University of Virginia Library

5. CHAPTER V.

“When I last wrote to you, I had but just
escaped from the jaws of the hideous monster
cooked up by a spell of fever, in order, as it turned
out afterward, to be served up to the same monster
in a more novel and savoury form; at least,
that seems to have been the benevolent intention of
his grim majesty towards your humble servant if
my good genius, or destiny, or a good servant, had
not interposed in my behalf. With the exception
of the time when I was ill, I have occupied a small
building which stands about a hundred yards from
the main edifice at Belville. It is known here as
`the library;' and seems, from all I can learn, to
have been your favourite retreat. There, you
know, I found all the little snug luxuries of a
southern bachelor, not excepting a supply of cigars
for a twelvemonth's siege; all the foreign
and domestic reviews and magazines, files of country
and city papers, old and new nevels, writing
materials, half-finished drawings, music-books and
musical instruments, all in the most delightful order
in the midst of confusion.

“There I used regularly to retire after eleven
P. M., to saw on the violin, snap some of the strings,
throw it aside, take up the flute, dive into the midst
of an overture—quiver, and quiver, and quiver at
some tough passage, like a Frenchman talking
English when he does not understand the language;
bowing, scraping, shrugging, and making all the appropriate
gestures, but coming no nearer the words
he wishes to get out; so it was with me on your
confounded twenty-one keyed flute; I bobbed my
head, and turned up my eyes, stamped with my
feet, and shook with my fingers, but it would not
come out music. Away I tossed it, of course.

“Next came one of your half-finished sketches.
I recognised it immediately as one of our old college-haunts,
and took up the crayon to finish from
memory what you had left undone; but I soon
found that I put down mountains instead of mole-hills;
so that a very few of my touches were required
to obliterate the perspective, lights and
shades, and every thing else save a little touch of
darkness visible. Away it went after the flute and
violin. Next came a cigar out of a drawer, and
the last number of the Southern Review. `These,
at least, I can play on,' said I to myself; `these
require none of the touches of artists or accomplished
gentlemen; here I have all the pleasures of
life, dressed to the taste of all comers—grilled,
stewed, roasted, or fricasseed. Here is an epitome
of the age of intellect and the march of mind;
music ready played to your hand, perhaps, and if

not, the finest substitute in the world for it in the
jerks and quivers of the writer, as he draws his
bow-hand over the dots and demi-semi-quavers of
some luckless wight of an author.'

“Such were my occupations in this sanctum
sanctorum of yours, during most of the latter part
of the evenings, and such was my employment on
a certain night when, having retired from the parlour
uncommonly well pleased with myself (merely,
I believe, because I was pleased with Virginia's
treatment of me), and having gone through this
routine, and read myself into drowsiness, I undressed
and went to bed, and (as has been the case
ever since I recovered my legs) was no sooner
down than I was fast asleep; not so fast, however,
but that I dreamed horrible things. No marvel
that I should; for in the midst of one of these peregrinations,
I was suddenly awakened by a cold,
damp, clammy hand, fastened so tight upon my
throat that I was almost strangled at the first grasp.
I had scarcely become conscious of my position,
before I heard a heavy blow, as from a billet of
wood, upon some one's head. Instantly the grasp
was loosened from my throat, and I heard a heavy
fall upon the floor. I sprang up in the bed, and
screamed to my defender, whoever he might be, to
get a light. He ran out to obey my orders, but
was scarcely over the threshold of the lower door
before the man on the floor sprang up, leaped out
of the window about twenty feet, I suppose, and
was shrouded in impenetrable darkness. His

movements were so sudden that his escape took
me completely by surprise.

“But I was still more surprised when, as I stood
by the open window drawing on my clothes, I saw
the whole lawn suddenly illuminated as if a magnificent
meteor had darted across the horizon.
The light increased and continued, however, and
I soon heard my protector raise the alarming cry
of fire!—wood crackling, and dozens of voices
joining in chorus. The smoke began by this time
to make its way into the room where I stood, from
the library below. I rushed to the staircase, but
found there was no egress except through the same
opening which my strange assailant had sought.
Something between a jump and a fall brought me
to the ground, when I discovered that the whole
of one side of the library was in flames. It was
useless to throw on water by the single bucket-full,
and seeing the lower door free, and one side of the
room and all the books and papers on that side safe
as yet, I rushed in and ordered those of the negroes
to follow me who had collected around, and were
gaping in stupid wonder at the scene.

“We were enabled to save many bundles of
papers and most of the valuable books, before the
flames encroached so much on our side as to compel
us to seek the door. This they were a long
time in reaching, because the incendiary had placed
the fire among the papers under the staircase in
the little closet, for the purpose, I suppose, of cutting
off my retreat. By this time, your mother and

cousin had hastily dressed and were no unfeeling
spectators of the latter part of our labours. It did
not strike them with so much dread and horror as
it would have done, because they were ignorant,
as yet, how it originated, and I determined to let
them remain so until morning, lest it should alarm
them so much as to prevent their further repose.
In the mean time I determined to see every precautionary
measure taken to guard the main building
from a like calamity. Accordingly, after I had
persuaded the ladies to retire, I summoned Tombo
and my brave defender (who proved to be the
young fellow whose cause I had advocated against
the driver), to a council of war in the parlour.

“I had every confidence in my coadjutors; I
therefore arranged that Tombo should stand and
walk sentinel round the house for two hours, that
Philip should then take his turn of two hours more,
and at the end of that time, they were to awaken
me. I arranged it thus because I thought it likely
that if any attempt should be made on the mansion,
it would be just before daylight, when I should be
on guard myself. I supposed a renewal of the
attempt more likely, because I thought that I discovered
in some of the crowd assembed at the fire
a disposition to stand aloof and secretly rejoice,
and from what I have since learned, there were
two complete parties on the occasion. It seems
that this driver (like all drivers, I suppose) was in
the habit of showing partiality in his administrations
of summary justice. This had naturally

made him a strong man with his own peculiar favourites.

“The day after the disturbance at the driver's
house, spoken of in a former letter, when all things
had assumed their wonted quiet, the driver made
his appearance. According to promise, I summoned
the white overseer before your mother, and
requested an examination into the conduct of the
driver, in cruelly and unjustly whipping Philip. It
was readily granted, and both your mother and
the overseer requested me to accompany the latter
to see the matter impartially settled. I did so,
and the investigation resulted in the deposition of
the driver from his high authority, and a repayment
on his own back of part of the stripes which
he had so unmercifully inflicted upon Philip. These
were almost forgotten until the night before the
last, when the fire and my attempted strangulation
were discovered, and the latter was so fortunately
thwarted by the shrewdness and vigilance of
Philip.

“It seems he had noticed the ex-driver prowling
about the library in the early part of the evening,
and had determined, in consequence of so unusual
a circumstance, to keep an eye to his motions.
This he did effectually, so far as my personal safety
was concerned; but the scoundrel had thrown the
fire into the closet, between the time of his own
entrance and Philip's following him; which he was
afraid to do too quickly, lest he might discover him
before he had ascertained his designs on the library

and its inmate. No farther attempt was made
upon the house during the night, nor did his exdrivership
make, then or since, his appearance.

“Next morning I cautiously made known all
these facts to your mother. She was much more
agitated than during the attack upon the said
driver; but she soon rallied her accustomed energies,
and laid down the course to be pursued with
a promptness and decision which were really
admirable in one so gently tutored in her younger
days. She determined that the culprit should be
sold as soon as he could be caught, together with
any others who could be detected as having aided,
abetted, or approved of his designs. This punishment
of selling seemed to me mild for one so
guilty; but when your mother explained to me her
views, I was satisfied that it was the best disposition
of the case, for all parties, which could possibly
be made.

“ `You see, Mr. Randolph,' said she, `that this
ignorant creature was elevated by the overseer to
an authority which tended to excite rather than
subdue his bad passions, and one which I doubt
whether any ignorant negro can exercise without
injury to himself and his fellows. It clothes the
slave with the authority and some of the privileges
of the master; two conditions which are entirely
incompatible with each other. If, then, he has been
criminal, when it was difficult, indeed almost impossible
for him to be otherwise, it becomes us to
protect ourselves, it is true, but to be as lenient as

this duty to ourselves will admit. I am determined,
henceforward, to have no more black drivers
on the plantation.'

“It seems, too, that this selling is a terrible punishment
to negroes who have been accustomed to
the mild and indulgent treatment which yours
enjoy. But now that all this burning, and attempted
murder, and consequent discipline, and
the excitement of the moment are over, and we
have time for cool reflection, what ideas naturally
present themselves? A gloomy foreboding for the
future!

“You know that I have not, when in health,
habitually looked at the dark side of things; but I
must confess to you that the recent circumstances
have conjured up exceedingly unpleasant anticipations.
What can we do to prevent the realization
of these apprehensions? We cannot set slaves
free among us. Such a course would dissolve the
social compact. It would set at defiance all laws
for the protection of life, liberty, and property,
either among them or the whites. It would present
the strange anomaly of a majority under the control
of the minority, and a majority possessing
personal without political freedom; which state of
things could not last, because anarchy and confusion
would usurp the place of law and government.
To emancipate them where they are, would be,
then, to surrender life, liberty, and property,—and
for what? to render justice to these poor creatures?
Would it be rendering justice to them or ourselves?

Would it be any reparation of an hereditary wrong,
to plunge the subjects of that wrong, with ourselves,
into irretrievable ruin, to attain nominal
justice? Who is it that expects this of us? Certainly
not the intelligent part of the community
among whom you sojourn at present! Who are
they, then, who demand it? A set of enthusiasts.
Send some of them here to preach their own doctrines
among the negroes, and, my word for it, they
will set a ball in motion which they cannot stop
again! They would be overwhelmed in a storm
of their own creating. It is cowardly in the extreme
for them to stand at a safe distance, throwing
lighted matches into our magazines. If they
wish to fight freedom's battles, let them repair to
the scene of the conflict, and expend some of their
surplus chivalry at the post of danger. They
would need no worse enemies than the blacks themselves.
They would soon see a tyranny ten times
worse than the slavery of the South, in the lawless
outrages and uncontrollable fury of the savage
mob.

“But let us turn from this disagreeable subject
to my own more immediate concerns. My rival,
the Charleston refugee, has actually, and in form,
become a suitor to Virginia; and she is now engaged
in playing off on him something of the same
caprice which she formerly exercised upon me.
When I say that he has become a suitor in form, I
mean that he has requested your mother's leave
to address her; she replied, `that she intended

henceforward to refer such applications to Virginia
herself; that she had full confidence in her
judgment and discretion.' Virginia intends to reject
him upon the first opportunity. My vanity
says so; and then—and then—I intend to give her
a chance to add another to her list of killed and
wounded. You see the devil has not been cast out
of me so completely as I thought; he was only
subdued a little.

“I shall not leave this place, whether rejected or
not, until I see all things tranquillized at the quarter,
so you may rest at ease on that score. Write
freely, fully, and often; I feel quite interested in
your demure lady of the black mantle; you ought
to have me there, to unravel the mystery; I
have been panting all along for some such opportunity.

“Virginia's respectful treatment of me continues.
I am observing her closely; the result of which,
perhaps, with some other results, I may give you
in my next. She is a beautiful subject of study,
either for the artist or the moralist, but for the latter
more especially, being just at that interesting age
when the female mind begins to mature in the
south; she is just arriving at some results, and
preparing to work her previous observations into
connected links. God send she may not come to
some conclusions very unfavourable to your humble
servant,