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diff --git a/old/haw5310.txt b/old/haw5310.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..056d87f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/haw5310.txt @@ -0,0 +1,856 @@ +Project Gutenberg EBook, The Hall of Fantasy, by Nathaniel Hawthorne +From "Mosses From An Old Manse" +#53 in our series by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + + +Title: The Hall of Fantasy (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: Nov, 2005 [EBook #9226] +[This file was first posted on September 6, 2003] +[Last updated on February 6, 2007] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE HALL OF FANTASY *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + + + + MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE + + By Nathaniel Hawthorne + + THE HALL OF FANTASY + + + +It has happened to me, on various occasions, to find myself +in a certain edifice which would appear to have some of the +characteristics of a public exchange. Its interior is a spacious +hall, with a pavement of white marble. Overhead is a lofty dome, +supported by long rows of pillars of fantastic architecture, the +idea of which was probably taken from the Moorish ruins of the +Alhambra, or perhaps from some enchanted edifice in the Arabian +tales. The windows of this hall have a breadth and grandeur of +design and an elaborateness of workmanship that have nowhere been +equalled, except in the Gothic cathedrals of the Old World. Like +their prototypes, too, they admit the light of heaven only through +stained and pictured glass, thus filling the hall with many-colored +radiance and painting its marble floor with beautiful or grotesque +designs; so that its inmates breathe, as it were, a visionary +atmosphere, and tread upon the fantasies of poetic minds. These +peculiarities, combining a wilder mixture of styles than even an +American architect usually recognizes as allowable,--Grecian, +Gothic, Oriental, and nondescript,--cause the whole edifice to give +the impression of a dream, which might be dissipated and shattered +to fragments by merely stamping the foot upon the pavement. Yet, +with such modifications and repairs as successive ages demand, the +Hall of Fantasy is likely to endure longer than the most substantial +structure that ever cumbered the earth. + +It is not at all times that one can gain admittance into this +edifice, although most persons enter it at some period or other of +their lives; if not in their waking moments, then by the universal +passport of a dream. At my last visit I wandered thither unawares +while my mind was busy with an idle tale, and was startled by the +throng of people who seemed suddenly to rise up around me. + +"Bless me! Where am I?" cried I, with but a dim recognition of the +place. + +"You are in a spot," said a friend who chanced to be near at hand, +"which occupies in the world of fancy the same position which the +Bourse, the Rialto, and the Exchange do in the commercial world. +All who have affairs in that mystic region, which lies above, below, +or beyond the actual, may here meet and talk over the business of +their dreams." + +"It is a noble hall," observed I. + +"Yes," he replied. "Yet we see but a small portion of the edifice. +In its upper stories are said to be apartments where the inhabitants +of earth may hold converse with those of the moon; and beneath our +feet are gloomy cells, which communicate with the infernal regions, +and where monsters and chimeras are kept in confinement and fed with +all unwholesomeness." + +In niches and on pedestals around about the hall stood the statues +or busts of men who in every age have been rulers and demigods in +the realms of imagination and its kindred regions. The grand old +countenance of Homer; the shrunken and decrepit form but vivid face +of AEsop; the dark presence of Dante; the wild Ariosto; Rabelais's +smile of deep-wrought mirth, the profound, pathetic humor of +Cervantes; the all-glorious Shakespeare; Spenser, meet guest for an +allegoric structure; the severe divinity of Milton; and Bunyan, +moulded of homeliest clay, but instinct with celestial fire,--were +those that chiefly attracted my eye. Fielding, Richardson, and +Scott occupied conspicuous pedestals. In an obscure and shadowy +niche was deposited the bust of our countryman, the author of Arthur +Mervyn. + +"Besides these indestructible memorials of real genius," remarked my +companion, "each century has erected statues of its own ephemeral +favorites in wood." + +"I observe a few crumbling relics of such," said I. "But ever and +anon, I suppose, Oblivion comes with her huge broom and sweeps them +all from the marble floor. But such will never be the fate of this +fine statue of Goethe." + +"Nor of that next to it,--Emanuel Swedenborg," said he. "Were ever +two men of transcendent imagination more unlike?" + +In the centre of the hall springs an ornamental fountain, the water +of which continually throws itself into new shapes and snatches the +most diversified lines from the stained atmosphere around. It is +impossible to conceive what a strange vivacity is imparted to the +scene by the magic dance of this fountain, with its endless +transformations, in which the imaginative beholder may discern what +form he will. The water is supposed by some to flow from the same +source as the Castalian spring, and is extolled by others as uniting +the virtues of the Fountain of Youth with those of many other +enchanted wells long celebrated in tale and song. Having never +tasted it, I can bear no testimony to its quality. + +"Did you ever drink this water?" I inquired of my friend. + +"A few sips now and then," answered he. "But there are men here who +make it their constant beverage,--or, at least, have the credit of +doing so. In some instances it is known to have intoxicating +qualities." + +"Pray let us look at these water-drinkers," said I. + +So we passed among the fantastic pillars till we came to a spot +where a number of persons were clustered together in the light of +one of the great stained windows, which seemed to glorify the whole +group as well as the marble that they trod on. Most of them were +men of broad foreheads, meditative countenances, and thoughtful, +inward eyes; yet it required but a trifle to summon up mirth, +peeping out from the very midst of grave and lofty musings. Some +strode about, or leaned against the pillars of the hall, alone and +in silence; their faces wore a rapt expression, as if sweet music +were in the air around them, or as if their inmost souls were about +to float away in song. One or two, perhaps, stole a glance at the +bystanders, to watch if their poetic absorption were observed. +Others stood talking in groups, with a liveliness of expression, a +ready smile, and a light, intellectual laughter, which showed how +rapidly the shafts of wit were glancing to and fro among them. + +A few held higher converse, which caused their calm and melancholy +souls to beam moonlight from their eyes. As I lingered near them,-- +for I felt an inward attraction towards these men, as if the +sympathy of feeling, if not of genius, had united me to their +order,--my friend mentioned several of their names. The world has +likewise heard those names; with some it has been familiar for +years; and others are daily making their way deeper into the +universal heart. + +"Thank Heaven," observed I to my companion, as we passed to another +part of the hall, "we have done with this techy, wayward, shy, proud +unreasonable set of laurel-gatherers. I love them in their works, +but have little desire to meet them elsewhere." + +"You have adopted all old prejudice, I see," replied my friend, who +was familiar with most of these worthies, being himself a student of +poetry, and not without the poetic flame. "But, so far as my +experience goes, men of genius are fairly gifted with the social +qualities; and in this age there appears to be a fellow-feeling +among them which had not heretofore been developed. As men, they +ask nothing better than to be on equal terms with their fellow-men; +and as authors, they have thrown aside their proverbial jealousy, +and acknowledge a generous brotherhood." + +"The world does not think so," answered I. "An author is received +in general society pretty much as we honest citizens are in the Hall +of Fantasy. We gaze at him as if he had no business among us, and +question whether he is fit for any of our pursuits." + +"Then it is a very foolish question," said he. "Now, here are a +class of men whom we may daily meet on 'Change. Yet what poet in +the hall is more a fool of fancy than the sagest of them?" + +He pointed to a number of persons, who, manifest as the fact was, +would have deemed it an insult to be told that they stood in the +Hall of Fantasy. Their visages were traced into wrinkles and +furrows, each of which seemed the record of some actual experience +in life. Their eyes had the shrewd, calculating glance which +detects so quickly and so surely all that it concerns a man of +business to know about the characters and purposes of his fellow- +men. Judging them as they stood, they might be honored and trusted +members of the Chamber of Commerce, who had found the genuine secret +of wealth and whose sagacity gave them the command of fortune. + +There was a character of detail and matter of fact in their talk +which concealed the extravagance of its purport, insomuch that the +wildest schemes had the aspect of everyday realities. Thus the +listener was not startled at the idea of cities to be built, as if +by magic, in the heart of pathless forests; and of streets to be +laid out where now the sea was tossing; and of mighty rivers to be +stayed in their courses in order to turn the machinery of a cotton- +mill. It was only by an effort, and scarcely then, that the mind +convinced itself that such speculations were as much matter of +fantasy as the old dream of Eldorado, or as Mammon's Cave, or any +other vision of gold ever conjured up by the imagination of needy +poet or romantic adventurer. + +"Upon my word," said I, "it is dangerous to listen to such dreamers +as these. Their madness is contagious." + +"Yes," said my friend, "because they mistake the Hall of Fantasy +for actual brick and mortar, and its purple atmosphere for +unsophisticated sunshine. But the poet knows his whereabout, and +therefore is less likely to make a fool of himself in real life." + +"Here again," observed I, as we advanced a little farther, "we see +another order of dreamers, peculiarly characteristic, too, of the +genius of our country." + +These were the inventors of fantastic machines. Models of their +contrivances were placed against some of the pillars of the hall, +and afforded good emblems of the result generally to be anticipated +from an attempt to reduce day-dreams to practice. The analogy may +hold in morals as well as physics; for instance, here was the model +of a railroad through the air and a tunnel under the sea. Here was +a machine--stolen, I believe--for the distillation of heat from +moonshine; and another for the condensation of morning mist into +square blocks of granite, wherewith it was proposed to rebuild the +entire Hall of Fantasy. One man exhibited a sort of lens whereby he +had succeeded in making sunshine out of a lady's smile; and it was +his purpose wholly to irradiate the earth by means of this wonderful +invention. + +"It is nothing new," said I; "for most of our sunshine comes from +woman's smile already." + +"True," answered the inventor; "but my machine will secure a +constant supply for domestic use; whereas hitherto it has been very +precarious." + +Another person had a scheme for fixing the reflections of objects in +a pool of water, and thus taking the most life-like portraits +imaginable; and the same gentleman demonstrated the practicability +of giving a permanent dye to ladies' dresses, in the gorgeous clouds +of sunset. There were at least fifty kinds of perpetual motion, one +of which was applicable to the wits of newspaper editors and writers +of every description. Professor Espy was here, with a tremendous +storm in a gum-elastic bag. I could enumerate many more of these +Utopian inventions; but, after all, a more imaginative collection is +to be found in the Patent Office at Washington. + +Turning from the inventors we took a more general survey of the +inmates of the hall. Many persons were present whose right of +entrance appeared to consist in some crotchet of the brain, which, +so long as it might operate, produced a change in their relation to +the actual world. It is singular how very few there are who do not +occasionally gain admittance on such a score, either in abstracted +musings, or momentary thoughts, or bright anticipations, or vivid +remembrances; for even the actual becomes ideal, whether in hope or +memory, and beguiles the dreamer into the Hall of Fantasy. Some +unfortunates make their whole abode and business here, and contract +habits which unfit them for all the real employments of life. +Others--but these are few--possess the faculty, in their occasional +visits, of discovering a purer truth than the world call impart +among the lights and shadows of these pictured windows. + +And with all its dangerous influences, we have reason to thank God +that there is such a place of refuge from the gloom and chillness of +actual life. Hither may come the prisoner, escaping from his dark +and narrow cell and cankerous chain, to breathe free air in this +enchanted atmosphere. The sick man leaves his weary pillow, and +finds strength to wander hither, though his wasted limbs might not +support him even to the threshold of his chamber. The exile passes +through the Hall of Fantasy to revisit his native soil. The burden +of years rolls down from the old man's shoulders the moment that the +door uncloses. Mourners leave their heavy sorrows at the entrance, +and here rejoin the lost ones whose faces would else be seen no +more, until thought shall have become the only fact. It may be +said, in truth, that there is but half a life--the meaner and +earthier half--for those who never find their way into the hall. +Nor must I fail to mention that in the observatory of the edifice is +kept that wonderful perspective-glass, through which the shepherds +of the Delectable Mountains showed Christian the far-off gleam of +the Celestial City. The eye of Faith still loves to gaze through +it. + +"I observe some men here," said I to my friend, "who might set up a +strong claim to be reckoned among the most real personages of the +day." + +"Certainly," he replied. "If a man be in advance of his age, he +must be content to make his abode in this hall until the lingering +generations of his fellow-men come up with him. He can find no +other shelter in the universe. But the fantasies of one day are the +deepest realities of a future one." + +"It is difficult to distinguish them apart amid the gorgeous and +bewildering light of this ball," rejoined I. "The white sunshine of +actual life is necessary in order to test them. I am rather apt to +doubt both men and their reasonings till I meet them in that +truthful medium." + +"Perhaps your faith in the ideal is deeper than you are aware," said +my friend. "You are at least a democrat; and methinks no scanty +share of such faith is essential to the adoption of that creed." + +Among the characters who had elicited these remarks were most of the +noted reformers of the day, whether in physics, politics, morals, or +religion. There is no surer method of arriving at the Hall of +Fantasy than to throw one's-self into the current of a theory; for, +whatever landmarks of fact may be set up along the stream, there is +a law of nature that impels it thither. And let it be so; for here +the wise head and capacious heart may do their work; and what is +good and true becomes gradually hardened into fact, while error +melts away and vanishes among the shadows of the ball. Therefore +may none who believe and rejoice in the progress of mankind be angry +with me because I recognized their apostles and leaders amid the +fantastic radiance of those pictured windows. I love and honor such +men as well as they. + +It would be endless to describe the herd of real or self styled +reformers that peopled this place of refuge. They were the +representatives of an unquiet period, when mankind is seeking to +cast off the whole tissue of ancient custom like a tattered garment. +Many of then had got possession of some crystal fragment of truth, +the brightness of which so dazzled them that they could see nothing +else in the wide universe. Here were men whose faith had embodied +itself in the form of a potato; and others whose long beards had a +deep spiritual significance. Here was the abolitionist, brandishing +his one idea like an iron flail. In a word, there were a thousand +shapes of good and evil, faith and infidelity, wisdom and nonsense, +--a most incongruous throng. + +Yet, withal, the heart of the stanchest conservative, unless he +abjured his fellowship with man, could hardly have helped throbbing +in sympathy with the spirit that pervaded these innumerable +theorists. It was good for the man of unquickened heart to listen +even to their folly. Far down beyond the fathom of the intellect +the soul acknowledged that all these varying and conflicting +developments of humanity were united in one sentiment. Be the +individual theory as wild as fancy could make it, still the wiser +spirit would recognize the struggle of the race after a better and +purer life than had yet been realized on earth. My faith revived +even while I rejected all their schemes. It could not be that the +world should continue forever what it has been; a soil where +Happiness is so rare a flower and Virtue so often a blighted fruit; +a battle-field where the good principle, with its shield flung above +its head, can hardly save itself amid the rush of adverse +influences. In the enthusiasm of such thoughts I gazed through one +of the pictured windows, and, behold! the whole external world was +tinged with the dimly glorious aspect that is peculiar to the Hall +of Fantasy, insomuch that it seemed practicable at that very instant +to realize some plan for the perfection of mankind. But, alas! if +reformers would understand the sphere in which their lot is cast +they must cease to look through pictured windows. Yet they not only +use this medium, but mistake it for the whitest sunshine. + +"Come," said I to my friend, starting from a deep revery, "let us +hasten hence, or I shall be tempted to make a theory, after which +there is little hope of any man." + +"Come hither, then," answered he. "Here is one theory that swallows +up and annihilates all others." + +He led me to a distant part of the hall where a crowd of deeply +attentive auditors were assembled round an elderly man of plain, +honest, trustworthy aspect. With an earnestness that betokened the +sincerest faith in his own doctrine, he announced that the +destruction of the world was close at hand. + +"It is Father Miller himself!" exclaimed I. + +"No less a man," said my friend; "and observe how picturesque a +contrast between his dogma and those of the reformers whom we have +just glanced at. They look for the earthly perfection of mankind, +and are forming schemes which imply that the immortal spirit will be +connected with a physical nature for innumerable ages of futurity. +On the other hand, here comes good Father Miller, and with one puff +of his relentless theory scatters all their dreams like so many +withered leaves upon the blast." + +"It is, perhaps, the only method of getting mankind out of the +various perplexities into which they have fallen," I replied. "Yet I +could wish that the world might be permitted to endure until some +great moral shall have been evolved. A riddle is propounded. Where +is the solution? The sphinx did not slay herself until her riddle +had been guessed. Will it not be so with the world? Now, if it +should be burned to-morrow morning, I am at a loss to know what +purpose will have been accomplished, or how the universe will be +wiser or better for our existence and destruction." + +"We cannot tell what mighty truths may have been embodied in act +through the existence of the globe and its inhabitants," rejoined my +companion. "Perhaps it may be revealed to us after the fall of the +curtain over our catastrophe; or not impossibly, the whole drama, in +which we are involuntary actors, may have been performed for the +instruction of another set of spectators. I cannot perceive that +our own comprehension of it is at all essential to the matter. At +any rate, while our view is so ridiculously narrow and superficial +it would be absurd to argue the continuance of the world from the +fact that it seems to have existed hitherto in vain." + +"The poor old earth," murmured I. "She has faults enough, in all +conscience, but I cannot hear to have her perish." + +"It is no great matter," said my friend. "The happiest of us has +been weary of her many a time and oft." + +"I doubt it," answered I, pertinaciously; "the root of human nature +strikes down deep into this earthly soil, and it is but reluctantly +that we submit to be transplanted, even for a higher cultivation in +heaven. I query whether the destruction of the earth would gratify +any one individual, except perhaps some embarrassed man of business +whose notes fall due a day after the day of doom." + +Then methought I heard the expostulating cry of a multitude against +the consummation prophesied by Father Miller. The lover wrestled +with Providence for his foreshadowed bliss. Parents entreated that +the earth's span of endurance might be prolonged by some seventy +years, so that their new-born infant should not be defrauded of his +lifetime. A youthful poet murmured because there would be no +posterity to recognize the inspiration of his song. The reformers, +one and all, demanded a few thousand years to test their theories, +after which the universe might go to wreck. A mechanician, who was +busied with an improvement of the steam-engine, asked merely time to +perfect his model. A miser insisted that the world's destruction +would be a personal wrong to himself, unless he should first be +permitted to add a specified sum to his enormous heap of gold. A +little boy made dolorous inquiry whether the last day would come +before Christmas, and thus deprive him of his anticipated dainties. +In short, nobody seemed satisfied that this mortal scene of things +should have its close just now. Yet, it must be confessed, the +motives of the crowd for desiring its continuance were mostly so +absurd, that unless infinite Wisdom had been aware of much better +reasons, the solid earth must have melted away at once. + +For my own part, not to speak of a few private and personal ends, I +really desired our old mother's prolonged existence for her own dear +sake. + +"The poor old earth!" I repeated. "What I should chiefly regret in +her destruction would be that very earthliness which no other sphere +or state of existence can renew or compensate. The fragrance of +flowers and of new-mown hay; the genial warmth of sunshine, and the +beauty of a sunset among clouds; the comfort and cheerful glow of +the fireside; the deliciousness of fruits and of all good cheer; the +magnificence of mountains, and seas, and cataracts, and the softer +charm of rural scenery; even the fast-falling snow and the gray +atmosphere through which it descends,--all these and innumerable +other enjoyable things of earth must perish with her. Then the +country frolics; the homely humor; the broad, open-mouthed roar of +laughter, in which body and soul conjoin so heartily! I fear that +no other world call show its anything just like this. As for purely +moral enjoyments, the good will find them in every state of being. +But where the material and the moral exist together, what is to +happen then? And then our mute four-footed friends and the winged +songsters of our woods! Might it not be lawful to regret them, even +in the hallowed groves of paradise?" + +"You speak like the very spirit of earth, imbued with a scent of +freshly turned soil," exclaimed my friend. + +"It is not that I so much object to giving up these enjoyments on my +own account," continued I, "but I hate to think that they will have +been eternally annihilated from the list of joys." + +"Nor need they be," he replied. "I see no real force in what you +say. Standing in this Hall of Fantasy, we perceive what even the +earth-clogged intellect of man can do in creating circumstances +which, though we call them shadowy and visionary, are scarcely more +so than those that surround us in actual life. Doubt not then that +man's disembodied spirit may recreate time and the world for itself, +with all their peculiar enjoyments, should there still be human +yearnings amid life eternal and infinite. But I doubt whether we +shall be inclined to play such a poor scene over again." + +"O, you are ungrateful to our mother earth!" rejoined I. "Come what +may, I never will forget her! Neither will it satisfy me to have +her exist merely in idea. I want her great, round, solid self to +endure interminably, and still to be peopled with the kindly race of +man, whom I uphold to be much better than he thinks himself. +Nevertheless, I confide the whole matter to Providence, and shall +endeavor so to live that the world may come to an end at any moment +without leaving me at a loss to find foothold somewhere else." + +"It is an excellent resolve," said my companion, looking at his +watch. "But come; it is the dinner-hour. Will you partake of my +vegetable diet?" + +A thing so matter of fact as an invitation to dinner, even when the +fare was to be nothing more substantial than vegetables and fruit, +compelled us forthwith to remove from the Hall of Fantasy. As we +passed out of the portal we met the spirits of several persons who +had been sent thither in magnetic sleep. I looked back among the +sculptured pillars and at the transformations of the gleaming +fountain, and almost desired that the whole of life might be spent +in that visionary scene where the actual world, with its hard +angles, should never rub against me, and only be viewed through the +medium of pictured windows. But for those who waste all their days +in the Hall of Fantasy, good Father Miller's prophecy is already +accomplished, and the solid earth has come to an untimely end. Let +us be content, therefore, with merely an occasional visit, for the +sake of spiritualizing the grossness of this actual life, and +prefiguring to ourselves a state in which the Idea shall be all in +all. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE HALL OF FANTASY *** +By Nathaniel Hawthorne + +**** This file should be named haw5310.txt or haw5310.zip ***** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, haw5311.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, haw5310a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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