1855 antique ORIG. 1stED MEISTER KARL'S SKETCH-BOOK leland OWNED:KNEEDLER phila

Description: 1855 antique ORIG. 1stED MEISTER KARL'S SKETCH-BOOK leland OWNED:KNEEDLER philaSCROLL DOWN for MORE PHOTOS in DESCRIPTION Click HERE to view or search ANTIQUE.COTTAGE listings. 1855 antique ORIG. 1stED MEISTER KARL'S SKETCH-BOOK leland OWNED:KNEEDLER phila pa This listing is for the original book shown of Leland's first published book, a collection and essays and sketches after the manner of Irving. Philadelphia: Parry & McMillan, successors to A. Hart, late Carey & Hart, 1855. 338 pp. + 32 pp. catalogue . Inside the front cover is a bookplate of the Library of the Masonic Homes, Elizabethtown, PA, owner Kneedler of Philadelphia. This book has wear as shown. A page before the title page has been removed and not included. This was likely a blank page after checking another copy.PAGE PREFACE 9 INTRODUCTION 11 I. Of those who Travel without knowing how 15 II. How Ladies are always Borrowing Pens and Ink 29 III. In Honour of Ladies 22 IV. Of my Travelling Companion, Wolf Short 25 V. A Lecture on Likes and Dislikes 30 VI. The Little Prophet of Boemischbroda 38 VII. The Gasthaus in Frankfort-on-the-Main 52 yill. A Masked Ball in Heidelberg 58 IX. The Sadness of Koine and of other Cities 66 X. Ferrara and Venice 70 XL Venice 76 XII. The Crucifix of Santa Maria delle Grazie 81 XIII. Alternations 85 XIV. Nuremberg 91 XV. Of Uncle Bill Dumble 105 XVI. Reminiscences of the Olden Time 115 XVII. The Valets-de-Place in Munich 123 XVIII. Window Love 13G XIX. A Musical Duel 143 XX. The Lago d Agnano 148 XXL Spring 154 XXII. Rome 164 8 CONTENTS. PACK XXIII. The Carnival 176 XXIV. Legends of Flemish Art 184 XXV. Our Diligence. and Aries 221 XXVI. Lectures to the Ladies 236 XXVII. Humming and Whistling 247 XXVIII. A Story which ends as it ought.., 250 XXIX. Refrains 256 XXX. Yankee Stories 259 XXXL Ghost-Land 266 XXXII. Past and Present 274 XXXIIL Short s Philosophy 288 4) XXXIV. Contes des Comtesses 300 XXXV. A Wreath of Ballads 317 XXXVI. Finale.... .. 334 PREFACE. THE reader may have observed that in recalling expe riences of life or literature we seldom follow a regular plan. Our memories of individuals, as of cities or of books, change with the phases of events ; so that that which once attracted may seem at another time dark and repulsive. But, with whatever feelings we regard the past, it is not less certain that much invariably recurs as half-forgotten or greatly changed which was once clearly retained. Facts will seem like fancies, realities like dreams, and eccentric trifles will often remain when things of real value have slipped into oblivion. Examination also convinces us that our daily trains of thought, if not of conversation, are not less irregular and fantastic, and that life itself is infinitely more grotesque than we are wont to imagine. An accurate record of the sleeping and waking thoughts of the soberest merchant in the city would probably astound, by its eccentricity, even a Hoffman. In Meister Karl s " Sketch-Book, the Author will be found to have followed at ease the current of his thoughts, without making the slightest effort to restrain their course, or to turn it in any preconceived direction. When a grotesque or even an absurd fancy has struck him, he has recorded it without hesitation, and given it life in print without an effort at correction or revision. He has not attempted to extract either from experience or read ing merely that which he regarded as striking or pecu liar, but has written down, as they occurred to him, matters great and small, sensible or nonsensical, definite or indefinite. And as the work throughout smacks more of translation, extract, and quotation, than of original thought, the reader may possibly excuse the following 10 I-AEFACE. citation from the preface of an " Odd Volume" written many years ago, as it not inaptly illustrates the character of the following chapters : " In rummaging over a house, a room, or even an old desk which has stood some dozen or twenty years in his study, who has not noticed how many out-of-the-way articles present themselves ? Shells, minerals, pictures, seals, penknives, trinkets, strange and curious produc tions from abroad, and convenient contrivances which come into use once in seven years all are stowed away carefully in the old pigeon-holes and drawers, and present a grotesque but not a useless or uninstructive medley when paraded on the table for inspection. u Every one who has read to any extent has at least one apartment in the great storehouse of memory which is furnished with a medley of a similar character a col lection of the odds and ends of knowledge gathered from all quarters, and connected and compacted by asso ciations the most fanciful or even whimsical. Out of this apartment of our memory we have drawn the materials of the present volume, and offer them to our readers, in . the hope that they may not merely serve the purpose of amusement for an idle hour, but may furnish instruc tion touching interesting topics of life, society, and man ners, both at home and abroad." Meister Karl trusts that he is not one of those writers who allude complacently to the early age at which their works were written, since he has never been able to understand why a precocious production should have the slightest advantage over those of mature years. But as every stage of life has its unavoidable and characteristic defects, he would mention that the greater portion of the " Sketch-Book" was written at intervals from his six teenth to his twenty-fifth year. Much which is excusable in the familiar sketches of a youth passed in universities and travel would sound strangely if supposed to be written by an older man. THE INTRODUCTION. " COMME mon dessein n a ete dans mes voyages que de remarquer ce quo je trouverois de plus bizarre, de plus merveilleux et de plus surprenant ; vous ne devez attendre de moi que des choses surprenantes, merveilleuses et bizarres. Imaginez done pour cela, que je n ay voyage que dans des pais de prodiges, puisque je ne vous apprendrai que ce que j ai reinarque de prodigieux. Comme vous etes de mes amis, je vous ecrirai aussi familierement que j$ vous parle, je veuxdire, sans ceremonies, etsans facons, Vous lesrecevrez successivement les unes apres les autres, sans que je vous fasse beaucoup attendre." Mital, on Aventures Incroyables, et toute-fois et cetera : Paris, ce 30 Mars, 1708. WELL, my friends ! are we all in our places ? Is the last packet thrown in ? are your hats tied up ? your travelling caps on ? coat and gown settled down ? Is the baggage snugly stowed away ? have the trunks gone to sleep in loving unison with the band-boxes upon the carpet bags ? Major, is your flask within reach ? you may wish to refer to it. And are they all there, the gentle ones, including the pretty waiting-maid outside ? (Are you comfortable, ma mselle ?) And lo, here am I, your courier, your friend, your guide that is to be, with my everlasting green bag, portfolio, and pipe. What s all that row with the horses ? Lay on the leather, driver ! all right, dem that beg gar ! go a-head ! hey up there ! g lang ! " Clic clac, petit postillion !" Click clack, little postillion ! Before thee lies the way; And thou art like an eagle fleet Upon thy gallant grey ! Ladies and gentlemen ! I modestly set myself forward as your courier or valet-de-place, for a long journey. Like many other 2 ll 12 SKETCH-BOOK OF ME, MEISTER KARL. couriers, I stall make you travel pretty much where I please ; H-like them, I shall impose upon you as little as possible. Com mon couriers make you travel by land and water; I shall take you under ground, if I choose; slap through the misty land of gnomes, and sometimes through the gold-glancing Aerial, where the pure dwellers are ; sometimes you shall be among the steam and whiz and dash of the busy Nineteenth century ; and sometimes the quaint old spires, and distant towers, which rise darkly against the Evening Blue ; and the dream-like shadows flitting around shall awaken the consciousness that our journey is not of this world or age. Nay, may I be forsworn, if the jaunt shall have any limit of any sort or time. All the dramatic or itineraric unities shall be disregarded ; blown away ; sent to the devil ; in poco y dismissed ; and all for your sakes, dearly beloved ! Softly and kindly, like the voices of loved ones passed away, come the recollections of scenes in beautiful distant lands, to the soul of the traveller. Merrily and wildly, like the ringing of fairy bells heard at eve over the darkening plain, doth Fantasie awaken the chimes of his spirit, when he thinks of the pranks played in youth in many a quaint old city o er the sea. But ah ! gentler than all, how softly, how strangely, how won derfully, do those unborn ghosts, those embryo thoughts, the feel ings, pass in sad and beautiful procession before the gate of the soul ! Messengers from the Unknown, whence come ye, or whither do ye flee ? Time hath not known ye, and ye dwell not in space. The world esteems ye not; only to the poet who has never" written, to the artist who never creates, are ye welcome visitants : "I stood upon a lofty place, And look d out on the plain, And there I saw a lovely face I never saw again !" My dearest ! every one who travels, whether he be " My Lord/ with his own carriage; a commercial agent, with his samples; a student with knapsack; a travelling journeyman mechanic, with ditto, and an extra pair of heavy hobnailed boots ; or even an adventurer, taking the provinces, should do their best during a journey, to entertain all the thoughts, feelings, senti ments, and emotions to which I allude; or to act and think INTRODUCTION. 13 so that they may spring up in future. Travel, like youth, is a period when most domestic cares are borne by others, in order that we may improve our ignorant souls, and lay up glad recollections, or, according to Dr. Watts, " shining ears/ 7 for the time to come. Alas! alas! that with so many, these il shin ing ears" should be like the golden ones of King Midas, merely asinine "Alas! he has made a pun! M. le Courier is this the wav you conduct us ?" Ay, carry me the hangman, but it is. Travel, my fair Julie, like youth, is the time of all times when Dame Fan tasia hath full swing. Pardie! my children! my own, my minnie darlings you little know the treasure you possess in your old courier. He will tell you the stories and sing you the songs of the lands you are to travel in, for he knows them all as well as the probable colour of next winter s snow. Bon Gaultier et franc compagnon, he can laugh like a cup of flies, and draw corks with his handker chief. Reserved and modest in his demeanour, he will allow nothing in his exhibition which can offend the feelings of the most fastidious ! ergo bibamusfrafercule (therefore, brother, let us be temperate) and hand the ladies in ! " Vive la Grande Route !" But I cannot satisfy everybody. For you, young gentlemen, just from college, the continent is a fiery ordeal, and he who gets through without scorching a few feathers, may sing out in dulci jubilo. I had as lief drive pigs through a corn-field, as undertake to bring you virtuously through : but pay your fare; jump in, and ahem, hush! (I ll see what lean do for you .) But thrice hail you, ye joval bachelors ! come along, if any- l>ody is to come. Make glad our hearts with your quips and cranks, your shouts and jokes. Join with us in carolling and chanting ! Roar out a merrie tol de rol, juvivallera chorus to my songs, until the inn-keepers twig our approach an hour before the arrival of our avant-courier. Ye shall sit with me after dinner, when the ladies have retired. For your sakes the landlord shall mysteriously impart in an undertone those golden scraps of in formation, not meant for the slow " outsiders/ 7 I will find out for you the lurking-places and rendezvous of good cigars and cogniac. Black eyes, braided locks, and opera tickets shall con sole you during our long, long pilgrimage. 14 SKETCH-BOOK OF ME, MEISTER KARL. Linger not, for already our horses paw the ground : MONTEZ ! EN AVANT ! MARCHONS ! "I m in every land at home, And in every home content; If I northward chance to roam, Or my course be south ward bent, Happy, though alone afar; Vbi benc, ibi patria !" And do you, beautiful ladies, ("and all amiable ladies are beautiful/ ) smile upon us, and gladden us with your glances. Be your eyes black or blue; your hair jet, golden, or chataiyne foncte of dark chestnut; be ye stately queens, or dear little dar lings; dames of high degree, or nice petite niignonne milliners, still favour us with your presence. Open your windows, be they in the second, third, fourth, or fifth stories; wave your white handkerchiefs; hurrah, and cast out flowers upon our merry old diligence, as it lumbers by. Meet us at the table d hote; do us the distinguished honour to visit the opera under our escort ; catch us accidentally in the long, dark entries of our hotels. You will waltz with us in Vienna to the music of Strauss; faint into our arms on the summit of Vesuvius, and go with us, well- bedomino d, to the grand masked balls of the Opera, and the Prado! Oh yes, you icitt ! Don t say no, for Mamma will never find it out. Hide my book in your beautiful muff. M lle P will purchase it for her Select Library of Foreign Romance. M lles Amcnaide, Andis, Coralie, Hor tense, CamiUe, Nini, Fifinc, Jo sephine, and Fiddlededine will study that barragouinage Anglais, that they may read it to one another, and to Milord Smith. Her illustrious highness, the of , will expire under its in fluence. The white-coated courier will become an historico- romatic personage. After-ages will dispute whether he was a man or a myth; and the great unwritten epic of the twentieth century will be founded on his adventures. But I cannot stand preaching here : " Brevis oratio penetrat coelos, Longa potatio evacuat scyphos." The last crack of our whip, the last blast of our horn ; already the sign of our hotel is a mote in the distance. Adieu, Reg nant mon amy ! mon amy Rcgnavf ! CERTAIN TRAVELLERS DISCUSSED. 15 CHAPTER THE FIRST. IN WHICH THE COURIER DISCUSSES CERTAIN TRAVELLERS OR "SEREINS" WHO JOURNEY TO AND FRO WITHOUT KNOW ING HOW; AND CONCLUDES BY ILLUSTRATING THE PROVERB, "HE IS POOR INDEED WHO CAN PROMISE NOTHING." " I LON T G have dwelt in Romanic, And made a trip beyond the sea; Have had a fever twice while there; And suffered damage everywhere. But all the troubles I ve withstood, In Syria, Rome, by field or flood, Were naught, compared to my vexations From travelling flats, in foreign nations." TIBAUT, ROY DE NAVARRE, improved. LORD BACON hath well remarked in his essays, "He that travelleth into a country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel." Since Bacon s time, matters have materially mended in this respect. Phrase- books are no longer absolutely indispensable, for every head- waiter on the continent receives at present such an education that he might, if so minded, relinquish at any time his situation for the less lucrative appointment of Professor of Modern Languages in a university. And not only the head-waiters, but many others, of different employments and capacities. Did not my friend Leon tell me how Harry, one day, on entering an obscure little shop in the dirtiest corner of the Rue Serpent, was asto nished, after inquiring, with great difficulty, " Avez voo doo eaude soda? to hear the trim demoiselle reply, with incredible quick ness, "Yes, sir, soda watair, and very nice ginger-biere, too Messed if we haven t!" Ah, my friends, this is a great age we live in ! Yes, a very great age ; nevertheless, he who travels with only one language, might as well undertake to run with one leg, if information or pleasure be of any moment. Of all parts of a young gentleman s education, the most expensive and difficult is 16 SKETCH-BOOK OF ME, MEISTER KARL. that of putting him up to a thing or two, which can rarely be effected abroad, solely through the medium of his native tongue. It has been said (by Mrs. Catnip) that the most agreeable and instructive things which we hear are intended for the ears of others; and you are all aware, good friends, that foreigners are not, generally speaking, in the habit of expressing such remarks in the English language; although I have known rare instances to occur, in which the natives, stimulated by a laudable excess of caution, have breathed out their heart s secrets to each other in that tongue, to the infinite delight of the John Bulls in the next box. Therefore, Theodore Augustus, mind your grammar. There fore, Therese Maria, attend to the lessons of madame, for great will be your reward in days to come. Beware lest your personal appearance indicate "slowness." Remember that this wicked world persecutes innocence, making it pay for dinners and drinks that it never ordered. " He s vus nor vicked he looks green," was the reason assigned by the butcher for turning his only son out of doors ; therefore study in the first place to make your outward man serve as a sign to indicate the immensely wide-awake soul which lodges within. Remember that there are vast numbers of people who, to use the words of Mon taigne, "supportent phis malaysemcnt line rolbe, qu une ame de travers" If jou wear a blue silk neckerchief, occasionally white-spotted, with tweedish clothes and light cap, you will be taken for English. If you dress in black from head to foot, (and have in your trunk a black-glazed cap, and small whisp- broom, "to sweep de cloze iciz" as I heard a Prussian once say,) for an American. If in square-cut green frock-coat and braided cap, for a German. The first is the most comfortable, the second the most respectable, and the third the most economical; for a landlord would as soon think of overcharging his own son as a Dentscher. AGLIONBY RALPH DE SQUILTERS was an English gentleman of good estate, and an illustrious example of those who travel without knowing how. lie never spoke "the d d language." He always wanted black tea, and boasted of having rung for the servants forty times in one day. And he always conversed in English at the table-d hote, making very particular remarks about the personal appearance of those present, occasionally getting CERTAIN TRAVELLERS DISCUSSED. 17 himself into scrapes, from which all the aplomb of a graduated lorette would never have extricated him. I remember once, at the Erzherzog Carl in Vienna, hearing him criticise the appear ance of all present, from "the old file in yellow moustaches/ 7 down to " the little turnip-nose, who calls herself a countess," until he settled upon the spectacles of a sedate, respectable old gentleman, and wondered whether they were gilt or golden. Great was the astonishment of Ag. de Sq. when the old gentle man handed them to him, remarking, in English, " Perhaps, sir, you would like to examine for yourself." Poor Squilters could only give vent to an " Oh ah !" which sounded as if he had just received a kick in the abdomen; when his victim added, " And perhaps, sir, considering that the majority of those present under stand English, you will be pleased to make your insolent remarks in a lower tone of voice." There is the indifferent traveller, who leaves his soul for safe keeping with the landlord, or valet-de-place, or any chance "com- pagnon de voyage" whom destiny may provide. There is the suspicious traveller poor creature ! I have heard of a man who fancied that he was the only bona-fide human being in existence ; that all the brave men and merry maidens who circle over this green world were demons or goblins, wearing the mere sem blance of humanity; winking at one another when his back was turned, and playing him incessantly a ghastly, insincere game of life. About as agreeable must the life of that traveller be, who ever fancies that all the inn-keepers, waiters, chance foreign ac quaintances, etc., are banded together to cheat, swindle, and delude him. Such travellers are not to be " done" not they! They lay deep counterplots against the Machiavellian devices of their land- kidies, and cheat themselves out of many happy hours, days, or months, in order to avoid being a little comfortably cheated by others ; urged, half the time, not by mercenary motives, but by a mere nervous dread of being cheated ! Ah bah ! the deuce carry for me the fifty thousand fools who are at this moment "doing the continent," and the hundred and fifty thousand who intend doing it as soon as convenient ! But no; they must needs tumble round like the rest, and collect bon bons and bonnes-fortunes, pictures, mosaics, cameos, and roman tic adventures, at the lowest market price. They must needs be flea-bitten, garlicked, sauer-krauted, diligcnced, vetturino d, table- 18 SKETCH-BOOK OP ME, MEISTER KARL. d hoted, bal-masque"d, and humbugged, as their fathers were before. Hurrah ! then, I say, for travel ! Go on as ye have begun, sweet friends ! and in fifty years every other house abroad will be an Hotel dcs lies Britanniques ; every shop, devoted to the sale of John Murray; and the natives, forgetting their respect ive German, Italian, Polish, and Hungarian mother tongues, will speak no language save bad French or worse English; and so ciety, changed to its very roots, will consist of only two classes those who travel, and those who minister unto their wants. Reynautmon amy, let me depart in good humour! Yes, let me talk myself into a good humour over the golden visions, the wonderful scenes which I intend to reveal to your enraptured eyes. For should time permit, nor inclination fail, I will bear ye afar on the fresh wings of the spirit through the purple light of spring into the black-letter, legendary land, far far away. Over the fountains, And under the Avaves; Over the mountains, And under the graves. Describing to ye meanwhile such matters as the quarrel I had with my friend Herter, a student of law, for throwing a stone at Lola Montez, the art of cheating custom-house officers, patent blacking, the Lake of Como, true piety, evenings with the gri- settes, spring fever, head-waiters, the raise a deux temps, and, to be consistently inconsistent, an occasional flight of the most esoteric nonsense which ever bewildered the common sense of an idiot. Yea and the Lola Montez item above alluded to, and the Jesuits, (not alluded to,) reminds me that I can, if I will, answer the question so unblushingly put ages ago by St. Senanus of -Quid foeminis Commune est cum monachis? Or, what constitutes the peculiar affinity of ladies for young clergymen? In other words, Why hath "the muslin" such an af finity for "the cloth?" These be subtle mysteries. Out of the fulness of my heart, I will even copy down the names of streets, the inscriptions on cook s shops and Gothic cathedrals ; print my washerwoman s bills, verb, et lit. ; kick up the diabfe a quatre ; tell tales out of school, and throw ye all into THE PEN IN THE INKSTAND. 19 mirific ecstasies. Zeit bringt rosen time brings roses. Wait only, and see what dainty flowers will spring up from this root of an introduction. Do you think that I will not do all this, and more ? Give heed, my friends, to this my motto, which I drew from Master Euphues Lylie s Anatomie of Wit: u Hennes do not laye egges when tliey cluck, but when they cackle ; nor men set forthe bookes wlien they promise, but whenne theye perform." CHAPTER THE SECOND. STYLUS IN PIXIDE THE PEN IN THE INKSTAND. Munich, May 1. "YE furniture was olde and badde, It had a mustie smelle ; I thinke upon such stooles as these Ye damned doe sitte in Helle. " Yet even thys I might haue borne, Perhaps as muche agen, Had not mine hostesse come eche daye Toe borrowe inke and penne !" " ROMAUNT OF YK SPOONE." QUOT HOMINES TOT SENTENTI^. " So many men, so many minds. " Everybody will, however, agree with me in the opi nion that young lovers are terribly addicted to scribbling the names of their dearests, and occasionally in most inappropriate places. Gentle friends! I had just laid aside a nice rough sheet of paper for this chapter, and left the room for an instant to light a cigar. Enter my dear friend, Leonard, takes up a pen, and absent-mindedly writes " Elo ise" over it, in as many varieties of cacography. I enter discover the Eloises and wish him forty times an Abelard for their sakes ! Young ladies, however, as well as gentleman, are, and have been in every age, addicted to meddling with other people s pens and ink. At my right hand lies a dusky black-letter folio a theological affair: Moralisationum Reductorium super totam J3ibliam," printed A. Dni. 1515. On the fly-leaf is written in faded ink the following sentence : SKETCH-BOOK OF ME, MEISTER KARL. "f. 33j>ri)frtr jou man fcc jjlate tfjat 50 pmtcs anfc jnfeonu 55 cjont for fastest fiooman $n tfjsa toorlfoc fjauc tljtm fontuns t&at to f. afcros n an& nuns mo, tfjc tojtf) tooma js jalltbr Jtlsaijtf) passinu tfjat I often muse over this old fly-leaf, and, sooth to say, have dis covered, either in it or in my own mind, many little romantic passages, all inspired with sweet sunny. melancholy, with quaint old conceits; with smiles and tears. How did the mysterious "f. Byrherd" look, when he returned and found his "pennes" and "ynkorne" vanished, " among the missing/ 7 and naught to console him for their loss, save the comforting assurance of that arch-villain Ambrose, that the fairest woman in this world had hooked them? Who were the "many more," the mysterious cloud of witnesses to this nefarious transaction, or where are they? Passed away like dim clouds into the evening red; like music heard in dreams; like phantoms into night! And the beautiful, roguish, mischievous Elizabeth ? comes there through the dusty halls of long centuries no echo of the fame of one who was in her day the "fayr&t?" "Fadeth swccte flower, and beauty pales away." It may be further remarked that some one, with the same ink, and apparently the same "pennc," has scrawled, with no clerkly hand, lines all over the sentence, as if to render it illegible. But as the said scrawling is done in a very light, careless manner, as if merely to keep up appearances, without any serious intention of spoiling the affair, the reader will agree with me that it was probably executed by the fair hand of Miss Elizabeth herself, who wished, of course, to sport a little modesty, and yet was not at heart very seriously vexed at Monsieur Ambrose s compliment. O girls ! girls ! you have always been the same in every age ! Yes, indeed, have you. By Jove ! since I wrote that last sen tence, I went out of the room, and, on returning, found that Miss Anna had entered, and feloniously abstracted my writing-gear. I " put" after the young lady and reclaimed the property, despite the * "FRIEND BYRHEUD, you may be glad that your pennes and inkhorne is gone, for the fairest woman in this world hath them, witness thereto friend AMBROSE MITCHELL, and many more, the which woman is called ELIZABETH PASSUNE that gave them." THE PEN IN THE INKSTAND. 21 mollifying excuse "that she had just taken penand ink to writeafew lines to Cousin Becky !" This was an illustration of iny remark which I little anticipated. Was there ever a gentleman whose scrib bling plunder has not been walked off with, from time to time, by the feminine part of the household ? Was there ever a gentle man who did not grind out "Anathema!" etc. etc. etc. (or some thing like it) from between his teeth, on such joyful occasions? And, finally, is there a gentleman who will not agree with me that this was probably the true reason why ladies have always been prohibited from entering Roman Catholic monasteries, and other retreats of literary clergymen. "Nee te, nee ullam aliam Admittainus in insulam." Which signifieth: "It s all very well, Miss Ferguson; you re a good-looking young lady, but you can t come in!" The holy brother, after this speech, probably added, in a low tone, "More s the pity!" But the legend says nothing about that. I declare I have conjured up quite a little picture from that old fly-leaf. I fancy that I see pretty Elsabyth bearing off in triumph poor Byrherd s pens and ink; an arch smile on her co quettish face, while gallant Master Ambrose detains her for an instant, to scrawl in Gothic hand the annunciation. Anon she becomes interested, and peers over his shoulder, with all the mer- rie " wytnesses ;" and when fully aware of the meaning, grasps a pen, and makes as if she would fain obliterate the saucy com pliment. Then the whole gay party bound away, leaving in everlasting doubt and mystery the question as to whom she gave the writing apparatus for the sentence is unfinished. "And they are gone ; ay, ages long ago, These lovers fled away into the storm" And the eyes of the fair Elsabyth have grown dim, and merry master Andrew laugheth no longer amid his gibes, his gambols, his songs ; and the grave Byrherd hath passed silently away with his books and his inkhorn into eternity and night, and that faded fly-leaf is the sole fragile record of those who were once beautiful and gay. Oh didmiri! Orgia! 22 SKETCH-BOOK OF ME, MEISTER KARL. CHAPTER THE THIRD. DEDICATED TO THE LADIES. "Early and late the sex I praise, And fain their praises would deserve ; The man who mocks at woman s grace, And from my course would make me swerve, I d straight attack with bitterest song I praise the worthy, lovely dames Who turn our minds from wrong." HEINRICH FRAUENLOB, A. D. 1270. EHRET DIE FRAUEN! And in good faith, most excellent friends, it is high time that a little devotion, a little exclusive at tention, some courtesy and politeness, or at least a few compli ments, be paid to those excellent ladies, who have so kindly, so generously, put themselves under my charge, and travelled with out flinching through the previous chapter. But as I believe it impossible for a gentleman to compliment the gentler sex with as much zeal, tact, earnestness, and ingenuity as they themselves have already employed in this noble pursuit, I shall simply translate from the Italian a little golden book, or tractatus, on the nobility and superiority of the female sex not, however, by Cornelius Agrippa, but by a Venetian lady, who, oddly enough, masquerades in her title-page as a French woman. THE VINDICATION! A CURIOUS AND INTERESTING WORK OP THE NINE THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY- NINE EXCELLENCIES AND BEAUTIES OP IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT, FOR MANY REASONS, WOMAN IS NOBLER AND MORE EXCELLENT THAN MAN ! PUBLISHED BY MADAME ADRIANELLA OP PARIS. PRAISED be the ETERNAL ARCHITECT and CREATOR of all Things, that I was born a Woman, and not a Man, and I am always thankful for the noble Title of Woman, w^ich hath been DEDICATED TO THE LADIES. 23 granted unto me; albeit that Men have often asserted their Su periority, and with false reasoning blasphemed the Female Sex. And such do I compare to Vipers, who immediately after Birth seek with poisonous Teeth to slay their Mother. For even so doth that Man, who, after being conceived and nourished by his Mother, shows his Gratitude by speaking lightly of the Female Sex. Now will I prove that "Woman is far nobler than Man, and put to silence, perhaps the Blush, those who have dared to find Fault with so noble a Creature as Woman. " Or vedi se tu sei Pazzo insensate Se partorito Donna non t avesse Dimmi, saresti tu al mondo nato ?" And see what an insensate fool thou art ! For had not Woman borne thee in her womb, Wouldst thou have ever entered in the world ? Aristotle, in his seventh Book on Animals, having philoso phized on the internal Structure of Man and of Woman, finds that the latter is more inclined to Pity and Compassion, and therefore more merciful than Man. Now Compassion and Mercy being the highest attributes of our Nature, we may well say that Woman is far nobler than Man. Solomon hath said (7 Prov.) that Man should receive Conso lation from Woman. Now the Consoler is greater than the Con soled; therefore is Woman superior to Man. Nature itself hath established the superiority of the Female Sex, by giving them smooth Faces, free from Hair, by which they are distinguished from the BRUTE CREATION. But Man hath not this distinction, and I therefore assert that Woman is nobler tnan Man ! We may not deny that the Thing moved is inferior to the Mover. The Sun is superior to the Vapours which it attracts, the Magnet to the Iron, the Amber to the Straws. But far more excellent is Woman than the Hearts which she draws unto her, even from distant Lands. Be silent, therefore, Man! thou that art, most justly, the Servant and Slave of Woman. If we speak of Names, it cannot be denied that feminine Ap pellations are nobler than masculine; and if anyone should assert that there is no nobler Name than that of Heaven, which in our 24 SKETCH-BOOK OF ME, MEISTER KARL. Italian Tongue is masculine, I reply that the Intelligence by which the Heaven is governe d hath the true Superiority, and the word Intelligence (La Intelligenza) is feminine. This Excellence extends even unto the Names of Birds, for the Phoenix, (La Fenice, ) of which, as the Egyptians have writ ten, but One exists, and the Eagle, (VAquila,} which is Queen of all, are both feminine in their Appellation. But all ferocious and poisonous Animals have naturally masculine Names, such as the Basilisk, which slays us with his Glance alone, not to mention the Wolf, Bear, Dragon, Serpent, and Lion, which are all mas culine. Be silent, therefore, Man ! for even the brute Beasts do accuse thee, and not AVonaan, of having a vile Nature. CONDITION: see description AND scroll down for photos - International buyers are responsible to pay VAT or other Taxes to their countries as required.- eBAY collects and remits sales tax on behalf of several states. If you are a dealer, you can write to eBay to file a form to become tax exempt. LOC: bookshelf28-KMLOC2: Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution

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Location: Avondale, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-12-09T08:17:24.000Z

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