Robinson's Letter - Journal (1826- 1829): Written from Europe by Edward Robinson to His Sister, Elisabeth

By Hermine Williams

Edward Robinson (1794-1863) was a highly regarded philologist, lexicographer, orientalist, and biblical geographer, whose redrawing of the maps of ancient Israel laid the foundation for the field of modern biblical archaeology.

Robinson graduated from Hamilton College in 1816, married Eliza Kirkland, and after her untimely death in 1819, went to Andover Theological Seminary to study Hebrew with Moses Stuart. While working with Stuart, Robinson decided to pursue a theological education, not at Andover, but at a German university. He sailed for Europe in 1826, studied at the university in Halle, and four years later returned to Andover as a member of the seminarys faculty. Throughout his European sojourn, Robinson wrote to his sister Elisabeth, providing a wealth of information about European culture and customs. These letters offer a valuable resource for nineteenth-century studies, for they contain detailed descriptions of the churches, art museums, and libraries he visited, the mountains he climbed, and the famous persons he met, such as Schleiermacher, Goethe, Schiller, General Lafayette, A. von Humboldt, and the Grimm brothers.

From 1837 until his death, Robinson held the position of professor of biblical studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he resided with his second wife, Therese von Jakob Robinson, and his two children

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 29, 2009
• ISBN: 9781440170058

Hermine Williams

Edward Robinson (1794-1863), a world-renown biblical geographer and philologist, pursued theological studies at the university in Halle in the 1820s before making his historic journeys to Palestine in the 1830s and 1850s. During the course of his four-year European sojourn, Edward wrote letters to his sister Elisabeth living in Connecticut, letters in which he describes in minute detail his academic and cultural experiences. He asked that these letters be preserved to help him recall his activities abroad. With this publication, Robinson's letter - journal is being made available to the public for the first time.

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Robinson’s

Letter - Journal

(1826- 1829)

Written from Europe

by

Edward Robinson to His Sister, Elisabeth

173567.jpg

Transcribed and Edited from the Original

by

Hermine Weigel Williams

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

Robinson’s Letter - Journal (1826- 1829)

Written from Europe by Edward Robinson to His Sister, Elisabeth

Copyright © 2009 Hermine Weigel Williams

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The material set forth in the following transcription of Edward Robinson’s Letter - Journal may not be copied or quoted without written permission from the transcriber or owners of the original documents, Hermine Weigel Williams and Jay G. Williams.

Correspondence may be addressed to Jay G. Williams,

c/o Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323

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ISBN: 978-1-4401-7004-1 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-4401-7005-8 (ebook)

iUniverse rev. date: 12/21/09

Contents

INTRODUCTION

ROBINSON’S

LETTER - JOURNAL

(1826–1829)

APPENDIX

Endnotes

INTRODUCTION

Edward Robinson (1794–1863) was born in Southington, Connecticut, the son of William (1754–1825) and Elizabeth Norton Robinson (1761–1824). Elizabeth was the fourth wife of William and she gave birth to six children. Four lived to adulthood: Edward, George, Charles, and Elisabeth. Edward attended Hamilton College from 1812 to 1816 and was the valedictorian of the college’s first graduating class. After graduation he studied law for a brief time and then returned to his alma mater as a tutor.

In 1818 he married Eliza Kirkland, the youngest daughter of Samuel Kirkland. A year later she died in childbirth. After her death Edward continued to live at the Kirkland homestead in Clinton (NY), running the farm and providing a home for Mary, Eliza’s step-mother and widow of Samuel Kirkland.¹

Over the course of the next two years, Edward prepared a new edition of several portions of the Iliad, intended for use in schools and colleges. He also spent time contemplating what his future career might be. Concerning this matter, he sought the advice of his brother-in-law, John Thornton Kirkland, who at that time was president of Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1821, Edward left Clinton and traveled to Andover, Massachusetts. He had friends there and together they planned a climb up Mt. Washington, stopping first at the Shaker village at Canterbury, New Hampshire. This climb was undertaken at a time when there were no trails, for tourists had not yet discovered the majesty of this adventure. Abel Crawford, for whom Crawford’s Notch is named, was their guide. An account of this adventurous climb was recorded in a small diary that Edward carried with him. It is the first time we have an opportunity to share in what would become his lifelong passion: the thrill of climbing mountains and exploring uncharted territory. It also provides a glimpse into the type of descriptions Edward was to offer in the course of his subsequent travel experiences.

Edward returned briefly to Clinton in 1821 to settle some financial matters related to the Kirkland farm and other properties, and then he departed for Southington (CT) to visit his ailing parents. He stayed with them until January 1822, when he traveled to the Andover Theological Seminary in Massachusetts to gain some advice concerning the publication of his edition of the Iliad. While there, he decided to stay so that he might study Hebrew with Moses Stuart. He and Stuart must have gotten along very well, for within a year’s time Edward was invited to help correct proofs of Stuart’s Hebrew Grammar. In the fall of 1823, Edward was engaged as an assistant instructor of Hebrew at the seminary and remained in that position until 1826. Edward never matriculated at the Andover Theological Seminary, but the environment of that institution undoubtedly influenced his decision to pursue a theological education.

In the early nineteenth century, a course of study in theology at a German university was considered superior to that provided at an American seminary. Since it was Edward Robinson’s desire to achieve the best theological education possible, he sailed for Europe in June 1826 and enrolled in courses at the University of Halle. During his prolonged absence from family and friends, he kept a journal in the form of letters addressed to his sister Elisabeth. These letters were intended to be shared only with relatives and friends—a point he makes clear in one of his journal letters dated 6 October 1826:

What I have written from day to day in this loose & careless manner, you will easily see has often been done without method, & often without reflection, and not unfrequently [sic] in moments of weariness & exhaustion. Great allowance therefore must be made; & what is more, these sheets thus written must be seen only by friends, & not a single extract printed. It is not my object to write a regular journal, nor to make a book; — to do this I must sacrifice more time & greater objects than my duty will permit. And while these slight, imperfect, & often disjointed sketches may afford amusement, & be of interest to you, my sister, & to my family, & other particular friends, I cannot consent to have them subjected to other eyes, & exposed to the remarks & cavils of those who have no interest in me personally.

Edward also intended his journal letters to serve, on his return to America, as a reminder of his activities and experiences in Europe. In order for Elisabeth to fully comprehend the nature and extent of her brother’s various travels, she was expected to consult an atlas, a point Edward mentions in one of his journal letters dated 18 September 1828.

With few exceptions, the paper on which the journal letters are written measures 5 ¼ x 9 inches and, since his handwriting is so small, Edward easily fills each page with a minimum of 400 words. His writing reaches to the extreme edges of each page, leaving little room for the sheets to be bound. Hard covers were supplied for the two volumes, of which the second volume is almost double the length of the first. Although Edward usually numbered the pages of his journal letters, these numbers are not included in this transcription. Instead, a triple-line space is inserted to indicate the division between a series of letters that constituted a single mailing. Many of these letters had fewer than sixteen pages, but several, such as the first and third grouping of letters that were written in 1826, had sixty or more pages.

In addition to the journal letters, Edward Robinson wrote separate letters to individual family members, friends, and colleagues, such as Moses Stuart at Andover. These were mailed on a regular basis via the ships that called at the port in Le Harve. It is important to note that during this particular decade, the postage for a letter was paid by the receiver, not the sender. That is why Edward’s brothers, Charles and George, were reluctant to communicate with him, for they considered their remarks not worth the price of the postage their brother would have to pay.

Edward’s personal letters to his sister Elisabeth invariably supplied important information, which, if they were still extant, would add significantly to some of the events mentioned in the journal. One such example concerns his marriage to Therese von Jakob. Very few words are written in the journal about this event because Edward included the particulars of the wedding ceremony in a letter to Elisabeth, a letter that no longer survives. He makes it quite clear in the course of writing the journal that very personal matters would be intentionally excluded, for he knew the contents thereof would be read by those both inside and outside the family circle. Some idea of the questions put to Edward that probably were answered in the personal letters can be ascertained from the numerous extant letters he received from Elisabeth.

The forty or more letters Edward Robinson wrote to Moses Stuart during his first European sojourn are extant, thanks to his request to have Stuart save them so that he would have a record of his trips and transactions.² Many of these letters pertained to the purchase of books needed either for Stuart’s own work or for the Andover Theological Seminary’s library. Since these letters parallel everything in the two-volume journal, they become an important source for clarifying or augmenting information in the journal letters. Moreover, they invariably supply facts that would have been of interest to a scholar but not to Elisabeth or other members of Edward’s family. One such example is the purchase Edward made of type required for the printing of Stuart’s Hebrew lexicon. Another concerns the subject matter heard in lectures at the various universities that Edward attended. The dates covered by this correspondence with Stuart extend from 1 July 1826 to 18 February 1830. A few excerpts from these letters are provided here in the appendix.

Transcribing Robinson’s letter-journal has proven to be a very difficult task for a number of reasons, not the least of them Edward’s handwriting, which is exceptionally small and often very illegible. On some of the pages, the ink is extremely faint; on others the ink is very heavy, blurring the individual letters of the written words. Edward’s vocabulary is ripe with words or phrases that are uncommon or outdated, making it difficult to guess what words he might have written. An example is his frequent use of smiling and waving to describe landscape scenes (e.g., smiling hills and waving pasture land). He employs many abbreviations to save space (e.g., wh. for which; rec’d for received; inst. for instant; thot for thought) and some of these have been retained in this transcription. There is also a fair amount of inconsistency in his spelling of certain words, because he alternates between American and British spellings (e.g., until is spelled either with one l or two, but travelers is always spelled as travellers). Similarly he is quite inconsistent in the spelling of place names. For example, one finds Teplitz also spelled as Tepliz, Töpliz, or Töplitz, and both the French (Bâle) and English (Basel) spellings of this city in Switzerland appear in the same paragraph. Other peculiarities of spelling are to be found in words such as brot (brought), shewd (showed), strait (straight), staid (stayed), connexion (connection), and acquaduct (aqueduct). The words today,tonight. and everywhere are often treated by Robinson as if they were made up of two separate words—to day, to night,and every where—especially when these words appear at the beginning of a sentence. Irregularities also abound in the use of capital letters. For example, Sabbath is sometimes spelled with a capital S, at other times with a lower case s; Holy Week is sometimes written as Holy week., etc.

Place names of mountains, towns, and rivers are often difficult to locate on a map, not only because Robinson adopts the spelling of his generation (e.g., the river Maine, instead of Main) or has his own peculiar versions (e.g. Stuttgard, instead of Stuttgart), but also because many of the small villages or hamlets he cites are not included on maps in the standard atlases, not even those of the nineteenth century. Thus, the names cannot be checked for the accuracy of spellings.

The proper names that present the most difficulty are those of persons with whom Robinson was acquainted. Unless these are fairly well-known personages, whose names appear in biographical dictionaries, it is almost impossible to ascertain their spellings, for Robinson’s handwriting is very difficult to decipher. An added problem comes from his practice of usually referring to people only by their surnames. For example, in his entry for 14 August 1826, he writes: She instanced both the Mr. Dwights as having many peculiarities. That at least one of these persons was Sereno Dwight, son of the Timothy Dwight, President of Yale, can be assumed on the basis of our knowledge about Sereno’s sojourn in Europe. Ascertaining the identity of the other Dwight is a bit more problematic; he may well have been H. E. Dwight, who is mentioned several times in Robinson’s correspondence with Moses Stuart. Whether or not this was Henry Dwight, brother of Sereno, cannot be determined from the sources at hand.

Robinson relied heavily on a travel guide by Russel throughout his four-year sojourn in Europe. It is conceivable that if a copy of this guide could be consulted, questions concerning names of famous persons, titles of art works, and place names might be readily answered. To date, a copy of that guidebook has yet to be located.

Throughout this transcription, most of Robinson’s marks of punctuation have been retained in an effort to make the printed page reflect closely the handwritten one. Perhaps most noticeable in this regard is the insertion of the dash (—), which Robinson used excessively throughout the entire journal, but rarely in a manner that follows normal rules of punctuation. The insertions of the dash are usually preceded by a comma or a semi-colon and they seem to coincide with those places wherein Robinson takes a breath in the conversation he is having with his reader. To distinguish his use of a dash in this manner, a space has been added before and after each one.

Whenever Robinson separated sections of a letter by a series of asterisks, these marks have also been retained. So, too, his underlining of words for emphasis or to designate a foreign word. It should be noted, however, that titles of books, names of ships, foreign words, or days of the week have sometimes been editorially italicized in this transcription for purposes of clarity.

Robinson’s spellings have, for the most part, been retained, with modern spellings often signaled in brackets. Among the exceptions is the regularization of until, for Robinson only occasionally spells this word as untill. Whenever a word or phrase could not be deciphered, the use of ellipses followed by a question mark (enclosed in brackets) has been inserted in the text. Question marks in brackets also appear after proper names, if there is considerable doubt about the spelling. To help clarify references to places in America that would have been familiar to his family and friends but may not be familiar to the present-day reader, information has been added in footnotes or in brackets following those place names.

The reader should be aware that Robinson writes to his sister about his experiences, rarely acknowledging that often he is traveling with one or more companions. This is even the case when he is traveling with Therese. Only an occasional remark, such as we stopped at an inn or my companion went on alone provides a clue that he is not traveling alone.

Edward Robinson was to become renown as a philologist, lexicographer, biblical geographer, and founder of modern biblical archaeology. In short, he was one of America’s greatest biblical scholars of the nineteenth century. It is therefore especially notable that his letters, journal, and other documents, as well as those of his immediate family members, were carefully preserved and inherited by subsequent generations of the Robinson family. The present generation, represented by Edward Robinson (of Monroe Township, New Jersey) and his sister Betty Robinson Ball (deceased), generously donated all these extant materials to Jay G. Williams and Hermine W. Williams. They, in turn, have prepared an annotated catalogue of the collection and are making the contents of the Edward and Therese Robinson Collection available through their various publications. To date, these include two of their lectures published by Union Theological Seminary, and two books—The Times and Life of Edward Robinson: Connecticut Yankee in King Solomon’s Court (1999) by Jay G. Williams and Therese von Jakob Robinson: A Biographical Portrait by Hermine W. Williams.

July 2009 Hermine Weigel Williams

Clinton, New York

The following outline is intended to help the reader gain an overview of where Edward Robinson spent his time from June 1826 to June 1829

* * * * * * *

June 1826 – July 1826: on board the Don Quixote, sailing from New York City to Le Havre, France

July 1826 – August 1826: a sojourn in Paris and its environs, where Robinson learns to converse in French; by mid-August 1826 he departs for Bâle, and by the end of the month is in Germany

Sept. 1826: arrives in Göttingen and remains there for about six weeks, studying German with the help of a tutor

Oct. 1826: arrives in Halle, where he stays until April of 1827. Makes a few excursions to areas near Halle during this period.

April, 1827 – May, 1827: goes on a sightseeing trip to Cöthen, Dessau, Wittenberg, and Leipzig, then returns to Halle, remaining there until the end of the month

June 1827 – Oct. 1827: goes on another sightseeing trip to Magdeburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel, Copenhagen, Friedericksborg, Helsingör, Lund, Ystad, Anklan, Berlin, arriving back at Halle in mid August; then almost immediately departs for Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg,.Linz, Vienna, returning by way of Leipzig to Halle

Oct. 1827 – Dec. 1827: remains in Halle, with a brief trip to Leipzig to get the type needed for printing Hebrew, which was requested by Moses Stuart at Andover Seminary in Massachusetts

Jan. 1828 – March 1828: resides in Berlin and attends lectures at the university

March 1828 – June 1828: returns to Halle; announces that Therese von Jakob is his Braut ( meaning his financé, not his bride)

June, 1828: makes a trip to Dresden, Carlsbad, Bayreuth, Nürnberg, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Mainz, Bonn, Cologne, Göttingen, arriving back at Halle at the beginning of August 1828. Therese accompanies him for part of this trip.

August 1828 – May 1829: the marriage of Edward and Therese takes place on the 7th of August at Therese’s home in the presence of her mother, her sister and her husband, her brother and his wife, The Rev. Mr. Yates (Professor at Union College, Schenectady, NY), and a few other relatives and friends. The officiant was Pastor Mark. On the 10th of August Edward and Therese set out for a 41-week honeymoon that took them to Switzerland, France (where they remained for a number of weeks), Austria, Italy and the southern part of Germany. They returned to Halle in May 1829.

Robinson did not write in his journal from October 1828 until January 1829, when he and Therese were in Paris, nor did he write anything from 17 March 1829 until 27 May 1829. Although most of the activities they engaged in during their Paris sojourn remain a mystery, those related to the final phase of their honeymoon trip were recounted after the Robinsons arrived back in Halle on the 24th of May. The last entry in the journal was made on 10 June 1829, shortly before the birth of Mary, the Robinsons’ first child.

ROBINSON’S

LETTER - JOURNAL

(1826–1829)

Volume I

No. I

Ship Don Quixote at Sea

June 1, 1826

This day at 10 o’clock A. M. we went on board the steamboat Nautilus at Whitehall, & bade adieu to our native shores. Three packets for Europe were leaving N.Y. this day, viz. our own ship for Havre, the Hudson for London, & the Wm. Thompson for Liverpool, & the Nautilus took off the passengers for all. The Hudson lay in the stream near the Battery, and we [were the] first persons on board of her 8 passengers, among whom were our American Novelist, Mr. Cooper & his family.³ The st. [steam] boat then proceeded on her usual route to Staten Island, landed her horses, carriages, nay passengers too, and then made for the other ships which lay below the Narrows, almost as far down as the place where the meeting of the waters took place last year at the great canal celebration.⁴ Our ship lay first, & we went on board, in all 8 passengers, besides children, parents, etc. Here I took leave of my brother, who went on in the boat to the Wm. Thompson, & then returned to his family and friends. The Nautilus gave us a heave round, in order to put us under way; and although the wind was southwardly, yet at 4 o’clock we were clear of the light on Sandy Hook. The Pilot now left us, and formed our last medium of communication with the shore.

The day was fine, & a northern breeze wafted us gaily onward in our destined course. The atmosphere was hazy so that ere the sun went down, the Navesink hills, which had long been only dimly visible, disappeared, and we were surrounded only by the mighty deep. The Wm. Thompson which we had passed in coming out of the hook, now gained upon us, & being less deeply loaded, slowly came up with & at length passed us.

Friday, June 2. A thick fog envelopes us, through which we can see only a few rods. The wind has freshened & is driving us on at the rate of 10 knots (miles) an hour. The Wm. Thompson is of course no longer visible. Some of the passengers are sick, & am little inclined that way myself.

Saturday, June 3. Fog continues; in the morning rain & wind yet strong. Toward noon the wind died away & left us becalmed. The different motion of the vessel, i.e., rolling instead of pitching, relieved my sickness, though it seemed to increase that of the other passengers. As yet I have felt an utter incapacity for study, & have occupied myself with Woodstock.⁵ The fog & wet renders everything dreary and uncomfortable.

Sunday, June 4. Fog, but less thick, & with some indications of clearing up. Felt somewhat better, & glad to be on deck most of the day. The sun showed himself once or twice. The calm of the last two days quite unlike our rapid progress in the former. Towards night a brisk gale sprung up from the N. E. which gradually increased till it became quite violent. The captain said it was greater than he had expected during the whole voyage at this season. The ship was brought under double reefed top sails, and the swell was so great that she rolled and pitched vehemently. This brought all the other passengers to their berths; but to me the scene was inexpressibly interesting, & I remained on deck until it was too dark to distinguish the turmoil of the waves. Our captain was perfectly on the alert; & I laid myself down in my berth with as much tranquillity, & as great a sense of security, as I had ever done at home. They that go down to the sea in ships - these see the works of the Lord. This, & the perfect description which follows (in the 107th Psalm) were ever in my mind.

Monday, June 5. The wind had abated, but the swell continued. All the passengers, but myself and one other, were sick. I have so far recovered, as to hope for no further return of the nausea, than which nothing is more disagreeable, or meets with less sympathy. The gale drove us on at the rate of 8 & 10 knots, but a little to the southwest of our proper course. The wind today is in the same quarter & pretty strong; & the fog still continues.

Tuesday, June 6. Still foggy, & still the wind driving us too far southward. The fog mostly gone, & the clouds were somewhat broken, but no clear sunshine. We are now in the gulf stream. The water which 2 days ago was 65 by the thermometer and yesterday 55, is now 75. Large quantities of rock weed are floating around us, which is always the case in the stream. The current here is about 1 mile an hour. About noon saw a sail to the northwest, apparently an English brig. This served to break in upon the monotony of our life for a moment, a life as yet subjected to dull weather & varied only by watching the restless waves and the flight of Mother Carey’s chickens. These are a male bird, about the size of a Martin, dirty black, with a brownish spot on each wing, & a ring of white around the body just back of the wings. They skim like a swallow over the surface of the waves and follow often in the wake of the ship. Occasionally they may be seen for a moment resting upon a wave, but they seem to live upon the wings, and are found all over the ocean. They are objects of great veneration to the sailors, who expect ill-luck to fall on all who do any harm to Mother Carey’s chickens.

Wednesday, June 7. This morning, for the first time, the sun arose to us in freshness and splendor, & seemed to infuse new life & vigour into our weary frames. The swell is gone, and the wind is mostly gone; & what little remains is almost directly ahead. We are yet in the gulf stream, but steering so far south, that we shall probably soon be out of it. Our captain had intended to take a more southerly course than usual, in order to avoid the ice, which at this season is so frequent on the banks of Newfoundland, but I believe the winds are taking us rather more southerly then he wished. There is however no remedy but patience, & the hope of a better wind by & by.

As this is the first day in which I have been able to write, sometimes from sickness & then from the great motion of the vessel, I may as well now describe our vessel. The Don Quixote is a small, but a good ship, & a prime sailer. She has comfortable accommodations for 10 passengers, & takes no more, & perhaps for this number her accommodations are as good as those of larger ships for a larger number. Captain Clarke is a Scotchman by birth, has resided 20 years or more in America, & seems desirous to render his passengers as comfortable as possible. We are all as yet much pleased with him. Then as passengers we have Mr. Du Barry, the catholic Bishop of New Orleans, a dignified and well informed man, Mr. Mabbé Marshall, rather diminutive; a Mr. Abele of Kentucky, a Catholic priest rather stupid and very sea sick; Mr. Fortier, a young New Orleans Frenchman; Mr. Rioux, a Frenchman from Nantz with two parrots; Mr. Ducas, a Basque from near Bayonne, a currier by trade who has been out to Buenos Ayres & made his fortune, one of the finest fellows I ever saw; and a Mr. Oriault, a French planter from the West Indies, with his 3 creole children & a black servant maid who all occupy a little state room with 2 berths. — On the deck we have the long boat well manned with sheep and pigs, several coops of poultry, a goat which runs about the deck and supplies us with milk, the 2 parrots of Mr. Rioux, and a dog which was whelped on board, & as pertaining to the Don Quixote, bears the appropriate name of Sancho.

At noon, Lat[itude]. 38.15 / Long[itude]. 60.30

During this day the wind continues light from the S. E. and our progress is not very rapid. A sail appeared about noon in the S. W. — one having taken a tack to the N. E. — It continued visible through the day, apparently bound for Europe, & probably, as our captain thought, the Wm. Thompson. At evening the breeze freshened a little. After tea our Bishop & Kentuckian let out some of their Royalist feelings, in condemning & scoffing at the conduct of Gen. LaFayette & the Americans.

Thursday, June 8. Clear & pleasant, the ship going from 6 to 10 knots before a tolerably fine breeze, & the sea comparatively smooth. We are now in that part of the Gulf stream which runs eastward, so that it aids our progress. At noon Lat. 38.30, Long. 57. Our course has been a little S. of E. The captain wished to go due E. and then the variation of the compass would have given all the requisite difference of latitude. We have altered our watches several times, & are now 17 degrees or 1 hour 8 min. fast of N.Y. time. We have now completed one week from Sandy Hook, & have run more than 750 miles equal to about ¼ of our distance, &, as we hope, more than ¼ of our time.

The first shock of sea sickness, change of habits, diet, & in short of everything, along with bad weather, being in a measure over, I am beginning to recover my usual spirits & tone of feeling. I have never for a moment repented of my undertaking, nor had a feeling of homesickness, — tho’ my thoughts, especially in my dreams, often fondly recur to my home & the friends whom I have left. The romance of an ordinary life at sea exists probably only in the descriptions of writers & the imaginations of their readers. You are confined to a surface of a few feet, where you feel yourself as safe as on the land, & where you have nothing to do but to eat, drink, & sleep, & nothing to look abroad upon but the same wide, restless, dark blue ocean. All this however is capable in a few moments of being changed to a scene of intense & fearful interest. Let but the storm come, & the tempest roar, — & then the billows become mountains, & you feel that a slender plank is all that divides you from a fathomless grave. May God grant that this be not my lot! but in due time restore me to my country & friends, laden with rich experience of his goodness & eager to devote my life to his service.

Sunday, June 11. The two days before this have passed without incident to enliven or diversify our monotonous life. Fine breezes from the S. W. & then from the N. W. bore us gaily onward towards our desired haven, while a pleasant sun and smooth sea afforded us all the ordinary pleasures of a seaman’s life. In that time we have passed the longitude of the Great Bank of Newfoundland, leaving it a hundred miles or more to the north. Our Captain did not wish to cross it, which is the usual course, because on his last voyage home he fell in with fields of ice, & was obliged to run a 100 miles to the S. before he could pass thru.

To day our Lat. is 40.20, Long. 46.20., having passed over about 28 degrees of Long. & having the 46 still to pass, since Havre is 6 miles east of Greenwich. We are now in a dead calm. The ship is lazily rolling in the light swells of the ocean, the sails are flapping against the masts, — we are like a log upon the waters, & make not any progress. The Sabbath has thus passed without any public exercises, — without any mark of its being a day consecrated to the worship of God. O how different has it been in my native land. It is now the hour when many a congregation is issuing from the courts of Jehovah, where they have been to pay their vows in the presence of the people. — All the passengers but myself are Catholics, most of them priests & one a bishop. Is it my duty in such circumstances officiously to bring forward public services on this day? The Captain is well disposed, & I last evening had a serious conversation with him on this and other similar subjects. God grant that it may not be in vain.

Tuesday. June 13. The calm of the Sabbath was not of long duration. At evening a breeze sprung up, which is still wafting us on from 6 to 9 knots. To day I have been assisting the Captain to look over the letter bag, in order to take out the letters to his consignees. These regular packets furnish great accommodation in respect to correspondence; especially as there is an arrangement among the post offices of the continent, so that a letter mailed at Havre goes to any part of Europe. I suppose there are in one bag at least 3,000 letters, directed to Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, Italy, & etc.

Wednesday, June 14. To day⁶, at 4 o’clock, we reached what the sailors’ call the half way house, i.e., we have made half our longitude, and therefore have completed half our passage, in 13 days from Sandy Hook. Our Long. is now therefore 37 degrees. At this season, this is a good progress. With the exception of a few foggy days at first, we have had good weather; except being once or twice becalmed, we have been advancing at the rate of from 5 to 10 miles an hour. The Captain hopes to be in port in 12 or 13 days more.

Thursday, June 15. We are sailing along with the fair summer breezes, & fine weather; though at morning & night there are clouds in the horizon, in that the sun has neither risen nor set clear since we left New York. I have been somewhat amazed to find how idle are many of the tales and wonders told by landsmen & poets of the phenomena at sea. For instance, I have often heard it said, & seen it printed, that the setting sun, when its lower level touches the horizon, drops at once out of sight. No such thing; — it sinks below the sea as gradually as it does behind the mountains. The colour of the ocean also is said to be green. It is so when seen dashing upon rocks, as at Nahant, or when seen in a vessel; but here, to look out upon it, the colour of it is dark blue, so that the Greeks with propriety gave it the appellation of wine-coloured.

To day, schools of porpoises have been playing around the ship. They came so near that the Captain prepared his harpoon, in order to take one; but he proved to be too late for that time, & they did not come again. — Yesterday also we fell in with a nautilus, or as the sailors call it, a Portuguese man of war. This fish or animal, you know, is celebrated as carrying a sail. The body above water was about the size & shape of a muskmelon, of a pink colour, semi-transparent, with a fin or sail rising from the whole length of the back, about 2 or 3 inches broad. Under water are many legs or prongs, a foot or more long. The whole is said to be poisonous.

Friday, June 16. To day at 8 o’clock A. M. our Lat. is 45.30, Long. 32.58. We have probably all the pleasures or at least all the absence of discomfort, which a sea life can afford. Thus far we have had no storms, but almost constant good weather. The sun for many days has been almost as smooth as the harbour of New York. It is however but a weary life, when to eat, drink and sleep forms the great occupation of all.

I am busily at work with my French. The greatest difficulty I find is in distinguishing the words of the language when spoken. They speak so fast, & run the words so much together, that it can be only by practice, which will enable a foreigner to follow them readily. I am encouraged, however, by finding that every day adds something to my power in this respect.

Saturday, June 17. Last evening we were again almost becalmed; but early in the night a strong breeze sprung up, which soon restored us to run 9 knots, & continued so during the night and forenoon. It has now died away. At 5 o’clock today our Lat. is 46.35 Long. 28.58. Fair weather, & little to interest. Porpoises again came around us, & the Captain sent his harpoon at one, but without success. Two Portugese men of war (Nautilus) have also passed us, one of them colorless, and looking like a huge bubble in the water. — We are now in the longitude of the Azores or Western Islands, but about 350 miles to the N. of them. They are however our nearest land.

Sunday, June 18. This morning on rising we found that during the night the Captain had succeeded in harpooning a porpoise, and we found the stranger of the deep stretched upon deck. The internal conformation of this animal so much resembles that of a swine that they are often called the sea hog. They have a long snout, and the jaws are armed with a row of… [?] and exceedingly sharp teeth. The flesh is not very good for eating; and, as we had plenty of other food, after we had all satisfied our curiosity, the carcase was again consigned to the deep.

The day has passed off much as our other Sabbaths on board.

Monday, June 19. Wind from the S. E. and driving us too far north. Variation of the compass here 2½ points. This evening a ship passed within a mile of us, standing to the N. W.

Wednesday, June 21. During the night there was a thunder storm, with sharp lightening; but none of the passengers heard or saw it. We have all day been hoping for a change of wind. For the last 4 days we have had strong winds from the S. E. which have driven & still are driving us too far northward; & also raise a short and very disagreeable swell in the sea. Yesterday especially the motion of the vessel was very unpleasant; she seemed only to be jumping up and down. At 5 o’clock today Lat. 50.45, Long. 19.10. Havre is in Lat. 49.29. Last night the sun went down clear at 8 o’clock.

We are now 20 days from Sandy Hook; & with a fair wind we might be in Havre in 4 days more. He who holds the winds in his fist only knows; His will be done.

Friday, June 23. Yesterday morning we were as high as Lat. 51.30 and the wind still continuing contrary, the Capt. put the ship upon the other tack, & we have since been steering South a little West. The wind however almost died away, & we have been almost becalmed. At noon today we were in Lat. 50, having made about 90 miles of southing and at the same time about 30 of westing. Our Long. at 8 o’clock was 18.23. If we are thus to be subjected to headwinds, or to calm, our passage may yet prove a long one; though as the wind has so long hung in the East we cannot but hope for a change.

Yesterday a ship was in sight most of the day, apparently standing like ourselves for the channel. At one time we were so near, that our Capt. showed his colours, which brought up on their part the English flag. This is the first communication of any sort which we have had with others since we left our pilot off Sandy Hook. Our ship proved to be much the better sailer, & long before night the brig was far behind.

Saturday, June 24. The fair head wind still prevails. Ever since yesterday morning we have been standing to the southward; till an hour or two since, when we have come on the other tack, and are now steering N. E. To day I have occupied myself principally in making the calculations for the Lat. & Long. and am learning to take an observation of the sun by the quadrant, — not probably for any practical purpose (that, however, God only knows), but because it is well to know what is so easily acquired, and is at the same time so important in itself. Our Lat. at noon was 49.01 & Long. at 5, was 17.45. We are now opposite the English Channel and want nothing but a fair wind to run to our port in 3 days.

Sunday, June 25. This day has been like its predecessors, — the wind ahead, — in the afternoon calm, — and the whole distinguished by no public expression of religious devotion. Towards evening, when the sun was near setting, the sea became perfectly tranquil & smooth, & we could distinguish many of the creeping things innumerable with which it is filled. It seemed at present to be crowded with an infinite number of the species Mollusca (I think it is), i.e., of animals whose whole substance is gelatinous. With a sort of scoop we caught many, — some resembling mushrooms, others the tapeworm, etc. etc., all transparent & glistening in the sunbeams. We caught also several very small Nautili, hardly large enough to give a correct idea of the full form.

Monday, June 26. Evg.[evening]. Our 25 days are elapsed, and we are yet 600 miles from Havre. It is now ten days that we have had baffling winds or calms. To day the wind has been a little better tho’ still ahead. Since 4 o’clock P. M. we have been greeted with a S. W. wind, & have spread our studding sails again after so many days intermission. These are extra sails, & are hoisted only when the wind is fair. At present it has almost died away, & we are drifting slowly & heavily through the glassy waters. Our Lat. is now about 49.10, Long. 15.45.

Tuesday, June 27. I spent the whole of the last night on deck, to watch the decline & rise of day, & to have a sight of a sunrise at sea. The twilight lingered in the west until after 10 o’clock, & reappeared in the east before 2. At 4 o’clock the sun rose in majesty from the ocean. On the same night in 1822 I was on the summit of Mount Washington, & beheld the setting sun — a few years before, I had beheld him rise from the Catskills.⁷ Neither his rising or setting at sea has made on me the same impression as it did upon those mountains. The reason may be the difference in my years, but more probably that in the state of my feelings. There, circumstances had combined to produce excitement, — here the tendency of every thing is towards the contrary. The sun was not perfectly clear at his rising, a few light clouds & vapours hung around him.

This morning, for the first time, the water has the deep sea green colour, owing probably to the different state of the atmosphere, or perhaps to the particular angle from which the light was reflected to us. About 10 o’clock a ship passed us far to the S. heading towards America, and soon after a brig. The ship had R. V. on one of the sails; & the captain supposed her to be a London Packet.

5 o’clock. Four vessels are now in sight, 2 sailing E. & 2 W. The wind today is a little W. of S. & serves equally well to ships in either course. We have been going today at the rate of from 7 to 9 knots. At 4 o’clock Lat. 49.22, Long. 12.38.

10 o’clock. We have just spoken a brig, which we have come up with and passed with great rapidity, though her course is the same as our own. She proved to be a German vessel, from Lisbon to Hamburgh, & must have been driven out of her course by the E. winds which have so long baffled us. This makes the 10th vessel seen today. It was pleasant to hear the human voice from some other quarter after so long a seclusion. We are still going 10 knots, and must be nearly in Long. 10 degrees, & shall probably be on sounding ere morning.

Wednesday, June 28. — 2 o’clock P. M. We have not been alone, it seems, in our detention by head winds; for we are surrounded by vessels, standing like ourselves for the British Channel. This morning on rising there were not less than 5 sail in sight, which we have completely distanced & lost from view, except one brig which has kept up with us tolerably well, but is now dropping fast astern. Of the five sail, one was a ship apparently French, 2 brigs, & 2 Dutch galliots.

We are still bounding onwards at the rate of 8 & 9 knots per hour, which in this Lat. is 12 & 13½ minutes of Longitude. This morning at 6 o’clock we were abreast of Cape Clear, the southern extremity of Ireland, but 2 degrees N. of us. We are now in Long. 7.50. If the breeze holds, we shall be abreast of the Scilly Isles, off the Land’s End in Cornwall, at 9 or 10 o’clock tonight. With the return of a good wind, & the vicinity of European shores, I find my spirits revive, — but not my power of application to study.

Thursday, June 29. 10 o’clock A. M. This morning we had a heavy shower; before this we have had only 2 slight falls of rain. The clouds now promise to break away, though the fog is yet thick in the horizon.

Since yesterday we have been in the Chops of the Channel, & have been surrounded by vessels, which have apparently suffered from the same head wind as ourselves, & are now struggling to enter the channel. This morning 5 sail were visible. We have as yet distanced all that we have seen; & though the wind is now light, we gain rapidly on those which are yet ahead of us. Our Long. is now about 5o so that we have passed beyond the Lizard [Point], but so far south of it as not to be able to see it, even had the air been clear. The first land which we expect now to make is the Caskets, a cluster of rocks etc. of the island of Alderney, near the French coast; — so that probably our eyes will be greeted with no part of Old England.

We are earnestly hoping to be delivered from our prison tomorrow; with a fair breeze this would be almost certain; but as it is now, we do not expect it. God’s will be done! — I find that my four weeks confinement & stuffing & pampering have had the effect to give me more flesh than I remember to have had before; — but the best result is, a restorative, as it should seem, to perfect health.

Evg. [Evening] This afternoon we spoke the brig Speculation, from Oporto to London, loaded with cork, with which her deck was covered. About the same time a martin came flitting about the ship, which shows our near proximity to land. The wind is apparently dying away, thus threatening to make us complete our 30 days or more.

Friday, June 30. The night was almost perfectly calm, & the morning came enclosed in fog, and a very light head wind, which rendered it necessary to steer N. towards the English coast. About 4 o’clock P. M., the fog began to clear away, & soon showed us 17 sail in the same predicament as ourselves, that is to say becalmed. The fog rose more and more, & at 5 o’clock showed us what was far more welcome —Land, — bearing North. It proved to be the high ground of merry Old England, from Bolt Head to Start Point, beyond which we could also see Bury Head near Torbay, — & also mountains in the interior.

Thus a kind Providence has preserved me across the trackless ocean, & permitted me to behold European ground. We are yet 150 miles from Harve & are now becalmed. Perhaps the danger yet remaining is as great as that which has been passed & unless a breeze springs up, we may yet be a week more on our passage. We wish much to arrive in season to forward letters by the Cadmus, which will probably sail tomorrow evening; — but God’s will be done. — It is somewhat a trial of patience to be as near Havre as Albany is to New York & yet be thus lingering here, while there the steamboats are running the distance in 14 or 15 hours.

10 o’clock eve. An English pilot boat has just left us. After the usual hail etc. our Capt. inquired if he had any fresh fish or potatoes; No, no fish, but a few taters. As we were in want of same, he got out his boat and came on board our ship, bringing the potatoes. He had the provincial dialect of his county in perfection, making delightful confusion of the tenses & expressions. A huge ship is under our lee; we asked if he knew what ship it was. No, he had not spoke to she. Our Capt. inquired after persons in Dartmouth, where the boat had recently been. I can’t say that I ‘know’ ’em. He spoke of smuggling, & of tea smuggled from France. They is a poor business; they pays very little. He said a frigate was cruising up and down the channel, but she never comes near to me, etc., etc. We all crowded around him, glad to see a stranger even in a strange land. In return for his potatoes, the Capt. gave him several bottles of rum, wine, porter, some beef, sugar, etc. so that he went off in high glee, leaving us an English paper of the 5th of June, — a month or more later than we had seen in N. York.

Saturday, July 1. Our 30 days are up & we are yet 120 miles from Havre. It continued calm all night, & all day until 3 o’clock this afternoon. In the morning the coast of England was still visible; & I counted 26 sail in sight, becalmed like ourselves. About 3, a slight breeze sprung up from the W. which is drifting us along 4 or 5 knots the hour. About 5 we spoke the American brig Ceres of Portland, from Havre for Norfolk Va., out 3 days. The Capt. promised to report us on his arrival so that our friends need not be led to think we have been lost at sea, in case we should miss the Cadmus. — We are now steering across the Channel for Alderney and Cape Barfleur on the coast of France. I hope to get a sight of the former before dark.

10 o’clock. Things begin to look a little like arriving at our Port. Our afternoon breeze has strengthened, & we are now going 6 knots. Just before the sun set we saw the French coast, — it proved to be Cape La Hague, — so that the flood tide has carried us farther than we had apprehended. At 9 o’clock a French pilot came aboard, — a long distance from Havre for a pilot. He yesterday spoke the Elizabeth from N. Y. which sailed 11 days before us. The Cadmus also which sailed on the 13 of May, — a fortnight before us, had a passage of 36 days, so that we are better off than others, if not so well as we could have wished ourselves.

Sunday, July 2. This morning we were off Cape Barfleur, about 50 miles from Havre. The town of Barfleur is visible on the point, and farther west the village of Neville. Indeed the whole coast seems studded with steeples and churches and hamlets. The tide is now ebbing, & we hope that the flood when it comes, also with the light breeze which we have, will carry us in by night.

4 o’clock . A ship is in sight which is thought to be the Cadmus. If so, my journal must close for the present. We are within a few miles of Havre, & shall probably be there ere morning.

Ship Don Quixote, off Havre de Grâce

July 2, 1826, Sunday Evg

We were just finishing our dinner, when it was said the Cadmus was in sight; & all was bustle and hurry to get our letters ready. She was yet at a great distance; & the Capt. & mate had much speculation what ship it was. At one moment it was the Cadmus; & as we all wished much to send letters to America the Capt. had the boat lowered in order to go off to her. The next moment it was unanimously decided that it was not the Cadmus. I had already sealed my letters, but as the boat was not ordered to be made fast astern, I again broke them open ere the wafer had lost any moisture. We kept looking at her at intervals, having our flags up; & soon found that she had lowered her boat, which was coming off to us. The ship meantime drew nearer, till at length we could read Cadmus on her bow. I again sealed up my letters, & had just got them ready when who should rush into the cabin but several of the passengers of the other ship, & among them was Benjamin Curtis of Paris, to whom I had letters, & who, I knew, was expected to sail on the Cadmus. He is one of the employees of Mr. D. C. Porter. We had of course but a moment to speak with them, but I was happy in being able to furnish Mr. C. with a file of N.Y. newspapers up to the time of our sailing.

This was one of the pleasant incidents of a voyage. It was like meeting an old friend & gave me the opportunity of sending letters to my friends, who I know will be anxiously waiting for intelligence. We are indeed not yet at Havre, but the distance is now so small as to count as nothing.

Monday, July 3. After our visit from the Cadmus, the wind died away & the two ships lay within a mile of each other for 2 or 3 hours. At last we began to drift a little, & at 10 o’clock the lights on Cape [de] la Hève near Havre were visible, distant about 20 miles. During the night we had had no wind, & this morning we are in the same predicament. The mouth of the Seine is distinctly visible & the buildings on la Hève, so that we cannot be more than 10 or 12 miles distant, but still we may not after all get in today.

Tuesday, July 4. Havre de Grâce

Soon after my minutes of yesterday were written, a breeze sprung up which brought us into port. As we advanced, the shore became more & more distinctly visible, till at length we could discern with the naked eye the buildings & farms of the coast. The Seine opens by a mouth perhaps 2 miles across; in the north is Cape [de] la Hève with 2 lighthouses, & from that the coast extends north 10 or 12 miles to Cape Caux, & presents an unbroken line of precipice. At a distance it has the appearance of rock & appearing not unlike the W. side of the Rocky Hills on the old road from Farmington to Hartford⁸ & is apparently about the same altitude, though in fact probably higher. On a near approach, it turns out to be composed of indurated clay, & often crumbles down. On the other side of the river the land retires more, & is not quite as high; nor is it precipitous. At the distance of 5 or 6 miles the buildings of Havre became visible in the opening of the river. It stands on low ground about 1½ miles within Cape [de] la Hève, on the N. side of the Seine. The barrier is artificial & is dry at low water, & can therefore be entered only at high tide. We therefore passed into the bay within the cape, & came to anchor about 12 o’clock.

The town of Havre stands on a low promontory formed by an angle of the river, & fronts to the S. S. E. so that it is the rear of the town which is visible from the sea. Between the town and the cape the ground becomes higher & the side of the hill towards the town is covered with the huts of the merchants etc. built on terraces, & presenting a very beautiful appearance from the water. Havre is small in extent, & that hill & the village at the foot are in the town of Anjouville. As I have said, the harbour is entirely artificial and is apparently formed by excavation on the S. E. side of the town. It is entered at the point by a canal, walled with hewn stone, & these walls extend all around the N. side of the harbour & form fine quays. From the harbour open extensive docks, in which the ships lie & the water is retained, while the harbour is dry.

About 4 o’clock we got under weigh [sic], & in a few minutes were entering the canal. There were a great number of vessels to enter, — having been kept back like ourselves. The walls of the canal & the roofs of the adjacent buildings were circled with men, women, and children, apparently in high glee. Ropes were passed from the ship to the shore, & seized by as many men and old women in wooden shoes as could lay hands upon them to haul the ship in, for which service they receive 4 or 5 sous apiece. The health officers soon came on board, & as soon as they left, in rushed a host of clerks & agents, eager to seize upon the letter packages brought by the ship for their employers. There came the waiters of various hotels with their cards; & then one of the Gens d’armes [gendarme] took our passports. All this time we were crawling along towards the dock where the packets lie, surrounded by boats of every kind, & deafened by the cries of the sailors in French & English, the clattering of wooden shoes on the stone quays, the ringing of bells, etc. The other passengers all concluded to go to the Hotel de Holland, while I thought it best to stick by the Captain at the New York Hotel which had been recommended to me in America. They soon went off in a boat, & as learned afterwards, were taken to the Custom House to have their persons examined to prevent smuggling, — a ceremony however which was merely formal. I stayed on board till the ship entered the dock, & then went ashore with the Captain. While he was making some arrangements for the ship, I stood on the quay near the dock gates. I could not help being struck & amazed with the scene. The crowd was very great, — men, old and young, — old women,