USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884, Volume I > Part 27
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Clio. I'll supply thee with another.
Thal. I myself have all the other.
Where hast thou been with thy flute ? Eut. Austin's voice has kept it mute ;
For I cannot work such tones
As Cinderella breathes with Jones.
Brichta, Gillingham, and Knight
Fill their hearers with delight ;
Feron, George, and tuneful Poole,
Pupils of a Sterling school, §
All have won such high repute,
I've a mind to break my flute !
* James K. Paulding. + Fitz-Greene Halleck.
+ William Cox, an Englishman by birth, who was employed upon the Mirror, and made a literary reputation by his contributions to that periodical and the publication of a volume in 1833 entitled " Crayon Sketches by an Amateur." It had a preface written by Theodore S. Fay. Of this work the late Guilian C. Verplanck wrote : " It is full of originality. pleasantry, and wit. alternately reminding the reader of the poetic eloquence of Hazlitt and the quaint humor and eccentricities of Charles Lamb." Cox was a printer by trade. He returned to England, and died there in 1851.
§ These were public singers at the theatres.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
All that I can now pretend Is these sweetest airs to blend,
Copied weekly from the stage For the Mirror's music page. Thal. Where hast thou been, Sister Clio ? Clio. In the classic isle of Scio, Gathering facts to form a story
Of Moslem hate and Grecian glory ;
Present times and former ages,
Fit to grace the Mirror's pages.
Buried archives, deep and loamy,
Look what I have ! 'Thal. Show me ! Show me ! Clio. Here I have Minerva's thumb Dug from Herculaneum. Eut. Be dumb ! be mum ! Our sisters, come !"
Then enter all the Muses, and sing in concert. The editors of the Mirror appear, reading contributions by moonlight, and making com- ments on them. They are astonished at the sight of the Muses, each with her finger on her lip.
" They look not like the belles of gay Broadway,"
say the editors, and add :
" As females you appear, And yet your silence baffles this idea."
The Muses greet them cordially with :
" All hail, MI-s, F-y * and M-s, hail !"
They praise the editors, and promise great things for the Mirror. After that the Muses all appear on the Battery in the moonlight, sing- ing and dancing in a frolicsome manner. They chant in chorus :
" Many more volumes must this one ensue : New pictures will abound, And elegance surround, As if in plates were found Propagation too."
While the nine sisters are dancing and uttering words of joy because of the success of the Mirror, Apollo, the patron of all the fine arts, suddenly appears, frowning in anger. Thalia speaks :
* George P. Morris and Theodore S. Fay, the joint editors of the Mirror.
-
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IIISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
" Thal. How now, Apollo ! what's the matter now ? There seems to be a cloud upon thy brow. Apollo. Have I not reason ? meddlers as ye are, Saucy and overbold ? How did you dare To trade and traffic after dark, With F-y and M-s in the Park ?
And I, the leader of your choir, ' The bright-haired master of the lyre,' Was never called to bear my part Or show the glory of our art."
Apollo orders the Muses to disperse, and meet again at the Park Theatre at dawn. With Terpsichore he ascends in a balloon to spend the night in the air over "poets' garrets." At sunrise the Nine are seen in Clinton Hall, and in the midst of them is a " magic urn," into which they cast their contributions for the Mirror-treasures of litera- ture and art, all inspired by their potent spells. Apollo enters and says :
" O, well done ! I commend your pains, For nothing's lost the Mirror gains ; And now about the urn we'll sing, Like elves and fairies in a ring, Enchanting all that we put in. SONG. Grave essays and light, Sad stories and gay, Mingle, mingle, mingle, You that mingle may."
Then Melpomene, the muse of tragedy ; Calliope, the muse of epic poetry ; Urania, the muse of astronomy, and all the others join in con- cocting the mixture :
" Pol. Sedley, Sedley, and his medley. Terp. Wit of Paulding, sharp and scalding. Erat. Verse of Palmer,* that's a charmer. Melpomene. Tale from Leggett,t readers beg it. CHORUS. Around, around, around, about, about, Put in the good and keep the others out. Thal. Paulding's Dutch and Yankee chat. Apollo. Put in that -- put in that. Urania. Here's Bulwer's brain. Apollo. Put in a grain. Thal. Here is Cox's latest letter, That will please the reader better," etc.
William Pitt Palmer, one of the poetical contributors to the Mirror. He produced a few charming verses.
+ William Leggett, then associated with Bryant in editing the Evening Post.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
The librarian of Clinton Hall enters with a packet containing a " Luchet-ful of sentiment," when Apollo says :
" Pour it in, 'tis Woodworth's * measure,"
and Erato speaks :
" Thus in poesy divine
Many a gem for us doth shine. Sprague t our fingers shall inspire With his grandeur and his fire ; Halleck's classic satires charm, Wetmore's # martial numbers warm ; Pierrepont's § airs and Schroeder's | lays
Cheer us on our rugged ways ; Here with Brooks's " taste is blent
Bryant's ** heartfelt sentiment ;
Sands's tt humor, Whittier's ## strength,
Bryan's charity and length ; Pickering, §§ nature's simple bard ;
Smooth and polished Everard,
Willis, || delicate and chaste, Percival, TT of classic taste ;
Cooper, *** Irving, +++ Hillhouse, ### Clark, Sss
Nack ||| and all will " toe the mark."
Here is Huntley's " sweetness stealing,
Here is Embury's **** depth and feeling ;
Thyrza, Isabel, and Cora,
Hinda, Jane, Estelle, and Nora,
Ida, Selim, Alpha, Reuben,
Damon, Rusticus, and Lubin ;
Woodbridge, Iolante, Delia,
Mary, Emma, and Aurelia : tttt
Bogert gentle, Muzzy tender, y's and *** s of every gender.
Signs and Greek initials plenty,
A. B. C. the four-and-twenty."
* Samnel Woodworth, a printer, and one of the founders of the Mirror. The "bucket- ful of sentiment" is in allusion to Woodworth's popular song. " The Old Oaken Bucket."
t Charles Sprague. # General Prosper M. Wetmore. $ Jolin Pierrepont.
| Rev. J. F. Schroeder, then assistant minister of Trinity Church.
T James G. and Mary E. Brooks.
** William Culler Bryant.
tt Robert C. Sands.
## John Greenleaf Whittier.
§§ John Pickering, son of Timothy Pickering. MI N. P. Willis.
€ " James G. Percival.
*** James Fenimore Cooper.
ttt Washington Irving.
### James A. Hillhouse.
$$$ Willis Gaylord Clark. III James Nack, a deaf mnte.
Mrs. Lydia Huntley Sigourney. **** Mrs. Emma C. Embury.
tttt The assumed fictitious names of some of the writers for the Mirror.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Apollo speaks :
" Nor doth talent less abound, Nor is lesser riches found In those columns which compose Story or romance of prose ; Mirthful sketch, or strictures grave, Tales of wonder on the wave, Told in ' Leisure Hours at Sea.' * When the wind is fair and free. Erato. ' Little Genius,' + bright and gay,
From the racy pen of F-y.
Critical remarks by B.,
On dramatic melody ; Inman's # candid speculations On dramatic publications ; W.'s' each month in York,' All combine to aid the work."
Apollo says :
" Enough of letters ; now commence A detail of embellishments."
Clio begins :
" Here then, as before, I place Weir's § grandeur, Ingham's | grace ; Newton's " truth and Bennett's ** nature, Henry Inman's tt skill in feature ; Hoyle's ## pellucid lake and sky, Fisher's $$ coursers as they fly ; Architectural grace that shines, Bright in Davis's | designs : Cummings's " delicious bloom, Speaking eye and snowy plume ; Jarvis, *** Leslie, ttt Morse, and Cole, ### Full of feeling, fire, and soul ;
* This is the title of a collection of poems of William Leggett.
t Under the name of " The Little Genius," Theodore S. Fay wrote a series of short essays for the Mirror.
# John Inman. ** W. J. Bennett, a landscape painter. $ Robert W. Weir. ++ Henry Inman, a portrait painter.
[ Charles C. Ingham. ## Raphael Hoyle.
T G. S. Newton. SS Alvan Fisher, an animal painter.
!I A. J. Davis, an architect, who drew several sketches of buildings for the Mirror.
TE Thomas S. Cummings, " miniature" or small portrait painter. John Wesley Jarvis.
ttt C. R. Leslie.
Thomas Cole, the eminent landscape painter.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
Mountain scenery, bold and grand, From the pencil of Durand ; * Trumbull's + patriotic groups And Revolutionary troops ; Agate, # Reinagle, $ and Morse, Į Who teach the canvas to discourse With a host of names as high, Which oblivion shall defy ; Forming each a radiant gem, Modern painting's diadem."
Calliope speaks :
" From the graver's hand I bring No less rich an offering ; Sculptured on their plates, there shine Form for form, and line for line ; Light for light, and shade for shade In these picture-gems displayed. All may thus their beanties own, Kept before by one alone ; Living on such lasting plate, Though the models yield to fate. Here are Smillie's force and brightness, Hoagland's ** depth and Hatch's tt lightness Sparkling touches by Durand, Scenes from Smith's ## ingenious hand ; Balch §§ and Eddy, Rawdon, Wright, [] Whose performances delight ; Mason,"" Adams, *** Anderson,ttt With a host come crowding on, Far too numerous to name, All whose works are known to fame."
Here Apollo breaks in :
" Hold ! enough of graphic art ; City view and rural chart ; Leave them all to graceful Weir, He will see that they appear ;
* Asher B. Durand (still living), the eminent engraver on steel, and also a painter. t Colonel John Trumbull, then president of the American Academy of Fine Arts. + F. S. Agate. § Hugh Reinagle, architect and painter. [ Professor S. F. B. Morse.
T James Smillie. yet (1883) engaged in engraving on steel. ++ George W. Hatch.
** William Hoagland, an engraver on wood. ## John R. Smith, an Englishman, and teacher of drawing. $$ William Balch.
Il Members of the firm of Rawdon. Wright & Hatch, bank-note engravers.
TE A. J. Mason. *** Joseph A. Adams.
Itt Dr. Alexander Anderson. the earliest engraver on wood in America.
254
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Though we highly prize such treasures, They must yield to Music's measures. For our spells are not complete Till we add our art so sweet."
Then Euterpe speaks :
" Let the graceful task be mine : Haydn's splendor here shall shine, Handel's solemn grandeur roll,
Weber's horrors fright the soul, Sweet Rossini's strains, that move E'en the sternest hearts to love ; With the grave Mozart's combined, Here shall charm the ear and mind ; While a thousand more in turn Shall contribute to the Urn."
This little drama made quite a stir in the realm of letters and art at that time, and public curiosity was piqued because of the mystery that enveloped the authorship. It was considered a clever production of the kind. Because it contains the names of many of the chief literary men and artists of the day in the city of New York, and because it was one of the curiosities of the literature of the metropolis, it has been so largely quoted from here. Doubtless some of the older readers of this work will remember the " town talk" it occasioned at the time, and the numerous wild guesses that were made as to its authorship. Mason, the supposed author, returned to London a few years after- ward.
Among the literary men of New York fifty years ago, the most con- spicuous were Washington Irving, James K. Paulding, Gulian C. Verplanck, Fitz-Greene Halleck, William Cullen Bryant, William Leggett, Robert C. Sands, George P. Morris, Theodore S. Fav. and promising Nathaniel P. Willis.
Mr. Irving had lately returned from Europe with a wealth of mate- rials to use in his future literary labors. He had added to his literary reputation in England by the publication of his " Sketch Book" by the prince of publishers, John Murray, to whom he sold the copyright for 81000. In London he was attached to the American legation, as secre- tary under Minister MeLane, in 1829. Before leaving England the University of Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of LL. D. He arrived in New York in May, 1832, and was a participant in a public banquet spread in his honor at the famous City Hotel by leading men in the city of his birth.
+ John Hughes Biskop of The York
255
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
Mr. Paulding was a brother-in-law of Mr. Irving, the sister of the former having married the latter's brother William. Paulding began his literary career with Irving in the publication of a series of sketches which were entitled " Salmagundi ; or the Whimwhams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff and Others." They were the joint productions of Paulding and Irving, and continued to be issued periodically by David Longworth during the entire year 1807. These papers hit off the humor of the times with great freshness and vigor, and were very popular.
Paulding was a poet as well as a novelist. His first poem was " The Backwoodsman," which appeared in 1818. In 1826 appeared his " Merry Tales of the Three Wise Men of Gotham" who " went to sea in a bowl." It was a satire upon the social system propounded bv Robert Owen. It was followed in 1828 by " The Traveller's Guide," which was surnamed " The New Pilgrim's Progress." It was a bur- lesque on the grandiloquent guide-books to the city and the works of English travellers on America. It gave satirical sketches of fashionable life and manners in New York when to be the mistress of a three-story brick house, with mahogany folding-doors between the parlors, and marble mantels, was the highest ambition of a New York belle. This and a half-score of other books from his pen had made Paulding, at the time under consideration, very popular as a brilliant and entertaining writer.
Mr. Verplanck * ranked among literary veterans oven at that period.
* Gulian Crommelin Verplanck, LL.D., was for more than fifty years one of the best known among the literary men of New York. He was born in that city in 1756 ; gradu- ated at Columbia College in 1801 ; studied law with Edward Livingston ; was admitted to the bar in 1807, and made his first appearance in public as a Fourth of July orator in the North Dutch Reformed Church in 1809. In 1811 he was a principal actor in the defence of a student of Columbia College during the commencement exercises at Trinity Church, and was fined by Mayor De Witt Clinton for an infraction of law. The matter assumed a political aspect, and some of Mr. Verplanck's earlier literary efforts were in the form of political writings, the most noted of which was " The State Triumvirate," a sharp satire aimed at De Witt Clinton and his friends. In 1811 Mr, Verplanck married Miss Eliza Fenno, by whom he had two children, one of whom survives. In 1813 he became a contributor to the Analectic Magazine, edited by Washington Irving. He went to Europe in 1816, and remained two years. On his return, he delivered an anniversary discourse before the New York Hospital, which gave him a great literary reputation. He became an earnest politician, and was elected a member of the New York Assembly in 1819 by the " Buektail " party, opposed to Clinton. He was appointed a professor in the Union Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1825 he was elected to Congress. On retiring from that position he devoted himself maiuly to literary pursuits. In a discourse before the literary societies of Columbia College in 1830 he paid a generous
256
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Ile was chiefly distinguished as an essayist, treating of literature, history, law, science, politics, and religion ; and he was the author of numerous occasional addresses. In 1827 he and Sands and Bryant united in the production of an " annual " (a popular style of literary production at that time) called " The Talisman." It was illustrated with engravings from the burins of American artists. This work was issued three successive years, and these volumes contain some of the choicest productions of this trio of writers.
Halleck was then at the height of his fame as a writer-a poet, a wit, and a satirist. A series of poetical satires on town life and char- acters-on the Tammany politicians, editors, aldermen, and local celebrities in New York-had appeared in the Evening Post over the signature of "Croaker & Co.," written by him and Joseph Rodman Drake jointly. These were published in 1819, and in 1821 his " Fanny," in a similar strain, was published. These productions had made him very popular, and his society was coveted by the literati of the day. Cooper, often cynical, loved Halleck, and always greeted him with pleasure at the Bread and Cheese Club, and elsewhere in society.
The acquaintance of Halleck and Drake was begun under peculiar circumstances. One charming summer afternoon in 1819, Halleck, Dr. De Kay, and other young men were standing, just after a shower, admiring a resplendent rainbow.
" If I could have my wish," said one of them, " it would be to lie in the lap of that rainbow and read Tom Campbell."
Another of the group, a stranger to the speaker, immediately stepped forward and said to him,
tribute to the character of De Witt Clinton (who died in 1828). with whom he so long quarrelled through the press, in which he said : " Whatever of party animosity might have blinded me to his merits died away long before his death."
Mr. Verplanck was elected to the State Senate in 1838, and was a controlling power in the Court of Errors. Through his life he had been a diligent student of Shakespeare, and in 1847 he completed the editing of a new edition of his works, published by Harper & Brothers. In this task he exhibited much erudition. For more than fifty years he was a trustee of the Society Library, forty-four years a regent of the University of the State of New York, twenty-six years a vestryman of Trinity Church, twenty-four years president of the Board of Emigration, an active member of the New York Historical Society, many years one of the governors of the New York Hospital, a trustee of Colum- bia College, a member of the Sketch Club, and a working member of the Century Club. But while he was liberal in giving his personal attention to the management of various institutions, he was never a contributor of pecuniary aid to any of the benevolent and charitable institutions of the city. He was the inheritor of a liberal competence, but his estate was not very large at the time of his death, in March, 1570.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
" You and I must be acquainted : my name is Drake."
" My name," said the other, " is Fitz-Greene Halleck."
From that day Drake and Halleck were fast friends. They were of the same age, almost to a day-twenty-four years. The productions of the ". Croakers" soon afterward appeared, and created a great deal of amusement and not a little irritation. Drake died a little more than a year after his first acquaintance with Halleck, and was sincerely mourned by the latter, who wrote the touching tributary lines begin- ning with the familiar verse : .
" Green be the turf above thee, Friend of my better days ; None knew thee but to love thee, None named thee but to praise."
At the time under consideration Halleck was engaged in mercantile pursuits. Poets cannot dwell always in the clouds nor banquet on air. He wrote :
" No longer in love's myrtle shade My thoughts recline ; I'm busy in the cotton trade And sugar line."
He was also agent for the Duchess County Insurance Company.
Mr. Bryant, then about twenty-seven years of age, had made his advent in the city of New York in 1825 as editor of the New York Review. In 1826 he connected himself editorially with the Evening Post, and remained with it as editor-in-chief and proprietor until his death. In 1832 a complete edition of Mr. Bryant's poems appeared in New York. Washington Irving, then in England, caused it to be reprinted there, with a laudatory preface which he prepared. His most notable poem, " Thanatopsis," had been written in 1512, when he was eighteen years of age. Mr. Bryant, like Halleck, was of medium size, lithe and active; but, unlike Halleck, he was cool and reserved in manner, and yet he always possessed a quiet vein of humor.
Mr. Leggett, the junior of Bryant by eight years, a native of New York City, had been a midshipman in the United States Navy, but had resigned in 1826. In 1828 he began the publication of the Critic, a weekly literary periodical, in which the reviews, criticisms of the drama and fine arts, essays, and tales were nearly all from his pen. It died at the end of six months for want of pecuniary sustenance. His ability and versatility had been so conspicuously illustrated that in 1829 Mr.
---
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Leggett became associated with Mr. Bryant in editing the Evening Post. He had stipulated that he should not be called to write political articles, because they were distasteful to him, and he had no settled convictions on the subject, but before the end of the year he became a zealous Democrat, and took decided ground in favor of free trade and against the United States Bank. Mr. Leggett died May 29. 1839. He was of medium height, compactly built, and possessed great powers of endurance.
Mr. Sands, a native of Flatbush, L. I., was then about thirty-two years of age. He had begun his literary carcer at the age of fourteen years. From 1827 to the time of his death, December 17, 1832, he was assistant editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser. Gulian C. Verplanck published a memoir of his, with selections from his works. While engaged in writing an article upon " Esquimaux Lit- erature," for the Knickerbocker Magazine, on December 17, 1832, he was seized with apoplexy, and his pencil dropped from his hand. He arose to leave his room, but fell at the threshold, and lived only a few hours.
Mr. Sands had studied law, but soon after his admission to the bar he abandoned the profession and devoted himself to literature. One of his best productions-" The Dream of the Princess Rapantzin"-was published in the Talisman. After that, and while connected with the Commercial Advertiser, he wrote several works, chiefly essays, in prose and poetry. In connection with J. W. Eastburn he wrote a poem called " Yamoyden." founded on events in the life of King Philip. Ile began the Atlantic Magazine in 1824, and in 1828 he wrote an " Historical Notice of Hernan Cortez." In 1831 he wrote and pub- lished " The Life and Correspondence of Paul Jones." Ilis last fin- ished composition was a poem on " The Dead of 1832."
Morris, the chief proprietor of the Mirror, wasa thick-set. compactly built man, jolly in expression and deportment, with flashing dark eyes and hair, florid complexion, and about thirty years of age. Fay and Willis were of the same age, within a month-twenty-four years. Fay began his literary life on the Mirror. Willis had written poetry while in college, and in 1828, when twenty-one years of age, he established the American Monthly Magazine. It was merged into the Mirror in 1830. He soon afterward went to Europe and wrote for the Mirror the remarkable series of letters under the head of " Pencillings by the Way." Fay was tall and thin. Willis was also rather tall. lithe, and handsome. When he was seventeen years of age Rembrandt Peale met him in the street in Boston, and struck with the exquisite com-
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
plexion of the young stranger, he invited him to his studio in order to paint his portrait, the color of his face was so perfect .*
The welcome and the banquet given to Washington Irving on his return from Europe. just mentioned, was one of the most notable events of the kind that citizens of New York had ever participated in. It seemed to be a revival of the glowing enthusiasm with which the corporation and citizens welcomed the naval heroes of the second war for independence.
Mr. Irving had returned from Europe late in May, and received an invitation from his fellow-townsmen to receive " a cordial welcome to his native city" at a public dinner. The invitation was signed by about forty citizens prominent in social life in the city, headed by Pro- fessor James Renwick of Columbia College.
The banquet was spread in the great saloon of the City Hotel. Chancellor Kent presided, assisted by Messrs. Philip Hone, John Duer, Professor Renwick, T. L. Ogden, Samuel Swartwout, and Charles Graham, as vice-presidents. Among the guests were representatives of foreign governments, officers of the army and navy, judges, Bishop Onderdonk, Lieutenant-Governor Livingston, Joseph Bonaparte, dis- tinguished literary men, and others. When they were all seated Irving entered the room leaning on the arm of the venerable Chancellor Kent. After the cloth was removed the chancellor arose, made an admirable speech of welcome, and then offered the following toast :
" Our Illustrious Guest : thrice welcome to his native land."
To this Mr. Irving made a most happy and feeling response. Then followed speeches by Philip Hone and the other vice-presidents, each offering a toast. The regular and numerous volunteer toasts were then offered, and the company broke up about midnight.
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