Part 29

At about sunset, I wandered into the wood, to the top of the steps leading to the waterfall; where I could hear, far below, its sweet voice singing as it passed away. I remained standing here till the carriage was announced. Just before we went away, our host gave me a small piece of crystal. It is found among the rocks here, which, I believe, present many curious geological phenomena, which I leave to the learned to describe. The strata are the most beautifully regular possible; and, upon their broad smooth surfaces, a thousand theories sit; which I hope I did not disturb, as I walked over them in the plenitude of my ignorance, admiring God's masonry. Oh, fair world!--oh, strange, and beautiful, and holy places--where one's soul meets one in silence--and where one's thoughts arise, with the everlasting incense of the waters, from the earth, which is _His_ footstool, to the heavens, which are _His_ throne. It grew dark long before we reached Utica: half the way I sang; the other half I slept, in spite of ruts five fathoms deep, and all the joltings of these evil ways. To-morrow we start on our way to Niagara; which, Mr. ---- says, is to sweep Trenton clean from our memories. I do not think it.

_Saturday, 13th._

Left Utica at six o'clock, in our exclusive extra: we were to go on as far as Auburn, a distance of seventy-six miles. The day was very beautiful, but extremely hot. At Vernon, where we stopped to breakfast, we overtook the ----s: we had a very good breakfast; and, I think, for the first time since our land journey from Baltimore to Philadelphia, last winter, we were waited on by women. Found a case of musical glasses: sat on the floor, in great delight, amusing myself with them, while the stage was getting ready, ---- and I began wandering about; but the place did not look promising, and the heat was intense. We sat ourselves down under the piazza of the tavern, and I gave him the words of "To that lone Well." In about an hour we set off again. The country was very rich and beautiful; and, at every knoll, backed by woodlands, and skirted by golden grain fields, Mr. ---- exclaimed, "Come, we will have a farm here." He and my father were to smoke, reflect, and enjoy life; I was to sing, whenever I happened to please, and enjoy life too; D---- was to brew, to bake, wash, iron, plough, manage the house, look after the cattle, take care of the poultry, mind the dairy; in short, do every thing on earth that was to be done, and enjoy life too: all which arrangements afforded us matter of converse on the way, and much amusement. Then my father and Mr. ---- had long argumentations about acting: the latter is a vehement admirer of Kean; and of course, that being the case, matter of debate was not wanting. It was all extremely pleasant and profitable; and while the sun shone, and we all kept our tempers, nothing could do better. ---- amused me by telling me portions of ----'s book, the Adventures of a younger Son, with which he had been extremely charmed; and which I remember beginning on board ship, as we crossed from England.

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At about half-past three, we arrived at a place called _Syracuse_!!!--where, stopping to change horses, my father observed that here there were two different routes to our point of destination; and desired our driver to take that which passes through Skaneateles, a very beautiful village, situated on a lake so called. However, to this the master of the inn, who was also, I believe, proprietor of the coach, seemed to have some private objection; and while my father was yet speaking, very coolly shut the coach door in his face, and desired the driver to go on in the contrary direction. The insolence of the fellow enraged my father extremely; and it was rather astonishing, that's the fact: but the deuce is in't if, in a free country, a man may not choose which way his own coach shall go, in spite of the folk who pay him for the use of it. We had to pocket the affront; and, what was much more disagreeable, to travel an ugly uninteresting road, instead of a picturesque and pretty one. We had not proceeded many miles after this occurrence, and were just recovering our equanimities, when the said vehicle broke down. We were not overturned or hurt, only tilted a little on one side. The driver, however, did not seem to think it safe to proceed in this condition: the gentlemen got out, and searched the hedges and thickets for a piece of oak sufficiently strong and stout to repair, at least for the moment, the damage: we were not at the time within reach of any house. At last, they procured what they wanted; and, having propped up the carriage after the best fashion they could, we proceeded at a foot pace to the next village. Here, while they were putting our conveyance into something like better order, ---- and I wandered away to a pretty bright water-course, which, like all water in this country, was made to turn a mill. The coach being made sound once more, we packed ourselves into it, and progressed. The evening was perfectly sultry. I never shall forget, at a place where we stopped to water the horses, a cart-full of wretched sheep and calves, who were, I suppose, on their way to the slaughterhouse, but who, in the mean time, seemed enduring the most horrible torture that creatures can suffer. They were jammed into the cart so as to be utterly incapable of moving a single limb; the pitiless sun shone fiercely upon their wretched heads, and their poor eyes were full of dust and flies. I never saw so miserable a spectacle of suffering. I looked at the brutal-looking man that was driving them, and wondered whether he would go to hell, for tormenting these helpless beasts in this fashion.

The sun set gloriously. Mr. ---- began talking about Greece, and, getting a good deal excited, presently burst forth into "The isles of Greece! the isles of Greece!" which he recited with amazing vehemence and earnestness. He reminded me of Kean several times: while he was declaiming, he looked like a tiger. 'Tis strange, or, rather, 'tis not strange, 'tis but natural, how, in spite of the contempt and even hatred which he often expresses for England, and every thing connected with it, his thoughts and plans, and all the energies of his mind, seem for ever bent upon changes to be wrought in England--freer government, purer laws, more equal rights. He began to talk about Cromwell: he wanted, he said, to have a play written out of Cromwell's life. We talked the matter over with infinite zeal, and established most satisfactorily, that to accomplish such a thing, as it ought to be done, would be quite one of the most difficult tasks in the world. Nobody but a religious and political enthusiast could do it: a poet, unless himself a republican Englishman, and fanatical sectarian, hardly could: it must be unlike all other works of art--not an imitation of truth, but truth itself. Schiller is the only man I can imagine who could have attempted it with any chance of success: and I even doubt whether he would have made of it the firebrand our friend wants.[105] Towards evening the heat became more and more oppressive. Our coach was but ill cobbled, and leaned awfully to one side. I fell asleep lying in my father's lap; and when we reached Auburn, which was not until nine o'clock, I was so tired, so miserably sleepy, and so tortured with the side-ach, from the cramped position in which I had been lying, that I just crawled into the first room in the inn where we alighted, and dropped down on the floor fast asleep. They roused me for supper; and very soon after I betook myself to bed. The heat was intolerable; the pale feet of the summer lightning ran along the black edges of the leaden clouds,--the world was alight with it. I could not sleep: I never endured such suffocating heat.

_Sunday, 14th._

Rose at eight: the morning was already sultry as the hottest noon in England. After breakfast, I wandered about the house in search of shade; went into an empty room, opened the shutters, and got out upon a large piazza, or rather colonnade, which surrounded it. The side I had chosen was defended by the house from the fierce sunlight; and I walked up and down in quiet and loneliness for some time. Not far from the house stood the prison, one of the state prisons of the country; a large grey building, which appeared like a huge block of granite, unsheltered by a single tree or bush, and dim with the hazy heat of the atmosphere. Being Sunday, we were not able to visit it; but the person who kept the house where we were, a very intelligent and civil man, gave us some account of it, and fully corroborated the fact which Stuart mentions,--that when the prison took fire, and all the criminals confined in it were liberated to assist in saving the building, in spite of the general confusion and total absence of restraint or observation, which for some time left them the most easy opportunity of escape, not one of them took advantage of this accident to recover their liberty, but every prisoner returned voluntarily, after the fire was got under, to his cell. This seems miraculous, and speaks more for the excellence of the system pursued in these establishments than all the disquisitions in the world. At about ten, our exclusive extra having driven to the door, we packed ourselves into it, and proceeded towards Geneva, where we were to dine. The sky, however, presently became overcast; and, towards noon, the world was absolutely shrouded in a lead-coloured pall. The air was stifling: it was impossible to draw one's breath; and a quarter of a degree more of heat would certainly have occasioned suffocation. We were all gasping. Suddenly the red lightning tore open the heavy clouds, the thunder rolled round the heavens, the rain came down in torrents: we were away from all shelter, and obliged to proceed through the storm. The leather curtains of our coach were speedily unrolled and buttoned down; but this formed but a miserable shelter against the furious rain. Our carpet bags, which were on the outside of the carriage, were soaked through; and we ourselves were soon in nearly as bad a plight. The rain came in rivulets through the crevices of our insufficient shelter, and the seats and bottom of the coach were presently standing pools. We arrived between twelve and one o'clock at Cayuga; and here we drew up before the inn door, to await the end of the storm. The rain was still so violent, that we preferred remaining in the coach to getting out and being still more thoroughly drenched. The thunder growled sulkily at a distance, and the lightning glared rapidly from side to side. By degrees, the over-swollen clouds, having emptied themselves, rolled away; the rain became less violent; the mist and heavy vapour parted from off the face of the earth, and the lake appeared blending with the sky amid the indistinct and hazy outlines of the half-shrouded country. While we were sitting listening to the storm, silence had fallen upon us all: a thunderstorm is apt to prove an interruption to conversation. During this pause, Mr. ---- took out his pencil, and wrote upon a scrap of paper a very eloquent Mahomedan description of the attributes of God. I do not know whether it was his own, or an authentic Mahomedan document: it was sublime.

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The storm having abated, we proceeded on our way; crossed a bridge a mile and some roods long, over the Cayuga lake; which, however, was still so veiled with scowling mist and clouds, that we could discern none of its features. At about three o'clock we reached Geneva, a small town situated on a lake called Seneca Water. Here we dined. ---- had most providentially brought silver forks with him: for the wretched two-pronged iron implements furnished us by our host were any thing but clean or convenient. After dinner, the weather having become mild and bright, we went up to a piazza on the second floor, which overlooked the lake and its banks: the latter are very picturesque; and the town itself, climbing in terraces along the side of a steep acclivity, rising from the water, has a very good effect. The lake at this point did not appear very wide; for we could distinguish, from where we stood, minute objects on the opposite shore.

After resting ourselves for a short time, we again took to our coach, and pursued our route towards Canandaigua, where we were to pass the night. The afternoon was bright and beautiful, the road tolerable, and the country through which we passed fertile and smiling.

As the evening began to come on, we reached Canandaigua Lake, a very beautiful sheet of water, of considerable extent; we coasted for some time close along its very margin. The opposite shore was high, clothed with wood, from amidst which here and there a white house looked peacefully down on the clear mirror below: the dead themselves can hardly inhabit regions more blessedly apart from the evil turmoil of the world, than the inhabitants of these beautiful solitudes.[106]

Leaving the water's edge, we proceeded about a quarter of a mile, and found ourselves at the door of the inn at Canandaigua, the principal among some houses surrounding an open turfed space, like an English village green, across which ran the high road. My father, Mr. ----, and I went up to a sort of observatory at the top of the house, from whence the view was perfectly enchanting. The green below, screened on three sides with remarkably fine poplar trees, and surrounded by neat white houses, reminded me of some retired spot in my own dear country. Opposite us, the land rose with a gentle wooded swell; and to the left, the lake spread itself to meet the horizon. A fresh breeze blew over the earth, most grateful after the intense heat of the morning, and the sky was all strewed with faint rosy clouds, melting away one by one into violet wreaths, among which the early evening star glittered cold and clear.

We came down to supper, which was served to us, as usual, in a large desolate-looking public room. After this, we came to the sitting-room they had provided for us, a small comfortable apartment, with a very finely-toned piano in it. To this I forthwith sat down, and played and sang for a length of time: late in the evening, I left the instrument, and my father, Mr. ----, and I took a delightful stroll under the colonnade, discussing Milton; many passages of which my father recited most beautifully, to my infinite delight and ecstasy. By and by they went in, and ---- came out to walk with me.

Certainly this climate is the most treacherous imaginable: the heat this morning had been intolerable, and to-night a piercing cold wind had arisen, that would have rendered winter clothing by no means superfluous. We walked rapidly up and down, till the bleak blast became so keen, that we were glad to take refuge in the house. Our unfortunate carpet bags and their contents are literally drenched: many of my goods and chattels will never recover this ablution; among others, I am sorry to say, ----'s beautiful satchel.

_Monday, 15th._

Our breakfast, which was extremely comfortable and clean, was served to us in our private room; a singular favour: one, I hope, which will become a custom as the country is travelled through by greater numbers. Before breakfast, D---- had been taking a walk about the pretty village, and trying to beg, borrow, or steal some flowers for me. The master of the inn, however, succeeded better than she did; for he presently made his appearance with a very beautiful and fragrant nosegay, which I found, to my utter dismay, had been levied from a gentleman's private garden in my name. My horror was excessive at this, and was scarcely diminished when I discovered, upon enquiry, that they had been gathered from Mr. ----'s garden; that gentleman having large property and a fine residence here. He was not in Canandaigua himself; but, as we drove past his house, I left cards for his lady, who must have thought my demand on her green-house one of the greatest impertinencies extant. It was nine o'clock when we left Canandaigua: we were all a little done up with our two previous days; and it was unanimously settled that we should proceed only to Rochester, a distance of between thirty and forty miles, which we accomplished by two o'clock.

Rochester, upon whose site, I understand, twenty years ago there stood hardly a house, is now a large and populous manufacturing town. The progress of life in this country is amazing. From day to day the wilderness becomes inhabited, peopled, civilised; and where yesterday the majestic woods were standing, and the silent waters gliding in all the solemn solitude of unexplored nature, to-day the sound of the forge and anvil is heard, the busy feet of men pass and repass, their mingled voices resound, their dwellings arise; the wheels of a thousand mechanical miracles clash, creak, and jar; the vapours of a thousand steam-engines mingle with the hitherto lonely clouds; and the huge fins of a thousand steam-boats beat the waters, carrying over their hitherto undisturbed surface the vast produce of industry. The labours, the arts, the knowledge, the wealth, the wonders of education and civilisation! It is something that fills one with admiration, in the old, and eke the new, sense of the word.

The inn at which we alighted was large and comfortable: in the drawing-room I found a very tolerable piano-forte, to which I instantly betook myself. By the time we had seen our bed-rooms, and ordered dinner, we found we should have leisure, before it was ready, to walk to the falls of the Genesee (the river on which Rochester stands), which have some celebrity for their beauty. A man from the hotel volunteered to be our guide, and joined our party. We walked up the main street, which was crowded and full of business. From this, presently turning off, we followed a wider road, with houses and pretty flower gardens on each side, and reached, after half a mile's walk, a meadow skirted by a deep ravine, through which the river ran; from whence we looked immediately upon the falls. They would be, and were, I doubt not, once beautiful; for the barrier of rock, over which the river throws itself into the valley below, is of considerable breadth and height; but, alas! the waters have been turned off to turn mills, and a thin curtain, which falls over the rocks like a vapoury sheet of blue smoke, is all that remains of the Genesee falls; whilst, from a thousand dingy-looking mills and manufactories, the poor little rivulets of labouring water come rushing through narrow dirty channels, all stained and foaming and hot from their work, to throw themselves into the thin bosom of their parent stream. Truly, mills and steam-engines are wonderful things, and I know that men must live; but I wish it were not expedient to destroy what God has made so very beautiful, in order to make it useful. Our guide perceiving our admiration was a good deal excited by the picturesque beauty of the scene, fell into a species of rhapsody, which terminated thus: "Yes, sir, when I see the waters thus falling _from the bottom to the top_; I say, sir, when I look at the water falling from _the bottom to the top_, I can compare it to nothing--but--but--but--wool out of a cotton-mill!" This was an unlooked-for climax, and gave us all a violent inclination to laugh in the face of the orator; which, however, would have been exceedingly wrong; for so sincere was the good man in his enthusiasm, that he was not in the least aware of the miraculous proceeding which he twice, with much emphasis, ascribed to the _upward falling_ water.[107]

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We waited in this meadow for the passing of a train of rail-road carriages, which run between Rochester and a small village about three miles distant, where the river was said to be very beautiful. We hailed them as they went by, and proceeded in them to their destination. The view itself, from this point, though romantic and pretty, was scarce worth going out of the way for; the walk back, however, was delightful. The river runs here through a deep gully, the banks rising precipitously above a hundred feet on each side of it. On one side they are beautifully and thickly wooded; the other presents a bare wall of reddish rock lying in very regular strata. About a mile and a half below the falls, the channel of the river contracts itself, and the water, forcing its way through some irregular rocky projections, forms a very pretty miniature cataract. We walked along the high margin of the glen, upon some very thick soft turf, looking down upon the deep bed of the water, and enjoying a delicious fresh breeze. 'Tis curious enough, that upon this strip of turf, close to the high road, under the shelter of a group of trees, we found a couple of tomb-stones. They were carefully railed round, and bore the names of a man and his wife, without, however, assigning any cause for their choice of a burial-place so public and unhallowed. The last mile of our walk was by no means so agreeable as the previous part had been. Nearing the town, we had to leave the brink of the river and follow the dusty track of the rail-road. When we reached Rochester, we dined; after which I went and lay down, and slept till tea-time. When I came down to tea, found the gentlemen profoundly busied: ---- writing home, Mr. ---- journalising, my father poring over maps and road-books, to find out if we could not possibly get as far as Niagara to-morrow.

_Tuesday, 16th._