Chapter V: Part 5

It seems almost anti-climatic to be obliged to record the fact that the Society for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities is arresting the hand of Time and taking measures to preserve this famous ruin for future generations. In the process of so doing the Society has unearthed much that is of interest to the historian of the subject. It is not therefore as literally true as it appeared to be when John Esten Cooke said that at present nothing remains of this famous settlement “but the ruins of a church tower covered with ivy and some old tombstones. The tower is crumbling year by year and the roots of trees have cracked the slabs making great rifts across the names of the old Armingers and Honourables. The place is desolate with its washing waves and flitting sea fowl, but possesses a singular attraction. It is one of the few localities which recall the first years of American history: but it will not recall them much longer. Every distinctive feature of the spot is slowly disappearing. The river encroaches year by year, and the ground occupied by the original huts is already submerged.”

Three hundred years, as pointed out by Congressman Towne, seems a long time as we speak the words; yet in the life of nations it is but a little while. There are while this is being written five members of the House of Representatives that could clasp hands and unite the settlement of Jamestown with its proposed celebration in 1907. The present Senators from two of the states in the Union could compass the interval with ten years to spare.

Brief period through three centuries appear on the page of history, the disintegrating ruin standing on Jamestown Island as the isolated emblem of the nation’s birth, accentuates the immutable law of material change whereby both humble and gorgeous monuments reared by the hand of man

“Shall dissolve,
And like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a wrack behind.”

NASSAU HALL, PRINCETON

Princeton Univerity, once known as the College of New Jersey, was founded by charter in 1746, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Synod of New York, which at that time included many Presbyterian churches of New Jersey. The college was opened in Elizabethtown in 1847, but was soon removed to Newark, and, in 1757, to Princeton, where a large building had been erected and named Nassau Hall in honour of King William III. of England, who was of the House of Nassau.

Nassau Hall has had an interesting history. During a part of the Revolutionary War, it was used by both American and British soldiers as a barrack and hospital, and during the Battle of Princeton (Jan. 3, 1777), the British troops made a stand within its walls until they were driven out by Washington’s advance. In 1783, the Continental Congress met in it, and in company with General Washington, attended the commencement of that year. At this time General Washington presented the trustees with fifty guineas to aid in repairing the damages caused by the war; and the money was appropriated for a full length portrait of General Washington, painted by the elder Peale, to replace the portrait of George III., which a cannon ball had ruined. Washington’s portrait was placed in the original gilt frame. Nassau Hall was burned in 1802 and again in 1855.

Many of the buildings suffered during the Revolution, and much trouble was found to raise sufficient funds to repair them; but, as time wore on, the college revived and its income increased. The first president was the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson; the second, the Rev. Aaron Burr (father of the famous Aaron Burr); the third, Jonathan Edwards; and the sixth, Dr. Witherspoon, a member of the Continental Congress and a Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

With a few exceptions, the buildings, numbering forty-two, are grouped around Nassau Hall. They are built, for the most part, of stone, and are situated in the midst of beautiful grounds, composed of hills, meadows and woodlands and avenues of tall elms. One of the most conspicuous of these is known as “McCosh’s Walk,” named for Dr. James McCosh, who came from Queen’s College, Belfast, Ireland, to become the president, a post which he held from 1868 to 1888.

Among the most important buildings are the Library, Marquand Chapel, Witherspoon Hall, Blair Hall, Alexander Hall, the John C. Green School of Science, Dickinson Hall, Murray Hall, Edwards Hall, Reunion Hall, Chancellor Green Library, Biological Laboratory and the Gymnasium. There are also several fine museums and collections of pottery, antiquities, geology and archæology.

The Princeton Theological Seminary associated with the college, was organized in 1812 and chartered in 1822.

Princeton celebrated its sesqui-centennial in October, 1896, and on October 22, 1896, President Patton announced its change of name to Princeton University by the authority of the legislature.

CASTLE GARDEN, NEW YORK

ESTHER SINGLETON

In 1814, an important mass meeting was held at the City Hall to consider the best means of defending New York in case the British army came northward; and in this year among the other defences erected was that of Fort Clinton. The construction of this fort out on the rocks beyond the Battery was watched with much patriotic interest, and it is said that one New York lady of high social position became so enthusiastic that she trundled a wheelbarrow full of earth with her own fair hands from Trinity Churchyard to the Battery. Whether or not she despoiled the grave of one of her forefathers for this purpose, tradition is silent.

There had been, however, a fort here long before this date. During the administration of Governor Cosby, the Capsey Battery was erected in 1735, when a tragedy occurred which is thus described in the paper of July 21: “On Wednesday last the first stone of the platform of the new Battery on Whitehall Rocks was laid by his Excellency, our Governor, and it was called George Augustus’s Royal Battery. As his Excellency was returning and the last round was firing, the last piece of the Cannon (being very much Honey-Comb’d and eaten almost through, as it afterwards appeared by the pieces) burst and the pieces flying different ways killed three persons; viz., John Symes, Esq., High Sheriff for the City and County of New York; Miss Courtlandt, only daughter to the Hon. Col. Courtlandt, a member of His Majesty’s Council in this Province; and a son-in-law of Alderman Romur.”

A rip-rap wall lay between the Battery and Fort Clinton, which were connected by a bridge of about two hundred feet long, and off this bridge there was excellent fishing for bass, drum and weak-fish.

In 1822, when the property was ceded back to the city by the Federal Government and the military headquarters removed to Governor’s Island, it was determined to convert Castle Garden into a place of public entertainment. The old fort was then leased to a Mr. Marsh, who made a popular resort of it. Among other improvements, he floored the top of the parapet and covered it with awnings; and the New Yorkers of that day considered it a most delightful place to while away the summer hours.

On August 16, 1824, the _Cadmus_ landed the Marquis de Lafayette, “the guest of the nation,” at Castle Garden, where the military force of the city and an immense concourse of people were gathered to receive him; and on September 14, a great _fête_ was held in his honour at Castle Garden, which was, perhaps, the most brilliant entertainment ever given in the city up to that time.

Castle Garden was the scene of large political meetings at which Daniel Webster and other notable orators, statesmen and citizens appeared; and in 1847, a great memorial concert for Mendelssohn was given there.

This year brings us to the period when Castle Garden became one of the most important play-houses of New York. It was opened by Messrs. French and Heiser on the 28th of June, 1847, with the popular actors and actresses Holland, Walcot, Arnold, Herr Cline, Miss Clarke, Miss M. Phillips, Mrs. W. Isherwood, etc., etc., and on the 18th of August of that year the Havana Opera Company, with Luigi Arditi, who is still remembered by many old opera-goers, as the conductor. The singers included Signorina Tedesco and Perelli, Vita, Novelli, and Candi. The first opera presented was _Ernani_, followed by _Norma_, _La Sonnambula_ and _Saffo_.

About this time Castle Garden is described by Philip Hone as “the most splendid and largest theatre I ever saw--a place capable of seating comfortably about six or eight thousand persons. The pit or area of the pavilion is provided with some hundred small white tables and movable chairs, by which people are enabled to congregate into little squads and take their ices between the acts. In front of the stage is a beautiful fountain which plays when the performers do not. The whole of this large area is surmounted by circular benches above and below, from every point of which the view is enchanting.”

On June 5, 1848, George Holland, as director, opened with popular farces such as _Old Honesty_, in which he played the part of Tom Perch, _Box and Cox_, etc. Cline gave performances on the tight-rope and several notable benefits were given,--one for Arditi and the great contra-bassist, Botesini, in which Truffi, Pico, Vietti, Beneventano, Rapetti and Caffi appeared. On August 3d, there was also a great benefit performance for the suffering volunteers returning from the Mexican War.

From June 8th to September 7, 1850, the Havana Opera Company gave a splendid series of performances under Arditi’s bâton, beginning with _Norma_. The company was composed of Marini, Salvi, Lorini, Vietti, C. Badiali, Luigi Vita, Elsa Costini, Arditi and Botesini, which, to quote a contemporary, “formed, perhaps the finest musical combination ever heard in New York, and succeeded with the aid of moonlight and sea-breezes, notwithstanding the smallness of the stage and utter deficiency of acoustic requirements, in attracting immense audiences.”

On September 11th, a very interesting event occurred,--the _début_ of Jenny Lind under Barnum’s management. The clever showman had advertised his song-bird so successfully that the tickets were sold at auction (one Mr. Genin, a hatter, bought the first ticket for $225.00), and those, not fortunate enough to obtain admission, hired row boats and hovered around Castle Garden during the performance.

Max Maretzek now appears on the scene to give a series of operas during the summer of 1851, for an admission of fifty cents. Marini, Lorini, Forti, Beneventano, and Signoras Benedetti, Bosio, Truffi, Clotilda Barili, Mme. De Vries and Mme. Maretzek formed a strong company, which was so successful that in the next year Maretzek repeated his venture, with such great singers as Sontag, Steffanone, Vietti, Salvi, Marini, Rossi, Strakosch and Badiali.

Immense audiences gathered at Castle Garden to hear Jullien’s wonderful orchestra,--the biggest and most extraordinary band that had ever visited New York. The eccentric French leader made his first appearance on July 29, 1852.

In 1852, the Rousset sisters appeared and French opera and comedy were played by Mme. Fleury-Jolly and Mlle. d’ Armont. The Ravel family and Blondin also appeared in this year.

There were many attractions at Castle Garden, besides the music and drama. There were shows of various kinds and plenty of food and drink. One chronicler speaks of “the fountain of real champagne, falling over the rocks of a mimic grotto from which the people dipped the sparkling fluid in amazed bewilderment.”

Maretzek had another season in the summer of 1854, and in that year another great event occurred at Castle Garden,--under Mr. Hackett’s management, while the Academy of Music on Irving Place (opened Oct. 2, 1854), was being made ready, the famous Grisi and Mario were introduced to the New York public in _Lucrezia Borgia_ on September 4. The seats cost from $3.00 to $5.00.

One of the important performances during this decade was one in commemoration of the introduction of the drama at Williamsburg, Va., in 1752, by the Hallam Company from London. On this occasion _The Merchant of Venice_ and Garrick’s _Lethe_ were given.

Laurence Hutton’s memories in _Plays and Players_ (New York, 1875) are worth quoting: “At Castle Garden too were held the fairs of the American Institute, with their countless delights to the boy of that period; their models of full-rigged yachts, their wonderful glass blowers and the marvellous machines to pare apples and to wring clothes, which were to revolutionize our entire domestic economy and which never worked when we got them home.... To Castle Garden also came the first and only Chinese Junk, and to Castle Garden, to see it and wonder at it, down Broadway came all the good people of Gotham.

“At Castle Garden, too, best of all were those peep-holes in the gallery, which we can remember so long ago that we had to be lifted up by paternal arms to look into them. Cosmorama, or diorama, were they called? and what pictures were revealed of impossible deluges, with pre-Raphaelite waters, and a pink-coloured Duke of Wellington at a very blood-red battle of Waterloo! The cyclorama of Paris by Night, or London by Day, is nothing to these battle scenes of Castle Garden, as real to us in those days as war itself. The exercise of a very little ‘make believe’ invested in the old fort a personal interest in all of its battles and the peep-holes became portholes to us, through which many a time and oft, with General Taylor, we have bombarded Monterey, or have died on the Plains of Abraham with General Wolfe.

“Of Castle Garden, hardly can we speak without some mention of the promenade on the outer balcony, so popular on fine nights when the moon, the inconstant moon, shone on the sparkling river and the Jersey shore; and the music of the orchestra, with its voluptuous swell, mingling so harmoniously with the melodious ‘clink, clink’ of the ice in the julep glasses, added such charms to the opera.”

Among the important receptions held in Castle Garden were those to Louis Kossuth in 1849, and to the Prince of Wales in 1860.

After having served as an immigrant _dépôt_ for many years, Castle Garden was turned into an Aquarium, that attracts many visitors who are unaware of the interesting history that the curiously shaped old brown building in Battery Park has to tell.

MONTICELLO[14]

EDWARD C. MEAD

Next to _Mount Vernon_, doubtless there is no place in the Union that has been more written of or more visited than _Monticello_, the beautiful home of President Jefferson; and yet of the many who have visited this historic spot and the much that has been said of it, few are aware of the true story connected with the building of this celebrated mansion.

Many legends and marvellous tales are told the stranger who treads its portals, few of which are based upon fact; yet there remain many incidents untold which would add an interesting page to its history, which we propose to gather up and trace the true story of its erection from its inception to its completion.

Colonel Peter Jefferson, the father of Thomas Jefferson, and William Randolph, both of Goochland County, Virginia, were very close friends and neighbours. In 1735 both obtained “patents” for large grants of land lying contiguous to each other, and ever since their descendants have intermarried and maintained this juxtaposition.

Colonel Peter Jefferson had thus obtained by grant one thousand acres lying on each side of the Rivanna River, where it intersects the South-West range of mountains; to this he added by purchase nine hundred acres, making a total of nineteen hundred acres of land on each side of the river, which embraced the little towns of Shadwell on the north and Milton on the south.

In 1770, Mr. Jefferson, who was then a young practising lawyer, first began to clear the summit of _Monticello_ (Italian for “little mountain”), with a view of building. It was then merely a wild, tangled forest, but he had often looked upon this elevated spot with peculiar attraction, and had frequently rambled over its steep, craggy sides, or clambered to its summit, there to gaze upon the grand panoramic view spread out before him with feelings of sublime admiration and intense delight; it was such a picture as he wished always before him, and thus it was he decided here to build his home.

After the destruction by fire of the paternal roof at Shadwell, Mr. Jefferson began in earnest to build upon this almost inaccessible spot, and in the fall of that year (1770) had erected a small one-and-a-half story brick building, containing one good-sized room, which is the same portion of the present building forming the south-east “pavilion” at the extremity of the south “terrace”; this room was the only part of the house habitable when he took his young bride there in 1772.

Mr. Jefferson’s conception and designs for building his new home were not so elaborate or extensive as were afterwards carried out upon his return from Europe. He was very conventional in his style and manner of living, not wishing to go beyond the simplicity of his neighbours, even in his plan of building, and yet there was at that time not another brick building outside the town of Charlottesville, and though of quite moderate proportions compared to its ultimate appearance, it was then considered the most imposing building in the county.

The belief that Mr. Jefferson imported from England most of the brick used for his building is quite erroneous; all these were made upon the spot by his slaves, and the site of their manufacture is still pointed out; but in after years, when completing the north end and adding many embellishments to his original design, some of the finest brick and ornamental material were procured in Philadelphia and sent around by water to Richmond, and thence to the little town of Milton.

In the autumn of 1775, still further additions were made, and the grounds greatly improved and enlarged, Mr. Jefferson planting with his own hands many fruit and ornamental trees, the trunks of which still remain.

During the sessions of Congress, while Mr. Jefferson would be absent from _Monticello_ for months at a time, the work of completion would be necessarily slow, and even up to the year 1782 the house was but partially completed. Still more did that part which had already been built suffer much from delay during his sojourn in France as ambassador. It was not until Mr. Jefferson’s return in 1794, that real active work was resumed, and he applied himself enthusiastically once more to the early completion of his design.

His intention now was to build another wing, one story and a half high, both to be united and crowned with a balustrade, having a dome between them, the apartments to be large and convenient, the decorations within and without to be simple, yet regular and elegant.

Mr. Jefferson had already erected a saw-mill, a grist-mill and a nail-factory, where every nail for the building was hand-forged by his coloured boys. Many of his artisans had been brought with him from Europe, and with all the material at hand the work now progressed rapidly.

The story that Mr. Jefferson laboured upon the building and laid many of the brick with his own hand is erroneous. He was always fond of working in his “shop,” where in this “mechanical retreat,” which stood at the rear of the house, he would put to a practical test his theories and exercising his inventive genius; but he never laboured in the real sense of the word except for his own gratification and pleasure, or to set an example of industry to those around him.

In 1802, the _Monticello_ mansion was considered completed. The expense had been very great for those times, which, Mr. Jefferson states, was exactly two thousand and seventy-six dollars and twenty-nine cents, while he was away at Washington, besides the large sums he had previously spent upon it.

Thus it had taken nearly _thirty years_ to build this historic old edifice, a building which could now be erected in six months under our present rapid mode of construction.

Let us glance for a moment at this curious structure as it then stood, fresh from the hands of the illustrious architect, for Mr. Jefferson had designed each part most minutely himself.

Entering from the eastern portico with its lofty Corinthian pillars and arched door, over which is still seen the old English clock which marked the hours, the visitor is here met and ushered through large, double glass doors into a spacious semi-octagonal hall with its wide fireplace at one end, as is usually found in old English mansions. Opposite the door is a small gallery, while on one side of it stood a fine marble bust of the patriot himself, and on the other one of Washington, both by the celebrated Italian artist Carracci. Along each side of the hall were many Indian relics which Mr. Jefferson had collected.

From this hall opens another glass door leading into the drawing-room or _salon_ being the largest and most handsome room in the house, and situated immediately under the dome. This room is also octagonal, its floor being laid in parquetry of octagonal blocks of different coloured wood, which were cut and fitted by his own coloured workmen, giving it a most unique and pleasing effect and which for skill challenges the genius of a more intelligent race. The walls of this stately room were adorned with portraits of Columbus, Vespucius, Andrew Doria, Castruccio-Castracani, Raleigh, Cortez, Bacon, Newton, Locke, Washington, Adams, Madison and Monroe, while on either side of the door stood the busts of Alexander and Napoleon.

Leading from this room on the west side was the dining-room, and beyond this the octagonal tea-room. Here were to be seen busts of Franklin, Voltaire, Lafayette and Paul Jones. Adjoining this were the bedrooms for guests, while on the east of the entrance hall was the bedroom of Mrs. Martha Randolph, who resided there permanently after the death of Mrs. Jefferson.

Mr. Jefferson’s bedroom was next to that of Mrs. Randolph, beyond which was his library, which extended to the west side of the house, and from which led into an arched conservatory; beyond this was Mr. Jefferson’s celebrated workshop.

The upper part of the house was gained by a very narrow, tortuous stairway; the rooms above were quite small, of low pitch, and badly lighted, or ventilated; all of them were of many shapes, in conformity to the octagonal design of the house; alcoves let into the wall served in the place of bedsteads, their small dimensions being hardly suited to the comfortable repose of an ordinary-sized person.

The dome over the parlour was covered with thick glass; this was called the “ladies’ drawing-room,” which at one time was used as a billiard-room until the laws of Virginia prohibited the game. It was also said to have been used as a “ballroom”; but it is safe to say that Mr. Jefferson never had a dancing-party in his house, though extremely fond of music and even had his daughter taught the graceful art.

The furniture throughout was very handsome, most of which was purchased in France and used while living in Philadelphia. The beautiful marble and brazier tables, French mirrors and elegant sofas of the court style of Louis XVI. gave a charming and effective contrast to the artistic finish of the interior; while the many rich paintings, statuary and works of art gave a sense of regal splendour which amazed the many plain and simple Virginians who thronged the mansion.

Governor Gilmer of Georgia, who was a frequent and familiar visitor, thus describes _Monticello_ during Mr. Jefferson’s last term of office:

“Three rooms of the house were left open for visitors. I saw statuary, fine paintings and a collection of Indian relics. The statuary was very beautiful; I could not be satisfied with looking at it. Mr. Jefferson’s library door was locked, but the window-blinds were thrown back, so that I could see several books turned open upon the table, the inkstand, paper and pens as they had been used when Mr. Jefferson quitted home.”

On top of the dome, Mr. Jefferson had his observatory, being a simple platform surrounded by a balustrade. Here he would often sit, night and day, surveying the heavens or the vast expanse of scenery before him with his telescope.

The famous mill-factory, machine-shops and weaving rooms were to the south-east of the house, beyond which was the terraced garden in which he delighted to exhibit his horticultural products. The farm itself had not been cleared to any great extent around the mansion, most of the crops being raised on the north side of the river at Shadwell and upon the Tufton farm near Milton.

Thus we find the farm and mansion of _Monticello_ in 1809, upon the retirement of Mr. Jefferson from the Presidency. But it was not to gain repose, for he was followed to his beautiful mountain home by a host of admirers and visitors, and but for the records left us, it was scarcely possible to believe the extent to which the imposition upon his privacy by friends, kindred and the public generally was carried at this time. They would come singly and in families, bringing babies, nurses, drivers and horses, spending weeks and even months at a time, giving the place an appearance of some noted watering _rendezvous_. Here would be gathered students, savants, musicians, clergymen, members of Congress, foreign travellers, artists and men of every faith and political creed to gratify their curiosity and say that they had seen and heard Mr. Jefferson. In one instance a family of six from Europe remained ten months; on another occasion a lady broke a pane of glass with her parasol in her eagerness to get a glimpse of the President. Crowds would stand about the house for hours watching for his exit, until Mr. Jefferson in desperation would fly to his farm, _Poplar Forest_, in Bedford County, for repose, expressing truly his feelings when he said: “Political honours are but splendid torments.”

At various times there were also many celebrated visitors to _Monticello_, who have left their record of the place as it then appeared; among these were the Duke de Liancourt, a distinguished French traveller, who, in 1796, remained several days; the Marquis de Chastellux, aide to General Lafayette; Lieutenant Hall of the English army in 1816; and William Wirt, the historian, the friend and frequent visitor of Jefferson. All these have given graphic descriptions of this celebrated spot, some in language most illusive, for it is hardly possible for the eye to reach the Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, or even to the James River, nor can the lofty hills of Maryland or the Peaks of Otter be seen, yet the view is grand, majestic and inspiring,--the same which Mr. Jefferson gazed upon with delight, and which has been the theme of poets and historians since, and ever more to be the admiration of thousands who make their pilgrimage to this shrine of America’s freedom.

Thus stood _Monticello_ at the close of Mr. Jefferson’s life in 1826. It was known at this time that he was deeply involved in debt,--one partially made in entertaining his numerous guests,--in consequence of which his entire estate was soon afterwards offered for sale by his grandson and executor, Colonel Thomas Jefferson Randolph, of _Edgehill_. Mr. Jefferson had truly rendered himself poor when he built _Monticello_. The Italians brought over to do the ornamental work proved most expensive, and his friends had literally “ate him out of house and home”; so of his once large estate of ten thousand acres very little remained besides the mansion and its contents, he having previously sold, in 1776, lands to the amount of twenty thousand dollars in the hope of stemming the incoming tide of insolvency.

About the year 1828, Commodore Uriah P. Levy, of the United States Navy, who had known and greatly admired Jefferson, secured the mansion with four hundred acres of the _Monticello_ tract. In purchasing the place he designed to preserve it in the same condition, and carry out the plans of the great patriot himself for its adornment; and still further, in honour of his memory, he erected a handsome statue to him in the City Hall at New York.

Commodore Levy presided most gracefully over the halls of _Monticello_, and fittingly maintained its just celebrity for hospitality. After the death of Commodore Levy the estate descended to his nephew, the Hon. Jefferson M. Levy, of New York, its present owner.

During the Civil War it was confiscated by the Confederate Government and fell into rapid decay; at one time being used as a hospital, after which it was rented to unscrupulous parties, who allowed it to be sadly pillaged. After the war it was not difficult for Mr. Levy to regain possession, who at once began its restoration and to-day it stands complete, and perhaps far more beautiful than even in Jefferson’s time.

Let us picture _Monticello_ as it now stands, after a lapse of nearly seventy years, still sitting in all its majestic pride and grandeur upon its lofty eminence, while so many of the great, the good and the gifted who once graced its halls have passed away forever.

Instead of a steep rough road, filled with rocks and gullies, upon which vehicles would once frequently stall, the visitor can now drive from the city of Charlottesville over a smooth and easily graded road, which winds gracefully around Carter’s Mountain, bringing the traveller to the “Notch,” or first summit, almost before he realizes it. Here stands the porter’s lodge, with artistic double gate, through which vehicles enter upon the _Monticello_ domain proper, and begin to ascend the Little Mountain, upon which the mansion sits a mile above. The same smooth road, bordered by a stone wall, winds along its rugged sides until the cemetery is reached, which stands midway to the summit.

This is the spot chosen by Jefferson, in 1782, after the death of his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson, where he wished himself and family to be laid. It is on a gentle slope of the mountain, to the right of the road, surrounded by lofty oaks and pines, with all the solemn beauty and stillness of the primeval forest.

A few hundred yards from the cemetery the entrance to the lawn is reached, and a glimpse of the grand scenery spread below is seen. Keeping to the right, we pass the ruins of the celebrated “nail-factory,” with its solitary chimney festooned with ivy. Farther on, a solitary grave surrounded by a stone wall, marks the resting-place of the mother of Commodore Levy, who died here. Next we come to the “weaving-room,” which is now the manager’s house. Here we are met by a coloured porter, who, though looking quite venerable, does not lay claim to being Mr. Jefferson’s body-servant, though for a few pennies he will tell you some wonderful stories of him, and point out with pride the many objects of interest. Approaching the mansion up the east lawn, the visitor will stand for a moment and glance at the clock over the door and the weather-vane overhead, which had so often been scanned by the great philosopher. Then reverently entering the double glass doors, he will find himself in the famous hall where Jefferson was wont to meet and greet his visitors.

On the right hangs a full-length portrait of Commodore Levy in full naval uniform; it is a majestic and striking picture of this noted officer; while opposite is a model of the _Vandalia_, the flag-ship in which he sailed around the world. Many other paintings adorn the room which will claim a close and special notice. In the large parlour or _salon_ hangs a full-size portrait of Madam Rachel Levy, the mother of Commodore Levy, who was styled the “American Beauty” while in Europe, a term not inappropriately given if we may judge by the beautiful features before us. The furniture in this room is of the rich antique pattern, to represent the period of Mr. Jefferson’s term as ambassador, while from the ceiling hangs a magnificent chandelier of an old English style for candles. A similar one hangs in the dining-room, both having been imported direct from Europe by Mr. Levy, and are said to have once graced the palace of the Empress Josephine at _Malmaison_.

The glass doors, the polished floors of parquetry, the antique furniture and ancient portraits, all lend a baronial aspect of the past century in close keeping with its appearance during Mr. Jefferson’s time.

The grounds and exterior appointments are well preserved. Scattered over the rich green lawn are rustic benches, statuary, vases and urns of fragrant plants. Here, beneath stately elms, locust and chestnut-trees, the visitor can sit and feast the eye upon the vast landscape on every side.

Half a dozen English spaniels sport on the green lawn, while upon the steep, craggy side of the mountain eight or ten deer can occasionally be seen, which are parked by a high picket-fence. The rear, or south-west, lawn is equally beautiful: from this point is to be seen the mystical looming of Willis’s Mountain in Buckingham County, forty miles away, which would be usually pointed out by Mr. Jefferson to his visitors; then to stand on the north-west side of the pavilion and view the University, with the city of Charlottesville spread in the valley below in all its peaceful repose and beauty, while far beyond stretches the vast range of the Blue Ridge, embracing an extent of vision nearly fifty miles in length, which forms a picture such as will repay a journey of several thousand miles to behold.

THE WILLIAM PENN HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA

JOHN F. WATSON

It is a matter of inquiry and doubt at this day (1828) which has been the house in Letitia Court, wherein William Penn, the founder and Colonel Markham, the Lieutenant-Governor, dwelt.[15] The popular opinion now is, that the inn at the head of the court, occupied as the Leopard Inn and since Penn Hall is the identical house alluded to. The cause of this modern confidence is ascribable (even if there were no better ground of assurance) to the fact, that this building, since they built the additional end to the westward, of about eighteen to twenty feet, presents such an imposing front towards High Street, and so entirely closes the court at that end (formerly open as a cart passage) that from that cause alone, to those not well-informed it looks as the principal house, and may have therefore been regarded by transient passengers as Penn’s house.

The truth is that for many years the great mass of the population had dropt or lost the tradition about Penn’s house in the court; and it is only of later years, antiquities beginning to excite some attention, that the more intelligent citizens have revived some of their former hearings about the court. During all the earlier years of my life, I never heard of Penn living there at all; but of later years I have. I have been, therefore, diligent to ask old men about it. Several said it never used to be spoken of in their youth. John Warder, an intelligent merchant, now above seventy-three years of age, was born at the corner house of the alley on High Street, and has told me he never was told of Penn’s living there, when a boy. On the other hand, a few old men have told me, at every period of their life the tradition (though known to but few) was, that it was one of two houses, to wit--either Doyle’s Inn, or the old Rising Sun Inn on the western side of the alley. Joseph Sansom, Esq., about sixty, told me he heard and believed it was the house at the head of the court, and so also some few others; but more persons, of more weight in due knowledge of the subject, have told me they had been always satisfied it was the old Rising Sun Inn on the western side of the court. Timothy Matlack, aged ninety-two, who was very inquisitive, and knew it from fourteen years of age, said it was then the chief house in the court as to character; it was a very popular inn for many years (whereas Doyle’s house was not an inn till many years afterwards), that it then had an alley on its northern side for a cart way running out to Second Street, and agreeing with “Penn’s gate over against Friends’ Meeting,” etc., at which place his Council, 1685, required King James’s proclamation to be read.

This name Letitia house I found was a name which even those who thought the house at the head of the court was Penn’s, granted that Letitia Penn dwelt in, even while the father may have occupied the other. In this they were certainly in some error; Letitia being an unmarried girl, could never have had a separate house; she was not with her father till his second visit in 1700. It was in Penn’s first visit only, in 1682, that he could have dwelt there.

I infer from the facts that Penn had “his cottage” built there before his landing by Colonel Markham; that some of the finer work was imported for it with the first vessels; that he used it as often as not at his “palace” at Pennsbury. After him, it was used by Colonel Markham, his Deputy Governor; and afterwards for public offices. That in 1700, when he used the Slate-house, corner of Second Street and Norris Alley, having a mind to confer something upon his daughter, then with him, he gave her a deed, 1 mo. 29th, 1701, for all that half square lying on High Street and including said house. Several years after this event, the people, as was their custom, when the court began to be built up on each side of a “36 feet alley,” having no name for it, they, in reference to the last conspicuous owner, called it Letitia Court, in reference to the then most conspicuous house; the same house so given to Penn by his daughter.

If we would contemplate this Letitia house in its first relations, we should consider it as having an open area to the river the whole width of the half square, with here and there retained an ornamental clump of forest trees and shrubbery on either side of an avenue leading out to the Front Street; having a garden of fruit trees on the Second Street side and on Second Street “the Governor’s Gate,” so called “opposite to the lot of the Friends’ Great Meeting.” By this gate the carriages entered and rode along the avenue by the north side of the house to the east front of the premises.

This general rural appearance was in all accordance with Penn’s known taste, and was doubtless so continued until the ground was apportioned out in thirty city lots, as expressed by James Logan in a letter to Letitia Aubrey, in the year 1737.

The following facts present scraps of information which may tend still further to illustrate the proper history of the premises, to wit: “Pitch upon the very middle of the platt of the towne, to be laid facing the harbour, for the situation of the house.” Thus intimating, as I conceive, the choice of Letitia Court, and intimating his desire to have it facing the river, “as the line of houses of the towne should be.”

The Slate-Roof house still standing at the south-east corner of Norris Alley and Second Street, and now reduced to a lowly appearance, derives its chief interest from having been the residence of William Penn. The peculiarity of its original construction, and the character of several of its successive inmates, will enhance its interest to the modern reader. The facts concerning the premises, so far as may now be known, are generally these, to wit:

The house was originally built, in the early origin of the city, for Samuel Carpenter--certainly one of the earliest and greatest improvers of the primitive city. It was probably designed for his own residence, although he had other houses on the same square, nearer to the river.

It was occupied as the city residence of William Penn and family, while in Philadelphia on his second visit in 1700;[16] in which house was born, in one month after their arrival, John Penn, “the American”--the only one of the race ever born in the country. To that house, therefore, humble, degenerated, and altered in aspect as it now is, we are to appropriate all our conceptions of Penn’s employments, meditations, hopes, fears, etc., while acting as Governor and proprietary among us. In those doors he went in and out--up and down those stairs he passed--in those chambers he reposed--in those parlours he dined or regaled his friends--through those garden grounds he sauntered. His wife, his daughter Letitia, his family and his servants were there. In short, to those who can think and feel, the place is filled with local impressions. Such a house should be rescued from its present forlorn neglect; it ought to be bought and consecrated to some lasting memorial of its former character, by restoring its bastions and salient angles, etc. It would be to the character of such Societies as the Historical and Penn Association, etc., to club their means to preserve it for their chambers, etc., as long as themselves and the city may endure.

After William Penn had left this house, on his intended return with his family to England, he, while aboard his return ship the _Messenger_ (an appropriate name for the message and business he was purposing!) writes on the 3d of September, 1701, to James Logan, saying: “Thou may continue in the house I lived in till the year is up.”

James Logan in reply, in 1702, says: “I am forced to keep this house still, there being no accommodation to be had elsewhere for public business.” In fact, he retained it as a government house till 1704, when he and his coadjutors moved to Clark’s Hall in Chestnut Street, afterwards Pemberton’s great house.

James Logan, in a letter to William Penn of 5th December, 1703, says Samuel Carpenter “has sold the house thou lived in” to William Trent (the founder of Trenton in 1719) for £850.

At this house Lord Cornbury, then Governor of New York and New Jersey (son of Lord Clarenden, cousin of Queen Anne), was banqueted in great style in 1702, on the occasion of his being invited by James Logan, from Burlington, where he had gone to proclaim the Queen. Logan’s letter, speaking of the event, says he was dined “equal, as he said, to anything he had seen in America.” At night he was invited to Edward Shippen’s (great house in south Second Street) where he was lodged and dined with all his company, making a retinue of nearly thirty persons. He went back well pleased with his reception, via Burlington, in the Governor’s barge, and was again banqueted at Pennsbury by James Logan, who had preceded him for that purpose. Lord Cornbury there had a retinue of about fifty persons, which accompanied him thither in four boats. His wife was once with him in Philadelphia, in 1703. Penn, on one occasion, calls him a man of luxury and poverty. He was at first very popular; and having made many fine promises to Penn, it was probably deemed good policy to cheer his vanity by striking public entertainments. In time, however, his extravagant living and consequent extortion, divested him of all respect among the people.

In 1709, “the slated-roof house of William Trent” is thus commended by James Logan as a suitable residence for him as Governor, saying: “William Trent, designing for England, is about selling his house (that he bought of Samuel Carpenter) which thou lived in, with the improvement of a beautiful garden,”--then extending half-way to Front Street and on Second Street nearly down to Walnut Street. “I wish it could be made thine, as nothing in this town is so well fitting a Governor. His price is _£_900 of our money, which it is hard thou canst not spare. I would give £20 to £30 out of my own pocket that it were thine--nobody’s but thine.”

The house, however, was sold to Isaac Norris, who devised it to his son, Isaac, through whom it has descended down to the present proprietor, Sarah Norris Dickinson, his grand-daughter (1828).

It was occupied at one period, it is said, by Governor Hamilton, and, for many years preceding the war of Independence, it was deemed a superior boarding house. While it held its rank as such, it was honoured with the company, and, finally, with the funeral honours of General Forbes (successor to General Braddock), who died in that house in 1759. The pomp of his funeral from that house surpassed all the simple inhabitants had before seen in their lives. His horse was led before the procession, richly caparisoned,--the whole conducted in all “the pomp of war,” with funeral dirges, and a military array with arms reversed, etc.[17]

In 1764, it was rented to be occupied as a distinguished boarding-house by the widow Graydon, mother of Captain Graydon of Carlisle, who has left us his amusing _Memoirs of Sixty Years’ Life in Pennsylvania_. There his mother, as he informs us, had a great many gentry as lodgers. He describes the old house as very much of a castle in construction, although built originally for a Friend. “It was a singular, old-fashioned structure, laid out in the style of a fortification, with abundance of angles, both salient and re-entering. Its two wings projected to the street in the manner of bastions, to which the main building, retreating from sixteen to eighteen feet, served for a curtain.[18]... It had a spacious yard, half way to Front Street, and ornamented with a double row of venerable lofty pines, which afforded a very agreeable _rus in urbe_.” She continued there till 1768–1769, when she removed to Drinker’s big house, up Front Street, near to Race Street. Graydon’s anecdotes of distinguished persons, especially of British officers and gentry who were inmates, are interesting. John Adams and other members of the First Congress had their lodgings in the “Slate-House.”

THE CATHEDRAL, MEXICO

THOMAS UNETT BROCKLEHURST

When Cortes conquered the country, he had instructions from Ferdinand and Isabella, from Charles V. and from Pope Alexander IV. to Christianize it; and this part of his duty, with the help of his army of priests and the formidable terrors of the Inquisition, he accomplished all too zealously. The successive Spanish Viceroys completed the work in the spirit of their age; indeed, in such a manner, that when the books are opened and the last seal broken, the cries of the heathen will most probably drown the anthems of the saints. The Old Testament injunction, “Thou shall utterly destroy the heathen from amongst you,” without a single gleam from the brightness of the Sermon from the Mount, has under no circumstances been more rigorously enforced than by Spain in Mexico and Peru; and what remains of her glories, but the bitterest of bitter feeling in Mexico, and the hatred of her Cuban subjects?

In the Conquest of Mexico it was the rule to destroy all the high places and all vestiges of the ancient worship. The Teocalli or temples were levelled to the ground; crosses were set up, and churches built on their sites. The magnificent Cathedral of Mexico stands over the spot where the high altar of Montezuma and his predecessors once ran with the blood of human sacrifices. The first church on this site, after the destruction of the Teocalli, was founded by Charles V. His successor, Philip, ordered it to be pulled down, and commenced the erection of the present structure in 1573. It was not finished and dedicated until the 22d of December, 1657. It has a fine dome and two open towers, each 218 feet high, in which are large bells exposed to view. The length of the building is 426 feet; the architecture is Doric; the railings of the choir, and the passage to the high altar were made of _tumbago_, manufactured at Macao in China, and weighing twenty-six tons. It is a brassy-looking metal, composed of silver, gold and copper, but contains so much gold, that an offer has been made to replace it with pure silver, and give many thousand dollars in addition. The cost of the Cathedral, that is, of the walls alone, was over $2,000,000. The interior of the building forms a Greek cross, and is divided into five naves. On either side of the main nave are wide chapels, elaborately adorned and enclosed by bronze gates; the walls are clothed with pictures in rich old Spanish gold frames; and at one time a Murillo stood over the high altar, but the present archbishop, wise in his generation, after the robbery of a famous picture from a church in Spain, caused it to be removed to the archiepiscopal palace, where it now hangs. There is no stained glass in the windows, and there are no such luxuries as pews; Indian and Hidalgo, Aztec and Spaniard, peon and peasant, kneel on the bare boards. One rude bench is reserved for the old and infirm.

The choir is one mass of elaborate carving; the choir books, dating from 1620, are of vellum, and painted in black letters. Close to the choir is a magnificent altar, supported by green marble columns resembling malachite. A rich balustrade of _tumbago_ connects the altar and the choir. The picture of the Virgin, in the central nave, was painted by Cabrena in 1700, and a St. Sebastian, in one of the chapels, by Balthasor de Echavi in 1645. The glory of the cupola was painted by Simeno de Planes; on the first plane are placed the ancient patriarchs and the celebrated women of the Old Testament, the colours being as vivid at this moment as when laid in. The balustrade surrounding the grand altar is also of _tumbago_, as are the sixty-two statues which serve as chandeliers. The high altar is approached by seven steps, the tabernacle is supported by eight ranges of pillars in the form of a colonnade, on the first of which stand the statues of the Apostles and the Evangelists, while those of numerous saints occupy the second range. On the third appear groups of angels, and, rising from the midst, the Mother of God.

The sacristy is fitted up with oak, black as ebony from age, with several large pictures. I often looked into it, and one day I found two or three priests indulging in a quiet chat after Mass, while the attendants folded away the rich vestments. A padre, seeing I was a stranger, offered to show me the magnificent set of vestments worked for the Cathedral by command of Isabella of Spain; they are of cloth of gold, encrusted with gems, and in panels passages from Holy Writ are worked exquisitely in silk, so as to have the effect of the finest painting; it is only on close inspection that I could discover the traces of the needle. These gorgeous vestments are useless for practical purposes, for they are so heavy that no man of ordinary dimensions could sustain their immense weight for more than a few minutes. Saying mass, or even pronouncing the benediction in them, is out of the question. By the kindness of the padre I was also permitted to view the great council chamber, part and parcel of the Cathedral, in which the councils of the bishops were held, the Archbishop of Mexico presiding on a great gilded throne. This is indeed a noble apartment; it has an open groined roof, and around the walls are portraits of suffragan bishops of Mexico--copies only, for the originals are hung in a sort of secret chamber, to which I was subsequently conducted. This chamber was approached through the gates of a side altar, and the cicerone touched a--to me--invisible spring; a door of maximum thickness slowly opened to admit us to a sort of crypt, with formidably barred windows, around which hang the original portraits of the bishops from first to last, in splendid preservation. In this apartment was a massive oaken table, with a sort of funnel in the middle of it. It is on this table that the offerings of the faithful, after a collection, are deposited, counted, and dropped through the funnel into huge, grim-looking, iron-bound boxes, which stood about the room.

During my stay in Mexico excavations were being made in front of the Cathedral to convert the paved ground into a garden, and but a few feet below the surface some octagonal columns of the first church were discovered; also two heads of large stone serpents, some ten feet long and five feet in depth and in thickness; the carving of the feathered ornaments on the heads was perfect; they had originally been the capitals to the doorposts of the pagan temple of Montezuma, and these interesting fragments of both temple and primitive church were conveyed with much labour and care to the National Museum.

THE WHIPPLE HOUSE, IPSWICH

W. H. DOWNES