Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals Volume I Part 4

"In this country, young in the arts, there are few means of improvement.

These are to be found in their perfection only in older countries, and in none, perhaps, greater than in yours. In compliance, therefore, with his earnest wishes and those of his friend and patron, Mr. Allston (with whom he goes to London), we have consented to make the sacrifice of feeling (not a small one), and a pecuniary exertion to the utmost of our ability, for the purpose of placing him under the best advantage of becoming eminent in his profession, in hope that he will consecrate his acquisitions to the glory of G.o.d and the best good of his fellow men."

Morse arrived in New York on July 6, 1811, after a several days' journey from Charlestown which he describes as very terrible on account of the heat and dust. People were dying from the heat in New York where the thermometer reached 98 in the shade. He says:--

"My ride to New Haven was beyond everything disagreeable; the sun beating down upon the stage (the sides of which we were obliged to shut up on account of the sun) which was like an oven, and the wind, instead of being in our faces as papa supposed, was at our back and brought into our faces such columns of dust as to hinder us from seeing the other side of the stage.

"I never was so completely covered with dust in my life before. Mama, perhaps, will think that I experienced some inconvenience from such a fatiguing journey, but I never felt better in my life than now."

The optimism of youth when it is doing what it wants to do.

He had taken pa.s.sage on the good s.h.i.+p Lydia with Mr. and Mrs. Allston and some eleven other pa.s.sengers, and the sailing of the s.h.i.+p was delayed for several days on account of contrary winds, but at last, on July 13, the voyage was begun.

ON BOARD THE LYDIA, OFF SANDY HOOK, July 15, 1811.

MY DEAR PARENTS,--After waiting a great length of time I have got under way. We left New York Harbor on Sat.u.r.day, 13th, about twelve o'clock and went as far as the quarantine ground on Staten Island, where, on account of the wind, we waited over Sunday.

We are now under sail with the pilot on board. We have a fair wind from S.S.W. and shall soon be out of sight of land. We have fourteen very agreeable pa.s.sengers, an experienced and remarkably pleasant captain, and a strong, large, fast-sailing s.h.i.+p. We expect from twenty-five to thirty days' pa.s.sage.... We have a piano-forte on board and two gentlemen who play elegantly, so we shall have fine times. I am in good spirits, though I feel rather singularly to see my native sh.o.r.es disappearing so fast and for so long a time.

I am not yet seasick, but expect to be a little so in a few days. We shall probably be boarded by a British vessel of war soon; there are a number off the coast, but they treat American vessels very civilly.

He kept a careful diary of the voyage to England and again resumed it when he returned to America in 1815. The voyage out was most propitious and lasted but twenty-two days in all: a very short one for that time. As the diary contains nothing of importance relating to the eastern voyage, being simply a record of good weather, fair winds, and pleasant companions, I shall not quote from it at present.

It was all pleasure to the young man, who had never before been away from home, and he sees no reason why people should dread a sea voyage.

The journal of the return trip tells a different story, as we shall see later on, for the pa.s.sage lasted fifty-seven days, and head winds, gales, and even hurricanes were encountered all the way across, and he wonders why any one should go to sea who can remain safely on land.

LIVERPOOL, August 7, 1811.

MY DEAR PARENTS,--You see from the date that I have at length arrived in England. I have had a most delightful pa.s.sage of twenty days from land to land and two in coming up the channel.

As this is a letter merely to inform you of my safe arrival I shall not enter into the particulars of our voyage until I get to London, to which place I shall proceed as soon as possible.

Suffice it to say that I have not been sick a moment of the pa.s.sage, but, on the contrary, have never enjoyed my health better. I have not as yet got my trunks from the custom-house, but presume I shall meet with no difficulty.

I am now at the Liverpool Arms Inn. It is the same inn that Mr. Silliman put up at; it is, however, very expensive; they charge the enormous sum, I believe, of a guinea or a guinea and a half a day.

If I should be detained a day or two in this place I shall endeavor to find out other lodgings; at present, however, it is unavoidable, as all the other pa.s.sengers are at the same place with me. You may rest a.s.sured I shall do everything in my power to be economical, but to avoid imposition of some kind or other cannot be expected, since every one who has been in England and spoken of the subject to me has been imposed upon in some way or other.

You cannot think how many times I have expressed a wish that you knew exactly how I was situated. My pa.s.sage has been so perfectly agreeable, I know not of a single circ.u.mstance that has interfered to render it otherwise, through the whole pa.s.sage. There has been but one day in which we have not had fair winds. Mr. and Mrs. Allston are perfectly well. She has been seasick, but has been greatly benefited by it. She is growing quite healthy. I have grown about three shades darker in consequence of my voyage. I have a great deal to tell you which I must defer till I arrive in London.... Oh! how I wish you knew at this moment that I am safe and well in England.

Good-bye. Do write soon and often as I shall.

Your very affectionate son, SAML. F.B. MORSE.

Everything was new and interesting to the young artist, and his critical observations on people and places, on manners and customs, are nave and often very keen. The following are extracts from his diary:--

"As to the manners of the people it cannot be expected that I should form a correct opinion of them since my intercourse with them has been so short, but, from what little I have seen, I am induced to entertain a very favorable opinion of their hospitality. The appearance of the women as I met them in the streets struck me on account of the beauty of their complexions. Their faces may be said to be handsome, but their figures are very indifferent and their gait, in walking, is very bad.

"On Friday, the 9th of August, I went to the Mayor to get leave to go to London. He gave me ten days to get there, and told me, if he found me in Liverpool after that time, he should put me in prison, at which I could not help smiling. His name is Drinkwater, but from the appearance of his face I should judge it might be Drinkbrandy.

"On account of his limiting us to ten days we prepared to set out for London immediately as we should be obliged to travel slowly.... Mr. and Mrs. Allston and myself ordered a post-chaise, and at twelve o'clock we set out for Manchester, intending to stay there the first night.... The people, great numbers of whom we pa.s.sed, had cheerful, healthy countenances; they were neat in their dress and appeared perfectly happy....

"Much has been said concerning the miserable state in which the lower cla.s.s of people live in England but especially in large manufacturing cities. That they are so unhappy as some would think I conceive to be erroneous. We are apt to suppose people are unhappy for the reason that, were we taken from our present situation of independence and placed in their situation of dependence, we should be unhappy; not considering that contentment is the foundation of happiness. As far as my own observation extends, and from what I can learn on inquiry, the lower cla.s.s of people generally are contented. N.B. I have altered my opinion since writing this....

"Thus far on our journey we have had a very pleasant time. There is great difference I find in the treatment of travellers. They are treated according to the style in which they travel. If a man arrives at the door of an inn in a stage-coach, he is suffered to alight without notice, and it is taken for granted that common fare will answer for him. But if he comes in a post-chaise, the whole inn is in an uproar; the whole house come to the door, from the landlord down to boots. One holds his hand to help you to alight, another is very officious in showing you to the parlor, and another gets in the baggage, whilst the landlord and landlady are quite in a bustle to know what the gentleman will please to have.

This attention, however, is very pleasant, you are sure to be waited upon well and can have everything you will call for, and that of the nicest kind. It is the custom in this country to hire no servants at inns. They, on the contrary, pay for their places and the only wages they get is from the generosity of travellers.

"This circ.u.mstance at first would strike a person unacquainted with the customs of England as a very great imposition. I thought so, but, since I have considered the subject better, I believe that there could not be a wiser plan formed. It makes servants civil and obliging and always ready to do anything; for, knowing that they depend altogether on the bounty of travellers, they would fear to do anything which would in the least offend them; and, as there is a customary price for each grade of servants, a person who is travelling can as well calculate the expense of his journey as though they were nothing of the kind."

"_London, August 15, 1811._ You see from the date that I have at length arrived at the place of my destination. I have been in the city about three hours, so you see what is my first object.... Mr. and Mrs. Allston with myself took a post-chaise which, indeed, is much more expensive than a stage-coach, but, on account of Mrs. Allston's health, which you know was not very good when in Boston (although she is much benefited by her voyage), we were obliged to travel slowly, and in this manner it has cost us perhaps double the sum which it would have done had we come in a stage-coach. But necessity obliged me to act as I have done. I found myself in a land of strangers, liable to be cheated out of my teeth almost, and, if I had gone to London without Mr. Allston, by waiting at a boarding-house, totally unacquainted with any living creature, I should probably have expended the difference by the time he had arrived.... I trust you will not think it extravagant in me for doing as I have done, for I a.s.sure you I shall endeavor to be as economical as possible.

"I also mentioned in my letter that I could scarcely expect to steer free from imposition since none of my predecessors have been able to do it.

Since writing that letter I have found (in spite of all my care to the contrary) my observation true. In going from the Liverpool Arms to Mr.

Woolsey's, which is over a mile, I was under the necessity of getting into a hackney-coach. Upon asking what was to pay he told me a s.h.i.+lling.

I offered him half a guinea to change, which I knew to be good, having taken it at the hank in New York.

"He tossed it into the air and caught it in his mouth very dexterously, and, handing it to me back again, told me it was a bad one. I looked at it and told him I was sure it was good, but, appealing to a gentleman who was pa.s.sing, I found it was bad. Of course I was obliged to give him other money. When I got to my lodgings I related the circ.u.mstance to some of my friends and they told me he had cheated me in this way: that it was common for them to carry bad money about them in their mouths, and, when this fellow had caught the good half-guinea in his mouth, he changed it for a bad one. This is one of the thousand tricks they play every day. I have likewise received eleven bad s.h.i.+llings on the road between Liverpool and this place, and it is hardly to be wondered at, for the s.h.i.+lling pieces here are just like old b.u.t.tons without eyes, without the sign of an impression on them, and one who is not accustomed to this sort of money will never know the difference.

"I find, as mama used to tell me, that I must watch my very teeth or they will cheat me out of them."

"_Friday, 16th, 1811._ This morning I called on Mr. Bromfield and delivered my letters. He received me very cordially, enquired after you particularly, and invited me to dine with him at 5 o'clock, which invitation I accepted.... I find I have arrived in England at a very critical state of affairs. If such a state continues much longer, England must fall. American measures affect this country more than you can have any idea of. The embargo, if it had continued six weeks longer, it is said would have forced this country into any measures."

"_Sat.u.r.day, 17th._ I have been unwell to-day in some degree, so that I have not been able to go out all day. It was a return of the colic. I sent my letter of introduction to Dr. Lettsom with a request that he would call on me, which he did and prescribed a medicine which cured me in an hour or two, and this evening I feel well enough to resume my letter.

"Dr. Lettsom is a very singular man. He looks considerably like the print you have of him. He is a moderate Quaker, but not precise and stiff like the Quakers of Philadelphia. He is a very pleasant and sociable man and withal very blunt in his address. He is a man of excellent information and is considered among the greatest literary characters here. There is one peculiarity, however, which he has in conversation, that of using the verb in the third person singular with the p.r.o.noun in the first person singular and plural, as instead of 'I show' or 'we show,' he says 'I shows,' 'we shows,' etc., upon which peculiarity the famous Mr. Sheridan made the following lines in ridicule of him:--

"If patients call, both one and all I bleeds 'em and I sweats 'em, And if they die, why what care I--

"I. LETTSOM.

"This is a liberty I suppose great men take with each other....

"Perhaps you may have been struck at the lateness of the hour set by Mr.

Bromfield for dinner [5 o'clock!], but that is considered quite early in London. I will tell you the fas.h.i.+onable hours. A person to be genteel must rise at twelve o'clock, breakfast at two, dine at six, and sup at the same time, and go to bed about three o'clock the next morning. This may appear extravagant, but it is actually practised by the greatest of the fas.h.i.+onables of London....

"I think you will not complain of the shortness of this letter. I only wish you now had it to relieve your minds from anxiety, for, while I am writing, I can imagine mama wis.h.i.+ng that she could hear of my arrival, and thinking of thousands of accidents that may have befallen me, and _I wish that in an instant I could communicate the information;_ but three thousand miles are not pa.s.sed over in an instant and we must wait four long weeks before we can hear from each other."

(The italics are mine, for on the outside of this letter written by Morse in pencil are the words:--

"A longing for the telegraph even in this letter.")

"There has a ghost made its appearance a few streets only from me which has alarmed the whole city. It appears every night in the form of shriekings and groanings. There are crowds at the house every night, and, although they all hear the noises, none can discover from whence they come. The family have quitted the house. I suppose 'tis only a hoax by some rogue which will be brought out in time."

CHAPTER III

AUGUST 24, 1811--DECEMBER 1. 1811