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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
■m^Mi'saA.-m'.m
WITH THACKERAY
IN AMERICA
BY
EYRE CRO:iA^E. A.R.A.
\
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1893
FT'
Copyright, 1893, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Press of J. J. Little & Co.
Astor Place, New York
THIS BOOK
DUE TO SIX months' CONSTANT TRAVEL WITH
HER FATHER
IS WITH HER KIND PERMISSION DEDICATED TO
MRS. RICHMOND RITCHIE
AS A TRIBUTE OF ADMIRATION FOR HER INHERITED
LITERARY GIFTS AND FOR THE SAKE OF
A LIFE-LONG FRIENDSHIP
EYRE CROWE
London
20th February iSg^
21G051
P R E F A C E
All readers of Thackeray know his dt'liglitful
imaginary conversation-verses between " The Pen and
the Album," written before his travels in the United
States, and the concluding lines : —
" Stranger ! I never writ a flattery,
Nor signVl the page tliat register'd a lie."
"The faithful old Gold Pen," to which he assigns
these two noble qualificatit)ns of iinswei'ving truthful-
ness, and which he then adds had served him already
for three long years in making his sketches, was part of
his equipment of materials taken to the States. AVhen
it was not in his own grasp he allowed me to take
it u[) for my sketching lucubrations, which were for
the most part executed with its wondrously flexible
and seemingly indestructil)le nib. He was so far
pleased Avith my efforts that, not content with show-
ing them to our American friends, who also nodded
approvingly over their sometimes grotesque yet faith-
ful renderings of e very-day scenes as they struck a
viii PREFACE
Lie\vc<>iiier's fancy, lie urged me to make a selection
from them, and to forward tliem to London for publica-
tion in an illustrated periodical. AVlietlier tliey ever
readied tlieir destination I forgot to ascertain on my
return. This neglect on my part I now lament, as
amons: the drawins^s was one of the Washino-ton
House of Representatives, with a portrayal of the
different members sitting at their semi-circularly-
placed desks, fronting the Speaker's Chair, over which
soared majestically the American . eagle. This loss
must be my apology for omitting from this collection
any representation of the holders of the great politi-
cal helm of the States. Perhaps the chance owner
may hereafter let me know of its whereabouts, and
in case of future editions, if any, kindly allow me to
I'epair the gap.
Whilst contrasting the scenes delineated forty
years ago with subsequent accounts which have
reached us in numberless books of travel, not to
mention the useful successive "Appleton Guide"
editions, I have been struck with the appositeness
of Carlyle's epithet applied to progressive Columbia,
as " the never-resting locomotive country." What
was then fact may now seem to border on fiction.
But, for my own part, I trust that this may be ac-
cepted as a record of actual life indjued witli the
subtle spirit (jf truth liowiug from "the faithful old
I'UHFACE ix
Gold Pen/' and not belying the liont\st character
ascribed to it by the owner.
I may take this opi)ortunity of here tliaid<in<;- my
kind frieml Mr. AVemyss Reid, who enconi-aged me to
jmblish these sketches and their accompanying text.
The Illustrated London, Xetvs i)rinted a very few of
the ilhistrations in tlie ohl familiar AVOo<l-cut mannei',
now superseded for the most part l)y other facsimile
processes, justifying their re-insertion here. House-
hold Words also published my account of the Vii--
oiuiau slave sale, which has now been amplitied with
incidents there (Emitted for the sake of brevity.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Esmond" — Lectures at Liverpool and Manchester — Savile Morton —
Voyage across the Atlantic — Boston — Custom House— Shandrydan
— Tremont— A Rapid Repast — Bunkers Hill — 'SHI. Present t and
Ticknor — In the Cars— " Thackeray's Works" — Arrival in New
York— Mr. Bancroft— Spirit-Rapping— The Rev. Theodore Parker
and Horace Greeley 1
CHAPTER II
The Rev. Mr. Chapin's Chapel— Lectures— Brooklyn— American Art—
Leah— Wall Street— Barnum— Genius— James Harper and Apple-
ton— G. P. R. James— Boston Museum— William Allston— " Coast-
ing "—Stuart's Portrait of General Washington— New York Once
:\Iore— A Claimant— Washington Irving— T. F. .Meagher— Sleighing
— Governor's Island — New Jerscv— Non-Abstainers .... 45
CHAPTER ITT
Philadelphia— A Quaker's Meeting— Negro Disability— An Historical
Porch— W. B. Read— Washington— Lecture on " Humour and
Charity " at New York— Washington and Baltimore— Presidential
Levee— The Kric>sf)n— The Irou Ja.-k<ou— Congress . . .101
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER IV
PAGE
Kiclimoncl, Va. — A Slave Sale— Houdon's Statue of Washington —
Petersburg, Va. — Charleston — An Empty Valise — Savannah — New
York Once More 125
CHAPTER V
New York to Alliany — The Senate — Lecturing — New York — "Lucy's
Birthday'" — Farewell to tlie States — The Euroixt — Liverpool —
Paris — Champs Elysees and the Latin Quarter 168
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAdE
Tliackeray Lecturing in New York .... Frontispiece
The Emblem of Office .
1
On Board the Canada
14
Tlie Captain taking an Observation
l.")
Officer taking an Observation
Ifi
A Passenger .....
IC)
Tiie Deep Sea Lead ....
17
Our Conveyance ....
19
Young America ....
22
" ''Eridd and TrdnDie " .
23
The "Poet Bunn" ....
23
Madame Sontag ....
2.-)
On the Commercial Wharf, Boston
27
At the "Tremont" ....
28
Boston from Bunker's Ilill
2!>
William Ilickling Prescott
l!0
George Ticknor ....
01
Expectaroons ......
33
A Splashy Bed ....
33
"Thackeray's Works, Sir ! " .
34
A Group of Children
3C.
In tlie Accommotlation Train .
37
Mr. Bancroft
38
Mr. Bancroft's Lecture
39
Table-Turniug ....
40
The Rev. Theodore Parker at the Tabern
acle,
New
York
41
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Horace Greeley
Tailpiece ....
The Rev. II. Ikllows
President Fillmore .
New York, from Brooklyn
Black Coachmen
Lafargc Hotel
The Brushing Process
The Broadway
The Broadway Omnibus .
Seal-Tiger, So-called
Banium's Museum .
Buruum ....
Barnum's Agent
Drinks ....
John X. Geuin's Hat Store
Taking your ^Measure
The Result
At Harpers'
G. W. Curtis .
A Pair of Bluchers .
At the Melodeon, Boston
Custom House, Boston .
From " Belshazzar's Feast "
"Coasting"
At the Boston Sessions .
A Glimpse of 'Change
Wall Street, New York .
An Advertisement .
Closing Time .
A Jeweller's Sign
A Do(-k Loafer
The Rev. Eleazar Williams
Wa>hinLrlon Irving .
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
XV
Tlie Refreshment Iloom .
Thomas Francis Mcaglier
Sk'igh Stages ....
Tlie Tombs Prison .
An E.xecution Morning outside the
Governor's Island .
Vohiiiteers' Marcli .
Clinton Hall ....
After the Fire, New York
Canvas-hack Ducks.
News Room. Philadelphia
Meeting of Friends, Philadeljihia
Quakers .....
An Unpleasant Incident .
Baltimore ....
A Notice of Deatii .
The Declaration of Independence
A Black Servant
Bust of Washington
A Presidential Reception
Presidents Pierce and Fillmore
General Cass ....
The Supreme Court in Session
General Scott ....
A Stump .....
Restoratives ....
Testing Tobacco, Virginia
Richmond ....
In the Richmond Slave ^larkct
An ()1<1 Stove ....
After Iloudon's Washington .
An American Barber's. Richmond,
Easter Monday, Petersburg, Va.
On the Banks of the Apiiomalto.x,
Tombs
Va.
Peter
«burii-, V
PAdE
85
86
8, 89
90
91
93
95
96
97
98
99
101
103
104
106
107
109
113
lU
115
117
118
119
131
123
124
127
129
133
137
138
139
143
143
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOSS
Ou Board the Governor Dudley
A Guard .....
A Negro Ball, Charleston, Ca.
Dressed for the Ball
At the Charleston Hotel .
Negro Faces ....
The Cliarleston Slave iNIarket .
St. Micliaers Church, Charleston
Negro Types ....
Charleston ....
" Cotton is King " .
Shopping at Cliarleston .
Market Women
At the "Clarendon," New York
The Chinese Divinity Student .
Broadway Fashions .
Bonaventura, near Savannah .
A Peanut Seller
A New York Congregation
The Senate, Alljany
Pierre Soule ....
"Four Bells".
Cape Clear ....
PAGE
144
14.3
147
148
140
151
153
154
l.j.-,
156
157
158
159
160
162
163
164
165
166
169
171
172
176
WITH THACKERAY
IN AMERICA
THE EMBLEM OF OFFICE
AV^ITH THACKERAY IF AMERICA
CHAPTER I
"Esmond" — Lectures at Liverpool and Manchester — Savile Morton —
Voyage across the Atlantic — Boston — Custont House — Shandry-
dan — Tremont — A Rapid Repast — Bunker's Hill — MM. Prescott
and Tickuor — In the Cars — "Thackeray's Works" — Arrival in
New York — Mr. Bancroft — Spirit-Rapping — The Rev. Tlieodore
Parker and Horace Greeley.
"Six months' tiimblino- about tlieworlil will <1'> v<»u
no lianii," was tlie iiulucing plirase \\liicli Th.-K-ktray
used wlien lie kindly asked nie to accompany him
as his factotum and amanuensis on liis forthcoming;
journeyinsjfs in the United States. AVheu he noticetl
my hesitation as to acceptance of the post, arising-
in a great measure from my doiihts as to iii\ liaviuii"
1 1 '
2 M'JTII THACKERAY IX AMERICA
the proper capacity — or " spryness," as lie expressed it
— for organising and arranging the l^nsiness part of
the lectnring, he pointed out that another half-year
would elapse before his departure, and that I could try
my 'prentice-hand, first, during these months, in the
same capacity. 'Twas thus I found myself installed
in doing secretarial work at his pleasant Kensingtonian
home in Youno- Street. The end^lem of office, a
kuomug-looking green dispatch-box, of which the
outer leather case bore many traces of long and honour-
able use in Continental travel, was presented to me by
the owner, then possessor of a more splendid desk. I
retain it no\v — not only as a valued memento and gift
of the owner, but as reminding me of the many
pleasant epistolary, documentary, and sketching
fragments it contained during my subsequent stay
in America. A selection of these sketches has been
made, upon which the following text may be taken
as merely a running commentary.
T\vo scraps of paper lying for t^vo-score years dor-
mant in this receptacle, in pocket-books, will serve to
show the sort of mingled preoccupations engaging the
author at that time, and will illustrate the easy
duties involved in secretaryship. The first is a
memorandum directing me to make inquiries at the
British Museum.
When my new indoctrination as amanuensis
A ,sr/.M/' OF /:\ /•/■:/,' 3
beii'MH, tlic lirst ])(»rti«»ii of " KsiikukI " was coiiiiilftfil,
written ii[>«)u small slij)s of iiotc-papcr kt'|tt in tlir tirm
grip of an clastic liaiid. 'I'licy were not written, as
was tlie case w itli the ealliLiiapliy of liis great proto-
type the novel-writer Balzae, in crabbed liandwriting,
bristling Avith after-tlionglit emendations, but, (»n tlie
contrary, in the beautiful peninaiishij) so well known,
and of Avliich the annexed slip is another exainj»le,
and with scarcely any interpolations or niaiginal
repentirs. The person who stated that all the wiiting
of "Esmond" MS. \vas dictated was. therefore, to that
extent inexact. The passage to which the note ivfei's
4 WJTII THACKERAY IX A3IERICA
is iu the second hook of '' Esmond/' and contained,
I think, in aljout the fifteentli chapter. I went to
the great and unique source of all English trustworthy
information, the British Museum, and I asked for the
Gazettes as printed in 1708 hy the great Jacob
Tonson, in Gray's Inn Gate, and I ferreted out the
items to be incorj)orated in the narrative. But this
last became so complex, as the author went on ^vith
his story, that he had to trust not alone to vicarious
excerpts, but used to charter a cab and to come along
with me to the British Museum. An appeal to an
obliging attendant brought us through the non-public
portion of the Library, where, I remember, on his
touching a hidden spring in ^\'hat seemed to be
beautifully bound folios, but which were in reality
only the sham backs of these, a door ilew open, and
we were in the presence of Sir Antonio Panizzi,
w^hose life Mr. Fagan has so pleasantly unfolded in
after-years. He readily granted j^ermission to write
in one of the secluded galleries, at a table placed in
the midst of the volumes to be consulted. I sat down
and ^vrote to dictation the scathing sentences about
the 2:reat Marlborout>:h, the denouncino- of Cadoo-an,
etc., etc. As a curious instance of literary contagion,
it may be here stated that I got quite bitten \vith tin-
expressed anger at their misdeeds against General
AVebb, Thackeray's kinsman and ancestor ; and that I
'•ESMOND" FINISHED 5
then looked upon Secretary ('nidouiK'rs (•(•iidiict
witli perfect loathing. I was (piitr (Icl'iLilitcil to
tiiid liis meannesses justl\- pilloi'ird in ''Esmond's"
pages.
Tt \\as not ^vitllout |)Ocnliar ])i(|uancy tliat tliis was
done upon the site ol' ohl Montague Il<nise und its
gardens, famous in those Queen Anne days; as
" Prue," Steele's wife, exclaimed : " This is \\ here
vou wretches go and figlit duels." To save ears
polite, the irascible expletive applied to Cardonnel,
printed in full in the first edition, was mitigated to the
more presentable " d d " form in after-issues.
Equally complaisant were the secretary and com-
mittee of the Athen.'Bum Clul), \\hei-e the same
method of dictation was pursued in one of the side
rooms off the large library there. 1 do not recollect
that these utterances, not at all delivered sotto voce,
disturbed the equanimity of either (Jhurch, law, or
science dignitaries frequenting that luxuriinisly
seated library.
A reddetter day ^vas Saturday, May 28th,
wdien Thackeray was able to write the \V(»nl " End,"
thus concludino^ the " Ilistorv of Esmond." It was, I
recollect, on a pleasant l)almy day, and the work had
proceeded in accordance ^\ith that atin<»sphere to its
close. A friendly l)arty had been invited to dinner,
and he expressed a wish that T should j«»in tlie
6 WITH THACKERAY IN A3IERICA
circle. Tlie temptatiou was great — witli tlie prospect
■- of drinking a bumper to success. My liabiliments,
however, were not of tlie festive, but of the. workaday
sort, and I could not readil}^ get another suit; so I
lost the chance of celebrating the event in proper
trim.
The visit to America then came uppermost.
A week before this date, as may be seen from
the following letter addressed by Thackeray . to
Mr. Felt, the formal proposal had reached London.
13, Young Street, Kensington.
May 21st, 1852.
Sir, —
His Excellency the American Minister [The Hon. Abbott
Lawrence, Min. Plen.] has forwarded to me your kind letter and
proposal, for whicli I return my best thanks to the directors of the
Mercantile Library at New York.
My wish is to deliver in that ' city and elsewhere in the United
States the six lectures [on the English humorous writers of Queen
Anne's reign] that have been received with great favour in tliis
country. I have no agent in America, and purposed to enter into no
arrangements nntil I arrived myself at New York or Boston, and
could determine personally what would be the best course to pursue.
If, as your kind letter suggests, arrangements could be made by
which I could deliver my lectures in several cities of the Union, and
proposals to that effect were made to nie, I should very thankfully
entertain them — premising always that no objection would be made
to my giving lectures to other puljlic societies, and at such charges as
^ my friends at New York and elsewhere might think advisable.
MiLi.AKD L. Fklt, Es(i., Etc. Etc.
Corresponding Secretary, Mercantile Lilirary.
THE "FJKLlJlX(r' 7
This was tlh' l>eoiniiiiiij,- of a soinew hat l('iiL:th<'iu'<l
ooiTespoudenoe. Tlie Boston aiithoi' ami |>iil»lishci'
Mr. Fiehls had alivadv made siiijijestioiis as to
lecturhig tliere. Questions of priority soon ci'opped
up, ultimately left for final solution till the arrival in
the States.
The summer inontlis glided by, cluetly eni[)h)yed
ill revising tlie "" Esmond "' proof-slieets, a slower
process than is usually the case, owing to a compara-
tively small sui)j)ly of the not-much-used type of the
reign of Queeu Anne, which was one of the features
of the first edition.
A new club had at this time sprung into life, called
by Thackeray the " Fielding," which met in Henri-
etta Street, Coveut Garden. His contribution to its
comfort was an illnstrated screen, print-covered for
the most part, but made more valuable by the addi-
tion of two of his own gold-pen-and-ink studies. The
subjects were two street Ara])s caught in the law's
meshes. The first was in the grip of a Bow Street
runner of Fielding's time ; in the next a tattered son
of St. Giles was being " run in " by the modern Bobby,
who hauls him before the Beak, \vith a view to his
improvement in a reformatory.
Mrs. Ritchie has, in her pleasant "Chapters from
some Unwritten Memoirs," told her numerous readers
of her father's genuine relish of Carlyle's "enchanting
8 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
screen," to wliieli lie had also contributed. And,
years ago, I recollect liis amused scanning of the
motley prints upon the paravent of the " Trafalgar "
at Greenwich — before the advent of " souchet " and
whitebait — to which he had invited us. But as the
" Trafalgar " has closed its doors, so has the once hos-
pitable Fielding Club — to which I recollect also being
invited as a guest — ^made way for more modern brick-
work. Many guests have vanished thence. I wonder
where these pleasant screen-appurtenances have gone
to?
I often have wished for the stenographic power,
which enables many chroniclers to give the charm of
the random talk of gifted men. Far pleasanter are
these rapid utterances than the more poised sentences
of public speaking. In this latter vein is on record
the speech made at the " Freemasons' Tavern " this
year by Thackeray as he presided at the Literary Fund
Dinner.
At the end of September we went down to Liver-
pool, celebrating the inauguration of the lecturing tour
by testing the famous " clear turtle " of the " Adelphi "
there, ere we went into more homely quarters during
our fortnight's stay. A veil is drawn here over
this "memorial of gormandising," which, in truth, was
sober enough.
The twin courses of lectures o^iven in tlie two first
.1 PRELIM IN AliV LECTURING TOUR
9
Octobt'i' weeks wei'e tlius dove-tailed as to time and
delivery —
:manchester
Tutsdiiys. Th u rsdoi/ii.
28th Sept. 30tli Sept.
r)tli Oct. 7th Oct.
12tli '• Uth "
LIVERPOOL
Wednesdays. Fridays.
29tb Sept. 1st Oct.
6th Oct. 8th "
13th " 15t]i "
This arrangement necessitated see-sawing by train from
one place to the other.
There was a curious contrast in the initial recep-
tion of the lectures in these Lancashire centres, the
rooms of the Manchester Athenaeum beiuji; well filled,
but at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, on the con-
trary, tlie audience was so small as to call forth from
one signing himself "Dickey Sam " (in the Liverpool
Mercary of October 1st) the statement " that a more
heart-depressing sight than that which presented itself
to Mr. Thackeray, I think I have never ^vitnessed, to
hear the Fielding of tlie nineteenth century.'' The
subsequent lectures, however, made amends; and the
whole course, in both })laces, went off with great
eclat.
At Liv^er2)ool cheery lodgings in Kenshaw Street,
over Parry's Library, ^vere found for us; and free
use was made of its stock of books — the Pul)lif
Li))rarv, wliich only opened a few days after
:j
10 M'lTIl THACKERAY IN AMERICA
we left, beiuii' tlien unavailable — Steele's Letters
and Bozzy's Life of Johnson coming in for re-
perusal as old friends and ever-fresli companions.
I only recollect tliat here Thackeray, in the inter-
val of awaitino; the lecture hour in the little side room
of the Philharmonic, either translated or amended
his version of Berano-er's beautiful lines in " ]\Ia
Vocation " —
"Jete sur cette boule,
Laid, clietif, et souffrant," etc.
I forget whether, as first given in his Goldsmith
lecture, the lines were read in French or not.
During his stay at Liverpool occurred a tragical
event, A^hich happened on the 4th, but which Avas
only reported the next day, the 5tli of October. On
opening a paper Thackeray read a brief telegram
announcing that his friend Savile Morton, the Paris
correspondent of the Daily JVews, had been stabbed —
dying of his wounds — by a brother-journalist, seized
'with a fit of frenzied rasre ao:ainst him. It caused a
great shock of surprise to us l^oth, whose friend he
had been. Thackeray mournfully recapitulated his
many charming qualities ; his artistic early educa-
tion, merged, like his own, into more bread-winning
literature ; and finally alluded to his many Bohemian
adventures, sununing up his life as having been
A DAM/'/:/: 11
"one s(.'ra])e/' His loss wms imicli IVlt hy the >t;ilV
of the ])M[H'r he Ii;i<l served so f.-iitlifully.
Ill l(»unging tlir(»iiL;li tlic gay sti'ects, tlir()iiL:<'(l witli
an interesting ])(»|tiilati<»n of seafarers .-iikI otiicrs,
I recollect Thackeray's gaze being riveted for some
time looking into a printsliop at a likeness of another
lost friend, late the chief magistrate of Tjiver[)ool,
Edward Rusliton. The print recalled oM (hiys of
boon-companionship and Reform Club foregatlier-
iugs; aud so, witli a regretful "How like it is I "' we
passed on. Unpleasant sensations, it is said, seldom
come singly ; so it turued out uow. On seeking a
resting-place for weaiy lindjs, we turned into the
literary institution called tlie Atlieuieum, where
English and American ne^vspapers were to be seen.
He chanced u]»on an article in a New Yoi'k sheet
containing a bitter ])hilippic upon no less a person
than himself. It belonged to that now ex})loded
form of bitter personality. It denounced as uncalled
for his intended visit to the United States, as
encouraging that already too numerous class of
lecturers who first mulct the citizens of their dollars,
and then return to their own countiy to lain])ooii
them. It was felt at first as a decided damper. Bnt
further reflection made him think the onslaught
hai'iidess, and the sting in it only of the pin-prod
order.
12 WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
The latter half of October was spent in fa^e^vell
visits to friends, Thackeray spending most of his
time in London. His correspondence of this time
is saddened by a dash of foreboding bodily ills —
which, luckily, were not fulfilled.
On a fine autumnal day, the golden leafaae in
English pastures being at its best, we left Loudon by
train for Liverpool, the first stage of our journey to
the States ; this was on the 29th of October.
About a hundred jiassengers, as an after-ref-
erence to the name-list showed us, were doing the
same.
Thackeray had been invited, as well as myself, to
take shelter on this last evening in the hospitable
house of Mr. Katcliffe, of the firm of Bailey Brothers,
iron-masters ; and we drove to Clarence Terrace,
which commands a fine view of the Mersey and its
shipping. A friendly party met at dinner ; amongst
the rest the Mayor of Liverpool, Mr. Thomas
Littledale. The piece de resistance at the banquet, in
the shape of roast sucking-pig, was received ^vith all
the honours of loud laughter. The considerate hostess,
knowing the Thackeray an fondness for that succulent
joint, had prepared this surprise for him, and had
donned it in its aj^petising crackle-coating. But, of
course, the prospective sailors, as well as their Ijrother-
guests, felt that this \\as hardly the proper foundation
for meet i I 111,' stout 1\' the licax iiiu' Inllows <A' the
iriorrow. I ndjiuiitccl, liowrxci', 1)\' the soiiicw li;it
(liiMous I'csiilts t\»r('s]i;i(l()\\ (m1, full justice Avas done
to tliis part of tlu' nienx, breakiiiu' n]> tlic festivities,
ill tirst-rute luiniour, late in the evening.
Tlie next day, October 30tli, we bade farewell to
(»ur kind hosts, and Ijefore ten o'clock, the a})pointed
hour, we found oui'selves, on a bi'ight Hunshiny morn-
ing, waiting for the tender at the end of the landing
stasre. AVhilst we were luokinir out for it, and mind-
ing that no traps were missing, ji messenger suddenly
arrived with a large batch of correspondence and a
yet lai'ger square brown-paper parcel. On opening
the latter Thackeray found therein several copies of
"Esmond," in three volumes, of A\hicli this instalment,
the first issued, reached liim just in time befoi"e
starting. He tui'ned over the uncut leaves, expressed
himself well pleased Avith this Jinale of lengthened
labour on his [)art, and thought the Smith and Elder
firm had well capped their acceleration of pi'oihiction
of the proof-sheets \\\x\v this win<l-up of theii' neat
binding ere he left the English shore.
The tender came alongside ; we embarked upon
it, and xvere soon clambering up the ladder swung
on the sides of the royal mail shij) Canada (Ca])tain
Lang), the gallant vessel nio\ing along as we did so.
AVe felt, as most d(j on such occasions, that the >Iiip
14
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
looked much smaller than onr anticipations had led lis
to expect, and was not such as to correspond in impor-
tance Avith the renowned ]>ers<)nages in the woi'ld of
ON BOARD THE ''CANADA"
literature now grouped together on board. Besides
Thackeray, there ^vas Russell Lowell, fresh from
Italy. Coming iij) the (•om])ani()n ladder, I noticed a
A'.v voVAah'
15
liiirK" t'onii, in imistni'd-colom't'd iii('\]>i't'ssiM('s, and a
w idcawak*' hat ci-owning a swarthy face 'rhi> was
Aitlini' IIuLih (Mt»iiu-li, tlic poet and OxI'oid I)(>n.
wliosf pnMislicd I)iary gives a pleasant aceount of
tills vovaiiv and of the people on boai'd. I have ] ire-
served the sketch of a few of them as they clusteied
I'ound the Ijiniiacle. Towerino* above all in size,
you note, chattinu", Titmarsh himself, with hea<l an<l
travelling-ca}) al>ove the line of the lun'iznn.
I soon discovered that 1 did not behms; to that
class of peo})le who follow the advice of enterprisini;'
eucyclopimlic dictionary jiublishers, to buy and read
their vohimes through on a sea voyage, emerging
from tlieir j)erusal at the eml in the possession of a
j>()i't(Mitous fund of knowledge. 1 jireferred sketching
to readinu". Here
are selected a few
of these jottings.
First notice
Captain Lang, sex-
tant in hand, deter-
niinini:: our where-
abouts at noon, if
the sun appeared
at that convenient
j u n c t u r e. .Vlso
his lieutenant
16
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
drr.
good lines, wlietlier
assistiuii: liiiii in tliis im-
poi'tant ()[)ei'ati()n. Next is
a passenger, for wlioni his
co-mates clnbbed together to
present him with a valual^le
razor and piece of soap on
a r r i v a 1, as he see m e d
utterly destitute of these
two c o m m o d i t i e s. The
sailors' dress and their well-
knit forms always afford
" heaving the log," as here
seen, or giving a coat of paint to the masts or spar-
gear.
When nearing Cape Race
the vessel was brought-to,
and the engines suddenly
ceased to throb, the steamer
balancins; on a e:entle swell.
Conversations ceased ; every-
body Avatched to see what
would be revealed by the
deep-sea lead. (Brother
laud - lubbers, please pro-
nounce " dipsey - lead " as
you here gaze at its shape
and its tell-tale indicator
A PASSENGER
ARRIVAL AT JIALIFAX
17
iiiaiiN a
of (lej)tli of the sea uikIcI' ynii in
fathom.) 'Twas all right; we weiv in our proper
course ; the liglits ceased to twinkle: <>ii the vessel
})loULihe(l (»nce nioiv foi' Halifax. AVhen that 2)ort
THE DEEP-SEA LEAI
was readied, I remained l)el(»\v, and thus misse<l
the chance of landing and seeing the place in
darkness. I afterwards heard that when refreshing
themselves at this uoi-tunial har, 1)\' a sudden frolic
some passen<i'ers put up to uiock auction the negro
attendant, who ^vas I'un up to a tremendous price.
The freeman prol)al)ly took it as a great compli-
ment, and as an ackno\vled2:nient of his etficiency
in the servinu* line.
18 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
It was a delightful sensation to be steaming
between the rocky reefs on enterins; the Boston
harbour, aftei' l)eing pent up for so many (lays. Our
captain donned his best suit, and appeared on deck
silver trumpet in hand ; and after bumping against a
pier, then liacking once more, he sent out the hawser,
which now bound us to the New England shore. We
had, overhead, a most glorious sunset effect of cloud-
land, ([uite eclipsing the now already darkening
outline of the distant town of Boston. Thackeray
looked on, interested to watch the numerous forms of
greeting of friends. As yet there were no visible
signs of his visit being expected ; an absence of
demonstrativeness <piite at variance Avith former un-
burthening of welcome, as described by Dickens and
others. The facet ice perpetrated in the " American
Notes " had damped the enthusiastic ardour of the
Yankees, who now hung out no exuberant bunting.
There seemed to l^e not even a solitary interviewing
reporter to greet the lecturer as he stood, his small
bag in hand, looking on at the bustling crowds. This
was, however, only simulated reticence ; they soon
showed abundant proofs of a hearty predisposition in
his favour.
Tempted by the comparatively moderate charges
made in Europe for male and female apparel, most
of the passengers had no easy task to get through.
rill-: ninvH to hoston
19
ill secui'iiii;" tlicii' ;icciiiiiiilat('(l li'iiiiks \\ Ihmi [tassrd l>y
the iuvt'stiii'atiiiii' ('ust(»iii llmisc ollicials.
TIk' luiTiraire l)i<»ii"]it 1)\' us looked (luitc iusii-iiifi-
cant by eoiiiparison. A ]>ortiiiaiiteaii, a l»Iacl< l^al,^ a
OLK CONVEYANCE
(lispatch-case, and an umbrella, sunnned u|» the
Thaekei'ayan irnpedinitntd, wliitdi, al(»ng wirli my
still more exiguous luggage, were soon lioisted up on
the top of a vehicle of the most ])riniitive ty]ie. My
outline of it, hastily doiie in craxou, will L:iv«* a
notion of its (piaiiit internal anatomy. lis ci-amix'ij
20 ir/7Y/ THACKERAY IN A3IERICA
space ill-suited the long limbs ^\'llicll tried vainly to
accommodate themselves within it, and a grin per-
vaded the English humorist's face as he scanned its
marvellous iittings of leather straps which served
as back-rests. Before closing the door four dollars
each Avas demanded by the rapacious driver; and
when he was thus satisfied, the glorious sunset and
its accompanying twin rainbow having made way
by this time for dusk and for twinkling lights, we
bumped into Boston by circuitous routes, till we
reached the, hospitable shelter of the "Tremont
House," where quarters had been secured beforehand
for us.
A gratulatory supper was soon put before us, and
the kindly greeting of Mr. Fields in this huge
banqUeting-room — which we had at this late hour to
ourselves, till joined suddenly l)y owv friend Mr.
Arthur Clougli — made amends in its cheering prospect
for our somewhat forlorn arrival.
The great feature was a large dish of oysters, one
of which Thackeray took up on his fork-end, and
o-lancing at it said it must have resembled the right
ear of Malchus Avlieu cut off, as recorded in Holy
Writ. Feeling somewhat oppressed by the banquet,
Mr. Fields suggested, as a flnah and sedative, the
straw-tickled sherry-cobbler. For this Ave adjourned
to the smokino:-room. Thus began the series of
Fih'ST iMi'i:i:ssin.\s 21
feast iiiii's in sii|t('i;tliiiii(laiict', wliirli afttTwai'cls made
tlie c'liief i'eci|»i('iit descriKe Ins Aiiiciicaii tour as
resiiltiiiL:' in «'in' mihrukeii " iiKligestioii."
A\'e retired to \vell-eai'ii('(l ivst. Next inoi'iiintr,
OH eoin]>ariiio; notes, we afj;i-ee(l tliat the ])e(ls seemed
to us to liave I'ocked, and that wavedjreaks still
acted as a lullaby in our sleep; Thackeray iroint;' so
far as to aver that lie had actually tundded out of
Led in the lurches of iinagiuation.
Ill trying to recall first impressions as they
struck us newcomers in this land of kith and kin, I
seem to have been chiefly exercised by the ])recocity
of youthful callings, mostly tending to the ac(juisiti(Ui
of knowledge, and, along with it, the craving for
intelligent mental pleasures : in the first instance, as
exemjilified in the typical newsboy, who did not.
as with us, din with ear-shriekinu: sounds the latest
news from the pavement; lie simjily made his \\i\\
straioflit into drawino;-room or hotel pai-|i»ur with his
batcli of "-'Eralds and Tribunes," \\\\\i^\\ once handed
to the purchasers, lie went off, as a capitalist brat
of eiirht years of asre. AVheii vou turned to the
reader of the said papers, >ou found he was a lad
scarcely in his teens, already devouring the toughest
leaders, and mastering the news of the -world
whilst whiffing his cigar, and not without making
shies at a huge expectorator close at hand.
WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
Thackeray
showed these
graphic efforts of
mine to limn
their features to *
guests of his, as-
sembled at the
"Tremont" at
this time, as I
tried my hand at
carving an enor-
mous turkey, my
rirst mdoetrma-
tion in dissection of such huge wings and drumsticks.
Notwithstanding the bird's Eastern name, the as-
sembled company,
I I'ecollect, gave
it a AY est em
origin, and stated
— I make no
doubt, truly — that
this f a V o rite
Christmas fare
originally came,
as . it still con-
tinued to do, from
Vii'«»:inia.
THE '• POKT TirXN"
23
Tlu'V gt>()(l-iiatiir<'(ll\ ackuowU'dgcd tlie i.'-i'iici-al
tnitli of tlie (lesiu'iis, iit the lulls of mastication.
As yet those masterly sketches which (Idi-lit us
TUB " PDKT BrNV"
in American ilhistrate<l works, with such astnnisliiuL:'
wealth of observation and with such skilful (liauulits-
manship, had not a[)[)eaivd, or 1 iniuht ha\c found my
critics more difficult to please.
I forget ^vhether amougst tlie scratches was the
(»ne now inchided, representing the well-known ti'^ure of
24 WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
the impresario Bunii, tlie "jjoet Buim " of Punch. This
popuhir lil)i'etti8t was at the " Revere House," where
we jiaicl him a ^■isit. Like mine host, he had come to
lecture in the States — ou liis stage experiences. In
the published character-drawings of him, including the
Avell-known Titmarshian ones, lie Avas attired in faidt-
less evenino; costume. Here he is seen en deshahille.
It ^vas on a Sunday, I recollect, after church hours,
and his prayer-book Avas on the table, and beside it a
refreshing B. and S. tumbler. Beckoning to the one, he
said, " Here is business ; " and to the other, '' Here is
j)leasure," This Avas not said with any irreverence,
as this curt sentence mio-ht suo;g^est. The man, in
the midst of much frolicsome spirit, was really oi a
serious and religious frame of mind, exemplified in
his later days by his turning a devout Roman Catholic
and dying in the odour of sanctity at Boulogne-sur-
Mer, where he spent his last breath.
In the same hotel we uext visited the famous
prima donna Madame Sontag. Here is her graceful
appearance, to which feeble justice is done, but which
may pass as the pictorial parting record of a ^vorld-
famed cantatrice. She was then engaged in farewell
touring concerts. She spoke in mellifluous French:
talked of the Jenny Lind successes before her own,
scarcely expecting to rival the enormous profits made
by that popular songstress, but still \\ith the prospect
Jf .){/■:. SOXTAd
25
(•f realiziiiij; a coTiipctcucc : then, \va\iiiu' Iici' liaiul
across lier tliroat, ainioiiiiccd t<> licr visitor Ikt in-
i-^^
^IwiiW-'-Sl"
"Iv-^
Scrv^i^ ^''^
teiitioii of closing her gosicr after lici- ])reseiit tour.
A\'itli lier, as iu the case of too mauy faces met
26 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
in those now leniote tlays, it li;is to ])e recorded that
Fate, in the shape of some mahirious attack, closed
for ever lier ])iil)lic career long l:)efore it conld have
been said to have run its natural course. A sketch
of her as she appeared at this time, and her hand-
gesture expressing her above-mentioned determination
to retire, may be accepted as perhaps the last illus-
tration taken of the features of Countess Rossi. The
"Melodeon" (p. 41) was the handsome concert hall at
that time ; ^ve Avent to hear the famous songstress there.
Thackeray, ^vho ^vas to lecture there a month later,
took note of the acoustic capabilities of the hall, and
ascertained the proper voice-pitch needed.
Mr. Fields has amused his readers by giving his
version of this occasion, Avhen Thackeray, who sat
beside him, volunteered to give imaginary readings of
character of each person as they took their seats in the
stalls near us. AVhen Mr. Fields, A\ho knew everybody,
afterwai'ds told us the real life of those so playfully
descri])ed, these I'eadings were found to be in most
cases nuich nearer the reality than the usual guesses of
palmists or plirenologists. These wiseacres may l)e said
not to see nuich farther into character than yonder
M'oodeii sailor seen perched on a supporting bracket on
the Boston Quay, making believe to take an observa-
tion with a sham sextant on a non-existent sun.
In old and new guide-books, Avhen compared
THE " Tin: MONT"
to2:etliei', tli(' striking- cliaiiu't' is imticcd in f lie t';islii<.ii
of hotel resorts. Thus \\v arc iiiroi'iiit'd that the claiins,
tlieii paraiiioiiiit, of the " 'I'lviiioiit "" aii<l tin* '• Urxciv "
IN THK COMMEIK lAL WIIAKF, BOSTON
hotels, have succumhed to those of yet inoie splendid
ones, called the '' Veiidonie " and the ''Brunswick." In
the fifties tlie " Tremont '' was new, ch-an. an<l full
28
Wirir THACKERAY IN AMERICA
of comfoi'ts, with au MLiiiulaut cuisine of tlie best —
whether (as we sometimes did) availing yourself of the
s})eeial I'oom set apart foi' repasts of persons having
lady friends Avith them, or in the more numerously
attended general tahle d'hote. I recollect at this last
AT THE " TREMONT "
resort, Avhen coming in rather late, taking inadvert-
ently a vacant seat at a side table. I had soon a
gasping sense of gulping down my food too ra])idly, as
active waiters plied one, without intervals of rest,
with successive dishes. On demanding the explana-
tion of this unwonted expedition, and expressing a
DAMF.L WKHSTKli.
29
r"*:,'
W'm
Sa>k.>'- Xilt • tu trk
wish for ji teiiip)i'ai'y respite, 1 was iiit'(>niit'(l this
was " an express table " for people anxious to catoli a
train and Avitli few minutes to spai'e in dep^ustation.
I carefully avoided it in future; I feel sure I sliould
otherwise have succumbed to liver complaint.
The latest victim to this dire and insidious mal-
ady Avas the great orator Daniel AYebstei-. All tlie
streets were, at this j)eri(>d. festooned ^vitll mourning
draperies, his funeral having taken place on the 29th
of October. The papers were tilled witli panegyrics
of his career. One of his greatest flights of oratoiy,
it Avas then averred, was on tlie occasion of tlie
inauguration of the Quincy granite pillar, '1'1\ feet
hif^h, better known as tlie Bunker ITill ^[ouumeut,
ten years before his deatli. I naturally went to in-
spect it, crossing the Cliarlestown Ferry for that
purpose. I here give the outline of the pleasant
prospect of Boston from that i)lace, thougli i)rol>ably
ulterior conflagrations and demolitions may have <piite
altered its aspect since then.
30
WITH TIT ACKER AY IX AMERICA
Of tliat stern fight tAV<> relics, as noted afterwanls
in the first chapter of ''The Virginians," were sus-
pended at that time in the library of AVilliam Hickling
Prescott, the historian. They have, since his death,
been transferred to the Massachusetts Library as a
bequest. They were the SAvords of two relatives of
the historian, fighting on opposite
sides at the neiio^hbourino; Port of
Charlestown ; the naval hero's
name, on the Poyal side, was Cap-
tain John Linzee, grandfather of
Mrs. Prescott ; the other, his oppo-
nent, was Col. AVilliam Prescott,
grandfather of the author. W. II.
Prescott only lived half a dozen
}'ears after the time of our meeting
him, having a graceful eulogium paid him by his
English friend. Most of the likenesses of him
Avere full-faced, besides being youthful ones ; here
is his profile, in which his blindness is not notice-
able. In his conversation he made you forget this
misfortune by his cheery and ])land wa}' of looking
at life. I am glad to have caught its semblance.
It brings l)ack to nund the cosy library. His
wading through old records, aided by* his secretary,
was portentous; but this did not (bill his bright view
of men and things, which suited \o\\v humour as his
W. H. I'KESCKTT
''OLD iir.\h'i:i,'"
•.\\
clothes (lid tile wt'atlicr. 'Tis said, I know not with
what truth, his ovcivoats wvw all lalx-llcd ms snitc(|
for certain degrees of temperature, and wnc donned
accoidin^ly when he sallied forth under the guidance
of his secretary, lie was what we call an Ultra-
Conservative, there known under the [)leasing a])])ella-
tion of ''Old Iluiiker," In height
and gait Pi'ofessor Fawcett, who
cou(|uered fame also hy indomitable
pluck against the same calamity,
reminded me of his tall erect figure
strolling out hitched to the elbow of
his amanuensis.
Belono-ino; also to the same
euphoniously named p^n'ty A\as
George Ticknor, historian of Span-
ish literature, whose companion [)liysiognomy is here
inserted. Here, again, in his home, Avere rows of
well-ordered bookshelves. One evening — I recollect,
it was after the " Cono-reve " lecture — we were lios-
pitably invited to adjourn to Mr. TIcknoi'"s house foi-
a sociable chat over pipes and baccy. A projws of
''pipes" and their introduction into the lecture of the
evening, someone asked what they really meant, and
what was the Pipe Office. Mi". Ticknor took down
from one of his well-su})plied shelves a te(dinological
dictionai'v — Spelmau's, I think — from which he icad
32
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
out the followiug explanation : — '' So called because
the papers were kept in a large pipe or cask."
But since that time, in the edition de luxe of
Thackeray's works published in 1879, a full number
Xxpecfixiitaf, <^vMit^. I in.
of annotations appear to throw doubts upon this
meaning, and the perj^lexed reader is allowed to
choose whichever version he pleases. This fully
justifies the reticence of the author, who only nodded
in pai-tial acquiescence in the proposed reading of
the word by his friend Mr. Ticknor.
Difficulties hereafter might occur if trusting to
conflicting lexicographers. For example, they allude
EX PEC TOR A TORS
to pipes, tliey dilate upon tol)acco, hut tlit' useful
leceptacles for the luoistening results, popularly
known as " spittoons," or " expectorators," or"expect-
aroons," are terms jealously excluded from their
A SPLASHY BED
vocabnlaries ; yet they are palpable enoucrh to the
senses. The courtyard of the Charleston Hotel was
piled with these in the morning, when the whc^lesome
water-hose was turned upon them vigorously, a sight
quite nni(pie in its way. This, however, is in antici-
pation of events.
Insufficient, strange to say, they Avere, for I recol-
lect being put into a bedroom the walls of which
were maculated with the bistre-coloured emissions of
foniier sluniberers on the same pillow.
3
;u
WITH TH ACKER A Y IN AMERICA
()u tlie l()tli of November, and in pleasant balmy
Aveather, we left Boston for New York, after a week's
stay. We took the cars at eight o'clock in the morn-
ing, and I was dnly laden with a lot of heavy
]>rass checks corresponding to others fixed to our lug-
gage, each label being suspended to a leather strap.
Thackeray has described a scene ^vliicli I here
illustrate in outline, though unconscious, as I saw
it, of the bygone memories it personally evoked in
his person, of which he afterwards, in the preface to
the New York edition of his works, made the New
York pu})lic, and therefore the whole reading world,
a confidant. It was when " a rosy-cheeked little peri-
patetic book-merchant " accosted him with his own
;'■.""(
thackerayV works, sir I ■
(h\ Tin: WAV rn m:\v yoi.'h' 35
volumes, .-111(1 calk'd out "Thackeray's Works !'' quite
unaware tliat lie \\as addressing the author hiinxelf.
He therefore i-e-read his "Shabby (leiitetd Story/' of
a dozen years before, as we wvvi' whisked along the
undulating territory of Massaehusetts. 1 e\| tended
twenty-live cents in the ])urchase of '' I'licle ToiiTs
Cabin," and was properly harrowed by tlie tale told
by Mrs. Beecher-Stowe. But Thackeray deelineil to
]>luiige into its tale of woe ; his o})inion exi)ressed upon
it l)eing that stories founded upon sucli jtaiiiful themes
were scarcely within the legitimate purview of story-
telling. Besides, judicious friends had dinned well
into his ears the ]>ropriety of his not conunitting
himself to either side of the Slaveiy Question, then a
biiniiiig one, if he wished his career as a lecturer
not to Ijecome a burthen to him.
He dwelt in preference upon the blithe aspects of
American life, such as the group of children in the
cars, eight in numl^er, eveiy one of whom he wished
there and then to present with a <lollar tip a-piece.
Their ccmversation was of the outspoken sort, so we
soon learnt their tribulations, the most serious of
which was having forg-otten to bring with them a
cake j)i'epared for the journey. Jimmy, the white-
hatted youngster, evidently felt the loss acutely. But
when we were crossing the ferry the cake was re[daced
bv another, soon sliced \\\) and deNouied.
36
WITH THACKERAY IN A 31 ERIC A
Meanwhile the train went on at a good speed,
with intermittent stoppages. At one of the stations,
Avhere an appetising lunch was set out, to which I
was doing full justice, not hearing the departure
signal, I only got on the platform in time to see the
A OU(JLP OF CHILDREN'
receding engine and cars speeding on and leaving me
solitary on the platform. The metal labels seemed
to weigh heavier somehow in my pocket as I sud-
denly realised to myself the discomfort caused to the
owner of the bafjscasre in not havinoj these vouchers
fortlu'oiiiing on arrival in NeAV York.
I came on by a slow train, kn<)\\n technically as
an " accommodation " one, which stopped at every
station, and brought me some time later to New York.
OKOIUiK HAMIioh'T
37
I got out, and, luiviiig goiu^ somk^ distuiKM', iii-
(|iiire(] for the " C'larendoii Hotel." "Second block,"
was the rei)lv, and it dawned upon ww that the
direction referred, not to the streets, but to the divi-
sions between each of them, a sensible innovation.
^^mmiim
IN TUE ACCOMMODATION TItAIN
Thackeray had extricated the traps by merely
pointing them out, but ^\ith inij>erturbaljle good-
humor and kindness made the best of the mishap.
Besides, he had ])een amused by the advent of a
Avt'll-known character, making his a]»])earanc(', upon
his arrival, as an interviewer, as he did to ni(»st
European celebrities, \vith a view to " co])y." More
welcome was a more genuine chronicler, who was
only second in visiting rotation, the historian Mr.
38
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
Baiici'oft, whom I found already in converse with
liim. He had what the French call the nose-pincher .
kind of spectacles ; over his forehead was the
Napoleonic wisp of hair, and the air of diplomacy
suffused his sallow features. It was only in conversa-
tion, and by his references
to literary Hinterland recol-
lections, that you guessed him
to be older than he looked.
For examj)le, at dinner he said
he had met Lord Byron once
at Genoa. A reference to the
pages of Thomas Moore shows
this must have been as far
back as the November of
1822, when Byron was oc-
cupying his Villa Saluzzo, at Albano. Thackeray
said he was then at Charterhouse. Mr, Bancroft
lectured one evening before the Ne^v York Historical
Society, where ^ve went to hear him. He sought
relaxati(jn from his historical labours by inviting
friends in the evening, and a night or two after our
ari'ival Thackeray came back to the hotel, where I
had remained solitarily, and described astonishing
feats he had lieeu witness to for the first time.
This was his initiation into the table-turning
mystery, the hat-t\vii'ling, etc., accompanied by spirit-
MR. BANCROFT
40
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
rapping manifestations : a nine days' wonder, or rather
more. AVliilst tlie mania lasted Mr. Home was the hero
of the hour. If we believe his published Memoirs —
wliich, by the bye, are singularly reticent as to his
stay in New York — at this period he was only twenty
years of age, though looking older. Here he may
TABLE-TT'RNINf;
be seen Jotting down the alphabetical rajjs, whilst the
rest of the company, tinger-tips touching each other,
keep up the current of spiritual enunciation. Some
words came out, wondrously distorted if names, and
misspelt if niei'e Avords. It is to be feared that some
maliciously disposed votaries on these occasions used
TIIKoDOIiK I'Ah'KER
41
to ufive liiiii liugiiistie nuts to crack wliicli were beyond
his limited comprelieiisioii.
Belouiijini:: to the iiolde New EnizL-nid aiiiiv of
authors may liere be mentioned tlic ]J<'v. 'I'heodore
Parker, the Anti-Shivery clianipion and eloquent
ilii.O— rn
THE 1:EV. TIIE0T)0RE PARKER PREACHINO
preacher. Tlioiigh liis home was at Boston, I tirst
heard him lecture at the New York Tabernacle, full
of fire and earnestness, quite refreshinii; to listen to.
The audience was sufficiently crowded, thouiih the
syllabus was as alarming as the title of Bossuet's
42
WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
" Histoire Universelle." The subject Avas " The Pro-
gress of Mankind." The reading requisite for such a
theme was prodigious. Primitive man and his latest
developments came under review. Franklin was
belauded for teaching lightning to go straight, and
not to destroy everything, as it did in its "rowdy
days " — an illu-
sion which tick-
led the o-round-
lings. On the
whole it may be
said that poor old
Europe came in
second-best.
After the great
names of Law-
rence and Lo^vell
J-jci-ace (jfrc;eUy./3^4«» liad been justly
sino-led out as
grand New England worthies, a Cockney was a little
ruffled at finding " Chicopee and London " bracketed
together as towns emblematic of advanced civilisation.
London came second after a miniature Manchester
\\ ith barely twelve thousand inhabitants ; but then it
was in Massachusetts.
The mention of Franklin bring^s to mind Horace
Greeley, happily dubbed " a later Franklin " by the
Til. Wh'i: HAY'S WK/jOMf-: 43
poet \\ hit I irr. • lie was a w ('|c(.iii(' \isitoi- at tlie
'• C'larciidoii," and in a few x'litciicc^ 1icI|mm| oiic .-.oiin-'-
wliat out ol* the taiiLilt'd maze (»t" .Viiierieun politics,
and was a i^ocmI ty})e of the Piess militant. I \\a>
al)l(' in after-years to return the eonipliiuent l)y aiiswcr-
in^- iiiteiT02:atioiis as to affairs in Eiiro[»e wlicn I met
liim in Paris. I rcmendx'r seeing' liim at an l*>iiulish
(diarity ball ui\«'n there. He Avas much exercised,
on askiui^- me to point out to liini which of the ladies
were the noble patronesses whose titles fi!j;ured on the
list of the evening's progrannnc, at Ix-iiiu- int'orincd
that they so appeared. ^:);'6) /brw*^/ <*"1>'7 ''**t many l)eing
present on that occasion. He ha<l, at that time, (piite
recovered from his Presidential Election fatigues in
1852, Avhen his party, Avhoni we should denominate
Conservatives, but who in the States were known as
the " AYhigs," were " dished."
On the 12tli of November, l)y telegrains from
Halifax announcing tliat Thackeray ^^ as a passenger
on l)oard the Canada^ etc. etc., Thackeray's ai-rival
in New York had been lieralded witli tlie usual
flourish of trumpets, in which the JVetv York Daih/
Tt'ihnrw chiefly distinguished itself. It said, under
the date of November 13th, ''Tic comes on the imi-
tation of the Mercantile Library Association. 'I'he
Merchants' Clerks of New Yoik aspiic to the culture
of scholars and gentlemen, and import from abroad —
44
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
not tlie latest teacher of double entry, but tlie most
thoughtful critic of manners and society, the subtlest
humorist, and the most effective, because the most
genial, satirist the age has known. . . . Terminus,
once rightly reckoned the sacredest of gods, must at
this rate be soon left without a ^vorshipper." This
was written by Mr. Henry James, the father of the
well-known author and dramatist now amongst us.
He and Mr. Dana and Professor Felton were a few
of the able staff supporting the paper. The editor,
and paii; owner of its stock, was Mr. Horace Greeley,
whose presses we went over to examine one after-
noon.
,^/u^ l''VJ. s.C.
CHAPTER II
The Rev. Mr. Chapin's Cluipel — Lectures — Brooklyn — American Art —
Leah — "Wall Street — Barnuni — Genius — James Harper and A])ple-
ton — G. P. R. James — Boston Museum — .William Ailston — "Coast-
ing " — Stuart's Portrait of General Washington — New York Once
More — A Claimant — Washington Irving — T. F. Meagher — Sleigh-
ing — Governor's Island — New Jersey — Xou-Abstainers.
After an active iiiorniiig spent in interviews and
business, we took tlie Bo\veiy tramcars, wliich (;lrop})ed
us not far from 548, Broadway, near Prince Street,
where we met l)y appointment Mr. Millard Felt, who
showed us over the Ilev. Mi'. Chapin's Unitarian
Chapel, from which the Rev. Henry
Bellows had lately retired as pastor.
It was called the Church of the
Unity. I sliall not easily forget the
author's expression of wonder when
he looked athwart tlie lon<i', dark,
wainscote<l Ijenches, and saw the pil-
lared nave and the oak pulpit. He
seemed fascinated hy the idea of his
lay-sermonisino- in this place. Then
looking at the communion table, and appealing to
Secretary Felt, he asked — " Would not the sacred
THE REV. II. BELLOWS
46 WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
emblems l)e removed from the altar ? " followed by
the query : " Will the organ strike up \vhen I enter ? "
Then, peering into the side room, he further iuipiired —
" I suppose I shall have to enter by the sacristy ? "
To sum up the matter, it was determined that this
was the eligil>le resort. The announcements were
made as follows : —
LECTURES TO BE GIVEX ON THE FOLLOWING EVENINGS
Fridays — 19tli November. Mondays — 22nd November.
26th " 29th
3rd December. Gtli December,
At 8 o'clock.
Price : — 3 Dollars for the Course.
The subscription list was closed on Thursday even-
ing, but the rush for tickets soon made it clear that
a second course would 1)e necessary, and this ^vas
also announced thus : —
Wednesday, December 1st. Monday, December loth.
Tuesday, " 7th. Wednesday, " 15th.
Friday, " 10th. Friday, •' ITtli.
filling up nearly a month's interval of time.
The accompanying illustration (frontispiece), jotted
down at the time from a back bench in the vow of open
seats, gives an idea of the prospect. The lecturer
ascended the somewhat liigli rostrum, which had been
erected fronting the pulpit ; along with him came the
secretary, Mr. Millard Felt, who, on the warm greetings
77//; FfiisT cnrnsF of lectures 47
of weleoiiu' sul)si(liii<i', iiitiodiiccd llir h'cturt'i- in a tew
wt'll-choseii st'iitriiccs, and sat down on a cliair at the*
yide. All went cheerily to the (MkI. As was tlir case
ill Eiigdaiid, the iv[H)i'ters had been asked not to udve
i)i extenso or even too liberally the siil)ject-inatter of the
lectures. This intent was honoui'ahly adhered to; but
to eke out their paragraphs — which Thackeray ivad
with interest the next morning — the niaiiij>ulation <tf
his coat-tails, varie(l witli his favoui'ite posture of
diving his hands in his side-pockets, was dwelt upon
facetiously, as well as the unusual fact that he indulged
in no particular form of gesticulation. The first and
only intimation anyone had that these liunioristic
details tickled the authors fancy was on tlie arrival in
New York in mid-January, a month after date, of the
January number of Fraser\s Magazine, containing his
unsigned, yet palpably his own, description of this
<|uaint form of 2)ersonal characterisation.
Neither the jtrevailing gloom of the ])lace (the
lis^hts, as usual wherever there is dark wainscot,
proving powerless to diffuse brightness), nor inclement
Aveather, such as that on the occasion of the second
lecture, coidd daunt the intre])i<l ladies and gentle-
men, the elite oi New "^'ork fashion, from coming and
apj'laudinL:; throULihout the double courses.
Amidst the applause ami the enthusiasm caused by
Thackeray's special address on the (dosing of the tiist
48 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
course, viz., on the eveuiug of the 6th of Deceml^er,
resolutions were proposed and seconded by Mr. Kelly,
President of the Board of Education, and Mr. Osgood,
presiding at this juncture. The latter, I recollect,
said : " I don't like telling tales out of school, but a
friend of mine told me Mr. Thackeray said he only
found Englishmen here ; he begged to say that in
Mr. Thackeray they discovered a genuine Yankee.''
(Tremendous shouts of applause.) Mr. Kelly in his
sj^eech seconded the resolution.
As far as memory serves after this lapse of time,
the citizenship of New York was then bestowed upon
the author — a his-h distinction. The other resolutions
carried referred to the great satisfaction given 1)}' his
visit, and gave expression to the thanks due to the
Mercantile Association, of which Mr. Millard Felt
on this occasion was the chairman, and his fello^v-
committee-men were Messrs. Francis Hawks and
George Moore.
The next day's papers, December 7th, contained
a report of these proceedings, which divided the
attention of their readers with the lengthy annual
address to Congress by President Fillmore. A fillip
was given to the sale of the original ^N'orks descanted
on in the lectures, and such paragraphs as these were
numerous in the advertisements of the time: —
" Bangs, Brothers and Co. issue, wholesale and retail,
THE LWD OF Till-: Flh'ST I'orUSl-J OF LFA"llin:s .i:j
8vo editions of Addison, 'riinckci'ay, Steele,'" etc.
etc.
The liiii[» l»i'o\\ ii-eovered "Esmond" repiints
were sold foi- the trilling snni of .")(> rents per eo|i\ ;
not, however — to the ■vviiter's
chagrin — in Queen Aune type,
lint in the ordinary type, and, if
1 mistake not, with tlie new-
fangled Amei'ican .spelling of
words, (juite transmogrifying its
a[)pearance. These drawbacks
were, however, couuterljalanced ;
for the reprints had the effect of
popularising the author, who
Avas assailed by demands for
5^ . t . T\ w«v/\* .—
niESIDENT riLLMOHK
his discoui'ses.
The nov,' transpontine suburb
of Brooklyn came in for the next engagement. I went,
not as is now done, across the wide expanse of river
1)\' a level bridg-e — one of the wonders of modern
eno-ineeriuQi: — but by takiuGf the Fulton ferrv-boat,
price one cent. The view of Xew York and its
numerous steeple-topped roofs Avas very grand from
tilt' water, with its array of merchant-ships, clippers,
and liners. Here is an attempt to give an idea of it,
but it needs the adjunct of tender melting-blue dis-
tances to realise the scene.
4
50
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
NEW YORK, FROM BROOKLYN
The steep ascent of the Main Street was at this
time lined with non-splendid houses, the worse for
wear. In one of these, and midway up, I climbed up
some rickety stairs, and gave the lecture-announcement
to a clerk at a desk, who copied it out, and, scarcely
moving from his seat, handed the slip of paper to the
type-setter. In a trice I had the proofs in hand,
which Avere forwarded to other newspapers, and soon
the lecturer found himself addressing an intelligent
audience in one of the halls, of which I regret that
I forget the name. It was the privilege of a certain
number of the clergy of this district to grace the
lecture l)y their presence, and their white chokers
gave a solemnity of the Quaker order to the scene.
At the jovial supper which followed the lecture
this somewhat starched demeanour was replaced by
boisterous hilarity. It is an odd circumstance that,
whilst genuine humour often evanesces, the figments
of the Joe-Millerian type keep fast hold on the
niemory. Such an one belongs to this evening's
entertainment, and elicited laughter. A country
A. y /:/>•/< -AX /M /.\ 77.7/.S' ;,I
1)Uiiij)kiii, who had iicxci' seen cithci' a ih"ji-<> or a
c-iii-ai', was ask(Ml l)y a siiiokci' of that swai"th\ hicci]
wlirthci- hf woiihl wliitl a Ilaxaiiiiah. His icjilv
was: " Xa, iia, Mr. I^cil. I caiiiia cat tii'c like \<miI''
T]iis eveiiiiijii's ivcej)tiou was, if need were, a .satisfy-
iiiii' ])r()()f to Tliackerny tliat lie wonld meet witli
appreciative listeners wlierever lie a})peare(l, iriH'-
speetive of the specially chosen agencies for pro-
inotiiiii- p()piilai'ity.
Aiuoiiu'st the friends of student-time in Paris I
now met at the "Century" Club Avas a clever laud-
scape painter, Kensett, who had grown as stout as he
was formerlv the reverse, and who didn't recocrnise me
in the least, owino; to some facial chanije of the same
nature. AVe met at an artistic gathering called the
*' Sketch Club," the assembled company coining to-
gether with no other designs than to chat, smoke,
and, last, not least, eat oysters of the usual huge size.
Church, then emero-ed already into fame, was
painting scenes of the grandiose kind : such as the
Falls of Niagara, very skilfull\' done — his sjn-eiality.
But the host of able painters from the United
States who watched and who studied the very latest
phases of French art were, as a l)ody, only then in
embryo. I understand, from the publications de-
voted to art, that the gi't-at demand now is foi'
works of the nltra Inipiessicmist school, not even
52
WITH THACKERAY IN A3IERICA
P^/\irnf(OT,
tliought of at tliat time. On the contrary, tlie
polished prettinesses of the Dtissehlorf artists filled
galleries of their own, and had a ready sale, whilst
in the South many filled their walls with elaborate
copies from the old masters. Native talent has made
prodigious strides since then. i
On Thanksgiving Day — I believe, always fixed for
the last Thursday of November, on this occasion the
25th — I tested my powers of perambulation, but I
found, like the gentleman returning home after ex-
cessive potations, it was not so much the length as the
breadth of the way
that "\^'as fati2:uino'.
The perpetual zig-
zao'o'ino;' from one
object or place of
interest to another
makes the journey
from end to end of
Broadway no small
effort.
From some per-
verse feelino- I
longed for a mo-
ment to be whisked
ott' in one of the
ninnerous well-
THANKSGIVING DAY
53
;i|t])<)int('(l ])i'iv:it«' ('.•n-riaiics wliicli wait jiatiently at
houses whilst the owners are calliiiL:-, ."iiul tlic smart
l)lack coaclimau and liis cunipaiiioii sit on the 1)()X-
seat ill well-drilled ininiutal)ilit}'.
Hotels in every stage of incompleteness — siu-h as
tlie " Lafarge," then with gaj^iug brick walls and no
fi'outage, only posters with prospective enjoyments
held forth of every description, as per sketch (amongst
them the Bateman children in The Young Couple,
whom I saw, little dreaming that here were to be
much-cherished relatives, and the " Leah " of fame
to become my dear brother's wife thereafter) — and
fully-equipped brand-new resorts, like the " Metro-
politan," with covers and nutre-shaped napkins laid
for 2()0 sruests seated at one or two lonir tables.
tAfVVP-Ce >lot4l,VAW|«^- =fl0»V\iXx,
54
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
A row of negro servants, brush in lian<l, nsed t<>
be seen sittinij: on a bench in the entrance hall of the
hotels. As the visitors came down, each of them, in
rotation, seized the coat-collar and dusted it, ilicking
the brush over the Avhole attire of the owner, who was
THE BRUSHING PROCESS
thus made smart for the day. Sj^ecialists, such as
the "hat-negro" and the "elevator-man," were at
that time unknown, and are quite modern develop-
ments of the "help."
Another sumptuous store of white marble ^^'as
Stewart's haberdashery shop. This we sketched too ;
but the sketch, true then, is no longer so ; the store
and the goods have moved up town. The noble
TiROADWA r
55
THE BKOADWAT
owner's body lias Ijeen snatched, and, I regret to say,
I am unaware whether he \vas ever recovered from
tlie clutches of these ghouls.
At rio-ht anofles ^vith the c^reat thorouo-hfare is
AVall Street. The sketch on page 78 shows its
fonner semblance, with overhead telegraph wires, I
recollect going up one of the stairs of a house in it,
and, instead of finding the man I wanted, I saw a
scrap of paper fastened to the door by tw«» pins,
stating laconically — "Gone t<» ?]urope ; l)ack in a
few days." I believe this is not a bail indication
of the rapid go-ahead mode of business liei-c.
Broadway is in its full length two and a half miles.
56
WITH THACKERAY IX A 31 ERICA
exteiicliug from Uiiioii Square to the Battery, and
giving the gentleman-hmnger (tlie Titmarshiaii version
of the French Jidneur) a very fair idea of the city's
trades, hotels, amusements, bars, etc. New to us
then, but familiarised to Cockney-land by its adoption
in London, was the labour-saving system of com-
bining in one person the conductor and driver of
^t«>lL«>M (;^u)^|
?^^^
THE BROADWAY OMNIBUS
the omnibus, with its interior intimation— " Children
taking seats full fare." In order to fulfil an appoint-
ment made with Barnum's chief business agent,
Mr. Le Grand Smith, to meet Barnum at his museum,
Thackeray took seats in one of these popular vehicles,
fondly fancying we should go in a straight line. But
the pavement was torn up, cobble or flint stone
making way for granite stones ; soon again, the wags
BAILXUJrS
o?
asserted, to he once moi-e u[)ro()te(l to insert iron rails.
This necessitated sucli constant divergence into ott'-
streets, that walking was obviously a speedier method
of transit. The simny side of Broadway Avas Ijright
and cheerful, the sky beautifully blue overhead, and a
clear atmosphere so exhilarating to the spirits that
when wo at last reached and entered Baniuni's
nuiseum the contrast of grime and gloom there per-
vading: — as is often the case in haunts made to be
viewed by sfas-lio-ht — onl\- made the scene more than
usually dismal.
There were stuffed quadrupeds in plenty ; there
were sallow wax figures, prominent amongst A\hich
memory recalls the groups of Lord Byron, surrounded
by his Missolonghi bodyguard of ferocious Suliotes,
aiTayed in faded tinselled costumes; also, further on,
some Chinese notabilities were lying prone, with their
effigy heads off their shoul-
ders, not, as is too often
the case in Celestial
annals, after decapitation,
but here only temporai'il}'
deprived of their head-
pieces for the purposes of
cleaning. English relics,
such as the signed copy
of "Magna Charta," and
3EAL-TI0ER
58
WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
BARNUM S MUSEUM
tlie huge coach whicli once bore Queen Adelaide on
gahi days, were conspicuous. Tavo semi-somnolent
creatures attracted you — one being a " seal-tiger," roll-
ing his eyes in ^vonderment at sucrh matutinal visitors,
and the other its black keeper, whose special function it
liAUXi'M'S
50
AVMs to rouse the (lonuaiit <'mi])lii))i.'Ui lying in its straw
lair, and w li(^se eyes also revolved in the gloom. We
had iise<l up these sensations, and had sat down in a
small otlice the \valls of which were hung round w ith
dairuei'rotN pes of (ItMieral Tom Thuml) leaning ma-
jestically n]»on the shoulders of Bai'uum, ^vhen the
latter gentleman entered and introduced himstdf to us.
This interview has escaped notice
in that great showman's ]Memoirs.
He Avished for Thackei'ayan collalx)-
ration in the tiist numV)er, then
coming out, of an illustrated jmper
in imitation of the London Keics.
And Avho knows what further
developments flitted across that fertile
Itiaiii in c-ounection with the English
authoi'"s visit to America ? Thackeray
said he Avished to maintain his own personal independ-
ence of movement, scaively compatilde with the big-
drum methods involved in monster speculative
schemes. He courteously declined to write his im-
pressions.
]My description of the museum refers altogether to
that of forty years ago. The show disa})peared in
hunbent flames one day, only to rise up elsewhere — a
fate shared in by the great impresario's palace of
" Irauistan." But these disasters never daunted this
3a-
60
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
master-spirit. Sul^seqiiently, on Thanksgiving Day, I
happened to pass by the museum, which was thronged
with people entering it. A placard was put up —
" Beware of Pickpockets " — a warning not needless, as
a little incident which I witnessed there and then
seemed to show. Sitting on a stool in the gangway
was a purblind sailor, with
his c o p p e r - b o X on his
knees, a further appeal to
the c h a r i t a 1) 1 e l^eing a
picture of a ship struck by
lightning, the same flash
de J) riving him of his sight.
A kind passer-by flung
down a contribution, which
an u n s c r u p u 1 o u s t h i e f
tried to grab hold of, when
suddenly a little terrier
hidden 1) e h i n d the blind
man's coat-tails dashed for-
ward to the rescue, and discomfited the would-be
purloiner.
At another street-corner of Broadway was to l)e
seen the liquor-seller, dealing out drinks, chiefly of
soda-water and ginger-beer, at the moderate charge of
three cents per tumbler ; or, taking it in the gross, at
the reduced rate of "forty soda-water tickets for a
^■b.C,
barnum's agent
DRTXKS
61
dollai'," as tilt' wayfarer was informed by a placard.
The briskness Avitli Avliicli these refresliing beverages
were <listributed, i^nisliing tliroiigh brilliant metallic
dolphin-shaped spouts, evinced their populaiity, and
must have been highly remunerative to this bearded
liqnor-ti'ader. AVe give here his likeness as he stood
behind his open-aii' bar.
62
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
It will not escape tlie acute observer that this
worthy wears a chimney-pot hat, the great emblem of
JOHN N. GENIN S HAT STORE
equality, and hence its popularity in the States. Two
years before this time, the Jenny Lincl furore in New
THE CHIMNEY-POT 03
Yoi'k \v;is m.-uiift'sttMl at tlie outset l>y a tmiuMidoiis
rush for tirkcts at ^h\ Hannini's gallery in P)roa<l\\ av.
Tlie ])oxt's were put Uj) to auction to tlie liigliest
l)i(Uler, and, to the horror of the "Swedish Nightin-
gale," she noticed sus]iended over her own private V)ox
a gigaiitic-sizt'd l)i'oad-l)iiiii, Tliis sacred retreat of
the prima doniia ]iad keen won, as higliest ])idder, \)\
Mr. Genin (here is his likeness), the great hatter.
The moderate outlay of 140 dollars had secured this
splendid advertisement. Possibly with an eye to fur-
therins: the heado;ear trade, and with his manifest love
for large headpieces, he wrote a letter to Thackeray,
exj^iessing his wish to acknoAvledge his indebtedness
to the author for the pleasure derived from perusing his
works by presenting him with a hat, also stating that
he had an uncomfortable feelins; in the reflection that
the author could receive no benefit from the purchase
of his books, and asking to discharge his part of the
national debt hy furnishing his head with all external
ornament it might require whilst in his country. I
(juite forget whether the Avish was acceded to by
Thackeray, but, as a salve, I fancy he asked me to
have my measure taken in his stead. Tlir wonderful
instrument for measuring the cranium — wliich I first
sa\v here — was applied to my occiput and frontal bone;
but, alas! when the hat was produced, my bumps or
something else proved rebellious, and I was scared at
64
WITH THACKERAY IN A3IERICA
TAKIKQ TOUR MEASURE
seeing my personal appearance thus, wlien looking in
the glass.
This machine is of Italian invention, is manu-
factured in Paris, and is
known as the " conformateur."
It has been improved upon of
late years.
It may be added that a
reference to the later American
preface written for the reprints
of his works by Thackeray,
showed conclusively that the
worthy hatter was in error in
attributing niggardliness to the American publishers,
A^'ho, on the contrary, are there stated to have
behaved most handsomely,
■ '■ especially the Messrs. Appleton
firm.
AVhilst *on the subject of
reprints, and his lament at
the mutilation of some stories,
such as the omission of the
first chapter in the ^' Little
Dinner at Timmins's" (sup-
posed by some to be due
to its phrasing, as to " Lady
Bungay weighing two of Blanche, even when slie
^;s
THE REStn^T
AMERICAN REPRINTS 05
is not in the f ," as some wag hinted), oi-,
worse still, the uiicartliinii' some of his early l)aiit-
lings wliicli he wished l)uried in oMivion, it may
now be said that the author was too severe upon
himself, and tliat \\'e now like to have these recon-
dite fugitive pieces brought to light once more, as
has been the case lately with some such by a lit-
erary society of our own, though only for private
circulation.
Though soinewhat out of proper secpience of time,
it may be here added that the whole series of red-
covered little books ^vas l^rought l)ack to England,
and, on explanation to the Liverpool Customs agent,
suffered to be retained, being thereafter a useful
record to consult en hJoc when questions arose as to
what to publish or what to omit in tliis country in
future editions.
The next emporium of the book-tra(h' in New York
is Messrs. Harpers', where we penetrated into the
inner or business sanctum, and, when seated, after the
usual amenities and introductory greeting were over,
we had leisure to scan the shrewd features of I\Ir.
James Harper, then chief director of this great pub-
lishing house. The other l)rother-partners we did not
see at this time — indeed, the apartment was purj)osel\'
small and snug, not admitting of large receptions and
of general converse. The sketch gives the aspect of
66
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
tlie place, on the shelves being conspicuous the
Thackerayan reprints and other popular authors.
Presently a lithe little girl came in, and was formally
introduced by the father to Thackeray. He shook
AT HAIlI'EltS
hands with her, and, smiling, said, " So this is a
'pirate's' daughter, is it?" an appellation which
tickled the enterprising publisher's sense of humour
into an approving grin. Thackeray ventured to ask
him whose name stood foremost in popularity in book
sales in the United States. He good-naturedly took
down a ponderous ledger, turned up the leaves at
•'HARPERS'-' 67
letter J, and said, " George Payne Rainsford James
heads tlif list, far aliead of any otlier author, as you
can ju(li;'e for yourself In' L^lancinL;' at tlie numljer of
his books sold, lie turns out a novel every six
months, and the success is always the same, and
tremendous/' This was an "eye-opener," to use a
trans-Atlantic phrase. When asked to explain the
reason of this immense hold upon the public, the
reply ^vas prom})t : " The main reason is that his ro-
mances can always be safely placed upon the family
table, with the certainty that no page will sully or
call the blush to the cheek of any meml^er of the
household." Well was he named in former days
by Thackeray, " that teeming parent of romance."
There was, however, a rift in his literary lute.
Though Consul at that time at Norfolk, Virginia (a
place omitted from our wanderings), the fact that in
some early performance he had faintly hinted his dis-
approval of slavery — this alone made the worthy
Xorfolkians hostile, and presently he exchanged the
States for Venice, the only place where he could not de-
sciy two muffled cavaliers ascending a hill on horseback.
The Harper firm had launched the monthly
bearing their name, a year or two before this time, on
its tide of success. This caused others to folloAv the
same course, with less satisfactory results, ending by
crippling for long days those connected with them.
68
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
G. W. CURTIS
This was the case with Putnam's Monthly, \vhich was
deliglitful reading in its first years. Here is the
profile of Gr. W. Curtis, its
l)riiliant editor. , AVhen we
knew him he had liyacinthine
h)cks and a shaven face, ex-
changed in later years for a
white - bearded physiognomy.
I resrretted to see his name
in a recent New York obituary
notice. He had paid a graceful
tribute to Thackeray, recalling
these social pleasures in America, in the first volume
of his periodical.
Boston, the Athens of America, and nursery of
many illustrious scribes, now claimed to have its
lecturing innings also. So thither we went, making
raids, besides, on neighbouring capitals. One of these
was forty-four miles oif by rail, i.e.. Providence, Rhode
Island. The journey was easy, the audience large
and appreciative. This was on December 22nd, when
nights ^vere getting chilly. It ^vas therefore a little
rough upon those fond of their cheerful cigar, to
be compelled, as most of them ^vere, to content them-
selves with a discussion on the Ijenetits conferred upon
that State by liquor laws prohibiting the sale of
alcoholic drinks. Everybody, I noticed, went to bed
AT BOSTON
69
early. I only sketclicd a ])air of bliieliers, wliose
shadow was cast upou the sleeper's room-door outside,
at the hotel. I can therefore oidy nieutioii Provi-
dence a propos de hotten.
Boston did not resent coniino- in second on the list.
On the contrary, with evident heartiness and an air
.^'V
c«- -xxr pi^vUUww.Vi, ■
of literary confraternity, Thackeray was ^velcollled and
relished, as he had heeu In' the select and cultured
audiences of his own country. A few cantankerous
members of the j^ress Avere adverse, 'tis true ; but they
may be pardoned, as they were the originating cause
of the amusing lucubration sent by Thackeray to
Frasers Magazine (appearing in Jaiuiary, 1S53), wliich
was a renewal of liis old bantering reviews in that
publication. A\'itlioiit telling anyone in the States
that he had written it, without havinii' his name attixed
70 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
to it, when it came to the United States, ten clays
after, it was at once recognised as his, and was re-
ceived with good-humoured laughter by some, but by
others as an unpleasant scarification of the minor
penny-a-lining fraternity.
To while away the leisure moments, we paid
several visits to the museum of pictures in Boston.
Thackeray was much struck — as, indeed, must eveiyone
be — by the superb portraits of General AYashington
and Mrs. AVashington by Grilbert Stuart. They seem
to have their charm increased by their unfinished state,
the background being only partially rubbed in. I asked
the committee, through their complaisant secretary,
Mr. C. Folsom, to allow me to copy them, as I thought
the future author of " The Viro-inians " would like to
have these faces before him in Europe. See how
intentions are baffled ! I painted these, working often
during closing-time, by special grace. I presented them
to Thackeray in ISTew York (he had left me behind at
Boston to give finishing-touches), when, lo ! the great
compliment was paid me of asking to have these
copies copied. Thackeray's friend, Mr. Degan, whose
friendship we had made on board the boat coming
across the Atlantic, took charge of them for that
purpose ; and it was only years afterwards, and
long after the owner's sad departure, that an oj^por-
tunity occurred of sending them back through the
t-y.(rrfVS.
'^i(/M•THACk:ER/.lYJ3oste-^. \%^~i.
AT THK MKI.c.IlEON, BOSTON
72
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
instriiraentality of Thackeray's daiigliter aud lier lius-
band, Mr. Leslie Stephen, the distinguished author,
^vheu on a visit to the States.
It is not without diffidence I mention the
name of Washington Allston, whose reputation was
at
"^-li^
m^iM^A t-k i%!i iiiii k:ii| f??
wA f^j;;3i5si^:^
-^LSTOM liOCst, liU^TuN
tremendous in his day. Here, in this museum, was
Ills liuge composition of " Belshazzar's Feast'' — left
incomplete, it is true, yet sufficiently forward to show
the painter's ultimate aim an<l intention. There is
a certain Venetian glow and mastery of colour in it
WASHINGTON ALLSTON
73
\\liic'li attracts, Imt uotliiiiii; can justify the intro-
duction of sncli .1 foreground group as seen there, of
whicli the faces border on the grotesque. It is in the
art essays he wrote, in his genial conversation, and
in liis able correspondence, we must seek, in order to
FROM •• BEL<nAZZAK"S FEAST "
realise his hold u[)on his time. AVe give here the
I'ougli indication of the group alluded to.
There is more sweet pleasure derivable from small,
uiiprt'tciidinu' eanvascs in th»^ same collection than in
.iiiibitions compositions. Here, for example, in sol)er
greys and in sad feature, is the little fiu-ure of the ill-
fated aiithoi'ess, Afai'Li-ar^t Fnller-Ossoli, deftly done
74 WITH THACKERA Y IX AMERICA
h\ Tliomas Hicks. He was a pleasant boou-com-
j^anion at the " Century " symposium and elsewhere.
Besides painting j^eople, chiefly celebrities, he used
to mimic them amusingly. His representation of
Daniel Webster the orator was very whimsical.
AYliilst delivering a mock speech of his he would
take out a huge red Bandanna handkerchief, and
unfolding it deliberately would, after many nose-
pullings, at last recover the thread of his discourse,
and start afresh on ponderous sentences. It was said
to be a good skit on the departed statesman's method
of speech.
The proverbially sudden changes of temperature
in the States now were realised : one day it was balmy,
the next was frosty and snowing — with pantomime
rapidity of altering scenes, we had the whole popu-
lation sleighing. The juvenile portion at Boston
preferred " coasting." The old edition of Webster
contained this description of it : " The sport of sliding
down a hill-side upon sleds or sledges in winter (used
in the Eastern States, and also in New Brunswick,
where the application of the word may possibl}'
have originated amongst the Acadians — from cote, old
French coste, a hillside)."
The little lads are seen careering down the slopes,
helter-skelter. In the distance is seen Faneuil Hall,
not the original "Cradle of Liberty," as it was called.
76
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
built by tliat patriot of Huguenot descent, but the
second structure, reared when tlie first was burned
down.
I had by this time finished the two portrait copies
of General and Mrs. Washington. I packed them up,
and brought them to Ne^^ York for Thackeray's kind
acceptance.
Before leaving Boston I peeped into some of its
public buildings and institutions ; one of these was the
Boston Sessions. I forget what exact business was
transacted at this court of justice. The Sessions are
generally held for granting licences to innkeepers, etc.,
and for laying out highways. They answer seemingly
AT THE BOSTON SESSIONS
JX rilE JfEUCIlAXTS' EXCHANGE, NEW YOh'K
77
to our petty sessions, though here one niiigistrate
seems to suffice. A legal document is ])eing read,
"which does not seem to interest the public at large.
- J. ftLijV^fSt <\ XUu,'. •WlC^O"-''^--
They in preference gathered in the corridors and
other precincts, not choosing to stay in court, wliicli,
to tell the truth, like others I know of, was close and
stuffy.
After Bostonian amenities came round once more
the mingled bustle and high pressure of New York
amusements and sights.
78
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
At ris^ht angles witli Broadway was Wall Street,
the ofteu - de-
fit^ I'f^ Ac /■« ft.
scribed business
centre of New
York, of which
the sketch gives
some notion as
it existed at
that time. As
you entered the
Merchants' Ex-
change in that
thoroughfare
you heard the
voices of eager
auctioneers,
seen gesticulat-
ing, each of
them in their
individualstalls
fixed circularly
round the inner
Rotunda. Map
in hand, he
pointed out the
exact locality of the estate being put up for sale. That
preliminary over, he would take the bids thus: — "120
A UCTIOXEERiya
T'J
WJj.'
dollars" offered; nii advance
to " 150 dollars" is hid; and
after iucreasiii^' voliil>ility
tile liamuier comes do^\ll,
and successive properties are
disposed of in the same
niannei'. This went on till
the clock of Trinity Church,
hard by, struck three o'clock,
^vhen the whole throno' dis-
persed, and with a bare
interval I found myself in
comparative solitude. Only
one tardy clerk was at his
desk casting up his accounts, and a negro sweeper
\vas raisino- dust-clouds with his broom. Other
open-air estate agents are seeu, in modest rivalry
to A\all Street appraisers, trying to sell estates by
placarding the same in the streets. Here, for ex-
ample, was a lad dressed as a clown, holding a
board on a pole. The advertisement ran thus : " A
house and lot for two hundred dollars; a chance for
a home for life at the village of Maspeth.'' Neither
the motley wear nor the prospect of having a rural
retreat in Long Island seemed to fascinate the crowd,
which passed on rapidly, and heedless of such tempt-
ing O2)portunities of investment. Perhaps the vocifera-
80
WITH THACKERAY ^ AMKRWA
tions of the Wall Street mart were fatal omissions
here.
Close by these open-air monetary transactions, a
visit to a neighbouring jeweller's store in Broad^vay
3u^.jr-*. - TJie .tl».. ./ U^U^ i. ,J^ ^t . ^^^ .y^ ^^^
CLOSING TIME
Avill reveal to you how soon gold becomes specie. The
courteous trader informed me — what, indeed, the sign
over the central housetop had certified in a certain
eml:)lematic way, by representing an eagle sustaining
in its beak a tiny repeater — that either Australian or
Califoruian lucky diggers will come into their store,
A CAPITALIST
to nil appearance dire tatter-
demalions. They at once
proceed to liaul out of the
recesses i)i their garments a
ii'old nuii'iret or two, Avhich
is ^\"eighed, and soon bartered
for a lump sum of money.
I remember the firm's t^\■in
name, " Ball and Black." Per
contra, no ore of any kind,
I should say, could l^e found
on the body of the negro
81
A IXK K-I.OAKKI;
■Bill BUfk U.C<rH'-
whom I saw, as I came
out of the goldsmiths'
shop, listlessly sitting
upon the chain encircling
the City Hall Park, smok-
ing his weed contentedly :
a dock-loafer, probably.
Amongst the prcmii-
nent figures of Ne^v York
at this season was a
claimant to the Bourljon
throne, wlio pretended to
l»e the actual Louis XVII.,
w ho had escaped from the
Temple during the Frencli
82 WITH THACKERAY IN A 31 ERIC A
Revolutionary turmoil. His real name was the Rev.
Eleazar Williams ; liis usual occupation was tliat of a
missionary amongst tlie Canadian Indians. For their
benefit lie had ti'anslated the Bible into Mohawk ; ill-
natured people hinted that he was himself descended
from some Iroquois chief, a supposition justified by
his reddish-brown complexion and features. The
humour of the hour was, however, to greet him -with
mock obeisances ; and the intrepid went so far as to
ask to see the documents authenticating his royal
parentage, which he invariably brought with him
under one arm, ^vhilst in his other hand he grasped
— not a sceptre, but the homely gingham. " Our
Dauphin " was the title he ^vent by familiarly in
New York. It must be supposed that setting up as
a Pretender pays ; there are so many of them. Ten
years before, a couple appeared in the United States,
according to Bacouiii's amusing Memoirs, pretending
to be descendants of the Chevalier Bayard, although
that hero never was married ! These were, of course,
exceptional instances of misdirected hospitality — the
base coin which, in spite of careful scrutiny, ^vill get
foisted amidst the pure gold of society.
Washington Irving, ^vho, for al)breviation's sake,
was known as " Old Knick," from his early work
— " The History of New York, by Diedrich Knicker-
bocker " — was the most lionised of the notabilities ^^'e
THE REV. ELE.\Z.\n WILTJAlfS
HI]
A lion's entree
Ui- V-^ Jt^tk^'tl-
AS A BKl'UBDN l-UKTKNDKU
84
WITH TIT ACKER A Y IN AMERICA
met, whetlier ut l^alls or elsewhere. There was little
sense of lassitude visible iu his cheerful face as he
sat there chatting with the hostess, in preference
choosing a quiet nook away from the dancers and
fiddlers. He has in published letters confided, witli
mock modesty, to us
"that the dances then
in vogue put me out
of countenance, and
are not such as a
gentleman of my years
should witness." This
assumed prudery is as
amusino^ as were the
numerous accessories
^vhich t e m p o r a r i 1 y
hid the graceful move-
ment of the marble nymph near him — in the sliape
of hats or piles of suj^per-plates and champagne bottles.
I seem to hear now his mello^v, chatty voice, not
without a dash of huskiness in it, due to age, \vlien-
ever he came for a quiet gossip with Thackeray at
the "Clarendon." He would then, albeit venerated
by his friend Charles Dickens, not conceal . that,
beside loyally reciprocated friendship, he had what
the French call a "tooth," and we a "gi'udge,"
against him, for embittering the two kindred
Vt^<^ ^Kvyz,). li'i-z
AT A NEW YORK SOIREE
85
t'ountries, liis own and KiiLilaiid, against each otlier.
This Avas, of course, l)et'oi'e the Bozzian second
visit, in which every misunderstanding was con-
THE REFRE^HMKNT UOOM
doned, and tlie liatchet buried in oblivion and
doDars.
Tlie portraits whicli T liave seen of " Geoffrey
Crayon, (xent"," as a rule give one his youtliful
86
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
features aud a|)pearaiice. I should feel regret if, l)y
arivino; his semblance at this time, I wei'e infriiiiriiitr
a tacit desire of his own not to be limned in his
declining years. One day — it was on January 17th,
my diary states — we met him, ^vhen ourselves going
from New York to Philadelphia, when, stowing away
a suj^ply of newspapers
which he had bought,
he briskly conversed
the whole time till
we parted at the final
railway station. He
was going to consult
archives at Washing-
ton, where we again
met him.
In the same way
Thackeray met, a few
days after, in the rail-
way cars, another interesting figure, that of Thomas
Francis Meagher, who Avhiled away the tedium of
the journey by telling us of his thrilling adventures
and plucky experiences.
It was interesting to see this impromptu meeting of
the now genial rebel and the author of the " Battle
of Limerick," written in Punch in 1848, and to think
of its well-known lines : —
Tkoh^^s Pro^coi H^clAz^.
THOMAS Fh'AACiS M I:A(; II ER g7
" Tlicn we suminoncd to our hoard
Young ^Icjifxlicr of tlie sword ;
Tis he will sheathe that battle-axe in Saxon gore."
Needless to add that these were not adverted to.
But tlie talk was of liis success as a lecturer; of his
discourses, which lasted full two years in delivery ;
of Australia; and of the ever-present "Irish Ques-
tion."' lie afterwai'ds Lecame an officer in the North
and kSoutli AVar. lie met an untimely death by falling
from the steamer's deck in the Up})er JMissouri, in the
year 1867, and thus ended an eventful career.
One of the incidents which delio-hted his inter-
locutor was heard subsequently. Someone, in the
presence of Aleau'lier, spoke disrespectfully of Her
Majesty the Queen, which so roused the anger of
the rebel that, but for friendly interference, he
would have given the unmannerly lout a sound
thrashing !
The love of perpetual motion is seen not only
in the cars, but in the very popular sport of sleigh-
ing, somewhat emulating that sense of rapid transit
throuo:h streets. Throuii-hout the Northern States the
bai'onieters fell in a day, and the l>riglit balmy atiiio-
s|)here gave way to cold weather about niid-Jauuary;
and on three successive days — 12th, 13th, and l-tth —
Broadway became alive with brisk sleighs of difl'ei'ent
sizes and shapes, after a good snowfall. The main
88
WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
features, however, were the huge sleigh-stages, or
open cars on " runners," four rough-shod hoises
drawing them at good rattling speed to the tune of
lino'lino; bells, the conductor meanwhile fjoiuu; round
on a projecting wooden cradle and collecting the
fares. The sight is very pretty and exhilarating.
S^jU^u^ • yf*i^ • B«"-'^-'*"«»i ■
if T1 - '7 Hil fMip^jr^wu^^
The intrepid smoker Avhift's as if he were in a bar-
room. There is a draAvl)ack, to which the newspapers
direct attention, to this effect : —
"Dangerous Sport. — Filling omnibus sleighs 'uitli big Ininps
of snow, ice, and street filtli, and burling them into other sleiglis,
knocking down men, women, and children, is shameful and dangerous.
Some of the guilty parties were stage-conductors themselves.''
The defenceless position of those being whisked
along rapidly makes the usually permissil)le game
SL /■:/(, JUNG
so
of snowhnlliiiL;- iiidct'ctisil)!*' here, as the essential
ooiulitioii of Ix'iiii;- mI)!*' to i"etalint<' is ini]>ossi])l('.
Kt'W like taiLi«'t-]>rM('tiee il' tli(Miiselves tlie circle
aimed at. The old and feel)le folk naturally retire
into j>rivate life on these occasions. iVmongst llicni
was Washington Irving, who ])ut off a journey for a
few days until, by the change of temperature, the
\t/._;i'-":-VZ!:l4^-..
hi'^^Mm
wayfarer ran no risks of being either pelted or as-
sailed by rheums.
It ^vas pleasant to witness the repression of these
escapades by those anxious to re(b"ess grievances. I
believe the press to be so in harmony with order
in the States that, attention being dir<H'tt'd to
misdeeds, they w'ere sure to ivceive the inunediate
supervision of the ])olice. These ntticials weiv attiied
in coats of a light pe})})ei- (-((lour, not attracting much
attention from the eye; but the grip was sutHcient
wlien \»»u looked at the lind)s ensconced in them.
90
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
I went to see tlie Tombs prison, in Centre Street,
then open to anyone on payment of a trifling con-
sideration. Here is given its grim exterior elevation
only. The inside is omitted, as I found it so terribly
dej^ressing to look at. Moreover, a reference to tlie
description given in Dickens's " American Notes ''
THE TOJIBS I'KISON
will l)e found all-suflScinc;. The identical netj-ro
seemed to have remained there as described by him,
warming himself in the chill lower storey of the
buihlinij. The watchius: warders, sittins; on their
iion-grated galleries, as they do at our Wormwood
Scrubs prison, still sat there niglit and day, as I was
AK Kxncrriox MonxrNa
01
iiifoi'ined. A pervadiiiL;- mildewy smell, the result
of the low levt'l of the foiiudations, was yet a feature
■'i^/i/M
Mr . v'^J> ;"», .-p ' =//^#4fV ipl
c-';&=i
■^^^^":;-^i2=s^
AN EXECUTION MOUNINO OfTSIDK TIIK To.Mlis
of the place, from which you gladly escaped iuto the
fresher open air.
92 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
Grouped round the main building were seen stalls
for apple-women, German grog-shops and lager-beer
sellers, the latter resorted to by teamstei's, Avho
followed the example of Wordsworth's waggoner,
and left their horses and their vehicles to linger
driverless, whilst fro^vsy brats grinned at their own
faces as seen distorted in the shiny panels of the
vehicle.
Presently, whilst sketching, I noticed a curricle,
which was pulled up at the prison-gate, disgorging
a drunkard, who went and joined the roistering
band of casuals I had seen inside in the yards await-
ing the expiration of their fe^v days of enforced
sobriety. They are known as the " five days' men,"
the prison cicerone informed one.
On other occasions, though happily few, execu-
tions take place inside the prison yard. The expect-
ant crowd outside consisted of loafers and people
unable to obtain an entrance, owing to the crush
for seats or standing-room.
I got into what is called a " Whitehall boat " with
a stout sculler, who soon rowed me over the half-
mile expanse of water dividing Governor's Island
from the Battery, and thus I was enabled to see the
dress of regulars — recruits in this instance — and their
quarters in Fort Columbus. Few cared, it seems, to
explore this stronghold, an exception being, I was
GO VKRXOR'S rSLA ND
93
fold, on tlic ])art of <»iHci;iIs. GeiuM'al Pierce had
come over in iliis very skift' a few days before, so
tile waterman avei-ivd : but whetlier with a view to
impress me ^\itll this adventitious importance, oi-
of enforcing extra payment in consequence, I ^vas
.^•^
GOVEKNOU S ISLAND
q^sn-L^^^-TllF^'*^-*^
left in doubt. As I landed on the granite steps
leading nj) the bankside, my friend was told l)y the
sentinel to wait there till my return, an order which
evidently he received with an ill-grace, ^vllilst a mere
Britisher ^vas allo^ved to ramble al)out at large and to
sketch unmolested. Though not promising subjects
for the pencil, the few verandah-girt liouses looked
as if the slightest nioi'tar-pi-actice would biing rhfiii
down with a run, and that the released su})}»t)rt-
ing tindjers might be helpfully utilized as floating
spars in a tide-^vay. This nocturnal mode of deser-
ti(m to the neighboui'ing Brooklyn shore was, it was
94 WITH TIIACKhJIlA Y IN AuMEIilPA
whispered, not at all an iiimsiinl event <>ii tlie ])art of
many findiug a trimestrial ))iaotice of the goose-ste])
(^ver-irksome. The inside court reseml)led somewhat
that of the four-cornered hotel yard, Avhilst outside
of it the recruits were preparing for future vegetable
growth by spreading manure over the fields. I got
bavk to the l)oat, ^v]licll deftly avoi<led innumerable
lighters, ferry-boats, and pleasure yachts. I pacified
the oarsman \vith a sufficient payment for my visit to
this fortified post.
Althouo-h statistics show that durini>: the Civil
AVai- over two millions of soldiers were then und(M'
arms (mostly volunteers, Avitli the exception of fifty
thousand regulars), comparatively few of these were
to be seen parading or perambulating the streets
in the fifties. Exceptionally, perhaps, might l)e seen
a l^attalion returning from drill — smart and well set-
up, with a business-like air. The rear was brought
up l>y two negro files, one of Avliom carried
the major's heavy spotted rug, and the other a
Avooden ensign on a pole. Between them Avas a
diminutive unfiedged recruit, over Avhose shoulders
\\'as slung the useful Avater canteen. Those T
saw were called " Bow^iy Boys," or Democratic
(ruards.
Anotlier band of volunteei-s, i.e., the Fire Brigade,
were at this time only the undeveloped raw material
RKTUIiX FliOM DRILL
05
for wliat lias since tlicii I>t'cii made into a most efticient
and well-organised department. ^\'llat was then a
motley l)and of ;i })oorly disei})Hne(l tliongh well-
meaning Salvage Corps, with only a number ujton
their hats, and a speakhig-trumpet in hand, as badges
VOLrXTEEIls' MAnCH
of their extemporised calling, have, I now under-
stand, self-propelling steam-engines — going through the
streets at a smart trot — made by the Amoskeag Com-
pany, and burning houses are extinguished without
the excessiv^e inundating deluges of former days,
9fi
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
making tlie calamity, it was said, from flooding far
greater than that of the original fire.
C'linton Hall, with little architectnral pretension as
far as the exterior elevation was concerned — the house
where the Mercantile Library carried on its useful
organisation — was in a street oft* Br(>a(hvay, near the
Astor House. It was the home, I believe, of the first
Governor of New York, Sir Henry Clinton, and hence
called Clinton Hall. The surplus funds accruing
from the lectures are invested in ])ooks, thus gi-adually
increasing the clerks' library. MSS. of interest, as
77//'; /•'//.'/'; HlUdADK
97
AFTEK TllK FlllK, NEW VOUK
Li.storical doeuineuts in the States, are also acquired
and pul)lisbed ; a savings bank being another sound
feature.
New Year's Day is ushered in as a general holiday,
the distinficuishino; feature beinu: its devotion more es-
peeially to the satisfying of the young folks. Thougli
Thackeray was in Boston, he commissioned me to dis-
tribute the proper amount of honhomiieres, which I diil
faithfully. As you are expected to call personally, and
not vicariously, tlie task, tliough [)leasing, becomes
laborious if there be a large circle of acquaintanceship.
It was a great relief at last to cease peraml)ulating,
and to sit down at the hos[)itable house of Mr. Pdl.
7
98
^VITIl THACKERAY IN AMERICA
The next day, Jaiiuarv 2nd, I left New York for
Philadelphia, to arrange lecturing matters. The change
was bracing, and the scene ^vas noble in its grand
simplicity, as the sun went down over Jersey City,
whilst I Avas crossing in the ferry from Xe^v York.
It was on a line Sunday afternoon, and the red tiare
brought out the line of roofs, topped — appropriatel}-,
on the Sabbath — by its solitary steeple. I believe the
submarine tunnel is fast approaching completion here ;
a great convenience doubtless, but it Avill mulct
travellers of noble vistas in cloudland and of Yenetian-
looking distances. G(^)ne, t(jo, Avill be the (piaint
figure of the water-
seller, also a semi-
Yenetian reminis-
cence, as this Creole
d e a 1 1 o u t her
tumblers to the
thirsty on board in
the saloon. The
Maine li(|Uor law,
in full force, for-
bade any more
exhilarating liquid
being dispensed to
qu en eh t h i r s t.
Solids also are sold.
CANVAS-BACK DUCKS
oT/r.y ('CM !)/(,■ X/TATh-
99
lltTt' is a Mark t I'adcr ( Ii<' w as di'csscd, I i-ccollcct,
in a (Iclicioiisly toiUMl pea-green coat) waiting for
c-ustiiniei's w liilst sitting njxm the central ste])s of tlie
ferrv <-r(»ssing I lie Sns(|uelianna. llis specialty was
NEWS ROOM. I'niLAnfnrniA
tlie famous canvas-back duck, sold, as he announced,
at one dollar and a ([uarter each. This fa\«Mirirf bird
feeds upon th<' wild cclei-N- Li'i'owing on islets about tin-
bay, whence its w oild -famous flavour and dtdicacy.
The rest of (Uir journey might have a.ffoi-d('(|
matter for couunciit t(» those liking to pondei- upon
100 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
tile futility of makiiiu' laws wliicli cannot l)e Piifoi-ced.
Here we were traversing tracts of countiy in wliidi
penalties are supposed to ])e meted out ligorously to
those infringing sobriety ; yet, as a protest, you
heard endless cork-poppings, and occidt topers miglit
he seen taking surreptitious l)ottles from their side-
pockets and applying them to their throats througli-
oiit their short travels. These unridy spirits, Ijecoming
confidential, took the surrounding com})any into their
consnltations as to the best method of meeting the
coming Caudle lecturing of their spouses, which they
guessed would be of a lively kind, after having had
their tiing at New Yoi'k. Tlie forecast seemed ex-
hilarating to the company, which laughed consumedly
at the prospect in view. One nc^i-abstainer seemed
siitHciently primed to receive any Caudle lecture with
ecpianimity. I reached the cosy '' (lirard House "
quarters at Philadelphia, escaping with pleasure from
downpouring rain outside.
•PV ,U ^''t HJ^U._lJ^>i,'^-y3. TjC-
MEETIN(; IIF FUIK\I)<. I'll 1 l,ADKl.l"liI A
CHAPTER in
Pliiladc'lpliia— A Quakers' Meeting — Xegro Disability — A Historical
Porch — W. B. Read — "Washington — Lecture on " Humour and
Cliarity " at New York — "Wasliington and Baltimore — Presidential
Lev6e — The Ericsson — Tlic Iron Jnckson — Congress.
I SOON, next morniiiL'-, eiiofao-ed a lecturiiiLT liall
from the stout good-liiiiiioured caretaker ; and aftei-
duv insertion of lecture announcements in the papers
and otluT matters tlierein-conceriiiiiu", I rami)!*'*! over
tlie town, wliicli liad a pleasant Quaker-like cleanliness
and stateliness, giving it a physiognomy of its o^vn.
AVhen (me is tii-ed of rand)lin<;-, there is always the
jtleasant reading-room i-esource. The Led(jti% National
LitelUgencer, and the Union, w Inch are the names seen
loo WITH THACKERAY IN AJJFRJCA
ii[)(»n the pajxr-rs tlie two readers liave l)eeii perusing
(p. 99), bring back to mind this admirable adjunct of
a newsroom, ^vhicli is a feature of all American liotels.
They were salient Philadelphian organs of opinion,
doubtless exponents of the thoughts and feelings of
tlie Society of Friends, to which these twin tio-ures
seemed also to Ijelong.
Tliough Philadelphia had no statues at that time,
you soon gleaned that the three salient figures of its
history wei'e — A\'illiani Peim, its famed founder :
Benjamin Franklin ; and, lastly, the wealthy Bordeaux
workman Girard, wh(» had presented the town with
thirty millions of francs as a bequest.
William Penn is i-emembered and recalled l>y
endless ])o])ular announcements, to which his name is
attached.
Exemplifying this hero-worship, thei'e was the
awning shading the hotel, embellished with his three-
cornered hat and wig; the hero holding his famous
treat}-, which West's picture has made familiar.
Fi-anklin's renowned hand-printing press is here.
A\'ashington's chair — which you see put in his pictures,
l)ut in which, characteristically, he is never seated —
is also religiously ])i-eserved in the museum.
Though a little out of order as to time, here may
be described fitly an incident connected with a stay
in Plii]adel])hia.
.1 mi:i:tis(; noes/-:
lo:;
A\'liilst sauiitcriiiL:" aloiiu' ils main tlioroiiiilifaic nn
a rt'stful Sunday iiioniiiiu-, I iiotitHMJ a l)uil<liiiu', siii-
i'(>uii(K'(l })\ uravc'lU'd spaces, wullt'd in from the I'oad,
tliouu'li tlie u-ateway lay invitingly open. Tlie aii'
of stillness and m\stery ahout the ])l<ice, and the
tra\('llt'i''s scaive pai-donal)le spirit of incpiisitiveness,
seemed to impel me to ii'o in aud solve my doidjts.
I walked \\\) steps to the mnei' door, wliieh I opened,
when I found myself lookinir fi-oni an elevated plat-
form down on an assem])led but mute eono;reiratinn of
men (tn one side and women on the otlier. '^Fhis I. <>t*
course, saw at once was a Quakers' meeting. T closed
the door, hoping I c(»uld reach a seat unnoticed.
but ever\' boar<l of the tlooi' ci'eaked to m\ ti'ead. and
I was thankful when 1 was able to sit down, though
104
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
not a soil] iiioxcd (>)• tui-iu'd louiid to see wlio tlie
iiitni(l«-r was, so enwrapped wei-e they in tlieir de-
votions. An elder, after an interval, got u}) and
addressed the i)eople assemlded, sat down after a
brief exordium, and Avitliout any appai'ent signal
everyone got np, and ^valked away and dispersed.
I afterwards made this a subject for a painting from
memory, and sent it to the Royal Academy.
More uegro-iimning engaged me as I left Phila-
delphia next day for Baltimore. It was not, as it
turned out, a cheerful incident Avhich I was to carry
out, though begun Avithout any idea further than that
of an ordinary
'^"'S! filiSi^ilSiSHi^iii^B ' passenger's like-
ness. It happened
thus. On seeing a
good - humoured
negro attired in
a chimney -j^ot
hat, and leaning
upon his modest
linen bag (possi-
bly his whole be-
longings), the
sight was so novel
I sketched him ;
but ])resently the
AX IW/'LKASAXT INCIDENT 105
c.'ir-iuaii ('.-uiu' ui) witli aiiLfcr in liis coiiiitciiaiice
and l>t't'k(HUMl liiiii away, saviiii:;, "(ret into tlic first
car, sir — sittinii' lieiv aiiioiiii" white people, indeed I "
He moved away as told; a niotliei- clas|)ing lier infant,
in an adjoiniiiu' rnsjiioiu'd (•onij)artinent, looked ]>it\"-
iiigly on the scene, as I did too. I now saw foi' the
tirst time an ill-lighted compartment next the eni^ine,
in which wei'e already ensconced a }'onng negio and
his \\ ife, or female companion.
Whilst on this tojiic I may mention a pathetic
st(»rv we wei'e told at I)altiniore of a lax whit<' tradei",
^^llo, Ijesides his legitimate offspring, left a second
family of dusky-coloured children. Not knowing, what
was a fact, that he was insolvent, he left them free
by his will. The creditors, not to l>e baulked, sold
these little mulattoes as slaves, to Ije sent down South.
Dire war has done this good — that such fell [»urposes
can never more be carried out on a free soil.
After the tragic piece fitly comes the cheery inter-
lude. As such may be here inserted tlie letter of
invitation, running thus : —
"Baltimon-. First M°., 22. 1853.
'•E. Crowe.
•'Estkk"- Frikxp, — Tliis will lie hamlcMl tlice by H. Stone, ;i meiii-
])(•!• of our Lecture ( oinniittee. In ciise thee lias not written A. (_'.
Rlio<3e.s, -Mr. Stone will beur to us any conmuinicatiou as regards
time of commencing course, etc. — Ilespectfully,
'• (Sii-ned) Eu" M. Nkkdles."
106
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
111 pursuance of tlie above I took up (piarters at
Bariium's comfortable liotel at Baltimore. Meeting the
committee of the Mercantile Society, and the head of
tAtTlMOUE- T^k'-li- fi-
BALTIMOUE
the committee, Mr. Needles (a good name for a sharp
treasurer), we, after little difficulty, arranged terms,
settled the time of coming, etc., to mutual satisfaction.
The lectures were here to be given at the Uiiiver-
salist Church, and from the preacher's pulpit.
I give the appearance of the streets in the fifties.
They had a good smack of old-world buildings at that
time. The stepping-stones enabling the passer-by to
avoid being wet-footed after continued rains, are as
/?. T. /•
107
old as Pompeii as street-features ami as contrivances
saviiiu" siioe-leather. The s(juare tower and f1au:staft'
jni"lit liavc beloiiiied to the contemporaries of the
" Humorists/'' The
trees also u-ave an
;iuti(|Uat»Ml tlavoui',
though leafless at
this time, as they
spread bare stems
before solidly built
structui-es. Here I
recollect noticing,
dependent from a
d o o r-li a n d 1 e , a
mournful piece of
black drapeiy ; this
was a notice that
there was a death
in that house, and proljably was a traus-Athmtic inti-
mation substituted foi- the two mutes formerly stand-
ing in English doorways on these occasions.
On the return j(mrney I met at the " Girard
House" table d'hote in Philadelphia an old familiar
face, the handsome one of C. F. Henningsen. He
was a sort of guerilla or free-lance, who had spent his
life in camps, rather as a newspaper correspondent
than himself undiM- orders. He wrote, in 1882,
A NOTICE OF DEATH
108 WITH THACKERA Y IN AMERICA
"Scenes from tlie Belgian Revolution.'" This was
an opuscule in verse of threescore pages, which I
purchased once on a bookstall — uncut, of course. He
had after this been in the Carlist War of 1832 up to
1840, where he was near being shot, being captured
by the Espartero party. He invited nie to have a
smoke in his rooms, ^vhich Avere full of different-pat-
terned rifles and carbines, as if he already scented in
the air the war between North and South. I heard
that he took a commission under Walker the Fili-
buster, and became a o;eneral in the Confederate
army in subsecpient years. I introduced him to
Thackeray, ^^'llo was much struck with his presence,
as a type of the free-lance not unworkable into
romance. Charles Gruneisen, the able musical critic
of after-years, ^vas his companion in captivity in
Spain, and narrowly escaped the short shrift given in
those days to men of either side when captured. I
Ijelieve " liittle Moore," whose 7wm de plume was
" Poco-Mas," the Morning Chronicle correspondent,
was the chief means of getting both of them otf,
omng to his interceding in their favour with Espar-
tero, the connnander of the army, and the British
legion under General Evans.
On the 18th of January, before leaving Phila-
del])liia, 1 sketched the somewhat squat proportions
of the classical Portico^ in front of which was read
IM)Kl'EM>EyCE IJA LL
109
rlie "Declaration <>f Indepeiulence/' Here it is re-
prod need, as is also often tlie facsimile of that
document itself. The exents c»f the jjeriod to whicli
it relates were often matter of discussion between
TUE DEtl.ARATION OF IXI)ErEM)EN( E
Thackeray and his friend Mr. T. B. Keed, the
able diplomatist, whose genial hospitality made our
sojourn so pleasant in that eitv. All readers of
Thackerayan sayings and doings must ever refer
back to his kindly written, though brief, sentences
110 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
about the author in his triljute to him called
" Haud Immemor." It is a pit}', ho^vevei-, that
the t^vo visits — that of 1853 and 1855 — are some-
times insufficiently defined, and i-ather jumbled to-
gether.
On the next day (19th) we shifted our camp,
and, changing cars at Baltimore, Avent on to Wash-
in2:ton. The chano^e was not a beneficial one, as Ave
got into a luggage train — a necessity arising from the
fact that the train meant for us had l)een run into by
a " burden train," which we supposed to be American
for "goods."
Thackeray has himself put on record the originat-
ing source of his lecture on " Charity and Humour,"
about this time, when we returned once more to New
Yorlv. Some friends wished to l)enefit a "Ladies'
Society for the Employment and Belief of the Poor,"
and he volunteered to write a new discourse to be
delivered for that purpose.
He took a Avhole day for the task, lying down in
his favourite recundjent position in bed, smoking,
whilst dictating fluently the phrases as they came. I
took them down, with little or no intermission from
breakfast-time till late in the dusk of the evening.
The dinner-gong sounded, and the manuscript was
then completed. I remember his pleased exclama-
tion at this tour deforce — not usual with him — " I don't
''CIIAIUTV AM> nujiorii." Ill
kIl()^v where it's all coiiiiiii;- froiii ! " In many in-
stances Boileaii's distich cninc to mind, w lien tlu' (-(im-
position was rel)ellioiis —
" Tl'1 mot, i)our avoir rC-joiii le k-cteur,
A cout6 bien souvent des larines ii Tauteur " —
l>nt in this case it was not so; the phrasing of
the ^vords as they are read, flows with the easy
charm of their production. The charge of self-repe-
tition, made heedlessly against it, was scarcely avoid-
able in the first part, which is a recapitulation (»f the
" Humorists' " drift of purpose. These eighteenth-
century wits are passed in review in the first half,
as a foil to their subsequent comparison with the
modern forms of "Humour" and "Charity"' to l)e
found in the Avorhs of contemporaries, and to \\ liom a
noble trilnite of respectful admiration is paid so
touchino-ly. Doubtless the incentive of a benevolent
motive was inspiriting to the author.
The lecture was first given a day or two after, on
the 31st of January, at the Church of llie Messiah,
in Broadway, at three o'clock in the afternoon. The
charge for each ticket was one dollar, and the net
result was about twelve hundred dollars. The ladies
expressed their gratification at this windfall.
When we reached Wasliington we found it in
what is known as a whirl of '* \n<Ai links," owimr to
112 WITE THACKERAY IN AMERICA
the interminable succession of balls, concerts, parties,
and banquets, to which Thackeray, and through him
myself, were hospitably invited. Lecturing had to
lie in abeyance till Lenten time allowed this less
mundane form of amusement to be indulged in.
It ^vould require a graphic pen to enumerate these
hospitalities, foremost amongst which were those
given by Sir Philip (then plain Mr.) Crampton at
the British Embassy. The ladies were as much
struck by the yello^v plush liveries of our represen-
tati\'e as was Xathaniel Hawthorne, as he informs
us, about this time, when dining with the Mayor of
Liverpool, or at the London Reform Club.
Senator Hamilton Fish also entertained sump-
tuously. The conversation, I remember, took an
etymological turn. Washington L'ving was asked
the origin of "• wilt " as a word, which he professed
not to kno^v, the Dutch derivation of " withering *"
not Ijeing apparently in his spirits or in his vocabulary.
Senator Seward asked Thackeray how his own name
would be pronounced in England, to whicli the re]>ly
Avas, " Like sewer — I think," an unsavoury idiom,
which did not meet ^vith his ap])robation.
Another senator, Mr. G. T. Davis, ^velcomed us
to his friendly table, his son being an old friend of
the guest of the evening, as secretary of the American
Minister in London.
BALTIMOh'h' IlOS/'JTA LJllKS
113
To suiii up these symposia^ the eitect wan to make
the oiV-eveiiiiiiT^s of tlie lecturer, spent at li-iltiuiore
at tlie Universalist
C'hui'eh, (jtiite a relief
to liiiii. lie liked as-
eeiidiiii;' to the ])ulpit
there ; delivered his
Liy sermon, and re-
turned to sleep at our
AVashin2:ton lodo-ino-.
The modest appliances
there pleased him l)y
way of contrast. In
the morninor the black
servant used to bl'ing
in tlie teapot in her
hand whilst smoking
lier pipe, ^vhieh, when
her tobacco was spent,
she used to deposit
upon my bedroom
stove, and so perfume it with its aroma all day. A
young mulatto helped her who ha<l (piite artistic
pi-oclivities. lie used, uninvited, to take u[) my
sketches, and pass very ap[)osite ci'itical ivniarks in a
"•ood-natured wav.
Fthruary X^th. — On one of the evenings when I
8
^£rj*,Jit,„lJ^D
A BLACK SEKVANT
114
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
^vas left in solitary possession of tliis lodging, I
thought it would be fulfilling a pleasing duty to pre-
sent my respects to President Fillmore, then giving
farewell rece})ti()ns at the AVhite House, like those of
the Speaker of the English House of Commons, called
Levees, held late in the evenings. Not knowing the
exact costume one was expected to don on the occa-
sion, I recollect making the inquiry of an intelligent
storekeeper from whom I was making a purchase.
In a nonclialant manner he said that the crush was so
great on these occasions that no one thought of going
there in any dress but the very oldest suit in their
A'r Till-: W/IITK UOUSI'J
115
wardrobe; "in fact, tlio woisp tlio better.'' It is
needless to add that, easily seeing through his desire
to take " a rise out of the Britisher," I put on my
best suit of black, and a|»i)carcd at the ai>})()int('(l
houi'. Hci-e is a sketch of the scene, done from
fev-'C^ < 'I'm) '^^>\Y-^j^'^y-^
I
A PRE^IDKNTIAL KECKPTION
recollection. By tlie Head of the State stood a gentle-
man-usher, wlio came forward and inquired your name ;
the President shook hands, with a pleasant " I'm glad
to see you," and you passed on, as did liuiidrtMls of
others — in cotiples for the most part. The queer note
of the evening ^vas to see a stalwart son of toil, who
seemed unconsciously to have followed out to the
letter my friend the counter-junq)er's injunction, and
116 WITH TUA('h-i:iiAy ix America
lia<l made liis appearance iu the frowsy garb of a
j)rairie la])oiirer. He held a dirty misshapen cap iu
his hand, his Ijijots were dusty and worn, and near
him \vas his sou, probably weary, leaning his soiled
garments against the \vhite-aud-gold papered walls,
and possibly leaviiiLi' tliere the marked outline of his
presence. People laughed as if at a good joke, and
j)assed on, \vhilst the staring " hawbuck " stood
riveted Ijy the scene of splendour, French marquis,
foreign diplomats, citizens from all parts, elb()\ved
each other in the throng. G. Stuart's portrait of
Greneral Washino-tou was on the walls. The laurelled
bust of the hero was on a recess over the doorway,
both seemino'lv l()(>kino: down blandlv on the scene
before them.
By an invaiiable courteous pre-arrangement, every
four years the outgoing President accompanies the in-
coming one for a while, in order, as it were, that the
latter may be amicaljly introduced, and A\'itness the
public functions of Washington. Thus both President
Fillmore and President Pierce honoured Thackeray by
o'oino; too-ether to hear his lecture at Carusi's Rooms.
o o o
He compared them, to their amusement, to " the two
Kino-s of Brentford smellins; at one rose."
On another occasion they, as we also did, joined
an iii\ited party of guests to Avitness the mechanism
of the new caloric ship recently completed by John
PRESIDENT! A L LXSl'ECTlOX
\v;
Ericsson. The cost of tlie vessel and lier fittinijfs liad,
it was said, amounted to 130,000 dollars. She was
rUKSlDKNTS I'lEIKE AND FII.I.MOKE
moored iu the stream, and as she was seen high al>ove
water-mark, looked at this early date capsizal)le.
The two Presidents, discussing hei- [H'oljalde future,
118
WITH THACKEHAY' AV AMERICA
A\ liicb was trumpeted as " promoting a new era in
naval propulsion/' are here grouped together, as they
stood apai't waiting for the tender wliich was to fetch
GENERAL CASS
the assembled company on board her. There was an
amusing instance given, as we got on Ijoard, of the ditH-
culties that suj)erior frames, mental and bodily, have
to encounter in adapting themselves to the situation.
The breeze of the riverside had chilled most people,
L\ TUJ-J CAl'lToL, WA>':iIlJyaTON
\U
\\li(» ;it once took refuii'e below deck. I noticed the
siii.dl I'oiiii of Wiislnnii'ton Irviiiu', as seen tlirouo-li tlie
iiitt'ivcniiiLi:: steps of the eoinpanioii la(hler, heiieath
w hich he was t'liscoiu'cd ; whilst Tliackeray had, in
order to chat with him, eurefully to keej> his h('a<l
m^m&^r
pl^l^a. -"**""■ j_ ■ 5 —•■■J '*'"'•'>'_ ^_
"^^"^i&^^WfS^
tf^^^%;i:^.l
THE SITKEME CDl-Ifl' IN SKSSION
between the i-oof-beaiiis, as othei-wise there was iii-
snfficient heiu'ht to enable him to keep his head erect
or to stand straiu'ht on his lej/s. The vt'ssel nuLi'lit be,
as she was stated to be, iMJd fVet in h-niith. but alti-
tudes barely corresponded with the liumaii measure-
ments.
Though many ehxjuent masters of speech from
1-2U WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
Congress were of tlie party, few or no discourses were
delivered after the siiinptuous lunch set out — due, no
doubt, to sympathetic respect for the feelings of the
President, General Pierce. He had lost his only son,
aged thirteen, and his wife had been injured in a rail-
way accident only two months before the event here
recorded. The engines alone kept up voluble snorts
noAV and then. It is o-rievous to relate that this result
of twenty years of thought and labour and expense
foundered a year or so afterwards in a tornado oft'
Sandy Hook, the port-holes being open.
Before our ari-ival at AVashington the newspapers
had announced in leaded type : —
"THE IRON JACKSON.
"Congress adjourued on SaturdiU', 8th January, and went under
the belly of tlie new iron horse and rider just erected in Wasliiugtou
to the memory of General Jackson. Hero-worship pays."
Subsequently this bronze equestrian monument was
unveiled with demonstrations of its national import-
ance. It was during a saunter, whilst passing through
Lafayette Square, that Thackeray saw it. He hajv
pened to let out, at a private house, his opinion of the
merits of the statue, which ^vere thus summed u]): —
^'The hero was sitting in an impossible attitude, on
an impossible horse with an inq)ossible tail." This
criticism was good-naturedly repeated, and was then
CONGRESS
T21
made the subject of an attack upon the objector in an
(>l»sc'ure paper. lie was bluntly iufornied that " tlie
])i-eju(lices of En<j:lish ])eople were incorrigible," etc.
etc. 'V\w seul|)tor had uever seen any equestrian
statue, and it was therefore excusable to fail in siicli
a Liipintic task. The fault was that of mistaken
laiidatious on the part of others. The most sensible
and com]>etent jndo;es — Charles Sumner amongst the
rest — joined in the obloquy which seems to apper-
tain to too many sculptural equestrian efforts, at home
and abroad.
A\'hen invited afterwards to visit General Scott,
at the AVar Department, he showed us, hung up on
the walls, a trophy of the siege
of New Orleans, of which Gen- --^_'^„ ■•-
eral Jackson was the hero. It
was the sword of Pulaski, who
fell on that day. He liked to
dwell upon \varlike deeds, in
which he had been conspicu-
ously successful, in ])reference
to Presidential campaigning, in
which, though beaten, lu^ bore
his defeat manfully, as his leo-
nine face Avould lead one to expect he wouM do.
Plere is its outline.
Senator Sumner conducted us over the whole of
GENERAL fCOTT
122 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
tlie different sections of Congress, beginning with a
vie\v of tlie central Rotunda, embellished with life-
size illustrations of the War of Independence,
executed l)y Trumbull. This painter, a pupil of
Benjamin AYest in England, had closely followed
General Washington as his aide-de-camp, and was
therefore an intelligent witness of many scenes
he depicted; hence their value in costume and in
portraiture. Thackeray, with his trained critical eye,
pronounced them admirably good; and so they are.
I never cease to re2:ret havino; lost an elaborate
sketcli I made of the House of Representatives in
session; it was sent, by Thackeray's advice, to an
illustrated paper, and was not published, and never
recovered by me ; else these pages would have con-
tained likenesses of the President's chair topped by
the huge eagle, and the semicircular seats thronged
by members at their desks, the Hon. Mr. Marshall
al)ly arguing for an increase of their naval force,
the proposition scouted l)y irascible opponents, spi'ing-
ing on their legs. I have, however, replaced this by
a few stray bits — as taken from the Strangers' Gallery
— of Senators, such as the portrait of the venerable
Anglophobist, General Cass, whose locks were as hale as
his oi'atory was vigorous, and tlie sketch of the " kSu-
prenie Court " in session, held in what used to be in
foi'mer days the Senate Cliamber, much smaller than its
THE IIUSTI^'GS
vi:\
sucoessoi', the Ionic (*(»luiiiiis of l^otomac iiiai'l)l(', as
2)()ii(.lei'ous as the judgiiieiits seem to be to the iiii-
iiiitiated listeners, whose numbers are few. Neitlier is
the Law Libi';ir\-, whicli lies uii(h'rueath it, tliroiiiied
^v^th readers ; quite unheeded are tlie folios, \\ hic-li, I
su])pose, are only for fitful legal researches after pre-
cedents.
It was (piite a relief to emerge into the open air,
and to watch, mayhap, one of tiie numerous processions
124
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
passing by, headed by their blatant brass-band instru-
ments. A turn of the road brought me before a square
wooden structure in the open air, which 1 sketched.
It was meant for oratorical displays, and is known as a
" stump " — quite a national institution.
Somewhat footsore ^vith so much lionising, we were
o;lad to find good restoratives at the National Restau-
rant. The waiter alone was refreshing to look at as he
brought in some dainty, which, at this distance of time,
as depicted here, looks insufficient to satisfy three
hungry mortals, as we were.
CHAl'TEll IV
Richmond, Va. — A Slave Sale — Houdoii's Statue of Washington —
Petersburg, Va. — Ciiarleston — An Empty Valise — Saviuuiali — -
New York Once 3Iorc.
Afier a tliree weeks' stay at Washington, we left
it at uiglit, always a dreaiy time of exit. It Avas
necessary to do so to catch the steamer ^vllicll Avas to
waft ns (l()\vn the Potomac. There were plent}' of
fine Kembrandtesque night-effects to be noted. Amid
the general bustle, and in the motley groui)s hurry-
ing on board, you could dimly see the man at the
tiller, in a small cabin amidships. The idea — at first
entertained — of sleeping on board proved illusory.
A lustv negro rang the l)ell announcing supper, con-
sisting of oyster soup. Another deck-hand invited
'' gentlemen to take de tickets " — clapper going again ;
then another summons to have luo^o-ao;e labelled. Some-
one stated we were near the " Dismal Swam});"' tliis
seemed to chime in with oiir lowered sj)irits, deafened
as we were by tintinabulary sounds.
"With dawn these revived, and the sun lifted the
niist\' veil. The eyes, Jaded by the somewhat l)leak
scenery of Washington and its neighbourhood at this
126 WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
season of tlio year, Avere refreshed l)y vistas of green
leafasre. I sketclied the distant outline of Wasliino*ton's
home, Mount Vernon. We tried to spot the " Ne^v
Castlewood," which was raised on the beautiful banks
of the Potomac. The delightful season alluded to in
the same passage, called the Indian summer, though
belouo;ino; to late autumn, seemed to have its counter-
jiart ill March, for the heat of the day was considerable
as we neared Kichmond, after changing from steamboat
into cars once more.
We came into Richmond, as it were, on the day
after the fair ; some hitch in the communication had
caused a day's delay. The hall at Richmond was
crammed with an ex[)ectant audience, who hfld to l^e
politely informed that the lecture "svas postponed till
the next evening. They took it in good part when
informed of the unlucky missing of the train, and
dispersed after I'eceiving a telegraphic apology.
As if it Avere but yesterday, the trite incidents of
travel crop up at times in the memory. Thus I
remend^er, at a station between Fredei'icksburg and
Richmond, Avhicli was on a steepish gradient, t^vo
stalwart negroes arresting the train's movement (h)\\ ii-
wards by periodical thrusts of wooden logs, giving
the cars and ourselves quite pleasing Jerks in the
process, treating these vehicles as a waggoner does
his team on going downhill. (There were no brakes
J;^
J-^
~-^i::
128 WITH TH ACKER A Y IN A2IERICA
here in these days.) AVe Avere glad to reach our final
destination, Richmond, and to enter its comfortable
hotel. The next day's paper was somewhat mixed in
its announcements of fashionable arrivals, thus : " Mr.
Thackeray, the celebrated author; Mr. Anderson,
Wizard of the Xorth ; " to ^vhich, as far as I recollect,
Avere added some species of prodigy and a wild buf-
falo. If one was inclined to w^ince, at first, at this not
quite diu'nified medley of caterers for public amuse-
ment, the feeling soon wore off into one of positive
liking for the unpretending and cheerful conversation
of the conjurer. lie was surrounded l)y quite a
troup of young wizards, who all helped him in his
sleight of hand and evolutions. The black w^aiters
wore stiff white bows round their necks, and appeared
in black coat-tails, and plied the company with all
the delicacies, including the luscious banana, much
relished in its fresh state. This feasting on the ordin-
ary fare w^as many times relieved by the unceasing
kindliness of some of the notables, who thre^v open
their hearts and their homes to the welcome persou-
ator of English literature, not excluding self for the
nonce. The English intonation w^as heard once more,
owing to the traditional British schooling still kept
u}) in those days in Virginia.
Tliis State, as all know, is especially endeared to
the British tar by furnishing him with the toothsome
7.V YTnOTXIA
129
"qnid" — \vitli wliicli lie lias ever beea plentifully
reu'alecl from the llelds of the district, at the rate of
about 1^0 dollars profit per acre. The tobacco-leaf
fiuctuates some-
what in (juality.
In my peregrina-
tions throuu'li the
business ])art of
the town 1 came
across the scene
(h'picted on p.
127. The experts
of the trade ^\'ere
to l)e seen grasp-
ing in their arms
several of the
choicest speci-
mens of the
brands, Avhilst
muscular negroes,
ai'med with croM'-
bars, lifted each
of the compressed
parcels, so as to test them at the central portions.
The mass of these emitted a pleasant honey-dew
smell, and evolved mental calculations as to the prodi-
gious amount of mastication ensuing. This, however,
9
tl^fW^
BICHMONU
130 WITJI THACKERAY IN AMERICA
it* I could trust a voluntary informant afterwards,
was not, after all, so vast as imagined. He said,
" But for the income it brings in, we could easily
chew the Avliole Virginia plant oui'selves." No won-
der, then, is it to see the capacious hotel expectorators
generally festooned with the ejected, well-moistened
leafaire. Hitched on one of the rafters of the room
was noticeable a trophy of the late Presidential cam-
paign, in the shape of a small picture of the favourite
candidate mounted upon a prancing charger ; this
was fastened to a pole, and bore the inscription —
" In General Pierce we put a manly trust." It was
paraded thus at the hustings as a party emblem, and
their man had won the day.
The departing trains for the South cross the
brawling rocky bed of the James river by a wooden
bridge. Here it is, overleaf, in the immediate fore-
ground of the sketch ; beyond, is given the general
aspect of Pichmoud, with its houses capped by the
classic-shaped Capitol as it looked forty years ago, a
fair notion of its aspect at that period. Somehow
these rough-looking storehouses and unpretending ten-
ements are always more pleasing to the artistic sense
than are the stately fabrics of more modern-looking
t<)^vns. The liandsome verdure-surrounded villas are
here out of sight.
The 3rd of ]\Iarch, 1858, is a date well imprinted on
A SLA VI-: SALE ]:]\
my nuMiiory. I wjis sitting at an cai'ly frfh/e illiote
l)reakt'ast by myself, reading tlie aM} condneted
local newspaper, of which onr kinil friend was the
editor. It was not, howevei', the leadei'S or politics
whifh attracted my eye, so much as the advertise-
ment colunms, containino; the announcements of slave
sales, some of \vhich were to take place that morn-
ing in Wall Street, close at hand, at eleven o'clock.
Ideas of a jx^ssibly dramatic subject for pictorial
illustration flitted across my mind ; so, with small
notepaper and pencil, I went thither, inquiring my
way to the auction rooms. They consisted, I soon
discovered, of low rooms, roughly ^vhite-washed,
with worn and dirty flooring, open, as Xo doors and
windows, to the street, which they lined in suc-
cession. The buyers clustered first in one dealer's
premises, then moved on in a body to the next store,
till the whole of the tenants of these separate
apartments were disposed of. The sale was an-
nounced by hamrino: out a small red flao; on a
pole from the doorway. On each of these was
pinned a manuscript notice of the lot to be sold.
Thus I read : — " Fifteen likely negroes to l)e dis-
posed of between half -past nine and twelve — five
men, six women, two boys, and two girls.'' Then
followed the dealer's signature, which corresponded
to that inscribed over the doorway. AVhen I got
13-2
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
£V.c. R:d.v*-v-uY^W'^-Viiw*"^ J"3
S^cufc* u'"*f^ tt U. ^•«*•
LN THE KICHMOND IJLAVE MARKET
iuto the room I noticed, hanging on the wall, a
quaintly framed and dirty lithograph, representing
two horsemen galloping upon sorry nags, one of
the latter casting its shoe, and his companion having
a bandaged greasy fetlock ; the marginal inscription
on the border was to this effect : — " Beware of what
you are about." I have often thought since how
foolish it was, on my part, not to have obeyed
this premonitory injunction to act prudently in such
a place as this was. The ordeal gone through by
the several negroes began by making a stalwart
hand pace up and down the compartment, as would
AV TUK JUCIIMOM) SLAVE MAUhirr '[X\
be done with n horse, to note his notion. 'I'liis
jH'oviiiL;' satisfactory, sonic (loul»t was expressed as
ti' his oeiihir soundness. Tliis was met by one gentle-
man unceremoniously fixing' one of his tliund)s into
the socket of the supposed valid eye, holding uj)
a hair ])y his other hand, and asking the negro
to state what was the o])ject held up l)efore him.
He was evidently nonplussed, and in pain at the
operation, and he went dowu in the bidding at
once. More hands were ])ut up ; l>ut by this
time feeling a wisli for ficsli air, I Avalked out,
passing intervening stores and the grouped expectant
negroes there.
I got to the last and largest end stoi'e, and
thinking the sales would occupy a certain time, I
thought it might be possible to sketch some of the
picturesque figures awaiting their turn. I did so.
On rough benches were sitting, huddled close to-
gether, neatly dressed in grey, young negro girls
^vitll white collars fastened by scarlet bows, and in
Avhite aprons. The form of a woman clasping her
infant, ever touching, seemed the more so here. Tliere
was a muscular fiehldal)ourer sitting apart; a rusty
old stove filled up another space. Having rapidly
sketched these features, I had not time to put my
outline away before the wliolc gr(»u[> of buyers and
dealers were in tlic compartment. 1 tliought the
i:54 WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
best plan ^vas t<^ go on unconcernedly ; hut, perceiv-
ina: nie so ensraored, no one would Ijid. The auc-
tioneer, who had mounted his table, came do"\\'n and
asked me whether, " if I had a business store, and
someone came in and interrupted my trading, I should
like it." This ^vas unanswerable ; I got up ^\dth the
intention of leaving quietly, but, feeling this would
savour of flight, I turned round to the now evidently
angry crowd of dealers, and said, "You may turn
me away, but I can recollect all I have seen." I
lingered in a neighbouring vacated store, to give my-
self the attitude of leisurely retreat, and I left this
stifling atmosphere of human traflS.c. " Crowe has
been very imprudent," Thackeray wrote to a friend
afterwards. And, in truth, I soon reflected it "^vas so.
It might have led to unpleasant results to the lecturer
himself, bound, as he w^ent South, not to be em-
broiled in any untoward accident involving inter-
ference with the question of slavery, then at fever-
heat, owing to Mrs. Stowe's flery denunciations in
" Uncle Tom's Cabin." Though I have no real ground
for the assumption, it has often occurred to me that
the incident was allowed to drop quietly, owing to the
timely intervention of friends, who threw oil upon these
troulded ^^'aters, and buried their wrath in oblivion.
The narrative here given is so simple as to bear
the stamp of truth which needs no further corroboration.
jy THE L'ICIfMOXn SLAM-: MMlKirr 135
Still, 1)V way of aiiipliticntioii of scenes siibse(j[Ueiit
to iii\- \\ itlidrawal — or iiiglit, if tlie reader prefei's,
tlioiiu'li I ^vas not seiisil)le of it — I herewith give
the account, which I found published exactly Ji w^eek
after in the Neiu York Dailj/ Tribune oi March l<»th,
written 1>\' someone who, unknown to myself, was
present on this occasion : —
Extract of part of a letter in the JS^eiu Yorh Daily
Tribune of March lOtli, 1853, written by a New
Yorker on Southern tour. The letter is dated " Rich-
ni«»n(l, Va., Thursday, March 3rd, 1853:" —
A Slave Auction in Viuc4inia
[After descril)ing tlie previous sales, he comes to the last one.]
"A scene occurred iu this room whicli 'may yet be heard from.'
Just before the sale commenced, a young well-dressed gentleman
entered the room — placing himself iu one corner of the room —
began to take a sketch, and had proceeded (juite far before
he was noticed by anyone but myself. At last he attracted
tlie attention of some of the bystanders, until full twenty or
more were looking over his shoulder. They all seemed pleased
with what he was doing, so long as the sketch was a mere outline,
but as he began to finish up the picture, and form liis groups of
figm-es, they began to see what he was about, and then someone
wont up privately to the auctioneer (who had by this time got one
or two sold), and informed him what the man was doing. He came
down from the stand, went and overlooked what he was doing for
a moment, and saw himself written down for the first time iu liis
life. He inquired of the man wiiat he was doing. The answer was,
'I do not know that I am bound to answer your inquiry.' Mr.
136 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
Auctioneer took his stand again, but was evidently so enraged that
he could not go on, for by this time the whole company was aware
of what was being done. And some proclaimed with a loud oath
that the likeness was 'd d fine,' 'most splendid;' others were
for ' footing ' him. The artist took the hint, however, without the
kick, and left the room. But now we had a specimen of Southern
bravery. They were all sure that he was an Abolitionist, aud they
all wanted to 'lend a foot' to kick him, while one small gentleman
said he would pay twenty-five dollars to hire a negro to do it. The
excitement soon passed over ; not, however, without leaving on my
mind the truth of the maxim that ' He who fights and runs away,
may live to fight another day.'"
After these sales we saw tlie nsiiaV exodus of negro
slaves, marclied under escort of tlieir new owners
across the town to the railway station, where they
took places, and "went South." They held scanty
bundles of clothing, their only possession. These
were the scenes which in a very short number of years
made one realise the sources of the fiercest of civil
wars, and which had their climax when General Grant
mustered his forces upon this spot as a centre against
the equally gallant General Lee. Placid enough at
the time I speak of were the avocations of this place,
which is l^uilt on a slope, as is its English namesake.
Towering above the rest of the houses was the Capitol,
inside which was an anticpiated stove, which had
done service ever so long ago. All genuine works
of art stamp a place as cpiite out of the common.
THE STATI-: HOUSE
137
Tlie State House at Ki(*liin(»n<l so excels, aiitl IIoikIou's
statue of General Wasljingtou stands there as a great
masterpiece. The story is pleasantly told on the
occasion of the famous French sculptor's visit to
U T;ju.— ^ 'l/r-
]\Iount Vernon. So scrupulous were these great
craftsmen they disdained heroics, but they gave alike
the exact measurement of the stature, the simple
pose, the serene smile, and the imperishable marble
tniiii nf those before them. ()iie wonders why these
138
WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
nol)le versions are not sinipl}^ reproduced, instead of
niodei'n caracoling equestrian statues filling squares,
wliicli give no mortal any pleasure to look at. The
clean-shaven face of the " Father of his Country " has
AFTER HOUDON'S WASHINGTON '
doubtless had the effect of o-ivins; eneourao-ement to
all good Americans — his children — to do likewise.
Exemplifying this, here is the quaint posture of
nearly horizontal rest in which the barber plies the
razor upon the cheeks and chins of most of his
customers, that curious excrescence — the goatee —
* Inscribed thus: "Fait par Hoiulon, citoyeii Fraiigais, 1788. "
140 WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
lietwixt lip and cliin, forming the exception to the
usually clean-shaven, face.
Petersburg (Virginia) sharing with Kichniond in
strategic imj)ortance during the Civil War, and since
that adding its record of valorous defence, was at this
time a somewhat somnolent-loohing town. I went
thither, and made all due arrangements for lecturing.
I recollect carr3ing oft' in triumj)!! from a di'ug store
a high desk enamelled in white, the MS. leaves of
the lecture needing this kind of support, generally
dispensed with by extemjiore speakers. The walls
were .placarded ^vitli announcements of the discourse ;
the papers were full of advertisements that the lectiu'e
Avould take j^lace.
Thackeray came down by an afternoon train. On
inquiry at the ticket offices it was found that very few
seats had been taken ; the advertisements in the papers
had remained unheeded for the most part. As the
evening was warm, the hall windows were left open ;
and as I took a seat on a bench in a sqiuire below, I
could hear the w^ell-known sentences as they fell from
the lecturer's lips, and issued, over well-nigh empty
benches, into the calm air of the outside square,
\vhere, lounging sadly, I heard them. We philoso-
phised over this (^ueer breach in the hitherto con-
tinuous spell of successes, as he after^vards whift'ed his
cigar, -without anyone Joining us, in the hotel parlour.
i'i:ri:i:snr !,'<;, va. 141
111 tlie ("Av\\ nioriiiiuj: 1 felt myself seeking relief from
enforced mutism 1)V l)iitton-lioliii£: ;i neu'ro wliom T
\\;itrlie(l (liL:-i;-iim' ill a small field. To my (jUcrN lie
replied lie was ^vo^kini:• u|t(in an allotmeiit-jdot, maii\'
of liis fellows having the same small ownersliip of the
soil for small market produce given them by liberal
landlords. AVe took the very earliest train to Kich-
mond, o-lad to li'et once more amongst friends and to
cheerful e<»nverse. The sketch of Petersburg presented
overleaf (a view ^^•hi^•h is a little way from the
street pavements) gives a notion of the place, at that
time Cjuite innocent of forts — unconscious of coming
A\arfare, and that they would bear the brunt of a
good deal of it hereaftei*.
The Easter Monday holiday was here kept, as with
lis, by popular dolce far niente rambles and (piiet
enjoyment of all factory and other hands, clad in
their best.
I sketched one of the factories on the banks of
the xVppomattox, to Avliich a bare tree was the pic-
turesque foreground. I had time only to indicate
the sand collectors and their carts in the front of
it.
The night-travelling in the cars in the South, as
usual, only admits of snatches of broken rest, ^'ou
doze perhaps, and you are aroused by the negro
tireinan, who comes and rakes out the cinders chokini:'
142
WITH THACKERAY IN A3I ERICA
Up tlie stove-grate, and playfully sending a consider-
able part of tlie aslies flying into the air you breathe.
He, however, relieved your sensations of being-
parched, by then bringing a large bucket full of
water and a huore ^vooden louo^-handled ladle. All
EASTEK 310NDAV, I'ETEKj^BUKG, VA.
Avho are clustered for wannth round the stove, and
who had stretched out grimy stockinged toes
towards this centre, refresh themselves, turn round.
and become somnolent once more. There is a tine
democratic air of simplicity about the whole arrange-
ment. As dawn comes, you are rew^arded by seeing
144
WITH THACKERAY JN AMERICA
tlirougli the man3'-paiie(l windows of tlie car — wliich,
ill fact, are on all sides of it — by witnessing tlie roseate
rays of the rising sun illuminating the pine forests,
superbly decked out in rime. You are inclined on
these occasions to side with the humoristic views of
^Ir. Ilud^^ard Kipling's latest doctrine, and to pro-
ON BOARD THE "GOVERNOR DUDLEY "
nounce these magical fleeting effects as transcending
more enduring canvas-smearings in interest. The
calm Sunday's rest came as we settled at the journey's
end at AVilmington, North Carolina. The devout con-
£i:reLi:ation of negroes in the gallery of the church there
dwells in the mind long after the sermon and its text
ciiAUij:sToy 145
have l)eeii forLi'ottcii. Tlicir clH'cifiil f;ic«^s wei-e a
lioiiiily.
The next (l;i\' \\'(' todk ticktM.-- in (lie small stc'iiiicr
])lviiii;" Ix'twct'ii \\ iliiiiiiu'toii ami Cliarlcstoii. The
dol})liiiis AN ere rolliiii;' over in the
sliallow waters in a(jiiatic somer-
saults. Oui' eaptaiii, ti"um|)et in
liaiul, looke<l so rotund, vou felt
that, if tlirowu overboard hy ill-
fate, lie also Avould Lave rotated.
He, lioAvever, did liis business of
steering us at tlie rate of seventeen
knots an hour steadily over tlie
billows. Skilfully threading liis
Avay through shoals and shallows,
passing sea-girt forts of the old wwv
pattern — so soon to be replaced by
newer ones, and to iioist the Con-
federate standard in gallant defence — we got safely
into Charleston harbour, and found rooms in the huo-e
"Charleston Hotel."
A time-worn co[)y of the Charleston Daily Courier,
dated Tuesday morning, March 8th, 185?), is before
me as I write these lines. It contains this announce-
ment : — "Passengers yesterday (Ttli) anived per
steamer Governor Dudley from AN'ilmington, North
Carolina." Here follow the names, " Thackery " {sic),
10
C*atJe*(5K. tKWt4 >
14(; WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
" Crowe," coiiiino- at tlie close. The faulty spelling
is, however, amended in the small leader annonncino-
the arrival at " Charleston Hotel," which adds : —
" This evening, at the Hibernian Hall, at 7.30, he
will begin a conrse of three lectures, viz., on Tues-
day (Nth), Thursday (lOtli), and Friday (11th) ;
tickets for the course, 1 dollar ; single lecture, 50
cents." These were, of course, liighl}' relished by
the elite of Charlestc^n. They gave full vent to their
well-kno^vn hospitalities, and much lionising was the
I'esult. Thackeray made here several drawings with
his gold nib, some of which have been published and
facsimiled l)y the wonderful new processes. Bori'ow-
ing of him the same invaluably pointed pen, I made
a few sketches in this city. First is the " Reveille ! "
sounded l)y hfe and drum, calling out the negroes,
secluded mthin doors during the darkness of night,
and issuing at this call to the factories in the early
morninir. The rousins; summons reverberated round
the Guard House, plentifully decorated with man-
ual shackles at the time I speak of, some of which
we were allowed to handle on the previous night
over a ^^leasant palaver with the captain in com-
mand. This rule of nocturnal retirement was
obviously relaxed whenever a negro ball ^^■as given.
We had the privilege of being invited to see one
of these amusements. The saltatory features of
148
WITir TnACKERAY IX AMERICA
tlie scene liere given were quaint yet ]>icturesqne.
The minstrels were embowered in greenery as they
phayed waltzes and quadrilles, which were danced
with great zest, and tlie hall rang with good-humoured
laughter. The refreshmeuts were limited to spruce-
beer, of which ^ve drank thankfully, as administering
a novel sensation to tlie Jaded palate. The striking
features of neofro eveuino- dress consisted in astonish-
ing turbans with marabou feathers, into
^vhich odd accessories of squib shape
and other forn^ were inserted, ^vhich
gave the ladies the appearance of going
off, but not in the sense usually at-
tached by chaperons to the term. A\'e
Avent home in hio-h humour. Truth
compels me to state that if a prize
had to be awarded for expectorators,
Charleston, at this time, would have
carried oft' the 2)alnL The spectacle
has been, however, depicted on a
previous page.
More exhilarating groups call for notice. Tlie
entrance hall of the hotel presents rather an ani-
mated scene, Charleston being the rendezvous of
several lines of conmiunication from New York,
Havannah, or else\\'here. The piles of trunks form
perfect barricades, which can be contenq>lated from
150 WITH THACKERAY IX AMERICA
the convenient louno'ino'-l)enc]ies on all sides by tlie
numerous smokers there assembled.
I asked a young negress to come and have her
likeness taken at the hotel, and she did so. She
was a pea-nut seller, was quite modest and re-
tiring, but she confided to us her great grievance
against one <>f the known ordinances of slavery.
Slie wished to go and see a play, but was wot
allowed the privileo'e at that time. A friend
came in, to whom I showed the sketch, who cor-
roborated her statement. I suppose this disability
has since been rescinded, and has ceased to be an
order enforced.
Amongst the pleasant remembrances of this time
was that of meeting Professor Agassiz, Avho was then
lecturing ui)on such subjects as Cryptogamous Plants,
and Scientillc Surveys of Pine and Fir Species. It
is terrible to think that the instructive discourse of
such a juaster of science falls on the non-scientific
mind Avith no responsive chord, from sheer incom-
petence to assimilate the aljstruse matters under
discussion.
Passing now from gay science to dull fact, the
scene of the Charleston slave auction is here given, as
a contrast to the Richmond vei'sion. Here it was
ill the o})en air, and by its picturesque elements lost
many of its dismal features. The hands to be disposed
TX CfTARLESTON MARKET
151
.ff/ifK:-^.^ ','' «■,
PFTTt >"Ul»." • (^Hijfts' i- « BR Amam
of were fine sti'a[)piiig sons of toil. Tlieiv were
ninety of them, all coming from an estate wliicli was
l)t'ing sold otl'. They liad been employed in the
rice-fields of the Coml»ahee river, flowing past the
Beaufort and Colleton districts towai-ds \\w .Vtlantic.
I was much attracted hy the group of ^vomen,
especially by a stout matron clasping her infant in
her arms, to whose points the dealer pointed \\\x\\
emphasising forefinger. ( )u the right hand ^vas to
be seen the emblematic tree of the State, the grace-
ful j)almetto, protected by a square bar-grating. Fur-
ther away \vas an eartli-imbedd('<l howitzer, acting as
iM-oi) to the louno'cr. Throw in the old Exchanire
\valls as a background, the tall masts of the cotton-
laden liners in the far disraucc, and rlic not inhar-
monious dresses of the slaves, and you have a ])iclnre,
painful it is true, but also (pute curious, as a record
of bygone slavery times, actually reproduced as it was,
and uot the result of imaginary composition.
152 WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
Leaving these tlirongs of labour for those of
fashion, here is a sketch of one of the principal streets
of Charleston, the chief feature of it beiuo; St.
Michael's Church, built in the middle of the last
century by a pupil of Wren's. This gives it quite
an old Eno'lish air, also consonant Avith other liuo;er-
iug Old AYorld traditions yet found here, such as
often sending children to be educated in Europe, as
was done by their forefathers.
But for the chano-e in the lady's attire as to her
]jonnet, as you see her issuing from the stationer's
shop, attended by a negro servant, and ready to step
upon the semicircular stone into her carriage, the
whole scene reminds one of the old prints of our
squares (where some of these stepping-stones still
survive) a hundred years ago.
On the Charleston Quays the negro population
affords opportunities for the pencil in their physi-
ognomy, their dresses, and their callings. Look, for
example, at the youtli, with brush in hand, dipping
it into a tar-pot, in order to mark the proper hiero-
glyphics upon the side of the compressed cotton bale.
There he sits enthroned — not a bad emblem of the
saying " Cotton is king." Other boys, whose faces
reveal varying coloured parentage, please by a sort of
general good-humoured intelligence. You trace these,
and also types of stalwart men marked by the same
.---fj
:^»^ fe-^t -^i^F^i?^
/^^
154
^yITII THACKERAY IN A3IERICA
characteristics. To tliese may be joined tlie tripartite
sketcli of " Little Rebecca," tlioiio-li bailiuii" from
ST. Michael's church, cuauleston
another community, yet of kindred race, and beam-
ing with a sort of self-contentment always pleasant
to witness.
XF.dUO TYI'i:s
155
A
f
itifi Wtm
■^^'
; .•,.4.H*^
156
\\'ITn THACKERAY IN AMERICA
Fartlier away, when leaving haunts of the hard
toilers, you notice market women awaiting the chance
customers for their sweet potatoes, luscious bananas,
and other products of that generous soil, till tired, and
passing labyrinths of tiled houses, you get back to rest
at the caravansary.
The balmy April atmosphere had lirought with it
the freshly imported spring toilettes from Paris, had
enhanced the famed complexions of the feminine
portion of the community, and had enticed them
abroad to air both under the protecting parasols
Avhich they carried about with them in Broad-
way, or in the Carolinian lounge of King Street,
C/U.jit^fii. ^'^ ^^
HOTEL THIEVES
157
or beiieatli the ampler ^llH)^)-a\vllings, screening th<^
already fierce ?<un's rays. lu cluirch pews, too, the
winsome faces were also noticeable, and later (^n at
the dinius-i'ooms of the Clarendon Hotel. The l)uil<l-
ing, topped l>y the two
" Stars aii<l Stripes "
flagstaft's, seen in the
Broadway sketch (on p.
163), is the then newly
opened Metropolitan
Hotel of brown stone.
American hotels are
generally Avell placarded
with warning notices
enjoining visitors to be
on their o-uard a2:ainst
the dej)redations of the
thieves frequenting them
in search of their prey,
also an Old World in-
stitution. A y o u n g
English Engineer officer,
Rankin by name, a distant relative of Thackei-ay,
whom we had met on the boat coming from AVilin-
ingtou, fell a victim to their wiles. After taking
a ride out of Charleston, he came back to find
that he had been devaluse. His luggage ransacked
" COTTON IS KING "
158
WTTIT THACKERAY IX AMERICA
and Ills money gone, he appealed to Thackeray,
his kinsman, Avho, ^vith wonted liberality, allowed
his young friend to get back to his regiment at
the end of his furlough. As a sequel he and his
brother gave me a banquet in Paris at the Maison
Doree, as he was passing through on his way to the
Crimea. The dinner was sumptuous, but on examin-
ing the menu the critical gargon exclaimed, horrified :
"-P«s de rati, inonsienr f " as if the absence of t\\Q piece
de resistance was a breach of the known laws of gas-
tronomy. This exclamation increased our joviality.
This note must be closed Avitli a sad aj^pendix as to
CW*TVf>V«-'^H- '^»
jHOPPING, CUARI.Ki*TON, VA.
-■1 ci;iMi:.\x hi: no 159
^
i''.f
.C^>^^ pJ^,^^^^^
-■^^--^^i^ '^-^-^^^^^-b^.--^
A OlWJir <JF MAUKET-WOMEX
tlie fate of this promising officer. He was one of the
gallant hand told off to explode the docks of Sel>as-
topol. Tliere seemed to be a hitch and a delay in the
firing of the mine ; he rushed to examine the cause,
and it immediately burst uj), killing him on tlie spot.
He was the last victim of this lengthy siege and
of the operations in the Crimea, I believe.
Leavinu; Charleston and its c^allant host of con-
vivial friendships, Ave went thence to Savannah in
Georgia, tlie furthest goal of oui- journey. AVe
reached it in a small steamer — of low draught, owinir
to the numerous shallows in the i'('(l-coloui't'<l i-ivt-r
leading to this capital. AVe now arrived in a land
unpav^ed and without kerljstoues to the gangways,
which were mere sand-tracks. These had the great
advautaijje of beiu2: noiseless. We were dri\en to
160
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
a primitive hotel, tlie home, as we soou discovered, of
legions of fleas and other questionable geutiy. Those
who had the " AVhite Squall " ballad by heart were
I'eminded of the passage
"Then all the fleas in Jewry
Jumped up and bit like furj- ; "
or of that Punch cartoon of an "Arabian Night's
Entertainment."
The next mornino;,
on cominoc into the
chief's bed-room, I
noticed the floor
and chairs strewn
with lucif ers, ignited
durino; the nio;ht to
try and catch these
disturbers of peace.
His face and limbs
were blotched and
bumped Avitli the
horrid marks of the
fray ; but l^alm and
salve appeared in the
form of our cheery
and hospitable Eng-
lish Consul, Mr.
Low, who insisted on harbouring first Thackeray
AT THK Cl.AKENDUN
A CELKSTIM, SCllol.Ah' IGl
and tlu'ii mystdf in his dcliiilitfiil ]»iivatt' it'sidciice,
duiiiiu" our stay licrc. There was one iiever-failiiii,^
baroiueter of couteiitnieiit noticeal)h' in Titmarshiaii
avocations, "which was whenever lie took up his gold
nib for ilhistration of whatever struck liis fancy at
the time. At Mr. Low's quarters many such ^vere
produced. One of these, for instance, lias been repro-
duced ill fac-simile in ]\Iiss Adelaide Procter's pleasant
publication the ^'■Victoria Megla''^ for 1801. It is
a capital sketch of a little negro servant, for whom
the descriptive text invents the apt word of " Black-
a-moorkin," not as yet adopted into the latest dic-
tionaries of the Eno-lish lanfjuafje. I am unaware
whether this sketch was done on the occasion of
his first visit, or on the second lecturing tour, as no
date is affixed to it. But whether this is so or not, I
give, as it were, a faint pictorial echo of mine of the
same subject, as it includes the interesting figure of
a Chinese divinity student, upon Mhose pigtail the
pickaninny had looked Avitli undisguised ^voIldenllellt
as he presented him with a cup of coffee. He used to
give a backward scrape of his bare foot, by way
of acknowledgment, Avheu a coin came out of the
Thackerayan open purse.
The endeavours to sketch the juvenile negroes in
the streets I fouiul almost impossible, owing to their
extra restlessness of limb and feature, as the mere
11
1(52
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
fact of staring at them set them off iuto laughter-
convulsions.
In the afternoon, at school-closing time, we met
THE CHINESE BIVINITT STUDENT
the gleeful groups of boys, both l)lack and white,
escaping from their class-rooms. Accosting one of
the small negro-boys, Thackeray asked him, with
a view less of testing his knowledge than of
j[^^^^-^^,\; ^*^i
mm
164
WITH THACKERAY IK AMEBIC A
benevolent purpose, to spell Con-stan-ti-no-ple. This
l^roving beyond him, he missed his tip, and Avent
oft' tumbling head over heels in the sand-tracked
street.
More steady were the old hands, some of whom
ministered to the juvenile cravings for pea-nuts and
for ground-cake. Here (p. 165) is one of them I noticed
sitting on the corner of Calhoun Street, as she chats
with an old crony asking after her health. Her answer,
I recollect, was, " Thank you, I'm mending smart."
Fires flare here, even more fiercely than in other
towns of the States, the buildings being mostly con-
structed of wood. Thirty years before this time whole
BONAVENTURA, NEAR SAVANNAH
TX (,'EOnaTA
in.'
sections li.-id Ix-cn swept away, y«'t a f«'\v Ituildiiigs that
were spared liave the pietures(pie coiisti'iictioii of «>ld
plaster-aiid-beam architectui'e.
The ([(lays were piled with cottoii-l>ah's, testify iiii:
to tlie industry of
tlie iieui-o - liaiids ;
and to tlie staple
production of the
district, which "was
wliisked about on
trollies, the charioteer
standing bolt upright
on his booted legs,
holdino; the reins.
The toAvn out-
skirts afford pleasant
walks.
Four miles from
Savannah is one of
the sights to which
everyone trends. It pea-nut.-,
is called Bon a Ven-
tura, which sccnis somewhat of a misnomer. Tliat
Tuscan patron-saint wrote a book witli tlie title of
" Liirnum Vita'," i.e., the Cross, wliich he decks
miraculously with foliage. Here, by an odd freak of
ar])oriculture, the tree's foliaire is covered »»ver bN
Sr-^ C*r*/^
166
WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
a drooping funereal lichen resembling a perpetual
downpour of rain ; well suited, however, to the de-
stination of the cemetery, which it shelters with its
lachrymose fronds. The trees are live oaks, with
a parasitical growth which I have not noticed els_e-
where. I tried to catch its effect in appropriate
water-colour.
Towards the end of March the lecturing was over.
We bade farewell to the kindest of hosts, Mr. Low,
our Consul at Savannah. Though the mosquito as yet
did not worry, the weather began to be unpleasantly
hot.
We returned to Charleston, which was also getting
iiii
r^/
irLji/'
A NEW YOKK CON(iRE(iATION
RETURN FROM TIIK SOCTII 107
a (Lisli of siiiiniicr sun ;it tliis early time. Our »'y»'s,
t'reslieiied l)v green (ieorgian pusturt's, now U-\\ tlit-
ert'ects of too prolonged eontemphition of hriek-an<l-
mortar frontages. If you liap})en to be yourself sleep-
less at uiglit, the snoring slumbers heard tlirouuli thin
{-arritions seem to aggravate yoiii' restlessness. We
therefore left hospitable Charleston, and retui'ned once
more to our comfortal)le quarters at the "Clarendon
Hotel," New York. Not without dis(piiet Thackeray
heard there of the precarious health of some of the
elder nicnibers of his family in Europe.
When we returned to New York, making a final
stay there of about a fortnight, it was partly ^vith the
intention of going to Canada as a lecturing finala ;
but by repetition the task had grown wearisome, as
before hinted. This and other reasons finally prevail-
ino- asrainst further venture, the notion was abandoned.
This two weeks' interval Avas pleasantly filled uj). I
made a few sketches for the Appleton firm, who paid
me liberally. I also painted a portrait of Mr. Ileni-y
James, the father of the renowned novelist-playwi'iii-ht,
now amongst us, which was proiiouiiccd wxy like;
aii<l I <lld this con amove, not only with a \it'W to
please Mrs. James, to whom it was presented, but
l)eim>' personally delighted to limn the features of one
who had proved himself so doughty a champion and
admirer of Thackeray in the press of that day.
CHAPTER V
New York to Albany — The Senate — Lecturing — New York — "Lucy's
Birthday " — Farewell to the States — The Eui'Ojm — Liverpool —
Paris — Champs-Elysees and the Latin Quarter.
From New York a pleasant diversion suggested
itself at this time. On Monday, April lltli, we took
the train from New York to Albany, giving us a
pleasant glimpse of woodland and river scenery all
the Avay. On our arrival we were met l)y a jovial
skipper-friend of Thackeray's. His great anxiety was
to sequestrate the lecturer in the privacy of his hotel,
A^dth the idea of only gi^^ing the privilege of seeing
him to those willing to pay for it at the lecture-
hall. This had naturally the contrary effect to that
intended, as Thackeray was at once seized with an
intense desire to walk about and to see the town for
himself ; so we sallied out with that view. The visit
was well timed, as the jaded members of the twin
houses — the Senate and the Representatives — had only
two or three session-days left before disbanding, their
salaries being only payable for 200 sittings, Avhich
then expired, when relaxation of duty coincided
CLOSE OF A SESSION
W.)
naturally with stoppage of salary. The tlicu Capitol
was a plain hrowii-stono building, sinc(^ this period
re})laced by a granite structure of far greater pre-
tentions architecturally. So I suppose tlie cosy
homely abode of the Senate, as I then sketched it,
with its circular benches groanin;:!: nndei* ]»iles of
y'"^ J^itTAw-^.'^'^"'''
TUE SENATE, AlBANY
reports and reference volumes — its members chatting
together in nooks and comers, whilst the oratoi",
scarcely listened to, was holding forth, and its presi-
dent sitting on an elevated bench under the portrait
of General Wasliington — have all disappeared, and
have made way for more imposing senatorial
decorum. The towai itself had at this time but
170 WITH Til ACKER AY IN AMERICA
few vestiges of the old Dutcli style of arcliitec-
ture, or even of tlie bricks, wliicli themselves used
to be in the olden time imported here from IIol-
Lxnd.
On the 12th the second lecture was given, and
I think, immediately after it Avas over, w^e got into
the Hudson River steamer, which brought us back to
New York. The papers had announced that Montreal
would next be visited, but Thackeray had possibly
already changed his mind on the subject of further
deliveries of the lectures ; and this turned out to be
the last given in the United States — a welcome wind-
up to him.
Thackeray's pen was not idle. He wrote at this
comfortable New York hostelry the now famous son-
net, "Lucy's Birthday," which is dated 15th April.
AVithin a month of writing this, I had the pleasure,
at the friendly intercession of the author's daughter,
Mrs. Ritchie, of meeting this lady, who came over
to this countiy for the tirst time. Her presence re-
minded me of the ever-charming welcome I received
in the midst of that New York household, that of Mr.
and Mrs. Baxter.
At this time the absorbing topic was a Wash-
ington telegi'am, startling political quidnuncs. It
was to the effect that President Pierce had given the
ap])ointment of the Madrid Embassy to Mr. Pierre
viKuuK son J:
in
Soulr. Wlicii it was first Huslicd ovci- tlic wires, |mm.].]('
fond of in.'ikiiii;- diploiiiatic forecasts progiiosticat*-)! that
this meant tlie ]H'o\iinate [mivliase of tlie island «>f
Cuba from Sjtaiii. Idiis solution of a htnu-jK'iKlinLi"
difficidty ^\'as amende(l so as to siii^o^est the aenuisi-
tion of this possession, ]ea\inLi' out tinaiicial ron>ideia-
tions ; an arran^vment \vhieh
8ul>se(|Uent events, as every-
body knows, completely falsi-
fied. However, this shrewd-
looking, bright -eyed senator
became the hero of the hour,
and as such his semblance at
this time is here introduced.
The ardent, though good-
hmnoured, advocates for and
ai^ainst auuexation used to
meet iu places, and you over-
heard them discussing the topic good-humouredlv
thus over the fragrant pro(hice of tlie island itself,
and doid)tless they made the best of what portion of
llavannah could be got.
The signal for departure to<»k ]"lace with the
suddeiuiess of a thunder-claj). I visited Thackeray in
his room in the early morning, lie ha<l a newspaper
in his liand, and he said, " I see there's a C'unar<ler
going this morning," which hap[>cned to lu' the 2oth of
172
WITH THACKERAY JN AMERICA
April. " I'll go down to Wall Street to see wliether T
can secure berths in lier; meanwhile, try and see
all the traps j^^^ked up and ready." As we were
old campaigners,
^ -^ the thing was done
and the bills paid
in the nick of time.
The only people we
had time to shake
hands with were the
friendly family of
the Baxters. One
of the ladies, I re-
gret to say, wrote
wittily afterwards to
this effect, " We
shall never forgive
Mr. Crowe for the
cheerful expression
upon his face the day
he went away ! "
Who does not sigh for home at the end of six months,
wherever that domicile may be ? At about eleven
o'clock we were speeding down Broadway ; we got into
a l)()at on the East River, and were greeted by the
sliipping agent's shout, "Hurry up — she's starting!"
an<I ^ve had haivlly liad time to get on board when we
('An-: CLEAR 173
were goino; t'nll st<\-un on to Sandy Hook. Tlu' ii.iiiie
of tlie sliij) was the Juiropa j tlie \vin<l« wei'«' jnopi-
tioiis, and at times all sail was set.
One of the offieers, I reineni])er, told us he \\as on
l)oard the vessel Dickens went out in. Tliaekei-av
asked him whether, in a sailor's estimation, the passage
had l>een as teri'itie as was reeordecl in the famous
" Notes," when he coiTol)orated the Dickensian vei'-
sion in every particular. Our shi[) had fair weather.
Regardless of another injustice to old Ireland, and
althougli not many miles fi-om inland Skih1)ereen,
A\hen ^\'e noticed the picturesquely perched light-
house on the rock of Ca})e Clear we shouted out
"Okl Eughuid ! " iu the bright, early morning air.
We coasted the green-chid cliffs of Cork, and
next moruing, Sunday, we stepped once more upon
the Liverpool landing stage, and got housed again
in the "Adelphi"" there. An interval of six months,
almost to a day and to an hour, had elapsed since
our departure on <mr first passage across the Atlantic.
The six months' sojoui-n in the United States,
the two passages across the Atlantic inclusive, were
sand\viclie(k as it wei-e, l)etween the two Liivat etfoi-ts
of the Thackerayan ])en, '' Esmond," and " The New-
comes."' Family ties, balmy rest for the bod\ fiom
overstrained travel, and search after the insj»iiiting
litei'ary tonic ever given him by a Parisian visit, led
i;4 H'/'/V/ TIIACKI-JIIAV L\ AMERICA
Thackeray to his faAoiiritt' Cliaiin)s Elysees once more;
and iii\ modest avocation as pen-holder being at an
eml. I also came to the same city in search of artistic
rehixatiou. In the month of October, 1853, came ont
the first mmdjer of "The Newcomes," which was
illnstrated 1>\' the facile and graceful pencil of Richard
Dovle. The second nnmljer, that of November, came
to hand in Paris in its yello\v cover complete. The
author. \\h(» had not before seen the illustrations to
the text, was nuicli put out on seeing one of these, in
Avhich the games of the Charterhouse boys were
o:rouped. There were football, leap-frog, and wrest-
lino- ii'oini;' on in mid-distance. The foreground is
adniirablv com[)osed with the scene of the youngster
(b-awing upon his banker, Clive, for his needed coin.
The peccant accessory which roused the Avi-ath of the
writer was the group of two l)oys playing at marbles
on the left of the spectator. " Why," said the irate
author, " tlu'V would as soon have thought of cutting
off their heads as play at marbles at the Charter-
house." This woodcut was, I noticed, suppressed
altoirether in sul)se(|uent editions. Nor was this a
solitary instance of tardy regret (Ui the authors part.
As nmch of the subordinate interest of the novel lay
in its keen insight into artdife and manners, he asked
me to introduce him to my friend Gerome, the world-
i-enowned painter of so many chefs-cVcetivre. I brought
PAiasIAX STUDIES I75
liiin one i\[\\ t(» set' the cluster of tViciHlly studio^, of
wliic'li (reroine's was the central one, in the Rue Notre-
I )anie-(les-C'liainj)s — a ([iiarter liaiiiite(l 1)\ the spii'it of
Ste.-Heiive and other literati in former days. A\'e
found the i)ainter had Just completed his hu'ge
composition entitle(l the "Apotheosis of Augustus,"
now honoui-al)ly ])lace(l in the Amiens IMuseum.
Opposite to it on the \valls of his studio was a
beautifullv-tinished l)Ut small com])osition, Avhich
Thackerav w liisj)ere(l to me he should like to become
possessor of; l)ut he weighed this in his mind, and
said nothing to the author of it. The studios of Brion,
the Alsatian painter, who gave you in art the same
delicate pictures of life strewed in the pages of Erck-
maun and Chatrian ; Schiitzenberoer, a clever drauii^hts-
man of scenes from the same locality; Toulmouche,
the skilful illustrator of manners and modes of the last
century and of our own time, one and all threw open
their doors to welcome him. His exclamation, after
our leave-taking was over, and Avhen we sti"olle(l back
through the picturesque avenues of the Luxembourg
Gardens, was, " I Avisli I had seen this before !"
It is mere conjecture on my ])art : but the impres-
sion left U])on me at the time was that the " givnid
serenity " to \\hi(di he allude(l. pervading this mental
atmosphere, if ]»re\iously received as an impi'ession,
might have helped to 1 1if\ lii>^ artistic lucubiatious
i;(; WITH THACKERAY IN AMERICA
ill " The Newcoines." Tlie efforts of Clive Newcome,
and those of J. J., earnest as the latter are, seldom
escape the bonds of amateurishness. The great ro-
mance, on the other hand, might have suffered by
deviating from its intended course. The incident is
here noted as indicative of the waves of indecision,
assailing at times fixed literary resolves. No <jne,
no^v, is there, who would not regret that one sentence
of that romance were either altered or scored off.
I now once more got into pictorial harness; and,
to my delight, I foinid Thackeray's kindly prediction
"that I should be none the worse for the short break
in my artistic career" fully verified.
(jl^' ■ C(i^-
INDEX
■• Adt'lphi." The, Liverpool, 8.
Agassiz, Professor, 150.
Albany. IC!).
Albany, the Senate, 169.
AUston. Washington, 73.
American Barbers, 138.
American Newsboys. 21.
Api>omattox, On the Banks of the, 141.
Athenanim Club, The, .5.
Auctioneering, 79.
Bailey Brothers, 12.
Ball.Black&Co., 81.
Baltimore. 106.
Baltimore Hospitalities. 113.
Bancroft, Mr., 39.
Bangs Brothers & Co., 48.
Barnura. -56.
Barnura's Museum, 57.
Agent, 00.
Hotel, 10.5.
Baxter, Mr. and Mrs., 170.
'■ Belshazzar's Feast," 72.
Beranger. 10.
Bonaventura, 164, 165.
Boston. 68.
Harbour, 18.
from Bunker's Hill, 29.
. The Museum of Pictures. 70.
, The Sessions, 76.
Brion, 175.
Broadway Omnibus. The, 56.
Bnxjklyn, 49.
Bunn. The Poet, 23.
12
Canada, On Board the, 43.
Canada, The (Capt. Lang), 13.
Cape Clear, 173, 176.
"Century" Club, The, 51.
Chapin's Church, The Rev. Mr., 51,
Charle>iton Daily Courier, The, 145.
Charleston Hotel, The, 33, 145.
Charleston, Slave Auctions at, 150.
, St. Michael's Church, 152, 154
Clarendon Hotel. New York, 37.
("linton Hall. Xew York, 90.
Clough, Arthur Hugh, 15.
Coasting, 74.
" Conformateur," The, 64.
Cramptoii, Sir Philip, 112.
Curtis, G. W., 68.
Dangerous Sport, 89.
Degan, Mr., 70.
Dickens, Charles, 18, 173.
Drinks, 61.
" Esmond," 3.
Reprints, 49.
Europa, The. 173.
Execution Morning, An, 91.
Expectorators, 32.
Fagan. Mr., 4.
Felt, Mr. Millard, 45.
" Fielding " Club, Tiie, 7.
Fields, Mr.. 7.
Fillmore, President, 114.
Fillnmre and Pierce, Presidents. 116.
178
INDEX
Fish, Seimtor Iliiniillon, 112.
Fort Columbus, 1)3.
Fraser's Magazine, 09.
" Freemason's Tavern," Tin-, 8.
Genin's, Jolm X., Ilal Store, G2.
Gerome, 175.
Greeley, Horace, 42.
Harper, Mr. James. 66.
Harpers, Messrs., 65.
Henningsen, C. F., 107.
Hicks, Thomas, 74.
Houdon's "General Washington,"
137.
Inde])en(lence Hall, 109.
James, George Payne Rainsford, 67.
James (Senior), ]Mr. Henry, 44, 167.
Kenselt, 51.
Lafarge House, The, 53.
Lang, Capt., 15.
Lawrence, The Hon. Abbott, G.
Littledale, Mr. Thomas. 12.
Liverijool Jlfrcuri/. The, 9.
Low, Mr., 100.
Lowell, Russell, 14.
Meagher, Thomas Francis, 86.
Mercantile Liljrary, New York, The,
0.
Exchange, New York, The, 77.
" Metropolitan," The, 53.
Morton, Savile, of tlie Daily News,
10.
National Rcstauranl, The, 124.
Negro I'.all, A, 147.
Negro Types, 152, 154, 155.
" Newcomes, The," 173, 174.
New York, 34, 110.
Neiv York Daily Tribune, 135.
Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, 73.
Panizzi, Sir Antonio, 4.
Parker, The Rev. Theodore, 41.
Parry's Library, Liverpool, !).
Penn, William", 102.
Petersburg, Va., 140.
Philadelphia, 101.
Pierce, President, 130, 170.
Pierce and Fillmore, Presidents, 116.
Pipe Office, The, Derivation of the
Name, 33.
Prescott, William Ilickling, 30.
, Col. William, 30.
Providence, Rhode Island, OS.
Punch, 100.
Race, Cape, 16.
Rankin, Mr., 157.
Ratcliffe, Mr., 12.
Richmond, 126.
Richmond, Va., 130.
Richmond, Ya., The State House at,
137.
Ritchie, Mrs., 7, 170.
Rossi, Countess (]\[me. Sontag), 25.
Rushton, Edward, 11.
Savannah, Georgia, 159.
Sehutzenberger, 175.
"Sketch "Club, The, 51.
Slave Sale, A, 131.
Sleigh-Stages, 88.
Sontag, Mme. (Countess Rossi), 24,
25.
Snule, Pierre, 171.
i.\/>/:x
\:u
Stowiin's lliiln'nl!i>li«Ty Sliop, 54. 70.
Stowi', Mrs. UoeiluT, ;>.").
SimiiiiM-. (."linrlcs, 121.
Tliark,.ri.y, 1.
at work (Ui 'Ksinoiid," ;}.
at the Atlu'iiiriim, ~).
. Li'ttcr from the New Voik M«r-
rantile Library, (i.
and ^Ir. Fi.lds, 7.
at the " FieldiiiLT," 7.
at the " Trafal.i^ar," S.
at the " Freemason's Tavern," 8.
, " Dickey Sam" in tlie Liverpoul
Mercury, 9.
, the Two Conrses of lieetures at
3Ianeliester and Liverpool, 9.
liears of tlie Deatii of iiis Friend
Savile [Morton, 10.
. Fdward Rusliton, 11.
, Hostile Keferenees in a New
York Paper, 11.
. liis Appreciation of Uoasl Snck-
ing-pig, 12.
, Departnre from Liverpool, 13.
, Undemonstrative Reception in
America, 18.
, his Opinion of "Uncle Tom's
Cabin," o5.
, the First Conrse of Lectnres, 47.
, Interview with Barnnm, 59,
, Interview witii James IIar|>fi-,
0(3.
, the Pirate's Dangliter, Ofi.
at the " Melodeon," liostoii, 70.
, Meeting with Washington
Irving, 84.
, Conversation with "Meagher of
the Sword.'' 86.
Tliackriay. Mr. T. !'-. ]{. .d and
lldiid InniK iiitir, lO'.t.
, "Charity ami Ilum<inr." 110.
at lialtimorc, 1 K!.
at Washinglnii, ]|.").
, "The Iron Jackson," I'JO.
at the Congress, 122.
Lectures at (he llilH'rni.in Hall
Church, 14(J.
, Ins Kindness to his Coii-iii. .Mr.
Kankin, 157.
, Mr, Low's Hospitality. li'-C Hil.
and the Negro Hoys, l<i4.
, '• Lucy's Birthday, ■■ 17o.
, Sudden Departure for Home,
17:5.
, " The Newcomes," 173, 174.
, Visit to Studios of French
Artists, 175.
Thanksgiving Day, 52.
Ticknor, (ieorge, 31.
Tobacco Testing at Richnmnd. \'a.,
129.
Tombs Prison, The, 90.
Tonlmonche, 175.
" Trafalgar,'' The, 8.
Tremont House, 21,
'■ I'liele Tmn's Cabin," •"55.
•' \'iigiidans, Tiie," 30.
Wall Street, 78.
Washington Irving, s2.
Webb, (Jeneral, 4,
We»»ster, Daniel, 20, 74.
Williams, The liev. Hleazar. ^2.
Wilmington, 144.
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