Bracebridge Hall

CONTENTS - THE AUTHOR, i THE HALL THE BUSY MAN 7 10 FAMILY SERVANTS THE WIDOW 15 22 THE LOVERS 26 FAMILY RELICS AN OLD SOLDIER THE WIDOW S RETINUE 29 34 38 READY-MONEY JACK BACHELORS 47 WIVES 51 STORY-TELLING 57 THE STOUT GENTLEMAN amplt 58 FOREST TREES 70 A LITERARY ANTIQUARY 76 THE FARM-HOUSE 81 HORSEMANSHIP 86 LOVE SYMPTOMS 90 FALCONRY 93 HAWKING 97 ST. MARK S EVE 104 GENTILITY 113 FORTUNE-TELLING 117 LOVE-CHARMS 122 THE LIBRARY 126 THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA 128 ENGLISH COUNTRY GENTLEMEN 208 A BACHELOR S CONFESSIONS 216 ENGLISH GRAVITY 220 GYPSIES 226 MAY-DAY CUSTOMS 231 VILLAGE WORTHIES 235 41 vi CONTENTS PAGE THE SCHOOLMASTER 238 THE SCHOOL 243 A VILLAGE POLITICIAN 246 THE ROOKERY 251 MAY-DAY 258 THE MANUSCRIPT 268 ANNETTE DELARBRE 270 TRAVELLING 294 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS 301 THE CULPRIT 310 FAMILY MISFORTUNES 317 LOVERS TROUBLES 320 THE HISTORIAN 325 THE HAUNTED HOUSE 328 DOLPH HEYLIGER 332 THE STORM-SHIP 374 THE WEDDING 404 THE AUTHOR S FAREWELL 413 BRACEBRIDGE HALL THE AUTHOR WORTHY READER On again taking pen in hand, I would fain make a few observations at the outset, by way of bespeaking a right understanding. The vol umes which I have already published have met with a reception far beyond my most sanguine expectations. I would willingly attribute this to their intrinsic merits but, in spite of the vanity of authorship, I cannot but be sensible that their success has, in a great measure, been owing to a less flattering cause. It has been a matter of marvel, to my European readers, that a man from the wilds of America should express himself in tolerable English. I was looked upon as something new and strange in literature a kind of demi-savage, with a feather in his hand insteadof on his head and there was a curiosity to hear what such a being had to say about civilized society. This novelty is now at an end, and of course the feeling of indulgence which it produced. I must now expect to bear the scrutiny of sterner criticisms, and to be measured by the same standard as contemporary writers and the very favor shown to my previous writings will cause these to be treated with the greatest rigor, as there is nothing for which the world is apt to punish a man more severely than for having been over-praised. On this head, therefore, I wish to fore stall the censoriousness of the reader and I entreat he will not think the worse of me for the many in judicious things that may have been said in my commendation. I am aware that I often travel over beaten ground, and treat of subjects that have already been discussed by abler pens. Indeed, various authors have been men tioned as my models, to whom I should feel flattered if I thought I bore the slightest resemblance but in truth I write after no model that I am conscious of, and I write with no idea of imitation or competition. In venturing occasionally on topics that have already been almost exhausted by English authors, I do it, not with the presumption of challenging a compari son, but with the hope that some new interest may be given to such topics, when discussed by the pen of a stranger. If, therefore, I should sometimes be found dwelling with fondness on subjects trite and commonplace with the reader, I beg the circumstances under which I write may be kept in recollection. Having been born and brought up in a new country, yet educated from infancy in the literature of an old one, my mind was early filled withhistorical and poetical associations, connected with places, and manners, and customs of Europe, but which could rarely be applied to those of my own country...