CAPUA.
The southward approach to Baltimore is very well managed. The railroad
makes an abrupt curve, as it sweeps round the marshy woodlands through
which the Patapsco opens into the bay; so that you have a fair view of
the entire city, swelling always upwards from the water's edge, on a
cluster of low, irregular hills, to the summit of Mount Vernon. From
that highest point soars skyward a white, glistening pillar crowned by
Washington's statue. I have seldom seen a monument better placed, and it
is worthy of its advantages. The figure retains much of the strength and
grace for which in life it was renowned, and, if ever features were
created, worthy of the deftest sculptor and the purest marble, such,
surely, was the birthright of that noble, serene face.
No one, that has sojourned in Washington, can be ten minutes in
Baltimore without being aware of a great and refreshing change. You
leave the hurry and bustle of traffic behind at the railway station, and
are never subjected to such nuisances till you return thither. Even in
the exclusively commercial squares of the city there reigns comparative
leisure, for, except in the establishments of government contractors, or
others directly connected with the supply of the army, business is by no
means brisk just now. You may pass through Baltimore street, the main
artery bisecting the town from east to west, at any hour, without
encountering a denser or busier throng than you would meet in Regent
street, any afternoon _out_ of the season, and, about the usual
promenade time, the proportion of fair _flâncuses_, to the meaner
masculine herd, would be nearly the same.
I betook myself to Guy's hotel, which had been recommended to me as
quiet and comfortable: for many people it would have been _too_ quiet.
The black waiters carried the science of "taking things easy" to a rare
perfection; they were thoroughly polite, and even kindly in manner, and
never dreamed of objecting to any practicable order, but--as for
carrying it out within any specified time--_altra cosa_. After a few
vain attempts and futile remonstrances, the prudent and philosophical
guest would recognize resignedly the absolute impossibility of obtaining
breakfast, however simple, under forty-five minutes from the moment of
commanding the same; indeed that was very good time, and I positively
aver that I have waited longer for eggs, tea, and toast. I never tried
abuse or reproach, for I chanced, early in my stay, to be present when
an impatient traveler voided the vials of his wrath on the head of the
chief attendant: insisting, with many strange oaths, on his right to
obtain cooked food, of some sort, within the half-hour.
Years ago, I was amused, at the _Gaietés_, by a common-place scene
enough of stage-temptation. _Madelon_, driven into her last
intrenchments by the sophistries of the wily aristocrat, objected
timidly, "_Mais, Monseigneur, j'aime mon mari._" For a moment the
_Marquis_ was surprised, and seemed to reflect. Then he said,
"_Tiens--tu aimes ton mari? C'est bizarre: mais--après tout--ce n'est
pas defendu._" As he spoke, he smiled upon his simple vassal--evidently
wavering between amusement and compassion.
With just such a smile--allowing for the exaggeration of the African
physiognomy--did "Leonoro" contemplate his victim, and me, the
bystander, and then sauntered slowly from the room, without uttering one
word. It was a great moral lesson, and I profited by it. But, in truth,
there was little to complain of; the quarters were clean and
comfortable, and one got, in time, as much as any reasonable man could
desire. The arrangements are on the European system, _i.e._, there are
no fixed hours for meals, which are ordered from the _carte_, and no
fixed charge for board. I should have remained there permanently, had it
not been for one objection, which eventually overcame my aversion to
change. The basement story of the house was occupied by a bar and oyster
saloon; the pungent testaceous odors, mounting from those lower regions,
gave the offended nostrils no respite or rest; in a few minutes, a
robust appetite, albeit watered by cunning bitters, would wither, like a
flower in the fume of sulphur. Half-a-dozen before dinner, have always
satiated my own desire for these mollusks; before many days were over, I
utterly abominated the name of the species; familiarity only made the
nuisance more intolerable, and I fled at last, fairly _ostracised_. How
the _habitués_ stood it was a mystery, till I recognized the fact, that
there is no accident of pleasure or pain to which humanity is liable, no
antecedent of rest or exertion, no untimeliness of hour or incongruity
of place, which will render an apple or an oyster inopportune to an
American _bourgeois_.
My first visit in Baltimore was to the British Consul, to whom I brought
credentials from a member of the Washington Legation. I shall not easily
forget the many courtesies, for which I have never adequately thanked
Mr. Bernal: few English travelers leave Baltimore, without carrying away
grateful recollections of his pleasant house in Franklin street, and
without having received some kindness, social or substantial, from the
fair hands which dispense its hospitalities so gently and gracefully.
On that same evening my name was entered as an honorary member of the
Maryland Club. It would be absurd to compare this institution with the
palaces of our own metropolis; but, in all respects, it may fairly rank
with the best class of yacht clubs. You find there, besides the ordinary
writing and reading accommodation, a pleasant lounge from early
afternoon to early morning; a fair French cook, pitilessly monotonous in
his _carte_; a good steady rubber at limited points; and a perfect
billiard-room. In this last apartment it is well worth while to linger,
sometimes, for half an hour, to watch the play, if the "Chief" chances
to be there. I have never seen an amateur to compare with this great
artist, for certainty and power of cue. A short time before my arrival,
at the carom game, on a table without pockets, he scored 1,015 on _one
break_. I heard this from a dozen eye-witnesses.
I went through many introductions that evening; and, in the next
fortnight, received ample and daily proofs of the proverbial hospitality
of Baltimore. There are residents--praisers of the time gone by, who
cease not to lament the convivial decadence of the city; but such
deficiency is by no means apparent to a stranger.
If _gourmandize_ be the favorite failing in these parts, there is surely
some excuse for the sinners. Probably no one tract on earth, of the same
extent, can boast of so many delicacies peculiar to itself, as the
shores of the Chesapeake. Of these, the most remarkable is the
"terrapin": it is about the size of a common land tortoise, and haunts
the shallow waters of the bay and the salt marshes around. They say he
was a bold man who first ate an oyster; a much more undaunted
experimentalist was the first taster of the terrapin. I strongly advise
no one to look at the live animal, till he has thoroughly learnt to like
the savory meat; _then_ he will be enabled to laugh all qualms and
scruples to scorn. Comparisons have been drawn between the terrapin and
the turtle--very absurdly; for, beyond the fact of both being
testudines, there is not a point of resemblance. Individually, I
prefer the tiny "diamond-back" to his gigantic congener, as more
delicate and less cloying to the palate. Then there is the superb
"canvas-back,"--peerless among water-fowl--never eaten in perfection out
of sight of the sandbanks where he plucks the wild sea-celery; and, in
their due season, "soft crabs," and "bay mackerel." Last of all, there
are oysters (well worth the name!) of every shape, color, and size. They
assert that the "cherrystones" are superior to our own Colchester
natives in flavor: for reasons before stated, I cared not to contest the
point.
A dinner based upon these materials, with a saddle of five-year-old
mutton from the Eastern Shore, as the main _pièce de résistance_, might
have satisfied the defunct Earl Dudley, of fastidious memory. The wines
deserve a separate paragraph.
For generations past, there has prevailed a great rivalry and emulation
amongst the Amphitryons of Baltimore. They seem to have taken as much
pride in their cellars, as a Briton might do in his racing or hunting
stables--bestowing the same elaborate care on their construction and
management. The prices given for rare brands appear fabulous, even to
those who have heard at home, three or four "commissioners" at an
auction, with plenipotentiary powers, disputing the favorite bin of some
deceased Dean or Don. But when you consider, what the lost interest on
capital lying dormant for seventy years will amount to, the apparent
extravagance of cost is easily accounted for.
That is no uncommon age for Madeira. No European palate can form an idea
of this wonderful wine; for, when in mature perfection, it is utterly
ruined by transport beyond the seas. The vintages of Portugal and
Hungary are thin and tame beside the puissant liquor that, after half a
century's subjection to southern suns, enters slowly on its prime, with
abated fire, but undiminished strength. Drink it _then_, and you will
own, that from the juice of no other grape can be drawn such subtlety of
flavor, such delicacy of fragrance, passing the perfume of flowers.
Climate of course is the first consideration. I believe Baltimore and
Savannah limit, northward and southward, the region wherein the maturing
process can be thoroughly perfected.
Those pleasant banquets began early, about 5 P. M., and were indefinitely
prolonged; for cigars are not supposed to interfere with the proper
appreciation of Madeira, and the revelers here cherish the honest old
English custom of chanting over their liquor. Closing my eyes now, so as
to shut out the dingy drab walls of this my prison-chamber, I can call
up one of those cheery scenes quite distinctly: I can hear the "Chief's"
voice close at my ear, trolling forth the traditional West Point ditty
of "Benny Havens," or the rude sea-ballad, full of quaint pathos:--
'Twas a Friday morning when we set sail;
then--deeper and fuller tones, rolling out Barry Cornwall's sonorous
verses of "King Death." It is good to look back on hours like these,
though I doubt if the ill-cooked meats, whereof I hope soon to
partake--not unthankfully--will be improved by the memory.
In spite of this large hospitality, instances even of individual excess
are comparatively rare. I have seen more aberration of intellect and
convivial eccentricity after a Greenwich dinner, or a heavy
"guest-night," than was displayed at any one of these Baltimore
entertainments: a stranger endowed with a fair constitution, abstaining
from morning drinks, and paying attention to the Irishman's paternal
advice--"Keep your back from the fire, and don't mix your liquors"--may
take his place, with comfort and confidence.
But my social recollections of Baltimore are by no means exclusively
bacchanalian. British stock, lamentably at a discount in other parts of
the Union, is, perhaps, a trifle above par here. The popularity of our
representatives--masculine and feminine--may have something to do with
this; at any rate, the avenues of the best and pleasantest circles are
easily opened to any Englishman of warranted position and name.
If a traveler were to enter a drawing-room here, expecting to be
surprised at every turn by some incongruity of speech or demeanor, such
as book-makers have attributed to our American cousins, he would not
fill a page of his mental note-book. I had no such prejudices to be
disappointed. After experience of society in many lands, I begin to
think that well-bred and educated people speak and behave after much the
same fashion all the world over. Few Baltimorean voices are free from a
perceptible accent; it is more marked in the gentler sex, but rarely so
strong as to be disagreeable. The ear is never offended by the New
England twang, or Connecticut drawl, and some tones rang true as silver.
You hear, of course, occasional peculiarities of expression, and words
somewhat distorted from our Anglican meaning, but these are not much
more frequent or strange than provincial idioms at home. I was only once
fairly puzzled in this wise.
It was at a public "assembly." I had just been presented to the
Queen rose of a rosebud garden of girls,
a very gazelle, too, for litheness and grace; the music of the _Sirène_
had begun, and my arm had encircled my partner's willowy waist; when I
felt her hang back, and saw on her fair face a distressed look of
penitence and perplexity: "I'm so sorry," she murmured, "but I can't
dance _loose_." Perfectly vague as to her meaning, I assured her that
she should be guided after as _serree_ a fashion as she chose; but this
evidently did not touch the difficulty. By the merest chance, I observed
that all the cavaliers put themselves, as it were, in position, their
left hand locked in the right of their _valseuse_, before making a
start, omitting the preliminary paces that get you well into the swing.
It was all plain sailing then, and swift sailing, too; the rest of the
performance was completed with perfect unanimity, much to my own
satisfaction, and, I trust, not to the discontent of my fairy-footed
charge.
The freedom and independent self-reliance of the Baltimorean
_demoiselles_ is very remarkable. At home they receive and entertain
their own friends, of either sex, quite naturally, and--taking their
walks abroad, or returning from an evening party--trust themselves
unhesitatingly to the escort of a single cavalier. Yet, you would
scarcely find a solitary imitation of the "fast girls" who have been
giving our own ethical writers so much uneasiness of late. It speaks
well for the tone of society, where such a state of things can prevail
without fear and without reproach. Though Baltimore breeds gossips,
numerous and garrulous as is the wont of provincial cities, I never
heard a slander or a suspicion leveled against the most intrepid of
those innocent Unas.
From the _morale_ one must needs pass to the _personel_. On the
appearance of a _debutante_, they say, the first question in Boston is,
"Is she clever?" In New York, "Is she wealthy?" In Philadelphia, "Is she
well-born?" In Baltimore, "Is she beautiful?" And, for many years past,
common report has conceded the Golden Apple to the Monumental city. I
think the distinction has been fairly won.
The small, delicate features, the long, liquid, iridescent eyes, the
sweet, indolent _morbidezza_, that make southern beauty so perilously
fascinating, are not uncommon here, and are often united to a clearness
and brilliancy of complexion scarcely to be found nearer the tropics.
The Upper Ten Thousand by no means monopolize these personal advantages.
At the hour of "dress parade" you cannot walk five steps without
encountering a face well worthy of a second look. Occasionally, too, you
catch a provokingly brief glimpse of a high, slender instep, and an
ankle modeled to match it. The fashion of Balmorals and kilted kirtles
prevails not here; and maids and matrons are absurdly reluctant to
submit their pedal perfections to the passing critic. Even on a day when
it is a question of Mud _v._ Modesty, you may escort an intimate
acquaintance for an hour, and depart, doubting as to the color of her
hosen. But, conceding the justice of Baltimore's claim, and the constant
recurrence of a more than _stata pulchritudo_--I am bound to confess
that, with a single exception, I saw nothing approaching _supreme_
perfection of form or feature.
The exception was a very remarkable one.
I write these words, as reverently as if I were drawing the portrait of
the fair Austrian Empress, or any other crowned beauty: indeed, I always
looked on that face, simply as a wonderful picture, and so I remember it
now. I have never seen a countenance more faultlessly lovely. The _pose_
of the small head, and the sweep of the neck, resembled the miniatures
of Giulia Grisi in her youth, but the lines were more delicately drawn,
and the _contour_ more refined; the broad open forehead, the brows
firmly arched, without an approach to heaviness, the thin chiselled
nostril and perfect mouth, cast in the softest feminine mould, reminded
you of the First Napoleon. Quick mobility of expression would have been
inharmonious there. With all its purity of outline, the face was not
severe or coldly statuesque--only superbly serene, not lightly to be
ruffled by any sudden revulsion of feeling; a face, of which you never
realized the perfect glory till the pink-coral tint flushed faintly
through the clear pale cheeks, while the lift of the long trailing
lashes revealed the magnificent eyes, lighting up, slowly and surely, to
the full of their stormy splendor. It chanced, that the lady was a
vehement Unionist, and "rose," very freely, on the subject of the war.
Sincere in her honest patriotism, I doubt if she ever guessed at the
real object of her opponent in the arguments which not unfrequently
arose. If there be any indiscretion in this pen-and-ink sketch from
nature, I should bitterly regret the involuntary error, though its
subject, to the world in general, remains nameless as Lenore.
There is another peculiarity of Baltimore society, which a stranger will
only perceive when he has passed withinside its porches. It is divided,
not only into sets, but, as it were, into clans. Several of the leading
families, generally belonging to the territorial aristocracy (let the
word stand) that took root in the State at, or soon after, its
settlement, have so intermarried, as to create the most curious net of
cousinship, the meshes of which are yearly becoming more intricate and
numerous. Yet there are no especial indications of exclusiveness or
spirit of _clique_; rather it is the homely feeling of kinsmanship,
which makes the intercourse of relations more familiar and
unceremonious, than that of intimate acquaintances or friends.
Cadets from many powerful houses in all the three kingdoms, were among
the early colonists of Maryland. It is good to mark, how gallantly the
"old blood" hold its own, even here; how, the descendants of soldiers
and statesmen have already attained the pride of place that their
ancestors won at home centuries ago, by a like valiance of sword,
tongue, or pen. Take one family, for instance, with whose members I was
fortunate enough to be especially intimate.
For generations past, the Howards have been men of mark in Maryland.
Wherever hard or famous work was to be done, in field or senate, one, at
least, of the name was sure to be found in the front. The present head
of the family sustains right well the reputations of the worthies who
went before him. A staunch friend and an uncompromising
adversary--valuing political honesty no more lightly than private
honor--liberal and unsuspicious to a fault in his social relations--very
frank and simple in speech--in manner always courteous and cordial--it
would be hard to find, in Europe, an apter representative of the ancient
régime. I believe, that those who really know General Howard, will not
consider this sketch a flattery or an exaggeration. He was a candidate
for the Governorship at the last election, and so powerful was his
acknowledged personal _prestige_, that, in despite of overt intimidation
and secret influences, which made a free voting an absurdity, the Black
Republicans exulted over his withdrawal as an important victory.
Though ordinary business is so slack in Baltimore just at present,
almost every male resident, not engaged in law or physic, has, or
supposes himself to have, something to do. Instances of absolute
idleness are very rare. So, by ten, A. M., all the men betake themselves
to their offices, and there busy themselves about their affairs, after a
fashion, energetic or desultory, till after two o'clock. The dinner hour
varies from three to half-past five. Post-prandial labor is generally
declined; wisely, too, for few American digestions will bear trifling
with; though Nature must have gifted some of my acquaintance with a
marvellous internal mechanism. How, otherwise, could they stand a long
unbroken course of free living, with such infinitesimal correctives of
exercise? The evening is spent after each man's fancy--at the club, or
at one of the many houses where a familiar is certain to meet a welcome,
and more or less of pleasant company. The entertainments are often more
extensive and formal, embracing, of course, music, and such are
invariably wound up by a supper. I have heard certain of our seniors
grow quite pathetic over the abolition of those social, if unsalubrious,
repasts. I wonder at such regrets no longer, if I cannot share them.
There is surely an hilarious informality about these _media-nochi_ that
attaches to no antecedent feast; the freedom of a picnic, without its
manifold inconveniences: as the witching hour draws nearer, the
"brightest eyes that ever have shone" glitter yet more gloriously, till
in their nearer and dearer splendor a Chaldean would forget the stars;
and the "sweetest lips that ever were kissed" sip the creaming Verzenay,
or savor the delicate "olio," with a keener honesty of zest. The
supper-tables are almost always adorned by some of the pretty, quaint
conceits of an artist, whose fame extends far beyond Baltimore. Mr.
Hermann's ice-imitations of all fruits and flowers, are marvellously
vivid and natural: I have never seen them equalled by any continental
_glaciers_.
I have lingered, perhaps, too long over too trifling details; and yet, I
wish I had done my subject more justice. Be it remembered, that I
visited Baltimore at a season of unusual social depression. I do not
speak of the stagnation in commerce, and the ruin of Southern interests
and possessions, from which many have suffered heavy pecuniary loss: the
effects of the war come home to the fair city yet more sharply. For
months past the best part of her _jeunesse dorèe_ have been fighting--as
only the daintily born and bred _can_ fight, at bitter need--in the van
of Southern armies.
Every fresh rumor of battle adds to the crowd of pale, anxious faces,
and every bulletin lengthens the list of mourners. There are few
families, Federal or Secessionist, who have not relatives--none that
have not dear friends--exposed to hourly peril, from disease, if not
from lead or steel. The suspense felt in England during the Crimean or
Indian wars, cannot be compared to that which many here are forced to
endure. _We_ knew, at least, where our soldiers were, and heard often
how they fared: their sickness, wounds, and deaths were all recorded.
But the scenes of this war's vast theatre are so often shifted, and
communication with the remoter parts of the Southwest is so uncertain,
that months will elapse without a line of tidings from the absent; the
grass has grown and withered again, over many graves, before the weary
hearts at home knew that the time was past, for waiting, and watching,
and prayers.
The last season in New York, they say, has been the gayest known for
many years. The _nouveaux riches_ have been spending their ill or well
gotten gains right royally. But the temptations to exuberant festivity
are few indeed in Baltimore, just now: with all that they have to endure
and fear, it speaks well for the hardihood of her citizens, that they
can maintain even a chastened cheerfulness.