| 21 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Spy ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | The officer to whose keeping Dunwoodie had
committed the pedlar, transferred his charge to
the custody of the regular sergeant of the guard.
The gift of Captain Wharton had not been lost on
the youthful lieutenant, and a certain dancing motion
that had unaccountably taken possession of
objects before his eyes, gave him warning of the
necessity of recruiting nature by sleep. After
admonishing the non-commissioned guardian of
Harvey to omit no watchfulness in securing the
prisoner, the youth wrapped himself in his cloak,
and, stretched on a bench before a fire, sought,
and soon found, the repose he needed. A rude
shed extended the whole length of the rear of the
building, and from off one of its ends had been
partitioned a small apartment, that was intended
as a repository for many of the lesser implements
of husbandry. The lawless times had, however,
occasoned its being stript of every thing of any
value, and the searching eyes of Betty Flannagan
selected this spot, on her arrival, as the store house
for her moveables, and a withdrawing-room for
her person. The spare arms and baggage of the
corps had also been deposited here; and the united
treasures were placed under the eye of the
sentinel who paraded the shed as guardian to the
rear of the head quarters. A second warrior,
who was stationed near the house to protect the
horses of the officers, could command a view of
the outside of the apartment, and as it was without
window, or outlet of any kind excepting its
door, the considerate sergeant thought this the
most befitting place in which to deposite his charge,
until the moment of his execution. There were
several inducements that urged Sergeant Hollister
to this determination, among which was the absence
of the washerwoman, who lay before the
kitchen fire, dreaming that the corps were attacking
a party of the enemy, and mistaking the noise
which proceeded from her own nose for the bugles
of the Virginians sounding the charge. Another
was the peculiar opinions that the veteran
entertained of life and death, and by which he
was distinguished in the corps as a man of most
exemplary piety and holiness of life. The sergeant
was more than fifty years of age, and for
half that period had borne arms as a profession.
The constant recurrence of sudden deaths before
his eyes had produced an effect on him differing
greatly from that, which was the usual moral consequence
of such scenes, and he had become not
only the most steady, but the most trust-worthy
soldier in his troop.—Captain Lawton had rewarded
his fidelity by making him its orderly. | | Similar Items: | Find |
22 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Pilot ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Each year causes some new and
melancholy chasm in what is now the brief
list of my naval friends and former associates.
War, disease, and the casualties
of a hazardous profession, have made fearful
inroads in the limited number; while
the places of the dead are supplied by
names that to me are strangers. With the
consequences of these sad changes before
me, I cherish the recollection of those with
whom I once lived in close familiarity with
peculiar interest, and feel a triumph in
their growing reputations, that is but little
short of their own honest pride. A single glance at the map will make the reader
acquainted with the position of the eastern coast
of the island of Great Britain, as connected
with the shores of the opposite continent. Together
they form the boundaries of the small
sea, that has for ages been known to the world
as the scene of maritime exploits, and as the
great avenue through which commerce and war
have conducted the fleets of the northern nations
of Europe. Over this sea the islanders long
asserted a jurisdiction, exceeding that which reason
concedes to any power on the highway of nations,
and which frequently led to conflicts that
caused an expenditure of blood and treasure, utterly
disproportioned to the advantages that can
ever arise from the maintenance of a useless and
abstract right. It is across the waters of this disputed
ocean that we shall attempt to conduct our
readers, in imagination, selecting a period for our
incidents that has peculiar interests for every
American, not only because it was the birth-day
of his nation, but because it was also the era when
reason and common sense began to take place of
custom and feudal practices in the management of
the affairs of nations. “Believing that Providence may conduct me
where we shall meet, or whence I may be able to
transmit to you this account, I have prepared a
short statement of the situation of Cecilia Howard
and myself; not, however, to urge you and
Griffith to any rash or foolish hazards, but that
you may both sit down, and, after due consultation,
determine on what is proper for our relief. | | Similar Items: | Find |
23 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Pilot ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | As Griffith and his compantions rushed from
the offices of St. Ruth, into the open air, they
encountered no one to intercept their flight, or
communicate the alarm. Warned by the experience
of the earlier part of the same night, they
avoided the points where they knew the sentinels
were posted, though fully prepared to bear down
all resistance, and were soon beyond the probability
of immediate detection. They proceded,
for the distance of half a mile, with rapid strides,
and with the stern and sullen silence of men who
expected to encounter immediate danger, resolved
to breast it with desperate resolution; but, as
they plunged into a copse, that clustered around
the ruin which has already been mentioned, they
lessened their exertions to a more deliberate pace;
and a short but guarded dialogue ensued. | | Similar Items: | Find |
24 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Near the centre of the great State of New-York
lies an extensive district of country, whose
surface is a succession of hills and dales, or, to
speak with greater deference to geographical definitions,
of mountains and valleys. It is among
these hills that the Delaware takes its rise; and
flowing from the limpid lakes and thousand springs
of this country, the numerous sources of the
mighty Susquehanna meander through the valleys,
until, uniting, they form one of the proudest
streams of which the old United States could boast.
The mountains are generally arable to the top,
although instances are not wanting, where their
sides are jutted with rocks, that aid greatly in
giving that romantic character to the country,
which it so eminently possesses. The vales are
narrow, rich, and cultivated; with a stream uniformly
winding through each, now gliding peacefully
under the brow of one of the hills, and then
suddenly shooting across the plain, to wash the
feet of its opposite rival. Beautiful and thriving
villages are found interspersed along the margins
of the small lakes, or situated at those points of the
streams which are favourable to manufacturing;
and neat and comfortable farms, with every indication
of wealth about them, are scattered profusely
through the vales, and even to the mountain tops.
Roads diverge in every direction, from the even
and graceful bottoms of the valleys, to the most
rugged and intricate passes of the hills Academies,
and minor edifices for the encouragement
of learning, meet the eye of the stranger, at every
few miles, as he winds his way through this uneven
territory; and places for the public worship of
God abound with that frequency which characterizes
a moral and reflecting people, and with that
variety of exterior and canonical government
which flows from unfettered liberty of conscience.
In short, the whole district is hourly exhibiting
how much can be done, in even a rugged country,
and with a severe climate, under the dominion
of mild laws, and where every man feels a direct
interest in the prosperity of a commonwealth, of
which he knows himself to form a distinct and independent
part. The expedients of the pioneers
who first broke ground in the settlement of this
country, are succeeded by the permanent improvements
of the yeoman, who intends to leave
his remains to moulder under the sod which he
tills, or, perhaps, of the son, who, born in the land,
piously wishes to linger around the grave of his
father. Only forty years have passed since this
whole territory was a wilderness. | | Similar Items: | Find |
25 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | As the spring gradually approached, the immense
piles of snow, that, by alternate thaws and
frosts, and repeated storms, had obtained a firmness
that threatened a tiresome durability, begun
to yield to the influence of milder breezes and
a warmer sun. The gates of Heaven, at times,
seemed to open, and a bland air diffused itself over
the earth, when animate and inanimate nature would
awaken, and, for a few hours, the gayety of spring
shone in every eye, and smiled on every field.
But the shivering blasts from the north would carry
their chill influence over the scene again, and
the dark and gloomy clouds that intercepted the
rays of the sun, were not more cold and dreary,
than the re-action which crossed the creation.
These struggles between the seasons became,
daily, more frequent, while the earth, like a victim
to contention, slowly lost the animated brilliancy
of winter, without obtaining the decided aspect of
spring. | | Similar Items: | Find |
26 | Author: | Allston
Washington
1779-1843 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Monaldi ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Among the students of a seminary at Bologna
were two friends, more remarkable for their attachment
to each other, than for any resemblance
in their minds or dispositions. Indeed there was
so little else in common between them, that hardly
two boys could be found more unlike. The character
of Maldura, the eldest, was bold, grasping,
and ostentatious; while that of Monaldi, timid
and gentle, seemed to shrink from observation.
The one, proud and impatient, was ever laboring
for distinction; the world, palpable, visible, audible,
was his idol; he lived only in externals, and could
neither act nor feel but for effect; even his secret
reveries having an outward direction, as if he
could not think without a view to praise, and
anxiously referring to the opinion of others; in
short, his nightly and his daily dreams had but one
subject — the talk and the eye of the crowd. The
other, silent and meditative, seldom looked out of
himself either for applause or enjoyment; if he
ever did so, it was only that he might add to, or
sympathize in the triumph of another; this done,
he retired again, as it were to a world of his own,
where thoughts and feelings, filling the place of
men and things, could always supply him with
occupation and amusement. | | Similar Items: | Find |
28 | Author: | Belknap
Jeremy
1744-1798 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Foresters ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | To perform the promise which
I made to you before I began my journey,
I will give you such an account of this,
once forest, but now cultivated and pleasant
country, as I can collect from my
conversation with its inhabitants, and
from the perusal of their old family papers,
which they have kindly permitted
me to look into for my entertainment.
By these means I have acquainted
myself with the story of their first
planting, consequent improvements and
present state; the recital of which will
occupy the hours which I shall be able to
spare from business, company and sleep,
during my residence among them. | | Similar Items: | Find |
29 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Bandits of the Osage ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | “`My dear son, God be with you! I am dying,
and can never see you again on earth, but will in
the land of spirits. My strength is failing—I
have but a few minutes to live, and will devote
them to you. You have often questioned me of
your father. I have delayed answering you,—but
the time has now come when it is necessary you
should know all. God give me strength to pen,
and you to read the secret of my life!—and Ronald,
dear Ronald, whatever you do, do not reproach,
do not curse my memory! I shall enter
but little into detail, for time and strength will
not permit. At the age of twelve I was left an
orphan, and was taken in charge of some distant
relatives of my mother, with whom I lived in
easy circumstances, until the age of sixteen.
They were not wealthy, and yet had enough
wherewithal to live independent. They treated
me with much affection, and life passed pleasantly
for four years. At the age of sixteen, I accidentally
became acquainted with Walter Langdon,
only son of Sir Edgar Langdon, whose large
estate and residence—for he was very wealthy—
was but a few miles distant. He found opportunity
and declared his attachment, but at the
same time informed me that our relations on either
side would be opposed to our union, and begged
me to make no mention of it, but to prepare myself
and elope with him; that when the ceremony
was over, and no alternative, all parties would
become reconciled. He was young, handsome, and
accomplished—his powers of conversation brilliant.
He plead with a warmth of passion I could
not withstand—for know, Ronald, I loved him,
with the ardent first love of a girl of sixteen, and
I consented. Alas! Ronald, that I am forced to
tell you more: this rash act was my ruin! | | Similar Items: | Find |
30 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Renegade ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | That portion of territory known throughout Christendom as Kentucky,
was, at an early period, the theatre of some of the wildest tragedies, most
hardy contested and bloody scenes ever placed on record. In fact its very
name, derived from the Indian word Kan-tuck-kee, and which was applied
to it long before its discovery by the whites, is peculiarly significant in
meaning—being no less than “the dark and bloody ground.” History makes
no mention of its being inhabited prior to its settlement by the present race,
but rather serves to aid us in the inference, that from time immemorial it
was used as a “neutral ground,” whereon the different savage tribes were
wont to meet in deadly strife; and hence the portentious name by which it
was known among them. But notwithstanding its ominous title, Kentucky,
when first beheld by the white hunter, presented all the attractions he would
have envied in Paradise itself. The climate was congenial to his feelings—
the country was devoid of savages—while its thick tangles of green cane—
abounding with deer, elk, bears, buffaloes, panthers, wolves and wild cats,
and its more open woods with pheasant, turkey and partridges—made it the
full realization of his hopes—his longings. What more could he ask? And
when he again stood among his friends, beyond the Alleghanies, is it to be
wondered at that his excited feelings, aided by distance, should lead him to
describe it as the El Dorado of the world? Such indeed he did describe it;
and to such glowing descriptions, Kentucky is doubtless partially indebted
for her settlement so much in advance of the surrounding territory. “Dear Son:—If in the land of the living, return as speedily as possible
to your afflicted and anxious parents, who are even now mourning you as dead.
You can return in safety; for your cousin, whom you supposed you had
fatally wounded, recovered therefrom, and publicly exonerated you from all
blame in the matter. He is now, however, no more—having died of late
with the scarlet fever. Elvira, his wife, is also dead. She died insane. As
a partial restitution for the injury done you, your cousin has made you heir
by will, to all his property, real estate and personal, amounting, it is said, to
over twenty thousand dollars. Your mother is in feeble health, caused by
anxiety on your account. For further information, inquire of the messenger
who will bear you this. | | Similar Items: | Find |
31 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Trapper's Bride, Or, Spirit of Adventure ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | It was in the autumn of 18— that I
isited the city of New York for the first
ime. I had long been desirous of seeing
hat great city, the grand commercial
and mercantile emporium of the western
world: the London of America. This
city is one of the oldest in the United
States, and by far the largest in the Republic,
and decidedly the most important
in a business point of view. Its mercantile
interests are greater and vastly
more extended, than are those of any
other city in the Union. Early in the
history of this country it was founded by
a colony of Dutch, a people then widely
known for the spirit and energy with
which they carried on mercantile pursuits,
and more especially for their commercial
operations. This spirit they
brought with them to their new home:
and, as the town grew in importance, and
increased in wealth, they pushed their
branches of business, which were found
profitable to them, besides being more to
their liking than any other pursuits in
life: and in this way they gained an advance
over the other settlements in the
country, which they have ever since continued
to hold. New York possesses by
its location all the natural advantages for
commercial pursuit. Its wide harbor,
which affords a safe anchorage for the
largest ships, looks out upon the boundless
ocean, which is traversed at this time
by its thousands of stout, staunch vessels.
Its intercourse with foreign nations
across the ocean is extremely easy from
this circumstance, and its active citizens
saw this advantage from the first; it was
the strong inducement which led them to
settle on that narrow neck of land upon
which the city is built, and as I have
said, early turned their attention to the
subject of navigation, and to embark in
the pursuits of commerce. As the country
grew, and the population increased,
foreign trade also became more profitable,
and this city was the port that received
the returning ships laden with the
treasures and luxuries of foreign climes,
and in turn sent them back freighted
with the surplus productions of our own
land, to be exchanged in distant countries.
At the date of my story, the city
had become large and wealthy. It had
already secured the largest share of trade
in foreign staples and commodities from
other parts of our country, and merchants
from other cities on the sea-board as well
as inland cities and towns came here to
purchase their stocks. Merchants from
all parts of the country flowed to New
York, as offering the best chance to do
business profitably, and advantageously;
and foreigners, also, who came to this
country, were pretty sure to make this
port on their arrival, and quite as sure to
remain and engage in business in this
enterprising and prosperous city. From
successful business, many of the city
merchants grew very wealthy, and retiring
from active business, they built for
themselves elegant mansions in which
they resided in the bosom of their families,
enjoying all the comforts and pleasures,
both social and domestic, their
amassed wealth could purchase for
them; hence there grew up in this
city, and very naturally too, an aristocracy
of wealth, and with wealth an
aristocracy of fashion; indeed this city
soon became what in truth it has ever
since continued to be, the source and
fountain of the fashion. Here were to
be seen the latest styles of female costume;
here the fashionable bean got
the cue for the approved and last method
of the tie of his cravat, or the color and
size of his coat buttons, the length and
shape of his whiskers and moustaches.
In fact, in this respect, New York is to
America what Paris is to France; and
here you will ever find a crowd devoted
to the gay goddess whose temples are the
milliners, the mantua-makers, tailors and
barbers' shops. | | Similar Items: | Find |
32 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Calavar, Or, the Knight of the Conquest ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | In the year of Grace fifteen hundred and twenty,
upon a day in the month of May thereof, the sun rose
over the islands of the new deep, and the mountains
that divided it from an ocean yet unknown, and
looked upon the havoc, which, in the name of God,
a Christian people were working-upon the loveliest
of his regions. He had seen, in the revolution of a
day, the strange transformations which a few years
had brought upon all the climes and races of his
love. The standard of Portugal waved from the
minarets of the east; a Portuguese admiral swept
the Persian Gulf, and bombarded the walls of Ormuz;
a Portuguese viceroy held his court on the shores
of the Indian ocean; the princes of the eastern continent
had exchanged their bracelets of gold for the
iron fetters of the invader; and among the odours of
the Spice Islands, the fumes of frankincense ascended
to the God of their new masters. He passed on his
course: the breakers that dashed upon the sands of
Africa, were not whiter than the squadrons that
rolled among them; the chapel was built on the
shore, and under the shadow of the crucifix was
fastened the first rivet in the slavery of her miserable
children. Then rose he over the blue Atlantic:
the new continent emerged from the dusky deep; the
ships of discoverers were penetrating its estuaries
and straits, from the Isles of Fire even to the frozen
promontories of Labrador; and the roar of cannon
went up to heaven, mingled with the groans and blood
of naked savages. But peace had descended upon
the islands of America; the gentle tribes of these
paradises of ocean wept in subjection over the graves
of more than half their race; hamlets and cities were
springing up in their valleys and on their coasts;
the culverin bellowed from the fortress, the bell
pealed from the monastery; and the civilization and
vices of Europe had supplanted the barbarism and
innocence of the feeble native. Still, as he careered
to the west, new spectacles were displayed before
him; the followers of Balboa had built a proud city
on the shores, and were launching their hasty barks
on the surges of the New Ocean; the hunter of the
Fountain of Youth was perishing under the arrows
of the wild warriors of Florida, and armed Spaniards
were at last retreating before a pagan multitude. One
more sight of pomp and of grief awaited him: he
rose on the mountains of Mexico; the trumpet of
the Spaniards echoed among the peaks; he looked
upon the bay of Ulua, and, as his beams stole tremblingly
over the swelling current, they fell upon the
black hulls and furled canvas of a great fleet riding
tranquilly at its moorings. The fate of Mexico was
in the scales of destiny; the second army of invaders
had been poured upon her shores. In truth, it
was a goodly sight to look upon the armed vessels
that thronged this unfrequented bay; for peacefully
and majestically they slept on the tide, and as the
morning hymn of the mariners swelled faintly on the
air, one would have thought they bore with them to
the heathen the tidings of great joy, and the good-will
and grace of their divine faith, instead of the
earthly passions which were to cover the land with
lamentation and death. | | Similar Items: | Find |
33 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Infidel, Or, the Fall of Mexico ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | The traveller, who wanders at the present day
along the northern and eastern borders of the Lake
of Tezcuco, searches in vain for those monuments
of aboriginal grandeur, which surrounded it in the
age of Montezuma. The lake itself, which, not so
much from the saltness of its flood as from the
vastness of its expanse, was called by Cortes the
Sea of Anahuac, is no longer worthy of the name.
The labours of that unhappy race of men, whose
bondage the famous Conquistador cemented in the
blood of their forefathers, have conducted, through
the bowels of a mountain, the waters of its great
tributaries, the pools of San Cristobal and Zumpango;
and these, rushing down the channel of
the Tula, or river of Montezuma, and mingled with
the surges of the great Gulf, support fleets of
modern argosies, instead of piraguas and chinampas,
and expend upon foundering ships-of-war the
wrath, which, in their ancient beds, was wasted
upon reeds and bulrushes. With the waters,
which rippled through their streets, have vanished
the numberless towns and cities, that once beautified
the margin of the Alpine sea; the towers have
fallen, the lofty pyramids melted into earth or air,
and the palaces and tombs of kings will be looked
for in vain, under tangled copses of thistle and
prickly-pear. | | Similar Items: | Find |
34 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Infidel, Or, the Fall of Mexico ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Before sunrise on the following morning, many
a feathered band of allies from distant tribes was
pouring into Tezcuco; for this was the day on
which the Captain-General had appointed to review
his whole force, assign the several divisions to the
command of his favourite officers, and expound the
system of warfare, by which he expected to reduce
the doomed Tenochtitlan. The multitudes that
were collected by midday would be beyond our
belief, did we not know that the royal valley, and
every neighbouring nook of Anahuac capable of
cultivation, were covered by a population almost
as dense as that which makes an ant-heap of the
`Celestial Empire,' at this day. | | Similar Items: | Find |
35 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Nick of the Woods, Or, the Jibbenainosay ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | When the soldier recovered his senses, it was
to wonder again at the change that had come over
the scene. The loud yells, the bitter taunts, the
mocking laughs, were heard no more; and nothing
broke the silence of the wilderness, save the stir
of the leaf in the breeze, and the ripple of the
river against its pebbly banks below. He glanced
a moment from the bush in which he was lying,
in search of the barbarians who had lately covered
the slope of the hill, but all had vanished; captor
and captive had alike fled; and the sparrow
twittering among the stunted bushes, and the
grasshopper singing in the grass, were the only
living objects to be seen. The thong was still
upon his wrists, and as he felt it rankling in his
flesh, he almost believed that his savage captors,
with a refinement in cruelty the more remarkable
as it must have robbed them of the sight of his
dying agonies, had left him thus bound and wounded,
to perish miserably in the wilderness alone. | | Similar Items: | Find |
36 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Adventures of Robin Day ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Sylla, the Roman dictator, is, as far as I know,
the only great man on record who attributed his
advancement to good luck; all other great men being
modestly content to refer their successes in life to
their own merits; insisting, with the philosophers,
that there is not, in reality, any such thing as luck
at all, good, bad, or indifferent, but that every man's
fortune, whether happy or evil, is referable to his
own agency, the direct result of his own wise or
foolish actions. Such may be the fact, for aught I can
say, (it is a comfortable doctrinef or the fortunate,)
and I do not pretend to controvert it; but of one
thing I am very certain, namely, that whether there
be bad luck in the world or not, there is an abundance
of those unhappy personages who are commonly
considered its victims—that is to say, unlucky
dogs; of which race I was undoubtedly born
a member. | | Similar Items: | Find |
37 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | The Adventures of Robin Day ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Much as I had reason to fear and detest this
remarkable personage, Captain Brown, by whom I
had been so basely defrauded and cheated into a participation
in knavery, and who, I had cause from
his own confessions, to believe was, or had once
been, a noted pirate; yet my feelings at sight of
him mingled something like satisfaction with my
fear and resentment. I was so forlorn and helpless
in the midst of embarrassment and danger, so much
in want of a friend to counsel and assist me, that
even Captain Hellcat's countenance appeared to me
desirable: at such a moment, I could have accepted
the friendship almost of Old Nick himself. He had
done me a great deal of mischief, to be sure; but, in
my present situation, it was scarce possible he could
do me any more. From his courage and worldly
experience, nay even from his good will—for I
almost looked upon him as a friend, though a mischievous
and dangerous one—much was to be expected:
and, besides, our adventures together had
established a kind of community of interests between
us, at least to a certain extent, (were we not house-robbers
and runaways together?) which, I thought,
must ensure me his good offices, at this moment of
difficulty and distress. I resolved, in a word, having
no other way to help myself, to throw myself
upon his friendship, and trust to him for rescue from
the dangers that beset me. | | Similar Items: | Find |
38 | Author: | Brown
Charles Brockden
1771-1810 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Edgar Huntly, Or, Memoirs of a Sleep-walker ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Next morning I stored a
small bag with meat and bread, and
throwing an axe on my shoulder, set
out, without informing any one of my
intentions, for the hill. My passage
was rendered more difficult by these
incumbrances, but my perseverance surmounted
every impediment, and I gained,
in a few hours, the foot of the tree, whose
trunk was to serve me for a bridge.
In this journey I saw no traces of the
fugitive. | | Similar Items: | Find |
39 | Author: | Brown
Charles Brockden
1771-1810 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Ormond, Or, the Secret Witness ![](https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/icons/default/i_tei.gif) | | | Published: | 1997 | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | Description: | Stephen Dudley was a native of New-York.
He was educated to the profession of a
painter. His father's trade was that or an apothecary.
But this son, manifesting an attachment
to the pencil, he was resolved that it should be
gratified. For this end Stephen was sent at an
early age to Europe, and not only enjoyed the instructions
of Fuzeli and Bartolozzi, but spent a
considerable period in Italy, in studying the Augustan
and Medicean monuments. It was intended
that he should practise his art in his native city,
but the young man, though reconciled to this
scheme by deference to paternal authority, and by
a sense of its propriety, was willing, as long as
possible to postpone it. The liberality of his father
relieved him from all pecuniary cares. His
whole time was devoted to the improvement of
his skill in his favorite art, and the enriching of
his mind with every valuable accomplishment.
He was endowed with a comprehensive genius
and indefatigable industry. His progress was
proportionably rapid, and he passed his time without
much regard to futurity, being too well satisfied
with the present to anticipate a change. A
change however was unavoidable, and he was
obliged at length to pay a reluctant obedience to
his father's repeated summons. The death of his
wife had rendered his society still more necessary
to the old gentleman. | | Similar Items: | Find |
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