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diff --git a/old/haw6610.txt b/old/haw6610.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6aaf342 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/haw6610.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1255 @@ +Project Gutenberg EBook, Old News, by Nathaniel Hawthorne +From "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales" +#66 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: Old News + (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: Nov, 2005 [EBook #9239] +[This file was first posted on September 18, 2003] +[Last updated on February 6, 2007] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, OLD NEWS *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + + + + THE SNOW-IMAGE + + AND + + OTHER TWICE-TOLD TALES + + + + OLD NEWS + + By + + Nathaniel Hawthorne + + + +There is a volume of what were once newspapers each on a small half- +sheet, yellow and time-stained, of a coarse fabric, and imprinted with +a rude old type. Their aspect conveys a singular impression of +antiquity, in a species of literature which we are accustomed to consider +as connected only with the present moment. Ephemeral as they were +intended and supposed to be, they have long outlived the printer and his +whole subscription-list, and have proved more durable, as to their +physical existence, than most of the timber, bricks, and stone of the +town where they were issued. These are but the least of their triumphs. +The government, the interests, the opinions, in short, all the moral +circumstances that were contemporary with their publication, have passed +away, and left no better record of what they were than may be found in +these frail leaves. Happy are the editors of newspapers! Their +productions excel all others in immediate popularity, and are certain to +acquire another sort of value with the lapse of time. They scatter their +leaves to the wind, as the sibyl did, and posterity collects them, to be +treasured up among the best materials of its wisdom. With hasty pens +they write for immortality. + +It is pleasant to take one of these little dingy half-sheets between the +thumb and finger, and picture forth the personage who, above ninety years +ago, held it, wet from the press, and steaming, before the fire. Many of +the numbers bear the name of an old colonial dignitary. There he sits, a +major, a member of the council, and a weighty merchant, in his high- +backed arm-chair, wearing a solemn wig and grave attire, such as befits +his imposing gravity of mien, and displaying but little finery, except a +huge pair of silver shoe-buckles, curiously carved. Observe the awful +reverence of his visage, as he reads his Majesty's most gracious speech; +and the deliberate wisdom with which he ponders over some paragraph of +provincial politics, and the keener intelligence with which he glances at +the ship-news and commercial advertisements. Observe, and smile! He may +have been a wise man in his day; but, to us, the wisdom of the politician +appears like folly, because we can compare its prognostics with actual +results; and the old merchant seems to have busied himself about +vanities, because we know that the expected ships have been lost at sea, +or mouldered at the wharves; that his imported broadcloths were long ago +worn to tatters, and his cargoes of wine quaffed to the lees; and that +the most precious leaves of his ledger have become waste-paper. Yet, his +avocations were not so vain as our philosophic moralizing. In this world +we are the things of a moment, and are made to pursue momentary things, +with here and there a thought that stretches mistily towards eternity, +and perhaps may endure as long. All philosophy that would abstract +mankind from the present is no more than words. + +The first pages of most of these old papers are as soporific as a bed of +poppies. Here we have an erudite clergyman, or perhaps a Cambridge +professor, occupying several successive weeks with a criticism on Tate +and Brady, as compared with the New England version of the Psalms. Of +course, the preference is given to the native article. Here are doctors +disagreeing about the treatment of a putrid fever then prevalent, and +blackguarding each other with a characteristic virulence that renders the +controversy not altogether unreadable. Here are President Wigglesworth +and the Rev. Dr. Colman, endeavoring to raise a fund for the support of +missionaries among the Indians of Massachusetts Bay. Easy would be the +duties of such a mission now! Here--for there is nothing new under the +sun--are frequent complaints of the disordered state of the currency, and +the project of a bank with a capital of five hundred thousand pounds, +secured on lands. Here are literary essays, from the Gentleman's +Magazine; and squibs against the Pretender, from the London newspapers. +And here, occasionally, are specimens of New England honor, laboriously +light and lamentably mirthful, as if some very sober person, in his zeal +to be merry, were dancing a jig to the tune of a funeral-psalm. All this +is wearisome, and we must turn the leaf. + +There is a good deal of amusement, and some profit, in the perusal of +those little items which characterize the manners and circumstances of +the country. New England was then in a state incomparably more +picturesque than at present, or than it has been within the memory of +man; there being, as yet, only a narrow strip of civilization along the +edge of a vast forest, peopled with enough of its original race to +contrast the savage life with the old customs of another world. The +white population, also, was diversified by the influx of all sorts of +expatriated vagabonds, and by the continual importation of bond-servants +from Ireland and elsewhere, so that there was a wild and unsettled +multitude, forming a strong minority to the sober descendants of the +Puritans. Then, there were the slaves, contributing their dark shade to +the picture of society. The consequence of all this was a great variety +and singularity of action and incident, many instances of which might be +selected from these columns, where they are told with a simplicity and +quaintness of style that bring the striking points into very strong +relief. It is natural to suppose, too, that these circumstances affected +the body of the people, and made their course of life generally less +regular than that of their descendants. There is no evidence that the +moral standard was higher then than now; or, indeed, that morality was so +well defined as it has since become. There seem to have been quite as +many frauds and robberies, in proportion to the number of honest deeds; +there were murders, in hot-blood and in malice; and bloody quarrels over +liquor. Some of our fathers also appear to have been yoked to unfaithful +wives, if we may trust the frequent notices of elopements from bed and +board. The pillory, the whipping-post, the prison, and the gallows, each +had their use in those old times; and, in short, as often as our +imagination lives in the past, we find it a ruder and rougher age than +our own, with hardly any perceptible advantages, and much that gave life +a gloomier tinge. In vain we endeavor to throw a sunny and joyous air +over our picture of this period; nothing passes before our fancy but a +crowd of sad-visaged people, moving duskily through a dull gray +atmosphere. It is certain that winter rushed upon them with fiercer +storms than now, blocking up the narrow forest-paths, and overwhelming +the roads along the sea-coast with mountain snow drifts; so that weeks +elapsed before the newspaper could announce how many travellers had +perished, or what wrecks had strewn the shore. The cold was more +piercing then, and lingered further into the spring, making the chimney- +corner a comfortable seat till long past May-day. By the number of such +accidents on record, we might suppose that the thunder-stone, as they +termed it, fell oftener and deadlier on steeples, dwellings, and +unsheltered wretches. In fine, our fathers bore the brunt of more raging +and pitiless elements than we. There were forebodings, also, of a more +fearful tempest than those of the elements. At two or three dates, we +have stories of drums, trumpets, and all sorts of martial music, passing +athwart the midnight sky, accompanied with the--roar of cannon and rattle +of musketry, prophetic echoes of the sounds that were soon to shake the +land. Besides these airy prognostics, there were rumors of French fleets +on the coast, and of the march of French and Indians through the +wilderness, along the borders of the settlements. The country was +saddened, moreover, with grievous sicknesses. The small-pox raged in +many of the towns, and seems, though so familiar a scourge, to have been +regarded with as much affright as that which drove the throng from Wall +Street and Broadway at the approach of a new pestilence. There were +autumnal fevers too, and a contagious and destructive throat-distemper,-- +diseases unwritten in medical hooks. The dark superstition of former +days had not yet been so far dispelled as not to heighten the gloom of +the present times. There is an advertisement, indeed, by a committee of +the Legislature, calling for information as to the circumstances of +sufferers in the "late calamity of 1692," with a view to reparation for +their losses and misfortunes. But the tenderness with which, after above +forty years, it was thought expedient to allude to the witchcraft +delusion, indicates a good deal of lingering error, as well as the +advance of more enlightened opinions. The rigid hand of Puritanism might +yet be felt upon the reins of government, while some of the ordinances +intimate a disorderly spirit on the part of the people. The Suffolk +justices, after a preamble that great disturbances have been committed by +persons entering town and leaving it in coaches, chaises, calashes, and +other wheel-carriages, on the evening before the Sabbath, give notice +that a watch will hereafter be set at the "fortification-gate," to +prevent these outrages. It is amusing to see Boston assuming the aspect +of a walled city, guarded, probably, by a detachment of church-members, +with a deacon at their head. Governor Belcher makes proclamation against +certain "loose and dissolute people" who have been wont to stop +passengers in the streets, on the Fifth of November, "otherwise called +Pope's Day," and levy contributions for the building of bonfires. In +this instance, the populace are more puritanic than the magistrate. + +The elaborate solemnities of funerals were in accordance with the sombre +character of the times. In cases of ordinary death, the printer seldom +fails to notice that the corpse was "very decently interred." But when +some mightier mortal has yielded to his fate, the decease of the +"worshipful" such-a-one is announced, with all his titles of deacon, +justice, councillor, and colonel; then follows an heraldic sketch of his +honorable ancestors, and lastly an account of the black pomp of his +funeral, and the liberal expenditure of scarfs, gloves, and mourning +rings. The burial train glides slowly before us, as we have seen it +represented in the woodcuts of that day, the coffin, and the bearers, +and the lamentable friends, trailing their long black garments, while +grim Death, a most misshapen skeleton, with all kinds of doleful +emblems, stalks hideously in front. There was a coach maker at this +period, one John Lucas, who scents to have gained the chief of his +living by letting out a sable coach to funerals. It would not be fair, +however, to leave quite so dismal an impression on the reader's mind; +nor should it be forgotten that happiness may walk soberly in dark +attire, as well as dance lightsomely in a gala-dress. And this reminds +us that there is an incidental notice of the "dancing-school near the +Orange-Tree," whence we may infer that the salutatory art was +occasionally practised, though perhaps chastened into a characteristic +gravity of movement. This pastime was probably confined to the +aristocratic circle, of which the royal governor was the centre. But we +are scandalized at the attempt of Jonathan Furness to introduce a more +reprehensible amusement: he challenges the whole country to match his +black gelding in a race for a hundred pounds, to be decided on Metonomy +Common or Chelsea Beach. Nothing as to the manners of the times can be +inferred from this freak of an individual. There were no daily and +continual opportunities of being merry; but sometimes the people +rejoiced, in their own peculiar fashion, oftener with a calm, religious +smile than with a broad laugh, as when they feasted, like one great +family, at Thanksgiving time, or indulged a livelier mirth throughout +the pleasant days of Election-week. This latter was the true holiday +season of New England. Military musters were too seriously important in +that warlike time to be classed among amusements; but they stirred up +and enlivened the public mind, and were occasions of solemn festival to +the governor and great men of the province, at the expense of the field- +offices. The Revolution blotted a feast-day out of our calendar; for +the anniversary of the king's birth appears to have been celebrated with +most imposing pomp, by salutes from Castle William, a military parade, a +grand dinner at the town-house, and a brilliant illumination in the +evening. There was nothing forced nor feigned in these testimonials of +loyalty to George the Second. So long as they dreaded the +re-establishment of a popish dynasty, the people were fervent for the +house of Hanover: and, besides, the immediate magistracy of the country +was a barrier between the monarch and the occasional discontents of the +colonies; the waves of faction sometimes reached the governor's chair, +but never swelled against the throne. Thus, until oppression was felt +to proceed from the king's own hand, New England rejoiced with her whole +heart on his Majesty's birthday. + +But the slaves, we suspect, were the merriest part of the population, +since it was their gift to be merry in the worst of circumstances; and +they endured, comparatively, few hardships, under the domestic sway of +our fathers. There seems to have been a great trade in these human +commodities. No advertisements are more frequent than those of "a negro +fellow, fit for almost any household work"; "a negro woman, honest, +healthy, and capable"; "a negro wench of many desirable qualities"; +"a negro man, very fit for a taylor." We know not in what this natural +fitness for a tailor consisted, unless it were some peculiarity of +conformation that enabled him to sit cross-legged. When the slaves of a +family were inconveniently prolific,--it being not quite orthodox to +drown the superfluous offspring, like a litter of kittens,--notice was +promulgated of "a negro child to be given away." Sometimes the slaves +assumed the property of their own persons, and made their escape; among +many such instances, the governor raises a hue-and-cry after his negro +Juba. But, without venturing a word in extenuation of the general +system, we confess our opinion that Caesar, Pompey, Scipio, and all such +great Roman namesakes, would have been better advised had they stayed at +home, foddering the cattle, cleaning dishes,--in fine, performing their +moderate share of the labors of life, without being harassed by its +cares. The sable inmates of the mansion were not excluded from the +domestic affections: in families of middling rank, they had their places +at the board; and when the circle closed round the evening hearth, its +blaze glowed on their dark shining faces, intermixed familiarly with +their master's children. It must have contributed to reconcile them to +their lot, that they saw white men and women imported from Europe as they +had been from Africa, and sold, though only for a term of years, yet as +actual slaves to the highest bidder. Slave labor being but a small part +of the industry of the country, it did not change the character of the +people; the latter, on the contrary, modified and softened the +institution, making it a patriarchal, and almost a beautiful, peculiarity +of the times. + +Ah! We had forgotten the good old merchant, over whose shoulder we were +peeping, while he read the newspaper. Let us now suppose him putting on +his three-cornered gold-laced hat, grasping his cane, with a head inlaid +of ebony and mother-of-pearl, and setting forth, through the crooked +streets of Boston, on various errands, suggested by the advertisements of +the day. Thus he communes with himself: I must be mindful, says he, to +call at Captain Scut's, in Creek Lane, and examine his rich velvet, +whether it be fit for my apparel on Election-day,--that I may wear a +stately aspect in presence of the governor and my brethren of the +council. I will look in, also, at the shop of Michael Cario, the +jeweller: he has silver buckles of a new fashion; and mine have lasted me +some half-score years. My fair daughter Miriam shall have an apron of +gold brocade, and a velvet mask,--though it would be a pity the wench +should hide her comely visage; and also a French cap, from Robert +Jenkins's, on the north side of the town-house. He hath beads, too, and +ear-rings, and necklaces, of all sorts; these are but vanities, +nevertheless, they would please the silly maiden well. My dame desireth +another female in the kitchen; wherefore, I must inspect the lot of Irish +lasses, for sale by Samuel Waldo, aboard the schooner Endeavor; as also +the likely negro wench, at Captain Bulfinch's. It were not amiss that I +took my daughter Miriam to see the royal waxwork, near the town-dock, +that she may learn to honor our most gracious King and Queen, and their +royal progeny, even in their waxen images; not that I would approve of +image-worship. The camel, too, that strange beast from Africa, with two +great humps, to be seen near the Common; methinks I would fain go +thither, and see how the old patriarchs were wont to ride. I will tarry +awhile in Queen Street, at the bookstore of my good friends Kneeland & +Green, and purchase Dr. Colman's new sermon, and the volume of discourses +by Mr. Henry Flynt; and look over the controversy on baptism, between the +Rev. Peter Clarke and an unknown adversary; and see whether this George +Whitefield be as great in print as he is famed to be in the pulpit. By +that time, the auction will have commenced at the Royal Exchange, in King +Street. Moreover, I must look to the disposal of my last cargo of West +India rum and muscovado sugar; and also the lot of choice Cheshire +cheese, lest it grow mouldy. It were well that I ordered a cask of good +English beer, at the lower end of Milk Street. + +Then am I to speak with certain dealers about the lot of stout old +Vidonia, rich Canary, and Oporto-wines, which I have now lying in the +cellar of the Old South meeting-house. But, a pipe or two of the rich +Canary shall be reserved, that it may grow mellow in mine own +wine-cellar, and gladden my heart when it begins to droop with old age. + +Provident old gentleman! But, was he mindful of his sepulchre? Did he +bethink him to call at the workshop of Timothy Sheaffe, in Cold Lane, and +select such a gravestone as would best please him? There wrought the man +whose handiwork, or that of his fellow-craftsmen, was ultimately in +demand by all the busy multitude who have left a record of their earthly +toil in these old time-stained papers. And now, as we turn over the +volume, we seem to be wandering among the mossy stones of a +burial-ground. + + +II. THE OLD FRENCH WAR. + +At a period about twenty years subsequent to that of our former sketch, +we again attempt a delineation of some of the characteristics of life and +manners in New England. Our text-book, as before, is a file of antique +newspapers. The volume which serves us for a writing-desk is a folio of +larger dimensions than the one before described; and the papers are +generally printed on a whole sheet, sometimes with a supplemental leaf of +news and advertisements. They have a venerable appearance, being +overspread with a duskiness of more than seventy years, and discolored, +here and there, with the deeper stains of some liquid, as if the contents +of a wineglass had long since been splashed upon the page. Still, the +old book conveys an impression that, when the separate numbers were +flying about town, in the first day or two of their respective +existences, they might have been fit reading for very stylish people. +Such newspapers could have been issued nowhere but in a metropolis the +centre, not only of public and private affairs, but of fashion and +gayety. Without any discredit to the colonial press, these might have +been, and probably were, spread out on the tables of the British coffee- +house, in king Street, for the perusal of the throng of officers who then +drank their wine at that celebrated establishment. To interest these +military gentlemen, there were bulletins of the war between Prussia and +Austria; between England and France, on the old battle-plains of +Flanders; and between the same antagonists, in the newer fields of the +East Indies,--and in our own trackless woods, where white men never trod +until they came to fight there. Or, the travelled American, the petit- +maitre of the colonies,--the ape of London foppery, as the newspaper was +the semblance of the London journals,--he, with his gray powdered +periwig, his embroidered coat, lace ruffles, and glossy silk stockings, +golden-clocked,--his buckles of glittering paste, at knee-band and shoe- +strap,--his scented handkerchief, and chapeau beneath his arm, even such +a dainty figure need not have disdained to glance at these old yellow +pages, while they were the mirror of passing times. For his amusement, +there were essays of wit and humor, the light literature of the day, +which, for breadth and license, might have proceeded from the pen of +Fielding or Smollet; while, in other columns, he would delight his +imagination with the enumerated items of all sorts of finery, and with +the rival advertisements of half a dozen peruke-makers. In short, newer +manners and customs had almost entirely superseded those of the Puritans, +even in their own city of refuge. + +It was natural that, with the lapse of time and increase of wealth and +population, the peculiarities of the early settlers should have waxed +fainter and fainter through the generations of their descendants, who +also had been alloyed by a continual accession of emigrants from many +countries and of all characters. It tended to assimilate the colonial +manners to those of the mother-country, that the commercial intercourse +was great, and that the merchants often went thither in their own ships. +Indeed, almost every man of adequate fortune felt a yearning desire, and +even judged it a filial duty, at least once in his life, to visit the +home of his ancestors. They still called it their own home, as if New +England were to them, what many of the old Puritans had considered it, +not a permanent abiding-place, but merely a lodge in the wilderness, +until the trouble of the times should be passed. The example of the +royal governors must have had much influence on the manners of the +colonists; for these rulers assumed a degree of state and splendor which +had never been practised by their predecessors, who differed in nothing +from republican chief-magistrates, under the old charter. The officers +of the crown, the public characters in the interest of the +administration, and the gentlemen of wealth and good descent, generally +noted for their loyalty, would constitute a dignified circle, with the +governor in the centre, bearing a very passable resemblance to a court. +Their ideas, their habits, their bode of courtesy, and their dress would +have all the fresh glitter of fashions immediately derived from the +fountain-head, in England. To prevent their modes of life from becoming +the standard with all who had the ability to imitate them, there was no +longer an undue severity of religion, nor as yet any disaffection to +British supremacy, nor democratic prejudices against pomp. Thus, while +the colonies were attaining that strength which was soon to render them +an independent republic, it might have been supposed that the wealthier +classes were growing into an aristocracy, and ripening for hereditary +rank, while the poor were to be stationary in their abasement, and the +country, perhaps, to be a sister monarchy with England. Such, doubtless, +were the plausible conjectures deduced from the superficial phenomena of +our connection with a monarchical government, until the prospective +nobility were levelled with the mob, by the mere gathering of winds that +preceded the storm of the Revolution. The portents of that storm were +not yet visible in the air. A true picture of society, therefore, would +have the rich effect produced by distinctions of rank that seemed +permanent, and by appropriate habits of splendor on the part of the +gentry. + +The people at large had been somewhat changed in character, since the +period of our last sketch, by their great exploit, the conquest of +Louisburg. After that event, the New-Englanders never settled into +precisely the same quiet race which all the world had imagined them to +be. They had done a deed of history, and were anxious to add new ones to +the record. They had proved themselves powerful enough to influence the +result of a war, and were thenceforth called upon, and willingly +consented, to join their strength against the enemies of England; on +those fields, at least, where victory would redound to their peculiar +advantage. And now, in the heat of the Old French War, they might well +be termed a martial people. Every man was a soldier, or the father or +brother of a soldier; and the whole land literally echoed with the roll +of the drum, either beating up for recruits among the towns and villages, +or striking the march towards the frontiers. Besides the provincial +troops, there were twenty-three British regiments in the northern +colonies. The country has never known a period of such excitement and +warlike life; except during the Revolution,--perhaps scarcely then; for +that was a lingering war, and this a stirring and eventful one. + +One would think that no very wonderful talent was requisite for an +historical novel, when the rough and hurried paragraphs of these +newspapers can recall the past so magically. We seem to be waiting in +the street for the arrival of the post-rider--who is seldom more than +twelve hours beyond his time--with letters, by way of Albany, from the +various departments of the army. Or, we may fancy ourselves in the +circle of listeners, all with necks stretched out towards an old +gentleman in the centre, who deliberately puts on his spectacles, unfolds +the wet newspaper, and gives us the details of the broken and +contradictory reports, which have been flying from mouth to mouth, ever +since the courier alighted at Secretary Oliver's office. Sometimes we +have an account of the Indian skirmishes near Lake George, and how a +ranging party of provincials were so closely pursued, that they threw +away their arms, and eke their shoes, stockings, and breeches, barely +reaching the camp in their shirts, which also were terribly tattered by +the bushes. Then, there is a journal of the siege of Fort Niagara, so +minute that it almost numbers the cannon-shot and bombs, and describes +the effect of the latter missiles on the French commandant's stone +mansion, within the fortress. In the letters of the provincial officers, +it is amusing to observe how some of them endeavor to catch the careless +and jovial turn of old campaigners. One gentleman tells us that he holds +a brimming glass in his hand, intending to drink the health of his +correspondent, unless a cannon ball should dash the liquor from his lips; +in the midst of his letter he hears the bells of the French churches +ringing, in Quebec, and recollects that it is Sunday; whereupon, like a +good Protestant, he resolves to disturb the Catholic worship by a few +thirty-two pound shot. While this wicked man of war was thus making a +jest of religion, his pious mother had probably put up a note, that very +Sabbath-day, desiring the "prayers of the congregation for a son gone a +soldiering." We trust, however, that there were some stout old worthies +who were not ashamed to do as their fathers did, but went to prayer, with +their soldiers, before leading them to battle; and doubtless fought none +the worse for that. If we had enlisted in the Old French War, it should +have been under such a captain; for we love to see a man keep the +characteristics of his country. + + [The contemptuous jealousy of the British army, from the general + downwards, was very galling to the provincial troops. In one of the + newspapers, there is an admirable letter of a New England man, + copied from the London Chronicle, defending the provincials with an + ability worthy of Franklin, and somewhat in his style. The letter + is remarkable, also, because it takes up the cause of the whole + range of colonies, as if the writer looked upon them all as + constituting one country, and that his own. Colonial patriotism had + not hitherto been so broad a sentiment.] + +These letters, and other intelligence from the army, are pleasant and +lively reading, and stir up the mind like the music of a drum and fife. +It is less agreeable to meet with accounts of women slain and scalped, +and infants dashed against trees, by the Indians on the frontiers. It is +a striking circumstance, that innumerable bears, driven from the woods, +by the uproar of contending armies in their accustomed haunts, broke into +the settlements, and committed great ravages among children, as well as +sheep and swine. Some of them prowled where bears had never been for a +century, penetrating within a mile or two of Boston; a fact that gives a +strong and gloomy impression of something very terrific going on in the +forest, since these savage beasts fled townward to avoid it. But it is +impossible to moralize about such trifles, when every newspaper contains +tales of military enterprise, and often a huzza for victory; as, for +instance, the taking of Ticonderoga, long a place of awe to the +provincials, and one of the bloodiest spots in the present war. Nor is +it unpleasant, among whole pages of exultation, to find a note of sorrow +for the fall of some brave officer; it comes wailing in, like a funeral +strain amidst a peal of triumph, itself triumphant too. Such was the +lamentation over Wolfe. Somewhere, in this volume of newspapers, though +we cannot now lay our finger upon the passage, we recollect a report that +General Wolfe was slain, not by the enemy, but by a shot from his own +soldiers. + +In the advertising columns, also, we are continually reminded that the +country was in a state of war. Governor Pownall makes proclamation for +the enlisting of soldiers, and directs the militia colonels to attend to +the discipline of their regiments, and the selectmen of every town to +replenish their stocks of ammunition. The magazine, by the way, was +generally kept in the upper loft of the village meeting-house. The +provincial captains are drumming up for soldiers, in every newspaper. +Sir Jeffrey Amherst advertises for batteaux-men, to be employed on the +lakes; and gives notice to the officers of seven British regiments, +dispersed on the recruiting service, to rendezvous in Boston. Captain +Hallowell, of the province ship-of-war King George, invites able-bodied +seamen to serve his Majesty, for fifteen pounds, old tenor, per month. +By the rewards offered, there would appear to have been frequent +desertions from the New England forces: we applaud their wisdom, if not +their valor or integrity. Cannon of all calibres, gunpowder and balls, +firelocks, pistols, swords, and hangers, were common articles of +merchandise. Daniel Jones, at the sign of the hat and helmet, offers to +supply officers with scarlet broadcloth, gold-lace for hats and +waistcoats, cockades, and other military foppery, allowing credit until +the payrolls shall be made up. This advertisement gives us quite a +gorgeous idea of a provincial captain in full dress. + +At the commencement of the campaign of 1759, the British general informs +the farmers of New England that a regular market will be established at +Lake George, whither they are invited to bring provisions and +refreshments of all sorts, for the use of the army. Hence, we may form a +singular picture of petty traffic, far away from any permanent +settlements, among the hills which border that romantic lake, with the +solemn woods overshadowing the scene. Carcasses of bullocks and fat +porkers are placed upright against the huge trunks of the trees; fowls +hang from the lower branches, bobbing against the heads of those beneath; +butter-firkins, great cheeses, and brown loaves of household bread, baked +in distant ovens, are collected under temporary shelters or pine-boughs, +with gingerbread, and pumpkin-pies, perhaps, and other toothsome +dainties. Barrels of cider and spruce-beer are running freely into the +wooden canteens of the soldiers. Imagine such a scene, beneath the dark +forest canopy, with here and there a few struggling sunbeams, to +dissipate the gloom. See the shrewd yeomen, haggling with their scarlet- +coated customers, abating somewhat in their prices, but still dealing at +monstrous profit; and then complete the picture with circumstances that +bespeak war and danger. A cannon shall be seen to belch its smoke from +among the trees, against some distant canoes on the lake; the traffickers +shall pause, and seem to hearken, at intervals, as if they heard the +rattle of musketry or the shout of Indians; a scouting-party shall be +driven in, with two or three faint and bloody men among them. And, in +spite of these disturbances, business goes on briskly in the market of +the wilderness. + +It must not be supposed that the martial character of the times +interrupted all pursuits except those connected with war. On the +contrary, there appears to have been a general vigor and vivacity +diffused into the whole round of colonial life. During the winter of +1759, it was computed that about a thousand sled-loads of country produce +were daily brought into Boston market. It was a symptom of an irregular +and unquiet course of affairs, that innumerable lotteries were projected, +ostensibly for the purpose of public improvements, such as roads and +bridges. Many females seized the opportunity to engage in business: as, +among others, Alice Quick, who dealt in crockery and hosiery, next door +to Deacon Beautineau's; Mary Jackson, who sold butter, at the Brazen- +Head, in Cornhill; Abigail Hiller, who taught ornamental work, near the +Orange-Tree, where also were to be seen the King and Queen, in wax-work; +Sarah Morehead, an instructor in glass-painting, drawing, and japanning; +Mary Salmon, who shod horses, at the South End; Harriet Pain, at the Buck +and Glove, and Mrs. Henrietta Maria Caine, at the Golden Fan, both +fashionable milliners; Anna Adams, who advertises Quebec and Garrick +bonnets, Prussian cloaks, and scarlet cardinals, opposite the old brick +meeting-house; besides a lady at the head of a wine and spirit +establishment. Little did these good dames expect to reappear before the +public, so long after they had made their last courtesies behind the +counter. Our great-grandmothers were a stirring sisterhood, and seem not +to have been utterly despised by the gentlemen at the British coffee- +house; at least, some gracious bachelor, there resident, gives public +notice of his willingness to take a wife, provided she be not above +twenty-three, and possess brown hair, regular features, a brisk eye, and +a fortune. Now, this was great condescension towards the ladies of +Massachusetts Bay, in a threadbare lieutenant of foot. + +Polite literature was beginning to make its appearance. Few native works +were advertised, it is true, except sermons and treatises of +controversial divinity; nor were the English authors of the day much +known on this side of the Atlantic. But catalogues were frequently +offered at auction or private sale, comprising the standard English +books, history, essays, and poetry, of Queen Anne's age, and the +preceding century. We see nothing in the nature of a novel, unless it be +"_The Two Mothers_, price four coppers." There was an American poet, +however, of whom Mr. Kettell has preserved no specimen,--the author of +"War, an Heroic Poem"; he publishes by subscription, and threatens to +prosecute his patrons for not taking their books. We have discovered a +periodical, also, and one that has a peculiar claim to be recorded here, +since it bore the title of "_THE NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE_," a forgotten +predecessor, for which we should have a filial respect, and take its +excellence on trust. The fine arts, too, were budding into existence. +At the "old glass and picture shop," in Cornhill, various maps, plates, +and views are advertised, and among them a "Prospect of Boston," a +copperplate engraving of Quebec, and the effigies of all the New England +ministers ever done in mezzotinto. All these must have been very salable +articles. Other ornamental wares were to be found at the same shop; such +as violins, flutes, hautboys, musical books, English and Dutch toys, and +London babies. About this period, Mr. Dipper gives notice of a concert +of vocal and instrumental music. There had already been an attempt at +theatrical exhibitions. + +There are tokens, in every newspaper, of a style of luxury and +magnificence which we do not usually associate with our ideas of the +times. When the property of a deceased person was to be sold, we find, +among the household furniture, silk beds and hangings, damask table- +cloths, Turkey carpets, pictures, pier-glasses, massive plate, and all +things proper for a noble mansion. Wine was more generally drunk than +now, though by no means to the neglect of ardent spirits. For the +apparel of both sexes, the mercers and milliners imported good store of +fine broadcloths, especially scarlet, crimson, and sky-blue, silks, +satins, lawns, and velvets, gold brocade, and gold and silver lace, and +silver tassels, and silver spangles, until Cornhill shone and sparkled +with their merchandise. The gaudiest dress permissible by modern taste +fades into a Quaker-like sobriety, compared with the deep, rich, glowing +splendor of our ancestors. Such figures were almost too fine to go about +town on foot; accordingly, carriages were so numerous as to require a +tax; and it is recorded that, when Governor Bernard came to the province, +he was met between Dedham and Boston by a multitude of gentlemen in their +coaches and chariots. + +Take my arm, gentle reader, and come with me into some street, perhaps +trodden by your daily footsteps, but which now has such an aspect of +half-familiar strangeness, that you suspect yourself to be walking abroad +in a dream. True, there are some brick edifices which you remember from +childhood, and which your father and grandfather remembered as well; but +you are perplexed by the absence of many that were here only an hour or +two since; and still more amazing is the presence of whole rows of wooden +and plastered houses, projecting over the sidewalks, and bearing iron +figures on their fronts, which prove them to have stood on the same sites +above a century. Where have your eyes been that you never saw them +before? Along the ghostly street,--for, at length, you conclude that all +is unsubstantial, though it be so good a mockery of an antique town,-- +along the ghostly street, there are ghostly people too. Every gentleman +has his three-cornered hat, either on his head or under his arm; and all +wear wigs in infinite variety,--the Tie, the Brigadier, the Spencer, the +Albemarle, the Major, the Ramillies, the grave Full-bottom, or the giddy +Feather-top. Look at the elaborate lace-ruffles, and the square-skirted +coats of gorgeous hues, bedizened with silver and gold! Make way for the +phantom-ladies, whose hoops require such breadth of passage, as they pace +majestically along, in silken gowns, blue, green, or yellow, brilliantly +embroidered, and with small satin hats surmounting their powdered hair. +Make way; for the whole spectral show will vanish, if your earthly +garments brush against their robes. Now that the scene is brightest, and +the whole street glitters with imaginary sunshine,--now hark to the bells +of the Old South and the Old North, ringing out with a sudden and merry +peal, while the cannon of Castle William thunder below the town, and +those of the Diana frigate repeat the sound, and the Charlestown +batteries reply with a nearer roar! You see the crowd toss up their hats +in visionary joy. You hear of illuminations and fire-works, and of +bonfires, built oil scaffolds, raised several stories above the ground, +that are to blaze all night in King Street and on Beacon Hill. And here +come the trumpets and kettle-drums, and the tramping hoofs of the Boston +troop of horseguards, escorting the governor to King's Chapel, where he +is to return solemn thanks for the surrender of Quebec. March on, thou +shadowy troop! and vanish, ghostly crowd! and change again, old street! +for those stirring times are gone. + +Opportunely for the conclusion of our sketch, a fire broke out, on the +twentieth of March, 1760, at the Brazen-Head, in Cornhill, and consumed +nearly four hundred buildings. Similar disasters have always been epochs +in the chronology of Boston. That of 1711 had hitherto been termed the +Great Fire, but now resigned its baleful dignity to one which has ever +since retained it. Did we desire to move the reader's sympathies on this +subject, we would not be grandiloquent about the sea of billowy flame, +the glowing and crumbling streets, the broad, black firmament of smoke, +and the blast or wind that sprang up with the conflagration and roared +behind it. It would be more effective to mark out a single family at the +moment when the flames caught upon an angle of their dwelling: then would +ensue the removal of the bedridden grandmother, the cradle with the +sleeping infant, and, most dismal of all, the dying man just at the +extremity of a lingering disease. Do but imagine the confused agony of +one thus awfully disturbed in his last hour; his fearful glance behind at +the consuming fire raging after him, from house to house, as its devoted +victim; and, finally, the almost eagerness with which he would seize some +calmer interval to die! The Great Fire must have realized many such a +scene. + +Doubtless posterity has acquired a better city by the calamity of that +generation. None will be inclined to lament it at this late day, except +the lover of antiquity, who would have been glad to walk among those +streets of venerable houses, fancying the old inhabitants still there, +that he might commune with their shadows, and paint a more vivid picture +of their times. + + +III. THE OLD TORY. + +Again we take a leap of about twenty years, and alight in the midst of +the Revolution. Indeed, having just closed a volume of colonial +newspapers, which represented the period when monarchical and +aristocratic sentiments were at the highest,--and now opening another +volume printed in the same metropolis, after such sentiments had long +been deemed a sin and shame,--we feel as if the leap were more than +figurative. Our late course of reading has tinctured us, for the moment, +with antique prejudices; and we shrink from the strangely contrasted +times into which we emerge, like one of those immutable old Tories, who +acknowledge no oppression in the Stamp Act. It may be the most effective +method of going through the present file of papers, to follow out this +idea, and transform ourself, perchance, from a modern Tory into such a +sturdy King-man as once wore that pliable nickname. + +Well, then, here we sit, an old, gray, withered, sour-visaged, threadbare +sort of gentleman, erect enough, here in our solitude, but marked out by +a depressed and distrustful mien abroad, as one conscious of a stigma +upon his forehead, though for no crime. We were already in the decline +of life when the first tremors of the earthquake that has convulsed the +continent were felt. Our mind had grown too rigid to change any of its +opinions, when the voice of the people demanded that all should be +changed. We are an Episcopalian, and sat under the High-Church doctrines +of Dr. Caner; we have been a captain of the provincial forces, and love +our king the better for the blood that we shed in his cause on the Plains +of Abraham. Among all the refugees, there is not one more loyal to the +backbone than we. Still we lingered behind when the British army +evacuated Boston, sweeping in its train most of those with whom we held +communion; the old, loyal gentlemen, the aristocracy of the colonies, the +hereditary Englishman, imbued with more than native zeal and admiration +for the glorious island and its monarch, because the far-intervening +ocean threw a dim reverence around them. When our brethren departed, we +could not tear our aged roots out of the soil. + +We have remained, therefore, enduring to be outwardly a freeman, but +idolizing King George in secrecy and silence,--one true old heart amongst +a host of enemies. We watch, with a weary hope, for the moment when all +this turmoil shall subside, and the impious novelty that has distracted +our latter years, like a wild dream, give place to the blessed quietude +of royal sway, with the king's name in every ordinance, his prayer in the +church, his health at the board, and his love in the people's heart. +Meantime, our old age finds little honor. Hustled have we been, till +driven from town-meetings; dirty water has been cast upon our ruffles by +a Whig chambermaid; John Hancock's coachman seizes every opportunity to +bespatter us with mud; daily are we hooted by the unbreeched rebel brats; +and narrowly, once, did our gray hairs escape the ignominy of tar and +feathers. Alas! only that we cannot bear to die till the next royal +governor comes over, we would fain be in our quiet grave. + +Such an old man among new things are we who now hold at arm's-length the +rebel newspaper of the day. The very figure-head, for the thousandth +time, elicits it groan of spiteful lamentation. Where are the united +heart and crown, the loyal emblem, that used to hallow the sheet on which +it was impressed, in our younger days? In its stead we find a +continental officer, with the Declaration of Independence in one hand, a +drawn sword in the other, and above his head a scroll, bearing the motto, +"WE APPEAL TO HEAVEN." Then say we, with a prospective triumph, let +Heaven judge, in its own good time! The material of the sheet attracts +our scorn. It is a fair specimen of rebel manufacture, thick and coarse, +like wrapping-paper, all overspread with little knobs; and of such a +deep, dingy blue color, that we wipe our spectacles thrice before we can +distinguish a letter of the wretched print. Thus, in all points, the +newspaper is a type of the times, far more fit for the rough hands of a +democratic mob, than for our own delicate, though bony fingers. Nay we +will not handle it without our gloves! + +Glancing down the page, our eyes are greeted everywhere by the offer of +lands at auction, for sale or to be leased, not by the rightful owners, +but a rebel committee; notices of the town constable, that he is +authorized to receive the taxes on such all estate, in default of which, +that also is to be knocked down to the highest bidder; and notifications +of complaints filed by the attorney-general against certain traitorous +absentees, and of confiscations that are to ensue. And who are these +traitors? Our own best friends; names as old, once as honored, as any in +the land where they are no longer to have a patrimony, nor to be +remembered as good men who have passed away. We are ashamed of not +relinquishing our little property, too; but comfort ourselves because we +still keep our principles, without gratifying the rebels with our +plunder. Plunder, indeed, they are seizing everywhere,--by the strong +hand at sea, as well as by legal forms oil shore. Here are prize-vessels +for sale; no French nor Spanish merchantmen, whose wealth is the +birthright of British subjects, but hulls of British oak, from Liverpool, +Bristol, and the Thames, laden with the king's own stores, for his army +in New York. And what a fleet of privateers--pirates, say we--are +fitting out for new ravages, with rebellion in their very names! The +Free Yankee, the General Greene, the Saratoga, the Lafayette, and the +Grand Monarch! Yes, the Grand Monarch; so is a French king styled, by +the sons of Englishmen. And here we have an ordinance from the Court of +Versailles, with the Bourbon's own signature affixed, as if New England +were already a French province. Everything is French,--French soldiers, +French sailors, French surgeons, and French diseases too, I trow; besides +French dancing-masters and French milliners, to debauch our daughters +with French fashions! Everything in America is French, except the +Canadas, the loyal Canadas, which we helped to wrest, from +France. And to that old French province the Englishman of the colonies +must go to find his country! + +O, the misery of seeing the whole system of things changed in my old +days, when I would be loath to change even a pair of buckles! The +British coffee-house, where oft we sat, brimful of wine and loyalty, with +the gallant gentlemen of Amherst's army, when we wore a redcoat too,--the +British coffee-house, forsooth, must now be styled the American, with a +golden eagle instead of the royal arms above the door. Even the street +it stands in is no longer King Street! Nothing is the king's, except +this heavy heart in my old bosom. Wherever I glance my eyes, they meet +something that pricks them like a needle. This soap-maker, for instance, +this Hobert Hewes, has conspired against my peace, by notifying that his +shop is situated near Liberty Stump. But when will their misnamed +liberty have its true emblem in that Stump, hewn down by British steel? + +Where shall we buy our next year's almanac? Not this of Weatherwise's, +certainly; for it contains a likeness of George Washington, the upright +rebel, whom we most hate, though reverentially, as a fallen angel, with +his heavenly brightness undiminished, evincing pure fame in an unhallowed +cause. And here is a new book for my evening's recreation,--a History of +the War till the close of the year 1779, with the heads of thirteen +distinguished officers, engraved on copperplate. A plague upon their +heads! We desire not to see them till they grin at us from the balcony +before the town-house, fixed on spikes, as the heads of traitors. How +bloody-minded the villains make a peaceable old man! What next? An +Oration, on the Horrid Massacre of 1770. When that blood was shed,--the +first that the British soldier ever drew from the bosoms of our +countrymen,--we turned sick at heart, and do so still, as often as they +make it reek anew from among the stones in King Street. The pool that we +saw that night has swelled into a lake,--English blood and American,--no! +all British, all blood of my brethren. And here come down tears. Shame +on me, since half of them are shed for rebels! Who are not rebels now! +Even the women are thrusting their white hands into the war, and come out +in this very paper with proposals to form a society--the lady of George +Washington at their head--for clothing the continental troops. They will +strip off their stiff petticoats to cover the ragged rascals, and then +enlist in the ranks themselves. + +What have we here? Burgoyne's proclamation turned into Hudibrastic +rhyme! And here, some verses against the king, in which the scribbler +leaves a blank for the name of George, as if his doggerel might yet exalt +him to the pillory. Such, after years of rebellion, is the heart's +unconquerable reverence for the Lord's anointed! In the next column, we +have scripture parodied in a squib against his sacred Majesty. What +would our Puritan great-grandsires have said to that? They never laughed +at God's word, though they cut off a king's head. + +Yes; it was for us to prove how disloyalty goes hand in hand with +irreligion, and all other vices come trooping in the train. Nowadays men +commit robbery and sacrilege for the mere luxury of wickedness, as this +advertisement testifies. Three hundred pounds reward for the detection +of the villains who stole and destroyed the cushions and pulpit drapery +of the Brattle Street and Old South churches. Was it a crime? I can +scarcely think our temples hallowed, since the king ceased to be prayed +for. But it is not temples only that they rob. Here a man offers a +thousand dollars--a thousand dollars, in Continental rags!--for the +recovery of his stolen cloak, and other articles of clothing. Horse- +thieves are innumerable. Now is the day when every beggar gets on +horseback. And is not the whole land like a beggar on horseback riding +post to the Davil? Ha! here is a murder, too. A woman slain at +midnight, by all unknown ruffian, and found cold, stiff, and bloody, in +her violated bed! Let the hue-and-cry follow hard after the man in the +uniform of blue and buff who last went by that way. My life on it, he is +the blood-stained ravisher! These deserters whom we see proclaimed in +every column,--proof that the banditti are as false to their Stars and +Stripes as to the Holy Red Cross,--they bring the crimes of a rebel camp +into a soil well suited to them; the bosom of a people, without the heart +that kept them virtuous,--their king! + +Here flaunting down a whole column, with official seal and signature, +here comes a proclamation. By whose authority? Ah! the United States, +--these thirteen little anarchies, assembled in that one grand anarchy, +their Congress. And what the import? A general Fast. By Heaven! for +once the traitorous blockheads have legislated wisely! Yea; let a +misguided people kneel down in sackcloth and ashes, from end to end, from +border to border, of their wasted country. Well may they fast where +there is no food, and cry aloud for whatever remnant of God's mercy their +sins may not have exhausted. We too will fast, even at a rebel summons. +Pray others as they will, there shall be at least an old man kneeling for +the righteous cause. Lord, put down the rebels! God save the king! + +Peace to the good old Tory! One of our objects has been to exemplify, +without softening a single prejudice proper to the character which we +assumed, that the Americans who clung to the losing side in the +Revolution were men greatly to be pitied and often worthy of our +sympathy. It would be difficult to say whose lot was most lamentable, +that of the active Tories, who gave up their patrimonies for a pittance +from the British pension-roll, and their native land for a cold reception +in their miscalled home, or the passive ones who remained behind to +endure the coldness of former friends, and the public opprobrium, as +despised citizens, under a government which they abhorred. In justice to +the old gentleman who has favored us with his discontented musings, we +must remark that the state of the country, so far as can be gathered from +these papers, was of dismal augury for the tendencies of democratic rule. +It was pardonable in the conservative of that day to mistake the +temporary evils of a change for permanent diseases of the system which +that change was to establish. A revolution, or anything that interrupts +social order, may afford opportunities for the individual display of +eminent virtues; but its effects are pernicious to general morality. +Most people are so constituted that they can be virtuous only in a +certain routine; and an irregular course of public affairs demoralizes +them. One great source of disorder was the multitude of disbanded +troops, who were continually returning home, after terms of service just +long enough to give them a distaste to peaceable occupations; neither +citizens nor soldiers, they were very liable to become ruffians. Almost +all our impressions in regard to this period are unpleasant, whether +referring to the state of civil society, or to the character of the +contest, which, especially where native Americans were opposed to each +other, was waged with the deadly hatred of fraternal enemies. It is the +beauty of war, for men to commit mutual havoc with undisturbed good- +humor. + +The present volume of newspapers contains fewer characteristic traits +than any which we have looked over. Except for the peculiarities +attendant on the passing struggle, manners seem to have taken a modern +cast. Whatever antique fashions lingered into the War of the Revolution, +or beyond it, they were not so strongly marked as to leave their traces +in the public journals. Moreover, the old newspapers had an +indescribable picturesqueness, not to be found in the later ones. +Whether it be something in the literary execution, or the ancient print +and paper, and the idea that those same musty pages have been handled by +people once alive and bustling amid the scenes there recorded, yet now in +their graves beyond the memory of man; so it is, that in those elder +volumes we seem to find the life of a past age preserved between the +leaves, like a dry specimen of foliage. It is so difficult to discover +what touches are really picturesque, that we doubt whether our attempts +have produced any similar effect. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, OLD NEWS *** +By Nathaniel Hawthorne + +** This file should be named haw6610.txt or haw6610.zip ** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, haw6611.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, haw6610a.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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