host was put to headlong +flight. Yusuf and Samael were borne along in the torrent of the fugitives, +raging and storming, and making ineffectual efforts to rally them. They +were separated widely in the confusion of the flight, one taking refuge in +the Algarves, the other in the kingdom of Murcia. They afterward rallied, +reunited their forces, and made another desperate stand near Almunecar. The +battle was obstinate and bloody, but they were again defeated, and driven, +with a handful of followers, to take refuge in the rugged mountains +adjacent to Elvira. + +The spirit of the veteran Samael gave way before these fearful reverses. +"In vain, oh Yusuf!" said he, "do we contend with the prosperous star of +this youthful conqueror: the will of Allah be done! Let us submit to our +fate, and sue for favorable terms, while we have yet the means of +capitulation." + +It was a hard trial for the proud spirit of Yusuf, that had once aspired to +uncontrolled sway; but he was compelled to capitulate. Abderahman was as +generous as brave. He granted the two gray-headed generals the most +honorable conditions, and even took the veteran Samael into favor, +employing him, as a mark of confidence, to visit the eastern provinces of +Spain, and restore them to tranquillity. Yusuf, having delivered up Elvira +and Granada, and complied with other articles of his capitulation, was +permitted to retire to Murcia, and rejoin his son Muhamad. A general +amnesty to all chiefs and soldiers who should yield up their strongholds, +and lay down their arms, completed the triumph of Abderahman, and brought +all hearts into obedience. + +Thus terminated this severe struggle for the domination of Spain; and thus +the illustrious family of Omeya, after having been cast down and almost +exterminated in the East, took new root, and sprang forth prosperously in +the West. + +Wherever Abderahman appeared, he was received with rapturous acclamations. +As he rode through the cities, the populace rent the air with shouts of +joy; the stately palaces were crowded with spectators, eager to gain a +sight of his graceful form and beaming countenance; and when they beheld +the mingled majesty and benignity of their new monarch, and the sweetness +and gentleness of his whole conduct, they extolled him as something more +than mortal; as a beneficent genius, sent for the happiness of Spain. + +In the interval of peace which now succeeded, Abderahman occupied himself +in promoting the useful and elegant arts, and in introducing into Spain the +refinements of the East. Considering the building and ornamenting of cities +as among the noblest employments of the tranquil hours of princes, he +bestowed great pains upon beautifying the city of Cordova and its environs. +He reconstructed banks and dikes, to keep the Guadalquivir from overflowing +its borders, and on the vast terraces thus formed he planted delightful +gardens. In the midst of these, he erected a lofty tower, commanding a view +of the vast and fruitful valley, enlivened by the windings of the river. In +this tower he would pass hours of meditation, gazing on the soft and varied +landscape, and inhaling the bland and balmy airs of that delightful region. +At such times, his thoughts would recur to the past, and the misfortunes of +his youth; the massacre of his family would rise to view, mingled with +tender recollections of his native country, from which he was exiled. In +these melancholy musings he would sit with his eyes fixed upon a palm-tree +which he had planted in the midst of his garden. It is said to have been +the first ever planted in Spain, and to have been the parent stock of all +the palm-trees which grace the southern provinces of the peninsula. The +heart of Abderahman yearned toward this tree; it was the offspring of his +native country, and, like him, an exile. In one of his moods of tenderness, +he composed verses upon it, which have since become famous throughout the +world. The following is a rude but literal translation: + +"Beauteous Palm! thou also wert hither brought a stranger; but thy roots +have found a kindly soil, thy head is lifted to the skies, and the sweet +airs of Algarve fondle and kiss thy branches. + +"Thou hast known, like me, the storms of adverse fortune. Bitter tears +wouldst thou shed, couldst thou feel my woes. Repeated griefs have +overwhelmed me. With early tears I bedewed the palms on the banks of the +Euphrates; but neither tree nor river heeded my sorrows, when driven by +cruel fate, and the ferocious Aboul Abbas, from the scenes of my childhood +and the sweet objects of my affection. + +"To thee no remembrance remains of my beloved country; I, unhappy! can +never recall it without tears." + +The generosity of Abderahman to his vanquished foes was destined to be +abused. The veteran Yusuf, in visiting certain of the cities which he had +surrendered, found himself surrounded by zealous partisans, ready to peril +life in his service. The love of command revived in his bosom, and he +repented the facility with which he had suffered himself to be persuaded to +submission. Flushed with new hopes of success, he caused arms to be +secretly collected, and deposited in various villages, most zealous in +their professions of devotion, and raising a considerable body of troops, +seized upon the castle of Almodovar. The rash rebellion was short-lived. At +the first appearance of an army sent by Abderahman, and commanded by +Abdelmelee, governor of Seville, the villages which had so recently +professed loyalty to Yusuf hastened to declare their attachment to the +monarch, and to give up the concealed arms. Almodovar was soon retaken, and +Yusuf, driven to the environs of Lorea, was surrounded by the cavalry of +Abdelmelee. The veteran endeavored to cut a passage through the enemy, but +after fighting with desperate fury, and with a force of arm incredible in +one of his age, he fell beneath blows from weapons of all kinds, so that +after the battle his body could scarcely be recognized, so numerous were +the wounds. His head was cut off and sent to Cordova, where it was placed +in an iron cage, over the gate of the city. + +The old lion was dead, but his whelps survived. Yusuf had left three sons, +who inherited his warlike spirit, and were eager to revenge his death. +Collecting a number of the scattered adherents of their house, they +surprised and seized upon Toledo, during the absence of Temam, its Wali or +commander. In this old warrior city, built upon a rock, and almost +surrounded by the Tagus, they set up a kind of robber hold, scouring the +surrounding country, levying tribute, seizing upon horses, and compelling +the peasantry to join their standard. Every day cavalcades of horses and +mules, laden with spoil, with flocks of sheep and droves of cattle, came +pouring over the bridges on either side of the city, and thronging in at +the gates, the plunder of the surrounding country. Those of the inhabitants +who were still loyal to Abderahman dared not lift up their voices, for men +of the sword bore sway. At length one day, when the sons of Yusuf, with +their choicest troops, were out on a maraud, the watchmen on the towers +gave the alarm. A troop of scattered horsemen were spurring wildly toward +the gates. The banners of the sons of Yusuf were descried. Two of them +spurred into the city, followed by a handful of warriors, covered with +confusion, and dismay. They had been encountered and defeated by the Wali +Temam, and one of the brothers had been slain. + +The gates were secured in all haste, and the walls were scarcely manned, +when Temam appeared before them with his troops, and summoned the city to +surrender. A great internal commotion ensued between the loyalists and the +insurgents; the latter, however, had weapons in their hands, and prevailed; +and for several days, trusting to the strength of their rock-built +fortress, they set the Wali at defiance. At length some of the loyal +inhabitants of Toledo, who knew all its secret and subterraneous passages, +some of which, if chroniclers may be believed, have existed since the days +of Hercules, if not of Tubal Cain, introduced Temam and a chosen band of +his warriors into the very center of the city, where they suddenly appeared +as if by magic. A panic seized upon the insurgents. Some sought safety in +submission, some in concealment, some in flight. Casim, one of the sons of +Yusuf, escaped in disguise; the youngest, unarmed, was taken, and was sent +captive to the king, accompanied by the head of his brother, who had been +slain in battle. + +When Abderahman beheld the youth laden with chains, he remembered his own +sufferings in his early days, and had compassion on him; but, to prevent +him from doing further mischief, he imprisoned him in a tower of the wall +of Cordova. + +In the meantime Casim, who had escaped, managed to raise another band of +warriors. Spain, in all ages a guerrilla country, prone to partisan warfare +and petty maraud, was at that time infested by bands of licentious troops, +who had sprung up in the civil contests; their only object pillage, their +only dependence the sword, and ready to flock to any new and desperate +standard, that promised the greatest license. With a ruffian force thus +levied, Casim scoured the country, took Sidonia by storm, and surprised +Seville while in a state of unsuspecting security. + +Abderahman put himself at the head of his faithful Zenetes, and took the +field in person. By the rapidity of his movements, the rebels were +defeated, Sidonia and Seville speedily retaken, and Casim was made +prisoner. The generosity of Abderahman was again exhibited toward this +unfortunate son of Yusuf. He spared his life, and sent him to be confined +in a tower at Toledo. + +The veteran Samael had taken no part in these insurrections, but had +attended faithfully to the affairs intrusted to him by Abderahman. The +death of his old friend and colleague, Yusuf, however, and the subsequent +disasters of his family, filled him with despondency. Fearing the +inconstancy of fortune, and the dangers incident to public employ, he +entreated the king to be permitted to retire to his house in Seguenza, and +indulge a privacy and repose suited to his advanced age. His prayer was +granted. The veteran laid by his arms, battered in a thousand conflicts; +hung his sword and lance against the wall, and, surrounded by a few +friends, gave himself up apparently to the sweets of quiet and unambitious +leisure. + +Who can count, however, upon the tranquil content of a heart nurtured amid +the storms of war and ambition! Under the ashes of this outward humility +were glowing the coals of faction. In his seemingly philosophical +retirement, Samael was concerting with his friends new treason against +Abderahman. His plot was discovered; his house was suddenly surrounded by +troops; and he was conveyed to a tower at Toledo, where, in the course of a +few months, he died in captivity. + +The magnanimity of Abderahman was again put to the proof, by a new +insurrection at Toledo. Hixem ben Adra, a relation of Yusuf, seized upon +the Alcazar, or citadel, slew several of the royal adherents of the king, +liberated Casim from his tower, and, summoning all the banditti of the +country, soon mustered a force of ten thousand men. Abderahman was quickly +before the walls of Toledo, with the troops of Cordova and his devoted +Zenetes. The rebels were brought to terms, and surrendered the city on +promise of general pardon, which was extended even to Hixem and Casim. When +the chieftains saw Hixem and his principal confederates in the power of +Abderahman, they advised him to put them all to death. "A promise given to +traitors and rebels," said they, "is not binding, when it is to the +interest of the state that it should be broken." + +"No!" replied Abderahman, "if the safety of my throne were at stake, I +would not break my word." So saying, he confirmed the amnesty, and granted +Hixem ben Adra a worthless life, to be employed in further treason. + +Scarcely had Abderahman returned from this expedition, when a powerful +army, sent by the caliph, landed from Africa on the coast of the Algarves. +The commander, Aly ben Mogueth, Emir of Cairvan, elevated a rich banner +which he had received from the hands of the caliph. Wherever he went, he +ordered the caliph of the East to be proclaimed by sound of trumpet, +denouncing Abderahman as a usurper, the vagrant member of a family +proscribed and execrated in all the mosques of the East. + +One of the first to join his standard was Hixem ben Adra, so recently +pardoned by Abderahman. He seized upon the citadel of Toledo, and repairing +to the camp of Aly, offered to deliver the city into his hands. + +Abderahman, as bold in war as he was gentle in peace, took the field with +his wonted promptness; overthrew his enemies, with great slaughter, drove +some to the seacoast to regain their ships, and others to the mountains. +The body of Aly was found on the field of battle. Abderahman caused the +head to be struck off, and conveyed to Cairvan, where it was affixed at +night to a column in the public square, with this inscription: "Thus +Abderahman, the descendant of the Omeyas, punishes the rash and arrogant." + +Hixem ben Adra escaped from the field of battle, and excited further +troubles, but was eventually captured by Abdelmelee, who ordered his head +to be struck off on the spot, lest he should again be spared, through the +wonted clemency of Abderahman. + +Notwithstanding these signal triumphs, the reign of Abderahman was +disturbed by further insurrections, and by another descent from Africa, but +he was victorious over them all; striking the roots of his power deeper and +deeper into the land. Under his sway, the government of Spain became more +regular and consolidated, and acquired an independence of the empire of the +East. The caliph continued to be considered as first pontiff and chief of +the religion, but he ceased to have any temporal power over Spain. + +Having again an interval of peace, Abderahman devoted himself to the +education of his children. Suleiman, the eldest, he appointed Wali or +governor of Toledo; Abdallah, the second, was intrusted with the command of +Merida; but the third son, Hixem, was the delight of his heart, the son of +Howara, his favorite sultana, whom he loved throughout life with the utmost +tenderness. With this youth, who was full of promise, he relaxed from the +fatigues of government; joining in his youthful sports amid the delightful +gardens of Cordova, and teaching him the gentle art of falconry, of which +the king was so fond that he received the name of the Falcon of Coraixi. + +While Abderahman was thus indulging in the gentle propensities of his +nature, mischief was secretly at work. Muhamad, the youngest son of Yusuf, +had been for many years a prisoner in the tower of Cordova. Being passive +and resigned, his keepers relaxed their vigilance, and brought him forth +from his dungeon. He went groping about, however, in broad daylight, as if +still in the darkness of his tower. His guards watched him narrowly, lest +this should be a deception, but were at length convinced that the long +absence of light had rendered him blind. They now permitted him to descend +frequently to the lower chambers of the tower, and to sleep there +occasionally, during the heats of summer. They even allowed him to grope +his way to the cistern, in quest of water for his ablutions. + +A year passed in this way without anything to excite suspicion. During all +this time, however, the blindness of Muhamad was entirely a deception; and +he was concerting a plan of escape, through the aid of some friends of his +father, who found means to visit him occasionally. One sultry evening in +midsummer, the guards had gone to bathe in the Guadalquivir, leaving +Muhamad alone, in the lower chambers of the tower. No sooner were they out +of sight and hearing than he hastened to a window of the staircase, leading +down to the cistern, lowered himself as far as his arms would reach, and +dropped without injury to the ground. Plunging into the Guadalquivir, he +swam across to a thick grove on the opposite side, where his friends were +waiting to receive him. Here, mounting a horse which they had provided for +an event of the kind, he fled across the country, by solitary roads, and +made good his escape to the mountains of Jaen. + +The guardians of the tower dreaded for some time to make known his flight +to Abderahman. When at length it was told to him, he exclaimed: "All is the +work of eternal wisdom; it is intended to teach us that we cannot benefit +the wicked without injuring the good. The flight of that blind man will +cause much trouble and bloodshed." + +His predictions were verified. Muhamad reared the standard of rebellion on +the mountains; the seditious and discontented of all kinds hastened to join +it, together with soldiers of fortune, or rather wandering banditti, and he +had soon six thousand men, well armed, hardy in habits and desperate in +character. His brother Casim also reappeared about the same time in the +mountains of Ronda, at the head of a daring band that laid all the +neighboring valleys under contribution. + +Abderahman summoned his alcaydes from their various military posts, to +assist in driving the rebels from their mountain fastnesses into the +plains. It was a dangerous and protracted toil, for the mountains were +frightfully wild and rugged. He entered them with a powerful host, driving +the rebels from height to height and valley to valley, and harassing them +by a galling fire from thousands of crossbows. At length a decisive battle +took place near the river Guadalemar. The rebels were signally defeated; +four thousand fell in action, many were drowned in the river, and Muhamad, +with a few horsemen, escaped to the mountains of the Algarves. Here he was +hunted by the alcaydes from one desolate retreat to another; his few +followers grew tired of sharing the disastrous fortunes of a fated man; one +by one deserted him, and he himself deserted the remainder, fearing they +might give him up, to purchase their own pardon. + +Lonely and disguised, he plunged into the depths of the forests, or lurked +in dens and caverns, like a famished wolf, often casting back his thoughts +with regret to the time of his captivity in the gloomy tower of Cordova. +Hunger at length drove him to Alarcon, at the risk of being discovered. +Famine and misery, however, had so wasted and changed him that he was not +recognized. He remained nearly a year in Alarcon, unnoticed and unknown, +yet constantly tormenting himself with the dread of discovery, and with +groundless fears of the vengeance of Abderahman. Death at length put an end +to his wretchedness. + +A milder fate attended his brother Casim. Being defeated in the mountains +of Murcia, he was conducted in chains to Cordova. On coming into the +presence of Abderahman, his once fierce and haughty spirit, broken by +distress, gave way; he threw himself on the earth, kissed the dust beneath +the feet of the king, and implored his clemency. The benignant heart of +Abderahman was filled with melancholy, rather than exultation, at beholding +this wreck of the once haughty family of Yusuf a suppliant at his feet, and +suing for mere existence. He thought upon the mutability of fortune, and +felt how insecure are all her favors. He raised the unhappy Casim from the +earth, ordered his irons to be taken off, and, not content with mere +forgiveness, treated him with honor, and gave him possessions in Seville, +where he might live in state conformable to the ancient dignity of his +family. Won by this great and persevering magnanimity, Casim ever after +remained one of the most devoted of his subjects. + +All the enemies of Abderahman were at length subdued; he reigned undisputed +sovereign of the Moslems of Spain; and so benign was his government that +every one blessed the revival of the illustrious line of Omeya. He was at +all times accessible to the humblest of his subjects: the poor man ever +found in him a friend, and the oppressed a protector. He improved the +administration of justice; established schools for public instruction; +encouraged poets and men of letters, and cultivated the sciences. He built +mosques in every city that he visited; inculcated religion by example as +well as by precept; and celebrated all the festivals prescribed by the +Koran with the utmost magnificence. + +As a monument of gratitude to God for the prosperity with which he had been +favored, he undertook to erect a mosque in his favorite city of Cordova +that should rival in splendor the great mosque of Damascus, and excel the +one recently erected in Bagdad by the Abbassides, the supplanters of his +family. + +It is said that he himself furnished the plan for this famous edifice, and +even worked on it, with his own hands, one hour in each day, to testify his +zeal and humility in the service of God, and to animate his workmen. He did +not live to see it completed, but it was finished according to his plans by +his son Hixem. When finished, it surpassed the most splendid mosques of the +east. It was six hundred feet in length, and two hundred and fifty in +breadth. Within were twenty-eight aisles, crossed by nineteen, supported by +a thousand and ninety-three columns of marble. There were nineteen portals, +covered with plates of bronze of rare workmanship. The principal portal was +covered with plates of gold. On the summit of the grand cupola were three +gilt balls surmounted by a golden pomegranate. At night, the mosque was +illuminated with four thousand seven hundred lamps, and great sums were +expended in amber and aloes, which were burned as perfumes. The mosque +remains to this day, shorn of its ancient splendor, yet still one of the +grandest Moslem monuments in Spain. + +Finding himself advancing in years, Abderahman assembled in his capital of +Cordova the principal governors and commanders of his kingdom, and in +presence of them all, with great solemnity, nominated his son Hixem as the +successor to the throne. All present made an oath of fealty to Abderahman +during his life, and to Hixem after his death. The prince was younger than +his brothers, Suleiman and Abdallah; but he was the son of Howara, the +tenderly beloved sultana of Abderahman, and her influence, it is said, +gained him this preference. + +Within a few months afterward, Abderahman fell grievously sick at Merida. +Finding his end approaching, he summoned Hixem to his bedside: "My son," +said he, "the angel of death is hovering over me; treasure up, therefore, +in thy heart this dying counsel, which I give through the great love I bear +thee. Remember that all empire is from God, who gives and takes it away, +according to his pleasure. Since God, through his divine goodness, has +given us regal power and authority, let us do his holy will, which is +nothing else than to do good to all men, and especially to those committed +to our protection. Render equal justice, my son, to the rich and the poor, +and never suffer injustice to be done within thy dominion, for it is the +road to perdition. Be merciful and benignant to those dependent upon thee. +Confide the government of thy cities and provinces to men of worth and +experience; punish without compassion those ministers who oppress thy +people with exorbitant exactions. Pay thy troops punctually; teach them to +feel a certainty in thy promises; command them with gentleness but +firmness, and make them in truth the defenders of the state, not its +destroyers. Cultivate unceasingly the affections of thy people, for in +their good-will consists the security of the state, in their distrust its +peril, in their hatred its certain ruin. Protect the husbandmen who +cultivate the earth, and yield us necessary sustenance; never permit their +fields, and groves, and gardens to be disturbed. In a word, act in such +wise that thy people may bless thee, and may enjoy, under the shadow of thy +wing, a secure and tranquil life. In this consists good government; if thou +dost practice it, thou wilt be happy among thy people, and renowned +throughout the world." + +Having given this excellent counsel, the good king Abderahman blessed his +son Hixem, and shortly after died; being but in the sixtieth year of his +age. He was interred with great pomp; but the highest honors that +distinguished his funeral were the tears of real sorrow shed upon his +grave. He left behind him a name for valor, justice, and magnanimity, and +forever famous as being the founder of the glorious line of the Ommiades in +Spain. + + + + +THE WIDOW'S ORDEAL + +OR A JUDICIAL TRIAL BY COMBAT + + +The world is daily growing older and wiser. Its institutions vary with its +years, and mark its growing wisdom; and none more so than its modes of +investigating truth, and ascertaining guilt or innocence. In its nonage, +when man was yet a fallible being, and doubted the accuracy of his own +intellect, appeals were made to heaven in dark and doubtful cases of +atrocious accusation. + +The accused was required to plunge his hand in boiling oil, or to walk +across red-hot plowshares, or to maintain his innocence in armed fight and +listed field, in person or by champion. If he passed these ordeals +unscathed, he stood acquitted, and the result was regarded as a verdict +from on high. + +It is somewhat remarkable that, in the gallant age of chivalry, the gentler +sex should have been most frequently the subjects of these rude trials and +perilous ordeals; and that, too, when assailed in their most delicate and +vulnerable part--their honor. + +In the present very old and enlightened age of the world, when the human +intellect is perfectly competent to the management of its own concerns, and +needs no special interposition of heaven in its affairs, the trial by jury +has superseded these superhuman ordeals; and the unanimity of twelve +discordant minds is necessary to constitute a verdict. Such a unanimity +would, at first sight, appear also to require a miracle from heaven; but it +is produced by a simple device of human ingenuity. The twelve jurors are +locked up in their box, there to fast until abstinence shall have so +clarified their intellects that the whole jarring panel can discern the +truth, and concur in a unanimous decision. One point is certain, that truth +is one and is immutable--until the jurors all agree, they cannot all be +right. + +It is not our intention, however, to discuss this great judicial point, or +to question the avowed superiority of the mode of investigating truth +adopted in this antiquated and very sagacious era. It is our object merely +to exhibit to the curious reader one of the most memorable cases of +judicial combat we find in the annals of Spain. It occurred at the bright +commencement of the reign, and in the youthful, and, as yet, glorious days, +of Roderick the Goth; who subsequently tarnished his fame at home by his +misdeeds, and, finally, lost his kingdom and his life on the banks of the +Guadalete, in that disastrous battle which gave up Spain a conquest to the +Moors. The following is the story: + +There was once upon a time a certain duke of Lorraine, who was acknowledged +throughout his domains to be one of the wisest princes that ever lived. In +fact, there was no one measure adopted by him that did not astonish his +privy counselors and gentlemen in attendance; and he said such witty +things, and made such sensible speeches, that the jaws of his high +chamberlain were wellnigh dislocated from laughing with delight at one, and +gaping with wonder at the other. + +This very witty and exceedingly wise potentate lived for half a century in +single blessedness; at length his courtiers began to think it a great pity +so wise and wealthy a prince should not have a child after his own +likeness, to inherit his talents and domains; so they urged him most +respectfully to marry, for the good of his estate, and the welfare of his +subjects. + +He turned their advice over in his mind some four or five years, and then +sent forth emissaries to summon to his court all the beautiful maidens in +the land who were ambitious of sharing a ducal crown. The court was soon +crowded with beauties of all styles and complexions, from among whom he +chose one in the earliest budding of her charms, and acknowledged by all +the gentlemen to be unparalleled for grace and loveliness. The courtiers +extolled the duke to the skies for making such a choice, and considered it +another proof of his great wisdom. "The duke," said they, "is waxing a +little too old, the damsel, on the other hand, is a little too young; if +one is lacking in years, the other has a superabundance; thus a want on one +side is balanced by the excess on the other, and the result is a +well-assorted marriage." + +The duke, as is often the case with wise men who marry rather late, and +take damsels rather youthful to their bosoms, became dotingly fond of his +wife, and very properly indulged her in all things. He was, consequently, +cried up by his subjects in general, and by the ladies in particular, as a +pattern for husbands; and, in the end, from the wonderful docility with +which he submitted to be reined and checked, acquired the amiable and +enviable appellation of Duke Philibert the wife-ridden. + +There was only one thing that disturbed the conjugal felicity of this +paragon of husbands--though a considerable tine elapsed after his marriage, +there was still no prospect of an heir. The good duke left no means untried +to propitiate heaven. He made vows and pilgrimages, he fasted and he +prayed, but all to no purpose. The courtiers were all astonished at the +circumstance. They could not account for it. While the meanest peasant in +the country had sturdy brats by dozens, without putting up a prayer, the +duke wore himself to skin and bone with penances and fastings, yet seemed +further off from his object than ever. + +At length, the worthy prince fell dangerously ill, and felt his end +approaching. He looked sorrowfully and dubiously upon his young and tender +spouse, who hung over him with tears and sobbings. "Alas!" said he, "tears +are soon dried from youthful eyes, and sorrow lies lightly on a youthful +heart. In a little while thou wilt forget in the arms of another husband +him who has loved thee so tenderly." + +"Never! never!" cried the duchess. "Never will I cleave to another! Alas, +that my lord should think me capable of such inconstancy!" + +The worthy and wife-ridden duke was soothed by her assurances; for he could +not brook the thought of giving her up even after he should be dead. Still +he wished to have some pledge of her enduring constancy: + +"Far be it from me, my dearest wife," said he, "to control thee through a +long life. A year and a day of strict fidelity will appease my troubled +spirit. Promise to remain faithful to my memory for a year and a day, and I +will die in peace." + +The duchess made a solemn vow to that effect, but the uxorious feelings of +the duke were not yet satisfied. "Safe bind, safe find," thought he; so he +made a will, bequeathing to her all his domains, on condition of her +remaining true to him for a year and a day after his decease; but, should +it appear that, within that time, she had in anywise lapsed from her +fidelity, the inheritance should go to his nephew, the lord of a +neighboring territory. + +Having made his will, the good duke died and was buried. Scarcely was he in +his tomb, when his nephew came to take possession, thinking, as his uncle +had died without issue, the domains would be devised to him of course. He +was in a furious passion, when the will was produced, and the young widow +declared inheritor of the dukedom. As he was a violent, high-handed man, +and one of the sturdiest knights in the land, fears were entertained that +he might attempt to seize on the territories by force. He had, however, two +bachelor uncles for bosom counselors, swaggering, rakehelly old cavaliers, +who, having led loose and riotous lives, prided themselves upon knowing the +world, and being deeply experienced in human nature. "Prithee, man, be of +good cheer," said they, "the duchess is a young and buxom widow. She has +just buried our brother, who, God rest his soul! was somewhat too much +given to praying and fasting, and kept his pretty wife always tied to his +girdle. She is now like a bird from a cage. Think you she will keep her +vow? Pooh, pooh--impossible! Take our words for it--we know mankind, and, +above all, womankind. She cannot hold out for such a length of time; it is +not in womanhood--it is not in widowhood--we know it, and that's enough. +Keep a sharp lookout upon the widow, therefore, and within the twelvemonth +you will catch her tripping--and then the dukedom is your own." + +The nephew was pleased with this counsel, and immediately placed spies +round the duchess, and bribed several of her servants to keep watch upon +her, so that she could not take a single step, even from one apartment of +her palace to another, without being observed. Never was young and +beautiful widow exposed to so terrible an ordeal. + +The duchess was aware of the watch thus kept upon her. Though confident of +her own rectitude, she knew that it is not enough for a woman to be +virtuous--she must be above the reach of slander. For the whole term of her +probation, therefore, she proclaimed a strict non-intercourse with the +other sex. She had females for cabinet ministers and chamberlains, through +whom she transacted all her public and private concerns; and it is said +that never were the affairs of the dukedom so adroitly administered. + +All males were rigorously excluded from the palace; she never went out of +its precincts, and whenever she moved about its courts and gardens she +surrounded herself with a bodyguard of young maids of honor, commanded by +dames renowned for discretion. She slept in a bed without curtains, placed +in the center of a room illuminated by innumerable wax tapers. Four ancient +spinsters, virtuous as Virginia, perfect dragons of watchfulness, who only +slept during the daytime, kept vigils throughout the night, seated in the +four corners of the room on stools without backs or arms, and with seats +cut in checkers of the hardest wood, to keep them from dozing. + +Thus wisely and warily did the young duchess conduct herself for twelve +long months, and slander almost bit her tongue off in despair, at finding +no room even for a surmise. Never was ordeal more burdensome, or more +enduringly sustained. + + +The year passed away. The last, odd day, arrived, and a long, long day it +was. It was the twenty-first of June, the longest day in the year. It +seemed as if it would never come to an end. A thousand times did the +duchess and her ladies watch the sun from the windows of the palace, as he +slowly climbed the vault of heaven, and seemed still more slowly to roll +down. They could not help expressing their wonder, now and then, why the +duke should have tagged this supernumerary day to the end of the year, as +if three hundred and sixty-five days were not sufficient to try and task +the fidelity of any woman. It is the last grain that turns the scale--the +last drop that overflows the goblet--and the last moment of delay that +exhausts the patience. By the time the sun sank below the horizon, the +duchess was in a fidget that passed all bounds, and, though several hours +were yet to pass before the day regularly expired, she could not have +remained those hours in durance to gain a royal crown, much less a ducal +coronet. So she gave orders, and her palfrey, magnificently caparisoned, +was brought into the courtyard of the castle, with palfreys for all her +ladies in attendance. In this way she sallied forth, just as the sun had +gone down. It was a mission of piety--a pilgrim cavalcade to a convent at +the foot of a neighboring mountain--to return thanks to the blessed Virgin, +for having sustained her through this fearful ordeal. + +The orisons performed, the duchess and her ladies returned, ambling gently +along the border of a forest. It was about that mellow hour of twilight +when night and day are mingled and all objects are indistinct. Suddenly, +some monstrous animal sprang from out a thicket, with fearful howlings. The +female bodyguard was thrown into confusion, and fled different ways. It was +some time before they recovered from their panic, and gathered once more +together; but the duchess was not to be found. The greatest anxiety was +felt for her safety. The hazy mist of twilight had prevented their +distinguishing perfectly the animal which had affrighted them. Some thought +it a wolf, others a bear, others a wild man of the woods. For upward of an +hour did they beleaguer the forest, without daring to venture in, and were +on the point of giving up the duchess as torn to pieces and devoured, when, +to their great joy, they beheld her advancing in the gloom, supported by a +stately cavalier. + +He was a stranger knight, whom nobody knew. It was impossible to +distinguish his countenance in the dark; but all the ladies agreed that he +was of noble presence and captivating address. He had rescued the duchess +from the very fangs of the monster, which, he assured the ladies, was +neither a wolf, nor a bear, nor yet a wild man of the woods, but a +veritable fiery dragon, a species of monster peculiarly hostile to +beautiful females in the days of chivalry, and which all the efforts of +knight-errantry had not been able to extirpate. + +The ladies crossed themselves when they heard of the danger from which they +had escaped, and could not enough admire the gallantry of the cavalier. The +duchess would fain have prevailed on her deliverer to accompany her to her +court; but he had no time to spare, being a knight-errant, who had many +adventures on hand, and many distressed damsels and afflicted widows to +rescue and relieve in various parts of the country. Taking a respectful +leave, therefore, he pursued his wayfaring, and the duchess and her train +returned to the palace. Throughout the whole way, the ladies were unwearied +in chanting the praises of the stranger knight, nay, many of them would +willingly have incurred the danger of the dragon to have enjoyed the happy +deliverance of the duchess. As to the latter, she rode pensively along, but +said nothing. + +No sooner was the adventure of the wood made public than a whirlwind was +raised about the ears of the beautiful duchess. The blustering nephew of +the deceased duke went about, armed to the teeth, with a swaggering uncle +at each shoulder, ready to back him, and swore the duchess had forfeited +her domain. It was in vain that she called all the saints, and angels, and +her ladies in attendance into the bargain, to witness that she had passed a +year and a day of immaculate fidelity. One fatal hour remained to be +accounted for; and into the space of one little hour sins enough may be +conjured up by evil tongues to blast the fame of a whole life of virtue. + +The two graceless uncles, who had seen the world, were ever ready to +bolster the matter through, and as they were brawny, broad-shouldered +warriors, and veterans in brawl as well as debauch, they had great sway +with the multitude. If any one pretended to assert the innocence of the +duchess, they interrupted him with a loud ha! ha! of derision. "A pretty +story, truly," would they cry, "about a wolf and a dragon, and a young +widow rescued in the dark by a sturdy varlet who dares not show his face in +the daylight. You may tell that to those who do not know human nature, for +our parts, we know the sex, and that's enough." + +If, however, the other repeated his assertion, they would suddenly knit +their brows, swell, look big, and put their hands upon their swords. As few +people like to fight in a cause that does not touch their own interests, +the nephew and the uncles were suffered to have their way, and swagger +uncontradicted. + +The matter was at length referred to a tribunal, composed of all the +dignitaries of the dukedom, and many and repeated consultations were held. +The character of the duchess throughout the year was as bright and spotless +as the moon in a cloudless night; one fatal hour of darkness alone +intervened to eclipse its brightness. Finding human sagacity incapable of +dispelling the mystery, it was determined to leave the question to heaven; +or, in other words, to decide it by the ordeal of the sword--a sage +tribunal in the age of chivalry. The nephew and two bully uncles were to +maintain their accusation in listed combat, and six months were allowed to +the duchess to provide herself with three champions to meet them in the +field. Should she fail in this, or should her champions be vanquished, her +honor would be considered as attainted, her fidelity as forfeit, and her +dukedom would go to the nephew, as a matter of right. + +With this determination the duchess was fain to comply. Proclamations were +accordingly made, and heralds sent to various parts; but day after day, +week after week, and month after month elapsed without any champion +appearing to assert her loyalty throughout that darksome hour. The fair +widow was reduced to despair, when tidings reached her of grand tournaments +to be held at Toledo, in celebration of the nuptials of Don Roderick, the +last of the Gothic kings, with the Morisco princess Exilona. As a last +resort, the duchess repaired to the Spanish court, to implore the gallantry +of its assembled chivalry. + +The ancient city of Toledo was a scene of gorgeous revelry on the event of +the royal nuptials. The youthful king, brave, ardent, and magnificent, and +his lovely bride, beaming with all the radiant beauty of the East, were +hailed with shouts and acclamations whenever they appeared. Their nobles +vied with each other in the luxury of their attire, their prancing steeds, +and splendid retinues; and the haughty dames of the court appeared in a +blaze of jewels. + +In the midst of all this pageantry, the beautiful, but afflicted Duchess of +Lorraine made her approach to the throne. She was dressed in black, and +closely veiled; for duennas of the most staid and severe aspect, and six +beautiful demoiselles, formed her female attendants. She was guarded by +several very ancient, withered, and grayheaded cavaliers; and her train was +borne by one of the most deformed and diminutive dwarfs in existence. + +Advancing to the foot of the throne, she knelt down, and, throwing up her +veil, revealed a countenance so beautiful that half the courtiers present +were ready to renounce wives and mistresses, and devote themselves to her +service; but when she made known that she came in quest of champions to +defend her fame, every cavalier pressed forward to offer his arm and sword, +without inquiring into the merits of the case; for it seemed clear that so +beauteous a lady could have done nothing but what was right; and that, at +any rate, she ought to be championed in following the bent of her humors, +whether right or wrong. + +Encouraged by such gallant zeal, the duchess suffered herself to be raised +from the ground, and related the whole story of her distress. When she +concluded, the king remained for some time silent, charmed by the music of +her voice. At length: "As I hope for salvation, most beautiful duchess," +said he, "were I not a sovereign king, and bound in duty to my kingdom, I +myself would put lance in rest to vindicate your cause; as it is, I here +give full permission to my knights, and promise lists and a fair field, and +that the contest shall take place before the walls of Toledo, in presence +of my assembled court." + +As soon as the pleasure of the king was known, there was a strife among the +cavaliers present for the honor of the contest. It was decided by lot, and +the successful candidates were objects of great envy, for every one was +ambitious of finding favor in the eyes of the beautiful widow. + +Missives were sent, summoning the nephew and his two uncles to Toledo, to +maintain their accusation, and a day was appointed for the combat. When the +day arrived, all Toledo was in commotion at an early hour. The lists had +been prepared in the usual place, just without the walls, at the foot of +the rugged rocks on which the city is built, and on that beautiful meadow +along the Tagus, known by the name of the king's garden. The populace had +already assembled, each one eager to secure a favorable place; the +balconies were filled with the ladies of the court, clad in their richest +attire, and bands of youthful knights, splendidly armed and decorated with +their ladies' devices, were managing their superbly caparisoned steeds +about the field. The king at length came forth in state, accompanied by the +queen Exilona. They took their seats in a raised balcony, under a canopy of +rich damask; and, at sight of them, the people rent the air with +acclamations. + +The nephew and his uncles now rode into the field, armed cap-a-pie, and +followed by a train of cavaliers of their own roistering cast, great +swearers and carousers, arrant swashbucklers, with clanking armor and +jingling spurs. When the people of Toledo beheld the vaunting and +discourteous appearance of these knights, they were more anxious than ever +for the success of the gentle duchess; but, at the same time, the sturdy +and stalwart frames of these warriors showed that whoever won the victory +from them must do it at the cost of many a bitter blow. + +As the nephew and his riotous crew rode in at one side of the field, the +fair widow appeared at the other, with her suite of grave grayheaded +courtiers, her ancient duennas and dainty demoiselles, and the little dwarf +toiling along under the weight of her train. Every one made way for her as +she passed, and blessed her beautiful face, and prayed for success to her +cause. She took her seat in a lower balcony, not far from the sovereigns; +and her pale face, set off by her mourning weeds, was as the moon shining +forth from among the clouds of night. + +The trumpets sounded for the combat. The warriors were just entering the +lists, when a stranger knight, armed in panoply, and followed by two pages +and an esquire, came galloping into the field, and, riding up to the royal +balcony, claimed the combat as a matter of right. + +"In me," cried he, "behold the cavalier who had the happiness to rescue the +beautiful duchess from the peril of the forest, and the misfortune to bring +on her this grievous calumny. It was but recently, in the course of my +errantry, that tidings of her wrongs have reached my ears, and I have urged +hither at all speed, to stand forth in her vindication." + +No sooner did the duchess hear the accents of the knight than she +recognized his voice, and joined her prayers with his that he might enter +the lists. The difficulty was, to determine which of the three champions +already appointed should yield his place, each insisting on the honor of +the combat. The stranger knight would have settled the point, by taking the +whole contest upon himself; but this the other knights would not permit. It +was at length determined, as before, by lot, and the cavalier who lost the +chance retired murmuring and disconsolate. + +The trumpets again sounded--the lists were opened. The arrogant nephew and +his two drawcansir uncles appeared so completely cased in steel that they +and their steeds were like moving masses of iron. When they understood the +stranger knight to be the same that had rescued the duchess from her peril, +they greeted him with the most boisterous derision: + +"Oh, ho! sir Knight of the Dragon," said they, "you who pretend to champion +fair widows in the dark, come on, and vindicate your deeds of darkness in +the open day." + +The only reply of the cavalier was to put lance in rest, and brace himself +for the encounter. Needless is it to relate the particulars of a battle, +which was like so many hundred combats that have been said and sung in +prose and verse. Who is there but must have foreseen the event of a +contest, where Heaven had to decide on the guilt or innocence of the most +beautiful and immaculate of widows? + +The sagacious reader, deeply read in this kind of judicial combats, can +imagine the encounter of the graceless nephew and the stranger knight. He +sees their concussion, man to man, and horse to horse, in mid career, and +Sir Graceless hurled to the ground and slain. He will not wonder that the +assailants of the brawny uncles were less successful in their rude +encounter; but he will picture to himself the stout stranger spurring to +their rescue, in the very critical moment; he will see him transfixing one +with his lance, and cleaving the other to the chine with a back stroke of +his sword, thus leaving the trio of accusers dead upon the field, and +establishing the immaculate fidelity of the duchess, and her title to the +dukedom, beyond the shadow of a doubt. + +The air rang with acclamations; nothing was heard but praises of the beauty +and virtue of the duchess, and of the prowess of the stranger knight; but +the public joy was still more increased when the champion raised his visor, +and revealed the countenance of one of the bravest cavaliers of Spain, +renowned for his gallantry in the service of the sex, and who had been +round the world in quest of similar adventures. + +That worthy knight, however, was severely wounded, and remained for a long +time ill of his wounds. The lovely duchess, grateful for having twice owed +her protection to his arm, attended him daily during his illness; and +finally rewarded his gallantry with her hand. + +The king would fain have had the knight establish his title to such high +advancement by further deeds of arms; but his courtiers declared that he +already merited the lady, by thus vindicating her fame and fortune in a +deadly combat _à outrance_; and the lady herself hinted that she was +perfectly satisfied of his prowess in arms, from the proofs she had +received in his achievement in the forest. + +Their nuptials were celebrated with great magnificence. The present husband +of the duchess did not pray and fast like his predecessor, Philibert the +wife-ridden; yet he found greater favor in the eyes of heaven, for their +union was blessed with a numerous progeny--the daughters chaste and +beauteous as their mother; the sons stout and valiant as their sire, and +renowned, like him, for relieving disconsolate damsels and desolated +widows. + + + + +THE CREOLE VILLAGE + +A SKETCH FROM A STEAMBOAT + +First published in 1887 + + +In traveling about our motley country, I am often reminded of Ariosto's +account of the moon, in which the good paladin Astolpho found everything +garnered up that had been lost on earth. So I am apt to imagine, that many +things lost in the old world are treasured up in the new; having been +handed down from generation to generation, since the early days of the +colonies. A European antiquary, therefore, curious in his researches after +the ancient and almost obliterated customs and usages of his country, would +do well to put himself upon the track of some early band of emigrants, +follow them across the Atlantic, and rummage among their descendants on our +shores. + +In the phraseology of New England might be found many an old English +provincial phrase, long since obsolete in the parent country; with some +quaint relics of the roundheads; while Virginia cherishes peculiarities +characteristic of the days of Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh. + +In the same way the sturdy yeomanry of New Jersey and Pennsylvania keep up +many usages fading away in ancient Germany; while many an honest, +broad-bottomed custom, nearly extinct in venerable Holland, may be found +flourishing in pristine vigor and luxuriance in Dutch villages, on the +banks of the Mohawk and the Hudson. + +In no part of our country, however, are the customs and peculiarities, +imported from the old world by the earlier settlers, kept up with more +fidelity than in the little, poverty-stricken villages of Spanish and +French origin, which border the rivers of ancient Louisiana. Their +population is generally made up of the descendants of those nations, +married and interwoven together, and occasionally crossed with a slight +dash of the Indian. The French character, however, floats on top, as, from +its buoyant qualities, it is sure to do, whenever it forms a particle, +however small, of an intermixture. + +In these serene and dilapidated villages, art and nature stand still, and +the world forgets to turn round. The revolutions that distract other parts +of this mutable planet reach not here, or pass over without leaving any +trace. The fortunate inhabitants have none of that public spirit which +extends its cares beyond its horizon, and imports trouble and perplexity +from all quarters in newspapers. In fact, newspapers are almost unknown in +these villages, and as French is the current language, the inhabitants have +little community of opinion with their republican neighbors. They retain, +therefore, their old habits of passive obedience to the decrees of +government, as though they still lived under the absolute sway of colonial +commandants, instead of being part and parcel of the sovereign people, and +having a voice in public legislation. + +A few aged men, who have grown gray on their hereditary acres, and are of +the good old colonial stock, exert a patriarchal sway in all matters of +public and private import; their opinions are considered oracular, and +their word is law. + +The inhabitants, moreover, have none of that eagerness for gain and rage +for improvement which keep our people continually on the move, and our +country towns incessantly in a state of transition. There the magic +phrases, "town lots," "water privileges," "railroads," and other +comprehensive and soul-stirring words from the speculator's vocabulary, are +never heard. The residents dwell in the houses built by their forefathers, +without thinking of enlarging or modernizing them, or pulling them down and +turning them into granite stores. The trees, under which they have been +born and have played in infancy, flourish undisturbed; though, by cutting +them down, they might open new streets, and put money in their pockets. In +a word, the almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion +throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar +villages; and unless some of its missionaries penetrate there, and erect +banking houses and other pious shrines, there is no knowing how long the +inhabitants may remain in their present state of contented poverty. + +In descending one of our great Western rivers in a steam-boat, I met with +two worthies from one of these villages, who had been on a distant +excursion, the longest they had ever made, as they seldom ventured far from +home. One was the great man, or grand seigneur, of the village; not that he +enjoyed any legal privileges or power there, everything of the kind having +been done away when the province was ceded by France to the United States. +His sway over his neighbors was merely one of custom and convention, out of +deference to his family. Beside, he was worth full fifty thousand dollars, +an amount almost equal, in the imaginations of the villagers, to the +treasures of King Solomon. + +This very substantial old gentleman, though of the fourth or fifth +generation in this country, retained the true Gallic feature and +deportment, and reminded me of one of those provincial potentates that are +to be met with in the remote parts of France. He was of a large frame, a +ginger-bread complexion, strong features, eyes that stood out like glass +knobs, and a prominent nose, which he frequently regaled from a gold +snuff-box, and occasionally blew, with a colored handkerchief, until it +sounded like a trumpet. + +He was attended by an old negro, as black as ebony, with a huge mouth in a +continual grin; evidently a privileged and favorite servant, who had grown +up and grown old with him. He was dressed in creole style--with white +jacket and trousers, a stiff shirt collar that threatened to cut off his +ears, a bright Madras handkerchief tied round his head, and large gold +earrings. He was the politest negro I met with in a Western tour; and that +is saying a great deal, for, excepting the Indians, the negroes are the +most gentlemanlike personages to be met with in those parts. It is true, +they differ from the Indians in being a little extra polite and +complimentary. He was also one of the merriest; and here, too, the negroes, +however we may deplore their unhappy condition, have the advantage of their +masters. The whites are, in general, too free and prosperous to be merry. +The cares of maintaining their rights and liberties, adding to their +wealth, and making presidents, engross all their thoughts, and dry up all +the moisture of their souls. If you hear a broad, hearty, devil-may-care +laugh, be assured it is a negro's. + +Besides this African domestic, the seigneur of the village had another no +less cherished and privileged attendant. This was a huge dog, of the +mastiff breed, with a deep, hanging mouth, and a look of surly gravity. He +walked about the cabin with the air of a dog perfectly at home, and who had +paid for his passage. At dinner time he took his seat beside his master, +giving him a glance now and then out of a corner of his eye, which bespoke +perfect confidence that he would not be forgotten. Nor was he--every now +and then a huge morsel would be thrown to him, peradventure the half-picked +leg of a fowl, which he would receive with a snap like the springing of a +steel-trap--one gulp, and all was down; and a glance of the eye told his +master that he was ready for another consignment. + +The other village worthy, traveling in company with the seigneur, was of a +totally different stamp. Small, thin, and weazen faced, as Frenchmen are +apt to be represented in caricature, with a bright, squirrel-like eye, and +a gold ring in his ear. His dress was flimsy, and sat loosely on his frame, +and he had altogether the look of one with but little coin in his pocket. +Yet, though one of the poorest, I was assured he was one of the merriest +and most popular personages in his native village. + +Compere Martin, as he was commonly called, was the factotum of the +place-sportsman, schoolmaster, and land surveyor. He could sing, dance, +and, above all, play on the fiddle, an invaluable accomplishment in an old +French Creole village, for the inhabitants have a hereditary love for balls +and fetes; if they work but little, they dance a great deal, and a fiddle +is the joy of their heart. + +What had sent Compere Martin traveling with the grand seigneur I could not +learn; he evidently looked up to him with great deference, and was +assiduous in rendering him petty attentions; from which I concluded that he +lived at home upon the crumbs which fell from his table. He was gayest when +out of his sight; and had his song and his joke when forward, among the +deck passengers; but altogether Compere Martin was out of his element on +board of a steamboat. He was quite another being, I am told, when at home +in his own village. + +Like his opulent fellow-traveler, he too had his canine follower and +retainer--and one suited to his different fortunes--one of the civilest, +most unoffending little dogs in the world. Unlike the lordly mastiff, he +seemed to think he had no right on board of the steamboat; if you did but +look hard at him, he would throw himself upon his back, and lift up his +legs, as if imploring mercy. + +At table he took his seat a little distance from his master; not with the +bluff, confident air of the mastiff, but quietly and diffidently, his head +on one side, with one ear dubiously slouched, the other hopefully cocked +up; his under teeth projecting beyond his black nose, and his eye wistfully +following each morsel that went into his master's mouth. + +If Compere Martin now and then should venture to abstract a morsel from his +plate to give to his humble companion, it was edifying to see with what +diffidence the exemplary little animal would take hold of it, with the very +tip of his teeth, as if he would almost rather not, or was fearful of +taking too great a liberty. And then with what decorum would he eat it! How +many efforts would he make in swallowing it, as if it stuck in his throat; +with what daintiness would he lick his lips; and then with what an air of +thankfulness would he resume his seat, with his teeth once more projecting +beyond his nose, and an eye of humble expectation fixed upon his master. + +It was late in the afternoon when the steamboat stopped at the village +which was the residence of these worthies. It stood on the high bank of the +river, and bore traces of having been a frontier trading post. There were +the remains of stockades that once protected it from the Indians, and the +houses were in the ancient Spanish and French colonial taste, the place +having been successively under the domination of both those nations prior +to the cession of Louisiana to the United States. + +The arrival of the seigneur of fifty thousand dollars, and his humble +companion, Compere Martin, had evidently been looked forward to as an event +in the village. Numbers of men, women, and children, white, yellow, and +black, were collected on the river bank; most of them clad in old-fashioned +French garments, and their heads decorated with colored handkerchiefs, or +white nightcaps. The moment the steamboat came within sight and hearing, +there was a waving of handkerchiefs, and a screaming and bawling of +salutations, and felicitations, that baffle all description. + +The old gentleman of fifty thousand dollars was received by a train of +relatives, and friends, and children, and grandchildren, whom he kissed on +each cheek, and who formed a procession in his rear, with a legion of +domestics, of all ages, following him to a large, old-fashioned French +house, that domineered over the village. + +His black valet de chambre, in white jacket and trousers, and gold +earrings, was met on the shore by a boon, though rustic companion, a tall +negro fellow, with a long good-humored face, and the profile of a horse, +which stood out from beneath a narrow-rimmed straw hat, stuck on the back +of his head. The explosions of laughter of these two varlets on meeting and +exchanging compliments were enough to electrify the country round. + +The most hearty reception, however, was that given to Compere Martin. +Everybody, young and old, hailed him before he got to land. Everybody had a +joke for Compere Martin, and Compere Martin had a joke for everybody. Even +his little dog appeared to partake of his popularity, and to be caressed by +every hand. Indeed, he was quite a different animal the moment he touched +the land. Here he was at home; here he was of consequence. He barked, he +leaped, he frisked about his old friends, and then would skim round the +place in a wide circle, as if mad. + +I traced Compere Martin and his little dog to their home. It was an old +ruinous Spanish house, of large dimensions, with verandas overshadowed by +ancient elms. The house had probably been the residence, in old times, of +the Spanish commandant. In one wing of this crazy, but aristocratical +abode, was nestled the family of my fellow-traveler; for poor devils are +apt to be magnificently clad and lodged, in the cast-off clothes and +abandoned palaces of the great and wealthy. + +The arrival of Compere Martin was welcomed by a legion of women, children, +and mongrel curs; and, as poverty and gayety generally go hand in hand +among the French and their descendants, the crazy mansion soon resounded +with loud gossip and light-hearted laughter. + +As the steamboat paused a short time at the village, I took occasion to +stroll about the place. Most of the houses were in the French taste, with +casements and rickety verandas, but most of them in flimsy and ruinous +condition. All the wagons, plows, and other utensils about the place were +of ancient and inconvenient Gallic construction, such as had been brought +from France in the primitive days of the colony. The very looks of the +people reminded me of the villages of France. + +From one of the houses came the hum of a spinning wheel, accompanied by a +scrap of an old French chanson, which I have heard many a time among the +peasantry of Languedoc, doubtless a traditional song, brought over by the +first French emigrants, and handed down from generation to generation. + +Half a dozen young lasses emerged from the adjacent dwellings, reminding +me, by their light step and gay costume, of scenes in ancient France, where +taste in dress comes natural to every class of females. The trim bodice and +covered petticoat, and little apron, with its pockets to receive the hands +when in an attitude for conversation; the colored kerchief wound tastefully +round the head, with a coquettish knot perking above one ear; and the neat +slipper and tight drawn stocking with its braid of narrow ribbon embracing +the ankle where it peeps from its mysterious curtain. It is from this +ambush that Cupid sends his most inciting arrows. + +While I was musing upon the recollections thus accidentally summoned up, I +heard the sound of a fiddle from the mansion of Compere Martin, the signal, +no doubt, for a joyous gathering. I was disposed to turn my steps thither, +and witness the festivities of one of the very few villages I had met with +in my wide tour that was yet poor enough to be merry; but the bell of the +steamboat summoned me to re-embark. + +As we swept away from the shore, I cast back a wistful eye upon the +moss-grown roofs and ancient elms of the village, and prayed that the +inhabitants might long retain their happy ignorance, their absence of all +enterprise and improvement, their respect for the fiddle, and their +contempt for the almighty dollar. [Footnote: This phrase, used for the +first time in this sketch, has since passed into current circulation, and +by some has been questioned as savoring I fear, however, my prayer is of +irreverence. The author, therefore, owes it to his orthodoxy to declare +that no irreverence was intended even to the dollar itself; which he is +aware is daily becoming more and more an object of worship.] I fear, +however, my prayer is doomed to be of no avail. In a little while the +steamboat whirled me to an American town, just springing into bustling +and prosperous existence. + +The surrounding forest had been laid out in town lots; frames of wooden +buildings were rising from among stumps and burned trees. The place already +boasted a court-house, a jail, and two banks, all built of pine boards, on +the model of Grecian temples. There were rival hotels, rival churches, and +rival newspapers; together with the usual number of judges, and generals, +and governors; not to speak of doctors by the dozen, and lawyers by the +score. + +The place, I was told, was in an astonishing career of improvement, with a +canal and two railroads in embryo. Lots doubled in price every week; +everybody was speculating in land; everybody was rich; and everybody was +growing richer. The community, however, was torn to pieces by new doctrines +in religion and in political economy; there were camp meetings, and +agrarian meetings; and an election was at hand, which, it was expected, +would throw the whole country into a paroxysm. + +Alas! with such an enterprising neighbor, what is to become of the poor +little Creole village! + + + + +A CONTENTED MAN + + +In the garden of the Tuileries there is a sunny corner under the wall of a +terrace which fronts the south. Along the wall is a range of benches +commanding a view of the walks and avenues of the garden. This genial nook +is a place of great resort in the latter part of autumn and in fine days in +winter, as it seems to retain the flavor of departed summer. On a calm, +bright morning it is quite alive with nursery-maids and their playful +little charges. Hither also resort a number of ancient ladies and +gentlemen, who, with the laudable thrift in small pleasures and small +expenses for which the French are to be noted, come here to enjoy sunshine +and save firewood. Here may often be seen some cavalier of the old school, +when the sunbeams have warmed his blood into something like a glow, +fluttering about like a frost-bitten moth thawed before the fire, putting +forth a feeble show of gallantry among the antiquated dames, and now and +then eying the buxom nursery-maids with what might almost be mistaken for +an air of libertinism. + +Among the habitual frequenters of this place I had often remarked an old +gentleman whose dress was decidedly ante-revolutional. He wore the +three-cornered cocked hat of the _ancien regime_; his hair was frizzed +over each ear into _ailes de pigeon_, a style strongly savoring of +Bourbonism; and a queue stuck out behind, the loyalty of which was not to +be disputed. His dress, though ancient, had an air of decayed gentility, +and I observed that he took his snuff out of an elegant though +old-fashioned gold box. He appeared to be the most popular man on the walk. +He had a compliment for every old lady, he kissed every child, and he +patted every little dog on the head; for children and little dogs are very +important members of society in France. I must observe, however, that he +seldom kissed a child without, at the same time, pinching the +nursery-maid's cheek; a Frenchman of the old school never forgets his +devoirs to the sex. + +I had taken a liking to this old gentleman. There was an habitual +expression of benevolence in his face which I have very frequently remarked +in these relics of the politer days of France. The constant interchange of +those thousand little courtesies which imperceptibly sweeten life have a +happy effect upon the features, and spread a mellow evening charm over the +wrinkles of old age. + +Where there is a favorable predisposition one soon forms a kind of tacit +intimacy by often meeting on the same walks. Once or twice I accommodated +him with a bench, after which we touched hats on passing each other; at +length we got so far as to take a pinch of snuff together out of his box, +which is equivalent to eating salt together in the East; from that time our +acquaintance was established. + +I now became his frequent companion in his morning promenades, and derived +much amusement from his good-humored remarks on men and manners. One +morning, as we were strolling through an alley of the Tuileries, with the +autumnal breeze whirling the yellow leaves about our path, my companion +fell into a peculiarly communicative vein, and gave me several particulars +of his history. He had once been wealthy, and possessed of a fine estate in +the country and a noble hotel in Paris; but the revolution, which effected +so many disastrous changes, stripped him of everything. He was secretly +denounced by his own steward during a sanguinary period of the revolution, +and a number of the bloodhounds of the Convention were sent to arrest him. +He received private intelligence of their approach in time to effect his +escape. He landed in England without money or friends, but considered +himself singularly fortunate in having his head upon his shoulders; several +of his neighbors having been guillotined as a punishment for being rich. + +When he reached London he had but a louis in his pocket, and no prospect of +getting another. He ate a solitary dinner of beefsteak, and was almost +poisoned by port wine, which from its color he had mistaken for claret. The +dingy look of the chop-house, and of the little mahogany-colored box in +which he ate his dinner, contrasted sadly with the gay saloons of Paris. +Everything looked gloomy and disheartening. Poverty stared him in the face; +he turned over the few shillings he had of change; did not know what was to +become of him; and--went to the theater! + +He took his seat in the pit, listened attentively to a tragedy of which he +did not understand a word, and which seemed made up of fighting, and +stabbing, and scene shifting, and began to feel his spirits sinking within +him; when, casting his eyes into the orchestra, what was his surprise to +recognize an old friend and neighbor in the very act of extorting music +from a huge violoncello. + +As soon as the evening's performance was over he tapped his friend on the +shoulder; they kissed each other on each cheek, and the musician took him +home, and shared his lodgings with him. He had learned music as an +accomplishment; by his friend's advice he now turned to it as a means of +support. He procured a violin, offered himself for the orchestra, was +received, and again considered himself one of the most fortunate men upon +earth. + +Here therefore he lived for many years during the ascendency of the +terrible Napoleon. He found several emigrants living, like himself, by the +exercise of their talents. They associated together, talked of France and +of old times, and endeavored to keep up a semblance of Parisian life in the +center of London. + +They dined at a miserable cheap French restaurant in the neighborhood of +Leicester Square, where they were served with a caricature of French +cookery. They took their promenade in St. James's Park, and endeavored to +fancy it the Tuileries; in short, they made shift to accommodate themselves +to everything but an English Sunday. Indeed the old gentleman seemed to +have nothing to say against the English, whom he affirmed to be _braves +gens_; and he mingled so much among them that at the end of twenty years +he could speak their language almost well enough to be understood. + +The downfall of Napoleon was another epoch in his life. He had considered +himself a fortunate man to make his escape penniless out of France, and he +considered himself fortunate to be able to return penniless into it. It is +true that he found his Parisian hotel had passed through several hands +during the vicissitudes of the times, so as to be beyond the reach of +recovery; but then he had been noticed benignantly by government, and had a +pension of several hundred francs, upon which, with careful management, he +lived independently, and, as far as I could judge, happily. As his once +splendid hotel was now occupied as a _hotel garni_, he hired a small +chamber in the attic; it was but, as he said, changing his bedroom up two +pair of stairs--he was still in his own house. His room was decorated with +pictures of several beauties of former times, with whom he professed to +have been on favorable terms: among them was a favorite opera-dancer, who +had been the admiration of Paris at the breaking out of the revolution. She +had been a protegee of my friend, and one of the few of his youthful +favorites who had survived the lapse of time and its various vicissitudes. +They had renewed their acquaintance, and she now and then visited him; but +the beautiful Psyche, once the fashion of the day and the idol of the +_parterre_, was now a shriveled, little old woman, warped in the back +and with a hooked nose. + +The old gentleman was a devout attendant upon levees; he was most zealous +in his loyalty, and could not speak of the royal family without a burst of +enthusiasm, for he still felt toward them as his companions in exile. As to +his poverty he made light of it, and indeed had a good-humored way of +consoling himself for every cross and privation. If he had lost his chateau +in the country, he had half a dozen royal palaces, as it were, at his +command. He had Versailles and St. Cloud for his country resorts, and the +shady alleys of the Tuileries and the Luxembourg for his town recreation. +Thus all his promenades and relaxations were magnificent, yet cost nothing. + +When I walk through these fine gardens, said he, I have only to fancy +myself the owner of them, and they are mine. All these gay crowds are my +visitors, and I defy the grand seignior himself to display a greater +variety of beauty. Nay, what is better, I have not the trouble of +entertaining them. My estate is a perfect Sans Souci, where every one does +as he pleases, and no one troubles the owner. All Paris is my theater, and +presents me with a continual spectacle. I have a table spread for me in +every street, and thousands of waiters ready to fly at my bidding. When my +servants have waited upon me I pay them, discharge them, and there's an +end; I have no fears of their wronging or pilfering me when my back is +turned. Upon the whole, said the old gentleman with a smile of infinite +good humor, when I think upon the various risks I have run, and the manner +in which I have escaped them; when I recollect all that I have suffered, +and consider all that I at present enjoy, I cannot but look upon myself as +a man of singular good fortune. + +Such was the brief history of this practical philosopher, and it is a +picture of many a Frenchman ruined by the revolution. The French appear to +have a greater facility than most men in accommodating themselves to the +reverses of life, and of extracting honey out of the bitter things of this +world. The first shock of calamity is apt to overwhelm them, but when it is +once past, their natural buoyancy of feeling soon brings them to the +surface. This may be called the result of levity of character, but it +answers the end of reconciling us to misfortune, and if it be not true +philosophy, it is something almost as efficacious. Ever since I have heard +the story of my little Frenchman, I have treasured it up in my heart; and I +thank my stars I have at length found what I had long considered as not to +be found on earth--a contented man. + +P. S.--There is no calculating on human happiness. Since writing the +foregoing, the law of indemnity has been passed, and my friend restored to +a great part of his fortune. I was absent from Paris at the time, but on my +return hastened to congratulate him. I found him magnificently lodged on +the first floor of his hotel. I was ushered, by a servant in livery, +through splendid saloons, to a cabinet richly furnished, where I found my +little Frenchman reclining on a couch. He received me with his usual +cordiality; but I saw the gayety and benevolence of his countenance had +fled; he had an eye full of care and anxiety. + +I congratulated him on his good fortune. "Good fortune?" echoed he; "bah! I +have been plundered of a princely fortune, and they give me a pittance as +an indemnity." + +Alas! I found my late poor and contented friend one of the richest and most +miserable men in Paris. Instead of rejoicing hi the ample competency +restored to him, he is daily repining at the superfluity withheld. He no +longer wanders in happy idleness about Paris, but is a repining attendant +in the ante-chambers of ministers. His loyalty has evaporated with his +gayety; he screws his mouth when the Bourbons are mentioned, and even +shrugs his shoulders when he hears the praises of the king. In a word, he +is one of the many philosophers undone by the law of indemnity, and his +case is desperate, for I doubt whether even another reverse of fortune, +which should restore him to poverty, could make him again a happy man. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crayon Papers, by Washington Irving + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRAYON PAPERS *** + +***** This file should be named 7994-8.txt or 7994-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/9/7994/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, William +Craig, Charles Franks, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +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. 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