University of Virginia Library

5. CHAPTER V.

Years, that stamp their impress on individuals
and communities, had swept along since the events
narrated in the preceding chapters, causing in their
flight more than the ordinary changes incidental to
the monuments of human enterprise in the city
and its environs.

Commodious warehouses, whose dimensions were
considered sufficiently ample for the most extensive
mercantile transactions, had given place to erections
of increased magnitude and elegance; and
mansions which the favourites of fortune had exhibited
as the ne plus ultra of fashion and splendour,
were eclipsed by ranges of princely edifices, in
which amplitude and magnificence struggled for
mastery.

The dense population, whose numbers were a
fruitful theme of astonishment to visitants from
more circumscribed neighbouring cities and villages,
had become swallowed up in the vortex of a
mightier crowd, while the vicissitudes attendant on

commercial pursuits had stricken the opulent merchant
into poverty and obscurity, and elevated the
indigent to the apex of wealth and luxury.

In that portion of the island known as the remote
suburbs, cultivated fields to the extent of thousands
of acres, that paid the husbandman a rich harvest
for their tillage, now served for the foundation of
squares of costly dwellings, and the tillers of the
soil were fain to settle down into the character of
citizens, or secure the enjoyment of their favourite
occupation in more distant localities. The rapid
strides that fashion and luxury had made among
the wealthier class of citizens were also eminently
conspicuous in the splendour and richness of their
equipages.

In the beautiful street known as Broadway, on a
pleasant morning, an immense number of dashing
vehicles of all descriptions rattled over the pavement,
their exquisitely-polished exteriors flashing
back the sunbeams, or with mirror-like fidelity reflecting
the forms of the passers-by; the high-mettled
steeds curvetting and prancing, with arched
necks and flowing manes; the postillions and outriders
decorated with gay liveries; and if no
coronet crested the armorial bearings that blazoned
from their panels, the sigh that agitated the bosom
of some fair occupant might serve to attest at least
her regret at the absence of the courtly emblem.

Over every avenue of literature and science the
chariot-wheels of improvement had rolled with irresistible
velocity, overturning ancient landmarks

in their career, and scattering on either hand new
guide-posts to immortality.

The antiquated process of fathoming the depths
of human character by a long experience of its
practical effects on the life and morals, was superseded
by an inspection of the inequalities that appeared
on the surface of the cranium; while arts,
whose labyrinths the student had heretofore occupied
years in exploring, through the agency of new-light
instructors were rendered obvious even to
common intellects in the space of as many hours.
But among all the wonders of the day, the perfection
that had been attained in the healing art was
the most astounding. Practitioners had arisen and
were established in every street, whose prescriptions
triumphed over the covert or open assaults of
disease, in whatever form it exhibited itself; and
if death thereafter displayed his sanguinary banner
over any portion of the gay multitude, to the
incredulity and obstinacy of the victims in not
swallowing the pills and boluses was to be attributed
the fatal issue of their distemper.

If such transformations were visible in the city
itself, it is difficult to mark the change that had
been wrought in the environs, without subjecting
ourselves to the charge of employing the language
of hyperbole.

Overlooking the twin rivers that, with their islands,
encircle the queen of American cities like a
girdle of silver studded with emeralds, arose villas
and cottages, in which the varied tastes of the proprietors

were exhibited in all the combinations of
architectural display; and as their ornamented
pillars and green verandahs, surrounded with gardens
and terraces, in which flowers of every hue
rioted in their own fragrance, were first espied in
the distance, they perhaps presented a more lively
image of the progress of wealth, refinement, and
luxury, than even the interior of the vast city, with
its masses of humanity scattered over a surface so
extended.

Opposite the metropolis, on the margin of the
East River, stood the city of Brooklyn, almost rivalling
its giant neighbour, at the period first alluded
to, in population and extent, while on the western
shore the city of Jersey exhibited all the characteristics
of a bustling and active community.

Over the whole surface of the noble bay, from
its union with the ocean until its waves rippled
along the quays of the great emporium, swarmed
the white-winged messengers of commerce, of
every form and size, from the majestic merchantship
of a thousand tons burden, to the light pleasure-barge
that careered over the waters with the
speed and buoyancy of a seagull.

While the city in its general features was thus
rapidly exhibiting the effects of time and change,
the lighthearted boy whom we left in the care of
the worthy cartman and his helpmate at the conclusion
of the previous chapter, had not failed to
experience the changes wrought in the lapse of
years.

Left an orphan among strangers, under circumstances
so well calculated to afford but little hope
of attaining a respectable station in life, it was
peculiarly fortunate that his loneliness and beauty
so far enlisted the sympathies of his protectors as
to call forth every care and attention that could
have been elicited had he been their own.

This worthy couple, in early life, had formed a
deep and ardent attachment in opposition to the
wishes of the parents of the wife, whose station in
life was far superior to that of her lover; and, on
their marriage becoming public, she was compelled
instantly to abandon the home of her childhood,
and launch on the wide world with the companion
of her choice.

Endowed with a mind of much more elevated
character than that of her husband, she had insensibly
acquired that influence over his actions which
is naturally the result of mental superiority; but
the kindness of her heart and her mature judgment
prevented her from jeoparding her ascendancy by
a display of either triumph or assumption.

On the contrary, before deciding on any course
she invariably consulted the wishes of her partner;
and if, at the conclusion of the conference, her views
maintained the ascendant, they were so placed as
to appear the emanations of his will, and to give
her the appearance of the acquiescing party.

In this way the affection that had displayed itself
in youth increased rather than waned as they
proceeded together along the journey of life, excepting

when the lack of offspring sometimes gave
a melancholy hue to their reflections. Their residence,
at the time of their union, was remote from
the metropolis; but after struggling some years
against the power and influence of the wife's family
and connexions, which were ever exerted in opposition
to their interests, they decided upon a removal
to the commercial emporium, where they
had resided but a few months at the commencement
of our history.

Having been bred to agricultural pursuits, Clifton
was prevented from embarking in any mechanical
employment; and after due consultation with his
helpmate, he purchased a horse and dray, and soon
experienced the results that flow from industry, perseverance,
and integrity, in the notice and patronage
of a wealthy merchant, under whose auspices
he not only procured the means of a comfortable
livelihood, but commenced the accumulation of a
surplus fund that might serve to repel the approach
of want in the event of sudden illness, or on the
coming of any other unforeseen calamity.

During the brief period that elapsed between the
entrance of Glenthorne under the same roof and his
violent exit, they had noticed with pleasure the interesting
appearance of their future protegé, and
had not unfrequently amused themselves with his
half intelligible prattle; and he had, therefore, entwined
himself around their affections before they
were themselves aware of the interest he had excited.
When the little Sydney (for such was his

name) had become the child of their adoption, Mrs.
Clifton suggested the propriety of abandoning the
patronymic of Glenthorne, and substituting their
own in its stead; and as the future happiness of
the orphan appeared to be consulted in thus severing
the fatal link that united him with a suicide and
murderer, the course was no sooner suggested than
adopted.

Those at all cognizant of the state of society in
populous cities need not be informed that the resident
in one dwelling is frequently ignorant of the
name and occupation of his next-door neighbour;
and it will therefore be no subject of surprise, that,
in the space of a few years, the interesting little
boy was almost universally considered the offspring
of Clifton and his amiable consort. Not only had
the catastrophe which closed the earthly career of
Glenthorne and his mistress long since faded from
the recollection of the inhabitants of the gay city,
but many crimes of even a darker hue had been
perpetrated and forgotten in the more absorbing
interest attached to individual enterprise, pleasure,
or ambition.

As the boy grew in years, his beauty and intelligence
made him a general favourite; and the a ptness
with which he received instruction, and the
modesty with which he exhibited his varied and
precocious acquirements, were the daily subject of
eulogium by his teachers and their pupils.

It is not unusual for schoolboys to form attachments
that exercise an important influence on their

future prospects in life, and Master Sydney reckoned
among his intimates two, the dissimilarity of
whose characters would have seemed to preclude
the possibility of harmonizing, were we not furnished
with daily evidences of the little power exerted
by incongruities of mind and temper in preventing
alliances of friendship and affection. Edward
de Lyle, the eldest of these, was the son of
the merchant with whom Clifton found employment
on his arrival in the city, and who, notwithstanding
the dissimilarity of their stations, had
conceived for the worthy cartman a warm and
abiding friendship. Those who are aware of the
facility with which fortunes are frequently realized
in the Western hemisphere, and in no portion of its
widely-extended surface to a greater extent than
in the city of New-York, will readily credit the
fact that Mr. de Lyle had commenced business
with only the capital saved from the earnings of a
clerkship; and when Clifton was first introduced
to his notice, he had but reached the threshold of
those extensive operations which in a few years
swelled his fortune to an amount more than equal
to his most sanguine anticipations. On calling, in
the course of business, at the dwelling of the cartman,
he had been struck with the grace and intelligence
of his better half; and although the modesty
of the excellent couple induced them to decline the
repeated invitations of Mr. de Lyle to visit his
family, yet he was their frequent guest, and did not
fail to consult them on more than one important
occasion. On the unhappy death of Glenthorne
and his associate, Mr. de Lyle was made the confidant
of their determination to adopt the child;
and it was probably by his recommendation that
the same teachers who instructed his only son were
selected to perform the like service for Sydney;
and perhaps a large portion of the friendship that
the latter entertained for his playmate, had its origin
in the respect and esteem with which he regarded
his father.

This lad, we regret to say, possessed characteristics
widely at variance with those exhibited in the
actions of his high-minded parent. During the
first flush of worldly success, Mr. de Lyle, whose
person was tall and imposing, was introduced to
the family of a wealthy and fashionable individual,
for whose only daughter, a lively but capricious
and spoiled beauty of seventeen, he formed a violent
attachment, which was reciprocated with all
the ardour that might be expected from the romantic
notions of a young girl who had recently
emerged from the hotbed of a fashionable boarding-school.
As her parents interposed no obstacle
to her wishes, she was united to Mr. de Lyle after
a three weeks' courtship; and we regret to say
that the honeymoon was the only period during
which Mr. de Lyle perfectly enjoyed the sweets of
connubial felicity.

The prominent traits of Mrs. de Lyle's character
were imaged in that of her son, who had so far
improved on his model as to add great skill in deception

to the more frivolous qualities that were
imbibed from his maternal parent.

The second playmate who enjoyed Sydney's
friendship in an unbounded degree, was named
Henry Melbourne, and in every important particular
was the antipodes of Edward de Lyle. Grave
and sedate in his manners, and possessed of a temper
whose unruffled surface rarely exhibited the
traces of violent emotions, he yet cherished an innate
enthusiasm whose flame could alone be kindled
by the Promethean spark struck from the same
bright source that was its own. Of his mind, perhaps
critical acumen might be said to be the leading
characteristic; for, with a judgment peculiarly
correct and vigorous for a boy, he appeared intuitively
to grasp the strong points of a composition,
and with a capacity beyond his years would detect
the faults displayed either in its general outline or
its more minute details. The art of painting, in
particular, appeared to possess for him a powerful
charm; and it was a study to observe his large
blue eye gradually lose its habitual calm expression,
until it dilated and flashed with delight before
those productions which had graced the easels of
the master spirits of antiquity. Regarding truth
and honour as the brightest jewels that adorn the
human character, his actions corresponded with
his professions, and his assertions were ever considered
authority, not only by his juvenile companions,
but by his more mature acquaintances. He
was the only child of a widowed mother, whose

husband, a gallant officer of the United States'
navy, had died in the service of his country, leaving
his widow with a sum barely sufficient for a
maintenance and the education of her promising
boy.

Such were the two schoolmates with whom Sydney
passed most of his leisure hours, and in whose
joys and sorrows he deeply sympathized. Other
lads of nearly his own age, it is true, attracted a
portion of his regard, among whom Rembrandt Sinclair,
from his talent for dry humour and the piquancy
with which he caricatured the little foibles of
his companions, was somewhat conspicuous, while
for the gay, volatile, and thoughtless Baillie Shafton,
who rattled all kinds of nonsense into the ears of
the schoolboys, it was at times difficult for him to
assign a fitting station in his gallery of intimates.

The worthy Clifton and his wife watched with intense
anxiety the progress of Sydney in his studies;
but the acute perception of Mrs. Clifton detected
in his character an impetuosity and enthusiasm
which, while they spurned every species of meanness
and hypocrisy, made him liable to imbibe crude
and imperfect views of the graver moral duties, as
well as hasty, and, at times, incorrect estimates of
individual character. When, after due reflection,
his judgment was required on any subject, it exhibited
the highest evidence of force and maturity; but
a more cursory review often developed the power
that his feelings assumed over its proper exercise.
Frank, fearless, and modest, he never permitted

himself to swerve from the truth; and while he
rarely differed from his associates on any subject
which involved his personal interests, he was always
prepared to defend the weak against the strong, and
to succour those who invoked his aid without pausing
to calculate results. In perfecting the mental
exercises which were required from the schoolboys
at each half-yearly examination of the academy, he
frequently displayed a reach of thought unusual in
a lad of his years; and as he entered on that interesting
period in which the thoughtlessness of the
boy is partially merged in the reflections that are
the inevitable concomitants of maturer years, his
genius shone forth in the composition of exquisite
specimens of poetry, which exhibited the germes
of a lofty intellect and brilliant fancy. To his foster
mother were fully revealed the lights and shadows
of his character, but so adroitly did she temper affection
with reproof, and so tenderly approach the most
sensitive feelings implanted in his breast, that under
her guidance he imperceptibly acquired a mastery
over his passions, and rendered them what they
should ever be, the auxiliaries, not the sovereigns, of
the will.

Thus Time the Comforter shed over this little circle
his brightest smiles, and while to many he came
as the minister of sorrow, to them his progress was
thus far fraught with unmingled sources of enjoyment.