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RECOLLECTIONS
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A LIFETIME:
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MEN AND THINGS I HAVE SEEN
IN A SEMES OF
FAMILIAR LETTERS TO A FRIEND,
HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, ANECDOTICAL, AND
DESCRIPTIVE.
BY S. G. GOODRICH.
NEW YORK AND AUBURN :
MILLER, ORTON & CO.,
NEW YOEK, 25 PARK Row : AUBURN, 107 GBNESEK-ST.
M DCCC LVII.
4: CONTENTS.
ginal American works State of opinion as to American literature
Publication of Trumbull s poems Books for education Eev. C. A.
Goodrich Dr. Comstock Woodbridge s Geography 90
LETTER XXXV.
Sketches of the " Hartford Wits" Dr. Hopkins Trnmbull, author of
McFingal David Humphries Dr. Strong Theodore D wight
Thomas H. Gallaudet Daniel Wadsworth Dr. Coggswell Mrs.
Sigourney .. 114
LETTER XXXVI.
Dr. Percival His early life His father s attempt to cure his shyness
College life His early love His medical experience His poetical ca
reer An awkward position The saddle on his own back Cooper
and Percival at the City Hotel Publication of his poems at New
York The edition in England Other literary avocations His sta
tion at West Point His great learning Assistant of Dr. Webster in
his Dictionary State geologist in Connecticut In Wisconsin His
death Estimate of his character 121
LETTER XXXVII.
A few wayside notes The poet Brainard His first introduction Kip-
ley s tavern Aunt Lucy The little back-parlor Brainard s office-
Anecdote The devil s dun The lines on Niagara Other poems
One that is on the Sea The sea-bird s song Publication of Brainard s
poems General remarks His death 141
LETTER XXXVIII.
My first voyage across the Atlantic England London My tour on
the continent Return to England Visit to Barley-wood Hannah
More Inquiries as to books for education Ireland Dublin The
Giant s Causeway Scotland Scenery of the Lady of the Lake Glas
gowEdinburgh 161
LETTER XXXIX.
Edinburgh The Court of Sessions Cranstoun, Cockburn, Moncrief
Lockhart Jeffrey Sir Walter Scott 170
LETTER XL.
Preparations for a ride Mr. Jeffrey in a rough-and-tumble A glance
at Edinburgh from Braid s Hill A shower The maids of the mist
Durable impressions 177
CONTENTS.
LETTER XLI.
William Blackwood The Magazine A dinner at Blackwood s James
]>;ill;mtyne Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb The General As
sembly of Scotland Dr. Chalmers 184
LETTER XLIL
A dinner at Lockhart s Conversation about Byron Mrs. Lockhart
Irving Professor Ticknor Music The pibroch and Miss Edgeworth
Anecdotes of the Indians Southey and second sight Cooper s Pi
oneers The Pilot Paul Jones Brockden Brown Burns Tricks of
the press Charles Scott The Welsh parson The Italian base-viol
player Personal appearance of Sir Walter Departure for London
Again in Edinburgh in 1832 Last moments of Sir Walter The sym
pathy of nature 195
LETTER XLIII.
Journey to London Eemarks on England, as it appears to the Amer
ican traveler The climate The landscape Jealousies between the
English and Americans Plan for securing peace 210
LETTER XLIV.
London thirty years ago Its great increase George IV. Ascot Races
The Duke of Wellington Jacob Perkins and the steam-gun The
Duke of Sussex Duke of York Hounslow Heath Parliament
Canning Mackintosli Brougham Palmcrston House of Lords
Lord Eldon Rhio Rhio Catalini Signorina Garcia Edward Ir
ving Byron s coffin 222
LETTER XLV.
Return to America Removal to Boston Literary position of Boston
Prominent literary characters The press The pulpit The bar
New York now the literary metropolis My publication of various
works The Legendary N. P. Willis The era of Annuals The
Token The artists engaged in it The authors Its termination. 252
LETTER XLVI.
The contributors to the Token N. P. Willis N. Hawthorne Miss
Francis Mr. Greenwood Mr. Pierpont Charles Sprague Mrs.
Sigourney Miss Sedgwick Mrs. Osgood, and others Quarrels
between authors and publishers Anecdotes The publishers
festival ...
CONTENTS.
LETTER XL VII.
The first of the Parley books Its reception Various publications
Threatening attack of illness Voyage to Europe Consultation of
physicians at Paris Sir Benj. Brodie, of London Abercrombie, of
Edinburgh Return to America Residence in the country Prosecu
tion of my literary labors Footing up the account Annoyances of
authorship Letter to the New York Daily Times 279
LETTER XLVIII.
Republication of Parley s Tales in London Mr. Tegg s operations
Imitated by other publishers Peter Parley Martin Letter to Mr.
Darton An edition of the false Parleys in America The conse
quences 292,
LETTER XLIX.
Objections to the Parley books My theory as to books for children
Attempt in England to revive the old nursery books Mr. Felix Sum
merly Hallowell s Nursery Rhymes of England Dialogue between
Timothy and his mother Mother Goose The Toad s Story Books
of instruction 808
LETTER L.
Journey to the South Anecdotes Reception at New Orleans 822
LETTER LI.
Retrospection Confessions The mice among my papers A reckoning
with the past 333
LETTER LII.
Speech at St. Albans Lecture upon Ireland and the Irish The Broad-
street riot Burning the Charlestown convent My political career
A. II. Everett The fifteen-gallon Jug The Harrison campaign of
1840 Hard cider and log cabins General bankruptcy Election
of Harrison His death Consequences Anecdotes The " Small-tail
Movement" A model candidate William Cpp, or shingling a
barn 839
LETTER LIIL
International copyright Mr. Dickens s mission His failure and his
revenge The Boston convention Inquiry into the basis of copyright
Founded in absolute justice What is property? Grounds upon
CONTENTS. 7
which government protects property History of copyright Present
state of copyright law Policy the basis of local copyright law Inter
national copyright demanded by justice Scheme for international
copyright with Great Britain Reasons for it 855
LETTER LIV.
Statistics of the book trade Its extension The relative increase of
American literature, as compared with British literature 379
LETTER LV.
Recollections of Washington The House of Representatives Missouri
compromise Clay, Randolph, and Lowndes The Senate Rufus
King William Pinkney Mr. Macon Judge Marshall Election of
John Quincy Adams President Monroe Meeting of Adams and
Jackson Jackson s administration Clay Calhoun Webster An
ecdotes 393
LETTER LVL
London and Paris compared Paris thirty years ago Lcuis XVIII.
The Parisians Garden of the Tuileries Washington Irving Mr.
Warden, the American consul Societe Philomatique Baron Larrey
Geoft roy St. Hilaire The Institute Arngo Lamarck Gay-Lussac
Cuvier Lacroix Laplace Laennec Dupuy tren Talma Made
moiselle Mars 437
LETTER LVIL
Death of Louis XVIII. Charles X. The " Three Glorious Days"
Louis Philippe The revolution of February, 1848 449
LETTER LVIIL
Events which immediately followed the revolution Scenes in the streets
of Paris Anxiety of strangers Proceedings of the Americans Ad
dress to the Provisional Government Reply of M. Arago Procession
in the streets Inauguration of the republic Funeral of the victims
Presentation of flags Conspiracy of the 15th of May Insurrection of
June Adoption of the constitution Louis Napoleon President. 471
LETTER LIX.
The duties of a consul Pursuit of a missing family Paying for expe
rience .. 480
O CONTENTS.
LETTER LX.
Character of the French republic Its contrast with the American re
public Aspect of the government in France Louis Napoleon s ambi
tious designs He flatters the army Spreads rumors of socialist plots
Divisions in the National Assembly A levee at the Ely see The
Coup d Etat Character of this act Napoleon s government Feel
ings of the people 489
LETTER LXI.
Meeting of Americans in Paris to commemorate the death of Clay and
Webster Termination of my consular duties Character of the French
nation The " black-coat" circular 504
LETTER LXII.
Visit to Italy Florence Rome Naples 521
LETTER LXIII.
Leave-taking Improvement everywhere In science Geology, chem
istry, agriculture, manufactures, astronomy, navigation, the domestic
arts Anthracite coal Traveling Painting Daguerreotypes The
Electric Telegraph Moral progress In foreign countries : in the Uni
ted States 530
APPENDIX 537
INDEX.. .. 554
RECOLLECTIONS OF A LIFETIME.
LETTER XXXI.
The Hartford Contention Its Origin Testimony of Noah "Webster Oath
of Roger M. Sherman Gathering of the Convention Doings of Democ
racy thereupon Physiognomy of the Convention Sketches of some of the
Members ColonelJessup Democracy in the Streets Report of the Con
vention Reception of the Doings of the Convention by Madison and
his Party Its Effect and Example Comparison of the Hartford Con
vention with the Nullifiers The Union forever.
MY DEAR ******
I come now to the " Hartford Convention." Me-
thinks I hear you remark, with an aspect of dismay
are you not venturing into deep water in treating of
such a subject, generally regarded as an historical
abyss, in which much may be lost and nothing can
be gained ?
Well, my friend, suppose you do ask this is it
really a good reason why I should not tell what I have
seen, what I know, what I believe, in relation to it?
The Hartford Convention was in my time : my uncle,
Chauncey Goodrich, was one of its prominent mem
bers. I was then living with him ;* I saw all the
* I have stated elsewhere that he had promised to make me one of
his aids. Accordingly, II. L. Ellsworth afterward Indian Agent and
Commissioner of Patents and myself were appointed, with the rank of
1*
10 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
persons constituting that famous body, at his house ;
the image and superscription of the most distinguish
ed individuals are fresh in my recollection. I remem
ber the hue and aspect of the political atmosphere,
then and there. Why should I not tell these things ?
You may, perhaps, entertain the common notion that
the Hartford Convention was a congregation of con
spirators traitors and I shall invite you to abandon
this delusion. It may not be pleasant to hear your
cherished opinions controverted : it is always a little
disagreeable to receive truth, which requires us to sac
rifice something of our self-esteem, by giving up errors
which have become part of our mental constitution.
But certainly you will not silence me on any such nar
row ground as this. The time has come when one
may speak freely on this subject, and surely without
offense. Forty years have passed since the gathering
of that far-famed body. Every member of it is dead.
I will not insist that you shall say nothing of them
which is not good ; but I claim the privilege of say
ing of them what I know to be true. I am sure you
will listen to me patiently, if not approvingly.
major, April 17, 1815. I was not very ambitious of my title, for not
long after "Major Goodridge," of Bangor, Maine, acquired an infamous
notoriety, in consequence of a trial (December, 1816) in which Daniel
Webster made a celebrated plea, unmasking one of the most extraordi
nary cases of duplicity and hypocrisy on record. This Major Goodridge
pretended to have been robbed, and the crime was charged upon two
persons by the name of Kenniston. In the defense of these, Mr. Web-
uter proved that the charge was false, and that the accuser had himself
fabricated the whole story of the robbery. (See Webster s Works, vol.
v. page 441.)
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 11
You may perhaps suppose that there is but one
opinion in the country as to the character of that as
sembly ; but let me observe that there are two opin
ions upon the subject, and if one is unfavorable, the
other is diametrically opposite. In New England,
the memories of those who constituted the Conven
tion are held in reverence and esteem, by the great
body of their fellow-citizens, including a large ma
jority of those whose opinions are of weight and
value, and this has been so from the beginning.
I have said that they are now all gathered to their
fathers. As they have gone down, one by one, to
their last resting-place, public opinion has pronounced
sentence upon their lives and characters. I ask your
attention to the historical fact, that in every instance,
this has been a eulogy not for talent only, but the
higher virtues of humanity. Of the twenty-six mem
bers who constituted the Convention, every one has
passed to an honored grave. The members of the Hart
ford Convention were, in effect, chosen by the people,
at a time of great trouble and alarm, for the purpose
of devising the ways and means to avert threatening
impending evils. All felt the necessity of selecting
persons of the highest wisdom, prudence, and virtue,
and never was a choice more happily made. Most of
these men were indeed of that altitude of talent, piety,
dignity, and patriotism, which partisan pigmies natu
rally hate, by the inherent antipathy of littleness to
greatness, and of vice to virtue ; but in New England,
12 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
the enlightened generation among whom they lived,
estimated them according to their true merits. These
never believed them to be conspirators ; they .knew,
indeed, the fact to be otherwise. Even the blinding
influence of party spirit has never made the better
class of democrats in New England believe that the
Convention meditated treason. As to the mass of
the people, they held and still hold that the Hartford
Convention was one of the ablest and wisest assem
blies ever convened in the country.
I am aware, however, that the prevailing opinion
in the United States at large has been, and perhaps
still is, the reverse of this. Out of New England,
democracy is the dominant party. The war was a
democratic measure, and the Convention was the
work of the federalists, who opposed the war. It is,
doubtless, too much to expect that party spirit will
exercise candor toward those who brave and baffle
it at least during the conflict. There were many
reasons why the Convention was an unpardonable
sin in the eyes of democracy : it was opposition to
the war, and that itself was treason : the war was
attended with defeat, disaster, disgrace, and to turn
retribution from the heads of the war-makers, it was
considered politic to charge every miscarriage to the
war opposers. In short, it was deemed the best way
for self-preservation, by the democratic leaders, to sink
the federalists in undying infamy. Hence they per
sisted in denouncing the Convention as an assembly
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 13
of conspirators. It is admitted that there was no overt
act of treason, but it is maintained that there was
treason in their hearts, the development of which was
only prevented by the return of peace, and the indig
nant rebuke of public sentiment.
The foundation of this tenacious calumny is doubt
less to be traced to John Quincy Adams, who, hav
ing lost the confidence of his political associates -
the federalists of Massachusetts and not being elect
ed to a second term as Senator of the United States,
speedily changed his politics, and made a disclosure,
real or pretended, to Jefferson, in 1808,* to the effect
that the federalists of the North taking advantage
of the uneasiness of the people on account of the
distresses imposed upon them by the embargo were
meditating a separation from the Union, and an alli
ance with Great Britain of all things the most likely
to obtain democratic belief, and to excite democratic
horror.
Here was the germ of that clinging scandal against
New England, which has been perpetuated for forty
years. It certainly had a respectable voucher at the
beginning, but its utter want of foundation has long
since been proved. For about twenty years, however,
the libel was permitted in secret and of course with
out contradiction to ferment and expand and work
itself over the minds of Jefferson and his associates.
* See note on page 274, vol. i. of this work. Also Hildretb, second
series, vol. Hi. pp. 79, 117.
-I 4
14 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
It had created such an impression, that Madison
when President had only. to be told by an unaccred
ited foreigner, that he had the secret of a federal plot
for disunion in Massachusetts, and he at once bought
it, and paid fifty thousand dollars for it out of the
public treasury.* No doubt he really expected to find
that he had a rope round the necks of half the feder
alists in New England. He soon discovered, however,
that the biter was bit. John Henry duped the Presi
dent, who seized the hook, because it was baited with
suspicions, the seeds of which John Q. Adams had
furnished some years before.
It was not till the year 1828, when that person was
a candidate for the presidency a second time, that the
whole facts in regard to this calumny were developed.
He was then called seriously to account, f and such
* In March, 1812, Madison sent to Congress certain documents, pre
tending to disclose a secret plot, for the dismemberment of the Union,
and the formation of the Eastern States into a political connection
with Great Britiiin. It seems that in the winter of 1809, Sir J. II.
Crai<r, Governor-general of Canada, employed John Henry to undertake
a secret mission to the United States for this object. Henry proceeded
through Vermont and New Hampshire to Boston. He, however, never
found a person to whom he could broach the subject! As he stated,
the British government refused the promised compensation, and there
fore he turned traitor, and sold, his secret to our government. The
subject was fully discussed in Parliament, and it appeared that Hen
ry s scheme was not known to or authorized by the British govern
ment. The whole substance of the .matter was, that our government
was duped by a miserable adventurer. The conduct of Madison, in
this evident greediness to inculpate the federalists, was a lasting ground
of dislike and hostility to him. See Young s Amer. Statesman, p. 248.
t I was living in Boston at the time (October, 1828) when the public
first became fully aware of the fact, that, twenty years before, Mr. Ad-
nms. had planted the seeds of this accusation against the northern fed
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 15
was the effect, that from that time he was silent. In
vain did he attempt to furnish evidence of a plausible
foundation for his story. He referred to various wit
nesses, but it was pointedly remarked that all, save
one,* were dead. Yet these even seemed to rise up
eralists in the eager soil of Mr. Jefferson s mind, where it had flourished
in secret, and whence it had been widely disseminated. There was a
general indeed, an almost universal feeling of indignation and aston
ishment. The presidential election was at hand, and Mr. Adams was
the candidate of the whig party for a second term. Those very persons,
whom he had thus maligned themselves or their descendants were
now his supporters. The election was permitted to pass, and Massa
chusetts gave her vote for Mr. Adams; he was, however, defeated, and
Jackson became his successor.
And now came the retribution. Mr. Adams was addressed by II. G-.
Otis, T. H. Perkins, William Prescott, Charles Jackson, and others
men of the highest standing, and representing the old fecferal party,
charged with treason by him demanding the proofs of the accusation
for which he stood responsible. T have not space to give here the dis
cussion which followed. Those who wish can find the case clearly stated
in Young s American States-man, page 442, &c., &c. The result certain-
ly was, that Mr. Adams showed no grounds, even for suspicion, of what
he charged ; and that, even if there had been some foundation for hrs
opinion, it referred to an earlier date, and to other individuals, and
could not, by any show of fact, reason , or logic, be connected with the
Hartford Convention. Indeed, no person can now read the controversy
referred to, without coming to this obvious conclusion. It will be re
membered, in confirmation of this, that John Henry, the British agent,
sent for the purpose of seducing the Boston federalists, by the British
governor, Craig, never found an individual to whom he dared even to
open his business !
At all events, such was the shock of public feelings, caused by the
disclosure of Mr. Adams s charge made to Jefferson, that for a long
time, when he walked the streets of Boston, which he occasionally vis
ited, he was generally passed without being spoken to, even by his for
mer acquaintances. The resentment at last subsided, but he never
recovered the full confidence of the people of Massachusetts : they were
content, however, in view of his great merits, to let the matter pass
into oblivion. It is only in obedience to the call of history that I write
these facts.
* This individual was William Plumer, a Senator from New Hamp
shire, who stated that in 1808 and 1804, he was himself in favor of
16 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
and speak from their very graves. Sons, brothers, rel
atives, associates including some of the first men in
the United States indignantly denied, in behalf of
those for whom they had a right to speak, the impu
tations thus cast upon them. No fair-minded man
can read the discussion now, and fail to see that Mr.
Adams either invented his story which, however,
is by no means to be presumed or that, according
to the peculiar structure of his mind, having become
hostile to the federal leaders in Massachusetts, he
really thought he saw evidences of mischief in events
which, fairly viewed, furnished not the slightest
ground pven for suspicion.
Thus, as I think, this foundation, this beginning of
the idea that the Hartford Convention originated in
treasonable designs on the part of its members, is
shown to be absolutely groundless. Not one particle
of evidence, calculated to satisfy an honest inquirer
after truth, has ever been adduced to sustain the
charge. The investigation has been in the highest
degree inquisitorial : it was deemed vital to the in
terests of the democratic party to prove, to estab
lish this allegation of treason. Public documents,
newspaper articles, private correspondence, personal
forming a separate government for New England, but he abandoned
these ideas, and used his influence against them, when, as he says, they
were revived in 1809 and 1812. He, too, underwent a close examina
tion, and it appeared that he was unable to produce any reliable evi
dence whatever, that any plot for disunion was formed, or that any in
dividual, connected with the Hartford Convention, countenanced such
a scheme. See Young s Amer. Statesman, p. 455, &c.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 17
intercourse all have been subjected to the rack
and the thumb-screw. The question has been
pushed to the conscience of an individual member
of the Convention, and he has been called to testify,
on oath, as to the origin and intentions of that as
sembly. Its journal, declared to contain every act,
every motion, every suggestion, that took place,
has been published ; and now after forty years
of discussion, thus urged by hostile parties sober
history is compelled to say, that not a public docu
ment, not a private letter, not a speech, not an act,
secret or open, has been brought to light, which
proves, or tends to prove, the treasonable origin of
the Hartford Convention !
The charge of treason is a serious one : so far
as it may have a just foundation, it is fatal to per
sonal character : it is a stain upon the State to which
it attaches : it is a discredit to human nature, espe
cially in a country like ours, and in a case like that
which we are discussing. It should therefore not be
made surely it should not be maintained unless
upon positive, undeniable proof. It should not rest
for its defense upon partisan malice, or that inhe
rent littleness which teaches base minds to accept
suspicion as conclusive evidence of what they be
lieve, only because it coincides with their evil
thoughts. While, therefore, there seems to be no
proof of the alleged treasonable origin of the Hart
ford Convention I am able to do more than can-
18 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
dor demands, and I here present you with direct
testimony from a source that will not be impugned
or discredited, showing that the said Convention origi
nated with the people and from the circumstances of
the times, and not with conspirators, and that its ob
jects were just, proper, patriotic. I shall hereafter
call upon you to admit, that the proceedings of the
Convention were in accordance with this its lawful
and laudable origin.
I now ask your candid attention to the following
statement, made some years after the Convention,
by Noah Webster* a man perhaps as universally
* It is certainly not necessary for me to write the biography or cer
tify to the character of Noah Webster : these have been carried all over
our country by his Spelling-book and his Dictionary, erecting monu
ments of gratitude in the hearts of the millions whom he has taught
to read, and the millions whom he still teaches, in the perfect use of
our language. It has been said, and with much truth, that he has held
communion with more minds than any other author of modern times.
His learning, his assiduity, his piety, his patriotism, were the ground
work of these successful and beneficent labors. It is the privilege of a
great and good man to speak, and when he speaks, to be listened to.
The passage here quoted is comprised in his " Collection of Essays,"
published in 1843 : it was written with a sincere and earnest purpose,
and it seems no more than due to truth and the justice of logic, to re
ceive it as conclusive proof of the facts it asserts.
Mr. Webster, as is well known, was a native of Hartford, Conn., and
was born in Oct. 1758. Among his classmates at Yale College were Joel
Barlow, Oliver Wolcott, Uriah Tracy, Zepheniah Swift, and other meu
of eminence. His life was spent in various literary pursuits. I knew
him well, and must mention an incident respecting him, still fresh in
my memory. In the summer of 1824, 1 was in Paris, and staying at the
Hotel Montmorency. One morning, at an early hour, I entered the court
of the hotel, and on the opposite side, I saw a tall, slender form, with a
black coat, black small- clothes, black silk stockings, moving back and
forth, with its hands behind it, and evidently in a state of meditation.
It was a curious, quaint, Connecticut looking apparition, strangely in
contrast to the prevailing forms and aspects in this gay metropolis. I
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 19
known and esteemed as any other in our history.
He testifies to facts within his own knowledge, and
surely no one will deny that, to this extent, he is a
competent and credible -witness.
Few transactions of the federalists, during the early periods
of our government, excited so much the angry passions of their
opposers as the Hartford Convention so called during the
presidency of Mr. Madison. As I was present at the first meet
ing of the gentlemen who suggested such a convention ; as I
was a member of the House of Representatives in Massachusetts
when the resolve was passed for appointing the delegates, I ad
vocated that re?olve ; and further, as I have copies of the doc
uments, which no other person may have preserved, it seems to
be incumbent on me to present to the public the real facts in
regard to the origin of the measure, which have been vilely fal
sified and misrepresented.
After the War of 1812 had continued two years, our public
affairs were reduced to a deplorable condition. The troops of
the United States, intended for defending the seacoast, had been
withdrawn to carry on the war in Canada ; a British squadron
was stationed in the Sound to prevent the escape of a frigate
from the harbor of New London, and to intercept our coasting-
trade ; one town in Maine was in possession of the British
forces ; the banks south of New England had all suspended the
payment of specie; our shipping lay in our harbors, embargoed,
dismantled, and perishing; the treasury of the United States
was exhausted to the last cent ; and a general gloom was spread
over the country.
In this condition of affairs, a number of gentlemen, in North-
said to myself " If it were possible, I should say that was Noah Web
ster !" I went up to him, and found it was indeed he. At the ago
of sixty-six, he had come to Europe to perfect his Dictionary ! It
is interesting to know that such tenacity of purpose, such persistency,
such courage, were combined with all the refined and amiable qual
ities which dignify and embellish domestic and private life.
20 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
ampton, in Massachusetts, after consultation, determined to in
vite some of the principal inhabitants of the three counties on
the river, formerly composing the old county of Hampshire, to
meet and consider whether any measure could be taken to arrest
the continuance of the war, and provide for the public safety.
In pursuance of this determination, a circular letter was ad
dressed to several gentlemen in the three counties, requesting
them to meet at Northampton. The following is a copy of tho
letter :
NOETHAMPTON, Jan. 5, 1814.
Sir: In consequence of the alarming state of our public affairs, and
the doubts which have existed as to the correct course to be pursued
by the friends of peace, it has been thought advisable by a number of
gentlemen in this vicinity, who have consulted together on the subject,
that a meeting should be called of some few of the most discreet and
intelligent inhabitants of the old county of Hampshire, for the purpose
of a free and dispassionate discussion touching our public concerns.
The legislature will soon be in session, and would probably be gratified
with a knowledge of the feelings and wishes of the people ; and should
the gentlemen who may be assembled recommend any course to be pur
sued by our fellow-citizens, for the more distinct expression of the pub
lic sentiment, it is necessary the proposed meeting should be called a*
an early day.
We have therefore ventured to propose that it should be held at Col.
Chapman s, in this town, on Wednesday, the 19th day of January cur
rent, at 12 o clock in the forenoon, and earnestly request your attend
ance at the above time and place for the purpose before stated.
With much respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant,
JOSEPH LYMAN.
In compliance with the request in this letter, several gentle
men met at Northampton, on the day appointed, and after a free
conversation on the subject of public affairs, agreed to send to
the several towns in the three counties on the river, the follow
ing circular address :
Sir: The multiplied evils in which the United States have been in
volved by the measures of the late and present administrations, are
subjects of general complaint, and in the opinion of our wisest states
men call for some effectual remedy. His excellency, the Governor of
the Commonwealth, in his address to the General Court, at the last and
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTTCAL, ETC. 21
present session, has stated, in temperate, but clear and decided lan
guage, his opinion of the injustice of the present war, and intimated
that measures ought to be adopted by the legislature to bring it to a
speedy close. He also calls the attention of the legislature to some
measures of the general government, which are believed to be uncon
stitutional. In all the measures of the general government, the peo
ple of the United States have a common concern, but there are some
laws and regulations, which call more particularly for the attention of
the Northern States, and are deeply interesting to the people of this
Commonwealth. Feeling this interest, as it respects the present and
future generations, a number of gentlemen from various towns in the
old county of Hampshire, have met and conferred on the subject, and
upon full conviction that the evils we suffer are not wholly of a tempo
rary nature, springing from the war, but some of them of a permanent
character, resulting from a perverse construction of the Constitution of
the United States, we have thought it a duty we owe to our country, to
invite the attention of the good people of the counties of Hampshire,
Hampden, and Franklin, to the radical causes of these evils.
We know indeed that a negotiation for peace has been recently set
on foot, and peace will remove many public evils. It is an event we
ardently desire. But when we consider how often the people of the
country have been disappointed in their expectations of peace, and of
wise measures ; and when we consider the terms which our adminis
tration has hitherto demanded, some of which, it is certain, can not be
obtained, and some of which, in the opinion of able statesmen, ought
not to be insisted upon, we confess our hopes of a speedy peace are
not very sanguine.
But still, a very serious question occurs, whether, without an amend
ment of the Federal Constitution, the northern and commercial States
can enjoy the advantages to which their wealth, strength, and white
population justly entitle them. By means of the representation of
slaves, the Southern States have an influence in our national councils
altogether disproportionate to their wealth, strength, and resources ; and
we presume it to be a fact capable of demonstration, that for about twen
ty years past the United States have been governed by a representation
of about two-fifths of the actual property of the country.
In addition to this, the creation of new States in the South, and out
of the original limits of the United States, has increased the southern
interest, which has appeared so hostile to the peace and commercial
prosperity of the Northern States. This power assumed by Congress
of bringing into the Union new States, not comprehended within the
territory of the United States at the time of the federal compact, is
deemed arbitrary, unjust, and dangerous, and a direct infringement of
the Constitution. This is a power which may hereafter be extended, and
the evil will not cease with the establishment of peace. We would ask,
then, ought the Northern States to acquiesce in the exercise of this
22 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
power ? To what consequences would it lead ? How can the people of
the Northern States answer to themselves and to their posterity for an
acquiescence in the exercise of this power, that augments an influence
already destructive of our prosperity, and will in time annihilate the
best interests of the northern people ?
There are other measures of the general government, which, we ap
prehend, ought to excite serious alarm. The power assumed to lay a
permanent embargo appears not to be constitutional, but an encroach
ment on the rights of our citizens, which calls for decided opposition.
It is a power, we believe, never before exercised by a commercial na
tion ; and how can the Northern States, which are habitually commer
cial, and whose active foreign trade is so necessarily connected with the
interest of the farmer and mechanic, sleep in tranquillity under such a
violent infringement of their rights? But this is not all. The late act
imposing an embargo is subversive of the first principles of civil lib
erty. The trade coastwise between different ports in the same State is
arbitrarily and unconstitutionally prohibited, and the subordinate of
fices of government are vested with powers altogether inconsistent with
our republican institutions. It arms the President and his agents with
complete control of persons and property, and authorizes the employ
ment of military force to carry its extraordinary provisions into execu
tion.
We forbear to enumerate all the measures of the federal government
which we consider as violations of the Constitution, and encroachments
upon the rights of the people, and which bear particularly hard upon
the commercial people of the North. But we would invite our fellow-
citizens to consider whether peace will remedy our public evils, without
some amendments of the Constitution, which shall secure to the North
ern States their due weight and influence in our national councils.
The Northern States acceded to the representation of slaves as a mat
ter of compromise, upon the express stipulation in the Constitution that
they should be protected in the enjoyment of their commercial rights.
These stipulations have been repeatedly violated ; and it can not be ex
pected that the Northern States should be willing to bear their portion
of the burdens of the federal government without enjoying the benefits
stipulated.
If our fellow-citizens should concur with us in opinion, we would
suggest whether it would not be expedient for the people in town meet
ings to address memorials to the General Court, at their present session,
petitioning that honorable body to propose a convention of all the North
ern and commercial States, by delegates to be appointed by their re
spective legislatures, to consult upon measures in concert, for procuring
such alterations in the federal Constitution as will give to the Northern
States a due proportion of representation, and secure them from the fu
ture exercise of powers injurious to their commercial interests ; or if the
General Court shall see fit, that they should pursue such other course,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 23
&t> they, in their wisdom, shall deem best calculated to effect these ob
jects. The measure is of such magnitude, that we apprehend a concert
of States will be useful and even necessary to procure the amendments
proposed ; and should the people of the several States concur in this
opinion, it would be expedient to act on the subject without delay.
\Yerequest you, sir, to consult with your friends on the subject, and,
if it should be thought advisable, to lay this communication before the
people of your town.
In behalf, and by direction of the gentlemen assembled,
JOSEPH LTMAN, Chairman.
In compliance with the request and suggestions in this circu
lar, many town meetings were held, and with great unanimity,
addresses and memorials were voted to be presented to the Gen
eral Court, stating the sufferings of the country in consequence
of the embargo, the war, and arbitrary restrictions on our coast
ing trade, with the violations of our constitutional rights, and
requesting the legislature to take measures for obtaining redress,
either by a convention of delegates from the Northern and com
mercial States, or by such other measures as they should judge
to be expedient.
These addresses and memorials were transmitted to the Gen
eral Court then in session, but as commissioners had been sent
to Europe for the purpose of negotiating a treaty of peace, it
was judged advisable not to have any action upon them till the
result of the negotiation should be known. But during the fol
lowing summer, no news of peace arrived ; and the distresses of
the country increasing, and the seacoast remaining defenseless,
Governor Strong summoned a special meeting of the legislature
in October, in which the petitions of the towns were taken into
consideration, and a resolve was passed appointing delegates to
a convention to be held in Hartford. The subsequent history
of that convention is known by their report.
The measure of resorting to a convention for the purpose of
arresting the evils of a bad administration, roused the jealousy
of the advocates of the war, and called forth the bitterest invec
tives. The convention was represented as a treasonable combi
nation, originating in Boston, for the purpose of dissolving tho
24 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Union. But citizens of Boston had no concern in originating
the proposal for a convention ; it was wholly the project of the
people in old Hampshire county as respectable and patriotic
republicans as ever trod the soil of a free country. The citizens
who first assembled in Northampton, convened under the
authority of the Mil of rights, which declares that the people
have a right to meet in a peaceable manner and consult for
the public safety. The citizens had the same right then to
meet in convention as they have now ; the distresses of the
country demanded extraordinary measures for redress; the
thought of dissolving the Union never entered into the head of
any of the projectors, or of the members of the Convention ;
the gentlemen who composed it, for talents and patriotism have
never been surpassed by any assembly in the United States, and
beyond a question the appointment of the Hartford Convention
had a very favorable effect in hastening the conclusion of a treaty
of peace.
All the reports which have been circulated respecting the
evil designs of that Convention, I know to be the foulest mis
representations. Indeed, respecting the views of the disciples
of Washington and the supporters of his policy, many, and prob
ably most of the people of the United States in this generation,
are made to believe far more falsehood than truth. I speak of
facts within my own personal knowledge. We may well say
with the prophet " Truth is fallen in the street, and equity can
not enter." Party spirit produces an unwholesome zeal to de
preciate one class of men for the purpose of exalting another. It
becomes rampant in propagating slander, which engenders con
tempt for personal worth and superior excellence ; it blunts the
sensibility of men to injured reputation ; impairs a sense of
honor ; banishes the charities of life ; debases the moral sense of
the community ; weakens the motives that prompt men to aim
at high attainments and patriotic achievements ; degrades na
tional character, and exposes it to the scorn of the civilized
world.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIGAL, ETC. 25
Such is the testimony direct, positive, documen
tary of ISToah Webster, as to the origin of the Hart
ford Convention.* This, be it remembered, is evidence
furnished by one outside of that assembly : let me
now present you with the testimony of Roger Minot
Sherman a member of that body, and a worthy
bearer of one of the most honored names in Ameri
can history.
[From the Norwalk Gazette, January, 1831.]
To the Editor of the Gazette:
Previous to the trial of Whitman Mead, on the charge of libel,
of which you gave a brief notice in your last number, the pris-
* This statement, on the part of Mr. Webster, does not exclude the
supposition that the idea of a convention of the New England States
may have been previously suggested by others. Such a thing was very
likely to occur to many minds, inasmuch as New England had been
accustomed, from time immemorial, to hold conventions, in periods
of trouble and anxiety. His testimony, however, shows clearly that
the actual, efficient movement which resulted in the Hartford Conven
tion, originated, as he states, with the citizens of Hampshire county.
Other testimony shows that some prominent federalists did not at first
favor it, and only yielded at last to a feeling of prudence, in following
this lead of the people.
The following letter from Harrison Gray Otis to Mrs. Willard, writ
ten in reply to a request from her, for information on the subject, will
be seen to correspond with Mr. Webster s statement, and also with the
proceedings of the Convention, and all other known facts relating to it,
in such a manner as to satisfy every honest mind of its truth.
"The Hartford Convention, far from being the original contrivance
of a cabal for any purpose of faction or disunion, was a result growing,
by natural consequences, out of existing circumstances. More than a
year previous to its institution, a convention was simultaneously called
for by the people in their town meetings, in all parts of Massachusetts.
Petitions to that effect were accumulated on the tables of the legislative
chamber. They were postponed for twelve months by the influence
of those who now sustain the odium of the measure. The adoption of
it was the consequence, not the source of a popular sentiment ; and it
was intended by those who voted for it, as a safety-valve, by which th
VOL. II. 2
26 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
oner moved the Court for a subpoena, to Mr. Sherman, of Fair-
field, Mr. Goddard, of Norwich, and others, as witnesses hi
his behalf. It was allowed by the Court, and was served on
Mr. Sherman, but could not be, seasonably, on Mr. Goddard, on
account of the lateness of his application. One of the articles
charged as libellous, compared a recent political meeting at Hart
ford with the Hartford Convention, and the prisoner supposed
that a full development of the proceedings of that Convention
would furnish a legal vindication of the article in question. With
a view to such development, he wished the testimony of the gen
tlemen above named. At the instance of the prisoner, Mr. Sher
man testified on the trial of the case, and the inclosed paper con
tains his testimony, exact in substance, and very nearly in his
language which you are at liberty to publish. [The trial took
place at Fairfield, Connecticut, the place of Mr. Sherman s resi
dence, in January, 1831.J
State of Connecticut, )
vs. >
Whitman Mead. J lion. Roger Minot Sliermarfs Testimony.
Question by the Prisoner. What was the nature and object of the
Hartford Convention ?
Answer. I was a member of that Convention. It met on the 15th of
December, 1814. The United States were then at war with Great Brit
ain. They had, in their forts and armies, twenty-seven thousand ef
fective men : of these about thirteen hundred only were employed in
New England. The war had been in operation two years and a half.
We had a seacoast of almost seven hundred miles to protect, and with
the exception of about thirteen hundred men, had the aid of no mili
tary force from the United States. By internal taxes, all others having
become unproductive by reason of the war, the national government
raised large sums from the people within our territory. Direct taxation
was the only resource of the State governments, and this had been car
ried to as great an extreme in Connecticut as could be sustained. The
banks, which furnished all our currency, either withheld their accom
modations or stopped payment, and the people were embarrassed by a
general stagnation of business. Powerful fleets and armies lay off our
steam arising from the fermentation of the times might escape, not as
a boiler by which it is generated." (See WittarcPs History of the United
States, p. 851.)
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 2/
coasts, and were making or threatening invasions in all parts of our de
fenseless sea-board. Commodore Decatur, with his squadron, had taken
refuge in the waters of Connecticut, and attracted a powerful concentra
tion of the enemy s forces on our borders. Castine, if I mistake not,
and some other parts of the territory of Massachusetts, had fallen into
the hands of the British. The New England States, under all these dis
advantages, were obliged to protect themselves by their own militia, at
their own expense. The expenses of Connecticut greatly exceeded our
resources. The duration of the war could not be foreseen, and oui
credit was exhausted. Attempts were made to borrow money, but with
out any adequate success. The national Constitution prohibited the
emission of bills of credit. In this extremity, while the legislature was
in session at New Haven, in October, 1814, a communication was re
ceived from the legislature of Massachusetts, proposing a convention of
delegates from the New England States, to consult on the adoption of
measures for their common safety. This communication was referred
to a joint committee of both houses. General Henry Champion and
myself were appointed from the Upper House. He was chairman of the
committee. I drew the report, recommending a compliance with the
proposal made by the State of Massachusetts, and assigning the reasons
at length. This report was published by order of the legislature, and
extensively circulated in the newspapers of this and other States. Seven
delegates were appointed to represent the Convention. As soon as it
was organized, Mr. Otis, a delegate from Massachusetts, proposed, after
some prefatory remarks, that it should be recommended to our several
legislatures to present a petition to the Congress of the United States,
praying that they would consent that the New England States, or so
many of them as should agree together for that purpose, might unite
in defending themselves against the public enemy ; that so much of the
national revenue as should be collected in these States, should be ap
propriated to the expense of that defense ; that the amount so appro
priated should be credited to the United States ; and that the United
States should agree to pay whatever should be expended beyond that
amount. This proposal was approved by the Convention. The same
views had been stated here before the meeting of the delegates. By
the Constitution of the United States, no such compact for mutual de
fense could be formed, without the consent of Congress. By thus aug
menting our immediate resources, and obtaining the national guaranty
that the expenses of the war, to be increased by the States thus uniting,
should be ultimately paid out of the national treasury, it was supposed
that our credit, as well as our present pecuniary resources, would be
enhanced. A debate was had in the Convention as to certain amend
ments to the Constitution of the United States, to be proposed for adop
tion by the State legislatures. One was, that Congress should not have
power to declare war without the concurrence of two-thirds of both
houses. I can not, from recollection, detail the proposed amendments ;
28 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
but they appear on the printed report of the Convention, of which I
have a copy at my office, which the prisoner may use on the trial, if he
pleases. A committee, of whom I was one, was appointed by the Con
vention to draw up that report to present to their respective legislatures.
The proposal of Mr. Otis was adopted with little variation. This report
was immediately printed by order of the Convention, and was circulated
throughout the country.
Among other things, as may be seen by that report, it was recom
mended to the legislatures represented in the Convention, to adopt
measures to protect their citizens from such conscriptions or impress
ments as were not authorized by the Constitution of the United States.
This resolution originated from a project of the then Secretary of War,
which I believe was not adopted by Congress. The secretary of the
Convention kept a journal of their proceedings. This, as I understand,
was deposited by Mr. Cabot, the President, in the office of the Secretary
of State of Massachusetts, and a copy transmitted to Washington, and
lodged in the office of the Secretary of State of the United States. It
was afterward published in certain newspapers. I saw it in the Ameri
can Mercury, a newspaper published at Plartford, by Mr. Babcock. The
legislatures of Massachusetts and Connecticut, pursuant to the recom
mendation of the Convention, sent a delegation to Washington, to pre
sent their respective petitions to the Congress of the United States. The
gentlemen sent from Connecticut were Mr. Terry, Mr. Goddard, and, I
think, Mr. Dwight. On their arrival, the Treaty of Peace, concluded at
Ghent, reached the national government, and further measures became
unnecessary.
This is an outline of the origin and proceedings of the Hartford Con
vention. There was not, according to my best recollection, a single mo
tion, resolution, or subject of debate, but what appears in the printed
journal or report. If any further particulars are requested, I will state
them.
Question by tlie Prisoner. Was it not an object of the Convention to
embarrass and paralyze the government of the United States in the
prosecution of the war with Great Britain ?
Answer. It was not. Nothing of the kind was done or entertained
by the Convention, or, so far as I know or believe, by those by whom it
was originated. On the contrary, its principal object was a more effectual
co-operation in that war, as to the defense of the New England States.
Question by the Prisoner. Has not that Convention been generally re
puted in the United States to be treasonable ?
Answer. Much has been said and published to that effect, but with
out the least foundation. I believe I know their proceedings perfectly ;
and that every measure, done or proposed, has been published, to the
world. No one act has ever been pointed out, to my knowledge, as in
consistent with their obligations to the United States, nor was any such
act ever contemplated by them.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTTCAL, ETC. 29
Here is the testimony of a great and good man a
member of the Convention under oath. Who will
venture to gainsay it ? Certainly no individual who
feels the claims of truth, and appreciates the requi
sitions of logic, unless he is armed with proofs, clear,
indisputable, demonstrative ; he must bring facts
sufficient to destroy the direct testimony of such
men as Noah Webster and Eoger M. Sherman, and,
indeed, a cloud of other witnesses of equal weight
and responsibility.
It seems to me that every candid mind, upon these
statements, will be constrained to admit that the Con
vention thus originated in public necessity, and noti
treason ; I think the additional evidence I am about
to present will satisfy you that their proceedings were
in harmony with the wise and worthy motives that
brought the members together.
If you look into certain partisan histories of the
times, you might be led to suppose that on the day
of the gathering of the Convention at Hartford the
15th of December, 1814 the heavens and the earth
were clothed in black ; that the public mind was filled
with universal gloom ; that the bells tremulous with
horror tolled in funereal chimes ; that the flag of the
country everywhere was at half-mast ; and that the
whole American army marched with muffled drums
and inverted arms, and all this in token of the qua
king terror of the public mind, at the ominous gath-
eri ng of a committee of some two dozen mild, respect-
30 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
able, gray-haired old gentlemen, mostly appointed
bj the legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut,
and Rhode Island, to investigate and report upon
the state of public affairs ! Such, I recollect, was the
picture of Hartford, that was circulated over the
country by the democratic papers* remote from the
* The following is from the American Mercury, the democratic or
gan at Hartford Dec. 18, 1815, a year after the Convention. There
can he little doubt that, at the outset, many of the democrats really felt
that the Convention meditated treason. I have already shown that the
leaders of democracy had been made, by the revelations of John Q.
Adams, to suspect the northern federalists ; and there is no doubt
that Madison and his cabinet, for a time, apprehended that the Hart
ford Convention was to be the fulfillment of Adams s prediction. But
the maledictions here poured out by the Mercury a year after the gath
ering of the Convention, and when its innocence, to say the least, was
universally known and understood were mere electioneering devices.
They are interesting, however, as showing the means by which the
obstinate prejudice against the Convention was wrought into the minds
of the mass of the democratic party.
" The fifteenth of December is an epoch in the history of America
which can never be passed over by Republicans, without mingled emo
tions of regret and exultation : of regret, that we have among us men
freeborn men men born, nursed, and brought up by our firesides
Americans American citizens, who are so depraved, so wicked, as to
aim a dagger at the vitals of their already bleeding country, and to at
tempt to subvert the liberties of the people ; of exultation, that the grand
designs of these hellish conspirators have been frustrated with infamy,
and that the Union has triumphed over their mischievous machinations !
" Impressed with these sentiments, the Republicans of Hartford, on
Friday last (being the day of the first meeting of the Convention), dis
played the flag of the Union at half-mast during the early part of the
day, as expressive of their sorrow for the depravity of those, who, one
year since, were plotting in our city, in conjunction with Britain, the
destruction of the liberties of the Republic. In the afternoon, the flag
was raised to the masthead, as emblematical of the complete discom
fiture of their designs, and the triumph of the Constitution. In the
rueful countenance of the federalists, it was plain to discover the morti
fication and chagrin which they experienced. They say, let us bury in
oblivion s dark bastile all bitter recollection ! But so long as New Eng
land is cursed with federal rulers, till she emerges from the darkness
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 81
scene of action. The whole is very well reflected in
the inspired pages of Charles Jared Ingersoll,* who
may be considered as the Jeremiah of democracy, for
this period of our history. He seems to have regarded
himself as specially raised up to prophesy against
New England. " The sin of Judah" that is, of fed
eralism he has written " with a pen of iron," though
not "with the point of a diamond."
Now I perfectly well remember the day of the
gathering of the Convention.! There was in the city
which has for years enveloped her, till republicanism reigns triumph
ant throughout New England (which we trust in God is close at hand),
it becomes the imperious duty of Republicans to hold up to the con
tempt of the people, their wicked and nefarious designs. * * *
"We think it a duty we owe to our country, to publish annually the
names of those who composed the Hartford Convention, that they may
never be forgotten." Here follows a list of the names.
Not only the Hartford Mercury, but the Boston Patriot, and probably
other democratic journals, made a similar pledge to hold up to eternal
disgrace this black list of conspirators. All this was, however, a mere
electioneering game, and after two or three years, the pledge was for
gotten.
* " Historical Sketch of the Second War between the United States and
G-reat Britain, by Charles Jared Ingersoll."
t The following are the names of the members of the so-called Hart
ford Convention : those from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island were appointed from the State legislatures; those from New
Hampshire, by county conventions ; the delegate from Vermont was
chosen by persons in the county of Windham. These were all appoint
ed li for the purpose of devising and recommending such measures for the
safety and welfare of these States as may be consistent with our obligations
as members of the National Union"
From Massachusetts George . Cabot, Nathan* Dane, William Pres-
cott, Harrison, Gray Otis, Timothy Bigelow, Joshua .Thomas, Samuel
Sumnei* Wilde, Joseph Lyman, Stephen "Longfellow, Jr., Daniel Waldo,
HodijiihJ3aylies, George Bliss.
From Connecticut Chauucey Goodrich, John Treadwell, James Hill-
house, Zephaniah" Swift, Nathaniel Smith, Calvin Goddard, Roger M.
Sherman.
32
a small squad of United States recruits I think some
two dozen in number. These, assisted no doubt by
others, ran up the American flag at their rendezvous,
with the British flag at half-mast, beneath it. They
also these two dozen, more or less marched through
the streets with reversed arms and muffled drums. A
few persons, I believe, got hold of the bell-rope of
the Baptist meeting-house, and rang a funereal chime.
All this chiefly the work of the rabble was the
scoff of the great body of the people ; nevertheless,
it was reported in the democratic papers abroad, as
if some black and mighty portent had signalized the
arrival of the Convention. The simple truth was,
that the six and twenty gray-haired men legislators,
senators, judges honored for long years of service
came quietly into town, and were welcomed by the
mass of the citizens, according to their standing and
their mission, with respect, esteem, and confidence.
Let us take a sketch of what followed from the
prophet Jared : " On the 15th of December, 1814,
with excited sentiments of apprehension, mingled
approval and derision, the inhabitants of Hartford
awaited the nefandous Convention, which takes its
bad name from that quiet town." " One of their
number, Chauncey Goodrich, was mayor of Hartford,
by whose arrangements ike Convention was .disposed of
From Rhode Island Daniel* Lyman, jSainuel -Ward, Ed ward Man-
ton, Benjamin-Hazard. ; # .%:-.
From New Hampshire Benjamin West, Mills Olcott.
From Vermont William Hall, Jr.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 33
in the retirement of the second story of an isolated stone
"building, in which the little State Senate or Council sat,
when, in rotation, Hartford was the seat of government.
Locking themselves up stairs, there, in awfully obscure
concealment, for three weeks, twice every day, except Sun
day, Christmas and New Year*s-day, they were continu
ally in conclave," 11 &c.
"What an. accumulation of horrors ! Tell me, my
dear C . . . ., does not your hair bristle at the grisly
picture ? It indeed sounds like a tale of the Inqui
sition. What a pity it is to spoil it ! And yet, this
infernal Rembrandt coloring this violent contrast of
light and shade is wholly imaginary. The Con
vention met in the council-chamber of the State-
house, which the gazetteers tell us and tell us truly
is a very handsome building. It is in the center
of the city, and the most prominent edifice in the
place. The room in which they met is still the
senate-chamber, and is neither isolated nor obscure :
on the contrary, it is one of the best and most con
spicuous rooms in the building : at the time, it was
probably the finest public hall in the State.*
It is true that the Convention sat with closed doors,
as probably every similar convention had done be-
* The Hon. K. R. Hinman, the historian of Connecticut during the
Revolutionary period, and several years Secretary of State, once told me a
good anecdote in relation to this dark, dismal hiding-place of the " nefan-
dous" Convention. One day, a man from the South I believe a South
Carolinian some one doubtless who had been reading Ingersoll s his
tory, came into the office of the Secretary, and desired to be shown the
place where the Hartford Convention sat. Mr. Hinman accordingly
2*
34: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
fore. The State Council in whose room the Con
vention met had furnished this example from time
immemorial. The General Assembly of Connecticut
had always done the same, at periods of difficulty and
danger. The Convention that framed the Constitu
tion of the United States had done likewise. The
Continental Congress did the same, through the whole
period of the war of the Revolution. A great part
of the executive business of the United States Sen
ate is now done in secret session, and is never
known to the public. The archives of the State De
partment, at Washington, are under the lock and key
of the Executive. The legislature of every State has
the capacity to hold secret sessions, and nobody ques
tions their right to exercise it according to their dis
cretion. Both houses of Congress discussed, resolved
upon, and voted the war of 1812, in secret session !
And yet, what was useful, proper, and of good re
took him into the room. The stranger looked around with much curi
osity, and presently he saw Stuart s likeness of Washington for in
this chamber is one of the most celebrated of the full-length portraits
of the Father of his Country.
The stranger started. "And was this picture here, when the Con
vention held its sittings?" said he.
" Yes, certainly," said the secretary.
"Well," replied the man observing the high color which Stuart
had given to the countenance of Washington, in the picture " well,
I ll be d d if he s got the blush off yet !"
This is a sharp joke ; but yet, it is natural to ask if Washington s
picture should blush for the Hartford Convention which above all
things advocated the preservation of the Union what should it have
done in the presence of that Convention in South Carolina, November,
1832, which resulted in an open, avowed opposition to the Union, and
has perhaps laid the foundation for its overthrow, in establishing the
doctrine of Secession ?
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 35
port in all other similar bodies, was "nefandous" in
the Hartford Convention ! So saith Jared, the his
torian, whose account seems to consist largely of the
prejudices and exaggerations of the democratic pa
pers of that day raked together in one undigested
heap. As such it is amusing nay, instructive but
alas, how is history degraded, when such a mass of
incongruities assumes its sacred name !
I have told you that I was at this time living with
my uncle, Chauncey Goodrich then a member of the
Convention. His house, of course, became the fre
quent rendezvous of the other members, and here I
often saw them. On one occasion, in the evening,
they all met at his house, by invitation the only
instance in which they partook of any similar festiv
ity. At this time, the other persons present, so far
as I recollect, were William Coleman,* editor of the
* William Coleman was a native of Massachusetts, and was born in
1766. He studied law, and settled at Greenfield about 1794, where he
erected a house, noted for its architectural beauty. Here he also edited
a newspaper. Buckingham vol. ii. p. 319 says that he was remarkable
for his vigor in skating, having passed in one evening from near Green
field to Northampton, a distance of about twenty miles. As I recol
lect him, he was a large man, of robust appearance, with a vigorous and
manly countenance. His nose was bony and prominent, and in con
nection with a strongly denned brow, gave his face an expression of
vigor and sagacity. His eye was gray, his hair light brown, and at the
time I speak of, was slightly grizzled. Pie removed to New York, where
he published some law books, and in 1801 (Nov. 16), founded the Eve
ning Post, which became a leading federal paper, and so continued for
many years. Its columns were distinguished for ability, as well in its
political discussions as its literary essays and criticisms. In general, ho
set a good example of dignity of style and gentlemanly decorum, though
1m was drawn into some violent altercations with Cheetham and Duane.
It is sufficient eulogy of Mr. Coleman to say that he enjoyed the con-
36 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
New York Evening Post, Theodore Dwight, sec
retary of the Convention, my cousin, Elizur Good
rich, now of Hartford, and myself. The majority of
the members were aged men, and marked not only
with the gravity of years, but of the positions which
they held in society for some of them had been gov
ernors, some senators, some judges. I do not recol
lect ever to have seen an assemblage of more true
dignity in aspect, manner, and speech. They were
dressed, on the evening in question, somewhat in
the ancient costume black coats, black silk waist
coats, black breeches, black silk stockings, black
shoes. I wonder that this universal black has not
been put into the indictment against them ! Perhaps
the silvery- whiteness of their heads for the majority
were past fifty, several past sixty may have pleaded
in extenuation of this sinister complexion of their dress.
The most imposing man among them, in personal
appearance, was George Cabot,* the president. He
was over six feet in height, broad-shouldered, and of
a manly step. His hair was white? for he was past
sixty his eye blue, his complexion slightly florid. He
seemed to me like Washington as if the great man,
fidence of Hamilton, King, Jay, and other notabilities of that day, and
that he made the Evening Post worthy of the editorial successorship of
Leggett (1829) and of Bryant (1836).
* George Cabot waa a native of Salem, Mass., born in 1752. He was
originally a shipmaster, but he rose to various stations of eminence.
He became a senator of the United States, and in 1798 was appointed
the first Secretary of the Navy, but declined. His personal influence
in Boston was unbounded. He died in that city, 1823.
UEOROE CABOT. Vol. 2, p. 3ti.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 37
as painted by Stuart, had walked out of the canvas,
and lived and breathed among us. He was, in fact,
Washingtonian in his whole air and bearing, as was
proper for one who was Washington s friend, and
who had drunk deep at the same fountain that of
the Revolution of the spirit of truth, honor, and
patriotism. In aspect and general appearance, he
was strikingly dignified, and such was the effect of
his presence, that in a crowded room, and amid other
men of mark when you once became conscious that
he was there, you could hardly forget it. You seem
ed always to see him as the traveler in Switzerland
sees Mont Blanc towering above other mountains
around him, wherever he may be. And yet he was
easy and gracious in his manners, his countenance
wearing a calm but radiant cheerfulness, especially
when he spoke. He was celebrated for his conver
sational powers, and I often remarked that when he
began to converse, all eyes and ears turned toward
him, as if eager to catch the music of his voice and
the light of his mind. He came to my uncle s al
most every morning before the meeting of the Con
vention, and I have never felt more the power of
goodness and greatness, than in witnessing the inter
course between these two men.
The next person as to prominence, in the Massa
chusetts delegation, was Harrison Gray Otis,* then in
* Harrison Gray Otis, son of Samuel A. Otis, the first Secretary of
the Senate of the United States, was born in 1765, and died 1848. He
3?5 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
the zenith of his years and his fame. He had a name
honorable by tradition, and a position social as well
as political due to his great wealth, his eminent tal
ents, and his various accomplishments. He was
doubtless the most conspicuous political character in
New England for the sun of Webster was but just
rising in the horizon. He was deemed ambitious,
and hence was regarded by the democrats as the
arch instigator of the traitorous Convention. Such
an opinion, however, shows the greatest ignorance of
his character and the actual state of things. Mr.
Otis was a far-seeing politician, and knew there was
no treason in the hearts of the people of New Eng
land : he stood at the highest point to which am
bition could lead him, and any step in that direction
must be downward. Besides, he was of the cau
tious, not the dashing school of statesmanship, as well
by constitution as training. To suppose him a plot
ter of treason, is to divest him of all his attributes
inherent and conventional. It is, furthermore, his
torical and beyond dispute, that he was averse to the
Convention. By his influence, it was delayed, long
after it was proposed and almost clamored for by the
was one of the most eminent of the Massachusetts bar, even by the side
of Ames, Parsons, Lowell, and Gore. He succeeded Ames in Congress,
in 1797. In 1817, he became a senator of the United States. To learn
ing and vigor of intellect, he added great powers of oratory, captivating
alike to the simple and the refined. He held various other offices, and
iu these, discharged his duties with distinguished ability. His resi
dence was at Boston. He retained his mental faculties, his cheerfulness,
and his amenity of demeanor, to the last.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAI,, ETC. 39
people. He objected to being a member of it, and
only yielded at last, that he might use his influence
to secure to it a safe and tranquilizing direction.
At the very opening of the Convention, he signal
ized himself by proposing the safe and discreet meas
ures which were finally adopted. Hence, he always
felt, with a keen sense of injustice, the imputation
which long hung about him, as being the leader in a
treasonable enterprise.
The impression he made on my mind upon the oc
casion I am describing, was deep and lasting. He
had not the lofty Washingtonian dignity of George
Cabot, nor the grave suavity of Chauncey Goodrich ;
he was, in fact, of quite a different type easy, pol
ished, courtly passing from one individual to an
other, and carrying a line of light from countenance
to countenance, either by his playful wit or gracious
personal allusions. He seemed to know everybody,
and to be able to say to each precisely the most ap
propriate thing that could be said. He was one of the
handsomest men of his time ; his features being classi
cally cut, and still full of movement and expression.
To me who had seen little of society beyond Connec
ticut, and accustomed therefore to the rather staid man
ners of public men Mr. Otis was an object of strange,
yet admiring curiosity. I knew him well, some
years after and when I was more conversant with the
world, and he still seemed to me a very high exam
ple of the finished gentleman of the assiduous and
40 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
courtly school. He lowered himself, no doubt, in the
public estimation by his somewhat restive and quer
ulous though masterly and conclusive vindica
tions of the Convention; while all the other members,
conscious of rectitude, scorned to put themselves in
the attitude of defense. We may forgive what seemed
a weakness in Mr. Otis, while we must pay homage to
that dignity in his associates, which would not stoop
to ask in life, the justice which they knew posterity
must render them, in their graves.
Of the other members of the Massachusetts dele
gation, I have less distinct personal reminiscences.
Mr. Prescott, father of the historian,* and Mr. Long
fellow, f father of the poet worthy, by their talents,
their virtues, and their position, of such descendants
I only remember as two grave, respectable old
gentlemen, seeming, by a magic I did not then com
prehend, to extort from all around them peculiar
* William Prescott was a native of Pepperell, Mass., born 1762. His
father, Colonel Prescott, commanded at the battle of Bunker Hill. He
became one of the most eminent lawyers in the State, and filled various
public stations. Mr. Webster said of him at the time of his death, in
1844 : " No man in the community, during the last quarter of a centu
ry, felt himself too high, either from his position or his talents, to ask
counsel of Mr. Prescott."
t Stephen Longfellow, of Portland, Maine, was an eminent lawyer,
and ranked among the most distinguished and estimable citizens of New
England. He was noted for unsullied purity of life and character, an
inflexible devotion to his convictions, great powers of conversation,
and winning amenity of manners, always mingling an elevated piety
with a kindly charity to all other sects. While Maine was a part of
Massachusetts, he exercised great influence in the State: after the sep
aration, he was one of the leading men of this new member of the
Union. He died in 1849.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 41
marks of deference and respect. Since I have known
their history, I have ascertained the secret.*
One of the oldest, and in some respects the most re-
* The other members from Massachusetts were all eminent for their
virtues and their talents.
Few names in our history are more honorably remembered than that
of Nathan Dane. He was a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts, born in
1754. He was a lawyer of great eminence, and a statesman of distin
guished patriotism and wisdom. He was a member of Congress under
the Confederation, and was the framer of the famed ordinances of
17 8, for the government of the territory of the United States north
west of the Ohio river ; an admirable code of law, by which the prin
ciples of free government, to the exclusion of slavery, were extended
to an immense region, and its political and moral interests secured on
a permanent basis. He published some useful works, and founded
a professorship of law in Harvard University. His life is a long record
of beneficent works. He died in Feb. 1835.
Timothy Bigelow was a learned, eloquent, and popular lawyer, born
in 1767, and died in 1821. For more than twenty years he was a member
of the Massachusetts legislature, and for eleven years he was Speaker
of its House of Representatives. His residence was at Medford. Mrs.
Abbott Lawrence was one of his daughters.
Joseph Lyman, of Northampton, was born in 1767, and died in 1847.
He was the person associated with Noah Webster and others, in the
first movement for the Hartford Convention, as previously noticed.
He held many important offices, and enjoyed, in an unbounded degree,
the confidence of the community. He was an eminently dignified and
handsome man, of the old school of manners, and mingling in his coun
tenance and demeanor a certain seriousness, with kindness and conde
scension, lie never failed to attend the polls, and deposited his fifty-
ninth ballot the year of his death !
Joshua Thomas, born 1751, and died 1821, held for many years the
office of Judge of Probate for the county of Plymouth.
Samuel Sumner Wilde, born 1771 and died 1855, was an eminent law
yer, and several years judge of the Supreme Court the same in which
Parsons, Story, Sedgwick, and Sewall had officiated. He was a man
of unbending integrity, and the utmost dignity and purity of life. Ho
was the father-in-law of Caleb Gushing the present Attorney-general
of the United States.
George Bliss, born 1764, died 1830, was a distinguished lawyer of
Springfield. He enjoyed in an eminent degree the respect and confi
dence of all who knew him.
Daniel Waldo was born in 1763 at Boston : he settled at Worcester
42 LETTEES BIOGRAPHICAL,
markable member of the Convention, was Mr. West,*
of New Hampshire. I recollect him distinctly, partly
because of his saintly appearance, and partly because
of the terms of affection and respect in which my
uncle spoke of him. He, too, was often at our house,
and devoted himself to mercantile affairs with great success. He ac
quired in a high degree the confidence of the community around him.
He was distinguished for integrity, justice, and punctuality, in all the
affairs of life. He died in 1845.
Thomas Handyside Perkins, born in Boston, 1764, and died in 1854.
He was an eminent merchant of that city, and having amassed a large
fortune, was distinguished for his liberality. Several literary and char
itable institutions owe their existence to him. In person, he was a large
man, with a grave countenance, but with an expression indicative of his
large and generous heart.
Hodijah Baylies was born in 1757. He served during the Revolution
ary war, and was at one time aid to General Lincoln, and afterward to
Washington. He held various public offices, and was noted as com
bining, in a high degree, the Christian character with that of the gentle
man. He died in 1843.
The four members from Rhode Island were among the most respect
able citizens of that State.
Daniel Lyman was a native of Connecticut, born in 1776 and died in
1830. He served through the Revolutionary war, and rose to the rank
of major. He afterward settled in Rhode Island, became eminent as a
lawyer, and was finally chief-justice of the Supreme Court of that State.
Samuel Ward, son of Gov. Ward, of that State, was born in and
died in . In the Revolution he was a soldier, and accompanied Ar
nold in his perilous march against Quebec. After the peace he devoted
himself to commerce. As a soldier, patriot, and citizen, his character
was without a stain.
Benjamin Hazard was among the ablest lawyers of his day, enjoying
the highest esteem for his private worth. He was very swarthy, with
long frizzled hair, and I particularly noticed him, among the other mem
bers, for the singularity of his appearance. He was often called by the
people of his neighborhood " Black Ben." He was born in 1776 and died
in 1841. He was elected to the Assembly of Rhode Island sixty-two times 1
Edward Manton was a merchant of Johnston, and distinguished for
his probity and moral worth. He was born in 1760 and died in 1820.
* Benjamin West was a native of Massachusetts, SOD of Rev. T.
West, and born in 1746. He was graduated at Harvard College, studied
law, and settled at Charlestown, N. H. } where he died, July 27, 1817
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 43
and seldom have I seen a man who commanded such
ready love and admiration. He was then sixty-eight
years old : his form tall but slender, his hair white,
long, and flowing, his countenance serene, his voice
full of feeling and melody. His appearance indica
ted the finest moral texture ; but when his mind was
turned to a subject of interest, his brow flashed with
tokens of that high intellectual power which distin
guished him. His character and his position were well
displayed in a single passage of his history : "He was
chosen a member of Congress under the old Confedera
tion ; a member of the convention which framed the
Constitution of his adopted State, and a member of
Congress under the Constitution ; he was appointed
Attorney -general and Judge of Probate, and yet all
these offices he refused, owing to his aversion to pub
lic life, and his sincere, unambitious love of domestic
peace and tranquillity." His great abilities, however,
were not hidden in a napkin. He devoted himself to
the practice of the law, which he pursued with eminent
success, for the space of thirty years. It was in the
evening of his days that he accepted his first prom
inent public station, and that was as member of the
Hartford Convention. This he did, under a convic
tion that it was a period of great difficulty and dan
ger, and he felt that duty called upon him to sacrifice
his private comfort to public exigencies. Who will
For a full and touching biography of him, see Knapp s Biographical
Sketches of Eminent Lawyers, Statesmen, &c., p. 245.
44 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
believe that man to have been a conspirator, or that
the people who designated him for this place were
traitors ?
As to the Connecticut members of the Convention,
I could easily gather up pages of eulogy. There are,
indeed, few such men now ; I am afraid that in this
age of demagogism, there are few who can compre
hend them. I shall, however, present you with brief
delineations of their lives and characters from the
sober records of the historian.
" At the head of the Connecticut delegation stood his honor,
Chauncey Goodrich,* whose blanched locks and noble features
had long been conspicuous in the halls of national legislation ; a
gentleman whose character is identified with truth and honor in
all parts of the Union ; a gentleman of whom Albert Gallatin
was wont to say, that when he endeavored to meet the argu
ments of his opponents, he was accustomed to select those of Mr.
Goodrich, as containing the entire strength of all that could be
said upon that side feeling that if he could answer him, he
could maintain his cause; a man whom Jefferson no mean
judge of intellectual strength used playfully to say, That white-
headed senator from Connecticut is by far the most powerful
opponent I have, to my administration.
" Next to him was James Hillhouse,t the great financier of the
* For a sketch of the life of Chauncey Goodrich, see page 526, vol. i.
of this work.
t James Hillhonse was one of the most remarkable men of his time.
He was born in 1754, entered upon the practice of the law, engaged in
the Revolutionary war, became a member of Congress, and was sixteen
years a senator. He possessed an iron frame, and his industry and de
votion to his duties knew no bounds. He usually slept but four or five
hours in twenty-four. His personal appearance was remarkable. He
was over six feet high, of a large bony frame : his complexion was
swarthy, and his eye black and keen. He was thought to have something
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 4:5
State, who found our School Fund in darkness, and left it in
light ; the scholar and the father, who superintended the early
culture of that poet-boy, and laid the foundation of that hright
and glorious intellect, which in the bowers of Sachem s Wood
saw, as in a vision, the magnificent scenes of Ifadad, and re
ceived as guests in western groves, the spirits of oriental oracle
and song ; Hillhouse the man of taste, who planted the New
Haven elms ; the native American, with Irish blood in his veins
the man who, like Washington, never told a lie.
" John Treadwell* was the third delegate, whose life was filled
of the Indian in his physiognomy and his walk, and he humorously
favored this idea. He was once challenged by a Southerner, for some
thing uttered in debate, in the Senate. He accepted the challenge, but
added, that as the choice of weapons fell to him, he selected tomahawks !
He was full of wit, and it is said that one day, as he was standing on the
steps of the Capitol with Randolph, a drove of asses chanced to be
going by these animals being then raised in Connecticut for the South.
"There are some of your constituents !" said Kandolph. "Yes," said
Hillhouse ; " they are going to be schoolmasters in Virginia !" This story
is sometimes told of Uriah Tracey, to whom, perhaps, it really belongs.
Hillhouse always scoffed at the abuse heaped upon the Hartford Con
vention. Several years after the meeting of this body, lie had some busi
ness at Boston, which required several advertisements in a newspaper.
These he had inserted in the Patriot a democratic paper, which had
been furious against the Convention. When he went to pay the bill,
he desired to see the editor. Being introduced to him, he said " Sir,
my name is Hillhouse, and I was a member of the Hartford Conven
tion. You inserted the names of the members for several years, and
promised to keep them in eternal remembrance. I am very proud of
having been a member of that body, and feel that 1 owe you a debt of
gratitude. So I have selected your paper as the object of my patronage.
I owe you sixteen dollars and sixty-seven cents, and there, sir, is the
money. I have to remark, however, that for several years you have
neglected your promise to keep us before the world." This led to a
hearty laugh, and the two gentlemen parted. The history of Connecti
cut is full of this man s good works. He died in 1832.
* John Treadwell, of Farmington, was born in 1745, and died in 1823.
He studied law, and afterward was employed for thirty years in public
stations, rising finally to the office of Governor of the State. He was a
man of learning, and received the title of LL.D. from Yale College. He
was distinguished as a consistent professor of religion, and a firm sup
porter of its interests. He was the first President of the American For-
46 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
with honors and usefulness." He was then on the verge of
threescore and ten, and the oldest man in the Convention.
"The fourth was Chief-justice Swift,* the first commentator
upon the laws of our little republic, of whom no lawyer in the
United States would dare to feign ignorance, lest he should put
at risk his professional reputation.
" Nathaniel Smithf was the fifth, whom the God of nature
chartered to be great by the divine prerogative of genius ; a
jurist wiser than the books ; whose words were so loaded with
convincing reasons that they struck an adversary to the earth
like blows dealt by a hand gauntleted in steel; to listen to
whom, when he spoke in the Convention, Harrison Gray Otis
turned back as he was leaving the chamber, and stood gazing in
silent admiration, unconscious of the flight of time.
"The sixth was Calvin Goddard,f who long enjoyed the repu-
eign Missionary Society, and for thirty years was deacon of the church
thus mingling the humble with the higher offices of life, and dis
charging the duties of each with the most exemplary fidelity. In per
son, he was short and bulbous about the waist, with a certain air of
importance in his face and carriage. Some little weaknesses can be for
given in one whose life is so full of honors.
* Zephauiah Swift was born in 1759 ; having been a member of Con
gress, he accompanied Oliver Ellsworth, ambassador to France in 1798,
as his secretary. In 1801 he was appointed judge of the Superior Court,
and was chief-justice from 1806 to 1819. He was a large man, of strong
manly features ; in conversation he spoke rapidly, without grace of man
ner or expression, but with force and perspicuity. His mind was emi
nently fitted for juridical duties. He died while on a visit to Ohio in 1823.
t For a sketch of the life and character of Nathaniel Smith, see page
308, vol. i. of this work.
I Calvin Goddard was born 1768, and died 1842. He filled various
public offices, and was mayor of Norwich for seventeen years. It is
difficult to say which predominated, his learning, his wit, or his ame
nity. I chanced to be with him and Gen. Terry in the stage-coach from
New Haven to New York, when, in Febuary, 1815, they were proceed
ing to Washington, to carry the proceedings of the Convention. Gen.
Terry slept nearly all the way, nor could Mr. Goddard s ceaseless wit
arouse him. When they got to Washington, the news of peace had
just arrived, and their " occupation was gone." They experienced some
gibes, but it is said that Goddard paid back with compound interest.
No man was moie competent.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOT1CAL, ETC. 47
tation of being the most learned and successful lawyer east of
the Connecticut river : an upright judge, a wise counselor, an
honest man.
" Last, but not least of the Connecticut delegation, wa? Roger
Minot Sherman,* a profound metaphysician, a scholar equal to
the younger Adams, one of the principal oracles of the New
York city bar for the last twenty years of his life, who seemed
more fitly than any other man to represent the lawgiver, Roger
Ludlow, and to inhabit the town which he had planted, whose
level acres he had sown with the quick seeds of civil liberty, and
then left the up-springing crop to be harvested by the sickle of
his successor."
This is the verdict not of the apologist, not of
the partisan but of the historian, in a sober review
of the past, with all the light which time has thrown
* Eoger Minot Sherman, nephew of the celebrated Roger Sherman,
was a native of Woburn, Mass., and born in 1773. He established
himself as a lawyer at Fairfield, Conn., and rose to the first rank of his
profession. He was distinguished for acute logical powers, and great
elegance of diction words and sentences seeming to flow from his lips
as if he were reading from the Spectator. He was a man of refined per
sonal appearance and manners ; tall, and stooping a little in his walk ;
deliberate in his movements and speech, indicating circumspection,
which was one of his characteristics. His countenance was pale and
thoughtful, his eye remarkable for a keen, penetrating expression.
Though a man of grave general aspect, he was not destitute of humor.
He was once traveling in Western Virginia, and stopping at a small tav
ern, was beset with questions by the landlord, as to where he came from,
whither he was going, &c. At last said Mr. Sherman " Sit down, sir,
and I will tell you all about it." The landlord sat down. " Sir," said
he, " I am from the Blue Light State of Connecticut !" The landlord
stared. " I am deacon in a Calvinistic church." The landlord was evi
dently shocked. " I was a member of the Hartford Convention !" This
was too much for the democratic nerves of the landlord ; he .speedily
departed, and left his lodger to himself. Mr. Sherman filled various
offices, and in 1840, became judge of the Superior Court. To a mind at
once brilliant and profound, he added the embellishments of literature
and science and the graces of Christianity. He died Dec. 30, 1844.
48 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
upon the lives of those whom he thus character
izes.* 1
And now, my dear C . . . ., let me ask you to look
at the Hartford Convention, through these Connec
ticut delegates all grave and reverend seigniors
one of them sixty-nine years of age, and having been
governor of the State ; one of them, at the time,
chief justice of the State ; another a judge of the Su
perior Court ; two of them grown gray in the Senate
of the United States : all past fifty, all distinguished
for prudence, caution, sobriety ; all of the Washington
school in politics, morals, manners, religion. Look at
these men, and then tell me if there was treason, con
spiracy, dismemberment of the Union, either in their
hearts, or the hearts of the people who elected them ?
If there be any thing holy in truth, any thing sacred
in justice, degrade not the one, desecrate not the
other, by calling these men traitors! Say rather
that their presence in the Hartford Convention is
proof clear, conclusive, undeniable, in the utter
absence of all evidence to the contrary that it was
an assembly of patriots, chosen by a patriotic people,
wisely seeking the best good of the country. If this
be not so, then there is no value in a good name, no
ground for faith in human virtue. Treason is the
highest crime against society : is there not something
shocking to the universal sense of decency in char
* Hollister s History of Connecticut, vol. il p. 303.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 4:9
ging this upon men thus signalized for their virtues ?
Such perverse logic would make Judas a saint, and
the eleven true disciples, betrayers.
But I must leave discussion, and proceed with my
narrative. As the Convention sat with closed doors,
the world without, despite their eager curiosity, were
kept in general ignorance as to their proceedings.
There was a rumor, however, that Mr. Otis opened
the debate, and was followed, first by Chauncey Good
rich and then by Nathaniel Smith the latter making
one of those masterly speeches for which he was re
nowned, and which shook even this assembly of great
men with emotions of surprise and admiration. The
first day s debate was said to have brought all minds
to a general agreement as to the course to be adopted
that of mild and healing measures, calculated to
appease the irritated minds of their constituents, to
admonish the national government of the general feel
ing of danger and grievance, and thus to save the
country from an example either of popular outbreak
or organized resistance to the laws. Subsequent
events showed that these rumors were well founded.
While such was the course of things in the Con
vention, some curious scenes transpired without and
around it. I cannot do better, in order to give you
an idea of these, than to transcribe part of a letter,
which I recently received from a friend in Hartford,
to whom I had written for some details, to refresh
arid confirm my own recollections. This was hastily
VOL. II. 3
50 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
written, and with no idea of its publication ; but it
is, nevertheless, graphic, and coming from an old
democrat, will be received as good authority for the
facts it presents, even by the contemners of the Con
vention and its federal supporters.
" Previous to the war, Captain Morgan recruited in Hartford
a company of light dragoons. Elijah Boardman was his lieu
tenant, and Owen Ranson afterward Major Ranson was cor
net. When war was declared, and an army was to be raised,
the first thing was to appoint officers, and the respectables
that is, the federalists being to a man opposed to the war, none
of them applied for commissions ; so that the administration
was compelled nothing loth to officer the army from the dem
ocrats. Having a great number of appointments to make, and
little time to examine the qualifications of the applicants, and, as
I have remarked, having only the democrats to select from, many
men received commissions who were hardly qualified to carry a
musket in the ranks. Among the appointments was a general
of brigade in the Vermont militia Jonas Cutting, a boatman
on the Connecticut river. who obtained his appointment of
colonel through the influence of J. and E. L . . . ., good demo
crats, for whom he boated. He was ordered to Hartford on
recruiting service, where he established the head-quarters of the
25th regiment. He was a rude, boorish, uncouth man, and re
ceived but little attention from the citizens generally, and none
from the respectables the federalists : he was, however, suc
cessful in raising recruits. After a time he was sent to the lines,
and was succeeded by Lieutenant-colonel Jos. L. Smith, of Ber
lin a large, handsome man, of some talents, but a good deal
of a fire-eater. He assumed the command at Hartford, but was
not kindly received by the federalists. There was in fact no
love lost between him and them.
u This brings us near the time of the Hartford Convention
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 51
the winter of 1814, preparatory to another campaign on the
frontier. A very considerable force of regular troops were in
cantonment in Hartford. The federalists, who were a large
majority, as you know, hated the democrats, denounced the
war, and detested the troops generally, and Lieutenant-colonel
Smith in particular for he thought it a part of his duty to make
himself as odious to them as possible. His recruiting parties were
constantly parading the city, and monopolizing the sidewalks,
in all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war. With gun,
drum, trumpet, blunderbuss, and thunder, they crowded the
ladies into the gutters, frightened horses, and annoyed the cit
izens. Some of them called on Colonel Smith, as the com
manding officer, and begged of him, as a gentleman, to keep his
recruiting parties from Main-street our principal avenue. I
need not say that by this time an intensely bitter feeling had
grown up between the two political parties, and the democrats
were overjoyed that Colonel S. took pains to show his hatred
and contempt for the anti-war party, and so they encouraged
him to persevere, and do his duty by flouting the feds, and in
raising recruits for the glorious war. So the more the citizens
requested him to desist, the more he would not.
" In this state of things, the city council assembled, and pass
ed and published an ordinance that no military parties should
be permitted to march on the sidewalks, but should confine them
selves to the streets. The democrats and Col. S. scouted the idea
that the council had the power to regulate the march of United
States troops, and so the troops persisted in this annoyance.
The Governor s Foot Guard, one hundred muskets strong, com
posed of our most respectable young men, and all federalists,
commanded by Nathaniel Terry, Esq., now prepared a quantity
of ball cartridges, which, with their arms, were deposited in
the old Hartford Bank. The men were required to be always
ready to act when necessary. The government recruits not
heeding the ordinance, Capt. Boardman and some other officers
and non-commissioned officers were arrested and imprisoned.
52 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
The United States troops, reinforced by all the out parties in
the neighboring towns, now came into the city, and completely
monopolized the streets by night and by day.
" The Superior Court was in session at this time, and each day
during the session, the military bands, with divers supernume
rary bass-drums, incessantly marched around the Courthouse
with so much din that the court was obliged to adjourn. This
was repeated daily, and matters had arrived at a terrible pass,
when the administration at Washington saw the necessity of inter
fering. It was obvious that the difficulty arose chiefly from the
impertinence and vulgarity of the army officers ; so they ordered
Colonel Jessup to come to Hartford and assume the command,
and packed off Smith to the lines or somewhere else.
" Colonel Jesup on his arrival called at once on Chauncey
Goodrich, the mayor, and begged him to let him know how
matters stood. Jesup was a man of sense and a gentleman,
and all difficulties speedily vanished. The troops were kept in
their cantonments, a certain distance out of town ; and only a
few at a time, of the most orderly, were permitted to come into
the city, and without military parade. Colonel Jesup was re
ceived into society, and caressed by the better class of citizens,
and became a great favorite. He was dined and tea d to his
heart s content by the federalists, after which the democracy
rather cut him. So ended this little war.
" The celebrated Hartford Convention assembled here about
this time, and Mr. Thomas Bull, a large, portly, courtly old gen
tleman, was the doorkeeper and messenger. As it was proper
that this dignified body should have all things done decently and
in order, Mr. Bull was directed to call on the reverend clergy,
in turn, to pray with the Convention. Dr. Strong made tho
first prayer, and Dr. Perkins and other eminent clergymen
followed. The Rev. Philander Chase* afterward Bishop Chase
* Philander Chase was a native of Vermont, born 1775, and died 1852.
He was a man of imposing personal appearance and manners. He be
came bishop of Ohio in 1819, and afterward was elected bishop of Illinois.
53
was at this time rector of Christ Church a high Church
man, who probably never in all his ministry offered an extem
poraneous prayer. He was, in his turn, called on by Mr. Bull,
who in his blandest manner informed him of the honor conferred
on him, and begged his attendance to pray at the opening of the
morning session. What must have been his horror, when Mr.
Chase declined, saying that he knew of no form of prayer for
rebellion ! Mr. Chase himself related this anecdote to me soon
after. Major J. M. Goodwin was present and heard it. Never
theless, I believe this speech was hardly original : some of the
tory Episcopal clergymen had said the same thing during the
Eevolution. They had forms of prayer for the king, but none
for liberty.
" No annoyance was offered to the Convention. A body of
United States troops, under command of Jemmy Lamb, a face
tious old Irishman, and the town-crier, in a fantastic military
dress, marched around the State-house, while they were in ses
sion the music playing the Rogues March. The Convention,
however, excited less attention in Hartford than in other places.
Tis distance lends enchantment, &c. Very little more notice
was taken of their proceedings by the people here exclusive of
violent partisans than of those of the Superior Court."
This sketch, gives a clear insight into the state of
popular feeling at this period, in Hartford, which has
been the theme of much discussion and gross mis
representation. It is obvious that, had there been
no other reason for it, the danger of intrusion and
interruption from the irritated United States recruits,
led by incendiary officers and encouraged by reckless
mischief-makers, rendered it a matter of prudence for
the Convention to sit with closed doors. The State
court had been braved and insulted, and the far more
54 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
obnoxious Convention would doubtless have expe
rienced still more emphatic demonstrations of rude
ness. Had the sessions been open, a guard of a hun
dred men would scarcely have protected them from
interruption, perhaps violence.
It is creditable to all parties that Col. Jesup was
sent thither : it showed a disposition on the part of
the administration to afford no ground of offense ;
it proved that the citizens the federalists sought
no quarrel, and would interpose no difficulties to
the government troops or their officers in the lawful
discharge of their duties. It showed, moreover, .that
they could appreciate gentlemanly qualities, and were
ready to bestow honor on a gallant soldier who had
fought and bled in battle for the country, even al
though they disapproved of the war.
As to Colonel Jesup* Brigadier-general Jesup
now I must say a few words. At the time I speak
of, he was some thirty years old. He had recently
come from the northern frontier, where he had won
laurels by the side of Scott, Miller, Brown, Kipley,
and other gallant soldiers. He was of modest demea
nor, pleasing address, and gentlemanly tastes : it was
no disparagement to his agreeable appearance that he
* Thomas S. Jesup was a native of Virginia, and holding the rank of
Mnjor, distinguished himself at Chippewa, Niagara, &c., during the
campaign of 1814. While he was at Hartford, in the winter of 1814-15,
there was a public ball, in which I was one of the managers. I recol
lect that he was present, and was dressed in blue undress military coat
with epaulettes, white small-clothes, and white silk-stockings, and was
quite a favorite with the ladies a proper homage to the brave.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC A L, ETC. 55
had his arm in a sling a touching testimonial of his
merits brought from the field of battle. He was the
complete antipode of the J. L. Smiths and Joseph
Cuttings who had preceded him, and who thought
it a part of their democratic duty to be conspicuously
vulgar. He did not seek to promote democracy by
rendering it disgusting to all who held opposite opin
ions. He mingled in amicable intercourse with the
citizens ; sought interviews with the leading inhabit
ants with the mayor of the city, and the governor of
the state when he chanced to be on a visit there. I
know he took counsel with my uncle and became ac
quainted with members of the Convention, and thus
found means not only to smooth away the difficulties
which had been engendered by his rude and reck
less predecessors in the military command of that
station, but gained correct information as to the ac
tual state of things.
It was perfectly well understood, at this time, that
he was not only a military officer, but that he was
the diplomatic agent of the government at "Washing
ton, and communicated his observations to the Exec
utive. He was not, for this reason, either shunned or
depreciated. It is evident, from his letters sent almost
daily to Madison and the substance of which has
transpired, at least in part that the real intentions of
the Convention were penetrated by him almost from
tfie beginning. It is evident that he never found the
lightest proof of treasonable intentions on the part
56 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
of that assembly.* It has been reported that he in
tends publishing his personal memoirs, and that in
these he will give some interesting revelations re
specting the Convention : I trust he will fulfill his
design, and I am equally confident that his report
will be in unison with the views I have here pre
sented. As a matter of principle regarding it from
his point of view he will doubtless condemn that
* Mr. Ingersoll, in his history of the " Late War," professes to report
the substance of Jesup s letters to the President: in one of these he
says, among other things, that after an interview which he had with
Gov. Tompkins, of New York, on his way to Hartford, he thinks the
" Convention will complain, remonstrate, and probably address the peo
ple, but that its proceedings will neither result in an attempt to sunder
the Union, nor in a determination to resist by force the measures of the
general government."
This is sensible. Thus Col. Jesup, even before he reached Hartford,
had discovered the actual state of things in New England. I can testify-
that, living in the very midst of the members of the Convention, I never
heard such a thing as disunion advocated, or even suggested, as proba
ble or posfeible. In confirmation of this, Mr. Ingersoll adds :
" Colonel Jesup soon ascertained that the Connecticut members of the
Convention, were opposed to disunion, to disorder ; that every throb of Hie
people s heart was American" &c., &c. Surely no sensible man needed
a ghost to tell him that ; and yet, strange to say, there are persons who
still believe that the Convention, pushed on by the people of New Eng
land, were a band of traitors, at least in their hearts !
Mr. Ingersoll states that one member of the Convention Chauncey
Goodrich listened favorably to Jesup s counterplot, which was, that
New England should put her shoulder to the war, capture Halifax and the
adjacent territories, and these, with Canada, should be annexed to New
England ! That the ardent young lieutenant-colonel should have made
such a suggestion, is very possible, but those who knew the parties, will
Binile at the idea that a scheme so utterly preposterous so hopeless
in the actual state of the country, so opposed to public sentiment, so
certain to protract and aggravate the war should have been entertained
for a moment by the far-sighted person to whom it was proposed. If
such a plot was ever seriously suggested, it was no doubt respectfully
listened to as a matter of courtesy, but in no other sense could it have
been received.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 57
assembly, but as to matters of fact, I am certain he
will never furnish the slightest support to the charge
of treason, either secret or open.
But I must draw this long letter to a close. The
result of the Hartford Convention is well known.
After a session of three weeks, it terminated its labors,
and, in perfect conformity with public expectation and
public sentiment at the North, it issued an address,
full of loyalty to the Constitution, recommending
patience to the people, and while admitting their
grievances, still only suggesting peaceable and con
stitutional remedies. The authors of this document
knew well the community for which it was intended :
their purpose was to allay anxiety, to appease irrita
tion, to draw off in harmless channels the lightning
of public indignation. They therefore pointed out
modes of relief, in the direction of peace, and not in
the direction of civil war. They were federalists, as
were the people who supported them ; they belonged
to that party who founded the Constitution, in oppo
sition to the democracy.* Leaving it for democracy,
which opposed the Constitution in its cradle, to fur-
* The sincere seeker for truth should read the history of the parties
of this period, in connection with their previous annals. " It is a re-
markuble fact," says Noah "Webster, in his history of political parties in
the United States, " that the democratic party, with few or no excep
tions, opposed the ratification of the Constitution ; and beyond a ques
tion, had that opposition succeeded, anarchy or civil war would have
been the consequence. The federalists made the form of government,
and with immense efforts procured it to be ratified, in opposition to
nearly one-half of the citizens of the United States, headed by some of
the ablest men in the Union."
58 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
nish the first examples of Nullification, Disunion, Se
cession with a discretion and a patriotism which
does them infinite credit they found the means of
removing the cloud from the minds of their constit
uents, and yet without in any degree shaking the pil
lars of the Union, which was their ark of the cove
nant of national honor and glory and prosperity.
It is said Mr. Madison laughed when he heard the
result : it is very likely, for he had really feared that
the Convention meditated treason ; he perhaps felt a
little uneasy in his conscience, from a conviction that
his administration had afforded serious grounds for
discontent. He, as well as those who shared his views,
were no doubt relieved, when they found the cloud
had passed. Some of the democratic editors satisfied
themselves with squibs, and some found relief in
railing. Those especially who had insisted that the
Convention was a band of traitors, seemed to feel
personally affronted that it did not fulfill their evil
prophecies. There is perhaps no greater offense to
a partisan who has predicted evil of his adversary,
than for the latter to do what is right, and thus turn
the railer into ridicule. At all events, so bitter was
the disappointment of the fanatical portion of the
democrats, on the occasion in question, that they
sought relief in declaring that if the Convention did
not act treason, they at least felt it ! Perhaps in
consideration of their disappointment, we may pass
over this obliquity as one of those frailties of hu-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 59
man nature, which time teaches us to forget and for
give.
As to the general effect of the course adopted by
the Convention, no reasonable man can deny that it
was eminently salutary. It immediately appeased
the irritation and anxiety of the public mind in New
England ; it taught the people the propriety of calm
and prudent measures in times of difficulty and dan
ger ; and more than all, it set an example worthy of
being followed for all future time, by holding the
Constitution of the United States as sacred, and by
recommending the people to seek remedies for their
grievances by legal and not by revolutionary means.
" Blessed, are the peacemakers, for they shall see God."
I know of no similar benediction upon the promoters
of civil war.
And now I have done. The treaty of Ghent
speedily came to smooth the ruffled waters. Monroe
succeeded to Madison, and an era of good feeling
seemed to dawn upon the country. It is true the
promised millennium was not fully realized : the dy
ing flurries of the old federal party, under the har
pooning of triumphant democracy, caused some froth
upon the sea of politics. Connecticut passed through
the spasms of Toleration, in which that hard old
federalist, Oliver Wolcott, became the candidate of
democracy, and overturned the Charter of Charles II.,
and with it all his early political associations public
and personal. It was a strange dance, and with a
60 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
curious arrangement of partners. Similar movements
took place in other parts of the country the result
of which was, a new crystallization of parties, in which
the terms federalist and democrat lost their original
signification. I have before adverted to this fact, and
have stated that in application to present parties
they are little more than names to discriminate be
tween conservatives and radicals.
I have thus deemed it due to truth, in giving my
recollections of the war, to give them frankly and
fearlessly. Believing the old federalists especially
those of Connecticut, for with them my acquaint
ance was personal to have been honest and patri
otic, as I knew them to be virtuous and wise, so
I have said, and given my reasons for the faith
that is in me. While doing them this justice, I
do not affirm that in all things their measures were
right. I contend, however, that they were true
men, and, on the whole, have left memories behind
them which every dictate of virtue and patriotism
teaches us to cherish. By the side of their oppo
nents and the very best of them they may claim
at least equal respect. As time advances and the
mists of party are cleared from the horizon, I doubt
not their images will be seen and recognized by all,
as rising higher and higher among the nobler monu
ments of our history. One truth will stand they
were of those who reared the glorious fabric of the
Union, and under all circumstances taught the peo-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 61
pie to regard it as sacred. Before any man presumes
to call them traitors, let him see that his own hands
are equally pure, his own spirit equally exalted.
LETTER XXXII.
The Count Value Lessons in French, and a Translation of Rene Severe
Retribution for Imprudence The End of the Pocket-book Factory-
Napoleon returns to Paris and upsets my Affairs Divers Experiences
and Reflections upon Dancing Visit to New York Oliver Wokott and
Archibald Grade Ballston and Saratoga Dr. Payson and the three
Rowdies Illness and Death of my Uncle Partnership with George
Sheldon His Illness and Death,
MY DEAR C******
I must now go back and take up a few dropped
Btitches in my narrative. I have told you that my
apprenticeship terminated in the summer of 1814.
Previous to that time, I had made some advances in
the study of the French language under M. Value,
or, to give him his title, the Count Value. This per
son had spent his early life in Paris, but he afterward
migrated to St. Domingo, where he owned a large
estate. In the insurrection of 1794, he escaped only
with his life. With admirable cheerfulness and se
renity, he devoted himself to teaching French and
dancing, as means of support. He settled for a
time at New Haven, where, at the age of seventy, he
was captivated and captured by a tall, red-haired
Rchoolmistress of twenty. She accounted to me, for
62 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
her success, by stating that, at the time, she was
called the " Rose of Sharon" she being a native of
a town in Litchfield county bearing the latter name.
The Count finally established himself at Hartford,
and I became one of his pupils. I pursued my
studies with considerable assiduity, and to practice
myself in French, I translated Chateaubriand s Rene.
One of my friends had just established a newspaper
at Middletown, and my translation was published
there. About this time my health was feeble, and
my eyes became seriously affected in consequence
of my night studies. Unaware of the danger, I per
severed, and thus laid the foundation of a nervous
weakness and irritability of my eyes, which has since
been to me a rock ahead in the whole voyage of life.
From that time, I have never been able to read or
write, but with pain. As if by a kind of fatality, I
seemed to be afterward drawn into a literary career,
for which I was doubly disqualified first, by an im
perfect education, and next, by defective eyesight.
Oh ! what penalties have I paid for thus persisting
in a course which seems to have been forbidden to
me by Providence. After a long and laborious life,
I feel a profound consciousness that I have done noth
ing well ; at the same time, days, months, nay years,
have I struggled with the constant apprehension that
I should terminate my career in blindness ! How
little do we know, especially in the outset of our ex
istence, what is before us ! It is indeed well that we
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 63
do not know, for the prospect would often over
whelm us.
In the autumn of 1814, as already stated, I estab
lished, in company with a friend, a pocket-book fac
tory at Hartford ; but the peace put a speedy termina
tion to that enterprise. We got out of it with a small
loss, and my kind-hearted partner pocketed this, " for
he had money, and I had none." He forgave me,
and would have done the same, had the defalcation
been more considerable for he was a true friend.
Early in the following spring, I made an arrange
ment to go to Paris as a clerk in a branch of the im
porting house of Eichards, Taylor & Wilder, of New
York. About a month after, the news came that Bo
naparte had suddenly returned from Elba, and as busi
ness was prostrated by that event, my engagement
failed. For nearly a year, my health continued indiffer
ent, and my eyes in such a state that I was incapable of
undertaking any serious business. I spent my time
partly at Berlin,* with my parents, and partly at Hart-
* I have already said that my father, having asked a dismission from
his parochial charge at Ridgefield, was settled 1811 in Berlin, eleven
miles south of Hartford. It is a pleasant village, situated on a slight
elevation, rising from a fertile valley, bounded on the south by a range
of mountains. The town embraces three parishes, which, thirty years
ago, were the principal seat of the tin manufacture, from which the
whole country was long supplied by peddlers. The arts of these be
came proverbial ; not confining themselves to the sale of tin-ware, they
occasionally peddled other articles. In the Southern States, it is pre
tended, they palmed off upon the people " wooden nutmegs," " oak-leaf
cigars," &c.
Berlin was the birthplace of Isaac Eiley a noted bookseller of New
York forty years ago. He was a man of fine personal address and
64 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
ford. I read a little, and practiced my French with
Value and his scholars. I also felt the need of disci
plining my hands and feet, which about these days
seemed to me to have acquired a most absurd develop
ment giving me an awful feeling of embarrassment
when I entered into company. I therefore took les
sons in dancing, and whether I profited by it or not,
as to manners, I am persuaded that this portion of
my education was highly beneficial to me in other
points of view.
As many good people have a prejudice against
dancing, I am disposed to write down my experience
on the subject. In the winter, our good old teacher
had weekly cotillion parties, for the purpose of practi
cing his scholars. The young men invited the young
ladies, and took them to these gatherings, and after
the exercises, conducted them home again. I know
this will sound strange to those who only understand
metropolitan manners at the present day ; but let
me tell you that I never knew an instance, in my
own experience or observation, in which the strictest
propriety was departed from. These parties took
striking intellectual activity, but was marked T .vith great vicissitudes of
fortune. One of the Berlin peddlers, by the name of B . . . ., chanced
to be at one of Kiley s book-auction sales, when he bid off a thousand
copies of a cheap edition of Young s Night Thoughts. These he ped
dled in the South and West as bad looks, getting five dollars apiece for
them ! When remonstrated with for imposition, he insisted that it was
a good moral and religious operation !
At the present day, New Britain, one of the parishes of Berlin, is
noted for extensive brass and iron foundries, and various other manu
factures.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 65
place in the evening : they began at eight o clock, and
continued till ten or eleven sometimes till twelve.
The company consisted entirely of young persons
from fifteen to twenty years of age : they included
the children of the respectable inhabitants, with a
number of young ladies from the boarding-schools.
Some of these I have since seen the wives of bish
ops, senators, and governors of States filling in
deed the first stations to which the sex can aspire in
this country.
I have had enough experience of the world to know
that such things could not be in the great cities of
Europe or America perhaps nowhere out of New
England. The division of society into castes in mo
narchical countries, no doubt involves the necessity
of keeping young ladies jealously aloof from compan
ionship with the other sex, because they might en
tangle themselves in engagements which would de
feat the system of building up families and estates by
politic marriages. In this state of society, it might be
found dangerous for young persons of opposite sexes
to be left even casually together, for a spirit of intrigue
is always indigenous under a system of restraint and
espionage. But however this may be, I am satisfied
that these Hartford parties, under the auspices of
our amiable and respectable old teacher, were every
way refining and elevating : not only did they im
part ease of manner, but, as I think, purity of senti
ment. The earlier emotions of youth are delicate,
66 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
modest, conservative ; and if acquaintance with life
be made at this period, these stamp their refinements
upon the feelings, and form a safe, conservative basis
of future habits of thought and conduct. I do not
mean to favor latitudinarianism of manners ; I do
not, indeed, say that this system can be adopted in
large cities, but I believe that dancing parties, con
sisting of young persons of both sexes, under proper
guidance as, for instance, under the eye of parents,
either in a public hall, or by the domestic fireside
have a refining influence, beneficial alike to manners
and morals. I believe that even public assemblies
for dancing, regulated by the presence of good peo
ple, are eminently useful.
I have been in Catholic countries, where the sys
tem is to keep girls in cloisters, or schools resembling
them, till they are taken out by their parents or
guardians to be married ; and it is precisely in these
countries, where education is the most jealous, and
discipline the most rigorous, that intrigue is the great
game of life especially with the upper classes of
both sexes. I have seen society where Puritan ideas
prevailed, and where religious people held dancing
to be a device of the devil ; and here I have often
found that practices, secret or open, quite as excep
tionable as dancing, were current in society. If in
the earlier ages of our New England history, a hard,
self-denying system was profitable, it is not so in the
present state of society. We are created with social
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 67
feelings, which demand indulgence. No system of
religion, no code or contrivance of state policy, has
been able to get over this fact. We can not kill the
voice of God and nature in the soul : we can only
regulate it, and by using common sense and the lights
of religion, give it a safe and beneficent development.
Is it not time for society to cast off prejudice, and to
be governed by truth and experience ? It must be
remembered that what is condemned by the good and
wise, often thereby becomes evil, though in itself it
may be beneficial. Has not this wrong been done
among us ? It seems to me that good people, pious
people, may at least inquire whether it may not be
well for them to take under their patronage, that
branch of education which proposes at once to per
fect the manners and refine the sentiments of youth.
It is not to dictate, but to aid in this inquiry, that I
give you with some minuteness my observations on
this subject; hence I offer you my testimony to the
fact that in the course of three winters, during which
I attended these cotillion parties at Hartford, I never
saw or heard of an instance of impropriety in word
or deed.
Let me further suggest that there is a principle here
which it is important to recognize and appreciate.
These young people were brought together at a period
when their emotions were still sheltered in the folds
of that sensitive and shrinking modesty, designed to
protect them at the period of their first adventure
68 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
into mixed society. This modesty is to the heart of
youth, like the envelope in which nature enshrines
the choicest products of the vegetable kingdom, till
they are ripened and prepared for the harvest. This
shrinking delicacy of feeling is conservative ; to this,
license is offensive, and if suggested, is repelled. If
young people associate together at this period under
the restraints which necessarily exist in an assembly
such as I am contemplating habits of delicacy, in
thought and manner, are likely to be established.
A person who has been thus trained, seems to me
armed, in some degree at least, against those coarse
seductions which degrade, and at last destroy, so many
young persons of both sexes. To young men, an
early familiarity with the refined portion of the gen
tler sex, placing them at ease in their society and
making this a sort of necessity to them, I conceive to
be one of the greatest safeguards to their morals and
manners in after life. And as a preparation for this
as an introduction, an inducement to this I conceive
that the art of dancing, practiced by young people
of both sexes, together, is to be commended.
I am aware that I am treading upon delicate
ground. You may share the idea entertained by
many good, pious people, that dancing is always de
grading and vicious in its tendencies. This, however,
I think, arises from considering it in its abuses. I am
not contending for juvenile balls, as a pursuit fit to
absorb the whole thought and attention. Remember,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 69
I am speaking of dancing as a part of education to
be conducted with propriety in order to train young
people of both sexes to habits of easy and delicate
intercourse. As to the practice of dancing, after
ward, this must be regulated by the judgment of
parents. One custom may be proper in one place,
and not in another. In this country, our habits are
different from those of others : in Asia, where woman
is designed for the harem, and in Europe, where she
is trained to be the make- weight of a bargain, jeal
ousy becomes the sentinel of society ; in the United
States, woman is comparatively free, and here confi
dence must be the guardian of society. I am inclined
to think, in this respect, our system has the advan
tage, provided it be not abused by license on the one
hand, nor bigotry on the other.
In respect to the case I am describing in my early
experience, in which the young gentlemen conducted
the young ladies to and from the dancing hall the
confidence of parents, thus reposed in their children,
fortified and recommended by the purer suggestions
of the heart appealed to motives of honor, and was
usually responded to by scrupulous rectitude of de
meanor. If you doubt the justice of this philosophy,
I ask your attention to the fact that, at this day
forty years subsequent to the period to which I refer
in this very city of Hartford, with a population of
twenty thousand people, women, young and old, of
all classes, walk the streets till midnight, with as
70 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
much sense of security and propriety, as at noonday !
Where will you find higher evidence of a refined
state of society than this ?
In the spring of 1815 I paid a visit to New York,
and having letters of introduction to Oliver Wolcott
and Archibald Gracie, I called on these gentlemen.
Mr. Wolcott lived in Pine-street, nearly opposite where
the custom-house is now, and at a short distance was
John Wells, an eminent lawyer of that day. But a
considerable number of the higher aristocracy was
gathered toward the lower part of the city, the Battery
being pretty nearly the focus of fashion. Streets now
desecrated by the odor of tar and turpentine, were then
filled with the flush and the fair. Nath l Prime lived
at No. 1 Broadway ; Mr. Gracie in the Octagon House,
corner of Bridge and State streets. Near by was his
son-in-law, Charles King, now president of Columbia
College, and his son, Wm. Gracie, who had married the
second daughter of Oliver Wolcott. In this quarter,
also, were Wm. Bayard, Gen. Morton, Matthew Clark-
son, J. B. Coles, Moses Rogers, &c., all eminent citizens.
My lodgings were at the City Hotel, situated on
the western side of Broadway, between Thames and
Cedar streets the space being now occupied by ware
houses. It was then the Astor House of New York,
being kept by a model landlord, whose name was
Jennings, with a model barkeeper by the name of
Willard. The latter was said never to sleep night
or day for at all hours ho \vns at his post, and never
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 71
forgot a customer, even after an absence of twenty
years.
It was late in the spring, and Mr. Gracie called for
me and took me to his country-seat, occupying a
little promontory on the western side of Hurlgate a
charming spot, now cut up into some thirty city lots.
Contiguous to it, toward the city, were the summer
residences of J. J. Astor, Nathaniel Prime, and Win
Ehinelander ; on the other side were the seats of Com
modore Chauncey, Joshua Jones, and others.
Here I spent a fortnight very agreeably. Mr. Gra
cie was at this period distinguished alike on account
of his wealth, his intelligence, and his amiable and
honorable character. Never have I witnessed any
thing more charming more affectionate, dignified,
and graceful than the intercourse of the family with
one another. The sons and daughters, most of them
happily connected in marriage as they gathered here
seemed, to my unpracticed imagination, to consti
tute a sort of dynasty, something like the romance of
the middle ages. Not many years after, Mr. Gracie
lost his entire fortune by the vicissitudes of com
merce, but his character was beyond the reach oi
accident. He is still remembered with affectionate
respect by all those whose memories reach back to
the times in which he flourished, and when it might
be said, without disparagement to any other man,
that he was the first merchant in New York.
I must not omit to mention two other celebrities
72 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
whom I saw during this visit to New York. You
must recollect I was on my travels, and so, as in duty
bound, I sought to see the lions. Of course 1 went
to the court-house, and there I saw two remarkable
men Judge Kent, and Thomas Addis Emmet the
first, chancellor of the State of New York, and the
latter one of the most eminent lawyers in the city,
perhaps in the United States.
Judge Kent* I had seen before, at my uncle s
house. He had been educated at Yale College, was
my father s classmate, and formed an early acquaint
ance with our family, resulting in a friendly inter
course which was maintained throughout his whole
life. It would be difficult now to point to a man so
universally honored and esteemed. To the most ex
tensive learning, he added a winning simplicity of
manners and transparent truthfulness of character.
All this was written in his countenance, at once irre
sistible by its beaming intelligence, and its not less
impressive benevolence. The greatness and good
ness of his character shone full in his face.
I remember perfectly well the scene, when I saw
Emmetf and the judge together. The former was
* James Kent was born in Putnam county, N. Y., 1763. He rose to
eminence in the profession of the law, and was appointed by John Jay,
then governor, judge of the supreme court. He was afterward chief-
justice, and, in 1814, chancellor. He died in New York, which had
been his residence, in 1847 an ornament to human nature, to the bar,
the bench, and the Christian profession.
t Thomas Addis Ernmet, a native of Cork, in Ireland, was born in
1764 He was one of the Committee of the Society of United Irishmen,
HISTORICAL, ANECAOTICAL, ETC. 73
arguing a case, but there were only half a dozen per
sons present, and it was rather a, conversation than a
plea. Emmet was a somewhat short but very athletic
man, with large, rosy cheeks, an enormous mouth,
and full, expressive eyes. His Irish brogue, rich and
sonorous, rolled from his lips like a cataract of music.
Kent listened, but frequently changed position, and
often broke into the argument with a question, which
sometimes resulted in a dialogue. His whole manner
was easy, familiar, and very different from the statue-
like dignity of other judges I had seen. The whole
spectacle left on my mind the impression that two
great men were rather consulting together, than that
one was attempting to win from the other an opinion
to suit an interested client. I recollect to have seen,
listening to this discussion, a large, florid, handsome
man, with a dark, eloquent eye ; I inquired his name,
and was told that it was John Wells, the renowned
lawyer, already mentioned.
As I thus saw the lions of the town, I also heard
the thunderers of the pulpit. On one occasion I lis
tened to a discourse from Dr. J. B. Komeyn * a tall,
thin, eloquent man I think in Cedar-street. He was
celebrated in his day ; and, if I understood him cor-
nnd was involved in the unfortunate rebellion of 1798. Mr. Emmet was
imprisoned, but was finally set free, and came to the United States. Ilia
Cfrcat learninpr, his extraordinary talents, his powerful eloquence, soon
gave him a place among the first lawyers of the country. He died in 1827.
* John B. Romeyn was settled first at Rhinebeck, then at Scheiieo-
tady, and finally at New York. He was born in 1769, and died 1825-
VOL. II. 4
74 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
rectly, he maintained the doctrine of election in sucK
rigor as to declare that if he knew who the elect were,
he would preach only to them, inasmuch as it would
be useless to preach to other persons !
In a new church in Murray-street, I heard Dr.
Mason,* then regarded as the Boanerges of the city.
Instead of a pulpit which serves as a sort of shelter
and defense for the preacher he had only a little
railing along the edge of the platform on which he
stood, so as to show his large and handsome person,
almost down to his shoe-buckles. He preached
without notes, and moved freely about, sometimes
speaking in a colloquial manner, and then suddenly
pouring out sentence after sentence, glowing with
lightning and echoing with thunder. The effect of
these outbursts was sometimes very startling. The
doctor was not only very imposing in his person, but
his voice was of prodigious volume and compass.
He was sometimes adventurous in his speech, occa
sionally passing off a joke, and not unfrequently
* John M. Mason, D. D. son of Dr. John Mason of the Scotch Church
was born in 1770, and died in 1829. He was alike distinguished for
his wit, his intellectual powers, and his eloquence. He was the author
of several religious works of great ability. I have heard the following
anecdote of him : A certain parishioner of his, after the establishment of
a Unitarian church in New York, joined it. One day, when the Doctor
chanced to meet him, the former said
" Mr. S . . . ., it is some time since I have seen yon at Murray-street."
"I have not been there lately, it is true," was the reply " and I will
tell yon the reason. I think you make religion too difficult; I prefer
rather to travel on a turnpike, than on a rough and thorny road."
"Yes," said the Doctor; " but you must look out, and see that you
don t have a Hell of a toll to pay !"
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 75
verging on what might seem profane, but for the
solemnity of his manner. When I heard him, in
speaking of some recent Unitarian point of faith, he
said, " This is damnable doctrine I say it is damna
ble doctrine!" the deep, guttural emphasis giving to
the repetition a. thrilling effect.
Early in the ensuing summer, my uncle, Chauncey
Goodrich, being in bad health, paid a visit to Sara
toga* and Ballston for the benefit of the waters, and
I accompanied him. We soon returned, however, for
* I remember a striking incident which occurred at the hotel in Sara
toga where we lodged. One Sunday morning, as the company sat down
to breakfast at a long table, a small, dark, and rather insignificant look
ing minister said grace. As soon as he began, and his voice attracted
notice, most of the persons gave respectful attention to his words ; but
three gay young men took pains to signify their superiority to such a
vulgar custom by clashing the knives and forks, calling upon the waiters,
and proceeding to their work. After breakfast, a notice was given to
the lodgers that a sermon would be preached in the dining-hall at 10
o clock. At this hour the lodgers generally gathered there, and among
them the three young men these, however, with a decided Gallio air
and manner. Indeed, it was pretty evident that they had come to qui?
the little parson. The latter soon entered, with a peculiarly noiseless
unostentatious step and demeanor. lie sat down and meditated for a
few minutes, and then rose to pray. The first tones of his voice wero
faint, but they grew in strength ; and as we took our seats, all began to
look with strange interest upon the countenance of that little, dark, un
pretending preacher. He read a familiar hymn, but it seemed new and
striking ; he read a familiar chapter in the Bible, but it had a depth
and meaning not realized before. He took his text, and preached such
a sermon as seldom falls from the lips of man. Every heart was thrilled,
and even the three young men who came to scoff, remained to pray.
Never have I seen such alternations of feelings as passed over their
countenances first of ridicule, then of astonishment, then of shame,
and at last, of consternation and contrition. "And who is this strange
man so insignificant in appearance, so seemingly inspired in fact?"
said the people. It was Edward Fayson, afterwards D. I)., of Portland,
one of the most pious, devoted, and eloquent ministers of his day. Ho
was born at Rindge, in New Hampshire, in 1783, and died in 1827.
76 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
it was now apparent that he had a disease of the heart,
which was rapidly tending to a fatal result. Expe
riencing great suffering at intervals, he gradually
yielded to the progress of his malady, and at last, on
the 18th of August, 1815 while walking the room,
and engaged in cheerful conversation he faltered,
sank into a chair, and instantly expired. " His
death," says the historian, "was a shock to the whole
community. Party distinctions were forgotten, un
der a sense of the general calamity ; and in the sim
ple but expressive language which was used at his
funeral, all united in a tribute of respect to the man
who had so long been dear to us, and done us so
much good. " To me, the loss was irreparable
leaving, however, in my heart a feeling of gratitude
that I had witnessed an example of the highest intel
lectual power united with the greatest moral excel
lence and that, too, in one whose relationship to me
enforced and commended its teachings to my special
observance. Alas, how little have I done in life that
is worthy of such inspiration !
Not long after this, my friend George Sheldon hav
ing established himself as a bookseller and publisher,
he invited me to become his partner and this I did,
early in the year 1816. We pursued the business for
nearly two years, during which time we published,
among other works, Scott s Family Bible, in five
volumes quarto a considerable enterprise for that
period, in a place like Hartford. In the autumn of
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 77
1817 I had gone to Berlin, for the purpose of making
a short excursion for the benefit of my health, when a
messenger came from Hartford, saying that my part
ner was very ill, arid wished me to return. I imme
diately complied, and on entering the room of my
friend, I found him in a high fever, his mind already
wandering in painful dreams. As I came to his bed
side he said " Oh, take away these horrid knives ;
they cut me to the heart !" I stooped over him and
said
" There are no knives here; you are only dream-
ing."
"Oh, is it you?" said he. "lam glad you have
come. Do stay with me, and speak to me, so as to
keep off these dreadful fancies."
I did stay by him for four days and nights but
his doom was sealed. His mind continued in a state
of wild delirium till a few minutes before his death
I stood gazing at his face, when a sudden change
came over him : the agitated and disturbed look of
insanity had passed a quiet pallor had come over his
countenance, leaving it calm and peaceful. He open
ed his eyes, and, as if waking from sleep, looked on
me with an aspect of recognition. His lips moved, and
he pronounced the name of his wife ; she came, with
all the feelings of youth and love aye, and of hope,
too, in her heart. She bent over him : he raised his
feeble and emaciated arms and clasped her to his heart:
he gave her one kiss, and passed to another life !
78 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
LETTER XXXIII.
Tfiv Famine 0/1816 and 1817 Panic in New England Migrations to
Ohw T other Side of Ohio Toleration Down/ all of Federalism Oli
ver Wolcfttt and the Democracy Connecticut upset The new Constitution
Gov. Smith and Gov. Wokott Litchfield Uriah Tracey Frederick
Wolcott Tapping Reeve Col. Talmadge James Gould J. W. Hun-
tir.gton The Litchfield Centennial Celebration.
MY DEAR 0******
I must now ask your attention to several topics
having no connection, except unity of time and place :
the cold seasons of 1816 and 1817, and the conse
quent flood of emigration from New England to the
"West ; the political revolution in Connecticut, which
was wrought in the magic name of Toleration, and
one or two items of my personal experience.
The summer of 1816 was probably the coldest that
has been known here, in this century. In New Eng
land from Connecticut to Maine there were severe
frosts in every month. The crop of Indian corn was
almost entirely cut off : of potatoes, hay, oats, &c.,
there was not probably more than half the usual
supply. The means of averting the effects of such a
calamity now afforded by railroads, steam naviga
tion, canals, and other facilities of intercommunica
tion did not then exist. The following winter was
severe, and the ensuing spring backward. At this
time I made a journey into New Hampshire, pass-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 79
ing along the Connecticut river, in the region of
Hanover. It was then June, and the hills were al
most as barren as in November. I saw a man at Or
ford, who had been forty miles for a half bushel of
Indian corn, and paid two dollars for it !
Along the seaboard it was not difficult to obtain a
supply of food, save only that every article was dear.
In the interior it was otherwise : the cattle died for
want of fodder, and many of the inhabitants came
near perishing from starvation. The desolating ef
fects of the war still lingered over the country, and at
last a kind of despair seized upon some of the people.
In the pressure of adversity, many persons lost their
judgment, and thousands feared or felt that New
England was destined, henceforth, to become a part
of the frigid zone. At the same time, Ohio with its
rich soil, its mild climate, its inviting prairies was
opened fully upon the alarmed and anxious vision.
As was natural under the circumstances, a sort of
stampede took place from cold, desolate, worn-out
New England, to this land of promise.
I remember very well the tide of emigration through
Connecticut, on its way to the West, during the sum
mer of 1817. Some persons went in covered wagons
frequently a family consisting of father, mother, and
nine small children, with one at the breast some on
foot and some crowded together under the cover, with
kettles, gridirons, feather-beds, crockery, and the fam
ily Bible, Watts Psalms and Hymns, and Webster s
80 LETTERS BIOQEAPIJICAL,
Spelling-book the lares and penates of the house
hold. Others started in ox-carts, and trudged on at
the rate of ten miles a day. In several instances I
saw families on foot the father and boys taking
turns in dragging along an improvised hand- wagon,
loaded with the wreck of the household goods occa
sionally giving the mother and baby a ride. Many of
these persons were in a state of poverty, and begged
their way as they went. Some died before they
reached the expected Canaan ; many perished after
their arrival, from fatigue and privation ; and others,
from the fever and ague, which was then certain to
attack the new settlers.
It was, I think, in 1818, that I published a small
tract, entitled " T other side of Ohio" that is, the
other view, in contrast to the popular notion that it
was the paradise of the world. It was written by
Dr. Hand a talented young physician of Berlin
who had made a visit to the West about these days.
It consisted mainly of vivid but painful pictures of
the accidents and incidents attending this wholesale
migration. The roads over the Alleghanies, between
Philadelphia and Pittsburg, were then rude, steep,
and dangerous, and some of the more precipitous
slopes were consequently strewn with the carcases
of wagons, carts, horses, oxen, which had made ship
wreck in their perilous descents. The scenes on
the road of families gathered at night in miserable
sheds, called taverns mothers frying, children cry-
J >JJJ
EMIGRATION IN IblT. Vol. 2, p. 8U.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 81
ing, fathers swearing were a mingled comedy and
tragedy of errors. Even when they arrived in their
new homes along the banks of the Muskingum
or the Scioto frequently the whole family father,
mother, children speedily exchanged the fresh com
plexion and elastic step of their first abodes, for the
sunken cheek and languid movement, which marks
the victim of intermittent fever.
The instances of home-sickness, described by this
vivid sketcher, were touching. Not even the captive
Israelites, who hung their harps upon the willows
along the banks of the Euphrates, wept more bitter
tears, or looked back with more longing to their na
tive homes, than did these exiles from New England
mourning the land they had left, with its roads,
schools, meeting-houses its hope, health, and happi
ness ! Two incidents, related by the traveler, I must
mention though I do it from recollection, as I have
not a copy of the work. He was one day riding in
the woods, apart from the settlements, when he met
a youth, some eighteen years of age, in a hunting-
frock, and with a fowling-piece in his hand. The
two fell into conversation.
" Where are you from ?" said the youth, at last.
" From Connecticut," was the reply.
" That is near the old Bay State ?"
"Yes."
" And have you been there ?"
" To Massachusetts ? Yes, many a time."
4*
82 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
"Let me take your hand, stranger. My mother
was from the Bay State, and brought me here when
I was an infant. I have heard her speak of it. Oh,
it must be a lovely land ! I wish I could see a
meeting-house and a school-house, for she is always
talking about them. And the sea the sea oh, if I
could see that ! Did you ever see it, stranger ?"
" Yes, often."
" What, the real, salt sea the ocean with the
ships upon it ?"
"Yes."
" Well" said the youth, scarcely able to suppress
his emotion " if I could see the old Bay State and
the ocean, I should be willing then to die 1"
In another instance the traveler met somewhere
in the valley of the Scioto a man from Hartford, by
the name of Bull. He was a severe democrat, and
feeling sorely oppressed with the idea that he was no
better off in Connecticut under federalism than the
Hebrews in Egypt, joined the throng and migrated to
Ohio. He was a man of substance, but his wealth
was of little avail in a new country, where all the
comforts and luxuries of civilization were unknown.
" When I left Connecticut," said he, " I was wretch
ed from thinking of the sins of federalism. After I
had got across Byram river, which divides that State
from New York, I knelt down and thanked the Lord
for that he had brought me and mine out of such a
Driest-ridden land. But I ve been well punished,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 83
and I m now preparing to return ; when I again
cross Byram river, I shall thank God that he has per
mitted me to get back again !"
Mr. Bull did return, and what he hardly anticipa
ted had taken place in his absence : the federal dy
nasty had passed away, and democracy was reigning
in its stead ! This was effected by a union of all the
dissenting sects Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists
co-operating with the democrats to overthrow the
old and established order of things. Up to this pe
riod, Connecticut had no other constitution than the
colonial charter granted by Charles II. This was a
meager instrument, but long usage had supplied its
deficiencies, and the State had, practically, all the
functions of a complete political organization. It
had begun in Puritanism, and even now, as I have
elsewhere stated notwithstanding gradual modifica
tions the old Congregational orthodoxy still held
many privileges, some traditionary and some statu
tory. Yale College an institution of the highest
literary standing had been from the beginning, in
its influence, a religious seminary in the hands of the
Congregational clergy. The State had not only char
tered it, but had endowed and patronized it. And
besides, the statute-book continued to give preference
to this sect, compelling all persons to pay taxes to it,
unless they should declare their adhesion to some
other persuasion.
All this was incompatible with ideas and interests
84 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
that had now sprung up in the community. The
Episcopalians had become a large and powerful body,
and though they were generally federalists, they now
clamored as an offset to the endowments of Yale Col
lege for a sum of money to lay the foundation of a
" Bishops Fund." The Methodists and Baptists had
discovered that the preference given to orthodoxy,
was a union of Church and State, and that the whole
administration was but the dark and damning machi
nery of privileged priestcraft. To all these sources 01
discontent, the democracy added the hostility which
it had ever felt toward federalism now intensely em
bittered by the aggravations of the war and the Hart
ford Convention.
It was clear that the doom of federalism was at
hand, even in Connecticut. Many things had con
spired to overthrow it in other parts of the country.
Jefferson had saddled it, in the popular mind, with a
tendency to monarchy and a partiality for England
a burden which it was hard to bear especially near
the revolutionary period, when the hearts of the peo
ple still beat with gratitude to France and aggravated
hostility to Great Britain. John Adams, the candidate
of the federalists, gave great strength to this charge
by his conduct, and having thus nearly broken down
his supporters, did what he could to complete their de
struction, by at last going over to the enemy. John
Quincy Adams followed in the footsteps of his father.
Washington was early withdrawn from the scene of
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 85
action : Hamilton was shot : Burr proved treacherous
and infamous. The pillars of federalism were shaken,
and at the same time two mighty instruments were at
work for its final overthrow. The great body of the
people had got possession of suffrage, and insisted,
with increasing vehemence, upon the removal of ev
ery impediment to its universality. The conserva
tives, in such a contest, were sure to be at last over
whelmed, and this issue was not long delayed. One
thing more the foreign element in our population,
augmenting every year, was almost wholly democratic.
Democracy in Europe is the watchword of popular
liberty ; the word is in all modern languages, the idea
in all existing masses. This name was now assumed
by the radical or republican party, and to its stand
ard, as a matter of course, the great body of the Euro
pean immigrants little instructed in our history or
our institutions spontaneously flocked, by the force
of instinct and prepossession. And still further as I
have before intimated, nearly all foreigners hate Eng
land, and in this respect they found a ready and active
sympathy with the democratic party the federalists
being of course charged with the damning sin of love
for that country and its institutions.
To these and other general influences, which had
shattered the federal party in the Southern and Mid
dle States, was now added, in Connecticut, the local
difficulties founded in sectarian discontent. But it is
probable that a revolution could not have been speed-
86 LETTEES BIOGRAPHICAL,
ily consummated, but for an adventitious incident.
Oliver Wolcott, who had been one of Washington s
cabinet, and of the strictest sect of federalism, had re
sided some years in New York, where he had acquired
a handsome fortune by commercial pursuits. For a
number of years he had taken no part in politics,
though I believe he had rather given support to the
war. No doubt he disapproved of the course of the
federalists, for I remember that shortly before the
Hartford Convention he was at my uncle s house
the two being brothers-in-law as I have before sta
ted. In allusion to the coming assembly, I recollect
to have heard him say, interrogatively
"Well, brother Goodrich, I hope you are not about
to breed any mischief?"
"Sir," said my uncle, somewhat rebukingly, "you
know me too well to make it necessary to ask that
question !"
I recollect at a later period, when he was governor
of Connecticut, to have heard him speak reproachfully
of both political parties in New York. Said he
" After living a dozen years in that State, I don t
pretend to comprehend their politics. It is a laby
rinth of wheels within wheels, and is understood only
by the managers. Why, these leaders of the opposite
parties, who in the papers and before the world
seem ready to tear each other s eyes out, will meet some
rainy night in a dark entry, and agree, whichever way
the election goes, they will share the spoils together 1"
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 87
At all events, about this time Oliver Wolcott re
moved to Litchfield, his native place, and in 1817
was nominated for governor by the malcontents of
all parties, rallying under the name of Toleration.
To show the violent nature of the fusion which uni
ted such contradictory elements into one homogene
ous mass, it may be well to quote here an extract
from a Connecticut democratic organ the American
Mercury. This paper, with others, had charged Oli
ver Wolcott with burning down the War and Treas
ury Departments at Philadelphia, in order to cover
up the iniquities he had committed while Secretary of
War. The following was its language, Feb. 3, 1801 :
" An evening paper asks the editor for his knowledge : the
editors of that paper, if they will apply to Israel Israel, Esq.,
may have full and perfect knowledge of the accounts published.
To conceal fraud and rob the public; to conceal dilapidation
and plunder, while the public are paying enormous interest for
money to support wicked and unnecessary measures ; to conceal
as much as possible the amount and names of the robbers, and
the plans and evidences of the villainy these the editor believes
to have been the true causes of the conflagration. When did it
take place? At the dusk of night, and in the rooms in which
the books were kept, in which were contained the registers of
public iniquity!"
A short time after this February 26 the same
paper copies ftom the Philadelphia Aurora an article,
of which the following are extracts :
" The Honorable Mr. Wolcott, ex-Secretary of the Treasury,
successor to the virtuous Hamilton and predecessor to the equal-
88 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
ly virtuous Dexter, has lately honored our city with his presence.
Having done enough for his ungrateful country, he is retiring to
the place from whence he came, to enjoy the otium cum digni-
tate. It is to be hoped he will have enough of the former, to
afford him an opportunity of nursing what little he has of the
latter.
" This representative of Mr. Hamilton was very fortunate in
escaping the federal bonfires at Washington ; even his papers and
private property were providentially saved but his fair fame
sustained a slight singeing between the two fires : his friends in
Congress, it is presumed, will pass a vote which shall operate as
a cataplasm to the burn.
" Our federal worthies, justly appreciating the services of this
valuable man, and wisely considering that nothing can afford more
pleasure than eating or drinking, resolved to treat him to a din
ner ; and as it is proper the world should know that Mr. Wolcott
had something to eat in Philadelphia, their proceedings on the
occasion, at least such parts of them as will bear the light, are
published in the federal prints."
Such were the opinions at least such were the
representations of the leading democratic organs,
respecting Oliver Wolcott, the federalist, in 1801. In
1817, he was the champion of the democratic party
in Connecticut, and the idol of the American Mer
cury! What transformations are equal to those which
the history of political parties, for the short space of
twenty years, brings to our view ?
It is needless to tell you in detail what immediately
followed. The struggle was one of the most violent
that was ever witnessed in Connecticut. It was cu
rious as well as violent for we saw fighting side by
side, shoulder to shoulder, democracy, Methodism,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 89
Episcopacy, Pedobaptism, Universalism, radicalism,
infidelity all united for the overthrow of federalism
and orthodoxy ; and Oliver Wolcott was the leader in
this onset ! The election took place in April, 1817,
and the federalists were routed, according to the es
tablished phrase, " horse, foot, and dragoons." John
Cotton Smith,* the most popular man in the State,
* John Cotton Smith was horn in 1765, became member of Congress
in 1800, where he remained six years. Being a federalist, he was nearly
the whole time in the minority, yet such were his character and ad
dress, that he presided more frequently, and with more success, over
the House, when in Committee of the Whole, than any other member.
"To the lofty bearing of a Roman senator," says the historian, "he
added a gentleness so conciliating and persuasive, that the spirit of
discord fled abashed from his presence."
He was my mother s cousin, and I saw him several times at our house.
He was tall, slender, and graceful in form and manner. His hair, a
little powdered, was turned back with a queue, and a slight friz over the
ears. His dress was of the olden time with breeches, black silk stock
ings, and shoe-buckles. His address was an extraordinary mixture of
dignity and gentle persuasive courtesy. He was made judge of the Su
perior Court in 1809, and soon after lieutenant-governor; in 1812, he
became acting-governor, upon the death of the lamented Griswold. In
1813, he was elected governor, and led the State through the war, and
until 1817, when he was defeated by the election of Wolcott.
Governor Smith was the last of those stately, courtly Christian gentle
men of the " Old School," who presided over Connecticut : with him
passed away the dignity of white-top boots, queues, powder, and po
matum. His successor, Oliver Wolcott, though a federalist in the days
of Washington, was never courtly in his manners. He was simple,
direct, almost abrupt in his address, with a crisp brevity and pithiness
of speech. His personal appearance and manner, contrasting with those
of his predecessors, represented well enough the change of politics which
his accession to the gubernatorial chair indicated.
Governor Smith was the tirst president of the Connecticut Bible So
ciety, President of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, President of the American Bible Society, and received from
Yale College the degree of LL.D. He lived at Sharon with patriarchal
liberality and dignity, to the age of eighty, where he died, beloved and
honored by all who knew him
90 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
was defeated : federalism was in the dust, toleration
was triumphant !
I remember that at that time, William L. Stone was
editor of the Connecticut Mirror. Nearly the whole
paper, immediately preceding the election, was filled
with pungent matter. I think I filled a column or
two myself. The feelings of the federalists were
very much wrought up, but after it was all over,
they took it good-naturedly. A new Constitution
for the State 1818 and a very good one, was the
first fruit of the revolution. Wolcott continued gov
ernor for ten years, and taking a moderate course,
in the end, satisfied reasonable men of both parties.
He was no radical, and inasmuch as a political change
in Connecticut was inevitable, it is probable that no
better man could have been found, to lead the people
through the emergency.*
* Oliver Wolcott was the third governor of Connecticut in a direct
lino from father to son. Eoger, his grandfather, was a native of Wind
sor, born in 1679 and died in 1767. He was a clever author, a conspic
uous Christian, and governor of his native State from 1751 to 1754. His
son, Oliver W., was born about 1727. He was a member of Congress in
1776, when the Declaration of Independence was made. Barlow, in his
Columbiad, thus speaks of him :
" Bold Wolcott urged the all-important cause
With steady hand the solemn scene he draws ;
Undaunted firmness with his wisdom join d
Nor kings, nor worlds, could warp his steadfast mind."
He was elected governor in 1796, but died the next year.
His son Oliver was born 1759, and became Secretary of the Treasury,
tinder Washington, upon the retirement of Hamilton, in 1795. He was
continued in this office till the close of Adams s administration. After
twelve years of public service, he retired, with but six hundred dollars
in his pocket ! He devoted himself to commerce in New York from
2801 to 1815. His correspondence, in two volumes octavo, has been
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 91
During the period in which Oliver Wolcott was
governor, I was several times at Litchfield, and often
at his house. My sister, Mrs. Cooke, had married his
brother, Frederick Wolcott, living in the old family
published by his grandson Gibbs, and is a valuable and interesting work.
When he ceased to be governor, lie returned to New York, where he
died, in 1833. He was an able statesman, possessed of considerable lit
erary attainments, and in conversation was full of sagacity, wit, and
keen observations upon the world.
His sister, Maryanne, wife of Chauncey Goodrich born 1765 was
one of the most accomplished women of her time. A portrait of her
though doing no justice to her beauty is given in Dr. Griswold s " Re
publican Court." It is among the household anecdotes of the family,
that during the Revolution, a leaden statue of George III. was taken from
New York to Litchfield, and there cast into bullets, and that these were
formed into cartridges by this lady and others in the neighborhood, for
the army. I never saw her, as she died in 1805, before I went to Hartford.
Of Frederick Wolcott, my brother-in-law, I find the following obitu-
flry notice in the Philadelphia United States Gazette, July 11, 1837 :
" Died on the 28th of June, at his residence in Litchfield, Conn., in
the 70th year of his age, the Hon. Frederick Wolcott, one of the most
distinguished citizens of that State : a patriot of the old school, a gen
tleman of great moral and intellectual worth, a sincere, humble, consis
tent Christian. It has been well said of Judge Wolcott, that he was one
of nature s noblemen. They who knew him personally, will appre
ciate the correctness and significance of the remark. His noble form,
dignified yet affable and endearing manners, intelligence and purity of
character, magnanimity of soul and useful life, were in grand and har
monious keeping, uniting to make him distinguished among men
greatly respected, beloved, and honored.
" Judge Wolcott was descended from one of the most eminent fami
lies in New England, being the son of Oliver Wolcott, former governor of
Connecticut and one of the immortal signers of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, and grandson of Roger Wolcott, a still former governor of
that State, who, together with the late Gov. Oliver Wolcott, Secretary
of the Treasury under Washington s administration, and brother of the
deceased, were lineal descendants of Henry Wolcott, an English gen
tleman of Tolland, in Somersetshire, who came to this country in 1628,
and soon after undertook the first settlement in Connecticut, at Wind
sor. After graduating at Yale College, at an early age, with the highest
honors of his class, Mr. Wolcott directed his studies to the law, and
was soon called to various offices of important civil trust, the chief of
which he held through every fluctuation of party, during a long life. Ilia
92 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
mansion near by, and as I have intimated, my uncle,
Chauncey Goodrich, had married his sister thus
making a double connection in the family. Uriah
Tracy,* one of the most distinguished men in the
integrity inflexible, his perception ready, his judgment sound, his de
portment always courteous, exemplary, and pleasing, he discharged all
the public duties to which he was called with distinguished reputation.
After his profession of faith in Christ, his life, morally correct and seem
ingly without defect before, was pre-eminently that of an enlightened
and devoted follower of the Lord Jesus.
" In all the various relations which he sustained, his character as a
great and good man shone with peculiar luster. In the church, he was
not simply a member, but a pillar. No one could command more re
spect, no one possessed more influence. In the great schemes of be
nevolence which distinguish the present age, he ever lent a helping
hand, and over several beneficent institutions was called to preside.
A decided, though unostentatious Christian, he was ready to do every
good work, and by his counsels and efforts, the weight of his character,
and the beautiful consistency of his piety, did much to promote the
cause which he espoused, and to recommend the religion he professed.
It may be truly said of him, that he walked with God.
" In private and social life, his character had charms of still greater
endearment and loveliness. Here he loved most to move, and here his
more intimate friends will love to contemplate him. Modest and unas
suming, frank and generous, cordial and cheerful, he was eminently
formed for friendship, and none knew him but to love and honor him.
His mansion was always the abode of hospitality, his heart was always
open, delighting in those varied duties which pertain to the friend, the
neighbor, the relative, the father, and head of his family. In these
several relations, his example was noble, beautiful, lovely indeed !
" The closing scene corresponded with the tenor of his long arid use
ful life. It was calm, dignified, of steadfast faith, meekness, patience,
and Christian hope. He died in the full possession of his mental fac
ulties, leaving behind him a traly enviable reputation, and coming to
his grave, as a shock of corn fully ripe, in its season.
* Uriah Tracy was born in 1754 and died in 1807. He was many years
a leading member of Congress, and distinguished for his eloquence,
learning, and wit. I have heard of him the following anecdote : To
ward the latter part of Adams s administration, the latter nominated to
office a connection of his family, by the name of Johnson, formerly
a federalist, but recently turned democrat. This was offensive to the
federalists, and Tracy, then of the Senate, being regarded as a skillful
diplomat, was appointed to go and remonstrate with the President. He
HISTORICAL, ANECUOTICAL, ETC. 93
history of Connecticut, had been dead for several
years, but others of great eminence were still living-
giving to Litchfield a remarkable prominence in the
State. Among these were Tapping Reeve,* at one
time chief-justice of Connecticut, and founder of the
law school, which was long the first institution of the
kind in the United States ; Colonel Talmadge, distin
guished as a gallant officer in the Revolution, and a
manly, eloquent debater in Congress ; James Gould,
a learned judge, an elegant scholar, and successor of
Reeve in the law school ; Jabez W. Huntington law
lecturer, judge, senator and distinguished in all these
eminent stations; Lyman Beecher,f an able theolo-
accordingly went, and having put his Excellency in excellent humor,
by some of his best stories, at last said
"By the way, we have been thinking over this nomination of John
son, and find there is a good deal of objection to him. The democrats
will oppose him, because you nominated him ; and some of the feder
alists will oppose him, because he is a democrat. We fear that if he
goes to a vote, he will fail of a confirmation. As it would be unfortu
nate, just now, to have the administration defeated, your friends have
requested me to suggest to your Excellency whether it would not be best
to withdraw his name and substitute another ?"
The President thrust his hands into his breeches pockets, and strode
fiercely across the room : then coming up to Tracy, he said " No, sir,
no that Boston Junto will never be satisfied till they drive me and
my family back to Braintree to dig potatoes. No, sir I ll not with
draw it !"
* Judge Reeve was born in 1744, and died in 1823. His law school
was founded in 1784 : in 1794, he associated Judge Gould with him.
In 1820, Judge Reeve left it, and Mr. Huntington became connected
with it. More than eight hundred persons have here had their legal
education : among these there have been fifteen United States senators
five have been cabinet members ; ten governors of States ; two judges
of the Supreme Court ; and forty judges of State courts. Judge Gould
died in 1838, aged 67 : Judge Huntington died in 1847, aged 59.
t Dr. Beecher was born at New Haven, in 1775, was educated at Yale
94: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
gian and eloquent preacher, and even now more wide
ly known through his talented family, than his own
genius. Litchfield Hill was in fact not only one of
the most elevated features in the physical conforma
tion of Connecticut, but one of the focal points of litera
ture and civilization. You will readily suppose that
my visits here were among the most interesting events
of my early life.
In August, 1851, there was at Litchfield a gather
ing of distinguished natives of the county, convened
to celebrate its organization, which had taken place a
century before. Appropriate addresses were made by
Judge Church, Dr. Bushnell, F. A. Tallmadge, D. S.
Dickinson, George W. Holley, George Gould, Henry
Dutton, and other persons of distinction. Among
College, settled at Hampton, Long Island, 1798 ; in 1810, at Litchfield ;
in 1826, in the Hanover-street church, Boston ; in 1832, became Presi
dent of the Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, which office he re
signed in 1842, returning to Boston, where he still resides. He has
published several volumes on theological subjects. He has devoted his
long life, with prodigious activity and vigor, to the promotion of religion,
learning, and the larger humanities of life. As a preacher he was very
effective, possessing surpassing powers of statement, illustration, and
argument.
His spirit and genius seem to have been imparted to his large family,
of whom Edward Beecher, Miss Catherine Beecher, Mrs. Stowe, Henry
Ward Beecher, and others all celebrated for their works are members.
At the time I was in Litchfield I heard the following anecdote of Dr. B.
He was one evening going home, having in his hand a volume of Roe s
Encyclopaedia, which he had taken at the bookstore. In his way, ho
met a skunk, and threw the book at him, upon which the animal re
torted, and with such effect that the doctor reached home in a very
shocking plight. Some time after lie was assailed, rather abusively,
by a controversialist, and a friend advised the doctor to reply. " No,"
said he" I once discharged a quarto at a skunk, and I got the worst of
it. I do not wish to try it again 1"
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 95
the performances was a poem by Eev. J. Pierpont, *
alike illustrative of the local history of Litchfield and
the manners and character of New England.
* I can not deny myself the pleasure of making a few extracts from this
admirable performance, vividly portraying my own observations and
recollections. Having described the boundaries of New England, the
poet adds :
Here dwells a people by their leave I speak
Peculiar, homogeneous, and unique
With eyes wide open, and a ready ear,
Whate er is going on to see and hear;
Nay, they do say, the genuine Yankee keeps
One eye half open, when he soundest sleeps.
* * * * *
He loves his labor, as he loves his life ;
He loves his neighbor, and he loves his wife:
And why not love her ? Was she not the pearl
Above all price, while yet she was a girl ?
And, has she not increased in value since,
Till, in her love, he s richer than a prince ?
Not love a Yankee wife ! what, under Heaien,
Shall he love, then, and hope to be forgiven?
So fair, so faithful, so intent to please,
A " help" so " meet" in health or in disease !
* * * * *
And then, such housewives as these Yankees make ;
What can t they do ? Bread, pudding, pastry, cake,
Biscuit, and buns, can they mould, roll, and bake.
All they o ersee ; their babes, their singing-birds,
Parlor and kitchen, company and curds,
Daughters and dairy, linens, and the lunch
For out-door laborers instead of punch
The balls of butter, kept so sweet and cool
All the boys heads, before they go to school,
Their books, their clothes, their lesson, and the ball,
That she has wound and covered for them all,
All is o ersceu o erseen ! nay, it is don*,
By these same Yankee wives: If you have run
Thus far without one, toward your setting sun,
Lose no more time, my friend go home and speak for one I
*****
The Yankee boy, before he s sent to school,
Well knows the mysteries of that magic tool,
96 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL.
I think it may be safely said that there are few
counties in the United States, which could furnish
either such a poet or such materials for poetry, as this
The pocket-knife. To that his wistful eye
Turns, while he hears his mother s lullaby ;
His hoarded cents he gladly gives to get it,
Then leaves no stone unturned, till he can whet it :
And, in the education of the lad,
No little part that implement hath had.
His pocket-knife to the young whittler brings
A growing knowledge of material things.
Projectiles, music, and the sculptor s art,
His chestnut whistle, and his shingle dart
His elder pop-gun with its hickory rod,
Its sharp explosion and rebounding wad,
His corn-stalk fiddle, and the deeper tone
That murmurs from his pumpkin-leaf trombone,
Conspire to teach the boy. To these succeed
His bow, his arrow of a feathered reea,
His windmill, raised the passing breeze to win,
His water-wheel that turns upon a pin ;
Or, if his father lives upon the shore,
You ll see his ship, " beam-ends" upon the floor,
Full-rigged, with raking masts, and timbers stanch,
And waiting, near the washtub, for a launch.
Thus by his genius and his jack-knife driven,
Ere long he ll solve you any problem given;
Make any gimcrack, musical or mute,
A plow, a coach, an organ, or a flute
Make you a locomotive or a clock,
Cut a canal, or build a floating-dock,
Or lead forth Beauty from a marble block;
Make any thing, in short, for sea or shore,
From a child s rattle to a seventy-four :
Make it, said I ? Ay, when he undertakes it,
He ll make the thing, and the machine that makes it
And, when the thing is made whether it be
To move on earth, in air, or on the sea,
Whether on water o er the waves to glide,
Or upon land to roll, revolve, or slide,
Whether to whirl, or jar, to strike, or ring,
Whether it be a piston or a spring,
Wheel, pulley, tube sonorous, wood or brass
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 97
It has not only produced the eminent men already
noticed, but it has been the birthplace of thirteen
United States senators, twenty-two representatives
The thing designed shall surely come to pass ;
For, when his hand s upon it, you may know,
That there s go in it, and he ll make it go !
*****
Tis not my purpose to appropriate
All that is clever to our native State :
The children of her sister States, our cousins,
Present their claims : allow them though by dozens ;
*****
But when we ve weighed them, in a balance true,
And given our cousins all that is their due,
Will not themselves acknowledge that the weight
Inclines in favor of " the Nutmeg State ?"
*****
What if her faith, to which she clings as true,
Appears, to some eyes, slightly tinged with blue?
With blue as blue, aside from any ism,
We find no fault ; the spectrum of a prism,
The rainbow, and the flowers-de-luce, that look
At their own beauty in the glassy brook,
Show us a blue, that never fails to please ;
So does yon lake, when rippled by a breeze;
In morning-glories blue looks very well,
And in the little flower they call " blue-bell."
No better color is there for the sky,
Or, as /think, for a blonde beauty s eye.
It s very pretty for a lady s bonnet,
Or for the ribbon that she puts upon it ;
But in her faith, as also in her face,
Some will insist that blue is out of place ;
As all agree it would be in the rose
She wears, and, peradventure, in her hose.
Still, for her shrewdness, must the "Nutmeg State"
As Number One among her sisters rate ;
And which, of all Tier counties, will compare,
For size, or strength, for water, soil, or air,
With our good Mother County which has sown
Her children, broadcast, o er a wider zone,
Around the globe ? And has she not, by far,
Outdone the rest in giving to the bar,
VOL. II. 5
98 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
in Congress from the State of New York, alone, fif
teen judges of the supreme courts of other States,
nine presidents of colleges, and eighteen professors of
colleges !
And to the bench for half of all her years
The brightest names of half the hemispheres?
Our Mother County ! never shalt thou boast
Of mighty cities, or a sea- washed coast !
Not thine the marts where Commerce spreads her wings,
And to her wharves the wealth of India brings ;
No field of thine has e er been given to fame,
Or stamp d, by History, with a hero s name ;
For, on no field of thine was e er displayed
A hostile host, or drawn a battle-blade.
The better honors thine, that wait on Peace.
Thy names are chosen, not from martial Greece,
Whose bloody laurels by the sword were won,
Platea, Salamis, and Marathon
But from the pastoral people, strong and free,
Whose hills looked down upon the Midland sea
The Holy Land. Thy Carmel lifts his head
Over thy Bethlehem thy " house of bread ;"
Not Egypt s land of G-oslien equaled thine,
For wealth of pasture, or "well-favored kine,"
While many a streamlet through thy Canaan flows,
And in thy Sharon blushes many a rose.
But, Mother Litchfield, thou hast stronger claims
To be called holy, than thy holy names
Can give thee. Reckon as thy jewels, then,
Thy saintly women, and thy holy men.
Scarce have thine early birds from sleep awoke,
And up thy hillsides curls the cottage smoke,
When rises with it, on the morning air,
The voice of household worship and of prayer ;
And when the night-bird sinks upon her nest,
To warm her fledglings with her downy breast,
In reverent posture many a father stands,
And, o er his children, lifting holy hands,
Gives them to God, the Guardian of their sleep ;
While round their beds their nightly vigils keep,
Those Angel ministers of heavenly grace,
Who " always do behold their Father s face."
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 99
LETTER XXXIV,
Stephen R. Bradley My Pursuit of the Vocation of Bookseller and Publish
er Scoffs Poems General Enthusiasm Byron s Poems Their Re
ception The Waverley Novels Their amazing Popularity I publish an
Edition of them Literary Club at Hartford J. M. Wainwright, Isaac
Toucey, William Z. Stone, &c, The Round Table Original American
Works State of Opinion as to American Literature Publication of
TrumbuWs Poems Books for Education Rev. G. A. Goodrich Dr.
Oomstock Woodbridge s Geography,
MY DEAK 0******
Early in the year 1818 I was married to the
daughter of Stephen Rowe Bradley,* of Westminster,
Vermont. Thus established in life, I pursued the
business of bookseller and publisher at Hartford for
* General Bradley was a native of Cheshire, Connecticut, where he
was born, Oct. 20, 1754. He graduated at Yale College in 1775, and as
before stated, was aid to Gen. Wooster, at the time he fell, in a skir
mish with the British, near Danbury, in 1777. He removed to Ver
mont about the year 1780, and devoting himself to the bar, acquired
an extensive practice. Having popular manners, and a keen insight
into society, he became a prominent political leader, and exercised a
large influence in laying the foundations of the State of Vermont, then
the Texas of this country Ethan Allen, Ira Allen, Seth Warner, and
Thomas Chittenden all from Connecticut being the Austins and
Houstons of its early history. At the period to which I refer it was
rising from the chaos of the Revolutionary war, and the still more dis
organizing contests with colonial claimants for sovereignty over her ter
ritories. In 1791, that State having come into the Union, Gen. Bradley
was chosen one of its first senators. With an interval of six years from
1795 to 1801 he continued in the Senate till 1813, a period of sixteen
years. lie was a member of the democratic party, and called, "by vir
tue of powers vested in him" the caucus which nominated Madison, and
resulted in his election to the presidency. He was distinguished for
political sagacity, a ready wit, boundless stores of anecdote, a large ac
quaintance with mankind, and an extensive ran^o of historical knowl
edge. His conversation was exceedingly attractive, being always illus
trated by pertinent anecdotes and apt historical references. His devel-
100 LETTEKS BIOGRAPHICAL,
four years. My vocation gave me the command of
books, but I was able to read but little, my eyes con
tinuing to be so weak that I could hardly do justice
to my affairs. By snatches, however, I dipped into a
good many books, and acquired a considerable knowl
edge of authors and their works.
During the period in which Scott had been enchant
ing the world with his poetry that is, from 1805 to
1815 I had shared in the general intoxication. The
Lady of the Lake delighted me beyond expression,
and even now, it seems to me the most pleasing and
perfect of metrical romances. These productions
seized powerfully upon the popular mind, partly on
account of the romance of their revelations, and
partly also because of the pellucidity of the style
and the easy flow of the versification. Everybody
could read and comprehend them. One of my
younger sisters committed the whole of the Lady
of the Lake to memory, and was accustomed of an
evening to sit at, her sewing, while she recited it
to an admiring circle of listeners. All young poets
were inoculated with the octa-syllabic verse, and news-
opments of the interior machinery of parties, during the times of
Washington, Jefferson, and Madison; his portraitures of the polit
ical leaders of these interesting eras in our history all freely com
municated at a period when he had retired from the active arena of
politics, and now looked back upon them with the feelings of a philos
opher were in the highest degree interesting and instructive. He re
ceived the degree of LL.D., and having removed to Walpole, in New
Hampshire, a few years before, died Dec. 16, 1830, aged 76. His son,
W. C. Bradley still living, at the age of 74 has also been a distin
guished lawyer and member of Congress.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 101
papers, magazines, and even volumes, teemed with im
itations and variations inspired by the "Wizard Harp
of the North." Not only did Scott* himself continue to
pour out volume after volume, but others produced set
* Scott experienced the fate of most eminent writers who have ac
quired a certain mannerism, recognized by the community at large
that is, he was laughed at by burlesques of his works. George Col
man, the Younger, though not very young, travestied the Lady of the
Lake under the title of the Lady of the Wreck the latter of about the
same dimensions as the former. It is an Irish story, full of droll ex
travagance and laughable imitations of the original, at which they are
aimed.
In 1812, appeared the " Kejected Addresses" of James and Horace
Smith, and in these the principal poets of the day were imitated, and
their peculiarities parodied. They may, in fact, be considered as mas
terly criticisms of the several authors, in which their weak points are
strongly suggested to the reader. The laughable imitations of the "Lake
Poets" Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge probably had as much
effect in curing them of their affectations, as the scoffing ridicule of the
Edinburgh Review. Even Byron, who actually gained the prize offered
by the manager of Drury Lane Theater, on the occasion of its opening
in the new building, received a staggering blow from the imitation of
Childe Harold, which was so close in manner as to seem as if extracted
from that poem, while the spirit of the composition is strongly and ef
fectively ridiculed. The following are two characteristic stanzas ;
" Sated with home, with wife and children tired,
The restless soul is driven abroad to roam
Sated abroad, all seen, yet naught admired
The restless soul is driven to ramble home.
Sated with both, beneath new Drury s dome,
The fiend Ennui a while consents to pine
There growls and curses like a deadly Gnome,
Scorning to view fantastic Columbine,
Viewing with scorn the nonsense of the Nine!
*****
" For what is Hamlet, but a hare in March ?
And what is lirutus, but a croaking owl ?
And what i* Holla? Cupid stocp d in starch,
Orlando s helmet in Augustine s cowl!
Shakspeare how truo thine adage, fuir is foul
To him whose soul is with fruition fraught,
The song of Brahjim is an Irish howl
Thinking it but an idle waste of thought,
And naught is every thing and every thing is naught P
102 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
poems, in his style, some of them so close in their
imitation, as to be supposed the works of Scott him
self, trying the effect of a disguise. At last, however,
the market was overstocked, and the general appetite
began to pall with a surfeit, when one of those sud
den changes took place in the public taste, which re
semble the convulsions of nature as a whirlwind
or a tempest in the tropics by which a monsoon,
having blown steadily from one point in the compass,
for six months, is made to turn about and blow as
steadily in the opposite direction.
It was just at the point in which the octa-syllabic
plethora began to revolt the public taste, that Byron
produced his first canto of Childe Harold s Pilgrim
age. In London, the effect was sudden, and the
youthful poet who went to bed a common man, woke
up in the morning and found himself famous. This
It is a point of the highest interest in my recollections, that during
the period in which Scott and Byron were rising into notice, and after
ward* in the full tide of success, were thrilling the whole reading world
with their masterly productions, that the Edinburgh Keview, under the
leadership of Jeffrey, was at its zenith. His criticisms were undoubt
edly the most brilliant and profound that had appeared at that period ;
nor has any thing superior to them been written since. About the same
time Wordsworth and his friends, Southey and Coleridge, attempted to
make the world believe that bathos is pathos, weakness strength, and
silliness sublimity. On this experiment they wasted a large amount of
genius. While the Edinburgh Review found a noble scope for its high
est efforts in illustrating the beauties of the Waverley novels, and setting
forth as well the faults as the sublimities of Byron, it also gave fall ex
ercise to its incomparable ridicule and raillery, in noticing the harle-
quinisms of the Lake triumvirate. At this period, a new number of
" the Edinburgh" created as much sensation as a new instalment of Ma-
cauly s history, at the present day.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 103
ready appreciation there, arose in a great degree from
the fact that the author was a man of fashion and a
lord. In this country,, these adventitious attributes
were less readily felt, and therefore the reception of
the new poem was more hesitating and distrustful.
For some time, only a few persons seemed to com
prehend it, and many who read it, scarcely knew
whether to be delighted or shocked. As it gradually
made its way in the public mind, it was against a
strong current both of taste and principle.
The public eye and ear imbued with the ge
nius of Scott had become adjusted to his sensuous
painting of external objects, set in rhymes resonant
as those of the nursery books. His poems were,
in fact, lyrical romances, with something of epic dig
nity of thought and incident, presented in all the
simplicity of ballad versification. A person with
tastes and habits formed upon the reading of these
productions, opening upon Childe Harold s Pilgrim
age, was likely to feel himself amid the long-drawn
stanzas and the deep, mystic meditations in some
what of a labyrinth. Scott s poems were, moreover,
elevating in their moral tone, and indeed the popular
literature of the day having generally purified itself
from the poisons infused into it by the spirit of the
French Eevolution was alike conservative in man
ners and morals. Campbell s Pleasures of Hope and
Kogers Pleasures of Memory, were favorite poems
from 1800 to 1815 ; and during the same period,
104 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Thaddeus of Warsaw, tlie Scottish Chiefs, the Pas
tor s Fireside, by Jane Porter ; Sandford and Merton,
by Day ; Belinda, Leonora, Patronage, by Miss Edge-
worth; and Ccelebs in Search of a Wife, by Han
nah More were types of the popular taste in tales
and romances. It was therefore a fearful plunge
from this elevated moral tone in literature, into the
daring if not blasphemous skepticisms of the new
poet.
The power of his productions, however, could not
be resisted : he had, in fact in delineating his own
moody and morbid emotions seemed to open a new
mine of poetry in the soul ; at least, he was the first
to disclose it to the popular mind. By degrees, the
public eye admitted to these gloomy, cavernous re
gions of thought became adjusted to their dim and
dusky atmosphere, and saw, or seemed to see, a ma
jestic spirit beckoning them deeper and deeper into its
labyrinths. Thus, what was at first revolting, came
at last to be a fascination. Having yielded to the
enchanter, the young and the old, the grave and
the gay, gave themselves up to the sorceries of
the poet-wizard. The struggle over, the new-born
love was ardent and profound, in proportion as it
had dallied or resisted at the beginning. The very
magnitude of the change in passing from Scott s
romantic ballads to Byron s metaphysical trances
when at last it was sanctioned by fashion, seemed to
confirm and sanctify the revolution. Thus in about
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 105
five or six years after the appearance of the first canto
of Childe Harold s Pilgrimage the others having
speedily followed the whole poetic world had be
come Byronic. Aspiring -young rhymers now affect
ed the Spenserian stanza, misanthropy, and skepti
cism. As Byron advanced in his career of profligacy,
and reflected his shameless debaucheries in Don Juan,
Beppo, and other similar effusions, the public se
duced, bewildered, enchanted still followed him, and
condescended to bring down their morals and their
manners to his degraded and degrading standard.
The secret of the power thus exercised lay in va
rious elements. In England, the aristocratic rank of
Byron added greatly to his influence over the public
mind, and this was at last reflected in America.
With little real feeling of nature, he had, however,
an imagination of flame, and an amazing gift of po
etic expression. The great fascination, however
that which creates an agonizing interest in his prin
cipal poems is the constant idea presented to the
reader that, under the disguise of his fictitious heroes,
he is unconsciously depicting his own sad, despairing
emotions. We always feel whether in perusing
Childe Harold, or Manfred, or Cain, or any of his
more elaborate works as if we were listening to the
moans of Prometheus struggling with the vultures,
or of Ixion toiling at his wheel. We could not, if
we would, refuse our pity for such suffering, even in
a demon; how deep, then, must be our sympathy,
5*
106 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
when this is spoken to us in the thrilling tones of
humanity, using as its vehicle all the music and mel
ody of the highest lyrical art !
In vain, therefore, was it that the moralist resisted
the diffusion of Byron s poems over the country.
The pulpit opened its thunders against them teach
ers warned their pupils, parents their children. I
remember, even as late as 1820, that some booksellers
refused to sell them, regarding them as infidel publi
cations. About this time a publisher of Hartford, on
this ground, declined being concerned in stereotyping
an edition of them. It was all in vain. Byron could
no more be kept at bay, than the cholera. His works
have had their march over the world, and their victims
have been probably not less numerous than those of
that scourge of the nations. Byron may be, in fact,
considered as having opened the gates to that tide of
infidelity and licentiousness which sometimes came out
boldly, as in the poems of Shelly, and more disguisedly
in various other works, which converted Paul Clifford
and Dick Turpin into popular heroes. He lowered the
standard of public taste, and prepared a portion of the
people of England and America to receive with favor
the blunt sensualities of Paul de Kock, and the subtle
infiltrations of deism by Madame George Sand. Hap
pily, society has in its bosom the elements of conserva
tism, and at the present day the flood of license has
subsided, or is subsiding. Byron is still read, but his
immoralities, his atheism, have lost their relish, and
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 107
are now deemed offenses and blemishes, and at the
same time the public taste is directing itself in favor of
a purer and more exalted moral tone in every species
of literature. Longfellow, Bryant, and Tennyson are
the exponents of the public taste in poetry, and
Hawthorne, Dickens, Thackeray, in romance. All
the varied forms of light reading are taking a corre
sponding tone of respect for morals and religion.
Scott speedily appreciated the eclipse to which his
poetical career was doomed by the rising genius of
Byron. He now turned his attention to prose fiction,
and in July, 1814, completed and published Waverley,
which had been begun some eight or ten years before.
It produced no sudden emotion in the literary world.
It was considered a clever performance nothing
more. I recollect to have heard it criticised by some
veteran novel-readers of that day, because its leading
character, Waverley, was only a respectable, common
place person, and not a perfect hero, according to the
old standards of romance. Guy Mannering came out
the next year, and was received with a certain degree
of eagerness. The Antiquary, Black Dwarf, Old
Mortality, Eob Roy, and the Heart of Mid-Lothian,
followed in quick succession. I suspect that never,
in any age, have the productions of any author created
in the world so wide and deep an enthusiasm. This
emotion reached its height upon the appearance of
Ivanhoe in 1819, which, I think, proved the most
popular of these marvelous productions.
108
At this period, although, there was a good deal of
mystery as to their authorship, the public generally
referred them to Scott.* He was called the " Great
Unknown" a title which served to create even an
adventitious interest in his career. The appearance
of a new tale from his pen, caused a greater sensation
in the United States than did some of the battles of
Napoleon, which decided the fate of thrones and em
pires. Everybody read these works ; everybody
the refined and the simple shared in the delightful
trances which seemed to transport them to remote
ages and distant climes, and made them live and
breathe in the presence of the stern Covenanters of
Scotland, the gallant bowmen of Sherwood Forest,
or even the Crusaders in Palestine, where Coeur de
Lion and Saladin were seen struggling for the mas
tery ! I can testify to my own share in this intoxi
cation. I was not able, on account of my eyes, to
read these works myself, but I found friends to read
* It is a fact worthy of being noted, that while the evidence that Scott
was the author of the Waverley Novels was clear and conclusive, various
writers asserted the contrary. Some contended that they were written
by Sir Walter s brother, Thomas, in Canada ; some, that they were the
productions of a certain or rather an uncertain Dr. Greenfield, &c.
The subject was discussed with great vehemence, and something like
partisan bitterness. It was proved to demonstration, over and over
again, by some of these wiseacres, from internal, external, moral, reli
gious, and political evidence, that Sir Walter Scott could not be the
author. The foundation of all this was that envy, inherent in some
minds, which is offended by success. Persons of this class invented,
and at last believed, the absurdities which th ;y propagated. The fact is
instructive, for it teaches us the danger of fol owing the lead of littleness
and malignity. Candor is a safer guide thar envy or malice.
109
them to me. To one good old maid Heaven bless
her! I was indebted for the perusal of no less than
seven of these tales.
Of course, there were many editions of these works
in the United States, and among ethers, I published
an edition, I think in eight volumes, octavo inclu
ding those which had appeared at that time. About
this period that is, in 1819 I was one of a literary
club, of which J. M. Wainwright,* Isaac Toucey,
William L. Stone, Jonathan Law, S. H. Huntington,
and others, were members. The first meeting was at
my house, and I composed a poem for the occasion,
* Dr. Wainwright was born at Liverpool, in 1792, of parents who
were citizens of the United States, but who at that date were on a visit
to England. He came to this country at the age of 11, was educated at
Cambridge, and was instituted rector of Christ Church at Hartford, in
1815. He came to New York about 1820, and after filling various im
portant stations, was in 1852 elected provisional bishop of the diocese of
New York. He was an accomplished scholar and gentleman, and an
earnest and successful laborer in the various fields to which his life was
devoted.
Mr. Toucey studied law at Newtown, and came to Hartford about
1812, and has since resided there. He is an eminent lawyer, and has
filled the offices of governor and senator of the United States. The
. atter place he still holds.
William L. Stone, born at Esopus, New York, 1792, was first a printer,
and afterward became distinguished as an editor first in conducting
a political paper at Albany, and then at Hudson. When Theodore
Dwight, who had founded the Connecticut Mirror, left for Albany, in
1816, Mr. Stone succeeded him. In 1821, he succeeded to the editorship
of the Commercial Advertiser, at New York, which place he filled till
his death, in 1844. He published various works, among which were the
Life of Brant, Memoir of Red Jacket, Letters on Masonry and Antiina-
Bonry, &c. He wrote with great rapidity and fluency, and had a iv-
markable talent in collecting materials and making compilations. Irx
personal character he was exceedingly amiable, giving his warm svm
pathy to all things charitable and religious.
Jonathan Law was the postmaster of Hartford ; he was a good scholar.
110 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
entitled "A Vision" afterward published, with other
poems, in 1836. I also published three or four num
bers of a small work entitled the " Bound Table," the
articles of which were written by different members ot
the club.
About this time I began to think of trying to
bring out original American works. It must be re
membered that I am speaking of a period prior to
1820. At that date, Bryant, Irving, and Cooper
the founders of our modern literature a trinity of
genius in poetry, essay, and romance had but just
commenced their literary career. Neither of them
had acquired a positive reputation. Halleck, Percival,
Brainard, Longfellow, Willis, were at school at least,
all were unknown. The general impression was that
we had not, and could not have, a literature. It was
the precise point at which Sidney Smith had ut
tered that bitter taunt in the Edinburgh Eeview
" Who reads an American book ?" It proved to be
that "darkest hour just before the dawn." The
successful booksellers of the country Carey, Small,
Thomas, Warner, of Philadelphia ; Campbell, Duyc-
kinck, Keed, Kirk & Mercein, Whiting & Watson, of
New York ; Beers & Howe, of New Haven ; 0. D.
a man of refined feelings, with a sensitive, shrinking delicacy of manners
in the intercourse of life.
Mr. Huntington has been judge of the county court, and has filled
other responsible offices. He is now clerk of the Court of Claims, at
Washington, though he resides at Hartford. Such were some of the
members of our little club.
IIISTOKICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. Ill
Cooke, of Hartford ; West & Eichardson, Cummings
& Hilliard, E. P. & C. Williams, S. T. Armstrong, of
Boston were for the most part the mere reproducers
and sellers of English books. It was positively in
jurious to the commercial credit of a bookseller to
undertake American works, unless they might be
Morse s Geographies, classical books, school-books,
devotional books, or other utilitarian works.
Nevertheless, about this time I published an edi
tion of Trumbull s poems, in two volumes, octavo,
and paid him a thousand dollars, and a hundred
copies of the work, for the copyright. I was seriously
counseled against this by several booksellers and, in
fact, Trumbull had sought a publisher, in vain, for
several years previous. There was an association
of designers and engravers at Hartford, called the
" Graphic Company,"* and as I desired to patronize
the liberal arts there, I employed them to execute the
embellishments. For so considerable an enterprise,
I took the precaution to get a subscription, in which
I was tolerably successful. The work was at last
produced, but it did not come up to the public ex
pectation, or the patriotic zeal had cooled, and more
than half the subscribers declined taking the work.
* The designer of the establishment was Elkanah Tisdale, a fat, face
tious gentleman a miniature painter by profession, but a man of some
literary taste, and admirable humor in anecdote. He illustrated, with
great cleverness, the handsome edition of the Echo, published by Isaac
Riley brother-in-law of Dwight and Alsop, two of the principal authors
the ugh it professes to be from the Porcupine Press, and by Pasquin
p etronius.
112 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
I did not press it, but putting a good face upon the
affair, I let it pass, and while the public supposed I
had made money by my enterprise, and even the au
thor looked askance at me in the jealous apprehension
that I had made too good a bargain out of him I
quietly pocketed a loss of about a thousand dollars.
This was my first serious adventure in patronizing
American literature.
About the same period I turned my attention to
books for education and books for children, being
strongly impressed with the idea that there was he^e a
large field for improvement. I wrote, myself, a small
arithmetic, and half a dozen toy -books, and published
them, though I have never before confessed their au
thorship. I also employed several persons to write
school histories, and educational manuals of chemis
try, natural philosophy, &c., upon plans which I pre
scribed all of which I published ; but none of these
were very successful at that time. Some of them,
passing into other hands, are now among the most
popular and profitable school-books in the country.*
* Among these was A History of the United States of America, by Kev.
C. A. Goodrich: this was the first of the popular school histories of the
United States, now in circulation and, in fact, the first of my brother s
numerous publications. Previous to this time, the history of the United
States was not one of our school studies. Other works of a similar kind,
after this example, soon followed, but this work has continued to be one
of the most popular. Several hundred thousand copies of it have been
sold.
Another was an educational treatise on Natural Philosophy, by J. L.
Comstock, which is now a popular and standard work in the schools,
and has been republished in England. Dr. Comstock also wrote, upon
plans which I indicated, an educational work on Chemistry, another or
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 113
William C. Woodbridge, one of the teachers of the
Deaf and Dumb Asylum, at this time projected a
school geography, in which I assisted him mostly in
preparing the details of the work for the press, and in
the mechanical department. When an edition of it
was finally ready after long and anxious labor, both
on his part and mine the state of my health com
pelled me to relinquish it. This work acquired great
popularity, and became the starting-point of a new
era in school geographies, both in this country and
in England.
Mineralogy, &c., which I published. Thus this excellent and useful
author hegan that series of treatises, designed to popularize science,
which has placed his name among the eminent benefactors of education
in this country. I am happy to say, that he is still living at Hartford, in
the enjoyment of the respect and friendship which his amiable character
and useful life naturally inspire and, I may add, in the enjoyment also
of that independence which is but a just compensation of well-directed
industry and talent.
Mr. Woodbridge was born in 1795, graduated at Yale in 1811, and,
having studied theology, became one of the teachers of the deaf and
dumb, at Hartford. He was a man of the greatest amenity of manner and
purity of life; he showed also a complete devotion to what he deemed
his duty, viewed through a religious light. He gave his attention to
education, and may be considered as one of the pioneers in the great
improvements lately made in the art of instruction. He traveled in
Europe, visiting the most celebrated educational establishments, and
holding intercourse with the most enlightened friends of educational
progress and improvement. The result of his researches and reflections
In; gave to the public in numerous valuable and profound treatises,
lie was a little too much of a perfectionist to be immediately practical,
and hence his books two geographical treatises : were somewhat be
yond the age in which he lived ; but still they exercised a powerful
influence in suggesting valuable ideas to others. His first geography I
took to England in 1823, and got it published there, for his benefit. It
still continues to be published in London. Mr. Woodbridge was a man
of feeble health, yet struggled manfully till 1845, when he expired, at
Boston loved and admired by all who knew him.
114 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
LETTER XXXV.
Sketches of the " Hartford Wits" Dr. Hopkins Trumbull, author of Mc-
Fingal David Humphries Dr. Strong Theodore Dwight Thomas II.
Gallaudet Daniel Wadsicorth Dr. Coggswell Mrs. Sigourney.
MY DEAR 0******
In order to complete the panorama of my life at
Hartford, I must give you a brief sketch of some of
the persons whom I knew there, and who had become
conspicuous by their words or works. I have al
ready said that Hopkins, * who in point of genius
stood at the head of the noted literary fraternity of
" Hartford Wits," was not living when I went to re
side at that place. Trumbull, the author of McFin-
gal, was still living, and I knew him well. He was at
that time an old man, and always small of stature
was now bent, emaciated, and tottering with a cane.
His features were finely cut, and he must have been
* Dr. Lemuel Hopkins was born at Waterbury, 1750 : he practiced
physic at Litchficld, and afterward at Hartford, where he died in 1801.
He left a strong impression upon the public mind, as well by the eccen
tricity of his personal appearance and habits, as by his learning and ge
nius. He was often described to me as long and lank, walking with
spreading arms and straddling legs. His nose was long, lean, and flex
ible ; his eyes protruding, and his whole expression a strange mixture
of solemnity and drollery. He was of a social disposition, and often in
talking at a neighbor s house, would forget his business engagements.
He was intimate with Theodore Dwight, and his daughter has told me
that she recollects his coining to their house, and being very much fa
tigued, he laid himself down on the floor, and put a log of wood under
his head for a pillow. Here he began to dictate poetry, which her fa
ther wrote down, being very likely one of those poems which has placed
his name among the most vigorous of our satirists.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 115
handsome in his younger days. His eye was keen and
bright, his nose slightly aquiline, his mouth arching
downward at the corners, expressive of sarcastic hu
mor. There was something about him that at once
bespoke the man of letters, the poet, and the satirist.*
* John Trumbull the poet belonged to one of those remarkable
families in Connecticut which, through several generations, have pos
sessed talents that carried them to the highest stations in society. Jona
than Trumbull, of Lebanon, born in 1710, was elected governor in 1769,
and continued to be annually elected till 1783, when he resigned, having
been thirty years, without interruption, in public employment. His ser
vices, rendered to the country during the war, were regarded as almost
next those of Washington. It is said that the name given to our coun
try of " Brother Jonathan," came from him, in an allusion to his co
operation with Washington in the Kevolution. He died in 1785. His
son Jonathan, born at Lebanon, 1740, was Washington s secretary and
aid, member of Congress in 1789, speaker of the House in 1791, in 1794
senator, and in 1798, governor of the State. He died in 1809. Joseph
Trumbull, nephew of the preceding, and still living, has filled various
offices, and been senator of the United States and governor of the State.
Benjamin Trumbull, the distinguished historian born in 1735 and died
in 1820 was nephew of the first Gov. Trumbull. Col. John Trumbull,
brother of the second governor of that name and aid to Washington, was
an eminent painter and elegant gentleman, and died in 1843, aged 87.
A collection of his paintings, valuable as historical and biographical
mementoes, belongs to Yale College.
John Trumbull, the poet, son of the Kev. John T. of Watertown, a
connection of this family, was born 1750. At seven he was admitted at
college, but did not enter upon his studies there till thirteen. I have heard
him say that when he went to enter at Yale, he rode on horseback behind
his father, and wore his mother s cloak and hood. He studied law, min
gling the composition of poetry with legal pursuits. Having been in the
law office of John Adams, at Boston, he settled as a lawyer at Hartford
in 1781, and became distinguished in his profession. He wrote several
poems, the most noted of which was McFingal, an imitation of Hudi-
bras, and in some passages not inferior to the best portions of that famous
production. Trumbull was, no doubt, the most conspicuous literary
character of his day, in this country. I published a revised edition of
his works in 1820, as elsewhere stated. His society was much sought,
and he was the nucleus of a band of brilliant geniuses, including
Dwight, Hopkins, Alsop, Humphries, &c.
The latter I often saw at Hartford, usually on visits to Trumbull. Ha
116 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Dr. Strong was the minister of the Middle Brick
Church the principal Congregational church in the
city. He was now near threescore and ten large,
infirm, and shuffling along as if afflicted with gout
in the feet. His life and character had been marked
with eccentricities with worldliness, wit, and social
aptitudes. Nevertheless, he was an eloquent and
devout preacher: it was said of him that when in
the pulpit, it seemed that he ought never to leave it,
and when out of it, that he ought never to go into it.
All his levity, however, had passed when I knew
him. He was indeed fast approaching that bourne
whence no traveler returns. With all his early
was then old, and living in his native town of Derby, where he had es
tablished a woolen manufactory. He had been one of the handsomest
men of his time, and was now large, portly, powdered, with a blue coat
and bright buttons, a yellow waistcoat, drab breeches, and white-top
boots. His complexion was florid, showing a little more appreciation
of Sherry than was orthodox in Connecticut a taste he brought with
his wife and her fortune from Lisbon, or Madrid, in both which places
he had been ambassador. He was in truth a splendid mixture of the
old Continental soldier, and the powdered and pomatumed diplomat.
Though past sixty, he still affected poetry, and on one occasion per
haps about 1810 came in his coach-and-four, to get Trumbull to aid
him in finishing his Fable of the Monkey, who, imitating his master in
shaving, cut his own throat,. He had nearly completed it, but wished a
pointed, epigrammatic termination. Trumbull took it and read to the
end, as it was written, and then added, without stopping
" Drew razor swift as he could pull it,
And cut, from ear to ear, his gullet 1"
This completed the fable, and it so stands to this day. This anecdote
was told me by Trumbull himself, and I gave it toKettell, who inserted
it in the notice of the poet, in his "Specimens of American Poetry."
Humphries died in 1818 ; Trumbull in 1841, having been a judge of the
Superior Court from 1801 till 1819, when he was disqualified by age,
tinder a law of the State.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 117
faults, he had a very strong hold of the affections
and confidence of his people. His face was remark
ably expressive, his eye keen, his lips firm, his
nose arched, and his long, thick, gray hair turned
back and rolled in waves upon his shoulders. I am
not sure that his reputation as a man of wit and
worldly taste, now that these were cast aside, did not
deepen the impression made by his preaching at this
period. I am certain that I have never heard dis
courses more impressive, more calculated to subdue
the pride of the heart, and turn it to religious sub
mission, than these. He was considered a man of
remarkable sagacity, especially in penetrating the
motives of mankind, and he was at the same time
esteemed by his clerical brethren as a very able di
vine. He published two volumes of sermons, but
they furnish little evidence of the genius which was
imputed to him. His reputation is now merely tra
ditional, but it is impossible not to perceive that,
with such eccentricities, he must have been a man
of remarkable qualities, inasmuch as he gathered into
his congregation the first minds in the city, and left
a name which still seems a bond of union and strength
to the church over which he presided.*
* Nathan Strong, D. D., was born at Coventry, 1748, and graduated
at Yale : during the Kevolution, he was a chaplain in the army. After
he was settled as a minister, he became a partner in the firm of Strong
<*vr Smith, and engaged in the manufacture of gin. As was fit and proper,
one of liis deacons, good old Mr. Corning, was a grocer, and sold New
England rum. As this article was frequently wanted after the store
vras shut, he kept a barrel on tap at his house, so that the people need
118 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Theodore Dwight, a younger brother of Dr. Dwight,
was born at Northampton, in 1764. His early life
was spent upon the farm, and at that period when
the wolf, wild-cat, and Indian were occasionally seen
in the forest furnishing him with ample materials
for interesting descriptions of adventure in after
not suffer for the want of this staff of life ! The firm of Strong & Smith
failed, and the minister shut himself up in his house to avoid the sheriff,
but as 110 writ could be served on Sundays, he then went forth and
preached to his congregation. All this took place toward the close of
the last century. There was nothing in it disgraceful , then. Let those
who deny that society has made progress in its standard of propriety,
compare this with the universal tone of public sentiment now.
Of the numerous anecdotes of Dr. Strong, I give you one or two spe
cimens. The first of these is connected with the Missionary Society of
Connecticut, of which he was a principal founder. The Eev. Mr. Bacon
father of the present celebrated Dr. Leonard Bacon, of New Haven had
been employed, as a missionary to that part of Ohio called the Western
Reserve. Some deeply interesting letters, detailing his operations, had
been received, and on the Sabbath, after the service, Dr. Strong invited
Theodore Dwight into the pulpit, to read them. This he performed,
and the letters made a deep impression upon the audience. One old
man, by the name of Z ... P , who was not only hard of hearing, but
hard of head and heart, actually wept. As Mr. Dwight was about to
descend, the doctor whispered to him " You have done in thirty min
utes what I have not been able to accomplish in thirty years : you have
made old Z... P.... cry!"
Dr. S. had issued a prospectus for his sermons, when one day he met
Trurnbull the poet. " When are your sermons to be out ?" said the lat
ter. " I cannot exactly tell," said the doctor. " I am waiting to find a
text to suit a man who never comes to church, except when he has a
child to be baptized" a palpable allusion to Trumbull s neglect of the
sanctuary about those days.
Dr. Mason, of New York, once called on Dr. Strong, and as he was
about to depart, he stumbled, and almost fell, in consequence of a de
fect in one of the door-steps. " Why don t you mend your ways?"
said he, somewhat peevishly. "I was waiting for a Mason," was the
ready reply.
One of Dr. S. s deacons came to him with a difficulty. " Pray, doc
tor," said he, " tell me how it happens : all my hens hatch on Sunday."
" The reason is," said the doctor, " that you set them on Sunday !"
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, EfC. 119
time. When nearly twenty, he injured his wrist,
and being disqualified for the labors of a farmer, he
turned his attention to study, and finally selected the
profession of the law. He established himself at Hart
ford,* and rose to eminence in his profession. He
had, however, a strong bias toward literature, and
* When I went to reside at Hartford, Mr. Dwight was living next
door to my uncle, arid was on intimate terms with him. He was a tall,
handsome man, with an exceedingly black, flashing eye, and a lip that
curled easily in laughter or satire. He had an infinite fund of anecdote,
great learning, an abundant acquaintance with literature, and lively pow
ers of description. He wrote with facility, and dashed off verses almost
by improvisation.
In early life, he had written sentimental poetry, specimens of which
may be found in " American Poems," published at Litchfield, in 1793.
The lines, " Alfred to Philena," are his Philena being Mrs. Morton.
They sound strongly Delia Cruscan at this day for the productions of
Theodore Dwight. As an editor, he was chiefly devoted to politics,
pursuing democracy with the unsparing vigilance of a falcon in chase
of its prey. Some of his pasquinades became very popular, and great
ly irritated the opposite party. His lines in ridicule of a Jeffersonian
festival at New Haven, March, 1803 beginning as follows, and consist
ing of some dozen similar stanzas were said and sung all over the
country.
Te tribes of Faction, join-
Tour daughters and your wives :
Moll Cary s come to dine,
And dance with Deacon Ives.
Ye ragged throng
Of democrats,
As thick as rats,
Come join the song.
Old Deacon Bishop stands,
With well-befrizzled wig,
File-leader of the band,
To open with a jig
With parrot- toe
The poor old man
Tries all he can
To make it go, <fec.
When the Non-intercourse act the last of the so-called " Restrictive
and which by way of ridicule had been nick-named the
120 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
wrote verses and political essays. Such was the rep
utation he soon acquired, that he was selected by
Wolcott, Hamilton, and others, to preside over the
Evening Post, established in 1801. This offer was
declined, and William Coleman rilled the place. Mr.
D wight was elected a member of the State Coun-
" Terrapin System," was repealed Dwight wrote the following. It pre
tends to be a lyrical lament sung by the democrats at Washington, with
whom this system had been a great favorite.
DIEGICAL HYMN.
Mourn ! sons of democratic woe !
In sadness bow the head :
Bend every back with sorrow low
Poor TEEEAPIN is dead.
And see his dying bed, around
His weeping friends appear :
Low droops his grandsire to the ground ;
His father drops a tear.
Old Clopton begs the twentieth god,
The victim s life to spare :
Calhoun and Johnson kiss the rod,
And Troup and Johnson swear.
Good old Long Tom stands sniveling by
His dying eyes to close ;
While Jemmy heaves a bitter sigh,
And wipes his mournful nose.
Let sharks exult with savage joy,
The wallowing porpoise spout:
No more his fangs their peace annoy,
Nor dread their ribs his snout
Mud-turtles, paddle at your ease
In every pond and pool ;
Ye tadpoles, settle on your lees,
And in the slime-bed cool.
Ye British weavers, shout and sing;
Ye tinkers, join the chorus ;
Cobblers and tailors, make a ring,
And dance a jig before us!
Tell old King George the glorious tale:
Amid his dire offences,
Perhaps twill light his visage pale,
And bring him to his senses.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 121
oil, and in 1806, a member of Congress. Soon
after he established the Connecticut Mirror, and
from that time followed the career of an editor.
He was secretary of the Hartford Convention in
1814. In 1815, he removed to Albany, and con
ducted the Albany Daily Advertiser: in 1817, he
The time will shortly come, when we
Like Terrapin must wander ;
And our poor eyes will nothing see
But death s cold Gerrymander!
The "Gerrymander" here alluded to, originated in a division of Mas
sachusetts, by the democrats, in the time of Governor Gerry, into Con
gressional Districts, so as to give that party the ascendency. It was a
violent disregard of geographical and political propriety, and the federal
ists retaliated by having a huge monster with tail and claws, resembling,
in outline, the state of Massachusetts, as thus distorted engraved and
circulated, with an exceedingly piquant natural history of the animal.
It took such effect that for a long time it gave a new word to the Amer
ican political vocabulary. It is said by Buckingham, that Gilbert Stuart,
the artist, suggested this clever caricature.
The following will serve as a specimen of Mr. Dwight s New- Year s
Carrier s verses, which appeared annually, and acquired great popu
larity. This extract is from the Connecticut Mirror, January 6, 1813.
* * * * *
Survey our desolated shores.
Our gra-s-grown wharves and empty stores
Oar arts and industry depressed,
The wealthy cramp d, the poor distress d:
Our cities wrapp d in deepest gloom,
Our commerce buried in the tomb.
No hum of business meets the ear,
No songs of joy the bosom cheer;
The sailor hears the whistling blasts
Murmur through sullen groves of masts
The billows dash, the useless sail
Fhip mournful to the rising gale
Then turns and views the dismal shed
Where his young offspring cry for bread.
And as the nightly breezes blow,
Curses the authors of his woe!
Naught but exterminating war
Could all this nation s blessings mar-
Naught but an arm of Vandal power
Vor. 1I.-6
122 LETTERS BIOGEAPHICAL,
established the Daily Advertiser in New York, of
which he was the chief editor till 1836, when he re
moved to Hartford. He afterward returned to New
York, where he died, in 1846.
Among the Hartford notables was Daniel Wads-
worth, son of Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, who had
The harvest of its hopes devour.
Where is that virtuous patriot band,
The pride, the bulwark of our land,
Form d to uphold the nation s sway
Pinckney, and Strong, and King, and Jay
Whose counsels might our country shield,
And guide our armies in the field?
By party zeal and passions base,
Exiled from power, and driven from place!
Who fill the void ? What names succeed ?
Eead the bright list exult and read!
Alston and Johnson, Fisk, Desha,
Porter and Piper, Pond and Ehea,
Grundy, and Hufty, and Lefevre,
Sammons and Stow, and Shaw, and Seaver,
Newton, McCoy, McKim, McKee,
Smilie, and Troup, and Widgery!
And shall our nation s courage sink,
E en on perdition s awful brink,
When such a constellated train
Her highest interests sustain ?
I have already alluded to the " Hartford wits," of whom Mr. DwigJv,
was one. Their reputation was chiefly founded upon a series of arti
cles which appeared in various papers, and were collected and published
in 1807, under the title of the Echo including other pieces. They
consisted of satires, mostly in the form of parodies and burlesques
with occasional passages of a more serious character. They attracted
great attention at the time, and had a wholesome effect in curing the
public of a taste for ridiculous bombast, which then prevailed. The
principal writers were Mr. Dwight, his broth er-in-hiw Richard Alsop,
of Middletown, and Dr. Hopkins, of Hartford. Mr. Theodore Dwight,
now of New York, the son of the author I am noticing, has shown me
a volume in which the lines contributed by each of these persons are
marked, in the handwriting of his father. This suggests the manner
in which the whole was written one composing a few stanzas, then
another taking the pen, and then another. The characteristics of each
of these several writers are clearly indicated, in compositions having a
general aspect of homogeneity.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 123
been a distinguished member of Congress. He had
traveled in Europe, and was not only a man of large
wealth, but he had a taste for literature and art. His
wife was daughter of the second Governor Trumbull,
and a very excellent example of the refined and dig
nified lady of the olden time. She had been at Phil-
I am indebted to Mr. Dwight for the following, which is copied
from a memorandum in his father s handwriting, in relation to the
Echo :
" In the year 1829 a work was published in Boston, called Specimens of Amer
ican Poetry, &c., by 8. Kettell. In a biographical sketch of Richard Alsop, a
minute and circumstantial account is given by Mr. Kettell, and which has been
frequently referred to as a correct narrative of that publication. It seems no
more than an act of justice to individuals, that a true history of it should be
published.
"The first number of the Echo appeared in the American Mercury, at Hartford,
in August, 1791. It was written at Middletown, by Eichard Alsop and Theodore
Dwight. The authors, at the time of writing it, had no expectation of its being
published; their sole object was to amuse themselves, and a few of their personal
friends. The general account of its origin is given in the preface of the volume in
which the numbers were afterward collected, and published in New York. A few
lines in the course of it were written by three of their literary friends, viz. : Dr.
M. F. Coggeswell, Elibu H. Smith, and Lemuel Hopkins. Dr. Hopkins wrote
more than these t\\ o others ; a considerable part of ten numbers were by him.
With these exceptions, the entire work was the production of Messrs. Alsop and
Dwight. Judge Trumbull never wrote a line of it. Mr. Kettell s account is incor
rect in almost every essential particular.
"The Political Green-House 1 was written by Alsop, Hopkins, and Dwight, in
unequal proportions."
I think it may be remarked that, in these compositions, Dwight shows
the most brilliant fancy and playful wit, Alsop the broadest humor,
and Hopkins the most original and crushing satire. French Jacobin
ism, with all its brood of infidelity, radicalism, arid licentiousness, is
the especial object of attack throughout, and is justly and unsparingly
ridiculed.
Though Mr. Dwight is perhaps chiefly known as the author of satirical
verses, and as a somewhat severe though able political writer, lie was in
private life one of the most pure, disinterested, and amiable of men. He
had an almost womanly sensibility to human suffering; he was true to
friendship, and inflexibly devoted to what he deemed the cause of truth,
honor, and patriotism. He furnishes an instance of what has often hap
pened before, in which the literary man seems a vindictive satirist, while
the social man friend, neighbor, father, husband is full of the milk
LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
adelphia when her father was member of Congress,
and recited many interesting anecdotes of Washing
ton and Hamilton, and other great men, whom she
had there seen. I was often at the house, and here
frequently saw her Uncle, Col. Trumbull, the artist,
with his European wife, about whom there was an
impenetrable mystery. She was a beautiful woman,
and of elegant manners : her features are well pre
served in her husband s portrait of her, in the Trum
bull Gallery, at Yale College. It was rumored that
she was the daughter of an English earl, but her
name and lineage were never divulged.*
of human kindness. He had great abilities, and only missed a perma
nent reputation by setting too light a value upon his performances, and
thus not bringing them up to a higher standard of criticism. He wrote
too much and too rapidly for lasting fame.
* Mr. Wadsworth was one of the few rich men who know how to
make a good distribution of their wealth. His charities during his life
time were numerous, and bestowed with kindness and judgment. He
founded at Hartford the Wadsworth Atheneum, which is an interesting
and useful institution, including many antiquities, works of art, and a
valuable historical library.
Among the interesting objects connected with the city of Hartford,
is his country-seat on Talcott s mountain embracing a lake, a tower,
and other attractions. The situation is beautiful, and the whole is taste
fully arranged. To the west of it lies the valley of Farmington river,
exhibiting a varied landscape of winding streams, swelling hills, and
jultivated fields, all seen through the enchanting azure of distance. To
he east is the Connecticut, rolling proudly through its borders, crowned
fith the richest cultivation, and dotted with towns and villages, pre-
.enting some thirty spires in a single view.
The scene presented to the eye from the top of this tower which rises
seventy feet above its platform, situated upon a high point of rock is
indeed unrivaled. The immediate objects beneath the tasteful villa,
the quiet lake, and, rising up from its shores
"Kocks, mounds, and knolls, confusedly hurled,
The fragments of an earlier world"
suggesting a resemblance to the wild borders of Loch Katrine, conati-
125
It was, I believe, through Mr. Wadsworth s influence
that Miss Huntly, now Mrs. Sigourney, was induced
to leave her home in Norwich, and make Hartford
her residence. This occurred about the year 1814.
Noiselessly and gracefully she glided into our young
social circle, and ere long was its presiding genius.
I shall not write her history, nor dilate upon her lit
erary career for who does not know them both by
heart ? Yet I may note her influence in this new re
lation a part of which fell upon myself. Mingling
in the gayeties of eur social gatherings, and in no re
spect clouding their festivity, she led us all toward
intellectual pursuits and amusements. We had even
a literary cotery under her inspiration, its first meet
ings being held at Mr. Wadsworth s. I believe one of
my earliest attempts at composition was made here.
The ripples thus begun, extended over the whole
surface of our young society, producing a lasting and
refining effect. It could not but be beneficial thus to
mingle in intercourse with one who has the angelic
faculty of seeing poetry in all things, and good every
where. Few persons living have exercised a wider
influence than Mrs. Sigourney; no one that I now
know, can look back upon a long and earnest career
of such unblemished beneficence.
tute a rare assemblage of beautiful and striking groups. It is sad to
reflect that "lands and manors pass away," yet it is consoling to know
that others live to enjoy them. Mr. Wadsu orth is gone but it gives me
pleasure to state that my old friend, D. W., a thriving manufacturer of
axes, Is his successor.
126 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
In the immediate vicinity of Mr. Wadsworth, lived
Dr. Coggeswell, a renowned surgeon and excellent
physician. He was, withal, a man of refined tastes,
and exceedingly easy and gracious address. In early
life he had been associated with the "Hartford wits,"
and occasionally wrote verses, though more frequently
of the sentimental than the satirical kind. His daugh
ter, Alice, was deaf and dumb, if we speak of the ear
and the lip ; yet her soul heard and spoke in her eyes
and her countenance. She excited universal interest
by her sweetness of character, manners, and appear
ance ; she was, in truth, an eloquent and persuasive
lecturer upon the language, and beauty, and immor
tality of the soul that lives above and beyond the
senses.
Mr. Gallaudet, the founder of the Deaf and Dumb
Asylum at Hartford, was a person of very diminutive
stature, with a smooth, placid physiognomy irradia
ted, however, by a remarkably large, expressive eye,
rolling at you over his spectacles. Of a frail and
feeble constitution, and a mind of no great compass,
he still possessed two faculties which rendered his
career glorious. He had a clearness and precision in
his perceptions, which rendered his mental opera
tions almost as exact and certain as the movements
of mechanism. It was this which enabled him to
master the elements of the art of teaching the deaf
and dumb, and to carry that art in its uses as well
as its philosophy greatly beyond its condition when
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 127
he entered upon it. This principle in the head was
impelled to action by another in the heart a deep
conviction that it was his duty to be useful to his
fellow-men. It is pleasing to observe how wide and
ample a field may be harvested by a good man, even
though he may not be a giant or a genius !
I must here tell you an anecdote still fresh in my
recollection. When President Monroe made his tour
through the New-England States, in the summer of
1817, the asylum was a novelty, and naturally enough
was the pride of the good citizens of Hartford. Of
course, the President was invited to see the perform
ances of the new institution. He was scarcely out of
his carriage, and delivered from the noise and confu
sion of his reception for all the world turned out to
see him before he was hurried down to the place
where the school was then kept.
A high central platform was prepared, like a
throne, for the great man, and here he took his seat.
Around were the spectators; on one side was Mr.
Gallaudet, and Mr. Clerc, the well-known deaf and
dumb professor from the school of the Abbe Sicard,
in Paris. Mr. Gallaudet was a man of admirable ad
dress, and all being ready, he said to the President,
in his smooth, seductive way
" If your Excellency will be so kind as to ask some
question, I will repeat it to Mr. Clerc on my fingers,
and he will write an answer on the slate, to show the
manner and facility of conversation by signs."
128 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
The President, who was exceedingly jaded by hia
journey, looked obfuscated ; but he changed the
position of his legs, showing a consciousness of the
question, and then fell into a very brown study.
Everybody expected something profound equal to
the occasion, and worthy of the chief magistrate ol
the greatest nation on the face of the globe. We
waited a long time, every minute seeming an hour,
through our impatience. At last it became awkward,
and Mr. Gallaudet insinuated
" If your Excellency will be so kind as to ask some
question, I will repeat it on my fingers to Mr. Clerc,
and he will write an answer on the slate, to show the
manner and facility of conversing by signs." -
The President again changed the position of his
legs, and again meditated. We all supposed he was
at the very bottom of the abyss of philosophy, hunt
ing up some most profound and startling interroga
tion. Expectation was on tiptoe ; every eye was
leveled at the oracular lips, about to utter the amaz
ing proposition. Still, he only meditated. A long
time passed, and the impatience became agonizing.
Again Mr. Gallaudet, seeming to fear that the great
man was going to sleep, roused him by repeating his
request. The President at last seemed conscious ; his
eye twinkled, his lips moved, sounds issued from his
mouth
"Ask him how old he is!" was the profound
suggestion.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 129
LETTER XXXVI.
Dr. Percival His early Life His Father s attempt to cure his /Shyness
College Life His First Love His Medical Experience His Poetical Ca
reer An awkward Position The Saddle on kin own Back Cooper
and Percival at the City Hotel Publication of his Poems at New
York The Edition in England Other Literary Avocations His Sta
tion at West Point His great Learning Assistance of Dr. Webster in
his Dictionary State Geologist in Connecticut In Wisconsin His
Death .Estimate of his Character.
MY DEAR ******
I am glad to find, by your recent letter, that you
approve of my hasty sketches of the men I have seen
and known even though they are not all of that
general celebrity which creates, in advance, an inter
est in their behalf. No doubt the portrait of a man,
whose renown has filled our ears, is more gratifying
than one which merely presents the lineaments of an
unknown, unheard-of individual. Yet every picture
which is life-like which possesses an obvious veri
similitude is pleasing, especially if it seems to repre
sent a type of some class of men, which we have seen
in life. It is mainly upon this principle that the ficti
tious heroes and heroines of romance, interest us as
deeply as even the celebrities of history. As I describe
things I have seen, I hope my delineations may have
so much seeming truth as to amuse you, even though
they possess only that interest which attaches to all
true pictures of humanity. I say this, not as an in-
130 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
troduction, especially suited to this chapter, for I am
now going to speak of names that are familiar to you :
I make these reflections upon your letter, only as a
precaution against any criticisms you may offer upon
the less pretentious miniatures scattered through these
pages.
The news comes, even while I write, that Percival,
the poet, is dead ! Yes one by one, those I have
known and cherished, are falling around me. Few
of my early acquaintances are left, and I am but a lin
gerer among the graves of early friendship and love !
James Gates Percival was a native of Berlin,* the
residence of my family, and I knew him well. His
father was a physician a man of ability, and of res
olute and energetic character. His mother was by
nature of a susceptible and delicate organization, and
she seems to have imparted to her son these qualities,
with a tendency to excessive mental development.
He early manifested a morbid shyness and shrink
ing sensitiveness, which his father sought to cure by
harsh measures. On one occasion he put the child
behind him on horseback, and rode into the thickest
of a sham fight, during a regimental muster. The
result was, that the boy was almost thrown into con
vulsions.
Dr. Percival died when James was still young, and
* Berlin consists of three parishes Worthington, where my father
resided, New Britain, and Kensington. The latter was Percival s birth-
place.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 133
after a time his mother married a respectable farmer of
the village by the name of Porter. The young Perci-
val made extraordinary progress in his studies, but was
little understood by those around him. He entered col
lege at the age of sixteen, and speedily attracted atten
tion by his acquisitions and his compositions. At this
period he was often at my father s house, in Berlin, and
being subject to paroxysms of great depression of spir
its, he deeply excited the interest of my mother. Al
though, on the whole, he pursued his education with
avidity and ambition, yet he often wandered forth in
lonesome places, nursing a moody melancholy, and
at one period, he actually contemplated suicide. From
this he was diverted mainly, I believe, by my moth
er s timely counsel and other kindly offices.
About this time he was frequently in the society
of a beautiful and accomplished young lady of the
neighborhood ; he botanized with her in the fields,
and poetized with her in the library, and at last he
thought himself in love. Months thus ran pleasantly
on, when one day he made up his mind to give her
a delicate hint of his condition. He did so, I believe,
in verse. The young lady replied in plain prose,
that she was engaged, and was speedily to be mar
ried ! The poet came to the conclusion that this was
a deceitful world, and wrote Byronic verses. In 1820
he published a volume of poems, including the first
part of his Prometheus.
Having studied medicine, he went to South Caro-
132 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
iina the same year, and established himself at Charles
ton, as a physician. He told me afterward, that, at
the end of some months, he had one patient, afflicted
with sore lips. He prescribed a dose of salts, gratis,
and this was a pretty fair example of his practice.
" I had got my name up for writing verses," said
he, " and found myself ruined."
"How so?" said I.
" When a person is really ill, he will not send for
a poet to cure him," was his answer.
Having little else before him, he directed his at
tention to literature, and published the first number
of his Clio, 1822. Soon after, he returned to the
North, and produced some miscellanies in prose and
verse. At this period, he had excited a deep interest
in the public mind, as well by his writings as his
somewhat eccentric life and manners. The melan
choly which pervaded his poetry, with fugitive pieces
of great feeling and tenderness, together with a certain
wildness in his air and manner, rendered him an ob
ject of general curiosity, and in many cases of deep
sympathy. Of all this he seemed unconscious, and
walked the world like one who neither accepted nor
desired its friendship.
In the spring of 1823, I was walking up Broadway
in New York, and met him. I had been intimate
with him for several previous years, having often
seen him at my father s house ; but I now observed,
that on seeing me, he turned aside, and evidently
[ KRC VAL Vol . , p. 132
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 133
sought to avoid me. This was what I expected, for
such was his habit of shrinking shyness, that it embar
rassed him to meet even an old friend. I put myself
in his way, and, after a few words of recognition,
perceiving something more than usually downcast in
his appearance, I asked him what was the occasion
of it. At first he denied that any thing had hap
pened, but at length, with some reluctance, he told
me he had been making a tour to the North, and
was out of money. His trunk was consequently de
tained on board the packet in which he had come
down from Albany !
Percival had some patrimony, and though his means
were narrow, they might have been sufficient for his
comfort, with good management. But common sense
-in the economy of life was, unhappily, not one of
his endowments. When he was about fifteen years
old, his friends gave him fifty dollars, mounted him on
a horse, and told him to ride till he had spent half his
money, and then turn about and come home think
ing him competent to fulfill this simple programme.
He rode on for two or three days, when he found that
the horse s back was sadly galled. Shocked at what
seemed an inhumanity for his feelings were exquis
itely tender he resolved immediately to return. He
would not mount the animal, for this would but ag
gravate its misery ; so he set out on foot, and led the
creature behind him. The saddle, however, still irri
tated the wound, and Percival, taking it from the
134: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
animal s back, threw it over bis own shoulder, and
thus trudged home. I was familiar with this and other
similar anecdotes. Thus knowing his imbecility in
the common affairs of life, it did not surprise me to
find him now without money, and in a state of com
plete bewilderment as to what should be done.
I gave him ten dollars, which he received and put
into his pocket, making no reply for such was his un
demonstrative habit and manner. I asked him to dine
with me the next day at the City Hotel, to which he
agreed. I invited Mr. Cooper the novelist to meet
him, and he came. It is not easy to conceive of two
persons more strongly contrasting with each other.
As they sat side by side at the table, I noted the dif
ference. Mr. Cooper was in .person solid, robust,
athletic : in voice, manly ; in manner, earnest, em
phatic, almost dictatorial with something of self-
assertion, bordering on egotism. The first effect was
unpleasant, indeed repulsive, but there shone through
all this a heartiness, a frankness, which excited con
fidence, respect, and at last affection.
Percival, on the contrary, was tall and thin, his
chest sunken, his limbs long and feeble, his hair silk
en and sandy, his complexion light and feminine, his
eye large and spectral, his whole air startled, his atti
tudes shy and shrinking, his voice abashed and whis
pering. Mr. Cooper ate like a man of excellent ap
petite and vigorous digestion : Percival scarce seemed
to know that he was at the table. Cooper took his
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 135
wine as if his lip appreciated it : Percival swallowed
his, evidently without knowing or caring whether it
was wine or water. Yet these two men conversed
pleasantly together. After a time Percival was drawn
out, and the stores of his mind were poured forth as
from a cornucopia. I could see Cooper s gray eye
dilate with delight and surprise.
I had a design in bringing these two men together,
and this was to have a handsome edition of Percival s
poems published for his benefit, and under such influ
ences as to make it profitable to him. The matter
was talked over between us, and before we parted, it
was all arranged. I at once drew up a prospectus,
and had it printed. I wrote a contract between
Percival and the publisher, Charles Wiley, and had
it duly signed. Mr. Cooper took the prospectus in
hand, and aided by the powerful assistance of Mr.
Bronson, Percival s college classmate, the subscrip
tion was actively pushed. The fairest ladies of New
York gave a helping hand, and before I left the
city, three hundred subscribers were secured. Pro
vision had also been made for Percival s immediate
comfort ; lodgings were furnished, and he was forth
with to prepare the copy, for the promised volume.
I returned to Hartford, but in a fortnight, got a letter
asking me if I knew what had become of our poet ?
Some weeks passed, during which time he was among
the missing. At last it was discovered that he had
been annoyed by a fiddling Frenchman, near his
136 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
room, and had fled to New Haven. There he had
entered into another contract for the publication of
his poems !
It required some weeks to disentangle the affair from
all these difficulties. At last, however, after many
delays and annoyances, the copy was furnished, and
the book printed. At that time I was on the point
of going to Europe. I delayed a fortnight to get a
perfect copy, so that I might take it with me in or
der to secure its publication in England, for Perci-
val s benefit. At last I departed, having obtained the
unbound sheets of a single copy. I sailed from New
York in the packet ship Canada Percival accompa
nying me in the steamboat Nautilus, from White
hall, to the vessel, which lay out in the stream. I
believe he regarded me as one of his best friends, but
as we shook hands, and I bade him farewell, he said
coldly, " Grood-by" his pale and spectral counte
nance showing not a ray of emotion.
Soon after reaching London, however, I received a
copy of the New York Commercial Advertiser, dated
Nov. 17, 1823, in which I read the following there
being a small " P." in ink, at the bottom. I copy it
from the file of the New York Spectator of Nov. 17,
1823 then edited by W. L. Stone.
The Canada. We never saw a ship spread her broad wings
to the breeze and go out to sea in finer style than did the ship
Canada yesterday. We received this morning the following
effusion from a gentleman who accompanied a friend on board,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 187
and had watched the vessel from the steamboat till she was lost
in the blue distance, and have no doubt that our friends will rec
ognize the author.
TO THE CANADA ON GOING TO SEA.
The gallant ship is out at sea,
Proudly o er the water going ;
Along her sides the billows flee,
Back in her wake a river flowing.
She dips her stem to meet the wave,
And high the toss d foam curls before it :
As if she felt the cheer we gave,
She takes her flight,
Where the sea looks bright,
And the sun in sparkles flashes o er it.
Gallantly as she cuts her way
And now in distance fur is fleeting,
There are some on board whose hearts are gay,
And some whose hearts are wildly beating.
Loud was the cheer her seamen gave,
As back they sent our welcome cheering
Many a hand was seen to wave,
Arid some did weep
And fondly keep
Their gaze intent, when out of hearing.
They have parted, and now are far at sea
Heaven send them fine and gentle weather I
They parted not for eternity
Our hands shall soon be link d together 1
The sea was smooth and the sky was blue,
And the tops of the ruflled waves were glowing
As proudly on the vessel flew
Like the feather d king
On his balanced wing,
To a distant land o er the ocean going.
I knew Percival too well to feel hurt at his cool
good-by nevertheless, it was a pleasure to have this
evidence of his feeling and his friendship. On reach
ing London, I made a contract with John Miller for
138 LETTERS BIOGE APHIC AL,
the publication of the poems in two volumes 12mo
half the profits to go to the author. I also wrote for
it a brief biographical notice. A very handsome
edition soon appeared, and attracted some attention,
but excited no enthusiasm in London. On the whole,
the publication was a failure. The edition of one
thousand copies was not sold, but I subsequently in
duced Miller to send to Percival one hundred copies,
as his share of the proceeds. This was all he ever
received from the English edition.
After my return to America, I frequently met Per
cival, but never under circumstances which renewed
our intimacy. Indeed, by this time he had become
confirmed in his habits of abstraction in life and
manner, which rendered it difficult to enter into his
thoughts or feelings. He even seemed misanthrop
ical, and repelled, as an offense, every thing that
jealousy could suspect to be either interested or in
tended as a gratuity or a favor. There were many
persons ready nay desirous to render him efficient
service, but they did not know how to approach him.
In 1824 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the
United States army, and professor of chemistry in
the Military Academy at West Point. This station
he soon abandoned, being disgusted, as he told me,
with one part of his duty which was to examine
recruits, by inspection of their persons, and ascertain
ing their weight, height, &c. About this time he was
employed and liberally paid by Mr. Samuel Walker,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 139
of Boston, in editing an extensive edition of " Elegant
Extracts," both in verse and in prose ; and afterward
in editing Malte Brim s large Geography, adding
thereto numerous useful notes. About this period
he was also engaged in assisting Dr. Webster, in pre
paring his quarto dictionary. In 1836, he received
from Connecticut a government appointment to assist
in a geological survey of the State. He entered upon
this duty, and his report was published in 1842. In
1852, he received a similar appointment for the State
of Wisconsin, and made his first report in 1855. He
was still engaged in this duty, when his career was
suddenly terminated by death, which took place at
Hazelgreen, in the State of Wisconsin, May, 1856.
With all the knowledge I possess of Dr. Percival s
life and character, he is still, to me, somewhat of an
enigma. That he was a man of powerful imagina
tion and an intellect of great capacity, is manifest :
his poems prove the one his amazing acquisitions,
the other. That his understanding was even of lar
ger scope and measure than his fancy, is, I think,
apparent, for he not only had a vast range of knowl
edge precise and reliable obedient to recollection
as the stores of a cyclopedia yet his powers of com
bination, his judgment, were of the very first order.
This was evinced, not only in his connection with
Dr. Webster s Dictionary, already alluded to, by the
nice discrimination he displayed in philological in
quiries, and the exactitude with which he rendered
140 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
the shadings of sense and meaning, in giving the
definitions of words, but in the larger and grander
surveys of geology the largest and grandest of prac
tical sciences. Such compass and such precision oi
knowledge such power of exact as well as vast com
bination are indeed marvelous. When we considei
him in this aspect, and at the same time remember
that thirty years ago he was captivating the world
with his imaginative effusions, we have indeed a
character of remarkable and almost contradictory ele
ments.
Yet it must be added that, on the whole, his life
was a complete shipwreck. He lived to excite admi
ration and wonder ; yet in poverty, in isolation, in a
complete solitude of the heart. He had not, I think,
a single vice ; his life was pure, just, upright. How
then did he fail ? The truth seems to be, that he was
deficient in that sympathy which binds man to man,
and hence he was an anomaly in the society among
which he dwelt a note out of tune with the great
harmony of life around him. He was a grand in
tellect, a grand imagination, but without a heart.
That he was born with a bosom full of all love
and all kindness, we can not doubt ; but the golden
bowl seems to have been broken, almost at the fount
ain. By the time he was twenty, he began to stand
aloof from his fellow-man. I think he had been deep
ly injured nay ruined by the reading of Byron s
works, at that precise age when his soul was in all
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 141
the sensitive bloom of spring, and its killing frost of
atheism, of misanthropy, of pride, and scorn, fell upon
it, and converted it into a scene of desolation. The
want of a genial circle of appreciation, of love and
friendship, around his early life, left this malign influ
ence to deepen his natural shyness into a positive and
habitual self-banishment from his fellow-man. Such
is the sad interpretation I put upon his career.*
LETTER XXXVII.
A few Wayside Notes The Poet Brainard His first Introduction Rip-
ley s Tavern Aunt Lucy The little back-parlor Brainard 1 * Office-
Anecdote The Devil" 1 * Dun The Lines on Niagara Other Poems
One that is on the Sea The Sea-bird s Song Publication, of Brainards
Poems General Remarks His Death.
MY DEAR C******
I have told you that in the autumn of 1823 1
set out to visit Europe ; but a few previous events
are needful to bring my narrative to that epoch. In
1821, clouds and darkness began to gather around my
path. By a fall from a horse, I was put upon crutches
* The notice of Dr. Percival in Kettell s Specimens of American
Poets, was written at my request by Kev. Eoyul Bobbins, of Kensing
ton parish, Berlin, in which the poet lived. It is a beautiful and just
appreciation of his character at that time. I know of no person so com
petent as he to give the world a biography of Percival. He is familiar
with the details of his whole career, and especially with the earlier por
tions of his life, and is, moreover, master of till tbe qualifications requi
site to give interest and value to such a work
for more than a year, and a cane for the rest of my
life. Ere long death entered my door, and my home
was desolate. I was once more alone save only that
a child was left me, to grow to womanhood, and to
die a youthful mother, loving and beloved* leaving
an infant soon to follow her to the tomb. My affairs
became embarrassed, my health failed, and my only
hope of renovation was in a change of scene.
* Sweet Spirit passed ! Tis not for thee
Our bitter tears unmeasured flow
Thy path to Heaven is traced, but we,
With grieving heart, must writhe below !
We mourn thy lost yet loving tone,
That made endearing names more dear,
And touched with music all its own
The warm fond hearts that clustered near.
We mourn thy form thy spirit bright,
Which shone so late mid bridal flowers
And yet could pour angelic light
Across the last tempestuous hours !
We mourn for thee so sudden-flown,
When least we thought from thee to sever
As if some star we deemed our own,
At brightest hour had set forever 1
Unpitying Fate ! thy dark designs
Can spare the weary, wasted, bent,
Yet crush the fairest thing that shines
Where peace and joy have pitched their tentl
Could not the youthful mother claim
Exemption from thy stern decree ?
Could not the child that lisped her name,
Extort one pitying tear from thee ?
Ah, human woes are not thy care !
The lightning, in its plunge of wrath,
Turns not, with heedful thought, to spare
The buzzing insect in its path 1
HISTOEICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 143
But before I give you a sketch of my experience
and observations abroad, I must present one portrait
more that of my friend Brainard.* He came to
Hartford in February, 1822, to take the editorial
charge of the Connecticut Mirror Mr. Stone, as I
have stated, having left it a short time before. He
was now twenty-six years old, and had gained some
reputation for wit and poetical talent. One day a
young man, small in stature, with a curious mixture
of ease and awkwardness, of humor and humility,
came into my office, and introduced himself as Mr.
Brainard. I gave him a hearty welcome, for I had
heard very pleasant accounts of him. As was natu
ral, I made a complimentary allusion to his poems,
Forgive us, Heaven ! if thus we mourn
The lost on earth the blest above
So rudely from our bosom torn,
With all its clinging ties of love 1
One bright, blest spot of sunshine played
Upon the landscape s varied breast
Yet there the clouds have cast their shade
And there the deepest shadows rest !
* John Gardiner Caulkins Brainard was the youngest son of Jeremiah
G. Brainard, of New London, judge of the supreme court, whom I have
already mentioned in the history of my military adventures in 1813. His
two elder brothers, William F., a lawyer, and Dyer, a physician, were
botli men of wit and learning; the first died some years since, the latte?
is still living. John, of whom I now write, was born in 1795, educated
at Yale, prepared for the law, and settled at Middletown 1819. He died
at New London, in 1828. The portrait of him in Messrs. Duyckincks
"Cyclopaedia of American Literature," is from an engraving in the
Token for 1830, and that is taken from a miniature I had painted oi
him, by our mutual friend, Tisdale. It was from recollection, but givea
a pretty good idea of the sad yet humorous, boyish yet manly, counte
nance of the original.
144 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
which I had seen and admired. A smile, yet shaded
with something of melancholy, came over his face, as
be replied
" Don t expect too much of me ; I never succeeded
in any thing yet. I never could draw a mug of cider
without spilling more than half of it I"
I afterward found that much truth was thus spoken
in jest : this was, in point of fact, precisely Brain-
ard s appreciation of himself. All his life, feeling
that he could do something, he still entertained a
mournful and disheartening conviction that, on the
whole, he was doomed to failure and disappoint
ment. There was sad prophecy in this presentiment
a prophecy which he at once made and fulfilled.
We soon became friends, and at last intimates.
I was now boarding at " Kipley s" a good old
fashioned tavern, over which presided Major Rip-
ley, respected for revolutionary services, an amiable
character, and a long Continental queue. In the
administration of the establishment he was ably
supported by his daughter, Aunt Lucy the very
genius of tavern courtesy, cookery, and comfort.
Here Brainard joined me, and we took our rooms
eide by side. Thus for more than a year we were
together, as intimate as brothers. He was of a child
like disposition, and craved constant sympathy. He
soon got into the habit of depending upon me in
many things, and at last especially in dull weather,
or when he was sad, or something went wrong with
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 145
him he crept into my bed, as if it was his right.
At that period of gloom in my own fortunes, this
was as well a solace to me as to him. After my re
turn from Europe we resumed these relations, and for
some months more we were thus together.
Brainard s life has been frequently written. The
sketch of him in Kettell s " Specimens," I furnished,
soon after his death. Mr. Bobbins, of Berlin, wrote
a beautiful biographical memoir of him for Hopkins
edition of his poems, published at Hartford, in 1842.
A more elaborate notice of his life, character, and
genius, had been given in Whittier s edition of his
"Eemains," 1832. To this just and feeling memoir,
by a kindred spirit one every way qualified to ap
preciate and to illustrate his subject I have now
nothing to add, except a few personal recollections
such as were derived from my long intercourse and
intimacy with him.
Perhaps I cannot do better than to begin at once,
and give you a sketch of a single incident, which will
reflect light upon many others. The scene opens in
Miss Lucy s little back-parlor a small, cozy, carpet
ed room, with two cushioned rocking-chairs, and a
bright hickory fire. It is a chill November night,
about seven o clock of a Friday evening. The Mirror
Brainard s paper is to appear on the morning of
the morrow, it being a weekly sheet, and Saturday its
day of publication. The week has thus far passed,
und he has not written for it a line. How the days
VOL. II. 7
14:6 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
have gone he can hardly tell. He has read a little
dipped into Byron, pored over the last Waverley
novel, and been to see his friends ; at all events, he
had got rid of the time. He has not felt competent
to bend down to his work, and has put it off till- the
last moment. No further delay is possible. He is
now not well ; he has a cold, and this has taken the
shape of a swelling of the tonsils, almost amounting
to quinsy, as was usual with him in such attacks.
Miss Lucy, who takes a motherly interest in him,
tells him not to go out, and his own inclinations sug
gest the charms of a quiet evening in the rocking-
chair, by a good fire especially in comparison with
going to his comfortless office, and drudging for the
inky devils of the press. He lingers till eight, and
then suddenly rousing himself, by a desperate effort,
throws on his cloak and sallies forth. As was not
uncommon, I go with him. A dim fire is kindled
in the small Franklin stove in his office, and we sit
down. Brainard, as was his wont, especially when
he was in trouble, falls into a curious train of reflec
tions, half comic and half serious.
" Would to heaven," he says, " I were a slave. I
think a slave, witli a good master, has a good time
of it. The responsibility of taking care of himself
the most terrible burden of life is put on his mas
ter s shoulders. Madame Eoland, with a slight altera
tion, would have uttered a profound truth. She
should have said Oh, liberty, liberty, thou art a
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 14:7
humbug ! After all, liberty is the greatest possible
slavery, for it puts upon a man the responsibility of
taking care of himself. If he goes wrong why he s
damned ! If a slave sins, he s only flogged, and gets
over it, and there s an end of it. Now, if I could
only be flogged, and settle the matter that way, I
should be perfectly happy. But here comes my tor
mentor."
The door is now opened, and a boy with a touseled
head and inky countenance, enters, saying curtly
" Copy, Mr. Brainard !"
" Come in fifteen minutes !" says the editor, with a
droll mixture of fun and despair.
Brainard makes a few observations, and sits down
at his little narrow pine table hacked along the edges
with many a restless penknife. He seems to notice
these marks, and pausing a moment, says
" This table reminds me of one of my brother Wil
liam s stories. There was an old man in Groton, who
had but one child, and she was a daughter. When
she was about eighteen, several young men came to
see her. At last she picked out one of them, and
desired to marry him. He seemed a fit match enough,
but the father positively refused his consent. For a
long time he persisted, and would give no reason for
his conduct. At last, he took his daughter aside, and
said Now, Sarah, I think pretty well of this young
man in general, but I ve observed that he s given to
whittling. There s no harm in that, but the point
148 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
is this : lie whittles and whittles, and never makes
nothing! Now I tell you, I ll never give my only
daughter to such a feller as that ! Whenever Bill
told this story, he used to insinuate that this whit
tling chap, who never made any thing, was me ! At
any rate, I think it would have suited me, exactly."
Some time passed in similar talk, when at last
Brain ard turned suddenly, took up his pen and be
gan to write. I sat apart, and left him to his work.
Some twenty minutes passed, when, with a radiant
smile on his face, he got up, approached the fire, and
taking the candle to light his paper, read as follows :
"THE FALL OF NIAGARA.
" The thoughts are strange that crowd into my brain,
"While I look upward to thee. It would seem
As if God pour d thee from his hollow hand,
And hung his bow upon thy awful front ;
And spoke in that loud voice that seem d to him
Who dwelt in Patmos for his Saviour s sake,
The sound of many waters ; and had bade
Thy flood to chronicle the ages back,
And notch his cent ries in the eternal rocks ! 1
He had hardly done reading, when the boy came.
Brainard handed him the lines on a small scrap of
rather coarse paper and told him to come again in
half an hour. Before this time had elapsed, } * v 4
finished, and read me the following stanza :
" Deep calleth unto deep. And what are we,
That hear the question of that voice sublime ?
llRAINA lD WRITING "THE FALL OK NIAGARA " Vol. 2, p. .48.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 14:9
Oh ! what are all the notes that ever rung
From war s vain trumpet by thy thundering side ?
Yea, what is all the riot man can make,
In his short life, to thy unceasing roar ?
And yet, bold babbler, what art thou to Him
Who drown d a world, and heap d the waters far
Above its loftiest mountains ? A light wave,
That breathes and whispers of its Maker s might."
These lines having been furnished, Brainard left
his office, and we returned to Miss Lucy s parlor. He
seemed utterly unconscious of what he had done. I
praised the verses, but he thought I only spoke warm
ly from friendly interest. The lines went forth, and
produced a sensation of delight over the whole coun
try. Almost every exchange paper that came to the
office had extracted them : even then he would scarce
believe that he had done any thing very clever. And
thus, under these precise circumstances, were com
posed the most suggestive and sublime stanzas upon
Niagara, that were ever penned. Brainard had never,
as he told me, been within less than five hundred
miles of the cataract, nor do I believe, that when he
went to the office, he had meditated upon the sub
ject. It was one of those inspirations which come to
the poet and often come like the lightning in the
very midst of clouds and darkness.
You will readily see, from the circumstances I have
mentioned, that I knew the history of most of Brain-
ard s pieces, as they came out, from time to time, in
his newspaper. Nearly all of them were occasional
150 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
that is, suggested by passing events or incidents in
the poet s experience. The exquisite lines beginning,
" The dead leaves strew the forest walk,
And wither d are the pale wild-flowers"
appeared a few days after he had taken leave of a
young lady from Savannah, who had spent a month,
at our hotel, and had left an impression upon his sen
sitive heart, which the lines, mournful and touching
as they are, only reveal to those who witnessed his
emotions. Many were struck off in the extreme exi
gencies of the devil s dun his very claws upon him.
In these cases, he doubtless resorted to the treasures
of his mind, which seems to have been largely stored
with the scenery of his native State, and the legends
connected with them. Two elements, in nearly equal
proportion, seemed to fill his soul the humorous and
the sublime and often in such contiguity, or even
mixture, as to heighten the effect of each this, how
ever, being more noticeable in his conversation than
his writings. It was sometimes amazing to watch
the operations of his mind even in moments of fa
miliarity, often starting from some trivial or perhaps
ludicrous incident, into a train of the most lofty and
sublime thought. I have compared him, in my own
mind, to a child playing upon the sea-beach, who by
chance picks up and winds a Triton s shell, or wan
dering into some cathedral, lays his finger upon the
clavier of the organ, and falling upon the key-note of
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 151
his heart, draws from the instrument all its sound
ing melody.
I trust you will pardon me if I give the history of
one or two other poems, connected with my own ob
servation. I have told you that in the autumn of 1823,
I went to Europe, and was absent for a year. On
parting with Brainard, we mutually promised to write
each other, often. Yet I received not a line from him
during my absence. I knew his habits and forgave
him though I was certainly pained by such neglect.
On meeting him after my return, I alluded to this.
Without saying a word, he went away for a short
time : on his return, he put into my hands a copy of
the Mirror, which had appeared a few days before,
and pointing to the lines which I extract below
he left me. His reply, thus indicated, was indeed
gratifying. You will understand that at the time,
Lafayette had just arrived in the country.
ONE THAT S ON THE SEA.
With gallant sail and streamer gay,
Sweeping along the splendid bay,
That, throng d by thousands, seems to greet
The bearer of a precious freight,
The Cadmus comes ; and every wave
Is glad the welcomed prow to lave :
What are the ship and freight to me?
I look for One that s on the sea.
" Welcome Fayette," the million cries :
From heart to heart the ardor flies,
152 LETTERS BIOGB APHIC AL,
And drum and bell and cannon noise,
In concord with a nation s voice,
Is pealing through a grateful land,
And all go with him. Here I stand,
Musing on One that s dear to me,
Yet sailing on the dangerous sea.
Be thy days happy here, Fayette !
Long may they be so long but yet
To me there s one that, dearest still,
Clings to my heart and chains my will.
His languid limbs and feverish head
Are laid upon a sea-sick bed :
Perhaps his thoughts are fix d on me,
While toss d upon the mighty sea.
I am alone. Let thousands throng
The noisy, crowded streets along :
Sweet be the beam of beauty s gaze
Loud be the shout that freemen raise
Let patriots grasp thy noble hand,
And welcome thee to Freedom s land
Alas ! I think of none but he
"Who sails across the foaming sea !
So when the moon is shedding light
Upon the stars, and all is bright
And beautiful ; when every eye
Looks upward to the glorious sky ;
How have I turn d my silent gaze,
To catch one little taper s blaze :
Twas from a spot too dear to me
The home of him that s on the sea.
Ought I not to have been satisfied ? If you will
compare these lines with those by Percival, under
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 153
circumstances not altogether dissimilar, you will have
the means of comparing the two poets the one feel
ing through the suggestions of his imagination, the
other exercising his imagination through the impulse
of his feelings. Percival was a poet of the fancy
Brainard, of the heart.
Still one more passing note. The " Sea-Bird s Song"
appears to me one of the most poetical compositions
in Brainard s collection, and the history of it can not
be uninteresting. It was written some time after my
return from England, and when I was again married
and settled at Hartford. He was a frequent almost
daily visitor at our house, and took especial pleas
ure in hearing my wife sing. He had no skill in
music, but, as with most persons of a sentimental
turn, his choice always fell upon minors. One even
ing his ear caught up the old Welsh tune of " Taffy
Morgan," which is, in point of fact, a composition of
great power, especially when it is slowly and seri
ously executed. He was greatly affected by it, and
some one suggested that he should compose a song
to suit it. I remarked that I had often thought the
song of a sea-bird, if treated with ballad simplicity
and vigor, might be very effective. He began to
ponder, and the next day brought a verse to try its
rhythm with the music. This being approved, he
went on, and two days after, came with the whole
poem, which he slightly altered and adapted upon
hearing it sung. Having said thus much, pardon me
7*
154: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
for reciting the lines, and asking you to get some
good ballad-singer to give it to yon, in the cadence
of the old "Welch melody I have mentioned. Thus
sung, it is one of the most thrilling compositions I
have ever heard.
THE SEA-BIRD S SONG.
On the deep is the mariner s danger
On the deep is the mariner s death :
Who, to fear of the tempest a stranger,
Sees the last bubble burst of his breath ?
Tis the sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird,
Lone looker on despair :
The sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird,
The only witness there !
Who watches their course, who so mildly
Careen to the kiss of the breeze ?
Who lists to their shrieks, who so wildly
Are clasped in the arms of the seas ?
Tis the sea-bird, &c.
Who hovers on high o er the lover,
And her who has clung to his neck?
Whose wing is the wing that can cover
With its shadow the foundering wreck ?
Tis the sea-bird, &c.
My eye in the light of the billow,
My wing on the wake of the wave,
I shall take to my breast, for a pillow,
The shroud of the fair and the brave !
Tis the sea-bird, &c.
My foot on the iceberg has lighted
When hoarse the wild winds veer about ;
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 155
My eye, when the bark is benighted,
Sees the lamp of the lighthouse go out !
I m the sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird,
Lone looker on despair ;
The sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird,
The only witness there !
Where is there a song of more wild and impressive
imagery exciting more deep and touching emotions,
than this ?
These stanzas were written in the spring of 1826.
The year before I had persuaded Brainard to make a
collection of his poems, and have them published.
At first his lip curled at the idea, as being too preten
tious ; he insisted that he had done nothing to justify
the publication of a volume. Gradually he began to
think of it, and at length March 14, 1825 I induced
him to sign a contract, authorizing me to make ar
rangements for the work. He set about the prep
aration, and at length after much lagging and many
lapses the pieces were selected and arranged. When
all was ready, I persuaded him to go to New York
with me, to settle the matter with a publisher. I
introduced him to Bliss & White, and they readily
undertook it, on the terms of joint and equal profits.
Thus appeared the little volume, with Bunyan s
quaint rhyme for a motto
" Some said, John, print it others said, Not so ;
Some said, * It might do good others said, ]STo ! "
I must note a slight incident which occurred at
156 LETTERS - BIOGRAPHICAL,
York, illustrative of Brainard s character. He
was keenly alive to every species of beauty, in nature
and art. His appreciation of the beauties of literature
amounted to passion. That he had a craving for
pathos and sublimity, is manifest from his works ;
yet he seemed to feel the nicer and more latent
touches of wit and humor with a greater intensity of
delight, than any other species of literary luxury.
He was hence a special admirer of Halleck, and more
than once remarked that he should like to see him.
I proposed to introduce him ; but he was shy of all
formal meetings, and seemed indeed to feel that there
would be a kind of presumption in his being pre
sented to the leading poet of the great metropolis.
I was therefore obliged to give up the idea of
effecting a meeting between these two persons, both
natives of Connecticut, and peculiarly fitted to appre
ciate and admire each other. One morning, how
ever, fortune seemed to favor me. As we entered
the bookstore of Messrs. Bliss & White then on the
eastern side of Broadway, near Cedar-street I saw
Halleck at the further end of the room. Incautiously,
I told this to Brainard. He eagerly asked me which
was the poet, among two or three persons that were
standing together. I pointed him out. Brainard
took a long and earnest gaze, then turned on his heel,
and I could not find him for the rest of the day !
His little volume was very favorably received by
the public, and he was universally recognized as a true
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 157
poet. These effusions, however, were regarded rather
in the light of promise than fulfillment, and there
fore people generally looked forward to the achieve
ment of some greater work. I felt this, and frequent
ly urged him to undertake a serious poem, which
might develop his genius and establish his fame. He
thought of it, but his habitual inertness mastered him.
I returned to the subject, however, and we frequently
conversed upon it. At last, he seemed to have re
solved on the attempt, and actually wrote a consider
able number of stanzas. After a time, however, he
gave it up in despair. He told me, frankly, that it
was impossible for him to sustain the continuity of
thought and consistency of purpose indispensable to
such an achievement. What he had actually done
was merely an introduction, and was afterward pub
lished under the title of " Sketch of an Occurrence on
board a Brig" Whoever has read these lines, can
not fail to lament that weakness in the author con
stitutional and habitual which rendered him incom
petent to continue a flight so nobly begun.
One anecdote in addition to those already before
the public and I shall close this sketch. Brainard s
talent for repartee was of the first order. On one
occasion, Nathan Smith, an eminent lawyer, was at
Eipley s tavern, in the midst of a circle of judges and
lawyers, attending the court. He was an Episcopa
lian, and at this time was considered by his political
adversaries unjustly, no doubt as the paid agent of
158 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
that persuasion, now clamoring for a sum of money
from the State, to lay the foundation of a " Bishops
Fund." He was thus regarded somewhat in the same
light as O Connell, who, while he was the great patriot
leader of Irish independence, was at the same time
liberally supported by the "rint." By accident, Brain-
ard came in, and Smith, noticing a little feathery at
tempt at whiskers down his cheek, rallied him upon it.
" It will never do," said he ; "you can not raise it,
Brainard. Come, here s sixpence take that, and go
to the barber s and get it shaved off ! It will smooth
your cheek, and ease your conscience."
Brainard drew himself up, and said, with great dig
nity as Smith held out the sixpence on the point of
his forefinger " No, sir, you had better keep it for
the Bishops Fund !"
I need not I must not prolong this sketch.
What I have said, is sufficient to give you an insight
into the character of this gifted child of genius. In
person he was very short, with large hands and feet,
and a walk paddling and awkward. His hair was
light-brown, his skin pallid, his eye large and bluish-
gray, his lips thick, his forehead smooth, white, and
handsome ; his brow beautifully arched, and edged
with a definite, narrow line. His general appearance
was that of a somewhat clumsy boy. His counte
nance was usually dull, yet with a wonderful power of
expression wit, drollery, seriousness, chasing each
other in rapid succession. Its changes were at once
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 159
sudden and marvelous. At one moment he looked
stupid and then inspired. His face was like a re
volving light now dull and dark now radiant, and
shedding its beams on all around. His manners were
subject to a similar change ; usually he seemed un
couth, yet often have I seen him seductively cour
teous. In short, he was a bundle of contradictions :
generally he was ugly, yet sometimes handsome ; for
the most part he was awkward, yet often graceful ;
his countenance was ordinarily dull, yet frequently
beaming with light.
Thus with a look and appearance of youth with in
deed something of the waywardness and improvidence
of boyhood, even when he had reached the full age
of manhood he was still full of noble thoughts and
sentiments. In his editorial career though he was
negligent, dilatory, sometimes almost imbecile from a
sort of constitutional inertness still a train of inex
tinguishable light remains to gleam along his path.
Many a busy, toiling editor has filled his daily col
umns for years, without leaving a living page behind
him ; while Brainard, with all his failings and irregu
larities, has left a collection of gems, which loving, and
tender, and poetic hearts will wear and cherish to im
mortality. And among all that he wrote be it re
membered, thus idly, recklessly, as it might seem
there is not a line that, " dying, he could wish to blot."
His love of parents, of home, of kindred, was beauti-
ul indeed; his love of nature, and especially of the
160 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
scenes of his childhood, was the affection of one never
weaned from the remembrance of his mother s breast.
He was true in friendship, chivalrous in all that be
longed to personal honor. I never heard him utter a
malignant thought I never knew him to pursue an
unjust design. At the early age of eight-and- twenty
he was admonished that his end was near. With a
submissive spirit he resigned himself to his doom,
and, in pious, gentle, cheerful faith, he departed on
the 26th of September, 1828.
Weep not for him, who hath laid his head
On a pillow of earth in the cypress shade ;
For the sweetest dews that the night airs shed,
Descend on the couch for that sleeper made.
Weep not for him, though the wintry sleet
Throw its chill folds o er his manly breast
That spotless robe is a covering meet
For the shrouded soul in its home of rest !
Weep not for him, though his heart is still,
And the soul-lit eye like a lamp grown dim
Though the noble pulse is an icy rill,
By the hoar-frost chained Oh, weep not for him !
The diamond gathers its purest ray
In the hidden grot where no sun is known
And the sweetest voices of music play
In the trembling ear of silence alone :
And there in the hush of that starless tomb
A holier light breaks in on the eye,
And wind-harps steal through the sullen gloom,
To woo that sleeper away to the sky !
161
LETTER XXXVIII.
My first Voyage across the Atlantic England London My Tour on the
Continent Return to England Visit to Barley Wood Hannah More
Inquiries as to Books for Education Ireland Dublin The Giant s
Causeway Scotland Scenery of the Lady of the Lake Glasgow Ed
inburgh.
MY DEAB C******
It was, as I have already told you, on the 16th
of November, 1823, that I set sail in the Canada,
Captain Macy, on my first visit to Europe. I have
now before me four volumes of notes made during my
tour; but be not alarmed I shall not inflict them
upon you. I might, perhaps, have ventured to pub
lish them when they were fresh, but since that period
the world has been inundated with tales of travels.
I shall therefore only give you a rapid outline of my
adventures, and a few sketches of men and things,
which may perchance interest you.
Our voyage was as usual at that season of the
year tempestuous. As we approached the British
Islands, we were beset by a regular hurricane. On
the 5th of December, the captain kindly informed us
that we were almost precisely in the situation of the
Albion,* the day before she was wrecked on the rocky
* The Albion was a packet ship plying between New York and Liv
erpool. She sailed from the former port April 1, 1822, and went ashore,
on the 22d of the same month. She had twenty-four seamen and
twenty-eight passengers : seven of the former and two of tho latter,
only, wero saved.
162 LETTERS- BIOGRAPHICAL,
headland of Kinsale at the southeast extremity of
Ireland an event which had spread general gloom
throughout the United States. As night set in, we
were struck with a squall, and with difficulty the ves
sel was brought round, so as to lie to. The storm was
fearful, and the frequent concussions of the waves upon
the ship, sounding like reports of artillery, made her
reel and stagger like a drunken man. The morning
came at last, and the weather was fair, but our deck
was swept of its boats, bulwarks, and hen-coops. Our
old cow in her hovel, the covering of the steerage,
and that of the companion-way, were saved. We
had, however, some gratis sea-bathing in our berths
terribly suggestive of the chill temperature of that
abyss which might soon be our grave. The next
morning we took a pilot, and on the 8th of December
entered the dock at Liverpool.
As this was my first experience at sea, I beg you
to forgive this brief description. I had suffered fear
fully by sea-sickness, and had scarce strength to walk
Among the persons lost was Alexander W. Fisher, Professor of Math
ematics in Yale College. He was a young man twenty-eight years old
of fine genius, and great expectations were entertained as to his future
achievements. A person who escaped from the wreck, whom I chanced
to meet, told me that the last he saw of Mr. Fisher, he was in his berth
with a pocket-compass in his hand, watching the course of the vessel.
A moment after she struck, and he saw him no more.
The ship went to pieces on the rocks, in face of high perpendicular
cliffs. The people of the neighborhood rendered all possible assistance,
but their efforts were but partially successful. The struggles of the suf
ferers, clinging to ropes, yards, and points of the rocks, in the very sight
of persons on shore, were fearful, and the details given of these scenes,
rendered the event one of the most agonizing on record.
HISTORICAL, ANEODOTICAL, ETC. 163
ashore. I felt such horror such disgust of the sea,
that I could easily have pledged myself never to ven
ture upon it again. Strange to say, this all passed
away like a dream : my strength revived, and even
my constitution, shattered by long suffering, seemed
to be renovated. With the return of health and spir
its, my journey to London seemed like a triumphal
march. Though it was December, the landscape was
intensely green, while the atmosphere was dark as
twilight. The canopy of heaven seemed to have
come half way down, as if the sky had actually be
gun to fall. Yet this was England ! Oh, what emo
tions filled my breast as I looked on Kenilworth,
"Warwick, and Litchfield, and at last on London !
I remained at the latter place about a month, and
then went to Paris. In April I departed, and visit
ing Switzerland, and a portion of Germany, followed
the Ehine to Cologne. Thence I traveled through
Flanders and Holland, and taking a sloop at Rotter
dam, swung down the Maese, and in May reached
London, by way of the Thames.
I soon after departed for Bristol taking the re
nowned cathedral at Salisbury and the Druid ical ruin
of Stonehenge in my way. Having reached that city
and seen its sights, I hired a post-coach, and went to
Barley-wood some ten miles distant. Hannah More
was still there ! The house consisted of a small thatch
ed edifice half cottage and half villa tidily kept,
and garnished with vines and trellices, giving it a
164 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
cheerful and even tasteful appearance. Its site was on
a gentle hill, sloping to the southeast, and command
ing a charming view over the undulating country
around, including the adjacent village of Wrington,
with a wide valley sloping to the Bay of Bristol the
latter sparkling in the distance, and bounded by the
Welch mountains, in the far horizon. Behind the
house, and on the crown of the hill, was a small copse,
threaded with neat gravel walks, and at particular
points embellished with objects of interest. In one
place there was a little rustic temple, with this motto
Audi Hospes, contemnere opes ; in another, there was a
stone monument, erected to the memory of Bishop
Porteus, who had been a particular friend of the pro
prietor of the place. A little further on, I found an
other monument, with this inscription : "To John
Locke, born in this village, this monument is erected by
Mrs. Montague, and presented to Hannah More" From
this sequestered spot, an artificial opening was cut
through the foliage of the trees, giving a view of the
very house about a mile distant in which Locke
was born ! In another place was a small temple built
of roots, which might have served for the shrine of
some untamed race of Dryads.
Mrs. More was now seventy-nine years of age,* and
* Hannah More was born at Stapleton, in 1744. She and her sisters
established a boarding-school in this village, but afterward it was re
moved to Bristol, and became very successful. Hannah More early be
came a writer, and at the age of seventeen, she published a pastoral
drama, entitled " Search after Happiness." Being intimate with Gar
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 165
was very infirm, having kept her room for two years.
She was small, and wasted away. Her attire was of
dark-red bombazine, made loose like a dressing-gown.
Her eyes were black and penetrating, her face glow
ing with cheerfulness, through a lace-work of wrin
kles. Her head-dress was a modification of the coif
fure of her earlier days the hair being slightly friz
zed, and lightly powdered, yet the whole group of
moderate dimensions.
She received me with great cordiality, and learn
ing that I was from Hartford, immediately inquired
about Mrs. Sigourney, Mr. Gallaudet, and Alice Coggs-
well : of the latter she spoke with great interest. She
mentioned several Americans who had visited her, and
others with whom she had held correspondence. Her
mind and feelings were alive to every subject that was
suggested. She spoke very freely of her writings and
her career. I told her of the interest I had taken,
when a child, in the story of the Shepherd of Salis
bury Plain, upon which she recounted its history,
remarking that the character of the hero was mod
eled from life, though the incidents were fictitious.
Her tract, called "Village Politics, by Will Chip,"
was written at the request of the British Ministry,
rick, she wrote several plays, which were performed. Afterward she
regretted these works, her new religious views leading her to condemn
the stage. She amassed a handsome fortune, and purchasing Barley-
wood, she fitted it up as I have described it. Soon after I was there,
in consequence of the frauds of her servants, her means were ao di
minished, that she was obliged to leave it. She removed to Clifton,
near Bristol, and died September, 1838.
166 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
and two million copies were sold the first year. She
showed me copies of Coelebs in Search of a Wife
the most successful of her works in French and
German, and a copy of one of her sacred dramas
"Moses in the Bullrushes" on palm-leaves, in the
Cingalese tongue it having been translated into that
language by the missionary school at Ceylon. She
showed me also the knife with which the leaf had
been prepared, and the scratches made in it to receive
the ink. She expressed a warm interest in America,
and stated that Wilberforce had always exerted him
self to establish and maintain good relations between
Great Britain and our country. I suggested to her
that in the United States, the general impression
that of the great mass of the people was that the
English were unfriendly to us. She said it was not
so. I replied that the Americans all read the Eng
lish newspapers, and generally, the products of the
British press ; that feelings of dislike, disgust, ani
mosity, certainly pervaded most of these publications,
and it was natural to suppose that these were the
reflections of public opinion in Great Britain. At all
events, our people regarded them as such, and hence
inferred that England was our enemy. She express
ed great regret at this state of things, and said all
good people should strive to keep peace between the
two countries : to all which I warmly assented.
My interview with this excellent lady was, on the
whole, most gratifying. Regarding her as one of the
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 167
greatest benefactors of the age as, indeed, one of the
most remarkable women that had ever lived I look
ed upon her not only with veneration but affection.
She was one of the chief instruments by which the
torrent of vice and licentiousness, emanating from
the French Kevolution and inundating the British
Islands, was checked and driven back : she was even,
to a great extent, the permanent reformer of British
morals and manners, as well among the high as the
humble. And besides, I felt that I owed her a special
debt, and my visit to her was almost like a pilgrim
age to the shrine of a divinity. When I left Amer
ica, I had it in mind to render my travels subservient
to a desire I had long entertained of making a reform
or at least an improvement in books for youth. I
had made researches in London, France, and Ger
many, for works that might aid my design. It is true
I had little success, for while scientific and classical ed
ucation was sedulously encouraged on the continent
as well as in England, it seemed to be thought, either
that popular education was not a subject worthy of
attention, or that Dilworth and Mothei Goose had
done all that could be done. In this interview with
the most successful and most efficient teacher of the
age, I had the subject still in mind; and discerning
by what she had accomplished, the vast field that was
open, and actually inviting cultivation, I began from
this time to think of attempting to realize the project
I had formed. It is true that, in some respects, fche
168 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
example I had just contemplated was different from
my own scheme. Hannah More had written chiefly
for the grown-up masses ; I had it in contemplation to
begin further back with the children. Her means,
however, seemed adapted to my purpose : her suc
cess, to encourage my attempt. She had discovered
that truth could be made attractive to simple minds.
Fiction was, indeed, often her vehicle, but it was not
her end. The great charm of these works which
had captivated the million, was their verisimilitude.
Was there not, then, a natural relish for truth in
all minds, or at least was there not a way of pre
senting it, which made it even more interesting than
romance ? Did not children love truth ? If so,
was it necessary to feed them on fiction ? Could not
history, natural history, geography, biography, be
come the elements of juvenile works, in place of fai
ries and giants, and mere monsters of the imagina
tion ? These were the inquiries that from this time
filled my mind.
Taking leave of Barley-wood and its interesting
occupant, I traversed Wales, and embarking at Ho-
lyhead, passed over to Ireland. Having seen Dublin,
with the extraordinary contrasts of sumptuousness in
some of its streets and edifices, with the fearful squalid-
ness and poverty in others I passed on to the North.
Having taken a wondering view of the Giants Cause
way, I returned to Belfast, embarked in a steamboat,
and went over to Greenock. Thence I proceeded
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 169
toward Dumbarton, and in the early evening, as I ap
proached the town in a small steamer, I actually real
ized, in the distance before me, the scene of the song
" The sun has gone down behind lofty Ben Lomond,
And left the red clouds to preside o er the scene."
On the morrow I went to Loch Lomond, crossing
the lake in a steamboat ; thence on foot to Callender,
and spent two days around Loch Katrine, amid the
scenery of the Lady of the Lake. With a copy of
that poem in my hand, which I had bought of a peas
ant on the borders of Loch Lomond, I easily traced
out the principal landmarks of the story : " Ellen s
Isle," nearly in the middle of the lake ; on the north
ern shore, "the Silver Strand," where the maiden
met Fitz James ; far to the east, Benain, rearing its
" forehead fair" to the sky ; to the south, the rocky
pyramid called " Koderick s Watch-tower ;" and still
beyond, the " Goblin s Cave." Leaving the lake, I
passed through the Trosachs, a wild rocky glen, and
the scene of the most startling events in the poem.
At last I came to Coilantogle Ford, where the deadly
struggle took place between the two heroes of the
poem Roderick and Fitz James. Finally, I went
to the borders of Loch Achray a placid sheet of
water beautiful by nature, but still more enchant
ing through the delightful associations of poetic art.
" The minstrel came once more to view
The eastern ridge of Benveuue,
VOL. II. 8
170 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
For ere he parted he would say,
Farewell to lovely Loch Achray.
Where shall he find, in foreign land,
So lone a lake, so sweet a strand !"
But I must forbear. I have pledged myself not
to weary you with descriptions of scenery, and espe
cially with that which is familiar to you in twenty
books of travels. Forgive me this instance of weak
ness, and I will try not to sin again at least till I
get out of Scotland. Having spent two days in this
region of poetry and romance, I left for Glasgow, and
at last reached Edinburgh.
LETTER XXXIX.
Edinburgh The Court of Sessions Cranstaun, CocHurn, Mbncrwf
LockUart Jeffrey Sir Walter Scott.
MY DEAR C******
Think of being in Edinburgh, and Scott, Jeffrey,
Chalmers, Dugald Stuart, Lockhart, there I It was
then decidedly the literary metropolis of the Three
Kingdoms not through the amount of its produc
tions, but their superiority. The eloquent, sparkling,
trenchant Edinburgh Review was the type of Scot-
tish genius ; the heavy Quarterly represented Lon
don. I had several letters of introduction among
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 171
them one to Blackwood, another to Constable, an
other to Miss Y . . . . The latter proved fortunate.
Her father was a Writer to the Signet an elderly
gentleman of excellent position, and exceedingly fond
of showing off " Auld Reekie." Well indeed might
he be, for of all the cities I have seen, it is, in many
respects, the most interesting. I am told it is gloomy
in winter, but now it was the zenith of spring. The
twilight did not wholly disappear till twelve, and the
dawn was visible at one. If nature, in these high.
/ O
latitudes, falls into a harsh and savage humor in win
ter, it makes ample amends in summer.
The very day after delivering my letters, Mr. Y
called on me, and showed me the lions of the town.
Many of them, all indeed, were interesting, but I pass
them by, and shall only linger a short time at the
Court of Sessions, which is the supreme civil court
of Scotland. This, with the High Court of Justi-
tiary the supreme criminal court forms the Col
lege of Justice, and constitutes the supreme judicial
system of Scotland. Their sessions are held in the
old Parliament House, situated in the center of the
Old Town.
We entered a large Gothic hall, opening, as I ob
served, into various contiguous apartments. Here I
saw a considerable number of persons, mostly law
yers and their clients some sauntering, some medi
tating some gathered in groups and conversing
together. I noticed that many of the former, and
172 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
more especially the older members of the bar, wore
gowns and wigs; others wore gowns only, and still
others were in the ordinary dress. I afterward was
told that it was wholly at the option of individuals to
adopt this costume, or not ; in general, it was regard
ed as going out of fashion. There was a large num
ber of people distributed through the several apart
ments, and in the grand hall there was a pervading
hum of voices which seemed to rise and rumble and
die away amid the groinings of the r>of above.
Among the persons in this hall, a man some thirty
years of age, tall and handsome, dressed in a gown
but without the wig, attracted my particular atten
tion. He was walking apart, and there was a certain
look of coldness and haughtiness about him. Never
theless, for some undefinable reason, he excited in me
a lively curiosity. I observed that his eye was dark
and keen, his hair nearly black, and though cut short,
slightly curled. He carried his head erect, its largely
developed corners behind, giving him an air of self-
appreciation. His features were small, but sharply
defined; his lips were close, and slightly disdainful
and sarcastic in their expression.
There was a striking combination of energy and
elegance in the general aspect of this person ; yet
over all, I must repeat, there was something also
of coldness and pride. Upon his face, expressive of
vigor and activity mental and physical there was
a visible tinge of discontent.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 173
"Who is that gentleman?" said I, to my guide.
" That large, noble-looking person, with a gown
and wig? That is Cranstoun, one of our first law
yers, and the brother-in-law of Dugald Stuart."
"No: that person beyond and to the left? He is
without a wig."
" Oh, that s Cockburn a fiery whig, and one of
the keenest fellows we have at the bar."
" Yes : but I mean that younger person, near the
corner."
"Oh^that small, red-faced, freckled man? Why
that s Moncrief a very sound lawyer. His father,
Sir Harry Moncrief, is one of the most celebrated di
vines in Scotland."
"No, no: it is that tall, handsome, proud-looking
person, walking by himself.
" Oh, I see : that s Lockhart Sir Walter Scott s
son-in-law. Would you like to know him?"
"Yes."
And so I was introduced to a man* who, at that
time, was hardly less an object of interest to me than
* J. G. Lockhart was a native of Scotland, and born in 1794. In
1826, he became editor of the Quarterly Review, and removed to Lon
don. In 1853, he resigned this situation in consequence of ill health.
His biography of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott is well known
and highly appreciated. The latter part of his life, Lockhart was af-
iiiric i \viiii deafness, which withdrew him much from society. He died
in 1854: his wife had died in London, 1887. His son, John Hugh Lock-
hart, to whom Scott dedicated his History of Scotland, under the title
of Hugh Littlejohn, died early. Loekhart had a daughter, who also
has a daughter, and these two are now the only living descendants of
Sir Walter.
174: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Scott himself. Though a lawyer by profession, he
Imd devoted himself to literature, and was now in the
very height of his career. "Peter s Letters to his
Kinsfolk," "Valerius," and other works, had given
him a prominent rank as a man of talent ; and be
sides, in 1820, he had married the eldest daughter of
the "Great Unknown." My conversation with him
was brief at this time, but I afterward became well
acquainted with him.
My guide now led me into one of the side-rooms,
where I saw a judge and jury, and a lawyer address
ing them. The latter was a very small man, without
gown or wig, apparently about forty years of age,
though he might be somewhat older. He was of dark
complexion, with an eye of intense blackness, and
"almost painfully piercing expression. His motions
were quick and energetic, his voice sharp and pene
trating his general aspect exciting curiosity rather
than affection. He was speaking energetically, and,
as we approached the bar, my conductor said to me
in a whisper "Jeffrey !"
We paused, and I listened intently. The case in
itself seemed dry enough something, I believe, about
a stoppage in transitu. But Jeffrey s pleading was ad
mirable clear, progressive, logical. Occasionally, in
fixing upon a weak point of his adversary, he display
ed a leopard-like spring of energy, altogether startling.
He seized upon a certain point in the history of the
case, and insisted that the property in question rested
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 175
at that period in the hands of the defendant s agent,
for at least a fortnight. This he claimed to be fatal to
his adversary s plea. Having stated the facts, with a
clearness which seemed to prove them, he said, turn
ing with startling quickness upon his antagonist
"Now, I ask my learned brother to tell me, what was
the state of the soul during that fortnight?" To a
jury of Scotch Presbyterians, familiar with theological
metaphysics, this allusion was exceedingly pertinent
and effective.
We passed into another room. Three full-wigged
judges were seated upon a lofty bench, and beneath
them, at a little table in front, was a large man, bent
down and writing laboriously. As I approached, I
caught a side-view of his face. There was no mis
taking him it was Sir Walter himself!
Was it not curious to see the most renowned per
sonage in the three kingdoms, sitting at the very feet
of these men they the court, and he the clerk?
They were indeed all "lords," and their individual
names were suggestive to the ear : one was Robert
son, son of the historian of Charles Y. ; another was
Gillies, brother of the renowned Grecian scholar of
that name; another, Mackenzie, son of the author
of the Man of Feeling. These are high titles but
what were they to the author of Waverley ?
Mr. Y introduced me to him at once, breaking
in upon his occupation with easy familiarity. As he
arose from his seat, I was surprised at his robust, vig-
176 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
orous frame. He was very nearly six feet in height,
full chested, and of a farmer-like aspect. His com
plexion seemed to have been originally sandy, but
now his hair was gray. He had the rough, freckled,
weather-beaten skin of a man who is much in the open
air ; his eye was small and gray, and peered out keen
ly and inquisitively from beneath a heavy brow, edged
with something like gray, twisted bristles the whole
expression of his face, however, being exceedingly
agreeable. He wore a gown, but no wig. It would
have been a sin to have covered up that wonderful
head, towering, as we have all seen it in his portraits
the throne of the richest intellect in the world.*
He greeted me kindly the tone of his voice being
hearty, yet with a very decided Scotch accent. I told
him I had been to the Highlands. " It is a little too
early," said he ; "I always wish my friends to wait till
the middle of June, for then the ash is in its glory.
Here in the north, summer, as you know, is a laggard.
In America it visits you in better season ?"
" I am from New England, and our forests are not
in full leaf till June."
* Scott was born in 1771 so at this time, 1824, he was fifty-three
years old, at the highest point of his fame, and in the full vigor of his
genius. In 1826 he was involved in the failure of the Ballantynvs
printers arm publishers to an extent of $700,000. He made pr<> ,
eiforts to liquidate this immense debt, and had laid the foundation for
its payment, when his overwrought brain gave way, and he died of
paralysis, September 21, 1832. He married Miss Carpenter in 1797, and
had four children: Walter, Sophia, who married Lockhaft, Ann, and
Charles. All are now dead. Abbotsford remains in the family.
Sin WALTER SCOTT, AS CI.EKK OK THE COURT OK SESSIONS Vol ,2. p. 1 f
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 177
"Yes, jour climate there is somewhat like ours.
Are you from Boston ?"
"I am from Hartford, in Connecticut of which
you have perhaps never heard."
" My American geography is not very minute ; yet
Connecticut is a familiar name to my ear. Do you
know Mr. Irving?"
" I have never seen him but once."
"Mr. Cooper?"
" Yes, I know him well."
" Do you stay long in Edinburgh ?"
"A few weeks."
"We shall meet again, then, and talk these matters
over."
So I had seen the author of Waverley ! I leave
you to guess my emotions, for I could not describe
them.
LETTER XL.
Preparations for a Ride Mr. Jeffrey in a Rough-and-tumble A Glanct
at EdinburghfromtheBraidHdlsASlwwerTke Maids of tJie Mistr
Durable Impressions.
MY DEAR C ******
I found a note May 31st at my hotel, from
Miss Y , inviting me to breakfast. I went at ten,
and we had a pleasant chat. She then proposed a ride,
,and I accepted. She was already in her riding-habit,
178 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
and putting on a hat and collar both of rather mas
culine gender, yet not uncomely we went forth. We
were in Queen-street, No. 48 ; passing along a short
distance, we turned a corner to the left, mounted the
steps of a fine house, and rang. We entered, and I
was introduced to the proprietor, Mrs. Russell. She
led us into another room, and there, on the floor, in
a romp with her two boys, was a small, dark man.
He arose, and behold, it was Francis Jeffrey !* Think
of the first lawyer in Scotland the lawgiver of the
great Eepublic of Letters throughout Christendom
having a rough-and-tumble on the floor, as if he were
himself a boy ! Let others think as they will I
loved him from that moment; and ever after, as I
read his criticisms cutting and scorching as they
often were I fancied that I could still see a kind and
genial spirit shining through them all. At least it is
certain that, behind his editorial causticity, there was
in private life a fund of gentleness arid geniality
* Mr. Jeffrey was born in Edinburgh in 1773. He was admitted to
the bar at the age of twenty-one ; having little practice for a time, he
sedulously pursued the study of belles-lettres, history, ethics, criticism,
&c. In 1802, at the age of twenty-nine, he founded the Edinburgh
Keview, of which he continued as principal editor till 1829 placing it
above every other work of the kind which had ever appeared. In 1816
he was acknowledged to be at the head of the Scottish bar as an advo
cate. Having held other high stations, he was appointed, in 1880, Lord-
Advocate of Scotland, and became a member of Parliament. In 1834
he was raised to the bench as one of the judges of the Court of Sessions.
He died at Edinburgh in 1850. He married in 1813, at New York, Miss
Wilkes, grand-niece of the celebrated John Wilkes of England. lu
1815 he became the occupant of the villa of Craigcrook, near Edinburgh,
anciently a monastery, but improved and beautified. Here he was re
siding at the time I saw him.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 179
which endeared him to all who enjoyed his intimacy.
I was now introduced to him, and he seemed a totally
different being from the fierce and fiery gladiator of
the legal arena, where I had before seen him. His
manners were gentle and gentlemanly polite to the
ladies and gracious to me.
Jeffrey s house was some two miles from town.
His custom was to come to the city on horseback
and Mrs. Russell being his friend, he frequently
stopped at her house, leaving his horse in her stable.
Some gossiping scandal arose from this intimacy, but
it was, of course, not only idle, but absurd. We
found Mrs. Bussell in a riding-dress, and prepared to
accompany us in our excursion. Taking leave of
Mr. Jeffrey, we went to the stable, where were nearly
a dozen horses, of various kinds and adapted to va
rious uses. Miss Y . . . . chose a shaggy gray pony,
half savage and half pet; Mrs. Russell mounted a
long, lean, clean-limbed hunter; and I, at her sug
gestion, took Mr. Jeffrey s mare a bay, rollicking
cob, with a gait like a saw-mill as I found to my
cost.
We walked our steeds gently out of town, but on
leaving the pavements the ladies struck into a vigor
ous trot. Up and down the hills we went, the turn
pike gates flying open at our approach, the servant
hrh hid, paying the tolls. We passed out of the city
by Holy Rood, and swept round to the east of Ar
thur s seat, leaving Portobello on the left. We rode
180 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
steadily, noting a few objects as we passed, until at
last, leaching an elevated mound, we paused, and the
ladies directed rny attention to the scenes around.
We were some two miles south of the town, upon one
of the slopes of the Braid Hills. Ah, what a view
was before us! The city, a vast, smoking hive, to
the north ; and to the right, Arthur s Seat, bald and
blue, seeming to rise up and almost peep into its streets
and chimneys. Over and beyond all, was the sea. The
whole area between the point where we stood and
that vast azure line, blending with the sky, was a
series of abrupt hills and dimpling valleys, threaded
by a network of highways and byways honeycomb
ed in spots by cities and villages, and elsewhere sprin
kled with country-seats.
It is an unrivaled scene of varied beauty and in
terest. The natural site of Edinburgh is remarkable,
consisting of three rocky ledges, steepling over deep
ravines. These have all been modified by art ; in
one place a lake has been dried up, and is now cov
ered with roads, bridges, tenements, gardens, and
lawns. The sides of the cliifs are in some instances
covered with masses of buildings, the edifices occa
sionally rising tier upon tier in one place present
ing a line of houses a dozen stories in height ! The
city is divided by a deep chasm into two distinct
parts, the Old Town, dun and smoky, and justifying
the popular appellation of "Auld Keekie," or Old
Smoky ; the other the New Town, with all the fresh
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 181
architecture and all the rich and elaborate embellish
ments of a modern city. Nearly from the center of
the old town rises the Castle, three hundred and
eighty feet above the level of the sea on one side
looking down almost perpendicularly, two hundred
feet into the vale beneath on the other holding com
munication with the streets by means of a winding
pathway. In the new town is Calton Hill, rich with
monuments of art and memorials of history, and sug
gesting to the mind a resemblance to the Acropolis
of Athens. From these two commanding positions,
the scenes are unrivaled.
But I forget that I have taken you to the Braid
Hills. The panorama, from this point, was not only
beautiful to the eye, but a rich harvest to the mind.
My amiable guides directed my attention to various
objects some far and some near, and all with names
familiar to history or song or romance. Yonder mass
of dun and dismal ruins was Craigmillar s Castle, once
the residence of Queen Mary. Nearly in the same
direction, and not remote, is the cliff, above whose
bosky sides peer out the massive ruins of Roslin
Castle ; further south are glimpses of Dalkeith Pal
ace, the sumptuous seat of the Duke of Buccleugh ;
there is the busy little village of Lasswade, which
takes the name of " Gandercleugh" in the " Tales of
my Landlord ;" yonder winds the Esk and there the
Galawater both familiar in many a song; and there
is the scenery of the " Gentle Shepherd," presenting
182 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
the very spot where that inimitable colloquy took
place between Peggy and her companion, Jenny
" Gae farer up the burn to Habbie s How,
Where a the sweets o spring an summer grow :
Between twa birks, out o er a little linn,
The water fa s and makes a singan din :
A pool, breast deep, beneath as clear as glass,
Kisses wi easy whirls the bordering grass.
We ll end our washing while the morning s cool,
And when the day grows hot, we ll to the pool,
There wash oursels it s healthful now in May,
An sweetly caller on sae warm a day."
While we were surveying these unrivaled scenes,
the rain began to fall in a fine, insinuating mizzle :
soon large drops pattered through the fog, and at last
there was a drenching shower. I supposed the ladies
would seek some shelter : not they maids of the
mist accustomed to all the humors of this drizzly
climate, and of course defying them. They pulled off
their green vails, and stuffed them into their saddle-
pockets; then chirruping to their steeds, they sped
along the road, as if mounted on broomsticks. I was
soon wet to the skin, and so, doubtless, were they
if one might suggest such a thing. However, they
took to it as ducks to a pond. On we went, the wa
ter accelerated by our speed spouting in torrents
from our stirrups. In all my days, I had never such
an adventure. And the coolness with which the la
dies took it that was the most remarkable. Indeed,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 183
it was provoking for as they would not accept sym
pathy, of course they could not give it, though my
reeking condition would have touched any other heart
than theirs. On we went, till at last coming to the top
of a hill, we suddenly cropped out into the sunshine
the shower still scudding along the valley beneath
us. We continued our ride, getting once more soak
ed on our way, and again drying in the sun. At
last we reached home, having made a circuit of fifteen
miles. Scarcely a word was said of the rain. I saw
my mermaid friends to their residences, and was
thankful when I got back to the hotel. What with
the shower, and a slight cold which ensued I did
not get the trot of Jeffrey s mare out of my bones for
a fortnight. Indeed, long after, during rough weather,
when the gust and rain dashed against my window,
the beast sometimes visited me in sleep, corning in the
shape of a nightmare, carrying me at a furious rate,
with two charming witches before, beckoning me on
to a race. As a just moral of this adventure I
suggest to all Americans, who ride with Scotch ladies
around Edinburgh, not to go forth in their best dress-
coat, and pantaloons having no straps beneath the
boot.
184r LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
LETTER ILL
William Blackwood The Magazine A Dinner at Blackwood? s James
Ballantyne Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb The General As
sembly of Scotland Dr. Chalmers.
MTDBABO******
One or two more selections from my journal, and
we will leave Edinburgh. I had delivered my letter
of introduction to Blackwood, and he had treated me
very kindly. He was, professionally, a mere book
seller and publisher a plain, short, stocky person, with
a large head, bald and flat on the top. He spoke broad
Scotch, or rather sang it, for although all spoken
language, in every country, has its cadences, in Scot
land it is a veritable song. This is more noticeable
among the illiterate, and especially the old women.
I sometimes thought they were mocking me, so em
phatic were their inflexions and modulations. I have
since observed similar intonations in other countries,
especially in Italy, where the rising and falling of the
voice is so marked as to appear like an affectation
of musical cadenzas, even in conversation.
Nevertheless, Mr. Blackwood was an exceedingly
intelligent and agreeable gentleman. The Maga
zine* which bears his name, was then in its glory,
* Blackwood s Magazine was founded in April, 1817, the office of pub
lication being the proprietor s bookstore, 17 Prince-street. The found
er, William Blackwood, died some years since, and the Magazine is
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 185
and of course a part of its radiance shone on him.
He was a man of excellent judgment, even in literary
matters, and his taste, no doubt, contributed largely
to the success of the Magazine. He was in familiar
intercourse with the celebrities of the day and a
bright constellation they were. He spoke as famil
iarly of great names Scott, Lockhart, Hogg, Wilson
- -sacred to me, as Appleton and Putnam and the Har
pers do of Irving, Halleck, and Bryant, or Ticknor
continued by his sons. In general, its tone has not been friendly to
America, and while I was there an article in the May number, 1824,
upon our country, then just issued, excited some attention, and I was
frequently interrogated respecting it. It was entitled the " Five Presi
dents of the United States," and though it was written as by an Eng
lishman, perhaps in order to secure its insertion, Blackwood told me it
was from the pen of a distinguished American, then in London. It was
a somewhat slashing review of the administrations of the presidents,
from Washington to Monroe, the latter being then in office. It em
braced sketches of Adams, Clay, Crawford, and Jackson i.he promi
nent candidates for the presidency. The following is part of the notice
of Adams.
Supposing a European ambassador to visit Washington, and is intro
duced into the President s house, " He sees a little man writing at a
table, nearly bald, with a face quite formal and destitute of expression ;
his eyes running with water his slippers down at the heel his fingers
stained with ink in summer wearing a striped sea-sucker coat, and
white trowsers, and dirty waistcoat, spotted with ink his whole dress
altogether not worth a couple of pounds ; or in a colder season, habited
in a plain blue coat, much the worse for wear, and other garments in
proportion not so respectable as we may find in the old-clothes bag of
almost any Jew in the street. This person, whom the ambassador mis
takes for a clerk in a department, and only wonders, in looking at him,
that the President should permit a man to appear bel ore him in such
dn-ss, proves to be the President of the United States himself!"
The article was written witli vigor and discrimination, and excited a
good deal of attention. Though free, and by no means dainty in its
criticisms, it was, on the whole, just, and produced a favorable iuiprcs-
nion in our behalf. The author, whoever he was, evidently possessed
eminent qualifications for magazine writing.
186 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Fields of Prescott and Longfellow. Was not that a
time to be remembered ?
Of course I was gratified at receiving from him a
note, inviting me to dine with him the next day. His
house was on the south of the old town nearly two
miles distant. The persons present were such as I
should myself have selected : among them Lockhart
and James Ballantyne. I sat next the latter, and
found him exceedingly agreeable and gentlemanlike.
He was a rather large man, handsome, smooth in
person and manner, and very well dressed. You will
remember that at this time, it was not acknowledged
by Scott or his friends that he was the author of the
Waverley novels. Perhaps the mystery was even
promoted by them, for, no doubt, it added adventi
tious interest to his works. However, the vail was
not closely preserved in the circle of intimacy. Bal-
larityne said to me, in the course of a conversation
which turned upon the popularity of authors, as indi
cated by the sale of their works u We have now
in course of preparation forty thousand volumes of
Scott s poems and the works of the author of Waver
ley" evidently intimating the identity of their au
thorship.
There was nothing remarkable about our meal :
it was like an English dinner, generally ample,
substantial, administered with hospitality, and dis
cussed with relish. There was a certain seriousness
and preparation about it, common in Europe, but un-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 187
common in our country. We rush to the table as if
eating was an affair to be dispatched in the shortest
possible time : to linger over it would seem to be an
indecency. The Englishman, on the contrary, ar
ranges his business for his dinner ; he prepares his
mind for it ; he sets himself to the table, and adjusts
his legs beneath, for it ; he unfolds his napkin and
lays it in his lap, or tucks a corner within his waist
coat, for it ; he finally qualifies himself the better to
enjoy it, by taking a loving survey of the good things
before him and the good friends around him. He be
gins leisurely, as if feeling that Providence smiles upon
him, and he would acknowledge its bounties by pro
longing the enjoyment of them. As he proceeds, he
spices his gratification by sips of wine, exchanges of
compliments with the ladies and convivial chat, right
and left, with his neighbors. The host is attentive,
the hostess lends a smiling countenance, the servants
are ubiquitous, and put your wishes into deeds, with
out the trouble of your speaking to them.
The first half hour has a certain earnestness about
it, apparently occupied in reducing the Malakoffs of
beef, Mamelons of mutton, and Eedaris of poultry
that come one after another. The victory is, at last,
substantially won : all that remains is to capture
the pies, cakes, tarts, ices, creams, fruits, &c., which
is usually done with a running artillery of light wit.
Conversation ensues ; now and then all listen to
some good talker; perhaps a story-teller catches,
188 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
for a time, the attention of the company, and then
again all around resolves itself into a joyous and
jovial confusion of tongues. An hour is past, and
the ladies retire. The gentlemen fill their glasses,
and offer them a parting toast ; then they drink
" The Queen," and give themselves up to social en
joyment.
And so it was on this occasion only that we drank
the King, instead of the Queen, for George IV. was
then upon the throne. Mr. Blackwood was living
in a plain but comfortable style, and garnished his
entertainment with a plain, simple hospitality which
lost nothing by his occasional interjections of very
broad Scotch. It was delightful to see the easy inti
macy of the persons present : they frequently called
each other by their Christian names using terms of
endearment, which with us would seem affected, per
haps absurd. " Jammy, dear, tak some wine your-
sel, and hand it to me !" said Blackwood to Ballan-
tyne, and the latter answered in a similar tone of
familiar kindness. The whole intercourse of the com
pany seemed warmed and cheered by these simple,
habitual courtesies. Our own manners, I think, un
der similar circumstances, must appear bald and chill
ing, in comparison.
Nor was there any thing remarkable in the conver
sations save only what related to Byron. The news
of his death at Missolonghi, on the 19th of April, had
reached Scotland a few weeks before, and produced
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 189
a profound sensation. Even while I was there, the
interest in the subject had not subsided. Mr. Lock-
hart had not known Byron, personally, but he was in
London soon after his departure for the continent,
and at several subsequent periods, and he gave us
many interesting details respecting him. He was fre
quently at Lady Caroline Lamb s soirees, where he
met the literary celebrities of London, and especially
the younger and gayer portion of them. Her ladyship
had flirted with the lordly poet in the heyday of his
fame, and it was said, condescended to visit him in
the guise of a page her reputation being of that
salamander quality, which could pass through such
fire and suffer no damage. Her lover proved fickle,
arid at last ungrateful, and she retaliated in the novel
of " Glenarvon" venting her rage upon him by
depicting him as " having an imagination of flame
playing around a heart of ice."
At the time Lockhart thus mingled in Lady Caro
line s circle, Byron was the frequent theme of com
ment. She had a drawer-full of his letters, and inti
mate friends were permitted to read them. She had
also borrowed of Murray the poet s manuscript auto
biography given to Moore, and had copied some of
its passages. This was soon discovered, and she was
obliged to suppress them but still passages of them
got into circulation. The work was written in a dar
ing, reckless spirit, setting at defiance all the laws of
propriety, and even of decency. One of the chapters
190 LE1TERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
consisted of a rhyming list of his acquaintances, at the
period of his highest fashionable success, in London
dashed off with amazing power yet in such terms of
profanity as to forbid repetition, at least in print. It
was obvious, from what was said by Mr. Lockhart and
others, that such were the gross personalities, the
shameful outrages of decorum, and the general licen
tiousness of this production, that it was impossible
for any respectable publisher to be concerned in giv
ing it to the world. The consignment of it to the
flames, by his friends, was as much dictated by re
gard to their own characters, as to the fame of the
author, which was in a certain degree committed to
their keeping.
We sat down to dinner at seven, and got up at
eleven. After a short conversation with the ladies,
we took our departure. As I was getting into my
carriage, Mr. Lockhart proposed to me to walk back
to town, a distance of a mile and a half. I gladly
accepted this proposition, and we had a very interest
ing conversation. Upon intimacy, Lockhart s cold
ness wholly disappeared. He spoke in an easy,
rattling way, very much in the manner of the freer
portions of Peter s Letters. The good dinner had
doubtless cheered him a little ; but not only on this,
but other occasions I had evidence of a more genial
nature than might have been supposed to exist be
neath the haughty armor which he seemed to wear
toward the world.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 191
The next day I went to St. Giles s Church,* to see
the General Assembly, then holding its annual ses
sion there. This body consisted of nearly four
hundred members, chosen by different parishes, bor
oughs, and universities. The sessions are attended by
a Commissioner appointed by the crown, but he is seat
ed outside of the area assigned to the assembly, and
has no vote, and no right of debate. He sits under a
pavilion, with the insignia of royalty, and a train of
gaily-dressed pages. He opens the sessions in the
name of the King, the Head of the Church : the mod
erator then opens it in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the only true Head of the Church ! It appears
that the Scotch, in bargaining for a union with Eng
land, took good care to provide for their religious in
dependence, and this they still jealously preserve :
the Irish, on the contrary, were sold out, and treated
like a conquered people. The commissioner, at this
time, was Lord Morton who, according to all the
accounts I heard, was a disgrace to human nature.
The aspect of the Assembly was similar to that of
the House of Commons though somewhat graver.
I observed that the debates were often stormy, with
scraping of the floor, laughing aloud, and cries of
"hear, hear!" The members were, in fact, quite dis
orderly, showing at least as little regard for decorum
* In 1844 a fine church, culled Victoria Hall, way erected for the nice*-
ings of the General Assembly. It is of rich Mediaeval Gothic archi
tecture, with a spire two hundred and forty-six feet in height.
192
as ordinary legislatures. Sir Walter Scott once re
marked, in my hearing, that it had never yet been
decided how many more than six members could
speak at once !
The persons here pointed out to me as celebrities
were Dr. Chalmers, the famous pulpit orator, Dr.
Cook, the ecclesiastical historian, and Dr. Baird, prin
cipal of the University, and caricatured in the print-
shops under a rude portrait of his large face, nearly
covered with hair, the whole labeled, Principal Beard.
The first of these was now at the height of his fame.
He had already begun those reforms which, some
years later, resulted in a disruption of the Scottish
Church. At this period the Assembly was divided
into two opposite parties, the Moderate, and the Souna
the former contending for the old doctrine, that
presbyteries were bound to receive and accept every
qualified preacher, presented by the crown, or others
exercising the right of such preferment, and the lat
ter opposing it. The importance of the question lay
in the fact that a large number of the places in the
Church were in the gift of the crown, and many others
in the hands of lay -patrons, and these were frequent
ly bestowed in such a manner as to accumulate
two or more benefices in the hands of one person.
The great point made by Chalmers was, that one
church, one congregation, however small, was enough
to occupy and absorb the attention of one minister ;
and that a plurality of benefices was both corrupting
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 193
to the Caurch, by making it subservient to patronage,
and destructive of the apostolic spirit, which demands
the devotion of the whole soul to the work of the
ministry.
I had the good fortune to hear Chalmers speak for
a few moments, but with great energy and power, so
as to give me an idea of his appearance and manner.
He was a large man, and as he rose he seemed rather
heavy, slow, and awkward. His face was large, its
outline being nearly circular. His lips, when closed,
were thin, giving a certain sharpness and firmness to
his countenance. His forehead was large and expan
sive, his brow finely arched, his eye gray, and its
expression ordinarily heavy. Altogether his appear
ance, as he first rose to my view, was unpromising.
His speech, his articulation, was even worse, at the
outset, for he had the Fifeshire dialect the harshest
and most unintelligible in Scotland. He had, how
ever, spoken but a few sentences, when the whole man
was transformed. That heaviness which marked his
appearance, had wholly passed away. Upon his coun
tenance there was an animated yet lofty expression
firm and fearless, benevolent and winning while
his voice, pouring out a vast flow of thought, had in.
it a tone at once of love and command, of feeling and
of authority, absolutely irresistible. I felt myself borne
along in the torrent compelled, yet lending myself
grjiU-fiilly to the movement. Sentence after sentence
fell from his lips, thought accumulated upon tliougut,
VOL. II. 9
194: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
illustration upon illustration, and yet the listener com
passed every conception and treasured every word.
There was something in his voice so musical, so
touching, that the whole sank into the soul like a
hymn. The general effect was aided by his gestures
and movements, for though by no means graceful,
they harmonized so well with the emotions of the
speaker as at once to illustrate and enforce the gen
eral tenor of his address.
On another occasion I heard Dr. Chalmers preach,
in one of the churches of the city. The crowd was
so great, however, that I saw and heard very imper
fectly. It seemed to me that he was rather calculated
to produce an effect by his oratory, than his writings.
He had evidently wonderful powers of amplification :
he often started topics apparently barren and unsug-
gestive, but soon he called around them a crowd of
thoughts and associations of the highest interest. The
common labors of the minister of the Gospel enter
ing into the hearts and homes of the rich and the
poor ; now leading to the stately hall, and now to the
squalid dens of vice, poverty, and crime ; now to the
administration of baptism, and now to the sacrament
this hackneyed routine, by force of his vivid imagi
nation and ardent spirit, presented pictures to the
mind and awoke emotions in the heart, quite over
whelming. He seemed, indeed, like a magician, capa
ble of converting even the sand and stones of the des
ert into images of life and power ; but it appeared
HISTORICAL, AJUECDOTICAL, ETC. 195
to me that in order to do this, the voice and gesture
and presence of the sorcerer, were indispensable. I
have never, in reading any thing he has written
noble as are his works at all realized the emotions
produced by the brief, but startling speach I heard
from him in the Assembly.
LETTER XLII.
A Dinner at Lockharfs -Conversation about Byron Mrs. Lockhart Ir
ving Professor Ticknor Music The Pibroch and Miss Edge-worth
Anecdotes of the Indians Southey and Second Siglit Cooper s Pioneers
The Pilot Paul Jones Brockden Brown Burn* Tricks of the Press
Charles Scott The Welsh Parson The Italian Base-viol Player-
Personal Appearance of Sir Walter Departure for London Again
in Edinburgh in 1832 Last Moments of Sir Walter The Sympathy of
Nature.
MY DEAR C******
I hope you fully comprehend that, in these
sketches I am only dipping into my journal here
and there, and selecting such memoranda as I think
may amuse you. Most of these passages refer to
individuals who have now passed to their graves.
It is mournful to me it is suggestive of feelings inex
pressibly sad and solemn to reflect that of the long
list of distinguished persons who, at the period I
refer to, shed a peculiar glory upon Edinburgh, not
one survives. Scott, Lockhart, Jeffrey, Chalmers
these, and others who stood beside them, either shar-
196 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
ing or reflecting the blushing honors of genius and
feme, falling around them all are gone from the
high places which they then illumined with their pres
ence. I am speaking only of the dead yet I remem
ber them as living, and though their history, their
works, their fame, are familiar to you it may still
interest you to go back and participate in recollec
tions of them their persons, speech, manner and
thus, in some degree, see them as they were seen, and
know them as they were known. I pray you to ac
cept these passages from my journal, as glimpses only
of what I saw, and not as pretending at all to a reg
ular account of my travels and observations, at the
time referred to.
On Wednesday, June 2, I dined with Mr. Lock-
hart 25 Northumberland-street. Besides the host
and hostess, there were present Sir Walter Scott, his
son, Charles Scott, Mr. Blackwood, Mr. Robinson,
and three or four other persons. At dinner I sat next
Sir Walter an arrangement made, I believe, in com
pliment to myself. Every thing went off pleasantly
with the usual ease, hospitality, and heartiness of
an English dinner. The house and furniture were
plain and handsome such as were common to people
of good condition and good taste.
The meal was discussed with the usual relish, and
with the usual garnish of wit and pleasantry. After
the ladies had retired, the conversation became gen
eral and. animated. Byron was the engrossing topic.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 197
Sir "Walter spoke of him with the deepest feeling of
admiration and regret. A few weeks before, on the
receipt of the news of his death, he had written an
obituary notice of him, in which he compared him
to the sun, withdrawn from the heavens at the very
moment when every telescope was leveled to discover
either his glory or his spots. He expressed the opin
ion that Byron was " dying of home-sickness" that
being his phrase. For a long time he had flouted
England, and seemed to glory alike in his exile and
his shame. Yet all this time his heart was devoured
with " the fiend ennui." He went to Greece, in the
hope of doing some gallant deed that would wipe out
his disgrace, and create for him such sympathy in the
breasts of his countrymen, as would enable him to
return his " faults forgiven and his sins forgot."
Lockhaft and Blackwood both told stories, and we
passed a pleasant half hour. The wine was at last
rather low, and our host ordered the servant to bring
more. Upon which Scott said " No, no, Lokert"
such was his pronunciation of his son-in-law s name
" we have had enough : let us go and see the la
dies." And so we gathered to the parlor.
Mrs. Lockhart was now apparently about two and
twenty years old small in person, and girl-like in
manner. Her hair was light-brown, cut short, and
curled in her neck and around her face. Her cheeks
were blooming, and her countenance full of cheerful
ness. Her address was at once graceful and gracious
198 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
indicating a lively, appreciative nature and the finest
breeding. She had a son, four years old, and at my
request, he was brought in. He was a fine boy,
" very like his father," but alas, doomed to an early
death. *
Mrs. Lockhart spoke with great interest of Mr. Ir
ving, who had visited the family at Abbotsford. She
.said that he slept in a room which looked out on the
Tweed. In the morning as he came down to break
fast, he was very pale, and being asked the reason,
confessed that he had not been able to sleep. The
sight of the Tweed from his window, and the con
sciousness of being at Abbotsford, so filled his imagi
nation so excited his feelings, as to deprive him of
slumber. She also spoke of Professor Ticknor lay
ing the accent on the last syllable as having been
at Abbotsford, and leaving behind him the most
agreeable impressions.
Our lively hostess was requested to give us some
music, and instantly complied the harp being her
instrument. She sang Scotch airs, and played sev
eral pibrochs all with taste and feeling. Her range
of tunes seemed inexhaustible. Her father sat by,
and entered heartily into the performances. He beat
time vigorously with his lame leg, and frequently
helped out a chorus, the heartiness of his tones ma
king up for some delinquencies in tune and time.
* He died at London, Dec. 15, 1831 ; his mother followed him, May
17, 1837.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 199
Often he made remarks upon the songs, and told an
ecdotes respecting them. When a certain pibroch
had been played, he said it reminded him of the first
time he ever saw Miss Edgeworth. There had come
to Abbotsford, a wild Gaelic peasant from the neigh
borhood of Staifa, and it was proposed to him to
sing a pibroch, common in that region. He had con
sented, but required the whole party present, to sit in
a circle on the floor, while he should sing the song,
and perform a certain pantomimic accompaniment, in
the center. All was accordingly arranged in the great
hall, and the performer had just begun his wild chant,
when in walked a small but stately lady, and an
nounced herself as Miss Edgeworth !
Mrs. Lockhart asked me about the American In
dians expressing great curiosity concerning them. I
told the story of one who was tempted to go into the
rapids of the Niagara river, just above the Falls, for
a bottle of rum. This he took with him, and having
swam out to the point agreed upon, he turned back
and attempted to regain the land. For a long time
the result was doubtful : he struggled powerfully,
but in vain. Inch by inch, he receded from the shore,
and at last, finding his doom sealed, he raised himself
above the water, wrenched the cork from the bottle,
and putting the latter to his lips, yielded to the cur
rent, and thus went down to his doom.
Mrs. Lockhart made some exclamations of mingled
admiration and horror. Sir Walter then said that he
200 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
had read an account of an Indian, who was in a boat,
approaching a cataract ; by some accident, it wag
drawn into the current, and the savage saw that his
escape was impossible. Upon this he arose, wrapped
his robe of skins around him, seated himself erect,
and with an air of imperturbable gravity, went over
the falls.
" That is sublime," said Mrs. Lockhart : " as if he
were preparing to meet the Great Spirit, and he
thought it proper to enter his presence wit<h dignity 1"
11 The most remarkable thing about the American
Indians," said Blackwood, " is their being able to fol
low in the trail of their enemies, by their footprints
left in the leaves, upon the*grass, and even upon the
moss of the rocks. The accounts given of this seem
hardly credible."
"I can readily believe it, however," said Sir Wal
ter. " You must remember that this is a part of their
education. I have learned at Abbotsford to discrim
inate between the hoof-marks of all our neighbors
horses, and I taught the same thing to Mrs. Lockhart.
It is, after all, not so difficult as you might think.
Every horse s foot has some peculiarity either of
size, shoeing, or manner of striking the earth. I was
once walking with Southey a mile or more from
home across the fields. At last we came to a bridle
path, leading toward Abbotsford, and here I noticed
fresh hoof-prints. Of this I said nothing ; but paus
ing and looking up with an inspired expression, I
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 201
said to Southey I have a gift of second sight : we
shall have a stranger to dinner !
" And what may be his name ? was the reply.
" Scott, said I.
" Ah, it is some relation of yours, he said ; you
have invited him, and you would pass off as an ex
ample of your Scottish gift of prophecy, a matter
previously agreed upon !
" Not at all, said I. * I assure you that till this
moment I never thought of such a thing.
" When we got home, I was told that Mr. Scott, a
farmer living some three or four miles distant, and a
relative of mine, was waiting to see me. Southey
looked astounded. The man remained to dinner, and
he was asked if he had given any intimation of his
coming. He replied in the negative : that indeed he
had no idea of visiting Abbotsford when he left home.
After enjoying Southey s wonder for some time, I
told him that I saw the tracks of Mr. Scott s horse
in the bridle-path, and inferring that he was going to
Abbotsford, easily foresaw that we should have him
to dinner."
Mrs. Lockhart confirmed her father s statement,
and told how, in walking over the country together,
they had often amused themselves in studying the
hoof-prints along the roads.
Mr. Lockhart returned to the Indians. u I have
lately been reading an exceedingly clever American
novel, entitled the Pioneers, by Cooper. His descrip-
9*
202 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL.
tive power is very great, and I think he has opened
a new field of romance, especially in the hunters
along the frontiers, who, in their intercourse with
savages, have become half savage themselves. That
border life is full of incident, adventure, poetry ; the
character of Leatherstocking is original and striking."
a l have not seen the Pioneers," said Scott ; " but
I have read the Pilot by the same author, which has
just been published. It is very clever, and I think
it will turn out that his strength lies in depicting sea
life and adventure. We really have no good sea-
tales, and here is a wide field, open to a man of true
genius."
" But, papa," said our hostess, " I should think it
rather a narrow field. Only a few persons go to sea,
and the language of sailors is so technical as to be
hardly understood by people generally. It seems to
me that sea-tales can never excite the sympathy of
the great mass of readers, because they have had no
experience of its life and manners."
" It is no doubt a task of some difficulty," said Sir
Walter, " to bring these home to the hearts of the
reading million ; nevertheless, to a man of genius
for it, the materials are ample and interesting. All
our minds are full of associations of danger, of dar
ing, and adventure with the sea and those who have
made that element their home. And besides, this
book to which I refer the Pilot connects its story
with the land. It is perhaps more interesting to me,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 203
because I perfectly well recollect the time when Paul
Jones whose character is somewhat reflected in the
hero of the story came up the Sol way in 1778 ID
the Ranger, though I was then less than ten years old.
He kept the whole coast in a state of alarm for some
time, and was in fact the great scarecrow of that age
and generation."
" Mr. Cooper is a man of genius," said Lockhart :
" no one can deny that ; but it seems to me that
Brockden Brown was the most remarkable writer of
fiction that America has produced. There is a similar
ity in his style to that of the Kadcliffe school, and in
the tone of mind to Godwin s Caleb Williams ; but in
his machinery, he is highly original. In his display
of the darker passions, he surpasses all his models."
" That may be true," said Sir Walter, " but it is
neither a wholesome nor a popular species of literature.
It is almost wholly ideal; it is not in nature; it is in
fact contrary to it. Its scenes, incidents, characters,
do not represent life : they are alien to common ex
perience. They do not appeal to a wide circle of
sympathy in the hearts of mankind. The chief emo
tion that it excites is terror or wonder. The suggest-
ivr manner of treating every subject, aims at keeping
the mind constantly on the rack of uncertainty. This
trick of art was long ago exhausted. Brown had
wonderful powers, as many of his descriptions show;
but I think he was led astray by falling under the
influence of bad examples, prevalent at his time.
204: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Had he written his own thoughts, he would have
been, perhaps, immortal : in writing those of others,
his fame was of course ephemeral."
The conversation turned upon Burns. Scott knew
him well. He said that Tarn O Shanter was written to
please a stonecutter, who had executed a monument
for the poet s father, on condition that he should,
write him a witch-story, in verse. He stated that
Burns was accustomed, in his correspondence, more
especially with ladies, to write an elaborate letter,
and then send a copy of it to several persons
modifying local and personal passages to suit each
individual. He said that of some of these letters, he
had three or four copies thus addressed to different
persons, and all in the poet s handwriting.
The tricks of the London newspapers were spoken
of, and he mentioned the following instance. A pop
ular preacher there, had caused a church to be built,
in which he was to officiate. The time was fixed for
its dedication ; but two days before this, an article
appeared in one of the city prints, describing the
building, and speaking well of it, but suggesting
that the pillars which supported the gallery were
entirely too slight, and it must be exceedingly dan
gerous for any congregation to assemble there ! This
of course produced a general alarm, and to appease
this, the proprietor found it necessary to have a sur
vey made by an architect. This was done, and the
architect declared, that, as the pillars were of iron,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 205
there was not the slightest danger. The proprietor
took this statement to the editor of the paper, and
begged him to retract his false and injurious state
ment. The reply was
" This is doubtless an important matter to you, but
not of the slightest interest to me."
"But, sir," was the reply, "you have stated what
is not true : will you not correct your own error ?"
" Yes, but we must be paid for it."
" What, for telling the truth?"
" That depends upon circumstances : do you sup
pose we can tell every truth that everybody desires
us to ? No, sir ; this is a matter of interest to you :
you can afford to pay for it. Give us ten guineas,
and we will set it all right."
The proprietor of the church had no other resource,
and so he paid the money.
Charles Scott, Sir Walter s second son, a rosy-
cheeked youth of about eighteen, was present. He had
recently come from Wales, where he had been under
the teaching of a Welch clergyman. This subject
being mentioned, Blackwood asked Mr. Robinson a
very sober, clerical-looking gentleman to give the
company a sample of a Welch sermon. Two chairs
were placed back to back : Blackwood sat in one his
bald, flat pate for a desk, and the performer mounted
the other taking one of Mrs. Lockhart s songs for his
notes. It seerns he was familiar with the Welch lan
guage, and an admirable mimic. His performance was
LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
exceedingly amusing. When he became animated,
he slapped the music down on Blackwood s bald pate,
and in capping his climaxes, gave it two or three
smart, thumps with his fist. Blackwood must have
had a substantial skull, or he could? not have borne
it. At last, even he had enough of it, and when he
perceived another climax was coming, he dodged,
and the sermon was speedily brought to a close.
Mr. Robinson was then called upon to imitate an
Italian player on the bass-viol. He took a pair of
tongs for his bow, and a shovel for the viol, and
mounting a pair of spectacles on the tip-end of his
nose, he began imitating the spluttering of the instru
ment by his voice. It was inimitably droll. Sir
Walter was quite convulsed, and several of the ladies
absolutely screamed. As to myself, I had the side-
ache for four-and-twenty hours.
And thus passed the evening till twelve o clock.
I have not told you the half of what is indicated io
the notes before me. These specimens will suffice,
however, to give you some idea of the manner in
which good people unbent in the family circle of Ed
inburgh, thirty years ago. You will readily suppose
that my eye often turned upon the chief figure in this
interesting group. I could not for a moment forget
his presence, though nothing could be more unpre
tending and modest than his whole air and bearing.
His features are doubtless impressed upon you by
his portraits, for they have all a general resemblance.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 207
There was in Mr. Lockhart s parlor, where we were
sitting, a copy of Chantry s bust of him since re
peated a thousand times in plaster. I compared it
again and again with the original. Nothing could
possibly be better as a likeness. The lofty head, the
projecting brows, the keen, peering glance of the eye,
the long, thick upper lip, the dumpy nose, the rather
small and receding chin each feature separately
homely, yet all combined to form a face of agreeable
expression. Its general effect was that of calm dig
nity ; and now, in the presence of children and
friends, lighted by genial emotions, it was one of the
pleasantest countenances I have ever seen. When
standing or walking, his manly form, added to an
aspect of benevolence, completed the image at once
exciting affection and commanding respect.
As to his manners, I need only add that they were
those of a well-bred English gentleman quiet, un
pretending, absolutely without self-assertion. He ap
peared to be happy, and desirous of making others so.
He was the only person present, who seemed uncon
scious that he was the author of Waverley. His in
tercourse with his daughter, and hers in return, were
most charming. She called him "papa," and he
called her "my child," "my daughter," "Sophia,"
and in the most endearing tone and manner. She
seemed quite devoted to him, watching his lips when
he was speaking, and seeking in every thing to anti
cipate and fulfill his wishes. When she was singing,
208 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
his eye dwelt upon her, his ear catching and seeming
to relish every tone. Frequently, when she was si
lent, his eye rested upon her, and the lines came to
my mind J
" Some feelings are to mortals given,
With less of earth in them, than Heaven : .
And if there be a human tear
From passion s dross refined and clear,
A tear so limpid and so meek
It would not stain an angel s cheek
Tis that which pious fathers shed
Upon a duteous daughter s head!"
After a stay of about three weeks in Edinburgh,
I took a reluctant leave of it, and went to London.
Eight years later, September, 1832, 1 was again there.
Scott was on his death-bed, at Abbotsford. Over
burdened with the struggle to extricate himself from
the wreck of his fortunes, his brain had given way,
and the mighty intellect was in ruins. On the morn
ing of the 17th, he woke from a paralytic slumber
his eye clear and calm, every trace of delirium having
passed away. Lockhart came to his bedside. "My
dear," he said, " I may have but a moment to speak
to you. Be a good man ; be virtuous be religious :
be a good man. Nothing else will give you any com
fort, when you are called upon to lie here!"
Oh, what a bequest were these words, uttered by
the dying lips of the mightiest genius of the age!
We may all do well to heed them. Few more words
did he speak ; he soon fell into a stupor, which, on
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 209
the 21st, became the sleep of death. Thus he ex
pired, all his children around him. " It was a beau
tiful day," says his biographer "so warm that every
window was wide open, and so perfectly still that
the sound of all others most delicious to his ear, the
gentle ripple of the Tweed over its pebbles, was dis
tinctly audible as we knelt around the bed, and his
eldest son kissed and closed his eyes !"
The signs and symbols of mourning that spread
over Great Britain on account of the death of the
great and good man, were like those which com
memorate the decease of a sovereign. Bells were
tolled, sermons were preached, flags of ships were at
half-mast, nearly every newspaper was clothed in
black. In Edinburgh, every lip trembled in speak
ing of the melancholy event.
Two days after this, I departed with my com
panion for the Highlands. On reaching Stirling, we
found it enveloped in the drapery of dark, impene
trable clouds. We passed on to Callender ; we pro
ceeded to Loch Katrine. All around seemed to be in
mourning. Huge masses of dim vapor rolled around
the pinnacle of Benain; the shaggy brows and rocky
precipices of Benvenue were all shrouded in gloomy
mist. The hoary forests of the Trosachs heaved sad
and moaning in the breeze. The surface of the lake
was wrinkled with falling spray. All around seemed
to wail and weep, as if some calamity had fallen upon
jature itself. He who had endowed these scenes with
210 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
immortality, was dead ; his body was now being borne
to its tomb. While a nation wept, it was meet that
the mountain and the lake, the stream and the glen
which his genius had consecrated should also weep.
" Call it not vain ; they do not err
Who say, that when the poet dies,
Mute nature mourns her worshiper,
And celebrates his obsequies ;
Who say, tall cliff and cavern lone,
For the departed bard make moan ;
That mountains weep in crystal rill ;
That flowers in tears of balm distill ;
Through his loved groves that breezes sigh,
And oaks, in deeper groans, reply ;
And rivers teach their rushing wave
To murmur dirges round his grave!"
LETTER ILIIL.
Journey to London Remarks on England, as it appears to the American
Traveler The Climate The Landscape Jealousies between, the English
and Americans Plan for securing Peace.
MY DEAR C******
Early in June, I set out for London. My route
led me through the village of Dalkeith, and the pos
sessions of the Duke of Buccleugh, extending for
thirty miles on both sides of the road. We were
constantly meeting objects which revived historical
or poetic reminiscences. Among these was Cockpen,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 211
the scene of the celebrated ballad, and as I rode by,
the whole romance passed before my mind. I fan
cied that I could even trace the pathway along which
the old laird proceeded upon his courtship, as well
as the residence of
"The pennyless lass with a lang pedigree;"
and who was so daft as to reject his offer, although
"His wig was well powthered and as gude as new;
His waistcoat was red, and his coat it was blue
A ring on his finger, his sword and cocked hat
And who could refuse the auld laird wi a that?"
We crossed the Galawater and the Ettrick, and
traveled along the banks of the Tweed formed by
the union of these two streams. We passed Abbots-
ford, rising at a little distance on the left its baronial
dignity being lost in the spell of more potent associa
tions. Further on, we saw the Eildon Hills, "cleft in
three" by the wondrous wizzard, Michael Scott as
duly chronicled in the Lay of the Last Minstrel. We
proceeded along the banks of the Teviot a small lim
pid stream, where we observed the barefooted lassies
washing, as in the days of Allan Eamsay. We saw
Netherby Hall, and a little beyond CannobieLea, the
scenes of the song of Young Lochinvar. All these,
and many more localities of legendary name and
fame, were passed in the course of a forenoon s
progress in the stage-coach. Scotland is indeed a
charned land!
212 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
One day s journey brought me to Carlisle : thence I
traveled westward, looking with all due delight upon
Wendermere, and Eydal, and Grassmere, and Helvel-
lyn, and Derwentwater, and Skiddau. Then turning-
eastward, I traveled over a hilly and picturesque
country, to the ancient and renowned city of York.
Having lingered, half entranced amid its antiquities,
arid looked almost with worship upon its cathedral
the most beautiful I have ever seen I departed, and
soon found myself once more in London.
As I shall not return to the subject again, allow
me to say a few words as to the impression England
makes upon the mind of an American, traveling over
its surface. I have visited this country several times
within the last thirty years, and I shall group my
impressions in one general view. The whole may be
summed up in a single sentence, which is, that Eng
land is incomparably the most beautiful country in
the world ! I do not speak of it in winter, when in-
cumbered with fogs ; when there is
" No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon,
No dusk, no dawn no proper time of day ;
No sky, no earthly view, no distance looking blue
No road, no street, no t other side the way!"
I take her as I do any other beauty who sits for hei
portrait in her best attire ; that is, in summer. The
sun rises here as high in June, as it does in America
Vegetation is just about as far advanced. The mead
ows, the wheat-fields, the orchards, the forests, are in
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 213
their glory. There is one difference, however, be
tween the two countries the sun in England is not
so hot, the air is not so highly perfumed, the buzz of
the insects is not so intense. Every thing is more
tranquil. With us, all nature, during summer, ap
pears to be in haste, as if its time was short as if it
feared the coming frost. In England, on the con
trary, there seems to be a confidence in the seasons,
as if there were time for the ripening harvests ; as if
the wheat might swell out its fat sides, the hops am
plify its many-plaited flowers, the oats multiply and
increase its tassels each and all attaining their
perfection at leisure. In the United States, the pe
riod of growth of most vegetables is compressed into
ten weeks ; in Great Britain, it extends to sixteen.
If we select the middle of June as a point of com
parison, we shall see that in America there is a spirit,
vigor, energy in the climate, as indicated by vegeta
ble and animal life, unknown in Europe. In the
former, the pulse of existence beats quicker than in
the latter. The air is clearer, the landscape is more
distinct, the bloom more vivid, the odors more pun
gent, the perceptions of the rnind even, I doubt not,
are more intense. A clover-field in America, in full
bloom, is by many shades more ruddy than the same
thing in England its breath even is sweeter: the
music of the bees stealing its honey is of a higher
key. A summer forest with us is of a livelier green
than in any part of Great Britain ; the incense
214 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
breathed upon the heart, morning and evening, is, I
think, more fall and fragrant. And yet, if we take
the summer through, this season is pleasanter in
England than with us. It is longer, its excitements
are more tranquil, and, being spread over a larger
space, the heart has more leisure to appreciate them,
than in the haste and hurry^ of our American climate.
There is one fact worthy of notice, which illus
trates this peculiarity of the English summer. The
trees there are all of a more sturdy, or, as we say,
stubbed form and character. The oaks, the elms, the
walnuts, beeches, are shorter and thicker, as well in
the trunks as the branches, than ours. They have
all a stocky, John Bull form and stature. The leaves
are thicker, the twigs larger in circumference. I have
noticed particularly the recent growths of apple-trees,
and they are at once shorter and stouter than in
America. This quality in the trees gives a pecu
liarity to the landscape. The forest is more solid and
less graceful than ours. If you will look at an Eng
lish painting of trees, you notice the fact I state, and
perceive the effect it gives, especially to scenes of
which trees constitute a prevailing element. All
over Europe, in fact, the leaves of the trees have
a less feathery appearance than in America ; and in
general the -forms of the branches are less arching,
and, of course, less beautiful. Hence it will be per
ceived that European pictures of trees differ in this
respect from American ones the foliage in the for-
SCENE IN F.KUI.A.NU. V 1 2. p. i
HISTORICAL, ANEODOTICAL, ETC. 215
mer being more solid, and the sweep of the branches
more angular.
But it is in respect to the effects of human art and
industry, that the English landscape has the chief ad
vantage over ours. England is an old country, and
shows on its face the transforming influences of fif
teen centuries of cultivation. It is, with the excep
tion of Belgium, the most thickly-settled country of
Europe nearly three hundred and fifty inhabitants
to the square mile, while in the United States we
have but seven. Massachusetts, the most thickly-
settled State in America, has but one hundred and
thirty.
England, therefore, is under a garden-like cultiva
tion ; the plowing is straight and even, as if regulated
by machinery ; the boundaries of estates consist for
the most part of stone mason- work, the intermediate
divisions being hedges, neatly trimmed, and forming
a beautiful contrast to our stiff stone walls and rail
fences. The public roads are nicely wrought, the
sides being turfed with neat and convenient foot
ways. The railway stations are beautiful specimens
of architecture ; the sides of the railways are all sod
ded over, and often are blooming with patches of cul
tivated flowers. In looking from the top of a hill
over a large extent of country, it is impossible not to
feel a glow of delight at the splendor of the scene
the richness of the soil, its careful and skillful cul
tivation, its green, tidy boundaries checkering the
216 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
scene, its teeming crops, its fat herds, its numberless
and fall-fleeced sheep.
Nor must the dwellings be overlooked. I pass by
the cities and the manufacturing villages, which, in
most parts, are visible in every extended landscape
sometimes, as in the region of Manchester, spread
ing out for miles, and sending up pitchy wreaths of
smoke from a thousand tall, tapering chimneys. I
am speaking now of the country, and here are such
residences as are unknoAvn to us. An English castle
would swallow up a dozen of our shingle or brick
villas. The adjacent estate often includes a thousand
acres and these, be it remembered, are kept almost as
much for ornament as use. Think of a dwelling that
might gratify the pride of a prince, surrounded by
several square miles of wooded park, and shaven
lawn, and winding stream, and swelling hill, and all
having been for a hundred, perhaps five hundred
years, subjected to every improvement which the
highest art could suggest ! There is certainly a union
of unrivaled beauty and magnificence in the lordly
estates of England. We have nothing in America
which at all resembles them.
And then there is every grade of imitation of these
high examples, scattered over the whole country.
The greater part of the surface of England belongs to
wealthy proprietors, and these have alike the desire
and the ability to give an aspect of neatness, finish,
and elegance, not only to their dwellings and the
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 217
immediate grounds, but to their entire estates. The
prevailing standard of taste thus leads to a universal
beautifying of the surface of the country. Even the
cottager feels the influence of this omnipresent spirit ;
the brown thatch over his dwelling, and the hedge
before his door, must be neatly trimmed ; the green
ivy must clamber up and festoon his windows, and
the little yard in front must bloom with roses and
lilies, and other gentle flowers, in their season.
And thus cold, foggy England is made the para
dise of the earth at least during this charming
month of June. Nature now, in compensation for
her ill humor at other seasons, aids in this universal
decoration. Through the whole summer nay, in au
tumn, and even in winter the verdure of the Eng
lish landscape is preserved. Not in July nor August,
not even in December, do we here see the grass
parched with heat or grown gray in the frost. It is
true the leaves of the trees fall, as they do with us, in
November not having first clothed the hills in red
and purple and gold as in America, but, as the Eng
lish poet tells us
" the fading, many-colored woods,
Shade deep ning over shade, the country round
Imbrown; a crowded umbrage, dusk and dun,
Of every hue, from wan, declining green,
To sooty dark"
thus, for a time, seeming to prelude the coming win
ter, with a drapery of mourning woven of the faded
VOL. II. 10
218 LETTEES BIOGRAPHICAL,
glories of summer. Nothing can indeed be more dis
mal than the aspect of England, when the black, crum
pled leaves are falling in the forests some yet flut
tering on the branches, and others strewn on the
ground. But even then the sod retains its living
hue, and when at last the leaves have fallen, there is
still a universal mantle of verdure over the fields
thus redeeming winter from a portion of its gloom.
So much for the common aspect of England as the
traveler passes over it. The seeker for the pictu
resque may find abundant gratification in Devon
shire, Derbyshire, Westmoreland, though "Wales and
Scotland, and parts of Ireland, are still more renown
ed for scenic beauty. So far as combinations of na
ture are concerned, nothing in the world can surpass
some of our own scenery as along the upper waters
of the Housatonic and the Connecticut, or among the
islands of Lake George, and a thousand other places
but these lack the embellishments of art and the
associations of romance or song, which belong to the
rival beauties of British landscapes.
You will notice that I confine these remarks to a
single topic the aspect of England, as it meets the
eye of an American traveler. The English, with all
their egotism, do not appreciate that wonderful dis
play of wealth and refinement, which the surface of
their country presents. They do not and can not
enjoy the spectacle as an American does, for they are
born to it, and have no experience which teaches
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 219
them to estimate it by common and inferior stand
ards. Having said so much on this subject, I shall
not venture to speak of English society of the lights
and shadows of life beneath the myriad roofs of towns
and cities. The subject would be too extensive, and
besides, it has been abundantly treated by others. I
only say, in passing, that the English people are best
studied at home. John Bull, out of his own house, is
generally a rough customer : here, by his fireside, with
wife, children, and friends, he is generous, genial,
gentlemanly. There is no hospitality like that of an
Englishman, when you have crossed his threshold,
Everywhere else he will annoy you. He will poke
his elbow into your sides in a crowded thoroughfare ;
he will rebuff you if, sitting at his side in a locomo
tive, you ask a question by way of provoking a little
conversation ; he will get the advantage of you in
trade, if he can ; he carries at his back a load of pre
judices, like that of Christian in Pilgrim s Progress,
and instead of seeking to get rid of them, he is always
striving to increase his collection. If he becomes a
diplomat, his great business is to meddle in every
body s affairs ; if an editor, he is only happy in
proportion as he can say annoying and irritating
things. And yet, catch this same John Bull at home,
and his crusty, crocodile armor falls off, and he is the
very best fellow in the world liberal, hearty, sin
cere the perfection of a gentleman.
The relations of America to England are a subject
220 LETTERS BIOGRAPHIC AL,
of great interest to both countries. It would seem
that by every dictate of prudence, as well as of pro
priety, they should remain friends. We are of the
same kith and kin, have the same language, the same
faith, the same moral and social platform, the same,
or at least similar institutions. All these ties seem
to bind us in the bonds of peace and amity. To this
may be added the myriad relations of commercial in
terest. To do good to each other is virtually to earn
and bless our daily bread. And yet we have been twice
at war. There is a social war always being waged be
tween us. The presses of England and America seem
to conceive that they say their best things when they
say their worst, of the two countries. We must not,
then, put too much faith in consanguinity. Family
quarrels are proverbially the fiercest. It is a mourn
ful truth that the first murder was a fratricide.
What then is to be done ? One thing could and
should be done, in England. The press there is in
the hands of the ruling people. If, as is asserted in
England, there is a general feeling of good-will there
toward America, that should be made manifest by
the common vehicles of public opinion. Certainly
this has never yet been done. From the very be
ginning, the British press has been supercilious, hy
percritical, condemnatory of our country, its manners,
principles, institutions. Is it possible so long as
this state of things shall continue for the Amer
ican people to believe that the English nation do
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. ^21
not, in their hearts, cherish hostility toward this
country ?
It may, indeed, be said that the American press is
as little conciliatory toward England as that of Eng
land toward America. But, certainly, the good ex
ample should come from them. They are the older
people the mother country : their journals are more
immediately within the control and influence of lead
ing minds and influential men, than ours. And be
sides, all that is wanted on our part, to a good under
standing, is an assurance, a conviction of good- will,
toward us on the other side of the water. Amid all
our scolding at England, there is at the bottom of the
American heart, a profound respect for her. We care
/ery little what the French, or Dutch, or Germans, or
Eussians, or Chinese, or Japanese, say or think of us ;
but if the English say any thing bad of us, we are
sure to resent it. Why can not something be done
to bring this mischievous war to an end ?
And yet how can it be effected? Let me ven
ture upon a suggestion : if the London Times that
mighty personification of John Bull would always
be a gentleman, when he speaks of America, such
would be the influence of this high example, that I
should have some hope of seeing, even in my life
time, a millennial spirit in the intercourse of the two
countries.
222 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL.
LETTER XLIV,
London Thirty Years Ago Its Great Increase George IV, Ascot Races
The Duke of Wellington Jacob Perkins and the Steam-gun The
Duke of Sussex Dake of York Hounslow Heath Parliament Can
ning Mackintosh Brougham P aimer ston House of Lords Lord
Mdon Rhio Rhio Catalani Signorina Garcia Edward Irving By-
MY DEAK C******
It is said that Mr. "Webster remarked, while in
London, that his constant and predominant feeling
was that of wonder at its enormous extent : fourteen
thousand streets, two hundred thousand houses, fif
teen hundred places of public worship, three millions
of human beings all crowded within the space of
seven miles square !
Yet London, when I first knew it, was not what it
is now. Its population has at least doubled since
1824. At that time Charing Cross was a filthy, tri
angular thoroughfare, a stand for hackney-coaches, a
grand panorama of showbills pasted over the sur
rounding walls, with the king s mews in the immediate
vicinity : this whole area is now the site of Trafalgar-
Square one of the most imposing combinations of
magnificent architecture and tasteful embellishments
in the world. This is an index, of other and similar
changes that have taken place all over the city. Lon
don has been nearly as much improved as New York
within the last thirty years. I know a portion of it,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 223
nearly a mile square, now covered with buildings,
which consisted of open fields when I first visited the
city. At the present day, London not only surpasses
in its extent, its wealth, its accumulations of all that
belongs to art the richness of its merchandises, the
extent of its commerce, the vastness of its influence
all the cities that now exist, but all that the world has
before known. What were Nineveh, or Babylon, or
Eome even if they had an equal population when
their relations were confined to the quarter of a single
hemisphere, and their knowledge did not embrace
the telescope, the mariner s compass, the steam-engine,
nor the telegraph neither railroads nor the printing-
press ; what were they in comparison with the me
tropolis of a kingdom, whose colonies now belt the
world, and whose influence, reaching every state and
nation under the sun, extends to the thousand mil
lions of mankind!
But what of London in 1824? King George IY.
was then on the throne, and though he was shy of
showing himself in public, I chanced to see him sev
eral times, and once to advantage at Ascot Eaces.
This was a royal course, and brought together an
immense crowd of the nobility and gentry, as well as
an abundant gathering of gamblers and blacklegs.
For more than an hour his majesty stood in the pa
vilion, surrounded by the Duke of Wellington, the
Duke of York, the Marquis of Anglesea, and other
persons of note. He was a large, over-fat man, of
224 LETTERS BIOGEAPHICAL,
a rather sour and discontented countenance. All
the arts of the toilet could not disguise the wrin
kles of age, and the marks of dissipation and dilap
idation. His lips were sharp, his eye grayish-blue,
his wig chestnut-brown. His cheeks hung down
pendulously, and his whole face seemed pallid, bloat
ed, and flabby. His coat was a blue surtout, but
toned tight over the breast ; his cravat, a huge black
stock, scarcely sufficient to conceal his enormous,
undulating jowl. On his left breast was a glittering
star. He wore a common hat, the brim a little broad
er than the fashion. But for the star and the respect
paid to him, he might have passed as only an over
dressed and rather sour old rake. I noticed that his
coat set very close and smooth, and was told that he
was trussed and braced by stays, to keep his flesh in
place and shape. It was said to be the labor of at
least two hours to prepare him for a public exhibi
tion, like the present. He was a dandy to the last.
The wrinkles of his coat, after it was on, were cut out
by the tailor, and carefully drawn up with the needle.
He had the gout, and walked badly. I imagine there
were few among the thousands gathered to the spec
tacle, who were really less happy than his majesty
the monarch of the three kingdoms.
I not only saw the Duke of Wellington on this,
but on many subsequent occasions. I think the por
traits give a false idea of his personal appearance.
He was really a rather small, thin, insignificant look-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 225
iDg man, unless you saw him on horseback. His
profile was indeed fine, on account of his high Ro
man nose, but his front face was meager, and the
expression cold, almost mean. His legs were too
short, a defect which disappeared when he was in
the saddle. He then seemed rather stately, and in a
military dress, riding always with inimitable ease, he
sustained the image of the great general. At other
times, I never could discover in his appearance any
thing but the features and aspect of an ordinary,
and certainly not prepossessing, old man. I say this
with great respect for his character, which, as a per
sonification of solid sense, indomitable purpose, steady
loyalty, and unflinching devotion to a sense of public
duty, I conceive to be one of the finest in British
history.
At this period, our countryman, Jacob Perkins,
was astonishing London with his steam-gun. He
was certainly a man of extraordinary genius, and was
the originator of numerous useful inventions. At
the time of which I write, he fancied that he. had dis
covered a new mode of generating steam, by which
he was not only to save a vast amount of fuel, but to
obtain a marvelous increase of power. So confident
was he of success, that he told me he felt certain of
being able, in a few months, to go from London to
Liverpool, with the steam produced by a gallon of
oil. Such was his fertility of invention, that while
pursuing one discovery, others came into his mind,
10*
226 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
and, seizing upon his attention, kept him in a whirl
of experiments, in which many things were begun
and comparatively nothing completed.
Though the steam-gun never reached any practical
result, it was for some time the admiration of London.
I was present at an exhibition of its wonderful per
formances in the presence of the Duke of Sussex, the
king s youngest brother, and the Duke of Welling
ton, with other persons of note. The general purpose
of the machine was to discharge bullets by steam,
instead of gunpowder, and with great rapidity at
least a hundred a minute. The balls were put in a
sort of tunnel, and by working a crank back and
forth, they were let into the chamber of the barrel
one by one and expelled by the steam. The noise of
each explosion was like that of a musket, and when
the discharges were rapid, there was a ripping uproar,
quite shocking to tender nerves. The balls carried
about a hundred feet across the smithy struck upon
an iron target, and were flattened to the thickness of
a shilling piece.*
* Jacob Perkins was a native of Newburyport, Mass., born in 1776
lie was apprenticed to a goldsmith, and soon was noted for his ingenu
ity. Before the establishment of a national mint, he was employed, and
with success, in making dies for copper coin. At the age of twenty-four,
he invented the machine for cutting nails, which had a great effect over
the whole world. He next invented a stamp for preventing counterfeit
bills, and then a check-plate, which was long adopted by law in Massa
chusetts. He now discovered a mode of softening steel, by decarboni-
zation, which led to the use of softened steel for engraving. The results
of this discovery have been extensive the bank-note engraving, now
brought to such perfection, being one of the most prominent. Steel
HISTOEICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 227
The whole performance was indeed quite formida
ble, and the Duke of Sussex who was an enormous,
red-faced man seemed greatly excited. I stood close
by, and when the bullets flew pretty thick and the
discharge came to its climax, I heard him say to the
Duke of Wellington, in an under-tone u Wonder
ful, wonderful d d wonderful ; wonderful, won
derful d d wonderful ; wonderful, wonderful
d d wonderful 1" and so he went on, without va
riation. It was in fact, save the profanity, a very
good commentary upon the performance.
engraving for fine pictures, was another, and this led to the Souvenirs
making books the most desirable articles for presents instead of rings,
necklaces, shawls thus producing not only a new generation of publi
cations, but a revolution in the taste of society. This discovery Mr. Per
kins carried to England, and here he remained till his death in 1849. His
other inventions are very numerous : among these are the chain-pump,
the bathometer, to measure the depth of water, the pleometer, to meas
ure the velocity of ships, together with a multitude of improvements in
various devices, from house-stoves to steam-engines.
After I left London, he so far improved his steam-gun, that he sent
balls through eleven planks of deal, an inch thick ! A report of his ex
periments in 1825, before a committee, of which the Duke of Welling
ton was the head, describes the power exerted, as absolutely terrific.
Mr. Perkins s establishment was in Fleet-street, 69, when I was in
London. One of the superintendents of this was Mr. Charles Toppan,
now so well known in connection with the eminent firm of Toppan, Car
penter & Co. To his intelligence and kindness I was indebted for
much of the pleasure and profit of my first visit to London. Here also
was Asa Spencer originally a watchmaker of New London, and the in
ventor of the geometric lathe, for copying medals, as well as other inge
nious and useful devices. He was a man of true genius full of good
ness, modesty, and eccentricity.
The house of Mr. Perkins, at this period, was a familiar gathering
place of Americans in London his charming daughters giving a sort
of Aincrii-au lilt: and grace to all around them. His son, Angier M.
Perkins, a gentleman of great talent, worth, and kindliness, continues
his father s establishment in London.
228 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Having thus spoken of the Duke of Sussex, I mus f
say a few words of his brother, the Duke of York,
whom I had seen, dressed in a green frock-coat and
white pantaloons, at Ascot. He was there interested in
the race, for he had entered a famous courser by the
name of Moses, for one of the prizes. Some person
reflected upon him for this, inasmuch, as among other
titles, he held that of bishop.* His ready reply was,
that he was devoted to Moses and the profits. De
spite his disgrace in the Flanders campaign, and his
notorious profligacy, both as a gambler and a roue,
he was still a favorite among the British people.
There was about him a certain native honorable-
ness and goodness of heart, which survived, even in
the midst of his debaucheries. English loyalty has
the faculty of seeing the small virtues of its princes
through the magnifying power of the telescope ;
their vices are dwindled into comparative insignifi
cance by being observed with the instrument re
versed. And besides, the Duke of York was now
heir-apparent to the throne, and thus stood next the
king himself.
I saw him not only at Ascot, but on other occa
sions especially in a review of the first regiment
of foot-guards, at Hyde Park, and again at a re
view of four thousand horse-guards, at Hounslow
Heath. The foot-guards were grenadiers, and their
* It is a curious item in ecclesiastical history, that the Duke of York
was Bishop of Osnaburffh, a district in the kingdom of Hanover.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 229
caps were of enormous height. The duke himself
wore the same kind of cap, with a red coat of
course. Like all his brothers, he was a large man,
and of full habit, though riot up to the dimensions
of the Duke of Sussex. He had a red, John Bull
face, without expression, save that of good feeding.
The Duke of "Wellington, at this time, was among
the spectators. He was now in military dress, on a
fine chestnut-colored horse. His motions were quick,
and frequently seemed to indicate impatience. His
general aspect was highly martial. Several ladies
as well as gentlemen on horseback, were admitted to
the review and within the circle of the sentries sta
tioned to exclude the crowd. I obtained admission
for a crown five shillings, I mean for I had learned
that in England cash is quite as mighty as in Amer
ica. The privileged group of fair ladies and brave
men, gathered upon a grassy knoll, to observe the
evolutions of the soldiers, presented an assemblage
such as the aristocracy of England alone can fur
nish. Those who imagine that this is an effem
inate generation, should learn that both the men
and women, belonging to the British nobility, taken
together, are without doubt the finest race in the
world. One thing is certain, these ladies could stand
fire for, although the horses leaped and pranced a,t
the discharges of the troops, their fair riders seemed
as much at ease as if upon their own feet. Their
horsemanship was indeed admirable, and suggested
230 LETTEES BIOGRAPHICAL,
those habits of exercise and training, to which their
full rounded forms and blooming countenances gave
ample testimony.
The review at Hounslow Heath, some eight miles
from London and at the present day nearly covered
with buildings comprised seven regiments of caval
ry, including the first and second of the horse-guards.
The latter were no doubt the finest troops of the kind
in the world all the horses being large and black,
and finely groomed. The caparisons were of the
most splendid description, and the men picked for
the purpose. All the officers were men of rank, or
at least of good family.
The performances consisted of various marches
and countermarches sometimes slow and sometimes
quick across the extended plain. The evolutions
of the flying-artillery excited universal admiration.
When the whole body about four thousand horse
rushed in a furious gallop over the ground, the clash
of arms, the thunder of hoofs, the universal shudder
of the earth all together created more thrilling emo
tions in the mind than any other military parade I
ever beheld. I have seen eighty thousand infantry
in the field, but they did not impress my imagina
tion as forcibly as these few regiments of cavalry at
Hounslow Heath. One incident gave painful effect
to the spectacle. As the whole body were sweeping
across the field, a single trooper was pitched from
his horse and fell to the ground. A hundred hoofs
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 231
passed over him, and trampled him into the sod. On
swept the gallant host, as heedless of their fallen
companion, as if only a feather had dropped from
one of their caps. The conflict of cavalry in real
battle, must be the most fearful exhibition which the
dread drama of war can furnish. On this occasion both
the king and the Duke of York were present, so that
it was one of universal interest. About fifty ladies
on horseback rode back and forth over the field, on
the flanks of the troops, imitating their evolutions.
You have no doubt heard enough of Parliament ;
but I shall venture to make a few extracts from my
note-book respecting it, inasmuch as these present
slight sketches of persons of eminence who have now
passed from the scene. I have been often at the House
of Commons, but I shall now only speak of a debate
in July, 1824, upon the petition, I believe, of the city
of London, for a recognition of the independence of
some of the South American States. Canning was then
secretary of foreign affairs, and took the brunt of the
Battle made upon the ministry. Sir James Mackintosh
led, and Brougham followed him on the same side.
I shall not attempt to give you a sketch of the
speeches : a mere description of the appearance and
manner of the prominent orators will suffice. Sir
James then nearly sixty years old was a man
rather above the ordinary size, and with a fine, phil
anthropic face. His accent was decidedly Scotch, and
his voice shrill and dry. He spoke slowly, often has
232 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
itated, and was entirely destitute of what we call elo
quence. There was no easy flow of sentences, no gush
of feeling, no apparent attempt to address the heart or
the imagination. His speech was a rigid lecture, rather
abstract and philosophical, evidently addressed to the
stern intellect of stern men. He had a good deal of
gesture, and once or twice was boisterous in tone and
manner. His matter was logical, and occasionally
he illustrated his propositions by historical facts, hap
pily narrated. On the whole, he made the impres
sion upon my mind that he was a very philosophical,
but not very practical, statesman.
Brougham, as you know, is one of the ugliest
men in the three kingdoms. His nose is long, and
the nostrils, slightly retreating, seem to look at you
sometimes to mock you. The mouth is hooked
downward at either corner; the brow is rolled in
folds, like the hide of a rhinoceros. And yet, strange
to say, this odd composition of odd features makes
up a face of rather agreeable, and certainly very effec
tive expression. His figure is a little above the com
mon size, and at the time I speak of, was thin and
wiry a characteristic which time has since kindly
converted into a moderate degree of portliness. He
had abundance of words, as well as ideas. In his
speech on the occasion I describe, he piled thought
upon thought, laced sentence within sentence, min
gled satire and philosophy, fact and argument, history
and anecdote, as if he had been a cornucopia, and
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 233
was anxious to disburden himself of its abundance.
In all this there were several hard hits, and Canning
evidently felt them. As he rose to reply, I took
careful note of his appearance, for he was then, I im
agine, the most conspicuous of the British statesmen
He was a handsome man, with a bald, shining pate,
and a figure slightly stooping in the shoulders. His
face was round, his eye large and full, his lips a little
voluptuous the whole bearing a lively and refined
expression. In other respects his appearance was not
remarkable. His voice was musical, and he spoke
with more ease and fluency than most other orators
of the House of Commons; yet even he hesitated,
paused, and repeated his words, not only in the be
ginning, "but sometimes in the very midst of his argu
ment. He, however, riveted the attention of the mem
bers, and his keen observations frequently brought
out the ejaculation of "hear, hear," from both sides
of the house. Brougham and Mackintosh watched
him with vigilant attention, now giving nods of as
sent, and now signs of disapprobation.
The difference between the manner of speaking in
the British Parliament and the American Congress,
has frequently been the subject of remark. There is
certainly great heaviness, and a kind of habitual
hesitation, in nearly all English public speakers,
strikingly in contrast to the easy and rapid fluency,
so common with us. I have heard not only the fa
mous men just mentioned in the British Parliament,
234 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
but Peel, Palmerston, O Connell, and others, and all
of them would have been considered dull speakers
so far as mere manner is concerned here in the
United States. I could never perceive in any of
them an approach to the easy and melodious flow of
Everett, the melting earnestness of Clay, or the ma
jestic thunderings of Webster.
On the occasion I am describing, Sir Francis Bur-
dett* then a man of notoriety, but now almost
wholly forgotten made a short speech. He was a
tall, slender person, with a singularly prominent fore
head, the rest of his face being comparatively thin and
insignificant. He was rather dandily dressed, and did
dled from right to left as he was speaking, in a very
curious fashion. His voice was small, but* penetra
ting. His attacks upon the ministry were very di
rect, but he evidently excited no great attention. It
* The history of this individual is curious. He was born in 1770
and though the youngest son of a youngest son, by a series of calamitous
deaths, he succeeded to the title and estates of his affluent and ancient
family. His wealth was increased by his marrying, in 1793, the daugh
ter of Coutts, the banker. In 1802, after a hot contest, he was returned
to Parliament for Middlesex, but the House found the election void, and
imprisoned the sheriffs. In 1807, while he was disabled by a duel, he
was chosen for Westminster, and continued to represent that borough
for nearly thirty years. He was of a turbulent disposition, and having
quarreled with the House of Commons, resisted the speaker s warrant
for his arrest, thus creating an excitement in which several lives were
lost. When the sergeant-at-arms went to his house to arrest him, he
found him affectedly teaching a young child the Magna Charta ! He was
for some time imprisoned in the Tower. The general impression is that,
while professing democracy, he was a thorough aristocrat, at least in
feeling. This opinion was confirmed in 1835, when he totally changed
his politics, and vehemently supported the tory side. He died in 1844.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 235
seemed to me astonishing that he should ever have
been a popular leader, for his whole appearance
was that of the affected and supercilious aristocrat.
The populace have very often been made the dupes
of men whose hearts were full of despotism, and
who, in flattering the masses, only sought the means
of gratifying their unprincipled love of power. Ev
ery careful observer has seen examples of this hollow
and base democracy, and one might easily suspect
Sir Francis Burdett to have been one of them.
Of course I visited the House of Lords paying
two shillings and sixpence for admittance. The
bishops wore their surplices ; a few of the lords had
stars upon the breast, but most of them were without
any badge whatever. The general aspect of the as
sembly was eminently grave and dignified. Eldon
was the chancellor a large, heavy, iron-looking
man the personification of bigoted conservatism.
He was so opposed to reforms, that he shed tears
when the punishment of death was abolished for
stealing five shillings in a dwelling-house ! When
I saw him, his head was covered with the official
wig : his face sufficed, however, to satisfy any one
that his obstinacy of character was innate.
While I was here, a committee from the House of
Commons was announced; they had brought up a
message to the Lords. The chancellor, taking the
seals in his hands, approached the committee, bow
ing three times, and they doing the same. Then
236 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
they separated, each moving backward, and bowing.
To persons used to such a ceremony, this might be
sublime ; to me, it was ludicrous and all the more
so on account of the ponderous starchness of the chief
performer in the solemn farce. There was a some
what animated debate while I was present, in which
Lords Liverpool, Lauderdale, Harrowby, and Grey
participated ; yet nothing was said or done by either
that would justify particular notice at this late day.
A great event happened in the musical world while
I was in London the appearance of Catalani at the
Italian opera, after several years of absence. The
play was Le Nozze di Figaro. I had never before seen
an opera, and could not, even by the enchantments
of music, have my habits of thought and my common
sense so completely overturned and bewitched, as to
see the whole business of life intrigue, courtship,
marriage, cursing, shaving, preaching, praying, lov
ing, hating done by singing instead of talking,
and yet feel that it was all right and proper. It re
quires both a musical ear and early training, fully to
appreciate and feel the opera which aims at a union
of all the arts of rhetoric, poetry, and music, enforced
by scenic representations, and the intense enthusiasm
of congregated and sympathetic masses. Even when
educated to it, the English, as well as the Americans,
have too practical a nature and are too much grooved
with business habits, to give themselves up to it, as is
done in Italy, and in some other parts of the continent.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 237
Madame Catalan! was a large, handsome woman, a
little masculine, and past forty. She was not only a
very clever actress, but was deemed to have every
musical merit volume, compass, clearness of tone,
surpassing powers of execution. Her whole style
was dramatic, bending even the music to the senti
ments of the character and the song. Some of her
displays were almost terrific, her voice drowning the
whole soul in a flood of passion. I could appreciate,
unlettered as I was in the arts of the opera, her ama
zing powers though to say the truth, I was quite as
much astonished as pleased. Pasta and Garcia
both of whom I afterwards heard gave me infinitely
greater pleasure, chiefly because their voices pos
sessed that melody of tone which excites sympathy
in every heart even the most untutored. Madame
Catalani gave the opera a sort of epic grandeur an
almost tragic vehemence of expression ; Pasta and
Garcia rendered it the interpretation of those soft and
tender emotions which haunt the soul, and for the
expression of which God seems to have given music
to mankind. It was, no doubt, a great thing to hear
the greatest cantatrice of the age, but my remem
brance of Madame Catalani is that of a prodigy,
rather than an enchantress. On the occasion I am
describing, she sang, by request, Rule Britannia,
between the acts, which drew forth immense ap
plause, in which I heartily joined not that I liked
the words, but that I felt the music.
LETTERS BIOG K APHICAL,
It was about this time that a great attraction was
announced at one of the theatres nothing less than
the king and queen of the Sandwich Islands, who
had graciously condescended to honor the perform
ance with their presence. They had come to visit
England, and pay their homage to George the Fourth ;
hence the government deemed it necessary to receive
them with hospitality, and pay them such attentions
as were due to their rank and royal blood. The
king s name was Tamehamaha, but he had also the
sub- title or surname of Rhio-Bhio which, being in
terpreted, meant Dog of Dogs. Canning s wit got the
better of his reverence, and so he profanely suggest
ed that, if his majesty was Dog of Dogs, what must
the queen be ? However, there was an old man about
the court who had acquired the title of Poodle, and
he was selected as a fit person to attend upon their
majesties. They had their lodgings at the Adelphi
Hotel, and might be seen at all hours of the day,
looking at the puppet-shows in the street with in
tense delight. Of all the institutions of Great Bri
tain, Punch and Judy evidently made the strongest
and most favorable impression upon the royal party.
They were, I believe, received at a private inter
view by the king at Windsor ; every thing calculated
to gratify them was done. I saw them at the thea
tre, dressed in a European costume, with the addition
of some barbarous finery. The king was an enor
mous man six feet, three or four inches ; the queen
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 239
was short, but otherwise of ample dimensions. Be
sides these persons, the party comprised five or six
other members of the king p household. They had
all large, round, flat faces, of a coarse, though good-
humored expression. Their complexion was a ruddy
brown, not very unlike that of the American Indians ;
their general aspect, however, was very different, and
entirely destitute of that mysterious, ruminating air
which characterizes our children of the forest. They
looked with a kind of vacant wonder at the play,
evidently not comprehending it; the farce, on the
contrary, seemed greatly to delight them. It is sad
to relate that this amiable couple never returned to
their country ; both died in England victims either
to the climate, or the change in their habits of liv
ing.*
* The chief whom I have here noticed was Tamehamaha II. His
name is now generally spelled Karnehamaha, and his other title is writ
ten Liho-Liho. They sailed in the British ship L Aigle, October, 1823,
and arrived at Portsmouth, May, 1824. Of the twenty-five thousand
dollars shipped in their chests, only ten thousand were found twelve
thousand having been robbed, and three thousand taken for pretended
expenses. Kamamalu, the principal queen, and the two or three infe
rior wives of his majesty, exhibited themselves at first in loose trowsers
and velveteen bed-gowns but ere long their waists, for the first time,
were subjected to corsets, and their forms to Parisian fashions. They
wore native turbans, which became the rage in high circles. The king
was dressed in the English style, with certain embellishments denoting
his rank. They generally behaved with propriety, though one of the
party seeing a mullet, resembling a species common in the Sandwich
Islands, seized it and hurried home, where their majesties devoured it
raw, probably finding it the sweetest morsel they had tasted since they
left home. In June, 1824, the whole party were attacked by the mea
sles, Munui, the steward, first, and the king next. On the evening ol
the 8th the queen died, having taken an affectionate leave of her luis-
buad. Ilib heart teemed to be brokuu, uud cm the 14th ho breathed lug
240 LETTERS BIOGEAPHIOAL,
One or two items more, and this chapter shall oe
closed. Among the prominent objects of interest in
London at this period was Edward Irving, then
preaching at the Caledonian Chapel, Cross-street, Hat-
ton Gardens. He was now in the full flush of his
fame, and such was the eagerness to hear him that it
was difficult to get admission. People of all ranks,
literary men, philosophers, statesmen, noblemen, per
sons of the highest name and influence, with a full and
diversified representation of the fair sex, crowded to
his church. I was so fortunate as to get a seat in the
pew of a friend, a privilege which I appreciated all
the more, when I counted twenty coroneted coaches
standing at the door some of those who came in
them, not being able to obtain even an entrance into
the building. The interior was crowded to excess ;
the alleys were full, and even fine ladies seemed
happy to get seats upon the pulpit stairway. Persons
of the highest title were scattered here and there, and
cabinet ministers were squeezed in with the mass of
common humanity.
Mr. Irving s appearance was very remarkable. He
was over six feet in height, very broad-shouldered,
violently cross-eyed, with long black hair hanging in
heavy, twisted ringlets down upon his shoulders.
His complexion was pallid yet swarthy, the whole
last. The bodies of the royal pair were taken to their native islands,
and there interred with great pomp. The remainder of the party re
turned to their home, one of them, however, Kapihe, dying on the way,
at Valparaiso.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIOAL, ETC. 241
expression of his face half sinister and half sancti
fied creating in the mind of the beholder a painful
doubt whether he was a great saint or a great sinner.
He wore a black-silk gown, of rich material and am
ple, graceful folds. His hair was sedulously parted
so as to display one corner of his forehead, which a
white hand and a very pure linen handkerchief fre
quently wiped, yet so daintily as not to disturb the
love-locks that inclosed it.
There was a strange mixture of saintliness and
dandyism, in the whole appearance of this man. His
prayer was affected strange, quaint, peculiar, in its
phraseology yet solemn and striking. His reading
of the psalm was peculiar, and a fancy or feeling
crossed my mind that I had heard something like it,
but certainly not in a church. There was a vague min
gling in my imagination of the theatre and the house
of worship : of foot-lights, a stage, a gorgeous throng of
spectators an orchestra and a troop of players and
side by side with these there seemed to come a psalm
and a text and a preacher. I was in fact seeking to
trace out a resemblance between this strange parson
and some star of Drury Lane or Covent Garden. Sud
denly I found the clew : Edward Irving in the pulpit
was imitating Edmund Kean upon the stage ! And he
siK .Lvo<lt d admirably his tall and commanding per
son giving him an immense advantage over the little,
insignificant, yet inspired actor. He had the tones of
the latter his gestures, his looks even, as I had often
VOL. II. 11
242
seen him in Eichard the Third and Shylock. He had
evidently taken lessons of the renowned tragedian,
but whether in public or private, is not for me to say.
The text was Genesis iii. 17, 18. I will extract
from my notes, for your entertainment, a rough sketch
of the discourse.
" This malediction Cursed is the ground for thy
sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth
to thee : and thou shalt eat the herb of the field
this was the charter under which man held his exist
ence till the birth of Christ, when the benediction
Peace on earth and good-will to man, was pro
nounced. Since that time, these two principles and
powers the malediction and the benediction have
been at strife. To trace some of the consequences
of this conflict is our present business.
" Moses discriminates between the two natures of
man, by first stating the creation of his body as the
completion of one distinct part or portion of his na
ture, and then the Creator breathing into him a liv
ing soul, or more literally the spirit of lives, thus
completing the other portion of his being.
" I can not but pause a moment to note the stri
king coincidence between the statement of Moses
and the result of philosophic speculation, which now
makes the same discrimination ; the study of the
structure of the body, or physiology, being one
branch of science, and the study of the mind or spi-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 243
rit, called metaphysics, being another. The French
school, some time since, blended the whole nature of
man in one physical organization, and Helvetius
found in the sensibility of the fingers, all the rudi
ments the entire foundation of the moral and in
tellectual faculties of man. This crept into English
philosophy, until the immortal mind was degraded
into a mere tool of the body : the crumbling, earthy
tenement alone was regarded, while the godlike in
habitant was made its servant and its slave.
" Let us do justice to the truth ! The spirit con
sists of three parts : the understanding, which dis-
courseth of sensible ideas and powers the basis of
what is called knowledge ; the reason, which dis-
courseth of insensible objects and insensible ideas,
and has relation to principles and abstract science ;
and conscience, which discourseth of duty, and hath
regard to the relations between man and man, and
also between man and his Maker.
" Now the proper vocation of the body is to min
ister to the spirit in this threefold character.
"Yet, I grieve to say it the conduct of mankind
reverses this system : it is the faculties of the spirit,
debased from their high mission, which are every
where made subservient to the body. I am loth to
pain and disgust you with pictures in evidence of
this, but every speculation should be supported by
fact. I beg you therefore to consider the state of
things in this city the Babylon around us. Divest
244 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
yourselves of that magic influence which is exercised
by the term people of that morbid fashion of see
ing in low vice and humble misery, only matter for
mirth and song ; of that cruel taste which haunts the
dark and dismal courts and lanes and labyrinths of
labor, of want and wretchedness, for subjects for the
pencil and the stage. Stand all aloof from the sad
jollity with which unthinking men survey such scenes.
Wrap the mantle of immortality about thee and go
forth, and in the scales of eternity, weigh the things
thou seest !
" In the gray of the morning, you hear beneath
your casement the heavy tread of the laborer plod
ding to his toil. This gradually increases, till one
pervading volume of sound shakes every part of the
city. Go forth and study the scene the producers
of this mighty uproar the wagoner plodding by the
side of his heavy wain, the porter staggering beneath
his burden, the scavenger picking and prowling among
the ofM the hundreds, the thousands, pouring along
in a tide, and bent on their various labors. Survey
them as they pass, and how fearfully is the heart smit
ten with the fact that these are reversing the true order
of human destiny : not one among them is subjecting
the body to the mind all are subjecting the mind
to the body all are submitting themselves to the
Malediction of the outcasts of Eden, as if the Bene
diction of the gospel had never been pronounced.
From the gray dawn to the deep night, these beings,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 245
to whom is offered the bread of immortal life, are
occupied with the poor thought of gaining a few
crusts to feed the mortal body !
" If we turn to the higher classes, the picture is
equally dark, and perhaps even more discouraging.
Whatever we may here find of spiritual culture or
intellectual tastes, we still see that the cares, the pas
sions, the desires of the body, though they may often
be disguised and refined, still master the soul. The
being, whose imagination is capable of reaching the
stars, and whose power of faith might carry him to
the throne of God and the companionship of angels
and just men made perfect those whose ample means
raise them above the groveling necessities of life
still cling to this earthly footstool, still think only of
the pleasures of this fleeting animal existence. What
ever there may be of soul, in their pursuits, is a sub
jugation of it to the senses. A subtle epicureanism
pervades the whole atmosphere they breathe. Pleas
ure, ambition, pride, the desire of honor, of wealth,
of name, fame all hopes, all fears center in the
little narrow kingdom of these poor five senses.
These which were given only as windows from which
the soul might look out upon immortality, are used
as doors and avenues by which the soul passes into
its prison-house of earthly enjoyments. Thus the
gifted, the rich, the exalted, the favorites of fortune
are, after all, forgetful of the bread of life, and
while pampering the body with oil and wine, are
246 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
starving the soul with shriveled husks and unsatis
fying straw.
" How hard, how disheartening is the steep ascent
of duty, which calls upon us to contend with a world
thus embattled against the truth. And yet, as sol
diers of the cross, we may not ground our arms. If
we can not do all we would, let us at least accomplish
what we may. To-day, I ask you here to join me, not
in the impossible, but the possible. If the poor re
ject the bread of life, it is perhaps not altogether by
choice : the heavy sin of Dives, who, being rich and
able to choose, preferred a sensual life, is not laid
upon their souls the groveling necessities of Lazarus
have subdued them, crushed them, mastered them. It
is through ignorance, through peculiar temptations,
through the cares and needs of life, that they thus go
astray. The mother, uncertain of bread, alike for her
self and her offspring the father, anxious lest he shall
not have a shelter for those whom Grod has given him
how can these think of aught but the immediate
pressing cares of the body ? How can these slaves of
mortality put on immortality? Let Christianity kneel,
mourning and penitent, at the throne of grace, and
confessing that these things are so, rouse itself, and
say they shall be so no longer. I see around me the
great, the powerful : let them speak, and the work is
done. Let us carry Comfort to the poor, and as that
enters one door, the Gospel with its glad tidings, will
come in at the other. Each may do something.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 24:7
None are too high, none too humble, to assist in this
glorious work. The rich, the proud, the strong, in
the confidence of their strength, may reject even the
bread of life ; the poor will welcome it. Believe the
famished body from its suffering for the want of daily
bread, and the soul, delivered from its humiliation,
will ascend to the throne of grace, and God will bless
it, and he will bless you also who have ministered to
the good work."
This is a mere outline of the discourse, and only
gives an idea of its general drift and argument. The
phraseology which was rich, flowing, redundant, and
abounding in illustration, and seemed to me carefully
modeled after that of Jeremy Taylor I did not at
tempt to preserve. In spite of the evident affectation,
the solemn dandyism, the dramatic artifices of the
performer for, after all, I could only consider the
preacher as an actor the sermon was very impres
sive. Some of the pictures presented to the imagi
nation were startling, and once or twice it seemed
as if the whole audience was heaving and swelling
with intense emotion, like a sea rolling beneath the
impulses of a tempest. The power of the thought,
aided by the deep, sympathetic voice of the speaker,
and still further enforced by his portentous figure
and emphatic action, overrode all drawbacks, and
carried the whole heart and imagination along upon
its rushing tide. Considered as a display of orator
ical art, it was certainly equal to any thing I have
248 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
ever heard from the pulpit; yet it did not appeal
to me calculated to have any permanent effect in
enforcing Christian truth upon the conscience. The
preacher seemed too much a player, and too little an
apostle ; the afterthought was, that the whole effect
was the result of stage trick, and not of sober truth.
The character and career of Edward Irving present
a strange series of incongruities. He was born in Scot
land in 1792 ; he became a preacher, and acquired
speedy notoriety, as much by his peculiarities as his
merits. He attracted the attention of Dr. Chalmers,
and through his influence was for a time assistant
minister in the parish of St. John s, at Glasgow.
From this place he was called to the Caledonian
Chapel, where I heard him. His fame continued to
increase ; and having published a volume of dis
courses, under the quaint title, " For the Oracles of
God, four Orations ; for Judgment to come, an Ar
gument in nine Parts" three large editions of the
work were sold in the space of six months. Where-
ever he preached, crowds of eager listeners flocked to
hear him. His eccentricities increased with his fame.
He drew out his discourses to an enormous length,
and on several occasions protracted the services to
four hours ! He soon became mystical, and took to
studying unfulfilled prophecy, as the true key to the
interpretation of the scriptures. From this extrava
gance, he passed to the doctrine that Christians, by
the power of faith, can attain to the working of mira-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 24:9
cles and speaking with unknown tongues, as in the
primitive ages. Such at last were his vagaries, that
he was cut off from communion with the Scottish
Church ; in consequence, he became the founder of a
sect which continues to the present time in England,
bearing the title of Irvingites. Worn out with anx
iety and incessant labors, he died at Glasgow, while
on a journey for his health, in 1834, at the early age
of forty -two.
The history of this extraordinary man teaches us
various important lessons. It shows us that genius,
even though it be allied to sincerity, is easily led
astray by flattery and personal vanity ; that eccentri
city naturally ends in extravagance; that fanaticism is
not superior to the use of artifice and affectation, even
when they invade the pulpit and assume the badge
of the preacher of the gospel ; in short, that a man of
great gifts, if so be he is not controlled by common
sense if he do not conform his conduct to that
every-day but safe regulator, called propriety is very
apt to become a misguiding and bewildering light to
his fellow-men, just in proportion as his abi^^es may
surpass those of other persons. A large oreervation
of mankind has satisfied me that a great man, even
though he be a preacher, if he despises the sugges
tions of good sense, decency, congruity, usually be
comes a great curse. Nearly all the religious vaga
ries which have led the world astray, have originated
with individuals of this character. A large portion
11*
250 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
of the infidelity of mankind has its origin in the
foibles of those who are set up as the great lights of
Christianity.
One more event I must notice the arrival in Lon
don of the mortal remains of Lord Byron, and their
lying in state previous to interment. His body had
been preserved in-spirits, and was thus brought from
Greece, attended by five persons of his lordship s
suite. Having been transferred to the coffin, it was
exhibited at the house of Sir Edward Knatchball,
No. 20 Great George-street, on Friday and Saturday,
the 9th and 10th of July, 1824. It caused a profound
sensation, and such were the crowds that rushed to
behold the spectacle, that it was necessary to defend
the coffin with a stout wooden railing. When I ar
rived at the place the lid was closed ; I was told,
however, that the countenance, though the finer lines
had collapsed, was so little changed as to be easily
recognized by his acquaintances. The general mus
cular form of the body was perfectly preserved.
The aspect of the scene, even as I witnessed it,
was altogether very impressive. The coffin was cov
ered witn a pall, enriched by escutcheons wrought in
gold. On the top was a lid, set round with black
plumes. Upon it were these words
"GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON.
BORN IN LONDON, 22n JANUARY, 1788 :
DIED AT MISSOLONGHI, APRIL 19TH, 1824."
liVKO.N s COKKIN. Vol 2, |). 250
V;
;:**
HISTORICAL, ANKCDOTICAL, ETC. 251
At the head of the coffin was an urn containing the
ashes of his brain and heart this being also covered
with a rich pall, wrought with figures in gold. The
windows were closed, and the darkened room was
feebly illumined by numerous wax-tapers.
And this was all that remained of Byron ! What
a lesson upon the pride of genius, the vanity of rank,
the fatuity of fame all leveled in the dust, and de
spite the garnished pall and magnificent coffin, their
possessor was bound to pass through the same pro
cess of corruption as the body of a common beggar.
And the soul the soul ?
Ah, what questions rose in my mind as I stood
beside that coffin ! Where art thou, Byron ? What
art thou? I have never seen thee I have never
known thee, face to face : yet hast thou often spoken
to me, and in words that can never die ! Thou art
not dead that were impossible : speak to me, then !
Tell me for such as thou might break the seal of
the grave what art thou? where art thou? Whis
per in my ear the dread secret of the tomb ! Thou
art silent even thou. How fearful, how terrible is
that spell which holds lips like thine Childe Harold,
Manfred, Cain in the bondage of perpetual stillness!
This, indeed, is death !
252
LETTER XLV.
fieturn to America Removal to Boston Literary position of Boston
Prominent literary characters The Press The Pulpit the Bar New
York now the literary metropolis My publication of various works
The Legendary N. P. Willis The era of Annuals The Token The
artists engaged in it The authors Its termination.
MY DEAR 0******
Having made a hurried trip to Paris and back
to London, I departed for Liverpool, and thence em
barked for the United States, arriving there in Octo
ber, 1824. I remained at Hartford till October, 1826,
as already stated, and then removed to Boston, with
the intention of publishing original works, and at the
same time of trying my hand at authorship the latter
part of my plan, however, known only to myself.
At that time, Boston was notoriously the literary
metropolis of the Union the admitted Athens of
America. Edward Everett had established the North
American Keview,* and though he had now just left
the editorial chair, his spirit dwelt in it, and his fame
lingered around it. Kich d H. Dana, Edw d T. Chan-
ning, Jared Sparks, George Bancroft, and others, were
among the rising lights of the literary horizon. The
* The North American was founded in 1815, by William Tudor, who
had previously been one of the principal supporters of the Monthlj
Anthology. Mr. Everett, however, may be said to have given perma
nency to the publication by his masterly administration of the editorial
department
HISTORICAL, ANECDOT1CAL, ETO. 253
newspaper press presented the witty and caustic Gal
axy, edited by Buckingham ; the dignified and schol
arly Daily Advertiser, conducted by Nathan Hale ;*
and the frank, sensible, manly Centinel, under the ed
itorial patriarch Benjamin Kussell. Channing was
in the pulpit and Webster at the forum. Society was
strongly impressed with literary tastes; genius was
respected and cherished : a man, in those days, who
had achieved a literary fame, was at least equal to a
president of a bank, or a treasurer of a manufactur
ing company. The pulpit shone bright and far, with
the light of scholarship radiated from the names of
Beecher, Greenwood, Pierpont, Lowell, Palfry,
Doane, Stone, Frothingham, Gannett: the bar also
reflected the glory of letters through H. G. Otis,
Charles Jackson, William Prescott, Benjamin Gor-
ham, Willard Philips, James T. Austin, among the
older members, and Charles G. Loring, Charles P.
Curtis, Richard Fletcher, Theophilus Parsons, Frank
lin Dexter, J. Quincy, jr., Edward G. Loring, Benj.
E. Curtis, among the younger. The day had not yet
come when it was glory enough for a college profes
sor to marry a hundred thousand dollars of stocks,
or when it was the chief end of a lawyer to become
* The Boston Daily Advertiser was founded in March, 1814, and Mr.
Hale began lii.s editorial career with it. It may be taken as the moclu
of the highest class of newspapers in the United States able, calm, sin
cere, wise, and gentlemanly. It would be difficult to name a single jour
nal in any country which, in a union of these qualities, takes rank above
it. In the United States there are some which emulate it, but few, if
any, which surpass it.
254: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
the attorney of an insurance company, or a bank, or
a manufacturing corporation. Corporations, without
souls, had not yet become the masters and moulders of
the soul of society. Books with a Boston imprint had
a prestige equal to a certificate of good paper, good
print, good binding, and good matter. And while
such was the state of things at Boston, how was it at
New York? Why, all this time the Harpers, who
till recently had been mere printers in Dover-street,
had scarcely entered upon their career as publishers,*
and the Appletons,f Putnam, Derby, the Masons, and
other shining lights in the trade of New York at the
present time, were either unborn, or in the nursery,
or at school.
What a revolution do these simple items suggest
wrought in the space of thirty years ! The scepter
has departed from Judah : New York is now the
* James Harper, the eldest of the four brothers now associated in the
concern, served his time as apprentice to the trade of printing to Abm.
Paul, of New York ; he and his brother John commenced as printers
in Dover-street, 1817 ; in 1818, having removed to Fulton-street, they
printed and published Locke s Essays, which was their first enterprise
as publishers. For a long time their publications were almost exclu
sively foreign books : at the present time, three-fourths are American
works. Their Magazine publishes about one hundred and seventy
thousand numbers a month, and surpasses any other publication of the
kind in its circulation. The publishing establishment of the Messrs.
Harper, the legitimate result of industry, discretion, energy, and prob
ity, is justly the pride of New York, and one of the reflected glories of
our literature, probably surpassing every other establishment of the
kind in the world in its extent and the perfectness of its organization.
t The present eminent publishing house of Appleton & Co., consisting
of Mr. W. Appleton and his four brothers, was founded by their father,
Daniel Appleton, who came from New England to New York about the
year 1826. He died in 1849, aged fifty-eight.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 255
acknowledged metropolis of American literature, as
weTTas of art and commerce. Nevertheless, if we
look at Boston literature -at the present time, as re
flected in the publishing lists of Messrs. Little, Brown
& Co., Ticknor & Fields, Philips, Sampson & Co.,
Crocker & Brewster, Gould & Lincoln, we shall see
that the light of other days has not degenerated.
Is it not augmented, indeed for since the period I
speak of, Prescott, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Whipple,
Holmes, Lowell, Hillard, have joined the Boston con
stellation of letters ?
It can not be interesting to you to know in detail
my business operations in Boston at this period. It
will be sufficient to say, that among other works I
published an edition of the novels of Charles Brock-
den Brown, with a life of the author, furnished by
his widow, she having a share of the edition. I also
published an edition of Hannah More s works, and
also of Mrs. Opie s works these being, I believe, the
first complete collections of the writings of these sev
eral authors. In 1827 I published Sketches by 1ST. P.
Willis, his first adventure in responsible authorship.
The next year I issued the Common-place Book of
Prose, the first work of the now celebrated Dr. Chee-
VQT. This was speedily followed by the Common-place
Book of Poetry and Studies in Poetry, by the same
author.*
* Among my lesser publications were Beauties of the Souvenirs, His-
x>ry of the Kings and Queens of France, Beauties of the Waverley Nov-
LETTEES BIOGKAPHICAL,
In 1828, 1 published a first, and soon after a second,
volume of the Legendary, designed as a periodical,
and to consist of original pieces in prose and verse,
principally illustrative of American history, scenery,
and manners.* This was edited by N. P. Willis, and
was, I believe, his first editorial engagement. Among
els, Blair s Outlines of Ancient History, Blair s Outlines of Chronology,
Blair s History of England, C. A. Goodrich s Outlines of Modern Geog
raphy, the American Journal of Education, issued monthly, Poems by
Mrs. Sigourney, Kecords of the Spanish Inquisition, translated from
the original documents by S. Kettell, Comstock s Mineralogy, Child s
Botany, Sad Tales and Glad Tales by G. Mellen, Mary s Journey, Memoirs
of a New England Village Choir, Specimens of American Poetry, 3 vols.,
edited by S. Kettell, Universal History, illustrated, copied, with addi
tions, from Straus, the Garland of Flora, Balbi s Geography, edited by
T. G. Bradford, Historical Cyclopaedia, edited by F. A. Durivage, and
doubtless some others, which I have forgotten. These were mostly
original works. After 1835, I ceased to be a publisher, except for my
own works ; since 1845, these have been entirely published by others.
* I give a few extracts from a criticism of this work upon its first ap
pearance: these will serve to show the estimate put upon some of the
productions of popular authors at that time, by a noted critic ; they will
also show a state of things strikingly in contrast with the habits of the
present day for the reviewer found time and patience to notice, seria
tim, every article in the book, some thirty in number. This was the
day of great things in criticism, and small things in the production of
materials for criticism.
"KEVIEW. THE LEGENDAKY.
"It would be a reproach to our country, if the proprietor of a work of
this nature, got up under circumstances so favorable to the growth of
our native literature even if the Legendary were no better than the
mob of books that one may see every day of the year pouring forth out
of the shops of people who pay more for puffs than for copyrights a
reproach to our country, I vow, if he were to suffer by the enterprise.
If we are to have a literature of our own, we must pay for it; and they
who are the first to pay for it, deserve to be the first to be repaid for it
with usury. * * *
" The first of the tales, by the author of Hobomok, is called the
Church of the Wilderness. Here we have the serene, bold, and beau
tiful style of writing which had to be found fault with in the review of
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 257
the contributors I find the names of Halleck, Crosby,
Lunt, W. G. Clark, H. Pickering, J. 0. Rockwell,
Miss Sedge wick, Miss Francis, Mrs. Sigourney, Wil
lis, Pierpont, Cutter, I. M Lellan, Jr., J. W. Miller,
and other popular writers of that day. It was kind
ly treated by the press, which generously published
Hoboinok no, not of Hobomok, of some other story by the same
author, the title of which I forget. What I said then, I say now.
" The second affair is a piece by a young man of this town Wm.
Cutter whom I never suspected before of poetry. It is called the
Valley of Silence, and of a truth will bear to be treated as poetry. *
* * But I do not believe that in a poem of forty lines, it would be fair
piny for any author to repeat the same idea more than eighty times, or
that HUSHING and RUSHING are altogether where they should be in the
forty lines now before me. For example, we have a bird that hushed
his breath, and we have the hush of the slumbering air, and we have
echoes hushed in their caves, and a hush that is grand, not awful,
and a hushed worship, and hushed voices, and all those by- baby-
bunting epithets in one single poem ! * * *
" Unwritten Poetry, by N. P. W., the editor of the Legendary.
There are touches of exquisite beauty in this paper, and not a little of
what, to speak reverently of a brother poet, I should cull heavenly non-
" Descriptive Sonnets, by Mr. H. Pickering. I hate sonnets; I
never saw a good one, and never shall.
" The Clouds: Grenville Mellen. Would this were better would
it were worthier of my young friend. Some of the ideas are beautiful,
and some powerful ; but the abrupt termination of almost every stanza,
the truncated air of the finest passages a line being a period by itself
who that knows poetry, or knows what poetry should be, oan forgive, ?
" The Pampas of Buenos Ayres, by I. M Lellan, jr. Here we have a
poet ; I do not mean to say that here we have poetry, or, properly speak
ing, much poetry for some there certainly is in every paragraph ; but
simply that the author has within him a sure, and I believe a deep well
of poetry. If he has, however, he will never know its depth, nor
what riches may lie there, till the waters have been troubled by an
angel if you like, for angels are mighty troublesome now, as well as of
yore, to the fountains of life and health.
" The Haunted Grave: E. P. Blount. Never heard of this writer
before. Who is he? He shows talent strong, decided, peculiar talent.
" Extract from a Journal, &c. Mellenr-hey ? A mere scratch or
258 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
without charge, the best pieces in full, saving the
reading million the trouble of buying the book and
paying for the chaff, which was naturally found with
the wheat. Despite this courtesy, the work proved
a miserable failure. The time had not come for such
a publication : at the present day, with the present
two of a free pen. The author, if it is he, will make a better figure in
prose yet than he ever made in poetry. I do not speak of this paper,
but of others that I know to be his.
" Grave of an Unknown Genius :" Joseph H. Nichols. Good poetry
here, though not much. The best is
And worthy of their harps was he,
Worthy to wake with them, the grand
War-anthem, or the music free
Of love, with burning Up and hand?
" Mere Accident: N. P. Willis. Bather too Tom Moorish. How
ever, let that pass. For, do ye know, ye blue-eyed, fair-haired girls,
and ye of the dark, lamping eyes and a shadowy crown do ye not
know that the old proverb about kissing and telling is not worth a fig ?
I ll give you a better one : They that kiss never tell and they that tell
never kiss.
" The Nun, by Emma C. Manly. High and pure and sensible
poetry. But who is Emma C. Manly? Is it not another name fo.
N. P. W. ?
" Romance in Eeal Life: author of Redwood. This very sensible
and happy writer, if she had more courage, and were willing to tell the
very truth and nothing but the truth of our country manners, would be
more thought of a hundred years hence than she is now.
" Ascutney : Mrs. A. M. Wells. Upon my word, it is very encour
aging to see what a few of our Yankee women are about in the world of
literature. They only want fair play to shoot ahead of their teachers,
the hatted ones of our earth.
" Telling the Dream: Willis. Heigho ! " Do dreams always prove
true, lunthe ?" I say, brother Willis, you deserve to be whipped back
ward through your alphabet for the false quantity in that last line the
very pith and marrow of the whole poem. Up with your fingers, and
count them ; out with your hand for the ferule, or shut your eyes and
open your mouth, like a good boy, and see what the ladies will send
you. And then Do dreams always prove true, lanthe? * * *
" The Bruce s Heart, by the author of Moral Pieces. Very good
poetry, and very like what a ballad of our time should be a ballad of
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 259
accessories, and the present public spirit, I doubt not
that such an enterprise would be eminently successful.
I believe I have already -alluded to the Age of An
nuals * the first work of the kind, entitled the For
get-me-not, having been issued by the Ackermans of
London, in the winter of 1823, while I was in that city.
It was successfully imitated by Carey & Lea, at Phil
adelphia, in a work entitled the Atlantic Souvenir,
and which was sustained with great spirit for several
years. In 1828 I commenced and published the first
volume of the Token, and which I continued for fif
teen years, editing it myself, with the exception of
the volume for 1829, which came out under the aus
pices of Mr. Willis. In 1836 the Atlantic Souvenir
ceased, and after that time, by arrangement with the
publishers, its title was added to that of the Token.
the war, I mean. But I liave always a but in reserve, you know why
deal so with the Moors ? * * *
" Columbus, by J. W. Miller. This man must be capable of writing
magnificent poetry. The proof:
Stands he upon the narrow deck
Of yon lone caravel,
Whose tall shape as with princely beck
Bound to the heaving swell ;
And when the conqueror o er her side
Crossed meekly, rose with living pride"
From the Yankee, June 28, 1828.
* We are doubtless indebted to the Germans for originating the race
of Animals, but Ackerman s Forget-me-not was the first attempt at pro
ducing them with all the luxurious embellishments of art, and which
became, in fact, their distinctive characteristic. At first the literary de
partment was held inferior to the mechanical, but at last, Scott, Rogers,
Campbell, Mr.s. llemans, Moore, &c., in England, and Bryant, Irving,
Ilalleck, in America, became contributors to these works ; nay, Bryant,
Sands, and Verplanck produced in New York an annual entitled the
Talisman, and which was continued for three years
260 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
The success of this species of publication, stimula
ted new enterprises of the kind, and a rage for them
spread over Europe and America. The efforts of the
first artists and the first writers were at length drawn
into them, and for nearly twenty years every autumn
produced an abundant harvest of Diadems, Bijous,
/Pearls, Gems, Amethysts, Opals, Amaranths, Bou
quets, Hyacinths, Amulets, Talismans, Forget-me-
uots, Kemember-me s, &c.* Under these seductive
titles, they became messengers of love, tokens of
i riendship, signs and symbols of affection, and lux
ury and refinement ; and thus they stole alike into the
palace and the cottage, the library, the parlor, and the
boudoir. The public taste grew by feeding on these
* Besides these Annuals, there were, in England and the United
States, the following :
Gift, Keepsake, Souvenir, Literary Souvenir, Boudoir, Floral Offering,
Friendship s Offering, Iris, Laurel, Wreath, Jewel, Cabinet, Drawing-
room Annual, Pictorial Annual, Continental Annual, Picturesque An
nual, Fancy Annual, Court Album, Anniversary, Pearls of the East,
Pearls of the West, The Favorite, The Rhododendron, The Waif, The
Gleaner, The Rose, and many others. Among the works which may be
considered as successors of the Annuals, being all splendidly illustra
ted, there were Tableaux of Prose and Poetry, Baronial Halls of Eng
land, Authors of England, Artist s Sketch Book, Book of Art, Book
of the Passions, Calendar of Nature, Continental Sketches, Etched
Thoughts, Finden s Tableaux, Wanderings of Pen and Pencil, Tales of
the Brave and the Fair, Poetry of the Year, British Ballads, Book of
Art, Book of the Passions, Gems of British Poetry, Lays of Ancient
Rome, and a multitude of others.
The eifect of the circulation of such works as these, in creating and
extending a taste for the arts, and in their most exquisite forms, can only
be appreciated by those who have examined and reflected upon the sub
ject. Even in the United States alone, four thousand volumes of one
of these works, at the price of twelve dollars each, have been sold in a
single season ! Not five hundred would have been sold in the same
space of time, twenty years ago.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 261
luscious gifts, and soon craved even more gorgeous
works of the kind, whence came Heath s Book of
Beauty, Lady Blessington. s Flowers of Loveliness,
Bulwer s Pilgrims of the Rhine, Butler s Leaflets of
Memory, Christmas among the Poets, and many
others of similar design and execution. Many of
the engravings of these works cost five hundred
dollars each, and many a piece of poetry, fifty dollars
a page. In several of these works the generous pub
lic spent fifty thousand dollars a year !
At last the race of Annuals drew near the end of
its career, yet not without having produced a certain
revolution in the public taste. Their existence had
sprung, at least in part, from steel-engraving, which
had been discovered and introduced by our country
man, Jacob Perkins. This enabled the artist to pro
duce works of more exquisite delicacy than had ever
before been achieved ; steel also gave the large num
ber of impressions which the extensive sales of the
Annuals demanded, and which could not have been
obtained from copper. These charming works scat
tered the very gems of art far and wide, making
the reading mass familiar with the finest specimens
of engraving, and not only cultivating an appetite
for this species of luxury, but in fact exalting the
general standard of taste all over the civilized world.
And thus, though the Annuals, by name, have per
ished, they left a strong necessity in the public mind
for books enriched by all the embellishments of art.
LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Hence we have such works as the Women of the
Bible, Women of the New Testament, the Republican
Court, by Dr. Griswold, together with rich illustrated
editions of Byron, Rogers, Thomson, Cowper, Camp
bell, and others, including our own poets Bryant,
Halleck, Sigourney, Longfellow, Reed, &c. Wood-
/engraving has, meanwhile, risen into a fine art, and
lent its potent aid in making books one of the chief
luxuries of society, from the nursery to the parlor.
In comparison with these splendid works, the To
ken was a very modest affair. The first year I offered
prizes for the best pieces in prose and poetry. The
highest for prose was awarded to the author of
" Some Passages in the Life of an Old Maid." A
mysterious man, in a mysterious way, presented him
self for the money, and, giving due evidence of his
authority to receive it, it was paid to him, but who
the author really was, never transpired, though I had,
and still have, my confident guess upon the sub
ject* Even the subsequent volumes, though they
obtained favor in their day, did not approach the splen
dor of the modern works of a similar kind. Never
theless, some of the embellishments, by John Cheney, j
* The prizes were one hundred dollars for the best piece in prose, and
the same for the best in verse. The judges Charles Sprague, F. W.
P. Greenwood, and J. Pierpont hesitated between two pieces for the
latter : The Soldier s Widow, by Willis, and Connecticut River, by Mrs.
Sigourney. They finally recommended that the prize be divided be
tween them, which was accepted by the authors.
t John Cheney, who may be regarded as the first of American engra
vers in sweetness of expression and delicacy of execution, was a native oi
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 263
Ellis, Smilie, Andrews, Hatch, Kelly, Danforth, Du-
rand, and Jewett, engraved from the designs of Alls-
ton, Leslie, Newton, Cole, Jnman, Fisher, Doughty,
Chapman, Weir, Brown, Alexander, and Healey,
were very clever, even compared with the finest
works of art at the present day.
The literary contributions were, I believe, equal,
on the whole, to any of the Annuals, American or
European. Here were inserted some of the earliest
\
productions of Willis, Hawthorne, Miss Francis, now
Mrs. Child, Miss Sedgewick, Mrs. Hale, Pierpont,
Greenwood, and Longfellow. Several of these first
made acquaintance with the public through the pages
of this work. It is a curious fact that the latter,
Longfellow, wrote prose, and at that period had
shown neither a strong bias nor a particular talent
for poetry.
The Token was continued annually till 1842,
when it finally ceased. The day of Annuals had, in
deed, passed before this was given up, and the last
Manchester, eight miles east of Hartford, Conn. When I first met him,
he was working at Hartford with Mr. Willard, a map engraver. I en
couraged him to come to Boston, and for several years, during which
time he visited London and Paris, he was wholly employed for the To
ken. His brother Seth, not less celebrated for his admirable portraits
in crayon, was also induced to come to Boston by me, making my house
at Jamaica Plain, his stopping place at the beginning. Both these ad
mirable artists are wholly self-taught. They have six brothers, the
youngest of whom made some valuable improvement in machinery
which led to the establishment of a silk manufactory at their native
place, which some of the rest have joined, and it has uiude all rich who
are concerned in it.
LETTEES - BIOGRAPHICAL
two or three years, it had only lingered out a poor
and fading existence. As a matter of business, it
scarcely paid its expenses, and was a serious draw
back upon my time and resources for fifteen years
a punishment no doubt fairly due to an obstinate
pride which made me reluctant to allow a work to
die in my hands, with which my name and feelings
had become somewhat identified.
LETTER XLVI.
The Contributors to the Toker^-N. P. Willis N. Hawthorne Miss Francis
Mr. Greenwood Mr. Pierpont Charles Sprague Mrs. Sigourney
Miss Sedgwick Mrs. Osgood, and others Quarrels between Autftors and
Publishers Anecdotes The Publisliers 1 Festival.
Mr DEAR 0******
As to the contributors for the Token, you may
expect me to say a few words more. The most prom
inent writer for it was 1ST. P. Willis ; his articles were
the most read, the most admired, the most abused,
and the most advantageous to the work. I published
his first book, and his two first editorial engagements
were with me ; hence the early portion of his literary
career fell under my special notice.
He had begun to write verses very early, and while
in college, before he was eighteen, he had acquired an
extended reputation, under the signature of Koy. In
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 265
1827, when he was just twenty years old, I published
his volume entitled u Sketches." It brought out quite
a shower of criticism, in which praise and blame were
about equally dispensed : at the same time the work
sold with a readiness quite unusual for a book of
poetry at that period. It is not calculated to estab
lish the infallibility of critics, to look over these no
tices at the present day : many of the pieces which
were doubly damned have now taken their place
among the acknowledged gems of our literature, and
others, which excited praise at the time, have faded
from the public remembrance.
One thing is certain everybody thought Willis
worth criticising.* He has been, I suspect, more writ-
* In 1831, there appeared in Boston a little book, of some fifty or sixty
pages, entitled, " Truth : A New Year s Gift for Scribblers." It was writ
ten by Joseph Snelling, who had been, I believe, an under officer in the
United States army, and stationed in the Northwest, perhaps at Prairie
du Chien. He came to Boston, and acquired some notoriety as a ner
vous and daring writer his chief desire seeming to be, notoriety. The
work was little more than a string of abuse, without regard to justice ;
yet it was executed with point and vigor, and as it attacked everybody
who had written verses, it caused a good deal of wincing. The follow
ing is the exordium :
"Moths, millers, gnats, and butterflies, I sing;
Far-darting Phoebus, lend my strain a sting;
Much-courted virgins, long-enduring Nine,
Screw tight the catgut of tliis lyre of mine:
If D-na, D-\ves, and P-rp-nt ask your aid,
If "W-ll-s takes to rhyming as a trade,
If L-nt and F-nn to Piiidus top aspire,
I too may blameless beg one spark of fire;
Not such as warmed the brains of Pope and Swift
With loss assistance I can make a shift:
To Gilford s bow and shafts I lay no claim
lit- shot, at hawks, but I at insects aim :
Yet grant, since I must war on little thlngi,
Just flame enough to singe their puny wings;
VOL. IL 12
266 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
ten about than any other literary man in our history.
Some of the attacks upon him proceeded, no doubt,
from a conviction that he was a man of extraordi
nary gifts, and yet of extraordinary affectations, and
the lash was applied in kindness, as that of a school
master to a loved pupil s back ; some of them were
dictated by envy, for we have had no other example
of literary success so early, so general, and so natter
ing. That Mr. Willis made mistakes in literature
and life at the outset may be admitted by his best
A feather besom, too, to bring them down,
And pins to stick them in my beaver s crown."
*****
Here are specimens from the body of the work:
"The wax still sticking to his fingers ends,
The upstart Wh-tt-r, for example, lends
The world important aid to understand
What s said, and sung, and printed in the land."
*****
" Tis plain the county Cumberland, in Maine,
Contains no hospital for folks insane :
Though never there, the fact I notidng doubt,
Since N-al and M-ll-n run at large about.
When the moon waxes, plaintive M-ll-n howls;
But Johnny, like a bull-dog, snaps and growls;
Or strikes his brother poetasters mute
With harsh vibrations on his three-stringed lute."
*****
"Dear Halleck, Nature s favorite and mine,
Curst be the hand that plucks a hair of thine:
Accept the tribute of a muse inclined
To bow to nothing, save the power of mind.
Bard of Bozzaris, shall thy native shore
List to thy harp and mellow voice no more ?
Shall we, with skill like thine so nigh at hand,
Import our music from a foreign land ?
While Mirror M-rr-s chants in whimpering note,
And croaking D-na strains his screech-owl throat;
While crazy N-al to meter shakes his chains,
And fools are found to listen to his strains;
While childish Natty P. the public diddles,
And L-ut and K-ckw-11 scrape his second fiddles;
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 267
friends; for it must be remembered that before lie
was five-arid-twenty, he was more read than any
other American poet of his time; and besides, being
possessed of an easy and captivating address, he be
came the pet of society, and especially of the fairei
portion of it. Since that period, his life, on the
whole, has been one of serious, useful, and successful
labor. His reputation as a poet has hardly advanced,
and probably the public generally regard some of his
early verses as his best. As an essayist, however, he
While Brooks, and Sands, and Smith, and either Clark,
In chase of Phoebus, howl, and yelp, and bark
Wilt thou be silent? Wake, O Halleck, wake!
Thine and thy country s honor are at stake!
Wake, and redeem the pledge thy vantage keep;
Tis pity, one like thee so long should sleep!"
*****
" One bard there is I almost fear to name,
Much doubting whether to applaud or blame.
In P-rc-v-1 s productions, wheat and chaff
Are mixed, like sailor s tipple, half ;;nd half;
But, duly bolted through the critic s mill,
I find the better part is wholesome still"
The following is a part of the amiable notice bestowed upon Willis :
"Muse, shall we not a few brief lines afford
To give poor Natty P. his meet reward?
What has he done to be despised by all
Within whose hands his harmless scribblings fall?
Wtiy, as in band box-trim he walks the streets,
Turns up the nose of every man he meets,
As if it scented carrion ? Why, of late,
Do all the critics claw his shallow pate?
True, he s a fool; if that s a hanging thing,
Let Pr-nt-ce, Wh-tt-r, M-ll-n also swing."
Willis replied contemptuously, but effectively, in some half-dozen
verses inserted in the Statesman, and addressed to Smelling Joseph.
The lines stuck to poor Snelling for the remainder of his life, and I
suspect, in fact, contributed to his downfall. As he had attacked
everybody, everybody joined in the chuckle. He soon fell into habits
of dissipation, which led from one degradation to another, till b> nis-
erable career was ended.
268 LETTERS BIOGEAPHICAL,
stands in the first rank, distinguished for a keen sa
gacity in analyzing societ} 7 , a fine perception of the
beauties of nature, an extraordinary talent for en
dowing trifles with interest and meaning. As a trav
eler, he is among the most entertaining, sagacious,
and instructive. It is within my knowledge, that
Mr. Webster was an admiring reader of his itinerary
sketches.
, His style is certainly peculiar and is deemed af
fected, tending to an excess of refinement, and dis
playing an undue hankering for grace and melody
sometimes sacrificing sense to sound. This might
once have been a just criticism, but the candid reader
of his works now before the public, will deem it hy
percritical. His style is suited to his thought ; it is
flexible, graceful, musical, and is adapted to the play
ful wit, the spicy sentiment, the dramatic tableaux,
the artistic paintings of sea, earth, and sky, of which
they are the vehicle. In the seeming exhaustlessness
of his resources, in his prolonged freshness, in his
constantly increasing strength, Mr. Willis has refuted
all the early prophets who regarded him only as a
precocity, destined to shine a few brief years, and
fade away.
As to his personal character, I need only say that
from the beginning, he has had a larger circle of
steadfast friends than almost any man within my
knowledge. There has been something in his works
which has made the fair sex, generally, alike his lite-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 269
rary and personal admirers. For so many favors, he
has given the world an ample return ; for, with all
his imputed literary faults^ some real and some im-
aginaiy I regard him as having contributed more
to the amusement of society than almost any other
of our living authors.*
It is not easy to conceive of a stronger contrast
than is presented by comparing Nathaniel Hawthorne
with N. P. Willis. The former was for a time one
of the principal writers for the Token, and his admi
rable sketches were published side by side with those
of the latter. Yet it is curious to remark that every
thing Willis wrote attracted immediate attention, and
excited ready praise, while the productions of Haw
thorne were almost entirely unnoticed.
The personal appearance and demeanor of these
two gifted young men, at the early period of which I
speak, was also in striking contrast. Willis was
slender, his hair sunny and silken, his cheek ruddy,
his aspect cheerful and confident. He met society
with a ready and welcome hand, and was received
readily and with welcome. Hawthorne, on the con
trary, was of a rather sturdy form, his hair dark and
* Mr. N. P. Willis was the son of Nathaniel Willis, of Boston, origi
nally u printer, but for a long time an editor, and much respected ibr
his indu>try, his good sense, his devotion to whatever he deemed his
duty, and his useful services rendered to morals, religion, Christianity,
and philanthropy. His wife was a woman of uncommon mental endow
ments; her conversation was elegant, full of taste, reading, and refine
ment. The beautiful tributes which N. P. Willis has rendered to her
memory, are no more than was due from a gifted son to a gifted mother.
270 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
bushy, his eye steel-gray, his brow thick, his mouth
sarcastic, his complexion stony, his whole aspect
cold, moody, distrustful. He stood aloof, and sur
veyed the world from shy and sheltered positions.
There was a corresponding difference in the wri
tings of these two persons. Willis was all sunshine
and summer, the other chill, dark, and wintry ; the
one was full of love and hope, the other of doubt
and distrust ; the one sought the open daylight sun
shine, flowers, music, and found them everywhere
the other plunged into the dim caverns of the mind,
and studied the grisly specters of jealousy, remorse,
despair. It is, perhaps, neither a subject of surprise
nor regret, that the larger portion of the world is so
happily constituted as to have been more ready to
flirt with the gay muse of the one, than to descend
into the spiritual charnel-house, and assist at the psy
chological dissections of the other.
I had seen some anonymous publication which
seemed to me to indicate extraordinary powers. I
inquired of the publishers as to the writer, and
through them a correspondence ensued between me
and "1ST. Hawthorne." This name I considered a dis
guise, and it was not till after many letters had pass
ed, that I met the author, and found it to be a true
title, representing a very substantial personage. At
this period he was unsettled as to his views; he
had tried his hand in literature, and considered him
self to have met with a fatal rebuff from the reading
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 271
world. His mind vacillated between various pro
jects, verging, I think, toward a mercantile profession.
I combated his despondence, and assured him of tri
umph, if he would persevere in a literary career.
He wrote numerous articles, which appeared in
the Token ; occasionally an astute critic seemed to
see through them, and to discover the soul that was
in them ; but in general they passed without notice.
Such articles as Sights from a Steeple, Sketches be
neath an Umbrella, the Wives of the Dead, the Pro
phetic Pictures, now universally acknowledged to be
productions of extraordinary depth, meaning, and
power, extorted hardly a word of either praise or
blame, while columns were given to pieces since to
tally forgotten. I felt annoyed, almost angry indeed,
at this. I wrote.several articles in the papers, direct
ing attention to these productions, and finding no
echo of my views, I recollect to have asked John
Pickering* to read some of them, and give me his
opinion of them. He did as I requested ; his an
swer was that they displayed a wonderful beauty of
style, with a kind of double vision, a sort of second
sight, which revealed, beyond the outward forms of
life and being, a sort of spirit world, somewhat as a
* John Pickering, son of Timothy Pickering, Washington s Secre
tary of State, was a distinguished jurist and philologist, und u refined
and amiable gentleman. A good notice of him is given in Messrs
Duyckinck s excellent Cyclopedia of American Literature, vol. i. page
625. To this, by the way, I have often been indebted for assistance in
the preparation of this work.
272 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
lake reflects the earth around it and the sky above
it : yet he deemed them too mystical to be popular.
He was right, no doubt, at that period, but, ere long,
a portion of mankind, a large portion of the read
ing world, obtained a new sense how or where or
whence, is not easily determined which led them
to study the mystical, to dive beneath and beyond
the senses, and to discern, gather, and cherish gems
and pearls of price in the hidden depths of the soul.
Hawthorne was, in fact, a kind of Wordsworth in
prose less kindly, less genial toward mankind, but
deeper and more philosophical. His fate was simi
lar : at first he was neglected, at last he had wor
shipers.
In 1837, I recommended Mr. Hawthorne to pub
lish a volume, comprising his various pieces, which
had appeared in the Token and elsewhere. He con
sented, but as I had ceased to be a publisher, it was
difficult to find any one who would undertake to
bring out the work. I applied to the agent of the
Stationers Company,* but he refused, until at last I
* The Stationers Company, organized in the autumn of 1836, was a
joint-stock company, in which some of the leading lawyers and literary
men of Boston engaged, with a view of publishing original American
works of a high character, and in such a way as to render due compen
sation and encouragement to authors. One of the works which then
sought a publisher, without success, was Prescott s Ferdinand and Isa
bella it being at that day supposed to be absurd for Americans to pre
sume to write general histories. This was in fact one of the first works
issued by this concern. In 1838 the country was suffering under a state
of general commercial panic and paralysis, and this company was pre
cipitated into the gulf of bankruptcy, with thousands of others. Though
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 273
relinquished my copyrights on such of the tales as I
had published, to Mr. Hawthorne, and joined a friend
of his in a bond to indemnify them against loss ; and
thus the work was published by the Stationers Com
pany, under the title of Twice Told Tales, and for
the author s benefit. It was deemed a failure for
more than a year, when a breeze seemed to rise and
fill its sails, and with it the author was carried on to
fame and fortune.
Among the most successful of the writers for the
Token was Miss Francis, now Mrs. Child. I have not
seen her for many years, but I have many pleasant
remembrances of her lively conversation, her saucy
wit, her strong good sense, and her most agreeable
person and presence. To Eev. F. "W. P. Greenwood
the author of "Niagara" and the "Sea" -articles
which are still admired by all tasteful readers I was
indebted not only for some of the best contributions,
but for excellent counsel and advice in my literary
affairs. He was a man of fine genius, gentle manners,
and apostolic dignity of life and character.
To Mr. Pierpont, I was indebted for encouragement
and sympathy in my whole career, and for some of
the best poems which appeared in the work I am no
ticing. 1 remember once to have met him, and to have
I was u hesitating and reluctant subscriber to the stock, and in factwaa
the lust to join the association, I still shared largely I may say fatally
- in its misfortunes. It entailed upon me the loss of the little property
1 had accumulated, and embarrassments which have haunted me to the
present day.
12"
274: LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
asked him to give me a contribution for the Token.
He stopped and said, reflectirigly, " I had a dream not
long ago, which I have thought to put into verse. I
will try, and if I am successful you shall have it." A
few days after he gave me the lines, now in all the
gem books, beginning
" Was it the chime of a tiny bell,
That came so sweet to my dreaming ear
Like the silvery tones of a fairy s shell,
That he winds on the beach so mellow and clear,
When the winds and the waves lie together asleep,
And the moon and the fairy are watching the deep >
She dispensing her silvery light,
And he his notes, as silvery quite,
While the boatman listens and ships his oar,
To catch the music that comes from the shore ?
Hark ! the notes on my ear that play,
Are set to words ; as they float, they say,
Passing away, passing away ! "
Charles Sprague wrote for me but little, yet that
was of diamond worth. Next to Willis, Mrs. Sigour-
ncy was my most successful and liberal contributor ;
to her I am indebted for a large part of the success
of my editorial labors in the matter now referred to.
To Miss Scdgwick, also, the Token owes a large
share of its credit with the public, % Grenville Mellen
a true poet, and a most kind, gentle spirit, doomed
early to " pass away" was a favorite in my pages,
and to me a devoted friend. To B. B. Thacher also
among the good and the departed ; to Mrs. Osgood,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 275
gifted and gone ; to John Neale, A. H. Everett, Bish
op Doane, Mr. Longfellow, Caleb Gushing; to the
two Sargents- Epes and John, though masked as
Charles Sherry or the modest letter E. ; to Miss
Gould, Miss Leslie, H. T. Tuckerman, O. W. Holmes,
Orville Dewey, J. T. Fields, T. S. Fay, G. C. Yer
planck to all these and to many others, I owe the
kind remembrance which belongs to good deeds,
kindly and graciously bestowed.
It is not to be supposed that in a long career, both
as bookseller and editor, I should have escaped alto
gether the annoyances and vexations which naturally
attach to these vocations. The relation of author and
publisher is generally regarded as that of the cat and
the dog, both greedy of the bone, and inherently jeal
ous of each other. The authors have hitherto written
the accounts of the wrangles between these two par
ties, and the publishers have been traditionally gib-
eted as a set of mean, mercenary wretches, coining
the heart s blood of genius for their own selfish prof
its. Great minds, even in modern times, have not
been above this historical prejudice. The poet Camp
bell is said to have been an admirer of Napoleon be
cause he shot a bookseller.
Nevertheless, speaking from my own experience,
I suspect, if the truth were told, that, even in cases
whore the world has been taught to bestow all its
sympathy in behalf of the author, it would appear
that while there were claws on one side there were
270 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
teeth on the other. My belief is, that where there
have been quarrels, there have generally been mutual
provocations. I know of nothing more vexatious,
more wearisome, more calculated to beget impa
tience, than the egotisms, the exactions, the unrea
sonablenesses of authors, in cases I have witnessed.*
* I could give some curious instances of this. A schoolmaster came
to me once with a marvelously clever grammar : it was sure to overturn
all others. He had figured out his views in a neat hand, like copper
plate. He estimated that there were always a million of children at
school who would need his grammar ; providing for books worn out,
and a supply for new-comers, half a million would be wanted every
year. At one cent a copy for the author which he insisted was ex
ceedingly moderate this would produce to him five thousand dollars a
year, but if I would piiblish the work he would condescend to take half
that sum annually, during the extent of the copyright twenty-eight
years ! I declined, and he seriously believed me a heartless block
head. He obtained a publisher at last, but the work never reached a
second edition. Every publisher is laden with similar experiences.
I once employed a young man to block out some little books to be
published under the nominal authorship of Solomon Bell ; these I remod
eled, and one or two volumes were issued. Some over-astute critic an
nounced them as veritable Peter Parleys, and they had a sudden sale.
The young man who had assisted me, and who was under the most sol
emn obligations to keep the matter secret, thought lie had an opportu
nity to make his fortune ; so he publicly claimed the authorship, and
accused me of duplicity ! The result was, that the books fell dead from
that hour ; the series was stopped, and his unprinted manuscripts, for
which I had paid him, became utterly worthless. A portion I burnt,
and a portion still remain amidst the rubbish of other days.
In other instances, I was attacked in the papers, editorially and per
sonally, by individuals who were living upon the employment I gave
them. I was in daily intercourse with persons of this character,
who, while flattering me to my face, I knew to be hawking at me in
print. These I regarded and treated as trifles at the time ; they are less
than trifles now. One thing may be remarked, that, in general, such
difficulties come from poor and unsuccessful writers. They have been
taught that publishers and booksellers are vampires, and naturally feed
upon the vitals of genius ; assuming honestly, no doubt that they are
of this latter class, they feel no great scruple in taking vengeance upon
those whom they regard as their natural enemies.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 277
That there may be examples of meanness, stupidity,
and selfishness, in publishers, is indisputable. But
in general, I am satisfied that an author who will do
justice to a publisher, will have justice in return.
In judging of publishers, one thing should be con
sidered, and that is, that two-thirds of the original
works issued by them, are unprofitable. An eminent
London publisher once told me that he calculated that
out of ten publications, four involved a positive, and
often a heavy, loss ; three barely paid the cost of pa
per, print, and advertising ; and three paid a profit.
Nothing is more common than for a publisher to pay
money to an author, every farthing of which is lost.
Self-preservation, therefore, compels the publisher to
look carefully to his operations. One thing is cer
tain he is generally the very best judge as to the
value of a book, in a marketable point of view : if he
rejects it, it is solely because he thinks it will not
pay, not because he despises genius.
Happily, at the present day, the relations between
these two parties authors and publishers are on a
better footing than in former times : the late Festival*
My editorial experience also furnished me with some amusing anec
dotes. An editor of a periodical once sent me an article for the Token,
entitled La Longue-vue ; the pith of the story consisted in a romantic
youth 1 s falling in love with a young lady, two miles off, through a, tele
scope ! I ventured to reject it, and the Token for that year was duly
damned in the columns of the offended author.
And yet, while noticing these trifles, I am bound to say distinctly,
that, on the whole, I have had generous and encouraging treatment
from the press, and most kindly intercourse with authors.
* The Complimentary Fruit Festival of the New York Book Publish-
278 LETTEKS BIOGRAPHICAL,
in New York, given by the publishers to the authors,
was a happy testimonial to the prevailing feeling that
both are partners in the fellowship of literature, and
that mutual good offices will best contribute to mutual
prosperity. Indeed, a great change has taken place
in the relative positions of the two classes. Nothing
is now more marketable than good writing at least
in this country whatever may be its form poetry
or prose, fact or fiction, reason or romance. Star
ving, neglected, abused genius, is a myth of bygone
times. If an author is poorly paid, it is because he
writes poorly. I do not think, indeed, that authors
are adequately paid, for authorship does not stand
on a level with other professions as to pecuniary
recompense, but it is certain that a clever, industri
ous, and judicious writer may make his talent the
means of living.*
ers Association to Authors and Booksellers, took place at the Crystal
Palace, September 27, 1855, and was one of the most gratifying and
suggestive occasions I ever witnessed. The opening address of the
president, Mr. W. Appleton, the introductory statistical sketch, by Mr.
G. P. Putnam, the genial toasts, the excellent letters of Charles Sumner,
Edward Everett, and E. C. Winthrop ; the admirable speech of W. C.
Bryant, the eloquent addresses of Messrs. Milburn, Allen, Chapin, Os-
good, Beecher, together with the witty and instructive poem by J. T.
Fields all together marked it as an era of prodigious interest in our
literary annals.
* I am here speaking particularly of the state of things in America
at the present day. No man has more cause to know and feel the dis
appointments, the wear and tear of health, the headaches, the heart
aches, which attend authorship as a profession and a means of support,
Ihan myself. No one has more cause to feel and remember the illusiveness
of literary ambition, perhaps I may say of even humble literary success.
In most cases, these are only obtained at the expense of shattered nerves
and broken constitutions, leaving small means of enjoying what has
HISTORIC AL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 279
LETTER XLVII.
The First of tfte Parley Books Its Reception Various Publications
Threatening Attack of Illness Voyage to Europe Consultation of Phy
sicians at Paris Sir Benj. Brodie, of London Alercrombie, of Edin
burgh Return to America Residence in the Country Prosecution of
my Literary Labors Footing up the Account Annoyances of Author-
ship Letter to the New York Daily Times.
MY DEAR C******
Though I was busily engaged in publishing va
rious works, I found time to make my long meditated
experiment in the writing of books for children. The
first attempt was made in 1827, and bore the title of
the Tales of Peter Parley about America. No per
sons but my wife and one of my sisters were admit
ted to the secret for in the first place, I hesitated
to believe that I was qualified to appear before the
public as an author, and in the next place, nursery
literature had not then acquired the respect in the
eyes of the world it now enjoys. It is since that pe
riod, that persons of acknowledged genius Scott,
been thus dearly won. Still it is quite true that if a man has talent, and
is wise and moderate, and if he feels and practises Agur s prayer, he
may live by authorship ; if he aspires to easy independence, let him
rather drudge in almost any other employment. As an amusement to
a man of fortune, who is also a man of genius, authorship is a glorious
pastime ; to men of other and more active and profitable professions, it
is often an inspiring episode; but to one who has no resources but his
brains, it is too often the coining of his heart s blood to feed his family.
One thing should never be forgotten by those who are tempted to follow
a literary career, that not one author in a hundred attains success in
life by this profession alone.
280 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Dickens, Lamartine, Mary Howitt, in Europe, and
Abbott, Todd, Gallaudet, Miss Sedgwick, Mrs. Child,
and others, in America, t have stooped to the composi
tion of books for children and youth.
I published my little book, and let it make its way.
It came before the world untrumpeted, and for some
months seemed not to attract the slightest attention.
Suddenly I began to see notices of it in the papers,
all over the country, and in a year from the date of
its publication, it had become a favorite. In 1828, I
published the Tales of Peter Parley about Europe ;
in 1829, Parley s Winter Evening Tales; in 1830,
Parley s Juvenile Tales, and Parley s Asia, Africa,
Sun, Moon, and Stars. About this time the public
guessed my secret it being first discovered and di
vulged by a woman Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, to whom,
by the way, I am indebted for many kind offices in
my literary career yet I could have wished she
had not done me this questionable favor. Though
the authorship of the Parley books has been to me a
source of some gratification, you will see, in the se
quel, that it has also subjected me to endless vexa
tions.
I shall not weary you with a detail of my proceed
ings at this busy and absorbed period of iny life. 1
had now obtained a humble position in literature,
and was successful in such unambitious works as 1
attempted. I gave myself up almost wholly for about
four years that is, from 1828 to 1832 to author-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 281
ship, generally writing fourteen hours a day. A
part of the time I was entirely unable to read, and
could write but little, on .account of the weakness
of my eyes. In my larger publications, I employed
persons to block out work for me ; this was read to
me, and then I put it into style, generally writing by
dictation, my wife being my amanuensis. Thus em
barrassed, I still, by dint of incessant toil, produced
five or six volumes a year, mostly small, but some of
larger compass.
In the midst of these labors that is, in the spring
of 1832 I was suddenly attacked with symptoms,
which seemed to indicate a disease of the heart, rap
idly advancing to a fatal termination. In the course
of a fortnight I was so reduced as not to be able to
mount a pair of stairs without help, and a short walk
produced palpitations of the heart, which in several
instances almost deprived me of consciousness. There
seemed no hope but in turning my back upon my
business, and seeking a total change of scene and cli
mate. In May I embarked for England, and after a
few weeks reached Paris. I here applied to Baron
Larroque,who, assisted by L Herminier both eminent
specialists in diseases of the heart subjected me to
various experiments, but without the slightest advan
tage. At this period I was obliged to be carried up
stairs, and never ventured to walk or ride alone,
being constantly subject to nervous spasms, which
often brought me to the verge of suffocation.
282 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
Despairing of relief here, I returned to London,
and was carefully examined by Sir B. C. Brodie.* He
declared that I had no organic disease, that my diffi
culty was nervous irritability, and that whereas the
French physicians had interdicted wine and required
me to live on a light vegetable diet, I must feed well
upon good roast beef, and take two generous glasses of
port with my dinner ! Thus encouraged, I passed on
to Edinburgh, where I consulted Abercrombie,f then
at the height of his fame. He confirmed the views
of Dr. Brodie, in the main, and regarding the irregu
larities of my vital organs as merely functional, still
told me that, without shortening my life, they would
probably never be wholly removed. He told me of
an instance in which a patient of his, who, having
been called upon to testify before the committee of
the House of Commons, in the trial of Warren Hast-
* Sir Benjamin C. Brodie was at this time one of the most eminent
Burgeons in London. His reputation has since even been enhanced ; his
various publications Clinical Lectures in Surgery, Pathological and Sur
gical Observations on Diseases of the Joints, Lectures on Diseases of
the Urinary Organs, and Surgical Works all of which have been pub
lished in this country have given him a world-wide fame. It was not
a little remarkable to me, to find a man of his eminence thus positively
and authoritatively reversing the recommendations of French practi
tioners, of hardly inferior fame. Of one thing I am convinced, that for
us Anglo-Saxons an Anglo-Saxon practitioner is much better than a
Gallic one. I shall have a few words more to say on this subject.
t Dr. John Abercrombie held the highest rank in his profession at
this period. He was still more distinguished as a writer, his Inquiries
concerning the Intellectual Powers being published in 1830, and his
Philosophy of the Moral Feelings in 1833. He was a man of refined
personal appearance, and most gentle manners. He died in 1844,
aged 63.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 283
ings from mere embarrassment had been seized
with palpitation of the heart, which, however, con
tinued till his death, many years after. Even this
somber view of my case was then a relief. Four and
twenty years have passed since that period, and thus
far my experience has verified Dr. Abercrombie s
prediction. These nervous attacks pursue me to
this day, yet I have become familiar with them, and
regarding them only as troublesome visitors, I re
ceive them patiently and bow them out as gently as
I can.*
After an absence of six months I returned to Bos
ton, and by the advice of my physician took up my
residence in the country. I built a house at Jamaica
Plain, four miles from the city, and here I continued
for more than twenty years. My health was partially
restored, and I resumed my literary labors, which I
* I make this statement chiefly because I think it may be useful to
persons, who, like myself, have abused their constitutions by sedentary
habits and excessive mental labor, and who consequently are afflicted
with nervous attacks, putting on the semblance of organic diseases of
the heart. Not long since, I met with an old friend, a physician, who
had abandoned his profession for authorship : with a dejected counte
nance he told me he was sinking under a disease of the heart ! I in
quired his symptoms, which corresponded with my own. I related to
him my experience. A few days after I met him, and saw in his cheer
ful face that I had cured him. I give this prescription gratis to all my
literary friends : let them beware of overtasking the brain; but if they
do make this mistake, let them not lay the consequent irregularities of
the vital organs to the heart. In nine cases out of ten they belong to
the head to the nervous system which centers in the brain. Get
that right by bodily exercise, by cheerful intercourse with friends, by
a conscience void of offense, by generous living, by early rising and early
going to bed, and by considering that the body will always take ven
geance upon the mind, if the latter is permitted to abuse the former.
284:
continued, steadily, from 1833 to 1850, with a few
episodes of lecturing and legislating, three voyages
to Europe, and an extensive tour to the South. It
would be tedious and unprofitable to you, were I
even to enumerate my various works produced
from the beginning to the present time. I may sum
up the whole in a single sentence : I am the author
and editor of about one hundred and seventy vol
umes, and of these seven millions have been sold !*
1 have said that however the authorship of Par
ley s Tales has made me many friends, it Las also
subjected me to many annoyances. Some of these
are noticed in a letter I addressed to the editor of
the New York Times in December, 1855, a portion
of which I here copy, with slight modifications, as
the easiest method of making you comprehend my
meaning.
SIR : Some days since I learned, through a friend, that the
editor of the Boston Courier,- in noticing the death of the late
Samuel Kettell,f had said or intimated that he was the author of
Peter Parley s Tales. I therefore wrote to the said editor on
the subject, and he has this day furnished me with the paper
alluded to December 10th in which I find the following
statement :
* For a list of my various works, see p. 537 of this volume.
t Mr. Samuel Kettell was a native of Newburyport, Mass., and born
A. D. 1800. He was for the most part self-educated, and without being
a critical scholar, was a man of large acquirements, the master, 1 believe,
of more than a dozen languages. In 1832 he visited Europe, and wrote
some clever essays in the British magazines. In 1848 he assumed the
editorship of the Boston Courier, and so continued till his death in 1855,
though his active labors were suspended for some months before by hi
protracted illness
HISTORICAL, ANKCDOTICAL, ETC.
285
" Mr. S. G. Goodrich also found work for him Mr. Kettell
and many of those historical compendiuins which came out
under the name of Peter Parley, were in fact the work of Mr.
Kettell. He is the veritable Peter Parley," &c.
Now, Mr. Editor, it happens that for nearly thirty years, I
have appeared before the public as the author of Peter Parley s
Tales. It would seem, therefore, if this statement were true,
that I have been for this length of time arrayed in borrowed
plumes, thus imposing upon the public, and now wronging the
dead. It was no doubt the amiable purpose of the writer of
the article in question to place me in this position. I am, how
ever, pretty well used to this sort of thing, and I should not
take the trouble to notice this new instance of impertinence,
were it not that 1 have a batch on hand, and may as well put
them all in and make one baking of them.
To begin. There is a man by the name of Martin, in London,
and who takes the name of Peter Parley Martin. He writes
books boldly under the name of Peter Parley, and they are
palmed off as genuine works by the London publishers. These,
and other forgeries of a similar kind by other writers, have been
going on for fifteen years or more, until there are thirty or forty
volumes of them in circulation in England.
Among these London counterfeiters, there was formerly a
bookseller by the name of Lacey. He was what is called a
Pvemainder Man that is, he bought the unsold and unsalable
ends of editions, put them in gaudy bindings, and thus disposed
of them. When he got possession of a defunct juvenile work,
he galvanized it into life by putting Parley s name to it as
"Grandfather s Tales, by Peter Parley," &c. This proved a
thrifty trade, and the man, as I have been told, has lately re
tired upon a fortune.
It is indeed notorious, that handsome sums have been realized
in London by authors and publishers there, in republishing the
genuine Parley books, artd also by publishing counterfeit ones.
This matter has gone to such lengths, and has become so mis-
286 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
chievous to me as well as to the public, that I have brought an
action against Darton & Co.,* one of the principal London houses
concerned in this fraud, and I hope to have it decided that an
author who gives value to a name even though it be fictitious
may be protected in its use and profit, as well as the Arnos-
keag Manufacturing Company for their trade-mark, " A No. 1,"
put upon their cottons, and which the courts have decided to be
their property.
In general, my rights in regard to the use of the name of
Parley, have been respected in the United States ; but it appears
that about two years ago, when I was in Europe, a New York
bookseller under the inspiration of a man who writes Reverend
before his name undertook to follow in the footsteps of these
English counterfeiters; so he put forth two volumes, naming
the one Parley s Pictorial, and the other Parley s Household
Library, &c. I understand that these are made up of old plates
from Parley s Magazine, with slight alterations so as to disguise
the real nature and origin of the works. In order more com
pletely to deceive the public, he attached the above titles, which
imply that these works are by me, and are issued, in their present
form, by my sanction.
Thus the innocent public is duped. In point of fact, there is
not, I think, a page of my writing in these volumes, excepting
passages taken from my works, in violation of my copyrights.
The credit of originating these productions belongs, I believe, to
the reverend gentleman above alluded to, and not to the pub
lisher though the latter, knowing the character of the works,
aids and abets their circulation.
A still more recent instance of this borrowed use of Peter
Parley s name has been brought to my notice. A few days
since a man named 1 who, it is said, has been a govern
ment employe abroad, and has lately got leave to return, was
introduced to one of the public schools in this city as the verita
ble author of Peter Parley s Tales. To certify his identity, it
* See pages 296-806.
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 287
was further added by the teacher that he was the father of
a Dick Tinto!" This man, who was not your humble servant,
nor, I am happy to say, a relative, nor an acquaintance of his,
still received these honors as his due and perhaps I shall ere
long be obliged to defend myself against a claim that he is I,
and that I am not myself!
To pass over these and other similar instances, I come now to
the latest, if not the last the declaration of the editor of the
Boston Courier, that Mr. Kettell was the real author of Parley s
Tales. If Mr. Kettell were living, he would even more readily
contradict this assertion than myself, for he would have felt
alike the ridicule and the wrong that it would attach to his
name. Were it my purpose to write a biographical notice of
this gentleman, I should have nothing unpleasant to say of him.
He was a man of large acquirements, a good deal of humor, and
some wit, with great simplicity, truth, and honor of character.
He was not, however, thrifty in the ways of the world. Among
all his writings there is not, I believe, a book of which he was
the designer, or, strictly speaking, the author. But he was still
a ready writer when he had his task set before him. So much
is due as a passing notice to the memory of a man with whom
I had relations for twenty years, always amicable, and I believe
mutually satisfactory, if not mutually beneficial.
But as to the statements of the editor of the Boston Courier
above alluded to, as well as some others in his obituary of Mr.
Kettell, there is great inaccuracy. Let me lay the axe at the
root of the main statement at once, by declaring, that of the
thirty or forty volumes of Parley s Tales, Mr. Kettell never wrote
a line or sentence of any of them, nor, so for as I now recollect,
did any other person except myself. The Parley series was be
gun and in the full tide of success before I ever saw Mr. Kettell.
It is quite true, that in my larger geographical and historical
works some of them extending to over one thousand royal
octavo pages I had assistants, as is usual, nay, indispensable,
in such cases, Mr. Kettell among others. Some of those were
^88 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
young men, who have since risen to fame in both hemispheres.
If all who assisted me were now to come forward and claim to
be original Peter Parleys, there would be a very pretty family
of us !
The writer of the Courier article in question intimates that
Mr. Kettell was ill paid, and by a Latin quotation suggests that
T made use of him to my own advantage, while he, the real au
thor of books which I published, was robbed of his due ! This is
a serious charge, and it may be well to give it a pointed answer.
As to the statement that Mr. Kettell was ill paid let me ask
the reason, if such were the fact ? In general, things will bring
their value literature as well as any other commodity. Why
was it, then, that he accepted this insufficient pay ? If I did not
compensate him adequately, why did he serve me ? The world is
wide, the market free; Mr. Kettell was familiarly acquainted
with every publisher in Boston : if he wrote for me, the infer
ence is that I paid him better than anybody else would have
done. Nay, if the editor of the Boston Courier does not
know, there are others who do, that I was for years his only
reliance and resource. He went to Europe without a dollar in
his pocket except what I gave him for his writings. While at
Paris, being in a state of absolute destitution, he wrote home to
his friend, S. P. Holbrook, for help. This was furnished by the
contributions of his friends, myself among the number.
The editor, in enumerating Mr. Kettell s literary labors, gives
him high credit as the editor of the three volumes of Specimens
of American Poetry, which I published. This is no doubt one
of the instances, according to this writer, in which I sponged the
brains of another to his wrong and my advantage. Let us see
the facts :
I projected the aforesaid work, and employed Mr. F. S. Hill
as editor. He began it, collected materials, and wrote the first
part of it. At his instance, I had purchased nearly one hun
dred scarce books for the enterprise. The work, thus begun,
the p..an indicated, the materials to a great extent at command,
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 289
with numerous articles actually written, passed into Mr. KettelFs
hands. I think, with the editor of the Courier, that considering
the extent of the undertaking, and that it was then a new en
terprise, compelling the editor to grope in the mazes of a new
and unexplored wilderness, that Mr. Kettell displayed a tolera
ble degree of patience and research, and a fair share of critical
sagacity. But nevertheless, the work was a most disastrous
failure, involving me not only in a pecuniary loss of fifteen hun
dred dollars, but the mortification of having the work pass into
a kind of proverb of misfortune or misjudgment. More than
once I have heard it spoken of as " Goodrich s Kettle of Poetry !"
This arose, no doubt, partly from the idea then encouraged by
the critics, that it was the height of folly for us, Americans, to
pretend to have any literature. To include the writings of Tim
othy D wight, Joel Barlow, and Phillis Wheatley in a book call
ed Poetry, was then deemed a great offense at the bar of criti
cism. It is true that these notions have passed away, and Dr.
Griswold and Messrs. Duyckinck have found in the mine
wrought so abortively by Mr. Kettell, both gold and glory.
There were, however, other reasons for his failure, and among
them an unfortunate slip as to the authorship of " Hail Colum
bia," which stood thus:
" J. HOPKINSON :
" We have no knowledge of this author. The popular na
tional ode which follows, appeared first, we believe, in Philadel
phia. 1
Such ignorance and such carelessness were deemed offensive
by the friends of Judge Hopkinson, son of the well-known author
of the " Battle of the Kegs," and other popular effusions, and
himself a somewhat noted poet. Mr. Walsh made this, and other
blunders, the occasion of a stinging castigation in his National
Gazette. The result was injurious to Mr. Kettell in many ways :
it injured his rising literary reputation, and so shattered his nerves
that for some years he lost courage as well as encouragement, ex-
VOL. II. 13
290 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
cept what I continued to give him, despite this failure. It was
subsequent to this that I supplied him with the means of going
to Europe, and thus furnished him with the opportunity of ta
king a new start in the world. And yet I sponged this man s
brains, and stole his fair fame according to this Boston writer !
I suppose, Mr. Editor, that this is enough for the present ; and
yet I am disposed to crave a little more of your patience and
your space, to state more precisely my relations with Mr. Ket-
tell, and thus remove him from the disadvantageous light in
which he is placed by the ill-judged pretenses of his too earnest
friend.
During a space of twelve or fifteen years, and that the most
active and engrossed portion of my life, I suffered greatly from
a disease in my eyes, which threatened blindness : sometimes
for weeks together I was confined to a dark room. At that
period I wrote almost wholly by dictation, my wife being my
amanuensis. I wrote several of the Parley books, she sitting on
one side of a green curtain in the light, and I on the other side,
confined to the darkness. Several volumes of the Token were
mostly edited in this way.
It is quite obvious that in such a condition, and being at the
time busily engaged in writing, as well as publishing books, I
must have needed assistance. At this time, Mr. Kettell was
useful to me, especially as he was familiar with libraries, and
had a remarkable tact in finding facts. And yet it is equally
true that Mr. Kettell never wrote a page for me at his own
suggestion, nor by his own planning. lie wrote on subjects
prescribed by me, and in the manner prescribed by me even
to the length of paragraphs, verses, and chapters. Moreover,
what he had thus blocked out, was laboriously remodeled to
suit my own taste, to clothe it in my own style, and to bring it
into conformity with my own plan. Often this process was in
finitely more laborious to me than would have been the outright
and entire compilation, if I could have used my eyes. In this
way, however, and under these circumstances, Mr. Kettell aid-
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTIC AL, ETC. 29 J
ed me ; he was also, sometimes, my amanuensis ; but he was
not, nor did he ever claim to be, in any proper sense of the word.,
the author of a single page of a book which was published un
der my own name, or that of Peter Parley. In the large gee
graphical work already alluded to, in which I had the assist
ance of Mr. Kettell, as well as of two other persons of grea
ability and reputation, this assistance was duly acknowledged in
the preface.*
Now, while I thus correct the misrepresentations of this Bos
ton editor, I desire to leave no unpleasant impressions upon the
name and memory of Mr. Kettell. He is, indeed, beyond the
reach of praise or blame; but still truth has its requisitions, and
it would be a violation of these, were I to cast upon him any
reproach. He certainly was deficient in the art of devising seri
ous and extended works ; he had not the steady, penetrating
judgment necessary to such performances. Still, he possessed
certain faculties in high perfection a marvelous capacity for
the acquisition of languages, a taste for antiquarian lore, a large
stock of historical anecdote, a genial humor, a playful though
grotesque wit, and, withal, a kind, gentle, truthful heart. He
was so much a man of genius, that his fame could not be bene
fited by the reputation of the humble authorship of Parley s
Tales. Certainly his honest nature would have revolted at the
pretense now set up that he was in any manner or degree, enti
tled to it.t
* See preface to Universal Geography, published in 1832.
t This letter led to a lengthened controversy, the result of -which is
stated in the Appendix to this volume, page 543.
292 LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
LETTER XLVIII,
Republication of Parley" 1 s Tales in London Mr. Tegg^s operations Imi
tated by other publishers Peter Parley Martin Letter to Mr. Dartor.
An edition of the false Parleys in America The consequences.
MY DEAR C******
When I was in London, in 1832, I learned that
Mr. Tegg, then a prominent publisher there, had
commenced the republication of Parley s Tales. I
called upon him, and found that he had one of them
actually in press. The result of our interview was
a contract,* in which I engaged to prepare several
* As my claim to the authorship of the Parley Tales has been disputed
in London, by interested publishers, I may as well copy the contract
made with Mr. Tegg, which is now before me. It is, I believe, univer
sally admitted that the works published by him, were the first that
introduced the name of Peter Parley to the public there, and as the
contract explicitly refers them to me, it seems there should be no fur
ther doubt on the subject.
" MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT, between Thomas Tegg, publisher, of
London, and S. G. Goodrich, of Boston, United States of America:
"The saidS. G. Goodrich having written and compiled several works,
as Peter Parley s Tales of Animals, Peter Parley s Tales of America, of
Europe, of Asia, of Africa, of the Sea, of the Islands in the Pacific Ocean,
of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, &c., &c.
" Now said Goodrich is to revise said works, and carefully prepare
them for publication, and said Tegg is to get copyrights for and publish
the same, with cuts, maps, &c., as may be required, and said Tegg is to
supply the market, and push the sales, and take all due measures to
promote the success of said works.
" And in consideration of the premises, said Tegg agrees to pay said
Goodrich, ten pounds sterling on every thousand copies printed of Par
ley s Tales of Animals, after the fir^t edition (which consists of four
thousand copies, and is nearly printed); and for each of the other works
he agrees to pay said Goodrich five pounds on the delivery of the revised
copy for the- same, and five pounds for every thousand copies printed
HISTORICAL, ANECDOTICAL, ETC. 293
of these works, which he agreed to publish, giving
me a small consideration therefor. Four of these
works I prepared on the spot, and after my return to
America, prepared and forwarded ten others. Some
time after, I learned that the books, or at least a por
tion of them, had been published in London, and were
very successful. I wrote to Mr. Tegg several letters
on the subject, but could get no reply.
Ten years passed away, and being in pressing need
of all that I might fairly claim as my due, I went to
London, and asked Mr. Tegg to render me an ac
count of his proceedings, under the contract. I had
previously learned, on inquiry, that he had indeed
published four or five of the works as we had
agreed, but taking advantage of these, which passed
readily into extensive circulation, he proceeded to set
aside the contract, and to get up a series of publica
tions upon the model of those I had prepared for
him, giving them, in the title-pages, the name of Par
ley, and passing them off upon the public, by every
artifice in his power, as the genuine works of that
after the first edition, and also a premium or bonus of five pounds on
each work (in addition to the above stipulations), when four thousand
copies are sold or disposed of, of the same.
" And when said Goodrich is out of the country, said Tegg is to fur
nish certificates of sales, &c., as may be required by said Goodrich or
his itgiint. Said Tegg, it is understood, is not bound to publish any of
these works which he deems unsuited to the country; but said Good
rich is at liberty to dispose of, to any other publisher, any work which
said Tegg, on application, declines publishing.
" THOMAS TKOO,
" S. G. GOODKICH."
" London, June 30, 1832."
294
LETTERS BIOGRAPHICAL,
author. He had thus published over a dozen vol
umes, which he was circulating as "Peter Parley s
Library." The speculation, as I was told, had suc
ceeded admirably, and I was assured that many thou
sand pounds of profit had been realized thereby.
To my request for an account of his stewardship,
Mr. Tegg replied, in general terms, that I was misin
formed as to the success of the works in question ;
that, in fact, they had been a very indifferent specu
lation; that he found the original works were not
adapted to his purpose, and he had consequently got
up others ; that he had created, by advertising and
other means, an interest in these works, and had thus
greatly benefited the name and fame of Parley, and,
all things considered, he thought he had done more
for me than I had for him ; therefore, in his view,
if we considered the account balanced, we should not
be very far from a fair adjustment.
To this cool answer I made a suitable reply, but
without obtaining the slightest satisfaction. The
contract I had made was a hasty memorandum, and
judicially, perhaps, of no binding effect on him. And
besides, I had no money to expend in litigation. A
little reflection satisfied me that I was totally at
Tegg s mercy a fact of which his calm and collected
manner assured me he was even more conscious than
myself. The discussion was not prolonged. At the
second interview he cut the whole matter short, by
