"--His daughter, and the heir of his kingdom,
--hath referred herself
Unto a poor but worthy gentleman:--"
Cymbeline.
When Alderman Van Beverout and Ludlow drew near to the Lust in Rust, it
was already dark. Night had overtaken them, at some distance from the
place of landing; and the mountain already threw its shadow across the
river, the narrow strip of land that separated it from the sea, and far
upon the ocean itself. Neither had an opportunity of making his
observations on the condition of things in and about the villa, until they
had ascended nearly to its level, and had even entered the narrow but
fragrant lawn in its front. Just before they arrived at the gate which
opened on the latter, the Alderman paused, and addressed his companion,
with more of the manner of their ancient confidence, than he had
manifested during the few preceding days of their intercourse.
"You must have observed, that the events of this little excursion on the
water, have been rather of a domestic than of a public character;" he
said. "Thy father was a very ancient and much-esteemed friend of mine, and
I am far from certain that there is not some affinity between us, in the
way of intermarriages. Thy worthy mother, who is a thrifty woman, and a
small talker, had some of the blood of my own stock. It would grieve me to
see the good understanding, which these recollections have created, in any
manner interrupted. I admit, Sir, that revenue is to the state what the
soul is to the body--the moving and governing principle; and that, as the
last would be a tenantless house without its inhabitants, so the first
would be an exacting and troublesome master without its proper products.
But there is no need of pushing a principle to extremities! If this
brigantine be, as you appear to suspect, and indeed as we have some reason
from various causes to infer, the vessel called the Water-Witch she might
have been a legal prize had she fallen into your power; bait now that she
has escaped, I cannot say what may be your intentions; but were thy
excellent father, the worthy member of the King's Council, living, so
discreet a man would think much before he opened his lips, to say more
than is discreet, on this or any other subject."
"Whatever course I may believe my duty dictates, you may safely rely on my
discretion concerning the--the remarkable--the very decided step which
your niece has seen proper to take;" returned the young man, who did not
make this allusion to Alida without betraying, by the tremor of his voice,
how great was her influence still over him. "I see no necessity of
violating the domestic feelings to which you allude, by aiding to feed the
ears of the idly curious, with the narrative of her errors."
Ludlow stopped suddenly, leaving the uncle to infer what he would wish to
add.
"This is generous, and manly, and like a loyal--lover, Captain Ludlow,"
returned the Alderman; "though it is not exactly what I intended to
suggest. We will not, however, multiply words in the night air--ha! when
the cat is asleep, the mice are seen to play! Those night-riding,
horse-racing blacks have taken possession of Alida's pavilion; and we may
be thankful the poor girl's rooms are not as large as Harlaem Common, or
we should hear the feet of some hard-driven beast galloping about in
them."
The Alderman, in his turn, cut short his speech, and started as if one of
the spukes of the colony had suddenly presented itself to his eyes. His
language had drawn the look of his companion towards la Cour des Fées; and
Ludlow had, at the same moment as the uncle, caught an unequivocal view of
la belle Barbérie, as she moved before the open window of her apartment.
The latter was about to rush forward, but the hand of Myndert arrested the
impetuous movement.
"Here is more matter for our wits, than our legs;" observed the cool and
prudent burgher. "That was the form of my ward and niece, or the daughter
of old Etienne Barbérie has a double.--Francis! didst thou not see the
image of a woman at the window of the pavilion, or are we deceived by our
wishes? I have sometimes been deluded in an unaccountable manner, Captain
Ludlow, when my mind has been thoroughly set on the bargain, in the
quality of the goods; for the most liberal of us all are subject to mental
weakness of this nature, when hope is alive!"
"Certainement, oui!" exclaimed the eager valet "Quel malheur to be obligé
to go on la mèr, when Mam'selle Alide nevair quit la maison! J'étais sûr,
que nous nous trompions, car jamais la famille de Barbérie love to be
marins!"
"Enough, good Francis; the family of Barbérie is as earthy as a fox. Go
and notify the idle rogues in my kitchen, that their master is at hand;
and remember, that there is no necessity for speaking of all the wonders
we have seen on the great deep. Captain Ludlow, we will now join my
dutiful niece, with as little fracas as possible."
Ludlow eagerly accepted the invitation, and instantly followed the
dogmatical and seemingly unmoved Alderman towards the dwelling. As the
lawn was crossed, they involuntarily paused, a moment, to look in at the
open windows of the pavilion.
La belle Barbérie had ornamented la Cour des Fées, with a portion of that
national taste, which she inherited from her father. The heavy
magnificence that distinguished the reign of Louis XIV. had scarcely
descended to one of the middling rank of Monsieur de Barbérie, who had
consequently brought with him to the place of his exile, merely those
tasteful usages which appear almost exclusively the property of the people
from whom he had sprung, without the encumbrance and cost of the more
pretending fashions of the period. These usages had become blended with
the more domestic and comfortable habits of English, or what is nearly the
same thing, of American life--an union which, when it is found, perhaps
produces the most just and happy medium of the useful and the agreeable.
Alida was seated by a small table of mahogany, deeply absorbed in the
contents of a little volume that lay before her. By her side stood a
tea-service, the cups and the vessels of which were of the diminutive size
then used, though exquisitely wrought, and of the most beautiful material.
Her dress was a negligee suited to her years; and her whole figure
breathed that air of comfort, mingled with grace, which seems to be the
proper quality of the sex, and which renders the privacy of an elegant
woman so attractive and peculiar. Her mind was intent on the book, and the
little silver urn hissed at her elbow, apparently unheeded.
"This is the picture I have loved to draw," half-whispered Ludlow, "when
gales and storms have kept me on the deck, throughout many a dreary and
tempestuous night! When body and mind have been impatient of fatigue, this
is the repose I have most coveted, and for which I have even dared to
hope!"
"The China trade will come to something, in time and you are an excellent
judge of comfort, Master Ludlow;" returned the Alderman. "That girl now
has a warm glow on her cheek, which would seem to swear she never faced a
breeze in her life; and it is not easy to fancy, that one who looks so
comfortable has lately been frolicking among the dolphins.--Let us enter."
Alderman Van Beverout was not accustomed to use much ceremony in his
visits to his niece. Without appearing to think any announcement
necessary, therefore, the dogmatical burgher coolly opened a door, and
ushered his companion into the pavilion.
If the meeting between la belle Alida and her guests was distinguished by
the affected indifference of the latter, their seeming ease was quite
equalled by that of the lady. She laid aside her book, with a calmness
that might have been expected had they parted but an hour before, and
which sufficiently assured both Ludlow and her uncle that their return was
known and their presence expected. She simply arose at their entrance, and
with a smile that betokened breeding, rather than feeling, she requested
them to be seated. The composure of his niece had the effect to throw the
Alderman into a brown study, while the young sailor scarcely knew which to
admire the most, the exceeding loveliness of a woman who was always so
beautiful, or her admirable self-possession in a scene that most others
would have found sufficiently embarrassing. Alida, herself, appeared to
feel no necessity for any explanation; for, when her guests were seated,
she took occasion to say, while busied in pouring out the tea--
"You find me prepared to offer the refreshment of a cup of delicious
bohea. I think, my uncle calls it the tea of the Caernarvon Castle."
"A lucky ship, both in her passages and her wares! Yes, it is the article
you name; and I can recommend it to all who wish to purchase. But niece of
mine, will you condescend to acquaint this commander in Her Majesty's
service, and a poor Alderman of her good city of New-York, how long you
may have been expecting our company?"
Alida felt at her girdle, and, drawing out a small and richly-ornamented
watch, she coolly examined its hands, as if to learn the hour.
"We are nine. I think it was past the turn of the day, when Dinah first
mentioned that this pleasure might be expected. But, I should also tell
you, that packages which seem to contain letters have arrived from town."
This was giving a new and sudden direction to the thoughts of the
Alderman. He had refrained from entering on those explanations which the
circumstances seemed to require, because he well knew that he stood on
dangerous ground, and that more might be said than he wished his companion
to hear, no less than from amazement at the composure of his ward. He was
not sorry, therefore, to have an excuse to delay his inquiries, that
appeared so much in character as that of reading the communications of his
business correspondents. Swallowing the contents of the tiny cup he held,
at a gulp, the eager merchant seized the packet that Alida now offered;
and, muttering a few words of apology to Ludlow, he left the pavilion.
Until now, the commander of the Coquette had not spoken. Wonder, mingled
with indignation, sealed his mouth, though he had endeavored to penetrate
the veil which Alida had drawn around her conduct and motives, by a
diligent use of his eyes. During the first few moments of the interview,
he thought that he could detect, in the midst of her studied calmness, a
melancholy smile struggling around her beautiful mouth; but only once had
their looks met, as she turned her full, rich, and dark eyes furtively on
his face, as if she were curious to know the effect produced by her manner
on the mind of the young sailor.
"Have the enemies of the Queen reason to regret the cruise of the
Coquette?" said la Belle, hurriedly, when she found her glance detected;
"or have they dreaded to encounter a prowess that has already proved their
inferiority?"
"Fear, or prudence, or perhaps I might say conscience, has made them
wary;" returned Ludlow, pointedly emphasizing the latter word. "We have
run from the Hook to the edge of the Grand Bank, and returned without
success."
"'Tis unlucky. But, though the French escaped, have none of the lawless
met with punishment? There is a rumor among the slaves, that the
brigantine which visited us is an object of suspicion to the Government?"
"Suspicion!--But I may apply to la belle Barbérie, to know whether the
character her commander has obtained be merited?"
Alida smiled, and, her admirer thought, sweetly as ever.
"It would be a sign of extraordinary complaisance, were Captain Ludlow to
apply to the girls of the colony for instruction in his duty! We may be
secret encouragers of the contraband, but surely we are not to be
suspected of any greater familiarity with their movements. These hints may
compel me to abandon the pleasures of the Lust in Rust, and to seek air
and health in some less exposed situation. Happily the banks of the Hudson
offer many, that one need be fastidious indeed to reject."
"Among which you count the Manor House of Kinderhook?"
Again Alida smiled, and Ludlow thought it was triumphantly.
"The dwelling of Oloff Van Staats is said to be commodious, and not badly
placed. I have seen it,------"
"In your images of the future?" said the young man, observing she
hesitated.
Alida laughed downright. But, immediately recovering her self-command, she
replied--
"Not so fancifully. My knowledge of the beauties of the house of Mr. Van
Staats, is confined to very unpoetical glimpses from the river, in passing
and repassing. The chimneys are twisted in the most approved style of the
Dutch Brabant, and, although wanting the stork's nests on their summits,
it seems as if there might be that woman's tempter, comfort, around the
hearths beneath. The offices, too, have an enticing air, for a thrifty
housewife!"
"Which office, in compliment to the worthy Patroon, you intend shall not
long be vacant?"
Alida was playing with a spoon, curiously wrought to represent the stem
and leaves of a tea-plant. She started, dropped the implement, and raised
her eyes to the face of her companion. The look was steady, and not
without an interest in the evident concern betrayed by the young man.
"It will never be filled by me, Ludlow;" was the answer, uttered solemnly,
and with a decision that denoted a resolution fixed.
"That declaration removes a mountain!--Oh! Alida, if you could as
easily------"
"Hush!" whispered the other, rising and standing for a moment in an
attitude of intense expectation. Her eye became brighter, and the bloom on
her cheek even deeper than before, while pleasure and hope were both
strongly depicted on her beautiful face--"Hush!" she continued, motioning
to Ludlow to repress his feelings. "Did you hear nothing?"
The disappointed and yet admiring young man was silent, though he watched
her singularly interesting air, and lovely features, with all the
intenseness that seemed to characterize her own deportment. As no sound
followed that which Alida had heard or fancied she had heard, she resumed
her seat, and appeared to lend her attention once more to her companion.
"You were speaking of mountains?" she said, scarce knowing what she
uttered. "The passage between the bays of Newburgh and Tappan, has scarce
a rival, as I have heard from travelled men."
"I was indeed speaking of a mountain, but it was of one that weighs me to
the earth. Your inexplicable conduct and cruel indifference have heaped it
on my feelings, Alida. You have said that there is no hope for Oloff Van
Staats; and one syllable, spoken with your native ingenuousness and
sincerity, has had the effect to blow all my apprehensions from that
quarter to the winds. There remains only to account for your absence, to
resume the whole of your power over one who is but too readily disposed to
confide in all you say or do."
La belle Barbérie seemed touched. Her glance at the young sailor was
kinder, and her voice wanted some of its ordinary steadiness, in the
reply.
"That power has then been weakened?"
"You will despise me, if I say no;--you will distrust me, if I say yes."
"Then silence seems the course best adapted to maintain our present
amity.--Surely I heard a blow struck, lightly, on the shutter of that
window?"
"Hope sometimes deceives us. This repeated belief would seem to say that
you expect a visiter?"
A distinct tap on the shutter confirmed the impression of the mistress of
the pavilion. Alida looked at her companion, and appeared embarrassed.
Her color varied, and she seemed anxious to utter something that either
her feelings or her prudence suppressed.
"Captain Ludlow, you have once before been an unexpected witness of an
interview in la Cour des Fées, that has, I fear, subjected me to
unfavorable surmises. But one manly and generous as yourself can have
indulgence for the little vanities of woman. I expect a visit, that
perhaps a Queen's officer should not countenance."
"I am no exciseman, to pry into wardrobes and secret repositories, but one
whose duty it is to act only on the high seas, and against the more open
violators of the law. If you have any without, whose presence you desire,
let them enter without dread of my office. When we meet in a more suitable
place, I shall know how to take my revenge."
His companion looked grateful, and bowed her acknowledgments. She then
made a ringing sound, by using a spoon on the interior of one of the
vessels of the tea equipage. The shrubbery, which shaded a window,
stirred; and presently, the young stranger, already so well known in the
former pages of this work, and in the scenes of the brigantine, appeared
in the low balcony. His person was scarcely seen, before a light bale of
goods was tossed past him, into the centre of the room.
"I send my certificate of character as an avant-courier;" said the gay
dealer in contraband, or Master Seadrift, as he was called by the
Alderman, touching his cap, gallantly, to the mistress of la Cour des
Fées, and then, somewhat more ceremoniously to her companion; after which
he returned the goldbound covering to its seat, on a bed of rich and
glossy curls, and sought his package. Here is one more customer than I
bargained for, and I look to more than common gain! We have met before,
Captain Ludlow."
"We have, Sir Skimmer of the Seas, and we shall meet again. Winds may
change, and fortune yet favor the right!"
"We trust to the sea-green lady's care;" returned the extraordinary
smuggler, pointing, with a species of reverence, real or affected, to the
image that was beautifully worked, in rich colors, on the velvet of his
cap. What has been will be, and the past gives a hope for the future. We
meet, here, on neutral ground, I trust."
"I am the commander of a royal cruiser, Sir:" haughtily returned the
other.
"Queen Anne may be proud of her servant!--but we neglect our affairs. A
thousand pardons, lovely mistress of la Cour des Fées. This meeting of two
rude mariners does a slight to your beauty, and little credit to the
fealty due the sex. Having done with all compliments, I have to offer
certain articles that never failed to cause the brightest eyes to grow
more brilliant, and at which duchesses have gazed with many longings."
"You speak with confidence of your associations, Master Seadrift, and rate
noble personages among your customers, as familiarly as if you dealt in
offices of state."
"This skilful servitor of the Queen will tell you, lady, that the wind
which is a gale on the Atlantic, may scarce cool the burning cheek of a
girl on the land, and that the links in life are as curiously interlocked
as the ropes of a ship. The Ephesian temple, and the Indian wigwam, rested
on the same earth."
"From which you infer that rank does not alter nature. We must admit,
Captain Ludlow, that Master Seadrift understands a woman's heart, when he
tempts her with stores of tissues gay as these!"
Ludlow had watched the speakers in silence. The manner of Alida was far
less embarrassed, than when he had before seen her in the smuggler's
company; and his blood fired, when he saw that their eyes met with a
secret and friendly intelligence. He had remained, however, with a
resolution to be calm, and to know the worst. Conquering the expression of
his feelings by a great effort, he answered with an exterior of composure,
though not without some of that bitterness in his emphasis, which he felt
at his heart.
"If Master Seadrift has this knowledge, he may value himself on his good
fortune;" was the reply.
"Much intercourse with the sex, who are my best customers, has something
helped me;" returned the cavalier dealer in contraband. "Here is a
brocade, whose fellow is worn openly in the presence of our royal
mistress, though it came from the forbidden looms of Italy; and the ladies
of the court return from patriotically dancing, in the fabrics of home, to
please the public eye, once in the year, to wear these more agreeable
inventions, all the rest of it, to please themselves. Tell me, why does
the Englishman, with his pale sun, spend thousands to force a sickly
imitation of the gifts of the tropics, but because he pines for forbidden
fruit? or why does your Paris gourmand roll a fig on his tongue, that a
Lazzarone of Naples would cast into his bay, but because he wishes to
enjoy the bounties of a low latitude, under a watery sky? I have seen an
individual feast on the eau sucre of an European pine, that cost a guinea,
while his palate would have refused the same fruit, with its delicious
compound of acid and sweet, mellowed to ripeness under a burning sun,
merely because he could have it for nothing. This is the secret of our
patronage; and as the sex are most liable to its influence, we owe them
most gratitude."
"You have travelled, Master Seadrift," returned la Belle smiling, while
she tossed the rich contents of the bale on the carpet, "and treat of
usages as familiarly as you speak of dignities."
"The lady of the sea-green mantle does not permit an idle servant. We
follow the direction of her guiding hand; sometimes it points our course
among the isles of the Adriatic, and at others on your stormy American
coasts. There is little of Europe between Gibraltar and the Cattegat, that
I have not visited."
"But Italy has been the favorite, if one may judge by the number of her
fabrics that you produce."
"Italy, France, and Flanders, divide my custom; though you are right, in
believing the former most in favor. Many years of early life did I pass on
the noble coasts of that romantic region. One who protected and guided my
infancy and youth, even left me for a time, under instruction, on the
little plain of Sorrento."
"And where can this plain be found?--for the residence of so famous a
rover may, one day, become the theme of song, and is likely to occupy the
leisure of the curious."
"The grace of the speaker may well excuse the irony! Sorrento is a village
on the southern shore of the renowned Naples bay. Fire has wrought many
changes in that soft but wild country, and if, as religionists believe,
the fountains of the great deep were ever broken up, and the earth's crust
disturbed, to permit its secret springs to issue on the surface, this may
have been one of the spots chosen by him whose touch leaves marks that are
indelible, in which to show his power. The bed of the earth, itself, in
all that region, appears to have been but the vomitings of volcanoes; and
the Sorrentine passes his peaceable life in the bed of an extinguished
crater. 'Tis curious to see in what manner the men of the middle ages have
built their town, on the margin of the sea, where the element has
swallowed one-half the ragged basin, and how they have taken the yawning
crevices of the tufo, for ditches to protect their walls! I have visited
many lands, and seen nature in nearly every clime; but no spot has yet
presented, in a single view, so pleasant a combination of natural objects,
mingled with mighty recollections, as that lovely abode on the Sorrentine
cliffs!"
"Recount me these pleasures, that in memory seem so agreeable, while I
examine further into the contents of the bale."
The gay young free-trader paused, and seemed lost in images of the past.
Then, with a melancholy smile, he soon continued. "Though many years are
gone," he said, "I can recall the beauties of that scene, as vividly as if
they still stood before the eye. Our abode was on the verge of the cliffs.
In front lay the deep-blue water, and on its further shore was a line of
objects such as accident or design rarely assembles in one view. Fancy
thyself, lady, at my side, and follow the curvature of the northern shore,
as I trace the outline of that glorious scene! That high, mountainous, and
ragged island, on the extreme left, is modern Ischia. Its origin is
unknown, though piles of lava lie along its coast, which seems fresh as
that thrown from the mountain yesterday. The long, low bit of land,
insulated like its neighbor, is called Procida, a scion of ancient Greece.
Its people still preserve, in dress and speech, marks of their origin. The
narrow strait conducts you to a high and naked bluff! That is the Misenum,
of old. Here Eneas came to land, and Rome held her fleets, and thence
Pliny took the water, to get a nearer view of the labors of the volcano,
after its awakening from centuries of sleep. In the hollow of the ridge,
between that naked bluff and the next swell of the mountain, lie the
fabulous Styx, the Elysian fields, and the place of the dead, as fixed by
the Mantuan. More on the height and nearer to the sea, lie, buried in the
earth, the vast vaults of the Piscina Mirabile--and the gloomy caverns of
the Hundred Chambers; places that equally denote the luxury and the
despotism of Rome. Nearer to the vast pile of castle, that is visible so
many leagues, is the graceful and winding Baiæn harbor; and against the
side of its sheltering hills, once lay the city of villas. To that
sheltered hill, emperors, consuls, poets, and warriors, crowded from the
capital, in quest of repose, and to breathe the pure air of a spot in
which pestilence has since made its abode. The earth is still covered with
the remains of their magnificence, and ruins of temples and baths are
scattered freely among the olives and fig-trees of the peasant. A fainter
bluff limits the north-eastern boundary of the little bay. On it, once,
stood the dwellings of emperors. There Cæsar sought retirement, and the
warm springs on its side are yet called the baths of the bloody Nero. That
small conical hill, which, as you see, possesses a greener and fresher
look than the adjoining land, is a cone ejected by the caldron beneath,
but two brief centuries since. It occupies, in part, the site of the
ancient Lucrine lake. All that remains of that famous receptacle of the
epicure, is the small and shallow sheet at its base, which is separated
from the sea by a mere thread of sand. More in the rear, and surrounded by
dreary hills, lie the waters of Avernus. On their banks still stand the
ruins of a temple, in which rites were celebrated to the infernal deities.
The grotto of the Sybil pierces that ridge on the left, and the Cumæan
passage is nearly in its rear. The town, which is seen a mile to the
right, is Pozzuoli--a port of the ancients, and a spot now visited for its
temples of Jupiter and Neptune, its mouldering amphitheatre, and its
half-buried tombs. Here Caligula attempted his ambitious bridge; and while
crossing thence to Baiæ, the vile Nero had the life of his own mother
assailed. It was there, too, that holy Paul came to land, when journeying
a prisoner to Rome. The small but high island, nearly in its front, is
Nisida, the place to which Marcus Brutus retired after the deed at the
foot of Pompey's statue, where he possessed a villa, and whence he and
Cassius sailed to meet the shade and the vengeance of the murdered Cæsar,
at Philippi. Then comes a crowd of sites more known in the middle ages;
though just below that mountain, in the back-ground, is the famous
subterranean road of which Strabo and Seneca are said to speak, and
through which the peasant still daily drives his ass to the markets of the
modern city. At its entrance is the reputed tomb of Virgil, and then
commences an amphitheatre of white and terraced dwellings. This is noisy
Napoli itself, crowned with its rocky castle of St. Elmo! The vast plain,
to the right, is that which held the enervating Capua and so many other
cities on its bosom. To this succeeds the insulated mountain of the
volcano, with its summit torn in triple tops. 'Tis said that villas and
villages, towns and cities, lie buried beneath the vineyards and palaces
which crowd its base. The ancient and unhappy city of Pompeii stood on
that luckless plain, which, following the shores of the bay, comes next;
and then we take up the line of the mountain promontory, which forms the
Sorrentine side of the water!"
"One who has had such schooling, should know better how to turn it to a
good account;" said Ludlow, sternly, when the excited smuggler ceased to
speak.
"In other lands, men derive their learning from books; in Italy, children
acquire knowledge by the study of visible things:" was the undisturbed
answer
"Some from this country are fond of believing that our own bay, these
summer skies, and the climate in general, should have a strict resemblance
to those of a region which lies precisely in our own latitude;" observed
Alida, so hastily, as to betray a desire to preserve the peace between her
guests.
"That your Manhattan and Raritan waters are broad and pleasant, none can
deny, and that lovely beings dwell on their banks, lady," returned
Seadrift, gallantly lifting his cap, "my own senses have witnessed. But
'twere wiser to select some other point of your excellence, for
comparison, than a competition with the glorious waters, the fantastic and
mountain isles, and the sunny hill-sides of modern Napoli! 'Tis certain
the latitude is even in your favor, and that a beneficent sun does not
fail of its office in one region more than in the other. But the forests
of America are still too pregnant of vapors and exhalations, not to impair
the purity of the native air. If I have seen much of the Mediterranean,
neither am I a stranger to these coasts. While there are so many points of
resemblance in their climates, there are also many and marked causes of
difference."
"Teach us, then, what forms these distinctions, that, in speaking of our
bay and skies, we may not be led into error."
"You do me honor, lady; I am of no great schooling, and of humble powers
of speech. Still, the little that observation may have taught me, shall
not be churlishly withheld. Your Italian atmosphere, taking the humidity
of the seas, is sometimes hazy. Still water in large bodies, other than in
the two seas, is little known in those distant countries. Few objects in
nature are drier than an Italian river, during those months when the sun
has most influence. The effect is visible in the air, which is in general
elastic, dry, and obedient to the general laws of the climate. There
floats less exhalation, in the form of fine and nearly invisible vapor,
than in these wooded regions. At least, so he of whom I spoke, as one who
guided my youth, was wont to say."
"You hesitate to tell us of our skies, our evening light, and of our
bay?"
"It shall be said, and said sincerely--Of the bays, each seems to have
been appropriated to that for which nature most intended it.--The one is
poetic, indolent, and full of graceful but glorious beauty; more pregnant
of enjoyment than of usefulness. The other will, one day, be the mart of
the world!"
"You still shrink from pronouncing on their beauty;" said Alida,
disappointed, in spite of an affected indifference to the subject.
"It is ever the common fault of old communities to overvalue themselves,
and to undervalue new actors in the great drama of nations, as men long
successful disregard the efforts of new aspirants for favor;" said
Seadrift, while he looked with amazement at the pettish eye of the
frowning beauty. "In this instance, however, Europe has not so greatly
erred. They who see much resemblance between the bay of Naples and this of
Manhattan, have fertile brains; since it rests altogether on the
circumstance that there is much water in both, and a passage between an
island and the main-land, in one, to resemble a passage between two
islands in the other. This is an estuary, that a gulf; and while the
former has the green and turbid water of a shelving shore and of tributary
rivers, the latter has the blue and limpid element of a deep sea. In these
distinctions, I take no account of ragged and rocky mountains, with the
indescribable play of golden and rosy light upon their broken surfaces,
nor of a coast that teems with the recollections of three thousand years!"
"I fear to question more. But surely our skies may be mentioned, even by
the side of those you vaunt?"
"Of the skies, truly, you have more reason to be confident. I remember
that standing on the Capo di Monte, which overlooks the little,
picturesque, and crowded beach of the Marina Grande, and Sorrento, a spot
that teems with all that is poetic in the fisher man's life, he of whom I
have spoken, once pointed to the transparent vault above, and said, 'There
is the moon of America!' The colors of the rocket were not more vivid than
the stars that night, for a Tramontana had swept every impurity from the
air, far upon the neighboring sea. But nights like that are rare, indeed,
in any clime! The inhabitants of low latitudes enjoy them occasionally;
those of higher never."
"And then our flattering belief, that these western sunsets rival those of
Italy, is delusion?"
"Not so, lady. They rival, without resembling. The color of the étui, on
which so fair a hand is resting, is not softer than the hues one sees in
the heavens of Italy. But if your evening sky wants the pearly light, the
rosy clouds, and the soft tints which, at that hour, melt into each other,
across the entire vault of Napoli, it far excels in the vividness of the
glow, in the depth of the transitions, and in the richness of colors.
Those are only more delicate, while these are more gorgeous! When there
shall be less exhalation from your forests, the same causes may produce
the same effects. Until then, America must be content to pride herself on
an exhibition of nature's beauty, in a new, though scarcely in a less
pleasing, form."
"Then they who come among us from Europe, are but half right, when they
deride the pretensions of our bay and heavens?"
"Which is much nearer the truth than they are wont to be, on the subject
of this continent. Speak of the many rivers, the double outlet, the
numberless basins, and the unequalled facilities of your Manhattan harbor;
for in time, they will come to render all the beauties of the unrivalled
bay of Naples vain: but tempt not the stranger to push the comparison
beyond. Be grateful for your skies, lady, for few live under fairer or
more beneficent--But I tire you with these opinions, when here are colors
that have more charms for a young and lively imagination, than even the
tints of nature!"
La belle Barbérie smiled on the dealer in contraband, with an interest
that sickened Ludlow; and she was about to reply, in better humor, when
the voice of her uncle announced his near approach.