Here be the free gifts of the morning for thee;
Dog-roses, with their thorns all strung with pearls,
And a large round diamond in each rosy cup:
Their leaves are the colour of Aurora's cheeks.
Here is a pale white flower, without a name,
At least to me, who am a stranger here:
It has a delicate almond smell, and grew
Among thick boughs, and leaves that guarded it.
Poor thing! I took it from its shelter for thee.
Here be some lilac heads of clover, sweet
As the breath of love: they lay amongst the hay
In a new-mown meadow, glittering in the sun.
Here are the leaves of the wild vine, that shine
Like glass without, and underneath are white
And soft as a swan's breast. There is an oak branch;
I gather'd it, because it grows at home,
And in this strange land look'd as sad and loving
As a friend's face: when it is wither'd, keep it.
They are all heavy with the tears of the night,
Who weeps, because she may not meet the sun;
And when he comes down from the mountain tops,
Parting the forests with his hands of fire,
He drinks her weeping, kissing all the flowers
With passionate love, which makes them look so blushing.
_Tuesday, 2d._
Packed up my bag, took a cup of tea, went and gathered some flowers, and
gave the poor lamb some heads of clover; bade a very unwilling farewell
to the pretty place, and rowed over to West Point, where Mr. ---- was
waiting for us. We breakfasted at ten, and went down to meet the boat.
Young Mr. ---- came over to see us off, and brought me some lovely fresh
flowers. Mr. ---- and Mr. ---- were both at the embarking-post. When the
boat came up, the rush to and from it was, without exception, the most
frightful thing I ever saw. The ----s were landing; and I just spoke to
her, as she was borne past by the throng. Safely on board, I again found
myself surrounded by familiar faces: I took out my work, and Mr. ----
sat down by us. As a nuisance, which all unsought-for companionship is,
he is quite the most endurable possible; for he has seen such things,
and known such people, that it is greatly worth while to listen to him.
Every thing he says of Byron and Shelley confirms my own impression of
them. The scenery of the Hudson, immediately beyond West Point, loses
much of its sublimity, though no beauty. The river widens, and the
rugged summits of the highlands melt gradually into a softer and more
undulating outline. The richness, and swelling, and falling of the land
reminded me occasionally of England. The yellow grain was giving
diversity and warmth to the green landscape; and the shadowy woods
fencing the corn-fields threw over the whole picture a sheltering
peaceful charm. On the left, we presently began to see the blue outline
of the Catskill mountains, towering into the hot sky, and looking most
blessedly cool and dark amid the fervid glowing of the noonday world.
Mrs. ---- came on board at one of the stopping places. I was quite glad
to see her sweet face, and hear her gentle voice again. Mr. ---- was
greatly smitten with her calm look of repose, and lulling speech, and
took to her vehemently. She told me long stories, like fairy tales, of
caverns lately discovered in the bosom of these mountains; of pits black
and fathomless; of subterranean lakes in gloomy chambers of the earth;
and tumbling waters, which fall down in the dark, where men heard, but
none had dared to go. How I should like to go there! Oh, who will lead
me into the secret parts of the earth; who will guide me to the deep
hiding-places where spirits are--where the air of this upper world is
not breathed, and its sounds are unknown--where the light of the sun is
unseen, and the voice of human creatures unheard? how I should like to
go there! At about half-past three in the afternoon, the sky became
suddenly and thickly overcast: the awning which sheltered the upper deck
was withdrawn, and every preparation made for a storm. The pale
angry-looking clouds lay heaped like chalk upon a leaden sky; and
presently one red lightning dipped down into the woods like a fiery
snake falling from the heavens. At the same time, a furious gust of wind
and torrent of rain rushed down the mountain side. We scuttled down to
the lower deck as fast as ever we could; but the storm met us at the
bottom of the stairs, and in an instant I was drenched. Chairs, tables,
every thing was overturned by the gust; and the boat was running with
water in every direction. It thundered and lightened a little; but the
noise of the engine was such, that we scarce heard the storm. I stood by
the door of the furnace, and dried leisurely, talking the while to Mr.
----, who is sun-burnt enough to warm one through with a look. During
our progress, one of the wheels (or paddles, as they are properly
called) took it into its head to knock its case to pieces, and banged
the boards about in a strange way. Accident the second:--one of the men,
a black, who was employed in tending the fire, got so dreadfully heated
with the intense furnace, that he rushed out of the engine-room, and
swallowed two or three draughts of cold water. The effect was
instantaneous: he fell down in violent internal spasms, and died, poor
wretch! before we arrived at Albany. We reached that town at about
half-past five in the afternoon, and went to a house the ----s
recommended to us. At about seven, they gave us dinner; and immediately
after I came up to my own room. I was so exhausted with fatigue, and a
violent cold and cough, that I literally fell down on the floor, and
slept till dark. As we came up the river, we passed Dr. ----'s place,
Hyde Park, which has the reputation of being the best-kept private
estate in America: the situation of the house, on the edge of a ridge,
appeared to me, from the river, rather too much exposed.
_Saturday, 6th._
My father had settled to go to the Cohoes Falls.
* * * * *
* * * * *
When we were in the steam-boat, going up to Troy,[102] ---- put a
letter into my hands, which he told me was written by the mother of
Allegra, Byron's child. The letter was remarkable only for more
straightforwardness and conciseness than is usual in women's letters. I
do not know whether ---- gave it me to read on that account alone, or
because it contained allusions to wild and interesting adventures of his
own: perhaps there was a mingling of motives. There never was, by the
by, a _homogeneous_ motive, as Brewster would say, in the human breast.
We reached Troy in about twenty minutes, and walked up into the town to
procure some species of vehicle for our progress to the falls. There was
none ready; and while one was being procured, a man, who was standing
near us, very civilly invited us to come into his shop and sit down,
which we did very readily. The situation of the warehouses, on the side
near the river, of the main street of Troy, is exceedingly pretty. They
are, for the most part, large long rooms, opening to the street at the
one end, and on the other looking down, from a considerable height, upon
the Hudson. The shop we were in was a china-store; and the nice cold
crockery-ware made one cool to look at it: the weather was roasting. Mr.
---- left us to gather information, and kindly brought me back word that
the population of Troy was five hundred, _or_ five thousand, I really
forget which; and, for my journal, it don't much matter; and that the
storekeeper assured him the Trojans were an exceedingly refined and
literary set of folks; and that the society, in point of these two
advantages, was no whit behind Boston: there's for Boston!--We obtained
a coach, and crossed a ferry, such as I had never seen before, worked by
horses. Poor wretches! they reminded me of ----'s steeds, Martyre et
Souffrance. Mr. ---- observed that they led the life of the majority;
and so they do,--labour and suffering that custom renders endurable, and
that ends by grinding down every faculty of mind or soul: we're a
blessed pack of drudges, and deserve to be just what we are. After
crossing the ferry, we drove about five miles through some gentle
smiling lands, that made one feel very charitable. The Cohoes is, I
believe, a Dutch name for a hill just above a turn in the Mohawk, where,
after some shallow, rapid, hasty running over a rocky bed, the river
flings itself down over a broad barrier, between thirty and forty feet
high, with the most delightful gushing sound in the world. The foam
looked very nice, and soft, and thick, and cold: I longed to be in the
middle of it.
* * * * *
* * * * *
After wandering about for some time, we sat ourselves down on a high
grassy knoll just above the falls.
* * * * *
We returned in time, as we flattered ourselves, to meet the steam-boat
which leaves Troy for Albany at four; but, just as we were crossing the
ferry, the steamer ran past us, leaving us, with eyes and mouths wide
open, very much bothered as to how we were to get down to Albany. D----
proposed a row-boat, and the sense of the company seemed to agree
thereto; but, upon driving to the inn where we hired our carriage, and
enquiring for such a conveyance, we were assured that there was no such
thing to be had: whereupon my father, good easy man! believed there was
not, and got into the coach again. Mr. ----, however, had absconded, and
remained gone so long, that I began to think he had, perhaps, started to
swim down the river; when he presently appeared, informing us that he
had gotten a boat for us. We jumped readily out of the coach; and,
though my father had actually made a bargain for the hire of it, to
convey us to Albany, with the innkeeper, and, moreover, given him the
money, the righteous man refunded the dollars; which, Falstaff knows, is
a displeasing thing to do: "I hate that paying back!" Our row back was
delightful: the evening was calm and lovely beyond description; the sun
had lost his fierceness, and the warm air clasped the fresh woods
tenderly; the waters were unbroken as a mirror; the very spirit of love
and peace possessed the world: the effect of all which was to send me
into a very sound sleep.
* * * * *
* * * * *
We reached Albany in very good time for dinner. Mr. ---- dined with us:
what a savage he is, in some respects! He's a curious being: a
description of him would puzzle any one who had never seen him. A man
with the proportions of a giant for strength and agility; taller,
straighter, and broader than most men; yet with the most listless
indolent carelessness of gait, and an uncertain wandering way of
dropping his feet to the ground, as if he didn't know where he was
going, and didn't much wish to go any where. His face is as dark as a
Moor's; with a wild strange look about the eyes and forehead, and a
mark like a scar upon his cheek: his whole appearance giving one an idea
of toil, hardship, peril, and wild adventure. The expression of his
mouth is remarkably mild and sweet, and his voice is extremely low and
gentle. His hands are as brown as a labourer's: he never profanes them
with gloves, but wears two strange magical-looking rings: one of them,
which he showed me, is made of elephant's hair.
* * * * *
* * * * *
Occasionally, in his horror of one class of prejudices, he embraces the
opposite ones: perhaps the extreme of any evil, in this world of
imperfect means, can only be effectually resisted by its reverse
extreme.
_Monday, 8th._
After breakfast, went to rehearsal: Mr. ---- came with us. The actors
were one and all reading their parts: the lady who played Charlotte was
the only exception--she was perfect. As I sat on the stage, between my
scenes, a fat, good-tempered, rosy, bead-eyed, wet-haired, shining-faced
looking man accosted me; and, having ascertained that I was myself,
proceeded to accuse me of having, in Mrs. Haller, pronounced the word
"industry" with the accent on the middle syllable, as "in_dus_try;"
adding, that he had already quoted my authority to several people for
the emphasis, and begging to know my "exquisite reason" therefor. It was
in vain that I urged that it must have been a mistake if I said so; that
I never meant to say so, if I did say so; that if I did say so, I was
very wrong to say so; that I was very sorry for having said so; that I
never would say so again. Between each of my humblest apologies my
accuser merely replied, "But you _did_ say in_dus_try," with an
inflexible pertinacity of condemnation, which was not a whit softened by
my sincere confessions. Presently the worthy creature, adverting to the
letter in the Mirror about General Jackson, begged that as I had passed
the fourth of July, that glorious anniversary, in Albany, I would
illustrate its celebration by some remarks in the style of that
admirable composition. Great was the fat man's surprise, and evident his
contempt for me, when I disclaimed the authorship of that document.
Greater still waxed both, when I assured him that on the fourth of July
I positively walked out of the town, to avoid the noise in it. After
this, he remained gazing at me in silent amazement; and, as soon as he
had sufficiently recovered from it to move, he took up his hat, and
briefly wished me "good morning." Mr. ---- told me the man was a
newspaper-editor; but I think he looked too fat, and fresh, and
good-tempered for that. When we returned home, sat down to write
journal.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The play was the Gamester: the house was very full. Mr. ---- did not
know one syllable of his part, and bothered me utterly. At the end of
the play, they called for my father, and civilly desired we would act
the Hunchback; as, however, we had not the dresses for it with us, he
declined, but promised we would return hereafter.
* * * * *
* * * * *
_Tuesday, 9th._
After breakfast, the day being extremely fine, Mr. ---- urged us to go
out, and take a walk; so forth we set, my father and I leading the way,
and D---- and Mr. ---- following.
* * * * *
* * * * *
We crossed the river, and, following the first road like a flock of
geese errant, arrived at the top of a delightful breezy knoll, opposite
a tiny waterfall, the rocks and basin of which were picturesque; but the
water had been turned off to turn a mill. The hill where we stood
commanded a beautiful view of the Hudson, Albany, and the shores
stretching away into sunny indistinctness. My father, and D----, and Mr.
----, sat down under some oak trees: I ran off to explore the stream.
* * * * *
* * * * *
After looking about in every direction, I returned to my friends: we
strolled away through the woods and along the high road, with the sweet
smell of mellow hay keeping us company the while. We halted at an
orchard corner, near a pleasant-looking farm, where we all agreed we
should like to live.
* * * * *
* * * * *
Mr. ---- killed us with laughing with an account he gave us of some of
Byron's sayings and doings, which were just as whimsical and eccentric
as unamiable, but very funny. To-morrow we start for Utica: Mr.
---- comes with us: I am glad of it--I like him.
_Wednesday, 10th._
Just as we were getting into the railroad coach for Schenectady, a
parcel was put into my hand: it was a letter from ----, and Pellico's
"Mie Prigioni:" I was glad of it. At Schenectady we dined. By the by, I
must not forget to mention the civility we met with from the people who
kept the house. There have been so many instances given of the
discomfort and discourteousness which travellers encounter in America,
that it is but justice to record the reverse when one meets with it. For
my own part, with very few exceptions, I have hitherto met with nothing
but civility and attention of every description. We have almost always
commanded private sitting, and single sleeping, rooms; have had our
meals served in tolerable comfort and decency; and even on board the
steam-boats, where every thing is done by shoal, I have found that, in
spite of being an inveterate dawdle, and never ready at any of the
bell-ringings, I have always had a place reserved for me, and enough to
eat without fighting for it. But to return to our Schenectady hosts. The
house was very full; and, while waiting for the canal boat, to avoid the
gaping crowds with which all the rooms were filled, D---- and I walked
out into the verandah, when a pretty lassie, the daughter, I conclude,
of the house, invited us into a very nice private parlour, belonging to
the family, where I found a fine piano, books, music, and all
civilisation as well as civility. We proceeded by canal to Utica, which
distance we performed in a day and a night, starting at two from
Schenectady, and reaching Utica the next day at about noon. I like
travelling by the canal boats very much. Ours was not crowded; and the
country through which we passed being delightful, the placid moderate
gliding through it, at about four miles and a half an hour, seemed to me
infinitely preferable to the noise of wheels, the rumble of a coach, and
the jerking of bad roads, for the gain of a mile an hour. The only
nuisances are the bridges over the canal, which are so very low, that
one is obliged to prostrate one's self on the deck of the boat, to
avoid being scraped off it; and this humiliation occurs, upon an
average, once every quarter of an hour. Mr. ---- read Don Quixote to us:
he reads very peculiarly; slowly, and with very marked emphasis. He has
a strong feeling of humour, as well as of poetry: in fact, they belong
to each other; for humour is but fancy laughing, and poetry but fancy
sad. The valley of the Mohawk, through which we crept the whole
sunshining day, is beautiful from beginning to end; fertile, soft, rich,
and occasionally approaching sublimity and grandeur in its rocks and
hanging woods. We had a lovely day, and a soft blessed sunset, which,
just as we came to a point where the canal crosses the river, and where
the curved and wooded shores on either side recede, leaving a broad
smooth basin, threw one of the most exquisite effects of light and
colour I ever remember to have seen over the water and through the sky.
The sun had scarce been down ten minutes from the horizon, when the deck
was perfectly wet with the heaviest dew possible, which drove us down to
the cabin. Here I fell fast asleep, till awakened by the cabin girl's
putting her arms affectionately round me, and telling me that I might
come and have the first choice of a berth for the night, in the horrible
hen-coop allotted to the female passengers. I was too sleepy to
acknowledge or avail myself of the courtesy; but the girl's manner was
singularly gentle and kind. We sat in the men's cabin until they began
making preparations for bed, and then withdrew into a room about twelve
feet square, where a whole tribe of women were getting to their beds.
Some half undressed, some brushing, some curling, some washing, some
already asleep in their narrow cribs, but all within a quarter of an
inch of each other: it made one shudder. As I stood cowering in a
corner, half asleep, half crying, the cabin girl came to me again, and
entreated me to let her make a bed for me. However, upon my refusing to
undress before so much good company, or lie down in such narrow
neighbourhood, she put D---- and myself in a small closet, where were
four empty berths, where I presently fell fast asleep, where she
established herself for the night, and where D----, wrapped up in a
shawl, sat till morning under the half-open hatchway, breathing damp
starlight.
_Thursday, 11th._
D----'s exclamations woke me in the morning: the day was breaking
brightly, and the dewy earth was beginning to smile in the red dawn,
when we approached Little Falls, a place where the placid gentle
character of the Mohawk becomes wild and romantic, and beautifully
picturesque. The canal is for some space cut through the solid rock, and
the banks, high and bold, were crowned with tangled woods, and gemmed
with wild flowers, and the delicate vivid tufts of fern. It was
exceedingly beautiful; and though I believe I missed some part of the
scenery immediately surrounding Little Falls, the approach to it, which
is of the same nature, enchanted me extremely. When we arrived at Utica,
I gave the nice cabin-girl my silver needle-case: her tenderness and
care of me the night before made it impossible for me to offer her
money. She took my gift, and, throwing her arms round my neck, kissed me
very fervently for it. I was struck with her manner, which had appeared
to me, in discharge of her common duties, reserved, and rather
dignified. This exhibition of feeling surprised me therefore; and
together with her dark eyes, hair, and complexion, made me think she
must have foreign blood in her veins. I asked her, but she said no:
American by birth, English by descent: certainly she had neither the
face nor bearing of the one or the other. She was a very singular and
striking looking person. As for Mr. ----, he fell in love with her
forthwith, and, I think, had half a mind to settle on the Mohawk, and
make her his fellow farmer. At Utica we dined; and after dinner I slept
profoundly. The gentlemen, I believe, went out to view the town, which
twenty years ago _was not_, and now is a flourishing place, with
fine-looking shops, two or three hotels, good broad streets, and a body
of lawyers, who had a supper at the house where we were staying, and
kept the night awake with champagne, shouting, toasts, and clapping of
hands: so much for the strides of civilisation through the savage lands
of this new world. The house was full, and we could not get a room to
ourselves; so we sat in a corner of the large dining-room. Passed the
evening in writing journal. Mr. ---- showed me his of Sunday last.
_Friday, 12th._
We all breakfasted early together, and immediately after breakfast got
into an open carriage and set off for Trenton. D---- and my father sat
beside each other, and I opposite them; Mr. ---- on the box; and so we
progressed. The day was bright and breezy: the country was all smiling
round us in rich beauty; the ripening sheets of waving grain; the
sloping fields, with here and there the grey tomb-stone of a forest
tree; the vivid thickets bounding the pale harvest plots; the
silvery-looking fences, with their irregular lines relieved against the
dark woods; the clear sky above; all was lovely. About seven miles from
Utica, we stopped to water the horses at a lonely road-side house: we
alighted, and without ceremony strolled into the garden,--a mere
wilderness of overgrown sweet briar, faint breathing dog-roses, and
flaunting red poppies, overshadowed by some orchard trees, from which we
stole sundry half-ripe cherries. The place was desolate, I believe; yet
we lingered in it, and did not think it so. We got into the carriage
again: the remaining eight miles of our journey were as beautiful and as
bad as the preceding ones had been. I thought of our dark drive back
through these miry and uneven ways. At last we reached the house at
which visiters to the Falls put up; a large comfortable dwelling enough,
kept by a couple of nice young people, who live in this solitude all the
year round, and maintain themselves and a beautiful big baby by the
profits they derive from the pilgrims to Trenton. We ordered dinner, and
set forth to the Falls, with our host for guide. We crossed a small wood
immediately adjoining the house, and, descending several flights of
steps connected by paths in the rocky bank, we presently stood on the
brink of the channel, where the water was boiling along, deep, and
black, and passing away like time. We followed along the rocky edge: the
path is not more than a foot wide, and is worn into all manner of
unevenness and cavities, and slippery with the eternal falling of the
spray. ---- walked before me: we dared not turn our heads, for fear of
tumbling into the black whirlpool below. We walked on steadily, warning
each other at every step, and presently we arrived at the first fall,
where the rest of our party were halting. I can't describe it: I don't
know either its height or width; I only know it was extremely beautiful,
and came pouring down like a great rolling heap of amber. The rocks
around are high to the heavens, scooped, and singularly regular; and the
sides of the torrent are every now and then paved with large smooth
layers of rock, as even and regular in their proportions as if the
fairies had done the work. After standing before the tumbling mass of
water for a length of time, we climbed to the brink above, and went on.
Mr. ---- flung himself down under a roof of rock by the waterfall. My
father, D----, and the guide, went on out of sight, and ---- and I
loitered by the rapid waters, flinging light branches and flowers upon
the blood-coloured torrent, that whirled, and dragged, and tossed them
down to the plunge beneath. When we came to the beautiful circular fall,
we crept down to a narrow ridge, and sat with our feet hanging over the
black caldron, just opposite a vivid rainbow that was clasping the
waterfall. We sat here till I began to grow dizzy with the sound and
motion of the churning darkness beneath us, and begged to move, which we
did very cautiously. I was in an agony lest we should slip from the
narrow dripping ledges along which we crawled. We wandered on, and
stopped again at another fall, upon a rocky shelf overhanging the
torrent, beside the blasted and prostrate trunk of a large tree. I was
tired with walking, and ---- was lifting me up to seat me on the fallen
tree, when we saw Mr. ---- coming slowly towards us. He stopped and
spoke to us, and presently passed on; we remained behind, talking, and
dipping our hands into the fresh water. At length we rejoined the whole
party, sitting by a narrow channel, where the water looked like ink.
Beyond this our guide said it was impossible to go: I was for
ascertaining this by myself, but my father forbade me to attempt the
passage further. I was thirsty; and the guide having given me a
beautiful strawberry and a pale blue-bell, that he had found, like a
couple of jewels in some dark crevice of the rocks, I devoured the one,
and then going down to the black water's edge, we dipped the fairy cup
in, and drank the cold clear water, with which abundant draught I
relieved my father's thirst also.[103] Around the place where we were
resting, the rocks rose like circular walls up to the very sky. From
their overhanging edges, tiny threads of water fell upon the rocky
pavement beneath, with a silver glancing, and a clear plashing tone,
that sounded even amid the hoarse talking of the dark waters below. In
some mould among these cliffs, at their very highest edge, a tree had
struck its roots, and, growing upside down, stretched its drooping green
arms to the hurrying stream below, that would not tarry. We had walked,
I suppose, a mile and a half along the water's side, and in this
distance its course is broken by six beautiful cataracts. The variety of
the colour of the water, occasioned by the various depths of its
channel, and the different tints of the rocks over which it flows, is
singular. Where the river expands, its rapid broken waves were of the
darkest red-brown, like coffee; or rather, indeed, redder than that,
like a deep blood colour: reaching the walls of rock, over which they
fall into a lower bed, they became pouring masses of amber and diamonds,
or soft thick heaps of whitest foam; and then again, in the deep narrow
channels which received their headlong leaping, all was black as
blackest night, and the waters were sucked away under the hollow rocks
in inky eddies, that made me think of drowning with double horror. The
several falls are very various in their height and forms, but they are
all beautiful, most beautiful; not a place to visit for a day, but to
live the summer away in.
* * * * *
When we were all rested, we rose to retrace our steps: our guide was a
man of some cultivation, and of much natural refinement, with a strong
feeling of the exquisite beauty of the scenes in which he was living.
These falls are upon his own land, belong to him, and he pointed out to
us a spot beside the torrent where, he said, he had read all Byron's
works: this pleased me. Returning, I thought the path even more
difficult than it was before: there is a chain fastened along the rock
where it narrows, for the security of persons walking: this has been put
up since the lamentable loss of a young girl, who, following her party
along this slippery path, missed her footing, and was swept into a
foaming whirlpool, whence nothing could ever emerge. Our guide told us
of another terrible accident, which happened not long before we were
there. A young lady and her lover were going along the water side, and,
in order to retain hold of her hand, he walked upon a narrow ridge,
where he could hardly balance himself: the girl said, "Oh, if you walk
there, I shall let you go:" she did so, and in the same instant he
slipped from the rock and was dragged away to that dark death.[104]
The chain upon the rock was about as high as my shoulder; but when the
river is swollen, it constantly rises above the chain: at which time, it
is scarce possible to go any distance along its banks. This had been the
case a short time before we were there. We returned to the house, and
dined. After dinner, had a gossip with Mrs. ----, and a romp with her
beautiful baby. I strolled into the garden: it was in disorder, and
looked like a wilderness; but I saw some roses drooping their full
bosoms to the earth, and I went to fetch them. Our host came with me: he
said he had but little leisure to cultivate his garden, and could not
well afford to have it kept in better order; that it supplied them with
nearly all they required; and that, with his other occupations, he had
hardly time to make it more than useful. I questioned him about the
number of visiters who came to the falls. He said in summer there was a
constant succession of them; but that in winter no one came there. Upon
my expressing some surprise that people did not come, and remain for
some weeks at least, in so beautiful a place, he told me that the
generality of visiters were quite satisfied with an hour's stroll by the
water; and that some had arrived at his door, alighted from their
carriage, dined, sauntered round the house, and, _without even going
down to the river_, returned to Utica quite satisfied with having been
at Trenton. I was amazed. But the utter insensibility of the generality
of Americans to the beauty and sublimity of nature is nothing short of
amazing; and in this respect they literally appear to me to want a
sense. I have been filled with astonishment and perplexity at the total
indifference with which they behold scenes of grandeur and loveliness,
that any creature, with half a soul, would gaze at with feelings almost
of adoration. But in these glorious tabernacles of nature, where God's
majesty seems, as it were, visibly resting on his works, I have seen
Americans come and stare, and stand for a moment, and depart again,
apparently impressed with nothing but the singularity of the man or
woman who could remain there longer than they did. What can be the cause
of this?--Is it possible that a perception of the beautiful in nature is
a result of artificial cultivation?--is it that the grovelling
narrowness of the usual occupations to which the majority addict
themselves has driven out of them the fine spirit, which is God's altar
in men's souls?--is it that they become incapable of beauty? Wretched
people! They remind me, by contrast, as I see them toiling along the
crowded streets of their cities, those dens of Mammon, of Wordsworth's
noble description of him
"Who walk'd in glory and in joy,
Behind his plough, upon the mountain side."
* * * * *
* * * * *
At about sunset, I wandered into the wood, to the top of the steps
leading to the waterfall; where I could hear, far below, its sweet voice
singing as it passed away. I remained standing here till the carriage
was announced. Just before we went away, our host gave me a small piece
of crystal. It is found among the rocks here, which, I believe, present
many curious geological phenomena, which I leave to the learned to
describe. The strata are the most beautifully regular possible; and,
upon their broad smooth surfaces, a thousand theories sit; which I hope
I did not disturb, as I walked over them in the plenitude of my
ignorance, admiring God's masonry. Oh, fair world!--oh, strange, and
beautiful, and holy places--where one's soul meets one in silence--and
where one's thoughts arise, with the everlasting incense of the waters,
from the earth, which is _His_ footstool, to the heavens, which are
_His_ throne. It grew dark long before we reached Utica: half the way I
sang; the other half I slept, in spite of ruts five fathoms deep, and
all the joltings of these evil ways. To-morrow we start on our way to
Niagara; which, Mr. ---- says, is to sweep Trenton clean from our
memories. I do not think it.
_Saturday, 13th._
Left Utica at six o'clock, in our exclusive extra: we were to go on as
far as Auburn, a distance of seventy-six miles. The day was very
beautiful, but extremely hot. At Vernon, where we stopped to breakfast,
we overtook the ----s: we had a very good breakfast; and, I think, for
the first time since our land journey from Baltimore to Philadelphia,
last winter, we were waited on by women. Found a case of musical
glasses: sat on the floor, in great delight, amusing myself with them,
while the stage was getting ready, ---- and I began wandering about; but
the place did not look promising, and the heat was intense. We sat
ourselves down under the piazza of the tavern, and I gave him the words
of "To that lone Well." In about an hour we set off again. The country
was very rich and beautiful; and, at every knoll, backed by woodlands,
and skirted by golden grain fields, Mr. ---- exclaimed, "Come, we will
have a farm here." He and my father were to smoke, reflect, and enjoy
life; I was to sing, whenever I happened to please, and enjoy life too;
D---- was to brew, to bake, wash, iron, plough, manage the house, look
after the cattle, take care of the poultry, mind the dairy; in short, do
every thing on earth that was to be done, and enjoy life too: all which
arrangements afforded us matter of converse on the way, and much
amusement. Then my father and Mr. ---- had long argumentations about
acting: the latter is a vehement admirer of Kean; and of course, that
being the case, matter of debate was not wanting. It was all extremely
pleasant and profitable; and while the sun shone, and we all kept our
tempers, nothing could do better. ---- amused me by telling me portions
of ----'s book, the Adventures of a younger Son, with which he had been
extremely charmed; and which I remember beginning on board ship, as we
crossed from England.
* * * * *
* * * * *
At about half-past three, we arrived at a place called
_Syracuse_!!!--where, stopping to change horses, my father observed that
here there were two different routes to our point of destination; and
desired our driver to take that which passes through Skaneateles, a very
beautiful village, situated on a lake so called. However, to this the
master of the inn, who was also, I believe, proprietor of the coach,
seemed to have some private objection; and while my father was yet
speaking, very coolly shut the coach door in his face, and desired the
driver to go on in the contrary direction. The insolence of the fellow
enraged my father extremely; and it was rather astonishing, that's the
fact: but the deuce is in't if, in a free country, a man may not choose
which way his own coach shall go, in spite of the folk who pay him for
the use of it. We had to pocket the affront; and, what was much more
disagreeable, to travel an ugly uninteresting road, instead of a
picturesque and pretty one. We had not proceeded many miles after this
occurrence, and were just recovering our equanimities, when the said
vehicle broke down. We were not overturned or hurt, only tilted a little
on one side. The driver, however, did not seem to think it safe to
proceed in this condition: the gentlemen got out, and searched the
hedges and thickets for a piece of oak sufficiently strong and stout to
repair, at least for the moment, the damage: we were not at the time
within reach of any house. At last, they procured what they wanted; and,
having propped up the carriage after the best fashion they could, we
proceeded at a foot pace to the next village. Here, while they were
putting our conveyance into something like better order, ---- and I
wandered away to a pretty bright water-course, which, like all water in
this country, was made to turn a mill. The coach being made sound once
more, we packed ourselves into it, and progressed. The evening was
perfectly sultry. I never shall forget, at a place where we stopped to
water the horses, a cart-full of wretched sheep and calves, who were, I
suppose, on their way to the slaughterhouse, but who, in the mean time,
seemed enduring the most horrible torture that creatures can suffer.
They were jammed into the cart so as to be utterly incapable of moving a
single limb; the pitiless sun shone fiercely upon their wretched heads,
and their poor eyes were full of dust and flies. I never saw so
miserable a spectacle of suffering. I looked at the brutal-looking man
that was driving them, and wondered whether he would go to hell, for
tormenting these helpless beasts in this fashion.
The sun set gloriously. Mr. ---- began talking about Greece, and,
getting a good deal excited, presently burst forth into "The isles of
Greece! the isles of Greece!" which he recited with amazing vehemence
and earnestness. He reminded me of Kean several times: while he was
declaiming, he looked like a tiger. 'Tis strange, or, rather, 'tis not
strange, 'tis but natural, how, in spite of the contempt and even hatred
which he often expresses for England, and every thing connected with it,
his thoughts and plans, and all the energies of his mind, seem for ever
bent upon changes to be wrought in England--freer government, purer
laws, more equal rights. He began to talk about Cromwell: he wanted, he
said, to have a play written out of Cromwell's life. We talked the
matter over with infinite zeal, and established most satisfactorily,
that to accomplish such a thing, as it ought to be done, would be quite
one of the most difficult tasks in the world. Nobody but a religious and
political enthusiast could do it: a poet, unless himself a republican
Englishman, and fanatical sectarian, hardly could: it must be unlike all
other works of art--not an imitation of truth, but truth itself.
Schiller is the only man I can imagine who could have attempted it with
any chance of success: and I even doubt whether he would have made of it
the firebrand our friend wants.[105] Towards evening the heat became
more and more oppressive. Our coach was but ill cobbled, and leaned
awfully to one side. I fell asleep lying in my father's lap; and when we
reached Auburn, which was not until nine o'clock, I was so tired, so
miserably sleepy, and so tortured with the side-ach, from the cramped
position in which I had been lying, that I just crawled into the first
room in the inn where we alighted, and dropped down on the floor fast
asleep. They roused me for supper; and very soon after I betook myself
to bed. The heat was intolerable; the pale feet of the summer lightning
ran along the black edges of the leaden clouds,--the world was alight
with it. I could not sleep: I never endured such suffocating heat.
_Sunday, 14th._
Rose at eight: the morning was already sultry as the hottest noon in
England. After breakfast, I wandered about the house in search of shade;
went into an empty room, opened the shutters, and got out upon a large
piazza, or rather colonnade, which surrounded it. The side I had chosen
was defended by the house from the fierce sunlight; and I walked up and
down in quiet and loneliness for some time. Not far from the house stood
the prison, one of the state prisons of the country; a large grey
building, which appeared like a huge block of granite, unsheltered by a
single tree or bush, and dim with the hazy heat of the atmosphere. Being
Sunday, we were not able to visit it; but the person who kept the house
where we were, a very intelligent and civil man, gave us some account of
it, and fully corroborated the fact which Stuart mentions,--that when
the prison took fire, and all the criminals confined in it were
liberated to assist in saving the building, in spite of the general
confusion and total absence of restraint or observation, which for some
time left them the most easy opportunity of escape, not one of them took
advantage of this accident to recover their liberty, but every prisoner
returned voluntarily, after the fire was got under, to his cell. This
seems miraculous, and speaks more for the excellence of the system
pursued in these establishments than all the disquisitions in the world.
At about ten, our exclusive extra having driven to the door, we packed
ourselves into it, and proceeded towards Geneva, where we were to dine.
The sky, however, presently became overcast; and, towards noon, the
world was absolutely shrouded in a lead-coloured pall. The air was
stifling: it was impossible to draw one's breath; and a quarter of a
degree more of heat would certainly have occasioned suffocation. We were
all gasping. Suddenly the red lightning tore open the heavy clouds, the
thunder rolled round the heavens, the rain came down in torrents: we
were away from all shelter, and obliged to proceed through the storm.
The leather curtains of our coach were speedily unrolled and buttoned
down; but this formed but a miserable shelter against the furious rain.
Our carpet bags, which were on the outside of the carriage, were soaked
through; and we ourselves were soon in nearly as bad a plight. The rain
came in rivulets through the crevices of our insufficient shelter, and
the seats and bottom of the coach were presently standing pools. We
arrived between twelve and one o'clock at Cayuga; and here we drew up
before the inn door, to await the end of the storm. The rain was still
so violent, that we preferred remaining in the coach to getting out and
being still more thoroughly drenched. The thunder growled sulkily at a
distance, and the lightning glared rapidly from side to side. By
degrees, the over-swollen clouds, having emptied themselves, rolled
away; the rain became less violent; the mist and heavy vapour parted
from off the face of the earth, and the lake appeared blending with the
sky amid the indistinct and hazy outlines of the half-shrouded country.
While we were sitting listening to the storm, silence had fallen upon us
all: a thunderstorm is apt to prove an interruption to conversation.
During this pause, Mr. ---- took out his pencil, and wrote upon a scrap
of paper a very eloquent Mahomedan description of the attributes of God.
I do not know whether it was his own, or an authentic Mahomedan
document: it was sublime.
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
The storm having abated, we proceeded on our way; crossed a bridge a
mile and some roods long, over the Cayuga lake; which, however, was
still so veiled with scowling mist and clouds, that we could discern
none of its features. At about three o'clock we reached Geneva, a small
town situated on a lake called Seneca Water. Here we dined. ---- had
most providentially brought silver forks with him: for the wretched
two-pronged iron implements furnished us by our host were any thing but
clean or convenient. After dinner, the weather having become mild and
bright, we went up to a piazza on the second floor, which overlooked the
lake and its banks: the latter are very picturesque; and the town
itself, climbing in terraces along the side of a steep acclivity, rising
from the water, has a very good effect. The lake at this point did not
appear very wide; for we could distinguish, from where we stood, minute
objects on the opposite shore.
After resting ourselves for a short time, we again took to our coach,
and pursued our route towards Canandaigua, where we were to pass the
night. The afternoon was bright and beautiful, the road tolerable, and
the country through which we passed fertile and smiling.
As the evening began to come on, we reached Canandaigua Lake, a very
beautiful sheet of water, of considerable extent; we coasted for some
time close along its very margin. The opposite shore was high, clothed
with wood, from amidst which here and there a white house looked
peacefully down on the clear mirror below: the dead themselves can
hardly inhabit regions more blessedly apart from the evil turmoil of the
world, than the inhabitants of these beautiful solitudes.[106]
Leaving the water's edge, we proceeded about a quarter of a mile, and
found ourselves at the door of the inn at Canandaigua, the principal
among some houses surrounding an open turfed space, like an English
village green, across which ran the high road. My father, Mr. ----, and
I went up to a sort of observatory at the top of the house, from whence
the view was perfectly enchanting. The green below, screened on three
sides with remarkably fine poplar trees, and surrounded by neat white
houses, reminded me of some retired spot in my own dear country.
Opposite us, the land rose with a gentle wooded swell; and to the left,
the lake spread itself to meet the horizon. A fresh breeze blew over the
earth, most grateful after the intense heat of the morning, and the sky
was all strewed with faint rosy clouds, melting away one by one into
violet wreaths, among which the early evening star glittered cold and
clear.
We came down to supper, which was served to us, as usual, in a large
desolate-looking public room. After this, we came to the sitting-room
they had provided for us, a small comfortable apartment, with a very
finely-toned piano in it. To this I forthwith sat down, and played and
sang for a length of time: late in the evening, I left the instrument,
and my father, Mr. ----, and I took a delightful stroll under the
colonnade, discussing Milton; many passages of which my father recited
most beautifully, to my infinite delight and ecstasy. By and by they
went in, and ---- came out to walk with me.
Certainly this climate is the most treacherous imaginable: the heat this
morning had been intolerable, and to-night a piercing cold wind had
arisen, that would have rendered winter clothing by no means
superfluous. We walked rapidly up and down, till the bleak blast became
so keen, that we were glad to take refuge in the house. Our unfortunate
carpet bags and their contents are literally drenched: many of my goods
and chattels will never recover this ablution; among others, I am sorry
to say, ----'s beautiful satchel.
_Monday, 15th._
Our breakfast, which was extremely comfortable and clean, was served to
us in our private room; a singular favour: one, I hope, which will
become a custom as the country is travelled through by greater numbers.
Before breakfast, D---- had been taking a walk about the pretty village,
and trying to beg, borrow, or steal some flowers for me. The master of
the inn, however, succeeded better than she did; for he presently made
his appearance with a very beautiful and fragrant nosegay, which I
found, to my utter dismay, had been levied from a gentleman's private
garden in my name. My horror was excessive at this, and was scarcely
diminished when I discovered, upon enquiry, that they had been gathered
from Mr. ----'s garden; that gentleman having large property and a fine
residence here. He was not in Canandaigua himself; but, as we drove
past his house, I left cards for his lady, who must have thought my
demand on her green-house one of the greatest impertinencies extant. It
was nine o'clock when we left Canandaigua: we were all a little done up
with our two previous days; and it was unanimously settled that we
should proceed only to Rochester, a distance of between thirty and forty
miles, which we accomplished by two o'clock.
Rochester, upon whose site, I understand, twenty years ago there stood
hardly a house, is now a large and populous manufacturing town. The
progress of life in this country is amazing. From day to day the
wilderness becomes inhabited, peopled, civilised; and where yesterday
the majestic woods were standing, and the silent waters gliding in all
the solemn solitude of unexplored nature, to-day the sound of the forge
and anvil is heard, the busy feet of men pass and repass, their mingled
voices resound, their dwellings arise; the wheels of a thousand
mechanical miracles clash, creak, and jar; the vapours of a thousand
steam-engines mingle with the hitherto lonely clouds; and the huge fins
of a thousand steam-boats beat the waters, carrying over their hitherto
undisturbed surface the vast produce of industry. The labours, the arts,
the knowledge, the wealth, the wonders of education and civilisation! It
is something that fills one with admiration, in the old, and eke the
new, sense of the word.
The inn at which we alighted was large and comfortable: in the
drawing-room I found a very tolerable piano-forte, to which I instantly
betook myself. By the time we had seen our bed-rooms, and ordered
dinner, we found we should have leisure, before it was ready, to walk to
the falls of the Genesee (the river on which Rochester stands), which
have some celebrity for their beauty. A man from the hotel volunteered
to be our guide, and joined our party. We walked up the main street,
which was crowded and full of business. From this, presently turning
off, we followed a wider road, with houses and pretty flower gardens on
each side, and reached, after half a mile's walk, a meadow skirted by a
deep ravine, through which the river ran; from whence we looked
immediately upon the falls. They would be, and were, I doubt not, once
beautiful; for the barrier of rock, over which the river throws itself
into the valley below, is of considerable breadth and height; but, alas!
the waters have been turned off to turn mills, and a thin curtain, which
falls over the rocks like a vapoury sheet of blue smoke, is all that
remains of the Genesee falls; whilst, from a thousand dingy-looking
mills and manufactories, the poor little rivulets of labouring water
come rushing through narrow dirty channels, all stained and foaming and
hot from their work, to throw themselves into the thin bosom of their
parent stream. Truly, mills and steam-engines are wonderful things, and
I know that men must live; but I wish it were not expedient to destroy
what God has made so very beautiful, in order to make it useful. Our
guide perceiving our admiration was a good deal excited by the
picturesque beauty of the scene, fell into a species of rhapsody,
which terminated thus: "Yes, sir, when I see the waters thus falling
_from the bottom to the top_; I say, sir, when I look at the
water falling from _the bottom to the top_, I can compare it to
nothing--but--but--but--wool out of a cotton-mill!" This was an
unlooked-for climax, and gave us all a violent inclination to laugh in
the face of the orator; which, however, would have been exceedingly
wrong; for so sincere was the good man in his enthusiasm, that he was
not in the least aware of the miraculous proceeding which he twice, with
much emphasis, ascribed to the _upward falling_ water.[107]
* * * * *
* * * * *
We waited in this meadow for the passing of a train of rail-road
carriages, which run between Rochester and a small village about three
miles distant, where the river was said to be very beautiful. We hailed
them as they went by, and proceeded in them to their destination. The
view itself, from this point, though romantic and pretty, was scarce
worth going out of the way for; the walk back, however, was delightful.
The river runs here through a deep gully, the banks rising precipitously
above a hundred feet on each side of it. On one side they are
beautifully and thickly wooded; the other presents a bare wall of
reddish rock lying in very regular strata. About a mile and a half
below the falls, the channel of the river contracts itself, and the
water, forcing its way through some irregular rocky projections, forms a
very pretty miniature cataract. We walked along the high margin of the
glen, upon some very thick soft turf, looking down upon the deep bed of
the water, and enjoying a delicious fresh breeze. 'Tis curious enough,
that upon this strip of turf, close to the high road, under the shelter
of a group of trees, we found a couple of tomb-stones. They were
carefully railed round, and bore the names of a man and his wife,
without, however, assigning any cause for their choice of a burial-place
so public and unhallowed. The last mile of our walk was by no means so
agreeable as the previous part had been. Nearing the town, we had to
leave the brink of the river and follow the dusty track of the
rail-road. When we reached Rochester, we dined; after which I went and
lay down, and slept till tea-time. When I came down to tea, found the
gentlemen profoundly busied: ---- writing home, Mr. ---- journalising,
my father poring over maps and road-books, to find out if we could not
possibly get as far as Niagara to-morrow.
_Tuesday, 16th._
Had to get up before I'd half done my sleep. At six, started from
Rochester for Murray, where we purposed breakfasting. Just as we were
nearing the inn, at this same place, our driver took it into his head to
give us a taste of his quality. We were all earnestly engaged in a
discussion, when suddenly I felt a tremendous sort of stunning blow, and
as soon as I opened my eyes, found that the coach was overturned, lying
completely on its side. I was very comfortably curled up under my
father, who, by Heaven's mercy, did not suffocate me; opposite sat
D----, as white as a ghost, with her forehead cut open, and an
awful-looking stream of blood falling from it; by her stood Mr. ----,
also as pale as ashes: ---- was perched like a bird above us all, on the
edge of the doorway, which was open. The first thing I did, was to cry
as loud as ever I could, "I'm not hurt, I'm not hurt!" which assurance I
shouted sufficiently lustily to remove all anxiety from their minds. The
next thing was to get my father up; in accomplishing which, he trampled
upon me most cruelly. As soon as I was relieved from his mountainous
pressure, I got up, and saw, to my dismay, two men carrying Mr. ----
into the house. We were all convinced that some of his limbs were
broken: I ran after as quickly as I could, and presently the house was
like an hospital. They carried him into an upper room, and laid him on a
bed; here, too, they brought D----, all white and bleeding. Our
hand-baskets and bags were ransacked for salts and eau de Cologne. Cold
water, hot water, towels, and pocket handkerchiefs, were called into
requisition; and I, with my clothes all torn, and one shoulder all
bruised and cut, went from the one to the other in utter dismay.
Presently, to my great relief, Mr. ---- revived; and gave ample
testimony of having the use of his limbs, by getting up, and, in the
most skilful manner, plastering poor D----'s broken brow up. ---- went
in quest of my father, who had received a violent blow on his leg, and
was halting about, looking after the baggage and the driver, who had
escaped unhurt.[108] The chief cause of our misfortune was the economy
with which the stage-coaches are constructed in this thrifty land; that
is, they have but one door, and, of course, are obliged to be turned
round much oftener than if they had two: in wheeling us, therefore,
rapidly up to the inn, and turning the coach with the side that had a
door towards the house, we swung over, and fell. While the coach was
being repaired, and the horses changed, we, bound up, bruised, and
aching, but still very merry, sat down to breakfast. Mr. ----, who had
been merely stunned, seized on the milk and honey, and stuffed away with
great zeal: poor D---- was the most deplorable of the party, with a
bloody handkerchief bound over one half her face; I only ached a little,
and I believe ---- escaped with a scratch on his finger; so, seeing it
was no worse, we thanked God, and devoured. After breakfast, we packed
ourselves again in our vehicle, and progressed. Mr. ---- had procured
for me a bunch of flowers; and I amused myself with making a wreath of
them. Our route lay over what is called the Ridge road; a very
remarkable tract, pursuing a high embankment, which was once the
boundary of Lake Ontario; though the waters are now distant from it
upwards of seven miles. The theories of the geologists respecting the
former position of the lake are very singular; though borne out by
similar instances of natural convulsions, and also by the very features
of the land. The country through which we journeyed to-day was wilder
and less cultivated than any we have yet seen. A great deal of forest
land, consisting of close, thin, tall, second-growth, springing around
the stump of many a huge tree; thick tangled underwood; marsh and damp
green wilderness, where the grass and bushes trailed about in rank
luxuriance; and piles of felled timber, with here and there a root yet
smoking, bore witness to the first inroads of human cultivation. None of
the trees that were standing were of any girth, or comparable in size
and beauty to our park trees; but some of the stumps were of large size,
and must have been the foundations of noble forest pillars. Our road,
after leaving the Ridge road, was horrible: for some length of time
before we reached Lockport, we were dragged over what is called a
_corduroy road_; which consists merely of logs of wood laid close to
each other, the natural inequalities of which produce a species of
jolting incomparably superior to any other I ever felt, and
administering but little comfort either to our bruised bones or
apprehensive nerves.
We reached Lockport at about four o'clock. There had been rain in the
course of the morning, but the evening was clear, though very cold. The
appearance of Lockport is very singular: a collection of new white
houses, that look as though they were but this instant finished,
standing in a half-cleared wilderness. All round the town, if such it
may be called, stretch the remains of the once pathless woods, half
cleared, half savage-looking yet; and, as far as the eye can reach, the
country presents a series of dreary slopes, covered with prostrate
trees, heaps of hewn timber, smoking stumps, and blackened trunks--a
sort of forest stubble-land--a very desolate-looking thing indeed. The
house where we stopped appeared to be hardly finished. We ordered
dinner, and I forthwith began kindling a fire, which was extremely
welcome to us all. I was very much bruised with our morning's overturn,
and went and lay down in my bed-room, where I presently slept
profoundly.
_Wednesday, 17th._
At nine o'clock, we started from Lockport: before doing so, however, we
went down to the canal side to look at the works, which are here very
curious and interesting. ---- ran into a bookseller's shop, and got
----'s book for me, which he was going to pounce upon without knowing
what it was; and ----, for some reasons best known to himself, snatched
it away from him, saying it was a book which he was sure he would not
like. The road between Lockport and Lewistown is very pretty; and we got
out and walked whenever the horses were changed. At one place where we
stopped, I saw a meek-eyed, yellowish-white cart-horse, standing with a
man's saddle on his back. The opportunity was irresistible, and the
desire too--I had not backed a horse for so long. So I got up upon the
amazed quadruped, woman's fashion, and took a gallop through the fields,
with infinite risk of falling off, and proportionate satisfaction. We
reached Lewistown at about noon, and anxious enquiries were instituted
as to how our luggage was to be forwarded, when on the other side; for
we were _exclusive extras_; and for creatures so above common fellowship
there is no accommodation in this levelling land. A ferry and a
ferry-boat, however, it appeared, there were, and thither we made our
way. While we were waiting for the boat, I climbed out on the branches
of a huge oak, which grew over the banks of the river, which here rise
nearly a hundred feet high. Thus comfortably perched, like a bird,
'twixt heaven and earth, I copied off some verses which I had scrawled
just before leaving Lockport. The ferry-boat being at length procured,
we got into it. The day was sultry; the heat intolerable.
The water of this said river Niagara is of a most peculiar colour, like
a turquoise when it turns green. It was like a thick stream of
verdigris, full of pale milky streaks, whirls, eddies, and
counter-currents, and looked as if it were running up by one bank, and
down by the other. I sat in the sun, on the floor of the boat, revising
my verses.
* * * * *
* * * * *
Arrived on the other side, _i. e._ Canada, there was a second pause, as
to how we were to get conveyed to the Falls. My father, ----, and D----
betook themselves to an inn by the road-side, which promised
information and assistance; and ---- and I, clambering up the heights of
Queenston, sat ourselves down under some bushes, whence we looked
towards Lake Ontario, and where he told me the history of the place; how
his countrymen had thumped my countrymen upon this spot, and how the
English general Brock had fallen near where we sat. A monument, in the
shape of a stone pillar, has been erected to his memory; and to the top
of this ---- betook himself to reconnoitre; which ambitious expedition I
felt no inclination to share. After he had been gone some time, I
thought I perceived signs of stirring down by the inn door: I toiled up
the hill to the base of the pillar to fetch him, and we proceeded down
to the rest of the party. An uneasy-looking rickety cart without springs
was the sole conveyance we could obtain, and into this we packed
ourselves. ---- brought me some beautiful roses, which he had been
stealing for me, and ---- gave me a glass of milk; with which
restoratives I comforted myself, and we set forth. As we squeaked and
creaked (I mean our vehicle) up the hill, I thought either my father's
or ----'s weight quite enough to have broken the whole down; but it did
not happen. My mind was eagerly dwelling on what we were going to see:
that sight which ---- said was the only one in the world which had not
disappointed him. I felt absolutely nervous with expectation. The sound
of the cataract is, they say, heard within fifteen miles when the wind
sets favourably: to-day, however, there was no wind; the whole air was
breathless with the heat of midsummer, and, though we stopped our waggon
once or twice to listen as we approached, all was profoundest silence.
There was no motion in the leaves of the trees, not a cloud sailing in
the sky; every thing was as though in a bright warm death. When we were
within about three miles of the Falls, just before entering the village
of Niagara, ---- stopped the waggon; and then we heard distinctly,
though far off, the voice of the mighty cataract. Looking over the
woods, which appeared to overhang the course of the river, we beheld one
silver cloud rising slowly into the sky,--the everlasting incense of the
waters. A perfect frenzy of impatience seized upon me: I could have set
off and run the whole way; and when at length the carriage stopped at
the door of the Niagara house, waiting neither for my father, D----, nor
----, I rushed through the hall, and the garden, down the steep footpath
cut in the rocks. I heard steps behind me; ---- was following me: down,
down I sprang, and along the narrow footpath, divided only by a thicket
from the tumultuous rapids. I saw through the boughs the white glimmer
of that sea of foam. "Go on, go on; don't stop," shouted ----; and in
another minute the thicket was passed: I stood upon Table Rock. ----
seized me by the arm, and, without speaking a word, dragged me to the
edge of the rapids, to the brink of the abyss. I saw Niagara.--Oh, God!
who can describe that sight?