| | 142 | Author: | Thompson
Daniel P.
(Daniel Pierce)
1795-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | May Martin, or, The money diggers  | | | | 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 those rough and secluded
towns, situated in the heart of the Green
Mountains, is a picturesque little valley,
containing, perhaps, something over two
thousand acres of improvable land, formerly
known in that section of the country
by the appallation of The Harwood Settlement,
so called from the name of the original
proprietor of the valley. As if formed
by some giant hand, literally scooping
out the solid mountain and moulding it
into shape and proportion, the whole valley
presents the exact resemblance of an
oval basin whose sides are composed of a
continuous ridge of lofty hills bordering it
around, and broken only by two narrow
outlets at its northerly and southerly extremities.
The eastern part of this valley
is covered by one of those transparent
ponds, which are so beautifully characteristic
of Vermontane scenery, laying in the
form of a crescent, and extending along
beneath the closely encircling mountains
on the east nearly the whole length of the
interior landscape, forever mirroring up
from its darkly bright surface, faintly or
vividly, as cloud or sunshine may prevail,
the motley groups of the sombre forest,
where the more slender and softer tinted
beech and maple seem struggling for a
place among the rough and shaggy forms
of the sturdy hemlock, peering head over
head, up the steeply ascending cliffs of
the woody precipice. While here and
there, at distant intervals, towering high
over all, stands the princely pine, waving
its majestic head in solitary grandeur, a
striking but melancholy type of the aboriginal
A*
Indian still occasionally found lingering
among us, the only remaining representative
of a once powerful race, which
have receded before the march of civilized
men, now destined no more to flourish
the lords of the plain and the mountain.
This pond discharges its surplus
waters at its southern extremity in a pure
stream of considerable size, which here,
as if in wild glee at its escape from the embrace
of its parent waters, leaps at once,
from a state of the most unruffled tranquility,
over a ledgy barrier, and, with noisy
reverberations, goes bounding along from
cliff to cliff, in a series of romantic cascades,
down a deep ravine, till the lessening
echoes are lost in the sinuosities of
the outlet of the valley. From the western
shore of this sheet of water the land
rises in gentle undulations, and with a
gradual ascent, back to the foot of the
mountains, which here, as on every other
side, rear their ever-green summits to
the clouds, standing around this vast fortress
of nature as huge centinels posted along
the lofty outworks to battle with the
careering hurricanes that burst in fury on
their immovable sides, and arrest and receive
on their own unscathed heads the
shafts of the lightning descending for its
victims to the valley below, while they
cheerily bandy from side to side the voicy
echoes of the thunderpeal with their
mighty brethren of the opposite rampart. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 143 | Author: | Thompson
Daniel P.
(Daniel Pierce)
1795-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The adventures of Timothy Peacock, Esquire, or,
Freemasonry practically illustrated | | | | 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: | Our Hero, the present Thrice Illustrious TIMOTHY
PEACOCK, Esquire, was born in a small village in the
interior of Rhode Island. His father and mother were
deserters from a British fleet. They had, however, once
seen brighter days than this circumstance might seem to
imply; for Mr. Peacock, at one time, had the honor to
write himself Chief Butcher to His Majesty George III.,
London. Mrs. Peacock, before she united her destinies
to those of the honored father of our hero—that union which
was to bestow upon the New World the brightest masonic
star that ever illumined the wondering hemisphere of the
West—Mrs. Peacock, I say, was called the Billingsgate
Beauty. They very mackerels she sold might shrink from
a comparison with the plumpness of her person, and the
claws of her own lobsters were nothing in redness to the
vermillion of her cheeks. She made, as may well be supposed,
sad devastation among the hearts of the gallant
young fish-mongers.—Oystermen, clam-cryers, carpers,
shrimpers and all—all fell before the scorching blaze of
her optical artillery. But she would have mercy on none
of them; she aspired to a higher destiny; and her laudable
ambition was rewarded with the most flattering success;
for she soon saw herself the distinguished lady of
Peletiah Peacock, Chief Butcher to His Majesty. But
how she became the envy of many a dashing butcheress,
by the splendor of her appearance,—how her husband
flourished, and how he fell, and was driven from the stalls
of royalty,—how he took leave of the baffled bum-bailiffs
of his native city, enlisted on board a man of war, and
sailed for America, with permission for his loving rib to accompany
him,—how they both deserted at a New England
port, at which the vessel had touched, and were housed in
a friendly hay-stack in the neighborhood till the search
was over and vessel departed,—and, finally, how they travelled
over land till they reached the smiling village where
they found their abiding domicil, belongs, perhaps, to the
literati of Britain to relate. They have, and of right ought
to have, the first claim on the achievements of their countrymen
with which to fill the bright pages of their country's
biography; and to them then let us graciously yield the
honor of enshrining his memory with those of their Reverend
`Fiddlers' and truth-telling `Trollopes.' Far be it from
me to rob them of the glory of this theme.—Mine is a different
object; and I shall mention no more of the deeds of
the father than I conceive necessary to elucidate the history
of the son, whose brilliant career I have attempted, with
trembling diffidence, to sketch in the following unworthy
pages. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 145 | Author: | Thompson
Daniel P.
(Daniel Pierce)
1795-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Green Mountain boys | | | | 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 seems to be universally conceded that the first
settlers of Vermont were men of an iron mould, and
of an indomitable spirit. And it is no less true, we
apprehend, that with corporeal frames, unusually
large and muscular, and constitutions peculiarly robust
and enduring, they possessed, also, intelligence
and mental energies, which, considering what might
naturally be expected of men of their condition in
life, and in their situation in a wilderness affording
none of the ordinary means of intellectual culture,
were equally remarkable. The proof of these assertions
is to be abundantly found, we think, in the unequalled
stand taken by them for their rights, in their
memorable controversy with New York, and in the
multiplied documents that grew out of it, in the
shape of resolves and decrees of conventions, addresses
to the people, memorials and remonstrances
to the governor of that province, and to the British
throne itself, all drawn up with great clearness and
cogency of reasoning, and evincing a knowledge of
natural and constitutional rights in a people, among
whom law as a profession was then entirely unknown,
which are generally to be found only in the
courts and councils of old and highly civilized countries.
And even were these testimonials to their
character wholly wanting, ample evidence, that they
were a generation of no ordinary men, may still be
seen in the scattered remnant of this noble band of
heroes yet lingering among us, like the few and aged
pines on their evergreen mountains, and, though
now bowed down by the weight of nearly a century
of years, exhibiting frames, which would almost
seem to indicate them as men belonging to another
race, and which are still animated by the light of
wisdom and intelligence, and warmed by the unconquerable
spirit of freedom yet burning unwasted
within them. “From my heart I thank you for your kind note.
All as yet remains undiscovered,—painful, painful
exigency! which compels concealment of so important
a step from an only parent! And yet I regret
not my troth; and whatever of sorrow it may cost
me, I will not repine at the fruit of a tree of my
own planting. Heaven preserve you, my very dear
friend, in the hour of peril, and crown with success
your efforts in the cause of freedom. “Your few lines, my dear sir, have been received,
and read, I know not how many times over, and
with an interest which I dare not acknowledge.
Your propositions, too, have been all candidly, and
even anxiously weighed. And it is with many, very
many regrets, my more than friend, that I am
forced to the conclusion that, at present, it were better,
that they be not complied with. You first propose
to come here openly, explain to my father the
reasons which compelled you to that course, which
he pretends so much to censure, and claim the privilege
of addressing me:—all the explanations, which
it may be needful to make, would, I am satisfied,
with my father's present feelings and impressions,
be better listened to from me than yourself. And
most assuredly they shall be made to him as soon as
his mood shall be such as shall warrant the belief
that they will be received, without passion or prejudice.
And before you take the step you propose, I
could wish also to see to some change in his views
relative to the match he has marked out for me. And
changed, believe me, they sooner or later will be.
Reason will at length resume her sway; and, to say
nothing of your character, the character of one of
whom I would not willingly speak my opinion, must
soon be better known to him. And he will see, and
feel, for himself, that his present requirements are
neither wise nor generous. But do not, for my sake,
for your own sake, beloved friend, attempt to accomplish
all this now, under circumstances so inauspicious:
for I feel it would be useless; and not only
so, but lead, probably, to the defeat of the objects,
and consequently the happiness of us both. No,
Warrington, be patient, trust in Heaven to expose
guilt, and reward inocence, and rely on the constancy
of her, who is resolved to bring about a state of
things when her lover can be received in her father's
house with the kindness and respect to which
he is entitled. `Be astonished, O, ye heavens! and Alma Hendee,
be you thunder struck! as I know you will be,
when you learn, that we are—every man of us,—the
Major and all, prisoners of war! Yes, I am a second
time a prisoner to Mr. Selden! What means
it, Alma? There is some strange fatality about it,
that passes my poor comprehension. O, for some
one deeply skilled in scanning the future—some one
gifted with the second sight, which is claimed by our
Highland seers in Scotland, to divine to me the portent
of this singular happening! How very surprised
*7
we all were when they landed—a body of
armed men—and marched up, taking possession of
the yard, and disarming our soldiers. “Major Warrington,—Our intimacy is forever
ended. As no explanations need be given, so none
will be received. I trust, therefore, that no further
communications on your part will be attempted. “Miss Hendee, I guess, will remember, how, a
year or two ago, a man came to your house and
mended the things; and how he made some statements
about Charles Warrington, the Colonel that
now is. Now, what I said at that time has worried
my feelings a great deal most ever since. Though
I then really thought what I said was justifiable, even
if it was not quite true, as I was made to believe it
to be for your good. But I soon after found out
what I told you was not so, for I didn't know myself,
and only said what I was asked to say. This
was the story of it. As I was going from house to
house, working at my trade there in your part of the
settlement, I fell in with a plausible sort of a man,—
I don't think I had best call him by name,—and we
after a while got to talking about Warrington, whom
I had seen often enough, though I knew nothing
about his private affairs. Well, he, in a smooth kind
of way, said there was one thing that hurt his feelings;
and that was, that Warrington was doing the
wrong thing by a relative of his, a very likely girl,
that he pretended to be courting for the sake of getting
her family on his side in the York quarrel, when
to his certain knowledge, he had a young wife that
he had deserted down country. He said it was a
great pity to have the girl so deceived, and he would
give two gold guineas to any one who would break
up the courtship. But he said it would do no kinder
good for her relations to try; and they were very
anxious some one else should undertake to do it.
He then told me his plan was, that he and I, if I
would agree to do it, should first kinder secretly tell
folks this story about the deserted wife, so that it
should get to her, and make her begin to believe it;
and then I should go there and pretend to come
from where Warrington used to live, and let drop
some how, before the girl, that I was knowing myself
to that business about his being married. Well,
he kinder drew me into this plan, and I being poor,
consented for the money to do as I did. But I soon
mistrusted that this man had some wrong design,
which I found out to be the case, and I feel very
sorry, and ask pardon for what happened; and shall
feel very bad if I done any mischief by it, as I think
Colonel Warrington a very likely man. I think I
shall feel easier now in my mind, but I guess, considering,
I shant sign my name, though I am not
ashamed of it, or at least I never was in any other
affair since I was born. It is one of the felicities of soldiership, and of the
gratifications of a commander, to award the meed of
approbation to fidelity in a common cause, and fealty
to a common sovereign. This meed, Sir, I deem
it no flattery to say is yours, speaking, as I do,
from personal acquaintance, and on the voucher of
Colonel Beverly Robinson, a Loyal American officer,
of worth, and zeal, and activity. “This may certify that David Remington, the
bearer hereof, is thought to be a true friend to the
States of America. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 146 | Author: | Thompson
Daniel P.
(Daniel Pierce)
1795-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Locke Amsden, The schoolmaster | | | | 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: | Our story, contrary perhaps to fashionable precedent,
opens at a common farm-house, situated on one of the principal
roads leading through the interior of the northerly
portion of the Union. It was near the middle of the day,
in that part of the spring season when the rough and chill
features of winter are becoming so equally blended with the
soft and mild ones of summer upon the face of nature, that
we feel at loss in deciding whether the characteristics of the
one or the other most prevail. The hills were mostly bare,
but their appearance was not that of summer; and the tempted
eye turned away unsatisfied from the cheerless prospect which
their dreary and frost-blackened sides presented. The levels,
on the other hand, were still covered with snow; and yet their
aspect was not that of winter. Clumps of willows, scattered
along the hedges, or around the waste-places of the meadows,
were white with the starting buds or blossoms of spring.
The old white mantle of the frost-king was also becoming
sadly dingy and tattered. Each stump and stone was enclosed
by a widening circle of bare ground; while the tops
of the furrows, peering through the dissolving snows, were
beginning to streak, with long, faint, dotted lines, the self-disclosing
plough-fields. The cattle were lazily ruminating
in the barn-yard, occasionally lowing and casting a wistful
glance at the bare hills around, but without offering to move
towards them, as if they thought that the prospects there
were hardly sufficient to induce them yet to leave their
winter quarters. The earth-loving sheep, however, had
broken from their fold, and, having reached the borders of
the hills by some partially trod path, were busily nibbling at
the roots of the shriveled herbage, unheedful of the bleating
cries of their feebler companions, that they had left stuck in
the treacherous snow-drifts, encountered in their migrations
from one bare patch to another. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 151 | Author: | Thorpe
Thomas Bangs
1815-1878 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The mysteries of the backwoods, or, Sketches of the
Southwest | | | | 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: | We have wandered over the Louisiana prairies,
our little pony, like an adventurous bark, seemingly
trusting itself imprudently beyond the headlands, a
mere speck, moving among the luxuriant islands of
live oak that here and there sit so quietly upon the
rolling waves of vegetation. Myriads of wild geese
would often rise upon our intrusion, helping out the
fancy of being at sea; but the bounding deer, or
wild cattle, that occasionally resented our presence
and rattled off at break-neck pace, kept us firmly on
the land. In the spring seasons, the prairies are
covered with the choicest flowers, that mix with the
young grass in such profusion as to carpet them
more delicately, and more richly, than in the seraglio
of a sultan. Upon this vegetation innumerable
cattle feed and fatten, until they look pampered, and
their skins glisten like silk in the sun. Apparently
wild as the buffalo, they are all marked and numbered,
and in them consist the wealth of the inhabitant
of the prairie. It is easy to imagine that herdsmen
of such immense fields live a wild and free life;
ever on horseback, like the Arabs, they have no
fear save when out of the saddle, and nature has
kindly provided a “steed” that boasts of no particular
blood, that may be called the “yankee” of his
kind, because it never tires, never loses its energy,
and makes a living and grows fat, where all else
of its species would starve. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 153 | Author: | Tucker
Beverley
1784-1851 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | George Balcombe | | | | 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 length, issuing from the wood, I entered a
prairie, more beautiful than any I had yet seen.
The surface, gently undulating, presented innumerable
swells, on which the eye might rest with
pleasure. Many of these were capped with
clumps and groves of trees, thus interrupting the
dull uniformity which generally wearies the traveller
in these vast expanses. I gazed around for
a moment with delight but soon found leisure
to observe that my road had become alarmingly
indistinct. It is easy, indeed, to follow the faintest
trace through a prairie. The beaten track, however
narrow, wears a peculiar aspect, which makes
it distinguishable even at a distance. But the name
of Arlington, the place of my destination, denoted
at least a village; while the tedious path which I
was travelling seemed more like to terminate in
the midst of the prairie, than to lead to a public
haunt of men. I feared I had missed my way, and
looked eagerly ahead for some traveller, who might
set me right, if astray. But I looked in vain.
The prairie lay before me, a wide waste, without
one moving object. The sun had just gone down;
and as my horse, enlivened by the shade and the
freshness of evening, seemed to recover his mettle,
I determined to push on to such termination as my
path might lead to. “I wrote you, under date of March tenth, that
the bill remitted by you for one thousand dollars,
drawn by Edward Montague on the house of
Tompkins and Todd of this city, had been paid
by a draft on Bell and Brothers of Liverpool, England.
This draft I remitted, according to your
directions, to my friend John Ferguson, of the
house of Ferguson and Partridge, our correspondents
there, with instructions to obtain, if possible,
from the same house, a draft on the county of
Northumberland. In this he succeeded, by procuring
a draft on Edward Raby, Esq. of that
county, for a like amount. “A draft drawn by Edward Montague, Esq.,
for one thousand dollars, was this day presented,
and paid by us in pursuance of your standing instructions. “The draft of Messrs. Tompkins and Todd, on
account of Mr. Montague's annuity, is to hand, and
has been duly honoured. “Among the crosses of a wayward destiny, it
is not the least, that for so many years I have lost
all trace of the only man on earth to whom I
could look for kindness or sympathy. Since accident
has discovered to me your residence, I have
felt as if fate might have in store for me some
solace for a life of poverty and disgrace. For the
last, indeed, there is no remedy; for the opinion
of others cannot stifle the voice of self-reproach,
nor deaden the sense of merited dishonour. But,
bad as these are, (and they are enough to poison
all enjoyment, to extinguish all hope, and to turn
the very light of heaven into blackness,) they may
be rendered more intolerable by the cold scorn of
the world, by the unappeased wants of nature, and
by the constant view of sufferings, brought by ourselves
on those we love. This complication of
evil has been my lot; and if one ray of comfort
has ever shot into my benighted mind, it came with
the thought, that he who knew me best knew all
my fault, but did not think me vile. But what
reason have I to think this? Why may not the
misconstruction, which conscience has denied me
power to correct, have reached you uncontradicted?
How can I hope that you have not been
told, that the lip, on which, with your last blessing,
you left the kiss of pure, and generous, and ill-requited
love, has not been since steeped in the
pollution of a villain's breath? All this may have
been told you. All this you may believe. But,
whatever else may be credited against me, you
will never doubt my truth. No, George; the fearful
proof I once gave that I am incapable of deception,
is not forgotten. Take, then, my single
word, against all the world can say, that that hallowed
kiss `my lip has virgined' to this hour.
VOL. I.—M.
Except the cold and clammy brow of my dying
father, no touch of man has since invaded it; nor
has one smile profaned it, since in that moment I
consecrated it to virtue. “It is not the purpose of this letter to reproach
you with your crimes, or to degrade myself by
fruitless complaint of the wretchedness they have
brought upon me. My weak voice can add no
terrors to the thunders of conscience. The history
of my sufferings would be superfluous. So
far as you are capable of comprehending them, you
already know them. The want of the necessaries
of life you can appreciate. Of the sting of self-reproach
to a conscience not rendered callous by
crime, of the deep sense of irreparable dishonour,
of the misery of witnessing distress brought by
our fault on those we love, you can form no conception. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 154 | Author: | Tucker
Beverley
1784-1851 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | George Balcombe | | | | 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: | We now approached the seat of justice for
— county, and as we mingled in the crowd of
countrymen flocking to the same point, our conversation
was necessarily interrupted. I soon saw
that Balcombe was distinguished, and that he was
an object of interest and curiosity, which was
painful to me. By him it seemed to be unmarked,
and he moved on with a countenance of
quiet serenity, as a man familiar with notoriety,
and secure of himself “Your extraordinary communication of the 15th
ultimo is before me. In answering it I find myself
under the necessity of adverting to much
more than it contains; and I shall do so fully, because
I find it necessary to make you understand
distinctly the relation between us. “Let me indulge a hope that the sight of my
name at the bottom of this letter may not prevent
you from reading it. Having hitherto received
nothing at my hands but what, to you at least, appeared
to be injustice, I cannot expect to engage
your attention to what I am about to say, without
first assuring you that the purpose of this letter is
altogether friendly. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 155 | Author: | Tucker
Beverley
1784-1851 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The partisan leader | | | | 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: | Poor Arthur! B— had predicted too truly that
his heart would have some hankerings at the thought
of leaving the house where he had, of late, spent so
many pleasant hours. It is so long that I have said
nothing about him, that the reader may think him
forgotten, or may, himself, have forgotten that there
was such a person. He had, in truth, no part in the
transactions of which we have been speaking. He
was at that time of life when the mind, chameleon
like, takes its hue from surrounding objects. He
was too young to be advised with, or trusted with
important secrets. I have already mentioned that,
on the day of the election, he had been detained at
home by indisposition. But he had heard of the occurrences
of that day; and he was, moreover, unconsciously
exposed to influences from every member of
the family, all tending to the same point. Least apparent,
but not least efficacious, was that of his cousin
Lucia. They were of that age when hearts, soft
and warm, grow together by mere contact. With
thought of love, but without thinking of it, they had
become deeply enamored of each other. The thing
came about so simply and so naturally, that the result
alone needs to be told. Sir: I have the honor to lay before your Excellency
an account of the operations of the troops
under my command, since the date of my last despatch. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 156 | Author: | Tuckerman
Henry T.
(Henry Theodore)
1813-1871 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Isabel, or, Sicily | | | | 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: | There is, perhaps, no approach to the old world
more impressive to the transatlantic voyager, than
the Straits of Gibraltar. The remarkable promontory
which rises abruptly before him, is calculated to
interest his mind, wearied with the monotony of sea-life,
not less as an object of great natural curiosity
than from the historical circumstances with which it
is associated. Anciently deemed the boundary of
the world, it was fabled, that at this point Europe
and Africa were united until riven asunder by Hercules,
forming the south-western extremity of Andalusia,
and long occupied as a Moorish fortress, it
awakens the many romantic impressions which embalm
the history of Spain; constituting, as it were,
the gate of the Mediterranean, the comer from the
new world cannot pass its lofty and venerable form,
without feeling that he has left the ocean whose
waters lave his native shore, and entered a sea
hallowed by the annals of antiquity, and renowned
for scenes of southern luxuriance and beauty. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 157 | Author: | Tyler
Royall
1757-1826 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Algerine captive, or, The life and adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill | | | | 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: | MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE
COURT OF LISBON, $C. I derive my birth from one
of the first emigrants to New England,
being lineally descended from Captain
John Underhill, who came into the Massachusetts
in the year one thousand six
hundred and thirty; of whom honourable
mention is made by that elegant, accurate,
and interesting historian, the Reverend
Jeremy Belknap, in his History of New
Hampshire. Remembrin my kind love to Mr. Hilton,
I now send you some note of my
tryalls at Boston.—Oh that I may come
out of this, and al the lyke tryalls, as
goold sevene times puryfyed in the furnice. Them there very extraordinary pare
of varses, you did yourself the onner to
address to a young lada of my partecling
acquaintance calls loudly for explination.
I shall be happy to do myself
the onner of wasting a few charges of
powder with you on the morro morning
precisely at one half hour before sun rose
at the lower end of — wharff. We saluted the castle with
seven guns, which was returned with
three, and then entered within the immense
pier, which forms the port. The
prisoners, thirty in number, were conveyed
to the castle, where we were received
with great parade by the Dey's
troops or cologlies, and guarded to a
heavy strong tower of the castle. The
Portuguese prisoners, to which nation
the Algerines have the most violent antipathy,
were immediately, with every
mark of contempt, spurned into a dark
dungeon beneath the foundations of the
tower, though there were several merchants
of eminence, and one young nobleman,
in the number. The Spaniards,
whom the Dey's subjects equally detest,
and fear more, were confined with me in
a grated room, on the second story. We
received, the same evening, rations similar
to what, we understood, were issued
to the garrison. The next day, we were
all led to a cleansing house, where we
were cleared from vermin, our hair cut
short, and our beards close shaved; thence
taken to a bath, and, after being well
bathed, we were clothed in coarse linen
drawers, a strait waistcoat of the same
without sleeves, and a kind of tunic or
loose coat over the whole, which, with a
pair of leather slippers, and a blue cotton
cap, equipped us, as we were informed,
to appear in the presence of the Dey,
who was to select the tenth prisoner from
us in person. The next morning, the
dragomen or interpreters, were very busy
in impressing upon us the most profound
respect for the Dey's person and
power, and teaching us the obeisance necessary
to be made in our approaches to this
august potentate. Soon after, we were
paraded; and Captain Hamed presented
each of us with a paper, written in a base
kind of Arabic, describing, as I was informed,
our persons, names, country, and
conditions in life; so far as our captors
could collect from our several examinations.
Upon the back of each paper was
a mark or number. The same mark was
painted upon a flat oval piece of wood,
somewhat like a painter's palette, and suspended
by a small brass chain to our
necks, hanging upon our breasts. The
guards then formed a hollow square.
We were blind folded until we passed
the fortifications, and then suffered to
view the city, and the immense rabble,
which surrounded us, until we came to
the palace of the Dey. Here, after much
military parade, the gates were thrown
open, and we entered a spacious court
yard, at the upper end of which the Dey
was seated, upon an eminence, covered
with the richest carpeting fringed with
gold. A circular canopy of Persian silk
was raised over his head, from which
were suspended curtains of the richest
embroidery, drawn into festoons by silk
cords and tassels, enriched with pearls.
Over the eminence, upon the right and
left, were canopies, which almost vied in
B 2
riches with the former, under which stood
the Mufri, his numerous Hadgi's, and
his principal officers, civil and military;
and on each side about seven hundred
foot guards were drawn up in the form
of a half moon. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 158 | Author: | Tyler
Royall
1757-1826 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Yankey in London | | | | 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: | ACCEPT my warmest thanks for the
letters of introduction you presented me
at parting, and for those transmitted me
by the ship Union; and suffer me, through
you, to make my grateful acknowledgments
to Mr. G. for his very friendly
proffer of making me known to some
“excellent English friends.”—I do assure
you, very few of our countrymen have
left in London such favourable impressions
of the American character as that
gentleman. Indeed, all our United States'
agents have done honour to our national
diplomacy: among them Mr. K. and Mr.
G. will be long distinguished; the former
for the classical elegance of his bureau
address, the latter for his commercial
science—and both for that dignified, polished
demeanour which European gentlemen
will hardly admit can be attained
without the tour of that continent. I
ought, in justice, to observe, that our present
envoy is a gentleman highly esteemed
for the suavity of his manners, and respected
for his adherence to the commercial
rights of his nation. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 160 | Author: | Ware
William
1797-1852 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letters of Lucius M. Piso, from Palmyra, to his friend Marcus Curtius at Rome | | | | 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: | As I returned from the worship of the Christians to
the house of Gracchus, my thoughts wandered from the
subjects which had just occupied my mind, to the condition
of the country, and the prospect now growing more
and more portentous of an immediate rupture with
Rome. On my way I passed through streets of more
than Roman magnificence, exhibiting all the signs of
wealth, taste, refinement, and luxury. The happy, lighthearted
populace were moving through them, enjoying at
their leisure the calm beauty of the evening, or hastening
to or from some place of festivity. The earnest tone of
conversation, the loud laugh, the witty retort, the merry
jest, fell upon my ear from one and another as I passed
along. From the windows of the palaces of the merchants
and nobles, the rays of innumerable lights
streamed across my path, giving to the streets almost the
brilliancy of day; and the sound of music, either of
martial instruments, or of the harp accompanied by the
voice, at every turn arrested my attention, and made me
pause to listen. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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