| | 201 | Author: | Hall
Baynard Rush
1798-1863 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The new purchase, or, Seven and a half years in the far West  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “A knowledge of your character, derived from mutual
friends, from the opinion of all your acquaintances, and also
from a somewhat intimate personal acquaintance, induces
me to believe that such a lady would fill the vacancy in my
domestic establishment most perfectly and delightfully:—
although I am not vain enough to suppose Miss Smythe
will necessarily feel herself flattered by such a preference
on the part of the writer. As, however, Miss S. on better
acquaintance, might become interested in him—more so at
least than he fears she is at present—he very respectfully,
yet most carnestly, craves permission to pay his addresses
in person. “In a playful conversation on a subject so common when
unmarried persons meet, your daughter, Miss Brown, in a
jesting manner, remarked, that she always referred gentlemen
to her father—as his choice would always be hers.
What was jest with her, with me would have become very
solemn earnest, had I had then to offer any thing beyond
my hand and my heart, to induce such a girl to leave such
a home. Happily, circumstances are now favourably altered;
and willingly now would I ask that father for his
daughter could I flatter myself the daughter could be induced
to gladden and adorn a hearth, which, however
warm in one sense, must be yet cold and cheerless without
the love of a bosom friend. And such a friend would Miss
Brown prove:—and, dear sir, if you think such a match
suitable for your lovely daughter, I sincerely entreat the
communication of your favourable opinion to her in my behalf—hoping
that the daughter's choice then may be as the
father's. “The other morning I went out a hunting with father's
duck-gun what he brung out from Kentucky; but as I
had no luck, I allowed I might as well put off for home;
and so I turn about and goes towards home. As I come to
the edge of our clearin, what should I see away off on the
top of a dead walnut, but a black crow! And so I makes
up my mind to try and hit him. The critter was more nor
three hundred yards from me; but I insinuates myself along
as near as two hundred yards to the feller; when he begins
a showing signs of flittin: and so I trees where I was in a
minute. Well, I determines to try him there, although
'twas near as good as desperut to try a black crow that
distance with a shot-gun; although father's duck-gun's
the most powerful shot-gun in the Purchis. Howsomdever,
I wanted the load out; and I thought I might as
well fire that a way as any other—and so up I draws the
piece very careful, and begins a takin aim, thinking all the
while I shouldn't hit him: still I tuk the most exactest aim,
as if I should; when just then he hops about two foot
nearer my way, as if to get a look round my tree, where he
smelt powder—and then, thinking all the time, as I said, I
shouldn't hit him, as the distance was so most powerful
fur, I blazed away!—and sure enough, as I'm alive—I
didn't hit him!” * * * * * * and the inclosed
from my daughter, to whom was handed your late communication,
contains, I presume, the most satisfactory answer,
* * * * and * * * “I honour you for honesty, as I am satisfied you assign
true reasons for not taking one to share your home; although
the reasons themselves can never seem satisfactory where
one was willing to share another's heart. For, like most
girls in their days of romance, that one cared to find only a
heart when she married. As my own home is sufficiently
comfortable, there can be no inducement to wish another,
however comfortable, in the New Purchase; and where its
owner seems to think `altered circumstances' are important
in winning a woman's love. But to show that kindness is
estimated that would spare my delicacy, by leading my dear
father to think all our conversation had been sportive, I do
hereby most cordially—(here John looked! oh! I tell you
what!)—invite you to our Christmas festivities, when the
writer changes her name from Mary Brown to Mary Burleigh.” | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 202 | Author: | Hall
Baynard Rush
1798-1863 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Something for every body | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Dear Charles,—You insist that I am an incorrigible
skeptic, and seem inclined to deliver me over to the secular
arm. “What!” say you, “shall we disbelieve the evidence
of the senses, and the testimony of reputable citizens?”
“What,” you triumphantly ask, “can be more satisfactory
than experiments, such as the citizens of Somewhersburg
have lately witnessed?—men, and even young women (!) rendered
incapable of speaking! and a very mercurial dancing
master arrested at the mere will of the mesmerist, and
made to stand as if petrified, in the act of cutting a pigeon-wing!” | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 203 | Author: | Hall
James
1793-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Harpe's head | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | At the close of a pleasant day, in the spring of the year
17—, a solitary horseman might have been seen slowly
winding his way along a narrow road, in that part of
Virginia which is now called the Valley. It was nearly
forty years ago, and the district lying between the Blue
Ridge and the Allegheny mountains was but thinly populated,
while the country lying to the west, embracing an
immense Alpine region, was a savage wilderness, which
extended to the new and distant settlements of Kentucky.
Our traveller's route led along the foot of the mountains,
sometimes crossing the spurs, or lateral ridges, which
push out their huge promontories from the great chain;
and at others winding through deep ravines, or skirting
along broad valleys. The Ancient Dominion was never
celebrated for the goodness of its highways, and the one
whose mazes he was now endeavoring to unravel, was
among the worst, being a mere path, worn by the feet
of horses, and marked by faint traces of wheels, which
showed that the experiment of driving a carriage over
its uneven surface had been successfully tried, but not
generally practised. The country was fertile, though
wild and broken. The season was that in which the
foliage is most luxuriant and splendid to the eye, the
leaves being fully expanded, while the rich blossoms
decked the scene with a variety of brilliant hues; and
our traveller, as he passed ridge after ridge, paused in
delight on their elevated summits, to gaze at the beautiful
glens that lay between them, and the gorgeous vegetation
that climbed even to the tops of the steepest acclivities.
The day, however, which had been unusually sultry for
the season, was drawing to a close, and both horse and
rider began to feel the effects of hunger and fatigue; the
former, though strong and spirited, drooped his head,
and the latter became wearied with these lonesome
though picturesque scenes. During the whole day he
had not seen the dwelling of a human being; the clattering
of his horse's hoofs upon the rock, the singing of
the birds, so numerous in this region, the roaring of the
mountain stream, or the crash of timber occasioned by
the fall of some great tree, were the only sounds that
had met his ear. He was glad, therefore, to find his
path descending, at last, into a broad valley, interspersed
with farms. He seemed to have surmounted the last
hill, and before him was a rich continuous forest, resembling,
as he overlooked it from the high ground, a solid
plane of verdure. The transition from rocky steeps and
precipices, to the smooth soil and sloping surface of the
valley, was refreshing; and not less so were the coolness
and fragrance of the air, and the deep and varied hues
of the forest, occasioned by the rank luxuriance of its
vegetation. “My father was a native of England, who came to
Virginia when he was quite a young man. He was of
a good family, and well educated; if my mother be
considered a competent witness in such a case, he was
even more,—highly accomplished, and remarkably interesting
in person and manners. He brought letters of
introduction, and was well received; and as soon as it
was understood that his extreme indigence was such as
to render it necessary that he should embark in some
employment, to earn a support, he was readily received
as private tutor in the family of a gentleman, residing
not far from Mr. Heyward, the father of the late Major
Heyward, whose melancholy death I have described to
you. Mr. Heyward also employed him to give lessons
in drawing, and the French language, to his only
daughter, then a girl of about sixteen. A mutual
attachment ensued between my father and this young
lady, which was carefully concealed, because the Heywards,
though generous and hospitable, were proud and
aspiring. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 204 | Author: | Hall
James
1793-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The soldier's bride and other tales | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | A few years ago, that part of the state of New
York which lies along the main route from the
Hudson to the western lakes, presented an agreeable,
but eccentric, diversity of scenic beauty,
combining the wildest traits of nature with the
cheerful indications of enlightened civility and rural
comfort. The desert smiled—but it smiled in its
native beauty. The foot of science had not yet
wandered thither; nor had the ample coffers of a
state been opened, to diffuse, with unexampled
munificence, over a widely spread domain the
blessings of industry and commerce. The beautiful
villages scattered throughout this extensive region,
exhibited a neatness, taste, and order, which would
have been honourable to older communities. Between
these little towns lay extensive tracts of
wilderness, still tenanted by the deer, and enlivened
by the notes of the feathered tribes. Farms, newly
opened, were thinly dispersed at convenient distances.
The traveller, as he held his solitary way
among the shadows of the forest, acknowledged the
sovereignty of the sylvan deities, whose sway seemed
undisputed; but from these silent shades he emerged
at once into the light and life of civilised society.
Such were the effects produced by an industrious
and somewhat refined population, thrown among
the romantic lakes, the fertile vallies, and the boundless
forests of the West. “That agreeable woman, Mrs. B. who has paid
us so many kind attentions, has just sent for me.
She is very ill, and fancies that no one can nurse
her so well as myself. Of course, I can not refuse,
and only regret, that I must part with my dear
Charles for a few hours. Good night. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 205 | Author: | Hall
James
1793-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Tales of the border | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | I was travelling a few years ago, in the northern
part of Illinois, where the settlements, now
thinly scattered, were but just commenced. A
few hardy men, chiefly hunters, had pushed themselves
forward in advance of the main body of
emigrants, who were rapidly but quietly taking
possession of the fertile plains of that beautiful
state; and their cabins were so thinly scattered
along the wide frontier, that the traveller rode
many miles, and often a whole day together, without
seeing the habitation of a human being. I had
passed beyond the boundaries of social and civil
subordination, and was no longer within the precincts
of any organized country. I saw the camp
of the Indian, or met the solitary hunter, wandering
about with his rifle and his dog, in the full
enjoyment of that independence, and freedom from
all restraints, so highly prized by this class of our
countrymen. Sometimes I came to a single log
hut, standing alone in the wilderness, far removed
from the habitations of other white men, on a delightful
spot, surrounded by so many attractive
and resplendent beauties of landscape, that a prince
might have selected it as his residence; and again
I found a little settlement, where a few families,
far from all other civilised communities, enjoyed
some of the comforts of society among themselves,
and lived in a state approaching that of the social
condition. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 207 | Author: | Herbert
Henry William
1807-1858 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Cromwell | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “I have received your kind and most consoling
letter of July from the tried friend who bore it.
The wisdom of your counsels I acknowledge, and,
so far as in me lies, will follow them. But, trust
me, girl, better and brighter days are yet in store
for us. I do assure you I am even now more king
—more powerful and free—than ere I raised my
standard; so that I doubt not, with a little patience
and a small share of finesse, all shall be yet as we
would have it. I am now courted by all parties—
English and Scottish—Presbyterians, Independents
—parliament and army—all prostrate at my feet—
all rivals for my favour, and balanced, too, so
equally, that whom I join soever carries the day.
In truth, chiefly do I incline toward the Scots,
but, for the present, seem, for my own purposes,
to favour more the army. In the end, whosoe
bids the highest has me. You disapprove, you
tell me, my `promising so much to those two villains,
Ireton and Cromwell.' Now, I beseech you,
be not alarmed nor troubled; but leave me to manage,
who am informed far better of all circumstances
than you by any means can be; and on this
head rest altogether easy, for in due season I shall
know how to deal with these rogues, who, for a
silken garter, shall be fitted with a hempen rope!
This by a mode that can by no chance fail; where,
fore, though briefly—as my space compels—I yet
write plainly. If all things prosper with me, as I
have now good cause to deem they will—for all the
factions, themselves cozened, look on the others as
outwitted—I shall once more embrace the well-beloved
queen and mistress of my heart, greater
and far more powerful than ever, ere many months
shall pass, in our own palace of Whitehall. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 210 | Author: | Herbert
Henry William
1807-1858 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Roman traitor | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Midnight was over Rome. The skies were dark and
lowering, and ominous of tempest; for it was a sirocco,
and the welkin was overcast with sheets of vapory cloud,
not very dense, indeed, or solid, but still sufficient to intercept
the feeble twinkling of the stars, which alone held
dominion in the firmament; since the young crescent of
the moon had sunk long ago beneath the veiled horizon. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 213 | Author: | Herbert
Henry William
1807-1858 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The deerstalkers, or, Circumstantial evidence | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | In one of the south-western counties of New York,
one of those, I mean, which lie between the Hudson
and the Delaware, and along the eastern or Mohawk's
branch of the latter river, there is a great tract of wild
and thinly settled land, well watered and well wooded,
and well peopled by those tribes of fur and feather
which are so keenly sought by the true sportsman,
though, for the most part, human habitations are few
and far between. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 215 | Author: | Hoffman
Charles Fenno
1806-1884 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Greyslaer | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “You will probably, before reading this, have surmised
the cause why I have withdrawn from beneath
a roof which has never sheltered dishonour.
Oh! my friend—if so the wretched Alida may still
call you—you cannot dream of what I have suffered
while delaying the execution of a step which I
believe to be due alike to you and to myself; but
the state of my health would not sooner admit of
putting my determination in execution, and I knew
there would be full time for me to retire before you
could come back to assume the government of your
household. That determination is never to see
you more. Yes, Greyslaer, we are parted, and for
ever........The meshes of villany which have been
woven around me it is impossible to disentangle.
My woman's name is blasted beyond all hope of
retrieval, and yours shall never be involved in its
disgrace. I ask you not to believe me innocent.
I have no plea, no proof to offer. I submit to the
chastening hand of Providence. I make no appeal
to the love whose tried and generous offices might
mitigate this dreadful visitation. I would have you
think of me and my miserable concerns no more.
God bless you, Max! God bless and keep you;
keep you from the devices of a proud and arrogant
spirit, which Heaven, in its wisdom, hath so severely
scourged in me; keep you from that bitterest of
all reflections, the awful conviction that your rebellious
heart has fully merited the severest judgments
of its Maker. God bless and keep you, dearest,
dearest Max. “In the matter of Derrick de Roos, junior, and
Annatie, the Indian woman; deposition as to the
parentage of Guise or Guisbert, their child, born
out of wedlock, taken before Henry Fenton, justice
of the peace, &c., certified copy, to be deposited
with Max Greyslaer, Esquire, in testimony of the
claim which the said child might have upon his care
and protection, as the near friend and ward of Derrick
de Roos, senior, who, while living, fully acknowledged
such claim, in expiation of the misdeeds
of his son. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 217 | Author: | Ingraham
J. H.
(Joseph Holt)
1809-1860 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Captain Kyd, or, The wizard of the sea | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “Lady Lester—nay, mother—dearest MOTHER!
I have just taken my last leave of you. I go forth
into the world and commit my fortune to its currents.
Baseborn — guilty-born — attainted by my
father's crimes, I am unworthy your love or a
place in your thoughts. Henceforward let me be
nothing to thee! Forget that I have ever existed.
Though I depart, yet is Lester not without an heir!
you not without a son! Thy child thou wilt find
with the fisherman Meredith, at Castle Cor. He
is the perfect semblance of thy husband, Robert,
Lord of Lester, as you have described him to me;
and, when your eyes behold him, your heart will
at once claim him. He is proud and high-spirited,
and worthy of the name he is destined to bear.
Seek him out; and may he fill the place in your
heart from which I am for ever excluded. Farewell,
my mother, for other mother than thee have
I never known—will never know! | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 218 | Author: | Ingraham
J. H.
(Joseph Holt)
1809-1860 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The quadroone, or, St. Michael's day | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Reader! If thou art one of those rigidists who
look for a moral in a story, and seek after instruction
in a legend; who expect a homily in a nursery-tale,
and demand a moral treatise in a fiction; who deem
it sinful to entertain the imagination without improving
the heart, and regard as vanity whatever administers
to the taste and captivates the fancy, then close these
volumes with the reading of this paragraph; for they
will neither humour thee in thy prejudices, nor strengthen
thee in thy philosophy. Yet, if thou canst be content
to admire the lily upon its stalk, and the rose on
its stem, and will cease to search longer for fruits amid
flowers, thou mayst then turn in a right spirit to these
pages; and, should they fail to improve thy morals, to
add either grace to thy mind or dignity to thy intellect,
they may, perchance, have the no less pleasing power
of imparting cheerfulness to thy brow, of communicating
warmth to thy bosom, and of infusing new sensibilities
into thy soul; and while they spiritualize thy
imagination, they may not leave altogether untouched
thy heart. “You are ordered to have your command under arms
half an hour before sunrise. At sunrise you will re
ceive orders to sack the town. The public buildings
and dwellings on the Place d'Armes are to be spared. “The order issued at midnight is countermanded. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 219 | Author: | Ingraham
J. H.
(Joseph Holt)
1809-1860 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The quadroone, or, St. Michael's day | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The ease and affability of the Count of Osma soon
thawed the ice of ceremony and suspicion with which
the councillors at first received the honour that had
been so graciously extended towards them; and even
the president, as the banquet proceeded, began to think
his suspicions hasty and ill-grounded. All doubts,
however, of honourable purpose of the governor were
not effectually banished; and occasionally they flashed
back upon his mind with redoubled force, as some
sinister word or look would betray itself through his
guarded language or manner. That the Spaniard was
playing a double part, he was well satisfied; and,
though his address and bearing invited confidence, he
felt that, in yielding it, he was playing with an adder in
his bosom. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 220 | Author: | Ingraham
J. H.
(Joseph Holt)
1809-1860 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Edward Austin, or, The hunting flask | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | By the side of one of those romantic trout-streams that are embosomed
in the glens of New-England, was to be seen, just before sunset of an afternoon
in September, 1841, a group composed of three figures. The place
in which they were was deeply secluded. Around them rose the huge columnar
trunks of a forest which had been ancient when the first Pilgrim
Father set his foot upon the western shores. Through the forest, which
covered upland and intervale, flowed the dark wild waters of the brook, upon
the banks of which they were assembled. The forest was solemn and
grand, and its long vistas seemed like the huge gothic aisles of an old-world
cathedral. The brook gambolled through this fine old wood in many a
wanton circle, now sweeping swiftly around a smooth-faced rock, and now
dividing to embrace huge oaks, whose heavy wide-spread branches dipped
into the flood. In the darkest part of the wood it fell tumbling over ragged
rocks in snow-white cataracts that glittered and flashed like silver contrasting
the deep green and blackness of the shadows around. `Sir,—Having withdrawn my money from bank, I withdraw myself from
the firm. Ask me for no explanations; for I have none to give. I have
chosen my own course and must abide by it. `Sir,—Last night you made use of language to me, which, as a gentleman
I cannot pass by. An apology is due to me; and I trust that you will not
hesitate to render one in the most unqualified manner to my friend Mr.
Frederick Levis, who will be the bearer of this note to you. `Sir: My friend, Mr. Levis, is authorized to arrange on my behalf, with
any friend you may name, the preliminaries usual in settling affairs between
gentlemen holding, in relation to each other, the position we now do. `Sir,—These men bring you the body of Mr. Edward Austin who fell this
evening, just after sunset, in a duel with small swords at Hoboken. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
|
