_Worthy_ to Mrs. _Holmes_.
_Boston._
WE have surmounted the performance of the last scene of our
tragedy, with less difficulty and distress than I imagined. Great
numbers crowded to see the body of poor _Harrington_; they were
impressed with various emotions, for their sympathizing sorrow could not
be concealed—Indeed a man without sensibility exhibits no sign of a
soul. I was struck with admiration at the observations of the populace,
and the justness of the character they drew of the deceased, “Alas!”
said one—“poor youth thou art gone. Thou wast of a promising genius, of
violent passions, thou wast possessed of a too nice sensibility, and a
dread of shame. It is only such an one who would take the trouble to
kill himself. Ah! poor well natured, warm hearted, hot headed youth—how
my heart bleeds for you! We consider thee as the dupe of _Nature_, and
the sacrifice of Seduction.” The old father hears this, and becomes
overwhelmed with shame and sorrow.
THE jury which sat upon the body of our friend, after mature
consideration, brought in their verdict Suicide. The rigour of the law
was not executed—the body was privately taken away, and I saw it
deposited by the side of his faithful _Harriot_.
I SEND you inclosed a copy of the Monumental Inscription, as written by
_Harrington_. I found it with many loose papers. It contains the story
of our unfortunate friends, and a profitable moral is deduced from it.
THOUGH a few weeks begin to spread calm over our passions, yet the
recollection of our misfortunes will sometimes cause a momentary
agitation, as the ocean retains its swell, after the storms subsides.
Adieu!
Monumental Inscription.
THOU who shalt wander o’er these humble plains,
Where one kind grave their hapless dust contains,
O pass not on—if merit claim a tear,
Or dying virtue cause a sigh sincere.
Here rest their heads, consign’d to parent earth,
Who to one common father ow’d their birth;
Unknown this union—Nature still presides,
And Sympathy unites, whom Fate divides.
They see—they love—but heav’n their passion tries,
Their love sustains it, but their MORTAL dies.
Stranger! contemplate well before you part,
And take this serious counsel to thy heart:
Does some fair female of unspotted fame,
Salute thee, smiling, with a father’s name,
Bid her detest the fell Seducer’s wiles,
Who smiles to win—and murders as he smiles.
If ever wandering near this dark recess,
Where guardian spirits round the ether press,
Where, on their urn, celestial care descends,
Two lovers come, whom fair success attends,
O’er the pale marble shall they join their heads,
And drink the falling tears each other sheds,
Then sadly say, with mutual pity mov’d,
“O! may we NEVER LOVE AS THESE HAVE LOVED.”
[Illustration: The END.]
Notes.
FOR many reasons it has been thought best to reprint this book exactly
after the original copy, “VERBATIM ET LITERATIM ET PUNCTUATIM”; and
although the modern purist may feel offended at the archaisms of
orthography, syntax and punctuation—the last of which appears to have
been used with rhetorical and not grammatical significance—, he must
content himself with the fact that art would have lost all and science
gained nothing by the rewriting of the above pages in the diction of
today.
OUT of regard for the feelings of the descendants of the originals of
certain characters of the novel, who are living today in Boston, the
editor has decided to reveal the identity only of those of the personæ
who are already known, to a more or less extent, through the literary
history of New England. Although curiosity may turn away unsatisfied
with the volume, yet the art of it all remains through considering
Harrington, father and son, Maria and Harriot, and Mrs. Holmes nothing
more than types and not as individuals whose true biographies are
written.
VOL. I, page 83, begins the story of “Martin” and “Ophelia,” the real
characters of which were recognized at the time to be Mr. Perez Morton
and his young sister-in-law, Theodosia Francis Apthorp. In commenting on
this fact in the book, Sabin writes in his “Books relating to America”
(Vol. XV, Page 377) “This work created quite a sensation, and was
suppressed by interested parties. The names of Fanny Apthorp and Perez
Morton are not yet forgotten as connected with the matter.”
PEREZ MORTON was born at Plymouth, Nov. 13, 1751. His father settled at
Boston, and was keeper of the White Horse Tavern, opposite
Hayward-place, and died in 1793. The Son entered the Boston Latin School
in 1760, and graduated at Harvard College in 1771, when he studied law;
but the revolutionary war prevented his engaging in the practice, and he
took an active part in the cause of freedom. In 1775 he was one of the
Committee of Safety, and in the same year became deputy-secretary of the
province. After the war, he opened an office as an attorney at law, at
his residence in State-street, on the present site of the Union Bank.
In 1777 he married Sarah Wentworth Apthorp, at Quincy, noted by Paine as
the American Sappho. Mr. Morton was a leader of the old Jacobin Club,
which held meetings at the Green Dragon Tavern, and became a decided
Democrat. A political poet of Boston thus satirizes Perez Morton:
“Perez, thou art in earnest, though some doubt thee!
In truth, the Club could never do without thee!
My reasons thus I give thee in a trice,—
You want their votes, and they want your advice!
“Thy tongue, shrewd Perez, favoring ears insures,—
The cash elicits, and the vote secures.
Thus the fat oyster, as the poet tells,
The lawyer ate,—his clients gained the shells.”
MR. MORTON was Speaker of the House from 1806 to 1811, and was
attorney-general from 1810 to 1832; was a delegate from Dorchester to
the convention for revising the State constitution, in 1820, and was
vigorous in general debate. He died at Dorchester, Oct. 14, 1837. He was
an ardent patriot, an eloquent speaker, of an elegant figure and
polished manners.
THIS Mansion, (the home of “Worthy,” later the city residence of Mr.
Perez Morton) as enlarged and embellished by its honoured proprietor,
the late Charles Apthorp, Esq. was then, that is, about the middle of
the Eighteenth Century, said to be the scene of every elegance, and the
abode of every virtue. Now, (1823) its beautiful hall of entrance,
arches, sculpture, and bas-relief; the grandstair-case, and its highly
finished saloon, have been removed, or partitioned off, to accommodate
the bank and its dependencies.
THOMAS WENTWORTH Earl of Strafford, the Minister, and favourite of
Charles the First, sacrificed by that Monarch to his own personal
safety—was beheaded near the end of the reign. Charles, in his last
moments, declared that he suffered justly for having given up the Earl
of Strafford to popular fury.
THE near Relations of this Nobleman were the founders of the American
Family of Wentworth. This family being presumptive heirs to the now
extinct Title of that Earldom of Strafford.
THESE were Henry and Samuel Wentworth, the maternal uncles of the
Author, both perished before they had attained the age of twenty. The
first, on a northern voyage of curiosity and improvement, was entangled
amid floating masses of ice, and in that situation expired along with
the whole ship’s company, passengers and seamen.
HIS young brother, Samuel Wentworth, having been invited to England by
his noble relatives, was under the patronage of those, admitted as
student at the Temple; at which period he first met Miss Lane, the
object of his honourable passion, and the cause of his fatal misfortune,
the daughter of a great commercial house of that period. Her large
inheritance, by her father’s will, made dependent on the pleasure of her
mercantile brother, to the aristocracy of whose wealth, young Wentworth
could only oppose nobility of birth, accomplishment of mind and beauty
of person, possessions which the man of commerce held as nothing,
compared with the superior treasures of monied interest.
CONSEQUENTLY the love was prohibited, and the lover banished from his
mistress; who though closely imprisoned in her own apartment, found
means to preserve an epistolary connection. The correspondence
increasing the enthusiasm of restricted passion, until every possible
hope of their union being extinguished, a deadly vial was obtained, and
the contents, equally divided, were at one desperate moment swallowed by
both. Their last desire, of being buried in the same grave, was denied.
THESE frantic and too affectionate lovers, finished the short career of
their miseries on the birth day of Wentworth, being that which completed
the nineteenth year of his age. And it is not irrelevant to add, that
the brother of the lady lived to lose his immense possessions, and died
desolate and distressed; at which period, we trust, repentance came, and
forgiveness was awarded.
JOHN, the founder of the transatlantic race of Apthorp, was a man of
taste and talent in the Fine Arts; particularly those of Painting and
Architecture. A taste and talent, which has in some instance been
transmitted to his descendants even of the fifth generation.
AN ardent imagination, and an ambitious desire of mental improvement,
led him from his native country of Wales. And in England, he saw, loved,
and married, Miss Ward, a celebrated beauty, with a large fortune, whose
Portrait, by Sir Peter Lely, yet remains with her descendant. This
portrait is distinguished by the long dark eyes, which that artist
preferred and made fashionable.
THE qualities of both parents live, and are conspicuous in some of their
descendants. A highly respectable individual of these, whose superiority
of mind may possibly disdain such recollections, was, in his minority,
so transcendently handsome, that upon a Tour through the Southern
States, he was generally designated “The Eastern Angel.” As he now is,
the Genius of Canova might design that form as a model for the sublime
statue of melancholy, since his fortunes have fallen—like those of his
race—a voluntary sacrifice to the best sentiments, and the noblest
feelings of humanity, while domestic bereavements coming yet nearer to
his gracious heart have left it the prey of sorrow.
CHARLES BULFINCH, Esq. of Washington, at this time (1823,) the National
Architect, is one more evidence of the inestimable happiness of a good
descent.
THE present STONE CHAPEL (corner of School and Tremont
Streets)—originally the KING’S CHAPEL—founded by Royalty, was finished
by the generosity of individuals. Charles Apthorp, Esq. the son of John,
gave 5000l. sterling, a very large sum for the Provinces at that period,
about the middle of the eighteenth century.
HIS Marble Monument with a very fine Latin Inscription, by his Son,
still remains in the Chapel, which Monument covers the Tomb of the truly
noble-minded race of Apthorp.
How erst the shield, whose crested pride.
THE Crest, if not the whole Armorial Bearing, is thought or said to have
been conferred upon the Battle Field by Richard.
THE shield of the Apthorp arms, which bearing a MULLET or spur, in
heraldry, with truly Welsh prepossession, the family were fondly,
perhaps foolishly, wont to trace back to the Crusades.
BELLEVIEW was undoubtedly the Apthorp homestead at Quincy where Mrs.
Morton passed her youth.
IN the Rev. Mr. Holmes, Quincy antiquarians will readily recognize the
Rev. Dr. Greenleaf, whose religious and philosophical teachings
undoubtedly had great influence on the author who was to come so near
being his biographer.
[_The above notes are compiled principally from_ “MY MIND AND ITS
THOUGHTS.”—_A book referred to in the Introduction._]
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