immediately admitted. A person older than the visitor, quite deaf, pale
and suffering but without complaint, lay extended upon a couch in a soft
chintz dressing-gown, afflicted with that sort of Will-o'-the-wisp gout,
that takes the toe, the heel, the knee, the hip, the heart, the neck, the
head, and hands, in turn: not in any graceful rotation, not in any quiet
or systematic order; but that gratifies itself by darting with the
quickness of the electrick fire to which it is allied, to the part least
expecting or prepared to sustain the pang. Not an honest gentlemanly gout
that will exhibit itself and meet one fairly toe to toe with the
inflammation of undisguised passion; but an adder, a viper of the nerves
that stings and flies; and darts and disappears before the flesh has even
time to blush for its existence; so subtle yet so tormenting, so deep yet
so evanescent, that the patient in his agony half wonders whether it be a
malady of the body or of the soul; and only knows that it is a pain, aye
marry 'past all surgery!'
Our invalid was now enjoying a momentary interval of ease, and welcomed
his guest very cheerfully, although without attempting to do more than
extend his hand to him and beg him to sit near. Notwithstanding all
deafness the compliments of the morning, the enquiries after different
members of each other's family, and the comments on the weather, were made
and understood and interchanged with great facility, and the visit went
off swimmingly; until the stout gentleman, probably actuated by his desire
to speak of his successful purchase of the morning, ventured, at the first
pause, to ask his acquaintance if he were fond of fish?
'I thank you,' said the latter, 'the mare is decidedly better; that
bleeding in the hoof did her business completely, and I don't doubt that
by autumn she will be as well as ever.'
'I asked you,' said the visitor, in a determined tone, and like a person
who has something to say, 'I asked you, whether you were fond of
Fish?'--Alas! my masters! how many unnecessary, how many futile, how many
absurd questions, among the idle words that are dignified with the title
of conversation, are daily propounded in this grave world of ours! _Fond_
of fish! Fond of _Fish_! and that fish, a Shad! and that shad, a
Connecticut River Shad! and that Connecticut River Shad, a prime brace of
shad! in the highest season, and the highest order, and the finest brace
of shad in the entire haul of Enoch Smith, now yet quivering, without the
loss of one radiant scale, upon the snow-white dresser of this man's
imagination! Ought I to call it, an imagination? Ought I to go on with the
story, or abandon it as an impracticable thing? Fond of fish!
Oh commend me to a life of leisure in a small town upon the right bank of
the River Connecticut, and let my lease begin at the beginning of the shad
season! Give me Enoch Smith to draw the seine, a green lane to conduct me
to the river shore, and a Claude Lorraine morning for my day of purchase!
Fond of Fish! Why what an idea, to be conveyed upon the subject of this
brace of shad, from one Christian Being to another Christian Being, who
had both--as it is to be supposed--read and studied the lives of the
apostles! Fond of Fish!!!
But the stout man, finding that he was not apprehended, reiterated the
remarkable question; and in a still louder tone, exclaimed:
I--asked--you--whether--you--are--fond--of--Fish?' making a pause between
each of these peculiar words, and shooting the last word of the singular
interrogatory out of his mouth, by means of his fore-teeth and a most
emphatic under-lip, as a boy does a marble with the bent fore-finger and
thumb of the right hand.
'I perceive,' said the quiet person upon the couch, 'that you are asking
me a question; but really the _rhumatis_, (this is the way in which the
quiet person upon the couch thought proper to pronounce it,) has, I think,
quite got the better of my right ear. Would you do me the favour,'
continued he, turning the left side of his head toward his interlocutor
with the suavity of a person already obliged, 'would you do me the great
favour to repeat your enquiry?'
'I asked you,' said the other, growing scarlet in the gills like the shad
of his imagination, 'I--merely--asked--you,'--for he began (I thought at
the time) to grow vexed with the absurdity of his position in having given
utterance to a conception at once so feeble and yet so eccentrick; and
being a coarse man, could only get out by passionately going through what
he had to say; 'if--you--were--fond--of--Fish?' And on this occasion each
word seemed to me to have the force of a pistol-shot, and the last word
that of a cannon ball; and he rose as he spoke like a man of might and
purpose as he was, and clenched his hand, and quivered upon the stout bow
legs that sustained him as he stood: '_Fish_,' roared he! 'FISH,' shouted
he! 'I asked you if you were fond of FISH,' thundered he!
'I quite regret being so very deaf to-day, and yet I should be sorry,'
replied his imperturbable friend, fumbling in his pockets and looking
about the couch, 'to lose any observation of yours, and particularly one
in which you seem so earnest; here is a piece of paper, and here is a
pencil; be kind enough to write it down while I get on my glasses.' By the
time his eyes were reinforced the paper was ready, and glancing it over he
answered at once, raising himself suddenly upward, as he exclaimed at the
utmost reach of his voice and with deep and increasing energy, 'Oh, Very!'
'_Very!_' 'VERY!'
'Good morning, Mr. Johnson,' said his now blown and indignant visitor.
'Are you off? Well, good morning, captain!' replied the other; and as soon
as the door was closed, 'My neighbor Captain Tompkins, I am sorry to
perceive, has grown quite as deaf as myself,' said he in a musing manner.
'If I had his legs--'tis there he has the advantage of me--if I had his
legs, I could have collected all the news of the parish in the time that
he has been prosing here about my mare! And I wanted too to know something
this morning about shad. Here, Sally! tell Bob to run down the lane and
find out whether Enoch Smith is going to draw soon; and if Bob meet any
persons on the way with shad let him ask the price of the day before he
says a word to Smith.'
Away flew the little flaxen-haired fairy with her eyes of sapphire,
leaving her grandfather to relapse upon his couch in the posture in which
we first saw him, and to moralize on the impatience with which his
neighbour Captain Tompkins seemed to bear the approaching infirmities of
age. And now, Dear Reader, do thou emulate the patience of the old
Valetudinarian, while I relieve thee of my further presence; or, if thou
wilt permit the thought to enter the charities of thine heart, vanish from
thee like the blue-eyed girl.
JOHN WATERS.
TO A CERTAIN BOUQUET.
I.
In chill December's month, sweet flowers!
Your brilliant eyes first saw the light;
And you, instead of sun and showers,
Had watering-pots and anthracite.
II.
Go ye to MARY then, and while
Ye cease to mourn for summer skies,
Bask in the sunbeam of her smile,
And the sweet heaven of her eyes.
HORACE.
APOSTROPHE TO TIME.
Grave of the mighty past!
Ocean of time! whose surges breaking high,
Wash the dim shores of old Eternity,
Year after year has cast
Spoils of uncounted value unto thee,
And yet thou rollest on, unheeding, wild and free.
Within thy caverns wide,
The charnel-house of ages! gathered lie
Nations and empires, flung by destiny
Beneath thy flowing tide:
There rest alike the monarch and the slave;
There is no galling chain, no crown beneath thy wave.
The conqueror in his pride
Smiled a defiance, and the warrior stood
Firm as the rock that bides the raging flood;
The poet turned aside
And flung upon thy breast the wreath of Fame,
And thou hast swept away perchance his very name!
The craven and the brave,
The smile of blooming youth, and grey-haired age,
The ragged peasant and the learned sage,
Have found in thee a grave:
The vanquished land and despot on his ear,
Went down beneath thy wave, as falls the glancing star.
Thou hast the soaring thought,
The lofty visions of the daring soul;
The piercing eye, that bade the darkness roll
From Nature's laws, and sought
For years to trace her mysteries divine:
Oh! who shall count the gems that glitter on thy shrine?
Yet more is thine, proud sea!
Thou hast the mighty spoils of human wo,
The bright hopes crushed, the dark and bitter flow
Of grief and agony;
Thou hast the burning tears of wild despair,
Thou the wrung spirit's cry, the broken heart's strong prayer.
Thou hast the deathless love,
That smiled upon the storm and warred with life,
And looked serene, unscathed by earthly strife,
To realms of light above:
Thy priceless gems! oh! dost thou treasure these,
The jewels of the heart, within thy trackless seas?
When the loud voice of God
Shall shake the earth, and like a gathered scroll
At His command the boundless skies shall roll;
When from the grassy sod
The living soul shall start to life sublime,
Wilt thou not render back thy spoils, insatiate Time?
M. G.
REMINISCENCES OF A DARTMOOR PRISONER.
NUMBER TWO.
It was my intention in closing my last number to have opened the next in
the prison, and then to proceed with the narrative; but upon reflection, I
thought it might be more acceptable to the reader if I were to relate all
that took place; giving as it were a moving panorama of the events as they
occurred: but if he should be in greater haste to get to the prison than I
was, he has only to skip a few lines, to arrive there. But to proceed. Our
vessel, with several others, anchored at Gravesend, where the crews
received their pay. The amount coming to me, although small, was very
acceptable. I now received from the captain what he ought to have given me
on my joining his ship. I had stipulated with him, on signing his papers,
that he should give me a written pledge, exonerating me from fighting
against my country, should we fall in with any of our vessels. This he
withheld until the end of the voyage; and then, when it could be of no
possible use, he most magnanimously gave it to me. What the result would
have been had we fallen in with any of our cruisers, is beyond conjecture.
All was now bustle and confusion on board. The ship was like a floating
Babel. The decks were crowded with hucksters, boatmen, landlords, and
women of _undoubted_ character; all upon one errand, and actuated by one
motive; united in purpose though divided by interest, they were bent upon
fleecing poor Jack of his hard-earned money. No doubt they succeeded, for
Jack is at best but a poor financier.
Amid the confusion, I managed to slip unobserved on board a Gravesend boat
which was crowded with passengers, and in a few minutes was flying before
a smart breeze, on my way to London. It was past sun-down, and the shades
of evening were fast veiling surrounding objects as we approached this
vast and mighty city, the heart's-core as it were of the world. I cannot
express my feelings, nor convey by words the ideas that swelled my mind
until the sensation became intensely exciting, as the dusky spires of the
Tower, St. Paul's, etc., peered above the smoky atmosphere. All that I had
read from early childhood of London, its bridges, towers and domes, came
rushing and crowding upon my memory. It was lamp-light when we landed at
Wapping, (gas was then unknown,) and I felt the full force of my lonely
condition. Young and inexperienced; surrounded by vast multitudes, yet
known to none; I was completely bewildered.
I was aroused from my reverie by a person touching my elbow, and inquiring
if I wanted lodgings. He was a keeper of a boarding-house; and thinking I
might as well be imposed upon by him as by any other of the fraternity, I
accepted his offer to show me to his house. I went home with him, and
agreed to pay him a guinea per week for such board and accommodations as
might be had for half that price by any one but a stranger. I ate more
fresh salmon during the short time I tarried with him, than I ever did
before or since. I infer from this that it must have been very cheap, as
his object was more to make money than to accommodate. I was in London
about three weeks, and during that time made the best use of my poor means
to learn all I could of a place I had longed but never hoped to see. As I
traversed Tower Hill, my mind wandered back for centuries, and dwelt upon
the strange events in history which had been enacted there; of the soil
where I stood, that had been moistened by the blood of monarchs, soldiers
and statesmen. As I gazed upon the massive gray walls of the Tower, the
magic scenes of Shakspeare arose, and passed in review before me. I
thought of Gloucester, Clarence, Hastings, Henry VI., his two murdered
nephews: then came forth the unhappy Jane Shore, pale, exhausted, and
starving; no one daring to offer a mouthful of food to save the poor
wretch from death. But the scene changes. It is night; and I see Falstaff
and his companions at the rising of the moon, 'by whose light they steal.'
They go forth and are lost sight of in the misty shadows of those dark,
time-worn buildings; and anon we hear him waging battle with the 'ten men
in buckram suits.'
Bartholomew Fair came on while I was in London. This I was desirous of
witnessing; to see how far it would accord with the descriptions by 'rare
Ben Jonson,' some centuries before. The weather proved remarkably fine,
and I set out with my curiosity on tip-toe to see the sport. I had some
distance to go; and as I turned up one street and down another, the throng
of people increased, until my arrival at Smithfield, where the fair was
held, and where the crowd became so dense as to be hardly passable. The
spectators consisted of both sexes, of all ages and degrees. But how shall
I describe the scene that presented itself? A large field of several acres
was filled with tents, stages and booths, with Punch and Judys, quack
doctors, mountebanks and monkeys, and cages containing wild animals of
various kinds. The shouting of people, the cry of beasts, the beating of
drums, the discord of the abortive attempts at music, producing such a
triumph of discord as beggars description. 'Verily,' thought I, 'time
cannot have diminished the glories of Bartholomew Fair.'
Years have rolled on and passed by like the waves of the ocean, since I
traversed the streets of London, but many a laugh have I had to myself as
memory recalled a whimsical mistake which I stumbled upon in my
peregrinations. In passing the streets I frequently saw fine
portly-looking men dressed in blue coats, faced and trimmed with a
profusion of broad gold lace; breeches and white stockings, and shoes with
large buckles, and on their heads cocked hats or chapeaux, as large as
coach-wheels. 'Thinks I to myself,' the continental wars are over, England
has recalled her fleets, and the streets of London are swarming with
admirals of the white and blue, off duty. What a blunder! They were a pack
of fat, lazy footmen! My respect for what I supposed were the heroes of
'England's wooden walls' was turned into contempt for men who could debase
themselves by strutting about in the livery of those whom God created of
the same materials as themselves. I sometimes (but very rarely) see such
things in my own country; but when I do, my face burns with indignation at
both master and man, to think that the one should require, and that the
other should submit to such degradation.
I spent two or three weeks, as above stated, endeavoring in the mean time
to get away as a hand on board some vessel bound to any port out of the
jurisdiction of the British government. This I found more difficult than I
had supposed; for London was at this time literally crowded with seamen
dismissed from the China, Bengal and West-India fleets. I began to be
anxious, as my money was getting rather low; and although I felt
comparatively safe from being discovered among so great a multitude, still
I thought it much the safest plan to get off if I could. It would have
been well for me if I could have accomplished it, for notwithstanding my
supposed security, I was suspected and watched. One day as I was seeking
to obtain a situation on board a vessel bound to Marseilles, I was
accosted by a suspicious individual. I was soon made acquainted with his
business, and in a few hours I was on my way to prison. I did not much
regret it. My money was all gone; and as the date of my first imprisonment
was from an early period, I was in hopes of being among the first sent
home, should a cartel be despatched with any of the prisoners. I was in a
sad mistake, as it was only United States' seamen and soldiers who were
exchanged. Had I imagined half of the trouble and sorrow that awaited me,
I should have acted with more caution; but it was too late, and I had to
abide my fate.
It was a beautiful morning in autumn, and our journey was through a
delightful country. The fields were enclosed in hedges instead of fences,
which had a novel and pleasing effect, especially to me, as I was not
accustomed to seeing the like; and I should have enjoyed it very much had
I been on any other errand than going to prison. It was near sunset when
we arrived at a bend in the river Medway, where lay moored several huge
dark hulls, that were once the bulwark of the fast-anchored isle, but now
used as receptacles for those who had the misfortune to become prisoners
of war. We were soon swept alongside by one of the watermen in attendance,
and in a few moments more were on board the 'Irresistible.' I was
conducted below and introduced to my future associates.
It was several minutes before I could discern the objects around me. It
was like going into a cellar. The only air and light were admitted through
port-holes, few and far between, which were left open for the purpose, and
secured by strong iron gratings to prevent escape. As soon as I regained
the use of my sight, I began to look around me to 'define my position;'
and I believe it would have puzzled the ingenuity of the most acute
politician to know where he stood, had he been placed in the same 'fix' as
myself. Casting a glance around, I found myself amidst a squalid,
cadaverous throng of about six hundred, ranging from about fourteen to
sixty years of age; and I never beheld a set of more wretched human
beings. They were nearly starved and almost naked, and wholly unable to
take exercise, from their crowded condition. It was too dark to read, and
they yielded their minds up to corroding despondency, and became sullen
and morose. Their features became rigid; and to see a smile upon a face
was like a sunbeam illumining a thunder-cloud.
I must here record an unparalleled instance of self-denial, love and
devotion in the female character, seldom to be met with. One of the
prisoners in making frequent voyages to the English ports, (I believe
Liverpool,) had become acquainted with and married a young English woman
early in the war. He was taken and sent on board one of these ships. No
sooner was this made known to his young and affectionate wife, than she
resolved to partake of all the hardships, privations, and imprisonment
with him; and never ceased her exertions until she had accomplished her
purpose. In admiration and respect for her heroic virtues, and kind
feelings toward her husband, the prisoners screened off a small space for
them with old canvass, etc., although much to their inconvenience, owing
to the crowded condition of the ship. It was amid these trials and
privations that she became a mother, and was covered by the American flag.
They are now living in Newark, New-Jersey, enjoying each other's society
in the down-hill of life, and surrounded by a numerous family.
The prisoners were divided into companies or messes of six each; the
provisions, which were very coarse and scanty, were prepared in a
cook-house erected on the forward part of the upper-deck, and when ready,
passed to the prisoners down below. Hammocks were provided for them to
sleep in, which were slung side by side, so close as hardly to admit a
passage between them. They were three tiers deep, bringing the lower ones
within three feet of the floor. No light was allowed, and of course all
was in utter darkness. And it was quite a perilous undertaking to go on a
necessary excursion across the deck at night. Many was the one who became
so bewildered in his journey that he could not find his lodgings, and had
to sit down and quietly wait until morning; at which time all hands must
turn out, lash up the hammocks and pass them upon the upper deck to be
stowed away until night came round again, in order to make more room
below. Several guards with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets constantly
paced the upper deck; and aft, on the quarter-deck, were two carronades
loaded to the muzzle and pointed forward. Two or three of the prisoners
were permitted to come on deck at a time; but at night none were allowed
on deck for any purpose whatever; the entrance being secured by strong
gratings, and sentries stationed by them continually.
Time passed wearily on. Days seemed months and months appeared to be
lengthened into years; and even existence itself had become as it were
paralyzed by the monotonous life we led. It was an interposition of Divine
Providence, that in our destitute and helpless condition we were not
afflicted with any pestilential disease; as in the crowded state we were
in, it must have made rapid and fearful havoc in our midst. At length it
was rumored that the prisoners were to be removed; but where to, none of
them knew. Several weeks passed on, and they were relapsing into their
ordinary indifference to the state of things around them, when one morning
word was passed among us that a draft of one hundred was to be sent to
Dartmoor prison, and those who thought proper might volunteer; but that
_that_ number must go at any rate. So seeing it was 'Grumble you may, but
go you must,' was the order of the day, the number required soon availed
themselves of the _privilege_, and were sent in barges on board the vessel
which was to convey them to their future abode. Other drafts were sent
from time to time, until the whole were removed. For myself, I remained
until the last: I felt a reluctance to leave what I knew to be bad, for
what I feared might be worse. It was to a 'bourne whence no traveller
returned' to disclose the secrets of the prison-house.
At last the time had arrived when the remnant were to leave. We were all
mustered upon deck, numbering about one hundred and fifty. Our baggage,
poor and scant as it was, we had need to take the utmost care of, as
winter was advancing, and we knew of no means of procuring more. We were
then conveyed in barges and put on board the 'Leyden,' an old sixty-four
gun ship, taken from the Dutch in by-gone days, and now used for a
transport for troops, prisoners, etc. In due course of time we were landed
in Plymouth. It was early on a bleak, cloudy morning, late in the autumn,
that we disembarked, and were placed in immediate line of march, under a
guard of a sufficient number of soldiers with loaded muskets, who had
orders to shoot down the first who evinced a disposition to leave the
line. The whole was under the command of a captain, lieutenant, etc., who
were on horseback. We had been on the road scarcely an hour, when the
rain, which had been threatening all the morning, now came down with
sweeping fury; and although not sufficiently cold to freeze, yet it
possessed a keenness that appeared to penetrate the skin. The roads being
of a clayey soil soon became of the consistency of mortar by the tramping
of so many feet, and our march might have been traced for several miles by
the old boots, shoes, and stockings, which were left sticking in the mud
in the hurry of the march. I have no doubt that we made a very grotesque
appearance, and raised many a smile from some of the passers-by. Our march
continued throughout the day without interruption, save occasional short
halts to bring up those who lagged behind; for many began to be exhausted
from cold, fatigue and hunger. We had not tasted a morsel of food since
the day before.