University of Virginia Library

5. CHAPTER V.

When Alderman Van Beverout and Ludlow drew
near to the Lust in Rust, it was already dark. Night
had overtaken them, at some distance from the
place of landing; and the mountain already threw
its shadow across the river, the narrow strip of land
that separated it from the sea, and far upon the
ocean itself. Neither had an opportunity of making
his observations on the condition of things in and
about the villa, until they had ascended nearly to its
level, and had even entered the narrow but fragrant
lawn in its front. Just before they arrived at the
gate which opened on the latter, the Alderman
paused, and addressed his companion, with more of
the manner of their ancient confidence, than he had
manifested during the few preceding days of their
intercourse.

“You must have observed, that the events of this
little excursion on the water, have been rather of
a domestic than of a public character;” he said.
“Thy father was a very ancient and much-esteemed
friend of mine, and I am far from certain that there

is not some affinity between us, in the way of inter-marriages.
Thy worthy mother, who is a thrifty
woman, and a small talker, had some of the blood of
my own stock. It would grieve me to see the good
understanding, which these recollections have created,
in any manner interrupted. I admit, Sir, that
revenue is to the state what the soul is to the body,
—the moving and governing principle; and that, as
the last would be a tenantless house without its inhabitants,
so the first would be an exacting and troublesome
master without its proper products. But
there is no need of pushing a principle to extremities!
If this brigantine be, as you appear to suspect,
and indeed as we have some reason from various
causes to infer, the vessel called the Water-Witch
she might have been a legal prize had she fallen into
your power; but now that she has escaped, I cannot
say what may be your intentions; but were thy excellent
father, the worthy member of the King's
Council, living, so discreet a man would think much
before he opened his lips, to say more than is discreet,
on this or any other subject.”

“Whatever course I may believe my duty dictates,
you may safely rely on my discretion concerning the
—the remarkable—the very decided step which
your niece has seen proper to take;” returned the
young man, who did not make this allusion to Alida
without betraying, by the tremor of his voice, how
great was her influence still over him. “I see no
necessity of violating the domestic feelings to which
you allude, by aiding to feed the ears of the idly
curious, with the narrative of her errors.”

Ludlow stopped suddenly, leaving the uncle to
infer what he would wish to add.

“This is generous, and manly, and like a loyal—
lover, Captain Ludlow,” returned the Alderman;
“though it is not exactly what I intended to suggest.
We will not, however, multiply words, in the night

air—ha! when the cat is asleep, the mice are seen to
play! Those night-riding, horse-racing blacks have
taken possession of Alida's pavilion; and we may be
thankful the poor girl's rooms are not as large as
Harlaem Common, or we should hear the feet of
some hard-driven beast galloping about in them.”

The Alderman, in his turn, cut short his speech,
and started as if one of the spukes of the colony had
suddenly presented itself to his eyes. His language
had drawn the look of his companion towards la Cour
des Fées; and Ludlow had, at the same moment as
the uncle, caught an unequivocal view of la belle
Barbérie, as she moved before the open window of
her apartment. The latter was about to rush forward,
but the hand of Myndert arrested the impetuous
movement.

“Here is more matter for our wits, than our legs;”
observed the cool and prudent burgher. “That was
the form of my ward and niece, or the daughter of
old Etienne Barbérie has a double.—Francis! didst
thou not see the image of a woman at the window of
the pavilion, or are we deceived by our wishes? I
have sometimes been deluded in an unaccountable
manner, Captain Ludlow, when my mind has been
thoroughly set on the bargain, in the quality of the
goods; for the most liberal of us all are subject to
mental weakness of this nature, when hope is alive!”

“Certainement, oui!” exclaimed the eager valet.
“Quel malheur to be obligé to go on la mèr, when
Mam'selle Alide nevair quit la maison! J'étais sûr,
que nous nous trompions, car jamais la famille de
Barbérie love to be marins!”

“Enough, good Francis; the family of Barbérie is
as earthy as a fox. Go and notify the idle rogues in
my kitchen, that their master is at hand; and remember,
that there is no necessity for speaking of all
the wonders we have seen on the great deep. Captain

Ludlow, we will now join my dutiful niece, with
as little fracas as possible.”

Ludlow eagerly accepted the invitation, and instantly
followed the dogmatical and seemingly unmoved
Alderman towards the dwelling. As the lawn
was crossed, they involuntarily paused, a moment, to
look in at the open windows of the pavilion.

La belle Barbérie had ornamented la Cour des
Fées, with a portion of that national taste, which she
inherited from her father. The heavy magnificence
that distinguished the reign of Louis XIV. had
scarcely descended to one of the middling rank of
Monsieur de Barbérie, who had consequently brought
with him to the place of his exile, merely those tasteful
usages which appear almost exclusively the property
of the people from whom he had sprung, without the
encumbrance and cost of the more pretending fashions
of the period. These usages had become blended
with the more domestic and comfortable habits of
English, or what is nearly the same thing, of American
life—an union which, when it is found, perhaps
produces the most just and happy medium of the
useful and the agreeable. Alida was seated by a
small table of mahogany, deeply absorbed in the
contents of a little volume that lay before her. By
her side stood a tea-service, the cups and the vessels of
which were of the diminutive size then used, though
exquisitely wrought, and of the most beautiful material.
Her dress was a negligée suited to her years;
and her whole figure breathed that air of comfort,
mingled with grace, which seems to be the
proper quality of the sex, and which renders the
privacy of an elegant woman so attractive and peculiar.
Her mind was intent on the book, and the
little silver urn hissed at her elbow, apparently unheeded.

“This is the picture I have loved to draw,” half-whispered
Ludlow, “when gales and storms have

kept me on the deck, throughout many a dreary and
tempestuous night! When body and mind have been
impatient of fatigue, this is the repose I have most
coveted, and for which I have even dared to hope!”

“The China trade will come to something, in time;
and you are an excellent judge of comfort, Master
Ludlow;” returned the Alderman. “That girl now
has a warm glow on her cheek, which would seem
to swear she never faced a breeze in her life; and
it is not easy to fancy, that one who looks so comfortable
has lately been frolicking among the dolphins.—Let
us enter.”

Alderman Van Beverout was not accustomed to
use much ceremony in his visits to his niece. Without
appearing to think any announcement necessary,
therefore, the dogmatical burgher coolly opened a
door, and ushered his companion into the pavilion.

If the meeting between la belle Alida and her
guests was distinguished by the affected indifference
of the latter, their seeming ease was quite equalled
by that of the lady. She laid aside her book, with
a calmness that might have been expected had they
parted but an hour before, and which sufficiently
assured both Ludlow and her uncle that their return
was known and their presence expected. She simply
arose at their entrance, and with a smile that betokened
breeding, rather than feeling, she requested
them to be seated. The composure of his niece had
the effect to throw the Alderman into a brown study,
while the young sailor scarcely knew which to admire
the most, the exceeding loveliness of a woman
who was always so beautiful, or her admirable self-possession
in a scene that most others would have
found sufficiently embarrassing. Alida, herself, appeared
to feel no necessity for any explanation; for,
when her guests were seated, she took occasion to
say, while busied in pouring out the tea—

“You find me prepared to offer the refreshment

of a cup of delicious bohea. I think, my uncle calls
it the tea of the Caernarvon Castle.”

“A lucky ship, both in her passages and her
wares! Yes, it is the article you name; and I can
recommend it to all who wish to purchase. But,
niece of mine, will you condescend to acquaint this
commander in Her Majesty's service, and a poor
Alderman of her good city of New-York, how long
you may have been expecting our company?”

Alida felt at her girdle, and, drawing out a small
and richly-ornamented watch, she coolly examined
its hands, as if to learn the hour.

“We are nine. I think it was past the turn of
the day, when Dinah first mentioned that this
pleasure might be expected. But, I should also tell
you, that packages which seem to contain letters
have arrived from town.”

This was giving a new and sudden direction to
the thoughts of the Alderman. He had refrained
from entering on those explanations which the circumstances
seemed to require, because he well knew
that he stood on dangerous ground, and that more
might be said than he wished his companion to hear,
no less than from amazement at the composure of
his ward. He was not sorry, therefore, to have an
excuse to delay his inquiries, that appeared so much
in character as that of reading the communications
of his business correspondents. Swallowing the contents
of the tiny cup he held, at a gulp, the eager
merchant seized the packet that Alida now offered;
and, muttering a few words of apology to Ludlow,
he left the pavilion.

Until now, the commander of the Coquette had
not spoken. Wonder, mingled with indignation,
sealed his mouth, though he had endeavored to penetrate
the veil which Alida had drawn around her
conduct and motives, by a diligent use of his eyes.
During the first few moments of the interview, he

thought that he could detect, in the midst of her
studied calmness, a melancholy smile struggling
around her beautiful mouth; but only once had their
looks met, as she turned her full, rich, and dark eyes
furtively on his face, as if she were curious to know
the effect produced by her manner on the mind of
the young sailor.

“Have the enemies of the Queen reason to regret
the cruise of the Coquette?” said la Belle, hurriedly,
when she found her glance detected; “or have they
dreaded to encounter a prowess that has already
proved their inferiority?”

“Fear, or prudence, or perhaps I might say conscience,
has made them wary;” returned Ludlow,
pointedly emphasizing the latter word. “We have
run from the Hook to the edge of the Grand Bank,
and returned without success.”

“'Tis unlucky. But, though the French escaped,
have none of the lawless met with punishment?
There is a rumor among the slaves, that the brigantine
which visited us is an object of suspicion to the
Government?”

“Suspicion!—But I may apply to la belle Barbérie,
to know whether the character her commander
has obtained be merited?”

Alida smiled, and, her admirer thought, sweetly as
ever.

“It would be a sign of extraordinary complaisance,
were Captain Ludlow to apply to the girls of the
colony for instruction in his duty! We may be secret
encouragers of the contraband, but surely we are
not to be suspected of any greater familiarity with
their movements. These hints may compel me to
abandon the pleasures of the Lust in Rust, and to
seek air and health in some less exposed situation.
Happily the banks of the Hudson offer many, that
one need be fastidious indeed to reject.”

“Among which you count the Manor-House of
Kinderhook?”

Again Alida smiled, and Ludlow thought it was
triumphantly.

“The dwelling of Oloff Van Staats is said to be
commodious, and not badly placed. I have seen
it,—”

“In your images of the future?” said the young
man, observing she hesitated.

Alida laughed downright. But, immediately recovering
her self-command, she replied—

“Not so fancifully. My knowledge of the beauties
of the house of Mr. Van Staats, is confined to
very unpoetical glimpses from the river, in passing
and repassing. The chimneys are twisted in the
most approved style of the Dutch Brabant, and,
although wanting the stork's nests on their summits,
it seems as if there might be that woman's tempter,
comfort, around the hearths beneath. The offices,
too, have an enticing air, for a thrifty housewife!”

“Which office, in compliment to the worthy Patroon,
you intend shall not long be vacant?”

Alida was playing with a spoon, curiously wrought
to represent the stem and leaves of a tea-plant. She
started, dropped the implement, and raised her eyes
to the face of her companion. The look was steady,
and not without an interest in the evident concern
betrayed by the young man.

“It will never be filled by me, Ludlow;” was the
answer, uttered solemnly, and with a decision that
denoted a resolution fixed.

“That declaration removes a mountain!—Oh!
Alida, if you could as easily—”

“Hush!” whispered the other, rising and standing
for a moment in an attitude of intense expectation.
Her eye became brighter, and the bloom on her
cheek even deeper than before, while pleasure and
hope were both strongly depicted on her beautiful

face—“Hush!” she continued, motioning to Ludlow
to repress his feelings. “Did you hear nothing?”

The disappointed and yet admiring young man
was silent, though he watched her singularly interesting
air, and lovely features, with all the intenseness
that seemed to characterize her own deportment.
As no sound followed that which Alida had
heard or fancied she had heard, she resumed her
seat, and appeared to lend her attention once more
to her companion.

“You were speaking of mountains?” she said,
scarce knowing what she uttered. “The passage
between the bays of Newburgh and Tappan, has
scarce a rival, as I have heard from travelled men.”

“I was indeed speaking of a mountain, but it was
of one that weighs me to the earth. Your inexplicable
conduct and cruel indifference have heaped it on
my feelings, Alida. You have said that there is no
hope for Oloff Van Staats; and one syllable, spoken
with your native ingenuousness and sincerity, has
had the effect to blow all my apprehensions from
that quarter to the winds. There remains only to
account for your absence, to resume the whole of
your power over one who is but too readily disposed
to confide in all you say or do.”

La belle Barbérie seemed touched. Her glance
at the young sailor was kinder, and her voice wanted
some of its ordinary steadiness, in the reply.

“That power has then been weakened?”

“You will despise me, if I say no;—you will distrust
me, if I say yes.”

“Then silence seems the course best adapted to
maintain our present amity.—Surely I heard a blow
struck, lightly, on the shutter of that window?”

“Hope sometimes deceives us. This repeated belief
would seem to say that you expect a visiter?”

A distinct tap on the shutter confirmed the impression
of the mistress of the pavilion. Alida looked at

her companion, and appeared embarrassed. Her
color varied, and she seemed anxious to utter something
that either her feelings or her prudence suppressed.

“Captain Ludlow, you have once before been an
unexpected witness of an interview in la Cour des
Fées, that has, I fear, subjected me to unfavorable
surmises. But one manly and generous as yourself
can have indulgence for the little vanities of woman.
I expect a visit, that perhaps a Queen's officer should
not countenance.”

“I am no exciseman, to pry into wardrobes and
secret repositories, but one whose duty it is to act
only on the high seas, and against the more open violators
of the law. If you have any without, whose
presence you desire, let them enter without dread of
my office. When we meet in a more suitable place,
I shall know how to take my revenge.”

His companion looked grateful, and bowed her acknowledgments.
She then made a ringing sound, by
using a spoon on the interior of one of the vessels of
the tea equipage. The shrubbery, which shaded a
window, stirred; and presently, the young stranger,
already so well known in the former pages of this
work, and in the scenes of the brigantine, appeared
in the low balcony. His person was scarcely seen,
before a light bale of goods was tossed past him, into
the centre of the room.

“I send my certificate of character as an avant-courier;”
said the gay dealer in contraband, or Master
Seadrift, as he was called by the Alderman,
touching his cap, gallantly, to the mistress of la Cour
des Fées, and then, somewhat more ceremoniously,
to her companion; after which he returned the gold-bound
covering to its seat, on a bed of rich and glossy
curls, and sought his package. Here is one more customer
than I bargained for, and I look to more than

common gain! We have met before, Captain Ludlow.”

“We have, Sir Skimmer of the Seas, and we shall
meet again. Winds may change, and fortune yet
favor the right!”

“We trust to the sea-green lady's care;” returned
the extraordinary smuggler, pointing, with a species
of reverence, real or affected, to the image that was
beautifully worked, in rich colors, on the velvet of
his cap. What has been will be, and the past gives
a hope for the future. We meet, here, on neutral
ground, I trust.”

“I am the commander of a royal cruiser, Sir;”
haughtily returned the other.

“Queen Anne may be proud of her servant!—
but we neglect our affairs. A thousand pardons,
lovely mistress of la Cour des Fées. This meeting of
two rude mariners does a slight to your beauty, and
little credit to the fealty due the sex. Having done
with all compliments, I have to offer certain articles
that never failed to cause the brightest eyes to grow
more brilliant, and at which duchesses have gazed
with many longings.”

“You speak with confidence of your associations,
Master Seadrift, and rate noble personages among
your customers, as familiarly as if you dealt in offices
of state.”

“This skilful servitor of the Queen will tell you,
lady, that the wind which is a gale on the Atlantic,
may scarce cool the burning cheek of a girl on the
land, and that the links in life are as curiously inter-locked
as the ropes of a ship. The Ephesian temple,
and the Indian wigwam, rested on the same earth.”

“From which you infer that rank does not alter
nature. We must admit, Captain Ludlow, that Master
Seadrift understands a woman's heart, when he
tempts her with stores of tissues gay as these!”

Ludlow had watched the speakers in silence. The

manner of Alida was far less embarrassed, than when
he had before seen her in the smuggler's company;
and his blood fired, when he saw that their eyes
met with a secret and friendly intelligence. He had
remained, however, with a resolution to be calm,
and to know the worst. Conquering the expression of
his feelings by a great effort, he answered with an
exterior of composure, though not without some of
that bitterness in his emphasis, which he felt at his
heart.

“If Master Seadrift has this knowledge, he may
value himself on his good fortune;” was the reply.

“Much intercourse with the sex, who are my best
customers, has something helped me;” returned the
cavalier dealer in contraband. “Here is a brocade,
whose fellow is worn openly in the presence of our
royal mistress, though it came from the forbidden
looms of Italy; and the ladies of the court return
from patriotically dancing, in the fabrics of home, to
please the public eye, once in the year, to wear these
more agreeable inventions, all the rest of it, to please
themselves. Tell me, why does the Englishman, with
his pale sun, spend thousands to force a sickly imitation
of the gifts of the tropics, but because he pines
for forbidden fruit? or why does your Paris gourmand
roll a fig on his tongue, that a Lazzarone of Naples
would cast into his bay, but because he wishes to enjoy
the bounties of a low latitude, under a watery
sky? I have seen an individual feast on the eau sucré
of an European pine, that cost a guinea, while his
palate would have refused the same fruit, with its
delicious compound of acid and sweet, mellowed to
ripeness under a burning sun, merely because he
could have it for nothing. This is the secret of our
patronage; and as the sex are most liable to its influence,
we owe them most gratitude.”

“You have travelled, Master Seadrift,” returned
la Belle smiling, while she tossed the rich contents

of the bale on the carpet, “and treat of usages as
familiarly as you speak of dignities.”

“The lady of the sea-green mantle does not permit
an idle servant. We follow the direction of her
guiding hand; sometimes it points our course among
the isles of the Adriatic, and at others on your
stormy American coasts. There is little of Europe
between Gibraltar and the Cattegat, that I have not
visited.”

“But Italy has been the favorite, if one may judge
by the number of her fabrics that you produce.”

“Italy, France, and Flanders, divide my custom;
though you are right, in believing the former most
in favor. Many years of early life did I pass on the
noble coasts of that romantic region. One who protected
and guided my infancy and youth, even left
me for a time, under instruction, on the little plain
of Sorrento.”

“And where can this plain be found?—for the
residence of so famous a rover may, one day, become
the theme of song, and is likely to occupy the leisure
of the curious.”

“The grace of the speaker may well excuse the
irony! Sorrento is a village on the southern shore of
the renowned Naples bay. Fire has wrought many
changes in that soft but wild country, and if, as religionists
believe, the fountains of the great deep were
ever broken up, and the earth's crust disturbed, to
permit its secret springs to issue on the surface, this
may have been one of the spots chosen by him whose
touch leaves marks that are indelible, in which to
show his power. The bed of the earth, itself, in all
that region, appears to have been but the vomitings
of volcanoes; and the Sorrentine passes his peaceable
life in the bed of an extinguished crater. 'Tis curious
to see in what manner the men of the middle
ages have built their town, on the margin of the sea,
where the element has swallowed one-half the ragged

basin, and how they have taken the yawning crevices
of the tufo, for ditches to protect their walls!
I have visited many lands, and seen nature in nearly
every clime; but no spot has yet presented, in a single
view, so pleasant a combination of natural objects,
mingled with mighty recollections, as that
lovely abode on the Sorrentine cliffs!”

“Recount me these pleasures, that in memory
seem so agreeable, while I examine further into the
contents of the bale.”

The gay young free-trader paused, and seemed
lost in images of the past. Then, with a melancholy
smile, he soon continued. “Though many years are
gone,” he said, “I can recall the beauties of that
scene, as vividly as if they still stood before the eye.
Our abode was on the verge of the cliffs. In front
lay the deep-blue water, and on its further shore
was a line of objects such as accident or design
rarely assembles in one view. Fancy thyself, lady,
at my side, and follow the curvature of the northern
shore, as I trace the outline of that glorious scene!
That high, mountainous, and ragged island, on the
extreme left, is modern Ischia. Its origin is unknown,
though piles of lava lie along its coast, which seems
fresh as that thrown from the mountain yesterday.
The long, low bit of land, insulated like its neighbor,
is called Procida, a scion of ancient Greece. Its
people still preserve, in dress and speech, marks of
their origin. The narrow strait conducts you to a
high and naked bluff. That is the Misenum, of old.
Here Eneas came to land, and Rome held her fleets,
and thence Pliny took the water, to get a nearer
view of the labors of the volcano, after its awakening
from centuries of sleep. In the hollow of the
ridge, between that naked bluff and the next swell
of the mountain, lie the fabulous Styx, the Elysian
fields, and the place of the dead, as fixed by the
Mantuan. More on the height and nearer to the

sea, lie, buried in the earth, the vast vaults of the
Piscina Mirabile—and the gloomy caverns of the
Hundred Chambers; places that equally denote the
luxury and the despotism of Rome. Nearer to the
vast pile of castle, that is visible so many leagues, is
the graceful and winding Baiæn harbor; and against
the side of its sheltering hills, once lay the city of
villas. To that sheltered hill, emperors, consuls,
poets, and warriors, crowded from the capital, in
quest of repose, and to breathe the pure air of a spot
in which pestilence has since made its abode. The
earth is still covered with the remains of their magnificence,
and ruins of temples and baths are scattered
freely among the olives and fig-trees of the
peasant. A fainter bluff limits the north-eastern
boundary of the little bay. On it, once, stood the
dwellings of emperors. There Cæsar sought retirement,
and the warm springs on its side are yet called
the baths of the bloody Nero. That small conical
hill, which, as you see, possesses a greener and fresher
look than the adjoining land, is a cone ejected by the
caldron beneath, but two brief centuries since. It
occupies, in part, the site of the ancient Lucrine
lake. All that remains of that famous receptacle of
the epicure, is the small and shallow sheet at its base,
which is separated from the sea by a mere thread of
sand. More in the rear, and surrounded by dreary
hills, lie the waters of Avernus. On their banks still
stand the ruins of a temple, in which rites were celebrated
to the infernal deities. The grotto of the
Sybil pierces that ridge on the left, and the Cumæan
passage is nearly in its rear. The town, which is
seen a mile to the right, is Pozzuoli—a port of the
ancients, and a spot now visited for its temples of
Jupiter and Neptune, its mouldering amphitheatre,
and its half-buried tombs. Here Caligula attempted
his ambitious bridge; and while crossing thence to
Baiæ, the vile Nero had the life of his own mother
assailed. It was there, too, that holy Paul came to
land, when journeying a prisoner to Rome. The
small but high island, nearly in its front, is Nisida,
the place to which Marcus Brutus retired after the
deed at the foot of Pompey's statue, where he possessed
a villa, and whence he and Cassius sailed to
meet the shade and the vengeance of the murdered
Cæsar, at Philippi. Then comes a crowd of sites
more known in the middle ages; though just below
that mountain, in the back-ground, is the famous
subterranean road of which Strabo and Seneca are
said to speak, and through which the peasant still
daily drives his ass to the markets of the modern
city. At its entrance is the reputed tomb of Virgil,
and then commences an amphitheatre of white and
terraced dwellings. This is noisy Napoli itself, crowned
with its rocky castle of St. Elmo! The vast plain,
to the right, is that which held the enervating Capua
and so many other cities on its bosom. To this succeeds
the insulated mountain of the volcano, with
its summit torn in triple tops. 'Tis said that villas
and villages, towns and cities, lie buried beneath the
vineyards and palaces which crowd its base. The
ancient and unhappy city of Pompeii stood on that
luckless plain, which, following the shores of the bay,
comes next; and then we take up the line of the
mountain promontory, which forms the Sorrentine
side of the water!”

“One who has had such schooling, should know
better how to turn it to a good account;” said Ludlow,
sternly, when the excited smuggler ceased to speak.

“In other lands, men derive their learning from
books; in Italy, children acquire knowledge by the
study of visible things;” was the undisturbed answer.

“Some from this country are fond of believing
that our own bay, these summer skies, and the climate
in general, should have a strict resemblance to
those of a region which lies precisely in our own latitude;”

observed Alida, so hastily, as to betray a desire
to preserve the peace between her guests.

“That your Manhattan and Raritan waters are
broad and pleasant, none can deny, and that lovely
beings dwell on their banks, lady,” returned Seadrift,
gallantly lifting his cap, “my own senses have witnessed.
But 't were wiser to select some other point
of your excellence, for comparison, than a competition
with the glorious waters, the fantastic and mountain
isles, and the sunny hill-sides of modern Napoli!
'Tis certain the latitude is even in your favor, and
that a beneficent sun does not fail of its office in one
region more than in the other. But the forests of
America are still too pregnant of vapors and exhalations,
not to impair the purity of the native air. If I
have seen much of the Mediterranean, neither am I
a stranger to these coasts. While there are so many
points of resemblance in their climates, there are
also many and marked causes of difference.”

“Teach us, then, what forms these distinctions,
that, in speaking of our bay and skies, we may not
be led into error.”

“You do me honor, lady; I am of no great schooling,
and of humble powers of speech. Still, the little
that observation may have taught me, shall not be
churlishly withheld. Your Italian atmosphere, taking
the humidity of the seas, is sometimes hazy. Still
water in large bodies, other than in the two seas, is
little known in those distant countries. Few objects
in nature are drier than an Italian river, during
those months when the sun has most influence. The
effect is visible in the air, which is in general elastic,
dry, and obedient to the general laws of the climate.
There floats less exhalation, in the form of fine and
nearly invisible vapor, than in these wooded regions.
At least, so he of whom I spoke, as one who guided
my youth, was wont to say.”

“You hesitate to tell us of our skies, our evening
light, and of our bay?”

“It shall be said, and said sincerely—Of the bays,
each seems to have been appropriated to that for
which nature most intended it.—The one is poetic,
indolent, and full of graceful but glorious beauty;
more pregnant of enjoyment than of usefulness. The
other will, one day, be the mart of the world!”

“You still shrink from pronouncing on their beauty;”
said Alida, disappointed, in spite of an affected
indifference to the subject.

“It is ever the common fault of old communities
to overvalue themselves, and to undervalue new actors
in the great drama of nations, as men long successful
disregard the efforts of new aspirants for
favor;” said Seadrift, while he looked with amazement
at the pettish eye of the frowning beauty. “In
this instance, however, Europe has not so greatly
erred. They who see much resemblance between
the bay of Naples and this of Manhattan, have fertile
brains; since it rests altogether on the circumstance
that there is much water in both, and a passage
between an island and the main-land, in one, to
resemble a passage between two islands in the other.
This is an estuary, that a gulf; and while the former
has the green and turbid water of a shelving shore
and of tributary rivers, the latter has the blue and
limpid element of a deep sea. In these distinctions,
I take no account of ragged and rocky mountains,
with the indescribable play of golden and rosy light
upon their broken surfaces, nor of a coast that teems
with the recollections of three thousand years!”

“I fear to question more. But surely our skies
may be mentioned, even by the side of those you
vaunt?”

“Of the skies, truly, you have more reason to be
confident. I remember that standing on the Capo di
Monte, which overlooks the little, picturesque, and

crowded beach of the Marina Grande, and Sorrento,
a spot that teems with all that is poetic in the fisherman's
life, he of whom I have spoken, once pointed
to the transparent vault above, and said, `There is
the moon of America!' The colors of the rocket
were not more vivid than the stars that night, for a
Tramontana had swept every impurity from the air,
far upon the neighboring sea. But nights like that
are rare, indeed, in any clime! The inhabitants of
low latitudes enjoy them occasionally; those of higher,
never.”

“And then our flattering belief, that these western
sunsets rival those of Italy, is delusion?”

“Not so, lady. They rival, without resembling.
The color of the étui, on which so fair a hand is
resting, is not softer than the hues one sees in the
heavens of Italy. But if your evening sky wants the
pearly light, the rosy clouds, and the soft tints which,
at that hour, melt into each other, across the entire
vault of Napoli, it far excels in the vividness of the
glow, in the depth of the transitions, and in the richness
of colors. Those are only more delicate, while
these are more gorgeous! When there shall be less
exhalation from your forests, the same causes may
produce the same effects. Until then, America must
be content to pride herself on an exhibition of nature's
beauty, in a new, though scarcely in a less
pleasing, form.”

“Then they who come among us from Europe,
are but half right, when they deride the pretensions
of our bay and heavens?”

“Which is much nearer the truth than they are
wont to be, on the subject of this continent. Speak
of the many rivers, the double outlet, the numberless
basins, and the unequalled facilities of your Manhattan
harbor; for in time, they will come to render all
the beauties of the unrivalled bay of Naples vain:
but tempt not the stranger to push the comparison

beyond. Be grateful for your skies, lady, for few
live under fairer or more beneficent—But I tire you
with these opinions, when here are colors that have
more charms for a young and lively imagination, than
even the tints of nature!”

La belle Barbérie smiled on the dealer in contraband,
with an interest that sickened Ludlow; and
she was about to reply, in better humor, when the
voice of her uncle announced his near approach.