In a note at the end of Chapter V. of "Waverley," Sir Walter Scott
remarks:--"These introductory chapters have been a good deal censured as
tedious and unnecessary. Yet there are circumstances recorded in them
which the author has not been able to persuade himself to retract or
cancel." So if, in giving certain loose hints rather than sketches of
characters and manners in a very interesting town, ardently beloved by
all who have ever had any near connection with it, during a former
generation of its inhabitants, I should be thought to have set down too
many "unconsidered trifles," I can only shelter myself under the shadow
of his great name, and plead that I had not the heart to leave them out,
as they occurred to my memory while writing; and however they may lack,
as they necessarily must, the storied value of Sir Walter's fascinating
fictions, they have at least this merit,--that every narrative and
anecdote in these pages is a veritable fact.
I should not wonder, however, if a couple of stories or so, which I am
about to relate, were looked upon as purely fictitious by the
philosophical reader. I do not pretend that the facts stated were within
my own experience, only that I positively heard them related by persons
of the strictest veracity, who were actual observers or actors in the
transactions of which they professed to give an account. People ridicule,
nowadays, when in company, the superstitions of earlier times; though it
is not unlikely that the nerves of some of the boldest contemners of
marvellous manifestations, once universally accepted as true, might still
tremble, if alone and under circumstances calculated to awaken
apprehension and to puzzle the understanding. Notwithstanding the
accepted theory, that the very pretence of witchcraft, for example, was
exploded a hundred and fifty years ago, and the idea of an apparition, in
spite of Dr. Johnson's belief, and that of others as wise and stout as
he, would be scouted as preposterous in cultivated circles, I believe
that there are many places in New England where undoubting faith in both
superstitions still prevails, and I know that within a third part of the
period above mentioned, very many creditable persons in a certain place
in New England accepted the strangest occurrences of both kinds, upon the
supposed evidence of their sober senses.
We will imagine, then, that we are sitting in a circle around the
fire-place in Uncle Richard's spacious kitchen, on the evening of
Christmas-day, the room lighted only by the blazing logs upon the hearth,
the glow of which glanced along the walls and drew brilliant reflections
from the brightly-scoured dishes and other utensils of metal, which
stood ranged upon the shelves. We were quite a party, and had made merry,
according to our fashion, during the day. Uncle Richard was himself the
most conspicuous of the group. I have said that he was well-to-do, and he
was certainly a gentleman in spirit and bearing. The black dress which he
assumed on Sundays, and other occasions of public importance, set off his
figure well, and his white hair gathered into a pig-tail behind and tied
up with a ribbon by some one of his daughters, of a morning, gave him a
venerable appearance, at least in the eyes of us youngsters, beyond what
the actual number of his years warranted. For I have observed that those
who may have seemed to us approaching the verge of old age, in our youth,
begin to look almost like coevals again, as we ourselves have advanced in
the stage of manhood. Aunt Judith, on the other hand, who was a maiden
lady of a certain age, was dressed with all the care and neatness which
somewhat scanty means enabled her to apply, and, as I am about to produce
her as a witness, I feel it incumbent upon me to asseverate, that, being
a devoutly religious woman, I have never met in my life with a more
conscientious and scrupulously truth-telling person. After tea, my uncle
had requested the young people present to sing a new Christmas Hymn, not
to be found in the Prayer Book, but the production of a devout poetical
acquaintance, in the performance of which he joined with a bass voice of
singular compass and melody.
THE CHRISTMAS HYMN.
How hallowed grew the night,
When the auspicious light
Of heaven descending shone along the plain;
And wondering shepherds heard
The soul-inspiring word,
That swelled exultant the celestial strain!
"Peace and good-will to earth,
For, lo, a Saviour's birth!"
So the high song addressed the simple swains;
"The gates of life again
Open to guilty men,
For God, the God of love, eternal reigns!"
What though all earth was still,
And no ecstatic thrill
In wakening lands the gracious message hailed;
Yet through heaven's highest cope
Echoed immortal hope,
And hell's dark caves beneath trembled and wailed.
Let then creation sing,--
Hail, sovereign priest and king!
Blest be thy holy name and holy Word!
Hail, Son of God Most High,
Helper forever nigh,--
Hail, Prince of Peace and universal Lord!
The conversation, at such times, is very apt to run into story-telling,
among those who have any stores of memory, or are possessed of inventive
faculties, and often turns upon such inexplicable incidents as might well
bewilder the imaginations of simple country folks. My uncle gave us an
account of a lad not long before in his employ, who laughed at the idea
of supernatural appearances, and was indeed afraid of nothing. "The young
scamp," said he, "though I don't know why I should call him so, for he
was as honest as he was bold,--appeared so thoroughly fearless, that it
sometimes looked like mere bravado (I am afraid he pronounced it
_brave-ardor_); and a companion who also lived with us resolved to put
his courage to the test. Accordingly, at dusk one evening, when Jack was
about to lead the horse to the pasture, he provided himself with a sheet,
and placed himself on one end of the crossbeam which rested on the rather
high posts of the gate. Jack came whistling along, leading the horse,
and, opening the gate, slipping off the halter, gave the animal a slap
with it; and as he shut the gate cocked up his eye at the elevated
figure. "And as for you, Mr. Devil," says he, "you may sit there just as
long as you please." A decent respect for the proprieties of his position
kept the scarecrow quiet until Jack was well on his way to the house
which was not far distant. Pretty soon the door was burst open, and, to
our alarm, some one tumbled in upon the floor in an agony of terror, as
we soon discovered, pale as a ghost and scarcely able to speak. As soon
as he recovered some degree of self-possession, he could barely stutter
out,--"When Jack got out of sight--I turned to get down--and there sat
another one, on the other post--looking just like me!"[11]
A great deal was thereupon said about the power of the imagination and
the effect it was likely to have upon one who had placed himself in such
an equivocal situation, and the terrors which, under its influence, might
naturally revert to him, who in an excited state of his own nerves had
endeavored to inflict such terrors upon another. Hereupon there was a
general call upon Aunt Judith, from the youngsters present, to tell us
something about reputed witches in her younger days,--a subject in regard
to which she was said to be able to make some remarkable statements,
though as yet we had never obtained from her any satisfactory information
about it. She seemed a little reluctant to indulge our curiosity.
"As to witches," said my uncle Richard, gravely, "I don't know. Whether
the denunciations of them in Holy Writ are intended to apply to any
actually supernatural power possessed by them, or only to the pretence of
it,--and both are mischievous in their effect on the popular mind,--I
shall not undertake to say. It is certain that the poor old women who are
thus stigmatized seem to have little power to help themselves in this
world, or, if real tamperers with the powers of darkness, any enjoyable
expectations from the other. But this I do know, that I was riding, not
many days since, with my lawyer, a man of considerable acuteness, though
a little eccentric at times, coming from K--'s Island, where we had been
on some business; and as we neared the turn of the causeway to the main
road, he pulled up the chaise, jumped out, and placing himself on a broad
flat rock by the road-side, began violently to dance up and down and to
shake his clothes. 'Good Heavens!' cried I, 'are you mad?' 'Oh, no,' said
he, resuming his seat, 'but my mother always told me, that whenever I was
coming away from K--'s Island, I must stand upon that rock and shake the
witches off!'"
"But your story, Aunt Judith! your story," we all cried out, and after a
little more hesitation the good woman _prit la parole_, as Madame de
Stäel so often phrases it in "Corinne."
"When I was a grown-up girl," said she, "I and my older sister, who had
lost her husband at sea, lived with my mother, who was also a widow. We
had few of this world's goods, but health and energy enough to take care
of ourselves. At one time, we moved into half a house, in a decent
quarter of the town, the other part of which was occupied by an old woman
called by the neighbors 'Granny Holt.' Coming from a street of the town
at some distance, we had heard nothing that I remember about her; but the
day had not gone by, before it was made fully known to us by such
acquaintances as we saw, that we had taken up our abode in the same house
with a person of a very crabbed disposition, whom all the neighborhood
looked upon as a witch. This was not very agreeable news, but we tried
to make the best of it. Our house was near the river-side, and we were
surrounded by the families of those who followed the sea, and we
endeavored to flatter ourselves with the idea, that idle tales of
marvelous things are very common among that class of population; and that
the stories we heard were mere gossip, as we whispered to ourselves, for
fear of being overheard through the thin partition which divided us from
the other tenant. But, 'No!' said one of our callers in a low voice--one
of the Pearse girls (a young lady, by the way, about seventy, but Aunt
Judith was of a certain age); 'I tell you it's as true as a sermon in the
meetin'-house. You'll soon find out what she can do. Why, there's young
Stout, as fine a lad as ever walked the streets, or stood by the helm of
his vessel in a gale o' wind; and look at him now, pale and cadaverous,
and walking round people's gardens, on the edge of narrow fences where
nobody but a rope-dancer, with a pole in his hands, could keep his
balance, and a hundred more such antics; everybody knows she bewitched
him.'
"'But what for?' we asked.
"'Oh, they had a quarrel, and pretty soon he began to cut these capers.'
"My sister Ann, the widow, however, who had always a brave spirit,
declared that she did not care a fig for all the witches in Christendom;
but I must own that I was very much alarmed. You may be sure, we none of
us much liked this sort of greeting, on the first day of our entering
into our new habitation, and we prepared to retire early, my mother, who
was a truly pious person, trusting to the only sure defence. Upon going
to my chamber, I found there was no fastening to the door; in fact the
handle itself was quite out of kilter, and it could not be shut tight. I
moved up to it, therefore, a chest of drawers, putting some things on
top, and thus brought the door close. I was just about to blow out the
candle to get into bed, when I heard a scrambling in the chimney, and you
may believe it or not, but it's the solemn truth--a black cat jumped from
the fire-place, ran and leaped a-top of the things I had placed against
the door, put her paw upon the handle of it, gave me one sidelong glance,
opened the door itself and passed out. I was too frightened for anything
but to wrap myself thoroughly in the bedclothes, and trembling with
terror, at last fell into a troubled sleep."
"Are you sure, Aunt Judith," said my uncle Richard, "that the cat did not
go under the bed?"
"I tell you, as plainly as I see you now, I saw her open the door, look
round at me with that malicious kind of expression, go out and shut the
door behind her; and in the morning everything I had piled up against it
was unmoved."
"It must have been the ghost of a cat, then," said my uncle; "but did
anything else happen, afterwards?"
"Yes, in a few days we had got a baking ready and the oven heated, when
the old woman came in with an armful of wood, threw it down on the
hearth, and said she wanted to bake. The oven was for the use of both
parts of the house; but we told her as soon as we had got through she
should have it. She went off muttering, and when we thought our batch was
done and went to take it out, it was burned just as black as a coal."
"I am afraid," said my uncle, "you let it stay in too long, or the oven
was too hot."
"You may laugh as much as you please," replied Aunt Judith, with spirit,
"but I tell you what I actually saw with my own eyes. We did not stay
longer in that house than we could find another place; but before we left
something took place which perhaps you'll not find it so easy to explain.
Young William Stout's folks had been so troubled about him, and the
doctors said they could do nothing, that they determined to try a
'project.'"
I may as well explain what Aunt Judith's modesty prevented her from
doing; that a "project" was to inclose a certain liquid emanation of the
afflicted person in a phial tightly stopped, and to put it over the fire
in a pot to boil. Of course, as in the case of the sympathetic remedies
described by Sir Kenelm Digby and practised by him, as the contents of
the phial boil, the witch burns, and she is inevitably detected by the
scorching she gets and the scars it leaves behind. It is from this
circumstance, undoubtedly, that the nursery rhyme derives its
authority,--
"Hinx minx, the old witch winks,
The fat begins to fry," etc.
This is precisely the operation of the process in question.
"Accordingly," continued Aunt Judith, "the Stout folks made all their
preparations, in company with some trusty neighbors; the doors were
fastened, and exactly at twelve o'clock the 'project' was begun.
Everything went on well; but, as often happens in such cases, something
was forgotten, or the witches' master interferes; for it seemed, after a
while, that more water was wanted, and one of the company took the pail
to go to the well for it. As he cautiously opened the door, there to
their horror stood Granny Holt, in the darkness of midnight! She came in
grinning and complimenting, and without expressing surprise at finding so
many persons together, at such an unusual hour, or making any inquiry as
to the reason, she said, 'one of their folks was taken sick and seeing a
light there, she had come over to beg some herbs.' There was the end of
the _project_, and I don't know as it was ever tried again."
"Were you there, yourself?" asked Uncle Richard.
"No, I can only swear to the black cat and the burnt pies; but everybody
in our neighborhood knew all about the project and Granny Holt's breaking
it up."
We had become pretty well stirred up by this time, but as is likely to be
the case under such circumstances, were eager for whatever other marvel
might be forthcoming; for no matter how intelligent or incredulous the
circle of hearers may be, there is something strangely fascinating in
these weird stories. People may affect indifference "amidst the blazing
light of the nineteenth century;" but I think that of a dark night, in a
lonely spot, the starting up of so familiar a creature as a white horse,
for instance, would set the strongest nerves into perturbation, at the
idea of something ghostly. Indeed, Addison declared in his day, that
there "was not a village in England that had not a ghost in it; the
churchyards were haunted; nor was there a peasant who had not seen a
spirit."
"Well, Aunt Judith," said Uncle Richard, "these wonderful things seem to
have very much gone by, in our day, or else people, for some reason, take
less notice of them than formerly. Witches, nowadays, are characters
entirely unknown, except," he gallantly remarked, "for the sometimes
really inexplicable fascinations of members of your own sex; and, except
in one singular instance, I have known of no appearances which could not
be rationally accounted for. I have heard my father, however, tell of one
which, according to the tradition, manifested itself, one hundred years
ago or more, upon a bridge, over the Ipswich River, in our Essex County
town of Topsfield, and was the terror of all the country round. He
appeared in the shape of a monstrous hog, taking his station, at night,
in the very centre of the bridge; and those who had occasion to cross it,
on horseback or on foot, were either fain to turn back, as he encountered
them, bristling and snarling, or rushed by, if their occasion demanded
it, in a state of extraordinary trepidation. At length, Parson Capen, the
worthy minister of the town, riding up to the bridge one evening, saw the
spectre in his usual position. Nothing daunted, in virtue of his holy
office, the good man thus accosted him: 'You that were once an angel of
light, ain't you ashamed to appear in the shape of a dirty swine?' This
expostulation was too much for the foul fiend, who at once jumped over
the railing of the bridge into the river, and was no more seen."
Amongst others of the few guests of the evening was a young gentleman, a
member of one of the learned professions, who was accounted an
intellectual person and was of rather grave demeanor. Though known to
have been the author of occasional verses which gained applause, he would
not have been thought likely to be the subject of any extraordinary
hallucination. He was an intimate friend of our family, and on certain
occasions of unusual excitement, if not danger, in the midst of the
various adventures of young people, had shown a singular firmness of
nerve and presence of mind, and was thought to be in fact insensible to
fear. He had listened to the story of the bold lad who saw the supposed
apparition on the gate-post, and to that of the Topsfield spectre, with
much the same interest as that which Marmion exhibited at Sir David
Lindesay's narrative of the appearance of the beloved Apostle to King
James in Linlithgow. Apparently induced by a similar irresistible impulse
to that which drew from the redoubted warrior of Scott's fascinating poem
the rehearsal of his nocturnal adventure, our guest volunteered a
relation quite as remarkable.
"I will tell you a story," said he, "of something unaccountable which
once happened to me, though the circumstances are still so vivid in my
memory, that I look back upon it with a sort of superstitious dread, and
feel a decided reluctance in appealing to the sympathy of others, in
regard to an incident which seemed exclusively addressed to myself and
was confined to my own sole experience.
"In my senior year at College, now as you know, not many years since, I
was appointed by my class to prepare for delivery, on what is called
Class Day, a literary exercise,--in fact a poem, in anticipation of the
usual Commencement performances, and was at home, during the preceding
long vacation, making ready for this event. The writing of poetry for
public recitation before a critical audience is a rather exacting
occupation, and my ambition was naturally excited to do the best in my
power. Indeed, the work absorbed all my faculties; but I preferred to
write during the still hours of the night, rather than amidst the
ordinary distractions of the day, spending that period, usually,
wandering in the neighboring fields and woods, or in other diversions.
The season was summer, and I was sitting one night at an open window,
committing to paper such thoughts as occurred to me, by the light of a
single candle,--for lamps were then not very common and gas was entirely
unknown. Outside, there was not a sound, for the whole town was buried in
profound sleep, and our own household was in the same state of repose. It
was just on the stroke of twelve. Our house was a very ancient one,
though I never heard that there was anything peculiarly remarkable in its
history. Sitting thus, and thus engaged in serious, solitary
contemplation, the sudden fall of something heavy in the garret overhead
gave me a momentary start. I could compare it to nothing but to the
effect likely to be produced by something as solid as a smaller
description of cannon-ball, though it afterwards appeared to have
attracted the attention of no one else in the family. Supposing that
some article of furniture had accidentally fallen, the noise of which had
been rendered more noticeable by the perfect stillness of the night, I
pursued my occupation, until I felt disposed for sleep. On the following
night, while engaged in the same way, and at the same midnight hour, came
the same heavy, sharp, distinct thud upon the floor directly above my
head. I was disposed to philosophize on the subject, and, though the
coincidence was certainly peculiar, I still conceived that this unusual
sound, at such an unusual hour, might be attributed to some natural
cause. Perhaps, a heavy cat might have jumped down from beams above, on
both occasions, and the noise was magnified by the otherwise unbroken
stillness, though so far as I remember we kept no such cat of our own. I
am sure that the idea of anything supernatural scarcely occurred to me,
or was dismissed with derision. Nevertheless, the circumstances were
peculiar enough to induce me to make a thorough examination of the garret
on the following morning, and I was struck by the fact, that it was
perfectly bare of any article of furniture above my chamber, or in the
neighborhood of that part of the attic, which could have fallen. I was
naturally a good deal perplexed at an occurrence for which there seemed
no rational means of accounting, but I kept my own counsel. On the third
night, at the same hour, when the clear bell from the steeple of a
meeting-house not far distant had just tolled twelve, came the same
sudden, single, distinct sound of a fall on the floor, directly over my
head. I will not say as Marmion did, on the occasion above referred
to,--
"'I care not though the truth I show,--
I trembled with affright.'
"On the contrary, though not a little disturbed by incidents so
unaccountable, and rendered by the interruption quite unfit to pursue my
occupation further, I deliberately undressed, said my prayers, put out my
candle, and went to bed. It was a bright starlight night, and the two
windows of my chamber made objects within indistinctly visible. No sooner
had I laid my head upon the pillow, than through a door at the foot of my
bed appeared a slowly moving figure, turning the corner of the bed and
approaching the side of it upon which I lay. I could distinctly see its
outlines, and it seemed to me apparelled like a monk, with a hood drawn
over its features, and long trailing garments. As Eliphaz the Temanite,
under similar circumstances, has related,--'the hair of my flesh stood
up.' But I did not quite lose my self-possession. As the figure came
nearer, I instantly threw off the bedclothes and jumped towards it into
the middle of the room,--and it was gone! Though startled enough at so
strange an occurrence, I reflected that it must be an illusion produced
by some casual disorder of the natural faculties, and returned to bed
and slept as usual until morning. But the next day I was much more
disturbed in recalling the several circumstances of this extraordinary
visitation. The repeated previous heavy blows upon the floor, and their
apparent consummation in the vision I supposed myself to have seen, made
me, as Othello says, 'perplexed in the extreme.' On that day I told my
mother the story; she laughed at the idea of supernatural appearances,
perhaps to quiet her son's emotion; but she said she was afraid of no
ghosts, proposed an exchange of chambers, and this accommodation at once
took place. But though I finished and delivered the poem in question, I
continued to muse by myself upon what had occurred, unwilling to speak to
any one about it. It was many months before I recovered from the shock to
my nervous system. Reflecting upon it at the time, again I summoned
whatever philosophy I had at command, as well as I could. I conceived
that possibly in the excitement of verse-writing, in the silence of the
night, some tenseness had affected the drum of my ear; that hearing, or
imagining that I heard some unusual sound, amid the perfect stillness
around me, a continuous disordered state of physical functions had
produced a similar effect at a correspondent hour; and that this
experience not unnaturally culminated in the spectral visitation."
We heard the story in terror, and put little faith in the theory of
explanation.
"But," said my uncle Richard, himself a good deal amazed at the
narrative, "did anything happen afterwards, to account for what you have
told us?"
"Nothing whatever," replied our friend.
"Did you ever sleep in that chamber again?"
"Yes, some years afterwards. It so happened that during several weeks in
the summer, our whole family except myself, was away. My mother was in
close attendance upon sick members of my sister's family. My brothers
were at sea, and even our ordinary servant was dismissed for the
occasion. When the time for rest arrived, it was my habit to let myself
into the house, to proceed to the same chamber, usually without a light,
and go to bed. One night, putting my hand upon the pillow, I felt
something soft and started back, but again reaching forward, the object
proved to be a dove that had flown into the open window, and securing it
without difficulty I gave that symbol of innocence immediate release.
Perhaps, it was my former visitant in a less forbidding form. But this,
as well as the other, passed into the course of ordinary events."
I need not say, that we had listened to this extraordinary narrative with
rapt attention and in breathless silence. Our friend had told his story
with emotion, certainly, but still with serious deliberation, and
exhibiting no undue signs of excitement. No one seemed disposed to make
any observation upon it, and indeed most of the company were utterly
incapable of the effort of speech. In a few moments, he remarked that he
would quote to us a brief passage from Dante's great poem which was
applicable to the subject, and did so as follows:--
... "Now, O reader! mark,
And if my tale thou slowly shalt receive,
Thy doubt will cause in me no great surprise,
For I, who saw it, scarcely can believe."[12]
"But, Uncle Richard," was now the cry, "you said you had once seen an
apparition, or something like one; please tell us all about it."
"I certainly saw something strange," said he, "on more than one occasion,
which has never yet been accounted for; and I suppose it is now too late
to expect it. If it was really a matter of concert and collusion, the
motive for it has never been discovered. You remember the open space in
town, in front of the Reverend Mr. ----'s meeting-house. Your house, as
you know, Jemmie," addressing me, "looks directly up the street towards
this square, and to the somewhat old-fashioned mansion opposite the
meeting-house. On one side of the square was a small dwelling, occupied
by several distant relatives of ours; Aunt Midkiff (Metcalf), Aunt
Foggison (Ferguson, so called), and her sister, Miss Samples (Mrs.
Semple), with the daughter of our Aunt Foggison, Mrs. Lane, and her only
child. You remember, sister," addressing my mother, "that you have told
me, that one night, after you had gone to bed, your lamented husband
stood at the window looking up the street towards the old house above, of
which he had a complete view. Upon your asking what detained him, he
called you up, and it was evident to you both that one chamber of the
house was in a light blaze. Persons appeared to be moving rapidly around
it, and, as it were, pulling down the curtains of the bed, which looked
as if on fire. After a little time the appearance gradually ceased, and
your husband remarking that he would inquire in the morning of his
neighbor, a highly respectable lawyer, who occupied the house, what was
the cause of the extraordinary spectacle of the night before, he also
retired. But upon putting the question to his acquaintance on the
following morning, he seemed astonished, and utterly denied that anything
unusual had taken place in the chamber, which was the one occupied by
himself and his wife, or that they had been at all disturbed during the
night.
"Now all this," continued my uncle, "is quite consistent with the
supposition, that this gentleman may have had some secret motive for
concealing the fact of a threatened conflagration, pretty sure, if
known, to become the town talk and perhaps to expose him to inconvenient
inquiries; and though a strictly moral and religious man, he may have
thought that the circumstances warranted a direct denial of the matter,
seeing it was, as it turned out, an affair of purely domestic concern."
My mother, I thought, looked at my uncle a little anxiously, and seemed
about to make a movement for our departure; but we urged him to tell us
to what strange thing he had referred, and why he had so particularly
described the situation and characteristics of this square, as if there
were something more in relation to it which it might interest us to know;
for you may be sure our mother had never mentioned to us children
anything likely to alarm us.
"I am afraid," said he, at last "that something, which really did happen
in front of the house I have spoken of, will startle you young folks, and
perhaps it is foolish to relate it, as you seem already quite excited
enough; but I will premise by saying, that I will only tell you what I
saw myself, or heard from those upon whose word I could implicitly rely;
and, moreover, that I do not believe in ghosts, however singular the
facts in question may appear. Of course, you know, sister," addressing my
mother, "my calls at your house were sometimes in the evening, after
attending the market or to other business during the day. It was during
one of your husband's absences at sea, that we were sitting around the
fire of a wintry night, when a lively neighbor, a lady who took much
interest in whatever was going on, came in evidently in a state of
agitation, and taking her seat, with very brief greeting, broke out with
the exclamation, 'There he is again!' I did not understand what this
meant, but it was soon explained to us that, for a week or ten days past,
some person, or figure, or whatever it might be, had been observed
walking fore and aft, in front of the house opposite the meeting-house,
at a certain hour of the evening, and though many had passed, no one had
recognized him, nor did he take any notice whatever of any one whom he
met. He was said to wear a pea-jacket buttoned to the chin, and a glazed
hat, as if prepared for any kind of weather; or, as the gossips
afterwards said, indicating the fact that he was the forerunner of the
loss of not a few masters of vessels residing in the neighborhood, who
perished at sea during the storms of that season. I took my hat and went
out to see if I could discover anything uncommon. It was a moonlight
night, with a light fall of snow upon the ground. As I passed up the
short street to the square, Aunt Foggison's chamber window was thrown
open, and her daughter's voice was plainly heard berating the supposed
spectral night-walker. 'What are you doing there, you good-for-nothing
scamp, you?' cried she, in a voice that must have reached any mortal
ears; 'why don't you go home to your family, if you've got any family, or
wherever else you belong, instead of stalking up and down here,
frightening honest folks out of their senses?' Overcome perhaps by the
vigor of her expostulation, the window was shut down with a slam. As I
advanced, though I certainly had a full view of a human-looking figure
upon its round and at no great distance either, and my senses had been
confirmed by the objurgations addressed to it by our worthy relative,
when I actually reached the ground of his perambulations, prepared to
seize a single man by the collar and learn what he was about, it is
certain that he was no longer visible. I returned to the house and made
report of my unsuccessful doings, and unhitched my horse and drove home.
I learned, a few days afterwards, that the figure regularly appeared,
giving one sign of vitality by a regular tramp--tramp--tramp--upon the
frozen ground, so far as any one was disposed to listen, and spreading
consternation throughout the vicinity. The affair at length became
unendurable. Women were afraid to go into the street, and, for that, a
good many men too, and it was really so serious, that, as I learned, it
was resolved to form what is called, I believe, a cordon, and gradually
approaching the place simultaneously from every avenue, so to inclose him
that escape would be impossible. Being much acquainted with the people of
that part of the town, I was invited to join the company, and accordingly
drove in seasonably for the purpose. Certainly, most sober people
believed the whole was but some trick, which it only needed reasonable
pains to discover and defeat. The mysterious figure, it seemed, continued
to walk, ignorant of or indifferent to our devices.
"There were three main avenues, by streets, to the premises, together
with a narrow passage way leading from one of the streets to another. At
the appointed hour we duly assembled on our several stations. Our
director was 'a rude and boisterous captain of the sea'"--(for Uncle
Richard could sometimes be poetical, at least in the way of quoting
Shakespeare). "It had been arranged by him that, being on our posts, at a
fixed moment, we should move rapidly up the several avenues and so join
forces as to form a circle inclosing the open space, and gradually
contracting our company, if the rogue was then within our compass we
should have him sure. The arrangement had been made in profound secrecy,
and if any there were traitors, I was not aware of it. Sure enough there
was our guest on his usual stroll. As our circle speedily drew in, and
just as hands were stretched out to seize him--presto, as the jugglers
say--he was gone!"
"By the jumping gingerbread!" exclaimed Thurlow, our uncle's hired man,
springing from his chair by the wall, outside of our family
party,--seeing this was Christmas night.
"Oh dear sus!" cried Sally Bannocks, our own particular help of many
years, from the like position.
"Our detective band," resumed my uncle, "looked at one another in
amazement, and after some hard swearing from a few of the roughest, and
the exchange of a hasty 'good-night,' dispersed, as far as convenient in
companies of two or three, and departed, a good deal disconcerted, to
their several places of abode. The same experiment was tried on two or
three other occasions, as I was informed by friends, with no better
success. Spectre or not, he always found means to elude them; and there
were always those who, having no other means of accounting for his
evasion, insisted upon it that he must have had confederates among those
who sought to arrest him."
"Could he not have escaped slyly into the house?" asked some incredulous
inquirer.
"That was hardly likely, with so many eyes upon him. Besides there was
nobody there but women and children, excessively alarmed themselves, the
husband, Captain Y----, being at sea, and one of those who was afterwards
known to have been lost with all his crew, upon nearing our dangerous
coast."
"But why did not the city government make a piece of work of putting an
end to such a scandal?" inquired a doubter in spectral visitations.
"Well, I suspect a whole body of police could do little towards capturing
an actual ghost; and then, too, there was at that time no city and no
such force. Our town government consisted of mostly ancient citizens, and
three or four constables, all of whom, probably, preferred to remain
quietly and comfortably at home, instead of venturing out into the wintry
night air, to hunt up ghosts."
"Why didn't somebody try the effect of a bullet?" inquired another.
"Well, shooting was a rather violent remedy; and as for firing at a
ghost, I believe every one was afraid."
"Wasn't it strange, considering that he must have had some particular
object in haunting that spot, and was likely, therefore, to be found out
by some of the neighborhood by his face, or dress, or figure, or gait, or
in some way or other, if a real person, that he never was recognized?"
asked another of our evening guests.
"It was strange enough," said my uncle; "but few, if any, got very near
him, and they perhaps, casual passers-by, who paid no attention to the
fact. As for him, he only walked steadily backward and forward, turning
neither to the right nor to the left, except at each end of his beat;
replying to no interrogatories, and appearing utterly unconscious of any
epithets or railings which from a distance were hurled at him. Only one
man ever professed to have seen his face."
"Who was that, uncle?" we all eagerly exclaimed.
"Late one stormy night, when the snow was falling fast," continued my
uncle,--"and one would suppose that any reasonable creature of flesh and
blood would wish to be safely housed,--an hostler named Dobbin, who had
charge of a stable at one end of the street, was trudging home, swinging
a lantern in his hand, to the small house in which he lived, at a little
distance beyond the now pretty notorious 'Ghost's Walk.' As he approached
the spot, there, to be sure, was the object of terror, taking his usual
exercise. 'Now,' as Dobbin told the story, 'thinks I to myself, I'll play
you a trick, mister, and find out who you are, if I can. So, jest slyly
unfastening the door of the lantern, as I met him, I flung the door wide
open and held it up to his face, and I says, says I, "A stormy night,
friend." I thought I should know him, and guess I should if ever I do
see him again, which I don't want to, I tell _you_; and may I hope to
die, if ever I saw that face before. He looked pale, and his eyes, as he
fixed 'em on me, had what I call a sort of a stony glare. He never opened
his mouth, but just looked. It was only a glance, as it were, for I never
was so frightened in my life, and jest dropped lantern and scampered away
home as fast as my legs could carry me.'"
"Lud-a-massy!" screamed Sally Bannocks, on the verge of hysterics,--and
some of the rest of us were not far from that condition. We were mostly
on our feet, and as my mother insisted upon our bidding "Good-night,"
Uncle Richard proposed, after a further trial of his capital cider, to
harness his horse and drive us home in his covered wagon. But it was a
fine night and, though getting rather late, we concluded that it would do
us more good to take the air, in the mile or two of the walk to town. In
the course of our preparations for departure, and in answer to a variety
of questions, our uncle informed us, that the mystery was never cleared
up, nor the trick, if trick it were, ever discovered. As to the tale of
such a person as Dobbin, we might place what reliance upon it we saw fit;
and though the motive seemed certainly difficult to see, it might have
been, after all, a well-contrived piece of deception, to be sure, a very
laborious and unaccountable one, concealed by the collusion of parties in
the secret. How long the ghost continued to walk he did not know; but it
finally disappeared, and the house had been inhabited by respectable
people ever since, who had suffered no disturbance.
We reached home after a brisk walk, crossing rapidly--and with now and
then a furtive look--the very premises so haunted in other days, and
"Thanks be to Praise!" ejaculated Sally Bannocks, as we entered and
closed the door. The house was cold, after having been shut up all day.
We quickly separated to our several chambers, and as I laid my head upon
the pillow and was soon sound asleep, I too, murmured to myself, "Thanks
be to Praise!"
-----
[11] Jack's composure has a parallel in that of an old-time
Scottish clergyman, as the story is told by Dean Ramsay.
On returning home late from a dinner abroad his way led
through the churchyard, and some mischievous fellows
thought to frighten him. One of them came up to him
dressed as a ghost, but the minister coolly inquired,
"Weel, maister Ghaist, is this a general rising, or are
ye juist taking a daunder frae yer grave by yersel?"
[12] _Inferno_, Canto xxv., Parsons's translation.
APPENDIX.
The following papers, marked I., II., III. are copies of those discovered
among family documents in the house of Mr. H. W. S. Cleveland, of Salem,
Massachusetts, several years ago. They were communicated by him to the
late Mr. Henry Lunt, formerly a merchant of Boston, father of the late
highly distinguished Rev. Dr. William Parsons Lunt, who died, much
lamented, while on his travels, at Akaba, in Arabia. How these documents
came to be deposited in Salem, it is not easy to say. It is probable,
however, that copies were brought over by the "Mary and John," or the
"Elizabeth and Dorcas," which appear to have wintered in Boston, after
their arrival, the passengers, or such of them as saw fit and were
permitted, proceeding to Ipswich, the following year (1634) and thence to
the plantation which they called Newbury. It is likely, therefore, that
the papers which concerned the passengers of those vessels might be
taken to Salem, perhaps during Governor Endicott's administration, and
placed in the hands of some official person at that place, so as to be
more accessible to the home of the people in question, instead of being
retained at Boston, the journey to which from Newbury was in those days a
long and tedious one, to be made on foot through the wilderness.
To many persons the abstract of the Charter of Charles I., which is a
very liberal one, can hardly fail to be interesting. The Orders in
Council, referred to in the text, are still more so; while the list of
passengers by the "Mary and John" comprises many names still to be found
in Newbury. Many more familiar names will be found among those of the
company which came by the "Elizabeth and Dorcas." It will be seen that in
the list given are the names of Thomas Parker, an eminent divine, and of
James Noyes, his nephew; the first the long respected pastor of the
church and the other the "teacher" at Newbury.
I.
An Abstract of His Ma^{ty's} Charter for incorporating the Company of the
Mattachusetts Bay in New England in America, Granted in the 4th yeare of
His Highness' Reign of England, Scotland France & Ireland, Anno. Domini
1628--
And we do further of our especial Grace, certain Knowledge & mere mocion
for us our Heirs & Successors--Give and Grant to the said Governour &
Company & their Sucessors for ever by these presents, That it shall be
lawfull & free for them & their Assigns at all & every Time & Times
hereafter out of any of our Realms or Dominions whatsoev^{r}, to take
lade carry & transport for in & into their voyages, & for & towards the
said Plantation in New England all such & so many of our Loving Subjects
or any other Strangers that will become our Loving Subjects & live under
our Alleigeance as shall willingly accompany them in the said Voyages &
Plantations, And also Shipping, Armour, Weapons, Ordnance, Munition,
Powder, Shott, Corn victuals & all manner of Cloathing, Implements,
Furniture, Beasts, Cattle, Horses, Mares, Merchandizes & all other things
necessary for the said Plantation and for their use & Defence & for Trade
with the People there & in passing & returning to & fro, any Law or
statute to the Contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding--And without
paying or yielding any custom or Subsidy either Inwards or Outwards, to
us our Heirs or Successors for the same, by the space of seaven years
from the Day of the Date of these Presents--Provided that none of the
said Persons be such as shall hereafter by Especial name be restrained by
us, our Heirs or Successors----
And for their further Incouragem^{t} of our Especial Grace & favor--we Do
by these presents for us, our Heirs & successors yield & grant to the
said Governour & Company & their successors & every of them their Factors
& Assigns that they & every of them shall be free & quit from all Taxes
Subsidys & Customs in New England for the space of seaven years, and from
all Taxes & Impositions for the space of Twenty one years upon all Goods
& merchandizes at any time or times hereafter Either upon Importation
there, or Exportation thence, into our Realm of England or into any of
our Dominions, by the said Governour or Company & their successors, their
Deputys, Factors & Assigns or any of them except only the Five Pounds
p^{r} Centum due for Custom upon all such Goods & Merchandizes as, after
the said seaven years shall be expired, shall be brought or imported
into our Realm of England or any other of our Dominions according to the
Ancient Trade of Merchants, which Five Pounds p^{r} centum only being
paid it shall be thenceforth lawfull & free for the s^{d} Adventurers the
same Goods & Merchandizes to export & carry out of our Dominions into
Foreign Parts without any Custom, Tax or other Duty to be paid to us our
Heirs or Successors or to any other officer or officers or ministers of
us our Heirs or Successors,--
Provided that the said Goods & merchandize be shipp'd out within thirteen
months after their first Landing within any part of the said Dominions--
This is a true Copy of His Ma^{ties} Letters Patent aforesaid--Custom
House London 30th January 1633 Anno. R. Caroli Nono--
JOHN WOLSTENHOLME, _Collector_.
II.
ORDERS IN COUNCIL.
_New England,--At Whitehall the last of February, 1633._
Present:
Lo. Arch. Bp. of Cant.
Earle of Kelley.
Lo. Keep^{r}.
Lo. Cottington.
Lo. Privie Seal
M^{r}. V. Chamb^{r}line.
Lo. High Chamb^{r}line.
M^{r}. Compt^{r}.
M^{r}. Secretary Wyndibank.
Whereas by a Warr^{t}. bearing date 22nd of this Present, the sev'all
ships following bound for New England, and now lying in the River of
Thames were made staye of untill further order from their Lo'pps. viz.,
The Clement & Job, The Reformation, The True Love, The Elizabeth
Bonadventure, The Sea Flower, The Mary & John, The Planter, The Elizabeth
& Dorcas, The Hercules & The Neptune.
Forasmuch as the masters of the said ships were this day called before
the Board & several Particulars given them in charge to be performed in
their said voyage, amongst which the said masters were to enter into
several Bonds of One Hundred Pounds a piece to His Maj^{s}tys use before
the Clarke of the Councell attendant to observe & cause to be observed
and putt in Execucion these Articles following viz:
1. That all and every Person aboard their Ships now bound for New England
as aforesaid, that shall blaspheme or profane the Holy name of God be
severely punis'h't.
2. That they cause the Prayers contained in the Book of Common Prayers
establisht in the Church of England, to be said daily at the usual hours
for Morning & Evening Prayers & that they cause all Persons aboard their
said ships to be present at the same.
3. That they do not receive aboard or transport any Person that hath not
Certificate from the Officers of the Port where he is to imbarke that he
hath taken both the Oathes of Alleigeance & Supremacy.
4. That upon their return into this Kingdom they Certify to the Board the
names of all such Persons as they shall transport together with their
Proceedings in the Execu'ion of the aforesaid Articles--Whereunto the
said M^{rs}. have conformed themselves--It was therefore & for diverse
other Reasons best known to their Lo^{pps}. thought fitt that for this
time they should be permitted to proceed on their Voyage, and it was
thereupon ordered that Gabriel Marsh Esq^{r}. Marshalle of the Admiralty,
& all other His Maj'ty's Officers to whom their said Warr^{t}. was
directed should be required upon sight hereof to discharge all & every
the said Ships, & suffer them to depart on their intended Voyage to New
England--EX. JON. MEANTYS.
III.
_The names of such Passengers as took the Oathes of Supremacy, and
Alleigeance to pass for New England in the Mary & John of London Robert
Sayres Master,_
24th Mar. 1633.
William Trace (Tracy)
John Marshe
John Luff
Henry Traske
William Moudey
Robert Sever
Thomas Avery
Henry Travers
Thomas Sweete
John Woodbridge
Thomas West
Thomas Savery
Christopher Osgood
Phillip Fowler
Richard Jacob
Daniel Ladd
Robert Kingsman
John Bartlett
Robert Coker
William Savery
John Anthoney (left behind)
Stephen Jurden
John Godfrey
George Browne
Nicholas Noyce
Richard Browne
Richard Reynolds
Richard Littlehall
William White
Matthew Hewlett (Hercules)
John Whelyer
William Clarke
Robert Newman
Adrian Vincent.
The 26th day of March.
Nicholas Easton
Richard Kent
Abraham Mussey
William Spencer
Henry Shorte
William Hibbens
William Ballard
Matthew Gillett
William Franklin
John Mussey
Thomas Cole
Thomas Parker
James Noyce
John Spencer
Richard Kent
Joseph Myles
John Newman
William Newbey
Henry Lunt
Joseph Pope
Thomas Newman
John Newman.
For which we gave certificate, together with five others, which are said
to be left behind to oversee the Chattle to pass in the Hercules viz.
The names of the Passengers in the Hercules of London, John Kiddey
Ma^{r}. for New England.
These six Passengers took their Oathes of Supremacy & Alleigeance the
24th March and were left behind the Mary & John, as intended to pass in
y^{e} Hercules--viz:
John Anthony } Cert, the six first
Robert Early } to Mt'er Sayers as
William Satcome } intended.
Thomas Foster } Secondth to Mr.
William Foster } Kiddey to pass in the
Matthew Hewlett. } Hercules.
16th April, 1634.
Nathaniel Davyes
George Kinge
Thomas Rider
William Elliot
William Fifeilde
Henry Phelps.
18. These proceedings were Copyed out of an Olde Book of Orders belonging
to the Port of South'ton but now remaining at the Custom house in
Portsmouth the 6th Day of December 1735.
Per THOMAS WHITEHOUSE.
IV.
In regard to the costume which prevailed, among persons of wealth and
standing in New England, within a century, I quote a descriptive passage
from a history of Newburyport, by Mrs. E. V. Smith, published in 1854, as
follows:--
"With the incoming of the nineteenth century, garments more in
conformity with present fashions took precedence of three-cornered
hats, long coats with immense pocket-folds and cuffs, but without
collars, in which the men of the eighteenth century prided
themselves; with their buttons of pure silver, or plated, of the
size of a half-dollar, presenting a great superfluity of coat and
waistcoat when contrasted with the short nether garments, ycleped
"breeches," or "small-clothes," which reached only to the knee,
being there fastened with large (?) silver buckles, which ornament
was also used in fastening the straps of shoes. The gentlemen quite
equalled the ladies at this period in the amount of finery, and the
brilliancy of colors in which they indulged. A light blue coat with
large fancy buttons, a white satin embroidered waistcoat, red
velvet breeches, silk stockings, and buckled shoes, with a
neckcloth, or scarf, of finely embroidered cambric, or figured
stuff, the ends hanging loose, the better to show the work, and
liberal bosom and wrist ruffles (the latter usually fastened with
gold or silver buckles), were usually considered a proper evening
dress for a gentleman of any pretension to fashion. The clergy and
many other gentlemen commonly wore black silk stockings, and others
contented themselves with gray woollen. The boots had a broad fold
of white leather turned over the top, with tassels dangling from
either side. The clergy frequently wore silk or stuff gowns and
powdered wigs. The ladies usually wore black silk or satin bonnets,
long-waisted and narrow-skirted dresses for the street, with long
tight sleeves, and in the house, sleeves reaching to the elbow,
finished with an immensely broad frill; high-heeled shoes, and
always, when in full dress, carried a profusely ornamented fan. The
excessively long waists, toward the close of this period, were
exchanged for extremely short ones; so short, that the belt or
waist was inhumanly contrived to come at the broadest part of the
chest. But no fashion of dress was so permanent as other customs
clinging to particular eras. Anciently, as now, fashions were
changed more or less extensively every ten years, though certain
broad characteristics remained long enough to give specific
character to the costuming of the eighteenth century."
The writer is accurate enough, no doubt, in her general description; but
what lady could give an entirely correct account of a gentleman's attire?
Knee-buckles, for instance, were almost necessarily small, instead of
"large"; it may be questioned whether top-boots were ever decorated with
tassels, a single article of that sort often hanging at the front of a
different kind of high boot, worn long after the beginning of the present
century; and as to the silk gowns of clergymen, it is but a very few
years since they began to be disused in the pulpit by Presbyterian and
Congregational ministers. About forty years before the present period,
many gentlemen wore dresses of the cut described by Mrs. Smith, though of
a more subdued color,--black, blue, or drab. Not long after the
beginning of the present century, a chief magistrate of Massachusetts,
Gov. Gore, made a sort of progress through the State, in imposing style.
His elegant, open carriage was drawn by four handsome and spirited
horses, and he was attended by his aids and several outriders. The
governor was a gentleman of fine personal appearance, and was attired in
the highest style of contemporary civil costume, with his white hair
gathered behind into a satin bag, and his aids were in undress military
costume. He was a "Federalist," and this demonstration cost him his
election the next time; for, though a man of brilliant ability and high
personal character, he served but one year. At a date fifteen years
later, I saw the "Democratic" governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Eustis, in
attendance upon the Commencement exercises, at Harvard College, dressed
much in the fashion of half a century earlier; namely, coat and waistcoat
with broad flaps, small-clothes, ruffles at his bosom and wrists, a
cocked hat of the old style, and a steel-hilted rapier at his side. Ten
years afterwards, one of the best governors the Commonwealth has ever
had, Mr. Lincoln, who served the State in this capacity for nine several
terms, wore also a distinguishing costume, but more conformable to modern
fashions. About the ruffles to his shirt-bosom I am sure, and feel much
confidence, from memory, in regard to black small-clothes and black silk
stockings, and his hat was always decorated with a black cockade.
Nowadays a governor's appearance scarcely distinguishes him from any
ordinary person in the crowd.
The cocked hats, however, and much of the costume of the eighteenth
century, continued to be worn by the survivors of Revolutionary officers
and some others, during the first quarter of the present century and
afterwards.
V.
The subjoined interesting sketch of an ancient dwelling-house and of a
family which has inhabited it for several generations, was furnished by
a distinguished friend, Thomas Coffin Amory, Esq., of Boston, who
traces his ancestry on the maternal side to the family in question. Nor,
in producing this highly interesting sketch, could I overlook Joshua
Coffin, the historian of Newbury and a resident of that town, from the
originally extensive territory of which various adjacent towns were
eventually formed. He was possessed of many amiable qualities and
inspired by the true antiquarian spirit, and laboriously pored among
the not very carefully kept early records of the original settlement, and
brought much out of chaos well calculated to illustrate its former
history. Mr. Amory has, on various occasions, shown the spirit of a
careful historical student and of an intelligent and zealous antiquary.
His recent contributions to that excellent periodical, "The New England
Historical and Genealogical Register," which has become of inestimable
value, as a collection of facts illustrative of early New England
history and biography, have given great pleasure to multitudes of
readers,--especially his vivid and graphic descriptions of certain
ancient and storied mansions in Boston and Cambridge, and of their former
inhabitants. Let us hope that researches of such abundant interest and
value will soon claim and gain a still larger share of the public
attention in a collected form.
MY DEAR SIR,--In your reminiscences of Newburyport you must not
forget Joshua Coffin its historian,--one of the best of men, whom
no one knew but to love. I see him now as he came to visit me
several years ago, when he was representing his native town in the
General Court, a fresh, hale, cheery gentleman, full of pleasant
anecdotes relating to the past. He owned and occupied the Coffin
mansion, which had been the abode of seven generations of his
family and name. Out of its portals had issued numberless admirable
men and women, and from among the former, a large share of college
graduates, at Harvard and other New England colleges, of lawyers,
clergy, and soldiers, to do good service in their day and
generation.
At his suggestion, I visited this ancient dwelling which was
erected about 1649, by Mr. Somerby, the widow of whose progenitor
Tristram Coffin, Jr., married. This Tristram was the eldest son of
another Tristram, first of the race in America, who not many years
before, in 1642, came over from Brixton, near Plymouth, in
Devonshire, bringing with him his mother, and two sisters,--Eunice
who married William Butler, and Mary who became the wife of
Alexander Adams, of Boston. He brought with him also several sons
and daughters, to whom were added others born to him on this side
the ocean. His family in the home country had shown the same
tenacity and steadfastness, exemplified by their long continued
residence at Newburyport; for at Alwington and Portledge in Devon,
they had flourished, if not from the flood, from periods very
remote; for according to the historical statement, the Normans when
they came over in the eleventh century found them there, and left
them unmolested; and there still dwell their descendants in the
female line, who have assumed their appellation of Pine Coffin, one
of the house of Pine having married the heiress of the family
estates.
Tristram the elder, and his sons James and Stephen, were among the
nine who purchased the island of Nantucket from the Earl of
Stirling in 1659, and went there to dwell. Their descendants have
ever since been respectable and greatly multiplied, and not only on
that island but all over the country, having since been estimated
by thousands if not tens of thousands. Their usual average of
children has been half a score, and from their numerous progeny and
great longevity, we may judge what vigor was in the race. One of
them, William, son of Nathaniel, son of James, cruised over many
seas, as commander of a merchantman, and becoming interested in a
Boston maiden, Ann Holmes, settled about 1720 in the provincial
capital, where among other offices he filled with credit to himself
and his name was that for many years of warden of Trinity Church.
He died before the Revolution, leaving many children; most of his
sons at that period becoming refugee loyalists, they and their
descendants taking high rank in the British military and naval
service. John, son of Nathaniel, was a distinguished officer in the
Carolinas, and afterwards became Major-general. His brother, Sir
Isaac, early became distinguished on the ocean, was an Admiral,
Member of Parliament, and created a Baronet, which latter rank was
also bestowed on Thomas Astor, son of William, the eldest son of
the warden. Several others of the name and blood then and since
have filled with distinction posts of honor and respectability in
the civil service of the mother country at home, in Canada, and in
India.
But this is a digression. The only connection of the Nantucket
branch with Newbury is that old Tristram lived there for a brief
period, before repairing to his island home, and his son (the
younger of the name of Tristram, the family name of a grandmother)
and his posterity occupied the old mansion down through seven or
eight generations, and still dwell beneath its roof. At the time of
its erection the edifice must have been among the most elegant, as
its good state of preservation proves it to have been one of the
most substantial of its day, when the notion, prevailing in
England, that oak was the most suitable material of the forest for
dwellings, governed in their choice, with less reason, our
American planters. It was built in the mode common to the period,
round a vast brick chimney-stack, ten or twelve feet square. The
principal apartment, now divided into two, possessed, as did also
the kitchen, one of those spacious fireplaces which are the marvel
and envy of these degenerate days, when a hole in the carpet has
superseded in many households the family hearth. It is pleasant to
think of the groups that in the olden time clustered around them;
charming people, whom we know by tradition, and who are remembered
by many associations.
The house possesses various other apartments of size and
pretension, and has answered well the needs of the successive
generations that have occupied it, not only as a spacious and
commodious abode, but one sufficiently elegant to satisfy the
advancing standards of taste and refinement. Among the marked
features of the building are several small casements, lighting
closets and staircases, which give variety to the monotonous
symmetry of windows all of a size, one on top of another, and where
all the openings for egress or light are in straight lines and of
equal dimensions. It is many years since my visit, and I hope you
will see it, for much that was peculiar, and made a weird
impression at the time, has passed out of mind. If the trickles in
my own veins do not mislead, the present proprietors will be glad
to have pleasure afforded to the reading community, even by this
inadequate description of a house which has such claims to be
known, if, as you intimate, you purpose to place this account of it
in your Appendix. They will not consider it a liberty if I repeat
what some one not long since told me of an interesting relic of the
past discovered on its walls, a statement which might be related
almost in the same words of the house of MacPhædrics at
Portsmouth.
Not many years since it was concluded to repaper the hall, the
walls of which were covered with several thicknesses of paper which
had from generation to generation been pasted one upon another. It
was thought best to remove them all, and when a large party of
young people, home for the holidays, were gathered for a dull week
of weather under its roof, they determined to amuse themselves by
stripping off the various layers of previous decorations,
preparatory to the new one intended to take their place. Underneath
them all was discovered, painted on the wall, artistic designs of
figures and foliage, such as were common in the days of the
Stuarts. All antiquarians are familiar with the similar
discoveries at Portsmouth, to which allusion has been made.
There are not many houses in America which have been so long owned
and occupied by the same name. The old brick mansion near
Portsmouth, of the Weeks family, the Curtis house at Boston
Highlands, Fairbanks at Dedham, Pickering at Salem, were
contemporaries in the period of the construction, and have
descended from sire to son as has this of the Coffins.
The house is pleasantly placed, and commands fine views from its
windows. Even in winter it must be, if not a cheerful, an
interesting abode to dwell in. In duller days, when skies are
leaden, and the more you see around you the less you like it, its
dreamy look of age and strangeness within and without may have a
somewhat depressing influence. The aches and agonies of so many
generations may gain an ascendancy over the exuberant joys that
made their life worth living. It would sometimes seem that if
fondness for the supernatural must be indulged, an old edifice like
this would prove a haunt more attractive, and certainly more
appropriate, for ghost and apparition than any school-room, however
noted for its spells. Yet notwithstanding some lugubrious
associations connected with the family patronymic, phantoms would
have to tread softly and whisper low if they invaded its precincts;
for the vigorous vitality of its occupants and their cheery tones,
if up to the traditional standard of their race, would exorcise the
very king of spectres himself, should he venture to stalk about at
the noonday, or revisit the glimpses of the moon in its ancient
chambers.
VI.
I might have mentioned, as one of the amusements of childhood, the
throwing of a piece of paper upon the embers of our wood-fire, for we had
no coal in those days, and watching the gradual extinguishment of the
sparks, likening it to a congregation entering the meeting-house. "There
they go in," we would say. "There's the minister;" and as the final spark
disappeared,--"Now, the sexton has gone in and shut the door." I speak of
this only as a curious illustration of English ways traditionally
surviving in New England. Thus Cowper tells us:--
"So when a child, as playful children use,
Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news,
The flame extinct, he views the roving fire,--
There goes my lady, and there goes the squire;
There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk!"
VII.
Several allusions having been made in the text to the "Wolfe" Tavern, I
am able to present the following original bill of lading, constituting an
incident in relation to the famous expedition to Quebec, and evincing at
least a more formal recognition of a superintending Providence, than is
the custom of more modern days:--
12 Oxen,
6 Horses,
No. 29 to 32. 4 Hogshd. Corn,
10 Baggs Corn,
10 Baggs Meal,
2 Carts with Furniture,
500 feet Boards,
1 pr. Smiths Bellows,
1 Box Smiths Tools,
1 Anvil,
1 Camp Kettle
10 Ox Yokes,
70 Bundles of Hay,
2 Handpumps,
18 Pails,
4 Tubbs,
2 Shovells,
4 Barr's Water, Settled.
Shipped by the Grace of God in good Order and well Condition'd by Thomas
Hancock, by order of His Excell'cy Major General Amherst, in and upon the
good sloop call'd the "Endeavour," whereof is Master under GOD, for this
present Voyage, William Clift, and now riding at Anchor in the Harbour of
Boston, and by God's Grace bound for The Expedition up the River St.
Lawrence, to say, Twelve Oxen, Six Horses, Four Hogshead and Ten Bags of
Corn, Ten Bags of Meal, two Carts with their Furniture, Five hundred feet
of Boards, One Pair Smiths Bellows, One Box Smiths Tools, One Anvill, One
Camp Kettle, Ten Ox Yokes, Seventy Bundles of Hay, Two handpumps,
Eighteen pails, Four Tubbs, Two Shovells, Four Barrells Water; being
mark'd and number'd as in the Margin, and to be delivered in the like
good Order, and well Condition'd, at the aforesaid Port of ---- (the
Danger of the Seas only excepted) unto His Excell'cy Major General Wolfe,
or to his Assigns,----or they paying Freight for the said
Goods----Nothing----with Primage and Average accustom'd. In Witness
whereof the Master or Purser of the said sloop hath affirmed to Two Bills
of Lading, all of this Tenor and date; the one of which Two Bills being
accomplished, the other one to stand void. And so GOD send the good sloop
to her desired Port in Safety, _Amen_. Dated in
BOSTON, _May 14, 1759_.
WILL^{M}. CLIFT.
VIII.
On my occasional visit to Boston, I usually put up at the Eastern Stage
House, perhaps because it was there that the stage-coach by which I
arrived at the city discharged its passengers. It was an old fashioned
establishment, which but for the absence of galleries, might remind one
of the famous Tabard Inn, from which Chaucer's pilgrims set out. For its
capacious yard, in which the passengers alighted, and where they
remounted for their homeward journey, was approached through a narrow
cross street, and in its ample stables the stage-horses took their rest
and refreshment. The front entrance to the tavern was under an archway on
Ann street, loyally named for the old queen; for which title was not long
ago senselessly substituted the unsuggestive appellation of North street.
It has long since given place to more modern edifices. It was a
comfortable place of temporary residence, and in illustration of former
manners I remember one practice which I have never seen elsewhere. At the
plate of each guest, at dinner, was placed a small decanter of brandy,
holding I suppose half-a-pint of that liquor, and for which no extra
charge appeared in the bill, which account itself was moderate enough
compared with the inordinate hotel reckonings of the present day.
IX.
In small matters, as well as in great, history repeats itself. Thus, the
anachronic emotion of Miss ---- (on page 17) finds its parallel in
"Facetiæ Poggii," written at Florence, in the year 1450, of which the
following story is one:--
"Cyriac of Ancona, a wordy man and much given to talk, was once deploring
in our presence the fall and ruin of the Roman empire, and seemed to be
vehemently grieved at it. Then Anthony Lusco, a most learned man, who
also stood by, said, jeering at the silly grief of the fellow, 'He is
very like a man of Milan, who, hearing on a feast day one of the race of
minstrels, who are wont to sing the deeds of departed heroes to the
people, reciting the death of Roland, who was slain about seven hundred
years before in battle, fell at once a-weeping bitterly, and when he got
home to his wife, and she saw him sad and sighing, and asked what was the
matter, "Alas! alas! wife," he said, "we are as good as dead and gone."
"Why, man," she answered, "what dreadful thing has befallen you? Take
comfort and come to supper." But he, when he went on sobbing and sighing,
and would take no food, and his wife pressed him to tell the cause of his
woe, at last said, "Don't you know the bad news I have heard to-day?"
"What?" asked the wife. "Roland is dead, who alone was the safeguard of
Christendom." On which his wife tried to soothe the silly grief of her
husband, and yet, with all her tenderness, could scarce get him to sit
down to meat.'"[13]
The effect of the ballad, however, upon the worthy man of Milan reminds
one of the historical incident, recording the effect of song, celebrated
anew in one of the stanzas of Childe Harold:--
"When Athens' armies fell at Syracuse,
And fettered thousands felt the yoke of war,
Redemption rose up in the Attic Muse,
Her voice their only ransom from afar;
See! as they chant the tragic hymn, the car
Of the o'ermastered victor stops: the reins
Fall from his hands--his idle scimitar
Starts from its belt--he rends his captives' chains,
And bids them thank the bard for freedom and his strains."
X.
The ancestor of Colonel Edward Wigglesworth, mentioned in the text, an
officer of the Revolution, highly esteemed by Washington, was Rev.
Michael Wigglesworth, author of "The Day of Doom," published in the last
quarter of the seventeenth century, and reprinted in London; a dreadfully
dismal, but edifying poem, and not without a certain horrifying merit.
XI.
Were it within the scope of this work, I might furnish a catalogue, by no
means meagre, of inhabitants formerly distinguished in their day and
generation. For example, I have heard it stated as a curious fact, that,
not far from the beginning of the present century, each of the three
Professors of Harvard College, namely, Professors Webber, afterwards
President; Pearson, and Toppan, were natives of Newbury.
XII.
I could hardly dismiss this volume from my hands without some reference
to the means of public information furnished by the newspapers of the
town. Of these, there have been, since "The Essex Journal," soon
afterwards merged in "The Impartial Herald," and first published in 1773,
between thirty and forty attempts to establish newspapers; but the
"Herald," the successor of those before-named, for many years conducted
as a semi-weekly journal, and since the year 1832 as a daily paper, has
alone steadily maintained its ground. It has always been distinguished
for the editorial ability displayed in its columns, and for a care
bestowed upon its several departments, which gave it a high reputation,
scarcely surpassed by that of leading journals in our larger cities.
"The Essex Journal" was begun by Isaiah Thomas, who in the course of a
year sold his interest in it to Ezra Lunt; and he, after two years,
obeying another call to public service, sold it to John Mycall. The first
of these began life in the humblest condition, without schooling of any
kind, it is alleged; taught himself to read and write, and after a time
removed to Worcester, became connected with a noted paper there, the
"Massachusetts Spy," at length accumulated a handsome fortune, for the
times, much of which, after a long life, he bequeathed to the Antiquarian
Society of Worcester, and a portion to Harvard College, and other
literary institutions. He was the founder, also, of the American
Antiquarian Society. He became a writer and educator of much repute.
Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Mr. Ezra Lunt was the
first man who volunteered, in the meeting-house, when the minister, Rev.
Mr. Parsons, exhorted his parishioners to military service; was chosen
captain of the company, with which he was present in command at Bunker
Hill, and afterwards was raised to the rank of major. He took part in the
battle of Monmouth Court House, when the British army, under Sir Henry
Clinton, retired with much difficulty and loss before Washington, and
used to relate the particulars of the well-known rebuke administered by
that great chief to General Charles Lee for his hasty retreat from the
advanced post, which had been assigned him. He declared himself to have
been close by at the moment, and to have heard the energetic language
used on the occasion. After the war, he received his allotment of land,
and settled upon it, at Marietta, Ohio.
Mr. Mycall was a person of much natural capacity and shrewdness, with
certain eccentricities of character, and kept up a little politic mystery
about himself. He once engaged a well-known carriage-maker of the day to
build him a chaise, which it was agreed should be finished at a certain
time. When the specified period arrived, the vehicle was not forthcoming.
Enduring a similar disappointment several times, and expressing himself
strongly about it to the offender, that individual promised it to him
positively at a certain date, _if he was alive_. Even then, it was not
delivered; but what was the astonishment of the faulty party to read in
his newspaper the next morning, "Died, yesterday, P. B., chaise-maker,"
etc. In a state of boiling indignation he rushed to the street, and on
the way to the office of publication called the attention of various
acquaintances to the wrongful statement, which, it appeared, no one had
observed. Entering the office, he inquired, with much feeling, how Mr.
Mycall could have published such a paragraph. "Did you not promise me,"
said the editor, "that my chaise should be sent home, on such a day, if
you were alive?" "Well, supposing I did?" "Why, then, of course, you must
be dead!" Taking up a copy of the paper from his desk, and examining the
obituary notices, "But," said the editor, "there is no such statement
here." The bewildered chaise-maker hastened home to examine his paper
anew; and it appeared, on inquiry, that the account of his decease was
printed only in his own copy; a gloomy jest, which was soon much relished
by the community.
Indeed, the town became for a time a noted place for the publication of
standard works, and books of various descriptions. It was here that the
well-known Mr. Edmund M. Blunt, who subsequently removed to the city of
New York, published his valuable and famous "American Coast Pilot," and,
afterwards, the no less useful "Practical Navigator."
XIII.
In attestation of the remark, on page 144 of the text, that an antiquated
pronunciation of many English words prevailed long in New England, after
it was disused in Old England, and was brought by the colonists from the
Mother Country, see the criticism of "Holofernes" upon innovations in
pronunciation, in Act V., Sc. 1, of "Love's Labor Lost," showing the
state of the case in Shakespeare's time.
XIV.
In closing this Appendix, which might be extended to almost any length,
as recollections which did not occur to me in writing the body of the
work come up, I cannot omit a remarkable use of the American language,
let us say, since the Czar once so denominated the English tongue. It was
upon the part of a town constable, perhaps as nearly of the Dogberry type
as could be imagined. I was standing in the town hall, at a moment
preliminary to a public meeting. A knot of youngsters had been joking one
another, when this authoritative official approached. All but one
speedily retired before the awful presence. "Master Constable" addressed
the lingerer: "_Disperge_,"--a difficult operation for an
individual,--"_disperge_, I say; we can't have no _burlash_ here!"
Even Shakespeare might have been glad of such an opportunity to enlarge
the cacology, by actual hearing, of some of his most amusing characters.
-----
[13] Quoted in Dasent's "Jest and Earnest." London, 1873.
INDEX
Academy, of good standing, 137
Adams, J. Q., 134
Addison on English Superstition, 176
Adventure of American Sea-captain with Christophe, Emperor of Hayti, 61
"Algerines;" their Quarrel with Foreign Sailors, 74
Ancient Elder, 120
Ancient Episcopal Church; its former Rector, Bishop of Massachusetts,
114, 130
Apparition, an, 184
Aristocracy, 21
Aunt Judith, 23
Aunt Judith's Narrative of Witchcraft, 169
Balaklava Charge, 28
Bar, dangerous, 6
Bartlett, William, 33
Beggars, mimic, 106
Beverages, formerly, 96
Bishop Bass, 130
Bold Youngster, 165
Books, some that we read, 138, 139
Borderers, 74
Boyish Sports, 14
Bradbury, Judge, 34
British Orders in Council, 108
Bromfield Legacy, 18
Buchan, Earl of, 63
Campbell, "Tom," 27
Cannon for street posts, 58
Capen, Parson, 178
Characteristic Letter, 40
Christmas Evening, 161
Christmas Hymn, 163
Christophe of Hayti, 61
Clergy of the town, 122
Clergyman, Scottish, 166
Collector Marquand, 37
Collector Wigglesworth, 36
Comparative value of money, 21
Congregation, "Scrupulous," 122
Consequences of war and embargo, 57
Court of Common Pleas, 83
Cunning expedient, 22
Dalton, Tristram, 34
Damage of war, 38
Dana, Rev. Dr., 128
Dangerous bar, 6
Devil's den, 15
Dexter, "Lord," 63
Dexter's poet, 66
Dinah for Diana, 145
Discourse of Rev. Mr. Murray, 99
Dissatisfied washerwoman, 104
Dogberry and Verges, 198
Domestic, Scottish, 104
Earl of Buchan, 63
Earthquakes in former times, 113
Edinburgh, similar habits in, 10
Elder, an old-fashioned, 120
Emperor of Hayti, 61
English Clergymen, 124
English Reader. Are modern text-books as useful?, 137
English superstition, 176
Enterprise, Maritime and Commercial, 5
Extraordinary images, 63
Failure, swindling, 103
Favor, Johnny: his opinion of polemics, 133
Few insane persons, and the treatment of them formerly, 45
Fights of boys, 10
Fine trees, 17
Fire, strange, 190
Fire, the "great," 103
Foot-warming process, 118
Former Rector of St. Paul's a Bishop, 130
Former severe winters, 1
Former solemn proceedings in naturalization, 110
Fourth of July, 98
Fright of an old woman, 100
Fugitive Sea-captain and a lively chase, 58
Ghost, reputed, 180
Gould, Miss Hannah F., 31
Gourmand, a, 98
Great Fire, 103
Greys, Silver, 56
Grouse, Old, story of, 146
Growth of Episcopal Church, 130
Habits in Edinburgh, 10
Habits, jovial, of old times, 96
Hardships of early times, 40
Hay-time treating, 109
"Hinx-minx," origin of, 174
Hohenlinden, 28
Holt, Granny, 169
Home, return to, 202
How they used to "break," 103
Huntington, Countess of, and her Seminary, 124
Hymn, Christmas, 163
Images, extraordinary, 63
Indifference to cold, 119
Inquisitive spinster, 123
Insane persons, few, 45
Internal trade, 67
Introductory chapters to Scott's novels, 159
Jackson family, 24
James, King of Scotland, 106
Johnson, Samuel, Dr., 26
"Joppa Jine," 144
Jovial habits of old times, 109
Judith, Aunt, 23
July 4th, 98
King James of Scotland, 106
King Louis Philippe, 4
King, Rufus, 135
Lee, Mrs. George, 31
Longfellow, 32
Lowells, The, 24
Magistrate and culprit, 51
Mansions, remarkable, 18
Manufacturing establishments, 4
Maritime enterprise, 5
Market Square, triangular, 66
Marquand, Collector, 37
Massachusetts, Diocese of, 130
Meeting-houses--stoves and organs, 118
Merchant, rich, 34
Milton, Rev. Mr., 124
Mimic beggars, 106
Money, comparative value of, 21
"Moses is come!," 100
Murray, Rev. Mr., 99
Murray's Reader, 137
Naturalization, etc., 110
New England pronunciation, 144
New England superstition, of old, 160
Novelist, English, his surprise, 9
Nutting, etc., 14
Old-fashioned hospitality in beverages, 109
"Old Grouse," story of, 146
Old Peddlers, 67
Old Woman, fright of, 100
Orders in Council, British, 108
Organ of St. Paul's, 118
Origin of "Hinx-Minx," 174
Our Town, 5
Paine, Robert Treat, 134
Parson, Capen, 178
Parsonage and its curious picture, 52
Parsons, Chief Justice, 134
Particular Shoemaker, 48
Peabody, George, 33
Peace of 1783, 99
Peddlers, old, 67
People of St. James's, 131
Perkins, Jacob, 25
Personal part of leading citizens in politics, 94
Persons, distinguished, 34
Picture, curious, 52
Pike, Nicholas, 25
Polemics, 132
Political hostilities, 55
Poultry in profusion, 67
Practice, modern, of naturalization, 110
Professional persons, etc., 83
"Project," what it is, 174
Putnam, Oliver, 33
Quaker meeting, 136
Queer contrast of language, 61
Railways and their influence, 142
Ramsay, Dean, and others, Reminiscences of, 10
Reader, Murray's English, 137
Reading parties, 142
Refinement of certain classes, 133
Reputed apparition, 192
Respect for the clergy, 29
"Retort courteous," 27
Rev. Dr. Dana, 128
Rev. Mr. Milton, 124
Rev. Dr. Morse, 131
Rev. Mr. Murray, 122
Rev. Dr. Spring, 29
Richard, Uncle, 162
Sabbath, how kept, 120
Sailing adventure, 7
"Salt," ancient, 3
Saturday and Sunday evenings, 30
Scenery on the river, 5
School books, etc., 137
Schoolmaster, a shrewd, 140
Scott's Autobiography, 10
Scott's reply to certain critics, 159
Scottish domestic, cool and faithful, 104
"Scrupulous" congregation, 122
Scrupulous shoemaker, 48
Severe winters, 1
Shipbuilding, etc., 5
Silver Greys, 56
Singular companion, 168
Singular night adventure, 87
Snow-storm in old times, 2
Social security, 85
Stage-house, 53
St. James's, 143
Story of an apparition, 179
Story of bold youngster, 165
Stove in Church, 118
Street fights of boys, 10
Striking adventure of Rufus King, 135
Surprise of Thackeray, 9
Swett and Schwedt, 30
Swindling failure, 103
Sympathetic young lady, 17
Tennyson's "Charge at Balaklava," 28
Text instead of sermon, 119
"Thanks be to Praise!," 202
Thanksgiving, 105
Timber and shipbuilding, 5
"Tom" Campbell, 27
Topsfield spectre, 177
Town-meeting and resolute chairman, 96
Trade, internal, of the town, 67
Traders, small, 67
Treating in hay-time, 109
Trees of great beauty, 17
Triangular Market Square, 66
Tyng Family, 24
Uncle Richard, 162
United States after a runaway, 58
Unterrified clergyman, 166
Verges and Dogberry, 198
Vulgarian of the nouveaux riches, 62
Wages, low rate of, 23
Walsh, Michael, 25
What a "project" is or was, 174
Wheelwright, William, 32
Whipping-post, 123
Wigglesworth, Colonel, 36
Winters, severe formerly, 1
Witchcraft, and Uncle Richard's opinion of it, 167
Wood's account of the aristocracy., 21
Yankee acuteness, 141
Young persons sent to the town for education, 134
Transcriber's Notes:
Archaic, variable, and misspelled words and punctuation
inconsistancies have been preserved as printed in all of the
quoted material with one exception. This includes all poetry,
quotations, letters, and documents.
The one exception is in the poem Childe Harold, a section of
which is quoted in the Appendix, Section IX. The word =scimeter=
was changed to =scimitar= because it is spelled correctly in the
original poem by Lord Byron located at PG,
EText-No. 5131, Canto IV, Stanza XVI.
The following changes were made to the original text. The
correction is enclosed in brackets:
Page 106: and they skurried away [scurried]
Page 116: but the fact incontestibly proves, [incontestably]
Page 187: My mother was in close attendance upon sick members of
my sister's family? [changed punctuation to a period]
Page 230: Fall from his hands--his idle scimetar [scimitar]
The following word has been found in both hyphenated and
unhyphenated form in the original text: road-side (roadside).
The original hyphenation has been preserved.
Footnotes have been numbered consecutively and have been placed
at the end of each chapter.
Superscripted letters in the original book and the HTML version are
represented by ^{} in the text version.
The "long i" macron is respresented in the text as [=i].