SPURZHEIM--HIS LODGINGS--PROCESS OF TAKING A CAST OF THE
HEAD--INCARCERATION OF DR. BOWRING AND DE POTTER--DAVID THE
SCULPTOR--VISIT OF DR. SPURZHEIM TO THE UNITED STATES.
My room-mate called a day or two since on General Bertrand, and
yesterday he returned the visit, and spent an hour at our lodgings. He
talked of Napoleon with difficulty, and became very much affected when
my friend made some inquiries about the safety of the body at St.
Helena. The inquiry was suggested by some notice we had seen in the
papers of an attempt to rob the tomb of Washington. The General said
that the vault was fifteen feet deep, and covered by a slab that could
not be moved without machinery. He told us that Madame Bertrand had
many mementoes of the Emperor, which she would be happy to show us,
and we promised to visit him.
At a party, a night or two since, I fell into conversation with an
English lady, who had lived several years in Dublin, and was an
intimate friend of Lady Morgan. She was an uncommonly fine woman, both
in appearance and conversational powers, and told me many anecdotes of
the authoress, defending her from all the charges usually made against
her, except that of vanity, which she allowed. I received, on the
whole, the impression that Lady Morgan's goodness of heart was more
than an offset to her certainly very innocent weaknesses. My companion
was much amused at an American's asking after the "fender in Kildare
street;" though she half withdrew her cordiality when I told her I
knew the countryman of mine who wrote the account of Lady Morgan, of
which she complains so bitterly in the "Book of the Boudoir." It was
this lady with whom the fair authoress "dined in the _Chaussee
d'Antin_," so much to her satisfaction.
While we were conversing, the lady's husband came up, and finding that
I was an American, made some inquiries about the progress of
_phrenology_ on the other side of the water. Like most enthusiasts in
the science, his own head was a remarkably beautiful one; and I soon
found that he was the bosom friend of Dr. Spurzheim, to whom he
offered to introduce me. We made an engagement for the next day, and
the party separated.
My new acquaintance called on me the next morning, according to
appointment, and we went together to Dr. Spurzheim's residence. The
passage at the entrance was lined with cases, in which stood plaster
casts of the heads of distinguished men, orators, poets,
musicians--each class on its particular shelf--making altogether a
most ghastly company. The doctor received my companion with great
cordiality, addressing him in French, and changing to very good
German-English when he made any observation to me. He is a tall,
large-boned man, and resembles Harding, the American artist, very
strikingly. His head is finely marked; his features are bold, with
rather a German look; and his voice is particularly winning, and
changes its modulations, in argument, from the deep, earnest tone of a
man, to an almost child-like softness. The conversation soon turned
upon America, and the doctor expressed, in ardent terms, his desire to
visit the United States, and said he had thought of accomplishing it
the coming summer. He spoke of Dr. Channing--said he had read all his
works with avidity and delight, and considered him one of the clearest
and most expansive minds of the age. If Dr. Channing had not strong
developments of the organs of _ideality_ and _benevolence_, he said,
he should doubt his theory more than he had ever found reason to. He
knew Webster and Professor Silliman by reputation, and seemed to be
familiar with our country, as few men in Europe are. One naturally, on
meeting a distinguished phrenologist, wishes to have his own
developments pronounced upon; but I had been warned by my friend that
Dr. Spurzheim refused such examinations as a general principle, not
wishing to deceive people, and unwilling to run the risk of offending
them. After a half hour's conversation, however, he came across the
room, and putting his hands under my thick masses of hair, felt my
head closely all over, and mentioned at once a quality, which, right
or wrong, has given a tendency to all my pursuits in life. As he knew
absolutely nothing of me, and the gentleman who introduced me knew no
more, I was a little startled. The doctor then requested me to submit
to the operation of having a cast taken of my head, an offer which was
too kind and particular to be declined; and, appointing an hour to be
at his rooms the following day, we left him.
I was there again at twelve, the morning after, and found De Potter
(the Belgian patriot) and Dr. Bowring, with the phrenologist, waiting
to undergo the same operation. The preparations looked very
formidable, A frame, of the length of the human body, lay in the
middle of the room, with a wooden bowl to receive the head, a
mattress, and a long white dress to prevent stain to the clothes. As I
was the youngest, I took my turn first. It was very like a preparation
for being beheaded. My neck was bared, my hair cut, and the long white
dress put on. The back of the head is taken first; and, as I was only
immersed up to the ears in the liquid plaster, this was not very
alarming. The second part, however, demanded more patience. My head
was put once more into the stiffened mould of the first half, and as
soon as I could get my features composed I was ordered to shut my
eyes; my hair was oiled and laid smooth, and the liquid plaster poured
slowly over my mouth, eyes, and forehead, till I was cased completely
in a stiffening mask. The material was then poured on thickly, till
the mask was two or three inches thick, and the voices of those
standing over me were scarcely audible. I breathed pretty freely
through the orifices at my nose; but the dangerous experiment of
Mademoiselle Sontag, who was nearly smothered in the same operation,
came across my mind rather vividly; and it seemed to me that the
doctor handled the plaster quite too ungingerly, when he came to mould
about my nostrils. After a half hour's imprisonment, the plaster
became sufficiently hardened, and the thread which was laid upon my
face was drawn through, dividing the mask into two parts. It was then
gradually removed, pulling very tenaciously upon my eyelashes and
eyebrows, and leaving all the cavities of my face filled with
particles of lime. The process is a tribute to vanity, which one would
not be willing to pay very often.
I looked on at Dr. Bowring's incarceration with no great feeling of
relief. It is rather worse to see than to experience, I think. The
poet is a nervous man; and as long as the muscles of his face were
visible, his lips, eyelids, and mouth, were quivering so violently
that I scarcely believed it would be possible to get an impression of
them. He has a beautiful face for a scholar--clear, well-cut, finished
features, expressive of great purity of thought; and a forehead of
noble amplitude, white and polished as marble. His hair is black and
curling (indicating in most cases, as Dr. Spurzheim remarked, activity
of mind), and forms a classical relief to his handsome temples.
Altogether, his head would look well in a picture, though his ordinary
and ungraceful dress, and quick, bustling manner, rather destroy the
effect of it in society.
De Potter is one of the noblest-looking men I ever saw. He is quite
bald, with a broad, ample, majestic head, the very model of dignity
and intellect. Dr. Spurzheim considers his head one of the most
extraordinary he has met. _Firmness_ is the great development of its
organs. His tone and manner are calm and very impressive, and he looks
made for great occasions--a man stamped with the superiority which
others acknowledge when circumstances demand it. He employs himself in
literary pursuits at Paris, and has just published a pamphlet on "the
manner of conducting a revolution, so that no after-revolution shall
be necessary." I have translated the title awkwardly, but that is the
subject.
I have since heard Dr. Spurzheim lecture twice, and have been with him
to a meeting of the "Anthropological Society" (of which he is the
president and De Potter the secretary), where I witnessed the
dissection of the human brain. It was a most interesting and
satisfactory experiment, as an illustration of phrenology. David the
sculptor is a member of the society, and was present. He looks more
like a soldier than an artist, however--wearing the cross of the
Legion of Honor, with a military frock coat, and an erect, stern,
military carriage. Spurzheim lectures in a free, easy, unconstrained
style, with occasionally a little humor, and draws his arguments from
admitted facts only. Nothing could be more reasonable than his
premises, and nothing more like an axiom than the results, as far as I
have heard him. At any rate, true or false, his theory is one of
extreme interest, and no time can be wasted in examining it; for it is
the study of man, and therefore the most important of studies.
I have had several long conversations with Dr. Spurzheim about
America, and have at last obtained his positive assurance that he
would visit it. He gave me permission this morning to say (what I am
sure all lovers of knowledge will be pleased to hear) that he should
sail for New York in the course of the ensuing summer, and pass a year
or more in lecturing and travelling in the United States. He is a man
to obtain the immediate confidence and respect of a people like ours,
of the highest moral worth, and the most candid and open mind.
LETTER XXI.
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS--DESULTORY REMARKS.
I take my departure from Paris to-morrow. I have just been making
preparations to pack, and it has given me a fit of bad spirits. I have
been in France only a few months, but if I had lived my life here, I
could not be more at home. In my almost universal acquaintance, I have
of course made pleasant friends, and, however time and travel should
make us indifferent to such volant attachments, I can not now cast off
these threads of intimacy, without pulling a little upon very sincere
feelings. I have been burning the mass of papers and cards that have
accumulated in my drawers; and the sight of these French invitations,
mementoes, as they are, of delightful and fascinating hours, almost
staggers my resolution of departure. It has been an intoxicating time
to me. Aside from lighter attractions, this metropolis collects within
itself so much of the distinction and genius of the world; and gifted
men in Paris, coming here merely for pleasure, are so peculiarly
accessible, that one looks upon them as friends to whom he has become
attached and accustomed, and leaves the sphere in which he has met
them, as if he had been a part of it, and had a right to be regretted.
I do not think I shall ever spend so pleasant a winter again. And then
my local interest is not a light one. I am a great lover of
out-of-doors, and I have ransacked Paris thoroughly. I know it all
from its broad faubourgs to its obscurest _cul de sac_. I have hunted
with antiquaries for coins and old armor; with lovers of adventure for
the amusing and odd; with the curious for traces of history; with the
romantic for the picturesque. Paris is a world for research. It
contains more odd places, I believe, more odd people, and every way
more material for uncommon amusement, than any other city in the
universe. One might live a life of novelty without crossing the
barrier. All this insensibly attaches one. My eye wanders at this
moment from my paper to these lovely gardens lying beneath my window,
and I could not feel more regret if they were mine. Just over the long
line of low clipped trees, edging the fashionable terrace, I see the
windows of the king within half a stone's throw--the windows at which
Napoleon has stood, and the long line of the monarchs of France, and
it has become to me so much a habit of thought, sitting here in the
twilight and musing on the thousand, thousand things linked with the
spot my eye embraces, that I feel as if I had grown to it--as if Paris
had become to me, what it is proverbially and naturally enough to a
Frenchman--"the world."
I have other associations which I part from less painfully, because I
hope at some future time to renew them--those with my own countrymen.
There are few pleasanter circles than that of the Americans in Paris.
Lafayette and his numerous family make a part of them. I could not
learn to love this good man more, but seeing him often brings one's
reverence more within the limits of the affections; and I consider
the little of his attention that has fallen to my share the honored
part of my life, and the part best worth recording and remembering. He
called upon me a day or two ago, to leave with me some copies of a
translation of Mr. Cooper's letter on the finances of our government,
to be sent to my friend Dr. Howe; but, to my regret, I did not see
him. He neglects no American, and is ever busied about some project
connected with their welfare. May God continue to bless him!
And speaking of Mr. Cooper, no one who loves or owns a pride in his
native land, can live abroad without feeling every day what we owe to
the patriotism as well as the genius of this gifted man. If there is
an individual who loves the soil that gave him birth, and so shows it
that we are more respected for it, it is he. Mr. Cooper's position is
a high one; he has great advantages, and he improves them to the
uttermost. His benevolence and activity in all enterprises for the
relief of suffering, give him influence, and he employs it like a true
philanthropist and a real lover of his country. I say this
particularly, though it may look like too personal a remark, because
Americans abroad are _not_ always _national_. I am often mortified by
reproaches from foreigners, quoting admissions made by my countrymen,
which should be the last on their lips. A very distinguished person
told me a day or two since, that "the Americans abroad were the worst
enemies we had in Europe." It is difficult to conceive at home how
such a remark stings. Proportionately, one takes a true patriot to his
heart and I feel it right to say here, that the love of country and
active benevolence of Mr. Cooper distinguish him abroad, even more
than his genius. His house is one of the most hospitable and agreeable
in Paris; and with Morse and the circle of artists and men of
distinction and worth about him, he is an acquaintance sincerely to
regret leaving.
From Mr. Rives, our Minister, I have received every possible kindness.
He has attached me to his legation, to facilitate my access to other
courts and the society of other cities, and to free me from all delays
and annoyances at frontiers and custom-houses. It is a particular and
valuable kindness, and I feel a pleasure in acknowledging it. Then
there is Dr. Bowring, the lover and defender of the United States,
who, as the editor of the Westminster Review, should be well
remembered in America, and of him I have seen much, and from him I
have received great kindness. Altogether, as I said before, Paris is a
home to me, and I leave it with a heavy heart.
I have taken a place on the top of the diligence _for a week_. It is a
long while to occupy one seat, but the weather and the season are
delicious; and in the covered and roomy cabriolet, with the
_conducteur_ for a living reference, and all the appliances for
comfort, I expect to live very pleasantly, night and day, till I reach
Marseilles. _Vaucluse_ is on the way, and I shall visit it if I have
time and good weather, perhaps. At Marseilles I propose to take the
steamboat for Leghorn, and thence get directly to Florence, where I
shall remain till I become familiar with the Italian, at least. I lay
down my pen till all this plan of travel is accomplished, and so, for
the present, adieu!
LETTER XXII.
CHALONS, ON THE SAONE.--I have broken my route to stop at this pretty
town, and take the steamboat which goes down the Saone to Lyons
to-morrow morning. I have travelled two days and nights; but an
excellent dinner and a quickened imagination indispose me for sleep,
and, for want of better amusement in a strange city at night, I will
pass away an hour in transcribing the hurried notes I have made at the
stopping places.
I chose, by advice, the part of the diligence called the
_banquette_--a covered seat over the front of the carriage, commanding
all the view, and free from the dust of the lower apartments. The
_conducteur_ had the opposite corner, and a very ordinary-looking man
sat between us; the seat holding three very comfortably. A lady and
two gentlemen occupied the _coupe_; a dragoon and his family, going to
join his regiment, filled the _rotonde_; and in the interior was a
motley collection, whom I scarce saw after starting; the occupants of
the different parts of a diligence having no more association, even in
a week's travel, than people living in adjoining houses in the city.
We rolled out of Paris by the _faubourg St. Antoine_, and at the end
of the first post passed the first object that interested me--a small
brick pavilion, built by Henri Quatre for the beautiful Gabrielle
d'Estrees. It stands on a dull, level plain, not far from the banks of
the river; and nothing but the fact that it was once occupied by the
woman who most enslaved the heart of the most chivalrous and fickle of
the French monarchs, would call your attention to it for a moment.
For the twenty or thirty miles which we travelled by daylight, I saw
nothing particularly curious or beautiful. The guide-book is very
diffuse upon the chateaux and villages on the road, but I saw nothing
except very ordinary country-houses, and the same succession of small
and dirty villages, steeped to the very chimneys in poverty. If ever I
return to America, I shall make a journey to the west, for the pure
refreshment of seeing industry and thrift. I am sick to the heart of
pauperism and misery. Everything that is near the large towns in
France is either splendid or disgusting. There is no medium in
condition--nothing that looks like content--none of that class we
define in our country as the "respectable."
The moon was a little in the wane, but bright, and the night lovely.
As we got further into the interior, the towns began to look more
picturesque and antique; and, with the softening touch of the
moonlight, and the absence of beggars, the old low-browed buildings
and half-ruined churches assumed the beauty they wear in description.
I slept on the road, but the echo of the wheels in entering a
post-town woke me always; and I rarely have felt the picturesque more
keenly than, at these sudden wakings from dreams, perhaps, of familiar
things, finding myself opposite some shadowy relic of another age; as
if it were by magical transportation, from the fireside to some place
of which I had heard or read the history.
I awoke as we drove into _Sens_ at broad daylight. We were just
passing a glorious old pile of a cathedral, which I ran back to see
while the diligence stopped to change horses. It is of pointed
architecture, black with age, and crusted with moss. It was to this
town that Thomas a Becket retired in disgrace at his difference with
Henry the Second. There is a chapel in the cathedral, dedicated to his
memory. The French certainly should have the credit of leaving things
alone. This old pile stands as if the town in which it is built had
been desolate for centuries: not a letter of the old sculptures
chiselled out, not a bird unnested, not a filament of the gathering
moss pulled away. All looks as if no human hand had been near
it--almost as if no human eye had looked upon it. In America they
would paint such an old church white or red, shove down the pillars,
and put up pews, sell the pictures for fireboards, and cover the
tesselated pavement with sand, or a home-made carpet.
As we passed under a very ancient gate, crowning the old Roman
ramparts of the town, a door opened, and a baker, in white cap and
apron, thrust out his head to see us pass. His oven was blazing
bright, and he had just taken out a batch of hot bread, which was
smoking on the table; and what with the chill of the morning air and
having fasted for some fourteen hours, I quite envied him his
vocation. The diligence, however, pushed on most mercilessly till
twelve o'clock, the French never dreaming of eating before their late
_dejeuner_--a mid-day meal always. When we did get it, it was a dinner
in every respect--meats of all kinds, wine, and dessert, certainly as
solid and various as any of the American breakfasts, at which
travellers laugh so universally.
Auxerre is a pretty town, on a swelling bank of the river Yonne; and I
had admired it as one of the most improved-looking villages of France.
It was not till I had breakfasted there, and travelled a league or two
towards Chalons, that I discovered by the guide book it was the
ancient capital of Auxerrois, a famous town in the time of Julius
Caesar, and had the honor of being ravaged "at different times by
Attila, the Saracens, the Normans, and the Calvinists, vestiges of
whose devastations may still be seen." If I had not eaten of a
positively modern _pate foie gras_, and an _omelette souffle_, at a
nice little hotel, with a mistress in a cap, and a coquettish French
apron, I should forgive myself less easily for not having detected
antiquity in the atmosphere. One imagines more readily than he
realizes the charm of mere age without beauty.