Hi lili Qass. Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT ■^^v.;^-' i'lUKOM COVE, CAI'K ANN. NOOKS AND COENEKS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. By SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE, AUTHOR or ' OLD LANDMARKS OF BOSTON," " HISTORIC FIELDS AND MANSIONS OF MIDDLESEX," &o. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. -qV of Co^,^ '^' COPYRIGHT "'.P', A IS75 ^ Si NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1875. /", U fl \y Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by iiAKPER & Brothers, In the Uflice of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Inscribed bn permission, AND WITH SENTIMENTS OF HIGH RESPECT, HENEY WADSWOETH LONGFELLOW. ■^ m^^mi^mmmi ij- CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. Norumbega River and City. — Early Discoverers, and Maps of New England. — Mode of taking Possession of new Countries.— Cruel Usage of Intruders by the English! — Penobscot Bay. — Character of first Emigrants to New England. — Is Friday unlucky? Page 17 CHAPTER H. MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. About Islands. — Champlain's Discovery. — Mount Desert Range. — Somesville, and the Neighbor- hood. — Colony of Madame De Guercheville. — Descent of Sir S. Argall. — Treasure-trove. — Shell-heaps. — South-west Harbor. — The natural Sea-wall. — Islands oft' Somes's Sound 27 CHAPTER IH. CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. Excursion to Bar Harbor. — Green Mountain. — Eagle Lake. — Island Nomenclature. — Porcupine Islands. — Short Jaunts by the Shore. — Schooner Head. — Spouting Caves. — Sea Aquaria. — Audubon and Agassiz. — David Wasgatt Clark. — F. E. Church and the Artists. — Great Head. — Baye Fran^oise. — Mount Desert Rock. — Value of natural Sea-marks. — Newport Mount- ain, and the Way to Otter Creek. — The Islesmen. — North-east Harbor. — The Ovens. — The Gregoires. — Henrietta d'Orleans. — Yankee Curiosity 40 CHAPTER IV. CASTINE. Pentagoet.— A Fog in Penobscot Bay.— Rockland.— The Muscongus Grant.— Colonial Society.— Generals Knox and Lincoln. — Camden Hills. — Belfast and the River Penobscot. — Brigadier's Island. — Disappeai-ance of the Salmon. — Approach to Castine. — Fort George. — Penobscot Expedition. — Sir John Moore. — Capture of General Wadsworth. — His remarkable Escape. — Rochambeau's Proposal. — La Peyrouse 58 CHAPTER V. CASTINE — contimiecl. Old Fort Pentagoet.— Stephen Grindle's Windfall.— Cob-money.— The Pilgrims at Penobscot.— Isaac de Razilly. — D'Aulnay Charnisay. — La Tour. — Descent of Sedgwick and Leverett. — Capture of Pentagoet, and Imprisonment of Chambly. — Colbert. — Baron Castin. — The younger 10 CONTENTS. Castin kidnaped.— Capuchins and Jesuits.— Intrigues of De M.aintenon and Pere Lachaise.— Burial-ground of Castine. — About the Lobster.— Where is Down East? Page 73 CHAPTER VI. PEMAQUID POIXT. New Harbor.— Wayside Manners.— British Repulse at New Harbor.— Porgee Factory.— Process of converting tlie Fish into Oil.— Habits of the ]\Iackerel.— Weymouth's Visit to Petnaquid. — Champlain again.— Popliam Colony. —Cotton Mather on new Settlements. — English vs. French Endurance.— L"Ordre de Bon Temps.— Samoset.— Fort Frederick.— Re'sii me' of the English Settlement and Forts.— John Nelson.— Capture of Fort William Henry.— D Iberville, the knowing One. — Colonel Dunbar at Pemaquid. — Shell-heaps of Damariscotta. — Disapjjear- ance of the native Oyster in New England 87 CHAPTER VII. MONIIEGAN ISLAND. Scenes on a Penobscot Steamer. — The Islanders. — Weymouth's Anchorage. — Monhegan de- scribed. — Combat between the Enterprise and Boxer. — Lieutenant Burrows 102 CHAPTER VIII. FROM AVELLS TO OLD YORK. Wells. — John Wheelwright. — George Burroughs. — On the Beach. — Shiftings of the Sands. — What they produce. — Ingenuity of the Crow. — The Beach as a High-road. — Popular Super- stitions. — Ogunquit. — Bald Head Cliff. — Wreck of the Isidore. — Kennebunkport. — Cajie Ned- dock. — The Nubble. — Captains Gosnold and Pring. — Moon-light on the Beach 109 CHAPTER IX. AGAMEXTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. Moimt Agamenticus. — Basque Fishermen. — Sassafras. — Tlie Long Sands. — Sea-weed and Shell- fish. — Foot -prints. — Old York Annals. — Sir Ferdinando Gorges. — York Meeting-house. — Handkerchief Moody. — Parson Moody. — David Sewall. — Old Jail. — Garrison Houses, Scot- land Parish 123 CHAPTER X. AT KITTERY POINT, MAINE. York Bridge.— poor Sally Cutts. — Fort M'Clary. — Sir William Pepperell. — Louishmg and Fonlcnoy. — (ierrish's Island. — Francis Champcrnowne. — Islands belonging to Kittery. — John Langdon. — Jacob Slieafi'e. — Washington at Kittery 141 CH.MTKR XT. 'JIIK ISLKS or S1K)AI.S. De Monts sees them. — Smith's and Levetl's Account. — Cod-fishery in the sixteenth Century. — Sail down the riscatacjua. — The Isles. — Derivation of tlic Name. — Jeft'rey's Ledge. — Star Island. — Little Meeting-house. — Character of the Islesmen. — Island Grave-yards. — Betty CONTENTS. 1 1 Moody's Hole. — Natural Gorges. — Under the CliflFs. — Death of Miss Underhill. — Story of her Life. — Boon Island. — Wreck of the Nottingham. — Fish and Fishermen Page 153 CHAPTER XII. THE ISLES OF SHOALS — Continued. Excursion to Smutty Nose. ^Piracy in New England Waters. — Blackbeard. — Thomas Morton's Banishment. — Religious Liberty vs. License. — Custom of the ]\Lay-pole. — Samuel Haley. — Spanish Wreck on Smutty Nose. — Graves of the Unknown. — Terrible Tragedy on the Island. — Appledore. — Its ancient Settlement. — Smith's Cairn. — Duck Island. — Londoner's.' — Thomas B. Laighton. — Mrs. Thaxter. — Light-houses in 1793. — White Island. — Story of a Wreck. 175 CHAPTER XIIL NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. The Way to the Island. — The Pool. — Ancient Ships. — Old House. — Town Charter and Eecords. — Influence of the Navj'-yard. — Fort Constitution. — Little Harbor. — Captain John Mason. — — The Wentworth House. — The Portraits. — The Governors Wentworth and their Wives. — Baron Steuben 196 CHAPTER XIV. SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. The Witch-ground. — Antiquity of Witchcraft. — First Case in New England. — Curiosities of Witch- craft. — Rebecca Nurse. — Beginning of Terrorism at Salem Village. ^ — Humors of the Appari- tions. — General Putnam's Birthplace. — What may be seen in Darners 208 CHAPTER XV. A WALK TO W^TCH HILL. Salem in 1692.— Birthplace of Hawthorne.— Old Witch House. — William Stoughton, Governor. — Witch Hill.— A Leaf from History 220 CHAPTER XVI. MAKBLEHEAD. The Rock of Marblehead. — The Harbor and Neck. — Chat witli the Light-keeper. — Decline of the Fisheries. — Fishery in the olden Time. — Early Annals of Marblehead. — Walks about the Town.— Crooked Lanes and antique Houses. — The Water-side.— The Fishermen.— How the Town looked in the Past. — Plain-spoken Clergymen and lawless Parishioners. — Anecdotes. — Jeremiah Lee and his Mansion. — The Town-house. — Chief-justice Story. — St. Michael's Church.— Elbridge Gerry.— The old Ironsides of the Sea.— General John Glover.— Flood Ireson's, Oakum Bay.— Fort Sewall.— Escape of the Constitution Frigate.— Duel of the Chesa- peake and -SAannon.— Old Burial-ground.— The Grave-digger.— Perils of the Fishery 228 CHAPTER XVII. PLYMOUTH. At the American Mecca. — Court Street.— Pilgrim Hall and Pilgrim Memorials.— Sargent's Pic- ture of the " Landing."— Relics of the Mayflower.— Yw^i Duel in New England.— Old Colony 12 CONTENTS. Seal. — The "Compact." — First Execution in Plymouth. — Old "Body of Laws." — Pilgrim Chronicles. — View from Burial Hill. — The Harbor.— Names of Plymouth. — Plymouth, En- gland. — Lord Nelson's Generosity. — Plymouth the temporary Choice of the Pilgrims. — The Indian Plague. — Indian Superstition. — Who was first at Plymouth ? — De Monts and Cham- plain. — Champlain's Voyages in New England. — French Pilgrims make the first Landing. — Why the Natives were hostile to the Pilgrims of 1G20. — Confusion among old Writers about Plymouth. — Among the Tombstones of Burial Hill. — The Pilgrims' Church-fortress. — What a Dutchman saw here in 1627. — Military Procession to Meeting. — Ancient Church Customs. — Puritans, Separatists, and Brownists. — Flight and Political Ostracism of the Pilgrims. — Their form of Worship. — First Church of Salem. — Plymouth founded on a Principle Page 261 CHAPTER XVIII. PLYMOUTH, Clark's island, axd duxburt. Let us walk in Leyden Street. — The way Plymouth was built. — Governor Bradford's Corner. — Fragments of Family History. — How Marriage became a civil Act. — The Common-house. — John Oldham's Punishment. — The Allyne House. — James Otis and his Sister Mercy. — James Warren. — Cole's Hill, and its obliterated Graves. — Plymouth Rock. — True Date of the " Land- ing." — Christmas in Plymouth, and Bradford's Joke. — Pilgrim Toleration. — Samoset surprises Plymouth. — The Entry of Massasoit. — First American Congress. — To Clark's Island. — Wat- son's House. — Election Rock. — The Party of Discovery. — Duxbury. — Captains Hill and Miles Standish. — John Alden. — "Why don't you speak for yourself?" — Historical Iconoclasts. — Celebrities of Duxbury. — Winslow and Acadia. — Colonel Church. — The Dartmouth In- dians 283 CHAPTER XIX. PROVINCETOWN. Cape Cod a Terra incognita. — Appearance of its Surface. — Historical Fragments. — The Pilgrims' first Landing. — New England Washing-day. — De Poutrincourt's Fight with Natives. — Province- town described.— Cape Names. — Portuguese Colony. — Cod and IMackerel Fishery. — Cod-fish Aristocracy. — Matt Prior and Lent. — Beginning of Whaling. — Mad Montague. — The Desert. — Cranberry Culture. — The moving Sand-hills. — Disappearance of ancient Forests. — The Beach. — Race Point. — Huts of Refuge. — Ice Blockade of 1874-'7r>. — Wreck of the Giovanni. — Phys- ical Aspects of the Cape Shores. — Old Wreck at Orleans 304: CHAPTER XX. NANTUCKET. The old Voyagers again. — Derivation of the Name of Nantncket. — Sail from Wood's Hole to the Island. — Vineyard Sound. — Walks in Nantucket Streets. — Whales, Ships, and Whaling. — Nantucket in the Revolution. — Cruising for Whales. — The Camels. — Nantucket Sailors. — Loss of Sliip Essex. — Town-crier.— Island History. — Quaker Sailors. — Thomas Mayhew. — Spermaceti. — Mucy, Folger, Admiral Sir Isaac Coflin 324 CHAPTER XXI. NANTUCKET — continued. Taking Blackfish.— Blue-fishing at the Opening.— Walk to Coatue. — The Scallop-shell.— Strac- ture of tiic Island. — Indian Legends. — Siiepherd Life. — Absolutism of Indian Sagamores. — CONTENTS. 13 Wasting of the Shores of the Island. — Siasconset. — Nantucket Carts. — Fishing-stages. — The Great South Shoal. — Sankoty Light. — Surfside Page 343 CHAPTER XXII. NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. General View of Newport. — Sail up the Harbor. — Commercial Decadence. — Street Rambles. — William Coddington. — Anne Hutchinson. — The Wantons. — Newport Artillery. — State-house Notes. — Tristram Burgess. — Jewish Cemetery and Synagogue. — Judah Touro. — Redwood Li- brary.— The Old Stone Mill 35G CHAPTER XXIII. PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. The Cliff Walk. — Newport Cottages and Cottage Life. — Charlotte Cushman. — Fort Day and ForL Adams. — Bernard, the Engineer. — Dumplings Fort. — Canonicut. — Hessians. — Newport Drives. — The Beaches. — Purgatory. — Dean Berkeley 373 CHAPTER XXIV. THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. Behavior of the Troops. — Monarchy aiding Democracy.- — D'Estaing. — Jourdan. — French Camps. — Rochambeau, De Ternay, De Noailles. — Efforts of England to break the Alliance. — Fred- erick's Remark. — Malmesbury and Potemkin. — Lord North and Yorktown. — George IIL — Biron, Due de Lauzun. — Chastellux, De Castries, Viome'nil, Lameth, Dumas, La Peyrouse, Berthier, and Deux-Ponts. — The Regiment Auvergne. — Latour D'Auvergne. — French Diplo- macy 386 CHAPTER XXV. NEWPORT CEMETERIES. Rhode Island Cemetery. — Curious Inscriptions. — William EUery. — Oliver Hazard Perry. — The Quakers. — George Fox. — Quaker Persecution. — Other Grave-yards. — Lee and the Rhode Isl- and Tories. — Coddington and Gorton. — John Coggeshall. — Trinity Church-yard. — Dr. Samuel Hopkins.— Gilbert Stuart 398 CHAPTER XXVI. TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. Walk up the Island.— "Tonomy" Hill.— The Malbones.— Capture of General Prescott.— Talbot's Exploit.— Ancient Stages. — Windmills.— About Fish.— Lawton's Valley.— Battle of 1778. — Island History.— Mount Hope.— Philip's Death.— Dighton Rock. — Indian Antiquities.... 407 CHAPTER XXVII. NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. Entrance to the Thames. — Fisher's Island. — Block Island. — New London. — Light-ships and Light-houses. — Hempstead House. — Bishop Seabury. — Old Burial-ground. — New London Har- bor. — The little Ship-destroyer. — Groton and Monument. — Arnold. — British Attack on Groton. — Fort Griswold. — The Pequots. — John Mason. — Silas Deane. — Beaumarchais. — John Led- 14 CONTENTS. yard.— Decatur and Hardy.— Norwich City.— The Yantic picturesque.— Uncas, the Mohegan Chieftain.— Norwich Town.— Fine old Trees.— The Huntingtons .Page 420 CHAPTER XXVIII. SAYBROOK. Old Say brook.— Disappearance of the Yankee.— Old Girls.— Isaac Hull.— The Harts.— Connecti- cut River.— Old Fortress.— Diitcli Courage.— The Pilgrims' Experiences.— Cromwell, Hamp- den, and Pym.— Lady Fen wick.— George Fenwick.— Lion Gardiner.— Old Burial-ground.— Yale College.— The Shore, and the End 441 INDEX 451 ■'-' _ '^'-^^fe^V LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Pigeon Cove, Cape Ann. Fr'tiipiece. Map In Preface. Head-piece 18 Jacques Cartier 20 Captain John Smith 21 Pierre dii Guast, Sieur de Monts 23 Sir Humphrey Gilbert 24 Fac- simile of first Map en- graved in New England 25 Tail-piece 26 Mount Desert, from Blue Hill Bay 27 Map of Mount Desert Island . . 28 Samuel Champlain 29 Head of Somes's Sound 32 Echo Lake 33 Cliffs, Dog Mouutain, Somes's Sound 3T The Stone Wall 38 Entrance to Somes's Sound ... 39 Professor Agassiz 40 View of Eagle Lake and the Sea from Green Mouutain ... 43 Cliffs on Bald Porcupine 44 Southerly End of Newport Mountain, near the Sand Beach 45 Cave of the Sea, Schooner Head 46 Cliffs at Schooner Head 47 Devil's Den and Schooner Head 48 Great Head 51 The Ovens, Saulsbury's Cove. . 55 Tail-piece 57 Castiue, approaching from Islesboro 58 General Henry Knox 61 General Benjamin Lincoln 62 Fort Point 63 View from Fort George 66 Sir John Moore 67 Fort Griffith 68 Fort George 69 Tail-piece 72 Euius of Fort Pentagoet 73 Pine-tree Shilling 75 Colbert 79 Lobster Pot 85 Tall-piece 80 Old Fort Frederick, Pemaquid Point 87 "The Land-breeze of Evening" 88 Cotton Mather 94 Ancient Pemaquid 95 Charlevoix 96 French Frigate, Seventeenth Century 98 Hutchinson 99 Monhegan Island 102 Thatcher's Island Light, and Fog-signals, Cape Ann 103 Graves of Burrows and Blythe, Portland 107 Tail-piece (Burrows's Medal) . . 108 Gorge, Bald Head Cliff 109 Old Wrecks on the Beach 112 The Morning Round 119 What the Sea can do 123 York Meeting-house 134 Jail at Old York 136 Pillory 137 Stocks 137 Old Garrison House 139 Tail-piece 140 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from Kiltery Bridge 141 Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine 142 Block-house and Fort, Kittery Point 144 Sir William Pepperell's House, Kittery Point 145 Sir William Pepperell 146 Kittery Point, Maine 14S Governor Langdou's Mansion, Portsmouth 150 Tail-piece 152 Whale's-back Light 153 Portsmouth and the Isles of Shoals (Map) 154 Shag and Mingo Rocks, Duck Island 158 Meeting-house, Star Island 103 The Graves, with Captain John Smith's Monument, Star Isl- and 165 Gorge, Star Island 169 Tail-piece 174 Cliffs, White Island 175 Blackbeard, the Pirate 17S Smutty Nose 182 Haley Dock and Homestead... 183 Ledge of Rocks, Smutty Nose . 186 South-east End of Appledore, looking South 187 Duck Island, from Appledore. . 188 Laighton's Grave 190 Londoner's, from Star Island . . 191 PAGK Covered Way and Light-house, White Island 193 White Island Light 194 Tail-piece 195 Wentworth House, Little Har- bor 196 Point of Graves 197 Old House, Great Island 198 Old Tower, Newcastle 199 Gate-way, old Fort Constitu- tion 200 Sir Thomas Wentworth, Went- worth House, Little Harbor. 201 Marquis of Rockingham 202 In the Wentworth House, Lit- tle Harbor 203 Lady Hancock's Portrait in the Wentworth House 204 Governor Benning Wentworth. 206 Baron Steuben 207 Witch Hill, Salem 203 Custom-house, Salem, Massa- chusetts 211 Rebecca Nurse's House 213 Procter House 214 Birthplace of Putnam 217 Putnam in British Uniform.... 21S Endicott Pear-tree 213 Tail-piece (Putnam's Tavern Sign) 219 Washington Street, Salem 220 Birthplace of Hawthorne 221 Shattuck House 221 Room in which Hawthorne was born 222 The old Witch Honse 223 Fragment of Examination of Rebecca Nurse 224 Thomas Beadle's Tavern, 1692. 225 Interior of First Church, Salem 227 Ireson's House, Oakum Bay, Marblehead 228 Great Head 229 "The Churn" 230 Drying Fish, Little Harbor 232 Unloading Fish 235 A Group of Antiques 237 Lee Street 239 Tucker's Wharf— the Steps .... 241 Gregory Street 242 Lee House 245 Town-house and Square 247 St. Michael's, Marblehead 248 16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PACE Elbridge Gerry 249 The Gerry mauder 250 "Old North" Congregational Chnrch 251 Samuel Tucker 252 General Glover 253 Fort Sewall 255 Powder-house, 1755 256 James Lawrence 257 Glimpse of the Seamen's Mon- ument and old Burial-ground 25S Lone Graves 260 "Sitting, stitching in a mourn- ful Muse" 260 The Hoe, English Plymouth. . . 261 Map of Plymouth 262 Pilgrim Hall 263 Brewster's Chest, and Staud- ish'B Pot 263 Landing of the Pilgrims 264 Carver's and Brewster's Chairs 265 Mincing Knife 265 Peregrine While's Cabinet 265 Standish's Sword 266 The Old Colony Seal 267 Map of Plymouth Bay 269 Champlain's Map. — Port Cape St. Louis 274 Tail-piece 2S2 The Pilgrims' first Encounter.. 2S3 Building on the Site of Brad- ford's Mansion 284 Site of the Common House 286 The Allyiie House 287 The Joanna Davis House, Cole's Hill 288 Plymouth Rock in 1S50 289 The Gurnet 296 Watson's House, Clark's Island 297 Election Kock, Clark's Island. 298 Church's Sword 302 Tail-piece 303 Provincetown, from the Hille.. 304 Cohasset Narrows 305 Highland Light, (,'ape Cod 306 Washing Fish 309 Muckcrcl.— A Kaniily Group... 313 Pond Villiigc, Cape Cod 315 Picking and sorting Cranber- ries Cupe Cod 317 Sand-hills, I'rovincetown 31S Life-boat Stalir)n.— Trial of the Bomb and Line 321 Tail-i)ie(o (A " Sunflsli ") 323 Nunluckel, from the Sea . . . 324 Map of Ciipo Cod, Nantucket, and Murllin's Vineyard 325 Approach to Martha's Vineyard 826 A lilt of Nantucket — the Hoiinc- lops 328 rt-GK Last of the Whale-ships 332 Whaling in the olden Time. ... 333 Whale of the Ancients 334 E. Johnson's Studio, Nantucket 341 Tail-piece 342 Nantucket. — Old Windmill, looking ocean ward 343 Captured Porpoise and Black- flsh 345 TheBlue-flsh 346 Blue-flshing 347 Homes of the Fishermen, Sias- couset 352 The Sea-bluff, Siasconset 353 Hauling a Dory over the Hills, Nantucket 354 Light -house, Sankoty Head, Nantucket. 355 Tail-piece 355 Newport, from Fort Adams 356 Old Fort, Dumpling Rocks .... 358 Old-time Houses 360 Residence of Governor Cod- dingt on, Newport, 1641 361 Newport State-house 363 Commodore Perry's House 364 Jewish Cemetery 365 Jews' Synagogue, Newport 366 Judah Touro 367 The Redwood Library 368 Abraham Redwood 369 The Old Stone Mill 370 The Perry Monument 371 Tail-piece 372 Boat Landing 373 The Beach 374 Cliff Walk 375 The Cliffs 376 A Newport Cottage 377 Charlotte Cushmau's Residence 377 Spouting Rock 378 The Dumplings 380 Hessian Grenadier 381 Coast Scene, Newport 382 The Drive 383 Purgatory Bluff 383 Whitehall 384 Washington Park, Newport 385 D'Estaing 386 Earl Howe 388 Rochambeau 388 Kocbani'Dcau's Head-quarters . 389 Louis XVI 389 Military Map of Rhode Island, 1778 39' Lafayette 391 Baron Viomimil 391 Trinity Church, Newport 392 Chastellux 392 Lau/.iin 393 PAGE Mathieu Dumas 394 Deux-Ponts 395 De Barras 395 Latour D'Auvergne 396 Tail-piece ' 397 Graves on the Bluff, Fort Road 398 Tombstones, Newport Cerae- teiy 399 Perry's Monnnieut 401 Oliver Hazard Perry 401 Friends' Meeting-house 402 George Fox 403 Charles Lee 404 Mount Hope 407 The Glen 408 A Rhode Island Windmill 409 William Barton 410 Silas Talbot 410 Prescott's Head-quarters 411 Agricultural Prosperity 412 From Butts's Hill, looking North 413 Quaker Hill, from Butts's Hill, looking North 414 Battle-ground of August29,1778 414 King Philip, from an old Print 415 Inscription on Dightou Rock. . 416 Old Leonard House, Rayuham. 419 New London iu 1813 420 New London Harbor, north View 421 New London Light 421 New London in 1781 (Map) 422 Old Block-house, Fort Trum- bull 423 A Light-ship on her Station. . . 424 Court-house, New London 425 Bishop Seabury's Monument . . 426 Groton Monument 427 Benedict Arnold 429 Storming of the Indian For- tress 430 Silas Deane 431 Stephen Decatur 433 Rustic Bridge, Norwich 434 Old Mill, Norwich 435 Signatures of Uncas and his Sons 436 Uncas's Monument 43T Arnold's Birthplace 437 Elm-trees by the Wayside 438 General Huntington's House .. 438 Mansion of Governor Hunting- ton 439 '-^ngregatioual Church 440 '-piece 440 i ■ Stuyvesant 441 Is- 'lull 444 A grown Memorial 440 Tan- e 449 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. CHAPTER I. NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. "This is the forest primeval. The mimnuring pines and the hemlocks. Bearded with moss, and with garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of Old, with voices sad and prophetic. Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. Loud from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest." Longfellow. IN many respects r sea-coast of Maine is the most remarkable of New England. It is ..ated with craggy projections, studded with harbors, seamed with inlets iroad bays conduct to rivers of great volume that an- nually bear her forests down to the sea. Her shores are barricaded with islands, and her wate.s teem with the abundance of the seas. Seen on the map, it is a splintered, jagged, forbidding sea-board ; beheld with the eye in a'kindly season, its tawny headlands, green archipelagos, and invitmg har- 2 18 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. boi-s, infolding sites recalling the earlier efforts at European colonization, combine in a wondrous degree to win the admiration of the man of science, of letters, or of leisure. Maine embraces within her limits the semi-fabulous Norumbega and Ma- voshen of ancient writers. Some portion of her territory has been known at various times by the names of Acadia, New France, and New England. The arms of France and of England have alternately been erected on her soil, and the flags of at least four powerful states have claimed her subjection. The most numerous and warlike of the primitive New England nations were seated here. Traces of French occupation are remaining in the names of St. Croix, Mount Desert, Isle au Haut, and Castine, names which neither treaties nor national prejudice have been quite able to eradicate. The name of Norumbega, or Norembegue, the earliest applied to New England, is attributed to the Portuguese and Spaniards. Jean Alfonse, the pilot of lioberval, tlie same person who is accredited with having been first to navigate the waters of Massachusetts Bay, gives them the credit of its discovery. It is true that Marc Lescarbot, the Parisian advocate whose re- lations are the foundations of so many others, was at the colony of Port Royal in the year 1006, with Pontgrave, Champlain, and De Poutrincourt. This writer discredits all of Alfonso's statement in relation to the great river and coast of Norumbega, except that part of it in which he says the river had at its entrance many islands, banks, and rocks. In this fragment IVom the '"''Yoijarjes Aventureux'''' of Alfonse, the embouchure of the river of Norumbega is placed in thirty degrees ("trcnte degrez") and the pilot states that from thence the coast turns to the west and west-north-west for more than two hundred and fifty leagues.' The most casual reader will know liow to value such a relation without reference to the sarcasm of Lescarbot, when he says, "And well may he call his voyages adventurous, not for him- self, who was never in the hundredth part of the places which he describes (at least it is easy to conjecture so), but for those who might wish to follow the routes wliich he directs the mariner to follow." After this, liis claims to be considered the fust European navigator in Massacliusetts Bay must be re- ceiviil with many grains of allowance. ("lianiplain, who remained in the country tlirough the winter of 1G05, on purpose to complete his map, has this to say of the river and city of Norum- bega; he is writing of the Penobscot: " I believe this river is tliat which several historians call Norumbcgue, and uhicli tlie greater part liave written, is large and spacious, with many islands; ami its cnli-ancc in luit y-lliri'i' and foi-ty-three and a half; and others in forty-four, niurc or less, of latitude. As f^; the declination, I have neithei" * ^^■- . • ' " Kt (|iio passe ccUo riviere iu d'lie lounic ii I'Uiiest et Uuest-Noroiiesi plus dc deux cens cia- (|uaiitc Iieiies,"utc. NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 19 read nor heard any one speak of it. They describe also a great and very populous city of natives, dexterous and skillful, having cotton cloth. I am satisfied that the major jDart of those who make mention of it have never seen it, and speak fi'om the hearsay evidence of those who know no more than themselves. I can well believe that there are some who have seen the embouchure, for the reason that there are, in fact, many islands there, and that it lies in the latitude of forty-four degrees at its entrance, as they say ; but that any have entered it is not credible ; for they must have described it in quite another manner to have removed this doubt from many people." With this protest Champlain admits the country of Norumbega to a place on his map of 1612. In the '"''Histoire Universelle des Indes Occidentales^'' printed at Douay in 1607, the author, after describing Virginia, speaks of Norumbega, its great river and beautiful city. The mouth of the river is fixed in the forty-fourth and the pretended city in the forty-fifth degree, which approximates closely enough to the'J. * liev. IJ. F. De Costu's "Northmen in Maine." NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 23 notliing of Hakluyt and Purchas. So little did the affairs of the New World engage their attention, that in the " History of France," by Father Daniel, printed at Amster- dam in 1720, by the Com- pany of Jesuits, in six pon- derous tomes, the discover- ies and settlements in New France (Canada) occupy no more than a dozen lines. Cartier,Roberval,DeMonts, and Champlain are mention- ed, and that is all. When a vessel of the old navigators was approaching the coast, the precaution was taken of sending sailors to the mast-head. These look- outs were relieved every two hours until night-fall, at M'hicli time, if the land was not yet in sight, they furl- ed their sails so as to make little or no way during the night. It was a matter of emulation among the ship's ■ company who should first j discover the land, as the 1 passengers usually present- ed the lucky one with some pistoles. One writer men- tions that on board French vessels, after sighting Cape Race, the ceremony known among us as " cross- ing the line " was performed by the old salts on the green hands, without re- gard to season. The method of taking possession of a new country is thus described in the old chronicles : Jacques Cartier erected a cross thirty feet high, on which was suspended a shield with the arms of France and the words " Vive le RoyP Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in 1583, raised a pillar at Newfoundland, with a plate of lead, having the queen's arms " graven thereon." A turf and a twig were presented to him, which he received with a hazel wand. The expression "by turf and twig," a symbol of actual possession of the soil and its products, is still to be met with in older New England records. Douglass, the American historian, speaking of Henry IV., says, "He plant- FIERRE DU GUAST, SIEUK DE MONTS. 24 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. SIB HUMPHREY GILBEKT. ed a colony in Canada Avhich subsists to this day. May it not long subsist ; it is a nuisance to our North American settlements : Delenda est Carthago.'''' The insignificant attempt of Gosnold, in 1603, and the disastrous one of Popham, in 1607, contributed lit- tle to the knowledge of New England. But the absence of any actual possession of the soil did not prevent the exercise of unworthy violence toward in- truders on the territory claimed by the English crown. In 1613 Sir Samuel Argall broke up the French settlement begun at Mount Desert in that year, opening fire on the unsuspecting colonists be- fore he gave himself the trouble of a formal summons. Those of other nations fared little better, as the following recital will show : Purchas relates that " Sir Ber- nard Drake, a Devonshire knight, came to Newfoundland with a commission; and having divers good ships under his command, he took many Portugal ships, and brought them into England as prizes. "Sir Bernard, as was said, having taken a Portugal ship, and brought her into one of our western ports, the seamen that were therein were sent to the prison adjoining the Castle of Exeter. At the next assizes held at the castle there, about the 27111 of Queen Elizabeth, when the prisoners of the county wei'e brought to be arraigned before Sergeant Flowerby, one of the judges appointed i'or this western circuit at that time, suddenly there arose such a noisf)ni(' smell from the l)ar that a great inimber of jieople there present were thcn-with iiifccU'd ; wlicrcof in a \ cry sliort time alter died the said judge, Sir John Cliichester, Sir -.Vrthur Bassett, and Sir Bernard Drake, knights, and justices of the ])eace there sitting on the bench; and eleven of the jury im- paneled, the twelfth only escaping; with divers other persons." Caj)tain John Smith says: "The most northern part I was at was the Bay of Penobscot, which is east and west, north and south, more than ten leagues; but such were my occasions I was constrained \o be satisfied of them 1 lound in the bay, that llie ri\(r ran far up into the land, and was well inhabited with many people; Iml tlicy w iic iVotn their habitations, either fishing among the isles, or hunting the lakes and woods lor diH'r and beavers. "The bay i^ full of great islands of one, two, six, eight, or ten miles in length, which diNiilc it into many faire and excellent good harbours. On the cast of it are the Tari-anlines, their mortal enemies, where inhabit the NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 25 French, as they repovt, that live with these people as one nation or fam- iiy." If the English had no special reason for self gratulation in the quality of the emigrants first introduced into New England, the French have as little ground to value themselves. In order to people Acadia, De Monts begged permission of Henri Quatre to take the vagabonds that might be collected in the cities, or wandering at large through the country. The king acceded to the request.' FAC-SIMILE OF FIRST MAP ENGRAVED IN NEW ENGLAND. Again, in a memoir on the state of the French plantations, the following passage occurs : " The post of Pentagouet, being at the head of all Acadia on the side of Boston, appears to have been principally strengthened by the sending over of men and courtesans that his majesty would have emigrate there for the purpose of marrying, so that this portion of the colony may re- ceive the accessions necessary to sustain it against its neighbors."" These statements are supported by the testimony of the Baron La Hon- tan, Avho relates that, after the reorganization of the troops in Canada, " sev- eral ships were sent hither from France with a cargo of women of ordinary reputation, under the direction of some old stale nuns, who ranged them in Mass. Archives, French Documents." Ibid. 26 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. three classes. The vestal virgins were heaped up (if I may so speak), one above another, in three different apartments, where the bridegrooms singled out their brides just as a butcher does ewes from among a flock of sheep. The sparks that wanted to be married made their addresses to the above- mentioned governesses, to whom they were obliged to give an account of their goods and estates before they were allowed to make their choice in the seraglio." After the selection was made, the marriage was concluded on the spot, in presence of a priest and a notary, the governor-general usually pre- senting the happy couple with some domestic animals with which to begin life anew. When the number of historical precedents is taken into account, the su- perstition long current among mariners with regard to setting sail on Friday seems unaccountable. Columbus sailed from Spain on Fridaj^, discovered land on Friday, and returned to Palos on Friday. Cabot discovered the American continent on Friday. Gosnold sailed from England on Friday, made land on Friday, and came to anchor on Friday at Exmouth. These coincidences might, it would seem, dispel, with American mariners at least, something of the dread with which a voyage begun on that day has long been reirarded. MOUNT DESERT, FROM BLUE UILL BAY. CHAPTER II. MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. "There, gloomily against the sky, The Dark Isles rear their summits high ; And Desert Rock, abrupt and bare, Lifts its gray turrets in the air." Whittier. ISLANDS possess, of themselves, a magnetism not vouchsafed to any spot of the main-land. In cutting loose from the continent a feeling of freedom is at once experienced that comes spontaneously, and abides no longer than you remain an islander. You are conscious, in again setting foot on the main shore, of a change, which no analysis, however subtle, will settle altogether to your liking. Upon islands the majesty and power of the ocean come home to you, as in multiplying itself it pervades every fibre of your consciousness, gaining in vastness as you grow in knowledge of it. On islands it is always present — always roaring at your feet, or moaning at your back. Islands have had no little share in the world's doings. Corsica, Elba, and St. Helena are linked together by an unbroken historical chain. Homer and the isles of Greece, Capri and Tiberius loom in the twilight of antiquity. Thinking on Garibaldi or Victor Hugo, the mind instinctively lodges on Ca- prera or Jersey. An island was the death of Philip II., and the ruin of Napo- leon. In the New World, Santo Domingo, Cuba, and Newfoundland were first visited by Europeans. The islands of the New England coast have become beacons of lier history. Mount Desert, Monhegan, and the Isles of Shoals, Clark's Island, Nantucket, The Vineyard, and Rhode Island have havens where the historian or antiqua- ry must put in before landing on broader ground. I might name a score of THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. others of lesser note; these are planets in our watery system. On this line many peaceful summer campaigns have been brought to a happy conclusion. Not a few have described the more genial aspects of Mount Desert. It has in ftict -iven employment to many busy pens and famous pencils. I am not aware that its wintry guise has been portrayed on paper or on canvas. The very name is instinctively associated with an idea of desolateness : "The gvay and tluinder-sniitten pile Which marks afar the Desert Isle." Champlain was no doubt impressed by the sight of its craggy summits, stripped of trees, basking their scarred and splintered steeps in a September sun " I have called it," he says, " the Isle of Monts Deserts." In a little "• iKittaclie'' of only seven- teen or eighteen tons burden, he had set out on the 2d of September, 1604, from St. Croix, to explore the coast of Norum- bega. Two natives accompanied him as guides. The same day, as they passed close to an island four or five leagues long, their bark struck a hardly sub- merged rock, which tore a hole near the AT OK MOUNT UESliKT ISLAND. MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 29 keel. They either sailed around the island, or explored it by land, as the strait between it and the main-laud is described as being not more than a hundred paces in breadth. "The land," continues the French voyager, " is very high, intersect- ed by passes, ap- pearing from the sea like seven or eight mountains ranged near each other. The summits of tlie greater part of these are bare of trees, be- cause they are noth- ing but rocks." It was during this voy- age, and with equal pertinence, Cham- plain named Isle au Haut.^ According to Pere Biard, the savages called the island of Mount Desert '•'' Pemetiq^'' "meaning," says M. I'Abbe Maurault, "that which is at the head." A crowned head it appears, seen on land or sea. It is curious to observe how the embouchure of the Penobscot is on either shore guarded by two such solitary ranges of mountains as the Camden and Mount Desert groups. They embrace about the same number of individual peaks, and a})proximate neai'ly enough in altitude. From Camden we may skirt the shores for a hundred and fifty miles to the west and south before meeting with another eminence ; and then it is an isolated hill standing al- most upon the line of division between Maine and New Hampshire that is encountered. On the shore of the main-land, west of Mount Desert, is Blue Hill, another lone mountain. Katahdin is still another astray, of grander proportions, it is true, but belonging to this family of lost mountains. Al- though they appear a continuous chain when massed by distance, tlie Mount SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. ' "Champlain's Voyages," edit. 1613. Mount Desert was also made out bj' the Boston colo- nists of 1630. The reader is referred for materials cf Mount Desert's history to Champlain, Char- levoix, Lescarbot, Biai-d, and Purchas, vol. iv. 30 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Desert range is, in reality, broken into little family groups, as exhibited on the map. Another peculiarity of the Mount Desert chain is that the eastern summits are the highest, terminating generally in precipitous and inaccessible cliffs. I asked a village ancient his idea of the origin of these mountains, and re- ceived it in two words, "Hove up," The cluster numbers thirteen eminences, to which the title "Old Thirteen" may be more fitly applied than to any po- litical community of modern history. This assemblage of hills with lakes in their laps at once recalled the Adirondack region, with some needful deduc- tions for the height and nakedness of the former when compared with the greater altitudes and grand old forests of the wilderness of northern New York. Should any adventurous spirit, after reading these pages, wish to see the Desert Isle in all its rugged grandeur, he may do so at the cost of some tri- fling inconveniences that do not fall to the lot of the summer tourist. In this case, Bangor or Bucksport will be the point of departure for a journey of from thirty to forty miles by stage, I came to the island by steamboat from Bos- ton, which landed me at Bucksport; wiience I made my way via Ellsworth to tSomesville, After glancing at the map of the island, I chose Somesville as a central point for my excursions, because it lies at the head of the sound, that divides the island almost in two, is the point toward which all roads converge, and is about equally distant fiom the harbors or places of particular resort. In summer I should have adopted the same plan until I had fully exploi'ed the shores of the Sound, the mountains that are contiguous, and the western half of the island. In twenty-lour hours the visitor may know by heart the names of the mountains, lakes, coves, and settlements, with the roads leading to them; he may thereafter establish himself as convenience or fancy shall dictate. At Somesville there is a comtV)rtable hostel, but tlie larger summer hotels are at Bar Harbor and at South-west Harbor. The accentuation should not fall on the last, but on the first syllable of Desert, although the name is almost universally mispronounced in Maine, and notably so on the island itself. Usually it is Mount De.sr//'/, toned into Yicsert by the casual po])ulation, who thus give it a curious signiticance. Mount Desert is one of the wardens of Penobscot Bay, interposing its bulk between the waters of Frenchman's Bay on tlie cast ami Blue Hill Bay on tlie west. A bridge unites it with the main-land in the town of Trenton, where the opposite shores aj)proach witliiii litle-sliot of each other. This ]»oiMt is locally known as the Narrows. AVlieu I crossed, the tide was press- ing against th(i wooden pii'rs, in a way to (piieUiMi the })ace, masses of newly- formed ice that had tloali'd out of rreiicliiiiaii's Bay with tlie morning's ebb. You get a gliuipse of Mount Desi'rt in sailing up Penobscot Bay, where its mountains ajtpear foreshortened into two cloudy shapes that you would lail to know again. But the highest hills between Bucksport and Ellsworth MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 31 display the whole range ; and from the latter place until the island is reached their snow-laced sides loomed grandly in the gray mists of a December day. In this condition of the atmosphere their outlines seemed more sharply cut than when thrown against a background of clear blue sky. I counted eight peaks, and then, on coming nearer, others, that at first had blended with those higher and more distant ones, detached themselves. Green Mountain will be remembered as the highest of the chain, Beech and Dog mountains from their peculiarity of outline. A wider break between two hills indicates where the sea has driven the wedge called Somes's Sound into the side of the isle. "Western Mountain terminates the range on the right ; Newport Mountain, with Bar Harbor at its foot, is at the oth^- extremity of the groujx In ap- proaching from sea this order would appear reversed. The Somesville road is a nearly direct line drawn from the head of the Sound to the Narrows. Soon after passing the bridge, that to Bar Harbor diverged to the left. Crossing a strip of level land, we began the ascent of Town Hill through a dark growth of cedar, fir, and other evergreen trees. A little hamlet, wliere there is a post-ofiice, crowns the summit of Town Hill. Not long after, the Sound opened into view one of those rare vistas that leave a picture for after remembrance. At first it seemed a lake shut in by the feet of two interlocking mountains, but the vessels that lay fast-moored in the ice were plainly sea -going craft. Somesville lay beneath us, its little steeple pricking the frosty air. Cold, gray, and cheerless as their outward dress ap- peared, the mountains had more of impressiveness, now that they were cov- ered from base to summit with snow. They seemed really mountains and not hills, receiving an Alpine tone with their wintry vesture. After all, a winter landscape in New England is less gloomy than in the same zone of the Mississippi Valley, where, in the total absence of evergreen- trees, nothing but long reaches of naked forest rewards the eye, which roves in vain for some vantage-ground of relief. Jutting points, well Avooded with dark firs, or clumps of those trees standing by the roadside, were agreeable features in this connection, A brisk trot over the frozen road brought us to the end of the half-dozen miles that stretch between Somesville and the Narrows. The snow craunch- ed beneath the horses' feet as we glided through the village street ; in a mo- ment more the driver drew up with a flourish beside the door of an inn which bears for its ensign a name advantageously known in these latitudes. A rousing fire of birchen logs blazed on the open hearth. Above the mantel Avere cheap prints of the presidents, from Washington to Buchanan. I was made welcome, and thought of Shenstone w4ien he says, " Whoe'er has travel'd life's dull round, Whate'er his fortunes may have been, Must sigh to think how oft he's found Life's warmest welcome at an inn." 32 THE NEW ENGLAND COxiST. HEAD OF somes' S SOUND. An island fourteen miles long and a dozen broad, embracinij a liundred square miles, and traversed from end to end by mountains, is to be a])proach- ed with respeet. It excludes the idea of superficial observation. As the mountains bar the way to the southern shores, you must often make a long detour to reacli a given ])oint, or else commit yourself to the guidance of a deer- patli, or the dry bed of some mountain torrent. In summer or in autumn, with a little knowledge of woodcraft, a well-adjusted pocket-compass, and a stout staff, it is practicable to enter the hills, and make your way as the red huntsnu-n were of old accustometl to do; but in winter a guide would be in- dispcnsabk', and you should have well-trained muscles to undertake it. The mountains have been traversed again and again by fire, destroying not tlie wood ahinc, but also the thin turf, the accumulations of years. Tiie woods are full of the evidences of these fires in the charred remains of large trees that, after the passage of the flames, have been felled by tempests. At a distance of five miles the present growth resembles stubble; on a nearer ap[)roacli it takes the appearance of underbrush ; and upon reaching the hills you find a young foi-est re|)airiiig the ravages nnide by fire, wind, and the woodman's axe. " I'iCty years ago," said ]\Ir. Somes, "those mountains were covered with a dark giowtli." Cedars, firs, liemlocks, and other evergreens, wiili :i ihick sprinkling ol' wliilc-birch, and now and then a clump of beeches, make the ])rincip;il base ibr the Ibrest of the future on Mount Desert — i)ro- MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 33 vided always it is permitted to arrive at maturity. Hitherto the poverty or o-reed of the inhabitants has sacrificed every tree that was worth the labor of felling. In the neighborhood of Saulsbury's Cove there are still to be seen, in inaccessible places, trees destined never to feel the axe's keen edge. Mine host of the village tavern, Daniel Somes, or "Old Uncle Daniel," as he is known far and near, is the grandson of the first settler of the name who emigrated from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and "squatted" here — "a vile phrase" — about 1760. Abraham Somes built on the little point of land in front of the tavern-door, from which a clump of shrubs may be seen growing near the spot. Other settlers came from Cape Cod, and were located at Hull's and other coves about the island. I asked my landlord if there were any family traditions relative to the short-lived settlement of the French, or traces of an occupation that might well have set his ancestors talking. He shook his gray head in emphatic negative. Had I asked him for "Tam O'Shanter" or the " Brigs of Ayr," he would have given it to me stanza for stanza. There are few excursions to be made within a certain radius of Somesville that offer so much of variety and interest as that on the western side of the Sound, pursuing, with sijch wanderings as fancy may suggest, the well-beat- en road to South-west Harbor. It is seven miles of hill and dale, lake and stream, with a succession of charming views constantly unfolding themselves before you. And here I may remark that the roads on the island are gener- ally good, and easily followed. The map may have so far introduced the island to the reader that he will 34 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. be able to trace the route along the side of Robinson's Mountain, which is be- tween the road and the Sound, with two summits of nearly equal height, ris- ing six hundred and forty and six hundred and eighty feet above it. At the right, in descending this road, is Echo Lake, a superb piece of water, having Beech Mountain at its foot. You stumble on it, as it were, unawares, and enjoy the surprise all the more for it. Broad-shouldered and deep-chested mountains wall in the reservoirs that have been filled by the snows melting from their sides. There are speckled trout to be taken in Echo Lake, as well as in the pond lying in Somesville. Of course the echo is to be tried, even if the mount gives back a saucy answer. Next below us is Dog Mountain. It has been shut out from view until you have uncovered it in passing by the lake. Dog Mountain's eastern and high- est crest is six hundred and eiglity feet in the air. How much of resemblance it bears to a crouching mastifl" depends in a great measure upon the imagina- tion of the beholder: Ham. "Do 3'oii see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? Pol. "By the mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed. Ham. "Methinks it is like a weasel. Pol. "It is backed like a weasel. Ham. "Or like a whale? Pol. "Very like a wiiale." Between Dog and Brown's Mountain on its eastern shore the Sound has forced its way for six or seven miles up into the centre of the island. At the southern foot of Dog Mountain is Fernald's Cove and Point, the sup- ])osed scene of the attempted settlement by the colony of Madame the Mar- chioness De Gucrcheville. Mr. De Costa has christened Brown's Mount- ain with the name of Mansell, from Sir Robert Mansell, vice-admiral in the times of James L and Charles I. The whole island was once called after the knight, but there is a touch of retributive justice in recollecting that the English, in expelling the French, have in turn been e.\j)elled from its nomen- clature. Turning now to what Prescott calls " historicals" for enlightenment on the subject of the colonization of .Alount Desei-t, it appears that upon the return of De ^lonts to France he gave liis town of Port Royal to Jean de Poutrin- court, whose voyage in IGOG along the coast of New England Avill be noticed in future chapters. Tiie projects of De ]M(iiits liaving been overthiown by in- tii'jjue, and through jealousy of the exclusive rights conferred by his i)atent, Madame De (iluereheville, a "very charitable and i)ious lady" of the court,' eiiteri'd into n(>gotiation with Poul i-ineourt for the founding of Jesuit missions among the sava!j:cs. Finding that Foutrincourt elainied more than he could conveniently establish a right to, Madame treated directly with Du Guast, who ' She was one of the queen's ladies of honor, and wife of the Duke of Kocliefoucauld Liancourt. MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 35 ceded to her all the privileges derived by him from Henry IV. The king, in 1607, confirmed all except the grant of Port Royal, which was reserved to Poutrinconit. The memorable year of 1610 ended the career of Henry, in the Rue de la Ferronerie. In 1611 the fathers, Pere Biard and Enemond Masse, of the College d'Eu, came over to Port Royal with Biencourt, the younger Poiitrincourt. During the next year an expedition under the au- spices of Madame De Guercheville was prepared to follow, and, after taking on board the two Jesuits already at Port Royal, was to proceed to make a definitive settlement somewhere in the Penobscot. The colonists numbered in all about thirty persons, including two other Jesuit fathers, named Jacques Quentin and Gilbert Du Tliet.' The expedition was under the command of La Saussaye. In numbers it was about equal to the colony of Gosnold. La Saussaye arrived at Port Royal, and after taking on board the fathers, Biard and Masse, continued his route. Arriving off Menan, the vessel was enveloped by an impenetrable fog, which beset them for two days and nights. Their situation was one of imminent danger, from which, if the relation of the Pere Biard is to be believed, they were delivered by prayer. On the morn- ing of the third day the fog lifted, disclosing the island of Mount Desert to their joyful eyes. The pilot landed them in a harbor on the east side of the island, where they gave thanks to God and celebrated the mass. They named the place and harbor St. Sauveur. Singularly enough, it now fell out, as seven years later it happened to the Leyden Pilgrims, that the pilot refused to carry them to their actual destina- tion at Kadesquit," in Pentagoet River. He alleged that the voyage was completed. After much wrangling the affair was adjusted by the appear- ance of friendly Indians, who conducted the fathers to their own place of habitation. ITpon viewing the spot, the colonists determined they could not do better than to settle upon it. They accordingly set about making a lodg- ment.^ The place where the colony was established is obscured as much by the relation of Biard as by time itself The language of the narration is calcu- lated to mislead, as the place is spoken of as " being shut in by the large island of Mount Desert." The Jesuit had undoubtedly full opportunity of becom- ing familiar with the locality, and his account was written after the dissolu- tion of the plantation by Argall. There is little doubt they were inhabiting some part of the isle, as Champlain in general terras asserts. Meanwhile the grassy slope of Fernald's Point gains many pilgrims. The brave ecclesiastic, Du Thet, could not have a nobler monument than the stately cliffs graven by ' Champlain : Mr. Shea says he was only a lay brother. ' This has a lesemblance to Kendiiskeag, and was probably the present Bangor. ' Charlevoix savs the landing was on the north side of the island. 30 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. lightning and the storm with the handwriting of the Omnipotent. The puny reverberations of Argall's broadsides were as nothing compared with the ar- tillery that has played upon these heights out of cloud battlements. Daring the summer of 1613, Samuel Argall, learning of the presence of the French, came upon them unawares, and in true buccaneer style, A very brief and unequal conflict ensued. Du Thet stood manfully by his gun, and fell, mortally wounded. Captain Flory and three others also received wounds. Two were drowned. The French then surrendered. Argall's ship was called the Treasurer. Henri de Montmorency, Admiral of France, demanded justice of King James for the outrage, but I doubt that he ever received it. He alleged that, besides killing several of the colonists and transporting others as prisoners to Virginia, Argall had put the remain- der in. a little skiff and abandoned them to the mercy of the waves. Thus ended the fourth attempt to colonize New England. Argall, it is asserted, had the baseness to purloin the commission of La Sanssaye, as it favored his project of plundering the French more at his ease, the two crowns of England and France being then at peace. He was af- terward knighted by King James, and became a member of the Council of Plymouth, and De))uty-governor of Virginia. During a second expedition to Acadia, he destroyed all traces of the colony of Madame De Guercheville. It is pretty evident he was a bold, bad man, as the more his character is scanned the less there appears in it to admire. Brother Du Thet, standing with smoking match beside his gun, Avas wor- thy the siime pencil that has illustrated the defense of Saragossa, I marvel much the event has not been celebrated in vei'se. An enjoyable way of becoming acquainted with Somcs's Sound is to take a wherry at Somesville and drift slowly down with the ebb, returning with the next flood. In some respects it is better than to be under sail, as a landing is always easily made, and defiance may be bidden to head winds. One of the precipices of Dog Mountain, known as Eagle Clift", has always attracted the attention of the artists, as well as of all lovers of the beautifid and sublime. There has been much search for treasure in the glens here- abouts, directed by spiritualistic conclaves. One too credulous islander, in his fruitless delving after the jjirate Kidd's buried hoard, has squandered the goM of his own life, and is worn to a shadow. ^VIl(■n sonu! one askcnl IMoll ]*itchei-, th(> celebi-ated fortune-teller of Lynn, to disclose the place where this same Kidd had secreted his wealth, promis- ing to give her half of what was recovered, the old witch exclaimed, "Fool ! if 1 knew, could I not have all myscH'V" Kidd's wealth must have been be- yond computation. Tliere is scarcely a headland or an island from Montauk to (Irand Menan which according to local tradition does not contain some portion ol' liis s|)oil. ."Mucli iiiliTi'st is attached to the shell heaps found on Fernald's Point and MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 37 at Sand Point opposite. There are also such banks at liull'is Cove and elsewhere. Indian implements are occasionally met with in these deposits. It is reasonably certain that some of them are of remote antiquity. Williamson states tliat a heavy growth of trees was found by the first settlers upon some of the shell banks in this vicin- ity.' Associated with these relics of aboriginal occupation is the print in the rock neai Cromwell's Cove, called the "Indian's Foot." It is in ap- pearance the impression of a tolerably shaped foot, fourteen inches long and two deep. The common people are not yet freed from the superstitions of two centuries ago, which ascribed all such accidental marks to the Evil One. In my progress by the road to South-west Harbor, I was intercepted near Dog Mountain by a sea- turn that soon became a steady drizzle. This afford- ed me an opportunity of seeing some fine dissolving views: the sea-mists advancing, and enveloping the mountain-tops, cheated the imagination with the idea that the mountains were themselves receding. A storm-cloud, black and threatening, drifted over Sargent's Mountain, settling bodily down upon it, deploying and extending itself until the entire bulk disappeai'ed behind an impenetrable curtain. It was like the stealthy ai)2>roach and quick cast of a mantle over the head of an unsuspecting victim. Very few were abroad in the storm, but I saw a nut-cracker and chickadee making the best of it. I remarked that under branching spruces or fir-trees the grass was still green, and the leaves of the checker-berry bright and glossy as in September. On this road admirable points of obsei'vation constantly occur from which to view the shifting contours of Beech and Western mount- ains, with the broad and level plateau extending along tlieir northern base- CLIFFS, DOG MOUNTAIN, SOMES'S SOUND. ' "History of Maine," vol. i., p. 80. 38 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. line far to the westward. Retracing with the eye this line, you see a little hamlet snugly ensconced on the hither slope of Beech Mountain, while the plateau is rounded off into the bluffs rising above Eagle Lake, South-west Harbor is usually the stranger's first introduction to Mount Desert. The approach to it is consequently invested with peculiar interest to all who know how to value first impressions. Its neighborhood is less wild and picturesque than the eastern shores of the island, but Long Lake and the western range of mountains are conveniently accessible from it; while, by crossing or ascending the Sound, avenues are opened in every di- rection to the surpassing charms of this favored corner of New England. At South-west Harbor the visitor is usually desirous of inspecting the sea-wall, or cheval-de-frise of shattered rock, that skirts the shore less than three miles distant from the steamboat landing. And he may here witness TUE STOISE WA1.L. an impressive example of what the ocean can do. An irregular ridge of a mile in length is piled with shapeless rocks, against which the sea beats with tireless impetuosity. Fog is the bane of Mount Desert. Its frequency during the months of July and August is an important factor in the sum of outdoor enjoyment. llap|»ily, it is seldom of long continuance, as genial sunshine or light breezes soon dis|)erse it. There is, however, a weii-d sort of fascination in standing on the shore in a fog. You are completely deceived as to the nearness either of objects or of sounds, though the roll of the surf is nuire de))ended ui)on by expeiienced ears than \\\v iog-bfU. In sailing near the land every one has noticed the recoil of sounds from the slioiv, as voices, or the beat of a steamer's ])addles. C'oining tlii-ough the Mussel liidge Cluuinel one unusually thi(;k morning, the fog suddenly "scaled up," discoveiiiig Wliite Head in unconiibrtable ju'oxim- ity. Tht' light-hou^^e keeper stood in his dooi", tolling the heavy fog-bell that MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 39 ENTRANCE TO SOMES'S SOUND. we had believed half a mile away. Our pilot gave him thanks with three blasts of the steam-whistle. Off the entrance to the Sound are several islands — Great Cranberry, of five hundred acres ; Little Cranberry, of two hundred acres ; and, farther in- shore, Lancaster's Island, of one hundred acres. The eastern channel into the Sound is between the two last named. Duck Island, of about fifty acres, is east of Great Cranberry; and Baker's, on which is the light-house, is the out- ermost of the cluster. The cranberry is indigenous to the whole extent of the Maine sea-board. It grows to perfection on the borders of wet meadows, but I have known it to thrive on the upland. The culture has been found very remunerative in localities less fixvored by nature, as at Cape Cod and on the New Jersey coast. Some attempts at cranberry culture have I'ecently been made with good success at Lenioine, on the main-land, opposite Mount Desert. Blue- berries are abundant on Mount Desert. I saw one young girl who had picked enough in a week to bring her seven dollars. Formerly they were sent off the island, but they are now in good demand at the hotels and boarding-houses. In poorer families the head of it picks up a little money by shore -fishing. He plants a little patch with potatoes, dressing the land with sea-weed, which costs him only the labor of gathering it. His fire-wood is as cheaply procured from the neighboring forest or shore, and in the au- tumn his wife and children gather berries, which are exchanged for necessa- ries at the stores. At the extreme southerly end of Mount Desert is Bass Harbor, with three islands outlying. It is landlocked, and a well-known haven of refuge. llm^^^s^-. PROFESSOR AGASSIZ. CHAPTER III. . CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESKRT. "Yoli should have seen that long hill-range, With gaps of brightness riven — IIuw through each pass and hollow streamed The purpling light of heaven — "' WlIITTIKIt. TTAVINC; broken tlio ico a little with the rc^ader, I sliall suppose him pres- -*— *- out on the most ujlorious Chi'istmas morniiiL;- a New England sun ever slione upon. "A gi'een Christmas makes a fat cliureh-yard," says an Old- country j»roverb; this was a wliite No'el^ cloudless and bright. I saw tliat tlif peruke of niy neighbor across the Sound, Sai-gent's Mountain, had been I'nshly powdei'eil during the niglit; that the rigging of the ice-bound ci'aft CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 41 harbored between us was incased in solid ice, reflecting the sunbeams like burnished steel. The inscription on mine host's sign-board was blotted out by the driving sleet; the brown and leafless trees stood transfigured into ob- jects of. wondrous beauty. I lieard the jingle of bells in the stable-yard and the stamping of feet below stairs, and then " I lieard nae mair, for Chanticleer Shook oft" the pouthery snaw, And liail'd the morning with a dieer, A cottage-rousing craw." The roads from Bar Harbor and from North-east Harbor unite within a short distance of Somesville, and enter the village together. Within these highways is embraced a large proportion of those picturesque features for which the island is famed. In this area are the highest mountains, the bold- est headlands, the deepest indentations of the shores. It is not for nothing, therefore, that Bar Harbor has become a favorite rendezvous of the throngs " Tliat seek the crowd they seem to fly." On Christmas -day the road to Bar Harbor was an avenue of a winter palace more sumptuous than that by the Neva. Every spray of the dark evergreen trees was heavily laden with a light snow that plentifully besprin- kled us in passing beneath the often overreaching branches. The stillness was unbroken. Blasted trees — gaunt, withered, and hung with moss like rags on the shrunken limbs of a mendicant — were now incrusted with ice- crystals, that glittered like lustres on gigantic candelabra. On the top of some rounded hill there sometimes was standing the bare stem of a blasted pine, where it shone like the spike on a grenadier's helmet. It was a scene of enchantment. I saw frequent tracks where the deer had come down the mountain and crossed the road, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs, and in search, no doubt, of water. The foot-prints of foxes, rabbits, and grouse were also com- mon. During the day I met an islander who told me he had shot a fat buck only a day or two before, and that many deer wei'e still haunting the mount- ains. Formerly, but so long ago that only tradition preserves the fact, there were black bear and moose ; and traces of beaver are yet to be seen in their dams and houses. Red foxes and mink, and occasionally the black fox, great- ly valued for its fur, are taken by the hunters. In order to make the roads interesting to nocturnal travelers, rumor was talking of a panther and a wolf that had been seen within a short time. In the day when these coasts were stocked with beaver, its skin was the common currency of the country, as well of the Indians as of the whites. It was greatly prized in Europe, and constituted the wealth of the savages of northern New England, who were wholly unacquainted with wampum until 42 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. it was introduced among tlieni by the Plymouth trading-posts on the Penob- scot and Kennebec. The wigwam of a rich chief would be lined with beaver-skins, and, if he were very rich, his guests were seated on packs of it. Then, as now, a suitor was not the less acceptable if he came to his mistress with plenty of beaver. It was the Indians' practice to kill only two-thirds of the beaver each season, leaving a third for increase. The English hunters killed all they found, rap- idly exterminating an animal which the Indian believed to be jDOssessed of preternatural sagacity. Our road, after crossing a northern spur of Sargent's Mountain, which lifts itself more than a thousand feet above the sea, led on over a succession of hills. Beyond Sargent's, Green Mountain stood unveiled, with what seemed the tiniest of cottages perched on its summit. Ere long Eagle Lake lay out- stretched at t])e riglit, but it was in the trance of winter. Tlie painter. Church, whose favorite ground lay about due south, christened the lake, doubtless with a palmful of water from its own bajDtismal font. The road- way is thrown across its outlet where the timbers of an old mill, that some time ago hud gorged itself with the native forest, lay rotting and overthrown. Green Mountain overpeers all the others. On its summit j^ou are fifteen hundred and thirty-five feet higher than the sea. On this account it was se- lected as a landmark for the survey of the neighboring coasts. It is not dif- ficult of ascent, as the mountain road built by the surveyors is considered practicable for carriages nearly or quite to the top. I had anticipated as- cending it, but the new-fallen snow rendered walking difiicult, and I was forced to content myself with viewing it from all sides of approach. An accjuaintance with the sierras of either half of the continent exercises a restraining infiuence in presence of an upheaval comparatively slight, yet it is only in a few favored instances that one may stand on the summits of very higli mountains and look down u])on tlie sea. New England, indeed, boasts greater elevations at some distance from her sea -coast, among Avhich the Mount Desert peaks would appi'ar dwarfed into respectable hills. On a clear day, and under conditions peculiarly favorable, a distant glimpse of Katah- din and of Mount Washington may be had from the crest of (xreen Mount- ain. In summer the little house is open for the refreshment of weary but ad- venturous pilgrims. Here I would observe that the island nomenclature is painfully at variance with whatever is suggestive of felicitous rapport with its natural character- istics. The name of Mount Desert, it is true, is singularly appropriate; but then it was given l»y a Frenchman with an eye for truth iji pictui'esqueness. In tlie year 17i)C, when the north half of the island was formed into a town- BJiip, it was called, with sul)limated irony, Eden. Green Mountain is not more green than its neighlxns. .\t the Ovens I saw plenty of yeast, but not enough to leaven the name. Schooner Head is not more apposite. CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 43 VIEW OF EAGLE LAKE AND THE SEA FKOM GREEN MOUNTAIN. Just before coming into Bar Harbor there is an excellent opportunity of observing the chister of islands to which it owes existence. These are the Porcupine group, and beyond, across a broad bay, the Gouldsborough hills appeared in a Christmas garb of silvery whiteness. The Porcupine Islands, four in number, lie within easy reach of the shore, Bar Island, the nearest, be- ing connected with the main-land at low ebb. On Bald Porcupine General Fremont has pitched his head-quarters. It was the sea that was fretful when I looked at the islands, though they bristled with erected pines and cedars. The village at Bar Harbor is the sudden outgrowth of the necessities of a population that comes with the roses, and vanishes with the first frosts of au- tumn. It has neither form nor comeliness, though it is admirably situated for excursions to points on the eastern and southern shores of the island as far as Great Head and Otter Creek. A new hotel was building, notwithstand- ing the last season had not proved as remunerative as usual. I saw that pure water was brought to the harbor by a wooden aqueduct that crossed the val- ley on trestles, after the manner practiced in the California mining regions, and there called a flume. There is a beach, with good bathing on both sides of the landing, though the low temperature of the water in summer is hardly calculated for invalids. From Bar Harbor, a road conducts by the shore, southerly, as far as Gi'eat Head, some five miles distant. After following this route for a long mile, 44 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. i:i,ii'i'.s ON iiAi.n ri)UC'iji'iNE. as it seonuMl, it (livi Ncwjtorl Mountain and ( )tter Creek, should occupy sepa- rate days, as the shores are e.vtrrnu'ly inlcivstinij;, and the scenery unsurpass- ed in the whole ranL;;e of the island. in pursuini; his oxphirations at or near low-water mark, it will be best for CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 45 the tourist to begin a ramble an hour before the tide has fully ebbed. The tides on this coast ordinarily rise and fall about twelve feet, and in winter, as I saw, frequently eighteen feet. Hence the advance and retreat of the waves is not only rapid, but leaves a broader margin uncovered than in Massachu- setts Bay, Avhere there is commonly not more than eight feet of rise and fall. In many places along the arc of the shore stretching between Bar Harbor and Qreat Head, the ascent to higher ground is, to say the least, difficult, and, in some instances, progress is forbidden by a beetling cliff or impassable chasm. As time is seldom carefully noted when one is fairly engaged in such investigations, it is always prudent first to know your ground, and next to keep a wary eye upon the stealthy approach of the sea. SOUTHERLY END OF NEWPORT MOUNTAIN, NEAR THE SAND BEACH. There is a pleasant ramble by the shore to Cromwell's Cove; but here on- ward movement is arrested by a cliff that turns you homeward by a cross- path through the fields to the road, after having whetted the appetite for what is yet in reserve. Schooner Head is reached by this road in about four miles from Bar Har- bor, and three from the junction of the Otter Creek road. I walked it easily in an hour. The way is walled in on the landward side by the abrupt preci- pices of Newport Mountain, in the sheer face of which stunted firs are niched here and there. Very mucli they soften the hard, unyielding lines and cold 46 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. gray of tlie crags ; the eye lingers kindly on their green chaplets cast about the frowning brows of wintry mountains. This morning all were Christmas- trees, and tlie ancients of the isle hung out their banners to greet the day. Emerging from the Avoods at a farm-house at the head of a cove, a foot- path leads to the promontory at its hither side. It is thrust a little out from the land, sheltering the cove while itself receiving the full onset of the sea. An intrusion of white rock in the seaward face is supposed by those of an im- aginative turn to bear some resemblance to a schooner ; and, in order to com- plete the similitude, two flag-staifs had been erected on the top of the clifl". At best, I fancy it will be found a phantom ship to lure the mariner to de- struction. I did not find Schooner Head so remarkable for its height as in the evi- dences everywhei'e of the crushing blows it has received while battling with storms. "Hard pounding this, gentlemen; but we shall see who can pound longest," said the Iron Duke at Waterloo. Here are the rents and ruins of ceaseless assault and repulse. The ocean is slowly but steadily advancing on both sides of the continent; perchance it is, after all, susceptible of calcula- tion how long the land shall endure. I clambered among the huge blocks of granite that nothing less than steam could now have stirred, although they had once been displaced by a few drops of water acting together. A terrible rent in the east side of the cliff is locally known as the Spouting Horn. Down at its base the sea has worn through the rock, leaving a low arch. At the flood, with sufficient sea on, and an off-shore wind, a wave rolls in through the cavity, mounts the escarpment, and leaps high above the opening with a roar like the booming of heavy oi-dnance. These natural curiosities are not unfrequent along the ihkim:u hicai). CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 47 coast. There is one of considerable power at Cape Arundel, Maine, that I have heard when two miles from the spot. Unfortunately for the tour- ist, these grand displays are usual- ly in storms, when few care to be abroad ; undoubtedly, the outward man may be protected and the in- ward exalted at such times. Some of the more adventurous go through the Horn : I went around it. i saw here a few ruminant sheep gazing off upon the sea. What should a sheep see in the ocean ? On the farther side of the cove is a sea-cavern that has the reputation of being the finest on the island. Within its gloomy recesses are rock pools of rare interest to the natural- ist. In proper season they will be found inhabited by the sea-anemone and other and more debatable forms of animal life. Some of these aquaria I have seen are of marvelous beauty, recalling the lines, "Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear." Lined with mother-of-pearl and scar- let mussels, resting on beds of soft sponge or purple moss -tufts, these fiiiry grottoes are the favorite retreat of King Crab and his myrmidons, of the star-fish and sea-urchin. Twice in every twenty-four hours the basins are refilled with pure sea-water, than which nothing can be more transpar- ent. Strange that these rugged crags, where the grasp of man would be loos- ened by the first wave, should be in- stinct with life ! It required some force to detach a mussel from its bed, and you must have recourse to your knife to remove the barnacles with CLIFFS AT SCHOONER HEAD. 48 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. DEVII> S ]JEN AND SCHOONER HEAD. whicli tlie smoother rocks are incrusted. John Adams, Avhen lie first saw the sea-anemone, compared it, in figure and feeling, to a young girl's breast. Mount Desert has been fiirailiar to two of the greatest of American natu- ralists. When Audubon was preparing his magnificent "Birds of America," lie visited the island, and I have no doubt the report of his rifie was often heard echoing among the mountains or along the shores. Agassiz was also here, interrogating the rocks, ra])ping their stony knuckles with his hammer, or pressing their gaunt ribs with playful familiarity. Audubon died in 1851. Agassiz is more freshly lemembercd by the present generation, to whom he made the ])atlnvay of Xntural Science bright bj'^ his genius, and pleasant, by his genuine, wliolc-licartcd bonhomie. In 1S58 the P'rench Oovei'nment devoted itself, with extreme solicitude, to the reorganization of the administration of the INIuseum of Natural History of the Jardin des Plnntes at Paris. It appears that, in spite of a fiist refusal, several times repeated, Agassiz at length consented to nccei)t the direction of the museum, '^i'he Kinpioor, avIio had formed a personal acquaintance with the celebrati'd naluralist during his sojourn in Switzerland, pursued with cus- tomary ])ertinacity his favorite idea of allming ]\I. Agassiz to Paris. He was offered a salary of twenty-five thousand francs; and it was uiulerstood he was ]>romised, besitU'S, elevation to tlie 'M. Mr. De Costa lias j-iveu a summarv of these ill his pleasant little book. CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 57 In my way to and from this remote corner of New England, it was my fortune to encounter a single instance of that inquisitorial propensity known the world over as Yankee curiosity. On arriving at a late hour at Ellsworth, the landlord, a great burly fellow, drew a chair close to mine, pushed his hat back from his brows — every body here wears his hat in the house — spat in the grate, smote his knees with his big palms, and said, " Look a here, mister ! I know 'tan't none o' my business ; but what might you be agoin' to Mount Desart arter?" And in the same breath, "I'm from Mount Desart." "Certes," thought I, " if it's none of your business, why do you ask?" The same publican afterward let a fellow -wayfarer and myself a sick horse that proved unfit to travel when we were well upon our journey. I forgave him all but the making me the unwilling instrument of his cruelty to a dumb beast. c;^^: V CASTINE, APPKOACHING FROM ISLESBORO. CHAPTER IV. CASTINE. , "A wind came up out of the sea, And said, 'O mists, make room for me.'" LoNGFELLOAV. WHOEVER lias turned over the pages of early New England history can not tail to have had his curiosity piqued by the relations of old Frencli writers respecting this extreme outpost of Frencli empire in America. The traditions of the existence of an ancient and populous city, going far beyond any English attempt in this corner of the continent, are of themselves suf- ficient to excite the ardent pursuit of an antiquary, and to set all the busy hives of historical searcliers in a buzz of excitement. That scoffer, Lescarbot, would dispose of the ancient city of Norumbega as Voltaire would have disposed of the Christian religion — with a sarcasm; but, if there be truth in the apothegm that "seeing is believing," the fore- runners of Chami)lain came, saw, and made a note of it. " Now," says the ad- vocate, "if that beautiful city was ever in nature, I should like to know who demolished it; for there are only a few cabins here and there, made of poles and covered with the bark of trees or skins; and both habitation and river are called Pemptegoet, and not Augnncia."' T approached the lametl river in a dense fog, in wliich the steamer cautious- ly threaded her way. Earth, sky, and water were (npially indistinguishable. A volume of ])ent steam gushing iVotn the pipes lioarsely trumpeted our ap- proach, and then streamed in a snow-white ])hime over the taflVail, and was lost in the surrounding obscurity. Tiie decks were wet with the damps of ' Lescaibot, vol. ii., p. 471. CASTINE. 59 the movning; the few passengers stirring seemed lifeless and unsocial. Here and there, as ue floated in the midst of this cloud, the paddles impatiently beating the water, were visible the topmasts' of vessels at anchor, though in the dimness they seemed wonderfully like the protruding spars of so many sunken craft. Hails or voices from them sounded preternaturally loud and distinct, as also did the noise of oars in fog-bewildered boats. The blast of a fog-horn near or far occasionally sounded a hoarse refrain to the warning that issued from the brazen throat of the Titan chained in our galley. At this instant the sun emerging from his dip into the sea, glowing with power, put the mists to flight. First they parted on each side of a broad pathway in which sky and water re-appeared. Then, before brighter gleams, they overthrew and trampled upon each other in disorderly rout. A few scattered remnants drifted into upper air and vanished; other masses clung to the shores as if inclined still to dispute the field. Owl's Head light-house came out at the call of the enchanter, blinking its drowsy eyes ; then sunlit steeples and lofty spars glanced up and out of the fog-cloud that enveloped the city of Rockland. The vicinity of a town had been announced by cock-crowing, the rattling of wheels, or occasional sound of a bell from some church-tower; but all these sounds seemed to heighten the illusions produced by the fog, and to endow its impalpable mass with ghostly life. Vessels under sail appeared weird and spectral — phantom ships, that came into view for a moment and dissolved an instant after — masts, shrouds, and canvas melting away — "As clouds with clouds embrace." Rockland is a busy and enterprising place in the inchoate condition of comparative newness, and of the hurry that postpones all improvements not of immediate utility. Until 1848 it had no place on the map. Back of the settled portion of Rockland is a range of dark green hills, with the easy slopes and smooth contours of a limestone region. I know not if Rockland will ever be finished, for it is continually disemboweling itself, coining its rock foundations, until perchance it may some day be left without a leg to stand on. Penobscot Bay is magnificent in a clear day. The fastidious De Monts surveyed and passed it by. Singularly enough, the French, who searched the New England coast from time to time in quest of a milder climate and more fertile soil than that of Canada, were at last compelled to abide by their first discoveries, and inhabit a region sterile and inhospitable by comparison. Had it lallen out otherwise, Quebecs and Louisburgs might have bristled along her sea-coast, if not have changed her political destiny. Maine has her forests, her townships of lime, her granite islands, her seas of ice — all, beyond dispute, raw products. Fleets detach themselves from the banks of the Penobscot and float every year away. 60 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. " One goes abroad for merchandise and trading, Another stays to keep his country fi'om invading, A third is coming home with rich and wealthy h\ding. Halloo! my fancie, whither wilt thou go?" The sumptuous structures we erect of her granite are only so many mon- uments to Maine. I have seen, on the other side of the continent, a town wholly built of Maine lumber. While Boston was yet smoking, her neighbor was getting ready the lumber and granite to rebuild her better than ever. So these great rivers become as mere mill-streams in the broader sense, and, at need, a telegraphic order for a town or a fleet would be promptly filled. There is no corner, however remote, into which Maine enterprise does not penetrate. The spirit of adventure and speculation has pushed its commerce everywhere. With a deck-load of lumber, some shingles, or barrels of lime, schooners of a few tons burden, and manned with three or four hands, may be met with hundreds of miles at sea, steering boldly on in search of a buyer. An English writer narrates his surprise at seeing in the latitude of Ilatteras, at the very height of a terrific storm, when the sea, wreathed with foam, was rolling before the gale, one of these buoyant little vessels scudding like a spir- it through the mingling tempest, with steady sail and dry decks, toward the distant Bahamas. Rockland was formerly a part of Thomaston,' and is upon ground ancient- ly covered by the Muscongus, or Waldo patent, which passed through the ownership of some personages celebrated in their day. A very hr'ief I'esiime of this truly seignorial possession will assist the reader in forming some idea of the state of the old colonial magnates. It will also account to him for the names of the counties of Knox and Lincoln. Prior to the French Revolution there were distinctions in society after- ward unknown, the vestiges of colonial relations. Men in office, the wealthy, and above all, tliose who laid claim to good descent, were the gentry in the country. Habits of life and personal adornment Avere outward indica- tions of superiority. The Revolution drove the larger number of this class into exile, but there still continued to be, on the patriots' side, well-defined ranks of society. Tliere was also a class who held large landed estates, in imitation of the great proprietors of England. These persons formed a coun- try gentry, and were the great men of their respective counties. Tiiey held civil and military offices, and were members of the Great and General Court. The INIuscongus patent was gniuli'd by the Council of Plymouth, in 10;30, to John Beauchamp of London, and John Leverett of Boston, England. It embraced a tract thirty miles scpiare, extending between the Muscongus and Penobscot, being limited on the west and north by the Kennebec patent, ' Named for Gencnd .Inliii Thomas, of the Ucvohition. CASTINE. 61 mentioned hereafter as granted to our colony of Plymouth. Besides Rock- land and Thomaston, the towns of Belfast, Camden, Warren, and Waldoboro are within its former bounds. In 1719 the Muscongus grant was divided for the purpose of settlement into ten shares, the ten proprietors assigning two- thirds of it to twenty as- sociates, I have examined the stiff black-letter parch- ment of 1719, and glanced at its pompous formalities. At this time there was not a house between George- town and Annapolis, ex- cept on Damariscove Isl- and.' The Waldo family be- came in time the largest owners of the patent, Samuel Waldo, the brig- adier, was the intimate friend of Sir William Pep- perell, with whom he had served at Louisburg. They were born in the same year, and died at nearly the same time. Their friendship was to have perpetuated itself by a match between Han- nah, the brigadier's daugh- ter, and Andrew, the son of Sir William. After a deal of courtly correspond- ence that plainly enough foreshadows the bitter disappointment of the old friends, Hannah refused to marry Andrew, the scape-grace. In six weeks she gave her hand, a pretty one, 'tis said, to Thomas Flucker, and with it went a nice large slice of the patent, Flucker became the last secretary, under crown rule, of Massachusetts, He decamped Avith his friends the royalists, in 1776, but his daughter, Lucy, remained behind, for she had given her heart to Henry Knox, the handsome young book-seller of colonial Boston, the trusted friend whom Washington caressed Avith tears when parting from his com- rades of the deathless little army of '76. The old brigadier fell dead of apoplexy at the feet of Governor Pownall, while in the act of pointing out to him the boundary of his lands. Mrs. Knox, the artillerist's wife, inherited a portion of the Waldo patent, and her GENEKAL IIENKY KNOX. ' Williamson's "History of Maine." 62 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. husband, after the Revolution, acquired the residue by purchase. Here liis troubles began ; but I can not enter upon them. He built an elegant mansion at Thomaston, which he called Montpelier.' The house has been demolished by the demands of the railway, for which one of its outbuildings now serves as a station. General Knox involved in his personal difficulties his old comrade, General Lincoln, though not quite so badly as Ml". Jefferson would make it appear in his letter to Mr. Madison, in which he says, "He took in General Lin- coln for one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars, which breaks him." The same writer has also recorded his opinion that Knox was a fool; but the resentments of Mr. Jefferson are known to have outrun his under- standing. Through the embarrass- ments incurred by liis friendship, General Lincoln became interested in the Waldo patent. Lincoln was about five feet nine, GENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN. go cxtrcmely corpulcnt as to seem much shorter than he really was. He wore his liair unpowdered, combed back from his forehead, and gathered in a long cue. He had a full, round face, light complexion, and blue eyes. His dress was usually a blue coat, and buff small-clothes. An enormous cocked hat, as indispensable to an old of- ficer of the Kevolution as to the Little Corporal, or as the capita] to the Corin- thian column, completed his attire. He had been wounded in the leg in the battles with Burgoyne, and always wore boots to conceal the deformity, as Knox concealed his mutilated hand in a handkerchief. This old soldier, Lincoln, who had ])assed very creditably through the Kevolution, was, like the fat boy in "Pickwick," afliiicted with somnolency. In the old Hingham church, in conversation at table, and it is affirmed also while driving himself in a chaise, he would fall sound asleep. During his campaign against Shays and the Massachusetts insurgents of 1780, he snored and dictated between sentences. He considered this an infirmity, and his friends never ventured to speak to him of it. Another charming picture is the approach to the (.Jamden Hills. I saw their summits peering above fog-drifts, fiung like scarfs of gossamer across their breasts. Heavier masses sailed along the valleys, presenting a series of ever- shifting, ever- dissolving views, dim and mysterious, with transient ' Jcilersoii had liis Moiilicello, Wasliingtoii liis Mount VoriKin. CASTINE. 63 glimpses of church-spires and white cottages, or of the tops of trees curiously skirting a fog -bank, Sotnetiuies you caught the warm color of the new- mown lull-sides, or the outlines of nearer and greener swells. These hills are a noted landmark for seamen, and the last object visible at sea in leaving the Penobscot. The highest of the Megunticook peaks rises more than fourteen thousand feet, commanding an unsurpassed view of the bay. After touching at Camden, the steamer continued her voyage. The ge- nial warmth of the sun, with the beauty of the panorama unrolled before them, had brought the passengers to the deck to gaze and admire. I chanced on one family group making a lunch oiF a dry- salted fish and crackers, the females eating with good appetites. Near by was a German, breakfasting on a hard-boiled egg and a thick slice of black bread. My own compatriots pre- ferred the most indigestible of pies and tarts, with pe a- mils d discretion. Rel- ics of these repasts were scattered about the decks. The good-humor and jollity that had returned with a few rays of sunshine led me to think on the depression caused by the long nights of an Arctic winter, as related by Frank- lin, Parry, Kane, and Hays. A greeting to the sun ! May he never cease to shine where I walk or lie ! Driving her sharp prow onward, the boat soon entered Belfast Bay. Many vessels, some of them fully rigged for sea, MXM-e on the stocks in the ship -yards of Belfast. The Duke of Rochefoucauld Li- ancourt, during his visit in 1797, noticed that some houses were painted. The town then contained the only church in the Waldo patent. As might be inferred, the name is from Belfast, Ireland !' The bay begins to contract above Camden, bringing its shores within the meaning of a noble river. Indeed, as far as I ascended it, the Penobscot will not lose by comparison with the Hudson. The river is considered to begin at Fort Point, the site of Governor Pownall's fort. Above the flow of tide- water its volume decreases, for the Penobscot does not drain an extensive region like the St. Lawrence, nor has it such a reservoir at its source as the Kennebec. At Orphan Island the river divides into two channels, making r"^~ - -^ , -- ; t • „ . ttSfe-- j_ ™^'^"^^|lral(lf-"""i#fflit lyfeK^^ :&: k/"'"'- ^W^P''^^^KlflHSI m lwl=t^^p*^' ----=^ ^- — r-^--.--^;-j>^r ^^?^~-^^T^- sm - — ^ — ^^^^_: -^ ---r-^— ^^-=^=^=^^;£^_1. i uia i'uiNT. ' Its Indian name was Passageewakeag— " the place of sights, or ghosts." It contained origi- nally one thousand acres, which the settlers bought of the heirs of Brigadier Waldo at two shillings the acre. Belfast was the first incorporated town on the Penobscot. It suffered severely in the Revolulion from the British garrison of Castine. 64 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. a narrow pass of extreme beauty and picturesqueness between the island and the western shore. Nowhere else, except in the Vineyard Sound, have I seen such a movement of shipping as here. A fleet of coasters were standing wing and wing through the Narrows. Tow-boats, dragging as many as a dozen heavy-laden lumbermen outward-bound, came puffing down the stream. As they entered the broad reach near Fort Point, one vessel after another hoist- ed sail and dashed down the bay. The Narrows are commanded by Fort Knox, opposite Bucksport.' In coming out of Belfest we approached Brigadier's Island, from which the forest had wholly disappeared. General Knox, whose patent covered all islands within three miles of the shore, offered three thousand dollars to the seven farmers who then occupied it, in laud and ready money, to relinquish their possession. Vessels were formerly built on the island, and it was fa- mous for its plentiful supplies of salmon. In old times a family usually took from ten to sixty barrels in a season, which brought in maiket eight dollars the barrel. Tlie fish were speared or taken in nets. Owners of jutting points made great captures. The shores of the river are seen fringed with weirs. Salmon, shad, ale- wives, and smelts are taken in proper season, the crops of the sea succeeding each other with the same certainty as those of the land. Before the begin- ning of the century salmon had ceased to be numerous. Their scarcity was imputed to the Penobscot Indians, who destroyed them by fishing every day in the year, including Sundays. This king among fishes formerly frequented the Kennebec, the Merrimac, and were even taken in Ipswich River, and the small streams flowing into Massachusetts Bay. From Belfast I crossed the bay by Islesboro to Castine. I confess I look- ed upon this famous peninsula, crowned with a fortress, furrowed with the in- trenchments of forgotten wars, deserted, by a commerce once considerable, lit- tle frequented by the present generation, with an interest hardly inferior to that stimulated by the associations of any spot of ground in New England. The i)eninsula of Castine presents to view two eminences with regu- lar outlines, of whicli the westernmost is the most commanding. Both are smoothly rounded, and have steep though not difticult ascents. The present town is built ah)ng the base and climbs the declivity of the eastern hill, its principal street conducting from tlie water straight up to its crest, surmount- ed by the still solid ramparts of Fort George. The long occupation of the peninsula has nearly dcniuled it of trees. Its external aspects belong rather to the milder types of inland scenery than to the rugged grandeur of the near sea-coast. Passing by a bold jti'omontory, on whicli the light-tower stands, the tide ' In 1707 there were twenty vessels owned in I'enobscot Kiver, two of which were in Eiuo- ]ic:iii triule. CASTINE. 65 carries you swiftly through tlie Narrows to the anchorage before the town. Ships of any class may be carried into Castine, while its adjacent waters would furnish snug harbors for fleets. You have seen, as you glided by the shores, traces, more or less distinct, of the sovereignty of Louis XIV., of George III., and of the republic of the United States. Puritans and Jesuits, Hiio"uenots and Papists, kings and commons, have all schemed and striven for the possession of this little corner of land. Richelieu, Mazarin, and Colbert have plotted for it ; Thurloe, Clarendon, and Bolingbroke have counter-plot- ted. It has been fought over no end of times, conquered and reconquered, and is now of no more political consequence than the distant peak of Ka- tahdin. There is very little appearance of business about Castine. It is delight- fully lethargic. Few old houses of earlier date than the Revolution remain to give the place a character of antiquity conformable with its history. Nev- ertheless, there are pleasant mansions, and cool, well-shaded by-ways, quiet and still, in which the echo of your own footfall is the only audible sound. The peninsula, which the inhabitants call the " Neck," in distinction from the larger fraction of the town, is of small extent. You may ramble all over it in an afternoon.' If it is a good maxim to sleep on a weighty matter, so it is M^ell to dine before forming a judgment of a place you are visiting for the first time. Having broken bread and tasted salt, you believe yourself to have acquired some of the rights of citizenship ; and if you have dined well, are not indis- posed to regard all you may see with a genial and not too critical an eye. Upon this conviction I acted. At the tavern, the speech of the girl who waited on the table was impeded by the gum she w^as chewing. While she was repeating the carte, the only words I was able to distinguish were, " Raw fish and clams." As I am not partial to either, I admit I was a little disconcerted, until a young man at my elbow interpreted, sotto voce, the jargon into " Corned fish and roast lamb." At intervals in the repast, the waiting -girl would run into the parlor and beat the keys of the piano, until recalled by energetic pounding upon the table with the haft of a knife. Below stairs I w^as present at a friendly al- tercation between the landlord and maid of all work, as to whether the towel for common use had been hanging a week or only six days. But "travelers," says Touchstone, " must be content ;" and he was no fool though he wore motley. I ascended the hill above the town on which the Normal School is situ- ated, and in a few moments stood on the parapet of Fort George. And per- haps in no part of New England can a more beautiful and extensive view be had with so little trouble. It was simply enchanting. Such a combination ' The upper and larger part is called North Castine. 5 66 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. of land and water is seldom embraced within a single coi/p dPoeil. The vis- ion is bounded by those portals of the bay, the Camden range on the south- west, and the heights of Mount Desert in the east. A little north of east is the solitary Blue Hill, with the windings and broad reaches of water by which Castine proper is nearly isolated from the main-land. Turning still northward, and now with your back to the town, you perceive Old Fort Point, where, in 1759, Governor Pownall built a work to command the entrance to the river. Farther to the westward is Brigadier's Island, and the bay expanding three leao-ues over to Belfast. VIEW FROM FORT GEORGE. Fort George, a square, bastioned Avork, is the best preserved earth-woi-k of its years in New England. A few hours would put it in a very tolerable con- dition of defense. The moat, excavated down to the solid rock, is intact; the esplanade hardly broken in outline. The position of the barracks, magazine, and guard-house may be easily traced on the parade, though no buildings now lemain inside the fortress. The approach on three sides is by a steep ascent; especially is this the case on the side of the town. Each bastion was pierced with four embrasures. The position was of great strength, and would have l)een an ugly place to carrj^ by escalade. A matter of a few hours once determined the ownership of Castine for England or the Colonies in arms. Now let us take a walk over to the more elevated summit west of Fort George. Here are also evidences of military occupation in fost-perishing em- baidoston, along with INI. De Marson, whom they took in the l\iver St. John. Chambly was put to ransom of a thousand beaver-skins. Colbert, then minister, expressed ' A^;l;ue la Tour, ni:iiiil(lMiit;lil('i- of the I'licvalier, sold tlic scij^tiiory of Acadia to the crown for two tlioiisaixl f^iiiiieas. — Douci.Ass. ■■^ Mr. Shea CCliarlcvoix) snys this was .Tolm Khondc, and tlie vessel the Flying Horse, Captain Juiriaen Aernoiils, wuli a coininissioii from the I'lince ol Oranye. CASTINE. his surprise to Frontenac that the forts of Pentagoet and Gemisee had been taken and pillaged by a freebooter. No rupture then existed between the crowns of England and France. Another subject of Louis le Grand now raps with his sword-hilt for admis- sion to our gallant com- pany of noble French gen- tlemen who have followed the lead of De Monts into the wilds of Acadia. Bar- on La Hontan, writing in 1683, says, "The Baron St. Castin, a gentleman of Oleron, in Bearne, having lived among the Abena- quis after the savage way for above twenty years, is so much respected by the savages that they look upon him as their tutelar god." Vincent, Baron St. Cas- tin, came to America with his regiment about 1665. He was ensign in the reg- iment Carignan, of which Henry de Chapelas was colonel. Chambly and Sorel, who were his com- rades, have also left their names impressed on the map of New France. The colbert. regiment was disbanded, the governor-general allowing each officer three or four leagues' extent of good land, with as much depth as they pleased. The officers, in turn, gave tlieir soldiers as much ground as they wished upon pay- ment of a crown per arpent by way of fief Chambly we have seen in com- mand at Pentagoet in 1673. Castin appears to have plunged into the wilder- ness, making his abode with the fierce Abenaquis. The young Bearnese soon acquired a wonderful ascendency among them. He mastered their language, and received, alter the savage's romantic fash- ion, the hand of a princess of the nation, the daughter of Madocawando, the implacable foe of the English. Tliey made him their great chief, or leader. ' Estates are still conveyed in St. Louis by the arpent. 80 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. and at his summons all the warriors of the Abenaquis gathered around him. Exercising a regal power in his forest dominions, he no doubt felt every inch a chieftain. The French governors courted him ; the English feared and hated him. In 1696, with Iberville, he overran their stronghold at Pemaquid. He fought at Port Royal in 1*706, and again in 1707, receiving a wound there. He was, says M. Denonville, of a daring and enterprising character, thirsting for distinction. In 1702 he jjroposed a descent on Boston, to be made in win- ter by a competent land and naval force. Magazines were to be formed at Piscataqua and Marblehead. It is known that some earlier passages of Castin's life in Acadia were not free from reproach. Denonville,' in recommending him to Louvois as the proper person to succeed M. Perrot at Port Royal (" si M. Perrot degoutait de son gouvernment"), admits he had been addicted in the past to riot and debauchery ; " but," continues the viceroy, " I am assured that he is now quite reformed, and has very proper sentiments on the subject." Perrot, jeal- ous of Castin, put him in arrest for six weeks for some foolish affair among the ^^^es of Port Royal. "For man is fire and woman is tow, And the Somebody comes and begins to blow." In 1686 Castin was at Pentagoet. The place must have fallen into sad neglect, for the Governor of Canada made its fortification and advantages the subject of a memoir to his Government. It became the rendezvous for proj- ects against New England. Quebec was not difficult of access by river and land to Castin's fleet Abenaquis. Port Royal was within supporting distance. The Indians interposed a barrier between English aggression and the French settlements. They were the weapon freely used by all the French rulers un- til, from long service, it became blunted and unserviceable. They were then left to shift for themselves. Here Castin continued with his dusky wife and brethren, although he had inherited an income of five million livres while in Acadia. By degrees he had likewise amassed a fortune of two or three hundred thousand crowns "in good dry gold ;" but the only use he made of it was to buy presents for his fellow-savages, who, upon their return from the hunt, repaid him with usury in beaver-skins and i)eltries.'' In 1688 his trading-house was plundered by the English. It is said he died in America, but of this I have not the evi- dence. Vincent de Castin never cliaiigtMl liis wife, as the Indian customs permit- ted, wishing, it is supposed, by liis cxanipU- to imi)ress upon them the sanctity ■ Denonville, wlio sncceeded M. De la Rarre as governor- general, was maitre de camp to the (luecn's dragoons. He was sncceeded by Frontenac. '■' Dunonville's and I^a Hmitan's letters. CASTINE. 81 of marriage as a part of the Christian religion. He had several daughters, all of whom were well married to Frenchmen, and had good dowries ; one was captured by Colonel Church in 1704. He had also a son. In 1721, during what was known as Lovewell's war, in which Mather in- timates, with many nods and winks set down in print, the English were the aggressors, Castin the younger was kidnaped, and carried to Boston a pris- oner. His offense was in attending a council of the Abenaquis in his capacity of chief. He was brought before the council and interrogated. His mien was frank and fearless. In his uniform of a French officei", he stood with true Indian saiig froid in the presence of men who he knew were able to deal heavy blows. " I am," said he, " an Abenaquis by my mother. All my life has been jiassed among the nation that has made me chief and commander over it. I could not be absent from a council where the interests of my brethren were to be discussed. The Governor of Canada sent me no orders. The dress I now wear is not a uniform, but one becoming my rank and birth as an officer in the troops of the most Christian king, my master." The young baron was placed in the custody of the sheriff of Middlesex. He was kept seven months a prisoner, and then released before his friends, the Abenaquis, could strike a blow for his deliverance. This once formidable tribe was such no longer. In 1089 it scarcely numbered a hundred warriors. English policy had set a price upon the head of every hostile Indian. Castin, soon after his release, returned to the old family chateau among the Pyrenees. "The choir is singing the matin song; The doors of the church are opened wide ; The people crowd, and press, and throng To see the bridegroom and the bride. Thej enter and pass along the nave; They stand upon the farthest grave ; The bells are ringing soft and slow; The living above and the dead below Give their blessing on one and twain; The warm wind blows from the hills of Spain, The birds are building, the leaves are green, The Baron Castine of St. Castine Hath come at last to his own again." According to the French historian, Charlevoix, the Capuchins had a hos- pice here in 1646, when visited by Pere Dreuillettes. I may not neglect these worthy fathers, whose disputes about sleeves and cowls, Yoltaire says, were more than any among the philosophers. The shrewdness of these old monks in the choice of a location has been justified by the cities and towns sprung from the sites of their primitive missions. Here, as elsewhere, " — These black crows Had pitched by instinct on the fottest fallows." 6 82 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. "I," snid Napoleon, at St. Helena, "rendered all the burying- places inde- pendent of the priests. I hated friars" {frati), "and was the annihilator of them and of their receptacles of crime, the monasteries, where every vice was practiced with impunity. A set of miscreants" {scelerati) "who in general are a dishonor to the human race. Of priests I would have always allowed a sufficient number, but wo f rati.'''' A Capuchin, says an old dictionary of 1676, is a friar of St. Francis's order, wearing a cowl, or capouch, but no shirt nor breeches.' Opening our history at the epoch of the settlement of New France, and turning over page by page the period we have been reviewing, there is no more hideous chapter than the infernal cruelties of the Society of Jesus. Their agency in the terrible persecutions of the Huguenots is too w^ell known to need repetition. St. Bartholomew, the broken pledge of the Edict of Nantes, the massacres of Vivarais, of Kouergue, and of Languedoc are among their monuments. The rigor with which infractions of the discipline of the order were pun- ished would be difficult to believe, if unsupported by trustworthy testimony. Francis Seldon, a young pupil of the Jesuit College at Paris, was imprisoned thirty-one years, seventeen of which were passed at St. Marguerite, and four- teen in the Bastile. His crime was a lampoon of two lines affixed to the col- lege door. A lettre de cachet from Louis XIV. consigned this poor lad of only sixteen to the Bastile in 1674, from which he only emerged in 1705, by the assignment of a ricli inheritance to the Society, impiously called, of Jesus. The siege of La Rocbelle, and slaughter of the Huguenots, is believed to have been nothing more than a duel between Richelieu and Buckingham, for the favor of Anne of Austria. It was, however, in the name of religion that the population of France was decimated. Colbert, in endeavoring to stem the tide of persecution, fell in disgrace. Louvois seconded with devilish zeal the projects of the Jesuits, which had no other end than the total destruction of the reformed faith. In 1G75 Pdre Lachaise entered on his functions of father- confessor to the king. lie was powerfully seconded by his society ; but they, fearing his i\Iajesty miglit regard it as a pendant of St. Bartholomew, hesi- tated to press a decisive coup d'etat against the Protestants. There was at the court of Louis the widow Scarron, become De Main- tenon, declared mistress of the king, who modestly aspired to replace Marie Therese of Austria upon tiie throne of France. To her the Jesuits address- ed themselves. It is believed the compact between the worthy contracting parties exacted no less of each than the advancement of their mutual proj- ects through the seductions of the courtesan, and the fears for liis salvation the Jesuits were to inspire in the mind of tlie king. Louis believed in the arguments of Madame Do Maintenon, and signed the Edict of Nantes; he ' Cnpiifliin, a cowl or hood. CASTINE. 83 ceded to the threats or counsels of his confessor, and secretly espoused Ma- dame De Maintenon. The 25th October, 1685, the royal seal was, it is not doubted by her inspiration, appended to the barbarous edict, drawn up by the Pere Le Tellier, under the auspices of the Society of Jesus/ France had already lost a hundred thousand of her bravest and most skillful children. She was now to lose many more. Among the fugitives driven from the fatherland were many who fled, as the Pilgrims had done into Holland. Some sought the New World, and their descendants were such men as John Jay, Elias Boudinot, James Bowdoin, and Peter Faneuil. Before the famous edict of 1685, the Huguenots had been forbidden to establish themselves either in Canada or Acadia. They were permitted to visit the ports for trade, but not to exercise their religion. The Jesuits took care that the edict was enforced in the French possessions. I have thought the oft-cited intolerance of the Puritans might be eifectively contrasted with the diabolical zeal with which Catholic Christendom pursued the annihilation of the reformed religion. The Jesuits obtained at an early day a preponderating influence in Cana- da and in Acadia. It is believed the governor-generals had not such real power as the bishops of Quebec. At a later day, they were able well-nigh to paralyze Montcalm's defense of Quebec, The fathers of the order, with the crucifix held aloft, preached crusades against the English to the savages they were sent to convert. One of the fiercest Canabas chiefs related to an English divine that the friars told his people the blessed Virgin was a French lady, and that her son, Jesus Christ, had been killed by the English.^ One might say the gray hairs of old men and the blood -dabbled ringlets of in- nocent children were laid on the altars of their chapels. We can aflford to smile at the forecast of Louis, when he says to M. De la Barre in 1683, "I am persuaded, like you, that the discoveries of Sieur La Salle are altogether useless, and it is necessary, hereafter, to put a stop to such enterprises, which can have no other effect than to scatter the inhabit- ants by the hope of gain, and to diminish the supply of beaver." We still preserve in Louisiana the shadow of the sceptre of this monarch, whose needy successor at Versailles sold us, for fifteen millions, a territory that could pay the German subsidy with a year's harvest. Doubtless the little bell in the hospice turret, tolling for matins or vespers, was often heard by the fisher in the bay, as he rested on his oars and repeat- ed an ave^ or chanted the parting hymn of the Proven9al : "O, vierge! O, Marie! Pour inoi priez Dieu ; Adieu, adieu, patrie, Proven9e, adieu." ' Count Frontenac was a relative of De Maintenon. ' Cotton Mather. 84 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. There is a pleasant ramble over the hill by the cemetery, with the same accompaniments of green turf, limpid bay, and cool breezes everywhere. Inter- mitting puffs, ruffling the water here and there, fill the sails of coasting craft, while others lie becalmed within a few cable- lengths of them. Near the north-west corner of the ground I discovered vestiges of another small battery. Castine having assumed the functions of a town within a period compara- tively recent, her cemetery shows few interesting stones. The ancients of the little Acadian hamlet lie in forgotten graves ; no moss-covered tablets for the antiquary to kneel beside, and trace the time-worn course of the chisel, are there. Numbers of graves are indicated only by the significant heaving of the turf. In one part of the field is a large and rudely fashioned slate-stone standing at the liead of a tumulus. A tablet with these lines is affixed: IN MEMORY OF CHARLES STEWART, The earliest occupant of this Mansion of the Dead, A Native of Scotland, And 1st Lieut. Comm. of his B. M. 74th Regt. of foot, or Argyle Highlanders, Who died in this Town, while it was in possession of the Enemy, March, A.D. 1783, And was interred beneath this stone, ^t. about 40 yrs. This Tablet was inserted A.D. 1849. The tablet has a talc to tell. It runs that Stewart quarreled with a brother officer at tlie mess-table, and challenged him. Hearing of the intend- ed duel, the commanding officer reprimanded the hot-blooded Scotsman iu such terms that, stung to the quick, he fell, Roman-like, on his own sword. Elsewhere I read the name of Captain Isaiah Skinner, who, as master of a packet plying to the opposite shore, " thirty thousand times braved the per- ils of our bay." While I was in Castine I paid a visit to the factory in which lobsters are canned for market. A literally "smashing" business Avas carrying on, but with an uncleanness that for many months impaired my predilection for this delicate crustacean. The lobsters arc brought in small vessels from the low- er bay. They are then tossed, while living, into vats containing salt water ])oiling hot, where they receive a thorough steaming. They are next trans- ferred to long tables, and, after cooling, are opened. Only the flesh of the larger claws and tail is used, the remainder being cast aside. The reserved portions are i»ut into tin cans that, afti'r being tightly soldered, are subjected to a new steaming of five and a half hours to keej) tliem fresh.' In order to arrest the wholesale slaugliter of the lobster, stringent laws ' Isle au limit is particiilnrlv roiiowncO for the size and (iiiality of these fish. CASTINE. 85 have been made in Maine and Massachusetts. The fishery is prohibited dur- ing certain months, and a fine is imposed for every fish exposed for sale of less than a certain growth. Of a heap containing some eight hundred lob- sters brought to the factory, not fifty were of this size; a large proportion were not eight inches long. Frequent boiling in the same water, with the slovenly appearance of the operatives, male and female, would suggest a doubt whether plain Penobscot lobster is as toothsome as is supposed. The whole process was in marked contrast with the scrupulous neatness with which similar operations are elsewhere conducted; nor was there particular scrutiny as to whether the lobsters were already dead when received from the vessels. Wood, in the " New England Prospect," mentions that lobsters were so LOBSTER POT. plenty and little esteemed they were seldom eaten. They were frequent- ly, he says, of twenty pounds' weight. The Indians used lobsters to bait their hooks, and ate them when they could not get bass. I have seen an ac- count of a lobster that weighed thirty-five pounds. Josselyn mentions that he saw one weighing twenty pounds, and that the Indians dried them for food as they did lampreys and oysters. The first-comers into New England waters were not more puzzled to find the ancient city of Norumbega than I to reach the fabulous Down East of the moderns. In San Francisco the name is vaguely applied to the territory east of the Mississippi, though more frequently the rest of the republic is al- luded to as "The States." South of the obliterated Mason and Dixon's line, the region east of the Alleghanies and north of the Potomac is Down East, and no mistake about it. In New York you are as far as ever from this tetra incognita. In Connecticut they shrug their shoulders and point you about north-north-east. Down East, say Massachusetts people, is just across our eastern border. Arrived on the Penobscot, I fancied myself there at last. 86 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. "Whither bound?" I asked of a fisherman, getting up his foresail before loosing from the wharf. " Sir, to you. Down East." The evident determination to shift the responsibility forbade further pur- suit of this fictitious land. Besides, Maine people are indisposed to accept without challenge the name so universally applied to them of Down Easters. We do not say down to the North Pole, and we do say down South. The higher latitude we make northwardly the farther down we get. Neverthe- less, disposed as I avow myself to present the case fairly, the people of Maine uniformly say " up to the westward," when speaking of Massachusetts. Of one thing I am persuaded — Down East is nowhere in New England. _sM^- OLD FORT FBEDEBICK, PEMAQDID POINT. CHAPTER VI. PEMAQUID POINT. "Love thou thy land, with love far-brought From out the storied Past, and used Within the Present, but transfused Thro' future time by power of thought." Tennyson. \ VERY small fraction of the people of New England, I venture to say, -^-^ know more of Pemaquid than that such a place once existed somewhere within her limits ; yet it is scarcely possible to take up a book on New En- gland in which the name does not occur with a frequency that is of itself a spur to inquiry. If a few volumes be consulted, the materials for history be- come abundant. After accumulating for two hundred years, or more, what belongs to the imperishable things of earth, this old outpost of English pow- er has returned into second childhood, and become what it originally was, namely, a fishing-village. But those who delight in ferreting through the chinks and crannies of an out-of-the-way locality, will be repaid by starting from Daraariscotta on a coastwise voyage of discovery. In traveling by railway from Portland, with your face to the rising sun, you catch occasional glimjDses of the ocean, and you receive imperfect impressions of the estuaries that indent her " hundred- harbored " shores; but from the window of a stage-coach journeying at six miles an hour the material and mental eye may receive and fix ideas more dis- tinct and enduring. I reached the little village of New Harbor, at Pemaquid Point, in time to see the sun crimson in setting, a cloudless sky, and an unrufiled sea. Monhe- gan Island grew of a deep purple in the twilight shadows. The tower lamps were alight, and from neighboring islands other beacons twinkled pleasantly 88 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. on the waters. Coasting vessels trimmed their sails to catch the land-breeze of evening. Then the moon arose. The little harbor beneath me contained a few small fishing-vessels at an- chor. One or two others were slow- ly working their way in. The cot- tages straggling by the shore were not numerous or noticeable. It was still some three miles to the light-house at the extremity of the I :^^ point. "the land-breeze of evening." Mills I had ex- changed the stage for a beach-wagon. The driver was evidently a person of consequence here, as he usually becomes in such isolated neighborhoods out of the beaten paths of travel. His loquacity Avas marvelous. He had either a message or a missive for every one he met ; and at the noise of our wheels house doors opened, and the noses and lips of youngsters were flat- tened in a whimsical manner against the window-panes. I observed that he invariably saluted the girls by their Christian names as they stood shyly peeping through lialf-opened doors; adding the middle name to the baptismal whenever one might be claimed, as Olive Ann, Matilda Jane, or Hannah Ann. I should have called some of them plain Olive, or Matilda, or Hannali. The men answered to such names as Dominicus, Jott, and 'Life (Eliphalet). Tims this brisk little fellow's ])assing was the great event over four miles of road. I should have gone directly to the old settlement on the other side of the Neck, now known as " The Factory ;" but here, for a wonder, were no hotels, and travelers are dependent upon private hospitality. " Do you think they will take me in over there ?" I queried, ])ointing to the old mansion on the site of Fort Frederick. The driver shook his head. "Are they quite full ?" "Solid," was his reply, given with an emphasis that conveyed the impres- sion of sardines in a box. So I was fain to rest with a fisherman turned store- keeper. The little rock-environed harbor on the side of Muscongus l>ay is a mere roadstead, unfit for shi|»ping in heavy easterly weather. This ])lace, like many neighboring sea-coast hamlets, was busily engaged in the mackerel and men- haden fishery. The latter fish, usually culled " porgee," is in demand at the PEMAQUID POINT. 89 factories along shore for its oil, and among Bank fishermen as bait. Some old cellars on the north side of New Harbor indicated the locale of a former gen- eration of fishermen. On tliis side, too, there existed, not many years ago, re- mains of a fortification of ancient date.* Sliot, household utensils, etc., have been excavated there. There is also by the shore Avhat was either the lair of wild beasts, or a place of concealment frequented by savages. Mr. M'Far- land, one of the oldest residents, mentioned that he had found an arrow-head in the den. Various coins and Indian implements, some of wliich I saw, have been turned up with the soil on this neck of land. The visitor will not leave New Harbor without hearing of sharp work done there in the war of 1812. The enemy's cruisers kept the coast in per- petual alarm by their marauding excursions in defenseless harbors. One day a British frigate hove to in the Bay, and in a short time a number of barges were seen to push off, fully manned, for the shore. The small militia guard then stationed in Old Fort Frederick was notified, and the residents of New Harbor prepared for action. As the leading British barge entered the harbor, it was hailed by an aged fisherman, who warned the officer in charge not to attempt to land. " If a single gun is fired," replied the Briton, " the town shall be destroyed." Not a single gun, but a deadly volley, answered the threat. The rocks were bristling with old queen's arms and ducking-guns, in the grasp of a score of resolute fellows. Every shot was well aimed. The barge drifted help- lessly out with the tide, and the captain of the frigate had a sorry dispatch for the admiral at Halifax. Leaving New Harbor, I crossed a by-path that conducted to the factory road. Here and elsewhere I had listened to the story of the destruction of the menhaden, from the fishermen's point of view. They apprehend noth- ing less than the total disappearance of this fish at no distant day. " What are we poor fellows going to do when they catch up all the porgees?" asked one. The fishery, as conducted by the factories, is regarded by the fishermen proper as the introduction of improved machinery that dispenses with labor is looked upon by the operative. Although the oil factories purchase the catch that is brought in, the owners are considered intruders, and experi- ence many petty vexations. As men of capital, possessed o.f all needful ap- pliances for their business, they are really independent of the resident pop- ulation, to whom, on the other hand, they disburse money and give employ- ment. The question with which the political economist will have to deal is the expected extinction of the menhaden. I went througli tlie factory at Pemaquid Point, and was persuaded the fish could not long support the drain upon them. The porgee begins to fre- ' This work is on an old map of the Kennebec patent. It was about twenty rods square, with a bastion. A house now stands in the space it formerly occupied. 90 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. quent these waters in June. The first - comers are lean, and will make only a gallon of oil to the barrel; those of September yield four gallons. A fleet of propellers, as well as sailing-craft of forty to fifty tons burden, are kept constantly employed. At Pemaquid harbor, the fish cargoes ai'e transferred from the steamer to an elevated tank of the capacity of four thousand barrels. Underneath the tank a tram-way, conducting by an inclined plane to the second story of the factory, is laid upon the wharf In the bottom of the tank is a trap-door that, upon being opened, quickly fills a car placed below. The fish are then taken into the factory and dumped into other tanks, containing each three car-loads, or about sixty barrels. Here steam is introduced, rajjidly convert- ing the fish into unsavory chowder, or "mash." As many as a dozen of these vats were in constant use. The oil and water being drawn off into other vats, the product is obtained through the simplest of machinery, and the well- known principle that in an admixture with water oil will rise to the surfiice. The residuum from the first process is shoveled into perforated iron cylinders, by men standing up to their knees in the steaming mass. It is then sub- jected to hydraulic pressure, and, after the extraction of every drop of oil, is carefully housed, to be converted into phosphates. The water is passed from tank to tank until completely free of oil. Nothing is lost. This Ihctory had a capacity of three thousand barrels per day, though not of the largest class. Others were working day and night through the season, which continues for about three months. I walked afterward by the side of a seine two hundred fathoms in length, spread upon the grass in order to contract the meshes. One of them frequent- ly costs above a thousand dollars, and is sometimes destroyed at the first cast- ing by being caught on the ledges in shallow water. An old hand can easily tell the diflerence between a school of mackerel and one of menhaden. The former rush in a body on the toj) of the water, while the shoal of porgees merely ripples the surface, as is sometimes seen when a moving body of water impinges against a counter -current. The mackerel takes the hook, while the porgee and herring never do. The talk was more fishy here than in any place I have visited. Here they call a school, or shoal, "a pod offish;" " we sot round a pod" being a com- mon expression. The small vessels are called seiners. When they approach a school, the seine is carried out in boats, one end being attached to the ves- sel, except when a bad sea is running. I have seen the men standing up to the middle amotig the fish they wei'c hauling in ; and they are sometimes obliged to abiuidon half their draught. The whole jirocess of rendering menhaden into oil is less offensive to the olfactories than might be su]t])os('d. Tlie works at Pemaquid Point are own- ed by Judson,Tarr, and ('o.,!)!' Uockport, oMassachusetts. As against the gen- erally received oi)inion tliat they were destroying fish faster than the losses PEMAQUID POINT. 91 could be repaired, the unusual abundance of mackerel the last year was cited. Mackerel, however, are not ground up at the rate of many thousand barrels per day. It is easy to conjecture that present profit is more looked to than future scarcity. The product of menhaden is chiefly used in the adulteration of linseed-oil. This fish is probably the same called by the French "^aspa- ro^," and found by them in great abundance on the coasts of Acadia. Some account of the habits of the mackerel, as given by veteran fisher- men, is of interest to such as esteem this valuable fish — and the number is legion — if not in explanation of the seemingly purposeless drifting of the mackerel fleet along shore, which is, nevertheless, guided by calculation. In early spring the old breeding fish come into the bays and rivers to spawn. They then return northward. These mackerel are not apt to take the hook, but are caught in weirs and seines, a practice tending to inevitable scarcity in the future. The parent fish come back, in September, to the local- ities where they have spawned, and, taking their young in charge, proceed to the warmer waters west and south. Few if any mackerel spawn south of Cape Cod. By the time this migration occurs, the young fish have grown to six or seven inches in length, and are called " tinkers." They frequently take the bait with avidity, but ai'e too small for market. When this school comes along, the fishermen prepare to follow, saying, "The mackerel are bound west, and we must work west with them." These first -comers are usually fol- lowed by a second school of better size and quality. I have often seen num- bers of young mackerel, of three to four inches in length, left in shallow pools upon the flats by the tide in midsummer. In the midst of a "biting school" no sport could be more exciting or sat- isfying. At such times the mackerel resemble famished wolves, snapping and crowding for the bait, rather than harmless fishes. This unexampled vo- racity makes them an easy prey, and they are taken as fast as the line can be thrown over. It not unfrequently happens that the school will either sink or suddenly refuse the bait, even while swarming about the sides of the vessels. This is vexatious, but there is no help for it. The fleet must lie idle until the capricious or overfed fish is hungry. Mackerel swim in deep water, and are brought to the surface by casting over quantities of ground bait. If they happen to be on the surfixce in a storm, at the first peal of thunder they will sink to the bottom. The move- ments of the fish in the water are like a gleam of light, and it dies hard when out of it. The mackerel was in great abundance when New England was first visited. In the confusion naturally incident to accounts of early discoveries on our coast of New England, it is pleasant to find one vantage-ground from which you can not be dislodged. In this respect Peraaquid stands almost alone. It has never been called by any other name. Possibly it may have embraced 92 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. either move or less of the surrounding territory or adjacent waters than at present ; still there is eminent satisfaction in standing at Peiuaquid on im- pregnable ground. In the minds of some old writers Pemaqnid was unquestionably confound- ed with the Penobscot. There is a description of Pemaquid River from the Hakluyt papers,' which makes it the easternmost river, one excepted^of Mavo- shen, manifestly a name erroneously applied, as the description is as far from coinciding with the true Pemaquid as is its location by Hakluyt. In this ac- count the Sagadahoc and town of Kennebec are also mentioned. Like many others, it is more curious tlian instructive. It also appears, to the student's dismay, that in some instances the discov- erers were apprehensive of drawing attention to any new-found port or har- bor, as it would render their monopoly of less value. The account of Wey- mouth's voyage by James Rosier omitted the latitude, doubtless with this object. His narrative, if not written to mislead, was confessedly not intend- ed to instruct. How is the historian to follow such a clue ? Fortunately, after many puzzling and unsatisfactory conjectures, the account of William Strachey makes all clear, so far as Pemaquid is in question. Weymouth's first landfall was in 42°, and he coasted northward to 44°. Strachey speaks of "the isles and rivers, together with that little one of Pemaquid." Sir F. Gorges, in his " Brief Narration," mentions that " it pleased God " to bring Captain Weymouth, on his return in 1005, into the harbor of Plymoutli, where he, Sir Ferdinando, then commanded.'^ Captain Weymouth, he contin- ues, had been dispatched by the Lord Arundel of Wardour in search of the North-west Passage, but falling short of his course, had happened into a river on the coast of America called Pemaquid. In the reprint of Sir F. Gorges's invaluable narrative^ the word Penobscot is placed after Pemaquid in brack- ets. It does not appear in the original. Pemaquid, then, becomes one of the pivotal points of New England dis- covery, as it subsequently was of her history. As tlie French had directed their early efforts toward the Penobscot, so the English had imbibed strong predilections for the Sagadahoc, or Kennebec. Weymouth and Pring liad paved the way; the Indians transported to England had been able to give an intelligible account of the country, the coiiiiguration of the coasts, the magnitude of the rivers, and j)ower of the nations peopling the banks. Tlie Kennebec was known to the French earlier than to the English, and by its proper name. Cliamplain's voyage in the autumn of 1604 extended, it is believed, as far as Monhegan, as lie names an isle ten leagues from '•'' Qninthequl^'' and says he went three or four leagues beyond it. Moreover, ' "VniTlias," vol. iv., 1S74. ■■' In KKKJ Gorges was dc[)iived of tlic comiiKiml, tmt liad it restored to liim tlie same year. ^ "Collections of the Massacluisetts Historical Society," vol. vi., ;5d series. PEMAQUID POINT. 93 he had coasted both shores of the Penobscot bay, penetrating at least as far as the Narrows, below Bucksport. He calls the Camden hills Bedabedec, and says the Kennebec and Penobscot Indians were at enmity. De Monts followed Champlain in June, 1605, having sailed from St. Croix two days after Weymouth's departure from the coast for England. He was more than two months in exploring a liundred and twenty leagues of sea-coast, visiting and observing the Kennebec, of which a straightforward story is told. Even then the river was known as a thoroughfare to Canada.' The mouth of the Kennebec is interesting as the scene of the third at- tempt to obtain a foothold on New England's soil. This Avas the colony of Chief-justice Pophara, which arrived off Monhegan in August, 1607.'' This undertaking was intended to be permanent. There were two well-provided ships, and a hundred and twenty colonists.^ The leader of the enterprise, George Popham, was accompanied by Captain Raleigh Gilbert, nephew and namesake of Sir Walter Raleigh, A settlement was effected on Hunnewell's Point, at the mouth of the Ken- nebec. The winter was one of unexampled severity, and the new-comers had been late in preparing for it. Encountering privations similar to those after- ward endured by the Plymouth settlers, they lost courage, and when news of the death of their patron, the chief-justice, reached them, were ready to abandon the project. Pophara, having died in February, was succeeded by Gilbert, whose affairs recalling him to England, the whole colony deserted their settlement at Fort St. George in the spring of 1608. Popham was the first English magistrate in New England. Mather attributes the failure of attempts to colonize the parts of New England north of Plymouth to their being founded upon the advancement of worldly interests. "A constant series of disasters has confounded them," avers the witch-hating old divine. One minister, he says, was exhorting the eastern settlers to be more religious, putting the case to them much in this way, when a voice from the congregation cried out, " Sir, you are mistaken ; you think you are preaching to the people of the Bay. Our main end was to catch fish." " Did you ever see Cotton Mather's ' History of New England ?' — one of the oddest books I ever perused, but deeply interesting." The question is put by Southey, and I repeat it, as, if you have not read Mather's " Magnalia Christi Americana," you have not seen the corner-stone of New England his- torical and ecclesiastical literature. Apropos of the immigration into New England, it was openly bruited in England that King Charles I, would have been glad if the thousands who went over were drowned in the sea. Between the years 1628 and 1635 the ' See Lescarbot, p. 497. * Strachey. Gorges says August 8th; Smith, August 11th. ^ A fly-boat, the Gift of God, George Popham ; Mary and John, of London, Raleigh Gilbert. 94 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. exodus Avas very great, and gave the king much displeasure, No one was permitted to remove without the royal permission. Even young Harry Vane had to solicit the good offices of his father, Sir Harry, to obtain a pass. He was then out of favor at court and at home, through his Geneva no- tions about kneeling to receive the Sacrament, and otlier Puritan ideas. " Let him go," growls an old writer: "has not Sir ^^! Harry other sons but him?" The colony of Popham began better than it end- ed. A fort, doubtless no more than a palisade with platforms for guns, was marked out. A trench was dug about it, and twelve pieces of ordnance were mounted. Within its protection fifty houses, besides a church and store- house, were built. The carpenters framed a" pryt- ty pynnace" of tliirty tons, which they chris- tened the Virginia. There is no earlier record of ship-building in JNlaine. Tlie tenacity of the English character has become ])roverbial. Neverthe- less, tlie o])inion is hazarded tliat no nation so ill accommodates itsell'to a new country. The English colonies of Virginia, New England, and Jamaica are striking examples ofbarroimess of resource when confronted with unforeseen privations. The Frenchman, on the contrary, possesses in an eminent degree the capacity to adajtt himself to strange scenes and unaccustomed modes of life. Every thing is made to contribute to his wants. Let the reader con- sult, if he will, the cam])aign of the Crimea, where tliousands of English sol- diers gave Avay to hardships unknown in the French camps. The clastic gayety of the one is in contrast with the gloomy despondency of the other. The Popham colony abandoned a well-matured, ably-seconded design through dread of a New England winter and through homesickness. Cleaily it was not of the stuff to found a State. The previous winter was passed by the French at their new settlement of C0TT(^N .MATni:i:. PEMAQUID POINT. 95 Port Royal, commenced within two years. The seasons of 1605 and of 1606 Avere extremely rigorous. The colony of De Monts went through the first in rude cabins, hastily constructed, on the island of St. Croix. The next autumn the settlement was transferred to Port Royal. Winter found them domiciled in their new quarters under no better roofs than they had quitted. Though their leader, Du Guast, had left them, they were animated by an irre- pressible spirit of fun, altogether French, They made roads through the forest, or joined with the Indians in hunting-parties, managing these native Americans with an address that won their confidence and good help. ANCIENT PEMAQUID. Finally, at the suggestion of Champlain, in order to keep up an unflagging good-fellowship, and to render themselves free of all anxiety on the subject of provisions, the ever-famous "L'Ordre de Bon Temps" was inaugurated. It is deserving of remembrance along with the coterie of the Knights of the Round Table. Once in fifteen days each member of the order officiated as maitre d''hotel of De Poutrincourt's table. It was his care on that day that his comrades should be well and honorably entertained ; and although, as the old chronicler quaintly says, " our gourmands often reminded us that we were not in the Rue aux Ours at Paris, yet so well was the rule observed that we ordinarily made as good cheer as we should have known bow to do in the Hue aux Ours, and at less cost." There was not a fellow of the order Avho, two days before his turn came, did not absent himself until he could return with some delicacy to add to their ordinary fare. They had always fish or flesh at breakfast, and were never without one or both at the repasts of noon and evening. It became their great festival. The steward, or maitre cVhotel, having caused all things to be made ready, mai'ched Avith his napkin on his shoulder, his staff of office in his hand, and the collar of the order, that we are told Avas Avorth more than four French croAvns, about his neck. Behind him Avalked the brothers of the order, each one bearing his plate. In the evening, after giving thanks to God, the host 96 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. of the day resigned the collar to his successor, each pledging the other in a glass of wine. On such occasions they had always twenty or thirty savages — men, wom- en, and children — looking on. To these they gave bread from the table ; but when, as was often the case, the sagamores — those fierce, intractable barba- rians — presented themselves, they were, says Lescarbot, " at table eating and drinking like us, and we right glad to see them, as, on the contrary, their ab- sence would have made us sorry." At Pemaquid we enter the domain of Samoset, that chivalric New En- o-lander whom historians delight to honor. He was a sagamore without "•uile. Chronologically speaking, he should first appear at Plymouth, in the act of offering to those doubting Pilgrims the right hand of fellowship. He told them he was sagamore of Morattigon, distant from Plymouth " a daye's sayle with a great wind, and five dayes by land." In 1623 he ex- tended a kindly recep- tion to Christopher Lev- ett, to whom he proffered a friendship, to continue imtil the Great Spirit car- ried them to his wigwam. All the old writers speak well of Samoset, whom we call a savage.' I next visited the lit- tle point of land on which are the ruins of old Fort Frederick. Little diffi- culty is experienced in retracing the exterior and interior lines of a fortress designed as the strongest bulwark of En- glish power in New En- gland. It was built ui)on a green slope, above a rocky shore, commanding the approach from the sea ; but Avas itself dominated by the heights of the western shore of John's Ifivcr, a circumstance that did not escape the notice of D'Iberville in 1090. At the south-east angle of tlie work is a high rock, CIIAKLEVOIX. * Samoset, in 1025, sold Pemaquid to John Brown. Ilis sign-manual was a bended bow, with an arrow fitted to the string. The deed to Brown also fixes the residence, at Pemaquid, of Abra- ham Slunt, agent of Klbridge and Aldworth, in tiie year 1(!26. PEMAQUID POINT. 97, overgrown with a tangle of climbing vines and shrubs. This rock formed a gart of the old magazine, and is now the conspicuous feature of the ruined fortress. A projecting spur of the opposite shore was called "the Barbican." The importance of Pemaqnid as a check to French aggression was very jrreat. It covered the approaches to the Kennebec, the Sheepscot, Damaris- eotta, and Pemaqnid rivers. It was also, being at their doors, a standing men- ace against the Indian allies of the French, with a garrison ready to launch upon their villages, or intercept the advance of ^var parties towai-d the New- England settlements. Its presence exasperated the Abenaquis, on whose ter- ritory it was, beyond measure : the French found them ever ready to second projects for its destruction. On the other hand, the remoteness of Pemaqnid rendered it impracticable to relieve it when once invested by an enemy. Only a few feeble settlements skirted the sea-coast between it and Casco Bay, so the same causes combined to render it both weak and formidable. Old Pentagoet, which the reader knows for Castine, and Pemaqnid, were the mailed hands of each nationality, always .clenched ready to strike. The fort erected at Pemaqnid in 1G77, by Governor Andros, was a wooden redoubt mounting two guns, with an outwork having two bastions, in each of which were two great guns, and another at the gate.' This work Was named Fort Charles. It was captured and destroyed by the Indians in 1689. Sir William Phips, under instructions from Whitehall, built a new fort at Pemaqnid in 1692, which he called William Henry. Captains WMng and Ban- croft were the engineers, the work being completed by Captain March. '^ The English believed it impregnable. Mather, who says it was the finest that had been seen in those parts of America, has a significant allusion to the ar- cliitect of a fortress in Poland whose eyes were put out lest he should build another such. From this vantage-ground the English, for the fifth time, ob- tained possession of Acadia. In the same year D'Iberville made a demonstration against it with two French frigates, but finding an English vessel anchored under the walls, aban- doned his design, to the chagrin of a large band of auxiliary warriors who had assembled under Villebon, and who now vented their displeasure by stamping upon the ground. The reduction of Fort William Henry was part of a general scheme to ' "New York Colonial Documents," vol. iii., p. 256. Some primitive defensive works had ex- isted as early as 1630, rifled in 1632 by the freebooter, Dixy Bull. ■■^ It was of stone; a quadrangle seven hundred and thirty-seven feet in compass without the outer walls, one hundred and eight feet square within the inner ones ; pierced with embrasures for twenty-eight cannons, and mounting fourteen, six being eighteen-pounders. The south wall front- ing the sea was twenty-two feet high, and six feet tliick at the ports. The great flanker, or round tower, at the west end of the line was twenty-nine feet high. It stood about a score of rods from high-water mark. — Mather, vol. ii., p. 537. 7 98 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. FRENCH FRIGATE, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. overrun and destroy the English settlements as far as the Piscataqua. Tlie English were fore- warned. John Nelson, of Boston, whose biog- raphy is worth the writ- ing, was then a prisoner at Quebec. Madocawan- (to was also there, in consultation with Count Frontenac. The Abe- naqui chief, dissatisfied with his presents, gave o\)en expression of his disgust at the niggard- liness of his Avhite ally. Nelson was well ac- quainted with the Indian tongue. He cajoled the chief into talking of his projects, and as soon as they were in his possession acted like a man of decision. He bribed two Frenchmen — Arnaud du Vignon and Francis Albert — to carry the intelli- gence to Boston. On their return to Canada both w^ere shot, and Nelson was sent to France, where he became for five years an inmate of the Bastile. The life of John Nelson contains all tlie requisites of romance. Although an Episcoi)alian,he put himself at the head of the revolution against the tyr- anny of Andros. As a prisoner, he risked his own life to acquaint his country- men with the dangers that menaced them; and it is said he was even carried to the place of execution along with his detected messengers. The French called him " le plus audacieux et le plus acharne," in the design of conquering Canada. Released from the Bastile on his parole, after visiting England he returned to France to fulfill its conditions, although forbidden to do so by King William. A nuin of address, courage, and high sense of honor was this John Nelson. In 1090, a second and more successful expedition was conducted against Pcmaquid. In August, D'lberville' and Bonaventure sailed with the royal order to attack and reduce it. They called at Pentagoet, receiving there a re-enforcement of two Imndred Indians, who embarked in their canoes, led by St. Castin. On the USth tlic rxinnruion appeared before the ])lace, and the next day it was invested. ' " D'llH'rvillc, iiioiiSL'igiU'iir, est tin tirs saye <,':iri;()ii, fiitreitreiKiiii et qui scait cc qu'il fait." — M. 1)i;n<)N VI 1,1,1;. PEMAQUID POINT. 99 HUTCHINSON. Fort William Henry was then commanded by Captain Pascho Chubb, with a garrison of about a hundred men. Fifteen pieces of artillery were in posi- tion. The French expected an obstinate resistance, as the place was well able to withstand a siege. Chubb, on being summoned, returned a defiant answei-. D'Iberville then began to erect his batteries. The account of Charlevoix states that the French got posses- sion of ten or twelve stone houses, forming a street leading from the village square to the fort. They then intrenched themselves, partly at the cellar- door of the house next the fort, and partly behind a rock on the sea-shore. A second demand made by St. Castin, accompa- nied by the threat that if the place were assault- ed the garrison might expect no quarter, de- cided the valiant Chubb, after a feeble and in- glorious defense, to surrender. The gates were opened to the besiegers. On finding an Indian in irons in the fortress, Castin's warriors began a massacre of the prisoners, which was arrested by their removal, at command of DTberville, to an island, where they were pro- tected by a strong guard from further violence. The name of William Henry has been synonymous with disaster to colonial strongholds. The massacre of 1757 at Lake George, forever infamous, obscures wnth blood the fair fame of Montcalm. The novelist Cooper, in making it the groundwork of his "Mohicans," has not overstated the horrors of the tragedy enacted by the placid St. Sacrament. Two days were occupied by the French in the destruction of Pemaquid fort. They then set sail for St. John's River, narrowly escaping capture by a fleet sent from Boston in pursuit. The French, who had before claimed to the Kennebec, subsequently established their boundary of Acadia at St. George's River. On the beach, below where the martello tower had stood, I discovered many fragments of bricks among the rock debris. Some of these were as large as were commonly used in the hearths of our most ancient houses. The arch by which the tower was perhaps supported remained nearly intact, though completely concealed by a thicket formed of interweaving shrubs. Some have conjectured it to have been a liiding- place of smugglers. Fragments of shot and shell have likewise been picked up among the rubbish of the old fortress. Not far from the spot is a grave-yard, in which time and neglect have done their work. It has been attempted to show that a large and populous settlement ex- isted from a very early time at Pemaquid, with i)aved streets and some of 100 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. the belongings of a permanent population. Within a few years excavations have been made, exhibiting the remains of pavement of beach-pebble at some distance below the surface of the ground. It is not doubted that a small plantation Avas maintained here antecedent to the settlement in Massachusetts Bay, but it as certainly lacks confirmation that it had assumed either the proportions or outward appearance of a well and regularly built town at any time during the seventeenth century. If it were true, as Sullivan states, that in 1630 there were, exclusive of fishermen, eighty-four families about Sheepscot, Pemaquid, and St. George's, it also be- comes important to know by what means these settlements were depopulated previous to the Indian wars. The commissioners of Charles II., sent over in 1665, reported that upon the rivers Kennebec, Sheepscot, and Pemaquid were three plantations, the largest containing not more than thirty houses, inhabited, say they, " by the worst of men." The commissioners gave impartial testimony here, for they were trying to dispossess Massachusetts of the government she had assumed over Maine since 1652. They wrote further, that neither Kittery, York, Wells, Scarborough, nor Falmouth had more than thirty houses, and those mean ones. This was the entirety of the grand old Pine-tree State two centuries ago. Colonel Romer had recommended, about 1699, the fortifying anew of Pem- aquid, and the building of supporting works at the next point of land, and on John's Island. Nothing, however, appears to have been done until the ar- rival of Colonel David Dunbar, in 1730, to resume possession of the Sagada- hoc territory in the name of the crown. Dunl)ar re])aired the old works, giving them the name of Fort Frederick, At Pemaquid Point he laid out the plan of a city which he divided into lots, inviting settlers to repopulate the country. Old grants and titles were con- sidered extinct. His possession at Pemaquid conflicting with the Muscongus patent was revoked through the efforts of Samuel Waldo. The garrison was replaced by Massachusetts troops, and the so-called Sagadahoc territory an- nexed to the County of York.' When in the neighborhood, the visitor will feel a desire to inspect the ex- tensive shell heaps of the Damariscotta, about a mile above the town of New- castle. They occur on a jutting point of land, in such masses as to resemble low chalk cliffs of guano dejjosits. The shells are of the oyster, now no long- er native in New England waters, but once abundant, as these and other re- mains testify. The liighost point of the bank is twenty-five feet above the river. The deposits are rather more than a hundred rods in length, with a ' As it is inconsistent with the ])iirposc niid limits of these chapters to give the detail of char- ters, patents, and titles hy which l'ema<|uid has acquired much historical prominence, the reader may, in addition to authorities named in the text, consult Thornton's "Ancient Pemaquid, " vol. v, "Maine Historical Collections;" Johnston's "Bristol, Bremen, and I'cni.uiuid ;" Hough's "I'em- iKjuid I'ajjcrs," etc. PEMAQUID POINT. • 101 variable width of from eighty to a hundred rods. The shells lie in regular layers, bleached by sun and weather. Among the many naturalists who have visited them may be named Dr. Charles T. Jackson/ and Professor Chad- bourne, of Bowdoin College. Some animal remains found among the shells were submitted to Agassiz, who concurred in the received opinion that the shells were heaped up by men. From point to point excavations have been made with the expectation of finding the Indian implements Avhich have occasionally rewarded such inves- tigations. Williamson mentions a tradition that human skeletons had been discovered in these beds. The bones of animals and of birds have been found in them. Situated in the immediate vicinity of the shell deposits is a kiln for converting the shells into lime, which is produced of as good quality as that obtained from limestone rock. In walking along the beach at low tide, I had an excellent opportunity of surveying these remains. A considerable growth of trees had sprung from the soil collected above them, the roots of some having penetrated completely through the superincumbent shells to the earth beneath. From an observation of several cavities near the surface and in the sides of the oyster banks, the shells, in some instances, appear to have been subjected to fire. The entire stratum was in a state of decomposition that sufticiently at- tests the work of years. Even those shells lying nearest the surface in most cases crumbled in the hands, while at a greater depth the closely -packed valves were little else than a heap of lime. The shell heaps are of common occurrence all along the coast. The read- er knows them for the feeding-places of the hordes preceding European civil- ization. Here they regaled themselves on a delicacy that disappeared when they vanished from the land. The Indians not only satisfied present hun- ger, but dried the oyster for winter consumption. Their summer camps were pitched in the neighborhood of well-known oyster deposits, the squaws being occupied in gathering shell-fish, while the men were eniraszed in fishing or in hunting. Josselyn mentions the long-shelled oysters peculiar to these deposits. lie notes them of nine inches in length from the "joint to the toe, that were to be cut in three pieces before they could be eaten." Wood professes to have seen them of a foot in length. I found many of the shells here of six inches in length. Winthrop alludes to the oyster banks of Mystic River, Massachu- setts, that impeded its navigation. During recent dredgings here oyster- shells of six to eight inches in length were frequently brouglit to the surface. The problem of tlie oyster's disappearance is yet to be solved." ' While making his geological suive)' of Maine. "^ Williamson mentions the heaps on the eastern bank, not so high as on the western, extend- ing back twenty rods from the river, and rendering the land useless. The shell heaps of Georgia and Florida are more extensive than any in New England. MONHEGAN ISLAND. CHAPTER VII. MONHEGAN ISLAND. " From gray sea- fog, from icy drift, From peril and from pain, Tiie home-bound fisher greets thy lights. Oh hundred-harbored Maine!" Whittier. npiIE most famous island yon can find on the New Enoland map is Monhe- -■- gan Island. To it the voyages of Weymouth, of Pophani, and of Smith converge. The latter has put it down as one of the landmarks of our coast. Rosier calls it an excellent landfall. It is undoubtedly Monhogan that is seen on the oldest charts of New England. Chaniplain, with the same apt- ness and originality recognized in Mount Desert and Isle an Haut, names it La Tortue. Take from the shelf Bradl'ord, Winthrop, Prince, or Hubbard, and you will find this island to figure conspicuously in their pages. Brad- ford says starving Plymouth was succored from Monhegan as early as 1622. The Boston colonists of 1630 were boarded when entering Salem by a Plym- outh man, going about his business at IVmaquid. English fishing ships hov- ered about the island for a dozen years before the Mayflover swung to her anchorage in the "ice-rimmed" bay. The embers of some camp-fire were al- ways smouldering there. Sailing once from Boston on a Penobscot steamboat, a ^i}\\ hours bi"ought us U]> with Cape Ann. I aski-d the pilot for what land lie now steered. " M'nhiggin." In returning, the boat came down thi'ough the Mussel Ridge Channel like a race-horse over a well-beaten course. We rounded Monhegan again, and then steered by the compass. Monhegan is still a landmark. A wintry passage is not always to be conuneuiled, especially when the MONHEGAN ISLAND. 103 Atlantic gets un- ruly. Leaving the wharf on one well- remembered occa- sion, we steamed down the bay in smooth water at fourteen miles an hour. All on board were in possession of their customa- ry equipoise. Soon the gong sounded a noisy summons to supper. We descended. The cabin tables were quickly occupied by a merry com- pany of both sex- es. There Avas a clatter of plates M and sharp click- ing of knives and forks ; waiters ran hither and thither; the buzz of con- versation and rip- ple of suppressed THATCHEK'S island light and fog signals, cape ANN. laughter began to diffuse themselves with the good cheer, when, suddenly, the boat, mounting a sea, fell off into the trough with a measured movement that thrilled every victim of old Neptune to the marrow. It would be difficult to conceive a more instantaneous metamorphosis than that which now took place. Maidens who had been chatting or wickedly flirt- ing, laid down their knives and forks and turned pale as their napkins. Youths that were all smiles and attention to some adorable companion suddenly be- haved as if oblivious of her presence. Another plunge of the boat! My vis- d-vis, an old gourmand, had intrenched himself behind a rampart of delicacies. He stops short in the act of carving a fowl, and reels to the cabin stairs. Soon he has many followers. Wives are separated from husbands, the lover de- serts his mistress. A heavier sea lifts tlie bow, and goes rolling with gath- ered volume astern, accompanied by the crash of crockery and trembling of the chandeliers. That did the business. The commercial traveler who told 104 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. me he was never sea-sick laid down the morsel he was iu the act of convcy- ino- to his mouth. He tried to look unconcerned as lie staggered from tlie table, but it was a wretched failure. Two waiters, each bearing a well-laden trav, were sent sliding down the incline to tlie leeward side of the cabin, where, coming in crasliing collision, they finally deposited their burdens in a berth in which some unfortunate was already reposing. All except a handful of well -seasoned voyagers sought the upper cabins, where they re- mained pale as statues, and as silent. The rows of deserted seats, unused plates, the joints sent away untouched, presented a melancholy evidence of the triumph of matter over miud. Early in the morning we made out Monhegan, as I have no doubt it was descried from the mast-head of the Archangel, Weymouth's ship, two hun- dred and seventy years ago. The sea was shrouded in vapor, so that we saw the island long before the main-land was visible. Sea-faring people call it high land for tliis part of the world. Near the westward shore of the southern half of this remarkable island is a little islet, called Mananas, which forms the only harbor it can boast. Cap- tain Smith says, " Between Monahiggon and Monanis is a small harbour, where we rid." The entrance is considered practicable only from the south, though the captain of a coasting vessel pointed out where lie had run his vessel through the ragged reefs that shelter the northern end, and saved it. It was a desperate strait, he said, and the by-standers shook their heads, in thinking on the peril of the attempt.' The inhabitants are hospitable, and many even well to do. Their harbor is providentially situated for vessels that are forced on the coast in heavy gales, and are able to reach its shelter. At such times exhausted mariners are sure of a kind reception, every house opening its doors to relieve tlicir dis- tresses. Having all the requirements of snug harboring, excellent rock fisliing, with room enough for extended rambling up and down, tlie island must one day become a resort as famous as the Isles of Shoals. At present there is a peculiar flavor of originality and freshness about the jieople, wlio are as yet free from the money-getting aptitudes of the recognized watering-place. George Weymouth made his anchorage under Monhegan on the 18th of May, 1805. "It appeared," says Rosier, "a mean higli land, as we afterward found it, being an island of some six miles in compass, but, I hope, the most fortunate ever yet discovered. About twelve o'clock that day, we came to ' Monliegan lies nine miles south of tlie George's gioiip, twelve south-east from Pemaqnid, and nine west of Metinic It ((nitMiiis upward of one thousand acres of land. According to "VViliiiini- son, it had, in ls;'>'_', alioiii om- liundred inliabitants, twelve or fourteen dwellings, and i> school- house. 'The alili'-hoilicil men were en^^a^'i'ii in tlie Hank lishcry ; the elders and boys in tending the flocks and tilling lliu soil. At iliat time lliere was not an otlicer of any kind upon the island ; not even a justice of the peace. The peojtle governed themselves according to local usage, and were strangers to taxation. A light-house was built on tiie island in 1824. MONHEGAN ISLAND. 105 an anchor on the north side of this island, about a league from the shore. About two o'clock our captain with twelve men rowed in his ship-boat to the shore, where we made no long stay, but Inded our boat with dry wood of old trees uj^on the shore side, and returned to our ship, where we rode that night." * * * " This island is woody, grown with fir, birch, oak, and beech, as far as we saw along the shore ; and so likely to be Avithin. On the verge grow goose- berries, strawberries, wild pease, and wild rose - bushes. The water issued forth down the cliifs in many places; and much fowl of divers kinds breeds ui^on the shore and rocks." The main-land possessed greater attraction for Weymouth. Thinking his anchorage insecure, he brought his vessel the next day to the islands " more adjoining to the main, and in the road directly with the mountains, about three leagues from the island where he had first anchored." I read this description while standing on the deck of the Katahdln^ and found it to answer admirably the conditions under which I then surveyed the land. We were near enough to make out the varied features of a long line of sea-coast stretching northward for many a mile. There were St. George's Islands, three leagues distant, and more adjoining to the main. And there were the Camden Mountains in the distance.' Weymouth landed at Pemaquid, and traded with the Indians there. In order to impress them with the belief that he and his comrades were super- natural beings, he caused his own and Hosier's swords to be touched with the loadstone, and then with the blades took up knives and needles, much mys- tifying the simple savages with his jugglery. It took, however, six whites to capture two of the natives, unarmed and thrown off their guard by feigned friendship. But one compensation can be found for Weymouth's treachery in kidnap- ing five Indians here, and that is in the assertion of Sir F. Gorges that this circumstance first directed his attention to New England colonization. At least two of the captive Indians found their way back again. One returned the next year; another — Skitwarres — came over with Popham. A strange tale these savages must have told of their adventures beyond seas.^ Some credence has been given to the report of the existence of a rock inscription on Monhegan Island, supposed by some to be a reminiscence ' A good many arguments may be found in the "Collections of the Maine Historical Society" as to whether Weymouth ascended the Penobscot or the Kennebec. All assume Monhegan to have been the first island seen. This being conceded, the landmarks given in the text follow, without reasonable ground for controversy. "^ In 1G07 Weymouth was granted a pension of three shillings and fourpence per diem. Smith was at Monhegan in 1614, Captain Dermer in 1619, and some mutineers from Rocroft's ship had passed the winter of 161 8 -'19 there. The existence of a small plantation is ascertained in 1622. In 1626 the island was sold to Giles Elbridge and Robert Aldworth for fifty pounds. 106 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. of the Northmen. The Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen has reproduced it in their printed proceedings. The best informed American antiquaries do not believe it to possess any archaeological significance. I also heard of another of the " devil's foot-prints" on Mananas, but did not see it. Between Monhegan and Peraaquid Point was the scene of the sea-fight between the Enterprise and Boxer. Some of the particulars I shall relate I had of eye-witnesses of the battle. In September, 1814, the American brig Enterprise quitted Portsmouth roads. She had seen service in the wars with the French Directory and with Algiers. She had been rebuilt in 1811, and had already gained the name of a lucky vessel. Her cruising-ground was along the Maine coast, where a sharp lookout was to be kept for privateers coming out of the ene- my's ports. In times past her commanders were such men as Sterrett, Hull, Decatur, and Blakely, in whom was no more flinching than in the mainmast. Lieutenant Burrows, who now took her to sea, had been first oflicer of a merchant ship and a prisoner to the enemy. As soon as exchanged he was given the command of the Enterp>rise. He was a good seaman, bound up in his profession, and the darling of the common sailors. Taciturn and misan- thropic among equals, he liked to disguise himself in a pea-jacket and visit the low haunts of his shipmates. It was believed he would be killed sooner than surrender. The Boxer had been fitted out at St. Johns Avith a view of meeting and fighting the Enterprise. Every care that experience and seamanship could suggest had been bestowed upon her equipment. She was, moreover, a new and strong vessel. In armament and crews the two vessels were about equal, the inferiority, if any, being on the side of the American. The two brigs were, in fact, as equally matclied as could well be. Tliey were prepared, rubbed down, and polished off", like pugilists by their respective trainers. They were in quest of eacli other. The conquered, however, attributed their defeat to every cause but the true one, namely, that of being beaten in a fair fight on their favorite element. Tlie Boxer, after worrying the fishermen, and keejnng the sea-coast vil- lages in continual alarm, dropped anchor in Pemaquid Bay on Saturday, Sep- tember 4th, 1814. There was then a small militia guard in old Fort Freder- ick. The inhabitants of P(Mnaquil\\ard with a iiiir wind. In an in- stant the Briton's decks were alive witli men. Sails were let fall and sheet- ed home with marvelous (luiekness, ami tlie 7>o.wr, with every rag of canvas s])read, stood out of the bay. From lu'r ant-liorage to the westward of John's MONHEGAN ISLAND. 10^ Island, the Boxer, as she got under way, threw several shot over the island into the fort by Avay of farewell. Both vessels bore oiF the land about three miles, when they stripped to fighting canvas. The American, being to wind- ward, had the weather-gage, and, after taking a good look at her antagonist, brought her to action at twenty minutes past three o'clock in the afternoon. Anxious spectators crowded the shores; but after the first broadsides, for the forty minutes the action continued, nothing could be seen except the flashes of the guns ; both vessels were enveloped in a cloud. At length the firing- slackened, and it Avas seen the Jjoxer''s maintop-mast had been shot away. The battle was decided. This combat, which proved fatal to both commanders, was, for the time it lasted, desperately contested. The Enterprise retnrned to Portland, with the Boxer in company, on the Vth. The bodies of Captain Samuel Blythe, late commander of the English brig, and of Lieutenant William Burrows, of the Enterprise, were brought on shore draped with the flags each had so bravely defended. The same honors were paid the remains of each, and they were in- terred side by side in the cemetery at Portland. Blythe had been one of poor Lawrence's pall-bearei's. GRAVES OF BUKKOWS AND BLTTHE, PORTLAND. This was the first success that had befallen the American navy since the loss of the Chesapeake. It revived, in a measure, the confidence that disaster had shaken. The Boxer went into action with her colors nailed to the mast — a useless bravado that no doubt cost many lives. Her ensign is now among the trophies of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, while that of the Enter- prise has but lately been reclaimed from among the forgotten things of the 108 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. past, to array its tattered folds beside the flags of the Bonhomme Ridianl and ofFort M'llenry.' Among the recollections of his "Lost Youth," the author of " Evangeline,''' a native of Portland, tells us: "I remember the sea-fight far away, How it thundered o'er the tide! And the dead captains, as they lay In their graves o'erlooking the tranquil bay, Where they in battle died." ' Tills flag inspired the national lyric, "The Star-spangled Banner." burrows' S MEDAL. GORGE, BALD HEAD CLIFF. CHAPTER VIII. FROM AVELLS TO OLD YORK, "A shipman was there, wonned far by west; For aught I wot, he was of Dartemouth." Chauceu. ONE liot, slumbevous morning in August I found myself in the town of Wells. I was traveling, as New England ought to be traversed by ev- ery young man of average health and active habits, on foot, and at leisure, along the beautiful road to Old York. Now Wells, as Victor Hugo says of a village in Brittany, is not a town, but a street, stretching for five or six miles along the shore, and everywhere commanding an extensive and un- broken ocean view. 110 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. The place itself, though bristling with history, has been stripped of its antiques, and is in appearance the counterpart of a score of neat, thrifty vil- lages of my acquaintance. I paused for a moment at the site of the Storer garrison, in which Captain Converse made so manful a defense when Fron- tenac, in 1692, let slip his French and Indians on our border settlements.' Some fragments of the timbers of the garrison are jn-eserved in the vicinity, one of which I saw among the collections of a village antiquary. In the an- nals of Wells the names of John Wheelwright and of George Burroughs oc- cur, the former celebrated as the founder of Exeter, the latter a victim of the witchcraft horror of '92. John Wheelwright, the classmate and friend of Cromwell, fills a large space in the early history of the Bay Colony. A fugitive, like John Cotton, from the persecutions of Laud, he came to Boston in 1636, and became the j^astor of a church at Braintree, then forming part of Boston. He was the brother-in-law of the famous Ann Hutchinson, who was near creating a revo- lution in W^inthrop's government,^ and shared her Antinomian opinions. For this he was banished, and became the founder of Exeter in 1638. In 1643, Massachusetts having claimed jurisdiction over that town. Wheelwright re- moved to Wells, where he remained two years. Becoming reconciled to the Massachusetts government, he removed to Hampton, was in England in 1657, returning to New England in 1660. He became pastor of the church in Salis- bury, and died there in 1679; but the place of his burial, Allen says, is not known. He was the oldest minister in the colony at the time of his death, and a man of pronounced character. The settlement of the island of Rhode Island occurred through the removal of William Coddington and others at the same time, and for the same reasons that caused tlie expulsion of Wheel- wright from Boston, as Roger Williams had been expelled from Salem seven years before. "Wheelwright's Deed" has been the subject of a long and animated con- troversy among antiquaries ; some, like Mr. Savage, pronouncing it a forgery because it is dated in 1629, tlie year before the settlement of Boston. This deed was a conveyance from the Indian sagamores to Wheelwright of the land on which stands the flourishing town of Exeter; and although copies of it have been recorded in several places, the original long ago disappeared. Cotton Mather, who saw it, testifies to its appearance of antiquity, and the advocates of its validity do not a])pear as yet to have the worst of the argu- ment.' ' Colonel Storer kept up tlie stockades and one or iiioie of the (lankarts until after tlie year 1700, as a memorial rather than a defense. ' Tills relationsliip is disputed by Mr. Josejih L. Chester, the eminent :inti(iiinry. "Winlln-op, it would seem, ought to have known ; Kliot and iVIien rejieat the authority, tlie latter giving tlie full name of Mary lliitehinson. ° lioth sides have tieen ahly presented by Dr. N. Hoiiton and lion. Cliarles II. Ik'll. FROM WELLS TO OLD YORK. HI George Burroughs, who fell fighting against terrorism on Gallows Hill — a single spot may claim in New England the terrible distinction of this name — was, if tradition says truly, apprehended by officers of the Bloody Council at the church door, as he was leaving it after divine service. A little dark man, and an athlete, whose muscular strength was turned against him to fa- tal account. An Indian, at Falmouth, had held out a heavy fowling-piece at arms -length by simply thrusting his finger in at the muzzle. Poor Bur- roughs, who would not stand by and see an Englishman outdone by a red- skin, repeated the feat on the spot, and this was the most ruinous piece of evidence brought forth at his trial. A man could not be strong then, or the devil was in it. The road was good, and the way plain. As the shores are for some miles intersected by creeks intrenched behind sandy downs, the route follows a level shelf along the high land. There are pleasant strips of beach, where the sea breaks noiselessly when the wind is off shore, but where it comes thundering in when driven before a north-east gale. Now and then a vessel is embayed here in thick weather, or, fiiiling to make due allowance for the strong drift to the westw-ard, is set bodily on these sands, as the fishermen say, "all standing." While I was in the neighborhood no less than three came ashore Avithin a few hours of each other. The first, a timber vessel, missing her course a little, went on the beach ; but at the next tide, by carry- ing an anchor into deep w^ater and kedging, she Avas floated again. Another luckless craft struck on the rocks within half a mile of the first, and became a wreck, the crew owing their lives to a smooth sea. The third, a Bank fisherman, was left by the ebb high up on a dangerous reef, with a hole in her bottom. She was abandoned to the underwriters, and sold for a few dol- lars. To the surprise even of the knowing ones, the shrewd Yankee who bought her succeeded at low tide in getting some empty casks into her hold, and brought her into port. Notwithstanding these sands are hard and firm as a granite floor, they are subject to shiftings which at first appear almost unaccountable. Many years ago, while sauntering along the beach, I came across the timbers of a strand- ed vessel. So deeply were they imbedded in the sand, that they had the ap- pearance rather of formidable rows of teeth belonging to some antique sea- monster than of the work of human hands. How long the wreck had lain there no one could say ; but at intervals it disappeared beneath the sands, to come to the surface again. I have often walked over the spot where it lay buried out of sight ; and yet, after the lapse of years, there it was again, like a grave that would not remain closed. A few years ago, an English vessel, the Clotilde, went ashore on Wells Beach, and remained there high and dry for nearly a year. She was deeply laden with railway iron, and, after being relieved of her cargo, Avas success- fully launched. During the time the ship lay on the beach, she became so 112 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. OLD WRECKS ON THE BEACH. deeply buried in the sand tliat a person might walk on board without diffi- culty. Ways were built underneath her, and, after a terrible wrenching, she was got afloat. Heavy objects, such as kegs of lead paint, and even pigs of iron, have been exposed by the action of the waves, after having, in some in- stances, been twenty years under the surfiice. I have picked up whole bricks, lost overboard from some coaster, that have come ashore with their edges smoothly rounded by the abrasion of the sand and sea. There is an authen- tic account of the re- appearance of a wrecked ship's caboose more than a liundred and seventy years after her loss on Cape Cod. After a heavy east- erly gale, the beach is always sprinkled with a fine, dark gravel, which disap- pears again with a few days of ordinary weather. Besides being the inexhaustible resource of summer idlers, the beach has its practical aspects. The sand, fine, Nvhite, and "sharp," is not only used by builders — and there is no fear of exhausting the supply — but is hauled away by fjxrmers along shore, and housed in their barns as bedding for cattle, or to mix with heavy soils. The sea-weed and kelp that comes ashore in such vast' (piantitics after a heavy blow is carefully harvested, and goes to enrich the lands with its lime and salt. It formerly supplied the commercial demand ibr soda, and was gathered on the coasts of Ireland, Scotland, France, and Spain for the ])urpose. It is the varec of Brittanj'^ and Normandy, the blan- quette of Frontignan and Aigues-mortes, and the salicor of Narbonne. After being dried, it was reduced to ashes in rude furnaces. Iodine is also the ])roduct of sea-weed. You may sometimes see at high-water mark winrows' of Irish moss {carrageen) bleaching in the sun, though for my blanc-mange I give the preference to that cast up on the shingle, as more free from sand. This ])lant grows only on the fiirthest ledges. The pebble usually heaped above the line of sand, or in little coves among the ledges, is used for ballast, and for mcndinut the sand roller, or circle, is the curi- osit)' of the beach as a specimen of ocean handicraft. I passed many of them scattered about, though a perfect one is rarely found, except on shallow bars beyond low-water mark. Looking down over the side of a boat, I liave seen more than I was able to count readily, but they are too fragile to bear the buffeting of the surf In appearance they are like a section taken oiFthe top of a jug where the cork is put in, and as neath' rounded as if turned oft' a pot- ter's lathe. Naturalists call them the nest of the cockle. Going down the samls as far as the sea would allow, I remarked that the nearest breakers were discolored with tlie rubbish of shredded sea-weed, and ' In Eii^^Iiiiul tliere is a cockle called the piirjile, from the coloring matter it contains, believed to be one of tlie sources from which the celeliratcd 'I'vrinn dye was obtained. The discovery is at- tributed in mythical story to a dog. The Tyri:in IKmcuIcs was one day wnlking with his sweet- heart l)y the shore, followed by her lap-dog, when the !inin\al seized a siieil just cast npoTi the beach. Its lips were stained witii the beaiiiifnl pm-ple flowing from the shell, and its mistress, charmed with the color, demanded a dress dyed with it of her lover. AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 129 by the particles of sand they held in solution. As I walked on, countless sand- fleas skipped out of my path, as I have seen grasshoppers in a stubble-field out West. The sandpipers ran eagerly about in pursuit, giving little plaint- ive squeaks, and leaving their tiny tracks impressed upon the wet sand. Little sprites they seemed as they chased the refluent wave for their food, sometimes overtaken and borne ofl" their feet by the glancing surf. I remember having seen a flock of hens scratching among the sea-moss for these very beach-fleas in one of the coves I passed. Old Neptune's garden contains as wonderful plants as any above high- water mark, though the latter do well with less watering. I have thought the botany of the sea worth studying, and, as it is sometimes inconvenient to pluck a plant or a flower when you want it, the beach is the place for speci- mens. Some years ago delicate sea-mosses were in request. They were kept in albums, pressed like autumn leaves, or displayed in frames on the'walls at home. It was a pretty conceit, and employed manj^ leisure fingers at the sea-side, but appears to have been discarded of late. One day, during a storm, I went down to the beach, to find it encumbered with "devils' apron" and kelp, whitening where it lay. I picked up a plant having a long stalk, slender and hollow, of more than ten feet in length, re- sembling a gutta-percha tube. The root was firmly clasped around five deep- sea mussels, while the other end terminated in broad, plaited leaves. It had been torn from its bed in some sea-cranny, to be combined with terrestrial vegetation ; but to the mussels it was equal whether they died of thirst or of the grip of the talon-like root of the kelp. There were tons upon tons of weed and moss, which the farmers were pitching with forks higher up the beach, out of reach of the sea, the kelp, as it was being tossed about, quiver- ing as if there were life in it. I found the largest mass of sponge I have ever seen on shore — as big as a man's head — and was at a loss how to describe it, until I thought of the mops used on shipboard, and made of rope-yarns ; for this body of sponge was composed of slender branches of six to twelve inches in length, each branching again, coral-like, into three or four oftshoots. The pores were alive with sand-fleas, who showed great partiality for it. What at first seems paradoxical is, that with the wind blowing directly on shore, the kelp will not land, but is kept just beyond the surf by the un- der-tow; it requires an inshore wind to bring it in. One who has walked on the beach weaves of its sea-weed a garland : " From Bermuda's reefs, from edges Of sunken ledges, On some far-off, bright Azore ; From Bahama and the dashing, Silver-flashing Surges of San Salvador : * * * * Hf 9 130 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST, Ever drifting, drifting, drifting On the shifting Currents of the restless main." I had before walked round the cape one way, and now, passing it from a contrary direction, had fairly doubled it. After leaving York Beach I push- ed on for Old York, finding little to arrest my steps, until at night-fall I ar- rived at the harbor, after a twenty-mile tramp, with an appetite that augured ill for mine host. It was not my first visit to Old York, but I found the place strangely altered from its usual quiet and dullness. The summer, as Charles Lamb says, had set iu with its usual severity, and I saw fishers in varnished boots, boatmen in tight-fitting trowsers, and enough young Americans in navy blue to man a fleet by-and-by. Parasols fluttered about the fields, and silks swept the wet floor of the beach. I had examined with a critical eye as I walked the impressions of dainty boots in the sand, keeping step with others of more masculine shape, and marked where the pace had slackened or quickened, and where the larger pair had diverged for a moment to pick up a stone or a pebble, or perchance in hurried self-communing for a question of mighty im- port. Sometimes the foot-prints diverged not to meet again, and I saw the gentleman had walked oflT with rapid strides in the opposite direction. For hours on the beach I had watched these human tracks, almost as devious as the bird's, until I fancied I should know their makers. Not unfrequently I espied a monogram, traced with a stick or the point of a parasol, the lesser initials lovingly twined about the greater. Faith 1 I came to regard the beach itself as a larger sort of tablet graven vvitli hieroglyphics, easy to de- cipher if you have the key. The hotel' appeared deserted, but it was only a seclusion of calculation. After supper tlie guests set about what I may call their usual avocations. Not a few " paired off'," as they say at Washington, for a walk on the beach, springing down the path with elastic step and voices full of joyous mirth. One or two maidens I had seen rowing on the river showed blistered hands to condoling cavaliers. Young matrons, carefully shawled by their husbands, sauntered off" for a quiet evening ramble, or mingled in the frolic of the juve- niles going on in the parlor. The dowagers all souglit a particular side of the house, wliere, out of ear-shot of the piano, they solaced themselves with the evening newspapers, damp from presses sixty miles away. A few choice spirits gathered in the smoking-room, where they maintained a frigid reserve toward all new-comers, their conversation coming out between puflTs, as void of warmth as the vapor that rises from ice. On the beach, and alone with inuniuiate objects, I had company enough and to spare; here, with a hundred ' Situated on Stage Neck, a rocky peninsida connected with the main shore hv a narrow isth- mus, on wliirh is a beach. Tlieie was foniierly a fort on the north-east iKiint of ilie Ncek. AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 131 of my own species, it was positively dreary. I took a turn on the piazza, and soon retired to my cell ; for in these large caravansaries man loses his indi- viduality and becomes a number. Old York, be it remembered, is one of those places toward which the his- tory of a country or a section converges. Thus, when you are in Maine all roads, historically speaking, lead to York. Long before there was any set- tlement it had become well known from its mountain and its position near the mouth of the Piscataqua. Its first name was Agamenticus. Says Smith, "Accominticus and Pascataquack are two convenient harbors for small barks, and a good country within their craggy clifis:" this in 1614. He could not have sounded, perhaps not even ascended, the Piscataqua. Christopher Levett, in his voyage, begun in 1623 and ended in 1624, says of this situation: "About two leagues farther to the east (of Piscataqua) is another great river, called Aquamenticus. There, I think, a good plantation may be settled; for there is a good harbor for ships, good ground, and much already cleared, fit for planting of corn and other fruits, having heretofore been planted by the savages, who are all dead. There is good timber, and likely to be good fishing; but as yet there hath been no trial made that I can hear of" Levett was one of the Council of New England, joined with Rob- ert Gorges, Francis West, and Governor Bradford, From his account, Aga- menticus appears to have been a permanent habitation of the Indians, Avho had been stricken by the same plague that desolated what was afterward New Plymouth. The first English settlement was begun probably in 1624, but not earlier than 1623, on both sides of York River, by Francis Norton, who had raised himself at home from the rank of a common soldier to be a lieutenant-colonel in the army. This was Norton's project, and he had the address to persuade Sir Ferdinando Gorges to unite in the undertaking. Artificers to build mills, cattle, and other necessaries for establishing the plantation, were sent over. A patent passed to Ferdinando Gorges, Norton, and others, of twelve thou- sand acres on the east to Norton, and twelve thousand on the west of Aga- menticus River to Gorges. Captain William Gorges was sent out by his un- cle to represent that interest.' The plantation at Agamenticus was incorporated into a borough in 1641, and subsequently, in 1642, into a city, under the name of Gorgeana. Thomas Gorges, cousin of Sir F, Gorges, and father of Ferdinando, was the first mayor. It was also made a free port. Though Gorgeana was probably the first in- corporated city in America, it was in reality no more than an inconsiderable sea-coast village, with a few houses in some of the best places for fishing and navigation. Its territory was, however, ample, embracing twenty-one square miles. There was little order or morality among the people, and in one ac- ' Sir F. Goi-ges's own relation. 132 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. count it is said " they had as many shaves in a woman as a fishing boat.' All the earlier authorities I have seen agree in giving Gorgeana an indilFerent character, and I was not surprised to find a couplet still extant, expressive of the local estimate in which its villages were once held. "Cape Neddock and the Nubble, Old York and the d— 1." Governor Winthrop, of ^Massachusetts, tuade, in 1643, the following entry in his "Journal:" "Those of Sir Ferdinando Gorge his province beyond Pis- cat were not admitted to the confederation,'' because they ran a dififerent course from us, both in their ministry and civil administration ; for they had lately made Accomenticus (a poor village) a corporation, and had made a taylor their mayor, and had entertained one Mr. Hull, an excommunicated person, and very contentious, for their minister." A Boston man, and a mag- istrate, stood thus early on his dignity. Sir F. Gorges makes his appearance in that brilliant and eventful period when Elizabeth ruled in England, Henry lY. in France, and Pliilip H, in Spain. He is said to have revealed the conspiracy of Devereux, earl of Es- sex, to Sir Walter Raleigh, after having himself been privy to it.^ This act, a bar-sinister in the biography of Gorges, sullies his escutcheon at the outset. History must nevertheless award that he was the most zealous, the most indefatigable, and the most influential of those who ft-eely gave their talents and their wealth to tlie cause of American colonization. Gorges deserves to be called the father of New England. For more than forty years — extending through the reigns of James I. and of Charles I., the Com- monwealth, and the liestoration — he pursued his favorite idea with a con- stancy that seems almost marvelous when the troublous times in which he lived are passed in review. In a letter to Buckingham on the affairs of Spain, Gorges says he was sometimes thought worthy to be consulted by Elizabeth. Sir Ferdinando commanded at Plymouth, England, with his nephew Wil- liam for his lieutenant, when Captain Weymouth returned to tliat port from New Enirland. On board Weynu)iith's ship were five natives, of wliom three were seized by Gorges. Tliey were detained by him until they were able to o-ive an account of the topograpliy, resources, aiul peoples of their far-oft' country. From this circumstance dates Gorges's active jiarticipation in New England afi'airs. He was interested in Lord John Popham's ineffectual attempt. Finding ' About l()t7 tlie settlements at Agamenticiis were made a town by the name of York, proba- bly from En;,disb York. " (Confederation of the colonies for mutual protection. ' Elizabeth died while Martin Tring was preparing to sail for America ; and Essex and Raleigh hoth went to the block. AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY, I33 the disasters of that expedition, at home and abroad, had so disheartened his associates that he could no longer reckon on their assistance, he dispatched Richard Vines and others at his own charge, about 1617, to the same coast the Popham colonists had branded, on their return, as too cold to be inhab- ited by Englishmen. Vines established himself at or near the mouth of the Saco. Between the years 1617 and 1620, Gorges sent Captains Hobson, Ro- croft, and Dermer to New England, but their voyages were barren of results. In 1620 Gorges and others obtained from the king a separate patent, with similar privileges, exemption from custom, subsidies, etc., such as had for- merly been granted the Virginia Company. By this patent the adventurers to what had heretofore been known as the "Northern Colony in Virginia," and "The Second* Colony in Virginia," obtained an enlargement of territory, so as to include all between the fortieth and forty-eighth parallels, and extending westward to the South Sea or Pa- cific Ocean. This was the Great Charter of New England, out of which were made the subsequent grants within its territory. The incorporators were styled "The Council of Plymouth."' The Virginia Company, whose rights were invaded, attempted to annul the Plymouth Company's patent. Defeated before the Lords, they brought the subject the next year, 1621, before Parliament, as a monopoly and a griev- ance of the Commonwealth. Gorges was cited to appear at the bar of the House, and made his defense, Sir Edward Coke' being then Speaker. After hearing the arguments of Gorges and his lawyers on three several occasions, the House, in presenting the grievances of the kingdom to the throne, placed "Sir Ferd. Gorges's patent for sole fishing in New England" at the head of the catalogue ; but Parliament, having made itself obnoxious to James, was dissolved, and some of its members committed to the Tower. The patent was saved for a time. Before this affair of the Parliament the Pilgrims had made their ever-fa- mous landing in New England. Finding themselves, contrary to their first intention, located within the New England patent, they applied through their solicitor in England to Gorges for a grant, and in 1623 they obtained it. This was the first patent of Plymouth Colony ; in 1629 they had another, made to William Bradford and his associates. In 1623 the frequent complaints to the Council of Plymouth of the abuses and disorders committed by fishermen and other intruders within their pa- tent, determined them to send out an ofticer to represent their authority on the spot. Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando, w\as fixed upon, and became for a short time invested with the powers of a civil magistrate. According to Belknap, he was styled " Lieutenant-general of New England." George Popham was the first to exercise a local authority Avithin her limits. ' The insertion of the lengthy title in full appears nnnecessar\'. * Tlie celebrated commentator. 134 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. The Great Charter of New England was surrendered to the crown in April, 1635, and the territory embraced within it was parceled out among the patentees. Gorges receiving for his share a tract of sixty miles in extent, from the Merrimac to the Kennebec, reaching into the country one hundred and twenty miles. This tract was called the province of Maine. It was di- vided by Gorges into eight bailiwicks or counties, and these again into six- teen hundreds, after the manner of the Chiltern Hundreds, a fief of the English crown. The Hundreds were subdivided into parishes and tithings. It would fatigue the reader to enter into the details of the government established by Gorges within what he calls " my province of Maine." It Avas exceedingly cumbrous, and the few inhabitants were in as great danger of being governed too much as later communities have often been. An annual rental was laid on the lands, and no sale or transfer could be made without consent of the Council. This distinction, as against the neighboring colony of Massachusetts, where all were freeholders, was fatal. The crown, in con- firming the grant to Gorges, vested him with privileges and powers similar to those of the lords palatine of the ancient city of Durham. Under this au- thority the plantation at Agamenticus was raised to the dignity of a city, and a quasi ecclesiastical government founded in New England. Belknap says further tJiat there was no provision for public institutions. Schools were unknown, and they had no minister till, in pity of their deplora- ble state, two went thither from Boston on a voluntary mission. Tliere are yet some interesting objects to be seen in York, though few of the old houses are remaining at the harbor. These few will, however, re- pay a visit. Prominent among her an- ticpiities is the meeting-house of the fiist parish. An inscription in the foundation records as follows : " Founded A. D. 1 747. The Revd. Mr. Moody, Pas." The church is ])laced on a grassy knoll, with the parsonage behind it. Its exterior is plain. If such a dis- tinction may be ma^lisli forces at IMacpioit, nndei- Captain Maidi, and had a i'v^ht with tliem. Tliis prcventcd tlieir jjioceedinj;, and saved the Shoals. — " Maf;naiia,"vol. xi.. ]>. IWI. 1(>!>2. Governor Fletcher exniiiiucd three deserters, or renegadoes, as he calls them, from Que- bec, who came before him Se|)temher 23d. They said two men-of-war had arrived at Quebec, and were (ittinj; out for an expedition aloni; the coast, " with a design to fall on Wells, Isle of Shoals, I'iscatacpia, etc." — " New York ( '.ilnniiil I )(iriiniciits," vol. iii., p. 855. 1724. After the Indians had cut otV Captain Winslow and thirteen of his men in the TJiver St. George, encouraged bv this success, the enemy made a still greater attemjit by water, and seized two shalliips at the l>les (.f Slioals.— IIltciiinson's " Massachusetts," vol. ii., p. 307. THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 169 of the Crucifixion, I clambered down one of the rocky gorges from which the softer forma- tion has been eat- en out by the consuming appe- tite of the waves. Sometimes the de- scent was made easy by irregular steps of trap-rock, and again a flying leap was necessa- ry from stone to stone. The per- pendicular walls of the gorge rose near fifty feet at its outlet, at the shore It was a gouge, star island. relief to emerge from the dripping sides and pent-up space into the open air. The Flume, on Star Island, is a fine specimen of the intrusion of igneous rock among the harder formation. If you would know what the sea can do, go down one of these gulches to the water's edge and be satisfied. I could not find a round pebble among the debris of shattered rock that lay tumbled about; only fractured pieces of irregular shapes. Those rocks submerged bj' the tide were blackened as if by fire, and shagged with weed. Overhead the precipitous cliff's caught the sun's rays on countless glittering points, the mica with which they are so plentifully bespangled dazzling the eye with its brilliancy. Elsewhere they were flint, of which there w^as more than enough to have furnished all Europe in the Thirty Years' War, or else granite. Looking up from among the ahat- tis which girds the isle about, you are confronted by masses of overhanging rocks that threaten to detach themselves from the cliff" and bury you in their ruins. It is not for the timid to attempt a ramble among the rocks on the At- lantic side at low tide. He should be sure-footed and supple-jointed who un- dertakes it, with an eye to estimate the exact distance where the incoming surf-wave is to break. The illusions produced in the mind by the great waves that roll past are not the least striking sensations experienced. The speed with which they press in, and the noise accompanying their passage IVO THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. through the gullies and rents of the shore, contribute to make them seem much larger than they really are. It was only by continually watching the waves and measuring their farthest reach that I was able to await one of these curling monsters with composure; and even then I could not avoid looking suddenly round on hearing the rush of a breaker behind me; and ever and anon one of greater volume destroyed all confidence by bursting far above the boundaries the mind had assigned for its utmost limits. Nothing struck me more than the idea of such mighty forces going to pure waste. A lifting power the Syracusan never dreamed of litei'ally throw- ing itself away ! An engine sufficient to turn all the machinery in Christen- dom lying idle at our very doors. What might not be accomplished if Old Neptune would put his shoulder to the wheel, instead of making all this mag- nificent but useless pother! I noticed that the M'aves, after churning themselves into foam, assumed emerald tints, and caught a momentary gleam of sapphire, melting into ame- thyst, during the rapid changes from the bluish-green of solid water to its greatest state of disintegration. The same change of color has been observed in the Hebrides, and elsewhere. The place that held for me more of fascination and sublimity than others was the bluflf that looks out upon the vast ocean. I was often there. The swell of the Atlantic is not like the long regular roll of the Pacific, but it beats with steady rhythm. The grandest effects are produced after a heavy north-east blow, when the ■\vaves assume the larger and more flattened form known as the ground-swell. I was fortunate enough to stand on the cliff' after three or four days of" easterly weather" had })roduccd this effect. Sucli billows as poui'cd with solid im])aet on the rocks, leaj)ing twenty feet in the air, or heai)ed themselves in fountains of boiling foam around its base, give a competent idea of i-esistless power! The shock and recoil seemed to shake the foundations of the island. Upon a shelf or platform of this cliff" a young lady-teacher lost her life in September, 1848. Since then the rock on which she was seated has been called "INIiss ITuderhilTs Chair." Other accidents have occurred on the same spot, insufficient, it would seem, to prevent the foolhardy from i-isking their lives for a seat in this f:ttal chair. There are circumstances that cast a melancholy interest around the fate of ]\Iiss Underhill. In early life she liad been betrothed, and the banns, as was then the custom, h:ily his licentious eonduel, and what some have been pleased to call indulgence in such "hearty 'old l^^nglish pastinu's" as dancing aliont a May-J'ole, sing- ing songs of no doubtlul impoi't, holding high wassail the while, like the mad, rovstering rogues his followers were. The IMlgrim Fathei's are indieted by a class of historians (k'sii'ous of displaying to the world the intolerance of the "]*lymouth Separatists," as distinguished from the liberality which marked ' Boston, 18r>0: original in possession of Dorcliestcr Antiquarian Society. " Mount Wollaston, Ciiiincy, Miissaduisetts ; present residence of Joini Quincy Adams, Esq. THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 181 the religious views of the settlers east of the Merrimac. Our forefathers, say they, did not come to the New World for religious liberty, but to tish aud trade. Mortou's offense is stated by Governor Bradford, in liis letters to the Council for New England and to Sir F, Gorges, to have been the selling of arms and ammunition to the Indians in such quantities as to endanger the safety of the infant plantations. He was arrested, and his association of Mer- ry Mount broken up, after repeated and friendly efforts to dissuade him from this course had been met with insolence and bravado. It stands thus in Gov- ernor Bradford's letter-book : "7'o the Honourable his 3lajesty''s Council for Neio England, tJiese, Right Ilononrable and our very good Lords : "Necessity hath forced us, his Majesty's subjects of New England in gen- eral (after long patience), to take this course with this troublesome planter, Mr. Thomas Morton, whon\ we have sent unto your honours that you may be pleased to take that course with him which to your honourable wisdom shall . seem fit; who hath been often admonished not to trade or truek with the In- dians either pieces, powdei", or shot, which yet he hath done, and duly makes provision to do, and could not be restrained, taking it in high scorn (as he speaks) that any here should controul thei"ein. Now the general weakness of us his Majesty's subjects, the strength of the Indians, and at this time their great preparations to do some affront upon us, and the evil example which it gives unto others, and having no subordinate general government under your honours in this land to restrain such misdemeanours, causeth us to be trouble- some to your Lordships to send this party unto you for remedy and redress hereof." The letter to Sir F. Gorges' is in greater detail, but its length prevents its insertion with the foregoing extract. The Governor of New Plymouth makes a similar allegation with regard to the fishing ships. It is noticeable that all the plantations took part in this affair, Piscataqua, the Isles of Shoals, Edward Hilton, and others paying their proportion of the expense of sending Morton out of the country. Morton's offense, therefore, was political and not religious, and his extradi- tion a measure of self-preservation, an inexorable law in 1628 to that handful of settlers. If, at the end of nearly two centuries and a half, the Government those Pilgrims contributed to found deemed it necessary to the public safety to banish individuals from its borders, how, then, may we challenge this act of a few men who dwelt in a wilderness, and worshiped their God with the Bible in one hand and a musket in the other? ' See " Massachisetts Historical Collections," vol. iii., p. 63. 182 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Morton defied the proclamation of the king promulgated in 1622, saying there was no penalt3^ attached to it. Its terms forbade " any to trade to the portion of America called New England, being the whole breadth of the land between forty and forty-eight degrees of north latitude, excepting those of the Virginia Company, the plantation having been much injured by interlo- pers, who have injured the woods, damaged the harbors, trafficked with the savages, and even sold them weapons, and taught them the use thereof" Of the May-pole, which the Pilgrims regarded with grim discontent, Stubbes gives the manner in England of bringing it home from the woods. "But," he says, "their cheefest Jewell they bring home with greate vener- ation, as thus: they have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe hav- yng a sweete nosegaie of flowers tyed on the tippe of his homes, and these oxen drawe home this Maie-poole, which is covered all over with flowers and hearbes, bounde rounde aboute with stringes from the top to the bottome, and sometyme painted with variable colours, with two or three hundred men, women, and children followyng it with great devotion. And thus beying reared np with handkercheifes and flagges streamyng on the toppe, they strawe the grounde aboute, binde green bouglios about it, sett up Sommer haules, Bowers, and Arbours hard by. And then fiill they to banquet and feast, to leape and dance aboute it, as the Heathen peoj^le did at the dedica- tion of their idolles, whereof this is a perfect patterne, or rather the thynge itself." SMUTTY NOSE Smutty Xoso, tlie most verdant of the islands, was one of the earliest set- tled. The stranger for tlie first time feels sometliing like soil beneath liis feet. There is a wharf and a little landing-place, where a boat may be * British State Papers, Calendars. THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 183 beached. When within Haley's little cove, I looked down into the water, and saw the percli (cunners) swimming lazily about. This was the only place where the old-time industry of the isles showed even a flake, so to speak, of its former greatness. There were a few men engaged in drying their fish near the landing. Clear weather with westerly winds is best for this purpose; dull or foggy weather spoils the fish. HALEY DOCK AND HOMESTEAD. (In the third House from the left the Waguer Murder was committed.) At a little distance, shorn of some of its former adornments, is the home- stead of Samuel Haley, who with his two sons and their fiimilies occupied the island, many years ago. Not far oflT is the little family grave-yard of the Haleys, with the palings falling in decay, and the mounds overgrown with a tangle of rank grass. At one time, by his energy, Mr. Haley had made of his island a self-sustaining possession. Before the Revolution he had built a windmill, salt-works, and rope-walk; a bakehouse, brewery, distillery, black- smith's and cooper's shops succeeded in the first year of peace — all going to decay within his lifetime. By all report of him, he was a good and humane man, and I hereby set up his prostrate gi'ave-stone on my page: "IN xMEMORY OF MR. SAMUEL HALEY Who died in the year 1811 Aged 84 He was a man of great Ingenuity Industry Honor and Honesty, true to his Country & A man who did A great Public good in Building A Dock & Receiving into his Enclosure many a poor Distressed Seaman & Fisherman In distress of Weather." 184 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. A few steps farther on are the gi-aves of fourteen sliipwrecked mariners, marked by rude boulders. It is entered in tlie Gosport records: " 1813, Jan. 14^/«, ship Sagunto stranded on Smutty Nose Isle; Jan. 15^A, one man found; 16^//, six men found ; 2\st, seven men found." The record sums up the num- ber as twelve bodies found, whereas the total appears to be fourteen. Although the ship Sagunto was not stranded on Smutty Nose Isle, the wreck of a ship, either Spanish or Portuguese, with all on board, remains a terrible fact but too well attested by these graves.* The horror of the event is deepened and strengthened by the simple word "Unknown." When this ship crashed and filled and went down, the Sagunto was lying, after a terrible buffeting, witliin a safe harbor. It was in a blinding snow-storm, and a gale that strewed the shore from the Penobscot to Hatteras with wrecks, that a ship built of cedar and ma- hogany was thrown on these rocks. Not a living soul was left to tell the tale of that bitter January night. The ill-fated vessel was richly laden, no doubt, for boxes of raisins and almonds from Malaga drifted on shore the next morning. On a piece of the wreck that came in a silver watch of English make was found, with the letters "P. S." graven on the seals ; and among the debris was a Spanish and part of an American ensign, for it was war-time then between England and the American States. The watch had stopped at ex- actly four o'clock, or when time ceased for those hapless Spaniards. There were also found some twenty letters, addressed south of New York. Conjec- tui'e said it was a Spanish ship from Cadiz, bound for Philadelphia. This is the story of this little clump of graves, and of the wreck, to this day unknown. It has been told many times in prose and poetry, but not oft- en lv\\\y. Samuel TIaley had been quietly lying in his grave two years. The reader may or may not believe he found tlie frozen bodies of some of the crew next morning reclining on his wall. Here is a wild flower of island growth, of a handful cast upon these fading mounds: "O sailors, did sweet eyes look after you The day you sailed away from sunny 8|)ain ? Bright eyes that followed fading ship and crew, Melting in tender rain?" I wondered that these fourteen the old sea liad strangled and flung up here could rest so peacefully in gi'ound unblessed by Holy Cliui'ch. Per- chance! the spot has witnessed midnight mass, with incense and with missal: no doubt beads have been told, and a jxtier and «re said by pious pilgrims. ' Spanish ship Sarjunto, Carrera, seventy-three days from Cadiz for New York, arrived at New- port on Monday, JanuaiT 11th, out of provisions and water, and the crew frost-bitten. Cargo, wine, raisins, and salt. Saw no Enfjlish cruisers, and spoke only one vessel, a Baltimore priva- teer. — Columbian Centinel, January Kitli, 1813. THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 185 It is not pleasant to think that the island has become more widely known through the medium of an atrocious murder committed here in March, 1873. Formerly the islanders dated from some well-remembered wreck ; now it is before or since the murder on Smutty Nose they reckon. On the morning of March 6th the Norwegian who lives opposite Star Isl- and, on Appledore, heard a cry for help. Going to the shore, he saw a wom- an standing on the rocks of Malaga in her night-dress. He crossed over and brought the poor creature to his cottage, when it appeared tliat her feet were frozen. She was half dead with fright and exposure, but told her tale as soon as she was able. John Hontvet, a fisherman, occupied one of the three houses on Smutty Nose; the third counting from the little cove, as you look at it from Star Isl- and. On the night of the 5th of March he was at Portsmouth, leaving three women — Mary, his wife; Annethe and Karen Christensen — at home. They went to bed as usual, Annethe with Mrs. Hontvet in the bedroom; Karen on a couch in the kitchen. It was a fine moonlight night, though cold, and there was snow on tlie ground. Some time during the night a man entered the house, it is supposed for the purpose of robbery. He fastened the door between tlie kitchen, wliich he first entered, and the bedroom, thus isolating the sleeping women. Karen, liaving awoke, cried out, when she was attacked by the intruder with a chair. The noise having aroused the two women in the bedroom, Mary Hontvet jumped out of bed, forced open the door leading into the kitchen, and suc- ceeded in getting hold of the wounded girl, Karen, whom she drew within her own chamber. All this took place in the dark. Mary then bade Annethe, her brother's wife, to jump out of the window, and slie did so, but was too much terrified to go beyond the corner of the house. Mary, meanwhile, was holding the door of the kitchen against the attempts of their assailant to force it open. Foiled here, the viUain left the house, and meeting the young wife, Annethe, was seen by Mary, in the clear moonlight, to deal her three terrible blows with an axe. But before she was struck down the girl had recognized her murderer, and shrieked out, "Louis, Louis !" After this accursed deed the man went back to the house, and Mary also made her escape by the window. Karen Avas too badly hurt to follow. The clear-grit Norwegian woman ran first to the dock, but finding no boat there, hid herself among the rocks. She durst not shout, for fear the sound of her voice would bring the murderer to the spot. There she remained, like anoth- er Betty Moody, until sunrise, when she took courage and went across the sea-wall to Malaga and was rescued. I was told tliat Avhen she fled, with rare presence of mind, she took her little dog under her arm, for fear it might prove her destruction. It resulted that Louis Wagner, a Prussian, was arrested, tried for the mui*- der, and condemned as guilty. The fatal recognition by Annethe, the figure 186 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. seen with uplifted axe through the window by Mary, and the prisoner's ab- sence from his lodgings on the night of the murder, pointed infallibly to him as the chief actor in this night of horrors. To have committed this crime he must have rowed from Portsmouth to the Islands and back again on the night in question ; no great feat for one of those hardy islanders, and Wagner was noted for muscular strength. It is said he was of a churlish disposition, and would seldom speak unless addressed, when he would answer shortly. He was not considered a bad fellow, but a poor companion. I went to the house. Relic-hunters had left it in a sorry plight ; taking away even the sashes of the windows, shelves, and every thing movable. Even the paper had been torn from tlie walls, and carried off for its blood-stains. Hontvet described, with the phlegm of his race, the appearance of the house on the morning of the tragedy : " Karen lay dere ; Annethe lay here," he said. I saw they were preparing to make it habitable again : better burn it, say I. We had a sun-dog at evening and a rainbow in the morning, fiill-ai-ched, and rising out of the sea, a sure forerunner, say veteran observers, of foul weather. Says the quatrain of the forecastle : Kainbow in the morning, Sailors take warning ; Rainbow at night, Is the sailor's delight." I Spent a quiet, breezy afternoon in exploring Appledore. The landing from tlie harbor side has to be made in some cleft of the rock, and is not prac- ticable whvu there is a sea rnnning. Passing by the cottage at the shore, I first went up the rocky declivity to the site of the abandoned settlement of so long ngo. It may still be recognized by the cellars, rough stone walls, and fragments of bricks lying scattered about. Tliistles, raspberry-buslies, and dwarf cherry-trees in fragrant bloom, were growing in the depressions which THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 18r marked these broken hearth-stones of a forgotten people. The poisonous ivy, sometimes called mercury, so often found clinging to old walls, was here. Some country-folk pretend its potency is such that they who look on it are inoculated with the poison; a scratch, as I know to my cost, will suffice. Here was a strip of green grass running along the harbor side, and, for the first time, the semblance of a road ; I followed it until it lost itself among the rocks. A horse and a yoke of oxen Avere browsing by the way, and on a distant shelf of rock I saw a cow, .^ is* ■ much exaggera- ^ -.5 > /^ '~i = ted in size, con- tentedly rumina- tive. Clumps of huckleberry and fragrant bayber- ry were frequent, with blackberry _, and other vines clustering above the surface rocks. 'S^ 1 am inclined ^ to doubt whether, -> after all, the hab- — itation of Apple- ^ dore' was aban- doned on account of the Indians, for Star Island, as has been remarked, could give no bet- ter security. Prob- ably the landing had much to do with it. With- out some moving cause the inhabit- south-east end of appledore, looking south. ants would hardly have left Appledore and its verdure for the bald crags of ' Appledore, a small sea-port of England, County of Devon, parish of Northampton, on the Torridge, at its mouth in Barnstable Bay, two and a quarter miles north of Bidefoid. It is resort- ed to in summer as a bathing-place, and has a harbor subordinate to the port of Barnstable.— "Gazetteer." 188 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Star Island. The choice of Appledore by the first settlers was probably due to its spring of pure water, the only one on the islands. The year 1628 is the first in which we can locate actual settlers at the Shoals. Mr. Jeffrey and Mr. Bursleni, then assessed two pounds for the ex- penses of Morton's affair, are supposed to have been living there. By 1640 the Rev. Mr. Hull, of Agamenticus, paid parochial visits to the Isles, and some time before 1661, says Dr. Morse, they had a meeting-house on Hog Island, though the service of the Church of England was the first perform- ed there. The three brothers Cutt, of Wales, settled there about 1645, re- moving soon to the main-land, where they became distinguished. Antipas Maverick is mentioned as resident in 1647. Another settler whom the chronicles do not omit was William Pepperell, of Cornwall, England, father of the man of Louisburg, who was liere about 1676. The removal of the brotiiers Cutt within two years, and of Pepperell and Gibbons after a brief residence, does not confii-m the view that the islands at that early day pos- sessed attractions to men of the better class sometimes claimed for them, Pepperell and Gibbons left the choice of a future residence to chance, with an indifference worthy a Bedouin of the Great Desert. Holding their staves between thumb and finger until perpendicularly poised, they let them fall, departing, the tradition avers, in the direction in which each pointed — Pep- perell to Kittery, Gibbons to Muscongus. The first woman mentioned who came to reside at Hog Island was Mis. John Reynolds, and she came in defiance of an act of court prohibiting wom- en from living on the islands. One of the Cutts, Richard by name, petition- ed for her removal, together with the hogs and swine running at large on the island belonging to John Reynolds. The court, however, permitted her to remain during good beliavior. This occurred in 1647. It gives a glimpse /£ £'""^'-)v7 DUCK ISLAND, I'UOM ArPLEDOKE. THE ISLES OF SHOALS.. 189 of what society must hitherto have been on the islands to call for such enact- ments. No wonder men of substance left the worse than barren rocks, and that right speedily. I walked around the shores of Appledore, stopping to explore the chasms in ray way. One of them I could liken to nothing but a coffin, it seemed so exactly fashioned to receive the hull of some unlucky ship. On some of the rocks I remarked impressions, as if made with the heel of a human foot. In the offing Duck Island showed its jagged teeth, around which the tide swell- ed and broke until it seemed frothing at the mouth. Another Smith's monument is on the highest part of the island, all the others being within view from it. It is a rude cairn of rough stone, thrown together with little eftbrt at regularity. The surface stones are overgrown with lichens, which add to its appearance of antiquity. It is known to have stood here rather more than a century, and is said to have been built by Cap- tain John Smith himself Howsoever the tradition may have originated, it is all we have, and are so fain to be content; but I marvel that so modest a man as Captain John should have said nothing about it in the book writ with his own hand. By some the monument has been believed to be a beacon built to mark the fishing-grounds. Smith arrived at Monhegan in April, 1614, and was back again at Plym- outh, England, on the 5th of August. He was one of those who came to " fish and trade," seeking out the habitations of the Indians for his purpose. There were no savages at the Isles." Of his map Smith writes: "Although there be many things to be observed which the haste of other affairs did cause me to omit, for being sent more to get present commodities than knowledge by discoveries for any future good, I had not power to search as I would," etc. I should add, in passing, that Smith, who admits having seen the relation of Gosnold, does not allow him the credit of the name he gave to Martha's Vineyard, but speaks of it as Capawock. One of the remarkable features of Appledore is the valley issuing from the cove, dividing the island in two. This ravine is a real curiosity, the great depression occurring where the hotel buildings are situated aftbrding a snug cove on the west of the island. Just behind the house enough soil had ac- cumulated to furnish a thriving and well-kept vegetable garden, evidently an object of solicitude to the proprietors. From the veranda of the hotel yon may see the ocean on the east and the bay on the west. In Mr. Hawthorne's account of his visit here in 1852, he relates that in the same storm that overthrew Minot's Light, a great wave passed entirely through this valley ; " and," he continues, " Laighton describes it when it came in from the sea as toppling over to the height of the cupola of his hotel. It roared and whitened through, from sea to sea, twenty feet abreast, rolling along huge ' Levett says, " Upon these islands are no salvages at all." 190 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. r jcks in its passage. It passed beneath his veranda, which stands on posts, and probably filled the valley completely. Would I had been here to see !" When I came back to the harbor side, both Avind and tide had risen. I was ferried across by a lad of not more than ten years. At times the swift current got the better and swept the boat to leeward, but he stoutly refused to give me the oars, the pride of an islander being involved in the matter. The little fellow flung his woolen cap to the bottom of the dory, his hair fly- ing loosely in the Avind as he bent to his task. After taking in more water than was for our comfort, he was at last obliged to accept my aid. These islanders are amphibious, brought up with " one foot on sea, one foot on shore." I doubt if half their lives are passed on terra firma. Duck Island is for the sportsman. He will find there in proper season the canvas-back, mallard, teal, white-wing- ed coot, sheldrake, etc. Few land, ex- cept gunners in pursuit of sea-fowl. I contented myself with sailing along its shores, watching the play of the surf and the gambols of a colony of small 8ea-gulls that seemed in peaceable possession. Duck Island proper has a cluster of wicked-looking ledges encircling it from south-west to south-east. The mariner should give it a wide berth. Its ill-shapen rocks project on all sides, and a reef makes out half a mile into the sea from the north-west. Shag and Mingo are two of its satellites. This island was resorted to by the Indians for the seals frequenting it. I had observed lying above the landing on Star Island a queer-looking craft, which might with great propriety be called a shell. It consisted of a frame of slats neatly fitted together, over wliich a covering of tarred canvas had been stretched. I at first thouglit some Kanaka's canoe liad found its way through the North-west Passage, and drifted in here; but JNIr. Poor as- sured me it belonged on the islands, and was owned and sailed by Tom Leha, whose dwelling on Londoner's lie pointed out. As Tom Leha was tlie Celtic skipper of the Creed, I had some speech of him. His boat, he said, was laiguton's gkave. THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 191 such as is used in the Shannon, where it is called the " saint's canoe," be- cause first used by one of the Irish saints. It was a good surf-boat, light as a cork, and as buoyant. One night Leha, with his wife and three children, arrived at the Shoals in his canoe, which a strong man might easily carry. No one knew whence they came. Their speech was unintelligible. There they were, and there they seemed inclined to remain. Your bona fide Shoaler likes not intruders. The islanders gave Leha and his a cold welcome, but this did not discompose him. He was faithful and industrious, and in time saved money enough to buy Londoner's. He waved his hand toward his island home, as if to say, "An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own." As seen from Star Island, Londoner's shows two rugged knobs connected by a narrower strip of shingle. It has its cove, and a reasonably good land- LONDONER S, FROM STAR ISLAND ing. Half-way between it and Star are hidden rocks over which the sea breaks. It was not occupied by its owner when I was there. It was a lovely morning when I rowed over to White Island. Once clear of the harbor, I found outside what sailors call " an old sea," the relics of the late north-easter. But these wherries will live in any sea that runs on the New England coast. I have heard of the Bank fishermen being out in them for days together when their vessel could not lie at anchor in the tre- mendous swell. White Island is now the most picturesque of the group, a distinction once conceded to Star. It owes this preference to its light-house, standing on a cliif at the east head of the isle, that rises full fifty feet out of water ; at least it seemed so high to me as I lay underneath it in my little boat at low tide. Against this cliff the waves continually swelled, rushing into crannies, where 192 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. I could hear them gurgling and soughing as if some monster were choking to death in their depths. This is not so forbidding as Boon Island, but it is enough. The light- house was of brick, as I could see where the weather had worn off last year's coat of whitewash. It was not yet time for the tender to come and brighten it up again. Tlie long gallery conducting from the keeper's cottage up to the tower was once torn away from its fastenings, and hurled into the deep gorge of the rocks which it spans. I saw nothing to hinder if the Atlantic had a mind again to play at bowls with it. The island owes its name to the blanched appearance of its crags, little different in this respect from its fellows. At high tides the westward end is isolated from the rest, making two islands of it in appearance, but inseparable as the Siamese twins. The light-house is much visited in summer, especially by those of a romantic turn, and by those to whom its winding stairs, huge tanks of oil, and powerful Fresnel, possess the charm of novelty. By its side is the section of an earlier building, a reminiscence of the former state of the Isles. For many years the keeper of the light was Thomas B. Laighton, af- terward {proprietor of Appledore. On account of some political disappoint- ment, he removed from Portsmouth to the Isles, making, it is said, a vow never again to set foot on the main-land. Fortune followed the would-be recluse against his will. As keeper of a boarding-house on Appledore, he is reported to have expressed little pleasure at the coming of visitors, even while receiving them with due hospitality. He was glad of congenial spirits, but loved not overmuch the stranger within his gates. Ilis sons succeeded to their father at the Appledore. His daughter' has told with charming naivete the story of the light-house, whose lamps she often trimmed and lighted with her own hands. "I lit the lamps in the light-house tower, For tlie sun dropped down and the day was dead; Tliey shone like a glorious clustered flower, Two golden and five red." In 1V93 there were only eight light-houses within the jurisdiction of Mas- sachusetts. Of these one was at the entrance of Nantucket, and another of Boston harbor. There were twin lights on the north ])oint of Plymouth harbor, on Thatcher's Island, off Cape Ann, and at the northerly end of Plum Island, at the mouth of the Merriniac. Tlie latter were not erected until 1787. They were of wood, so contrived as to be removed at pleasure, in order to conform to the shifting <»f llie sand-bar on which the}' stood. The lights on Baker's Island, at the entrance of the port of Salem, were not built until 1798. But neither compass, sextant, fixed and revolving lights, storm signals, careful soundings, buoys, nor beacons, with all the inipi-ovements in modern ' Mrs. Celia LniglUon Thaxter. THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 193 COVERED WAT AND LIGHT-HODSE, WHITE ISLAND. sliip-building;, have yet reduced traveling over the sea to the same certainty as traveling over the land. We commit ourselves to the mercy of Father Neptune just as fearfully as ever, and annually pay a costly tribute of lives for the privilege of tra^'ersing his dominions. During the winter of 18 — , so runs the story, the keeper of this light was a young islander, with a single assistant. For nearly a week north-easterly winds had prevailed, bringing in from the sea a cold, impenetrable haze, that enveloped the islands, and rendered it impossible to discern objects within a cable's length of the light-house. At the turn of the tide on the sixth day, the expected storm burst upon them with inconceivable fury. The sea grew blacker beneath the dead white of the falling snow. The waves, urged on by the gale, made a fair breach over the light-house rock, di-iving the keeper from his little dwelling to the tower for shelter. The violence of the gale increased until midnight, when it began to lull. 13 194 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. The spirits of tlie oppressed watchers rose as the storm abated. One made ready a smoking platter of fish and potatoes, while the other prepared to snatch a few moments' sleep. While thus occupied, a loud knock was heard at the door. It was repeated. The two men stood rooted to the spot. They knew no living thing except themselves was on the island ; they knew noth- ing of mortal shape might approach it in such a fearful tempest. At a third knock the assistant, who was preparing their frugal meal, fell upon his knees, making the sign of the cross, and calling upon all the saints in the calendar for protection, like the good Catholic he was. The keeper, who had time to recollect himself, advanced to the door and threw it open. On the outside stood a gigantic negro, of muscular frame, clothed in a few rags, the blood streaming from twenty gashes in his body and limbs. A brig had been cast away on the rocks a few rods distant from the light, and the intrepid black had ventured to attempt to gain the light- house. The keeper ran to the spot. Peering into the darkness, he could discover the position of the vessel only by the flapping of her torn sails in the wind. The roar of the sea drowned every other sound. If the shipwrecked crew had cried for help, they could not have been heard. Availing liimself of his knowledge of every inch of the shore, the keeper succeeded in gaining a pro- jecting ledge, from which he attracted the attention of those on board the brig, and after many fruitless efforts a line was got to land. The wreck, as the keeper could now see, was driven in a little under the shelter of a project- ing point. Moments were precious. He sought in vain for some projection on which he might fasten his rope. He did not hesitate, but wound it about his body, and fixed himself as fiimly as he could in a crevice of the rock. Here, with his feet planted on the slippery ledge, where every sea that came in drenched him to the skin, the brave fellow stood fast until every man of the crew had been saved. wniii; i.-i.\M) M(;iiT. THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 195 There is nothing that moves the imagination like a light-house. John Quincy Adams said when he saw one in the evening he was'rerainded of the light Columbus saw the night he discovered the New World. I have been moved to call them telegraph posts, standing along the coast, each flashino- Its spark from cape to headland, the almost commingling rays being golden threads of happy intelligence to all mariners. What 1 glorious vision it would be to see the kindling of each tower from Florida to Prima Vista, as the broad streets of the city are lighted, lamp by lamp ! Here ended my wanderings among these islands, seated like immortals in the midst of eternity. The strong south-westerly current bore me swiftly from the light-house rock. We hoisted sail, and laid the prow of our little bark for the river's mouth ; but I leaned over the taftVail and looked back at the beacon-tower 'til it faded and was lost. "Even at this distance I can see the tides, Upheaving, break unheard along its base; A speechless wrath that rises and subsides In the white lip and tremor of the fece. "'Sail on!' it sajs, 'Sail on, ye stately ships! And with your floating bridge the ocean span; Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse, Be yours to bring man neai-er unto man.'" WENTVVORTU HOUSE, LITTLE HARBOK. CHAPTER XIII. NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBOR HOOI). "Yes — from the sepulchre we'll gather flowers. Then feast like spirits in their promised bowers, Then plunge and revel in the rolling smf, Then lay our limbs along the tender turf." — ByRON, ANOTHER (li'liu-litfiilly ruinons old cornov is Newcastle, which occii])ics tlie island oi)posite Kitteiy Point, usually called Great Island. Be- tween Newcastle and Kittery is the main ship-channel, with deep water and plenty of sea-room. On the soutli of Great Island is another entrance called Little Harhor, with shallow water and sandy bottom; its communication with the main river is now valueless, and little used except by fishing-craft of small tonnage. In o-oinir from Portsmouth there are three bridges to be crossed to reach the town of Newcastle, situated on tlie northern shore of tlie island; or, if your aim be the southern shore, it is equally a pleasant drive or walk to the ancient seat of the Wentworths, at Little Harbor, from which you may, if a ferry-man be not at hand, hail the first passing boat to take you to the isl- and. I went tliere by the former route, so as to pass an hour among the tombstones in the old Point of Graves burial-ground, and returned by the latter in order to visit the Wentworth mansion. The three bridges before mentioned connect as many islands with Ports- mouth. Tliey were built, it is said, at the suggestion of President ^Monroe, when he found Great Island somewhat difficult of access. NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 197 There appeared some symptoms of activity in the island fishery. As I passed down, I noticed two Bankers lying in the diminutive harbor, and an acre or so of ground spread with flakes, on which codfish were being cured. The little cove wliich makes the harbor of Newcastle lias several wharves, some of them in ruins, and all left '• high and dry" at low tide. The rot- ting timbers, stick- ing in crevices of the rocks, hung with sea-weed and stud- ded with barnacles, told very plainly that the trade of the island was number- ed among the things of the past. ^^isr of gkaves. Between the upper end of Great Island and the town of Portsmouth is a broad, deep, still basin, called in former times, and yet, as I suspect, by some of the oldsters, the Pool. This was the anchorage of the mast ships, which made annual voyages between England and the Piscataqua, convoyed in war- time by a vessel of force. The arrival, lading, and departure of the mast ships were the three events of the year in this old sea-place. Sometimes as many as seven were loading here at once, even as early as 1665. In the Pool, the Astrea, a twenty-gun ship, was destroyed by fire one cold morning in January, 1V44, The Earl of Bellomont, an Irish peer, writes to the Lords of Trade, in 1699, of the Piscataqua: "It is a most noble harbour," says his lordship; "the biggest ships the king hath can lie against the bank at Portsmouth," He then advises the building of war vessels there for the king's service ; and mentions that Charles II. had complimented the French king with the draughts of the best ships in the British navy, and had thereby "given vent to that precious secret." In the day when all of old Portsmouth was crowded between Avhat is now Pleasant Street and the river, it is easy to imagine the water-side streets and alleys frequented by sailors in pigtails and petticoats; the mighty ca- 198 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. rousals and roaring choruses ; the dingy, well-smoked dram-shops ; the stews and slums of back streets, and the jolly larks and aftVays with the night-watch. Rear-admiral " the brave Benbow, sirs," has landed at these old quays from his barge, followed as closely as a rolling gait would permit by some old sea-dog of a valet, with cutlass stuck in a broad, leathern belt, exactly at the middle of his back. The admiral was doubtless on his way to some convivial ren- counter, where the punch was strong, and where the night not infrequently terminated little to the advantage of the quarter-deck over the forecastle. The ships of that day were wonderfully made. Their bows crouched low in the water, their curiously carved and ornamented sterns rose high above it. The bowsprit was crossed by a heavy spar, on which a square-sail was hoisted. Chain cables had not been invented, and hempen ones, as thick as the mainmast, held the ship at her anchors. Colored battle lanterns were fixed above the taffrail ; watches and broadsides were regulated by the hour- glass. The sterns and bulging quarter-galleries of Spanish, French, and Por- tuguese war ships were so incrusted with gilding it seemed a pity to batter them with shot. Think of Nelson knocking the Holy Trinity into a cocked hat, or the Twelve Apostles into the middle of next week ! There are many old houses on Great Island. The quaintness of one that stands Avithin twen- ty yards of the river is always remarked in sailing by. I could not learn its age, but hazard the conjec- ture it was there be- fore James II. abdi- cated. The visitor, as in duty bound, should go to the chamber of the selectmen, wliere the town char- ter given by William and Mary, in 1G93, is displayed on the wall, engrossed in al- OLD HOUSE, OKEAT ISLAND. ^^^^^^^ Unintelligible black-letter.' The records of Newcastle have had a curious history. After a disappearance of r.early lilly years, they were recovered within a year or ' The Act of Corporation, thniiRh well preserved, appeared little valued ; it hung by a corner and in a light that was every day diniiiiiiig the ink with wliic-h it iiad been engrossed. NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 199 two in England. The first volume is bound in vellum, and, though somewhat dog-eared, is perfect. The entries are in a fair round-hand, beginning in 1693, when Lieutenant-governor Usher signed the grant for the township of New- castle. Among the earliest records, I noticed one of five shillings paid for a pair of stocks ; and of a gallery put up, in 1694, in the meeting-house, for the women to sit in. Any townsman entertaining a stranger above fourteen days, with- out acquainting the selectmen, was to be fined. What would now be thought of domiciliary visits like the following? "One householder or more to walk every day in sermon-time with the constable to every publick-house in y^ town, to suppress ill orders, and, if they think convenient, to private houses also." I found the town quiet enough, but the youngsters noisy and ill-bred. There seemed also to be an unusual number of loiterers about the village stores; I sometimes passed a row of them, squatted, like greyhounds, on their heels, in the sun. Those I noticed whittled, tossed coppers, or laughed and talked loudly. Many of the men were employed at Kittery Navy Yard. From observation and inquiry I am well assured our Government dock- yards are, as a rule, of little benefit to the neighboring population. The Gov- ernment pays a higher price for less labor than private persons find it for their interest to do. The work is intermittent; and it happens quite too frequently that the dock-yard employe is always expecting to be taken on, and will not go to woi-k outside of the yard ; he is especially unwilling at j % wages less than the Government ordi- g ^ narily pays, upon which labor in the vicinity of the yard is usually gauged. A charming ramble of an afternoon is to Fort Constitution, built on a pro- truding point of rocks washed by the tide. When I saw it the old fortress was casting its shell, lobster- like, for a stronger. The odd old foot-paths among the ledges zigzag now to the '"^^ "" "" , ■ 1 , , n. ^, ^1 , . T OLD TOWER, NEWCASTLE. right or left, as they are thrust aside by intruding ledges. Much history is contained within the four walls of the work.' Adjoining is a light-house, originally erected in 1771. ' The reader will do well to consult Belknap's admirable " History of New Hampshire," vol. ii. ; Adams's "Annals," or Brewster's "Rambles about Portsmouth." Some sort of defense was be- gun here very early. In 1665 the commissioners of Charles II. attempted to fortify, but were met by a prohibition from Massachusetts. In 1700 there existed on Great Island a fort mounting thirty guns, pronounced by Earl Bellomont incapable of defending the river. Colonel Romer made the plan of a new work, and recommended a strong tower on the point of Fryer's (Gerrish's) Island, 200 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. While engaged in sketching the gate -way and portcullis of old Fort Constitution, I was accosted by a person, witli a strong German accent, who repeated, word for word, as I should judge, a mandate of the War Office against the taking of any of its old ruins by wandering artists. He then walked away, leaving me to finish my sketch without further interrujjtion. On a rocky eminence overlooking the fortress is a martello tower, built durino- the war of 1812, to aruarantee the main work against a landing on the beach at the south side. It has three embrasures, and was begun on a Sunday, while two English frigates were lying off the Isles of Shoals. Sally-port and casemates are choked with debris, the parapet grass-grown, and the whole in picturesque ruin. Many of these towers were erected on the south coast of England during the Napoleonic Avars to repel the ex- GATEWAY, OLD FORT CONSTITUTION. j^^^^g^^ iuvasioU. Another pleasant walk is to Little Harbor, taking by the way a look at the old house near Jaffrey's Point, that is verging on two hundred years, yet seems staunch and strong. The owner believes it to be the same in which Governor Cranfield' held colonial courts. This was one of the attractive sites of the island, until Government began the construction of formidable earth-works at a short distance from the farmstead. The Isles of Shoals are plainly distinguished, and with a field-glass the little church on Star Island may be made out in clear weather. I enjoyed a walk on tlie rampart at evening, when the lights on Whale's Back, Boon Island, White Island, and Squam were seen flashing their take-heed through the darkness. Little Harbor, where there is a summer hotel, was the site of the first set- tlement on the island. At Odiorne's Point, on the opposite shore, was com- menced, in 1623, the settlement of New Hampshire. It is iu)w proposed to ooimnemorate the event itself, and the spot on which the first house was built, by a monument.'^ with batteries on Wood and Clark's islands. In December, 1774, Joim Lanpdon and John Sid- livan committed open rebellion by leading a party to seize the powder iiere. The fort was then called William and Mary. Old Fort Constitution lias the date of 1K()8 on the key-stone of the arch of the gate-way. Its walls were carried to a certain height with rongh stone topped with brick. It was a parallelogram, ami mounted barbette gnns only. The present work is of gnin- ite, inclosing the old walls. 'J'lie new earth-works on Jaft'rey's Point and Gerrish's Island render it of little importaixe. ' Governor of New IIamj)shire from 1(!82 to IC.S.'i. The house is the residence of Mr. Albef. * Odiorne's Point is in Rye, New Hampshire. The settlement began under the auspices of a NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 201 Captain John Mason is known as the founder of New Hampshire. His biography is interwoven with tlie times of the giant Richelieu and the pigmy- Buckingham. He was treasurer and pay-master of the king's armies during the war with Spain. He was governor of Portsmouth Castle when Felton struck his knife into the duke's left side ; it is said, in Mason's own house. The name of Portsmouth in New Hampshire was given by him to this out- growth of Portsmouth in old Hampshire. At a time when all England was fermenting, it seems passing strange Gorges and Mason should have persisted in their scheme to gain a lodgment in New England. In Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe" the following passage occurs: "The an- cient forest of Sherwood lay between Sheffield and Doncaster. The remains of this extensive wood are still to be seen at the noble seat of Wentworth. * * * Here hunt- __._ _ ^__.^ _^^^^^_ __^_^ __ _____^ ed of yoi'e the fab- ulous Dragon of Wantley,and hei'e Avere fought many of the most des- perate battles dur- ing the Civil Wars of the Roses; and licre also flour- ished in ancient times those bands of gallant outlaws whose deeds have been rendered so popular in English story." Reginald Went- worth, lord of the manor of Went- worth, in Berks, A.D. 1066, is con- sidered the com- mon ancestor of the Wentworths of England and America. The unfortunate Earl of Strafford was a Wentworth. On the dissolution of the monasteries. lUlllIi -IJt lllciMA- WKNTWOKTU, WEN r\\(i|;i II company, in which Gorges and Mason were leading spirits. Tlieir grant covered the territory be- tween the Meniniac and Sagadahoc rivers. Under its authority, David Thompson and others set- tled at Little Harbor, and built what was subsequently known as Mason's Hall. Disliking his situ- ation, Thompson removed the next spring to the island now bearing his name in Boston Bay. From this nucleus sprung the settlements at Great Island and Portsmouth. The settlement at Hilton's Point was nearly coincident. 202 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Newstead Abbey was conferred on Sir John Byron by Henry VIII. Its site was in the midst of the fertile and interesting region once known as Sherwood Forest. Here was passed the early youth of the brilliant and gifted George, Lord Byron, and in the little church of Newstead his remains w'ere laid. The name and title of Baroness Weutworth -were in 1856 assumed by Lady Byron, whose grandfather was Sir Edward Noel, Lord Wentworth. Another of the distinguished of this illustrious family w^as the Marquis of Rockingham, who voted for the re- peal of the Stamp Act, and acted with Chatham against Lord North.' It was at him, while minister, the pasquinade was leveled, "You had better declare, which you may without sliocking 'em, The nation's asleep and the minister Rock- ing'em." The seat of the Wentworths at Little Harbor is at the mouth of Sagamore Creek, not more than two miles from town. Among a group of aged houses in the older quar- ter of Portsmouth, that of Samuel Wentworth is still pointed out.^ His monument may also be seen in the ancient burial-place of Point of Graves. The family seem to have been statesmen by inheritance. There were three chief-magistrates of New Hamp- shire of the name, viz. : John, the son of Samuel; Benning, the son of John; and John, the ne))hew of Benning. The exterior of the mansion does not of itself keep touch and time with the preconceived idea of colonial magnificence. Its architectural deformity would liavc put Kuskin beside himself. A rambling collection of buildings, seemingly the outgrowth of different periods and conditions, are incorpora- ted into an inharmonious whole. The ivsult is an oddity in wood. Doubt- less the builder was content with it. If so, I have little disposition to be critical. MARQUIS OF KOCKINGHAM. ' Pence with the thirteen colonies was jiroposed under the administration of Rockingham, about the last oflicial act of his life. His name is often met with iti J'ortsmoutii. ^ The house stands at tiie nortli end of Manning, formerly Wentworth Street, and is thought from its size to have been a jiul.'lic-housc. Tiie same house was also occupied by Lieutenant- Governor John, son of Samuel Wentworth. Samuel was the son of William, the first settler of the name. He had been an innkeeper, and had swung his sign of the " Dolphin " on Great Island. Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, is the biographer of his family. NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 203 Beyond this, the visitor may not refuse his unqualified approval of the site, which is charming, of the surroundings — the mansion was embowered in blooming lilacs when I saw it — and of the general air of snug- ness and of comfort, rather than elegance, which seems the proper atmosphere of the Went worth House. Built in 1*750, it commands a view up and down Little Har- bor, though conceal- ed by an eminence from the road. I had a brief glimpse of it while going on Great Island via the bridges. It is said it originally contained as many as fifty-two rooms, though by the removal of a good- sized tenement to the opposite island the number has been di- minished to forty- five. There is, there- fore, plenty of elbow- room. The cellar was sometimes used as a stable: it was large enough to have ac- commodated a troop, or,atapinch,a squad- \ ' '^ ron. j / ^ ■ -: ^ i Prepared for an i I interior as little it- ^^ ^"^ wentworth house, little hakbor. tractive as the outside, the conjecture of the visitor is again at fault, for this queer old bundle of joiners' patchwork contains apartments which indicate that the old beau, Benning Wentworth, cared less for the rind than the fruit. 204 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. "Within unwonted splendors met the eye, Panels and floors of oak and tapestry ; Carved chimney-pieces where on brazen dogs Reveled and roared the Christmas fires of logs ; Doors opening into darkness unawares, Mysterious passages and flights of stairs; And on the walls in heavy gilded frames, The ancestral Wentworths with old Scripture names." The council chamber contains a gem of a mantel, enriched with elaborate carving of busts of Indian princesses, chaplets, and garlands — a year's labor, it is said, of the workman. The wainscot is waist-high, and heavy beams divide the ceiling. As we entered we noticed the rack in which the muskets of tlie Governor's guard were deposited. But what catches the eye of the visitor soonest and retains it longest, is the portraits on the walls. First is a canvas representing the Earl of Strafford' dictating to his secretar}--, in the Tower, on the day be- fore his execution. At his trial, says an eye- \vitness,"he was always ill the same suit of black, as in doole " (mourn- ing). When tlie lieu- tenant of the Tower of- fered him a coach, lest he should be torn in pieces by the mob in going to execution, he replied, "I die to please the peo))k', and I will die in tlieir own way." Here is a jiortrait from the brusli of Coj)- ley, wlio reveled in rich draperies and in the accossoi-ies of his por- traits (juile as much as in ))ainting rounded arms, beautiful hands, and shapely figures. This one in pink satin, with over-dress of white lace, short sleeves l.A m H \,Ni 1 MICTUAIT (BY COlM.r^ ) IIOUSE. W I.N I \s 1 i|; 111 ' Ilis second wife was Henrietta du "Roy, dauglitcr of Frederick Charles du Roy, generalissimo to the King of Denmark. NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 205 with deep ruffles, and coquettish lace cap, is Dorothy Quincy, the greatest belle and breaker of hearts of her day. It was not, it is said, her fault that she became Mrs. Governor Hancock, instead of Mrs. Aaron Burr. When in later years, as Madam Scott, she retained all the vivacity of eighteen, she was fond of relating how the hand now seen touching rather than supporting her cheek, had been kissed by marquises, dukes, and counts, who had experienced the hospitality of the Hancock mansion ; and how D'Estaing, put to bed after too much wine, had torn her best damask coverlet with the spurs he had for- gotten to remove. Other portraits are — Of Queen Christina of Sweden, who looks down with the same pitiless eyes that exulted in the murder of her equerry, Monaldeschi ; one said to be Secretary Waldron, a right noble countenance and martial figure; and of Mr. and Mi-s. Jacob Sheaife. I could be loquacious on the subject of these portraits, the fading impres- sions of histories varied or startling, of experiences more curious than profita- ble to narrate. In their presence we take a step backward into the past, that past whose lessons we will not heed. Hawthorne, standing before a wall cov- ered with such old counterfeits, was moved to say : " Nothing gives a strong- er idea of old worm-eaten aristocracy, of a family being crazy with age, and of its being time that it was extinct, than these black, dusty, faded, antique- dressed portraits." The old furniture standing about was richly carved, and covered with faded green damask. In the billiard-room was an ancient spinet, quite as much out of tune as out of date. Doubtless, the flashing of white hands across those same yellow keys has often struck an answering chord in the breasts of colonial youth. Here are more portraits; and a buffet, a side- board, and a sedan-cliair. Punch has flowed, and laughter echoed here. The reader knows the pretty story, so gracefully told by Mr. Longfellow, of Martha Hilton, who became the second wife of Governor Benning,* and thus Lady Wentworth of the Hall. We can see her as she goes along the street, swinging the pail, a trifle heavy for her, and splashing with the water her naked feet. We hear her ringing laughter, and the saucy answer to Mistress Stavers in her furbelows, as that buxom landlady flings at her, in passing, the sharp reproof: "O Martha Hilton! Fie! how dare you go About the town half-dressed and looking so?" The poet's tale is at once a history and a picture, full of pretty conceits and picturesque situations. Fancy the battered effigy of the Earl of Halifax on the innkeeper's sign falling at the feet of Mrs. Stavers to declare his pas- sion. ' Bennington, Vermont, is named from Governor Wentworth. 206 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. But Benning Went- worth, governor thougli he was, was none too good for Martha Hil- ton.* It was the pride of the Ililtons made her say, " I yet shall ride in my own chari- ot." The widowed gov- ernor was gouty, pas- sionate, and had im- bibed with his long residence in Spain the hauteur of the Span- iard. He left office in 1776 in disgrace. The last of the co- lonial AYentworths was Sir John, in whose fa- vor his uncle had been allowed to screen him- self by a resignation. Tliere are some odd co- incidences in the fami- ly records of both un- cle and nephew. The former's widow made a second marriage to a governor benning wentworth. Wentworth ; the latter married his widowed cousin, Frances Wentworth." The mansion of Sir Jolm maybe seen in Pleasant Street, Portsmouth. He was tlie last royal govei'uor of New Hamj)shire. John Adams mentions ' Her grandfather, Hon. Kicliard Hilton, of Newmarket, was grandson of Edward, the original settler of Dover, New Hampshire, ami had been a justice of the Snperior Court of the Province. — John Wkntwoktu. * Frances Deering Wentworth married John just two weeks after tlie decease of her first hus- band, Theodore Atkinson, also her cousin, and in the same church from which he had been buried — matter for such condolence and reproof as Talleyrand's celebrated "Ah, madame,"and "Oh, madame." IJenning Wentworth's widow married Colonel Michael Wentworth, said to have been a retired British officer. He was a great horseman and a free liver. Once he rode from Boston to Portsmouth between sunrise and sunset. Having run through a handsome estate, he died izn- der suspicion of suicide, leaving his own c|)ita])h, " I have eaten my cake." Colonel Michael was the host, at the Hall, of Washington. In 1817, the house at Little Harbor was purchased by Charles Cashing, whose widow was a daugiiter of Jacob ISheaffe. NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 20r that as he was leaving his box at the theatre one night in Paiis, a gentleman seized him by the hand : " ' Governor Wentworth, sir,' said the gentleman. At first I was embarrassed, and knew not how to behave toward him. As ray classmate and friend at college, and ever since, I could have pressed him to my bosom with most cordial affection. But we now belonged to two dif- ferent nations, at war with each other, and consequently were enemies." The king afterward gave Sir John the government of Nova Scotia. The poet Moore mentions the baronet's kind treatment of him in 1805, during his American tour. He is said to have kept sixteen horses in his stable at Portsmouth, and to have been a free-liver. A man of unquestioned ability to govern, who went down under the great revolutionary wave of 1775, but rose again to the surface and struck boldly out. There is now in the possession of James Lenox, of New York, a portrait of the baronet's wife, by Copley, painted in his best manner. The lady was a celebrated beauty. The face has caught an expression, indescribably arch, as if its owner repressed an invincible desire to torment the artist. In it are set a pair of eyes, black and dangerous, with high-arched brows, a tempting yet mock- ing mouth, and nose a little retrousse. Her natural hair is decorated with pearls ; a string of them encircles her throat. The corsage is very lovVjdisplaying a pairof white shoulders such as the poet im- agined : '■ Slie has a bosom as white as snow, Take care ! She knows how much it is best to show, Beware! beware!" In 1777 Baron Steuben arrived in Portsmouth, in the Flamand. Franklin had snubbed him, St. Germain urged him, but Beaumarchais offered him a thousand louis-d'or.' On the day the baron joined the army at Valley Forge his name was the watch-word in all the camps. "Paul Jones shall equip his Bonne Homme Richard; weapons, military stores can be smug- gled over (if the English do not seize them); wherein, once more Beaumarchais, dimly as the Giant Smuggler, becomes visible— filling his own lank pocket withal."— Carlyle, "French Revolu- tion," vol. i., p. 43. BARON STEUBEN. WITCU IJILL, SALEM. CHAPTER XIV. SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. Banquo. "Were such tilings liere as we do speak about? Or have we eaten of the insane root, That takes the reason prisoner?" — Macbeth. OALEM VILLAGE has a sorrowful ccU'l)rit}^ It •would soem as if an ad- ^ verse spell still liuiig over it, for in the elianges brought by time to its neighbors it has no part, remaining, as it is likely to ix'tnain, Salem Village — that is to say, distinctively antitpiated, sombre, and lifeless. A collection of liouses scattered along the old high-road from Salem to Andover, decent-looking, brown-roofed, though humble dwellings, a somewhat pretending village chui-ch, and ])leasant, home-like, ])arsonage; old trees, ])art- ly verdant, partly \\ithered, stretching naked boughs above the gables of houses even older than themselves, embody something of the impressions of oft-repeated walks in what is known as the "AVitch Neighborhood." The village contains one central ]>oint of ])ai-amount interest. It is an in- closed space of grass ground, a short distance from the principal and only street, reached by a well-trodden by-path. Within this now naked field once stood a house, with a garden arid orchard sun-ouiidinn-. Of the liousi' nothing I'cmains except a slight depi-ession in tlie soil ; of the orchard ami gaiden there is no trace; yet liard by I chanced on a bank of aroiiLatic thyme once held of singular jiotency in witchcraft — as in the "Faerie (Jiieen," the tree laments to the knight : " I chanced to sec her in licr proper line, Hathing liersclf in origan and tiiyme.'' SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 209 In this quiet, out-of-the-way little noolc, Salem witchcraft had its beo-iu- ning. The sunken cavity is what remains of the Ministry House, so called, pulled down in 1785 (not a day too soon); the den of error in which the plague-spot first appeared. No one would have thought, standing here, that he surveyed the focus of malevolence so deadly as the wretched delirium of '92. The well-informed reader is everywhere familiar with the origin and de- velopment of Salem witchcraft,' It has employed the best pens as it has puz- zled the best brains among us ; until to-day the whole affair remains envel- oped in a mystery which the theories of nearly two hundred years have failed wholly to penetrate. The writer has had frequent occasion to know how wide-spread is the be- lief that witchcraft began in New England, and particularly in Salem. This is to be classed among popular errors upon which repeated denials have lit- tle effect. Nevertheless, witchcraft did not originate in New England ; no, nor in old England either, for that matter. The belief in it was earlier than the Mayflower^ older than the Norman Conquest, and antedated the Roman Empire. The first written account of it is contained in Scripture.^ Saul incurred the anger of God by consulting the Witch of Endor. Joan of Arc was burned as a Avitch in 1431. About fifty years later the Church of Rome fulminated a bull against witchcraft. The number of suspected persons already burned at the stake or subjected to the most cruel torments is estimated at many thousands. In taking leave of the Dark Ages we do not take our leave of witchcraft. More, than a hundred thousand victims had perished in Germany and France alone before the Mayfloioer sailed from Delft. The Pilgrims, I engage, be- lieved in it to a man. Old England! Why, the statute against witchcraft was not repealed un- til 1736, in the second George's time, though it had lain dormant some years. The last recorded execution in the British Islands occurred in Scotland, as late as 1722. The sixth chapter of Lord Coke's "Third Institutes" is de- voted to a panegyric on the statutes for punishing "conjuration, sorcery, witchcraft, or enchantment." The laws of England were the fundamental law of New England ; witchcraft was in the list of recognized crimes through- out Christendom. France, under Louis le Grand, whose style history will change, notwith- standing his famous "i' Hat c'est moi^'' to Louis the Little, was immeshed in the net of superstition. The highest personages of the court resorted to the astrologers for horoscopes, charms, or philters. We might see later the magic ' Mather and Hutchinson deal largely witji it. Uphani and Drake have conipiled, arranged, and analyzed it. ^ Exod. xxii., 18 (1491 u.c): "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." 14 210 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. and sorcery of the sixteentli century and of the seventeenth transformed into studies in clieniistry under tlie Regency, and become experiments in magnet- ism in the eighteentli century. The settlers in New England, who brouglit all their Old-World supersti- tions with them, were not surprised to tind the Indians fully impregnated with a belief in magic equal to their own. The wonderful cures of the Indian magicians or medicine-men were thoroughly believed in, and are vouched for by white evidence. One of their favorite methods of revenging private in- jury was by enchanting a hair, which entered the bodies of their enemies and killed them while sleeping. It is noted that Tituba, an Indian, had much to do with the outbreak in Salem village. Sir William Phips, an illiterate but not incapable man, had been appointed Governor of Massachusetts Bay, under the new charter of William and Mary. The charter conferred the power of civil government, and separated the legis- lative from the judicial authority. Sir William constituted a commission of seven to try the witchcraft cases at Salem. As he had no power to create such a court under the charter, one of the saddest reflections that arise from these bloody proceedings is that twenty persons suftered death for an imagi- nary ci'ime, inflicted by an illegal tribunal. The province law of 1692 de- creed death for " enchantment, sorcery, charm, or conjuration, or invocation, or to feed any wicked spirit." The first authenticated case of witchcraft in New England, and also the first execution, took place at Boston, as early as 1648. The culprit, Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, was suspected of having and using the " malignant touch." She professed some knowledge of medicine, and probably availed lierself of the awe in which she was held b}' the superstitious to ply her trade. JVIany other cases are mentioned in the other colonics, Connecticut bearing her full share, befoi-e the climax of 1692 is reached. Then, as afterward, the accusations fell chiefly u\)()u women ; the old, friendless, or halfwitted bear- ing the burden of every acci-er," A "Boston Man" having taken his sick child to Salem in order to consult the afflicted ones, obtained the names of two of his own towns-people as the authors of its distemper; but the Boston justices I'efused warrants to appre- hend tliem, and Increase Mather asked the father if there was not a God in Boston that he must go to the devil in Salem. These two persons are said to have been Mrs. Thatcher, mother-in-law of Curwin, one of the judges,' and the wife of Sir William Phips. As soon as the prosecutions stopped, it was remarked that the apparitions ceased. Once or twice the accuser i-ecoiled before a sharp and swift reproof, as at Lieutenant Ingersoll's, when one of them cried out, "There's Goody Procter !" Raymond and Goody IngersoU told her flatly she lied ; there was nothing. The girl was cowed, and " said she did it for sport." Even the witchcraft horrors have a humorous side — grimly humorous, it is true, like the jokes cracked in a dissecting-room. The thought of pots and kettles jumping on the crane, of anchors leaping overboard of themselves, and of hay-cocks found hanging to trees is rather mirth-provoking. Mirrors were daily consulted by maids and widows looking for a husband. A mat- ter of life and death could not prevent George Jacobs, the old grandfather, from laughing heartily at the spasmodic antics of Abigail Williams. It seems a pity that New England in her greatest need should have found no champion, like St. Dunstan, to argue with and finally compel the devil to own himself confuted, as, according to vulgar belief, he did, by taking the fiend by the nose with a pair of red-hot tongs; or as Ignatius Loyola, who, when disturbed at his devotions by the devil, seized his cudgel and drubbed him away.'' Montmorency, a peer and marshal of France, son of the famous Bouteville, whom Richelieu had caused to be decapitated for fighting a duel at midday in the Place' Royal, was weak enough to visit La Voisin, the re- nowned conjuror and fabricator of poisons in the reign of Louis XIV. La Voisin had promised to show him the devil, and the duke was curious. When the marechal whipped out his rapier and thrust vigorously at the speo- tre, it fell on its knees, and begged its life. The devil proved to be a con- federate of La Voisin. Archibald, duke of Argyle, was haunted by blue phantoms — the origin of our epithet for melancholy, " blue devils." In the village tavern there was a battle with spectres that Abigail Wil- liams and Mary Walcut declared were present. Benjamin Hutchinson and Eleazer Williams pulled out their swords and cut and stabbed the air until, as the two girls averred, the floor was deep in ghostly blood ! A ride through the woods then was little coveted by the stoutest hearts. A spai'k of fear is soon blown into uncontrollable panic. Bushes grew spec- ' Account of Thomas Brattle. ^ See his life, page 80. 216 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. tres and trees outstretched goblin arms. Elizabeth Hubbard was riding home from meeting on the crupper, behind old Clement Coldum. The rus- tling leaves were witches' whisperings, the white birches seemed ghosts in their winding-sheets. The woman, faint -hearted and overmastered by a nameless dread, cried out to tlie goodman to ride for life — the woods were full of devils. Though he could see none, the valiant rider spurred his horse like mad, and rode as Tarn O'Shanter rode his fearful race when jjursued by the witches of Kirk Alloway. The trysting-place of the witches was in Parris's pasture. It was here Abigail Hobbs, who had sold herself to the " Old Boy," attending, saw the sac- rament of the " red bread and the red wine " administered to the devil's elect. Poor George Burvoughs, whom we met for a moment in our walk through - Wells, was denounced for summoning with a trumpet the attending witches. Obedient to the sound, from far and near, the withered beldams, toothless hags in short petticoats, white linen hoods, and conical high crowned hats, come flocking on flying broomsticks. Satan is there in person, not playing the bagpipe, as in Tam O'Shanter's fearful conclave, but with the convention- al book written in letters of blood. Certes, these were but rude ghosts. !N"owadays the devil is raised as easily, but conducts himself with greater propriety, as becomes the devil of the nineteenth century. The damp grass of the churcli-yard and the witches' den are bugbears no longer. We sit in a comfortable apartment around a mahogany table. Our ghost no more appears in mouldy shroud, but, like a well-bred spectre, knocks for admittance. Soon his card will be handed in on a salver, and we may perha})S in time expect daily weather reports from the nether world. Before leaving the village, I turned into one of those old abandoned roads in which I like so well to walk. Left on one side by a shorter cut, saving some rods to this hurrying age, the deserted by-way conducts you into soli- tudes proper for communion with the past. Grass has sprung up so thickly as almost to conceal traces of the once well-worn ruts, now only two indis- tinct lines of lighter green. Young pines, a foot high, are rooted in the cart- way ; stone walls, moss-grown and tumbling down. Here and there are the ghastly remains of some old orchard, the ground strewed with withered branches. A half-obliterated cellai- denotes a former habitation ; even the land betrays evidences of having been turned by the plows of two centuries ago. Who have passed this way? Perhaps the laying-out of this very road begot disputes transmitted from fatlier to son. A mile beyond the Witch Neigliboi-hood the Amlover road crosses the Newburyport tuiiipike. At the junction of the two roads stands the old farm-house in wliicii Isi-ael I'utnam, the "Old Put" of tlie llevohitionary army, was horn. Tlic houso, or ratlier houses, for two structures compose it, is still occu- SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 217 pied by Putnaras. The newer building, already old by comparison with some of its neighbors, was built in 1744; the original in 1650, or thereabouts, ac- cording to family tradition. One object, to which the attention of every vis- itor is directed, is the old pollard of enormous girth standing near the house. House and tree seem types of the sturdy, indomitable old man, who at nearly three-score was full of the rage of battle. By the courtesy of the family, ever ready to indulge a proper curiosity, I looked over the old house from garret to cellar. The little room in which the general was born remains just as when its rough-hewn posts and thick beams were revealed to his astonished gaze. There are few relics of the gen- ei'al remaining:. BIRTHPLACE OF PUTNAM. While in the Wadsworth Museum at Hartford, I lately saw the damaged sign displayed by Putnam when he kept an inn at Brooklyn, Connecticut, about 1768. Another famous soldier, Murat, was the son of an auhergiste, and Napoleon was not too willing on this account to give him the hand of his sister. The Putnams settled early in Salem. John, the first emigrant, came from Buckinghamshire, in 1634, with three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel, and John. Some of the name exercised a fatal influence during the reign of witchcraft. Israel was already an old man when he left his plow in the furrow to gallop to Cambridge, having been born in 1718. At twenty-one he removed to 218 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. PUTXAM IN BItlTISU VNIKOKM. Pomfret, Connecticut. Putnam was prompt, resolute, and inca- 5^ pable of fear — full of tiglit, and always ready. Washington, who did not judge badly, thought him the only iit man to make an assault on Boston. Though un- educated, Putnam wrote pith- ily, as to Governor Tryon: " Sir, — Nathan Palmer,a lieu- tenant in your king's service, was taken in my camp as a spy ; he was condemned as a spy; and he shall be hanged as a spy. " P. S. — Afternoon. lie is hanged." Danvers, in Avliose territory ^4 we have been rambling, is an aggregate of several widely scattered villages taken from Salem in tlie last century. Some of its villages liave grown into good-sized, prosperous towns, and one lias taken the name of her eminent banker-philan- thropist, George IVabody. When at Salem, the visitor may easily reach Peabod)', Danvers, and the Witch Neighborhood by rail, having in the latter instance a walk of a mile before him on leaving the little station near the Putnam House. In a cii'cuit of sevei'al miles, embracing what is to be seen of interest on this side, it is, perhaps, better to leave Salem by the old Bos- ton road and I'c- turn to it by the Andover jiigli- way. l^'oUowiiig this route, we successively pass by Governor En- dicott's fai'in, on which is still seen the aged pear- knuicott i-hau-tuke. ^M^-' SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 219 tree, sole relic of tlie ancient orchard/ the house Avhich became the head- quarters in 1774 of General Gage, and the Witch Neighborhood. But before hurrying away from Peabody, it will be well to read the inscription on tlie monument which one sees in the main street,'' examine the memorials of royal munificence in the library of the Institute,' and, if the stranger be of my mind, to halt for a moment before the humble dwelling in which Bowditch was born. As there is no place in New England which so highly prizes its antique memorials and traditions as Salem, the fii'st person you meet will be able to direct you to the one or relate to you the other. ' Endicott had a grant of three hundred acres on the tongue of land between Cow-house and Duck rivers. The site does justice to his discernment. " Raised in 1837 to the memory of soldiers of Danvers killed in the battle of Lexington. ^ The Queen's portrait by Tilt, the gold box and medal presented by the city of London and by Congress to Mr. Peabody. PUTNAM S TAVERN SIGN. WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM. CHAPTER XV. A WALK TO WITCH HII.L. "Do not the hist'ries of all ages Relate miraculous presages, Of strange turns in the world's affaii's, Foreseen by astrologers, sootlisayers, Chaldeans, learned genethliacs, And some tliat have writ almanacs?" lludibrns. TN 1G02 S.ilcm may liave contained four luindrcd liouscs. A few specimens -*- of this time now remain in odd corners — llij) Van Winkles or Wander- ing Jews of old houses, that have outlived their day of usefulness, and would now be at rest. Objects of scoiii to the present generation, they have silent- ly endured the contemptuous flings of the passer-by, as well, ])erchance, as tlie frowns and haughty stare of rows of plate-glass windows along tlie street. As well j)ut new wine in old bottles, as an old house in a new di'css ; it is always an old liouse, despite the thin veneer of miscalled improvements. The architect can do nothing with it to the purpose; the carpenter can make nothing of it. There they are, with ()ccu])aiits equally old-fashioned — of, yet not belonging to the present. Some have stood so long in particular neigh- A WALK TO WITCH HILL. 221 BIKTHPLACE OF HAWTHOKNB. borhoods, have outlived so many modern struc- tures, as to be- come points of direction, like London Stone or Charing-cross. The stranger's puzzled question- ing is often met witli," You know that old house in such a street ?" And so the old house helps us to find our way not alone to the past, but in the present. Undoubted among such specimens as will be met with in the neighborhood of the wharves, or between Essex Street and the water-side, is the old gam- brel-roofed, portly -chimneyed house in which our "Wizard of the North" first drew breath. It stands in Union Street, at the left as you pass down. Many pilgrims loiter and ponder there over these words: " Salem, October 4th, Union Street [Family Mansion]. "Here I sit in my old accustomed chamber, where I used to sit in days gone by. Here I have written many tales — many that have been burned to ashes, many that doubtless deserved the same fate. This claims to be called a haunted chamber, for thousands upon thousands of visions have appeared to me in it; and some few of them have become visible to the world. If ever I should have a biographer, he ought to make great mention of this chamber in my memoirs, be- cause so much of ^ my lonely youth ^ was wasted here, and here my mind and charac- ter were formed ; and here I have been glad and sHATTucK HOUSE. hopcful, aud here 222 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. KOOM IN WHICH HAWTHORNE WAS BORN. I have been de- spondent. And -J here I sat a long, h^ng time, wait- ing patiently for the world to know me, and some- times wondering why it did not know me soon- er, or whether it would ever know me at all — at least, till I were in my grave." It is not my purpose to attempt a descrij)tion of Salem, or of what is to be seen there. Her merchants ai'e princes. No doubt tliey were in Josselyn's mind when he said some of the New Englanders were "damnable rich." French writers of that day speak of her " bourgeois entierement riches.'''' Those substantial mansions of red brick, tree-shaded and ivy-trellised, represent what Carlyle named the "noblesse of commerce," witli money in its pocket. Writing in 1685 upon the English invasions of Acadia, Sieur Bergier thus characterizes Salem and Boston : ; "The English who inliabit these two straggling boi'ouglis {bo urff rides) are for the greater part fugitives out of England, guilty of tlie death of the late king (Charles Stuart), and accused of conspiring against the reigning sover- eign. The rest are corsairs and sea-robbers, who have united themselves witli tlie former in a soi-t of independent I'cpublic." This is rather earlier tlian the date usually fixed for the planting of democracy in America, but j^er- haps none too early. Endicott had tlien cut the cross from the standard of England with his poniard ; and Charles II. had been liuinbled in tlie persons of his commissioners. Let us walk on thi-ougli Essex Sti'cet, unheeding tlie throng, unmindl'ul of the statelier buildings, until we ajjproach an ancient landmark at the corner of North Street. Its cdaims on our attention are twofold. It is said to have been the dwelling of Koger Williams, lor whom Soulliey, when reminded that Wales had been moi-e famous for mutton than great men, avowed he had a sincei'e respect, yet it is even n)ore celebrated as the scene of examina- tions durins: the lieisi" of Terror in KJDl'.' ' ConsidcnvMe clianpjes were necessniy so long fiRO as lG7-t-'7r), wlicn it became tlie property of .Ioiii\tli:iii Corwiii, of witcliciiift notoriety. In 1745, and ajjtiiii about 1772, it underwent other repiiirs, le;i\iny it as now seen. A WALK TO WITCH HILL. 223 In appearance the original house miglit have been transplanted out of old London. Its peaked gables, with pine-apples carved in wood surmountin<>f, its latticed windows, and colossal chimney, put it unmistakably in the age of ruffs, Spanish cloaks, and long rapiers. It has long been arrested of its an- tique English character, now appearing no more than a reminiscence of its former self However, from a recessed area at the back its narrow casements and excrescent stairways are yet to be seen. A massive frame, filled between with brick, plastered with clay, with the help of its tower-like chimney, has stood immovable against the assaults of time.. Such houses, and their num- TUE OLD WITCH HOUSE. ber is not large, represent the original forest that stood on the site of ancient Salem. Jonathan Corwin, or Curwin, made a councilor under the new charter granted by King William, was one of the judges before whom the preliminary examinations were held, both here and at the Village. Governor Corwin, of Ohio, is accounted a descendant, as was the author of " The Scarlet Letter" of another witch-judge, John Hathorne. The reader may imagine the nov- elist on his knees before the grave-stone of his ancestor, striving to scrape the moss from its half- obliterated characters.' Other examinations took place in Thomas Beadle's tavern. A scene from life in tiie old Copp's Hill buiial-ground at Boston. 224 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. /l&,e^^ U/ij^'iSt*iV e(>>^j'S^t«/«f c^ uouV-^mMvy^ IAci^ \/Ji^ll it) U^^ j^ ^ f^ v^.U^ t^ J»^aI^ S>rn^^ ivvCiv^ ,pj^o^ /^ /t^^;^ X I'UAGMKNT OF KXAMINATION OF KEHECCA NUKSE, III Handwriting of Hev. Samuel Parri8.> Kiiowinnr the world bdiovcl in w itchci-alt, our horror at llic atrocities of '92 is modtM-atod by the i)rol)al)ility that nothing less than the shedding of in- noeent l)KK)d could have annihilated the delusion. The kin^ believed in it. ' Ir. the lihraiy of Harvard College is a book having the name of Farris on the fiv-Ieaf. A WALK TO ^YITCH HILL. 225 the governor and judges believed in it, and the most sensible and learned gave am- ple credence to it. Queen Anne k wrote a letter to Phips that shows she admitted it as a thing un- questioned/ The clergy, with sin- gular unanimity, recoanized it. THOMAS beadle's TAVEKN, 1092. The revulsion that followed equaled the precipitation that had marked the proceedings. One of the judges made public confession of liis error.^ Offi- cers of the court were persecuted until the day of their death. There is one hard, inflexible character, that was never known to have re- lented. William Stoughton, lieutenant-governor, presided at these trials. It is related that once, on hearing of a reprieve granted some of the condemned, he left the bench, exclaiming, " We were in a way to have cleared the land of these. Who is it obstructs the course of justice I know not. The Lord be merciful to the country." This [ludding-faced, sanctimonious, yet merciless judge had listened to the heart-broken appeals of the victims, raising their manacled hands to heaven for that justice denied them upon earth. "I have got nobody to look to but God." "There is another judgment, dear child." "The Lord will not suffer it." Others as passionately reproached their accusers, but all were confound- ed, because all were believers in the fact of witchcraft.^ Whether Witch Hill be the first or last place visited, it is there Salem witchcraft culminates. There is seen, in approaching by the railway from Boston, a bleak and rocky eminence bestrown with a little soil. Houses of the poorer sort straggle up its eastern acclivity, while the south and west faces remain as formed by nature, abrupt and precipitous. The hill is one of a range stretching away northward in a broken line toward the Merrimac. On the summit is a tolerably level area of several acres. Xot a tree was growing on it when I was there. The bleak winds sweep over it without hinderance. ' She approved Governor Fhips's conduct, but advised tlie utmost moderation and circumspec- tion in all proceedings for witchcraft. — " Manuscript Files." ^ Samnel Sewall, afterward chief-justice of the Supreme Court of the province. ' Some of the pins said to have been thrust by witches into the bodies of their victims are still preserved in Salem. 15 226 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. On the lOtli of July, 1G92, an unusual stir might have been observed in Salem. We may suppose the town excited beyond any thing that had been known in its history. Tlie condemned witches, Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, and Rebecca Nurse, are to be hanged on Gallows Hill. The narrow lane in which the common jail is situated is thronged with knots of men and women, wearing gloomy, awe-struck faces, conversing in under-tones. Before the jail door are musketeers of the train-band, armed and watchful. The crowd gives way on the ai)proach of a cart that stops in front of the prison door, which is now wide opened. On one side stands the jailer, with ponderous keys hanging at his girdle; on the other is the sheriff, grasping his staft' of office. The guard clears a passage, and then the sheriff's voice is heard calling upon the condemned to come forth. There are five of them, all women. They look pale, haggard, despairing. At sight of them a murmur ripples through the crowd, succeeded by solemn stillness. As they mount the cart with weak and tottering steps — for some are old and feeble and gray-haired — audible sobs are heard among the by- standers. Men's lips are compressed and teeth clenched as they look on with white faces. All is ready. Tiie guard suri"ounds the cart, as if a rescue were feared. It takes a score of strong men, armed to tlie teeth, to conduct five helpless women to death ! I suppose there were outcries, hootings, and imprecations, as is the rabble's w^ont. If so, I believe they were borne with the resignation and heroism that make woman the superior of man in supreme moments. At last the caval- cade is grouped around the place of execution. The gallows and the fatal ladder are there, grotesque yet horrible. To each of those five women they meant martyrdom, and nothing less. Tile ])rovost-marshal commands silence while he reads the warrant. This formality ended, he replaces it in his belt. Expectation is intense as the con- demned are seen to take leave of each otlier, like jieople who have done with this world. Then a shiver, like an electric spark, runs through the multi- tude as the iiangnum seizes them, ])inions and blindfolds them, and, in the name of King William and Queen Mai-y, liangs them by the neck until dead. ]>eing leagued with Satan, ihcy were denied the consolations of religion vouchsafed to pirates, murderers, and like malefactors. Toor old IJebecca Nurse had been led, lieavily ironed, up the broad aisle of Salem Church to be thi-ust out of its comiuuuion. At the scaffold Mvv. Mr. Xoyes, of Salem, insulted the last moments of Sarah (biod. "You are a witcli, and you know it," said this servant of Christ. She turned upon him fiercely, "You lie, and if you take away my life (iod will give you blood to di-ink.'" That few of ' This incident appears in Hawthorne's "Seven Gables." The tradition is that Noyes was choked with blood — dviiig \>y :i bunioniiiige. -A WALK TO WITCH HILL. 227 INTERIOR OF FIRST CHURCH.' the „,arty.-s cl.ose to buy thoi,- lives with a lie has ennobled their memories hyry thrust out into ]Massacliuselts liay in the ilirection of Cape Aim, and hedged about with roeky islets. It is somewliat sheltered from the weiglit of north-east storms by the sweep of the cajie, wliieh lauiielies itself right out to sea, and gallantly receives the iirst buflelings of the Atlantic. The promontory of ^larbk'hc.-ul may once have been a prolongation of Cape Ann, the whole coast hereabcmts looking as if the ocean had licked out tlie softer parts, leaving nothing that Avas digestible behind. This rock, on which a settlement was begun two hundi'cd and i'orty odd years ago, ])crforms its ]»art by nniking Salem Ilarboi" on one hand, and another ibr its own shij)ping on the east, where an a]i))endage known as ^Marbjohead Neck' is joined to it by a ligature of saml and shinglt-. The port is open to tlie north-east, and vessels are sometimes blown from their anchorage upon the sand-banks at ' Captain Goelet calls it an island. MARBLEHEAD. 229 and the head of the havbor, though the water is gen- erally dee]) and the shores bold. At the entrance a light-bouse is built on the extreme point of the Neck ; and on a tongue ^^^^ : of land of the opposite sliore is Fort Sewall — a ^ ^::=^ ^M beckoning finger and a clenched fist. The harbor, as the "Gazetteer" would say, lias a general direction from north-east to south- west. It is a mile and a half long by half a mile wide, with general- ly good holding ground, though in places the bot- tom is rocky. La Touche Treville lost the Hernii- one's anchor here in 1780, when he brought over M. De Lafayette, sent by the king to announce the J speedy arrival of Ro- chambeau's army.' Prob- ably the good news was first proclaimed in the narrow streets of Marble- head, though it has hith- ""' erto escaped a spirited lyric from some disciple of Mr. Browning. The geologist will find Marble- head and the adjacent islands an interesting ground, with some tolerably hard nuts for his hammer. The westerly shore of the harbor is GliEAT HEAD. . , -,.,,., • i 1 • xl 1 indented with little coves niched in the rock, having each a number, though the Marbleheaders have otlier names ' Treville was the man thought most worthy by Napoleon to lead his fleet in the long-meditated descent on England. 230 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. for them. One or two wliarves are fitted in these coves, but I did not see a vessel unladiiii^ or a bale of merchandise there. The flow of the tide as it sucked around the wooden piles was tlie only evidence of life about them. The varying formations of these shores go very far to redeem the haggard landscape. Even the coves differ in the materials with which their walls are built, feldspar, porphyry, and jasper variegating their rugged features with pleasing efiect. The floor of one of these coves is littered with fractured rock of a reddish brown, from which it is locally known as Red Stone Cove. Cap- tain Smith says this coast resembled Devonshire with its " tinctured veines of divers colors," The Rev. Mr. Higginson, of Salem, in 1629, speaks of the stone found here as " marble stone, that we have great rocks of it, and a har- bor hard by. Our plantation is from thence called Mar- ble Harbor." His marble was per- ha])s the porphy- I'itic rock which it resembles when wetted by sea moisture. The beach is tlic mall of Mar- bk'head. It opens upon Xahant Bay, :vnd is much ex- posed to the force of south-east gales. Over this beach a causeway is built, which iVom time to time lias re- quired extensive repairs. Under the province, and as late even as 1812, tlie favorite method of raising moneys for such purposes was by necessity was rele- iiii; ciiiitN. lottery, per as well as a nether stratum of society in Marblehead. Fine old trees flourished in secluded neigh- borhoods, where the brass doorknockers shone with unwonted lustre. I think my fingers itched to grasp them, so suggestive were they of feudal times when stranger knight summoned castle-warden by striking with his sword-hilt on the oaken door. Fancy goes in unl)i(lden at their ])ortals, and roves among their cramjjed coi'ridors and best rooms, peering into closets where choice china is kept, or I'ummaging among the curious lumber of the garrets, the ac- cuinulalions of nniny generations. On the ^\ hole, the dwellings represent so far as they may a singular equality of condition. It is only by turning into some court or by-way that you come uiu'xpectedly upon a mansion having altout it some relics of a ibnner splendor. Though Marl)leliead has its Bil- lingsgate, I saw nothing of the scpialor of our larger cities; and though it may have its liotten Kow, I remaiked neither lackeys nor showy etpiipages. There are few sidewalks in tiie older quarter. The streets are too nar- MARBLEHEAD. 239 row to afford such a luxury, averaging, I sIiouUl say, not more tliaii a rod in widtli ill the older ones, with harely room for a single vehicle. The passer-by may, if he pleases, look into the first-floor sitting rooms, and see the iamily gathered at its usual occupations Whether it be a greater indiscretion to look in at the windows than to look out of them, as the matrons anei maidens are in the hab- it of do- ing when a stranger is in the neighborhood, is a question I will- mgly remand to the decision of my read- ers ; yet I confess I found the temptation too strong to be resisted. In oidei to protect those houses at the street corners, a mass- ive stone post is often seen ^ imbedded in the ground, but to give them a wide bei th is impossible, and I looked foi ' business to be brisk at the -^ wheelwright's shop. Again, as the street encounteis fi ledge in its way, one side of it mounts the acclivity, ten, twenty LEE STBEET. 240 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. feet above your head, wliile the otlier keeps the level as before. Such acci- dental looking-down upon tlieir neiglibors does not, perhaps, ai-gue moral or material pre-eminence; but, for all that, there may be a shilling side. One thing about these old liouses impressed me pleasantly; though many of them were guiltless of paint, and on some roofs mosses had begun to creep, and a yellow rust to cover the cla])boards, there were few windows that did not boast a goodly show of scarlet geraniums, fuchsias, or mignonnette, with ivy clustering lovingly about the frames, making the dark old casements blos- som again, and glow with a wealth of warm color. I was too well acquainted with maritime towns to be surprised at finding fishing-boats, even of a few tons burden, a quarter of a mile from the water. Tliey might even be said to crop out with remarkable frequency. Some were covered with boughs, their winter protection ; others were being patched, painted, or calked, preparatory for launching, with an assiduit)^ and solicitude that can only be a|)preciated by the owners of such craft. On the street that skirts the harbor I saw a fisherman just landed enter his cottage, "paying out," as he went, from a coil of rope, one end being, I ascertained, fiistened to his wherry. I remember to have seen in Mexico the vaqueros, on alighting from their mules, take from tlie pommel of their saddles some fathoms of braided hair-rope, called a lariat, and, on entering a shop or dwelling, uncoil it as they went. The custom of these Marblehead fishermen seemed no less ingenious. In a sea-port my instinct is for the water. I have a predilection for the wharves, and, though I could well enough dispense with their smells, for their sights and sounds. The cross-ways in Marblehead seem in search of the harl)or as they go wriggling al)out the ledges. I should say they Iiad been formed on the ancient foot))aths leading down to the fishing stages. At the head of one pier, half iinbcMlded in the earth, was an oKl honey-combed cannon that looked as if it might have spoken a word in the dispute with the mother country, but now played the part of a capstan, and truant boys were casting dirt between its blistered lips. In lied Stone Cove there lay, stranded and broken in two, a long-boat, brought years ago fi'om China, perhaps, on tlie deck of some Indiamnn. Its buiM was outlandish; so unlike the wherries that were by, ja-t so like the crall that swim in the turbid Vang Tse. I took a scat in it, and was carried to the land of pagodas, opium, and mandarins. Its sheathing of cam]>hoi'- wood still e.\hale(> nssigmnl for its buildiiig. ' Think of Cojjlev painting tliese two canvases, eij^ht feet long hy five wide, and in liis best manner, for £2r) ! ' Tliese portraits are now in possession of Colonel William Kaymond Lee, of Boston. MARBLEHEAD. 247 of the way; Lut I wanted to see it," And so he turned aside to ride through its rocky lanes, and look into the faces of the men who had followed him from Cambridge to Trenton, and from Trenton to Yorktown. How the sight of their chief must have warmed the hearts of those vetei'ans ! He jot- ted down in his diary very briefly what he saw and heard in Marble- head: "About 5000 souls are said to be in this yjlace, iif' which has the ap- pearance of antiq- uity ; the houses are old; the streets dirty; and the common people not very clean. Before we entered the town we were met and attended by a com'e, till we were handed over to the Selectmen, who conducted us, saluted by artillery, into the town to the house of a Mrs. Lee, where there was a cold collation prepared ; after partaking of which, we vis- ited the harbor, etc." Lafayette, Monroe, and Jackson have been entertained in the same house. When the Revolutionary junto wished to organize its artillery, William Raymond Lee was summoned to Cambridge to command one of the com- panies. He was nephew to the old colonel, valiantly taking up the cause where his uncle had laid it down. Afterward he served in Glover's regiment, passing through all the grades from captain to colonel. Another nephew was that John Lee who, while in command of a privateer belonging to the Tracys, with a battery, part of iron and partly of wooden guns, captured a rich ves- sel of superior force in the bay. Both the colonel's fighting nephews were of Manchester, on Cape Ann. Threading my way onward, I came upon the old Town-house, the Fanenil Hall of Marblehead, in which much treason was hatched when George HI. was king. The Whigs of Old Essex have often been heard there when grave questions were to be discussed, and the jarring atoms of society have oft been summoned greeting, "To grand parading of town-meeting." TOWN HOUSE AND SQUARE. 248 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. In the old Town-house Judge Story went to school and was fitted for col- lege; the substantial dwelling in which he was born being nearly opposite, with its best parlor become an apothecary's, under the sign of Goodwin. This house was the dwelling of Dr. Elisha Story, of Revolutionary memory, and the birthplace of his son, the eminent jurist. The physicians of Dr. Story's time usually furnished their own medicines. In cocked hat and suit of rusty black, with saddle-bags and countenance sevei'e, they were marked men in town or village. Since my visit to Marblehead the last of Dr. Story's eighteen children, Miss Caroline Story, died at the age of eighty-five. The chief-justice, her brother, was one of the most lovable of men, and was never, I believe, ashamed of the slight savor of the dialect that betrayed him native and to the manner born. The Episcopal church in Marblehead is one of its old landmarks, concur- ring fully, so far as outward appearance goes, in the prevailing mouldiness. It is not remarkable in any way except as an oddity in wood, with a square tower of very mod- vvUV^, :s=Stf^ est height sur- ~"^ " _^ . _ mounting a broad and sloping roof. At a distance it is scarcely to be dis- tinguished in the wooden chaos ris- ing on all sides; and not long ago its front was mask- ed by buildings, so that the entrance- door could only be reached by a wind- ing path. The par- ish has at length cleared its ancient glebe of intruders, and the old church is no longer jostled by its dissenting *" neighbors. Imnie- ST. MICllAi;i/S, MAUBLEHEAD. t " i t • • diately adjommg is a little church-yard, in which repose the ashes of former worshipers who loved these old walls, ami would lie in their shadow. St. IMichael's, as originally built, must have been an antique gem. Ac- cording to ilie account given me by the rector, it had seven gables, topped MAKBLEHEAD. 249' by a tower, from which sprung a shapely spire, with another on the north and one on the south side. The form of the building was a square, with entrances on the south and west. The aisles crossed each other at right angles ; the ceiling, supported by oaken columns, was in the form of a St, Andrew's cross. The present barren area of pine shingles was built above the old roof, which it extinguished effectually. Cotton Mather — he did not allude to the Church of England — styled the New England churches golden candlesticks, set up to illu- minate the country; but what would he have said had he lived to see the Puri- tan Thanksgiving and Fast gradually superseded by Christmas and by Easter? The interior of the old church well repays a visit. Its antiquities are guarded as scrupulously as the old faith has been. Suspended from the ceil- ing is a chandelier, a wonderful affair in brass, the gift of a merchant of Bris- tol, England. The little pulpit, successor to an earlier one of wine-glass pat- tern, belongs to an era before the in- troduction of costly woods. Above the altar is the Decalogue, in the ancient lettering, done in England in 1714. Manifestly St. Michael's clings to its relics with greater affection than did that parish in the Old Country, which offered its second-hand Ten Command- ments for sale, as it was going to buy new ones. In the organ-loft is a dimin- utive instrument, going as far back as the day of Snetzler. Notwithstanding the disappearance of the cross from its pinnacle, and of the royal emblems from their place (save the mark !) above the Decalogue, St. Michael's remains to-day an interesting memorial of Anglican worship in the colonies. It was the third church in Massachusetts, and the fourth in all New England, those of Boston, Newbury, and Newport alone having preceded it. The names of famous people are perpetuated in the place of their birth in many ways. I noticed in Marblehead the streets bore the names of Selman, Tucker, Glover, etc. Academies, public halls, and engine-houses keep their memory green, or will do so until the era of snobbery ingulfs the place, and pulls the old signs down. Its future, I apprehend, is to become a summer re- sort. When that period of intermittent prosperity shall have set in in full tide, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to preserve the peculiar quaintness which now makes Marblehead the' embodiment of the old New England life. Elbridge Gerry was born in Marblehead. He was of middle stature, thin, of courteous, old-school manners, and gentlemanly address. He has the name ELBRIDGE GEKRY. 250 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. of a strong parti- san, and of stand- ing godfather to the geograpliical monstrosity called the Gerrymander, which has ad Jed a word to our political vocabulary.' A more eifective party caricature has never appeared in America. It is admitted it has given its author a notoriety that has somewhat ob- scured eminent public service, and made his name a by-word for polit- ical chicanei'y. Those who believe tlie worst phases of political controversy have been reserved to our own time would do well to read the history of the administrations of Washington, Ad- ams, and Jefferson, whom we are ac- customed to name with reverence as the fathers of the republic, yet who, while in office, were the objects of as much personal malignity and abuse as their successors have received. Mr. Gerry was invited to take a seat in the Massachusetts Convention when the constitution of 1787 was under consideration, in order that that body might have the benefit of his conceded sagacity and knowledge of affairs. He op- posed the adoption of the constitution before the Convention. At heart iNIr. Gerry was an undoubted patriot. Once, when he believed himself dying, he re- marked that if he had but one day to live it should be devoted to his country. Elbridge (ierry was destined for the practice of medicine, but engaged in mercantile pursuits instead; having acquired a comjietency at the time of the beginning of the Revolution, he was free to take part in the struggle. He held many important offices, and liis public career, full of the incidents of stirring times, was marked also by some eccentricities. Mr. Gerry, as early as November, 177.5, introduced a bill into the Provincial Congress for the fitting-out of armed vessels by ^Massaclnisetts. In tlie direction of inaugu- rating warfare with England at sea, he was, without doubt, the pioneer. ' It is not settled who is entitled to tlie nutliorship of tlie word " Gemmnnder," for which a number of clitiniants liavo npijcnred. The innp of Essex, whidi gave rise to the oaricatiire, was drawn by Nathan Hale, who edited tlic Boston Weeklij Messenger, in which the political deformity first appeared. XnE GEUUVMANDER. MARBLEHEAD. 251 The number of naval heroes whom Marble- head may claim as her own is something sur- prising. There were Jolin Sel- man and Nicho- las Broughton, who sailed in two armed schooners from Beverly, as early as Octobei", 1775, with in- structions from Washington to intercept, if pos- sible, some of the enemy's vessels in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Fail- ing in this objectj they landed at St. John's, now Prince Edward Island, captured the fort, and "old north" congregational church. brought off a number of provincial dignitaries of rank. Washington, who wanted powder, and not prisoners, was not well pleased with the result of this expedition, as he held it impolitic then to embroil the i-evolted colonies with Canada. Much was expected of the hereditary antipathy of the French Canadians for their English rulers, but in this respect the general's policy was founded in a mistaken judgment of those people. Commodore Manly, to whom John Adams says the first British flag was struck, was either native born, or came in very early life to Marblehead. He was placed in command of the first cruiser that sailed with a regular com- mission from Washington, in 1775, signalizing his advent in the bay in the Lee — a schooner mounting only four guns — by the capture of a British vessel laden with military stores, of the utmost value to the Americans besieging Boston. When this windfiill was reported to Congress, the members be- lieved Divine Providence had interposed in their favor. Our officers de- clared their wants could not have been better supplied if they had themselves 252 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. sent a schedule of niilitavy stores to Woolwich Arsenal. So apprehensive was the general that his prize might slip through his lingers, that all the carts to be obtained in the vicinity of Cape Ann were impressed, in order to bring the cargo to camp. Manly died in Boston, in lYOS, in circumstances nearly allied to destitution. He was, says one who knew him well, " a handy, hearty, hon- est, benevolent, blunt man, with more courage than good conduct." Another of these old sea-dogs was Commodore Samuel Tucker, the son of a ship-master. The old house in which he was born was standing on Rowland Hill, (I do not know that he of Surrey Chapel had any thing to do with the name in jMarblehead.) It was be- fore the door of this house that Tucker, in his shirt- sleeves, was chopping wood one evening, just at dusk, when a finely mounted officer clattered down the street. Seeing Tucker, the officer asked if he could inform him where the Honorable Samuel Tucker resided. Tucker, astonished at the question, answered in the negative, saying, "There is ho such man lives here; there is no other Sara At this reply, the officer raised his beaver, and, bowing low, presented him a commission in the navy. Tucker, in 1778, was taking John Adams to France in the old frigate Bos- ton,^ when ho fell in with an enemy. While clearing his decks for action he espied Mr. Adams, musket in hand, among the marines. Laying a hand on the commissioner's shoulder. Tucker said to him, "I am commanded by the Continental Congress to carry you safely to Europe, and I will do it," at the same time conducting him below. The brave Captain Mugford, whose exjiloit in capturing a vessel laden with bAMUEL TUCKliK. Tucker in this town but myself" ' Tlie old frigate Boston was captaved at Cliarleston in 1780 by the British. In 1S04 Tom Moore went over to England in lier, slie being tlicn commanded by Captain J, E. Douglas. MARBLEHEAD. 253 powder in Boston Harbor, in May, 1776, proved of inestimable value, was also an inhabitant of Marblehead. Like Selman and Broughton, be bad been a captain in the famous Marblehead regiment, and his crew were volunteers from it. The year previous, Mugford, with others, had been impressed on board a British vessel, the Lively, then stationed at Marblehead. Mugford's wife, on hearing what had befallen her husband, went off to the frigate and interceded with the captain for his release, alleging that they were just raai'- ried, and that he was her sole dependence for support. The Englishman, very generously, restored Mugford his liberty. The Trevetts, father and son, were little less distinguished than any al- ready named, adding to the high renown of Marblehead, both in the Old War and in the later contest with England. Glover and his regiment conferred lasting honor on this old town by the sea. As soon as it had been deter- mined to fit out armed vessels, Wash- ington intrusted the details to Glover, and ordered the regiment to Beverly, where these amphibians first equipped and then manned the privateers. The regiment signalized itself at Long Isl- and and at Trenton, and ought to have a monument on the highest point of land in Marblehead, with the names of its heroes inscribed in bronze. Gen- eral Glover was long an invalid from the effects of disease contracted in the array, dying in 1797.' He had been a shoe-maker, and is, I imagine, the per- son referred to in the following ex- tract from the memoirs of Madame Riedesel : "Some of the generals who accompanied us were shoe-makers; and upon their halting days they made boots for our ofiicers, and also mended nicely the shoes of our soldiers. One of our ofiicers had worn his boots entirely into shreds. He saw that an American general had on a good pair, and said to him, jestingly, ' I will gladly give you a guinea for them.' Immediately the general alighted from his horse, took the guinea, gave up his boots, and put on the badly-worn ones of the ofticer, and again mounted his horse." Gen- eral Glover's house is still standing on Glover Square. I made, as every body must make, in Marblehead, a pilgrimage to Oakum Bay, a classic pre- cinct, and to the humble abode of Benjamin Ireson, wliom Whittier has made GENERAL GLOVER. * William P.Upham, of Salem, has written a memoir of Glover. 254 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. imiuortal. Questionless the poet has done more to make Marblehead known than all the historians and magazine-writers put together, though the notori- ety is little relished there. The facts were sufficiently dramatic as they ex- isted ; but Mr. Whittier has taken a poet's license, and ai-ranged them to his fancy. Old Flood Ireson suffered in the flesh, and his memory has been pil- loried in verse for a crime he did not commit. Nevertheless, I doubt that the people of Marblehead forget that Pegasus has wings, and can no more amble at the historian's slow place than he can thrive on bran and water. It is not many years since Ireson was alive, broken in spirit under the ob- loquy of his hideous ride. Later in life he followed shore-fishing, and was once blown off to sea, where he was providentially picked up by a coaster bound to some Eastern port. I do not think he could have declared his right name, for sailors are superstitious folk, and he would have been account- ed a Jonah in any ship that sailed these seas. His wherry having been cut adrift, was found, and Old Flood Ireson was believed to have gone to the bot- tom of the bay, when, to the genuine astonishment of his townsmen, he ap- peared one day plodding wearily along the streets. Some charitable souls gave him another wherry, but the boys followed the old man about as he cried his fish with their cruel shouts of, "I, Flood Ireson, for leaving a wrack, . Was blowed out to sea, and couldn't get back." There is book authority for the terrible aspect of the vengeance of the fish-wives of Marblehead, so picturesquely portrayed in the poet's lines. In- crease Mather, in a letter to Mr. Cotton, 23d of Fifth month, 1677, mentions an instance of rage against two Eastern Indians, then prisoners at Marble- head : " Sabbath-day was sennight, the women at Marblehead, as they came out of the meeting-Jiouse, fell upon two Indians that were brought in as cap- tives, and, in a tumultuous way, very barbarously murdered them. Doubt- less, if the Indians hear of it, the captives among them will be served accord- ingly." This episode recalls the rage of the fish-women of Paris during the Reign of Terror, those unsexcd and pitiless viragos of La Halle. I could discover little of the old Marblehead dialect, once so distinctive that even the better class were not free from it. It is true a few old people still retain in their conversation the savor of it ; but it is dying out. Your ti'ue Marbleheader would say, " barn in a burn" for "born in a bain." His speech was thick and guttuial ; only an occasional word falling familiarly on the unaccustomed car. All the world over he was known so soon as he opened his moutli. The idiom may have been the outgrowth of the j)l:ice, or perchance a reminiscence of the si)eech of old-time fishermen, grounded, as I apprehend, more in the long custom of an illiterate people than any supposed relationshij) with our Kuglish inothei--tongue. AVhittier was acquainted with the jargon, and tiie question is open to the philologist. MARBLEHEAD. 255 There is a legend about the cove near Ireson's of a " screeching woman " done to death by pirates a century and a half or more past — a shadowy me- morial of the fact of tlieir presence here so long ago. They brought her on shore from their ship, and murdered her. On each anniversary of her death, says the legend, the town was thrilled to its marrow by the unearthly out- cries of the pirates' victim. Many believed the story, while not a few had lieard the screams. Chief-justice Story was among those who asserted that they had listened to those midnight cries of fear. Passing over the causeway and under the gate-way of Fort Sewall, said to have been named from Chief -justice Steplien Sewall,' Avho once taught school in Mar- blehead, I entered the spacious parade, on which a full regiment might easily be form- ed. The fort was built about 1742, and until what was so long- known as " the late war" with England, remained substantial- ly in its original pic- turesque condition. A very old man, whom I encountered on my way hither, bemoaned the demolition of the old work, which had been pulled to pieces and made more destructive during the Great Civil War. The walls were originally of rough stone, little capable of with- standing the projectiles of modern artillery. There is another fort on the summit of a rocky eminence that overlooks the approach to the Neck, built also during the Rebellion. When I visited it, the earthen walls of one face had fallen in the ditch, where the remainder of the work bid fair, at no dis- tant day, to follow. There is still remaining in the town the quaint little powder-house built in 1755, with a roof like the cup of an acorn. Seated under the muzzle of one of the big guns of Fort Sewall that point- ed seaward, I could descry Baker's Isle with its brace of lights, and the nar- row strait through which the Abigail sailed in 1628, with Endicott and the founders of Salem on board. Two years later the Arabella "came to an an- chor a little within the island." Winthrop tells us how the storm-tossed voy- agers went upon the land at Cape Ann, and regaled themselves with store of FOliT SEWALL. ' Son of Major Stephen, of Newbury. 256 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Strawberries. Boston was settled. The little colony gave its left hand to Salem, and its right to Plymouth. It waxed strong, and no power has pre- vailed against it. - Little Harbor, north-west of the fort, is the reputed site of the first settle- ment at Marblehead. On Gerry's Isl- . ^ ^i^" =^L^^ Q.nd, which lies close under the shore, was the house of the first regularly or- dained minister; the cellar and pebble- paved yard were, not long ago, identi- fied. Near by, on the main-land, is the supposed site of the "Fountain Inn," which, like the " Earl of Halifax," lias its romance of a noble gentleman taken in the toils of a pretty wench.' Sir Charles Frankland, collector of his Maj- esty's customs, visits Marblehead, and becomes enamored of the handmaid of the inn, Agnes Snrriage. He makes her his mistress, but at length, having saved his life during the great earthquake at Lisbon, she i-eceives the reward of love and heroism at the altar as the bai'onet's wedded wife. Arthur Sandeyn, who was the first publican in Marblehead, was allowed to keep an ordinary there in 1G40. The port was fortified after some fashion as early as 1643-'44. I had pointed out to me the spot Avhere the Constitution dropped anchor when chased in here by two British frigates in April, 1814. They threatened' for a time to fetch her out again; but as Stewart laid the old invincible with her grim broadside to the entrance of the port, and the fort prepared to re- ceive them in a becoming manner, they prudently hauled ott*. The battle between the Chesapeake and Shannon was also visible from tlie high shores here, an eye-witness, then in a fishing -boat oflT in the bay, relating that nothing was to be seen except tlie two sliips enveloped in a thick smoke, and nothing to be heard but the roar of the guns. When the smoke drifted to leeward, and the cannonade was over, the British ensign was seen waving above the Stars and Stripes. ]\)or, chivalric, ill-starred Lawrence! He liad given a challenge to the commander of the lionne Citoyen^ and durst not decline one." At the Shan- POWDER-HOUSE, 1755. ' See " Old Landmarks of Boston," pp. 102, 1(5:$. ° It has been erroneously stated tliat Hainl)iid{^e accomi)anied Lawrence to the pier and tried to dissuade him from engajiing the Shannon. They liad not met for several days. MARBLEHEAD. 257 noil's invitation, he put to sea with an unlucky ship, and a mutinous crew fi-esh from the grog-shops and brothels of Ann Street. He besought them in burning words to show themselves worthy the name of American sailors. They replied with sullen murmurs. One wretch, a Portuguese named Joseph Antonio, came forward as their spokesman. His appearance was singularlv fantastic. He wore a checked shirt, a laced jacket, rings in his ears, and a bandana handkerchief about his head. Laying his hand on his breast, he made a profound inclination to his captain as he said : " Pardon me, sir, but fair play be one jewel all over the world, and we no touchee the specie for our last cruise with Capitaine Evans. The Congress is ver' munificent ; they keep our piasters in treasury, and pay us grape and canister. Good fashion in Portuguee ship, when take rich prize is not pay poco <2^:»oco, but break bulk and share out dollar on drum-head of capstan.'" Already wounded in the leg, Lawrence was struck by a grape-shot on the medal he wore in honor of his former victory. His words, as he was borne from the deck, have become a watchword in our navy.'' Samuel Livermore, of Boston, who accompanied Lawrence on this cruise out of personal regard, attempted to avenge him. His shot missed Captain Broke. Lawrence hear- ing from below the firing cease, sent his surgeon to tell his officers to fight on. "The colors shall wave while Hive!" he constantly repeated. He was only thirty-four; sixteen years of his life had been passed in his country's serv- ice. His figure was tall and com- manding, and in battle he was the in- carnation of a warrior. When Mr. Croker read the state- ment of the action in the House of Commons, the members from all parts interrupted him with loud and con- tinued cheering. Perhaps a greater ^^Sjj^ ^^ Zitt^^^^ ^KK^^^^ ^ compliment to American valor could not have been paid than this. The capture of a single ship of any nation had never before called forth such a triumphant outburst. m, ,- , . , T . T,r JAMES LAWRENCE. Ine oldest burial-ground in Mar- blehead is on the summit and slopes of the highest of its rocky eminences. Here, also, the settlers raised the frame of their primitive cliurch ; some part ' This fact was established by Geoffrey Crayon (Washington Irving) in one of his philippics against Great Britain, of which he so slyly concealed the authorship in the preface to his "Sketch Book." ^ " Don't give up the ship." 17 258 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. of which, I was told, has since been translated into a move secular edifice. At the head of a little pond, where a clump of dwarfish willows has become rooted, is a sheltered nook, in which are the oldest stones now to be seen. This was probably the choice spot of the whole field, but it now wears the same air of neglect common to all these old cemeteries. A stone of 1690 with the name of "Mr. Christopher Latimore, about 70 years," was tlie oldest I discovered. As I picked my way among the thick-set head-stones, for there was no path, and I always avoid treading on a grave, I came upon a grave-digger busily employed, with whom I lield a few moments' parley. The man, already up to his waistband in the pit, seemed chiefly concerned lest he should not be able to go much farther before coming to the ledge, which, even in the hollow places, you are sure of finding at no great dej^th. On one side of the grave was a heap of yellow mould, smelling of the earth earthy, and on the other side a lesser one of human bones, that the spade had once more brought above oround. GLIMPSE OF THE SEAMEN'S MONUMENT AND OLD BURIAL-GROUND. After observing that he should be lucky to get down six feet, the work- man told me the grave was destined to receive the remains of an old lady of ninety-four, recently deceased, who, as if ieai-ful her rest might be loss quiet in the midst of a generation to which she did not belong, had begged she might be buried liere among her old friends and neighbors. Al- though interments had long been interdicted in the overcrowded ground, her prayer was granted. An examination of the inscri|)tions confirmed what I had heard relative to the longevity of the inhabitants of Marblehead, of which the grave-digger also recounted more instances than I am able to remember. MARBLEHEAD. 259 I asked him what was done with the bones I saw lying there, adding to the heap a fragment or two that had fallen unnoticed from his spade. " Wh)^, you see, I bury them underneath the grave I am digging, before the folks get here. We often find such bones on the surface, where they have been left after filling up a grave," was his reply. This did not appear sur- prising, for those I saw were nearly the color of the earth itself. Seeing my look directed with a sort of fascination toward these relics of frail mortality, the man, evidently misconstruing my thought, took up an arm-bone with play- ful familiarity, and observed, " You should have seen tlie thigh-bone I found under the old Episcopal Church ! I could have knocked a man down with it easy. These," he said, throwing the bone upon the heap, with a gesture of contempt, " are mere roften things." Who would be put to bed with that man's shovel ! On a grassy knoll, on the brow of the hill, is a marble monument erected by the Marblehead Charitable Seamen's Society, in memory of its members deceased on shore and at sea. On one face are the names of those who have died on shore, and on the east those lost at sea, from the society's institution in 1831 to the year 1848. On the north are the names of sixty-five men and boys lost in the memorable gale of September 19th, 1846. This number com- prised forty-three heads of families ; as many widows, and one hundred and fifty-five fatherless children, were left to mourn the fatality. The grave-digger told me that brave Captain Mugford had been buried on this hill, but the spot was now unknown. I could well believe it, for nev- er had I seen so many graves with nothing more than a shapeless boulder at the head and foot to mark them. Many stones were broken and defaced, and I saw the fragments of one unearthed while standing by. There is no mate- rial so durable as the old blue slate, whereon you may often read an inscrip- tion cut two hundred years ago, while those on freestone and marble need renewing every fifty years. General Glover's tomb here is inscribed: Erected with filial respect to The Memory of The Hon. JOHN GLOVER, Esquire, Brigadier General in the late Continental Army. Died January 30th, 1797, Aged 64. Many of the old graves were covered with freshU'^ springing "life-everlast- ing," beautifully symbolizing the rest of such as sleep in the faith. From the Seamen's Monument, at the foot of which some wooden benches are placed, is seen a broad horizon, dotted with white sails. I never knew a sailor who did not wish to be buried as near as possible to the sea, though never in it. "Don't throw me overboard. Hardy," was Nelson's dying request. There are clumps of lone graves on the verge of some headland all over New En- 260 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. LONE GRAVES. gland, and one old grave-yavd on Stage Island, in Maine, has been wholly wash- ed away. In allusion to the loss of life caused by disasters to the fishing fleets from time to time, an old man Avith whom I talked thought it was not greater than would occur through the ordina- ry cliances of a life on shore. It is wonderful how a sea-faring population come to associate the idea of safety with the sea. Earthquakes, confla- grations, falling buildings, and like ac- cidents are more dreaded than hurri- canes, squalls, or a lee-shore. By an estimate taken from the Essex G^a^eWe, of January 2d, 1770, it ap- pears that in the two preceding years Marblehead lost twenty-three sail of vessels, with their crews, number- ing one hundred and sixt}'' - two souls,witliout tak- ing into account those who wei-e lost from vessels on their return. There were few families that did not mourn a rela- tive, and some of the older inhabit- ants remember to have heard their elders speak of it witli a sliudder. These arc the annalsthatdoubt- Icss suggested Miss Larcom's "Hannah Bind- "SITTINO, STITCUINO IN A MOUKNFUL MUSE." ing Shoos," and the long, lingering, yet fi-uitless watching for tliose who nev- er come back. Tlie last sliake of tlie liand, the last kiss, and the last flashing of tlie white sail are much like tlie iarewell on the day of battle. THE HOE, ENGLISH PLTMODTH. CHAPTER XVIL PLYMOUTH. "What constitutes a state? Not high raised battlements or labored mound, Thick walls or moated gate." "PLYMOUTH is the American Mecca. It does not contain the tomb of -■- the Prophet, but the Rock of the Forefixthers, their traditions, and their graves. The first impressions of a stranger are disappointing, for the oldest town in New England looks as fresh as if built within the century. There is not much that is suggestive of the old life cO be seen there. Except the hills, the haven, and the sea, there is nothing antique ; .save a few carefully cher- ished relics, nothing that has survived the day of the Pilgrims. Somehow monuments — and Plymouth is to be well furnished in the future — do not compensate for the absence of living facts. The house of William Bradford would have been worth more to me than any of them. Even the rusty iron pot and sword of Standish are more satisfying to the common run of us than the shaft they are building on Captain's Hill to his memory. They, 262 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. at least, link us to the personality of the man. And with a sigh that it was so — for I had hoped otherwise — I was obliged to admit that Old Plymouth had been rubbed out, and that I was too late by a century at least to realize my ideal. The most impressive thing about Plymouth is its quiet; though I would not have the reader think it deserted. There are workshops and factories, but I did not suspect their vicin- ity. Even the railway train slips furtively in and out, as if its rum- bling might awaken the slumbering old sea- port. Although the foundation of a com- monwealth, the town, as we see, has not be- come one of the cen- tres of traffic. It has ^ . ^ ^ , , TTM. r, T,, *u T^ 1 J Txr ,1 . sliarcd the fate of Sa- A, Joanna Davis House — Cole's Hill; B, Plymouth Rock and Wells s Store; C, Universalist Chui-ch ; A First Church; ^, Church of the Pil- Icm, in having itS COm- grimage; F, Post-office— Site of Governor Bradford's House; G, S;\m- u-jercjal marrOW RUcked uel D.Holmes's House— Site of Common House; //, Town Square; /, i- u Town-house ; J, Court-house Square. OUt by a metropolis op- 1, Court Street; 2, North Street; 3, Middle Street; 4, Leyden Street; 5, ulent enlarged and Still Main Street ; 6, Water Street ; 7, Market Street. . ••,•>•> • , i increasing," leaving the first-born of New England nothing but her glorious ])ast, and the old fires still burning on her altars. Court Street is a pleasant and well-built thoroughfai'c. It runs along the base of three of the hills on whose slopes the town lies, taking at length the name of ^Fain, which it exchanges again beyond the town square for Alarket Street. If you follow Court Street northwardly, you will find it merging in a country road that will conduct you to Kingston ; if you ])ursue it with your face to the south, you will in due time arrive at Sandwich. Trees, of which there is a variety, are the gloi-y of Court Street. I saw in some streets mag- nificent lindens, horse-chestnuts, and elms branching quite across them; and in the areas such early fiowering shrubs as forsythia, spiraea, pyrus japonica, and lilac. PLYMOUTH. 263 Many houses are old, but there are none left of the originals ; nor any so peculiar as to demand description. On some of the most venerable the cliini- neys are masterpieces of masonry, showing curious designs, or, in some in- stances, a stack of angular projections. The chimney of Governor Bradford's house is said to have been furnished with a sun-dial. PILGRIM HALL. Pursuing your way along Court Street, you will first reach Pilgrim Hall, a structure of rough granite, in the style of a Greek temple, the prevailing taste in New England fifty years ago for all public and even for private buildings. Within are collected many souvenirs of the Pilgrims, and of the tribes inhabiting the Old Colony. Lying .^ in the grass-plot before the hall is a frag- f ment of Forefathers' Rock, surrounded by (r a circular iron fence, and labeled in figures occupying the larger part of its surface, with the date of 1620. In this place it be- came nothing but a vulgar stone, I did not feel my pulses at all quickened on be- holding it. One end of the hall is occupied by the BREWSTER'S CHEST, AND STANDISU'S POT. well-known painting of the "Landing of the Pilgrims," by Sargent. To height- en the effect, the artist has introduced an Indian in the foreground, an historic anachronism. A tall, soldierly figure is designated as Miles Standish, who is reported as being short, and scarce manly in appearance. The canvas is oi large size, and the grouping does not lack merit, but its interest is made to 264 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. depend on the figures of Governor Carver and of Samoset, in the foregroi;nd — both larger than life. We do not recognize, in the crouching attitude of the Indian, the erect and dauntless Samoset portrayed by Mourt, Bradford, and Winslow. This painting, which must have cost the artist great labor, was generously presented to the Pilgrim Society. I have seen a painting of the "Landing" in which a boat is represented approaching the shore, filled with soldiers in red coats.' The late Professor Morse also made it the subject of his pencil. f^ LA-NDINC. OF THE PILGUIMS, FKOM SARGENT'S PAINTING. There are on the walls portraits of Governor Edward Winslow, Governor Josiah Wiiish>w and wife, and of General John Winslow, all copies of origi- nals in tlie gallery of the JMassachusetts Historical Society. The original of Edward Winsh)w is believed to be a Vandyke. There is also a portrait of lion. John Trumbull, presented by Colonel John, the painter.'' ' In possession of New Eiij;1ancl Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. It is by Conic, a ma- rine painter of some repute in iiis ilay. "^ Otlier ])()rtraits are of Dr. James Tliaciicr, by Frotliingham, and of John Alden, great-grand- son of Jolin, of tlie M(ii/_/l0, a jmwder-house of antique fashion, built in 1770. It had an oval slab of slate imbedded in the wall, with a Latin inscription ; and there were also engraved ujjon it a powder-horn, cartridge, and a cannon. — " Pilgrim ^leinorial." PLYMOUTH. 2 79 land and sea. The sentinel who paced his lonely round here in 1622 should have had steady nerves. The nearest outpost was his fellow-watcher on the ramparts of Fort Amsterdam. He could hardly pass the word on "All's well !" to Jamestown or Saint Augustine, or hear the challenge from Port Royal, in Acadia, Behind him was the wilderness, out of which it was a wonder the Indians did not burst, it was so easy to overwhelm the devoted little band of Englishmen and brush them away into the sea. I make no ac- count of the few scattered cabins along the northern coast, and the Pilgrims made no account of them. Thus they lived for ten years within the narrow limits of an intrenched camp, a picket lodged within an enemy's country, un- til the settlement in Massachusetts Bay enabled them to draw breath. Why might they not say to those after-comers, "We aie the Jasons; we have won the fleece?" The procession of the Pilgrims to their church was a sight that must have exceedingly stirred the sluggish blood of the Dutch emissary. He found them attentive to proffers of trade; acute, as might be expected of the first Yankees, where profits were in question ; but there Avas no doubt about the quality of their piety. At the hour of worship the silent village was assembled by drum-beat, as was befitting in the Church Militant. At this signal the house-doors open and give passage to each family. The men wear their sad- colored mantles, and are armed to the teeth, as if going to battle. Silently they take their places in front of the captain's door, three abreast, with match- locks shouldered. The tall, stern-visaged ones, we may suppose, lead the rest. In front is the sergeant. Behind the armed men comes Bradford, in a long robe. At his right hand is Elder Brewster, with his cloak on. At the gov- ernor's left marches JNIiles Standish, his rapier lifting up the corner of his mantle, and carrying a small cane in his hand. The women in sober gowns, kerchiefs, and hoods, their garments poor, but scrupulously neat, follow next ; the lowlier yielding precedence to those of better condition. At command, they take their way up the hill in this order, and, entering within the rude temple they have raised, each man sets down his musket where he may lay hand upon it. "Thus," says De Rasieres, "they are on their guard night and day." Thomas Lechford, " of Clement's Inn, Gent," in his "Plain Dealing," says he once looked in the church-door in Boston M'here the sacrament was being administered. He thus noted down what he saw: "They come together about nine o'clock by ringing of a bell. Pastor prayed for a quarter of an hour. The teacher then readeth and expoundeth a chapter; then a psalm is sung, which one of the ruling Elders dictates. Afterward the pastor preaches a sermon, or exhorts ex tempoi'e.'^'' This is the way in which they made contributions : " On Sundays, in the afternoon, when the sermon is ended, the people in the galleries come down 280 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. and march two abreast up one aisle and down the other, until they come be- fore the desk, for pulpit they have none. Before the desk is a long pue where the elders and deacons sit, one of theni with a money-box in his hand, into which the people, as they pass, put their offering, some a shill, some 2s., some half a crown, five s., according to their ability. Then they conclude with a jarayer." Lechford adds that the congregation used to pass up by the deacon's seat, giving either money, or valuable articles, or paper promises to ])^j, and so to their seats again, the chief men or magistrates first. The same author de- scribes the method of excommunication practiced in some of the New En- gland churches. "At New Haven, alias Quinapeag," he says, " where Master Davenport is pastor, the excommunicate is held out of the meeting, at the doore, if he will heare, in frost, snow, and raine." The Pilgrims are often called Puritans, a term of reproach first applied to the wliole body of Dissenters, but in their day belonging strictly to those who renounced the forms and ceremonies while believing in the doctrines and sac- raments of the Church of England. Boston was settled by Puritans, who, ac- cording to Governor Winthrop, adhered to the mother-church when they left Old Enoland. It is curious to observe that the Boston Puritans became rig- id Separatists, while the Plymouth Separatists became more and more mod- erate. The Piigi'ims were originally of the sect called Brownists, from Rob- ert Brown, a school-master in Southwark about 1580, and a relation of Cecil, Lord Burghley.' Cardinal Bentivoglio erroneously calls the Holland refu- gees a distinct sect by the name of Puritans. Hutchinson, usually well in- formed, observes, "If all in England who called themselves Brownists and In- dependents at that day had come over with them (the Pilgrims), they would scarcely have made one considerable town." Yet in 1592 there were said to be twenty thousand Independents in England. The Church of tlie Pilgrims, formed, in 1G02, of people living on the bor- ders of Nottingliainshire, Lincolnsliire, and Yorkshire, made their way, after innumerable diiliculties, into Ilollaiul. Their pastor, John Kobinson, is usu- ally regarded as the author of Independency. A residence on the scene of the lieforination softened, in many rt'spects, the inflexible religious character of the ]>rownists. They discarded the name rendered odious on many ac- counts. It is stated, on the authority of Edward Winslow, that Robinson and his Church did not recpiire renunciation of the Church of England, acknowl- ediiinijf the other reformed churches, and allowintr occasional communion with ' Robert Brown, tlio fdiinder of flic sect, after tliirty-two im])risoiiinciits. evoiitiinlly con formed. Henry Penny, Henry Harrow, and otlier Brownists, were cruelly executed for nllef^ed sedition. May 2!)th, ir>'.)ii. IClizaljetli's celebrated Act of IT)!);? visited a refusal to make a declaration of conform- ity will) tlie Cliin-cli of England wiili lianislinuMit and fnrfL'itnre of citizeiishii) ; death if tiie oU'ondcr returned iiUo tiie realm. PLYMOUTH. 281 them. It is also evident from what Bradford says that the Pilgrims chose the Huguenots as their models in Church affairs/ Both in regard to civil and ecclesiastical affairs the Pilgrims were placed in a situation of serious difficulty. The King of England promised not to in- terfere with them in religious matters, but would not acknowledge them by any public act under his hand and seal. Some of the most influential of the company of English merchants, by whom they were transported to New En- gland, did not sympathize Avith them in their religious views, and at length broke off" from them, and left them to struggle on alone as best they might. This is apparent in the plan to prevent the remnant of the Church of Leyden from coming over. It is also clear that neither the motives nor the intentions of the Pilgrims were well understood by the adventurers at the outset, and that as soon as these were fully developed, the merchants, or a majority of them, preferred to augment their colony with a more pliant and less obnox- ious class of emigrants than the first-comers had proved. In examining the charges and complaints of the one, and the explanations of the other, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that a good deal of duplicity was used by the Pilgrims to keep the breath of life in their infent plantation. It appears that the settlers in Massachusetts Bay were not acquainted with the form of worship Y^i'acticed by the Pilgrims, as Endicott writes to Governor Bradford from " Naumkeak, May 11th, 1629: I acknowledge myself much bound to you for your kind love and care in sending Mr. Fuller among us, and rejoice much that I am by him satisfied touching your judgments of the outward form of God's worship ; it is (as far as I can yet gather) no other than is warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have pro- fessed and maintained ever since the Lord in his mercy revealed himself unto me, being far differing from the common reports that hath been spread of you touching that particular."^ I have thought it worth mentioning that the church at Salem was the first completely organized Congregational church in America. It was gath- ered August 6th, 1619, when Rev. Mr. Higginson was ordained teacher, and Mr. Skelton pastor." Governor Bradford and others deputed from tlie church at Plymouth, coming into the assembly in the hour of the solemnity, gave them the right hand of fellowship. Robinson never having come over, Plym- outh was without a pastor for some years. ' Sir Mattliew Hale used to say, "Those of the Separation were good men, but tliey had nar- row souls, or they would not break the peace of the Church about such inconsiderable matters as the points of difference were." In this country the Independents took the name of Congregation- alists. They held, among other tilings, that one church may advise or reprove another, but liad no power to excommunicate. Tlie churches outside of Plymouth did, however, practice excommu- nication. ^ Governor Bradford's Letter-book. " The teacher explained doctrines ; the pastor enforced them by suitable exliortations. 282 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. TJnclei' Charles I. the Pilgrims fared little better than in the preceding reign; but they had seated themselves firmly by the period of the Civil War. On the day before his arrival at Shrewsbury, the king caused the military orders to be read at tlie head of each regiment. Then, mounting his horse, and placing himself in the midst, where all might hear, he made a speech to his soldiers, in which this passage occurs : " Gentlemen, you have heard these orders read ; it is your part, in your severall places, to observe them exactly I can not suspect your Courage and Resolution ; your Conscience and your Loyalty hath brought you hither to fight for your Religion, your King, and tlie Laws of the Land ; you sliall figlit with no Enemies, but Traitours, most of tliem Brownists, Anabaptists, and Atheists, such who desire to destroy both Church and State, and who have already condemned you to ruin for being Loyall to vs." Here, then, Avere a handful of men repudiated by tlieir king, cast ofi*by their commercial partners, a prey to the consequences of civil war at home, and liv- ing by sufferance in the midst of a fierce and warlike people, compelled at last to work out their own political destiny. What Avonder that with tliem self- preservation stood first, last, and always! All otlier settlements in New En- gland were made with the hope of gain alone, few, if any, colonists meaning to make a permanent home in its wilds. We may not withhold the respect due to these Pilgrims, who were essentially a unit, embodying the germ of civil, political, and religious liberty. They beheld from the beach the vanish- ing sail of the Mayflover as men who had accepted what fate may bring to them. They did not mean to go back. THE PILGKIMS FIK6T ENCOUNTEK. CHAPTER XVIII. PLYMOUTH, CLAEK's ISLAND, AND DUXBUEY, "Ay, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod ! They have left unstain'd what there they found — Freedom to worship God!" — Mrs. Hemans. T ET US now take a walk in Leyden Street. Until 1802 the principal street -*-^ of the Pilgrims Avas Avithout a name ; it was then proposed to give it the one it now so appropriately bears. In my descent of the hill into the town square, I passed under the shade of some magnificent elms just putting forth their spring buds. Some of those natural enemies of trees were talking of cutting down the noblest of them all, that has stood for nearly a hundred years, and long shaded Governor Bradford's house.' Consulting again our old guide, De Rasieres, I find he tells us, "New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east, toward the sea-coast, ■ Tiiese trees are said to have been planted in 1783, by Thomas Davis. 284 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. BUILDING ON THE SITE OF BKADFOKD S MANSION. with a broad street about a cannon-shot of eight hundi-ed [3'ards] long lead- ing down the liill; witli a street crossing in the middle northward to the riv- ulet and southward to the land. The houses are con- structed of hewn planks, with gar- dens, also inclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks ; so that their houses and court-yards are ar- ranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross-street, stands the governor's house, before which is a square inclosure, upon which four pateros [steenstucken] ai'e mounted, so as to tiank along the streets." We are standing, then, in the ancient place of arms of the Pilgrims. Nearest to us, on tlie north side of the square, is the site of Governor Brad- ford's house, with the Church of the Pilgrimage just beyond. The dwelling of the governor was long ago removed to the north ])art of the town, and this, its successor, does not fulfill our want, as tlie veritable habitation of the much-honored magistrate would do. Nearly opposite is the old countj' court- house, erected in 1749. Up at the head of this inclosed space, which long custom miscalls a square, is tlie First C'hnrch, its pinnacles a])pearing dimly tlirough the interweaving branches of tall elms. Tiiere is a coolness as well as a repose about the spot lliat mak(>s us loiter. After the tragic death of his first wife, l>radfbrd bethought him of Mrs. South worth, whom he had known and wooed in old England as Alice Carpen- ter. She was now a widow. He renewed his suit, and she hearkened to him. But as the governor could not leave liis magistracy, the lady, ceding her woman's rights, took ship, and came to Plymouth in August, IC'23. In a fortnight they were married. ]>iadford tells how the passengers of the ship A}i7i, of Avhom Mistress Southworth was one, were affected by what they saw when they first set foot in I'lymouth. They were met by a band of haggard men and women, meanly a])})areled, and in some cases little better than half-naked. The best PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 285 dish they could set before their friends was a lobster or piece offish, without other drink than a cup of water. Some of the newly arrived fell weeping; others wished themselves in England again, while even the joy of meeting friends from whom they had long been separated could not dispel the sad- ness of others in beholding their miserable condition. The governor has not told us of the coming of Alice Southworth, but says simply there were "some very useful persons " on board the ship Ann. Here the governor entertained Pere Gabriel Dreuillettes, in 1650, with a fish dinner, because, says the good old Jesuit, it was a Friday. The govern- or was equal to the courtesy ; yet, I fancy, fish dinners were often eaten in Plymouth. Bradford's second Avife survived him thirteen years. "With her came his brother-in-law, George Morton, her sister, Bridget Fuller,' and two daughters of Elder Brewster. She lived thirty years with her second husband, and, from the tribute of Nathaniel Morton,'^ must have been a woman of an exem- plary and beautiful character. Her sister, Mary Carpenter, lived to be nine- ty years old. She is referred to in the church records of Plymouth as " a godly old maid, never married." Apropos of the governor's wedding, I extract this notice of the first mar- riage in the colony from his history: "May 12th, 1621, was y*^ first marriage in this place, which, according to y*^ laudable custome of y*^ Low Countries, was thought most requisite to be performed by the magistrate, as being a civill thing, upon which many questions aboute inheritance doe depende," etc. When Edward Winslow was in England as agent of the colony, and was interrogated at the instance of Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, before the Lords Commissioners of the Plantations, he was, among other things, ques- tioned upon this practice of marriage by magistrates. He answered boldly that he found nothing in Scripture to restrict marriage to the clergy. He also alleged that the plantation had long been -without a minister, and finish- ed by citing, as a precedent, his own marriage by a magistrate at the Staat- haiis in Holland. Morton, who appeared as an accuser of Winslow, says, " The people of Xew England held the use of a ring in marriage to be a re- liqne of popery, a diabolical circle for the Devell to daunce in." As soon as they had definitely settled upon a location, the colonists went to work building their town. They began to prepare timber as early as the 23d of December, but the inclemency of the season and the distance every thing was to be transported — there were no trees standing within an eighth of a mile of the present Leyden Street — made the work painfully laborious and the progress slow. On the twenty-eighth day the company was consoli- * Wife of Samuel Fuller. She gave the church the lot of ground on which the parsonage stood. — Alien. ^ See Appendix to Bradford's History. 286 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. dated into nineteen families, the single men joining some household in order to lessen the number of houses to be built. They then staked out the ground, giving every person half a pole in breadth and three in length. Each head of a family chose his homestead by lot, and each man was required to build his own house. By Tuesday, the 9th of January, the Common House wanted nothing but the thatch to be complete; still, although it was only twenty feet square, the weather was so inclement that it took four days to cover it. They could seldom work half the week. Captain Smith says, in 1624, the town consisted of two-and-thirty houses and about a hundred and eighty people. The Common House is believed to have stood on the south side of Leyden Street, where the abrupt descent Qf the hill be- gins. In digging a cellar on the spot, in 1801, sundry tools and a plate of iron were dis- covered, seven feet below the suiface of the ground. This house is supposed to have "served the colonists for every j)urpose of a public nature un- til the building of their for- tress on Burial Hill. Mourt calls it their rendezvous, and relates that a few days after completion it took fire from a s])ark in the thatch. At the time of the accident Governor Carver and William Bradford were lying sick within, with their muskets charged, and the thatch blazing above them, to their very great danger. In this Common House the working j)arties slept until thoir dwellings were made ready. It was worth living two hundred years ago to have witnessed one street scene that took place here. John Oldham, the contentious, tlie incorrigible, dared to return to Plymouth after banishment. He had, with Lyford, ti'ied to breed a revolt among the disaffected of the colony. A rough and tough malignant was Oldham, fiercely denouncing the magistrates to their teeth when called to answer for liis misdeeds. He defied them roundly in their grave assembly. Turning to llio by-standers, he exclaimed : " JNIy maistcrs whar is your harts? now show your courage, you have oft complained to me so and so; now is y*^ tyme if you will doe any thing, I will stand by you." He returned more choleric than before, calling those he met rebels and traitors, in his mad fury. They put him under guard until liis wrath had time to cool, and set their invention to work. He was compelled to pass through a double file of musketeers, every one of whom " was ordered to give SITE OF THE COMMON HOUSE. PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 287 him a thump on y' brich, with y"^ but end of liis musket," and was then con- veyed to the Avater-side, where a boat was in readiness to carry him away. They then bid him go and mend his manners. The idea of the gantlet was, I suspect, borrowed from the Indians. This little colony of pilgrims was at first a patriarchal community. Every thing was in common. Each year an acre of land was allotted to every inhab- itant to cultivate. The complete failure of the experiment ought to stand for a precedent, though it seems somehow to have been forgotten. Men, they found, would not work for the common interest as for themselves, and so the idea of a community of dependents was abandoned for an association of inde- pendent factors. From this time they began to get on. The rent-day did not trouble them. "We are all freeholders," writes i:d\vard Hilton home to England. In 1626 the planters bought themselves fi-ee of the undertakers, who oppressed them with ruinous charges for every thing furnished the col- ony. Allerton, who was sent over in 1625 to beg the loan of one hundred pounds sterling, was obliged to pay thirty pounds in the hundred interest for the two hundred pounds he had obtained. In the year 1627 they divided all their stock into shares, giving each person, or share, twenty acres of land, besides the single acre already allotted. It is time to resume our walk down Leyden 'Street. On reaching the bhift' before mentioned the street divides, one branch descending the decliv- ity toward the water, while the other skirts the hill-side. The Universalist Church at the corner marks the site of the Allyne House, an ancient dwell- ing demolish- ed about 1826. ____^^^_^^^gj^^^-^ ,^ By tlie Plym- ^; .^^;:^^^B5Ci^i^:X::'E3iv^sa^. outh records, it — ;? ~-- appears that, "^^ in 1699, Mr. Joseph Allyne married Maiy Doten, daugh- ter of Edward, and grand- daughter of that Edwai-d Doten Avho had come in the Mayfloxoer. Among the children of Jo- seph Allyne born in the old THE ALLYNE HOUSE. 288 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. homestead was Mary, who became the mother of that "flame of fii'e," James Otis. The house commanded a fine view of the bay, its foundations being higher than the chimneys in the streets below. It may not, perhaps, be gen- erally known that James Otis, after completing his studies in the office of Jeremiah Gridley, then the most eminent lawyer in the j^rovince, came from Boston to Plymouth, where he took an oflice in the main street. He practiced there during the years 1748-'49, when his talents called him to a broader field. Mercy, the sister of James Otis, married James Warren, a native of Plym- outh. He succeeded General Joseph Warren as president of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, but is better known as the author of the cele- brated "Committee of Correspondence," which he proposed to Samuel Adams while the latter was at his house. Mi's. Warren, at the age of seventy, was visited by the Duke De Liancourt. " She then retained," he says, " the activ- ity of mind which distinguished her as a sister of James Otis ; nor had she lost the graces of person or conversational powers, which made her still a charming companion." For reasons apparent to the reader, she resolved not to send her " History of the Revolution" to the press during her husband's lifetime. Going beyond the church, we come upon the open space of greensward, inter- sected by footpaths, known as Cole's Hill. Some defensive works were erected on this bank in 1V42, in the lievolution,and again in 1814. I have al- ready traversed it in imagination, when standing on the sum- mit of Burial Hill. It is no longer a ])lace of graves, nor does it in the least suggest, by any monumental symbol, the tragedy of the Pilgrims' first winter here, when, as IJradtbid touchingly says, " Y'' well were not in any measure sufficient to tend y" sicke ; nor the living scarce able to burie the y made many a sowre face." I doubt not the English spread it thickly on the meat, even at the hazard of good understanding. It took these simple natives a long time to compi'ehend the English meth- od of corres[)ondence. They could not penetrate tiic mystery of talking pa- fLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 295 per. There is a story of an Indian sent by Governor Dudley to a lady with some oranges, the present being accompanied with a letter in which the num- ber was mentioned. When out of the town, the Indian put the letter under a stone, and going a short distance oiF, ate one of the oranges. His astonish- ment at finding the theft discovered was unbounded. I did not omit a ramble among the wharves, but saw little that would in- terest the reader. When you are there, the proper thing to do is to take a boat and cross the bay to Clark's Island and Duxbury. We sailed over the submerged piles at the end of Long Wharf; for the pier, once the pride of Plymouth, was fast going to wreck. The tops of the piles, covered with sea- weed kept in motion by the waves, bore an unpleasant resemblance to drown- ed human heads bobbing up and down. As we passed close to the new light- house off Beach Point, the boatman remarked that when it was being placed in position the caisson slipped in the slings, and dropped to the bottom near- er the edge of the channel than was desirable. Having wind enough, we were soon up with Saquish Head, and in a few minutes more were fast moored to the little jetty at Clark's Island. The presence at one time of two islands in Plymouth Bay is fully attested by competent witnesses. Many have supposed Brown's Island, a shoal seaward of Beach Point, to have been one of these, tradition affirming that the stumps of trees have been seen there. One author' believes Brown's Island to have been above water in the time of the Pilgrims. Champlain locates two islands on Duxbury side, with particulars that leave no doubt where they then were. Mourt twice mentions them, and they are on Blauw's map inside the Gurnet headland. In an account of Plymouth Harbor, printed near the close of the last century, two islands are mentioned : " Clark's, consisting of about one hundred acres of excellent land, and Saquish, which was joined to the Gurnet by a narrow piece of sand : for several years the water has made its way across and insulated it. The Gurnet is an eminence at the southern extrem- ity of the beach, on which is a light-house, built by the State. "^ Bradford mentions the narrow escape of their pinnace from shipwreck on her return from Narraganset in 1623, by "driving on y^ flats that lye with- out, caled Brown's Hands." Winthrop relates that in 1635 "two shallops, going, laden with goods, to Connecticut, were taken in the night with an east- erly storm and cast away upon Brown's Island, near the Gurnett's Nose, and the men all drowned." In 1806 it was, as now, a shoal. There can be little dispute as to Saquish having been permanently united to the main-land by those shifting: movements common to a sea-coast of sand.' * Winsor, "History of Duxbury," p. 26, note. * See ante, also "Massachusetts Historical Collections, "vol. ii., p. 5. First light-house erected 1763 ; burned 1801. ' Saquish is the Indian for clams. They are of extraordinary size in Plymouth and Duxbury. 296 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. It is rather remarkable tliat, wit!) a sea-coast exceeding that of the other New Englaiul colonies, Plymouth had so few good harbors. The beach, the safeguard of Plymouth, was once covered on the inner side with plum and wild cherry trees, pitch-pines, and undergrowth similar to that existing on Cape Cod and the adjacent islands, Tlie sea has, in great storms, made a clean breach through it, digging channels by which vessels passed. There ^ was a shocking disaster within the liarbor in December, 1778, when the pri- ■[ vateer brig General Arnold broke from her anchorage in the Cow Yard,' and was driven by the violence of the gale upon the sand-flats. Twenty-four hours elapsed before assistance could be rendered, and when it arrived sev- enty-five of tlie crew had perished frotu freezing and exhaustion, and the re- mainder were more dead than alive.'' As we sailed I observed shoals of herring breaking water, or, as the fisher- men word it, " scooting." Formerly they were taken in prodigious quantity, and used by the Pilgrims to enrich their land. Squanto gave them the hint of putting one in every hill of corn. His manner of fishing for eels, I may add, was new to me. lie trod them out of the mud with his feet, and caught them in his hands. I was surprised at the number of seals continually rising ' An anclionige near Clark's Island, so called from a cow-wliale liavin;^ been taken there. " Tiie following acconnt of what straits light-keepers have been snhjeoted to in coast-harbors during the past winter will perhaps he read with some surprise by those acquainted with Plymouth only in its summer aspect: "On Tuesday evening, Fcbruaiy 9th. 1S7.'>, the United States reveiuie steamer Gallalin put into riyniimlh liailior for tiie ni^lit, to avoid a north-west gale blowing out- side. On the morning of the lOili, at daylight, when getting tnider way, Captain Selden discovered 11 signal of distress flying on Diixhiny Tier Light. The light-house was so sm-rotmded by ice that he was utterly unable to reach the pier with a boat; the ca])tain, therefore, steamed the vessel through the ice near enough to winvorse with the keeper, and found that he had had no communi- cation with any one outside of the light since December 2'id, 1874; that his fuel and water were out; and that they had been on an allowance of a ])int of water a day since February Gth, 1875. The steamer forced her way to within some fifty or seventy-live yards of the pier, when Lieutenants Weston and Clayton, with the boats, succeeded, after two lioius' hard work cutting through the ice, in reaching the pier, and furnished the keeper and his wife with jilenty of wood and water." PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 20: within half a cable's length of the boat, at which they curiously gazed with their bright liquid eyes. We did them no harm as ever and anon one pushed his sleek round head and whiskered muzzle above water. Hundreds of them disport themselves here in summer, though in winter they usually migrate. It is only a little way frotn the landing-place at Clark's Island to the ven- erable Watson mansion, seen embowered among trees as we approached.' The parent house was removed from its first situation, rather nearer the water than it now stands, and has incorporated with itself newer addi- tions,till it is quite lost in the trans- formation it has iindei'gone. The island is a charm- ing spot, and the house a substan- tial, hospitable one. I did not like it the less be- cause it was old, and seemed to carry me something nearer to the Pilgrims than any of the white band of houses I saw across the bay. Ducks, turkeys, geese, and fowls lived in good-fellowship together in the barn-yard, where were piled unseaworthy boats; and store of old lumber-drifts the sea had pro- vided against the Avinter. The jaw-bone of a whale, that Mr. Watson said he had found stranded on the beach, and brought home on his back, lay bleach- ing in the front yard. I may have looked a trifle incredulous, for the hah; old gentleman, turned, I should say, of three-score, drew himself up as if he would say, " Sir, I can do it again." After showing ns his family portraits, ancient furniture, and other heir- looms, our host told us how Sir Edmund Andros had tried to dispossess his ancestors. My companion and myself then took the path leading to Election Rock, that owes its name, doubtless, to some local event. It is a large boul- der, about twelve feet high, on the highest point of the island. Two of its ' There is tradition for it that Edward Dotey, the fighting serving-man, was the first who at- tempted to land on Clark's Island, but was checked for his presumption. Elkanah Watson was one of the three oiiginal grantees of tlie island, which has remained in the family since 1690. Pre- vious to that time it belonged to the town. Tiie other proprietors were Samuel Lucas and George Morton. WATSON S HOUSE, CLAKK S ISLAND. 298 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. ELECTION ROCK, CLARK'S ISLAND. faces are precipitous, while the western side offers an easy ascent. At the instance of the Pilgrim Society, the following w^ords, from " Mourt's Re- lation," have been graven on its face: " On the Sabboth Day- wee rested. 20 December, 1620." As is well known to all who have followed the fortunes of the little band of eighteen — and who has not followed them in their toilsome progress in search of a haven of rest? — their shallop, after narrowly escaping wreck among the shoals of Saquish, gained a safe anchorage under the shelter of one of the then existing islands. It is probable that when they rounded Saquish Head they found themselves in smoother water. The gale had carried away their mast and sail. Their pilot proved not only ignorant of the place into which he was steering, but a coward when the pinch came. They were on the point of beaching the shallop in a cove full of breakers, when one of the sailors bid them about with her, if they Avere men, or else they ■would be all lost. So that the fortunes of the infant col- ony hung, at this critical moment, on the presence of mind of a nameless mariner. Cold, hungry, and wet to the skin, tliey remained all night in a situation which none but the roughest campaigner would know how rightly to estimate. The Indians had met them, at Eastham, with such determined hostility that they expected no better reception here. Their arms were wet and unserv- iceable. As usual, present discomfort triumphed over their fears, for many were so much exhausted that they could no longer endure their misery on board the shallop. Some of them gained the shore, where with great diffi- culty they lighted a fire of the wet wood they were able to collect. The re- mainder of tlie party were glad to join them befoi-e midnight; for the wind shifted to north-west, and it began to freeze. They had little idea where they were, having come upon the land in the dark. It was not until day- break that they knew it to be an island. Surely, these were times to try the souls of men, and to wring the selfishness out of them. Tins night bivquac, this vigil of the Pilgrims around their blazing camp- fire, the flames painting their bronzed faces, and sending a grateful warmth into benumbed bodies, was a subject worthy the pencil of Rembrandt. I doubt that they dared lay their armor aside or shut tlieir eyes the live-long night. I believe they were glad of the dawn of a bright and glorious Decern- PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 299 ber day.' They dried tlieir bulF coats, cleansed their arms of rust, and felt themselves once more men fit for action. Then they shouldered their mus- kets and reconnoitred the island. Probably the eighteen stood on the sum- mit of this rock. I found Clark's Island to possess a charm exceeding any so-called restora- tion or monumental insci'iption — the cliarm of an undisturbed state. No doubt much of the original forest has disappeared, and Boston has yet to re- turn the cedar gate-posts so carefully noted by every succeeding chronicler of the Old Colony. A few scrubby originals of this variety yet, however, re- main ; and the eastern side of the island is not destitute of trees. The air was sweet and wholesome, the sea-breeze invigorating. In the quietude of the isle the student may open his history, and read on page and scene the story of a hundred English hearts sorely tried, but triumphing at last. History has not told us how the eighteen adventurous Pilgrims passed their first Sabbath on Clark's Island. One writer says very simply " wee rested;" and his language re-appears on the tablet of imperishable rock. Bradford says, on the " last day of y*^ weeke they prepared ther to keepe y® Sabbath." If ever they had need of rest it was on this day; and if ever they had reason to give thanks for their " manifold deliverances," now was the oc- casion. They would hardly have stirred on any enterprise without their Bible ; and probably one having the imprint of Geneva, with figured verses, was now produced. Bradford, yet ignorant of his wife's death, may have prayed, and Winslow exhorted, as both admit they often did in the church. Master Carver may have struck the key-note of the Hundredth Psalm, " the grand old Puritan anthem;" and even IMiles Standish and the "saylers" three, may have joined in the forest hymnal." Hood, in his "History of Music in New England," speaking of the early part of the eighteenth century, says: "Singing psalms, at that day, had not become an amusement among the people. It was used, as it ever ought to be, only as a devotional act. So great was the reverence in which their psalm-tunes were held, that the people put off their hats, as they would in prayer, whenever they heard one sung, though not a word was uttered." On leaving Clark's Island we steered for Captain's Hill. By this time the water liad become much roughened, or, to borrow a word from the boatmen's vocabulary, "choppy;" I should have called it hilly. Our attempt to land at Duxbury was met with great kicking, bouncing, and squabbling on the part of the boat, which seemed to like the chafing of the wharf as little as we did the idea of a return to Plymouth against wind and tide. Quiet persever- ' Saturday, December 9th, Old Style. "^ No reasonable doubt can be entertained that the Pilgrims' first religious services were held in Provincetown Harbor, either on board the Manflower or on shore. They were not the men and women to permit several Sabbaths to pass by without devotional exercises. 300 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. ancc, liowever, prevailed, and, after clambering np the piles, we stood upon the wharf. A short walk by the cart-way, built to fetch stone from the pier to the monument, brought us to the brow of the hill. Captain's Hill, named from Captain Miles Standish, its early possessor, is on a peninsula jutting out between Duxbury and Plymouth bays. Its surface is smooth, with few trees, except those belonging to the farm-houses near its base. The soil, that is elsewhere in Duxbury sandy and unproductive, is here rather fertile, which accounts for its having become the seat of the puissant Captain Standish. The monument, already mentioned as in progress, had ad- vanced as high as the foundations. As originally planned, it was to be built of stones contributed by each of the Xew England States, and by the several counties and military organizations of Massachusetts. Standish, about 1632, settled upon this peninsula, building his house on a little rising ground south-east of the hill near the shore. All traces that are left of it will be found on the point of land opposite ]Mr. Stephen M. Allen's house. The cellar excavation was still visible when I visited it, with some of the foundation-stones lying loosely about. Except a clump of young trees that had become rooted in the hollows, the point is bare, and looks any thing but a desirable site for a homestead. Plymouth is in full view, as is also the liarbor's open mouth. The space between the headland on which the house stood and Captain's Hill was at one time either an arm of the sea, or else in great gales the water broke over the level, forming a sort of lagoon. Mr. Winsor, in his "History of Duxbury," says the sea, according to tiie tradi- tions of the place, once flowed between Standish's house and the hill. The ground about the house, he adds, has been turned up in years past, the search being rewarded by the recovery of several relics of the old inhabitant.' The house is said to have been burned, but so long ago that even the date has been quite forgotten. On this same neck Elder Brewster is believed to have lived, but the situation of his dwelling is at best doubtful. The earliest reference I have seen to the tradition of John Ahlen " l>o]iping the question" to Priscilla Mullins for his friend. Miles Standish, is in ".Vlden's Kpitaplis,''' printed in 1814. No mention is there of the snow-white bull, "Led by a cord that was tied to an iron ring in its nostrils, Covered witli crimson cloth, and a cushion placed for a saddle." John Alden's marriage took jilace, it is supposed, in 1621. Tiie first cattle brought to Plymouth were a bull, a heifer, and "three or four jades," sent by Mr. Sherley, of the Merchant's Association, in 1624. They were consigned to ' The first substance discovered was a (|iiaiitity of barley, charred and wrapped in a blanket. Ashes, as fresh as if the fire had just been extinguisiied, were found in the chimney-place, with jiieces of an amliron, iron pot, and other articles. There were discovered, also, a gun-lock, sickle, hammer, whetstone, and fragments of stone and earthen ware. A sword-buckle, tomahawk, brass kettle, etc., witii glass beads, showing tiie action of intense heat, likewise came to light. PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 301 Winslow and Allerton, to be sold. The tradition of the embassy of Aiden, and of the incomparably arch rejoinder of PrisciDa, " Prythee, John, why don't you speak for yourself?" was firmly believed in the family of Alden, where, along with that of the young cooper having first stepped ou the ever-famous rock, it had passed from the mouth of one generation to another, without gainsaying. I am not of those who experience a thrill of joy at destroying the illusions of long-hoarded family traditions. What of romance has been interwoven with the singularly austere lives of the Puritans, gracious reader, let us cher- ish and protect. The province of the Dryasdust of to-day is to bewilder, to deny the existence of facts that have passed without challenge for centuries. The farther he is from the event, the nearer he accounts himself to truth. Historic accuracy becomes another name for historic anarchy. Xothing is settled. The grand old characters he strips of their hard-earned fame can not confront him. Would they might ! Columbus, Tell, Pocahontas, are im- postors: Ireson's Ride and Standish's Courtship are rudely handled. His tactics would destroy the Christian religion. Without doubt mere historic truth is better written in prose, but by all means let us put a stop to the slaughter of all the first-born of Xew England poesy. Let us have Puritan lovers and sweethearts while we may. "What is your authority?" asked a visitor of the guide who \tas relating the story of a ruined castle. " We have tradition, and if you liave any thing better we will be glad of it." The position of Standish in the colony was in a degree anomalous, for he was neither a church member nor a devout man. But the Pilgrims, who knew on occasion how to smite with the sword, did not put too trifling an estimate upon the value of the little iron man. He seems to have deserved, as he certainly received, their confidence, as well in those aff'airs arising out of religious disorders among them as in those of a purely military character. When wanted, they knew where he was to be found. After his fruitless embassy to England, Standish seems to have turned his sword into a pruning-hook, leading a life of rural simplicity, perhaps of com- parative ease. He had, as the times went, a goodly estate. There is little doubt he was something "splenetic and rash," or that the elders feared he would bring them into trouble by his impetuous temper. He was of a race of soldiers.' Hubbard calls him a little chimney soon fired. Lyford speaks of him as looking like a silly boy, and in utter contempt. The Pilgrims man- aged his infirmities with address, and he served them faithfully as soldier and magistrate. It is passing strange a man of such consequence as he should sleep in an unknown grave. Near the foot of Captain's Hill is an old gambrol-roofed house, with the ' I find that a Captain Standish, who is called a great commander, a captain of foot, was killed in an attack by Lord Strange on Manchester, England, during the Civil War, 1642. 302 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. date of 1666 on the chimney. At the entrance the stairs part on each side of an immense chimney-stack. The timbers, rough-hewn and exposed to view, are bolted with tree-nails. One fire-place would have contained a Yule-log from any tree in the primeval forest. The hearth was in breadth like a side- walk. On the doors were wooden latches, or bobbins, with the latch-string out, as we read in nursery tales. The front of the house was covered with climbing vines, and, taken altogether, as it stood out against the dark back- ground of the hill, was as picturesque an object as I have seen in many a day.' I %vould like to walk with you two miles faither on, and visit the old Al- den homestead, the third that has been inhabited by the family since pilgi-im John built by the margin of Eagle Tree Pond. This old house, erected by Colonel Alden, grandson of the fii'st-comer of the name, is still in the same family, and would well repay a visit ; but time and tide wait for us. Farther on I have rambled over ancient Careswell, the seat of the Wins- lows, a family with a continuous stream of history, from Edward, the govern- or, who became one of Cromwell's Americans, and died in his service (you may see his letters in the ponderous folios of Thurloe), down to the winner in the sea-fight between the Kearsarge and Alabama. Beyond is the mansion Daniel Webster inhabited in his lifetime, and the hill where, among the an- cient graves, he lies entombed. Here, in Kingston, General John Thomas, of the Revolution, lived. Another military chieftain, little less renowned than Standish, was Colonel Benjamin Church, the famous Indian fighter. He was Plymouth-born, but lived some time in Duxbury. In turning over the pages of Philip's and King William's wars, we meet him often enough, and always giving a good account of himself One act of the Plymouth authorities during Philip's war deserves eternal in- famy. It drew from Church the whole-hearted denunciation of a brave man. During that war Dartmouth was destroyed. The Dartmouth Indians had not been concerned in this outrage, and after much persuasion were induced to surrender themselves to the Plym- outh forces. They were conducted to Plymouth. The Govern- ment ordered all of them to be sold as slaves, and they were transported out of the country, to the number of one hundred and sixty. "^ I despaired of being able to match this act of treachery Avith any con- temporaneous history. But here is a fragment that somewhat approaches it CIIIUCII s 8W0U1>. ' Tliis house lias been stated to liave been Imilt in part of materials from the house of Captain Miles Standish. ^ Uavless's " New 1'1\ tikiiiiIi. " PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 303 in villainy. In 1684 the King of France wrote M. de la Barre, Governor of New France, to seize as many of the Iroquois as possible, and send them to France, where they were to serve in the galleys, in order to diminish the tribe, which was warlike, and waged war against the French. Many of them were actjially in the galleys of Marseilles." The balance is still in our favor. In 1755 we expatriated the entire French population of Acadia. Mr. Longfellow tells the story graphically in "Evangeline." John Winslow, of Marshiield, was the instrument chosen by the home government for the work. It was conducted with savage barbarity. Families were separated, wives from husbands, children from parents. They were parceled out like cattle among the English settlements. Their aggre- gate number was nearly two thousand persons, thenceforth without home or country. One of these outcasts, describing his lot, said, " It was the hardest that had happened since our Saviour was upon earth." The story is true. Our little boat worked her way gallantly back to Plymouth. Though thoroughly wet with the spray she had flung from her bows, I was not ill- pleased with the expedition. Figuratively speaking, my knapsack was pack- ed, my staff and wallet waiting my grasp. With the iron horse that stood panting at the door I made in two hours the journey that Winthrop, Endi- cott, and Winslow took two days to accomplish. Certainly I found Plym- outh much changed. The Pilgrims would hardly recognize it, though now, as in centuries before their coming, "The waves that brought them o'er Still roll in the bay, and throw their spray, As they break along the shore." ' "Massachusetts Archives." PROVINCETOWN FROM THE HILLS. CHAPTER XIX. PROVINCETOWN. "A man may stand there and put all America behind him." — Thoreatj. A S it was already dark when I arrived in Provincetown, I saw only tlie -^^ glare from the lantern of Highland Light in passing through Truro, and the gleaming from those at Long Point and Wood End, before the train drew up at the station. It having been a rather busy day with me (I had embark- ed at Nantucket in the morning, idled away a few hours at Vineyard Haven, and rested as many at Coliasset Narrows), it will be easily uiid(>rstood why I left the investigation of my whereabouts to the morrow. ]\Iy wants -were at this moment reduced to a bed, a pair of clean sheets, and plenty of blankets; for though the almanac said it was Jtdy in Provincetown, the night breeze blowing freshly was strongly suggestive of November. It was Swift, I think, who said lie never knew a man reach eminence mIio was not an early riser. Doubtless the good doctor was right. But, then, if he iiad lodged as I lodged, and had risen as I did, two mortal hours before breakfast-tiiiic, he might liave allowed Iris j)recept to have its exceptions. I devoted these houi's to rambling about the town. Though not more than half a hundred miles from Boston, as the crow Hies, Cape Cod is regarded as a sort o^ terra incognita by fully half of New Kiigland. It has always been considered a good place to emigrate from, rather than as offering inducements for its young men and women to re- main at home; though no class of New Englanders, I should add, are more warmly attached to the place of their nativity. The ride throughout the Cape atloi-cls the most impressive example of the tenacity with which a pojv ulatioii clings to locality that has ever come under my observation. To one PROVINCETOWN. 306 accustomed to tlie fertile slioves of Xarraganset Bay or the valley of the Con- necticut, the region between Sandwich, where you enter upon the Cape, and Orleans, where you reach the bend of the fore-arm, is bad enough, though no desert. Beyond this is simply a wilderness of sand. The surface of the country about Brewster and Orleans is rolling prairie, barren, yet thinly covered with an appearance of soil. Stone walls divide the' fields, but from here down the Cape you will seldom see a stone of any size in going thirty miles. My faith in Pilgrim testimony began to diminish as I looked on all sides, and in vain, for a " spit's-depth of excellent black earth," such as they tell of It has, perchance, been blown away, or buried out of sight in the shiftings constantly going on here. Eastham, Wellfleet, and COHASSET NAKKOWS. Truro grow more and more forbidding, as you approach the Ultima TJmle or land's end.' ' Mr. Thoreau, who has embodied the results of several excursions to the Cape in some admirable sketches, calls it the bared and bended arm of Massa- chusetts. Mr. Everett had already used the same figure. To me it looks like a skinny, attenuated arm thrust within a stocking for mending— the bony elbow at Chatham, the wrist at Truro, and the half-closed fing'^rs at Prov- incetown. It seems quite down at the heel about Orleans, and as if much darning would be needed to make it as good as new. It was something to conceive, and more to execute, such a tramp as Thoreau's, for no one ouglu to ' There is a well-defined line of demarkation between the almost uninterrupted rock wall of the north coast and the sand, which, beginning in the Old Colonv, in Scituate, constitutes Cape Cod; and, If we consider Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Long Island as having at some pe- riod formed the exterior shores, the almost unbroken belt of sand continues to Florida. This line IS so httle imaginary that it is plain to see where granite gives place to sand ; and it is sufficientiv cuiious to arrest the attention even of the unscientific explorer. 20 306 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. attempt it who can not rise superior to his surroundings, and sliake off the gloom the weird and wide-spread desolateness of the landscape inspires. I would as lief have marched with Napoleon from Acre, by Mount Carmel, through the moving sands of Tentoura. The resemblance of the Cape to a hook appears to have struck navigators quite early. On old Dutch maps it is delineated with tolei-able accuracy, and named "Staaten Hoeck," and the bay inclosed within the bend of it " Staaten Bay." Massachusetts Bay is " Noord Zee," and Cape Malabar " Ylacke Hoeck." Milford Haven appears about where Eastham is now located. On the earliest map of Champlain the extremity of the Cape is called "C. Blanc," or the White Cape.' Mather says of Cape Cod, he supposes it will never lose the name "till swarms of codfish be seen swimming on the highest hills." This hook, though a sandy one, caught many a school of migratory fish, and even whales found themselves often embayed in the bight of it, on their way south, until, from being so long hunted down, they learned to keep a good ofiiiig. It also caught all the southerly drift along shore, such as stray P::^^^?^-^-.-^- lIIGIILANn LIGHT, CAPE COD. slii])S from France and England. iKartholomcw Gosnold and Jolm BrtTcton were the first white men to land on it. De Monts, Champlain, De Poutrin- court, Smith, and finally the Forefathers, were brought up and turned back by it. Bradford, under date of 1G20, writes thus in his journal: "A woi'd or two by y" way of this Cape : it was thus first nanu'd (Cape Cod) by Captain Gos- nold and his company, An": 1002, and alUM- by Captrn Sniitli was caled Cape James; but it retains y" I'oriiicr name amongst sea-men. Also y' poiiite which ' " Lequel nous iiomm&mcs C. Blanc pour ce que c'estoient sables et dunes qui paroissent aiiisi." PROVINCETOWN. 30 7 first shewed those dangerous shoulds unto them, they called Point Care, and Tucker's Terrour ;' but y° French and Dutch, to this day, call it Malabarr, by reason of those perilous shoulds, and y" losses they have suttered their." Notwithstanding what Bradford says, the name ofMallebarre is affixed to the extreme point of Cape Cod on early French maps. In Smith's "New En- gland" is the following description: "Cape Cod is the next presents itselfe, which is onely a headland of high hills of sand, overgrowne with shrubbie pines, hurts, and such trash, but an excellent harbor for all weathers. The Cape is made by the maine sea on the one side and a great Bay on the other, in forme of a sickle; on it doth inhabit the people of Pawmet; and in the bottome of the Bay, the people of Chawum. Towards the south and south-west of this Cape is found a long and dangerous shoale of sands and rocks. But so farre as I encircled it, I found thirtie fadom water aboard the shore and a strong current, which makes mee thinke there is a channel about this Shoale, where is the best and great- est fish to be had. Winter and Summer, in all that Countrie. But the Salvages say there is no channel, but that the shoales beginne from the maine at Paw- met to the ile of Nausit, and so extends beyond their knowledge into the sea." The historical outcome of the Cape is in the early navigations, and in the fact that Provincetown was the harbor entered by the Forefathers. The fii-st land they saw, after Devon and Cornwall had sunk in the sea, was this sand- bar, for it is nothing else. It appeared to their eager eyes, as it will proba- bly never again be seen, wooded down to the shore. Whales, that they had not the means of taking, disported around them. They dropped anchor three- quarters of a mile from shore, and, in order to land, were forced to wade a "bow shoot," by which many coughs and colds were caught, and a founda- tion for the winter's sickness laid. The first landing was probably on Long Point. The men set about discovery; for the master had told them, with a sailor's bluntness, he would be rid of them as soon as possible. The women went also to shore to wash, thus initiating on Monday, November -ifd, the great New England washing-day. Were there to be a day of general observance in New England commem- orative of the landing of the Pilgrims, it should be that on which they first set foot on her soil at Cape Cod; the day, too. on which the comi)act was signed.^ Whatever of sentiment attached to the event should, it would seem, be consecrated to the very spot their feet first pressed. There is yet time to rescue the day from unaccountable and unmerited neglect. On the map of Cyprian Southack a thoroughfare is delineated from Mas- sachusetts Bay to the ocean at Eastham, near Sandy Point. His words are : • Named by Captain Gosnold, on account of the expressed fears of one of his company. j * Being the ijst of November, it would fall quite near to the day usually set apart for Thanks- I giving in New England, which is merely an arbitrary observance, commemorative of no particular occurrence. 308 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. "The place wliere I came tlirongh with a whale-boat, April 26th, 1717, to look after Bellame the pirate." I liave never seen this map, which Douglass pro- nounces " a false and pernicious sea-chart." From its barring their farther progress. Cape Cod was well known to the discoverers of the early part of the seventeenth century. According to Les- carbot, Poutrincourt spent fifteen days in a port on the south side. It had been formally taken possession of in the name of the French king. The first conflict between the whites and natives occurred there; and in its sands were interred the remains of the first Christian who died within the ancient limits of New England.' The assault of the natives on De Poutrincourt is believed to have occur- red at Chatham, ironically named by the French Port Fortune, in remem- brance of their mishaps there. It was the very first collision recorded be- tween Europeans and savages in New England. Five of De Pouti'iucourt's men having slept on shoi"e contrary to orders, and without keeping any watch, the Indians fell on them at day-break, October 15th, 1606, killing two outright. The rest, who were shot through and through with arrows, ran down to the shore, crying out, "Help! they are murdering us!" the savages pursuing with frightful whoopings. Hearing these outcries and the appeal for help, the sentinel on board the bark gave the alarm: ^^Akx armes f they are killing our people!" Roused by the signal, those on board seized their arms, and ran on deck, without taking time to dress themselves. Fifteen or sixteen threw themselves into the shallop, without stopping to light their matches, and pushed for the shore. Finding they could not reach it on account of an intervening sand-bank, they leaped into the water and waded a musket-shot to land. De Poutrincourt, Champlain, Daniel Hay, Robert Grave the younger, son of Du l*ont Giave, and the younger Poutrincourt, with their trumpeter and apothecary, were of the party that rushed pell-mell, almost stai-k naked, upon the savages. The Indians, perceiving the rescuing band within a bow-shot of them, took to flight. It was idle to pursue those nimble-footed savages; so the French- men brought their dead companions to the foot of the cross they had erected on the ])i-eceding day, and ihci-e buried them. While chanting the funeral prayers and orisons of the Church, the natives, from a safe distance, shouted derisively and danced to celebrate their treason. After their funeral rites were ended the French voyagers silently returned on board. In a lew hours, the tide being so low as to prevent the Nvhites from land- ing, the natives again a])peared on the shore. They threw down the cross, disinteired the bodies of tlu; slain Frenchmen, and strip])ed them before the eyes of their exasperated comrades. Several shots were fired at them IVom ' One of De Monts's men ("wn charpentier Maloin") was killed here in 1605 by the natives. In attempting to recover a kettle one of tliein liad stok-n, he was transfixed with arrows. PROVINCETOWN. 309 the bronze gun on board, the natives at every discharge throwing themselves flat on their faces. As soon as the French could land, they again set up the cross, aTid reinterred the dead. The natives, for the second time, fled to a dis- tance.' Provincetown was originally j^art of Truro. Its etymology explains that its territory belonged to the province of Massachusetts. The earliest inhab- itants had no other title than possession, and their conveyance is by quit- claim. For many years the place experienced the alternations of thrift and decay, being at times well-nigh deserted. In 1749, says Douglass, in his "Summary," the town consisted of only two or three settled families, two or three cows, and six to ten sheep. The houses formerly stood in one range, without regularity, along the beach, with the drying -flakes around them. WASHING FISU. Fishing vessels were run upon the soft sand, and their cargoes thrown into the water, where, after being washed free from salt, the fish wei-e taken up and carried to the flakes in hand-barrow^s. Cape Cod Harbor, by wliich name it is also familiar to the readers of Pilgrim chronicles, \vas the earliest name of Provincetown. The place has now lost the peculiar character it owed to the windmills on ' Lescarbot adds that the natives, turning their backs to the vessel, threw the sand witli both hands toward them from between their buttocks, in derision, yelling like wolves. 810 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. the sandy heights above the town and the salt-works on the beach before it. Tlie streets, desci'ibed by former writers as impassable, by reason of the deep sand, I found no difficulty in traversing. What with an admixture of clay, and a top-dressing of oyster-shells and pebble, brought from a distance, they have managed to make their principal thoroughfares solid enough. Step aside from these, if you would know what Provincetown was like in the past. If the streets were better than I had thought, the houses were far bet- ter. The great number of them were of wood, looking as most New En- gland houses look — ready for the toi'ch. They usually had underpinnings of brick, instead of being, as formerly, built on posts, in order that the sand might blow underneath them. There were willows, poplai's, locusts, and balm of Gilead, standing about in odd corners, and of good size. I saw a few sickly fruit-trees that appeared dying for lack of moisture ; and some enterpi-ising citizens were able to make a show of lilacs, syringas, pinks, and geraniums in their front yards. I talked with them, and saw that the unremitting struggle for life that attended the growth of these few simple flowers seemed to increase their love for them, and enlarge their feeling for what was beautiful. All the earth they have is imported. I called to mind those Spanish vineyards, where the jjeasant carries a hamper of soil up the sunny slopes of the mount- ain-sides, and in some crevice of the rocks plants liis vine. Tliere are two principal streets in Provincetown. One of, I should imag- ine, more than a mile in length, runs along the harbor; the other follows an elevated ridge of the sand-hills, and is parallel with the fii'St. A plank-walk is laid on one side of the avenue by the shore, the other side being occupied by stores, fish-houses, and wharves. No sinister meaning is attached to walk- ing the ])lank in Provincetown; for what is the whole Cape if not a gang- plank i)ush('d out over the side of the continent? Where the street on the ridge is carried across gaps among tlie hills, the retaining walls were of bog-peat, which was also laid on the sides of those hills e.\j)osed to the force of the wind. Whortleberry, bayberry, and wild rose were growing out of the interstices. They flourish as well as when the Pilgrims wei-e here, though all the primitive forest disappeared long ago. I ascended the hill on wliich the town-hall building stands. You must go up the town road, or break the law, as I saw, by the straggling footpaths, the youngsters were in the habit of doing, l»ead sand for scoria', and the fate of Ilci-culaiicum seems imiicnding over I'rovincetown. The satruuai'ds taken to prevent the hills blowing down upon it impresses the stranger with a sense of insecurity, though the inhabitants do not seem much to mind it. I have heard that in exi)osed situations on the Cape wiTidow-glass becomes opaque by reason of tlu; frecjuent sand-blasts rattling against the panes. On the hill was fbrm(>rly a windmill, having the flyers inside, so resem- bling, say the town annalists, a lofty tower. It was a famous landmark for PROVING ETOWN. 3 1 1 vessels making the port. The cliart-makers have now replaced it with the town hall, and every mariner steering for Provincetown has an eye to it. The harbor is completely land-locked. There is good anchorage for ves- sels of the largest class. Ofttimes it is crowded with shipping seeking a ha- ven of refuge. This morning there were perhaps fifty sail, of every kind of craft. An inward-bound vessel must steer around every point of the compass before the anchor is let go in safety. In the Revolution the port was made use of by the British squadrons, to refit, and procure water.' The tide flows on the bay side of the Cape about twenty feet, while at the back of it there is a flow of only five or six feet. The town is of extreme length, compared with its breadth, being con- tracted between the range of high sand-hills behind it and the beach. It lies fronting the south-east, bordering the curve of the shore, which sweeps grand- ly around half the circumference of a circle on the bay side. In one direction extends the long line of shore. If Boston be your starting-point, you must travel a hundred and twenty miles to get fifty ; and, by the time you arrive at the extremity of the Cape, should be able to box the compass. Looking south, Long Point terminates the land view. Following with the eye the outline of the hook, it rests an instant on the shaft of the light-house at Wood End, the extreme southerly point of the Cape. Thence the coast trends north-west as far as Race Point, which is shut out from view by intervening hills. Race Point is the outermost land of the Cape. All these names are well known to mariners, the world over. The shores are bordered with dangerous bars and shallows. As shipping could not get up to the town, the town has gone oflT to it, in the shape of a wharf of great length. Our Pilgrim ancestors had to wade a "bow shoot" to get on dry land. A resident told me that with fishing-boots on I could cross to the head of Herring Cove at low tide. Assuredly, it is one of the most wonderful of havens, and little likely to be dispensed with, even if the vexed question of "A way for ships to shape, Instead of winding round the Cape A short-cut through the collar,'" be answered by a ship-canal from Barnstable to Buzzard's Bay.' On the summit of Town Hill you are almost astride the Cape, having the Atlantic on one side, and Massachusetts Bay in full view on the other. The port is not what it was when some storm-tossed bark, in accepting its shel- ter, was the town talk for months. Ships come and go by scores and hun- * Hubbard relates a terrific storm here. See "New England," p. G44. In 1S18 tliere was a naval engagement at Provincetown. "^ General Knox was interested in this project. Lemuel Cox, tlie celebrated bridge architect, was engaged in cutting it. 3]_> THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. dreds, folding their -vvings and settling down on the water like weary sea- gulls. With an outward api)earance of prosperity, I found the people bemoaning the hard times. Taxes, they said, were twenty dollars in the thousand, and only ten at Warehara ; fish were scarce, and prices low, too, though as to the last item consumers think otherwise. The fishermen I saw were burly, athletic fellows, apparently not more thrifty than their class everywhere. They are averse to doing any thing else than fish, and, if the times are bad, are content to potter about their boats and fishing -gear till better days, much as they would wait for wind and tide. If they can not go fishing they had as lief do nothing, though want threatens. The boys take to the water by instinct. I saw one adrift in a boat with- out oars, making his way to land by tilting the side of the dory. They go to the fishing-banks with their fathers, and can hand, reef, and steer with an old salt. One traveler tells of a Provincetown cow-boy who captured and killed a blackfish he descried near the shore. As soon as they had strength to pull in a fish, they were put on board a boat. I noticed the familiar names that have been transplanted and thriven ev- erywhere. Those of Atwood, Nickerson, Newcomb, Rich, Ryder, Snow, and Doane have the Cape ring about them. In general they are " likely " men, as the phrase here is, getting on as might be expected of a people who liter- ally cast their bread upon the waters, and live on a naked crust of earth that the sea is forever gnawing and growling at. The girls are pretty. I saj' it on the authority of an expert in such matters who accompanied me. Not all are sandy-haired. There is a strong dash of humor about these people. They are piquant Capers, dry and sharp as the sand. One of them was relating that lie had once watched for so long a time that he finally fell asleep while crossing the street to his boarding-house, and on going to bed had not waked for twenty- four hours. "Wa'al," said an old fellow, removing a short pipe from between his lips, " you was jest a-cannin' on it up, warn't ye?" There is quite a colony of Portuguese in Provincetown. In my rambles I met with a band of them returning from the swamp region back of the town. They looked gypsy-like with their swarthy faces and gleaming eyes. The younger women had clear olive complexions, black eyes, and the elon- gated Madonna faces of their race; the older ones were grisly and witch-like, with shriveled bodies and wrinkled faces. All of them bore bundles of fag- ots on their heads that our tender women would have sunk under, yet they did not seem in the least to mind them. They chattered merrily as they passed by me, and I watched them until out of sight; for, picturesque objects anywhere, here they were doubly so. They had all gaudy handkerchiefs tied about their heads, and shawls worn sash-wise, and knotted at the hi]), the bright bits of warm color contrasting kindly with the dead white of the sand. PROVINCETOWN. 313 There were shapely figures among them, but tlie men's boots they of necessi- ty wore subtracted a little from the symmetry of outline and my admiration. They number about fifty families — these Portuguese — and are increasing. One citizen expressed a vague apprehension lest they should exclude, event- ually, the whites, as the whites had expelled the Indians. And why not ? They believe in large families, while we believe in small ones or none at all. The Pilgrims were fewer than they when they came to Cape Cod, though they did believe in large families. Besides, Gaspard Cortereal, a "Portin- gale," fell in with the land hereabouts before any of our English. The Portu- guese are reported to have stocked Sable Island with domestic animals thir- ty years before Gilbert's coming to Newfoundland.' Assuredly, Cortereal had as good a mortgage on the country as Cabot, who did not land, but only beheld it in sail- ing by. I bad _^=_^ -- _^____ found the town effervescent. The killing of a Portu- guese by his cap- tain, in a quarrel on board a fish- ing vessel, had set the whole town talking. Coming from the city, where we aver- age a murder a week, I was quite startled at the measure of hor- ror and indigna- tion the deed ex- cited here. Sub- sequentl)^ I learned that such crimes were rare, and that in this out-of-the-way corner of the land people had quite old-fashioned notions about the value of human life and limb. The cod and mackerel fisheries have been the making of Provincetown, though they complained of dull times Avhen I was there, the fleet not number- ing more than fifty or sixty sail. Some schooners go whaling to the Gulf of Mexico, Western Islands, or far up the north coast; but the fares there are ]>oor, they say, and growing poorer. The first mackerel exhibited in the spring in Boston market are taken in Provincetown Harbor. MACKEUEL. — A FAMILY GROUP. ' Chami)lain confirms this. 314 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Former travelers have observed that the art as well as the name of hay- making was applied to the curing of the cod here, the fish, when made, being stacked in the same manner. Cattle are reported to have sometimes eaten them in lieu of salt hay. When the fishing season was at its height, it must have been something to have seen — the length and breadth of the town over- spread with cod-fish, occupying the front yards and intervals between the houses. A iroodwife then, instead of ijoing to the cjarden for veo-etables, would bring in a cod-fish from the flakes. Then the hook was well baited. I suppose the phrase " cod-fish aristocracy " did not oi'iginate on the Cape, but may have a more ancient beginning than is generally believed, as the Dutch were, in the year 1347, engaged in a civil war which lasted many years, the rival parties being called "Hooks" and "Cod-fish," respectively. The former supported Margaret, Countess of Holland ; the latter, William, her son. Champlain relates that the Indians, in this bay, fished for cod with lines made of bark, to which a bone hook was attached, the bone being fashioned like a harpoon, and fastened to a piece of wood with what he believed to be hemp, such as they had in France. Bass, blue-fish, and sturgeon were taken by spearing. A fish dinner is eaten at least once a week by every fomily in Xew En- gland. In Catholic countries the supply of dried fish is usually exliausted by the end of Lent. We have seen that Bradford received a Jesuit at his own table, and regaled him with a fish dinner because it was Friday, a piece of old-time courtesy some would have us think the Pilgrims incapable of. Some- what later they had a law in Massachusetts banishing Jesuits or other Roman Catholic ecclesiastics out of their jurisdiction on pain of death. In effect, the cod-fish is to New England wliat roast beef is to old Albion. The likeness of one is hanging in the State-house at Boston, as the symbol of a leading Massachusetts industry. Down East the girls carry bits of it in their pockets, and it is set on the bar-room counters for luncheon. A Yankee can I'atten on it where an Englishman would starve. The statement is fortified by what we call the truth of history. In 1714 her Majesty of England concluded a peace with lier restless neigh- bor across the Channel ; or, as Po])e rhymes it, "At li'iif^tli f;ie:it Anna said, 'Let discnnl cease;' Slic said, ilie world uliey'd, and all was peace." This was the famous treaty that Matthew Prior, the negotiator- poet, calls "the d — d Peace of rtrt'cht." I'rior went to Paris with Bolingbrokc. Hav- ing arrived there during Lent, he was, by an edict, permitted to have roast beef as a mark of royal favor, and on, I i)resume, his own application. I res- cue this morccdii from the abyss of state archives: "Nous Baron de Breteuil et de Pi-euilly, ))remier Baron de Touraine, Con' PROVINCETOWN. 315 du Roy en ses Conseils, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs et Princes Etrangeres pres de Sa Ma"°; Enjoignons au Bouchei' de I'Hotel de Dieu de fournir pen- dant ie Careme au prix ordinaire^ suivant I'ordre du Roy, toute la viande de Boucherie, et Rotisserie qui sera necessaire pour la subsistance de la maison de plenipotentiaire de la Reyne de la Grande Bretagne, M. Prior.'" If the great staple of New England is so firmly associated with the Cape, its claims in another direction deserve also to be remembered. The whale- fishery of New England had its beginning here. The hook caught those leviathans as the Penobscot weirs catch salmon. It was long afterward that Nantucket bristled with harpoons. That sea-girt isle borrowed her art of the Cape, and induced a professor in Avhale-craft, Ichabod Paddock by name, to come over and teach it to her. The Pilgrims Avould have begun on the instant, but they liad not the gear. The Indians followed it in their primi- tive way, and the exploring parties saw them stripping blubber from a strand- ed blackfish exactly as now practiced. ^^^ii^^^v*?-?^- i: POND VILLAGE, CAPE COD. During the years the whales swam along the shore by Cape Cod there was good fishing in boats. Watchmen stationed on the hills gave notice by signals when one was in sight. After some time they passed farther off on the banks, and sloops carrying whale-boats were used. Cotton Mather refers to the fishery here. Douglass notes a whale struck on the back of Cape Cod that yielded one hundred and thirty-four barrels of oil. In 1739 six small whales were taken in Provincetown Harbor. In 1746 not more than three or four whales were taken on the Cape. The first whalinsc adventure to the Falkland Islands is referred to the ' Prior was personally acceptable to Louis XIV., who gave him a diamond box with his por- trait. He was also well known to Boileau. 316 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. enterprise of two inhabitants of Truro, who received the liint from Admiral Montague, of the British navy, in 1774.' This admiral, commonly called "Mad Montague," was a character. There is an anecdote of his causing his coxswain to put the hands of some drowned Dutch sailors in their pockets, and then betting fifty guineas to five they died thus. The only reminiscence of whaling that I saw in Provincetown was a gate-way formed of the ribs of a whale before the door of a cottage. Over the house-door was a gilded eagle, of wood, that had decorated some luckless craft. At the tavern the door was kept ajar by a curiously carved whale's tooth wedged underneath. My landlord, gray-haired, but still straight and sinewy, remarked, as he saw me examining it, " I struck that fellow." But what I came to see here was the desert, and I had not yet seen it. Turning my back upon the town, I set out for Race Point, three miles dis- tant. The last house I passed — and this was a slaughter-house — had the sign -board of a ship, the Plymouth Jiock, nailed above the lintel. For a certain distance the path was easy to follow ; it then became obscure, and I finally lost it altogether; but the sea on the Atlantic side was always roaring a hoarse halloo. It was never before my fortune to thread so curious and at the same time so desolate a way as this. It filled up the pictures of my reading of the coasts of Barbary or of Lower Egypt. I first crossed a range of sand-hills thinly grown with beach-plum, whortleberry, brake, and sheep laurel, or wild rhododendron.^ Now and then there was a grove of stunted pitch-pines on the hill-sides, and upon descending I found the hollows occupied by swamps more or less extensive, where the growth was denser and the stagnant M'ater dotted with white blossoming lilies. Tliere were also clumps of the fra- grant white laurel in full bloom. In such places the bushes grew thickly, and I had to force my way through them. The largest of these sunken ponds is named Shank Painter. Seeing what a share they have in preserving Provincetown, I shall always respect a bog or a morass. Over on the shore, between Race Point and Wood End, they have Shank Painter l>ar. Here and there in tlie swamp were clearings of an acre or two planted with cranberry-vines, which yield a liandsome return. It was blossoming-time, and tlie ground was starred with their delicate wliite flow- ers, having the corolla rolled back, as seen in the tiger-lily. I found ripe blue- berries growing close to the sand, and wild strawberries, of excellent flavor, on the borders of cranberry meadows. An account says, cows might once be seen " wading, and even swiuuning, in these ponds, plunging their heads into the water uj) to their horns, j)icking up a scanty subsistence from the roots ' Captain David Smith and Captain Gamaliel Collins. ' In old times a decoction of checkefbeny leaves was given to l;iinbs poisoned by eating the yonng leaves of the laurel in sjning. ji PROVINCETOWN. 317 and herbs produced in the water." I saw birch, maple, and a few otlier forest trees of stinted growth in the swamp, and stumps of very large pines that had been, perhaps, many times covered and uncovered by sand.' Cranberry culture, already briefly alluded to, has become an important in- dustry on Cape Cod, It is pleasant to see the pickers busily gathering the fruit for market, a labor performed almost wliolly by females. An instru- ment called a cranberry-rake was formerly used; but as it bruised the fruit, it has been discarded for hand-picking. Very little outlay is necessary in tlie preparation of a cranberry-bed, and much less labor than is usual with ordi- llLKlNCr VND SOKTINU CKANBtUKlLb — CAPE COD nary farm crops, while the return is much greater. Plere the visitor is aston- ished at seeing the vine producing abundantly in what appears to be pure white sand. These cranberry plantations are very profitable. Captain Henry Hull, of Barnstable, was one of the earliest cultivators on the Cape. Though it was raw and windy the marsh-flies bit shrewdly. After pass- ing over the first hills beyond Shank Painter, a very different scene present- ed itself. Here was a stretch of lofty mounds of clean white sand, five miles in length and a mile and a half in breadth, bare of all vegetation, except scanty patches of beach grass. There was no longer a path, and though I ' There is an authentic account of ice being found here on the 4th of July, 1741. 318 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. saw occasional foot-prints, I did not meet any one. A cari'iage would be of no use where a horse would sink to his knees in the sand. It was Equality Lane, where pau- i^^* ^^^ ^ per or millionaire must trudge for it. In some places the sand was soft and yielding, and again it was so hard beaten by the wind that the foot- fall would scarcely leave an impres- sion. Scrambling to the summit of one of the liighest hills, I found my- self overlooking a remarkable hol- low completely surrounded with sandy walls. A Bedouin might have been at home here, but sliip- wreckod sailors would wander aim- lessly, until, caught in some such cul-de-sac, they gave up the gliost in de- spair. In wintry storms the route is impracticable. The tourist who has never been to Naples may liere do Vesuvius in poco, taking care to empty his shoes after sliding from the top to the bottom of a sand-liill. Tiie beach grass, I noticed, resembled the buffalo grass of the plains. It grew at equal distances, even in spots wliere it had seeded itself. It is the sheet-anchor of the Cape; ibr, now tliat the woods are nearly gone, there is notliing else to ])revent this avalanche of sand from advancing and over- whelming every thing in its way. Why may not the cotton-wood, wliich ])rop- agates itself in the sand on the l)()rd('i-s of Western rivers, prove a vahiable auxiliary here? I have known a newly formed sand-bar in the Missouri be- conui a well-wooded island in ten years. There, the tree grows to a great size, and seems to care little for the kind of soil it gets. The jjoplar (of the same species) flourished well, I saw, in Provincetown and elsewhere on the Cape. The experiment is worth the trying. In Dr. IJelknap's account of Provincetown, printed in 1791, he says of this SAND-niLLS, PROVINCETOWN. PROVINCETO WN. 3 j 9 range of sand-hills : "This volume of sand is gradually rolling into the woods witli the winds, and as it covers the trees to the tops, they die. The tops of the trees appear above the sand, but they are all dead. Where they have been lately covered the bark and twigs are still remaining; from others they have fallen off; some have been so long whipped and worn out with the sand and winds that there is nothing remaining but the hearts and knots of the trees; but over the greater part of this desert ihe trees have long since dis- appeared." The tops of the dead trees mentioned by Dr. Belknap, the rem- nant of the forest seen here by the Pilgrims, have been cut off for fuel, until few, if any, are to be seen. After crossing the wilderness, I came to the shore. It was blowing half a gale, the sea being roughened by it, but not grand. There was but little drift, and that such " unconsidered trifles" of the sea as the vertebrae of fishes, jelly- fish, a few tangled bimches of weed, and some pretty pebbles. Looking up and down the beach, I discovered one or two wreckers seeking out the night's harvest ; and presently there came a cart in which were a man and woman, the man ever and anon jumping out to gather up a little bundle of drift-wood, with which he ran back to the cart, followed by a shaggy Newfoundland dog that barked and gamboled at his side. These wreckers claim what they have discovered by placing crossed sticks upon the heap, the mark being respected by all who come after. I followed the bank by the verge of the beach, the tide having but just turned. Before me was the light-house, and the collection of huts at Race Point. A single vessel, bound for a Southern port, was in sight, that, after standing along, gunwale under, within half a mile of the shore, filled away on the other tack, rounding the point in good style. A hundred yards back of the usual high-water mark were well-defined lines of drift, indicating the limit where the sea in great storms had forced its way. I passed a group of huts, used perhaps at times by fishermen, and at others as a shelter for shipwrecked mariners. The doors were open, and, notwithstanding a palisade of barrel- staves, the sand had drifted to a considerable depth within. Here also were pieces of a vessel's bulwarks, the first vestiges of wreck I had seen. In 1802 the Humane Society erected a hut of refuge at the head of Stout's Creek ; but it being improperly built with a chimney, and placed on a spot where no beach grass grew, the strong winds blew the sand from its founda- tion, and the weight of the chimney brought it to the ground. A few weeks later the ship JBrntus was cast away. Had the hut remained, it is probable the whole of the unfortunate crew might have been saved, as they gained the shore within a few rods of the spot where it had stood. Upon such trifles the lives of men sometimes depend. The curvature of the shore south of Race Point, by which I was walking, is called Herring Cove. There is good anchorage here, and vessels may ride safely when the wind is from north-east to south-east. The shore between 320 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Race Point and Stout's Creek, in Truro, was formerly considered the most dangerous on the Cape. Since the erection of Race Point Light, disasters have been less frequent. An attempt to penetrate through the hills to Prov- incetown by night would be attended with danger, especially in the winter season, but by day the steeple of the Methodist church is always in sight from the highest sand-hills. Freeman, in his " History of Cape Cod," relates an occurrence that hap- pened here in 1722. A sloop from Duxbury, in which the Rev. John Robin- son and wife, and daughter Mary, had taken passage, was upset by a sudden tempest near Nantasket Beach, at the entrance of Boston Harbor. The body of Mrs. Robinson was found " in Herring Cove, a little within Race Point," by Indians, about six weeks after the event. It was identified by papers found in the stays, and by a gold necklace, that had been concealed from the natives by the swelling of the neck. A finger had been cut ofi*, doubtless for the gold ring the unfortunate lady had worn. The winter of 1874-'75 will be memorable in New England beyond the present generation, the extreme cold having fast locked up a greater number of her harbors than was ever before known. Provincetown, that is so provi- dentially situated to receive the storm-tossed mai'iner, was hermetically seal- ed by a vast ice-field, which extended from Wood End to Manomet, a dis- tance of twenty-two miles, grasping in its icy embrace all intermediate shores and liavens. In the neighborhood of Provincetown a fleet of fishing vessels that was unable to reach the harbor became immovably imbedded in the floe, thus realizing at our very doors all the perils of Arctic navigation. A few were released by the aid of a steam-cutter, but by far the greater number remained hel})lessly imprisoned without other change tlian that caused by the occasional drift of the ice-floe in strong gales. The sight was indeed a novel one. Where before was the expanse of blue- water, nothing could now be seen except the white slab, jnire as mai-ble, which entombed the harbors. All Avitliin the grasp of the eye was a Dead Sea. Flags of distress were displayed in every direction from the masts of crip- pled vessels that no help could reach. Their hulls, rigging, and tajiering spars were so ice-crusted as to resemble ships of glass. As many as twenty signals of distress were counted at one time from the life-sa\iiig station at l*rovincetown. Some of these luckless craft were crushed and sunk to the bottom ; others were abandoned by their crews, who liad eaten tlieir last crust and burned the bulwarks of tlieir vessels for fuel. The remainder were at lengtli released by the brcaking-up of the ice-floe, which only relaxed its grip after having held them fast for a month. It would not be extravagant to say that the l>eaeh on the ocean side, be- tween lligliland Liglit and ^Vood End, was strewed with wrecks. Vessel after vessel was dashed into ])ieees by waves that bore great blocks of drift-ice to aid in the work of destruction. One starless nioniinLT the James Hommdl PROVINCETOWX. struck between Higliland Liglit and Race Point. Instantly the ice-laden surges leaj^ed upon her decks. Wood and iron were crushed like paper un- der the blows of sea and ice. The help- less vessel was forced sidewise toward tlie beach, where the waves began heap- ing up the loose sand on the leeward side, until it reached as high as her decks. When the vessel struck, the crew clambered up the rigging, and all were saved, in a perishing condi- tion, with the lielp of rescuing hands from the life station. One poor fellow dropped dead on the shore he had periled life to gain, a frozen corpse. In twenty -four hours there was no more left of the James Rommell than could be carried away in the wreck- ers' carts. But saddest of all was the loss of the Italian bai-k Giovmini. After eighty-one days of sto-rmy voyage from Palermo, a terrible gale, which tore the frozen sails in shreds from her masts, drove her upon this dangerous coast. In the midst of a blinding snow-storm, the unmanageable vessel was borne steadily and mercilessly upon the shore. When she struck, the shock brought down portions of her rigging, leaving her a dismantled wreck. Her crew could see people moving about on the beach, but no human power could aid them. Soon the Giovanni began to smk into the sandy grave the waves were fast digging to receive her hull, and the seas sweeping her decks raged around the rigging, in which the sailors had taken refuge. One by one they were picked off by the waves. The wreckers' bombs failed to bring a line to them. A few of the ship's company l^ r 321 >(^^ 't V 322 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. raude a desperate push for the beach, which only one reached alive. All night long the wreckers kept their watch by the shore, hoping the gale might abate ; but sea and wind beat and howled as wildly as before. When it was light enough to descry the Giovanni, six objects could be seen cling- ino- in the rio;ging. The ship, it was perceived, was fast breaking up. God help them, for no other could ! The spectators saw these poor fellows perish before their eyes. They saw the overstrained masts bend and shiver and break, crashing in ruin down upon the shattered hull. The next day only a piece of the bow remained, sticking up like a grave-stone on the reef. Of the Giovanni's crew of fifteen only the one mentioned escaped. He could not speak a syllable of English, but was able, by signs, to identify the body of his captain, when it came ashore. The other bodies that came in were laid out in Provincetown church, three miles from the scene of the wreck. Stray portions of the ship's cargo of wine and fruit were washed up, and while any of the former was to be had the beach was not safe to be traversed. In the midst of this carnival of death, men drunk with wine wan- dered up and down in the bitter cold, intent upon robbery and violence. One or more of these beach pirates were found dead, the victims of their own de- bauch. The configuration of the shores of the Cape on the Atlantic side is very different from what was observed by early voyagers. The Isle Nauset of Smith has, for more than a century, been " wiped out " by the sea.' Inlets to harl)ors have in some cases been closed and other passages opened, as at East- ham and Orleans. In 1863 remains of the hull of an ancient ship were uncov- ered at Nauset Beach in Orleans, imbedded in the mud of a meadow a quarter of a mile from any water that would have floated her. Curiosity was aroused by the situation as well as the singular build of the vessel, and what was left of her was released from the bed in which, it is believed, it had been inclosed for more than two centuries. A careful writer considers it to have been the wreck of the Sparrow-haii:k, mentioned by Bradford as having been stranded here in 1020." There are generally two ranges of sand-bars on the ocean side of the Cape ; /the outward being about three-fourths of a mile from shore, and the inner 'range five hundred yards. As in the case of the ill-fated Giovanni^a vessel usually brings up on the outer bar, and ])Ounds over it at the next tide, mere- ly to encounter the inward shoal. Between these two ranges a tremendous cross-sea is always running in severe gales, and, if the wind has continued ' When the English first settled upon the Cape there was an island off Chatham, three leagues distant, called Webb's Island. It contained twenty acres, covered with red-cedar or savin. The Nantucket people resorted to it for fire-wood. In 1792, as Dr. Morse relates, it had ceased to exist for nearly a century. "A large rock," he says, "that was upon the island, and which settled as the earth washed away, now marks the place.'' ' Amos Otis, in the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," 18G5. PEOVINCETOWN 823 long from the same quarter, causing also a current that will float the debris of a wreck along the shore faster than a man can walk. With the wind a sou h-east the wreck stuff will not land, but is carried rapidly to the north- west. Shipwrecked manners have to cross this hell gate to /each the beach The mortars used at the life-stations will not cany a life-line to a vessel at five hundred yards from the shore in the teeth of a gale, and are therefore useles at that distance; but if the wreck is fortunate enough to be lifted over tie jnnex- bar by the sea, xt will strike the beach at a distance where it is practica- ble to save hie under ordinary contingencies. So great are the obstacles to Nantucket perhaps excepted, where a sailor would not rather suffer shipwreck Standing here, I felt as if I had not lived in vain. I was as near Euiope as my egs would carry me, at the extreme of this withered arm with a town m the hollow of ,ts hand. You seem to have invaded the domain of old Nep- une, and plucked him by the very beard. For centuries the storms have beaten upon tins narrow strip of sand, behind which the commerce of a State lies intrenched. The assault is unflagging, the defense obstinate. Fresh col- umns are always forming outside for the attack, and the roll of ocean is for- ever beatn.g the charge. Yet the Cape stands fast, and will not budge. It is as if It should say, "After me the Deluge." A "SrXFISH." NANTUCKET, FROM THE SEA. CHAPTER XX. NANTUCKET. "God bless the sea-beat island! And grant for evermove That charity and freedom dwell, As now, upon her shore." — Whittiek. THE sea-port of Nantucket, every body knows, rose, flourished, and fell with the whale-fishery. It lies snugly ensconced in the bottom of a bay on the north side of the island of the name, wnth a broad sound of water be- tween it and the nearest main-land of Cape Cod. The first Englishman to leave a distinct record of it Avas Captain Dermer, who was here in 1G20, though Weymouth probably became entangled among Nantucket Shoals in May, 1605. The relations of Archer and Brereton render it at least doubtful whether this island was not the first on which Gosnold landed, and to w' hich lie gave the name of Martha's Vineyard. The two accounts are too much at variance to enable the student to bring them into reciprocal agreement, yet that of Archer, being in the form of a diary, in which each day's transactions are noted, will be preferred to the narrative of Brereton, who wrote from rec- ollection. To these the curious reader is referred.' The name of "Nauliean" is the first I have found applied to Nantucket • Purchas, iv. ; reprinted in "Massachusetts Historical Collections," iii., viii. I can not give space to those points that confirm my view, but they make a strong presumptive case. It has been alleged that Do routriucourt landed here after iiis conflict with the Indians of Cape Cod. So far from landing on the island they saw, C'iiamijlain says they named it "/-« Soupgonneiise," from the doubts they had of it. Lescarbot adds that "they saw an island, six or seven leagues in length, which they were not able to reach, and so called 'lie Douteuse.' " The land, it is probable, was the Vineyard. NANTUCKET. 325 Island.' Whether the derivation is from the Latin ncmticus, or a corruption of the Indian, is disputed, though the word has an unmistakably Indian sound and construction.' In the patents and other documents it is called Nantukes, Mantukes, or Nantucquet Isle, indifferently, showing, as may be suggested, as many efforts to construe good Indian into bad English. Previous to Gos- nold's voyage the English had no knowledge of it, nor were the names he /Mansfield '\ ViA\ ^ \.ll\ MAP OF CAPE COD, NANTUCKET, AND MAKTHA'S VINEYAKD. gave the isles discovered by him in general use until long afterward. One other derivation is too far-fetched for serious consideration, a mere Jeu de mot, to which all readers of Gosnold's voyage are insensible. Plistorians and an- tiquaries having alike failed to solve these knotty questions, it is proposed ' By Sir F. Gorges. ' Nantasket, Namasket, Naushon, Sawtuckett, are Indian. 326 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. to refer them to a council of Spiritualists, with power to send for persons and papers. Those who wish to enjoy a foretaste of crossing the British Channel may- have it by going to Nantucket. The passage affords in a marked degree the peculiarities of a sea-voyage, and, in rough weather, is not exempt from its drawbacks. The land is nearly, if not quite, lost to view. You are on the real ocean, and the remainder of the voyage to Europe is merely a few more revo- lutions of the paddles. You have enjoyed the emotions incident to getting under way, of steering boldly out into the open sea, and of tossing for a few hours upon its billows: the rest is but a question of time and endurance. Every one is prepossessed with Nantucket. Its isolation from the world surrounds it with a mysterious haze, that is the more fascinating because it exacts a certain faith in the invisible. Inviting the imagination to depict it for us, is far more interesting than if we could, by going down to the shore, see it any day. In order to get to it we must steer by the compass, and in thick weather look it up with the plummet. In brief, it answers many of the conditions of an undiscovered country. Although laid down on every good map of New England, and certified by the relations of many trustworthy "writers, it is not enough ; we do not know Nantucket. ■^'-^^ Al'l'KOACU TO MAUTUA'S VINEYAKD. No brighter or sunnier day could be wished for than the one on whicli the Ida/id Home steamed out from Wood's Hole into the\'ineyard Sound for the sea-girt isle. IJesides the usual complement of heallli and pleasure seek- ers was a company of strolling ))layers, from Boston, as they announced them- selves — a very long way indeed, I venture to affii'm. These abstracts and brief chronicles of the time" were soon "well bestowed" on the cabin sofas, the rising sea making it at least doubtful whether they would be able to per- form before a Nantucket audience so soon as tliat niszht. From the old salt NANTUCKET. 307 who rang the bell and urged immediate attendance at the captain's office, to the captain himself, with golden rings in his ears, and the Indian girl who officiated as stewardess, the belongings of the Island Home afloat were spiced with a novel yet agreeable foretaste of the island home fast anchored in the Atlantic. The sail across the Vineyard Sound is more than beautiful ; it is a poem. Trending away to the west, the Elizabeth Islands, like a gate ajar, half close the entrance into Buzzard's Bay. Among them nestles Cuttyhunk, where the very -first English spade was driven into New England soil' Straight over in front of the j)ath\vay the steamer is cleaving the Vineyard is looking its best and greenest, with oak-skirted highlands inclosing the sheltered harbor" of Vineyard Haven,* famous on all this coast, Edgartown is seen at the bot- tom of a deep indentation, its roofs gleaming like scales on some huge reptile that has crawled out of the sea, and is basking on the warm yellow sands. Chappaquiddick Island, with its sandy tentacles, terminates in Cape Poge, on which is a liglit-house. Between the shores, and as far as eye can discern, the fleet that passes almost without intermission is hurrying up and down the Sound. One col- umn stretches away under bellying sails, like a fleet advancing in line of bat- tle, but the van-guard is sinking beneath the distant waves. Still they come and go, speeding on to the appointed mart, threading their way securely among islands, capes, and shoals. Much they enliven the scene. A sea with- out a sail is a more impressive solitude than a deserted city. We ran between the two sandy points, long and low, that inclose the har- bor into smoother water. The captain went on the guard. " Heave your bow-line." "Ay, ay, sir." "Back her, sir" (to the pilot). "Hold on your spring." "Stop her." "Slack away the bow-line there." "Haul in." It is handsomely done, and tliis is Nantucket. The wharf, I should infer, would be the best place in which to take the census of Nantucket. No small proportion of the inhabitants were assem- bled at the pier's head, waiting the arrival of the boat. You had first to make your way through a skirmishing line of hack-drivers and of boys eager to carry your luggage; then came the solid battalion of citizen idlers, and behind these was a reserve of carriages and carts. On the pier you gain the idea that Nantucket is populous; that what you see is merely the overflow; whereas it is the wharf that is populous, while the town is for the moment well-nigh deserted. There could be no better expression of the feeling of iso- lation than the agitation produced by so simple an event as the arrival of the daily packet. Doors are slammed, shutters pulled to in a liurry, while a tide of curious humanity pours itself upon the landing-place. The coming steam- ' In 1002 by the colony of Bartholonaew Gosnold, already so often mentioned in these pages. " Better known as Holmes's Hole. 328 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. A BIT OF NANTUCKET — THE HOUSE-TOPS. er is heralded by the town-crier's fish-horn, as soon as descried from the church-tower that is liis observatory. In winter, when communication with the main-hind is sometimes interrupted for several days together, the sense of separation from the world must be intensified.' After running the gantlet of the crowd on the wharf, the stranger is at liberty to look about him. The fire of 184G liaving destroyed the business portion of the town, that part is not more interesting than the average New England towns of mod- ern growth. Generally speaking, the houses are of wood, the idea of spa- ciousness seeming prominent with the builders. Plenty of house-room was no doubt synonymous with plenty of sea-room in the minds of retired ship- masters, whose battered hulks I saw safe mooi-ed in snug and quiet harbors. The streets are cleanly, and, having trees and fiovver-gardens, are often pretty and cheerful. The roofs of many houses are surmounted by a railed )>latform, a reminder of the old whaling times. Here tlie dwellers might sit in the cool of the even- ing, and take note of tlie j)assing ships, or of some deep- laden whaleman with rusty sides and grimy sj)ars wallowing toward the harbor. Here the merchant anxiously scaimed the horizon for tidings of some loitering bark; and here superannuated skij)pers jiaced u]) and down, as they had done the quarter-deck. I question if the custom was not first brought here from the ' On tlic raising of tlic icc-blockaile of the past winter seventeen mails were due, the greatest nunilicr since 1857, when twenty-five regular and two seini-nunithlv mails were landed at Qnidnet. NANTUCKET. 329 tropics, for in Spanish-talking America the best room is not unfrequently the roof, to which the family resort on sweltering hot nights. Sometimes a storm arises, when the precipitancy with which the sleepers gather up their pallets and seek a shelter is the more amusing if witnessed near day-break. Formerly every other house in Nantucket had one of these lookouts, or a vane at the gable-end, to show if the wind was fair for vessels homeward- bound. While other towns have increased, Nantucket for a length of time has stood still. I saw no evidences of squalid poverty or of actual want, though there was a striking absence of activity. The fire, of which they still talk, though it happened thirty years ago, can not be traced by such visible re- minders as a mass of new buildings fitted into the burned space, or by a cor- don of old houses drawn around its charred edges. The disaster caused the loss of many handsome buildings, among them Trinity Church, a beautiful little edifice, having latticed windows. If there was no squalor obtruding itself upon the stranger, neither was there any display of ostentatious wealth. There were a few large square mansions of brick or wood, and even an aristocratic quarter, once known as India Row ; but, on the whole, a remarkable equality existed in the houses of Nantucket. The old New England Greek temple greets you familiarly here and there. I read on the sign-boards the well-remembered names of Cofiin, Folger, Bunker, Macy, Starbuck, etc., that could belong nowhere else than here. Whenever I have seen one of them in some distant corner of the continent, I have felt like raising the island slogan of other times, "There she blows !" The Nantucket of colonial times was not more like the present than sail- ors in pigtails and high-crowned hats are like the close-cropped, wide-trow- sered tars of to-day. Houses were scattered about without the semblance of order. The streets had never any names until the assessment of the direct tax in the administration of President Adams. Common convenience divided the town into neighborhoods, familiarly known as " Up-in-Town," "West Cove," or "North Shore." An old traveler says the stranger formerly re- ceived direction to Elisha Bunker's Street, or David Mitchell's Street, or Tris- tram Hussey's Street. The average conversation is still interlarded with such sea phrases as "cruising about," "short allowance," "rigged out," etc. I heard one Avoman ask for the " bight " of a clothes-line. I had it from credible authority that a Cape Cod girl, when kissed, always presented the other cheek, saying, " You darsent do that again." A Nantucket lass would say, " Sheer oflf, or I'll split your mainsail with a typhoon." There is a story of a " cute " Nantucket skipper, who boasted he could tell where his schooner might be in tlie thickest weather, simply by tasting what the sounding-lead brought up. His mates resolved to put him to the test. 330 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. The lead was well greased, and thrust into a box of earth, " a parsnip bed," that had been brought on board before sailing. It was then taken down to the skipper, and he was requested to tell the schooner's position. At the first taste "The skipper stormed, and tore his hair, Thrust on his boots, and roared to Harden, 'Nantucket's sunk, and here we are Right over old Marm Ilackett's garden I ' " The streets avoid the fatal straight-line, though they are not remarkably crooked. In the business quarter they are paved with cobble-stones, showing ruts deeply worn by the commerce of other days. Grass was growing out of the interstices of the })avement, where once merchants most did congregate. One of the principal avenues is built along the brow of the sea-bluiT, so that almost every house commands a broad sweep of ocean view. The sides of a great many houses were shingled, being Avarmer, as many will tell you, than if covered with clapboards. As in all maritime towns, the weather-vane is usually a fish, and that, of course, a whale. It is the first thing looked at in the morning by every male inhabitant of the island. Some of the lanes go reeling and twisting about in a remarkable manner. Nantucket was larger tlian I had expected. The best view of it is ob- tained from the side of Coatue. A single old windmill on the summit of a hill behind the town adds to its picturesqueness, and somewhat relieves the too-familiar outlines of roof and steeple. But what, in a place of its size, is most remarkable, is the almost total absence of movement. It impressed me, the time I was there, as uninhabited. There were no troops of joyous chil- dren by day, nor throngs of promenaders by night; all was listless and still. Here, indeed, was the town, but where were the people ? I was not at all surprised when accosted by one who, like mo, wandered and wondered, with the (pu^stion, "Does any body live in Nantucket?" In midwinter, said an old lesident to me, you might have a hospital in the town market-])lace with- out danger of disturbing any body. The noise of wheels rattling over the stony street is not often heard. Owing to tiie total loss of its great industry, the population of Nantucket is not greater than it was a hundred years ago, and not half what it was ear- ly in the century.' A large proportion of the houses, it would ap]>car, were unoccupied; yet many that had long lemained vacant were being tiirown oi)en to admit new^ guests, that are seeking "Tlic breath of a new life— tlie healing of tlie seas!" Old brasses were being furbished up, and cobwebs swept away by new and ruthless brooms. The town is being colonized from the main-land, and ' In 1837 its pojiulation was 9048; it is now a little more than 4000. NANTUCKET. 331 though the inhabitants welcome the change, the crust and flavor of orio-inal- ity can not survive it. Already the drift has set in : we may, perhaps, live to see a full-fledged lackey in Nantucket streets. The wharves show the same decay as in Salem and Plymouth, except that here all are about equally dilapidated and grass-grown. Not a whaling ves- sel of any tonnage to be seen in Nantucket ! The assertion seems incredible. In 1834 there were seventy-three ships and a fleet of smaller craft owned on the island. At this moment a brace of Ashing schooners, called smacks, were the largest craft in the harbor. The dispersion of the shipping has been like to that of the inhabitants. I have seen those old whale-ships, with their blufi" bows and flush decks, moored in a long line inside the Golden Gate. There they lay, rotting at their anchors, with topmasts struck, and great holes cut in their sides, big enough to drive a wagon right into their holds. To a lands- man they looked not unlike a fleet in array of battle. Others of these old hulks drifted into such ports as Acapulco and Panama, where they were used for coaling the steamships of that coast ; and at Sacra- mento I saw they had converted one into a prison-ship. The last of them re- maining in New England harbors were purchased by the Government, and sunk in rebel harbors, as unfit longer to swim the seas. It is not pleasant to think how the last vestiges of a commerce that carried the fame of the island to the remotest corners of the earth have been swept from the face of the ocean. The whale-ship I was last on board of was the old Peri, of New London, that looked able to sail equally well bow or stern foremost. The brick try- house, thick with soot, remained on deck, the water-butt was still lashed to the mizzen-mast. How she smelled of oil ! Her timbers were soaked with it, and, on looking down the hatchway, I could see it floating, in prismatic colors, on the surface of the bilge-water in her hold. Many a whale had been cut up alongside. Her decks were greasy as a butcher's block. Though her sj^ars were aloft, she had a slipshod look that would have vexed a sailor beyond measure. The very manner in which the yards were crossed told as plainly of abandonment as unreeved -blocks and slackened rigging be- tokened a careless indifference of her future. In the days of whaling, a different scene presented itself from that now seen on Nantucket wharves. Ships were then constantly going and coming, discharging their cargoes, or getting ready for sea. Tlie quays were encum- bered with butts of oil and heaps of bone. The smith was busy at his forge, the cooper beside himself with work. Let us step into the warehouse. Oil is everywhere. The counting-house ceiling is smeared with it. The walls are hung with pictures of famous whalemen — in oil, of course — coming into port with flags aloft, and I know not how many barrels under their hatches. See the private signal at the mizzen, the foam falling from the bows, and bub- bling astern! A brave sight; but become unfrequent of late. 332 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. LAST OP THE WHALE-SHIPS. ^^^^^^&"^-^^ _:- ^ On the walls are also models of fortunate ships, neatly lettered Avith their names and voyages. I have seen the head and tusks of the walrus af- fixed to them, as the head and antlers of the stag might gi-aee the halls of the huntsmen of the land. A strip of whalebone; ma])s or charts, smoke- blackened, and dotted with greasy finger - marks, indicating where ships had been spoken, or mayhap gone to Davy Jones's Locker; a South Sea javelin with barbed head, a war club and sheaf of envenomed arrows, or a paddle curiously carved, were the usual paraphernalia appropriate in such a place. In the store-room are all tlie supplies necessary to a voyage. There are liarpoons, lances, and cutting spades, with a rifle or two for the cabin. Coils of rigging, and lines for the boats, with a thousand other objects belonging to the ship's outfitting, are not wanting. Accoi-ding to Langlet, the whale-fishery was first carried on by the Nor- wegians, in tlie ninth century. Up to the sixteenth century, Newfoundland and Iceland were the fishing-grounds. The use of bone was not known until loTS; consequently, snys an old writer, " no stays were worn by the ladies." The English commenced whaling at Spitzbergen in 1598, but they had been NANTUCKET. 333 A\HALINCx IN THE OLDEN TIAIE preceded in those seas by the Dutch. As many as two thousand whales a year have been annually killed on the coast of Greenland. Champlain says that in his time it was believed the whale was usually taken by balls fired from a can- non, and that several im- pudent liars had sustained this opinion to his face. The Basques, he contin- ues, were the most skill- ful in this fishery. Leav- ing their vessels in some good harbor, they man- ned their shallops with good men, well provided with lines a hundred and fifty fathoms in length, of the best and strongest hemp. These were at- tached to the middle of the harpoons.* In each shallop was a harpooner, the most adroit and ^^dispos'''' among them, who had the largest share after the master, inasmuch as his was the most hazardous ofiice. The boats Avere pro- vided also with a number of partisans of the length of a half-pike, shod with an iron six inches broad and very trenchant.^ When at Provincetown, I referred to the beginning of the whale-fishery of Nantucket. Ichabod Paddock, in 1690, instructed the islanders how to kill whales from the shore in boats. The Indians of the island joined in the chase, and were as dexterous as any. Earh^ in the eighteenth century small sloops and schooners of thirty or forty tons burden were fitted out, in which the blubber, after being first cut in large squai'e pieces, was brought home, for trying out. In a few years vessels of sixty to eighty tons, fitted with try- works, were employed. Douglass gives some additional particulars. About 1746, he says, whaling * The Dutch also whaled with long ropes, as is now our method. ^ Wevmouth also describes the Indian manner of taking whales: "One especial thing is their manner of killing the whale, which they call powdawe ; and will describe his form ; how he bloweth up the water ; and that he is twelve fathoms long ; and that they go in company of their King, with a multitude of their boats, and strike him with a bone made in the fashion of a harping-iron, fas- tened to a rope, which they make great and strong of the bark of trees, which they veer out after him ; that all their boats come about him, and as he riseth above water, with their arrows they shoot him to death. When they have killed him and dragged him to shore, they call all their chief lords togetlier, and sing a song of joy ; and these chief lords, whom they call sagamores, divide the spoil, and give to every man a share, which pieces so distributed they hang up about their houses for provision ; and when they boil them, they blow off the tat, and put to their pease, maize, and other pulse which they eat. — "Weymouth's Voyage." 334 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. WHALE OF THE ANCIENTS. was by. sloops or schooners, each carrying two boats and thirteen men. In every boat were a harpooner, steersman, and four oarsmen, who used nooses for their oars, so that by letting them go they would trail alongside when they were fast to a whale. Tiie "fast" was a rope of about twenty-five fath- oms, attached to a drag made of plank, about two feet square, with a stick through its centre. To the end of this stick the tow-rope of fifteen fathoms was fastened.' It passes without challenge that the isle's men were the most skillful whale- men in the world. The boys, as soon as they could talk, made use of the Indian word "townor," meaning, "I have twice seen the whale ;" and as soon as able they took to the oar, becoming expert oarsmen. Language would inadequately express the triumph of the youngster who landed in his native town after having struck his first whale. The Indian who proudly exhibits his first scalp could not rival him. Thus it happens that you suppose every man in Nantucket can handle the harpoon, and every woman the oar. Nor was it in whaling battles alone that the island prowess made itself famous. Reuben Chase, midshipman of the Bonne Homme Richard in the battle with the Serapls^ became, under Mr. Cooper's hand, Long Tom Coffin of "The Pilot." The Revolution was near giving the death-blow to Nantucket. In Feb- ruary, 1775, Lord North bi'ought in his famous bill to restrain the trade and commerce of New England with Great Britain and her dependencies, and to prohibit their fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland." It was represented to Parliament that of the population of the islands, amounting to some thou- sands, nine-tenths were Quakers ; that the land was barren, but by astonish- ing industry one hundred and forty vessels were kept cnii)l()yed, of which all but eight were engaged in the whale-fishery.' The inhabitants having been exempted from the restraining act of Parlia- ment, the Continental Congress, in 1775, took stejis to prevent the expoit of provisions to the island from the main-land, except what might be necessary for domestic use. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts also prohibited tlic export of provisions until full satisfaction was given that they were not to be used for foreign consuin))tion.' These precautions were necessary, be- cause the enemy's ships made the island a rendezvous. " Nantucket in 1744 had forty sloops and schooners in the whale-fishery. The catch was seven thousand to ten tliousand barrels of oil per annum. There were nine Ijutulred Indians on tlie isl- and of great use in the fislier. . — Douglass, vol. i., p. 40"). ^ State papers. ^ Ciordon, vol. i., \>. 4G3. * Ilecords of Congress. NANTUCKET. 335 Some stigma has attached to the Nantucket Friends for their want of j^atriotism in the Revolution, Tliey were perhaps in too great haste to ap- ply for the protection of the crown to suit the temper of the day. Justice to their position requires the impartial historian to state that they were at the mercy of the enemy's fleets. They were virtually left to shift for them- selves, and ought not to be censured for making the best terms possible. At the close of hostilities their commerce was, in fact, nearly destroyed. Starved by their friends, now become their enemies, and robbed by their enemies, of whom they had sought to make friends, they were in danger of being ground between the upper and nether millstones of a hard destiny. I well enough remember the first sight I had of whale - ships on their cruising-grounds; of the watchmen in their tubs at the mast-head, where they looked like strange birds in strange nests ; and of the great whales that rose to breathe, casting fountains of spray high in the air. They seemed not more animated than the black hull of a vessel drifting bottom-up, and roll- ing lazily from side to side, until, burying their huge heads deeper, a monster tail was lifted into view, remained an instant motionless, and then, following the rolling plunge of the unwieldy body, sunk majestically beneath the Avave. The curious interest with which, from the deck of a matter-of-fact steam- ship, I had watched the indolent gambols and puflings of the school, had caused me to lose sight of the whaleman, until an extraordinary commotion recalled her to my attention. Blocks were rattling, commands quick and sharp were ringing out, and I could plainly see the sjDlash that followed the descent of the boats into the water. Away they went, the ashen blades bending like withes with the energy and vim of the stroke. Erect in the stern, his arms bared to the slioulder, his body inclined forward like a bend- ed bow, was the boat-steerer. I fancied I could hear his voice and see his gestures as he shook his clenched fist in the faces of the boat's crew. This was the boat-steerer's speech : " Now, boys, give it to her ; lay back hard ! Spring hard^ I tell you ! There she blows ! Break your backs, you duff-eaters ! Put me right on top of that whale, boys ! There she is, boys — a beauty ! One more lift, and hurra for Nantucket bar !" After a weary and fruitless chase — for the whales had sounded — we were boarded by the mate's boat, and requested to report their vessel. I gazed with real curiosity at its crew. Every man had a bandana handkerchief bound tightly about his head. Faces, chests, and arms were the color of old mahogany well oiled. They were then two years out, they said, and inquired anxiously for news from the " States." They neither knew who was Presi- dent, nor of the war raging between the great powers of Europe, and were thankful for the old newspapers that Ave tossed to them. At length they rowed ofl\, cutting their way through the water with a powerful stroke, their boat mounting the seas like an egg-shell. 336 THE KEW ENGLAND COAST. An ancient salt with whom I talked in Nantucket spoke of the disappear- ance of the whales, and of their turning up in new and unexpected waters. From the beginning of the century until the decline of the fishery, vessels usually made a straight course for Cape Horn ; but of late years, whales, he said, had re-appeared in the Atlantic, making their way, it is believed, through the North-west Passage. Whales with harpoons sticking in them having the names of vessels that had entered the Arctic by way of Behring's Straits have been taken by other ships on the Atlantic side of the continent. " When I first went whaling," quoth he, " you might wake up of a morn- ing in the Sea of Japan with fifty sail of whalemen in sight. A fish darsent (durst not) show his head : some ship would take him." " I have gone on deck off the Cape of Good Hope," he continued, " when we hadn't a bar'l of ile in the ship, an' the whales nearly blowin' on us out o' the water. We took in twelve hundred bar'ls afore we put out the fires." Now, though they burn coal-oil in Nantucket, I believe they would pre- fer sperm. You could not convince an islander that the discovery of oil in the coal-fields was any thing to his advantage; nor would he waste words with you about the law of compensations. A few, I was told, still cling to the idea of a revival in the whale-fishery, but the greater number regard it as clean gone. I confess to a weakness for oil of sperm myself. There are the recollections of a shining row of brazen and pewter lamps on the mantel, the despair of house-maids. In coal-oil there is no poetry; Shakspeare and Milton did not study, nor Ben Jonson rhyme, by it. Napoleon dictated and Nelson died by the light of it. Nowadays there are no lanterns, no torches, worthy the name. As there is not enough depth of water on Nantucket bar for large ships, Edgartown Harbor was formerly resorted to by the whalemen of this island, to obtain fresh water and fit their ships for sea. If they returned from a voyage in winter, they were obliged to discharge their cargoes into lighters at Edgartown before they could enter Nantucket Harbor. One of the Nan- tucket steeples was constructed with a lookout commanding the whole island, from which the watchman might, it is said, with a glass, distinguish vessels belonging here that occasionally came to anchor at Martha's Vineyard. In time a huge floating dock that could be submerged, called a camel, was employed to bring vessels over the bar. After going on its knees and taking the ship on its back, the camel Avas pumped free of water, Avhen both came into port. These machines are not of Yankee invention. Tiiey were originated by the celebrated De Witt, for the purpose of conveying large ves- sels from Amsterdam over the Painpus. They wei-e also introduced into Russia by Peter the Great, who had ol)taincd their model wliile working as a common shipwright in Holland. As inventecl, the camel was composed of two separate parts, each having a concave side to embrace the ship's hull, to which it was fastened with strong cables. NANTUCKET. 33-^ The liarbors of Edgavtown, New London, and New Bedford, not bein"- subject to the inconvenience of a bar before them, flourished to some extent at the expense of Nantucket; but all these ports liave shared a common fate. The gold fever of 1849 broke out when whaling was at its ebb, and then scores of whale -ships for the last time doubled Cape Horn. Officer^ and men drifted into other employments, or continued to follow the sea in some less dangerous service. They were considered the best sailors in the world. I remember one athletic Islesman, a second-mate, who quelled a mutiny single- handed with sledge-hammer blows of his fist. When his captain appeared on deck with a brace of pistols, the affray was over. The ringleader bore the marks of a terrible punishment. "You've a heavy hand, Mr, Blank," said Captain G . " I'm a Nantucket whaleman, and used to a long dart." At the Nantucket Athenjeum are exhibited some relics of whales and whaling, of which all true islanders love so well to talk. The jaw-bone of a sperm-whale may there be seen. It would have made Samson a better weap- on than the one he used with such effect against the Philistines. This whale stores the spermaceti in his cheek. You can compress the oil from it with the hand, as from honey-comb. What is called the "case" is contained in the reservoir he carries in his head, from which barrels of it are sometimes dipped. What does he want with it? Or is if, mayhap, a softening of his great, sluggish brain ? The tremendous power the whale is able to put forth when enraged is illustrated by the tale of a collision with one that resulted in the loss of the ship £Jssex, of Nantucket. On the 13th of November, 1820, the ship was among whales, and three boats were lowered. A young whale was taken. Shortly after, another of great size, supposed to have been the dam of tlie one just killed, came against the ship with such violence as to tear awa}^ part of the false keel. It then remained some time alongside, endeavoring to grip the ship in its jaws; but, failing to make any impression, swam off about a quarter of a mile, when, suddenly turning about, it came with tremendous velocity toward the Essex. The concussion not^only stopped the vessel's way, but actually forced lier astern. Every man on deck was knocked down. The bows were completely stove. In a few minutes the vessel filled and went on her beam-ends. Near one of the principal wharves is the Custom-house. It is situated at the bottom of the square already referred to, of which the Pacific Bank, established in 1805, occupies the upper end, the sides being bordered by shops. The first-floor of the Custom-house is used by a club of retired ship- masters, in which they meet to recount the perils and recall the s])oils of whaling battles. We are told by Macy, the historian of the island, that " the inhabitants live together like one great family. They not only know their nearest neigh- 22 338 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. bors, but each one knows the rest. If you wish to see any man, you need but ask the first inhabitant you meet, and he will be able to conduct you to his residence, to tell you what occupation he is of, etc., etc." If one house en- tertained a stranger, the neighbors would send in whatever luxuries they migl't have. Aft^er a lapse of nearly forty years, I found Macy's account stiU true. All questionings were answered with civility and directness, and, as if that were not enough, persons volunteered to go out of their way to conduct me. In a whaling port there is no cod-fish aristocracy. Thackeray could not have found materials for his " Book of Snobs" in Nantucket, though, if rumor may be believed, a few of the genus are dropping in from the main- land. I observed nothing peculiar about the principal centre of trade, except the manner of selling rae'at, vegetables, etc. When the butchers accumulate an overstock of any article they dispose of it by auction, the town-crier being dispatched to summon the inhabitants, greeting. This functionary I met, swelling with importance, but a trifle blown from the frequent sounding of his clarion, to wit, a japanned fish-horn. Met him, did I say ? I beg the indulgence of the readei-. Wherever I wandered in my rambles, he was sure to turn the corner just ahead of me, or to spring from the covert of some blind alley. Pie was one of those who, Macy says, knew all the other inhabitants of the island ; me he knew for a stranger. He stopped short. First he wound a terrific blast of his horn. Toot, toot, toot, it echoed d.nvn the street, like the discordant braying of a donkey. This he followed with lusty ringing of a large dinner-bell, peal on peal, until I was ready to exclaim with the Moor, " Silence that dreadful bell ! it flights the isle From her propriety." Then, placing the fish-liorn under his arm, and taking the bell by the tongue, he delivered himself of his formula. I am not likely to forget it : " Two boats a day ! Burgess's meat auction this evening ! Corned beef! Boston Theatre, positively last night this evening !" He was gone, and I heard bell and horn in the next street. He was the life of Nantucket while I was there; the only inhabitant I saw moving faster than a moderate walk. They said he had been a soldier, discharged, by liis own account, for being " «o?i compos,^'' or something of the sort. I doubt there is any thing the matter with his lungs, or that his wits arc, " like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh ;" yet of his fish-horn I would say, "U woiilii I rni<;ht turn poet for an honre, To satirize with a vindictive powere Against the hbncer .'*' The history of Nantucket is not involved in obscurity, though Dr. Morse, NAKTUCKET. 33 g in his Gazetteer, printed in 1V93, says no mention is made of the discovery and settlement of the island, under its present name, by any of our historians ' Its settlement by English goes no further back than 1659, when Thomas Macy' removed from Salisbury, in Massachusetts, to the west end of the island called by the Indians Maddequet, a name still retained by the harbor and fishino- hamlet there. Edward Starbuck, James Coffin, and another of the name of Daget, or Daggett, came over from Martha's Vineyard, it is said, for the sake of the gunnn.g, and lived with Macy. At that time there were nearly three thousand Indians on the island. Nantucket annals show what kind of sailors may be made of Quakers The illustration is not unique. In the same year that Macy came to the isl- and a ship wholly manned by them went from Newfoundland to Lisbon with fish. Some of them much affronted the Portuguese whom they met in the streets by not taking off their hats to salute them. If the gravity of the matter had not been the subject of a state paper I should not hive known it.= Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard were not included in either of the four New England governments. All the islands between Cape Cod and Hudson River were claimed by the Earl of Sterling. In 1641 a deed was passed to Thomas Mayhew, of Martha's Vineyard, by James Forett, agent of the earl and Richard Vines, the steward of Sir F. Gorges. The isLCnd, until the ac- cession of William and Mury, was considered within the jurisdiction of New York, though we find the deed to Mayhew reciting that the government to be there established by him and his associates should be such as was then existing in Massachusetts, with the same privileges granted by the patent of that colony. In 1659 Mayhew conveyed to the associates mentioned in his deed, nine in number, equal portions of his grant, after reserving to himself Masquetuck Neck, or Quaise.^ The consideration was thirty pounds of lawful money and two beaver hats, one for himself, and one for his wife. The first meeting of the proprietors was held at Salisbury, Massachusetts, in September " Of Macy it is known that he fled from the rigorous persecution of the Quakers by the govern- ment of Massachusetts Bay. The penalties were ordinarily cropping the ears, branding with an iron, scourging, the i^illory, or banishment. These cruelties, barbarous as thev were, were merely borrowed from the England of tliat day, where the sect, saving capital punishment, was persecuted with as great ligor as it ever was in the colonies. The death-penalty inflicted in the Bav Colony brought the affairs of the Friends to the notice of the reigning king." Thereafter they were toler- ated ; but as persecution ceased the sect dwindled away, and in New England it is not numerous. The Friends' poet sings of Macy, the outcast : "Far round the bleak and stormy Cape The vent'i'ous Macy passed, And on Nantucket's naked U\e. Drew up his boat at last." ' Thurloe, vol. v., p. 422. ' The nine were Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swain, and William Pile, who afterward sold his tenth to Richard Swain. 340 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. of the same year (1659), at which time ten other persons were admitted part- ners,' enlarging the whole number of proprietors to nineteen. After the re- moval to the island, the number was further increased to twenty-seven by the admission of Richard and Joseph Gardiner, Joseph Coleman, William Worth, Peter and Eleazer Folger, Samuel Stretor, and Nathaniel Wier. The English settlers in 1660 obtained a confirmation of their title from the sachems Wanackmaraack and Nickanoose, with certain reservations to the Indian inhabitants, driving, as usual, a hard, ungenerous bargain, as the Indians learned when too late. In IVOO their grievances were communicated by the Earl of Bellomont, then governor, to the crown. Their greatest complaint was, that the English had by calculation stripped them of the means of keeping cattle or live stock of any kind, even on their reserved lands, by means of concessions they did not comprehend. At that time the Indians had been decimated, numbering fewer than four hundred, while the Avhites had increased to eight hundred souls. Tlie mortality of 1763 wasted the few remaining Indians to a handful." In 1V91 there were but four males and sixteen females. Abraham Quady, the last survivor, died within a few years. The choice of the island by Macy is accounted for by the foregoing facts, doubtless within his knowledge, as many of the original proprietors were his townsmen. Thomas Maybe w ouglit to be considered one of the fathers of English set- tlement in 'New England. He was of Watertown, in Massachusetts, and I presume the same person mentioned by Drake, in his "Founders," as desirous of passing, in 1637, into "fforaigne partes." He is styled Mr. Thomas May- hew, Gent., a title raising him above the rank of tradesmen, artificers, and the like, who were not then considered gentlemen ; nor is this distinction much weakened at the present day in England. Mayhew received his grant of Nantucket and two small islands adjoining in October, 1641, and on the 23d of the same month, of Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The younger Mayhew, who, Mather says, settled at the Vineyard in 1642, seems to have devoted liimself to the conversion of the Indians with the zeal of a mis- sionary.' In 1657 he was drowned at sea, the sliip in which he had sailed for England never having been lieard from. He was taking Avith him one of the Vineyard Indians, with the hope of awakening an interest in their progress toward Christianity. Jonathan Mayliew, the celebrated divine, was of this stock. The first settlement at Maddcquet Harbor was abandoned after a more ' Jolin Smith, Natlianiel Siavljuck, Eihvaid Starbtick, Tliomas Look, Kobert Barnard, James Coffin, Kobert I'ike, Tristram ('otlin, .Inn., 'I'iiomas Coleman, and .John Hisbop. " Of tbree hundred and fifty-ciglit Indians alive in 17G3, two hundred and twenty-two died by the distemper. ' Hutchinson. NANTUCKET. 341 thorougli knowledge of the island and the accession of white inhabitants. The south side of tlie present harbor was first selected ; but its inconvenience being- soon felt, the town was located where it now is. By instruction of Governor Francis Lovelace it received, in 1673, the name of Sherburne, changed in 1795 to the more familiar one of Nantucket. The town stands near the centre of the island, the place having formerlv been known by the Indian name of " Wesko," signifying Wliite Stone. This stone, which lay, like the rock of the Pilgrims, on the harbor shore, was in time covered by a wharf. The bluff at the west of the town still retains the name of Sherburne. I found the oldest houses at the extremities of the town. K. JOHNSON'S STUDIO, NANTUCKET. Another of the original proprietors is remembered wntli honor by the isl- anders. Peter Folger was looked up to as a snpei'ior sort of man. He Avas so well versed in the Indian tongue that his name is often found on the deeds from the natives. The mother of Benjamin Franklin was the daughter of Folger. They do not forget it. The name of Peter Folger is still contin- ued, and family relics of interest are preserved by the descendants of the first Peter, Any account of Nantucket must be incomplete that omits mention of Sir Isaac Coffin. Sir Isaac was a Bostonian. His family were out-and-out Tories in the Revolution, with more talent than in general falls to the share of one 342 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. household. He was descended from an ancient family in the northern part of Devonshire, England. In 17V3 Isaac Coffin was taken to sea by Lieutenant Hunter, of the Gaspee^ at the recommendation of Admiral John Montague. His commanding officer said he never knew any young man acquire so much nautical knowledge in so short a time. After reaching the grade of post- captain. Coffin, for a breach of the regulations of the service, was deprived of his vessel, and Earl Howe struck his name from the list of post-captains. This act being illegal, he was reinstated in ITOO. In 1804 he was made a baronet, and in 1814 became a full admiral in the British navy. One of his brothers was a British general. On a visit to the United States, in 1826, Sir Isaac came to Xantucket. Finding that many of the inhabitants claimed descent from his own genea- logical tree, he authorized the purchase of a building, and endowed it with a fund of twenty-five hundred pounds sterling, for the establishment of a school to which all descendants of Tristram Coffin, one of the first settlers, should be admitted. On one of his voyages to America the admiral suffered shipwreck. During the war of 1812, it is related that the admiral made a visit to Dart- moor prison, for the purpose of releasing any American prisoners of his family name. Among others who presented themselves was a negro. "Ah," said the admiral, "you a Coffin too?" "Yes, massa." "How old are yon?" "Me thirty years, massa." " Well, then, you are not one of the Coffins, for they never turn black until forty." NANTUCKET. — OLD WINDMILL, LOOKING OCEANWAKU. CHAPTER XXI. KANTUCKET — continuecl. Muskeeget, Tuckanuck, Maddequet, Sankoty, Coatue, Siasconset. TTISTORY is said to repeat itself, and Avhy may not the wlialc-fishing ? -*— ^ Now that the ships are all gone, a small M'hale is occasionally taken off the island, as in days of yore. While I was at Nantucket, a school of black- tish were good enougli to come into the shallows not far from the harbor, and stupid enough to permit themselves to be taken. The manner of their cap- ture was truly an example of the triumph of mind over matter. When the school were discovered near the shore, the fisliermen, getting outside of them in their dories, by hallooing, sounding of horns, and other noises, drove them, like frightened sheep, toward the beach. As soon as the hunters were in shoal water they left their boats, and jumped overboard, urg- ing the silly fish on by outcries, splashing the water, and blows. Men, and even boys, waded boldly up to a fish, and led him ashore by a fin ; or, if in- clined to show fight, put their knives into him. They cuffed them, ])ricked them onward, filling the air with shouts, or with peals of laughtei-, as some pursuer, more eager than prudent, lost his footing, and became for the moment a fish. All this time the blackfish were nearing the shore, uttering sounds closely resembling groanings and lamentations. The calves kept close to the 344 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. old ones, " squealing," as one of the captors told me, like young pigs. It was great sport, not wholly free from danger, for the lish can strike a powerful blow with its flukes ; and the air was filled with jets of water where they had lashed it into foam. At length the whole school were landed, even to one poor calf that had wandered off", and now came back to seek its dam. The fishermen, after putting their marks upon them, went up to town to com- municate their good luck. Sometimes a hundred or two are taken at once in this wise, here or on the Cape. The oil of the blackfish is obtained in precisely the same manner as that of the whale, of which it is a pocket edition. The blubber, nearly resembling pork-fat, was stripped oft' and taken in dories to town. I saw the men tossing it with their pitchforks on the shore, whence it was loaded into carts, and car- ried to the try-house on one of the wharves. Here it w-as heaped in a palpi- tating and by no means savory mass. Men were busily engaged in trimming oflT the superfluous flesh, or in slicing it, with great knives resembling shingle- froes, into pieces suitable for the try-pot; and still others were tossing it into the smoking caldron. But if whales are getting scarce round about Nantucket, the blue-fish is still plenty. This gamest and most delicious of salt-water fish is noted for its strength, voracity, and grit. lie is a very pirate among fish, making ])rey of all alike. Cod, haddock, mackerel, or tautog, are glad to get out of his way ; the smaller fry he chases among the surf-waves of the shore, much as the fishermen pursue the blackfish. Where the blue-fish abounds you need not try for other sort: he is lord high admiral of the finny tribes. This fish has a curious history. Before the year 1763, in which the great pestilence occurred among the Indians of the island, and from the first coming of the Indians to Nantucket, a large, fat fish, called the blue-fish, thirty of which would fill a barrel, was caught in great plenty all around the island, from the 1st of July to the middle of October. It was remarked that in 1704, the year in which the sickness ended, they disappeared, and were not again seen until about fifty years ago.' It was a delicious afternoon that I set sail for the "Opening," as it is called, between Nantucket and Tuckanuck," an appanage of the former, and one of the five islands constituting the county of Nantucket. The tide runs with such swiftness that the boatmen do not venture through the Opening except with plenty of wind, and of the right sort. With a stiff" breeze blowiiig, the breakers are superb, especially when wind and tide are battling with each other. With the wind blowing freshly over these shallow waters, it does not take long for the seas to assume proportions simply appalling to a lands- ' Zacdiens Mary, in his aocoiint of the ishiml, written in 1792, says none had been taken up to tliat time — "a great loss to the islanders." ' The Indian name Tiifkannck siyiiilies a loaf of bread. NANTUCKET. 345 man. It was a magnificent sight I Great waves erected themselves into solid walls of green, advancing at first majestically, then rushing with increased momentum across our course to crash in clouds of foam upon the opposite shore. It needs a — skillful boatman at the helm. What with the big seas, the seething tide-rips, and the scanty sea-room, the sail is of itself sufficiently exciting. But the fishing, what of that? We cast our lines over the stern, and, as the boat was going at a great pace, they were straightened out in a trice. At the end of each was a wicked -looking hook of large size, having a leaden sinker run upon the shank of it. Over this hook, called by the fish- ermen hereabouts a "drail," an eel-skin was drawn, though I have known the blue -fish to bite well at a simple piece of canvas or leather. Away bounded the boat, while we stood braced in the standing-room to meet her plunging. Twenty fathoms with a pound of lead at the end seems fifty, at least, with your boat rushing headlong iinder all she can bear. Half an acre of smooth water wholly unruflled is just ahead. " I'm going to put you right into that slick," said our helmsman. "Now look out for a big one." I felt a dead weight at my line. At the end of it a shining object leaped clear from the water and fell, with a loud plash, a yard in advance. Now, haul in steadily; don't be flurried; but, above all, mind your line does not slacken. I lost one splendid fellow by too great precipitation. The line is as rigid as steel wire, and, if your hands are tender, cuts deep into the flesh. Ah! he is now near enough to see the boat. How he plunges and tries to turn ! He makes the water boil, and the line fairly sing. I had as lief try to hold an old hunter in a steeple-chase. Ha! here you are, my captive, under the counter; and now I lift you carefully over the gunwale. I enjoin on the 346 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. inexperienced to be sure they land a fisli in the boat, and not lose one, as I did, by throwing him on tlie gunwale. The fish shows fight after he is in the tub, shutting his jaws with a vicious sua}) as lie is being unhooked. Look out for him ; he can bite, and sharply too. The blue-fish is not unlike the salmon in looks and in action. He is fur- nished with a backbone of steel, and is younger brother to the shark. I looked over my shoulder. My companion, a cool hand ordinarily, was engaged in hauling in his line with allected nonchalance; but compressed lips, stern eye, and rigid figure said otherwise. There is a quick flash in the water, and in comes the fish. "Eight-pounder," says the boatman. THE BLUE-FISH. These " slicks" are not the least curious feature of blue-fishing. The fisli seems to have the ability to exude an oil, by which he calms tlie water so that he may, in a way, look about him, showing himself in this an adept in apply- ing a well-known principle in hydrostatics. A perceptible odor arises from the slicks, so that the boatmen will often say, "I smell blue-fish." The boatman steered among the tide-rips, where each of us soon struck a fish, or, as the ])hrase here is, "got fast." The monster — I believe he was a ten-pounder at least — that took my hook threw himself bodily into the air, shaking his head as if he did not mean to come on board us. ^Vnd he was as good as his threat: I saw the drail skipping on the top of the wave as my line came in empty. In two hours we had filled a ))arrel with fish, and it was time to sliape our course harbor waivl. We saw the smoke of the Lshoul Home, looking at first as if rising out of the Sound; then her fuimel appeared, and at length lier liuU r()S(! into view; but slie was come within a mile of us before I could distin- guish her walking-beam. Tuckanuck and Low Water Island were soon a-lee. jVIaddecpu't Harbor opened a moment for lis, but we did not enter. We rounded Eel Point with a full sail, and shot past Whale Rock and tlie shoal of stranded blackfish I told you of. Ever and anon w^e had passed one adrift, stripped of liis fatty epidermis, and now food for the sharks. They were grotesque objects, though iu)\v mere carrion, above which the. tierce gulls BLUE-FI8HIXG. screamed noisily. Here is Brant Point, and its light-house of red brick. We stand well over for Coatue, then about with her for the home stretch. " Fast bind fast find." Our bark is moored. With stiffened joints, but light hearts, we seek our lodgings. What do they say to us? I' faith I am not sorry I went blue-fishing. Reader, are you ? Many blue-fish are caught off the beach on the south shore of the island by casting a line among the breakers, and then hauling it quickly in. This method they call "heave and haul." It takes an expert to get the sleight of it. Gathering the line in a coil and swinging it a few times around his head, an old hand will cast it to an incredible distance. The fish is also fre- quently taken in seines in shallow creeks and inlets, but he as often escapes through the rents he has made in the net. I had three excursions to make before I could say I had seen Nantucket. One was to the hills and sands toward Coatue, that curved like a sickle around the harbor; another was to Siasconset ; and yet another to the south side. This being done, I had not left much of the island unexplored. It was on a raw, blustering morning that I set out for a walk arouiul the eastern shore of the harbor. I saw the steamboat go out over the bar, now settling down in the trough, and now shaking herself and staggering onward. Bismally it looked for a day in July, but I had not the mending of it. After 348 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. getting well clear of the town I found the hills assuming some size and ap- pearance of vegetation. They-were overgrown with wild-cranberry vines bearing stunted fruit, each turning a little red cheek to be kissed by the morning sun. Some beautiful flowers sprung from among the neutral patches of heather. The Indian pea, unmatched in wild beauty, displayed its sump- tuous plume among the gray moss or modest daisies. The beach grass was rooted everywhere in the hillocks next the shore, and appeared to be gradually working its way inland. I attempted to pull some of it up, but only the stalks remained in my hand. Each leaf is like a sword- blade. Pass your hand across the under-surtace, and it is prickly and rough. What there formerly was of soil has been growing thinner and thinner by being blown into the sea. Unlike the buffalo-grass of the plains, the beach grass possesses little nutriment, though cattle crop the tender shoots in spring. It was formerly much used for broom-stuff". I picked up by the shore many scallop-shells, and on the hills saw many more lying where pleasure-seekers had held, as the saying is, their '■''squan- tum^'' or picnic. This is a historical sheik It surmounts the cap-stone of the monument built over the Rock of the Forefathers at Plymouth. In the Dark Ages, a scallop-shell fastened to the hat was the accepted sign that the weai'cr had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We read in Parneirs "Hermit:" " He quits his cell, the pilgrim staff he bore, And fixed the scallop in his hat before." Professor Gosse says there was a supposed mystical connection between the scallop-shell and St. James, the brother of the Lord, first bisliop of Jeru- salem. Tlie scallop beds are usually in deep water, and the fish, therefore, can be obtained only by dredging. They are rather plentiful in Xarraganset Bay. Some, of a poetic turn, have called them the " butterflies of the sea;" others a " frill," from their fancied resemblance to that once indispensable badge of gentility. As much as any thing they look like an open fiiii. Many other shells I found, particularly the valves of quahaugs, and a periwinkle six inches in length. Its shell is obtained by fastening a hook in the fish and suspending it by a string. In a few hours the inhabitant drops his integu- ment. Amber is sometimes picked up on the shores, they say, but none came to my share. Shells of the same kind as those now common to tlie shores of the island have been found at the depth of fifty feet, after penetrating several strata of earth and clay. In digging as deep as the sea-level, the same kind of sand is brought to the surface as now makes the beaches, and the same inclination has been observed that now exists on the shores. INIr. Adams, my landlord, told me he saw taken from a well, at the depth of sixty feet, a quantity of quahaug-shells of the size of a half-dollar. They usually have to go this depth in the sand, and then get poor, brackish water. Tliere is an account NANTUCKET. 349 of the finding of the bone of a wliale thirty feet under-ground at Siasconset. I saw many coveied wells in Nantucket streets that appeared to be the sup- ply of their immediate neighborhoods. The fogs that sometimes envelop Nantucket gave rise to a pleasant fic- tion, which smacks of the salt. A Avhaling ship, outward-bound, having been cauglit in one of unusual density in leaving the port, the captain made a pe- culiar mark in it with a harpoon, and on his return, after a three years' cruise, fell in with the harbor at the very same spot. The Indian legend of the origin of Nantucket is that Mashope, the Indian giant, formed it by emptying the ashes of his pipe into the sea. This same Mashope, having in one of his excursions lighted his pipe on the island, and sat down for a comfortable smoke, caused the fogs that have since prevailed there. He probably waded across from the Vineyard, when he wanted a little distraction from domestic infelicities. The residence of Mashope was in a cavern known as the Devil's Den, at Gay Head. Here he broiled the whale on a fire made of the largest trees, which he pulled up by the roots. After separating No Man's Land from Gay Head, metamorphosing his children into fishes, and throwing his wife on Seconnet Point, where she now lies, a misshapen rock, he broke up housekeep- ing and left for parts unknown. Another Indian legend ascribed the discovery of Nantucket to the rav- ages made by an eagle among the children of the tribes on Cape Cod. The bird having seized a papoose, was followed by the parents in a canoe until they came to the island, where they found the bones of the child. The ex- istence of the island was not before suspected. Anciently, the dwellers were shepherds, living by their flocks as well as by fishing. Every inhabitant had the right to keep a certain number of sheep. One da)' in the year — formerly the only holiday kept on the island — every body repaired to the commons. The sheep were driven into pens and sheared. Sheep -shearing day continued the red-letter day on Nantucket well into the present century. I saw flocks browsing almost everywhere in my ram- bles, and thought them much more pictui'esque objects in the landscape than corn-fields or vegetable gardens. There is a freedom about a shepherd's life, a communion with and knowledge of nature in all her variable moods, that renders it more attractive than delving in the soil. No one is so weather- wise as a shepherd-boy. I liked to hear the tinkling of the bells, and watch the gambols of the lambs on the hill-sides. In his day, Philip was lord and sagamore of the Nantucket Indians. He came once to the island, in pursuit of a subject who liad violated savage laws by speaking the name of the dead. The culprit took refuge in the house of Thomas Macy, and Philip, by the payment of a considerable ransom, was induced to spare his life. This occurred in 1665. The Indian priuce was absolute lord on land and sea. Every thing 350 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. stranded on his coasts — whales or other wreck of value found floating on the sea washing his shores — or brought and landed from any part of the sea, was no less his own. In the "Magnalia" is related an incident illustrating this absolutism of Indian sagamores. An Indian prince, with eighty well-armed attendants, came to Mr. Mayhew's house at Martha's Vineyard. Mayhew en- tered the room, but, being acquainted with their customs, took no notice of the visitors, it being with them a point of honor for an inferior to salute the superior. After a considerable time the chief broke silence, addressing Mr. Mayhew as sachem, a title importing only good or noble birth. Tl»e prince having preferred some request, Mayhew acceded to it, adding that he would confer with the whites to obtain their consent also. The Indian demanded why he recalled his promise, saying, "What I promise or speak is always true ; but you, an English governor, can not be true, for you can not of your- self make true what you promise." It has been observed that the island is gradually Avasting away. On the east and south some hundreds of acres have been encroached upon by the sea, and, by the accounts of ancient inhabitants, as many more on the north. During some years the sea has contributed to extend the shores; in others the waste was arrested ; but the result of a long series of observations shows a constant gain for the ocean. Smith's Point, now isolated from the main- land, once formed a part of it, the sea in 1786 making a clean breach through, and forming a strait half a mile wide. I have no wish to depreciate the value of real estate upon Nantucket, but by the year 3000, according to our present calendar, I doubt if there will be more than a grease-spot remaining to mark the habitation of a race of vikings whose javelins were harpoons. Siasconset is the paradise of the islander: not to see it would be in his eyes unpardonable. Therefore I went to Siasconset, or Sconset, as your true islander pronounces it, retaining all the kernel of the word. It is situated on the south-east shore of the island, seven miles from the town. You may have, for your excursion, any sort of vehicle common to the main-land, but the islanders most affect a cart with high-boarded sides and a step behind, more resembling a city coal-cart than any thing else I can call to mind. Though not like an Irish jaunting-car, it is of quite as peculiar con- struction, and, when filled with its complement of gleeful excursionists, is no bad conveyance. For my own ])art, I would rather walk, but they will tell you every body rides to Sconset. Take any vehicle you will, you can have only a single liorse, the road, or i-ather track, being so deeply rutted that, when once in it, the wheels run in grooves six to twelve inches in depth, while the horse jogs along in a sort of furrow. I own to a rooted antipathy to carts, going much farther back than my visit to Nantucket. The one I rode in over a stony road in Maine, with a sack of hay for a cushion, put me out of conceit witli carts. I would liave NANTUCKET. 351 admired the scenery, had not my time been occupied in holding on, and in catching my breath. I might have talked with the driver, had not the joliino- put me under the necessity of swallowing my own words, and nobody, I fancy, quite likes to do that. What little was said came out by jerks, like the con- fession of a victim stretched on the rack. Henceforth I revolted against hav- ing my utterance broken on the wheel. But when I came to be the involuntary witness of a family quarrel in a cart, I banished them altogether from the catalogue of vehicles. " You are kept so very close to it, in a cart, you see. There's thousands of couples among you getting on like sweet-ile on a whetstone, in houses five and six pairs of stairs high, that would go to the divorce court in a cart. Whether the jolting makes it worse, I don't undertake to decide, but in a cart it does come home to you, and stick to you. Wiolence in a cart is so wiolent, and aggrawation in a cart so aggrawating." After leaving the town the way is skirted, for some distance, with scraggy, weird-looking pitch-pines, that are slowly replacing the native forest. At every mile is a stone — set at the roadside by the care of one native to this, and now an inhabitant of the most populous island in America.' They are painted white, and stand like sentinels by day, or ghosts by night, to point the way. In one place I noticed the bone of a shark stuck in the ground for a landmark. There are two roads to Siasconset, the old and the new. I chose the old. A stretch of seven miles across a lonely prairie, with no other object for the eye to rest upon than a few bare hills or sunken ponds, brought us in sight of the village and of the sea. The Siasconset of the past was neither more nor less than a collection of fishermen's huts, built of the simplest materials that would keep out wind and weather. In the beginnings of the English along our coast these little fish- ing-hamlets were called " stages." Other fishing-stages were at Weweeders, Peedee, Sesacacha, and Quidnet. Of these Siasconset alone has flourished. All early navigators and writers agree that the waters hereaway were abun- dantly stocked with the cod. I found the village pleasantly seated along the margin of the bluff, that rises here well above the sea. Behind it the land swelled again so as to in- tercept the view of the town. Underneath the cliif is a terrace of sand, to which a fliglit of steps, eked out with a footpath, assists the descent. Here were lying a number of dories, and one or two singular-looking fish-carts, with a cask at one end for a wheel. A fish-house, with brush flakes about it, and a pile of wreck lumber, completed what man might have a title to. This terrace pitches abruptly into the sea, with a regularity of slope like the glacis of a fortress. It would never do to call the Atlantic a ditch, yet you seem 1 Rev. F. C. Ewer, of New York. 352 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. HOMES OF THE FISHEKMEN, SIASCOMSKT. standing on a parapet of sand. The sand here appears composed of particles of granite; in other parts of the island it is like the drift at Cape Cod. The village is an odd collection of one-story cottages, so alike that the first erected might have served as a pattern for all others. Iron cranes pro- jected from angles of the houses, on which to hang lanterns at night-fall, in place of street-lamps. Fences, neatly whitewashed or painted, inclosed each householder's possession, and in many instances blooming flower-beds caused an involuntary glance at the window for their guardians. On many houses were the names of wrecks that liad the seeming of grave-stones overlooking the sands that had entombed the ships that wore them. In one front yard was the carved figure of a woman that had been filliped by the foam of many a sea. Fresh from the loftier buildings and broader streets of the town, this seemed like one of those miniature villages that children delight in. Looking off seaward, I could descry no sails. The last objects on the hori- zon line were white-crested breakers combing above the "gulf or ship-swal- lower" lying in wait V)cneath them. It is a dangerous sea, and Nantucket Shoals have obtained a terrible celebrity — imequaled, perhaps, even by the Goodwin Sands, that mariners shudder at the mention of If a ship grounds on the Shoal she is speedily wrenched in pieces by the power of the surf. They will tell you of a brig (the Poinsett) that came ashore on the south side with her masts in her, apjiarently uninjured. Two days' pounding strewed the beach witli her timbers. "A ship on the Shoals!" is a sound that will quickcTi the pulses of men familiar with danger. I suppose the calam- NANTUCKET, 353 itous boom of a minute-gun has often roused the little fishing-hamlet to exer- tions of which a few human lives were the guerdon. Heard amidst the accom- paniments of tempest, gale, and the thunder of the breakers, it might well thrill the listener with fear; or, if unheard, the lightning flashes would tell the watchers that wood and iron still held together, and that hope was not yet extinct. It may be that the great Nantucket South Shoal, forty-five miles in breadth by fifty in length, tends to the preservation of the island, for which it is a breakwater. The great extent of shallows on both sides of the island, with the known physical changes, would almost justify the belief that these sauvls and this island once formed part of the main-land of New England. Much is claimed, doubtless with justice, for the salubrity of Siasconset air. Many resort thither during the heats of midsummer, I found denizens of Nantucket who, it would seem, had enough of sea and shore at home, domes- ticated in some wee cottage. The season over, houses are shut up, and the village goes into winter-quarters. The greensward, elevation above the sea, and pure air are its credentials, I saw it on a sunny day, looking its best. The sand is coarse-grained and very soft. There is no beach on the island firm enough for driving, or even tolerable walking. The waves that came in here projected themselves fully forty feet up the escarpment of the bank that I THE SEA-BLUFF, SIASCONSET. 23 354 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. have spoken of. I recollect that, having chosen what I believed a safe position, I was overtaken by a wave, and had to beat a hasty retreat. Bathing here is, on account of the under-tow and quicksands, attended with hazard, and ought not to be attempted except with the aid of ropes. Willis talks of the tenth wave. I know about the third of the swell, for I have often watched it. The first and second are only forerunners of the nughty one. The dories come in on it. A breaker fell here every five seconds, by the watch. We returned by the foreland of Sankoty Head, on which a light-house stands. From an eminence here the sea is visible on both sides of the island. V»'hen built, this light was unsurpassed in brilliancy by any on the coast, and was considered equal to the magnificent beacon of the Morro. Fisher- men called it the blazing star. Its flashes are very full, vivid, and striking, and its position is one of great importance, as warning the mariner to steer wide of the great Southern Shoal. Seven miles at sea the white flush takes a reddish hue. IIAlLINti A DOKY OVKK THE HILLS, NANTUCKET. The following aCtcrnoon T walkod across the island to the south shore at Surfside, a distance of perhaps three miles or more. A south-west gale that had prevailed for twenty-four hours led me to expect an angry and tumultu- ous sea; nor was I disappointed: the broad expanse between shore and liori- /-on was a confused mass of foam and broken water. It was a mournful sea: not a sail nor a living soul was iji siglit. A few sand-birds and plover piped plaintively to the lioarse dia))ason of the billows. Here I saw a sunset in a gale; the sun, as the sailors say, "setting up NANTUCKET. 355 t/ LIGHT HOUSE, SANKOTT HEAD, NANTUCKET. shrouds and backstays"— screened from view by a mass of dark clouds, yet pouring down from beliind them through interstices upon tlie bounds of the sea, the rays having somewhat the appearance of golden ropes arising from the ocean and converging to an unseen point. I seated myself in one of the dories on the beach and gazed m v fill Say what you will, there is a mighty fascination in the sea. Darknes's surprised me before I had recrossed the lonely moor, and I held my way, guided by the aeep cart-ruts, until the lights of the town twinkled their welcome before me It was my last night on sea-girt Nantucket. I do not deny that I left it with reluctance. .^jMsi-' NEWPORT, FKOM FORT ADAMS. CHAPTER XXn. NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. "This castle hath a pleasant seat: the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses." — Macbeth. NEWPORT is an equivoque. It is old, and yet not; grave, though gay; opulent and poor; splendid and mean; populous or deserted. As the only place in New England where those who flee from one city are content to inhabit another, it is anomalous. In his "Trois Mousquetaires" Alexander Dumas makes his giant, Porthos, encounter a ludicrous adventure. The guardsman is the complacent pos- sessor of a magniticent golden sword-belt, the envy of his comrades, until on one unlucky day it is discovered that the half concealed beneath his cloak is nothing but leather; whereupon some sword-thrusts occur. It was M. Bes- meaux^ afterward governor of the Bastile,who was the real hero of the sword- belt— half gold, half leather— that Dumas has hung on the shoulders of his o-igantic guardsman. Newport's ocean side is belted with modern villas, costly, showy, and or- nate. Tiiey mask the town in splendid succession, as if eacli liad been built to surpass its neighbor. Tiiis is the Newport of to-day. Beliind it, old, graj^ and commonplace by comparison, is the Newport of other days. The ditfer- ence between the two is very marked. The old town is the effete body into wiiich the new is infusing young blood, warming and invigorating it into new life. If the fisure were permissible, we should say tlie (Jueen of Aquidneck had drunk of the elixir of life, so unexampled is the rai)idity with wliicli she transfigures herself I like Newi)ort because it is old, quaint, and peculiar. Though far from m- NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 35^ sensible to its difficult feats in architecture, I did not come to see fine Louses To me they embody nothing besides the idea of wealth and luxurious ease Many of them are as remarkable for elegance as are others for ugliness of design; yet I found it much the same as walking in Fifth Avenu^e or Bea- con Street. They are at first bewildering, then monotonous; or, as P.uskin says of types of form, mere form, "You learn not to see them. You don't look at them." I said Newport was commonplace, and I said it with mental reservation It has a matchless site, glorious bay, and delicious climate, that many have been willing, perhaps a little too willing, to compare with Italy. If we have m New England any phase of climate we may safely match with that favored land,' I frankly concede Newport possesses it. The Gulf Stream approaches near enough to temper in summer the harshness of sea-breezes, and the rio-or ot cold northern winds in winter. The only faults I had to find with the summer and autumn aspects of Newport climate were the fogs and humidity ot the nights. The pavements are frequently wet as if by lioht showers. This condition of the atmosphere is the plague of laundresses an'cl hair-dress- ers at the great houses: the ringlets you see in Newport are natural. When at the Isles of Shoals, we were a "thin under-waistcoat warmer" than on the main-land. Neal says it is a coat warmer in winter at Newport than at Boston. I remarked that evening promenaders in the streets there were more thinly clothed than would be considered prudent elsewhere. In Newport, according to Neal, it would lose much point to say a man was with- out a coat to his back. Mr. Cooper, in the "Red Rover," calls attention to the magnificent harbor of Newport in the language of the practiced seaman. It fully meets all the requisites of easy approach, safe anchorage, and quiet basin. Isles and promontories, frowning Avith batteries, shield it from danger or insult. The verdure of the shores is of the most brilliant green, and grows quite to the water's edge, or to the verge of the clifis. In a calm day, when the water is ruffled only by light airs, the tints of sea and sky are scarcely difierent : then the bay really looks like "Un pezzo di cielo caduto in terra." In approaching Newport from sea, after weathering much-dreaded Point Judith,' we shall fixU in with the light-vessel anchored off'Brenton's Reef, the extreme south-west point of the island of Rhode Island. At the same time the light-house on Beaver Tail' flashes greeting, and we may now enter the ' At N*aples the summer temperature is seldom above 73° ; in winter it does not fall below 47°. ' Point Judith is named from Judith Quincy, the wife of John Hull, coiner of the rare old pine- tree shillings of 1652. ' Beaver Tail is a peninsula at the southern extremity of Canonicut Island, so named from its marked resemblance, on the map, to the appendage of the beaver. 358 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. gfew-y OLD FOKT, DUMPLIXG KUCKS. port witli coniidence. Passing beside the " Dumplings " and the old round tower, perched on a projecting and almost insulated rock, we steer under the walls of Fort Adams/ Sleepy fishing-boats, coming in with the morn- ing's flood, are sent, with rattling blocks, and sails idly flapjjing, reeling and rocking on big waves caused by the majestic onward march of our great steamer ; the beat of the paddles comes audibly back from rocks washed for a moment by our attendant wave. As we round the fortress the bugles play. A ball goes quickly up to the very top of the flag -staff"; there is a flash, and a roar of tlie morning gun ; and when the smoke drifts slowly before the breeze, we see the dear old flag blowing out clear, with every stripe still there, and never a reproach in one of them. At our right, and close inshore, is Lime Rock Light, with its associations of female heroism.^ At the left is Goat Island, long and low, with Fort Wolcott and pleasant cottages for the officers of the torpedo station.' Beyond, rising tier above tier, with the beautiful spire of Trinity Church in its midst, is New- port. Newport .lias been compared to the Lothians and to the Isle of Wight, the British Eden. By all old ti'avelei's it was admitted to be the paradise of New England. Its beautiful and extensive bay reminds Scotsmen of the Clyde. In fact, every traveled person at once estimates it with what has liitherto impressed him most — an involuntary but sure recognition of its charms. Previous to the Kevolution, Newport was the fourth commercial town in the colonics, once having more than nine thousand inhabitants. It was at first tributary to Boston, sending its corn, pork, and tobacco to be exchanged ' Fort Adams is situated at the upper (northern) end of a point of land which helps to form the harlior of Newport ; it also incloses a piece of water called IJicnton's Cove. " By our American Grace Darling, Miss Ida Lewis. ' Goat Island was the site of a colonial fortress. During the reign of King William, Colonel Isomer advised the fortification of Kliode Island, which he says had never been done "by reason of tlie mean condition and refractoriness of the iiihahitants." In 174-t the fort on Goat Island inonntcti twelve cannon. At the beginning of the lievolution General Lee, and afterwilrd Colonel Knox, marked out defensive works ; but they do not a])pear to have been executed wlien the British, on the same day that Washington crossed tlie Delaware, took possession of tlie island. The Whigs, in 177"), removed the cannon from the batteries in the harbor. Major L'Enfant, the engineer of West I'oint, was the aiitiior of Fort Wolcott. NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 359 for European goods. Its commercial recovery from the prostration ia which the old war left it was again arrested by that of 1812; and this time it did not rise again. The whale -fis^hery was introduced and abandoned: writers of this period describe it as lifeless, with every mark of dilapidation and de- cay. The salubrity of the climate of Newport had long been acknowledo-ed and before 1820 it had become a place of resort for invalids from the South- ern States and the West Indies. This one original gift has ever since been out at interest, until, Avhere a few acres of grass once flourished, you miHit cover the ground with dollars before you became its owner.' At Newport the visitor is challenged by past and present, each having large claims on his attention. I spent much of my time among old houses, moiuiments, and churches. Some of these are in public places and are easily found, wliile others are hidden away in forgotten corners, or screened from observation by the walls of intervening buildings. As is inevitable in such a place, the visitor will unwittingly pass by many objects that he will be cu- rious to see, and in retracing his footsteps will have occasion to remark how much a scrap of history or tradition adds to the charm of an otherwise unin- teresting structure. The town along the water resembles Salem, except that it has neither its look of antiquity nor its dilapidation. Here the principal thoroughfare is Thames Street, long, narrow, and almost wholly built of wood. The narrow- ness of Thames Street has been I'eferred to the encroachments of builders of a former time, the old houses standing at some distance back from the pave- ment being pointed to as evidence of the fact. I can only vouch for glimpses of some very habitable and inviting old residences in back courts and alleys opening upon the street. Here, too, old gambrel-roofed houses are plenty as blackberries in August. They have a portly, aldermanic look, with great breadth of beam, like ships of their day. When these houses that now stand end to the street had pleasant garden spots between, a walk here would have been worth the taking. Wlien there were no sidewalks, it meant something to give the wall to your neighbor, and tact and breeding were requisite to know wlien to demand and when to decline it. In Thames Street are several imperturbable notables in brick or wood. The City Hall — for as early as 1784 Newport had reached the dignity of a city — is usually first encountered. Notwithstanding they tell you it was one ' There should be added to the detail of maps given in the initial chapter tiiat of Jerome Ver- lazani, in the College de Propaganda Fide, at Rome, of the supposed date of 1529. This map is described and discussed, together with the detail of Giovanni Verrazani's letter to Francis I., ilated at Dieppe, July 8th, 1524, in " Verrazano, the Navigator," by J. C. Brevoort. A reduced copy of the map or "Planisphere" is there given. The author adopts the tlieory, not without plausibility, that Verrazani passed fifteen days at anchor in Narraganset Bay. As I have before said, there is something of fact in these early relations; but if tested by tlie only exact marks given (latitude, distances, and courses), they establish notiiiiig. 360 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. of Peter Harrison's' buildings, it is very ordinary-looking, inside and out. It was built on arches, which indicates the lower floor to have been intended as a public promenade; and shows that the architect had the Old Royal Ex- change in mind. For some time it was nsed as a market. This house came into the little world of Newport in 1VG3. A word of admiration from All- ston has long been treasured. In this building I saw hanging the escutcheon of William Coddington, who, as every body at all familiar with the history of Rhode Island knows, was one of the founders of Newport, and first governor of the little body pol- itic organized upon the Isle of Aquidneck. OLD-TIME HOUSES. We have decided to cast a glance backward, and, to know our ground, must pay our duty to this old founder. William Coddington, Esquire, came to New England in 1030 with the Roston colonists, as one of the assistants named in their charter. He was several times rechoscn to this important po- sition, became a leading merchant in Roston, and is said to liave built the first brick house there.^ The house he afterward built and lived in at New- port, of the quaint old English pattern, was standing within the recollection of many older inhabitants. Mr. Coddington became involved in the Anne Hutchinson controversy, as did Wheelwright, the founder of Exeter. J\rrs. Hutchinson was banished, and took refuge with Coddington and others on Rhode Island. In the presence ' ITarrison, the first arcliitect of his day in New Engliind, was the autlior of many of the older pnblic biiiidin;j;s in Ncwjiort, Trinity Cimrcli and Redwood Library among others. lie also designed King's ('liai)el, Hoston, and did wliat he roidd to drag art'Iutecture ont of tiie mire of Pnritan ugli- ness and neglect. " He owned, besides his house and garden in IJoston, lands at Mount Wollaston, now Quincy, Massachusetts. Coddington is mentioned in Samuel Fuller's letter to Bradford, June, 1C30. "Mrs. Cottington is dead," he also says. NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 361 of Governor Winthrop and of Dudley, his deputy ; of the assistants, among whom were Endicott, Bradstreet, and Stoughton ; confronted by the foremost and hardest-shell- ed ministers in -=^sS^^s:r-'vV-'( the colony, such as Hugh Peters, Eliot, and Wil- son, this wom- an defended her- self, almost single- handed and with consummate ad- dress, against a court which had already prejudg- ed her case, and which stubbornly refused, until the very last stage of the proceedings, to put the wit- nesses upon oath. As a specimen of the way in which justice was administered in the early day, and of judicial procedure, this trial is exceedingly curious.' Here is a specimen of brow-beating that re- calls " Oliver Twist :" Deputy-governor. " Let her witnesses be called." Governor. "Who be they?" Mrs. Hutchinson. "Mr. Leveret, and our teacher, and jNFr. Coggeshall," Governor. " Mr. Coggeshall was not present." Mr. Coggeshall. "Yes, but I was, only I desired to be silent until I was called." Governor. "Will you, Mr. Coggeshall, say that she did not say so?" Mr. Coggeshall. "Yes, I dare say that she did not say all that which they lay against her." 3Ir. Peters. " How dare you look into the court to say such a word ?" Mr. Coggeshall. " Mr. Peters takes upon him to forbid me. I shall be silent." As the o-overnor was about to pass sentence, Mr. Coddington arose and spoke some manly words : RESIDENCE OP GOVERNOR CODDINGTON, NEWPORT, 1641. ' It may be found at length in Hutchinson, appendix, vol. ii. Governor Hiiteliinson was a rel- ative of the schismatic Anne. 362 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Mr. Cocldington. " I do think that you are going to censure, therefore I desire to speak a word." Governor. "I pray you speak." Mr. Coddington. "There is one thing ohjected against the meetings. What if she designed to edify her own family in her own meetings, may none else be present ?" Governor. "If you have nothing else to say but that, it is a pity, Mr. Cod- dington, that you should interrupt us in proceeding to censure." Despite this reproof, Mr. Coddington had his say, and one of the assistants (Stoughton) insisting, the ministers were compelled to repeat their testimony under oath ; which they did after much parleying and with evident reluc- tance. It is curious to observe that in this trial the by-standers were several times appealed to for an expression of opinion on some knotty question.' Had it not involved the liberty and fortunes of many more than the Hutchinsons, its ludicrous side would scarcely have been surpassed by the celebrated cause of " Bardell vs. Pickwick." There is something inexpressibly touching in the decay of an old and hon- orable name — in the struggle between grinding poverty and hereditary lani- ily pride. Instead of finding the Coddingtons, as might be expected, among the princes of Newport, a native of the place would only shake his head when questioned of them. Touching the northern limits of Newport is a placid little basin called Coddington's Cove. It is a remembrancer of the old governor. The last Cod- dington inherited an ample estate, upon the ]iiincipal of which, like Heine's monkey, who boiled and ate his own tail, he lived, until there was no more left. The Cossacks have a proverb : " He eats both ends of his candle at once." Having dissipated his ancestral patrimony to the last fai'thing, the thriftless and degenerate Coddington descended all the steps froni shabby gentility to actual destitution ; yet, through all these reverses, he maintained the bearing of a fine gentleman. One day he was offered a new suit of clothes — his own had the threadbare gloss of long application of the bi-ush — for tlie Coddington escutcheon that had descended to him. Drawing himself up with the old look and air, he indignantly exclaimed, " What, sell the coat of arms of a Coddington !" Nevertheless, he at last became an inmate of the poor- house at Coddington's Cove; and that is the way the family escutcheon came to be hanging in the City Hall. I tell you Ihe slory as it was told to me. The Wanton House, still ])ointed out in Thames Street, may be known by its ornamented cornice and general air of su])erior condition. It stands witliin a stone's-throw of the City Hall. Tlie Wanioiis, like the Malbones, Godfreys, Brentons, Wickhams, Cranstons, and other high-sounding Newport names, ' This was called an np])e!»l to the country. A judge would luudly, at the present day, permit such an expression in toiirt. NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 363 were merchants. Like the Wentworths of New Hampshire, this was a family, I might ahnost say a dynasty, of governors. When one Wanton went out, another came in. It was the house of Wanton, governing, with few intervals, from 1732, until swept from place by the Revolution.' As the king never dies, at the exit of a Wanton the sheiitf should have announced, " The governor is dead. Long live the governor !" Joseph Wanton, the last governor of Rhode Island under the crown, was the son of William. He was a Harvard man, amiable, wealthy, of elegant manners, and handsome person. In the description of his outward appearance we are told that he " wore a large white wig with three curls, one falling down his back, and one forward on each shoulder." I have nowhere met with an earlier claimant of the fashion so recently in vogue among young ladies who had hearts to lose. Turning out of narrow and noisy Thames Street into the broader and quieter avenues ascending the hill, we find ourselves on the Parade before the ^v v. State-house. Broad Street, which en- -- ^_^ -^ ters it on one side, was the old Boston high-road ; Touro Street, debouching at the other, loses its identity ere long in Bellevue Avenue, and is, beyond com- parison, the pleasantest walk in New- port. The Parade, also called Washington Square, is the delta into which the main avenues of Newport flow. It is, there- fore, admirably calculated as a starting- point for those street rambles that every visitor has enjoyed in anticipation. On this ground I saw some companies of the New^port Artillery going through their evolutions with the steadiness of old soldiers. Their organization goes back to 1741, and is maintained with an esprit de corps that a people not long since engaged in war ought to know how to estimate at its true value. A custom of the corps, as I have heard, was to fire ^ feu de joie under the Avindows of a newly married comrade; if a commissioned ofllicer, a field-piece. At the right of the Parade, and a little above the hotel of his name, stands the house purchased by Commodore Perry after the battle of Lake Erie ; in >:<^, NEWPORT STATE-HOUSE. ' William Wanton, 1732 to 1734 ; John Wanton, 1734 to 1741 ; Gideon Wanton, 1745 to 1746, and from 1747 to 1748 ; Josepli Wanton, from 17G'J to 1775. The hist named left Newport with the British, in 1780, and died in New York. His son Joseph, junior, commanded the regiment of loyalists raised on the island. 364 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. COMMODORE I'EKKV Clarke Street, near-by, is the church in which Dr. Stiles, afterward president of Yale, preached, built in 1733; and next beyond is the gun-house of the Newport Artillery. The State-house is a pleasing, though not imposing, building, known to all evening promenaders in Newport by the illuminated clock in the pediment of the fa9ade. It is in the style of colonial architecture of the middle of the last centu- ry, having two stories, with a wooden balustrade sur- mounting the roof. The pediment of the front is topped by a cupola, and underneath is a balcony, from which proclamations, with "God save the king" at the end of them, have been read to assembled colonists; as in these latter days, on the last Tues- day of May, which is the annual election in Rhode Island, after a good deal of parading about the streets, the officials elect are here introduced by the high sheriff with a flourish of words : " Hear ye ! Take notice that his Excellency, Governor , of Dashville, is elected governor, commander- in-chief, and captain -general of Rhode Island for the year ensuing. God save the State of Rhode Inland, and Providence Plantations !" The candi- date smiles, bows, and withdraws, and the populace, as in duty bound, cheers itself hoarse. It loves the old forms, though some of them seem cumbrous for "Little Rhbdy." Sometimes a slieriif has been known to get his formula "out of joint," and to tack the words "for the year ensuing" at the end of the invocation. During the Revolution the State-house was used as a hospital by British and French, and of course much abused. In the restoration some little savor of its ancient quaintness is missed. The interior has paneled wainscoting, carved balusters, and wood-work in the old style of elegance. The walls of the Senate chamber are sheatlied quite up to the ceiling, in beautiful panel- ing, relieved by a massive coi-nice. Stuart's full-length portrait of Washing- ton, in the well-known black velvet and ruffles, is here. I have somewhere seen tliat tlie French "desecrated," as some would say, tlie building by rais- ing an altar on which to say mass for the sick and dying. In the garret I saw a section of the old pillory tliat formerly stood in the vacant space be- fore the building. Many think the restoration of stocks, whipping-post, and pillory Avould do more to-day to suj)press petty crimes than months of im- NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 365 prisonment. They still cling in Delaware to their whipping-post. There, they assert, the dread of public exposure tends to lessen crime. The pillory, which a few living persons remember, was usually on a mov- able platform, which the sheriff could turn at pleasure, making the culprit front the different points of the compass it was the custom to insert in the sentence. Whipping at the cart's tail was also practiced. One of the finest old charactei's Rhode Island has produced was Tristram Burgess, who administered to that dried-up bundle of malignity, John Ran- dolph, a rebuke so scathing that the Virginian was for the time coiupletely silenced. Having roused the Rhode Islander by his Satanic sneering at Northern character and thrift, his merciless criticism, and incomparably bit- ter sarcasm. Burgess dealt him this sentence on tlie floor of Congress : "Moral monsters can not propagate; we rejoice that the father of lies can never be- come the father of liars." It was at first intended to place the State-house with its front toward what was then known as " the swamp," in the direction of Farewell Street. In 1743 it was completed. Rhode Isl- and may with advantage follow the lead of Connecticut in abolishing one of its seats of government. At present its constitution provides that the As- sembly shall meet and organize at New- port, and hold an adjourned session at Providence.' Walking onward and upward in Touro Street, the visitor sees at its junction with Kay Street what he might easily mistake for a pretty and and well - tended garden, but for the mortuary emblems sculptured on the gate-way. The chaste and beautiful design of this portal, even to the inverted flambeaux, is a counterpart of that of the Old Granary ground at Boston. This is the Jewish Cemetery. " How strange it seems ! These Hebrews in their graves, Close by the street of this fair sea-port town. Silent beside the never-silent waves, At rest in all this moving up and down! "And these sepulchral stones, so old and brown, That pave with level flags their burial-place, Seem like the tablets of the Law, thrown down And broken bv Moses at the mountain's base." JEWISH CEMETEKT. ^ One of the most curious chapters of Rhode Island's political history was the "Dorr Rebell- ion" of 1842, growing out of a partial and limited franchise under the old charter. 366 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Close at liaiid is the synagogue, in which services are no longer held, though, like the cemetery, it is scrupulously cared for/ The silence and mystery which brood over each are deepened by tliis reverent guardian- ship of unseen hands. In 1762 the synagogue was dedicated with the so- lemnities of Jewish religious usage. It was then distinguished as the best building of its kind in the country. Tlie interior was rich and elegant. Over the reading-desk hung a large brass chandelier; in the centre, and at proper distances around it, four others. On the front of the desk stood a pair of highly ornamented brass candlesticks, and at the entrance on the east side Avere four others of the same size and workmanship. As usual, there was for the women a gallery, screened with carved net-work, resting on columns. Over this gallery another rank of col- umns supported the roof. It was the commonly received opinion that the lamp lianging above the altar was never extinguished. The Hebrews began to settle on the island before 1677. The deed of their ancient burial-place is dated in this year. They first worshiped in a private house. Accessions came to them from Spain, from Portugal, and from Hol- land, with such names as Lopez, Riveriera, Seixas, and Touro, until tlie con- gregation numbered as many as throe hundred lamilies. The stranger be- comes familiar with the name of Touro, wliich at first he would have Truro, from the street and park, no less than the respect with which it is pronounced by all old residents. Tlie Hebrews of old Newport seem to have fulfilled the destiny of their race, becoming scattered, and liiiully extinct. Moses Lopez is said to have been the last resident Jew, though, unless I mistake, the He- brew ])hysiognomy met me more than once in Newport. Tliis fraction formed one of the curious constituents of Newport society. Its history is ended, and "7^//«ece de resistance our antiquaries have had to deal with, and by many it was supposed to em- body a secret as impenetrable as that of Stonehenge. The Old Mill was dozing quietly away on this hill, when, in 1836, the So- ciety of Northern Antiquaries, of < penhagen, declared it to be evidence I the discovery and occupation of N( port by Northmen, in the eleventh c tury. An historical chain was imi diately sought to be established 1 tween Dighton Rock, an exhumed si 1 eton at Fall River, and this tower, I which the inscription at IVIonhegan I and was believed to be another linl^ Common opinion, prior to the dec- laration of the Danish antiquaries, was that the tower was the remains of a windmill, and nothing more. In a gaz- etteer of Rhode Island, printed in 1819, is the following paragraph: "In this town (Newport) there is now standing an ancient stone mill, the erection of which is beyond the date of its earliest records; but it is supposed to have been erected by the first settlers, about one hundred and eighty years ago. It is an interesting monument of antiquity." ' The discovery of any portion of the coast of New England by Northmen belongs to the realms of conjecture. It is not unreasonable to suppose that they may have follen in with the continent : but what should have brought them so far south as Rhode Island, when Nova Scotia must have ap- peared to their eyes a paradise ? The vine grows there. Champlain called Richmond's Island Isle de Bacchus, on account of its grapes. 24 ABRAHAM REDWOOD. 370 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. About this time Timothy Dwight, formerly president of Yale, was in Newport. In his letters, published in 1822, he has something to say of the __^ Old Stone Mill: " On a skirt of this town is the foundation of a windmill erected some time in tlie seventeenth cen- tury. The ce- ment of this work, formed of shell -lime and beach gravel, has all the firmness of Roman mortar, and Avhen bro- ken off frequent- ly brings with it ))art of the stone. Time has made no impression on it, 3 except to increase its firmness. It would be an im- provement in the art of building in this country, if mortar made in the same maimer were to be gener- ally em])loyed.'" All readers of early New England history know that notliing was too trivial, in the opinion of those old chroniclers, to be recorded. Wiuthrop mentions the digging-up of a Frencli coin at Dorchester in 1043. It is per- tinent to inquire why Roger Williams, Hubbard, Mather, the antiquai y, and correspondent of the Royal Society, Prince, Ilutohinson, and otliors, have wholly ignored the i)resence of an old ruin antedating the Englisli occupation of Rhode Island? Would not ('anonicus have led the white men to the spot, and there recounted the traditions of his ])ooi)le'? No spot of ground in New ]in<'land has had more learned and observing annalists. Where were Bishop THE OLD STONE MILL. * "Travels in New Enj^lniul iiml New York:" New Iliiven, 1822, vol. iii., p. 5G. NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 371 Berkeley, Rocliambeau, Cliastellux, Lauzun, Abbe Robin, Segur, Dumas, and Deux - Fonts, that they make no mention, in their writings or memoirs, of the remarkable archaeological remains at Newport ? Yet, on the report of the Danish Society, nearly or quite all our American historians have admitted their theory of the origin of the Old Stone Mill to their pages. With this leading, and the ready credence the marvelous always obtains, the public :^ rested satisfied/ The windmill was an object of the first necessity to the settlers. More of them may be seen on Rhode Island to- day than in all the rest of New En- gland. That this mill should have been built of stone is in no way surprising, considering that the surface of the ground must have been bestrewed with stones of proper size and shape ready to the builders' hands.* I saw these flat stones of which the tower is built ^^^rn turned up by the plowshare in the |||j], roads. Throughout the island the walls It are composed of them.^ The cut on the preceding page rep- resents the Old Stone Mill, with the moon's radiance illuminating its arches. It is a cylindrical tower, resting on eight rude columns, also circular. The arches have no proper key-stone,* and two of them appear broader than the others, as if designed for the entrance of some kind of vehicle. One column is so placed as to show an inner projec- tion, an evident fault of workmanship. Two stages are also apparent, and THE rEHKY MONUMENT. ^ Among the records of Newport was found one of 1740, in which Edward Pelham beqneatlied to his daugliter eight acres of land, "witli an Old Stone Wind Mill thereon standing and being, and commonly called and known as the Mill Field." The lane now called Mill Street appears to have been so named from its conducting up the hill to the mill. Tlie wife of Pelham was grand- daughter of Governor Benedict Arnold. In the governor's will, dated in 1677, he gives direction for his burial in a piece of ground "being and Ij'ing in my land in or near y'^line or path from my dwelling-house, leading to my stone-built Wind Mill in y* town of Newport above mentioned." '•^ I incline to the opinion that the Indians had here, as at Plymouth, cleared a considerable area. There the cai-penters had to go an eighth of a mile for timber suitable for building. ^ \yithin five miles of Boston is standing an ancient stone windmill, erected about 1710. It had been so long used as a powder-magazine that no tradition remained in the neighborhood that it had ever been a windmill. They still call it the Old Powder-house. * The keys are compound, and, though rude, are tolerably defined. No two are alike ; they are generally of a hard gray stone, instead of the slate used in the structure. 372 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. there are two windows and a fire-place. On the inside the haunches are cut to receive the timbers of the first-floor, just at the turn of tlie arch. Some cement is still seen adhering to the interior walls. The whole tower I estimated to be twenty-five feet high, with an inside diameter of twenty feet. This was probably nearly or quite its original height. For the rude mate- rials, it is a remarkable specimen of masonry.' I could see that even some of the best-informed Newporters with whom I talked were reluctant to let go the traditional antiquity of their Old Stone Mill. It is more interesting when tinged with the romance of Xorse vikings than as the prosaic handiwork of English colonists, who had corn to grind, though American antiquaries have ceased to attribute to it any other origin. I confess to a feeling of remorse in aiding to destroy the illusion which has so long made the Old Mill a tower of strength to Newport. Its beauty, when seen draped in ivy and woodbine, clustering so thickly as to screen its gray walls from view, is at least not apocryphal. ' This building may have been mentioned by Church in his account of Philip's War, when, after some display of aversion on the part of a certain captain to a dangerous enterprise, he was advised by tlie Indian fighter to lead his men "to the windmill on Rhode Island, where they would be out of danger." BOAT LANDING. CHAPTER XXIII. PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. " Don't you see the silvery wave ? Don't you hear the voice of God ?" KiRKE White. npHERE is a wn)fiU«s of grotesque refiemblances. let not a sphinx of them all would tell how long the sea had been battering at their rutrged features, or of the fire that had baked their tooth-defying pud- fli„g_Oia Ocean's daily repast. Now and then, when standing on the brink of Tome table-rock, the i)lunge of a billow underneath caused a sensible tre- mor. At various points the descent of the cliiVs is facilitated by steps, and at proper stages of the tide the outlying rocks are the favorite resort of anglers for tautog'bass, and percli. The Forty Steps are of note as conducting to Conrad's Cave, a favorite liaunt of lovers who have heart secrets they may no PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. o.v »?£.'=; longer keep. The ways of such people are past finding out. At Niagara vows are whispered at the brink of tlie cat- aract. Perchance there is a savor of romance about these old sea caverns which plain matter-of-fact folk may not fathom. Turning away from the sea, the rambler perceives the long line of cot- tages, villas, and country houses, Swiss, Italian, English, or nondescript, to which these territories pertain,' These houses I'epresent the best and at the same time the most rational feature of a semi-res- idence at the sea-side. People are real- ly at home, and may enjoy the natural beauties of their situation without the disadvantages inseparable from hotel life. To be sure, at Newport it is only Murray Hill or Beacon Hill transplant- ed. The social system revolves with much the same regularity as the plan- etary, and with no abatement of its exclusive privileges. But home life or cottage life at the sea-side is within the means of all those possessing mod- erate incomes, who are content to dis- pense with luxury or nrore house-room than they know what to do with ; and it is remarkable how little may serve one's turn where outdoor life is the desideratum. Those who are content to leave all the surplusage at home, whether of frivolity or luiijgaoe, and honestly mean to enjoy the shore for it'^elf, come where they may forget the world, the fle'^h, and money-get- ting. To this sort of life — a hint borrowed of English sea- side customs — Newport has led the way. At Oak Bluffs a city has sprung into existence on this plan, and the shores of J^ew England are dotted with little red-roofed cottages. If he has come to the cliffs by the Bath road, the visitor sees, almost at the beginning of his ramble, the summer cot- tage of Charlotte Cushman, whose career has some resem- blance to that of the gifted Mrs. Siddons. Both were poor ■- \ "'1 ■ CLIFF WALK. ' Many of these so-called cottages cost from |r>0,000 to #200,000. For the season, $2000 is- considered a moderate rental, and f 5000 is frequently paid. 376 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. girls at the outset of their professional lives. The Englishwoman, even after she became famous, usually refused invitations to the houses of the great or opulent, excusing herself from accepting them on the ground that all her time was due to the public, whose continued favor she wished to merit by unremitting application to her studies. Whatever money or taste or art has been able to do toward the em- bellishment of the grounds along the cliffs — and in this category are in- cluded Bellevue and other favor- ed avenues — has not been omitted. A horticulturist would see some- thing to notice everywhere. As the houses stand well back from the shore, the space between is laid out in bright- hued parterres, tliat look like l*ersian carpets spread on the well - kept lawns. The eye at times fairly revels in sumptuous mass- es of color. Yet Newport was now deserted by the fashionable world, in the month of months, when sea and shore are incomparably en- ticing and satisfying. In the angle formed by the meeting of Ocean and Carroll avenues is Lily Pond, where knights of the rod love to loiter and cast a line. If still pur- suing the cliffs, you pass by (looseberry Island, wliitlier tlie old-time mag- nates were wont to weiul for fishing, bathing, and drinking-bouts. Spouting Kock, where, in gales, iurolling seas are forced high in air, lies this way. Bass Rock, of piscatory renown, and Brenton's Reef, the place of wrecks, show their S-c- >,-<.CS> ^^. PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 377 A NEWPORT COTTAGE. jagged sides. Point Judith and Block Island are visible from Castle Hill, where in former times a watch-tower stood. No other day of the seven in Newport is quite equal to Fort Day. Then the very long line of equipages directs itself upon the point where Fort Adams is located. On this gala-day the commandant keeps open house, with colors fly- ing, music p^^Y- ing, and gates opened wide. The procession w^inds around the parade, a very moving picture of peace in the lap of war. Gay scarfs instead of battle-flags wave, jewels instead of steel, and dog-carts instead of ammunition-carts flash and rumble. The crash, glitter, and animation are reminders of Hyde Park Corner or the Bois de Boulogne. The soldiers I saw were much improved in appearance since the war, and now seemed really proud of the dress they wore. They paced the jetty and rampart in jaunty shakos, white gloves, and well-fitting uniforms, as men not ashamed of themselves, and of whom Un- cle Sam need not be ashamed. Fort Adams was begun in the administration of the pres- ident whose name it bears. '^^\^^^ The father of the American navy intended Newport as a station for her squadrons of the future. To this end for- tifications were begun, designed to guarantee the approaches to the harbor. At this time we were dreading our late ally, France, more than any other European power. Fortifying Newport against France now seems incredible, ^^-'i^ CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN'S RESIDENCE. 378 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. yet the Directory, with citizen Talleyrand at the helm, would either mould American politics to its will or trample the ancient amity in the dust. In 1798, a French cruiser, after the capture of several American vessels, had the impudence to bring her prize into one of our own ports to escape the more dreaded English.' Mr. Adams brought citizen Talleyrand and the Directoire Executif to their senses;^ but Mr. Jefferson, who decidedly leaned to the French side of European politics, stopped the work begun by his predecessor. In 1800, Mr. Humphreys, the naval constrncter, was sent to examine theNewEngland ports with regard to their eligibility as great national dock - yards. He reported that Newport possessed by far the most suitable harbor for such an establishment. Fort Adams was chief- ly constructed under the watchful supervision of the accomplished engineer, Gen- ei'al J. G. Totten. It is said that during the progress of the woi-k a full set of plans of the fortress mysteriously disappeared, and as mysteriously re-appeared after a long interval. It is be- lieved in certain quarters that cojiies of these drawings might be found in the topographical bureau of the British War Office. Before setting out for the campaign of 1812, the Emperor Xapoleon, as Boui'rienne relates, wished to have exact information respecting Ragusa and Illyria. He sent for ^Nlarmont, whose answers were not satisfactory. He then interrogated different generals to as little ])ur))ose. Dejean, inspector of en- gineers, was then summoned. "Have you," demanded the emperor, "among your officers any one who is a('(]uaiiited with IJagusaV" Dejean, after a monu'ut's rctU'ction, answei'ed, "Sire, tlicre is a chief of battalion who lias been a long time forgotten, wlio is well ac(]uainted with Jtagiisa." "What do you call hlm-r " Bernard."" "Ah, stop a little; Bernard — I recollect that name. Where is he?" &PO TInC. H0( k ' "R. Goodloe Harper's Speeches, p. 275." ' By smasliiiij; tlieir frigates, L Insurgente, La Vengeance, Berceau, and making it generally unpleasant fur tlieni. PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 379 " Sire, he is at Antwerp, employed upon the fortifications." " Send notice by the telegraph that he instantly mount his horse and re- pair to Paris." The promptitude with which the emperor's orders were always executed is well known. A few days afterward Bernard was in Paris at the house of General Dejean, and shortly after in the cabinet of the emperor. He was graciously received, and Napoleon immediately said, " Tell me about Ragusa." When Bernard had done speaking, the emperor said, "6Wo»e/ Bernard, I now know Ragusa." He then conversed familiarly with him, and having a plan of the works at Antwerp before him, showed how he would successfully besiege the place. The newly made colonel explained so well how he would defend himself against the emperor's attacks that Napoleon was delighted, and immediately bestowed upon him a mark of distinction which, says Bour- rienne, "he never, to my knowledge, granted but upon this one occasion." As he was going to preside at the council he desired Colonel Bernard to ac- company him, and several times during the sitting requested his opinion upon the points under discussion. On the breaking-up of the council, Napoleon said to him, "You are my aid-de-camp." Bourrienne continues: "At the end of the campaign he was made general of brigade; shortly after, general of division; and he is now known through- out Europe as the first officer of engineers in existence. A piece of folly of Clarke's^ has deprived France of the services of this distinguished man, who, after refusing most brilliant oflers made to him by different sovereigns of Europe, has retired to the United States of America, where he commands the engineers, and where he has constructed on the side of the Floridas fortifica- tions which are by engineers declared to be masterpieces of military skill."'' Bernard came to the United States in 1816, and Avas associated Avith the late General Totten in carrying out the now discarded system of sea-coast fortifications. It is said that Colonel M'Cree, then chief of engineers, resigned rather than serve under him. .Accord between the French engineer and Colonel Totten was only secured by a division of the works, and agreement to accept, on the part of each, the other's plans. Bernard wished to construct one great fortress, like Antwerp or the once famous strongholds of the Quad- rilateral. Fortress Monroe is the result of this idea. He also planned the defenses of Mobile.^ From Fort Adams it is a short sail across to the Dumplings, and the cir- cular tower of stone, built also in the administration of John Adams. This work, now in ruins, is second only in picturesqueness to the Old Stone Mill, ' Duke cle Feltre, French minister of war. ^ He afterward returned to France, and was made minister of war. ' Fort Morgan was constructed by him with twelve posterns, a statement significant to military en5^ t(v-. deed made the remark at- tributed to him, he was only a century or so out of his reckoning. The name and fame of George, Bishop of Cloyne, the friend of Swift and of Steele, the professor of an ideal philosopliy, and the projector of a Utopian scheme for evangelizing and educating the Indians, is dear to the people of Newport. He came to America in 1728 with the avowed purpose of estab- lishing a college, " to be erected on the Summer Islands," the " still vext Ber- uioothes " of Shakspeare. Berkeley is perhaps more familiar to American readers by four lines — of which the first is as often misquoted as any literary fragment I can call to mind — than by his philosophical treatises: "Westward the course of empire takes its way; Tlie four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama witli the day : Time's noblest off"spring is the last." The residence of the dean at Newport was a forced retirement, the sum of twenty llioiisand jiounds jiroinised by Sir liobeit Walpole in aid oi' his college never having been paid. In this college, "he most exorbitantly i)ro- posed," as Swift humorously remarked, " a whole hundred pounds a year for himself, forty pounds for a i'ellow, and ten ior a sludenl." Seven years were l)assed in literary ]>nrsuits; " The .Minute riiilosopher," of wliich no one who comes to Newport may go ignorant away, being the olfspring of his medita- tions. Along with the dean came .lohn Smibert, of whose canvases a few re- main scattered over New England, and whose chief excellence lay in infusing PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 385 the love of his avt into such men as Copley, Trumbull, and Allston.' Pope assigns to Berkeley " every virtue under heaven." There is no question but that he was as amiable and learned as he Avas thoroughly speculative and unpractical. The return to town by Honyman's Hill, named from the first pastor of Trinity, is thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. The historical student may here see how near '-dxK the Americans were advanced toward the cap- ture of Newport. An old windmill or two or a farm- house are pictur- esque objects by the way. " I saw," says Miss Martinean, " the house which Berkeley built in Rhode Island — built in the par- ticular spot where itis,thathemight have to pass, in his rides, over the hill which lies between it and Newport, and feast himself with the tranquil beau- ty of the sea, the bay, and the downs as they appear from the Washington park, newpokt. ridge of the eminence, I saw the pile of rocks, with its ledges and recesses, where he is said to have meditated and composed his ' Minute Philosopher.' It was at first melancholy to visit these his retreats, and think how empty the land still is of the philosophy he loved." ' Sinibert planned the original Faneuil Hall, Boston. Trumbull painted in the studio left vacant by Smibert. 25 d'estaing. CHAPTER XXIV. THE FREXCU AT NEWPORT. "Grenadiers, rendez-vous ! " "La Garde meurt et iie se rend pas." "Braves rran9ais, rendez-vous ; vons serez traitc's comma les premiers soldats du monde." "La garde meurt et ne se rend pas.'' — Old Guard at Watekluo. A NOTIIEK i)hase of Newport in by-c^one days was tlie sojouni of our -^^ Frencli allies in the Revolution. Then there were real counts, and dukes, and marquises in Newport. There had also been a British occupa- tion ; but the troops of his Britannic Majesty ruined the town, humiliated its pride, and crushed its prejudices under an armed heel. On the other hand, the French soldiers respected ])ropcrty, were considerate in their treat- ment of the inhabitants, and paid scrupulously for every thing they took. In time of war a garrisoned town is usually about equally abused by friend or THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 387 enemy. Here the approach of the Freuch was dreaded, and their departure regarded as a misfortune. Apropos to the good beliavior of our French friends is the testimony of an eye-witness, who says: "The difierent deputations of savages who came to view their camp exhibited no surprise at the siglit of the cannon, tlie troops, or of their exercise; but they coukl not recover from their astonisljment at seeing apple-trees loaded with fruit above the tents which the soldiers had been occupying for three months." The English, during their occupation, had burned almost the last fo/est-tree on the island. The astonishing spectacle of monarchy aiding democracy against itself is one of the reflections suggested by the alliance. Besides Louis Seize, other crowned heads would willingly have helped America as against the old "Ter- magant of the Seas," had not the idea been too illogical. The Empress Catherine II. is reported as having hinted, in a private interview with Sir James Harris,' at the 2:)0ssibility of restoring European peace by renouncing the struggle England was making with her American colonies. " May I ask your Majesty," said the ruse old Briton, " if this would be your policy in case the colonies had belonged to you ?" " J'aimeiais mieux perdre ma tete," re2:)lied the empress (I would sooner lose my head). Kaiser Joseph repulsed the idea with equal candor and bluntness: "Ma- dame, mou metier a moi c'est d'etre royaliste" (Madam, my trade is to be a royalist). This was not the first move France had made to detach the American colonies from the British crown. Far back in the day of the Puritans the thing had been attempted. Again, in 1767, M. de Choiseul dispatched Baron De Kalb on a secret mission. The baron came, saw, and made bis report. He wrote from Boston in March, 1768, that he did not believe it possible to induce the Americans to accept foreign aid, on account of their fixed faith in their sovereign's justice.* We were still, while growling, licking the hand that smote us. And this little fragment shows that before the day of Caron Beaumarchais, of " Sleek Silas," of " Sleek Benjamin," the idea of assistance was already germinating. France was to heave away at the old British empire as soon as she had found a fulcrum on which to rest her lever. D'Estaing came first to Newport ; but his appearance, like that of a me- teor, was very brilliant and very brief Besides being vice-admiral, he was also lieutenant-general, and brought with him something in excess of fifteen hun- dred land soldiers, without counting the marines of his fleet. The chevalier advanced his squadron in two divisions, one ascending the Narraganset, the otlier the Seconnet passage. He cannonaded Sir Robert Pigot's batteries, de- ' British ambassador at St. Petersburg, afterward Lord ]\Ialmesbiiry. * Massachusetts Files. 388 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. EARL HOWE. stroyed some British vessels, and caused some addition to the national debt of Enghmd. Tlien, when the pear was ready to fall, at sight of Earl Howe's fleet he put to sea, and was battered by his lordship and by storms until he brought his shattered vessels into Boston Harbor, where he should refit, and taste Governor Hancock's wine. Tlie Americans, who had advanced under Sullivan within two miles of Newport — old continentals, militia, and volunteer coi'ps, full of fight and confident of success — were obliged to withdraw in good order but bad tem- per. Sullivan secured his retreat by a brilliant little action at the head of the island. The French at Boston found themselves very ill received. They were accused of having aban- doned, betrayed Sullivan. French sailors and sol- diers were beaten in the streets, and their oflicers seriously wounded in attempting to quell aftVays with the populace. D'Estaing conducted himself with great circumspection. He refused to press the punishment of the lead- ers in these outrages; but, stung by the imputation of cowardice, oftered to put himself, a vice-admiral of France, with seven hundred men, under the orders of Sullivan, who, says a French historian, " was lately nothing but a lawyer." An extraordinary number of personages, distinguished in the Revolution, or under the empire, its successor, served France in America. The heads of many fell under the guillotine. In this way perished D'Estaing. He was in Paris during tiie Reign of Terror, and present at the trial of Marie Antoinette. One of those ladies who met him at Boston describes him as of dignified presence, aifuble, and gracious. With D'Estaing came Jourdan, a shop-keeper, and the son of a doctor. At sixteen he Avas the comrade of Rochambeau, and in the same regiment 3Iontcalm had commanded in 1743. The Limou- sin shows with pride to the stranger the old wooden house, with dark front, in which the conqueror of Fleurus was born. The marshal who had commanded the army of the Sambrc at Meuse became the scape-goat of Vittoria. After D'Estaing came Rochambeau, and witli him a crowd of young ofiiccrs of noble birth, foi"- tunc's favorites, who yet sought with the eager- ness of knights-errant to enroll themselves in the ranks of the alliance. Gay, careless, cliival- ric, and debonair, carrying their high-bred court- esy even to the IVont of battle, they were worthy i{ochambead. THE FRENCH AT NEWrORT. S39 sons of the men who at Fontenoy advanced, hat in hand, from the ranks, and sahited their English enemies : "Apres vous, messieurs les Anglais ; nous ne tirons jamais les premiers" (After you, gentlemen ; we never fire first). Having in some respects remained much as when the French were here, there is no greater difficulty in beating our imaginary rappel than in suppos- ing Newport peopled when walking at night through its deserted streets. We suppose an intrenched camp drawn across the island from the sea to the harbor, having town, fleet, and transports under its Aving, and batteries on all the points and islands. Twelve days sufficed to se- cure the position to the sat- isfaction of Kochambeau, who shrugged his shoulders, saying, as another and greater said after him, "I liave them now, these En- glish." Yet Washington, remembering Long Island and Fort Washington, wrote in July to General Heath, "I wish the Count de Rochambeau had taken a position on the main."^ Under British rule, Newport wore a muzzle; under French, a collar bris- tling with steel. Tlie white standard was un- folded to the breeze in all the camps and from the masts of shipping. Tents and marquees were pitched along the line and dotted the green of Canonicut, Rose Island, Coaster's and Goat isl- ands. Bayonets brightly and cannon duskily flashed in the sun everywhere. Sentinels in white uniforms, black gaiters, and woolen epau- lets tramped in little paths of their own mak- ing. Officers in white, splendidly gold -em- broidered, with rich and elegant side-arms, put to the blush such of our poor fellows as chanced in their camps. In every shady spot groups of soldiers, gay and jovial, reclined on the grass, chattering all together, or laughing at the witticism of the company gaillard. The drum — the type military, Avhich has scarcely changed its form ROCUAJIBEAU S lIEAD-yLTAKTEKS. LOUIS XVI. ' Heath then commanded at Providence : he was ordered to meet Rochambeau on his arrival, and extend any assistance in his power. 390 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. in three hundred years — was improvised into the card - table. "3fa fois^'' ^^jmroles (V honneur^^'' ^^ sacres,''^ and ^^ T7iilles toiinerres,'''' Qew thickly as bullets at Fontenoy. A finer body of men had probably never taken the field. Many were seasoned in the Seven Years' War. Perfectly disciplined, commanded by generals of experience, they only ask- ed to be led against the hereditary enemy of France. Officers who had mounted guard at the Tuileries, and had been intimate with crowned heads, embraced the campaign with the careless vivacity of school-boys. In the present region of old houses is a mansion having a high air of re- spectability ; it is situated at the corner of Clarke and Mary streets, and known as the Vernon House. This was the Quart ier General of the Count Rochambcau, one of the four supreme generals of Fi'ance in those days. The count was a brave old soldier, rather short in stature, rather inclined to fiit, with a humane soul and noble heart. lie was hampered by his instructions, and his army lost time here, to the vexation of Wash- ington, and chagrin, it is believed, of himself Hear what he says when teased hy a j'ounger soldier to begin the fighting : "I owe it to the most sci-npulons examination of my conscieiu'c, that of about fifteeen thousand men killed or wounded under my orders in differ- ent grades and in the bloodiest actions, I have not to reproach myself with having caused the death of a single one to gratify my own ambition. "Le vieux peuk IIochambeau." It was to Lafayette, burning with the desire to see his countrymen sig- nalize their coming otherwise than by balls, routs, and reviews, that the letter was addressed, liocliambeau was under the orders of Washington, yet many of his officers disliked being commanded by Lafayette, theii- junior in military service, or by lawyers, blacksmiths, and book-sellers. MIMTARY MAP OF RnODE ISLAND, 1778. THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 391 LAFAlETfE. The career of M. de Ternay, admiral of the fleet, was soon ended. He died in Newport, and was bnried in Trinity Church-yard. One of Rochambeau's staff-oflicers ascribes his death to cha- grin in consequence of having permit- ted five English ships to escape him without a general engagement. These ships were then on their way to join Admiral Rodney. It is certain he was openly denounced by many officers of rank for too great caution. Rocham- beau says: "Newport, December 18th, 1780. " I set out from here on the 12th to visit Boston and M, Hancock, leaving here M. de Ternay with a slight fever, which announced nothing serious. On the 16th, in the morning, I received a courier from Baron de Viomenil, an- nouncing his death on the morning of the 15th. I returned at once, and reached here yesterdaj^ evening." A mural tablet of black marble inscribed with golden letters was sent from France. The admiral's grave happening not to be contiguous to the church or church -yard wall, a Avail was built to support the slab. Since then it has been removed to the vestibule of Trinity Church, and a granite stone, at the instance of the Marquis de Noailles, has replaced it above the grave. The first house, built in 17G2, was succeeded in 1726 by the present edifice. An organ was pre- sented by Bishop Berkeley, whose infant daughter lies in the church-yard. In March, 1781, Washington, accompanied by La- fayette, came to Newport, and was received by Ro- chambeau in the Vernon House. The curious in- terest with which the American general was regard- ed by his allies is sufficiently evident in their ac- counts of him. He at once commanded all their admiration and respect, and was perhaps their only ideal not destroyed by actual contact. They still show the visitor the house in Church Street where Washington led the dance with "the beautiful Miss Champlin," and where the French officers, taking the instruments from the musicians' hands, played the minuet, "A successful Campaign." Another of the noblesse of the army was the Viscount do Noailles, in whose regiment Napoleon was afterward a subaltern. Two grateful tasks BARON VIOMilNIL. 392 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. fell to his share in the war. As ambassador to England, he delivered to Lord Weymouth intelli- gence of the alliance and acknowledgment of the independence of the thirteen States. His manner was said to have been very of- fensive, and consid- ered tantamount to a challenge. An equal- ly agreeable duty de- volved upon him as one of the commis- sioners to arrange the capitulation of York- town. The alliance was a bitter draught for England. She oifer- ed, in 1781, to cede Minorca to Russia if the empress would ef- fect a peace between France, Spain, and herself; but stipula- ted that there should be an express condi- tion that the Frencli should immediately evacuate Rhode Island and every other part of his Majesty's colonics in America; "no stipulation or agreement whatever to be made with regard to II. M. rebellious subjects, who could never be suffered to treat through the medium of a foreign power." , The Dutch republic, influenced by John Adams, having declared for the alliance, England demand- ed satisfaction. Then Frederick the Great got his "dander" up. Said he, "Puisque les Anglais veulent la guerre avec tout le monde, ils I'auront" (Since the English wish war with all the world, they shall have it). So much for him who was then called in the court circles of Europe " Le Vieux de la Mon- chastellux. TUINITY CULKCH. THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 393 tagne" (OlcT Man of the Mountain), Spain was arming. England continued to ply the empress through her favorite and debauchee, Potemkin. Russia, as head, of the Northern League, now held the key of European politics. Potemkin was too adroit for British diplomacy. It is believed he had a secret understanding with the French ambassador, as the doctors whom Mo- liere makes say to each other, "Passez-moi la rhubarbe et je vous passerai le sene." In this same year, 1781, the mediating powers, Russia and Austria, pro- posed an armistice for a year, during which hostilities were to be suspended and peace negotiated. The American colonies were to be admitted to this arrangement, and no treaty signed in which they were not included. Lord Storraont, in notifying the refusal of England to this proposal, declining any intervention between herself and her colonies, pointed out that, in the then state of the struggle in America, a suspension of hostilities would be fatal to the success of his Majesty's arms. England could not disentangle the knot of European politics, and York- town brought her to her knees. Many of the Continental powers openly rejoiced at her humiliation; Catharine could scarcely dissemble her joy. The news reached Lon- don on Sunday, November 25th. Lord Wal- singhara, who had been under-secretary of state, happened to be with Lord Germain when the messengers arrived. "Without men- tioning the disaster to any other persons, the two peers took a hackney-coach and drove to Lord Stormont's, in Portland Place. Im- parting their intelligence, his lordship joined them, and they proceeded to the chancellor's, where, after a short consultation, it was de- termined the)' would communicate it in per- son to Lord North. The first minister's firm- ness, and even his presence of mind, gave way under this crushing blow. He is represent- ed as having received it " as he would have taken a ball in his breast, for he opened liis arms, exclaiming wildly, as he paced up and down the apartment, ' O God ! it is all Qygj. p 55 LAUZUN. The American is now living who will see justice done the memory of George III. He was neither a bad-king nor a bad man. Like his antagonist, Louis Seize, he was possessed of strong good sense, which accounts, perhaps, says one, for the decapitation of Louis by the French. A well-informed au- 394 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. thoi-ity attributes the insanity of George III. to the revolt of his American colonies. Just as he was taken ill, in 1 788, he said, after the last levee he held, to Lord Thurlow, who was advising him to take care of himself, and re- turn to Windsor, "You, then, too, my Lord Thurlow, forsake me and suppose me ill beyond recovery ; but whatever you and Mr. Pitt may think or feel, I, that am born a gentleman, shall never lay my head on my last pillow in peace and quiet as long as I remember the loss of my American colonies.'" But to come back to our Frenchmen. Of others whose sabi'es and spurs have clanked or jingled on the well-worn door-stone of the Vernon House was Biron, better known as the roue Lauzun. There being no forage on the island, Lauzun's cavalry and the artillery horses were sent for the winter to Lebanon, Connecticut, a place the duke compares to Siberia. Lauzun had the talents that seduce men as Avell as women. Traveled, speaking English well, gay and audacious, he was among men the model of a finished gentleman, and among women the type of such dangerous raillery that many, in order to control him, gave the lie to the proverb, " We Jiate whom we fear." At Berlin Lauzun had been a prodigious favor- His connection with the Duke d'Orleans (Egalite) proved his ruin. At forty-six, having unsuccessfully commanded the republican armies in La Vendee, he was guillotined in 1 793. Mademoiselle Laurent, his mistress, attended him to the last. He would not let his hands be tied. " We are both Frenchmen," said he to the exe- cutioner; "we shall do our duty." Thus exit Biron, capable of every thing, good for nothing. The elegant and accomplished Marquis Chas- tellux, whose petits soiipcrs at Newport were the talk of every one wlio had the good fortune to be invited, and whose " Travels in America," partly printed on board the French fleet, are so charmingly written ; the brave Baron Viomenil, second in command, distinguished for gallantry at Yorktown ; headlong CliarU's Lamctli, wlio fought the young Duke de Cas- tries in the Bois de Boulogne ; Mathieu Dumas, aid to Kochambeau, and af- MATHIEU DUMAS. ite with Frederick. DEUX-PONTS. ' The manner and matter of his reception of Mr. Adams were equally those of gentleman and king. Contrast him with tlie Prince Itegent, and his remark to the French ex-minister, Calonne, during his father's sudden illness, in 1801 : " Savez-vous, Monsieur de Calonne, que inon pcre est aussi fou que jamais?" (Do you know, Monsieur de Calonne, that my father is as crazy as ever?) Thackeray could not do him justice. THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 395 s^-:;j DE BAKKAS. terward fighting at Waterloo, were prominent figures in an army pre-eminent among armies for tlie distinction of its leaders. La Peyrouse, in October, made his escape through the English blockade during a severe gale, in which his vessel was dismasted ; though, fortunately, not until the enemy had given up the chase. He carried with him Rocham- beau's son, charged with an account of the conference at Hartford and tlie necessities of the Americans. Berthier, the military confidant of jSTapoleon, was of this army. He em- barked for America, a captain of dragoons in the regiment of Lorraine, and here won the epaulets of a colonel. There were also two brothers serving under the name of Counts Deux-Ponts. One of them, Count Christian Deux-Ponts, was captured by Nel- son, while on a boat excursion with several friends, off Porto Cavallo. Southey, in his "Life of Lord Nelson," says he was a prince of the German Em- pire, and brother to the heir of the Electorate of Bavaria. Nelson, then a young captain, after giving his prisoners a good dinner, released them.* It would require a broad muster-roll merely to enumerate the distinguished of Rochambeau's expeditionary array. I have not yet mentioned De Broglie, Yauban, Champcenetz, Chabannes, De Mel- fort, and Talleyrand; nor De Barras, La Touche, and La Clocheterie; nor Desoteux, leader of Chouans in the French Revolution. To have withstood the assaults of so much wit, gallantry, and condescension, Newport must have been a city of vestals ; yet, according to the good Abbe Robin, his countrymen gave few examples of that gallantry for which their nation is famed. One remarkable instance of a wife reclaimed, when on the point of yielding to the seductions of an epauleted stranger, is related by him. The story has a fine moral for husbands as well as wives. The expected arrival of this army spread terror in Newport. The French had been represented as man-eaters, whereas they were only frog-eaters. The country was deserted, and those whom curiosity had brought to Newport en- countered nobody in the streets. Rochambeau landed in the evening. Tiiese fears were soon dissipated by the exact discipline enforced in the camps. They tell of pigs and fowls passing unmolested, and of fields of corn standing untouched in their midst. Beautiful Miss Champlin, charming Redwood, the distingue Misses Hun- ter, and the Quaker vestal, Polly Lawton, are names escaped to us from the ' The fellow-prisoner of Count Christian Deux-Ponts was an Irishman, named Lynch, who belonged also to Rochambeau's army. Fearful that his nationality migiit be discovered, he begged the count to be on his guard. When at table, and heated with wine, the secret was divulged by the count ; but Nelson, as Segur relates, pretended not to have heard it. 396 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. memoirs of Gallic admirers; yet there was only a single suicide in the French ranks justly chargeable to an American love account;' and this did not occur in Newport. One of the French regiments at Yorktown was as famous in Old-World annals as any battalion that ever stood under arms. This was the regi- ment of Auvergne. Wherever men might march, Auvergne was seen or heard. Once, when in the advance of the army — it was always there — one of its captains, sent out to reconnoitre, was surrounded in the darkness by foes. A hundred bayonets were leveled at his breast. "Speak above a whisper and you die," said the German officer. Captain D'Assas saw him- self in the midst of a multi- tude of enemies, who were stealthily approaching his weary and unsuspecting comrades. In an instant his resolution was taken. Raising himself to his full height, that he might give his voice greater effect, he cried out, " A moi, Au- vergne ! voilii les enne- mis!'"and fell dead as the French drums beat " To arms I" The regiment was very proud of its motto, ^^/Scois tache.'''' In this regiment was Philip d'Auvergne, " the lirst grenadier of France," of whose prowess stories little less than marvelous are told. When the corps came to America its name had been changed to Ga- tinais, whereat there was much grumbling among these aged mustaches. There were two redoubts at Yorktown to be taken. One was assigned to Lafayette and his Americans, the other to the French. The grenadiers of Gatinais were to lead this attack; and, as it was expected to be bloody, Rochambeau himself addressed them. "My friends," said he, LATOUK U'AUVEKGNE. ' That of Mnjor Gnlviin, who pistoled himself on account of unrequited love. "^ Kiilly, Auvergne! here is tiie enemy I THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 397 "if I should want you this night, I hoj^e you have not forgotten that we have served together in that brave regiment of Auvergne, 'aS^^is Tachey "Prom- ise, general, to give us back our old name, and we will suffer ourselves to be killed, to the last man." The promise was given, the redoubt won, and King Louis confirmed the pledge. In token of its peerless valor Washington pre- sented tlie regiment with one of the captured cannon. The comfortable and contented lives of the French soldiers daily aston- ished our poor and tattered, but unconquerable ragamuffins. At parade they appeared so neat and gentleman-like as hardly to be distinguished from their officers. They were paid every week, and seemed to want for nothing. No sentinel was allowed to stand on his post without a warm watch-coat to cover him. The officers treated their soldiers with attention, humanity, and respect, neglecting no means of inculcating sentiments of honor. Stealing was held by them in abhorrence. As a consequence, punishments were ex- tremely rare, desertions unfrequent, and the health of the troops excellent. Speculations more or less unfavorable to French disinterestedness, more or less destructive of American enthusiasm for the alliance, must arise from a knowledge of the secret policy of France in coming to the aid of democracy. Possibly she hoped for the reconquest of Canada. Rochambeau would have first employed his forces against Castine, had he not been overruled. That would have been curious, indeed, to have seen France re-established at old Pentagoet, carrying war into Canada, as, more than a century previous and from the same vantage-ground, she had carried it into New England. Not much later she tried to wheedle and then to bully us into ceding to her the island of Rhode Island, in order, as urged by her, to prevent its being seized again at any future time by Great Britain. Her armed intervention was of little worth compared with the moral effect of the alliance. Pierre du Guast had groped his way along the coast in 1605, seeking a habitation. He, and his lieutenant, Poutrincourt, had well-nigh reached their goal when compelled to turn back, baffled, for wintry Acadia. A Frencli colony, in 1605, upon Aquidneck might have changed the order of history, and rendered impossible the events of which this chapter is the skeleton. GIIAVES ON THE BLUFF, FORT KOAD. CHAPTER XXV. NEWPORT CEMETERIES. " Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-mnkers ; they hold up Adam's profession." — Shakspeare. ASSUMING the looker-on to be free from all qualms on the subject of grave-yard associations, I invite him to loiter with me awhile among the tombstones of buried Newport. As we thread the streets of the town, sign-boards or door-plates inform us who are the occupants ; and in pursuing the narrow paths of the burial-place, the tablets set up denote, not only the final residences, but symbolize the dread of the world's forgetfulness, of those who sleep there. The analogy might still be pursued, as it was an old cus- tom to inscribe the occupation and birthplace upon a memorial stone. Here is one I found in the old ground adjoining Uliode Ishmd Cemetery: Here lyeth the Body of Roger Kaster Bachelor Block mackr Aged 66 yeres He Dyed 23 Day of Aprel 1687 He xsort, but that church, I hear, is now dissolved. At the other end of the island there is another town called I'ortsmouth, but no churcli. Those of the island have a pretended civil government of tlieir own erection without the icing's j)atent." TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 415 special providence. JMount Hope was the sequel of Samoset's "Welcome, Englishmen." By the river, in the forked branches of blasted sycamores, the fish-hawk builds and broods. Their nests are made of dried eel-grass from the shore interwoven with twigs. The shrill scream of the female at my coming was answered by the cry of the male, who left his fishing out on the river at the first signal of distress. An old traveler says this bird sometimes seems to lie expanded on the water, he hovers so close to it. Having by some attractive power drawn the fish witliin his reach, he darts suddenly upon them. The charm he luakes use of is supposed to be an oil contained in a small bag in the body. In defense of his mate and her young the bird seems to forget fear. After many agreeable surprises already encountered, I was unprepared for what I saw from the summit of Mount Hope. I felt it was good to be there. Every town in Rhode Island is said to be visible. All the islands dispersed about tlie bay are revealed at a glance. Glimmering in the dis- tance was Providence. On the farther shore of Mount Hope Bay, Fall River appeared niched in the sheer side of a granite ledge. Here were Warren and Bristol, there Warwick; and, far down the greater bay, Newport was swathed in a hazy cloud. I had made a long walk, yet felt no fatigue, on the top of Mount Hope. Near the brow of the hill Philip fixed his wigwam and held his dusky court. He has had Irving for his biographer, Southey for his bard, and Forrest for his ideal representative. In his own time he was the public enemy whom any should slay ; in ours he is considered as a mar- tyr to the idea of liberty— his idea of liberty not differing from that of Tell and Toussaint, whom we call heroes. Pliilip did not comprehend the religion of the whites, but as he under- stood their policy he naturally distrusted their faith. Wlicn the propliet Eliot preached to him, he went up to that good man, and, pulling oft" a but- ton from his doublet, said he valued his discourse as little as the piece of brass — " the monster !" exclaims pious Cotton Mather, Such hills as Mount Hope were the settlers' sun-dials, when clocks and watches were luxuries known only to the wealthy few. The crest is a green KING PHILIP, FROM AN OLD PRINT. 416 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. nipple, having qnavtz cropping out evevywlieve ; in fact, the basis of the hill is nearly a solid mass of quartz. Between the site of Philip's wigwam and the shore, where the escarpment is fifty feet, is a natural excavation, five or six feet from the ground, called "Philip's Throne." A small grass-plot is be- fore it, and at its foot trickles a never- failing spring of water, known as "Pliilip's Spring." The manner of Philip's death, as given in Church's history, is considered authentic. Church's party crossed the ferry, and reached Mount Hope about midnight. Detachments were placed in ambush at all the avenues of escape. Captain Golding, with a number of picked men and a guide, was ordered to assault the stronghold by break of day. One of Philij^s Indians having showed himself, Golding fired a volley into the camp. The Indians then fled to the neighboring swamp, Philip the foremost. Having gained the shore, he ran directly upon Church's ambuscade. An Englishman snapped his gun at him without effect, when his companion, one of Church's Indian soldiers, sent a bullet through the heart of the chief He fell on his face in the mud and water, with his gun under him. After the fight was over, Church ordered the body to be quartered and decapitated. The executioner was also an Indian, and before he struck the body made a short speech to it. Philip's head was taken to Plymouth in triumph, where, arriving on the very day the church was keeping a solemn thanksgiving, in the words of Mather, "God sent 'em in the head of a leviathan for a thanksgiving feast." I made the ascent of Mount Hope from the south, where it is gi-adiuil ; but on the west, where I descended, I found it abrupt, and covered with a grove of oak-trees sprinkled with stones among fern. With the exception of a few tumble-down stone walls that cross it, and now and then a cow quietly crop- ping the herbage, it is as wild as when it Avas the eyrie of the proud-spirited chieftain, " the Last of the Wampanoags." At Bristol the railway will set you down o])posite to Fall Piver, or by returning to Bristol ferry you may take, on the Phode Islaiul side, the rail for Dighton and its sculptured rock. This rock, which has puzzled so many learned brains both of the Old World and the New, lies near the eastern shore of Taunton Piver, opposite Digliton wharves.' I wanted two things in Dighton — direction to the rock, and a skiif to cross the river to it. An ancient builder of boats, very tall and very lank, INSCRIPTION ON DIOllTON lUHK. ' To be exact, tlie shores ndjiiceiU to tlic rock arc in tlic town of Berkeley, formerly part of Dij^htoii. TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 41 7 having his adze in liis hand and his admeasurements chalked on the toes of his boots, supplied me witli both. "What on airth do you want to look at that rock for?" he expostulated rather than questioned. " I'd as lief look at the side of that house," pointing to his work-shop. "You do not seem to value your archseological remains ovei-rauch," I sub- mitted. "Bless you, I knew a gal born and brought up right in sight of that air rock, who got married and went to Baltimore to live, without ever having sot eyes on it. When she had staid there a spell she heard so much about Diirh- ton Rock, she came all the way back a purpose to see it. I^ee-male curiosity, you see, sir." The river is half a mile broad at Dighton, with low, uninteresting shores. The "Writing Rock," a large boulder of fine-grained greenstone, is submerge^ either wholly or in part by the tidal flow, but when uncovered presents a smooth face, slightly inclined toward the open river. When so close as to lay hold of it, you are aware of faint impressions on its surface, yet these have be- come so nearly efiaced by the action of the tides and the chafing of drift ice as to be fragmentary, and therefore disappointing. As is usual, the action of the salt air has turned this, as other rocks by the shores, to a dusky red color. Seventy years ago the characters or lines traced on the rock were by actual measurement an inch in breadth by half an inch in depth, and distinct enough to attract attention from the decks of passing vessels. The rock is first mentioned, says Schoolcraft, in a sermon of Dr. Danforth, of 1680. The river had then been frequented by white men for sixty years. It is next alluded to in the dedication of a sermon to Sir H. Ashurst by Cotton Mather, in these words: "Among the other curiosities of Xew England one is that of a mighty rock, on a perpendicular side whereof, by a river which at high tide covers part of it, there are very deeply engraved, no man alive knows how or when, about half a score lines near ten foot long and a foot and a half broad, filled with strange characters, which would suggest as odd thoughts about them that were here before us as there are odd shapes in that elaborate monument, whereof you shall see the first line transcribed here." In the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal Society of London, cov- ering a period from 1700 to 1720, are several communications from Cotton Mather, one of which (part iv., p. 112) is as follows: "At Taunton, by the side of a tiding river, part in, part out of the river, is a large Rock; on the perpendicular side of whicli, next to the Stream, are seven or eight lines, about seven or eight foot long, and about a foot wide, each of them ingraven Avith unaccountable characters, not like any known character."' " A copy of the inscription, made by Professor Sewall, is deposited in the Museum at Cambridge. 27 418 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Sclioolcvaft believed the Avork to have been performed by Indians. Wasl)- ington, who had some knowledge of their hieroglyphics, was of this opinion. Dr. Belknap asserts that they were acquainted with sculpture, and also in- stances their descriptive drawings on the bark of trees. Sculptured rocks, of which the origin is unknown, have been found in otiier locations in the United States, Since the unsettling of Norse traditions, the characters on Dighton Kock are generally admitted to be of Indian creation; but if the work of white men, it would strengthen the theory of Verazzani's presence in these waters. Another link of the supposed discovery by Xorthmen w^as the skeleton exhumed about 1834 at Fall River. It was found in a sitting posture, having a plate of brass upon its breast, with arrow-heads of the same metal lying- near, thin, flat, and of triangular shape. The arrows had been contained within a quiver of bark, that fell in pieces Avhen exposed to the air. The most re- markable thing about the remains Avas a belt encircling the body, composed of brass tubes four and a half inches in length, the width of the belt, and placed close together longitudinally. The breastplate, belt, and arrow-heads were considered so many evidences that the skeleton was that of some Scandinavian "who had died and been buried here by the natives. An antiquary would of course prize a dead Scandinavian more than many living ones. These mouldering bones and corroded trinkets were not, how- ever, the key to Dighton Rock. The mode of sepulture was that practiced by the natives of this continent. In Archer's account of Gosnold's voyage he speaks of the Indians on the south of Cape Cod as follows: "This day there came unto the ship's side divers canoes, the Indians ap- pareled as aforesaid, with tobacco and pipes steeled with copper, skins, arti- iicial strings, and other trifles, to barter; one had hanging about his neck a plate of rich coppei-, in length a foot, in breadth half a foot, for a breastplate." John Brereton, of the same voyage, tells us more of the Indians of the Elizabeth Islands: "They have also great store of copper, some very red, and some of a paler color; none of them but have cliains, ear-rings, or collars of this metal: tliey liad some of their arrows lierewith, much like our broad arrow-heads, very workmanly made. Their chains are many hollow pieces cemented togethei", q-m-]\ ])iece of the bigness of one of our reeds, a finger in length, ten or twelve of them togetlicr on a string, which tliey wear about their necks; their collars they wear about their bodies like bandeliers, a hand- ful broad, all liollow pieces like the other, but somewhat sliorter, four hun- dred pieces in a collar, very fine and evenly set together." AVere this evi- Theie is another copy, by Jnmes Wintluop; see plate in vol. iii., "Memoir American Academy," and description of method of taking it, vol. ii., part ii., p. 126. Many others have been taken, more or less imperfect ; the best one recollected is in the hall of the Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 419 dence less positive, we know from Champlain that tlie Indians would never liave permitted the body of a stranger to remain buried longer than was necessary to disinter and despoil it. Yerazzani's letter mentions the posses- sion of copper trinkets by the Indians. About two miles and a half from Taunton Green is the Leonard Forge, the oldest in America. The spot is exceedingly picturesque. The brook, overhung by trees, whicli of yore turned the mill-wheel, glides beneath a rustic bridge ere it tumbles over the dam and hurries on to meet the river. James and Henry Leonard built the forge in 1652. Near the spot is the site of the dwelling they occupied, one of the dis- tinctive old struc- tures of its day. Philip lived in am- ity with the Leon- ards, who made for him spear and ar- row heads when he came to hunt at the Fowling Pond, not far from the forge, where he had a hunting - lodge. When he had re- solved to strike the English, it is said he gave strict orders not to hurt those Leonards, his good friends of the forge. Traditioa has it that his head was afterward kept in the house some days. My pilgrimage among the haunts of the Narragansets and Wampanoags of old fime extended no farther. Setting my fiice again toward the sea, when on board one of those floating hotels that i)ly between Fall River and New York, I thought of the prediction I had cut from the Boston Daily Adver- tiser of just half a century ago: "We believe the time will not be far distant when a steamboat will be provided to run regularly between New York and Taunton River, to come to Fall River and Dighton, and perhaps to the 'wharves in Taunton, a mile below the village. This route from New York to Boston would in some respects be preferable to that through Providence." OLD LEU^AKU UOUSE, KAYMIA.M. NEW LONDUX IN Iblo CHAPTER XXVII. NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. "It seems that you take pleasure in these walks, sir." — Massinger. "VTEW LONDON is a city hiding within a river, three miles from its meet- -^^ ing with the waters of Long Island Sound. On the farthest seaward point of the western shore is a light-house. Before, and yet a little eastward of the river's mouth, is an island about nine miles long screening it from the full }DOwer of Atlantic storms, and forming, with Watch Hill,' the prolongation of the broken line of land stretching out into the Sound from the northern limb of the Long Island shore. Through this barrier, thrown across the en- trance to the Sound, all vessels must i)ass. The island is Fisher's Island. It seems placed on purpose to turn into the Thames all commerce winging its way eastward. Across the western extremity of Fisher's Island, on a fair night. New London and Montauk lights exchange burning glances. From Watch Hill the low and distant shore of Long Island is easily distinguished by day, and by night its beacon-light flashes nn answer to its twin-brother of iMontauk. These two towers are the Pillars of Hercules of the Sound, on w liicli are hung the long and radiant gleams that bridge its gate-way. South-w'cst of Fisher's Island are the two Gull Islets, on the smallest of ' Watcli Hill, in the town of Westerly and near JStoninyton, is tin; south-western extremity of Rhode Island. NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 421 which is a light -house. The swift tide which washes tliem is called the Horse-race. Next comes Plum Island, separated from the Long Island shore by a narrow and swift channel known as Plum Gut, through which cunning yachtsmen sometimes steer. In 1667, Samuel Wyllys, of Hartford, bought Plum Island for a barrel of biscuit and a hundred awls and fish-hooks. Any one who looks at the long ellipse of water embraced within Long- Island and the Connecticut shore, and remarks the narrow and obstructed channel through which it communicates with the Hudson, the chain of islands at its meeting with the ocean on the east, must be impressed with the belief that he is beholding one of the greatest physical changes that have occurred on the New England coast. As it is, Long Island Sound lacks little of being an inland sea. The absence of any certain indications of the channels of the rivers emptying into the Sound west of the Connecticut favors the theory of the union, at some former time, of Long Island at its western end with the main-land. To resume our survey of the coast, we see on the map, about midway be- tween Point Judith and Montauk, the pear-shaped spot of land protruding NEW LONDON UAHBOK, NORTH VIEW. above the ocean called Block Island.' It is about eight miles long, diversified with abrupt hills and narrow dales, but destitute of trees. A chain of ponds extending from the north and nearly to the centre, with several separate and smaller ones, constitutes about one-seventh of the island. There is no shi]) harbor, and in bad weather iishing-boats are obliged to be hauled on shore, though the sea-mole in process of construction by Government will afford both haven and safeguard against the surges of the Atlantic; for the island, having no rock foundation, is constantly wasting away. Cottages of wood, whitewashed every spring, are scattered promiscuously over the island, with wretched roads or lanes to accommodate every dwelling. The total disap- pearance of the island has often been predicted, and I recollect when the im- ' Named from Captain Adrian Blok, a Dutch navigator. Its Indian name was Manisses. There aie about twelve hundred inhabitants on this island, all native-born, of whom two hun- dred and seventv-five are voters. There are also six schools, two Baptist churches, and two wind- mills, a hotel, and several summer boarding-houses. Two hundred fishing-boats are owned by the islanders. In 1636 John Oldham, mentioned in our ramble in Plymouth, was murdered here by the Pequots. Block Island in 1672 was made a township, by the name of New Shoreham. 422 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. pvession prevailed to some extent on the main-laud that the islanders had ordy an eye apiece. Ascending now the river toward New London, wind, tide, or steam shall sweep us under the granite battle- ments of Fort Trumbull, on the one side, and the grassy mounds of Fort Griswold on the other.' Near the latter is standing a monument commemorating the infamy of Benedict Arnold and the heroism of a handful of brave men sacrificed to what is called the chances of war. New London is seen straggling up the side of a steep and I'ocky hill, dominated by -i ----- three pointed steeples. De- scending from the crest, its ,^£^_.4^5fe5si principal street opens like the mouth of a tunnel at the water-side into a broad space, always its market- place and chief landing. Other avenues follow the natural shelf above the shore, or find their way de- viously as streams might down the hill-side. The glory of New London is in its trees, though in some streets they stand so thick as to exclude the sun-light, and oppress the wayfarer with the feeling of walking in a church- yard. The destruction of New London by Arnold's command, in 1781, has left little that is suggestive of its beginning. Its English settlement goes no farther back than 104G. In that year and the next a band of pioneers from the Massachusetts colony, among whom was John Winthrop, Jun.," built their cottages, and made these wilds echo with t!ie sounds of their industry. NEW LONUU.N I^IGUT. ^ The two forts, Trumbull nnd Griswold, sire tiiimed from governors of Connecticut. They date from the lievolution. Fort Trumliuli in its jiresent form was com])lcted in 1849, under the super- vision of (ieueral (J. W. Ciillum, U. S. A. In jiassiuf,' tluongh New London in A])rii, 177(!, (Jeneral Kiiox, hy Washington's direction, examined tlie harbor with the view of erecting forti- fications, and reported, by letter, tliat it would, in connection with Newport, ali'ord a safe retreat to tlie American navy or its prizes in any wind that blew. * Son of Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts. lie passed his first winter on Fisher's Island, which remained in his family througli six generations. Tlie valuable manuscri|)t collection kiu)wn as the Winthrop papers was foimd some years ago on the island, which belongs to New York in consequence of the grants to tlie Karl of Stirling and the Duke of York. The origin of its present NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 423 ■^^^ ■-^uv-^fe^ ~- OLD BLOCK HOUSE, FORT TKLMBULL. Old London and Father Thames are repeated in Xew England, because, as these honest settlers avow, they loved the old names as much as they disliked the barbaric sounds of the aborig- inal ones, though the latter were always typical of some salient characteristic. They settled upon the fair Mohegan, in the coun- try of the Pequots, a race fierce and war- like, who in 1637 had made a death-grapple of it with the pale-faces, and had been blotted out from among the red nations. Pequot was the name of the harbor, changed in 1658 to New London. I first visited New London in 1845. It was then a bustling place — a lit- tle too bustling, perhaps, when rival crews of whalemen in port joined battle in the market-place, unpaving the street of its oyster-shells, and shouting war- cries never before heard except at Otaheite or Juan P\'i-nandez. A large fleet of vessels, engaged in whaling and sealing voyages, then sailed out of the Thames. The few old hulks laid up at the wharves, the rusty-looking oil-butts and discai'ded paraphernalia pertaining to the fishery, yet reminded me of the hunters who lassoed the Avild coursers of sea-prairies.' I have already confessed to a weakness for the wharves. There is one in New London, appropriated to the use of the Light-house Board, on which are piled hollow iron cylinders, spare anchors, chain cables, spars and spindles, buoys and beacons. A" relief" light-ship, and a tug-boat with steam up, lay beside it. Tiie danger and privation of life in a light-house is not to be com- pared with that on board the light-ship, which is towed to its station on some dancjerous shoal or near some reef, and there anchored. It not unli-equent- ly happens in violent storms that the light-ship breaks from its moorings, and meets the fate it was intended to signal to other craft.° The sight of a name is uncertain, though so called as early as 1636. Governor Winthrop relates to Cotton Mather a singular incident which hajjpened on Fisher's Island the previous winter. During the severe snow-storms hundreds of sheep, besides cattle and liorses, were buried in the snow. Even tiie wild beasts came into the settlements for shelter. Twenty-eight days after the storm alluded to, tiie tenants of Fisher's Island, in extricating the bodies of a hundred sheep from one baidi of snow in the vallev, found two alive in tlie drift, wliere they had subsisted by eating the fleeces of those lying dead near them. ' In 1834 New London emjiloyed tliirty-six vessels in whaling and sealing. A few are still en- gaged in the latter fishery, in the extreme navigable waters of the Arctic and Antarctic seas. ^ During the unexampled cold of the past winter (1874-7.')), the light-boat off New London was. infixct, carried away from iier moorings by an ice-field, and many otiiers all along the coast were stranded. 424 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. raging sea as high as the decks of the vessel is one familiar to these hardy mariners. When I expressed surprise that men were willing to hazard their lives on these cockle-shells, a veteran sea-dog glanced at the scanty sail his vessel carried as he replied, " We can get somewhere." On the light-sliip the lanterns are protected by little houses, built around each mast, until lighted, when they are hoisted to the mast-head. A fog-bell is carried on the forecastle to be tolled in thick weather. A more funereal sound than its monotone, deep and heavy, vibrating across a sea shrouded in mist, can scarcely be imagined. A i.llillT-sail' U.N UEK STATION. Old sailors are considered to make the best keepers of either floating or stationary beacons. Tiieir long habit of keeping watches on shipboard rey- ders them more reliable than landsmen to turn out in all kinds of vveatlier, or on a sudden call. They are also far more observant of changes of the weath- er, of tides, or tlie position of passing vessels. I have found many ])ersons in charge of our sea-coast lights who liad been ship-masters, and were men of more than ordinary intelligence. When the Fresnel lenticular light was be- ing considered, it was objected by those having our system in charge that it would be diflicult to ])rocure keepers of sufficient intelligence to manage the lens apparatus. M. Fresnel replied that this difficulty had been most singu- larly exaggerated, as in France the country keepers belonged almost always NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 425 COL'liT-UOL'.-^li, NEW LONDON. to the class of ordinary mechanics or laborers, who, with eight or ten days' instruction, were able to perform their duties satisfactorily.' All visitors to New London find their way, sooner or later, to the Old Hempstead House, a venerable roof dotted with moss-tufts, situ- ated on Jay Street, not far west of the court-house. It is one of the few antiques which time and the flames have spared. As one of the old garrison-houses standing in the midst of a populous city, it is an eloquent reminder of the race it has outlived. It was built and occupied by Sir Robert Hemp- stead, descending as entailed prop- erty to the seventh generation, who continued to inhabit it. The Hempstead House is near the cove around which the first settlement of the town appears to have clustered. The last remaining house built by the first settlers stood about half a mile Avest of the court-house, on what was called Cape Ann Street : it was taken down about 1824. Governor Winthrop lived at the head of the cove bearing his name at the north end of the city. The court-house standing at the head of State (formerly Court) Street has the date of 1784 on the pediment, having been rebuilt after the burning of the town by Arnold.^ At the other end of the street was the jail. The court-house, which formerly had an exterior gallery, has a certain family re- semblance to the State-house at Newport. It is built of wood, with some attempt at ornamentation. Freshened up with white paint and green blinds, it looked remarkably unlike a seat of justice, which is usually dirty enough in all its courts to be blind indeed. In the chancel of St. James's repose the ashes of Samuel Seabury, the first Anglican bishop in the United States. He took orders in 1753 in London, and on returning to his native country entered upon the work of his ministry. In 1775, having subscribed to a royalist protest, declaring his " abhorrence of all unlawful congresses and committees," he was seized by the Whigs, and confined in New Haven jail. Later in the war, he became chaplain of Colonel ' At the light-houses I have visited in cold weather, the unvarying complaint is made of the poor quality of the oil furnished by the Light-house Board. One keeper told me he was obliged to shovel the congealed lard-oil out of the tank in the oil-room, and carry it into the dwelling, some rods distant, to heat it on his stove; sometimes repeating the operation frequently during the night, in order to keep his light burning. " It is shown in the view of New London in 1813, at the head of this chapter. 426 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. BISHOP SEABURT'S MONUMENT. Fanning's regiment of American loyalists. After the war, Mr. Seabury went to England in order to obtain consecration as bishop, but, meeting with ob- stacles there, he was conse- crated in Scotland by three non - juring bishops. The monument reproduced is from the old burying-grouud of New London.' The ancient burial-place of New London is in the northern part of the city, on elevated ground, not far from the river. An old fractured slab of red sand- stone once bore the now illegible inscription : "An epitaph on Captaine Richard Lord, deceased May 17, 1662, Aetatis svse 51. " Bright starre of ovr chivalh'ie lies here To the state a covnsellorr fvll deare And to ye trvth a friend of sweete content To Hartford towne a silver ornament Who can deny to poore he was releife And in composing paroxyies he was cheife To Marchantes as a patterne he might stand Adventring dangers new by sea and land." The liarbor of New London being considered one of the best in New En- gland, its claim to be a naval station has been urged from time to time u)>on the General Government. It is spacious, safe, and deep. During the past winter, which has so severely tested the capabilities of our coast harbors, closing many of them with an ice-blockade of long continuance, that of New London has remained o[)en. \\\ 1835, when the navigation of the harbor of New York was suspended, by being solidly frozen, New London harbor re- remained unobstructed, vessels entering and departing as in summer.'^ Among other observations made among the shipping, I may mention the operations of the destructive worm that perforates a ship's bottom or a thick ' 15ish()]i Scaliiny was horn in 172S, and died in 1711(1, ayod (IS. In jn'i-son \\c was lari^e, I'o- bust, and vif^oruiis ; dignified and coniinaiuliiig in a])])caranfe, and loved \\\ ins jiarishioners of low estate. After consceration he diseiiargi'd the functions of bishop of the diocese of Connecticut and lliiode Island. * Tiie months oClMtniarv ami l>"cl)iMai y, 1S7."), will lie long rcnicnihcrcd in New England lor the intense and long-continued cold weather. Long Island Sound was a vast ice-field, which sealed nj) its harbors. For a lime navigation was entirely suspended, the boats usually plying between New- I)ort, Stonington, New London, and New York being obliged to discontinue their voyages. (Jai-- diner's Bay wa.s completely closed. Tiie shore of Long Island, on its ocean side, was strewed with great blocks of ice. An imnsual ntnnber of disasters signalized the ice embargo throughout the whole extent of the New ICiiirland coast. NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 427 CtKOTON MOIvUMENT stick of timber with equal ease. I now had an opportunity of confirming wliat I had often been told, yet scarcely credited, that the worm could be distinctly lieard while boring. The sound made by the borer exactly resem- bled that of an auger. It is not a little surprising to reflect that so in- significant a worm — not longer than -,-spp=^ a cambric needle when it first attacks the wood — is able to penetrate solid oak. I noticed evidences where these dreaded workmen were still busy, in little dust-heaps lying on the timber not yet removed from a vessel. With the aid of a wheezy ferry- boat that landed me on Groton side, I still pursued my questionings or communings under the inspiration of a sunny afternoon, a transparent air, and a breeze brisk and bracing, bring- ing with it the full flavor of the sea. A climb up the steep ascent leading to the old fort was rewarded by the most captivating views, and by gales that are above blowing in the super- heated streets of a city. The granite monument, which is our guide to the events these heights have witnessed, was built with the aid of a lottery. A marble tablet placed above its entrance is inscribed : This Monument was erected under the patronage of the State of Connecticut, a.d. 1830, and in the 55th year of the Independence of the U. S. A., In Memory of the Brave Patriots who fell in the massacre of Fort Griswold, near this spot, on the 6th of September, A.D. 1781, When the British, under the command of the Traitor, BENEDICT ARNOLD, burnt the towns of New London and Groton, and spread desolation and woe throughout this region. Westminster Abbey could not blot out that arraignment. Dr. Johnson did not know Benedict Arnold when he said, " Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." An American school - boy, if asked to name the greatest villain the world has produced, would unhesitatingly reply, "The traitor, Benedict Arnold." The sentence which histoiy has passed upon him is eternal Some voice is always repeating it. Shortly after the peace of '83 Arnold was presented at court. While the king was conversing with him, Earl Balcarras, who had fought with Bur- goyne in America, was announced. The king introduced them. 428 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. " What, sire," exclaimed the haughty old earl, refusing his hand, " the trai- tor Arnold !" The consequence was a challenge from Arnold. The parties met, and it was arranged they should fire together. Arnold fired at the signal, but the earl, flinging down his pistol, turned on his heel, and was walking away, when his adversary called out, "Why don't you fire, my lord?" " Sir," said the earl, looking over his shoulder, " I leave you to the execu- tioner." The British attack on I^ew London was not a blind stroke of premeditated cruelty, but a jjart of the only real grand strategy developed since the cam- paign of Trenton. Sir Henry Clinton had been completely deceived by AVashington's movement upon Yorktown, and now launched his expedition upon Connecticut, with the hope of arresting his greater adversary's prog- ress. Arnold was the suitable instrument for such work. The expedition of 1781 landed on both sides of the harbor, one detach- ment under command of the traitor himself, near the light-house, the other at Groton Point. Fort Trumbull, being untenable, was evacuated, its little gar- rison crossing the river to Fort Griswold. Encountering nothing on his march except a desultory fire from scattered parties, Arnold entered New London, and proceeded to burn the shipping and warehouses near the river. In his oflicial dispatch he disavows the general destruction of the town which en- sued, but the testimony is conclusive that dwellings were fired and 2:)lundered in every direction by his troops, and under his eye.' The force that landed upon Groton side was led by Lieutenant-colonel Eyre against P^ort Griswold, which then contained one hundred and fifty men, under Lieutenant-colonel William Ledyard, cousin of the celebrated traveler. The surrender of the fort being demanded and refused, the British assaulted it on three sides. They were resisted with determined courage, but at length effected an entrance into the work. Eyre had been wounded, and his suc- cessor, Montgomery, killed in the assault. Finding himself overjiowered, Led- yard advanced and ofiered his sword to ^Slajor Bromfield, now in command of the enemy, who asked, " Who commands this fort ?" "I did," courteously replied Letlyard ; "but you do now." lii-omficld imme(li:it('ly stabbed Ledyard witli liis own sword, and the hero fell dead at the feet ol' the coward and assassin.'^ Tliis revolting deed ' Tn all, the British destroyed one hundred and forty-three buildings, sixty-five of which were dwellings, and iiuliuliiiK tlie court-house, jail, and churcii. ' In the Wadsworth Museum, Hartford, the vest and siiirt worn by Ledyard on tlie day of his death, are still shown to the visitor. Lafayette, when attacking the Bntisii redoubt at York- town, ordered his men, it is said with Washington's consent, to " remember New London." The continental soldiers could not or would not execute the command on prisoners who begged their lives on tliuir knees. NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 429 was reserved for a Tory officer, of whom Arnold officially writes Sir IT. Clin- ton, bis "behavior on this occasion does him great honor." The survivors of the garrison were nearly all put to the sword, and even the wounded treated with incredible cruelty.' Fort Griswold is a parallelogram, having a foundation of rough stone, on which very thick and solid embankments have been raised. It is the best preserved of any of the old earth-works I have seen since Fort George, at Castine. The position is naturally very strong, far stronger than Bunker Hill, which cost so many lives to carry. On all sides except the east the hill is precipitous; here the ascent is gradual, and having surmounted it, an attacking force would find itself on an almost level area of sufficient extent to form two thousand men. In consequence of the knowledge that this was their weak point of defense, the Ameri- cans constructed a small redoubt, the re- mains of which may still be seen about three jiundred yards distant from the main work. Groton was the seat of the Pequot power, the royal residence of Sassacus being situated on a commanding eminence called Fort Hill, four miles east of Xew London. This was his principal fortress, though there was another about eight miles distant from New London, near Mystic, which was the scene of the memorable encounter which all our historians from Cotton Mather to Dr. Palfrey have related with such minuteness. The conquest of the Pequots, with whom, man against man, no other of the red nations near their frontiers dared to contend, was heroic in the little band of Englishmen by whom it was effected. The reduction to a handful of outcasts of a nation that counted a thousand warriors Avas a stroke of fortune the English owed to the assistance of LTncas, a rebel against his lawful chieftain, Sassacus, and of Miantouimo, whose alliance had been secured by Roger Williams.^ Captain John ]Mason, who had served under Fairfox in the Netherlands, is BENEDICT ARNOLD. ' Soon after the surrender a wagon loaded with wounded Americans was set in motion down the hill. In its descent it struck with great force against a tree, causing the instant death of sev- eral of its occupants.— "Gordon's Revolution," vol. iv., p. 179. ^ Captain Mason, with the Connecticut and Massachusetts forces, numbering in all only ninety men, together with about four hundred Narragansets and Mohegans, attacked the Pequot fortress on the morning of May 26th, 1637. His Indian allies skulked in the rear. Mason's onset was a complete surprise ; but he would not have succeeded had he not fired the fort, which created a panic among the enemy, and rendered them an easy prey to the English and friendly Indian^^ surrounding it. Between six and seven hundred Pequots perished. 430 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. the ideal Puritan soldier. Before leading bis men on to storm the Peqnot stronghold, they knelt together in the moonlight, which shone briglitly on that May morning, and commended themselves and tlieir enterprise to God. Re- port says that the accompanying Narragansets and Mohegans were much as- tounded and troubled at the sight. Satisfied that he could not conquer the Pequots hand to hand witli his little force. Mason himself applied a fire-brand to the wigwams. His own account of the Pequot Avar, reprinted by Prince in l'73G,is the best J^nd fullest narrative of its varying fortunes. STOUMING OF THE INDIAN FOUTKESS. Mason relates that he had but one pint of strong liquors in his army dur- ing its whole march. Like a prudent conunander, he carried the bottle in his liand, and ingenuously says, when it was emjjty the very smelling of it would presently recover such as had fainted away from the extremity of the heat. Among the special providences of the day he mentions that Lieutenant Hull had an arrow shot into a hanl j)iece of cheese he carried, that jjiobably saved his life; " wliich may verify the old saying," adds the narrator, that "a little armor would serve, if a man knew wliere to place it.'" Pullei-, in one of his sernu)ns, has anotliei- and a siniilai- pi-overb: "It is better to fight naked than with bad arnioi-, for the rags of a bad corselet make a deeper wound, and worse to be liealed, than tlie bullet itself." Mason ultimately settled in Nor- wich, and died there. ' The English in these enrly wnrs fotiglit in nrmor, that is to sny, a steel cap and corselet, with a bnck and breast ))iece, over buff coats, the common equipment every where of that day for a iiorsc Of foot soldier. NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 431 SILAS UEANE. Silas Deane was a native of Groton. Of the tliree men to wliom Congresii intrusted its secret negotiations with European powers, Franklin was the only one whose char- acter did not permanently sulier, although he did not escape the malignity and envy of Ar- thur Lee. The Virginian's enmity and jeal- ousy, aided by the influence of his brothers, were more successful in sullying the name and lame of Silas Deane. Yet Arthur Lee was a patriot and an honest man, whose public life was corroded by a morbid envy and distrust of his associates. A more disastrous appoint- ment than his could hardly have been made, as his temperament especially unfitted him for a near approach to men who, with all the world's polish, were, in diplomatic phrase, able to cut an adversary's throat with a hair. John. Quincy Adams, who may perhaps have inherited his father's dislike of Deane, once said, in the course of a conversation with some friends: "A son of Silas Deane was one of my school-fellows.^ I never saw liim again until last autumn, when I recognized him on board a steamboat, and in- troduced him to Lafayette, who said, 'Do yon and Deane agree?' I said, ' Yes.' 'That's more than your fathers did before you,' replied the general. " Silas Deane," continued Mr. Adams, " was a man of fine talents, but, like General Arnold, he was not true to his country. After he was dismissed from the service of the United States he went to England, lived for a long time on Lord Slieflield's patronage, and wrote a book wliich did more to widen the breach between England and America, and produce unpleasant feelings between the two countries, than any work that had been pub- lished. Finally he determined to return to America, but, in a fit of remorse and despair, committed suicide before the vessel left the Thames. His char- acter and fate affected those of his son, who has lived in obscurity."'' It is possible that Silas Deane's patriotism was not proof against the ingrat- itude he had experienced, and that he became soured and disaffected ; but it is scarcely just to his memory to call him traitor, or compare liim with such an ignoble character as Arnold. Deane was the friend of Beauniarchais; he was also his confidant. He was the means of securing the services of Lafay- ette for America. There is little doubt that he exceeded his powers as com- missioner, involving Congress in embarrassments, of which his recall was the solution. The malevolence of Lee and the crookedness of P^rench diplomacy ' Mr. John Quincv Adams accompanied his fiither to France, and was phiced at scliool near Paris. " Miss E. S. Quincy's " Memoir." 432 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. did what was wanting to consign liira to obscurity and poverty. The con- troversy over Deane's case produced a pamphlet from Thomas Paine, and caused John Jay to take the place resigned by Mr. Laurens as president of Congress. Deane and Beaumarchais were the scape-goats of the French alli- ance.' John Ledyard was another monument of Groton. His first essay as a traveler exhibits his courage and resource. He entered Dartmouth as a divin- ity student; but poverty obliging him to withdraw from the college, and not having a shilling in his pocket, he made a canoe fifty feet long, with which he floated down the river one hundred and forty miles to Hartford. He then em- barked for England as a common sailor, and while there, under the impulse of his passion for travel, enlisted with Captain Cook as a corpoi'al of marines. He witnessed the tragical death of his captain. In 17V1, after eight years' absence, Ledyard revisited his native country. His mother was then keep- ing a boarding-house at Southhold. Her son took lodgings with her without being recognized, as had once happened to Franklin in similar circumstances. Ledyard's subsequent exploits in Europe, Asia, and Africa bear the im- press of a daring and adventurous spirit. At last he oifered himself for the more perilous enterprise of penetrating into the unknown regions of Central Africa. A letter from Sir Joseph Banks introduced him to the jirojectors of the expedition. "Before I had learned," says the gentleman to whom Sir Joseph's letter was addressed, "the name and business of my visitor, I was struck with the manliness of his person, the breadth of his chest, the open- ness of his countenance, and the inquietude of his eye. Spreading the map of Africa before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennaar, and thence westward in the latitude and supposed direction of the Niger, I told him that was the route by which I was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be ex- plored. He said he should consider himself singularly fortunate to be in- trusted with the adventure. I asked him when he would set out. His an- swer was, 'To-morrow morning.' "* New London's annals afford a passing glimpse of two men who, though enemies, were worthy of each other. During the war with England of 1812, Decatur, with the United States, Macedonian, and Hornet, was blockaded in New London by Sir T. M. Hardy with a squadron of superior force. Tlie presence of the British fleet was a constant menace to the inliabitants, dis- quieted as they also were by the recollections of Arnold's descent. In vain Decatur tried to escape the iron grip of his adversary. Hardy's vigilance ' In IS.'in, when President Jackson demanded twenty-five millions of France on acconnt of French spoliations, the claim of IJeaiiniarchais was allowed, after deducting a million livres which had been advanced by Vergennes. Deane's heirs did not obtain an adjustment of his claims by Congress until 1S42. " Ledyard jirocecdcd no farther tlian Cairo, where he died, in 1788, of a bi.. "^ fev.jr. 1 NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 433 STEPHEN DP:CATUR. never relaxed, and the American vessels remained as uselessly idle to the end of the war, as if laid up in ordinary. Once Decatur had prepared to slip away unperceived to sea, but signals made to the hostile fleet from the shore compelled him to abandon the attempt. He then proposed to Hardy a duel be- tween his own and an equal force of British ships, wliich, though he did not absolutely decline the challenge,' it is pretty evident Sir Thomas never meant should happen. Decatur was brave, fearless, and chivalric. He was the handsomest ofli- cer in the navy. Coleridge, who knew him well at Malta, always spoke of him in the highest terms. Our history does not afford a more impressive example of a useful life uselessly thrown away. Of his duel with Barron the following is probably a correct account of the closing scene : The combatants ap- proached within sixteen feet of each other, because one was near-sighted, and the rule was that both should take deliberate aim before the word was given. They both fired, and fell with their heads not ten feet apart. Each believed himself mortally hurt. Before their removal from the ground they were rec- onciled, and. blessed each other, declaring there was nothing between them. All that was necessary to have prevented the meeting was a personal expla- nation. Sir T. Hardy is well known as the captain of Nelson's famous flag-ship, the Victon/, and as having received these last utterances of the dying hero: "An- chor, Hardy, anchor!" AVhen the captain replied, "I suppose, my lord, Ad- miral Collingwood will now take upon himself the direction of aftairs ?" " Not while I live, I hope. Hardy !" cried the dying chief, endeavormg ineffectually to raise himself fi-om the bed. "No," he added, "do you anchor. Hardy." "Shall ice make the signal, sir?" "Yes," replied his lordship, "for if I live, I'll anchor. Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy ; take care of poor Lady Hamilton. Kiss me, PLardy."* ' Decatur offered to match tlie United States and Macedonian witli the Endijmion and Statira. Sir Tlioinas declined the proposal as made, but consented to a meeting between the Statira and Macedonian alone. ^ Nelson commended almost with his latest breath Lady Hamilton and his dan<;iiter as a legacy to his country. Lady Hamilton, however, died in exile, sickness, and actual want at Calais, France, in 1815. 28 434 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. With whatever local preferences the traveler may have come, lie will think the approach to Norwich charming. Through banks high and green, crested with groves, or decked with white villages, the river slips quietly away to min- gle in the noisy world of waters beyond. In deeper shadows of the hills the pictures along the banks are reproduced with marvelous fidelity of form and coloring; and even the blue of the sky and white drifting clouds are mirrored there. All terrestrial things, however, appear, as in the camera, inverted — roofs or steeples pointing downward, men or animals walking with feet up- ward, along the banks, like flies on a ceiling. When autumn tints are on, the effects seen in the water are heightened by the confused masses of sumptuous foliage huno: like srarlands alonsc the shores. RUSTIC BRIDGE, NORWICH. Norwicl) is ranged about a hill overlooking the Thames. It is on a point of rock-land infolded by two streams, the Yantic and Slietucket, that come tumbling and hurrying down from tlie higher noilhern ranges to meet and kiss eacli other in the Thames. Kising, terrace above terrace, the appearance of Norwicli, as viewed iVom the river, is more striking in its ensemhle than by reason of pailicular featiiics. The water-side is the iamiliai- dull red, above which glancing rool's and steeples among trees ai"e seen retreating up the as- cent. Jjy night a ridded and chiinneyed blackness bestrewed with liglits re- wards tlie cuiious gazer iVoni the deck of a Sound steamboat. I admired in Norwich the broad avenues, the wealth of old trees, the luxurious sj)aciousiiess of the private grounds. Washington Street is one of the finest I liave walked in. There is breathing-room every wliere, town and country seeming to meet NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 435 -?^'/V and clasp hands, each giving to the other of the best it had to offer. I do not mean tliat Norwich is countrified ; but its mid-city is so easily escaped as to do away with the feeling of imprisonment in a widerness of brick, stone, and plate-glass. The suburban homes of Norwich have an air of substantial com- fort and delicious seclusion. In brief, wherever one has made up his mind to be buried, he would like to live in Norwich. There are not a iii.\s picturesque objects about Norwich, especially by the shores of the Yantic, ^ vvhicli, since being j i robbed of the falls, ' ~ once its pride and glory, has become a prosaic mill-stream.' The water is of the blackness of Acheron, streaked with amber where it falls over rocks, and of a rusty brown in shallows, as if partaking of the col- or of bits of decayed * wood or dead leaves which one sees :u the bottom. The stream, after having been vexed by dams and tossed about by mill-wheels, bounds joyously, and with some touch of savage freedom, to strike hands with the Shetucket. old mill, nokwich. The practical reader should be told that tlie city of Norwich is tlie outgrowth and was of yore the landing of Norwich town, two miles above it. The city was then known as Chelsea and Norwich Landing. The Mohegans were lawful owners of the soil. Subse- quent to the Peqnot war hostilities broke out between Uncas, chief of the Mohegans, and Miantonimo, the Narraganset sachem. The Narragansets in- vaded the territory of the Mohegans, and a battle occurred on the Great Plains, near Greenville, a mile and a half below Norwich. The Narragansets suffered defeat, and their chief became a prisoner. He was delivered by Un- cas to the English, who condemned him to death, and devolved upon Uncas the execution of the sentence. The captive chief was led to tlie spot where ' The falls were very beautiful, and have been celebrated by Trumbull's penoil and Mrs. Siyour- ney's verse. There still remain some curious cavities, worn in the rock by the iirolonged rotary motion of loose stones. Lydia Huntley Sigourney, the most celebrated writer in prose or poetry of her day in New England, was a native of Norwich. 436 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. he had been made prisoner, and, Avliile stalking with Indian stoicism in the midst of his enemies, was killed by one blow from a tomahawk at tlie signal of Uncas. Miantonimo was bui'ied where he fell, and from him the spot takes its'name of Sachem's Plain/ War continued between the Narragansets and ]\Iohegans, the former, led by a brother of Miantonimo, being again the assailants. Uncas was at length compelled to throw himself within his strong fortress, where he was closely besieged, and in danger of being overpowered. He found means to send in- telligence to Saybrook, where Captain Mason commanded, that his supply of food was exhausted. Mason immediately sent Thomas Leffingwell with a boat-load of provision, which enabled Uncas to hold out until his enemy with- unkos, drew. For this act, which he performed single-handed, Lef- fingwell received from Uncas the greater part of Norwich ; and in 1659, by a formal deed, signed by Uncas and his two his mark SOUS, Owaucko and Attawanhood, he, with Mason, Kev. James OwANEKo. Fitch, and others, became proprietors of the whole of Nor- /^^^^^~f^ wich.' ^^ ^f\ I did not omit a visit to the ground where the "buried his mark. niajcsty " of Mohegan is lying. It is on the bank of the Yan- atjawauhood, ^j^^ jjj ^ secluded though populous neighborhood. A granite -J>"^ obelisk, with the name of Uncas in relief at its base, erected mniic. })y citlzeus of Norwicli, stands within the inclosui'e. Tlie T SIGNATURES OF UN- foundation was laid bv President Jackson in 1833. Arouml CAS AND HIS SONS. -' are clustered a few mossy stones chiseled by English hands, with the bi'ief record of the hereditary chieftains of a once powerful race.' In its native state the spot must have been singularly romantic and well chosen. A wooded height overhangs the rivei- in i'ull view of the falls, where their tur- bulence subsides into a placid onward flow, and \\here the chiel's, ere their de- ' Before the battle with the Narragansets, Uncas is said to have challenged Miantonimo to single conihat, promising for Iiiinself and his nation to abide the result. MiaiUonimo refused. This cliief, in his tliglit fioni ttie field, was overtaken by IMoliogan warriors, who impeded him nntil Uncas could come up. Wlien Uncas laid his hand on jNIiantonimo's shoulder, the huter sat down in token of submission, maintaining a sullen silence. Uncas is said to have eaten a jiiece of his tlesh. . ^ Tlie proprietors ninubered lhirt\-five. Uncas received about seventy jmunds for nine sipiare miles. Tiie settlement of Norwit-h is coii^iidered to iia\c begun in UKiO, w hcii Kev. , lames Uitcli removed from Saybrook to Norwich (lowu). ^ Tlie following inscriptioTis are finm tin; royal burial-ground of llie ^rohcgans : " Here lies y'' body of Uomjii Uncas, son of Uenjamiii and Ann Uncus, and of y'^ royal blood, wiio (lied May y" first, 1740, in y"= 2tst year of his agi-." '• Here lies Sam I'^ncas, the ;id and beloved son of his father, John Uncas, who was the grand- son of Uncas, grand sachem of Mohegan, the darling of his mother, being daughter of said Uncas, grand sachem. He died July .^Ist, I 7 II. in the 2Sth year of his age." "In memory of Elizabeth Joqiiib, tlie daughter of Mahomet, great-grandchild to y'= first Un- cas, great sachem of Mohegan, who died .July y'' otii, I7r)(), aged ;!.'$ years." NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 437 UNCAS S MONUMENT. pavtnre for the happy huiiting-.o-rounds, might look their last on the villages of their people. It was the Indian custom to bury by the margin of river, lake, or ocean. Here, doubt- less, repose the bones of many grim warriors, seated in royal state, with their weapons and a pot of suc- cotash beside them. The last interment here was of Ezekiel Mazeon, a descendant of Uncas, in 1826. The feeble remnant of the Mohegans followed him to the grave.' Mr. Sparks remarks that the history of the In- dians, like that of the Carthaginians, has been writ- ten by their enemies. As the faithful, unwavering ally of the English, Uncas has received the enco- miums of their historians. His statesmanship has been justified by time and history. By alliance with the English he preserved his j^eople for many generations after the more numerous and powerful Pcquots, Narragansets, and Wampanoags had ceased to exist. In 1638 he came with his i)resent of wampum to Boston, and having convinced the English of his loyalty, thus addressed tliem : "Tiiis heart" (laying his hand upon his breast) "is not mine, ^^-; _^_^ . but yours. Command me any difficult service, and I will do it. I have no men, but they are all yours. I will never be- lieve any Indian against the English any more." It is this invincible fidel- ity, a])proved by important services, that should make his name and char- acter respected by ever}' descendant of the lathers of New England. About miilway of the jileasant ave- nue that unites old Xorwich witli new ARNOLD'S BIRTHPLACE. IS tlic birtliplacG of Bcucdict Arnold.' mr^ r^rSi^s- ' The hereditary chieftainship was extinct as long ago as the beginning of the centmy. Tiie Mohegans occnpied a strip of land containing two thonsand seven hnndred acres, lying on the Thames between Norwich and New London, above the mouth of Stony Brook, and between the river and Montville. In 1633 the Indian ))opiilation of Connecticnt was computed at eight persons to the sciuare mile ; the earliest enumeration of the Mohegans made their number one thousand six hundred and sixty-tlu-ee souls; in 1797 only four hundred remained. By 1825 tiic nation was reduced to a score or two, a portion having emigrated to Stockbridge, Massaclmsetts. Tiie Mohe- gan reserve was divided in 1790 among the remaining families of the nation. The Mohegans were probably a distinct nation, though Uncas was a vassal of the Peqnots. ^ On the Colchester road, or Town Street, near the junction of a street leading toward the Falls. The estate is now locally known as the Ripley Place. 438 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Somewhat farther on, and when within half a mile of the town, yon also see at the right the homely little building which was the apothecary's in which Arnold worked as a boy with pestle and mortar to the acceptance of his master, Dr. Lathrop, who lived in the adjoining mansion. One can bet- ter imagine Arnold deal- ing out musket -bullets than pills, and mixing brimstone with saltpetre rather than harmless drugs. As a boy he was bold, high-spirited, and cruel. In this neighborhood T saw a group of elms unmatched for beauty in New England. One of them is a king among trees. They are on a grassy slope, before an inviting mansion, and are in the full glory of maturity. It was a feast to stand under their branching arms, and be fanned and soothed by the play of the breeze among their green tresses, that fell in fountains of rustling foliage from their crowned heads. A benison on those old trees ! May they never fall into the clutches of that class Avho have a real and active hatred of every thing beautiful, or that a])pcals to more than their habitual perception is able to discover! I made a brief visit at the man- sion built by (ieneral Jedcdiah Hun- tington before he removed to New London alter the Old War,' In the dining-room was a full- length of General Eben Huntington, painted by Trumbull at the age of eighteen. On S(>eing it some years ' "" aiterwai-i1, Trunibiill took out his oenekal nuNTiNoroN's norsE. &.^ ELM-TREE:- ' The general was appointed collector of New London by Washington. His first wife was a daughter of Governor Trumbull. NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 439 penknife and said to his host and friend, "Eb, let me put my knife through this." Another portrait by the same hand, representing the general at the siege of Yorktown, is in a far different manner. The tliree daughters of Gen- eral Huntington, then living in the old family mansion, in referring to the warm friendship between their father and the painter, mentioned that the first and last portraits painted by Colonel Trumbull were of members of their family. Near General Huntington's, where many of the choicest spirits of the Revolution have been en- tertained, is the handsome mansion of Governor Hun- tington, a remote connec- tion of his military neigh- bor. Without the advan- tages of a liberal educn tion, he became a membi of the old Congress, and its president, chief -justice, and governor of Connecti- cut. President Dwight, who knew him Avell, extols Ids character and abilities warmly and highly. I had frequent oppor- tunities of seeing, in my rambles about the environs of Xew London and Norwich, the beautiful dwarf flowering laurel {Kalmia avgvsti folia) that is almost unknown farther north. In the woods, where it was growing in wild luxuriance, it appeared like a gigantic azelia, ablaze with fragrant bloom of white and pink. It used to be said that honey collected by the bee from this flower was poisonous. The broad-leaved laurel, or calico-tree {Kalmia lati- folia) was believed to be even more injurious, instances being mentioned where death had occurred from eating the flesh of pheasants that had fed on its leaves. Norwich town represents the kernel from which the city has sprung, and retains also no little of the savor incident to a population that has held in- novations at arms-length. It has quiet, freshness, and a certain rural comeli- ness. A broad green, or common, planted with trees, is skilled by houses, many of them a century or more old, among which I thought I now and then detected the no longer familiar well-sweep, with the "old oaken bucket" standing by the curb. On one side of the common the old court-house is still seen. Take the path beside the meeting-house, ascending the overhanging rocks by some natural steps, and you will be richly repaid for the trifling exertion. MANSION OF GOVEUNOK HUNTINGTON. 440 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. The view embraces a charming little valley watered by the Yantic, which here flows through rich meadow-lands and productive farms. Encompassing the settlement is another elevated range of the rocky hills common to this region, making a sort of amphi- theatre in which the town is natural- ly ])laced. The old church of Norwich town formerly stood in the hollow between two high hills above its present site. The pound, now its Kext neighbor, is still a lawful inclosure in most of tiie New England States. Not many 3'ears ago, I knew of a town in Mas- sachusetts that was presented by a grand jury for not having one. I visited the old grave-yard, remarka- ble for its near return to a state of nature. Many stones had tallen, and sometimes two were kept upright by leaning one against the other. Weeds, brambles, and vines imi)eded my foot- steps or concealed the grave-stones. I must often repeat the story of the shameful neglect which involves most of our older cemeteries. One is not quite sure, in leaving them, that he docs not carry away on his feet the dust of former generations. Some of the stones are the most curious in form and design I have met with. The family tombs of Governor and General llun- timrton are here. CONGKEGATIONAL CHUKCH. PKTER STUYVESANT. CHAPTER XXYIII. SAYBROOK. " Says Tweed to Till, ' What gars ye rin sae still ?' Says Till to Tweed, 'Thougli ye rin wi" speed, An' I rin slaw. For ae man that ye droon, I droon twa.' " — Old Song. RATHER more than a liuiulred miles from New York tlie railway crosses tlie Connecticut River, on one of those bridges that at a little distance resemble spiders' webs hung between the sliores. From liere one may look down quite to the river's mouth, where it enters the Sound ; and if it be a warm summer's day, the bluish -gray streak of land across it may be seen. The Connecticut is the only river of importance emptying upon the New En- o-land coast that has not an island lodged in its throat. 442 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. It was on one of those parched days of midsummer, when tlie very air is quivering, and every green thing droops and shrivels under a vertical sun, that I first alighted at tlie station at Saybrook. The listless, fagged, and jaded air of city swells lounging about the platform, the flushed faces of blooming girls and watchful dowagers, betokened the general prostration of weary humanity, who yearned for the musical plash of sea-waves as the with- ering leaves and dusty grass longed for rain. How feminine New England exaggerates, to be sure! A group of three young ladies exchange their views upon the sultriness of the day : one ob- serves, " What a dreadful hot day!" a second declares it "horrid" (torrid, perhaps she meant to say) ; and the last pronounces it " perfectly frightful," emphasizing the opinion by opening her umbrella with a sharp snap. What they would have said to an eartliquakc, a conflagration, or a shipwreck, is left to bewildering conjecture. In a certain unquiet portion of the American Union, the terra Connecticut Yankee is expressive of concentrated dislike for shrewd bargaining, a nasal twang of speech, and a supposed desire to overreach one's neighbor. How often have I heard in the South the expression, "A mean Yankee ;" as if, for- sooth, meanness were sectional ! Here in New England a Connecticut Yankee is spoken of as a cunning blade or sharp fellow ; as an Englishman would say, "He's Yorkshire;" or an Italian, "E Spoletino." The day of wooden nutmegs is past and gone, and Connecticut is more familiarly known as the "Land of Steady Habits." The whole State is a hive. Every smoky town you see is a busy work-shop. The problem of the Con- necticut man is how to do the most work in the shortest time, whether by means of a sewing-machine, a Colt, or a mitraiUeu>ie. If I should object to any thing in him, it would be the hurry and worry, the dn're, which impels him through life — and in this I do not imagine he difters from the average American man of busiuess — until, like one of his own engines that is always worked under a full ])ressure of steam, he stO])S running at last. That is why Ave see so many old men of thirty, and so many premature gray hairs in New England. iJut what I chiefly lament is the disaj)pearance of the Yankee — not the conventional Yankee of the theatre, for he liad never an existence elsewliere; but the hearty yet sns]»ici()us, " cute" though green, drawling, whittling, un- adulterated Yankee, willi his bi-oad humor, delicious /)a?o/.s^, and large-lieai'ted patriotism. His very mother-longue is forgotten. Not once during these i-ambles liave I lieard his old familiar "I swaow," or "Git aout," or " Dew tell."' IJailway and telegrajili, factory and work-shop, penetrating into the ' The term "Brother Jonathan" originated with Washington, who applied it to Governor Jon- athan Tnimhuli, of Connecticut. When any important matter was in agitation the general would say, "We must consult Brother .Tonatlmn." SAYBROOK. 443 most secluded hamlets, have rubbed off all the crust of an originality so pro- nounced as to have become the type, and often the caricature too, of Amer- ican nationality tlie world over. One peculiarity I have noticed is that of calling spinsters, of whatever age, "girls." I knew two elderly maiden ladies, each verging on three-score, who were universally spoken of as the " Young girls," their names, I should perhaps explain, being Young. Once, when in quest of lodgings in a strange place, I was directed to apply to the two Brown girls, whose united ages, as I should judge, could not be less than a century and a quarter. But one is not to judge of New England girls by this sample. Another practice which prevails in some villages is that of designating father and son, where botli liave a common Christian-name, as "Big Tom" and "Little Tom;" and brother and sister as "Bub" and "Sis." One can hardly maintain a serious countenance to hear a stalwart fellow of six feet alluded to as "Little" Tom, or Joe, or Bill, or a full-grown man or woman as "Bub" or "Sis." On the coast, nicknames are current principally among the sea-faring element; "Guinea Bill" or "Portugee Jack," presupposes the own- er to have made a voyage to either of those distant lands. The Italians count the whole twenty-four hours, beginning at half an hour after sunset. By this method of computation I reckoned on arriving at Say- brook Point at exactly twenty-two o'clock. I walked through the village leisurely observant of its outward aspect, which was that of undisturbed tran- quillity. Modern life had been so long in reaching it, that it had been willing to accommodate itself to the old houses, and so far to the old life of the place. The toilets here, as elsewhere, encroached in many instances upon those of the last century, and were wonderfully like the portraits one sees of the time. Now, let us have the old manners back again. One of the pleasantest old houses in Saybrook is the Hart mansion, M'liich stands in the main street of the village, heavily draped by the foliage of three elm-trees of o-reat size and beauty. It was a favorite retreat of tliat gallant sailor, Isaac Hull, who lost his heart there.' Like Nelson, he was the idol of his sailors, for he was as humane as he was brave. He seldom ordered one of his old sea-dogs to be flogged, but would call a culprit before him, and after scolding him soundly Avith affected roughness of tone and manner, would tell him to return to his duty. The Old Ir 071 sides was loved witli a love almost like that which man bears to woman. Ladies would have kissed the hem of her sails; men scraped the barnacles from her bottom, and carried them home in their pockets. I have seen no end of canes, picture-frames, and ■ General "William Hart, an old soldier of the Revolution, was a wealthy and higlily esteemed citizen of Saybrook. In ITOn, with Oliver Phelps and others, he purchased the tract in Ohio called the Western Reserve. The Commodores Hull, uncle and nephew, married sisters belonging to this familv. Commodore Andrew Hull Foote was also a nephew of Commodore Isaac Hull, whose widow was still living when I visited Saybrook in 1874. 444 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. other souvenirs of this fimious ship tveasured by fortunate possessors; and one of the oUl mercliants of Boston had his street door made of her oak. Saybrook is languid. It is dispersed along one broad and handsome street, completely can- opied by an arch of foliage. You seem, when at the entrance, to be looking through a green tunnel. In this street there is no noise and but little movement. The few shops were without custom. Af- ter the spasm of activity caused by the arrival of the train — when it seemed for the moment to rub its eyes and bi'isk up a little, carriages and pedestrians having mysteriously disappeared some- where — the old town dozed again. The Connecticut is here tame and uninteresting, with near shores of salt - marsh flatness. Yellow sand-bars, green hummocks, or jutting points skirted with pine- groves, inclose the stream, which is broad, placid, and shallow. There are no iron headlands, or dangerous reefs. Nature seems quite in harmony wiili the general quietude and restfulness. A few years ago there existed at the Point the remains of a colonial for- tress, with much history clustering around it. It was raised in tlie very in- fancy of Englisli settlement at the mouth of the Connecticut; and when the Revolution came, the old dismounted cannon, that had perha])s done duty with Howard or Blake, were again placed on the ramparts. The railway ])e()- ple have reduced the hill on which it stood to a flat and dreary gravel waste.' This is walking into antiquity with a vetigeance ! It is ]ierha|)S fortunate tliat the Coliseum, Temple Bar, and St. Denis are not wliere tliey would be vahied for the cubic yards of waste material tliey might att'oi-d. The Dutch anticipated the Knglisli in the setth'ment on Connecticut IJiver. The liollandci's at Fort Amsterdam, and tlie then rival colonies ofPlynu)Utli and Massachusetts Bay, were each desirous of obtaining a foothold wliich each felt too weak to undertake alone. The country had been sul)jugated by the Pequots, whose territor}' neither colony might invade without bringing the wliole nation upon thcni. ' The eminence on which the fort stood, also called Tomb Hill, jutted into the river, being united to the shore in' ii beach, and bordered by siilt-marshes. It was steep and unassailable from any near vantage-gruinul. In 1(117 tlie lirst fort was accidentally destroyed by fire. SAYBROOK. 445 The Dutch were also first to visit the river, and to inform tlie Pilgrims of its beauty and advantages for traffic. In 1633, Massacliusetts having reject- ed overtures for a joint occupation, Plymouth determined to establish a trad- ing-post upon the river without her aid. Ajjprised of this intention, the Dutch dispatched an expedition, which disembarked where Hartford now is. A house was hastily erected, and ordnance mounted, with which thelloHand- ers gave notice that they meant to keep out intruders. The Plymouth expedition, under command of William Holmes, ascended the river, and, notwithstanding an attempt to stop them, passed by the Dutch fort. They landed at Nattawanute, afterward Windsor, and, having made themselves secure, sent their vessel home. Word was sent to Fort Amster- dam of the invasion. A company of seventy dispatched to the scene ad- vanced ''brimful of wrath and cabbage," with drums beating and colors fl}^- ing, against the English fort. Seeing the Pilgrims were in nowise discon- certed, the Dutch captain ordered a halt ; a parley took place, and, liaving thus vindicated the national honor, Gualtier Twilley's men withdrew.' The attempts of Plymouth to establish tributary plantations, with trad- ing-posts, at the extreme eastei'n and western limits of New England, were equally disastrous. Massachusetts stood quietly by, and saw her rival dis- possessed at Penobscot, but at Windsor the Plymouth people soon found themselves hemmed in between settlements made by emigrants from the bay. As a quarrel would perhaps have been alike fatal to both, Plymouth gave way to her more powerful neighbor. The Ei]glish settlement of Connecticut is usually assigned to the year 1635, the year of beginnings at Hartford, Wethersfield, and Saybrook. In tl:e autumn the younger Winthrop sent a few men to take possession and fortify at the mouth of the Connecticut, as agent of Lords Say, Brook, and tlieir as- sociate owners of the patent.'' This expedition forestalled by a few days only a new attempt to obtain possession by the Dutch, who, hnding the En- glish already landed and having cannon mounted, abandoned their design. Through the agency of the celebrated Hugh Peters, the patentees engaged, and sent to New England, Lion Gardiner, a military engineer who had served in the Low Countries. He arrived at Boston in November, 1035, and pro- ceeded to the fort at the mouth of the Connecticut. He was followed by George Fenwick, sent over by Lord Say to be resident agent of the P]nglish ' In the British State Paper Office is a translation of part of a letter, dated at Fort Amsterdam, in 1633, from Gualtier Twilley to the governor of Massacliusetts Bay, concerning the right of the Dutch to the river. The governor says that he has taken possession of it in the name of the States General, and set up a house on the north side, with intent to yilant. He desires Winthrop will defer his claims until their superior magistrates are agreed. The word "[Hudson?]" is placed after "river" in the calendars, but the date and other given fiicts are probably allusions to the Con- necticut attempt. "^ Lieutenant Gibbons, Sergeant Willard, and some carpeiiters. — " Lion Gardiner's Account." 446 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. proprietors. Fenwick, accompanied by Peters, reached the fort in the spring. The plantation was called Saybrook, as a compliment to the two principal personages interested in its founding, Saybrook has perhaps acquired a certain importance in the eyes of histor- ical writers to which no other spot of New England's soil can pretend. There is little room to doubt that Lord Say, and perhaps some of his associates, strongly entertained the idea of removing thither.^ A more debatable asser- tion, which is, however, well fortified with authorities, represents Oliver Crom- well, John Hampden, Pym, and Sir Arthur Haselrig as having been prevented from embarking only by an express order from the king : some, indeed, assert that they actually embarked.^ In the old burial-place of Saybrook Point is the most curious sepulchral memorial in Xew England. I can compare it with nothing but a Druid monument, it is so massy, so roughly shaped, and so peculiar in form. Un- til a few years ago, it stood within a field south-west of the foi't, over the dust of George Fenwick's wife, a woman of gentle blood. The "im- provements" made by the railway in this vicinity caused the removal of the monument to its present position. When the remains of Lady Fenwick were disinterred, the skeleton was found to be nearly entire. Beneath the skull was lying a heavy braid of auburn hair, which was parceled out among the villagers. My inlormant of- fered to show me the tress that had fallen to his share. I acknowledge it, I am the fool of association ; and when I see the spade thrust among graves, I wince a little. I would have Shakspeare's appeal and malediction inscribed over the entrance to every old grave-yard in New En- ' See the correspondence in Iliitcliinson's "History of Mnssaduisctts," appendix, vol. i., be- tween John Cotton and Lord Say. * Tliere is nothing improI)iihle in tlie story, eitlier from the rank or jiolitical importance of the personages mentioned ; the civil commotions in England rather give it a groundwork of prohahil- ity. The authorities in siij)port of tiic emigration arc Dr. George Bates, the physician of Crom- well, in his ''''Elenr.hns Maluum Niiperorinn in ^In!///*/," William Lilly's "JJfe and Times" (Lon- don, 1822), Sir William Dugdale's "Troubles in England," Mather's "Magnalia," Oldmixon's "British Empire in America," Ncal's "History of New England," and Hutchinson's "History of Massachusetts." Hume, Chalmers, Grahame, Hallam, Itussell, Macaulay, ami others repeat the story with various modifications; Aiken, Eorster, Bancroft, Young, and others deny or doubt it. The arguments pro and cun may be consulted in the " New England Historical and Genealogical llegister for 18GG." A MOSS-GKOWN MEMORIAL. SAYBROOK. 447 gland. But, after all, what is Shakspeare's malediction to these trouble- tombs who anticipate the Resurrection, and give the burial service the lie. Our bones ache at the thought of being tossed about on a laborer's shovel. Rather come cremation than mere tenure at will at the tender mercies of these levelers. When we have been " put to bed with a shovel," and have pulled our green coverlet over us, let v\s have the peace that passeth all un- derstanding. Not much is known of Lady Anne Boteler, or Butler, the wife of George Fenwick. It is surmised that she died in childbed. The inscription that her monument undoubtedly bore has been so long obliterated that no record re- mains of it. A newer one, with the simple name and date, "Lady Fenwick, died 1648," has been cut in the perishable sandstone. Some one has also caused the cross to be chiseled there.' Considering the peculiar aversion with which the Puritans regarded the cross, the appearance of one on the tombstone of Lady Fenwick is suggestive of the famous prohibition of the cemetery of Saint Medard : "De par le roi, defense a Dieu De faire miracle en ce lieu." Dr. Dwight states, as of report, that Fenwick, before his return to En- gland, made provision for having his wife's tomb kept in repair. The sale of the title of Lords Say and Brook by him, in 1644, to Connecticut, is consid- ered evidence as well of the existence of the design of removal alluded to as of its abandonment. After the death of Lady Fenwick her husband returned to England, and is mentioned as one of the regicide-judges. He subsequently appears with the title of "colonel," and is believed to be the same person who besieged Hume Castle, in 1650, for Cromwell. On being summoned, the governor sent his defiance in verse : "I, William of the Wastle, Am now in my Castle : And aw the dogs in the town Shanna gar me gang down."'^ The Eno-lish at Saybrook Point protected the land approach with a pali- ^ Lechford in his "Plain Dealing," says, "There are five or six townes and Churches upon the River Connecticut where are worthy master Hooker, master Warham, master llewet, and divers others, and master Fenwike, witli the Lady Boteler, at the river's mouth in a faire house, and well fortified, and one master Higgison, a young man, their chaplain. These Plantations have a Patent; the Lady was lately admitted of Master Hooker's Church, and thereupon her child was baptized." -Fenwick "played upon him "a little "with the great guns," which did gar him gang down more fool than he went up. — Cari.yle. Hutchinson places his death in 1^57. There was a Lieu- tenant-colonel Fenwick killed in one of the battles between Conde and Turenne, in Flanders, in 1G58. The action occurred before Dunkirk. Fenwick's last request of Lockliart, the English commander, was to be buried in Dunkirk. — Thurloe, vol. i., p. 156. 448 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. sade drawn across the narrow isthmus, wliicli very high tides overflowed and isolated from tlie main-land. Their corn-tield was two miles distant from the fort, and skulking Pequots were always on the alert to waylay and murder them. Some of the Bay magistrates having sjjoken contemptuously of Indian arrows, Gardiner' sent them the rib of a man in which one, after passing through the bod3%had buried itself so that it could not be withdrawn. Gardiner's manner of dealing with Indians was peculiar. When the ex- pedition against the Pequots was at Saybrook Fort, distrusting Mohegan faith, he resolved to make a trial of it. He therefore called Uncas before him, and said, "You say you will help Major Mason, but I will first see it; thei'e- fore send you now twenty men to the Bass Rivei", for there went yesterniglit six Indians in a canoe thithei'; fetch them now, dead or alive, and then you shall go with Major Mason, else not." So Uncas sent his men, who killed four and captured one, the sixth making his escape. The old burial-ground of Saybrook is neat and well kept. Lady Fen- wick's monument is just within the entrance, concealed by a clump of fir- trees. Not a quarter of the graves have stones, and that part of the ground occupied by the ancients of the village is so mounded and overcrowded that you may not avoid walking upon them. In another spot head-stones jutted above the turf at every variety of angle, and several monuments had cavities, showing where they had been robbed of leaden coats of ai'ms — to run into bullets, perhaps. All are of amjjle dimensions, and on older ones creeping mosses conceal the inscriptions. The variety of color presented by slate, sandstone, or marble upon green is not unpleasing to the eye, yet those reckonings scored ui)on slate shall endure longest. In the Hart iiiclosure repose the aslies of the once beautiful Jeannette M, M. Hart, whose slab bears the symbol of her faith, Slie, the fairest of all tlie sisters, renounced the world and, embracing tlie Homan faith, became a nun. Her remains were brought home from Home, and laid to I'cst with the service of the Church of England, In a little sepai-ate inclosure, whispered to have been consecrated by the rite of Koine, another sister is lying. When Com- modore Hull cruised in the old frigate United States, one of these beautiful girls was on board his ship. She was seen by Bolivar, who fell desperately in love with lu-r at a ball, and bfcame so attentive that the .Vmerican ofiicers believed they were betrothed." Saybrook was also the original site of Yale College, fifteen commence- ' Lion Gardiner became tlie owner of tlic fertile island bearing bis name at tlie oast end of Long I.-lanti. It is seven miles long and a mile broad, witb excellent soil. Some time ago its pecnliar beauty and salubrity caused it to be called the Isle of Wight. Tiic island, I believe, still remains ill the ])ossessioii of the Gardiner family. For many ycais it descended regidaily from father to son by entail. The Indian name was Miinsbongonuc, or " the place of Indian graves." ^ One sister married Commodore Ilidl, as related; another married Hon. Hemau Allen, minis- ter to Ciiili ; and a thiid, Kev. Dr. Jarvis, of St. Paufs, Boston. SAYBROOK. 449 ments having occurred here. The building, which Avas of a single story, stood about midway between fort and palisade. Its removal, in 1718, to New Haven occasioned great excitement, and the library had to be carried awav under the protection of a guard. The Saybrook Platform, so called, Avas adopted here after the commencement of 1T08. Harvard and Yale were in infancy probably not different from those Scotch universities which Dr. John- son said were like a besieged town, where every man had a mouthful, but no man a bellyful. The shores about Saybrook offer little that is noteworthy. On the beach the tide softly laps the incline of sand, that looks like a slab of red freestone, fine-grained and hard. A dry spot flashing beneath your tread, or perhaps a sea-bird circling above your head, attends your loiterings. Look now off upon the Sound, where the golden sunset is flowing over it, gilding the waves, the distant shores, and the sails of passing vessels with beams that in dying are transfused into celestial fires. Idle boats are rocked and caressed on this golden sea. Yonder distant gleam is a light-house, kin- dled with heavenly flame. The world is transfigured, that we may believe in Paradise. Soon yellow flushes into pale crimson, blending with a sapphire sky. Standing on the strand, we are transformed, and seem to quaff* of the elixir of life. Now the violet twilight deepens into sombre shadows. A spark appears in the farther sea. Soon others shine out like glow-worms in your path; while twinkling stars, seen for a moment, disappear, as if they, too, revolved for some more distant shore. The Sound becomes a vague and heav- ing blackness. And now, with gentle murmurings, the rising tide effaces our wayward foot-prints. 29 INDEX. Acadia, New England, included in, 18 ; means taken to people, 25 ; expatriation of the French, 303. Adams, John, resists the pretensions of the French Directory, 378, 392. Aganienticus, called Snadoun Hill, 21 ; landfall ofearly navigators, 120 ; ascent of, 123; mount- ains seen from, 125. Agassiz, Louis, at Mount Desert, 48 ; anecdotes of, and personal appearance, 49. Alden, John, claimed to have first landed on Plymouth Rock, 290 ; tradition of his court- ship, 300, 301. Alexander, William (Earl of Sterling), islands in his patent, 339. Alfonse, Jean, cited, 18; his manuscripts and ac- count of him, 22. AUerton, Isaac, at Marblehead, 236. Appledore Island, 160, 187. Argall, Sir Samuel, his descent at Mount Desert Island, 24, 36. Arnold, Governor Benedict, extract from his will, 371, note. Arnold, General Benedict, 427; anecdote of, 427, 428 ; attacks New London, 428, 429 ; birth- place, 437. Aubert, Thomas, supposed discovery by, 21, 275. Audubon, John James, at Mount Desert, 48. Auvergne, Latour de, in America, 396. Auvergne regiment, 396. B. Badger's Island, 149. Bald Head Cliff (York, Maine), described, llo, IIG; wreck at, 117. Bar Harbor, visit to, 43. Barton, Colonel William, carries off General Pres- cott, 409, 410. Basques, on the New England coast, 125 ; at Newfoundland, 126. Baye Fran9oise, tlie true Frenchman's Bay, 50. Beauchamp, John, mentioned, 60. Beaver Tail (Newport), 357, 381. Beaver, the, former value of, 41, 42. Beebe, Rev. George, at the Shoals, 167. Belfast, Maine, name of, 63, note. Belknap, Jeremy, his account of a sand-ava- lanche, 319. Berkeley, George (Bishop), portrait of, 368 ; at Newport, 384. Bernard, General Simon, Napoleon's estimate of, 378, 379 ; in the United States, 379 ; builds Fortress Monroe and Fort Morgan, 379, note. Biard, Pere, arrives at Port Royal, 35 ; at Mount Desert, 35. Billington, John, executed at Plymouth, 267. Biron, Due de Lauzun, 394. Blauw, or Blaeuv Guillaume, atlas cited, 21. Block Island, 421. See note. Blue-berries, their value in New England, 3D ; humors of the pickers, 120. Blue-fish, singular disappearance of, 344. Blythe, Captain Samuel, killed, 107. Body of Laws, extracts from, 268. Bon Tem^js, order of, 95, 96. Boon Island, \WQck oi t\\Q Nottingham, 172, 173. Boteler, Lady Anne. See Fenwick. Bradford, William, his manuscript history of Plymouth, 268 ; monument at Plymouth, 277; 284, 285, 286, 290, note, 291 ; receives Massa- soit, 293, 294 ; account of Cape Cod, 307. Brevoort, J. Carson, 359, note. Brigadier's Island, ownership and fishery at, 64. Brock, Rev. John, anecdote of, 163. Brodhead, John Romeyn, mentioned, 22, note, 278. Bromfield, Major, kills Colonel Ledyard, 428. Brother Jonntlian, origin of the name, 442, note. Broughton, Nicholas, 251. Brown, Dexter, establishes first stage-coach be- tween Boston and Providence, 411. Brown, Robert, founder of Brownists, 280, note. Brown's Island (Plymouth), disappearance of, 295. Bull, Governor Henry, buritil-place of, 405, note. Bunoughs, George, at Wells, 111. Burrows, Lieutenant William, killed, 107. 452 INDEX. C. Cabot, Sebastian, voyage of, 20. Camden Mountains, approacli to, 62 ; Indian name of, 93. Canonicut Island, visited, 380. See note. Cape Ann, fishery at, 157. Cape Arundel, spouting-horn at, 47. Cape Breton, early knowledge of, 21. Cape Cod, a coup d'ceil of, 304-306 ; early ac- counts of, 307 ; Poutrincourt's fight at, 308 ; ship canal begun from Barnstable to Buzzard's Bay, 311, note ; harbors frozen in 1875, 320 ; changes in its exterior shores, 322, 323. Cape Cod Harbor (I^rovincetown). Cape Neddock, 122. Capuchins, at Pentagoet, 81 ; Napoleon's opinion of, 82. Cartier, Jacques, sails for America, 20 ; manner of taking possession of Canada, 23. Carver, John, supposed burial-place, 276. Carver, Natiianiel, Lord Nelson's generous act to, 271. Castin, the younger, kidnaped, 81 ; returns to France, 81. Castin, Jean Vincent, Baron de, sketch of, 79, 80 ; in the attack on Pemaquid, 98. Castine, approach to, 64, 65 ; views from Fort George, 65 ; seized and fortified by the British, 67 ; besieged, 68, 69 ; Indian name of, 67 ; Fort I'entagoec described, 74; singidar dis- covery of coins at, 74, 75 ; its early history sketched, 76-82 ; old cemetery of, 84. Cedar Island, 160. Chanibly, M. de, made prisoner at Pentagoet, 78. Champernowne, Arthur, 149. Chainpernowne, Francis, 149. Chaini)Iain, Samuel, quoted, 18; title of his map, 22, note ; names Mount Desert, 28 ; voy- age of 1604, 92, 93 ; suggests " L'Ordre de Bon Ten)ps,"95 ; descries Isles of Siioals, 122 ; description of Plymouth Bay, 274, 275 ; at Cape Cod, 308 ; account of Indian fishing, 314. ChanTiing, William EUery, 400, nofp. Charlevoix's account of siege of Fort William Henry, 99. ChastcUux, Marquis, 394. Chilton, Mary, tradition about, 291. Chouacouet. Sec Saco Uiver. Christinas, how ol)served in Plymouth, 292. Cluibb, Pascho, surrenders the fort at Pemai|uid, 9'.l. Cliiucli, C'olonel Benjamin, at Castine, 75, 302, 372. Ciiurch, F. E., anecdote of, 50. Clark, I). Wasgatt, a native of Mount Desert, 49. Clark's Island (Plymouth), 269; sail to, 295; Watson House, 297 ; Election Rock, 297, 298 ; landing of the exploring party, 298. Clinton, Sir Henry, outgeneraled by Washington, 428. Cob-money, specimens found at Castine, 75, note. Cod-fish aristocracy, origin of the appellation, 314. Cod-fishery in the sixteenth century, 156 ; in the seventeenth, 232-236 ; at Provincetown, 313, 314. Coddington, William, sketch of, 360; at Anne Hutchinson's trial, 361 ; decay of his family, 362 ; burial-place of, 405. Coffin, Sir Isaac, founds a school at Nantucket, 341, 342. Coggeshall, John, at Anne Hutchinson's trial, 361 ; monument to, 405. Colbert mentioned, 78, 82. Collins, Captain Gamaliel, 316. Colonial society described, 60. Connecticut River, settlements on, 444, 445, 446. Constitution, frigate, chased into Marblehead, 256. Corey, Giles, pressed to deatli, 227. Corwin, Jonathan, a witch-judge, 223. Cousin, Captain, story of his discovery of Amer- ica, 22. Cradock, Governor Matthew, establisiies fi.sjiing- station at Marblehead, 236. Cranberry, the, growth and culture of, 39, 317. Cranberry Islands, 39. Cromwell, Oliver, his proposed emigration to New England, 446. Cushman, Charlotte, residence at Newport, 375. Cushman, Robert, 277. Cushman, Thomas, 277. Cutts, Ca))tain Joseph, 143. Cutts, Sarah Chauncy, sad story of, 142, 143. Cuttyhunk, first Englisli colony at, 327. See note. D. Damariscotta, oyster-shell hcajis at, visited and described, 100, 101. Daniel, Father, his iiistory mentioned, 23. Dartmouth Indians sold as slaves, 302. D'Anliiay ('harnisay (Charles de Menou), at Pentagoet, 7() ; imbroglio with La Tour, 77 ; his death, 78. Dean, John Ward, 173, note. Deanc, John, 173. Deane, Silas, Mr. Adams's ojjinion of, 431. Decatur, Stephen, blockaded at New London, 432 ; duel with Barron, 433. See note. De Costa, B. F.. mentioned, 22, note. De Monts, efforts of to obtain colonists, 25 ; cedes his privileges in Acadia, 34, 35 ; his INDEX. 453 commission and privileges, 1 53-155 ; descries the Isles of Shoals, 155; in Plymouth Bay, 273, 271, 275. Derraer, Captain Thomas, at Nantucket, 324:. Dcux-Ponts, Count Christian, anecdote of, 395. See note. D'lberville, makes a demonstration against Pem- aquid, 97 ; captures "Fort William Henry, 98. See note. Dighton Rock, inscription attributed to North- men, 3C9, 416, 417, 418. Dorr Rebellion, 365, note. Doty or Doten, Edward, fights a duel, 266, 297, note. Douglass, William, quoted, 23, 24. Down East, an undiscovered countr}'^, 85, 86. Drake, Sir Bernard, manner of liis death, 24. Dreuillettes, Pere Gabriel, at Plymouth, 285. Duck Island, 160, 190. Dummer, Shubael, minister of York, 135. Dumplings, fort on, 358, 380, 381. Dunbar, Colonel David, at Pemaquid, 100. Dutch Island, 380. Du Thet, Gilbert, killed at Jlount Desert, 36. Duxbury, sail to, from Plymouth, 299 ; Cap- tain's Hill and monument, 300 ; historic per- sonages of Duxbury, 300, et seq. Dwight, Timothy, at Newport, 370. E. Ellery, William, his death, 400. Endicott, Governor John, his farm, 218, 255. Estaing, Count de, at Newport, 387 ; guillotined, 388. 67, 68, 69 ; imprisonment and escape of Gen- eral Wadsworth and Major Burton, 70, 71. Fort Griswold, 422. See note ; assault on, 428. 429. See note. Fort M 'Clary, 144. Fortress Monroe, 379. Fort Morgan, Mobile, 379, note. Fort Pentagoet, Castine, described, 73, 74. Fort Point, site of, 63, 66. Fort Sewall, Marblehead, 255. Fort Trumbull, 422. See note, 428. Fort William Henry, Pemaquid, description and importance of, 97 ; captured by Dlberville, 99. Fort Wolcott, 358. See note. Fox, George, at Newport, 403 ; denounces the New England magistrates, 403. See note. Frankland, Sir Charles, romantic marriage of, 256. Franklin, Benjamin, 341. Fremont, General John C, mentioned, 43. Friday not an unlucky day, 26. Funeral customs, ancient, 136. G. Gardiner's Island, 448, note. Gardiner, Lion, at Saybrook, 445, 448. See note. Garrison-houses described, 139, 140. Gay Head, Indian legend of, 349. George III., cause of his insanity, 394. Gerrish's Island, 149. Gerry, Elbridge, 249, 250. Gerrymander, the, origin of, 250, note. Gibson, James, 146. Excommunication in New England churches, Gilbert, Raleigh, with Popham's colony, 93. 280, 281, note. Faunce, Thomas, identifies Plymouth Rock, 289, note. Fenwick, George, 445, 446, 447. Fenwick, Lady, her remarkable monument, 446 ; her story, 447. Fillmore, John, exploit of, 176. Fisher's Island, 420, 422, note. Flucker, Lucy, marries General Knox, 61. Fly, William, the pirate, 177, 178. Forefather's Day, its true date and significance, 290. Fort Adams, 358 ; Fort Day, 377 ; history of the fortress, 377, 378. Fort Constitution, Great Island, New Hampshire, 199, 200. Fort Fenwick, Snybrook, 444, 445. Fort Frederick, Pemaquid, described, 96. Fort George, Castine, described, 06 ; siege of. Gilbert, Sir H., method of taking possession of Newfoundland, 23. Glover, General John, anecdote of, 253; tomb of, 259. Goat Island, Newport, 358. Gorgeana. taing, 388. Howland's Ferry, 413, note. Hull, Commodore Isaac, 443, 444. Hull, General William, mentioned, 56. Humphries, Joshua, re])ort on establishing a dock -yard at Newport, 378. Huntington, General El)en, 438, 439. Huntington, tJeneial Jedidiaii, 438. Huntington, Governor Samuel, 439. Hutchinson, Anne, her trial and banishment, 361, 362. Ireson, Benjamin (called Flood), of Marblehead, story of, 253, 254. Isle an Haut, named, 29. Isle Nauset, total disappearance of, 322. Isle of Rhodes. Sre Rhode Island. Isles of Shoals, De Monts sees them, 155; de- scribed by Smith and Levett, 155, 156; advan- tages for fishery, 157 ; sail from Portsmouth, 158; isles descril)ed, 160, spc note; their name, 161 ; general aspect of, 162; Star Island ram- bles, 162, et scq. ; semi-l)arbarous condition of ancient Gosport, 164, 165; bmial-grounds, 166, 167 ; caverns and cliffs, 168, 169, 170; Miss Un- derhill's chair, 170, 171 ; mountains seen off the coast, 172, note; dun-fish, 174; Smutty Nose, 175 ; piracy in colonial time, 176-179 ; Black- beard, 178 ; Thomas Morton, Gent., 180, 181 ; Samuel Haley, 183; the Spanish wreck, 184; Wagnei', the murderer, 185, 186 ; Appledore, 186-190; Duck Island, 190; Londoner's, 191 ; White Island Light, 192. Jackson, Andrew, 151. Jeffrey's Ledge, 161. Jesuits, persecutions by, 82 ; intrigues of, 82, 83. Jones, Margaret, executed as a witch, 210. Jourdan, Jean Baptiste, Marshal of France, at Newport, 388. Judson, Adoniram, 277. Kadesquit, probably Kenduskeag, 35. Kalb, Baron de, in New England on a secret mission, 387. Kennebec River, discovery and name, 92. King, Charles Bird, 368. " Kittery Point, named, 141, note ; the Cutts House, 142; Fort M 'Clary, 144 ; the Pepper- ells, 144, et seq.; Pepperell tomb, 147; Ger- risli's Island, 149 ; other islands, 149 ; John Langdon, 150, 151. Knox, Gener^nl Henry, connection with Waldo patent, 61 ; involves General Lincoln, 62. Lafayette, 390 ; at Newport, 391. Laighton, Thomas B., 192. Langdon, Joini, anecdotes of, 150, 151, 200, note. La I'eyrouse in America, 71. La Tour, Aglate, sells the seigniory of Acadia, 78. La ToiH", Chevalier, mentioned, 76 ; troubles with D'Anlnay, 77, 78. Lawrence, Cajjtain James, death of, 257. Lee, General Charles, at Newport, 35(), note, 404. I^ee, (^olonel Jeremiah, sketcli of, 245. Lee, John, 247. Loe, William Raymond, 247. Lcfiingwcll, Thomas, relieves Uncas, 436. Leonard Forge, Taunton, 419. Lcscarbot, Marc, his criticism of Alfonse, 18 ; (juoted, 58. Levett, Christopher, mentioned, 96 ; describes Agamentictis, 131 ; at Isles of Shoals, 155, 156, 161 ; notice of Plymouth, 273. Leverett, John, a Muscongus patentee, 60 ; at Pentagoet, 78. INDEX. 455 Lincoln, General Benjamin, sketch of, 61. Livevmore, Samuel, attempts to shoot Captain Broke, 257. Lobsters, process of canning for market, 84; facts about, 85. Longfellow, Hon. Stephen, 71. Long Island Sound, 421. Londoner's Island, 160, 191. Louis XIV. marries De Maintenon, 82 ; opinion of La Salle's discoveries, 83. Lovell, Solomon, commands in Penobscot expe- dition, 68 ; retreats, 69. M. Mackerel, habits of, 91. Macy, Thomas, settles at Nantucket, 339. •'Magnalia," Mather's, Southey's opinion of, 93. Maine, sea-coast of, 17, 18; embraces Norum- bega, Mavoshen, 18 ; other names applied to her territory, 18 ; French occupation of, 18 ; her enterprise and products, 60 ; part of Mas- sachusetts, 68. Maintenon, Madame de, intrigue with the Jesu- its, 82, 83. Malaga Island, 160. Malbone, Colonel Godfrey, 408, 409. Malbone, Edward G., 409. Mananas Island, 104. Manly, John, 251, 252. Mansell, Sir Robert, mentioned, 34. Marblehead, its conformation and topography, 228, 229, 2,30, 231 ; Lafayette there, 229 ; isl- ands off the port, 231 ; tlie Neck, 231 ; annals and decay of the cod-lishery, 232, 233, 234, 235; early settlement, 236, 241, 242; de- scribed, 238, 239, 240, 241 ; character of early fishermen, 243; Goelet's account, 243; Lee Mansion, 245, 246; St. Michael's, 248; the old sea-lions, 251, 252 ; the dialect, 254 ; Fort Sewall, 255 ; Chesapeake and Shannon, 256, 257 ; old burial - ground, 258 ; perils of the fishery, 259, 260. Marriage, first, in New England, 285. Mashope, legend of, 349. Mason, Captain John, 201. Mason, John, attacks the Pequot stronghold, 429, note, 430. Massachusetts Ba}', alleged discovery of, 18, 22. Massachusetts Historical Society, motive of its founding, 147. Massasoit, entry into Plymouth, 293, 294. Masse, Enemond, at Mount Desert, 35. .Mavoshen, Maine, so styled, 18. Mayhew, Thomas, purchases Nantucket, 339 ; owns Martini's Vineyard and Elizabeth Isl- ands, 340. May-pole, ancient custom of, 182. M'Clary, Andrew, 144. M'Lean, (Colonel Francis, seizes and fortifies Castine, 67. Mercator, atlas of, cited, 21. Miantonimo makes war on Uncas, 435 ; is killed. 436. Miantonimo Hill, 407, 408. Mohegan Indians, 436, 437. Mon began Island, probably seen and named in 1604, 92, 102 ; early knowledge of, 102 ; de- scribed, 104 ; inscription at, 106 ; naval battle near, 106, 107, 324. Moody, Joseph, Handkerchief, 135. Moody, Rev. Samuel, anecdote of, 135 ; epitaph, 136. Moore, Sir John, at Castine, 67 ; Napoleon's opinion of, 68. Morse, Rev. Jedediah, at the Shoals, 164 ; de- scribes curing fish, 174. Morse, S. F. B., paints Landing of Pilgrims, 264. Morton, Thomas, his banishment, 180, 181. Mount Desert Island, discovered and named, 28 ; Champlain's description of, 29 ; mountain ranges, 29-32 ; approach from Ellsworth, 31 ; first settlers, 33 ; road to South-west Harbor, 33, 34 ; French colony on, 34,35,36; shell- heaps at, 37; neighborhood of South-west Harbor, 38, 39 ; islands oft" Somes's Sound, 39; Christmas on, 40, et seq. ; route to Bar Harbor, 41, 42 ; island nomenclature, 42 ; isl- ands oft' Bar Harbor, 43 ; shore rambles to Schooner Head and Great Head, 43-48 ; nat- uralists and artists who have visited, 48-50; excursion to Otter Creek and North-east Har- bor, 53, 54 ; the Ovens, etc., 55, 56. Mount Desert Rock, 53. Mount Hope, 414, 415, 416. Mugford, Captain James, 252, 253, 259. Muscongus patent, history of, 60, 61. N. Nantucket, its early discovery, 324 ; name, 325. 341 ; .voyage to, 326, 327 ; the town described, 328, 329, 330; whales, ships, and whaling, 331-334 ; Nantucket in the Revolution, 335 ; cruising for whales, 335 ; the camels, 336 : whaling annals, 336, 337 ; white settlement of the island, 339, 340, 341 ; Coffin school and Admir.al Sir Isaac Coffin, 342 ; black-fishing, 343, 344 ; blue-fisiiing at the Opening, 344, 345, 346 ; Coatue, 347 ; Indian legends, 349 ; Indian absolutism, 350; wasting of the shores, 350 ; Siasconset, 351, 352 ; the great South Shoal, 353; Sankoty Head, 854; Surfside, 354. 456 INDEX. Narraganset Bay, Verrazani's supposed sojourn in, 359. Nautican or Nauticon. See Nantucket. Nelson, Horatio, Lord, chivalric conduct of, 395. See note ; death-scene of, 433. Nelson, John, important services of, 98. Newcastle, 190, et seq. ; the Pool, 197 ; old char- ter and records, 198, 199 ; Little Harbor, 200. New England of ancient writers, 17-27 ; early names of, 18, 19 ; first called New England, 20 ; attempts to colonize, 24 ; quality of emi- gration to, 25 ; patents of, 133 : supposed visit of Northmen, 369, note. Newfoundland, English occupation of, 23 ; seiz- ures of Portuguese at, 24 ; Basques at, 126 ; fisheries of, 156. New France, New England included in, 20, 21. New London, sail up the Thames, 422 ; the town and its beginnings, 422, 423 ; light-houses and light-ships, 423, 424 ; Hempstead House, 425 ; Court - house, 424 ; old burial-ground, 426 ; the harbor, 426 ; Arnold's descent, 428, 429. Newport Artillery, 363, 364. Newport, the old town, 356, et seq. ; its climate, 357 ; approach from sea, 357, 358 ; its com- merce, 359 ; street rambles, 359-372 ; City Hall, 360 ; Coddington's Cove, 302 ; the Wan- tons, 362, 363 ; State House, 363, 364 ; Jews' cemetery, 305, 360, 367 ; Redwood Library, 367, 308 ; Old Stone Mill, 369, 370, 371, 372; Cliff Walk, 373, et seq. ; Forty Steps, 374 ; cottage life at the sea-side, 375 ; Lily Pond, Spouting Ivock, and Brenton's Reef, 370 ; Fort Adams and Fort Day, 377, 378, 379 ; Napo- leon's engineer, 378, 379 ; Dumplings, 380 ; Hessians, 381; the drives, 381,382; the beach- es and Purgatory, 382, 383 ; Hanging Rock and Whitehall, 384 ; the French occupation, 386, et seq.; French di]iloniacy, 387 ; attack of D'Estaing, 387, .388 ; celebrities of the French army and navy, 388-397 ; Riiode Island cem- etery, 398, et seq.; Qiiidxcr aimals, 401, et seq.; other burial-jilaces, 405, 400. Noailles, Viscount de, 391, 392. Norembegue. See Norumbega. North, Lord, how he received the news of Coni- wallis's surrender, 393. Northmen, su))p()sed voyage to New England, .309, note. Norton, Francis, settles at Agamenticus, 131. Norumliega, river and country of, 18, 19, 21 ; ex- plored !)y ('liam])lain. 28. Nonvich, ajjproach to, 434 ; the Moliegnns, 435, 430, 437; the town, 439, 440, 441. Nubble, Tlic, not Savage Rock, 120. Nurse, Rebecca, executed for witciicraft, 213, 224, 226. O. Oak Bluffs, cottage city at, 375. Odiorne's Point, first settlement of New Hamp- shire at, 200. Ogunquit described, 114, 115. Old Colony, seal of, 207. Oldham, John, his ingenious punishment at Plym- outh, 280, 287 ; killed, 421. Old South Church, Boston, New England, library in, plundered, 208. Old Stone Mill, Newport, 369, 370, 371, 372. Orleans, ancient wreck discovered at, 322. Ortelius, map of, 19, 20. Otis, James, at Plymouth, 288. Paddock, Ichabod, teaches Nantucket men how to take whales, 315. Parris, Samuel, witch-finders at his house, 213 ; his minutes of examination, 224. Peabody, George, 218. Pease, Samuel, fight with pirates, 176. Pemaquid Point, visit to, 87, et seq.; British de- scent at, repulsed, 89 ; porgee fishery at, 89, 90 ; early history, 92-101 ; Weymouth, at, 92 ; Fort Frederick, at, 96, 97 ; other fortifications, 97 : Fort William Henry, at, captured, 99 ; ancient settlement at, 100 ; Indians kidnaped by Wey- mouth, 105. Pemetiq. See Mount Desert. Pentagoet, meaning of the name, 19, note ; on Blauw's map, 21; how settled, 25. See Cas- tine. Penobscot Bay and River, Chamjjlain's accoimt of, 18, 19; called I'emetegoit, 19: meaning of name, 19, note ; called Pembrock's Bay, 21 ; Smith's account of, 24 ; approach to in a fog, 58. 59 ; described, 63, 04. Penobscot Expedition, history of. 68, 09. Pe]>perell, Andrew, his affair with Hannah Wal- do, 01. IVjiiierell, Sir William, 01 ; sketch and residence of, 144-147 ; portrait of, 145, 140 ; his tomb, 147 ; Pejjperell William, Sen., 188. Perry, Oliver Hazard, 303 ; monument to, 401, 404. Peters. Hugh, 445. Philip, King, 349; seatat Mount Hope, 414 ; his cajjtnre, 41(!. Phips, Sir William, builds Fort William Henry, 97 ; his connection with witchcraft, 210 ; ac- cusation of his wife, 214. Pigot, Sir Robert, defends Newport, 387. Pilgrims, the, not strictly Puritans, 280; their church, 280, 281, 282 ; land at Cape Cod, 307. INDEX. 457 Pillory, one described, 365. Fiscataqua, capture proposed, 80 ; sail down, 159 ; Earl Bellomont's opinion of, 197. Plymouth Bay, 268, 274, 275. Plymouth Beach, 269. Plymouth, on Smith's map, 21 ; establishes a trading-house at Castine, 76 ; dispossessed, 76, 77 ; the colony patents, 133 ; Plymouth de- scribed, 262 ; Pilgrim memorials, 263-267 ; pictures of the "Landing," 264; first duel at Plymouth, 266 ; the colony seal, 267 ; the compact, 267; first execution, 267; Pilgrim laws and chronicles, 268 ; Burial Hill, 268, 276, 277, 278, 279; the harbor, 268, 269; names of the settlement, 270 ; why it was chosen, 271 ; desolated by a plague, 272, 273 ; French make the first landing, 274, 275 ; oth- er settlements called Plymouth, 276 ; Pilgrims' first church, 278 ; church customs, 279, 280 ; Leyden Street, 283, et seq.; the town in 1627, 284; Governor Bradford's, 286 ; Allyne House, 287 ; Cole's Hill, 288 ; Plymouth Kock, 289 ; the Landing, 290, 291 ; Samoset, 292 ; entry of Massasoit, 293, 294 ; Clark's Island, 295, et seq. See article, Clark's Island, Plymouth Beach, 296. Plymouth, England, 270. Plum Island, 421. Point Judith, 357. See note. Point of Graves, 196, 202. Poore, Ben Perley, mentioned, 22, note. Popham, Chief-justice, eftbrts to colonize New England, 93, 94. Popham, George, leader of the colony at the Kennebec, 93 ; death, 93. Popular superstitions, some enumerated, 114. Porcupine Islands, 43. Port Royal settled, 95. Port St. Louis. See Plymouth, 275. Pound, Thomas, a pirate, 176. Poutrincourt, Biencourt, arrives at Port Royal, 35. Poutrincourt, Jean de, receives Port Royal from De Monts, 34 ; his fight with natives at Cape Cod, 308. Pownall, Thomas, builds a fort on the Penob- scot, 66. Prior, IMatthew, allowed roast beef in Lent, 314. Provincetown, described, 309-312: Town Hill, 311 ; cape names, 312 ; Portuguese colony at, 312, 313 ; fishery of, 313, et seq. ; whaling from, 315 ; the desert, 316 ; cranberry culture, 317; walk to Race Point, 316, et seq.; the sand-avalanche, 319 ; huts of refuge, Herring Cove, 319 ; the terrible winter of 1874-'7;'), 320 ; disasters on the ocean side, 321. 322. Prudence Island. 380. I'urchas, Samuel, quoted, 24. Purgatory Bluff, 383. Puritans distinguished from Separatists, 280. Putnam, General Israel, birthplace of, 217; la- conic letter to Governor Try on, 218. Q. Quakers as sailors, 339. See note, 401, et seq. ; persecution in New England, 402, 4:03 ; burial customs, 404. Quincy, Dorothy (Madam Hancock), 205. Quincy, Josiah, 406. Quincy, Judith, 357. R. Race Point, 311, 819. Ramusio, Giambetta, map cited, 21. Rasieres, Isaac de, at Plymouth, 278, 283. Razilly, Isaac de, commands in Acadia, 77. Redwood, Abraham, 367, 368. See note. Redwood Library, Newport, 368. -See note. Revere, Paul, in Penobscot expedition, 68. Rhode Island, island of, 407, et seq. ; Tonomy Hill, 107 ; the Glen, 408 ; Prescott's capture, 409, 410 ; Talbot's feat, 410, 411 ; early stages, 411; Lawton's Valley, 412; early settlement of, 413, 414 ; Revolutionary earthworks and history, 413, 414. Richmond's Island, 869, note. Rochainbeau, Count, proposes the capture of Penobscot. 71 : at Newport, 388, 389, 890, 391. Rockland, brief sketch of, 59, 60. Saco Beach, superstition relative to, 114. Saco River, on Biauw's map, 21 ; Richard Vines at, 133 ; De :Monts there, 154. Salem in 1692, 220, 222 ; old witch house, 223 ; Witch Hill, 225 ; hanging the condemned witches at, 226; formation of church at, 281. Salem Village, witchcraft at, 208, et seq. ; the Witch Ground, 213 ; names of the witch-find- ers, 213, note ; their motives and power, 214 ; humors of witchcraft, 215, 216. Salmon, disappearance of, 64. Saltonstall, Ca|)tain, commands in Penobscot ex- pedition, 68 ; disagreement witli General Lov- ell, 69. Samoset, sagamore of Pemaquid, 96, 264 ; at Plymouth, 292, 293. Sandeyn, Arthur, 256. Sankoty Head, 854. Sargent, Henry, paints "Landing of Pilgrims," 264. Sassafras, its medicinal virtues, 126. Savage Rock, probably at Cape Ann, 120, 121. 458 INDEX. Say, Lord, proposes to emigrate to Xew England, 446. Savbrook, 441, e< seq.; Hart mansion, 443 ; old fortress at the Point, 444 ; settled, 44,5 : Crom- well's proposed emigration to, 446 ; old burial- place, 446, 447, 448. Scallop-shell, its historical significance, 348. Schooner Head, a visit to, 46. Seabiiry, Samuel, Bishop, 425. 426. See note. Sedgwick, Robert, at Fentagoet and Jamaica, 78. Selman, John, 251. Sewall, Samuel, recants his belief in witchcraft, 225. Sewall, David, 136. Sheaife, Jacob, 151. Sherburne. See Nantncket. Shipwrecks: the Isidore, 117, et seq.; on Smut- ty Nose, 184; the Nottingham, 172, 173; at Cape Cod, 272; the General Arnold, 296; the James Romviell, 320, 321 ; the Giovanni, 321, 322; J^ssez, of Nantucket, 337. Siasconset, Nantucket Island, visited, 350, 351, 352. Siddons, Sarah, anecdote of, 376. Smibert, John, at Newport, 384, 385. See note. Smith, Captain David, 316, note. Smith, John, names New England, 20 ; his map, 21 ; mentions Monhegan, 104 ; monument. Star Island, 167 ; Appledore, 189 ; account of Cape Cod, 307. Smutty Nose Island, 160, 175, 182. Somes's Sound, 31, et passim. Somesville, Mount Desert, 30; first settlers of, 33. Southack, Cyprian, his chart, 308. Southworth, Alice (Carpenter), 284, 285. Sparhawk, Harriet Hirst, 147. Sparhawk, William (re])perell), 147. Standish, Miles, his sword, 266 ; residence, 300 ; sketch of, 301. Star Island, 160, 162, et seq. Stephens, Kev. Josiai). epitajjh of, 166. Steuben, Baron, arrival at Portsmouth, 207. Stevens, General Isaac Ingalis, 401. Stiles, Dr. Ezra, at Newport, 304, 368. Story, Elisha, 248. Story, Jose])h, birtli))lace of, 248. Stoughtfin, William, 225. Strafiord, Earl of, 204. Stuart, Gilbert, anecdote of, 406. Sullivan, John, 200, note ; fights a battle on Rhode Island, 41t). See note. Surriage, Agnes, marries a baronet, 256. Talbot, Silas, brilliant acliievement of, 410, 411. Tarrantines, their country, 19, 24. Taunton River, 414, 415, 416, 417. Temple, Sir Thomas, renders Fort Pentagoet, 74, 78. TeiTiay, ^I. de, Admiral, dies at Newport, 391. Thatcher, James, 264, note. Thaxter, Celia Laighton, 192. Thevet, Andre, cited, 19, note. Thomaston, Maine, named, 60, note. Thompson, David, at Little Harbor, 201. Totten, General Joseph Gilbert, builds Fort Ad- ams, 378 ; relations with General Simon Ber- nard, 379. Touro, Abraham, 366, note, 367. Touro, Judah, 367, note. Trevett, Samuel, 253. Truro, Provincetown part of, 309. Tucke, Rev. John, 163, 166, 167. Tucker, Samuel, 252. Tuckanuck Island, 344. See note. U. Uncas, fights and conquers Miantonimo, 435 ; slays him, 436 ; burial-place, 436 ; frieudshij) for the English, 437. See note. Underbill, Nancy J., death at Star Island, 170, 171. Vane, Henry, procures a pass for New England, 94,413. Vaughan, Colonel William, 146. Verrazani, Juan, his voyage, 20 ; gives New En- gland a Christian name, 20. Vines, Richard, in New England, 133, 272. Vinton, Rev. Francis, burial-place of, 401. W. Wadsworth, Peleg, in Penobscot expedition, 68 ; kidnaped, 69 ; escapes from Fort George, 70, 71. Wagner, Louis, 138, 185, 186. Waldo, Hannah, marries Thomas Flucker, 61. Waldo patent. -See Muscongus patent. Waldo, Samuel, sketch of, 61. Wanton, Joseph, his personal appearance, 363, see note ; portrait of, 368 ; arrested, 405. Warren, James, originates a Revolutionary junto, 288. Warren, Mercy, her history of the Revolution. 288. Washing-day in New England, inaugurated, 307. Washington, George, at Kittery, 151 ; at Mar- blehead, 247; disapproves the occupation of Newport by Rochambeau, 389 ; at Newport, 391. INDEX. 459 Watch Hill, Rhode Island, 420. -See note. Webster, Daniel, residence and burial-place, 302. Wells, Maine, walks in, 110 ; beach rambles, 111, 112, 113. Wentworth, Benning, his mansion, Little Harbor, 203, et seq. Wentworth, Frances Deering, 206, 207. Wentworth, Hon. John, 202. Wentworth, John, 202. Wentworth, Sir John, sketch of, 206, 207. Wentworth, Colonel Michael, 206, note. Wentworth, Samuel, 202. Wentworth, Reginald, 201. Weymouth, Captain George. *See note, 76 ; ac- counts of his voyage, 92 ; at Monhegan Isl- and, 104, 105. Whale-fisheiy in New England, originates at Cape Cod, 315 ; of Nantucket, 331, et seq. Wheelwright, John, sketch of him, 110. White Island, 160, 192. Whitefield, George, 147. Williams, Roger, residence of, 222 ; on Quakers, 404, 413. Winslow, General John, 303. Winthrop, John, Jun., 422, 423, note. Witchcraft. *?ee Salem Village. Wood End, 311. Wyllys, Samuel, buys Plum Island, 421. Yale College, founded at Saybrook, 448, 449. Yankee, disappearance of the, 442. York, called Boston, 21 ; Cape Neddock, 122 ; Y'ork Beach, 127 ; York Harbor, 130 ; histor- ical re'sume, 131 ; indifferent leputation of, 132 ; meeting-house, first parish, 134 ; old jail. 136; Woodbridge's tavern, 138; Cider Hill, 138; garrison-house, 139, 140 ; Sewall's bridge, 141. 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Gardner Wilkinson, D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. Illus- trated with 500 Woodcuts. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50. KINGSLEY'S WEST INDIES. The West Indies. At Last: A Christmas in the ^^'est Indies. By the Rev. Charles KiMGSi.EY. Illustrated. l'2mo, Cloth, fl 50. BURTON'S CITY OF THE SAINTS. The City of the Saints : and Across the Rocky Moiintaius t(* California. By Captain Richard F. Burton, Fellow and Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographical Soci- eties of France and England, H.M.'s Cousid in West Africa. With Maps and numerous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $3 50. BURTON'S LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AF- RICA. The Lake Regions of Central Africa. A Picture of Exploration. By Riohaud F. Birion. Captain H.M.'s Indian Army, Fellow and Gold Med- alist of the Royal Geographical Society. With Maps and Engravings on Wood. Svo, Cloth, $3 50. HAVEN'S MEXICO. Mexico. Our Next-Door Neigh- bor. By the Rev. Gilhkrt Haven, D.D., Bishop in the M. E. Church. With Maps and Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth, *3 50. 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