Chapter 14

The man who came with Alonzo and Edgar from the mansion, then went before the magistrates of the town, and gave his testimony and affidavit, by which it appeared that several eminent characters of Connecticut were concerned in this illicit trade. They then released him, gave him the money they had found in the cellar at the mansion, and he immediately left the town. Precepts were soon after issued for a number of those traders; several were taken, among whom were some of the gang, and others who were only concerned--but most of them absconded, so that the company and their plans were broken up.

When Alonzo and Edgar returned home and related their adventure, they were all surprised at the fortitude of Melissa in being enabled to support her spirits in a solitary mansion, amidst such great, and so many terrors.

It was now that Alonzo turned his attention to future prospects. It was time to select a place for domestic residence. He consulted Melissa, and she expressively mentioned the little secluded village, where

"Ere fate and fortune frown'd severe,"

they projected scenes of connubial bliss, and planned the structure of their family edifice. This intimation accorded with the ardent wishes of Alonzo. The site formerly marked out, with an adjoining farm, was immediately purchased, and suitable buildings erected, to which Alonzo and Melissa removed the ensuing summer.

The clergyman of the village having recently died in a _good old age_, Edgar was called to the pastoral charge of this unsophisticated people. Here did Melissa and Alonzo repose after the storms of adversity were past. Here did they realize all the happiness which the sublunary hand of time apportions to mortals. The varying seasons diversified their joys, except when Alonzo was called with the militia of his country, wherein he bore an eminent commission, to oppose the enemy; and this was not unfrequent, as in his country's defence he took a very conspicuous part. Then would anxiety, incertitude, and disconsolation possess the bosom of Melissa, until dissipated by his safe return. But the happy termination of the war soon removed all cause of these disquietudes.

Soon after the close of the war, Alonzo received a letter from his friend, Jack Brown, dated at an interior parish in England,--in which, after pouring forth abundance of gratitude, he informed, that on returning to England he procured his discharge from the navy, sold his house, and removed into the country, where he had set up an inn with the sign of _The Grateful American_. "You have made us all happy, said he; my dear Poll blubbered like a fresh water sailor in a hurricane, when I told her of your goodness. My wife, my children, all hands upon deck are yours. We have a good run of business, and are now under full sail, for the land of prosperity."

Edgar married to one of the Miss Simpsons, whose father's seat was in the vicinity of the village. The parents of Alonzo and Melissa were their frequent visitors, as were also Vincent and his lady, with many others of their acquaintance, who all rejoiced in their happy situation, after such a diversity of troubles. Alfred was generally once a year their guest, until at length he married and settled in the mercantile business in Charleston, South Carolina.

To our hero and heroine, the rural charms of their secluded village were a source of ever pleasing variety. Spring, with its verdured fields, flowery meads, and vocal groves: its vernal gales, purling rills, and its evening whippoorwill: summer, with its embowering shades, reflected in the glassy lake, and the long, pensive, yet sprightly notes of the solitary strawberry-bird;[A] its lightning and its thunder; autumn with its mellow fruit, its yellow foliage and decaying verdure; winter, with its hoarse, rough blasts, its icy beard and snowy mantle, all tended to thrill with sensations of pleasing transition, the feeling bosoms of _Alonzo and Melissa_.

[Footnote A: A bird which, in the New England states, makes its first appearance about the time strawberries begin to ripen. Its song is lengthy, and consists of a variety of notes, commencing sprightly, but ending plaintive and melancholy.]

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Chronology

Based on references to datable external events, the story covers at least ten years. The parts of the book that take place in Connecticut are filled with descriptions of changing seasons. Europe and the southern states have no climate.

"two young gentlemen of Connecticut ... graduated at Yale College" "Beauman ... came regularly once in two or three months" "Beauman's visits to Melissa became more frequent" "[Beauman's] visits became more and more frequent." "It was summer, and towards evening when [Alonzo] arrived."

To accommodate Beauman's repeated visits, a full year would have to pass.

"The troubles which gave rise to the disseveration of England from America had already commenced, which broke out the ensuing spring into actual hostilities, by the battle of Lexington, followed soon after by the battle of Bunker Hill."

The battles took place in April and June of 1775; "the ensuing spring" would mean that the year is 1774.

"Winter came on; it rapidly passed away. Spring advanced..."

1774 changes to 1775

"The spring opened ... the colonies, which had now been dissevered from the British empire, by the declaration of independence"

This is the same spring as in the previous quotation, but if the Declaration of Independence (July 1776) is in the past, it would have to be the spring of 1777.

"It was at the latter end of the month of May"

May 1775 or 1777, depending on one's chosen chronology.

"The particulars of this action, in the early stage of the American war, are yet remembered by many."

The "action" may be a conflation of two different episodes involving the _Trumbull_, neither of them early in the war: the first was in June 1780, the second in late August 1781. The _Trumbull_ was towed to New York, not to London.

"who died there about eighteen months ago"

Alonzo took sail shortly after learning of Melissa's death, so we are now in early 1783.

[Melissa's gravestone] "October 26, 1776 / In the 18th year of her age."

Depending on the chronology chosen, Melissa's reported death could have been in 1775, 1777 or 1781. Her 18th year is properly the year _leading up to_ her 18th birthday, but may mean that she was 18 years old.

"to be opened that night only, with the tragedy of _Gustavus_"

_Gustavus_ was written by Henry Brooke in 1739 and immediately banned. Its American premiere was in Baltimore on 14 June 1782.

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Quotations

Only a few quotations have been identified. Some of the others may be paraphrases.

"Call round her laughing eyes, in playful turns, The glance that lightens, and the smile that burns." Erasmus Darwin, 1731-1802, "The Temple of Nature, or, The Origin of Society"

But far beyond the pride of pomp, and power, He lov'd the realms of nature to explore; . . . Timothy Dwight (president of Yale), 1752-1817, _The Conquest of Canaan_. The _Cambridge History of English and American Literature_ says that the poem was "written by the time he was twenty-two, but published when he was thirty-three and should have known better."

"musing, moping melancholy." Arthur Murphy, _The Upholsterer or What News_ (1758), I:i: "musing, moping, melancholy lover".

"The breeze's rustling wing was in the tree" This unidentified line is also quoted in Mitchell's _Albert and Eliza_.

the "stilly sound" of the low murmuring brook Misprinted in 1851 as "slitty sound". Probably John Home, _Douglas_ (1756) IV:i.

"the confused noise of the warriors, and garments rolled in blood," 1804 text has "warrior". Isaiah 9:5 (King James): For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood.

until "the heavens were arrayed in blackness." Isaiah 50:3: "I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."

he cast a "longing, lingering look" Thomas Gray (1716-71) _Elegy_.

"Blue trembling billows, topp'd with foam," The 1804 and 1811 texts have the correct form "tumbling billows". _Anarchiad, a New England Poem_ (1786-87) with joint authors Joel Barlow (1754-1812), David Humphreys (1752-1818), John Trumbull (1750-1831) and Lemuel Hopkins (1750-1801).

"dingy scud" Printed "dirgy scud" in all but the 1804 original. Possibly from Charles Dibdin (b. 1745), "Ev'ry Inch a Sailor": The wind blew hard, the sea ran high, The dingy scud drove 'cross the sky ...

"... like Patience on a monument ..." _Twelfth Night_ II:iv.

The "days of other years" Possibly from "Ossian" (James MacPherson); the phrase is used often.

Here may the "widowed wild rose love to bloom!" May be a paraphrase of another line in _The Conquest of Canaan_.

"Song, beauty, youth, love, virtue, joy ...." Identified in the text as Edward Young, _Night Thoughts_, 1745. The couplet on the title page is from the same source.

"To tie those bands which nought but death can sever." May be "bonds" as in 1804 text. The phrase "that naught but death can sever" occurs in Spenser, _Amoretti_ VI (1595).

"white as the southern clouds" The phrase occurs in a translation of Salomon Gessner, as well as in an 1817 text (Pennie, "The Royal Minstrel"). Both passages are descriptions of sheep.

"a good old age" The phrase occurs at least four times in the King James Bible.

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Other Editions

The editions available for comparison were:

1804 Weekly installments in _The Political Barometer_, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. This version was only available in an online transcription. A number of questioned words were checked with the transcriber, Hugh MacDougall of the Cooper Society. 1811 Plattsburgh, N.Y. "Printed For The Proprietor." The first of the pirated editions. Some copies have no author credit. 1851 Boston. "Printed for the Publishers." Attached to the end, without page break, is a short narrative poem with prose introduction, "Henry and Julia, a tale of real life" (omitted from this e-text). 1864 Philadelphia, Lippincott. With two exceptions, this is a reprint of the 1851 edition, including obvious typographical errors and with identical punctuation. There is a new frontispiece (the 1851 edition had none). The "Henry and Julia" poem is omitted. Instead, the final page compresses the last two pages (one full page plus seven lines of text and a four-line footnote) of the 1851 edition into one, using a noticeably smaller font. 1870? New York, Leavitt & Allen. The date is hypothetical, based on librarian's notation. The book is probably a reprint of the 1836 Boston edition, which has the same page count (significantly different from other known editions); 1836 is also a plausible date for the frontispiece.

General Differences:

In the 1804 and 1811 texts, dialogue is usually punctuated as

"To this place (said Melissa) have I taken...."

with some variation between brackets [] and parentheses (). In the 1870 text, dialogue has "modern" punctuation with single quotes:

'To this place,' said Melissa, 'have I taken....'

The earlier versions are _more_ likely to use "American" spellings such as "jail" (but "gaoler") and "honor"; later editions (published in the U.S.) use "British" spellings such as "gaol" and "honour". The older form "shew" appears only in the earliest editions.

The spelling "stupify" is used consistently, and "vallies" is almost universal. The spellings "discreet(ly)" and "discrete(ly)" seem to have been used interchangeably. Names in "New" such as "New London" were generally hyphenated in 1804; later versions have fewer hyphens, but they never disappear altogether.

The ampersand & appears a few dozen times in the original (1804) version; in 1811 most were changed to "and", and in later editions it survived only in the form "&c."

The 1804 and 1811 texts use "consolate" for "console" almost everywhere, and the name is spelled Wyllys, changed in later editions to Wyllis. The 1811 text consistently uses the spelling "whipperwill", and often uses "come" and "become" for "came" and "became". The 1851 text often uses non-standard spellings such as "visiter", "suiter", "persuit". The 1870 text consistently spells "lilly" with two l's, and uses "set" for "sit"; it often interchanges or omits "the/this/that" and similar.

In All Editions:

With lingering gaze Edinian spring survey'd [for Edenian] The panic and general bustle which took place in America on these events, is yet well remembered by many. ["is" for "are"] to level on the property of the former [common error or variant for "levy"] this measure, once adopted, her father must consent also [sentence structure is the same in all editions] constructed of several tier of hewed timbers ["tier" used as a plural] he should conduct in a very different manner [sentence structure is the same in all editions]

Details:

The following are highlights, not an exhaustive list. See below for errors corrected in the 1851 text. Spelling and punctuation have been regularized in some cases.