| | 101 | Author: | Neal
John
1793-1876 | Add | | | Title: | Randolph  | | | | 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 just arrived. My spirits are depressed; the
weather is gloomy, and I feel myself to be really and
truly alone, in a land of strangers. How will this adventure
end?—Would that I might rend away the dark
curtain, for a moment, and look into futurity. I might appalled--I
might; but, were it not better to have your senses
reel at once, and all your strength desert you; than to be
cheated, as I have been, year after year, with hope and disappointment?
What can I say to you? It is impossible that
I can have anything to write; yet, my heart is heavy with
thought and speculation. I promised to write, and,
therefore have I written. Let me hear from you directly.
I shall be impatient for your answer; for I feel as
a stranger here, even in my retirement. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 102 | Author: | Neal
John
1793-1876 | Add | | | Title: | Seventy-six | | | | 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: | Yes, my children, I will no longer delay it. We are
passing, one by one, from the place of contention, one
after another, to the grave; and, in a little time, you
may say—Our Fathers!—the men of the Revolution—
where are they?..... Yes, I will go about it, in
earnest: I will leave the record behind me, and when
there is nothing else to remind you of your father, and
your children's children, of their ancestor—nothing
else, to call up his apparition before you, that you may
see his aged and worn forehead—his white hair in the
wind... you will have but to open the book, that I
shall leave to you—and lay your right hand, devoutly,
upon the page. It will have been written in blood
and sweat, with prayer and weeping. But do that—
no matter when it is, generations may have passed
away—no matter where I am—my flesh and blood
may have returned to their original element, or taken
innumerable shapes of loveliness—my very soul may
be standing in the presence of the Most High—Yet
do ye this, and I will appear to you, instantly, in the
deepest and dimmest solitude of your memory!—
—Yes!—I will go about it, this very day...
And I do pray you and them, as they shall be born
successively of you, and yours, when all the family are
about their sanctuary, their own fire side—the holy
and comfortable place, to open the volume, and read it
aloud. Let it be in the depth of winter, if it may be,
when the labour of the year is over, and the heart is
rejoicing in its home—and when you are alone:—not
that I would frown upon the traveller, or blight the
warm hospitality of your nature, by reproof—but there
are some things, and some places, where the thought of
the stranger is intrusion, the touch and hearing of the
unknown man, little better than profanation. If you
love each other, you will not go abroad for consolation:
and if you are wise, you will preserve some
hidden, fountains of your heart, unvisited but by one
or two—the dearest and the best. This should be one
of them—I will have it so. I would not have your
feeling of holy, and solemn, and high enthusiasm,
broken in upon, by the unprepared, just when you have
been brought, perhaps, to travel in imagination, with
your father, barefooted, over the frozen ground, leaving
his blood at every step, as he went, desolate, famished,
sick, naked, almost broken hearted, and almost
alone, to fight the battles of your country. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 104 | Author: | Neal
John
1793-1876 | Add | | | Title: | Rachel Dyer | | | | 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 early history of New-England, or of Massachusetts
Bay, rather; now one of the six New-England
States of North America, and that on which the Plymouth
settlers, or “Fathers” went ashore—the shipwrecked
men of mighty age, abounds with proof that
witchcraft was a familiar study, and that witches and
wizards were believed in for a great while, among the
most enlightened part of a large and well-educated religious
population. The multitude of course had a like
faith; for such authority governs the multitude every
where, and at all times. “Reverend Gentlemen,—The innocency of our case, with the
enmity of our accusers and our judges and jury, whom nothing
but our innocent blood will serve, having condemned us
already before our trials, being so much incensed and enraged
against us by the devil, makes us bold to beg and implore your
favourable assistance of this our humble petition to his excellency,
that if it be possible our innocent blood may be spared,
which undoubtedly otherwise will be shed, if the Lord doth not
mercifully step in; the magistrates, ministers, juries, and all
the people in general, being so much enraged and incensed
against us by the delusion of the devil, which we can term no
other, by reason we know in our own consciences we are all
innocent persons. Here are five persons who have lately confessed
themselves to be witches, and do accuse some of us of
being along with them at a sacrament, since we were committed
into close prison, which we know to be lies. Two of the five
are (Carrier's sons) young men, who would not confess any
thing till they tied them neck and heels, till the blood was ready
to come out of their noses; and it is credibly believed and reported
this was the occasion of making them confess what they
never did, by reason they said one had been a witch a month,
and another five weeks, and that their mother had made them
so, who has been confined here this nine weeks. My son
William Proctor, when he was examined, because he would not
confess that he was guilty, when he was innocent, they tied him
neck and heels till the blood gushed out at his nose, and would
have kept him so twenty-four hours, if one, more merciful than
the rest, had not taken pity on him, and caused him to be unbound.
These actions are very like the popish cruelties. They
have already undone us in our estates, and that will not serve
their turns without our innocent blood. If it cannot be granted
that we have our trials at Boston, we humbly beg that you
would endeavor to have these magistrates changed, and others
in their rooms; begging also and beseeching you would be
pleased to be here, if not all, some of you, at our trials, hoping
thereby you may be the means of saving the shedding of innocent
blood. Desiring your prayers to the Lord in our behalf,
we rest your poor afflicted servants, “Being brought before the justices, her chief accusers were
two girls. My wife declared to the justices, that she never had
any knowledge of them before that day. She was forced to
stand with her arms stretched out. I requested that I might
old one of her hands, but it was denied me; then she desired
me to wipe the tears from her eyes, and the sweat from her
face, which I did; then she desired that she might lean herself
on me, saying she should faint. By the honourable the lieutenant governor, council and assembly
of his majesty's province of the Masachusetts-Bay, in
general court assembled. “Upon the day of the fast, in the full assembly at the south
meeting-house in Boston, one of the honorable judges, [the
chief justice Sewall] who had sat in judicature in Salem, delivered
in a paper, and while it was in reading stood up; but
the copy being not to be obtained at present, it can only be
reported by memory to this effect, viz. It was to desire the
prayers of God's people for him and his; and that God having
visited his family, &c, he was apprehensive that he might have
fallen into some errors in the matters at Salem, and pray that
the guilt of such miscarriages may not be imputed either to the
country in general, or to him or his family in particular. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 106 | Author: | Neal
Joseph C.
(Joseph Clay)
1807-1847 | Add | | | Title: | Charcoal sketches, or, Scenes in a metropolis | | | | 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: | It is said that poetry is on the decline, and that as man
surrounds himself with artificial comforts, and devotes
his energies to purposes of practical utility, the sphere of
imagination becomes circumscribed, and the worship of
the Muses is neglected. We are somewhat disposed to
assent to this conclusion; the more from having remarked
the fact that the true poetic temperament is not so frequently
met with as it was a few years since, and that
the outward marks of genius daily become more rare.
Where the indications no longer exist, or where they
gradually disappear, it is but fair to conclude that the
thing itself is perishing. There are, it is true, many delightful
versifiers at the present moment, but we fear that
though they display partial evidences of inspiration upon
paper, the scintillations are deceptive. Their conduct
seldom exhibits sufficient proof that they are touched
with the celestial fire, to justify the public in regarding
them as the genuine article. Judging from the rules
formerly considered absolute upon this point, it is altogether
preposterous for your happy, well-behaved, well-dressed,
smoothly-shaved gentleman, who pays his debts,
and submits quietly to the laws framed for the government
of the uninspired part of society, to arrogate to
himself a place in the first rank of the sons of genius,
whatever may be his merits with the gray goose quill.
There is something defective about him. The divine
afflatus has been denied, and though he may flap his
wings, and soar as high as the house-tops, no one can
think him capable of cleaving the clouds, and of playing
hide and seek among the stars. Even if he were to do
so, the spectator would either believe that his eyes deceived
him, or that the successful flight was accidental,
and owing rather to a temporary density of the atmosphere
than to a strength of pinion. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 109 | Author: | Paulding
James Kirke
1778-1860 | Add | | | Title: | John Bull in America, or, The new Munchausen | | | | 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: | Previous to my departure for the Western
paradise of liberty, my impressions with regard
to the country were, upon the whole, rather of a
favourable character. It is true, I did not believe
a word of the inflated accounts given by certain
French revolutionary travellers, such as Brissot,
Chastellux, and others; much less in those of Birkbeck,
Miss Wright, Captain Hall, and the rest of
the radical fry. I was too conversant with the
Quarterly Review, to be led astray by these Utopian
romancers, and felt pretty well satisfied that
the institutions of the country were altogether
barbarous. I also fully believed that the people
were a bundling, gouging, drinking, spitting, impious
race, without either morals, literature, religion,
or refinement; and that the turbulent spirit
of democracy was altogether incompatible with any
state of society becoming a civilized nation. Being
thus convinced that their situation was, for the present,
deplorable, and in the future entirely hopeless,
unless they presently relieved themselves
from the cumbrous load of liberty, under which
they groaned, I fell into a sort of compassion for
them, such as we feel for condemned criminals,
having no hope of respite, and no claim to benefit
of clergy. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 110 | Author: | Paulding
James Kirke
1778-1860 | Add | | | Title: | The merry tales of the three wise men of Gotham | | | | 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 born, began the first Wise Man of Gotham,
in a country that I consider unworthy of my nativity,
and for that reason I shall do all in my
power to deprive it of the honour, by not mentioning
its name. I am, moreover, descended from
a family, which must necessarily be of great antiquity,
since, like all old things, it has long since
fallen into decay. My father had little or no money,
but was blessed with the poor man's wealth,
a fruitful wife and great store of children. Of
these I am the eldest; but at the period I shall
commence my story, we were all too young to
take care of ourselves, until the fortunate discovery
was made by some great philanthropist, that
little children, of six or seven years old, could
labour a dozen or fourteen hours a day without
stinting their minds, ruining their health, or destroying
their morals. This improvement in the
great science of PRODUCTIVE LABOUR, delighted my
father—it was shifting the onus, as the lawyers
say, from his own shoulders to that of his children.
He forthwith bound us all over to a cotton
manufactory, where we stood upon our legs
three times as long as a member of congress, that
is to say, fourteen hours a day, and among eight
of us, managed to earn a guinea a week. The
old gentleman, for gentleman he became from the
moment he discovered his little flock could maintain
him—thought he had opened a mine. He
left off working, and took to drinking and studying
the mysteries of political economy and productive
labour. He soon became an adept in this
glorious science, and at length arrived at the happy
conclusion, that the whole moral, physical, political
and religious organization of society, resolved
itself into making the most of human labour,
just as we do of that of our horses, oxen, asses
and other beasts of burthen. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 111 | Author: | Paulding
James Kirke
1778-1860 | Add | | | Title: | The new mirror for travellers and guide to the springs | | | | 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 compiling and cogitating this work, we have considered
ourselves as having no manner of concern with
travellers until they arrive in the city of New York,
where we intend to take them under our especial protection.
Doubtless, in proceeding from the south,
there are various objects worth the attention of the traveller,
who may take the opportunity of stopping to
change horses, or to dine, to look round him a little,
and see what is to be seen. But, generally speaking,
all is lost time, until he arrives at New York, of which
it may justly be said, that as Paris is France, so New
York is—New York. It is here then that we take the
fashionable tourist by the hand and commence cicerone. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 114 | Author: | Paulding
James Kirke
1778-1860 | Add | | | Title: | The Dutchman's fireside | | | | 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 | Harper's library of select novels | harpers library of select novels | | | | Description: | “Somewhere about the time of the old French
war,” there resided on the rich border that skirts the
Hudson, not a hundred miles from the good city of
Albany, a family of some distinction, which we shall
call Vancour, consisting of three brothers whose names
were Egbert, Dennis, and Ariel, or Auriel as it was
pronounced by the Dutch of that day. They were
the sons of one of the earliest as well as most respectable
of the emigrants from Holland, and honourably
sustained the dignity of their ancestry, by
sturdy integrity, liberal hospitality, and a generous
public spirit. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 115 | Author: | Paulding
James Kirke
1778-1860 | Add | | | Title: | The Dutchman's fireside | | | | 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 | Harper's library of select novels | harpers library of select novels | | | | Description: | Much has been sung and written of the charms
of the glorious Hudson—its smiling villages, its noble
cities, its magnificent banks, and its majestic waters.
The inimitable Knickerbocker, the graphic Cooper,
and a thousand less celebrated writers and tourists
have delighted to luxuriate in descriptions of its rich
fields, its flowery meadows, whispering groves, and
cloud-capped mountains, until its name is become
synonymous with all the beautiful and sublime of
nature. Associated as are these beauties with our
earliest recollections, and nearest, dearest friends
—entwined as they inseparably are with memorials
of the past, anticipations of the future, we too would
offer our humble tribute. But the theme has been
exhausted by hands that snatched the pencil from
nature herself, and nothing is left for us but to repress
the feelings of our swelling hearts by silent musings. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 116 | Author: | Poe
Edgar Allan
1809-1849 | Add | | | Title: | 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 | Wiley and Putnam's library of American books | wiley and putnams library of american books | | | | Description: | Many years ago, I contracted an intimacy with a Mr. William
Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot family, and had once
been wealthy; but a series of misfortunes had reduced him to
want. To avoid the mortification consequent upon his disasters,
he left New Orleans, the city of his forefathers, and took up his
residence at Sullivan's Island, near Charleston, South Carolina. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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