On arriving at Baltimore, I found
that so woful was the condition of the road between
this city and the capital, that, although the distance
is but thirty-seven miles, and that there remained
full three hours of daylight, still no regular stage
would encounter, until morning, the perils of the
road.
I thereon made an agreement with two
gentlemen,one of whom was an excellent
and learned judge, on some State business; and the
other a Philadelphia merchant, escorting his daughter,
and a pretty young lady her friend, on a visit of
pleasure to Washington,that we would together
engage an extra coach for our party; and, instead of
starting at the monstrous hour of five in the morning,
set out at half-past eight, when, with the advantage
of a light load and good horses, we might reasonably
hope to reach our destination before dark.
This was done accordingly: an
extra, or exclusive carriage, to hold six inside,
was contracted for with the proper authorities, and
chartered to Washington city, to start between eight
and nine next morning, for the sum of twenty-five
dollars, or about six pounds sterling.
With the punctuality for which these
people are distinguished throughout the States, our
carriage drove up to Barnum’s door at a few minutes
after eight; and, breakfast being despatched, our party
was seated fairly, with all the luggage built up on
the permanent platform which graces the rear of these
machines, within the time appointed: a very creditable
event, when it is considered there were two young ladies
of the party.
The air was mild as in May, and there
being a goodly promise of sunshine, I resigned my
share of the inside to my servant Sam,the
very pink of brown gentlemen in appearance, besides
being a pattern of good-breeding; and seeing something
unusually knowing in the look of our waggoner, mounted
the box by his side, uneasy though it was; for never
was anything worse contrived for comfort than the outside
of a Yankee stage-coach,except, perhaps,
the inside of an English mail.
Mr. Tolly, whose acquaintance I now
made, let me record, was the only driver I ever met
in America who took up his leather, and packed his
cattle together, with that artist-like air, the perfection
of which is only to be seen in England.
The coachmen are not here, as with
us, a distinct class, distinguished by peculiar costume,
and by characteristics the result of careful education
and exclusive habits; but might be taken for porters,
drovers, or anything else indeed,being
men who have followed, and are ready again to follow,
a dozen other vocations, as circumstances might require:
they are nevertheless, generally, good drivers, and,
uniformly, sober steady fellows.
Mr. Tolly, however, one might see
at a glancedespite the disadvantages of
his toggery, plant, and all his other appointmentswas
born to look over four pair of lively ears; and had
Fortune only dropped him in any stable-loft between
London and York, there would not have been a cooler
hand or a neater whip on the North road.
About a mile from the city we came
upon the country turnpike; and of this, as I now viewed
it for the first time, any comprehensible description
is out of the question, since I am possessed of no
means of illustrating its condition to English senses;a
Cumberland fell, ploughed up at the end of a very
wet November, would be the Bath road compared with
this the only turnpike leading from one of the chief
sea-board cities to the capital of the Union.
I looked along the river of mud with
despair. Mr. Tolly will pronounce this impracticable
after the night’s rain, thinks I; but I was mightily
mistaken in my man: without pausing to pick or
choose, he cheered his leaders, planted his feet firmly,
and charged gallantly into it.
The team was a capital one, and stuck
to their dirty work like terriers. Some of the
holes we scrambled safely by would, I seriously think,
have swallowed coach and all up: the wheels were
frequently buried up to the centre; and more than
once we had three of our cattle down together all
of-a-heap, but with whip and voice Mr. Tolly always
managed to pick them out and put them on their legs
again; indeed, as he said, if he could only see his
leaders’ heads well up, he felt “pretty
certain the coach must come through, slick as soap.”
Mr. Tolly and myself very soon grew
exceedingly intimate; a false reading of his having
at starting inspired him with a high opinion of my
judgment, and stirred his blood and mettle, both of
which were decidedly game.
Whilst smoking my cigar, and holding
on by his side with as unconcerned an air as I could
assume, I, in one of our pauses for breath, after a
series of unusually heavy lurches, chanced to observe,
by way of expressing my admiration, “This is
a real varmint team you’ve got hold on,
Mr. Tolly.”
“How did you find that out,
sir?” cries Tolly, biting off about a couple
of ounces of ’baccy.
“Why, it’s not hard to
tell so much, after taking a good look at them, I
guess,” replied I.
“Well, that’s rum any
how! but, I guess, you’re not far out for once,”
answers Mr. Tolly, with a knowing grin of satisfaction:
“sure enough, they are all from Varmont;
and I am Varmont myself as holds ’em. All
mountain boys, horses and driverreal Yankee
flesh and blood; and they can’t better them,
I know, neither one nor t’other, this side the
Potomac."
I found my hirgo was thrown
away, but did not attempt an explanation, and became
in a little time satisfied that this odd interpretation
of my compliment had answered an excellent purpose;
for my companion became exceedingly communicative,
and most indefatigable in his exertions. More
plucky or more judicious coachmanship, or better material
under leather, I never came across in all my journeyings.
About half way we bade adieu to my Varmont friend,
to my great regret.
Wearied with my rough seat, which
the companionship of Mr. Tolly had alone rendered
endurable so long, I now got inside; the Philadelphia
gentleman succeeding to the vacancy on the box.
I did my best to draw my fair companions
into a little chat, but found my vis-a-visthe
daughter of my successor outsidemost impracticable;
a monosyllable was the extent of her exertion:
whilst her companion, who was a lively, intelligent-looking
girl, and very pretty withal, was necessarily chilled
by the taciturnity of her senior. I note this
as being an unusual case, since, when once properly
introduced, the ladies of America are uncommonly frank
and chatty, and evince an evident desire to please
and be amiable; which is creditable to themselves,
and to strangers is both flattering and agreeable.
In the good old judge, whom I had
the honour of meeting often after, I found one of
the most amusing and intelligent companions a man could
desire to rumble over a villanous road with, and for
a couple of hours we made time light, when our day’s
journey had well-nigh terminated in an adventure that
might have been attended with ugly consequences.
Although the road for this stage was
something less bad, our driver was not a Tolly; in
avoiding some Charybdis or other, he let his leaders
slip down a bank about eight feet deep, whither, but
for the good temper and steady backing of the wheel-horses,
we should have followed: as it was, we managed
to pick out our cattle, and got off with a couple of
broken traces. These being duly cobbled, away
we scrambled again, I resuming my seat on the box;
the last occupant having become most heartily sick
of his elevation.
About the end of nine hours’
hard driving, the high dome of the Capitol showed
near; and the city toll-gate, situated about a mile
from this magnificent building, was opened. The
prospect was, notwithstanding, yet sufficiently uncheery;
a steep hill lay in front, having a road that looked
like a river of black mud meandering about one side
of itthe other side was seamed with various
tracks made by the vehicles of bold explorers, who,
like ourselves, had been doubtful about facing the
regular roadthe counsel of a well-mounted
countryman, who reported that he had just passed the
wrecks of two coaches on the turnpike, decided us
to eschew it, and boldly try across country.
We all alighted, except the ladies;
and acting as pioneers, pushed up the hill, breasting
it stoutly. It was very well we took this route;
for, having at last safely crowned it, we beheld on
our right the two coaches that left Baltimore three
hours before us, hopelessly pounded in the highway,
regularly swamped within sight of port; for the Capitol
was not over three or four hundred yards from them.
The passengers were all out, most
of them assisting to unharness and unload, that, by
combining both teams, they might extricate their vehicles
one at a time.
Here, within the shadow of the Capitol,
I was struck with the gloomy and unimproved condition
of the surrounding country. Except our caravan,
not a living thing moved within sightall
was desert, silent, and solitary as the prairies of
Arkansas.
The great avenue once entered upon,
the scene changed, and we rattled along briskly over
a well Macadamized road. The judge we set down
at the top of the Capitolinean hill, where his honourable
brothers held their head-quarters; my other companions
had rooms secured at Gadsby’s, where we next
halted; but to my inquiries here, I was answered, “All
quite full.” They advised me, at the same
time, to try Fuller, which I thought waggish
enough: however, after driving about a mile farther
down the avenue, I found at Mr. Fuller’s hotel
rooms taken for me by a considerate friend, and had
to congratulate myself now and henceforward on being
the best-lodged errant homo in the capital of
the United States.
The windows of my sitting-room, I
perceived, commanded a view the whole extent of the
avenue; but, for the present, I limited my speculation
to the dinner that was soon placed before me, and
which a fast of eleven hours had rendered a particularly
desirable prospect.
THEATRE, WASHINGTON.
I made my debut professionally
in the capital upon the 12th of February. The
theatre here was a most miserable-looking place, the
worst I met with in the country, ill-situated and
difficult of access; but it was filled nightly by
a very delightful audience; and nothing could be more
pleasant than to witness the perfect abandon
with which the gravest of the senate laughed over
the diplomacy of the “Irish Ambassador.”
They found allusions and adopted sayings applicable
to a crisis when party feelings were carried to extremity.
The elaborate display of eloquence with which Sir
Patrick seeks to bother the Spanish envoy was
quoted as the very model of a speech for a non-committal
orator, and recommended for the study of several gentlemen
who were considered as aiming at this convenient position,
very much to their amusement.
The pieces were ill mounted, and the
company unworthy the capital, with the exception of
two very pretty and very clever native actresses,
Mesdames Willis and Chapman. The latter I had
the satisfaction of seeing soon after transferred
to New York, in which city she became a monstrous
favourite, both in tragedy and comedy: a very
great triumph for Mrs. Chapmanfor she
succeeded Miss F. Kemble in some of her best parts,
and an excellent comic actress, a Mrs. Sharpeacting
on the same night Julia in “The Hunchback,”
and the Queen of Hearts in “High, Low, Jack,
and Game,” with a cleverness which rarely accompanies
such versatility.
I have much pleasure in offering this
just tribute to a very amiable person, who has, since
my departure from the States, quitted the stage, on
which, had she been fortunately situated, she would
have had very few superiors.
I wonder there are not many more native
actresses, since, I am sure, there is a great deal
of latent talent in society here both for opera and
the drama: the girls, too, are generally well
educated; are pretty, have much expression, a naturally
easy carriage, and great imitative powers. The
latter talent is singularly common amongst them; and
I have met, not one, but many young women, who would
imitate the peculiarities of any actress or actor
just then before the public with an accuracy and humour
quite remarkable.
I acted here seven nights on this
occasion, and visited the city again in May, when
I passed three or four weeks most agreeably. I
had the pleasure, too, during this last visit, of
seeing the plans for a theatre worthy the audience,
and which, I trust, has by this time been happily
erected, as the greatest part of the fund needed was
readily subscribed for; and the attempt can hardly
fail amongst a people so decidedly theatrical, and
who are, besides, really in absolute want of public
amusements for the number of stray men turned loose
here during the session, many of whom are without
other home than the bar-room of an inn, or better
means of keeping off ennui than gin-sling or
the gaming-table.
I shall now throw together in this
place the result of my “Impressions” as
received during my separate visits.
The scenery in the neighbourhood is
naturally as beautiful and varied as woods, rocks,
and rivers, in all their most charming features, can
combinedly render it. One of the finest of many
noble prospects is, in my mind, that from the heights
just over George Town. From this point the vast
amphitheatre of city, valley, and river may be embraced
at a glance, or followed out in detail, as time or
inclination prompts.
Following the windings of the majestic
Potomac below the bridge,which, viewed
from this elevation, looks like a couple of cables
drawn across its channel,the town of Alexandria
is clearly seen: away, on the other side, Fort
Washington may be made out; and, opposite to this,
the ever-hallowed, Mount Vernon is visible; a glimpse
in itself worthy a pilgrimage to every lover of that
rare combinationvirtue and true patriotism!
Turning from this direction, and setting
your face towards the Capitol, you perceive extended
in dotted lines, the thinly-furnished streets of the
city: viewed from here, the meagre supply of buildings
in proportion to its extent is made obvious; each
separate house may be traced out; and, in their irregular
and detached appearance, all design becomes confounded.
It seemed to me as though some frolicsome fairy architect,
whilst taking a flight with a sieveful of pretty houses,
had suddenly betaken her to riddling them over this
attractive site as she circled over the valley in
her airy car.
One of my most favourite rides was
to a secluded spot in this neighbourhood, of which
I shall attempt some description, since I would, in
the very fulness of my heart’s charity, induce
all succeeding wayfarers to visit it.
PIERCE’S GARDEN.
At about four miles from the city,
a gardener named Pierce has taken up his abode on
the summit of a high and on all sides nearly precipitous
hill, immediately surrounded by similar elevations,
but separated from them by very deep ravines.
Through one of these, encompassing two sides of the
hill, rushes a clear, active little river, such as
a trout-fisher would glory in, only that its banks
in this neighbourhood are everywhere sentinelled by
trees of willow, dog-wood, laburnum, &c. whose flowery
arms entwined within each other shadow the clear water,
and protect from the lure of the angler its finny
inmates.
Across this ravine lies the ordinary
path by which the future stranger, who is an amateur
of Nature’s painting, will seek to gain one of
those fair scenes she has lavished much care upon.
No bridge connects the little domain
with the busy world, from sight or sound of which
it is isolated as absolutely as was the valley of
Rasselas; but, slowly winding down an abrupt, thickly-shaded
forest path, you at once break through this “leafy
skreen” upon the ford, on the opposite side
of which, a little to the right, lies the gate leading
into the garden.
Pushing your horse boldly through
the stream,for, though noisy, the bottom
has been cleared, and is not usually over knee-deep,you
dismount, and open the only barrier. Right above
you stands a rude stone dwelling, stern and square
of outline, and in no way suited or in keeping with
the graceful trees and shrubs whose rich verdure shadow
its rough walls. Towards this you press onward
and upward, until the natural platform on which the
dwelling is placed be gained; when the view of and
from this spot will well reward you for a ride through
a secluded forest country, the freshness and wildness
of which have already pleased you, especially if you
are, as I happily was on most of my visits here, accompanied
by companions at once fair and intelligent.
Upon this little platform the grass
is always of rare verdure for this country. Immediately
in front of the dwelling four or five forest trees
of the finest kind fling their branches athwart the
entrance; and, a few yards removed, around the foot
of a venerable elm, is spread a variegated carpet
of daisies and other pretty flowers, whose colours
the Persian loom might be proud to imitate for a prince’s
divan.
A few garden-seats are placed here
and there for the ease of visitors; and here have
I often sat whilst Mr. Pierce was arranging a bouquet,an
art, by the way, and no mean one, in which he excels,and
looking about on the well-sheltered spot, have thought
of my poor old friend Michael Kelly’s ballad,
until I have fancied him “alive again,”
and breathing over the folds of his ample cravat,
“And I said, if there’s
peace to be found in this world,
A heart that is humble might look for it here!”
But there is no peace to be found
in this world; so, after indulging a few wild fancies,
that come quickly in such places, I quitted this, as
I have done a hundred other like oases in life’s
desert, to wander again about the busy world and jostle
with the worldly:
“We
feel pangs at parting
From many a spot, where
yet we may not loiter.”
I did not bid adieu to this, however,
before its tranquil and peace-giving features were
impressed for ever upon my memory.
The wooded and well-rounded hills
which encircle the garden, are placed at distances
varying from half a mile to half a bow-shot right Sherwood
measure: within this range two buildings only
are to be seen; one a pretty, classic-looking dwelling,
nestled under the brow of the hill to the eastward;
the other, sunk low in the extreme western distance,
a rude-looking stone-built water-mill, surrounded
by all its healthful and picturesque appointments;
adding to the rustic beauty of the scene, yet so far
removed as in no way to disturb a feeling of absolute
seclusion, if such should be the desire of the possessor
of this little domain, which a moderate sum of money,
laid out with good taste, might render surpassingly
beautiful.
I observed that Mr. Pierce kept a
few men constantly employed; and as he is a person
of evident intelligence, neither unaware of the value
of his possession, nor deaf to the admiration of his
visitors, I trust it may become worth his while to
complete by art what nature has so happily designed.
Flowers were to be procured here at
a season very far advanced, and a high price was given
for bouquets, the procuring which for ladies on the
evening of a ball or party is a common act of gallantry;
consequently there is much rivalry amongst the beaux
in gleaning the rarest and most beautiful flowers.
This is a graceful and pretty fashion,
and one not likely to grow out of use amongst women,
which opens a market well worth the florist’s
notice.
If my voice could reach Mr. Pierce,
two things I would seek to press upon his consideration:
the first should be never to suffer himself to be
persuaded to throw a bridgeabove all, a
wooden oneacross that prettiest of fords;
the other, that he would, out of humanity to the cattle,
and out of consideration for the necks of his fair
visitors, make the drive, so called, leading through
the wood into the George-town road, just passable.
Meantime, until this be accomplished,
let me caution all future explorers against venturing
the approach by that route. The one by the race-course,
and across the ford, is as good as need be; somewhat
steep, a little difficult here and there, but in no
way perilous.
I might have selected spots for detail
in this neighbourhood, which in other eyes may have
attractions, though different, quite as powerful;
but this, somehow or other, won strangely upon my fancy,
and grew to be my favourite resort when pursuing my
accustomed rides. I paid to it many visits alone,
and in company it became associated with some of the
pleasantest hours I passed here; and thus comes it
that the reader is afforded such an opportunity as
a meagre sketch can give, of becoming acquainted with
this secluded spot, once perhaps the summer bower of
some native princely Sagamore, and now the location
of Mr. Pierce, gardener and seedsman!
THE GARDEN, POETICAL AND POLITICAL.
I one day had the honour of accompanying
a lady on a drive to make some calls in the environs,
and a most agreeable drive it was. One of our
visits turned out to me quite an adventure; and procured
me the acquaintance of a character rarely encountered
in these rule-of-three days, wherein humanity is clipped
and trained upon the principles of old Dutch gardening,no
exubérances permitted, but all offshoots duly
trimmed to the conventional cut, until individuality
is destroyed, and one half of the world, like Pope’s
parterre, is made to reflect, as nearly as possible,
the other.
We drove for some distance through
an ill-tended but naturally pretty domain, alighting
unnoticed at a house having an air of antiquity quite
refreshing; three sides of the building were encompassed
by a broad raised stoop, covered with a wide-spread
veranda, whilst the walls were thickly coated with
ivy, like the tower of an English village church.
We mounted the stoop, which commanded
a vast extent of valley bounded by distant hills,
only needing water to make a perfect prospect.
A few moments after we had rested here, the mistress
of the place made her approach, hoe in hand, for she
had been tending her flowers in person. Such
a dear old shepherdess of a woman I have not seen for
many a day, with all the poetry and enthusiasm of
nineteen, and a pastoral, simple, unworldlike air,
worthy the golden age of the flower-wreathed sheep-crook.
She had an anecdote connected with
every flower-bed;her story of the ivy,
so abundant, quite pleased me, as being interesting
in itself, and made doubly so by her naïve
mode of telling it.
It appeared that the plants were originally
cultivated by Mr. Roscoe, on his place near Liverpool;
that the shoots were gathered by the hands of that
amiable and illustrious man, and sent, in fulfilment
of a promise made, to Mr. Jefferson, for the adornment
of Monticello.
The bearer of the plants, on arriving
at Washington, could find no immediate means of forwarding
them safely into Virginia; so placed them in the keeping
of their present enthusiastic possessor, beneath whose
careful tending,for the trust has not been
reclaimed,the gift of friendship has flourished
and increased, and will, I hope, remain fresh as her
own spirit, and fadeless as is the fame of the first
donor!
Her parterre afforded quite a summary
of the history and habits of the departed great:
here were stocks that had been cultivated by the hands
of George Washington, and lilies growing from bulbs
dug up by those of Thomas Jefferson, after each had
cast aside the ungrateful cares of government and
resumed those simpler and happier pursuits in which
both delighted; and these flowers of theirs flourish
yet in peace and beauty, side by side, and, fragile
as they look, are perhaps more durably linked than
the mighty Union over which these illustrious florists
presided with views so widely different.
The fruit-trees were thick with blossoms,
and the air was absolutely perfumed. I felt exceedingly
loath to obey the summons of my fair guide when informed
that the time of departure was arrived, and have seldom
found a visit to appear so very short. The carriage
being laden with the sweet-scented spoils,or,
rather let me say, gifts of our kind hostess, for
nothing could exceed the free hand with which every
shrub was rifled for us,we made our adieus,
and set forth to return to the city by a different
road, paying a call at another cottage residence by
the way.
Of these unpretending, but attractive-looking
places, there are numbers in this neighbourhood; and
if ever Washington rises to the importance fondly
anticipated by its founders, no city ought to boast
more charming environs.
Here is no end of sites for country
dwellings,valley and hill, river and rivulet,
towering rocks and dark ravines abound in as wild a
variety as heart could wish; with land and living
both exceedingly cheap.
I saw one of the prettiest houses
possible, with nearly a hundred acres of land, that
had been purchased, a few months before, for five thousand
dollars; and, during my stay here, a first-rate house,
with stabling, &c. complete, as well situated as any
in Washington, and as well built, sold for the same
sum. At present, indeed, I should say land about
here is of very little value: though admirably
calculated for the residence of an independent class
of gentry, here is no temptation for the planter or
merchant; and but few in this country seek to live
a life of leisure or retirement.
THE FALLS OF THE POTOMAC.
On St. George’s day, in company
with Captain T ll, an engineer
officer of high standing, and Mr. K r,
I set out on horseback, at an early hour, to view
the much talked of, but too rarely visited, Falls of
the Potomac.
Our way lay along the tow-path of
the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, planned to unite the
Potomac river with the Ohio below Pittsburg,one
of the greatest works yet contemplated. Its length
will be three hundred and forty miles: the locks
are of stone, one hundred feet by fifteen; and the
amount of lockage designed for the whole line is three
thousand two hundred and fifteen feet. Piercing
the Alleghany mountains, where the canal attains its
highest level, a tunnel is planned, four miles and
some yards in length.
For upwards of a hundred miles the
line is already available; and in this distance are
reckoned forty-four locks, and several noble aqueducts,
in an ascent of a quarter of a mile.
For sixteen miles we followed this
magnificent work, which as far as one of the uninitiated
may judge, presents a promise of endurance worthy
the best days of Rome: the width of the canal
here varied, as my companion informed me, from eighty
to seventy feet, and the depth from six to seven feet.
Independent of this work, in itself
so interesting, the scenery is varied and striking.
Upon our right lay the canal, to whose course all
nature had been subdued,the forest rooted
up, the Potomac bestridden by an aqueduct eighteen
hundred feet in length, beds of solid gneiss hewn
out fathoms deep, valleys filled up and ramparted with
granite against the assaults of the near river; everything
on this hand was trimmed and levelled in a workmanlike
manner: the labour of man was evident throughout,
and the well-trained water stood still, or moved onward
or backward, as directed by its master.
Close upon our left ran the Potomac,
but so changed in character, that the stranger, who
from the Capitol had traced the mazy windings of this
mighty stream, whose deep indents and sluggish current
show like a series of lakes stretching away till lost
in distance, suddenly removed to this point, short
of two miles, would hardly credit that the narrow,
noisy mountain stream beside him was the same, the
very fountain and feeder of the inland sea spreading
below.
It was now dry, fine weather; no rain
had fallen for some time; and the stream, pent within
narrow limits, cowered beneath the wooded heights of
the Virginia shore: but the condition of every
unprotected level on our side spoke awfully of its
force, when, backed by supplies from the mountains,
it extends itself abroad, overthrowing trees and banks,
and leaving their huge ruins to mark in undoubted
characters the true limit of its sovereignty.
At this time it was in its most peaceful
mood, and went on, now expanding placidly over an
even bed, and now divided before some stubborn rock-founded
islet, chafing as it were at being compelled to yield
to an obstruction it had as yet failed to overcome.
Viewed at all points, the stream conducted
by Nature outfaced, in my eyes, the neighbour work
of her children; coursing onward, as it went, defying
the hand of man, and rejoicing in its rude freedom.
About the most savage part of our
ride, where the path was a wide rampart of stone without
any parapet, bounded on one hand by the canal and
the overhanging rocks through which it was cut, and
on the other, at a precipitous depth of eighty feet,
by the rocky bed of the river, we were threatened
with a hurricane, or other outbreak of the elements,
of the wildest kind.
It had become on a sudden unnaturally
sultry: before us a cloud fell like a huge black
curtain, until resting upon the lofty bluffs between
which the river now ran, it was draped in folds down
to the water; over this curtain broke a lurid silvery
sort of light, making all things hideous; a heavy
moaning sound as of wind was heard throughout the
forest; the leaves shook rattling upon the surrounding
shrubs, yet no air was perceptible even whilst going
at a gallop. For a moment this strange sound
would cease wholly, and then roar forth again, as though
the pent tempest was striving close at hand for space
and freedom of action.
Occasionally a vivid flash of lightning
would stream from the impending cloud downward upon
the river; and, in momentary expectation of a regular
tornado, on we spurred to reach some shelter.
But after all, our fears were fruitless,
or let me rather say our hopes, since we agreed that
a hurricane chancing here would be a consummation
singularly happy. It is certain no fitter scene
could well have been selected for such an event, and
indeed this was all that was needed to make the savage
grandeur of the picture perfect.
Expectation had attained its height,
when, after a few big splashes of rain, the sombre
curtain drew gradually up, the sun looked forth once
more, shining vividly, and the so lately gloomy waters
below, again laughed and sparkled as they went bounding,
gladly, over their rugged bed.
About midday we arrived at a house
occupied by a person who attends one of the many locks
on the canal; and by the ready aid of this worthy and
his pretty young helpmate, our horses and ourselves
were well supplied with vivres, and otherwise
cared for.
After we had discussed sundry rashers
of ham, broiled chicken, and new-laid eggs, we were
informed by our friend the lock-keeper, who had been
examining the ford, that the frail bridge which had
recently served to cross a branch of the stream to
an island from whose southern side alone the Falls
might be surveyed, was no longer in being.
What was to be done? was the whole
purpose of our hard ride to be defeated by the dislocation
of a few loose planks? Our cool pioneer even
admitted that it seemed “mighty hard,”
and called his spouse to council; but from her we
received small hope, as she at once decided that to
cross so as to get anywhere within sight of the Falls
was impossible.
We as stoutly declared our resolution
to attempt fording the dividing current, and requested
our host to point out the best probable place for
this purpose.
This he at last agreed to do; adding
that “he guessed, with more or less of a ducking,
we might gratify our curiosity, though he could not
help thinking it was mighty foolish.”
The lady of the lock, more timid,
or, as it turned out, more sage, remonstrated in vain.
In the teeth of her advice and predictions, sufficiently
alarming, we mounted our nags, and, under the good
man’s guidance, descended to the ford, by a
very rough path; the din of the unseen torrent sounding
in our ears.
On reaching the stream in question,
we found it not over twenty yards across, with an
apparently tolerable landing on the opposite side;
so that, albeit it had a threatening sort of look,
and bullied and blustered somewhat loudly, myself
and Mr. K r decided instanter
upon crossing. Our companion, a very tall and
heavy man, mounted on a little thorough-bred steed
none the stronger for the severe bucketting it had
already gone through, we very wisely prevailed upon
to await our return, and serve as our guide to the
right landing when we should have to re-cross.
With all that eagerness with which
men rush on novelty, especially when any obstacle
is thrown in the way, we pushed forward, listening
impatiently to the distant thunder of the Falls.
Like all obstacles, we found these before us less
in reality than in report, our chief difficulty lying
in the strength of the current, flowing over an unequal
bottom; but in no part was the water up to the horses’
shoulders. We kept their noses well up stream,
and, after a little floundering about, reached and
mounted the sandy bank in no time, whence a short rough
ride over the thickly-wooded islet, gave the wished-for
sight to our eyes in all its gloomy grandeur; and
never before do I remember having looked upon so wildly
sublime a scene.
We dismounted; and, tying our horses
to a tree, descended into the vast basin within whose
rugged depths the river finds at all seasons ample
space for its fury. Opposite to our stand the
face of the black rock rose perpendicular for a hundred
and fifty feet; and over its brow waved a grove of
lofty trees and graceful flowering shrubs, forming
together a plume befitting such a crest, and worthy
to float above such a melee.
Along in front of our position, and
only a few yards off, the river was precipitated from
a ledge of rock, three huge masses of which towered
high over it, lying athwart the line of the torrent
at apparently equal distances, as though Nature had
designed to bridge this fearful caldron, but, having
raised these piers had rested, content with this evidence
of her power, and so left the work unfinished.
Through the intervals of these piers
then, if they may be so denominated, the water was
impelled in three distinct columns of foam with inconceivable
impetuosity; then, after forming many vortices, frightful
to contemplate steadily, whirled boiling away beneath
the boldly jutting table-rock, which afforded us sound
footing amidst a din that of necessity made admiration
dumb, since to hear your own voice or any other person’s
was quite out of the question.
Oh what a pit of Acheron was here!
I would have given a million a-year to have had Martin
with me, pencil in hand, looking upwards upon the
centre one of those three terrible piers. What
a throne would it have made in his hands for the arch
enemy of man! How his fancy would have imaged
the lost angel forth, standing there in his might armed
for hopeless combat, shadowed grandly out amidst the
silvery vapours curling round him, whilst up through
the raging whirlpools drove the countless columns
of hell in battle array; what tossing of co-mingled
plumes and waves above the thick squadrons of horse,
who, with flowing manes and fiery nostrils, would
be seen breaking through and riding over the foaming
torrent, all shadowed forth in a dim reality he knows
so well to deal with, and which, in his creations,
leaves the fancy, already startled by that it can
define, afraid to guess at all which yet remains only
half told!
We wandered here, from point to point,
unable to express our bewilderment and delight otherwise
than by pantomimic gestures more amusing than intelligible;
and then, in consideration of the lone condition of
our excellent comrade, began to crawl and climb our
way back to the shade where we had left the horses.
The table-rocks were everywhere worn
into circular basins of greater or less dimensions;
when the floods of spring and autumn subside, these
pools are left well stocked with pike, trout, and other
sorts of fish; the water was at this time exceedingly
low, and a long continuance of premature heat had
shortened the allowance of the denizens of these pools;
our near neighbourhood, therefore, deprived as they
were of the means of retreat or concealment, caused
a great sensation amongst them, and much rushing,
and floundering, and darting to and fro.
We joined cordially in commiserating
the fate of these unlucky detenus, who, as
the summer advances, must, to say the least of it,
become most uncomfortably warm about the middle of
the day. K r wasted, as I
considered, much time in sentimentalizing over their
probable fate, for I found that he loitered behind
by every basin which contained a larger specimen than
usual.
After a rather prolonged halt, I was
preparing to row my friend for his vexatious
display of philanthropy, when he came to me with his
right arm soaked up to the shoulder, grievously lamenting
his having failed, by an untimous slip, in securing
a fellow of at least nine or ten pounds’ weight.
“What the devil!” exclaimed
I, “is it possible that you contemplated scrambling
your way back to give this finny gentleman the freedom
of the river?”
“Not at all, my dear fellow,”
replied my sensitive friend; “I merely contemplated
carrying him to Washington, and giving him the freedom
of the boiler. The Baron would have rejoiced
in him; he was a fish for the Czar himself! Besides,
it would have been an act of charity to the poor devil
of a fish, the consummation of whose horrid fate is
alarmingly nigh, since there is not over six inches
of water on the rock, and that already as close as
may be upon ninety-four degrees. That one dip
has parboiled my right arm; I must plunge it in the
first running water to cool it.”
I enjoyed a good laugh at K ’s
hot-bath fishing, but did not dream of the thorough
cooling in store for my charitable piscator.
On we dashed, full of excitement and
high spirits, and hit the stream at a point very little
below where we had before landed. Captain T ll
was still on his post; and with less of precaution
than we had used at crossing, in dashed K r
some yards in advance of me, although I being mounted
on a more powerful horse, had before taken the first
of the current whilst my friend rode on my quarter,
thus mutually sustaining each other.
Whilst I was yet upon the bank, K ’s
nag lost his footing, and turned fairly head over
heels in the very middle of the passage, at the shortest
possible notice. The first intimation I got of
the event was missing my man, and in his stead perceiving
four bright shoes glancing in the sun above the broken
water. In a moment, however, he emerged to day
once more; and after a second dive or so, gained good
bottom, losing only a few ounces of blood from a broken
nose. I led his horse safely ashore; and the
brute, though the least hurt, was by far the most
frightened, for he shook like a negro in an ague fit.
As for K r, he
bore his mishap with a sangfroid and good-humour
that were admirable: the only regret I heard from
him was, that Sir Charles Vaughan’s ball should
come off on this night, since his appearance was marred
past present help; and indeed, notwithstanding applications
of whisky, cold water, vinegar, &c. which our friends
of the lock supplied, the nose was growing of a most
unseemly size.
The lock-man expressed much regret;
whilst his good lady, I fancied, was not very sorry
to have her predictions fulfilled at so cheap a rate.
I ventured to hint to my friend something about retributive
justice, alluding to his fishy longings amongst the
pools; but he rejected the application with indignation,
insisting upon it that his desire to secure that fine
fish was founded in the purest charity.
We lost no time in setting out for
home by a shorter route; and after a hard, hot ride,
got back to the city in good time to dress for dinner,
at which I was sorry to find my philanthropic fisherman
did not make his appearance. This was the only
drawback upon the pleasure with which I contemplated
our day’s work; indeed I had special cause to
regret the mishap, since it was for my gratification
alone K r was led to push over
this unlucky stream, he having before visited the Falls.
However, I do not forget his amiability upon this
and many other similar occasions, and hereby pledge
myself to swim across a broader current, either with
him, or for him, on any day between this and the year
of our Lord 1850.
Early hours being the mode here, about
nine o’clock drove to Sir Charles Vaughan’s,
who, in honour of St. George’s-day, gave a ball,
to which all the beauties in the capital were bidden.
I found the guests on this occasion less numerous
than at one I had attended early in the season, during
my first visit here. The scene was already brilliant
as light, and life, and youth could make it; the music,
consisting of a harp and four other instruments, was
exceedingly good; the women were well-dressed and
pretty, and danced with infinite grace and spirit.
The tournure of an American
girl is generally very good; she excels in the dance,
and one sees that she enjoys it with all her heart.
In England I have rarely felt moved to dance; on the
other hand, in France and America, so electric is
evident unrestrained enjoyment, I have found it sometimes
difficult to repress the inclination within becoming
bounds.
About midnight supper was announced;
and let it not be forgotten, since it was of an order
worthy the country represented, and our excellent
minister’s character for hospitality. After
this the party thinned rapidly, and by half-past one
o’clock the ball-room was silent. I lighted
my cigar, and took my accustomed walk up the great
avenue to the Capitol hill, thence surveyed for a
moment the silent city, and back to my quarters at
Fuller’s, making a distance of full three miles;
and so concluded a busy and right pleasant four-and-twenty
hours.
IMPRESSIONS OF WASHINGTON SOCIETY, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
I attended several large assemblies
at Washington, and must here, after a second visit,
and so much experience as my opportunities afforded,
enter my protest against the sweeping ridicule it has
pleased some writers to cast upon these doings here;
since I saw none of those outrageously unpresentable
women, or coarsely habited and ungainly men, so amusingly
arrayed by some of my more observant predecessors.
I can only account for it by referring to the rapid
changes ever taking place here, and to which I have
alluded in my introduction to these “Impressions.”
The ordinary observances of good society
are, I should say, fully understood and fully practised
at these public gatherings, and not more of the ridiculous
presented than might be observed at any similar assemblage
in England, if half so much; since here I have commonly
found that persons who have no other claims to advance
save money or a seat in the legislature, very wisely
avoid reunions, where they could neither look
to receive nor bestow pleasure.
It is quite true that many of these
members, all of whom are by rank eligible to society,
may be met with, who are more rusty of bearing than
most of those within St. Stephen’s; but I will
answer for this latter assembly outfacing them in
samples of rudeness, ill-breeding, and true vulgarity:
for it is a striking characteristic of the American,
that, if not conventionally polished perhaps, you
will rarely find him either rude or discourteous;
whilst amongst those who, in the nature of the government,
are elevated from a comparatively obscure condition
to place and power, although refinement cannot be
inserted as an addendum to the official diploma, the
aspirant usually adopts with his appointment a quiet
formal strain of ceremony, which protects himself,
and can never give offence to any.
In the absence of that ease and self-possession
which can only be acquired by long habitual intercourse
with well-bred persons, this surely is the wisest
course that could be adopted, and a hundred degrees
above that fidgety, jackdaw-like assumption of nonchalance
with which the ill-bred amongst ourselves seek to
cover their innate vulgarity.
At all these assemblies, as elsewhere,
great real attention is paid to women; and I vow I
have, in this respect, seen more ill-breeding, and
selfish rudeness, at a fashionable rout in England,
than could be met with, at any decent crush, from
Natchetoches to Marble-head. Beyond these points
within the States I speak not, since without them the
land is strange to me.
No levee of the President’s
has occurred during my sojourn here; but I learn that
in the true spirit of democracy, the doors on these
occasions are open to every citizen without distinction
of rank or costume; consequently the assemblage at
such times may be oddly compounded enough.
As for private society in Washington,
although limited, it can in no place be conducted
in a manner more agreeable, or extended to the stranger
with more unostentatious freedom. Once presented
to a family, and the house is thenceforward open to
you. From twelve o’clock until two, the
inmates either visit or receive visitors: between
these hours, the question, “Are the ladies at
home?” being answered in the affirmative, you
walk into the drawing-room without farther form; and,
joining the circle, or enjoying a tete-a-tete,
as it may happen, remain just so long as you receive
or can impart amusement.
Again, after six, if you are so disposed,
you sally forth to visit. If the family you seek
be at home, you find its members forming a little
group or groups, according to the number present, each
after their age and inclination; and politics, dress,
or scandal are discussed: or, if the night be
serene,and what lovely nights have I witnessed
here, even at this early season! (May)you
make a little party to the covered stoup, or balcony,
extended along the back-front of most houses; and
here a song, a romp, a waltz, or a quiet still talk,
while away hours of life, unheeded until passed, but
never to be recalled without pleasure. About
eleven the guests generally depart, and by midnight
the great avenue of this city is hardly disturbed
by a foot-fall; not a sound comes on the ear except
the short, fierce wrangle of packs of vagrant curs
crossing each other’s hunting-ground, which they
are as tenacious of as the Indians are of their prairies.
At this hour I used often, after returning
from a party, such as is described above, to put on
my morning-gown and slippers, and light my pipe, then
sallying forth, have strolled from Fuller’s to
the Capitol; and climbing its bold hill, have looked
down along the sleeping city, speculating upon its
possible destinies until my fancies waxed threadbare,
and then quietly returned, making a distance of nearly
three miles, without encountering an individual or
hearing the sound of a human voice.
At set balls even, the first hour
of morning generally sees ample space on the, till
then, crowded floor; and the most ardent pleasure-lovers
rarely overleap the second by many minutes.
The consequence of this excellent
plan is, that, although the ladies are weak in numbers,
they are always, to use an expressive sporting phrase,
ready to come again; rising, the morning after a dance,
unwearied and elastic in mind and body. I hope,
for the sake of my American friends, it will be very
long before these healthful hours are changed to those
which custom has made fashionable in England; hours
that soon fade the roses even on their most genial
soil, the cheeks of the fair girls of Britain, blighting
the healthful and the young, and withering the aged
and the weak.
Much of the population of Washington
is migratory; and, during a long session, samples
may be found here of all classes, from every part of
the Union, whether represented or not. There are,
however, generally resident a few old Southern families,
who, together with the foreign ministers and their
suites, form the nucleus of a permanent society, where
the polish of Europe is grafted upon the simple and
frank courtesy of the best of America. Were it
not in violation of a rule I have imposed upon myself
as imperative, I could name families here whose simple
yet refined manners would do honour to any community,
and from an intercourse with whom the most fastidious
conventionalist would return satisfied.
IMPRESSIONS OF ALEXANDRIA.
A BLANK DAY.
My worthy manager had often pressed
me to accompany him on one of our off-nights to Alexandria,
which he assured me boasted a very pretty theatre,
and a population, if not generally theatrical, still
capable of filling the house for two or three nights
upon an extraordinary occasion. Such he was pleased
to consider the present; and although I suggested
the probability that most of the play-loving Alexandrians
had most likely, during the late very lovely nights,
visited the Washington theatre, Mr. Jefferson argued,
there yet existed a sufficient body, of the unsatisfied
curious, to repay us for our short trip. A steam-boat,
he said, would take down him and his troop, bag and
baggage, in a couple of hours; and, as I was fond
of riding, it was for me but a pleasant canter.
As it was my intention to pass a few
hours at this city, whose spires might be seen any
fine day from George-town heights, and close to which
lived a gentleman whom I had promised to visit, I decided
with the manager upon making trial of our popularity
by convening on a certain evening a public meeting
of its inhabitants; our object being similar to that
of most conveners of public meetings, viz. to
amuse the lièges and benefit ourselves.
The town was advertised of our intended
purpose, the night appointed, and all the usual blowing
of trumpets duly done, when on the forenoon of a lovely
day, accompanied by Captain R y
of the navy, I traversed the interminable-looking
bridge uniting the district of Columbia with Virginia,
and entered the Old Dominion, as the natives
love to distinguish their State.
The road was excellent, bordered with
turf nearly the whole way, and commanding extensive
and varied views of the Potomac, together with George-town
and the Capitol. I often halted and turned my
horse’s head to look upon this picture, for
such it truly was. Nothing, in fact, can be more
panoramic than the aspect of these cities, lying in
one of the best-defined and most beautiful of natural
amphitheatres, and flanked by the grandest of rivers.
At the distance of five or six miles all the meannesses
of the city are lost sight of, and the extreme ends,
so widely apart, and so worthily bounded, by the Capitol
on the north and the President’s mansion, with
the surrounding offices belonging to the state department,
on the south, combined with the dock-yard and a few
other large public buildings in the middle distance,
give to the metropolis of America an aspect no way
unworthy of its high destiny.
Arrived at Shooter’s Hill, the
seat of Mr. D y, we were encountered
with a welcome characteristic of a Virginian gentleman
on his own soil, and worthy the descendant of an Irishman.
Here then we dined, took our tisan
de champagne glacee upon the well-shaded gallery
fronting the river, and in due time I mounted, and
rode down to the city, to make my toilet and receive
the Alexandrians. The first I soon effected,
and the last I should have rejoiced to have also done;
but they would not be received“the
more we waited, the more they would not come.”
I took possession of the stage, the
only portion of the house occupied, where, eyed by
half a dozen curious negroes, who were evidently amateurs,
and by their good-humoured air ready to become admirers,
I awaited the appearance of the audience. In
lieu of these, some half-hour after the time of beginning,
Mr. Jefferson made his appearance solus, with
an expression half comic, half vexed.
“It’s no go, my good friend,” said
I.
“They’re not come yet” said
Mr. J.
“Nor are they on the road, Mr. Jefferson.”
“They’re a long way off, I guess, if they
are,” said he.
“And won’t arrive in time,
that’s clear. Hadn’t you better postpone
the business sine die?”
“We’ve nothing else left
for it, I fear,” said Mr. J., taking a last
careful survey of the well-lighted solitary salle:
adding, “We must dismiss.”
“That ceremony will be quite
superfluous,” observed I, “unless as far
as we ourselves are concerned, and our sable friends
here.”
I had observed that the two or three
little knots occupying the intervals of the side-scenes
were evidently interested observers of our debate,
and grieved and disappointed by the result. I
should have liked to have put them all into the front,
and then have acted to them, could one have insured
their not being intruded on by any stray white-man.
As it was, Mr. Jefferson begged me to consider myself
at perfect liberty.
“It’s provoking too,”
added my good-humoured manager, who was quite a philosopher
in his vocation; “for it’s a pretty theatre,
isn’t it?”
“It is a very pretty theatre,”
responded I. And so it was, exceedingly so. It
had been built when the place flourished, and the community
was prosperous and could afford to be merry.
Now, trade having decayed, and money ceased to circulate,
the blood has also grown stagnant amongst this once
gay people: the fire is out and the drama’s
spirit fled.
Mr. Jefferson, however, had a much
more summary mode of accounting for our desolate state;
for, on my suggesting that his bills might have been
ill distributed or his notice insufficient,being
rather desirous thus to find a loophole for my vanity
to creep out of,he convinced me that all
points of ’vantage had been most provokingly
well cared for.
“What the plague can be the
reason they won’t come for once, at least,
Mr. J.? One would be less surprised at their not
answering to a second summons.”
Jefferson shook his head, in a fashion
that expressed more than even Puff designed Lord Burleigh’s
shake to convey: adding, by way of commentary,
“The Bank question, sir! all the Bank question!”
I waited for no more, feeling that
this was indeed an explanation sufficiently satisfactory;
since, for some time, it served to account fully for
every possible event, moral and physical,the
depression of the markets, the failure of the fruit-crop,
the non-arrival of the packets, the sinking of stock,
and the flooding of the Ohio.
Joining my friends at the hotel,an
exceedingly good one, by the way,we were
soon once more in saddle; and, lighted by as beautiful
a moon as ever silvered the smooth surface of the
Potomac, off I dashed with them, for Washington at
a slapping pace, in no way regretting my having visited
Alexandria or my premature return, since my day had
been most delightfully passed: and my not having
a soiree of my own, enabled me to assist at
one given by a very charming and intelligent person,
to which I was bidden, but in consequence of my engagement
to Mr. J. had no hopes of attending.
THE FANCY BALL.
This species of entertainment, so
common in Europe, is in a great measure a novelty
in the States; for although in New York and Philadelphia
materiel may be procured in abundance,and
there is no lack of either wealth or spirit to put
it in requisition,yet the society is too
much divided to admit of numbers, and variety, sufficient
to relieve the groups from sameness and consequent
insipidity. At Washington, I believe, there had
never been more than two or three attempts made; when,
therefore, Senator W e, of Florida,
issued cards for a “Fancy Ball,” with
little more than a week’s notice, the whole of
the visiting community was thrown into confusion, and,
indeed, despair. A rush was at once made upon
the materiel; the candidates were many, the
supplies few; and all were eager to monopolise as far
as was possible.
In twenty-four hours after the summons
had gone forth, not a plume of feathers, a wreath
of flowers, or a scarf or ribbon couleur de rose
or flamme d’enfer, could have been purchased
in the city of Washington.
It was most amusing to assist at the
consultations of the ladies: not a portfolio
but what was rummaged, not a pencil but what was in
requisition copying or inventing authorities for all
sorts of real and imaginary costume.
Every man who either possessed, or
was supposed possessed of, an iota of taste, suddenly
found himself greatly increased in importance.
The position of these virtuosi became enviable in
the extreme: they ran or walked about the streets
with an air of well-pleased mystery, their hands filled
with delicate-looking triangular billets; they entered
the residences of the most admired belles without
knocking; they were consulted, caressed, listened
to anxiously, smiled upon gratefully: in short,
for three or four days, their influence seemed only
limited by their discretion; they moved “air-borne,
exalted above vulgar men.”
But all human happiness is transient
at best, and even the sovereignty of taste could not
endure for ever. As the costume became settled,
the fair clients fell off; the portfolios were returned
with “thanks;” the drawings, so lately
pronounced “perfect loves,” and gazed upon
as though worthy the creation of a Rubens, were now
to be found doubled up in the card-rack, or transfixed
by two or three pins on the cushion of a work-table;
the three-cornered missives circulated in other channels;
and the man of Taste found ample leisure once more
to speak to a friend in the avenue, or fall quietly
into the ranks at a dinner-party.
Nevertheless, up to the last hour,
the ladies continued, if words might have been trusted,
in absolute despair; and in truth, when one examined
into the resources at their command, the case seemed
desperate enough. To be sure, Baltimore was near,
and was soon under contribution; even Philadelphia
and New York were lightly visited, more than one belle
having sent thus far for a dress. Some of these,
by the way, were, like the Chevalier de Grammont’s,
swamped on the road, to the mortification of the fair
expectants.
Three or four gentlemen joined company
in getting up a diplomatic group, which my friend
Kenny’s little comedy of “The Irish Ambassador”
had here made very popular. Of this group I formed
a part; and being honoured by the company of an embassy
from a new quarter, in the portly person of “His
Excellency minister extraordinary, and Plenipotentiary,
from the Dry Tortugas,” together with his Secretary
of legation and suite, our équipages, as we left
Fuller’s, made rather a formidable show.
Many other well-dressed groups of
men were known to us as being prepared, and it was
for the ladies only I felt any fear of a lame conclusion.
But what will not the ingenuity of woman effect when
inclination prompts and pleasure leads the way!
I entered the reception-room, quite
sorrowing for one or two of my personal friends, whose
regret at being so miserably unprovided up to the
last hour had met sympathy from my credulous simplicity,
when, lo! here I found these fair sly things set forth
in character, all plumed “like estridges.”
We made our bows to the lady patroness,
a very charming person, habited as Isabel de Croye,
and attended by a suite of well-chosen characters,
very tastefully gotten up. Here were girls so
unquestionably Greek, that any good Christian would
willingly have ransomed them without suspicion of
their country or quality; together with Turkish maidens,
whose appearance would have dazzled and deceived even
the argus-eyed guardians of the Imperial serai.
I was struck with the great variety
of Asiatic costume present, of the richest and most
perfect kind, both male and female: a couple of
women, with fine black eyes and features of remarkable
classic beauty, wore the costume of Tripolitan ladies
of the highest rank, and it would be difficult to
conceive anything richer or more strikingly picturesque.
The Mediterranean is the favourite cruising ground
of the American navy; and from this abundant wardrobe,
of the most becoming costumes, every ship imports
specimens for their friends at home. On this occasion
these had been laid under requisition to excellent
purpose.
There were two attempts only, as far
as I remember, to embody character, as is more usual
in masquerade; but these were both remarkable for their
excellence. The most striking in appearance was
a young officer of the United States’ army,
habited as an Osage warrior, painted and plumed with
startling truth. Surrounded by all that was presumed
to be strange and bewildering, never for a moment
did the well-trained young warrior forget what was
due to himself or his tribe: he looked on with
the most imperturbable sangfroid, moved about
with the ease and self-possession of one to whom all
he mingled with had been a matter of common usage;
heard jests, questions, or friendly explanations with
the most unmoved gravity, replying by an occasional
“Ou, où!” or a slow bend of his
head: his patience was indeed worthy the most
tried of the race he represented, for never did he
lose it or forget himself for a moment. He was
a very fine young man, and the features of his face
appeared to have been moulded to his present purpose.
The other was a Yankee young man,
as he described himself, “jist come away south,
to see about;” and who, “noticin’
that all kinds o’ queer men was comin’
in here without payin’ nothin’, thought
he’d best jist step in tu, and make one
among the lot.”
And of a certainty he did make the
queerest specimen I ever met in this or any other
lot. The supporter of this character was young
Mr. W r. The total change
in his appearance was effected by a certain set of
the hat and a mode of placing it on the head quite
characteristic, together with an odd hanging on of
the coat and vest, which gave them the look of having
belonged to some one else, and as likely to fit any
one as the present wearer.
I had seen the original of this picture
in the north, I had also witnessed it admirably represented
by Messrs. Hill and Hacket, the rival Yankees of the
American stage; but neither of them, I think, were
so minutely perfect or so whimsical as this new actor.
The abstraction was complete; and the odd questions,
guesses, complicated relations, full of drollery and
wholly applicable to the present scene and the actors
engaged in it, were replete with humour, exhibiting
a compound of vulgar assurance, simplicity, and native
shrewdness, not surpassed by any assumption I have
ever witnessed.
Although quite intimate with this
gentleman, I stood for a while listening to him where
he stood grinning amidst a group who were quizzing
and questioning him, and for a short time imagined
it was some veritable rustic they held immeshed.
It was not until after I had learned who it was, that
I succeeded in recognising a person who had been sitting
with me that very morning.
A few of the gravest of the senators
alone had been privileged by the host to appear en
habit de ville, and these paid for their privilege
before they got clear off. Their potent seignorships,
in truth, soon found themselves exceedingly ill at
ease here: jostled by lawless pirates, lassoed
by wild Guachos, and plundered of their loose cash
by irresistible broom and orange girls, they were
fain to make an early retreat, with as good a grace
as might be assumed, under circumstances so subversive
of all due gravity.
If enjoyment be the object of such
meetings, nothing could be more absolutely attained
than it was at this little fancy ball; for a scene
of higher festivity and good-humour no man could desire
to assist at. It had, however, the sin to account
for of keeping its fair patronesses together some
two hours later than any other fête I witnessed
in this most wisely merry capital.
On reaching Fuller’s, accompanied
by a joyous knot of diplomatists, it was discovered
to be over three hours past midnight; a novelty in
etiquette which it was decided nem. con. would
have “plenty of precedents after.”