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Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent - Washington Irving · The Letters of Jane Austen

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  Speaker 1: Section zero of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentleman. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by James K. White. Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentleman
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  Speaker 1: by Washington Irving. Biographical notice. When a writer has acquired
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  Speaker 1: great renown by his productions, and has established his reputation
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  Speaker 1: as a man of genius, we naturally feel a curiosity
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  Speaker 1: to become acquainted not only with his personal but his
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  Speaker 1: intellectual history. We like to trace up the current of
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  Speaker 1: his mind to its first tricklings, as it were, and
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  Speaker 1: to listen to its prattlings among the pebbles as it
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  Speaker 1: is hurrying along to its broader and bolder channel. The
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  Speaker 1: author of the sketch book has become more distinguished than
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  Speaker 1: perhaps any other American writer, and even England has been
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  Speaker 1: constrained to acknowledge that his productions are among the most
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  Speaker 1: elegant specimens of English composition. In the year eighteen o two,
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  Speaker 1: mister Irving first attracted public notice by publishing in The
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  Speaker 1: Morning Chronicle a series of sportive pieces under the signature
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  Speaker 1: of Jonathan Oldstyle to the new generation of readers produced
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  Speaker 1: by the lapse of twenty two years. We trust that
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  Speaker 1: their republication will be peculiarly acceptable. It is in these
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  Speaker 1: specimens that we may perceive the germ of that genius
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  Speaker 1: which soon after blossomed in Salmagundi, shot forth in wild
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  Speaker 1: luxuriance in Nickobacker, and finally displayed its rich fruit in
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  Speaker 1: the Sketch Book and Bracebridge Hall. A brief account of
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  Speaker 1: the life and writings of mister Irving will perhaps not
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  Speaker 1: be deemed superfluous by the readers of this little publication.
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  Speaker 1: The city of New York as the honor of being
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  Speaker 1: the birthplace of this distinguished author, who has given such
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  Speaker 1: a claw to the literary reputation of our country. He
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  Speaker 1: was a student in Columbia College in the year eighteen hundred, but,
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  Speaker 1: by reason of his infirm health, was under the necessity
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  Speaker 1: of relinquishing his classical studies and of devoting his attention
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  Speaker 1: to pursuits less compulsory and severe. By way of recreation,
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  Speaker 1: he was advised to take lessons in drawing, and for
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  Speaker 1: this purpose he put himself under the tuition of a
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  Speaker 1: gentleman whose drawing academy still maintains a high reputation in
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  Speaker 1: our city. What proficiency he made in this art, we
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  Speaker 1: have not the means of ascertaining. It is presumable, however,
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  Speaker 1: that this kind of sketching was not that which best
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  Speaker 1: accorded with his genius, or probably consisted with his health,
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  Speaker 1: for he soon afterwards began to turn his thoughts to travel,
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  Speaker 1: and a voyage across the Atlantic was recommended by his physician,
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  Speaker 1: and encouraged by his kindred and friends. In the interim, however,
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  Speaker 1: and indeed, before this determination had been taken, his elder brother,
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  Speaker 1: now in England, was editing a newspaper in this city,
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  Speaker 1: And although a political paper and devoted to the views
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  Speaker 1: and interests of a party, yet some portions of its
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  Speaker 1: columns were occasionally embellished by hands unseen with the flowers
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  Speaker 1: of poetry and literature, and sometimes enlivened by flashes of
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  Speaker 1: wit and humor. An inviting opportunity here presented itself for
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  Speaker 1: trying the scarcely fledged wings of our juvenile author, and
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  Speaker 1: a twofold benefit could be conferred credit to himself and
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  Speaker 1: relief to the careworn and harassed editor, whose political conflict
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  Speaker 1: did not allow him leisure to woo the muses to
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  Speaker 1: his aid, and he knew that without some contributions from
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  Speaker 1: the Pyrian district, his paper, even in this banknote world,
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  Speaker 1: would soon decline for the want of contributions of a
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  Speaker 1: more substantial quality. It was at this period that the
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  Speaker 1: light pieces, now republished first made their appearance. They attracted
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  Speaker 1: a good deal of notice, and the Morning Chronicle was
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  Speaker 1: eagerly sought for by the lovers of genuine native humour.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Irving then embarked for France, from whence he proceeded
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  Speaker 1: to Italy and went as far as Rome and Naples.
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  Speaker 1: His travels and residents abroad enabled him to entertain his
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  Speaker 1: friends at home with the most amusing accounts of his
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  Speaker 1: various adventures and the most picturesque descriptions of everything that
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  Speaker 1: presented itself to his ready and lively apprehension. His letters
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  Speaker 1: are no doubt yet to be found within the circle
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  Speaker 1: of his relatives and correspondents, and the hope may be
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  Speaker 1: indulged that they will not suffer them to be lost.
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  Speaker 1: Our author returned to America, we believe, sometime in the
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  Speaker 1: year eighteen ought five or eighteen o six, and his
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  Speaker 1: health being much improved, he commenced the study of the
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  Speaker 1: law in the office of an eminent counselor in New York. Koch, however,
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  Speaker 1: delighted him not nor Blackstone neither. What progress he made
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  Speaker 1: in his juridical pursuits we know not, but that he
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  Speaker 1: read more than he understood, and understood more than he remembered.
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  Speaker 1: There can be but little doubt. In the year eighteen
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  Speaker 1: o seven he amused the town with his Salmagundi, which
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  Speaker 1: was published in numbers, commencing in January and continuing till
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of the next year. Several of the numbers
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  Speaker 1: are ascribed to a gentleman who has since distinguished himself
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  Speaker 1: both in poetry and prose, and whose copious, chaste and
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  Speaker 1: vigorous style, as well as his satirical wit, sarcastic humour,
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  Speaker 1: and biting irony, render all his attempts at concealment unavailing.
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  Speaker 1: The poetical pieces which embellish Salmagundi are well known to
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  Speaker 1: the production of the eldest brother of our author, and
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  Speaker 1: who has since deceased. Salmagundy is now publishing in London,
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  Speaker 1: as Nikobocker's history has already been, for such is mister
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  Speaker 1: Irving's reputation and popularity in England that John Bull is
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  Speaker 1: now quite willing to ask for and to read an
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  Speaker 1: American book, though according to a learned Coxcomb critic we
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  Speaker 1: meant to say in the Edinburgh Review a few years ago,
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  Speaker 1: such a thing was then never thought of. In the
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  Speaker 1: year eighteen ten, an edition of Campbell's poems being about
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  Speaker 1: to be published in Philadelphia, mister Irving was applied to
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  Speaker 1: for a biographical sketch of that sweet and sublime barred.
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  Speaker 1: This task he executed in a most masterly manner, and
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  Speaker 1: the forty pages of which it consists form, in our
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  Speaker 1: humble opinion, the most beautiful and finished piece of serious
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  Speaker 1: composition that ever came from his pen. In point of style,
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  Speaker 1: refined sentiment, and generous and spirited effusion, we venture to
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  Speaker 1: assert that it is not surpassed by any piece of
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  Speaker 1: prose in the English language. The History of New York
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  Speaker 1: by Diedrich Knickerbacker was his next production, and in this
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  Speaker 1: he seems to have exerted all his powers of good
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: natured burlesque, playful wit, and facetious fancy. He prepared himself
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  Speaker 1: for this work by a course of diligent research in
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  Speaker 1: us to the antiquities of New Amsterdam, and the libraries
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  Speaker 1: of New York and Philadelphia were ransacked for materials, or
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  Speaker 1: rather subjects, for his wizard pencil. It is a broad
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  Speaker 1: caricature from beginning to end, and like a magic lantern,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: exhibits the most fantastic combinations, the most ludicrous distortions and
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  Speaker 1: unlicensed exaggerations that a mirthful fancy can create. Though sport
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  Speaker 1: to many, it was not so to all, and some
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  Speaker 1: of the descendants of our Dutch aborigines were not a
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  Speaker 1: little offended at the liberty which the author is taken
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  Speaker 1: with the names and manners of those whom they had
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  Speaker 1: been accustomed to remember with reverence and respect. A gentleman
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  Speaker 1: whose name bespeaks his Dutch lineage, and whose talents entitle
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  Speaker 1: his observations to very high regard. In his discourse before
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  Speaker 1: the New York Historical Society in eighteen eighteen, makes the
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  Speaker 1: following animad versions on the suite object with peculiar elegance
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  Speaker 1: and feeling. It is more in sorrow than in anger,
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  Speaker 1: that I feel myself compelled to add to these gross
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  Speaker 1: instances of national injustice. A recent work of a writer
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  Speaker 1: of our own who is justly considered one of the
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  Speaker 1: brightest ornaments of American literature. I allude to the burlesque
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  Speaker 1: history of New York, in which it is painful to
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  Speaker 1: see a mind as admirable for its exquisite perception of
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  Speaker 1: the beautiful, as it is for its quick sense of
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  Speaker 1: the ridiculous, wasting the riches of its fancy on an
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  Speaker 1: ungrateful theme, and its exuberant humor in a coarse caricature.
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  Speaker 1: This writer has not yet fulfilled all the promise he
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  Speaker 1: has given to his country. It is his duty, because
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  Speaker 1: it is in his power to brush away the pretenders,
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  Speaker 1: who may at any time infest her society, her science,
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  Speaker 1: or her politics. Or, if he is, as I trust
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  Speaker 1: that he does, to strains of a higher mood. The
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  Speaker 1: deeds of his countrymen and the undescribed beauties of his
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  Speaker 1: native land afford him many a rich subject, and he
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  Speaker 1: may deck the altar of his country's glory with the
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  Speaker 1: garlands of his taste and fancy. How dangerous a gift
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  Speaker 1: is the power of ridicule. It is potent to unmask
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  Speaker 1: the pretender and to brand the hypocrite. Yet how often
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  Speaker 1: has it dissipated those gay illusions which beguile the rough
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  Speaker 1: path of life. How often has it chilled the glow
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  Speaker 1: of genius and invention. How often at its dread presence,
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  Speaker 1: have the honest boasts of patriotism, the warm expression of piety,
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  Speaker 1: the generous purpose of beneficence, faltered on the lips and
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  Speaker 1: died away in the heart. About the year eighteen twelve,
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  Speaker 1: mister Irving went to England and became a partner in
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  Speaker 1: a commercial concern, of which two of his brothers were
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  Speaker 1: also partners, and one of whom remained in this country.
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  Speaker 1: The correspondence department, which was extensive, was allotted to the
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  Speaker 1: literary member of the House, and the business of the
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  Speaker 1: establishment had become so profitable that each one, soon after
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  Speaker 1: the peace of eighteen fifteen, had a prospect of sharing
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  Speaker 1: a handsome dividend. Our author enjoyed the expectation of retiring
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  Speaker 1: from the irksome drudgery of the counting house to the
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  Speaker 1: suits of literary leisure, with a competence for life. When
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  Speaker 1: the failure of a commercial adventure in a moment convinced
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  Speaker 1: him of the vanity and elusiveness of human anticipations, and
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  Speaker 1: reduced him to a state of almost life, loathing, despondency.
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  Speaker 1: What a trial for a sensitive mind. And yet for
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  Speaker 1: his credit and his fame, what a fortunate reverse. His
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  Speaker 1: pen and his ledger are exchanged for his pencil and
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  Speaker 1: his sketch book, and Jeffrey's drafts are more highly honored
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  Speaker 1: than those of any merchant in the land. End of
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  Speaker 1: biographical notice. Recording by James K. White, Chula Vista, Section
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  Speaker 1: one of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Recording by James K. White, Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentleman
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  Speaker 1: by Washington Irving Letter one, Sir, nothing is more intolerable
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  Speaker 1: to an old person than innovation on old habits. The
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  Speaker 1: customs that prevailed in our youth become dear to us
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  Speaker 1: as we advance in years, and we can can no
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  Speaker 1: more bear to see them abolished than we can to
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  Speaker 1: behold the trees cut down under which we have sported
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  Speaker 1: in the happy days of infancy. Even I myself, who
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  Speaker 1: have floated down the stream of life with the tide
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  Speaker 1: who have humored it in all its turnings, who have
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  Speaker 1: conformed in a great measure to all its fashions, cannot
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  Speaker 1: but feel sensible of this prejudice. I often sigh when
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  Speaker 1: I draw a comparison between the present and the past.
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  Speaker 1: And though I cannot but be sensible that in general
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  Speaker 1: times are altered for the better, yet there is something
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  Speaker 1: even in the imperfections of the manners which prevailed in
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  Speaker 1: my youthful days, that is inexpressibly endearing. There is nothing
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  Speaker 1: that seems more strange and preposterous to me than the
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  Speaker 1: manner in which modern marriages are conducted. The parties keep
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  Speaker 1: the matter as secret as if there was something disgraceful
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  Speaker 1: in the connection. The lady positively denies that anything of
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  Speaker 1: the kind it is to happen, will laugh at her
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  Speaker 1: intended husband, and even lay bets against the event. The
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  Speaker 1: very day before it is to take place. They sneak
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  Speaker 1: into matrimony as quietly as possible, and seem to pride
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  Speaker 1: themselves on the cunning and ingenuity they have displayed in
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  Speaker 1: their maneuvers. How different is this from the manners of
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  Speaker 1: former times? I recollect when my Aunt Barbara was addressed
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  Speaker 1: by squire stylish. Nothing was heard of during the whole courtship,
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  Speaker 1: but consultations and negotiations between her friends and relatives. The
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  Speaker 1: matter was considered and reconsidered, and at length the time
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  Speaker 1: set for a final answer. Never, mister editor, shall I
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  Speaker 1: forget the awful solemnity of the scene. The whole family
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  Speaker 1: of the old Styles assembled an awful conclave. My aunt
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  Speaker 1: Barbara dressed out as fine as hands could make, her
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  Speaker 1: high cushion, enormous cap, long waist, prodigious hoop, ruffles that
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  Speaker 1: reached to the end of her fingers, and a gown
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  Speaker 1: of flame colored brocade figured with poppies, roses, and sunflowers.
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  Speaker 1: Never did she look so sublimely handsome. The Squire entered
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  Speaker 1: the room with a countenance suited to the solemnity of
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  Speaker 1: the occasion. He was arrayed in a full suit of
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  Speaker 1: scarlet velvet, his coat decorated with a profusion of large
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  Speaker 1: silk buttons, and the skirts stiffened with a yard or
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  Speaker 1: two of buckram. A long pig tailed wig, well powdered,
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  Speaker 1: adorned his head, and stockings of deep blue silk rolled
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  Speaker 1: over the knees graced his extremities. The flaps of his
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  Speaker 1: vest reached to his knee buckles, and the ends of
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  Speaker 1: his cravat tied with the most precise neatness, twisted through
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  Speaker 1: every button hole. Thus accoutered, he gravely walked into the room,
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  Speaker 1: with his ivory headed ebony cane in one hand and
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  Speaker 1: gently swaming his three cornered beaver with the other. The
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  Speaker 1: gallant and fashionable appearance of the Squire, the gracefulness and
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  Speaker 1: dignity of his deportment, occasioned a general smile of complacency
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  Speaker 1: through the room. My Aunt Barbara modestly veiled her countenance
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  Speaker 1: with her fan, but I observed her contemplating her admirer
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  Speaker 1: with great satisfaction through the sticks. The business was opened
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  Speaker 1: with the most formal solemnity, but was not long in agitation.
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  Speaker 1: The old styles were moderate, their articles of capitulation few.
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  Speaker 1: The Squire was gallant and acceded to them all. In short,
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  Speaker 1: the blushing barbera was delivered up to his embraces with
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  Speaker 1: due ceremony. Then, mister editor, then were the happy times,
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  Speaker 1: such oceans of Iraq, such mountains of plumb cake, such
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  Speaker 1: feasting and congratulating, such fiddling and dancing. Ah Me, who
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  Speaker 1: can think of those days? And not sigh when he
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  Speaker 1: sees the degeneracy of the present. No eating of cake,
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  Speaker 1: nor throwing of stockings, not a single skin filled with
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  Speaker 1: wine on the joyful occasion, nor a single pocket edified
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  Speaker 1: by it, but the parsons. It is with the greatest
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  Speaker 1: pain I see those customs dying away, which serve to
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  Speaker 1: awaken the hospitality and friendship of my ancient comrades that
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  Speaker 1: strewed with flowers the path to the altar, and shed
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  Speaker 1: a ray of sunshine on the commencement of the matrimonial union.
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  Speaker 1: The deportment of my Aunt Barbara and her husband was
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  Speaker 1: as de chorous after marriage as before. Her conduct was
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  Speaker 1: always regulated by his, her sentiments ever accorded with his opinions.
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  Speaker 1: She was always eager to tie on his neckcloth of
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  Speaker 1: a morning, to tuck a napkin under his chin at
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  Speaker 1: meal times, to wrap him up warm of a winter's day,
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  Speaker 1: and to spruce him up as smart as possible of
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  Speaker 1: a Sunday. The Squire was the most attentive and polite
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  Speaker 1: husband in the world. Would hand his wife in and
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  Speaker 1: out of church with the greatest ceremony, drink her health
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  Speaker 1: at dinner with particular emphasis, and ask her advice on
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  Speaker 1: every subject, though I must confess he invariably adopted his own.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing was heard from both sides but DearS, sweet loves, doves,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera. The squire could never stir out of a
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  Speaker 1: winter's day without his wife calling after him from the
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  Speaker 1: window to button up his waistcoat carefully. Thus all things
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  Speaker 1: went on smoothly, and my relations stylish had the name,
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  Speaker 1: and as far as I know, deserved it, of being
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  Speaker 1: the most happy and loving couple in the world. A
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: modern married pair will no doubt laugh at all this.
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  Speaker 1: They are accustomed to treat one another with the utmost
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: carelessness and neglect. No longer does the wife tuck the
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  Speaker 1: napkin under her husband's chin, nor the husband at ten
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  Speaker 1: to heaping her plate with dainties. No longer do I
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  Speaker 1: see those little amusing fooleeries in company, where the lady
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  Speaker 1: would pet her husband's cheek and he chuck her under
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  Speaker 1: the chin, when deers and sweets were as plenty as
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: cookies on a New Year's Day. The wife now considers
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  Speaker 1: herself as totally independent, will advance her own opinions without hesitation,
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  Speaker 1: though directly opposite to his, will carry on accounts of
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  Speaker 1: her own, and will even have secrets of her own
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  Speaker 1: with which she refuses to entrust him who can read
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  Speaker 1: these facts and not lament with me the degeneracy of
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  Speaker 1: the present times. What husband is there? But we'll look
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: back with regret to the happy days of female subjection.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Oldstyle end of Letter one. Recording by James K. White,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Chula Vista, Section two of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by James K. White. Letters
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentleman by Washington Irving, Letter two, Sir,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: there is no place of public amusement of which I
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: am so fond as the theater. To enjoy this with
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the greater relish, I go, but seldom, and I find
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: there is no play, however poor or ridiculous, from which
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  Speaker 1: I cannot derive some entertainment. I was very much taken
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: with a play bill of last week announcing in large
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: capitals the Battle of Hexham, or Days of Old. Here
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: said I to myself, will be something grand Days of old.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: My fancy fired at the words. I pictured to myself
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  Speaker 1: all the gallantry of chivalry. Here, thought I will be
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  Speaker 1: a display of court manners and true politeness. The play
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: will no doubt be garnished with tilts and tournaments. And
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: as to those banditti whose names make such a formidable
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: appearance on the bills, they will be hung up every
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: mother's son for the edification of the gallery. With such impressions,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I took my seat in the pit and was so
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  Speaker 1: impatient that I could hardly attend to the music, though
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: I found it very good. The curtain rose outwalked the
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Queen with great majesty. She answered my ideas. She was
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  Speaker 1: dressed well, she looked well, and she acted well. The
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: queen was followed by a pretty gentleman, who, from his
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: winking and grinning I took to be the court fool.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: I soon found out my mistake. He was a courtier
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: high in trust, and either general, colonel or something of
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  Speaker 1: martial dignity. They talked for some time, though I could
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  Speaker 1: not understand the drift of their discourse, so I amused
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: myself with eating peanuts. In one of the scenes, I
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: was diverted with the stupidity of a corporal and his men,
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  Speaker 1: who sung a dull song and talked a great deal
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  Speaker 1: about nothing, though I found by their laughing there was
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: a great deal of fun in the corporal's remarks. What
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: this scene had to do with the rest of the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: piece I could not comprehend. I suspect it was a
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: part of some other play, thrust in there by accident.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I was then introduced to a cavern where there were
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: several hard looking fellows sitting around a table carousing. They
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: told the audience they were BANDITTI. They then sung a
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: gallery song, of which I could understand nothing but two lines.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: The welchmen liked to have been choked by a mouse,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: but he pulled him out by the tail. Just as
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: they had ended this elegant song, their banquet was disturbed
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: by the melodious sound of a horn, and then marched
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: a portly gentleman, who I found was their captain. After
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: this worthy gentleman had fumed his hour out, after he
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: had slapped his breast and drawn his sword half a
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: dozen times, the act ended. In the course of the play,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I learned that there had been, or was or would
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: be a battle, but how or when or where I
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: could not understand. The Banditti once more made their appearance
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and frightened the wife of the portly gentleman, who was
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: dressed in man's clothes and was seeking her husband. I
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: could not enough admire the dignity of her deportment, the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: sweetness of her countenance, and the unaffected gracefulness of her action.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: But who the captain really was, or why he ran
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: away from his spouse I could not understand. However, they
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: seemed very glad to find one another again, and so
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: at last the play ended by the falling of the curtain.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I wish the manager would use a drop scene at
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: the close of the axe. We might then always ascertain
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: the termination of the piece by the green curtain. On
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: this occasion I was indebted to the polite bows of
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the actors for this pleasing information. I cannot say that
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I was entirely satisfied with the play, but I promised
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: myself ample entertainment in the afterpiece, which was called the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Tripolitan Prize. Now, thought I, we shall have some sport
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: for our money. We will no doubt see a few
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: of those Tripolitan scoundrels spitted like turkeys for our amusement. Well, sir,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the curtain rose, the trees waved in front of the stage,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and the sea rolled in the rear. All things looked
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: very pleasant and smiling. Presently I heard a bustling behind
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the scenes. Here, thought, I comes a band of fierce
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Tripolitans with whiskers as long as my arm. No such thing.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: They were only a party of village masters and misses
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: taking a walk for exercise, and very pretty behave young
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: gentry they were, I assure you, But it was cruel
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: in the manager to dress them in buckram, as it
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: deprived them entirely of the use of their limbs. They
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: arranged themselves very orderly on each side of the stage
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: and sung something doubtless very affecting, for they all looked
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: pitiful enough. By and by came up a most tremendous storm.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: The lightning flashed, the thunder roared, and the rain fell
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: in torrents. However, our pretty rustics stood gaping quietly at
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: one another until they must have been wet to the skin.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I was surprised at their torpidity, till I found they
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: were each one afraid to move first for fear of
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: being laughed at for their awkwardness. How they got off,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I do not recollect. But I advised the manager in
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: a similar case to furnish everyone with a trap door
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: through which to make his exit. Yet this would deprive
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: the audience of much amusement. For nothing can be more
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: laughable than to see a body of guards with their spears,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: or courtiers with their long robes, get across the stage.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: At our theater, scene passed after scene in Vain, I
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of a Mahometan phizz.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: I once heard a great bellowing behind the scenes and
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: expected to see a strapping mussulman come bouncing in, but
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: was miserably disappointed on distinguishing his voice, to find out
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: by his swearing that he was only a Christian. In
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: he came an American Navy officer, worsted stockings, olive velvet,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: small clothes, scarlet vest, pea jacket and gold laced hat,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: dressed quite in character. I soon found out by his
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: talk that he was an American prize master, that, returning
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: through the Mediterranean with his Tripolitan prize, he was driven
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: by a storm on the coast of England. The honest
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: gentleman seemed from his actions to be rather intoxicated, which
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I could account for in no other way than his
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: having drank a great deal of salt water as he
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: swam ashore. Several following scenes were taken up, with hallooing
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and huzziying between the captain, his crew and the gallery,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: with several amusing tricks of the captain and his son,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: a very funny, mischievous little fellow. Then came the cream
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: of the joke. The captain wanted to put to sea,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: and the young fellow, who had fallen desperately in love,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to stay ashore. Here was a contest between love and honor.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Such piping of eyes, such blowing of noses, such slapping
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: of pocket holes. But Old Junk was inflexible. What an
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: American tar deserted his duty? Three cheers from the gallery. Impossible.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: American tars forever, true blue will never stain, et cetera,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: et cetera, A continual thundering among the gods. Here was
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: a scene of distress. Here was bathos. The author seemed
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: as much puzzled to know how to dispose of the
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: young tar as Old Junk was. It would not do
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: to leave an American seaman on foreign ground, nor would
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: it do to separate him from his mistress. Seen the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: last opened, it seems that another Tripolitan cruiser had bore
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: down on the prize as she lay about a mile
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: off shore. How a barbary corsair had got in this
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: part of the world, Whether she had been driven there
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: by the same storm, or whether she was cruising to
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: pick up a few English first rates, I could not learn. However,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: here she was again. We were conducted to the seashore,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: where we found all the village gentry and their buckram
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: suits ready assembled to be entertained with the rare show
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of an American and Tripolitan engaged yard arm and yard arm.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: The battle was conducted with proper decency in decorum, and
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the Tripolitan very politely gave in, as it would be
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: indecent to conquer in the face of an American audience.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: After the engagement, the crew came ashore, joined with the
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: captain and gallery in a few more huszahs, and the
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: curtain fell. How old Junk, his son and his son's
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: sweetheart settled it I could not discover. I was somewhat
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: puzzled to understand the meaning and necessity of this engagement
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: between the ships, till an honest old countryman at my elbow,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: said he supposed it was the Battle of Hexham, as
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: he recollected no fighting in the first piece. With this explanation,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: I was perfectly satisfied my remarks upon the audience. I
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: shall postpone to another opportunity. Jonathan Oldstyle end of Letter two.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Recording by James K. White, Chula Vista, Section three of
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot Org. Recording
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: by James K. White. Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen by
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Washington Irving, Letter three, Sir, My last communication mentioned my
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: visit to the theater. The remarks it contained were chiefly confined
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: to the play and the actors. I shall now extend
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: them to the audience, who, I assure you furnished no
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: inconsiderable part of the entertainment. As I entered the house
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: some time before the curtain rose, I had sufficient leisure
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: to make some observations. I was much amused with the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: waggery and humor of the gallery, which, by the way,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: is kept in excellent order by the constables who were
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: stationed there. The noise in this part of the house
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: is somewhat similar to that which prevailed in Noah's Ark,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: for we have an imitation of the whistles and yells
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: of every kind of animal. This in some measure compensates
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: for the want of music, as the gentlemen of our
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: orchestra are very economic of their favors. Somehow or another,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: the anger of the gods seemed to be aroused all
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, and they commenced a discharge of apples,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: nuts and gingerbread on the heads of the honest folks
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: in the pit, who had no possibility of retreating from
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: this new kind of thunderbolts. I can't say, but I
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: was a little irritated at being saluted as side of
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: my head with a rotten pippin, and was going to
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: shake my cane at them, but was prevented by a
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: decent looking man behind me, who informed me that it
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: was useless to threaten or expostulate. They are only amusing
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: themselves a little at our expense. Said he sit down quietly,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and binge your back to it. My kind neighbor, was
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: interrupted by a hard green apple that hid him between
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: the shoulders. He made a wry face, but, knowing it
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: was all a joke, bore the blow like a philosopher.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: I soon saw the wisdom of this determination. A stray
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: thunderbolt happened to light on the head of a little,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: sharp faced Frenchman dressed in a white coat and small
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: cocked hat, who sat two or three inches ahead of me,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and seemed to be an irritable little animal. Monsieur was
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: terribly exasperated. He jumped upon his seat, shook his fist
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: at the gallery, and swore violently in bad English. This
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: was all nuts to his merry persecutors. Their attention was
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: wholly turned on him, and he formed their target for
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: the rest of the evening. I found the ladies in
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: the boxes, as usual, studious to please. Their charms were
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: set off to the greatest advantage. Each box was a
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: little battery in itself, and they all seemed eager to
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: outdo each other in the havoc they spread around. An
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: arch glance in one box was rivaled by a smile,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: in another, that smile by a simper, and a third,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and in a fourth a most bewitching languish carried all
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: before it. I was surprised to see some persons reconnoitering
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: the company through spyglasses, and was in doubt whether these
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: machines were used to remedy deficiencies of vision, or whether
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: this was another of the eccentricities of fashion. Jack Stylish
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: has since informed me that glasses were lately all the go.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Though hang, it says Jack, it is quite out at present.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: We used to mount our glasses in great snuff, but
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: since so many tough jockeys have all the lead, the
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: bucks have all cut the custom. I give you, mister editor,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: the account in my dashing cousin's own language. It is
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: from a vocabulary I do not well understand. I was
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: considerably amused by the queries of the countrymen mentioned in
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: my last who was now making his first visit to
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: the theater. He kept constantly applying to me for information,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: and I readily communicated as far as my own ignorance
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: would permit. As this honest man was casting his eye
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: round the house, his attention was suddenly arrested, and pray,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: who are these? Said he, pointing to a cluster of
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: young fellows. These, I suppose are the critics of whom
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: I have heard so much, they have no doubt, got
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: together to communicate their remarks and compare notes. These are
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: the persons through whom the audience exercised their judgments, and
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: by whom they are told when they are to applaud
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: or to hiss critics. My dear sir, they trouble themselves
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: as little about the elements of criticism as they do
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: about other departments of science. And Belle l'a tree. These
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: are the beaux of the present day, who meet here
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: to lounge away an idle hour and play off their
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: little impertinences for the entertainment of the public. They no
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: more regard the merits of the play or of the
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: actors than my cane. They even strive to appear inattentive,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: And I have seen one of them perched on the
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: front of the box, with his back to the stage,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: sucking the head of his stick and staring vacantly at
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the audience and sensible to the most interesting specimens of
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: scenic representation, though the tear of sensibility was trembling in
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: every eye around him. I have heard that some have
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: even gone so far in search of amusement as to
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: propose a game of cards in the theater. During the performance,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: the eyes of my neighbor sparkled at disinformation. His cane
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: shook in his hand. The word puppies burst from his lips. Nay,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: says I, I don't give this for absolute fact. My
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: cousin Jack was, I believe, quizzing me as he terms
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: it when he gave me the information. But you seem
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: quite indignant, said I to the decent looking man in
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: my rear. It was from him the exclamation came. The
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: honest countryman was gazing and gaping wander on some new attraction.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: Believe me, said I. If you had them daily before
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: your eyes, you would get quite used to them. Used
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: to them, he replied, How is it possible for people
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: of sense to relish such conduct? Bless you, my friend.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: People of sense have nothing to do with it. They
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: merely endure it in silence. These young gentlemen live in
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: an indulgent age. When I was a young man, such
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: tricks and follies were held in proper contempt. I went
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: a little too far, for upon better recollection, I must
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: own that a lapse of years has produced but little
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: alteration in this department of folly and impertinence. But do
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: the ladies admire these manners? Truly, I am not as
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: conversant in female circles as formerly, But I should think
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: it a poor compliment to my fair countrywomen to suppose
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: them pleased with the stupid, stare and cant phrases with
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: which these votaries of fashion ad affected to real ignorance.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Our conversation was here interrupted by the ringing of a bell.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Now for the play, said my companion. No, said I,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: it is only for the musicians. These worthy gentlemen then
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: came crawling out of their holes and began with very
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: solemn and important phizzes, strumming and tuning their instruments in
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: the usual style of discordance, to the great entertainment of
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: the audience. What tune is that, asked my neighbor, covering
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: his ears. This said, I is no tune. It is
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: only a pleasing symphony with which we are regaled as
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: a preparative. For my part, though I admired the effect
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: of contrast, I think they might as well play it
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: in their cavern under the stage. The bell rung a
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: second time, and then began the tune. In reality, But
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: I could not help observing that the countryman was more
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: diverted with the queer grimaces and contortions of countenance exhibited
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: by the musicians than their melody. What I heard of
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the music I liked very well, though I was told
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: by one of my neighbors that the same pieces have
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: been played every night for these three years. But it
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: was often overpowered by the gentry in the gallery, who
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: vociferated loudly for maul in, the wad, tally ho, the grinders,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: and several other airs more suited to their tastes. I
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: observed that every part of the house has its different department.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: The good folks of the gallery have all the trouble
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: of ordering the music. Their directions, however, are not more
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: frequently followed than they deserve. The mode by which they
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: issue their mandates is stamping, hissing, roaring, whistling, and when
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: the musicians are refractory, groaning in cadence. They also have
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: the privilege of demanding a bow from John, by which
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: name they designate every servant at the theater who enters
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: to move a table or snuff a candle, and of
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: detecting those cunning dogs who peep from behind the curtain
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: by the bye my honest friend was much puzzled about
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the curtain itself. He wanted to know why that carpet
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: was hung up in the theater. I assured him it
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: was no carpet, but a very fine curtain. And what
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: prey may be the meaning of that gold head with
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: the nose cut off that I see in front of it?
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: The meaning why? Really? I can't tell exactly, though my cousin,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Jack Stylish says, there is a great deal of meaning
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: in it. But surely you like the design of the curtain.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: The design? Why? Really? I can see no design about it,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: unless it is to be brought down about our ears
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: by the weight of those gold heads and that heavy
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: cornice with which it is garnished. I began now to
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: be uneasy for the credit of our curtain, and was
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: afraid he would perceive the mistake of the painter in
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: putting a harp in the middle of the curtain and
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: calling it a mirror. But his attention was happily called
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: away by the candle grease from the chandelier over the
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: center of the pit, dropping on his clothes. This he
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: loudly complained of, and declared his coat was brand new.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: How my friend said I. We must put up with
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: a few trifling inconveniences when in the pursuit of pleasure, true,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: said he, But I think I pay pretty dear for it,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: first to give sick shillings at the door, and then
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: to have my head battered with rotten apples, and my
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: coats spoiled by candle grease by and bye, I shall
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: have my other clothes dirty by sitting down. As I
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: perceive everybody mounted on the benches, I wonder if they
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: could not see as well? If they were all to
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: stand upon the floor. Here I could no longer defend
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: our customs, for I could scarcely breathe while thus surrounded
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: by a host of strapping fellows standing with their dirty
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: boots on the seats of the benches. The little Frenchman,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: who thus found a temporary shelter from the missive compliments
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: of his gallery friend, was the only person benefited. At last,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: the bell again rung, and the cry of down, down,
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: hats off was the signal for the commencement of the play. If,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: mister editor, the garrulity of an old fellow is not tiresome,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: and you choose to give this view of a New
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: York theater a place in your paper you may perhaps
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: hear further from your friend Jonathan Oldstyle. End of Letter three.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Recording by James K. White to La Vista, Section four
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: by James K. White, Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentleman by
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: Washington Irving, Letter four, Sir, I shall now conclude my
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: remarks on the theater, which I am afraid you will
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: think are spun out to an unreasonable length. For this
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: I can give no other excuse than that it is
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: the privilege of old folks to be tiresome, and so
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: I shall proceed. I had chosen a seat in the
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: pit as least subject to annoyance from a habit of
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: talking loud that has lately crept into our theaters, and
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: which particularly prevails in the boxes. In old times, people
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: went to the theater for the sake of the play
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: and acting. But I now find that it begins to
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: answer the purpose of a coffee house or fashionable lounge,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: where many indulge in loud conversation without any regard to
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: the painted inflicts on their more attentive neighbors. As this
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: conversation is generally of the most trifling kind, it seldom
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: repays the latter for the inconvenience they suffer of not
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: hearing one half of the play. I found, however, that
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: I had not much bettered my situation, but that every
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: part of the house has its share of evils. Besides
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: those I had already suffered, I was yet to undergo
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: a new kind of torment. I had got in the
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: neighborhood of a very obliging personage who had seen the
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: play four and was kindly anticipating every scene and informing
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: those that were about him what was to take place,
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: to prevent I suppose, any disagreeable surprise to which they
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: would otherwise have been liable. Had there been anything of
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: a plot to the play, this might have been a
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: serious inconvenience. But as the piece was entirely innocent of
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: everything of the kind, it was not of so much importance.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: As I generally contrived to extract amusement from everything that happens.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: I now entertained myself with remarks on the self important
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: air with which he delivered his information, and the distressed
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: and impatient looks of his unwilling auditors. I also observed
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: that he made several mistakes in the course of his communications.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: Now you'll see, said he, the Queen in all her glory,
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: surrounded with her courtiers, fine as fiddles, and ranged on
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: each side of the stage like rows of pewter dishes.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: On the contrary, we were presented with the portly gentleman
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: and his ragged regiment of bendittti. Another time he promised
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: us a regal from the fool, But we were presented
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: with a very fine speech from the Queen's grinning counselor.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: My country neighbor was exceedingly delighted with the performance, though
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: he did not have the time understand what was going forward.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: He sat staring with open mouth at the portly Gentleman
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: as he strode across the stage, and, in furious rage,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: drew his sword on the white lion by George. But
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: that's a brave fellow, said he when the act was over.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: That's what you call first rate acting. I suppose, yes,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: said I. It is what the critics of the present
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: day admire. But it is not altogether what I like.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: You should have seen an actor of the old school
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: do this part. He would have given it to some purpose.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: You would have had such ranting and roaring, and stamping
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: and storming. To be sure, this honest man gives us
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: a bounce now and then in the true old style,
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: but in the main he seems to prefer walking on
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: plain ground to strutting on the stills used by the
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: tragic heroes of my day. This is the chief of
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: what passed between me and my companion during the play
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: and entertainment, except an observation of his that it would
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: be well if the manager was to drill his nobility
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: and gentry now and then to enable them to go
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: through their evolutions with more grace and spirit. This put
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: me in mind of something my cousin Jack said to
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: the same purpose, though he went too far in his
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: zeal for reformation. He declared he wished sincerely one of
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: the critics of the day would take all the slab
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: shaws of the theater like cats in a bag and
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: twig the whole bunch. I can't say, but I like
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Jack's idea well enough, though it is rather a severe one.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: He might have remarked, another fault that prevails among our performers,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: though I don't know whether it occurred this evening, of
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: dressing for the same piece in the fashions of different
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: ages and countries, so that while one actor is strutting
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: about the stage in the cuirass and helmet of Alexander,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: another dressed up in a gold laced coat and bagwig,
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: with a chapeau de bois under his arm, is taking
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: snuff in the fashion of one or two centuries back.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: And perhaps the third figures in sowaro boots in the
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: true style of modern buckism. But what prey has become
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: of the noble Marquis of Montague and Earl of Warwick,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: said the countryman after the entertainment was concluded. Their names
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: make a great appearance on the bill, but I do
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: not recollect having seen them in the course of the evening.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Very true, I had quite forgot those worthy personages. But
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: I suspect they have been behind the scenes smoking a
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: pipe with our other friends incognito, the Tripolitans. We must
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: not be particular nowadays, my friend, when we are presented
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: with a Battle of Hexham without fighting, and a Tripolitan
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: afterpiece without even a Mahometan whisker. We need not be
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: surprised at having an invisible marquis or two thrown into
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: the bargain. But what is your opinion of the house, said?
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: I don't you think it a very substantial, solid looking building,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: both inside and out. Observe what a fine effect the
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: dark coloring of the wall has upon the white faces
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: of the audience, which glare like the stars in a
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: dark night. And then what can be more pretty than
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: the paintings in the front of the boxes, those little
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: masters and missus sucking their thumbs and making mouths at
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: the audience. Very fine, upon my word? And what prey
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: is the use of that chandelier as you call it,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: that is hung up among the clouds and has showered
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: down its favors upon my coat. Oh, that is to
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: illumine the heavens and set off to advantage the little
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: periwigged cupids tumbling head over heels with which the painter
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: has decorated the dome. You see, we have no need
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: of the chandelier below, as here the house is perfectly
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: well illuminated. But I think it would have been a
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: great saving of candlelight if the manager had ordered the painter,
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: among his other pretty designs, to paint a moon up there,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: or if he was to hang up that sun, with
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: whose intense light our eyes were greatly annoyed in the
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: beginning of the afterpiece. But don't you think, after all,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: there is rather a sort of a kind of a
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: heavyishness about the house. Don't you think it has a
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: little of an undergroundish appearance? To this I could make
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: no answer. I must confess I have often thought myself
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: the house had a dungeon like look. So I proposed
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: to him to make our exit, as the candles were
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: putting out and we should be left in the dark. Accordingly,
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: groping our way through the dismal subterrane passage that leads
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: from the pit, and passing through the ragged bridewell looking
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: ante chamber, we once more emerged into the purer air
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: of the park. When bidding my honest countrymen good night,
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: I repaired home considerably pleased with the amusements of the evening. Thus,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: mister editor, have I given you an account of the
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: chief incidents that occurred in my visit to the theater.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: I have shown you a few of its accommodations and
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: its imperfections. Those who visit it more frequently may be
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: able to give you a better statement. I shall conclude
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: with a few words of advice, for the benefit of
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: every department of it. I would recommend to the actors
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: less etiquette, less fustion, less Buckram to the orchestra, new
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: music and more of it. To the pit patience, clean
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: benches and umbrellas, to the boxes, less affectation, less noise,
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: less Coxcombs, to the gallery, less grog and better constables,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: and to the whole house inside and out. A total reformation,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: and so much for the theater. Jonathan Oldstyle end of
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Letter four. Recording by James K. White, Chula Vista, Section
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: five of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen. This is a
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Recording by James K. White. Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: by Washington Irving. Letter five, Sir, as I was sitting
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: quietly by my fireside the other morning, nursing my wounded
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: shn and reading to my cousin Jack Stylish, a chapter
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: or two from Chesterfield's Letters. I received the following epistle
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: from my friend Andrew Quaz, who, hearing that I talked
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: of paying the actors a visit and shaking my cane
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: over their heads, has written the following letter, part of
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: which is strongly in their defense. To Jonathan Oldstyle, Gentlemen,
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: my dear friend, I perceive by the late papers you
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: have been entertaining the town with remarks on the theater.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: As you do not seem, from your writings to be
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: much of an adept in the thespian ocana, Permit me
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: to give you a few hints for your information. The
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: theater you observe begins to answer all the purposes of
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: a coffee house. Here you are right. It is the
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: polite lounge with the idle and curious resort to pick
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: up the news of the fashionable world, to meet their acquaintances,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: and to show themselves off to advantage. As to the
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: dull souls who go for the sake of the play,
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: why if their attention is interrupted by the conversation of
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: their neighbors, they must bear with patience. It is a
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: custom authorized by fashion. Persons who go for the purpose
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: of chatting with their friends are not to be deprived
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: of their amusement. They have paid their dollar and have
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: a right to entertain themselves as well as they can.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: As to those who are annoyed by their talking, why
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: they need not listen to it? Let them mind their
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: own business. You are surprised at so many persons using
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: opera glasses, and wish to know whether they were all
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: near sighted. Your cousin Jack Stylish has not explained that
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: matter sufficiently, For though many mountain glasses, because it is
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: the goal. Yet I am told that several do it
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: to enable them to distinguished the countenances of their friends
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: across all scantily illuminated theater. I was considerably amused the
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: other evening with an honest tar who had stationed himself
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: in front of the gallery, and with an air of
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: affected foppishness, was reconnoiter in the house through a pocket telescope.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: I could not but like his notion, For really, the
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: gods are so elevated among the clouds that unless they
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: are unusually strong of vision, I can't tell how they
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: manage to discern with the naked eye what is passing
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: in the little painted world below them. I think you
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: complain of the deficiency of the music, and say that
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: we want a greater variety and more of it. But
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: you must know that though this might have been a
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: grievance in old times when people attended to the musicians,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: it is a thing of but little moment. At present
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: our orchestra is kept principally for form's sake. There is
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: such a continual noise and bustle between the acts that
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: it is difficult to hear a note. And if the
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: musicians were to get up a new piece of the
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: finest melody, so nicely tuned are the ears of their
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: auditors that I doubt whether nine heroes out of ten
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: would not complain on leaving the house that they had
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: been bored to death with the same old pieces they
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: have heard two or three years back. Indeed, many who
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: go to the theater carry their own music with them,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: And we are so often delighted with the crying of
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: children by way of glee, and such coughing and sneezing
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: from various parts of the house by way of chorus,
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: not to mention the regile of a sweet symphony from
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: a sweep or two in the gallery, and occasionally a
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: full piece in which nasal, vocal, whistling and thumping powers
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: are admirably exerted and blended. That what want we of
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: an orchestra? In your remarks on the actors, my dear friend,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: let me beg of you to be caution. I would
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: not for the world that you should degenerate into a critic.
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: The critics, my dear Jonathan, are the very pests of society.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: They robbed the actor of his reputation, the public of
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: their amusement. They opened the eyes of their readers to
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: a full perception of the faults of our performers. They
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: reduce our feelings to a state of miserable refinement, and
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: destroy entirely all the enjoyments in which our coarser sensations delighted.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: I can remember the time when I could hardly keep
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: my seat through laughing at the wretched buffoonery, the Merry
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Andrew tricks, and the unnatural grimaces played off by one
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: of our theatric jack Puddings. When I was struck with
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: awful admiration at the rowing and ranting of a buskined hero,
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: and hung with rapture on every word while he was
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: tearing a passion to tatters, to very rags. I remember
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: the time when he who could make the queerest mouth
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: rolled his eyes and twist his body with the most
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: hideous distortions, which surest to please Alas how change the times,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: or rather how changed the taste, I can now sit
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: with the gravest countenance and look without a smile on
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: all such mimicry. They're skipping, they're squinting, they're shrugging, they're snuffling.
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Delight not me. And as to their ranting and rowing,
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: I'd rather hear a brazen candlestick turned, or a dry
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: wheel grate on the axle tree, than any such fustion
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: efforts to attain a shallow gallery applause. Now, though I
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: confess these critics have reformed the manners of the actors
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: as well as the tastes of the audience, so that
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: these absurdities are almost banished from the New York stage,
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Yet do I think they have employed a most unwarrantable liberty.
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: A critic, my dear sir, has no more right to
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: expose the faults of an actor than he has to
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: detect the deceptions of a juggler or the impositions of
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: a quack. All trades must live. And as long as
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: the public are satisfied to admire the tricks of the juggler,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: to swallow the drugs of the quack, or to applaud
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: the fustion of the actor, whoever attempts to undeceive them,
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: does but curtail the pleasures of the latter, and deprive
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: the former of their bread. Odds, bud hath not an
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: actor eyes? And shall he not wink? Hath not an
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: actor's teeth? And shall he not grin feet? And shall
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: he not stamp lungs? And shall he not roar breast?
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: And shall he not slap it hair? And shall he
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: not club it? Is he not fed with plottts from
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: the gods, delighted with thumpings from the groundlings, annoyed by
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: hisses from the boxes? You censure his follies? Does he
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: not complain if you take away his bread? Will he
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: not starve? If you starve him? Will he not die?
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: And if you kill him, will not his wife and
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: seven small infants, six at her back and one at
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: a breast, rise up and cry vengeance against you. Ponder
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: these things seriously, my friend, old style, and you will
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: agree with me that as the actor is the most
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: meritorious and faultless. So is the critic the most cruel
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: and sanguinary character in the world, as I will show
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: you more fully in my next your love and friend
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: Andrew Quaws. From the tenor and conclusion of these remarks
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: of my friend, mister Andrew Quaz, they may not improperly
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: be called the rights of actors. His arguments are, I confess,
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: very forcible, But as they are entirely new to me,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: I shall not hastily make up my mind. In the meantime,
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: as my leg is much better, I believe I shall
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: hobble to the theater on Monday evening, borrow a seat
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: in a side box, and observe how the actors conduct themselves.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Oldstyle end of Letter five. Recording by James K. White,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: Toula Vista, Section six of the Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by James K. White, Letters
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen by Washington Irving, Letter six, Sir,
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: I mentioned in my last intention of visiting the theater
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: on Monday night. I accordingly reached there with the assistance
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: of Jack Stylish, who procured for me in one of
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: the boxes, and uncomfortable and dirty seat, which, however, I
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: found as good as any of my neighbors in the pit.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: I was determined never again to venture. The little frenchman
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: mentioned in my former remarks had adopted the same resolution.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: For on casting my eyes around the theater, I recognized
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: his sharp phizz and pinched up cocked hat, peering over
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: the ledge of the Shakespeare. The poor little fellow had
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: not changed his place for the better. A browny irishman
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: was leaning with his arms akimbo on his shoulders, and
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: coolly surveying the audience, unmindful of the writhings and expostulations
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: of the irritated little gall whose chin was pressed hard
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: upon the front of the box, and his small black
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: eyes twinkling with fury and suffocation. How he disengaged himself,
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: I do not know, for my attention was just then
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: called away by a different object, And on turning around
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: some time afterwards, Monsieur had disappeared. I found everything wore
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: its old appearance, the same silence, order and regularity prevailed,
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: as on my former visit, the central chandelier hung unmolested
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: in the heavens, setting off to advantage the picture of
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: mister anybody with which it is adorned, and shedding a
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: melancholy ray into that den in which, if we may
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: judge from the sounds that issue, thence so many troubled
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: spirits are confined. I had marched into the theater through
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: rows of tables heaped up with delicacies of every kind.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: Here a pyramid of apples or oranges invited the playful
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: palate of the dainty, while there a regiment of mince
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: pies and custards promised a more substantial regale to the hungry.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: I entered the box and looked around with astonishment. Not
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: a grinder, but had its employment. The crackling of nuts
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: and the crunching of apples saluted my ears on every side. Surely,
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: thought I never was an employment followed up with more
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: more aciduity than that of gormandizing. Already it pervades every
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: public place of amusement. Nay, it even begins to steal
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: into our churches, where many a mouthful is munched in private,
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: and few have any more objection to eat than laugh
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: in their sleeves. The eating mania prevails through every class
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: of society. Not a soul but has caught the infection.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: Eating clubs are established in every street and alley, and
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: it is impossible to turn a corner without hearing the
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: hissing of frying pans, winding the savory steams of roast
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: and boiled, or seeing some hungry genius bolting raw oysters
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the street. I expect we shall
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: shortly carry our knives and forks, like the Chinese do
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: their chopsticks, in our pockets. I was interrupted in my
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: meditations by Jack Stylish, who proposed that we might take
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: a peep into the lounging room, the dashing appearance of
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: which Jack described in high terms. I willingly agreed to
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: his proposal. The room perfectly answered my expectations and was
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: a piece with the rest of the theater. The high
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: finish of the walls, the windows fancifully decorated with red
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: baize and painted canvas, and the sumptuous wooden benches placed
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: around it had a most inviting appearance. I drew the
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: end of one of them, near to an elegant stove
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: that stood in the center of the room, and, seating
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: myself on it, stretched my lame leg over a chair,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: placing my hands on the head of my cane, and
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: resting my chin upon them. I began to amuse myself
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: by reconnoitering the company and snuffing up the delightful perfume
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: of French brandy, Holland gin and Spanish cigars. I found
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: myself in a circle of young gentry, who appeared to
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: have something in agitation by their winking and nodding. At
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: the same time, I heard a confused whispering around me,
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: and could distinguish the words smoke, wis, twig, his silver buckles,
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: old quiz Caine, cocked hat, queer phizz, and a variety
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: of others, by which I soon found I was in
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: bad quarters. Jack Stylish seemed equally uneasy with myself, for
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: though he is fond of fun himself, yet I believe
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: the young dog has too much love for his old
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: relation to make him the object of his mirth. To
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: get me away, he told me my friend Quas was
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: at the lower end of the room, and seemed, by
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: his looks, anxious to speak with me. We accordingly joined
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: him and finding that the curtain was about rising, we
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: adjourned to the box together. In our way, I exclaimed
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: against the indicorous manner of the young men of the
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: present day, the impertinent remarks on the company in which
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: they continually indulged, and the cant phrases with which their
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: shallow conversation is continually interlarded. Jack observed that I had
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: popped among a set of hard boys. Yes, master stylish,
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: said I, turning round to him abruptly, And I observe
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: by your winks and grins that you are better acquainted
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: with them than I could wish. Let me tell you,
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: honest friend, if ever I catch you indulging in such
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: despicable fopperies and hankering after the company of these disrespectful youngsters,
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: I will discard you from my affections entirely. By this
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: time we had reached our box, so I left my
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: cousin Jack to digest what I had just said. And
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: I hope it may have weight with him. Though I
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: fear from the thoughtless gayety of his disposition and his
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: knowledge of the stronghold he has in my foolish old heart.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: My menaces will make but little impression. We found the
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: play already commenced. I was particularly delighted with the appearance
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: and manners of one of the female performers. What ease,
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: what grace, what elegance of deportment? This is not acting, cousin,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: Jack said I, this is reality. After the play, this
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: lady again came forward and delivered a ludicrous epilogue. I
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: was extremely sorry to find her step so far out
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: of that graceful line of character in which she is
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: calculated to shine. And I perceived by the countenances around
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: me that the sentiment was universal. Ah said I how
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: much she forgets what is due to her dignity. That
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: charming countenance was never made to be so unworthily distorted,
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: nor that graceful person and carriage to represent the awkward
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: movements of hobbling decrepitude. Take this word of advice, fair lady,
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: from an old man and a friend. Never, if you
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: wish to retain that character of elegance you so deservedly possess,
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: never degrade yourself by assuming the part of a mimic.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: The curtain rose for the afterpiece out skipped a jolly
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: merry Andrew Aha said, I here is the Jack pudding
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: I see he has forgot his broomstick and gridiron. He'll
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: compensate for these ones, I suppose by his wit and humor.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: But where is his master, the quack. He'll be here presently,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: said Jack stylish. He's a queer old kadur. His name's
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: puff Away. Here's to be a rare roasting match, and
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: this quizzical looking fellow turns the spit. The merry Andrew
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: now began to deal out his speeches with great rapidity,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: But on a sudden pulling off a black hood that
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: covered his face, who should I recognize but my old acquaintance,
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: the portly gentleman, I started back with astonishment. Seek Trandi,
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: Gloria Mundi, exclaimed I, with a melancholy shake of the head.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: Here is a dreary but true picture of the vicissitudes
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: of life. One night paraded in regal robes, surrounded with
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: a splendid train of nobility, the next degraded to a
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: poor jack pudding, and without even a gridiron to help himself.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: What think you of this, my friend, quas said, I
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: think you an actor has any right to sport with
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: the feelings of his audience by presenting them with such
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: distressing contrasts honest Quaz, who is of the melting mood,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: shook his head ruefully and said nothing. I, however, saw
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: the tear of sympathy tremble in his eye, and honored
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: him for his sensibility. The Merry Andrew went on with
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: his part, and my pity increased as he progressed. When
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he exclaimed, and as to old style,
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: I wish him to old Nick. My blood mounted into
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: my cheeks at this insolent mention of my name. And
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: what think you of this, friend, quas, exclaimed I vehemently.
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: I presume this is one of your rights of actors.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: I suppose we are now to have the stage a
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: vehicle for lampoons and slanders, on which our fellow citizens
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: are to be caricatured by the clumsy hand of every
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: dauber who can hold a brush. Let me tell you,
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: mister Andrew, Quase, I have known the time when such
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: insolence would have been hooted from the stage. After some persuasion,
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: I resumed my seat and attempted to listen patiently to
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: the rest of the afterpiece. But I was so disgusted
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: with the Merry Andrew that in spite of all his
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: skipping and jumping and turning on his heel, I could
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: not yield him a smile. Among the other original characters
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: of the Dramatis personis, we were presented with an ancient
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: maiden and entertained with jests and remarks from the buffoon
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: and his associates, containing equal wit and novelty, but jesting apart,
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: I think these attempts to injure female happiness at once
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: cruel and unmanly. I have ever been an enthusiast in
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: my attachment to the fair sex. I have ever thought
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: them possessed of the strongest claims to our admiration, our tenderness,
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: and our protection. But when to these are added still
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: stronger claims, when we see them aged and infirm, solitary
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: and neglected, without a partner to support them down the
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: descent of life. Cold indeed, must be that heart and unmanly,
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: that spirit that can point the shafts of ridicule at
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: their defenseless bosoms, that can poison the few drops of
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: comfort Heaven has poured into their cup. The form of
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: my sister Dorothy presented itself to my imagination, her hair
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: silvered by time, but her face unwrinkled by sorrow or care.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: She hath borne her faculties so meekly that age has
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: marked no traces on her forehead. Amiable sister of my heart,
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: cried I who hast jogged with me through so many
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: years of existence? Is this to be the recompense of
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: all thy virtues? Art thou, who never, in thought or
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: deed injured the feelings of another? To have thy own
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: massacred by the jarring insults of those to whom thou
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: shouldst look for honor and protection. Away with such despicable trumpery,
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: such shallow, worn out attempts to obtain applause from the
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: unfeeling I'll know more of it. Come along, friend, Quas.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: If we stay much longer, I suppose we shall find
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: our courts of justice insulted and attempts to ridicule the
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: characters of private persons. Jack Stylish entreated me to stay
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: and see the addition the manager had made to his
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: live stock of an ass, a goose, and a monkey. Not,
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: I said, I I'll see no more. I accordingly hobbled
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: off with my friend mister Andrew Quaz. Jack declared he
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: would stay behind and see the end of the joke.
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: On our way home, I asked Friend Quaz how he
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: could justify such clumsy attempts at personal satire. He seemed, however,
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: rather reserved and his answers, and informed me he would
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: write his sentiments on the subject. The next morning. Jack
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: Stylish related to me the conclusion of the piece, how
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: several actors went into a wheel, went after another, and
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: after a little grinding, were converted into asses, geese, and monkeys,
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: except the merry Andrew, who was found such a tough
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: jockey that the wheel could not digest him, so he
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: came out as much a jack pudding as ever. Jonathan
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: Oldstyle end of Letter six. Recording by James K. White,
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: Chula Vista, Section seven of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen.
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by James K. White. Letters
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: of Jonathan Old Style Gentleman by Washington Irving. Letter seven, Sir,
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: I had just put on my spectacles and mended my
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: pen to give you an account of a visit I
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: made some time since with Friend Quas and my sister
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: Dorothy to a ball. When I was interrupted by the
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: following letter from the former. My friend Quaz, who is
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: what the world calls a knowing man, is extremely fond
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: of giving his opinion in every affair. He displays in
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: this epistle more than usual knowledge of his subject, and
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: seems to exert all his argumentative talents to enforce the
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: importance of his advice. I give you his letter without
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: further comment, and shall postpone my description of the ball
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: to another opportunity to Jonathan old Stye. Gentlemen, my dear friend,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: I once more address you on a subject that I
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: fear will be found irksome, and may chase that tested disposition.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: Give my freedom with which you are afflicted. Exert, however,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: the good humor of which at bottom I know you
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: have a plentiful stock and hear me patiently through. It
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: is the anxious fear I entertain of your sinking into
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: the gloomy abyss of criticism on the brink of which
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: you are at present tottering that urges me to right.
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: I would set before you the rights and wrongs of
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: an actor, and by painting in strong colors the peculiarity
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: of his situation, call your good sense into action. The world,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: my friend, Old Style, has ever been prone to consider
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: the theatrical profession in a degraded point of view. What
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: first gave rise to this opinion? I am at loss
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: to conceive, But I consider it as the relic of
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: one of those ancient prejudices which the good sense of
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: the world is daily disgarden. And I flatter myself it
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: will in a little time be totally exploded. Why the
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: actor should be considered in fairy and point of respectabilities
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: to the poet, the painter, or any other person who
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: exerts his talents in delineating character or in exhibiting the
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: various operations of the human mind. I cannot imagine. I
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: know you, friend, Old Style, to be a man of
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: two liberal sentiments, not to be superior to these little prejudices,
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: and also one who regards an actor, provided his private
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: character be good, with equal respect as the member of
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: any other profession. Yet you are not quite aware of
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: the important privileges solely attached to the dramatic performer. These
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: I will endeavor to point out the works of a
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: poet or painter. You may freely criticize. Nay, they offer
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: them for that purpose. They listen attentively to your observations
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: and profit by your censures. But beware how you exercise
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: such conduct towards an actor. He needs no instruction. His
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: own impartial judgment is sufficient to detect it and amend
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: all his imperfections. Attempt to correct his errors, and you
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: ruin him at once. He'll starve despite you. He is
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: like a decayed substance that crumbles at the touch. No, sir,
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: When an actor is on the stage, he is in
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: his own house. It is his castle. He then has
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: you in his power. He may there bore you with
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: his buffoonery, or insult you with his pointed remarks, with
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: perfect impunity. You, my friend, who are rather apt to
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: be dissatisfied, may call it hard treatment to be thus annoyed,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: and yet compensate the annoyer for his trouble. You may
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: say that, as you pay an equivalent for your amusement,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: you should have the liberty of directing the actor in
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: his attempts. And as the Chinese does his ear tickler,
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: tell him when his instrument offends, and how he overdoes
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: himself in the operation. This is an egregious mistake. You
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: are blind to him for his condescension in exerting his
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: talents for your instruction. And as to your money, why
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: he only takes it to lessen in part the weight
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: of your obligation. An actor is, as I before observed,
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: competent to judge of his own abilities. He may undertake
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: whatever character he pleases, tragedy, comedy, or pantomime, however ill
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: adapted his audience may think him to sustain it. He
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: may rant and roar, and wink and grin and fret
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: in fume his hour upon the stage. And who shall
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: say nay? He is paid by the manager for using
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: his lungs and limbs. And the more he exerts them,
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: the better does he fulfill the engagement. And the harder
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: does he work for his living? And who shall deprive
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: him of his heart earned bread? How many an honest,
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: lazy genius has been flogged by these unfeeling critics into
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: a cultivation of his talents and attention to his profession.
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: How have they doomed him to hard study and unremitting exertion.
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: How have they prejudiced the public mind so that what
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: might once have put an audience in convulsions of laughter
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: now excites nothing but a slight pattern of the hands
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: of the little shavers who are rewarded with seats in
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: the gallery for their trouble in keeping the boxes. Oh,
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: mister old style. It cuts me to the soul to
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: see a po actor's stamp and storm and slap his forehead,
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: his breast, his pocket holes, all in vain, to see
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: him throw himself in some attitude of distraction or despair,
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: and their wait and fruitless expectation, the applauses of his
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: friends in the gallery. In such cases, I always take
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: care and clap him myself to enable him to quit
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: his posture and resume his part with credit. You was
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: much irritated the other evening at what you termed an
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: ungenerous and unmanly attempt to bring forward an ancient maiden
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: in a ridiculous point of view. But I don't see
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: why that should be a matter of complaint. Has it
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: not been done? Time out of mind? Is it not
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: sanctioned by daily custom in private life? Is not the
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: character of Aunt Tabitha in the farce? The same we
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: have laughed at in hundreds of dramatic pieces since then.
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: The author has but traveled in the same beaten track
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: of character so many have trod before him. I see
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: not why he should be blamed as severely as if
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: he had all the guilt of originality upon his shoulders.
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: You may say that it is cruel to sport with
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: the feelings of any class of society, that folly affords
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: sufficient field for wit and satire to work upon without
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: resorting to misfortune, for matter of ridicule, that female sensibility
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: should ever be sacred from the lash of sarcasm, et cetera.
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: But this is all stuff. All can't If an author
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: is too indolent or too stupid to see new sources
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: for remark, he is surely excusable in employing the ideas
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: of others for his own use and benefit. But I
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: find I have digressed imperceptibly into the rights of authors.
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: So let us return to our subject. An actor, when
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: he holds the mirror up to nature made by his maneuvers,
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: twist and turn it so as to represent the object
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: in any shape he pleases, Nay, even give a caricature
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: where the author intended a resemblance. He may blood with
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: his breath or sort it with his dirty fingers. So
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: that the object may have a color and from the
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: glass in which it is viewed entirely different from its
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: natural appearance. To be plain, my friend, an actor has
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: a right whenever he thinks his author not sufficiently explicit,
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: to assist him by his own wit and abilities, and
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: if by these means the character should become quite different
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: from what was originally intended, and in fact belong more
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: to that actor than the author, the actor deserves high
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: credit for his ingenuity, And even though his additions are
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: quaint and fulsome, yet his intention is highly praiseworthy and
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: deserves ample encouragement. Only think, my dear sir, how many snug,
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: little domestic arrangements are destroyed by the officious in defense
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: of these ever dissatisfied critics. The honest King of Scotland,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: who used to dress for market in the theater at
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: the same time, and where with his kilt and plaid,
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: his half boots and black breeches, looking half king half cobbler,
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: has been obligated totally to dismiss the former from his
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: royal service. Yet I am happy to find so obstinate
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: as his attachment to old habits, that all their efforts
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: have not been sufficient to dislodge him from the stronghold
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: he has in the latter. They may force him from
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: the boots, but nothing shall drive him out of the bridges.
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: Conces of my friend the puerile nature of such remarks?
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: Is it not derogating from the elevated character of a
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: critic to take notice of club wigs, red coats, black
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: breeches and half boots. Five fire upon it. I blush
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: for the critics of the day who considered a matter
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: of impotence whether a highlander should appear in breeches and
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: boots or an older heating in the dress of a
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: New York Coxcomb. Trust me, friend, old style. It is
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: to the manner, not the appearance of an actor we
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: are to look. And as long as he performs his
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: part well, to use the words of my friend's don,
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: it shall not be inquired whether he did it in
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: a black coat or red Believe me, friend, old style.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: Few of our modern critics can show any substantial claim
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: to the character they assume. Let me ask them one question.
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: Have they ever been in Europe? Have they ever seen
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: a garrick, a kimb or a Siddon's. If they have not,
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: I can assure you upon the words of two or
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: three of my friends, the actors. They have no right
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: to the title of critics. They may talk as much
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: as they please about judgment and taste and feeling, But
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: this is all nonsense. It has lately been determined at
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: the theater that anyone who attempts to decide upon such
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: ridiculous principles is an arrant goose and deserves to be roasted.
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: Having thus friend oldsty endeavored in a feeble manner, to
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: show you a few of the rights of an actor
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: and of his wrongs, having mentioned his constant and disinterested
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: endeavors to please the public, and how much better he
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: knows what will please them than they do themselves. Having
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: also depicted the cruel and persecuting nature of a critic,
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: the continual restraint he lays on, the harmless irregularity of
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: the performer, and the relent this manner in which he
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: obliges him to attend sedulously to his professional duty through
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: fear of censia. Let me entreat you to pause, open
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: your eyes to the precipice on which you are tottering,
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: and hearken to the earnest warning of your love and
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: frieend Andrew Quaz. My friend Quaz certainly writes with feeling
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: every line evinces that acute sensibility for which he has
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: ever been remarked. I am, however, perfectly at a loss
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: to conceive on what grounds he suspects me of a
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: disposition to turn critic. My remarks hitherto have rather been
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: the result of immediate impression than of critical examination. With
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: my friend, mister Andrew Quaz, I begin to doubt the
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: motives of our New York critics, especially since I have,
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: in addition to these arguments, the assurances of two or
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: three doubtless disinterested actors and an editor who mister Quaz
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: tells me is remarkable for his care and veracity, that
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: the critics are the most presumptuous, arrogant, malevolent, illiberal, ungentlemanlike, malignant, rancorous, villainous, ungrateful, crippled, invidious, detracting, fabricating, personal, dogmatical, illegitimate, tyrannical, distorting,
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: spindle shank moppets, designing villains, and upstart ignorance. There, I say,
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: and many other equally high polished appellations have awakened doubts
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: in my mind respecting the sincerity and justice of the critics,
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: and lest my pen should unwittingly draw upon me the
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: suspicion of having a hankering after criticism, I now wipe
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: it carefully, lock it safely up, and promise not to
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: draw it forth again till some new department of folly
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: calls for my attention. Jonathan Oldstyle end of letter seven.
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: Recording by James K. White, Chula Vista, Section eight of
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentlemen. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: by James K. White. Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gentleman by
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: Washington Irving, Letter eight, Sir, I was calmly enjoying my
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: toast and coffee some mornings ago with my sister Dorothy
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: and Jack Stylish, when we were surprised by the abrupt
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: entrance of my friend mister Andrew Quaz By the particular
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: expression of his knowing phizz as cousin Jack calls it,
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: I immediately perceived he was laboring with some important intelligence. In
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: one hand he held the Morning Chronicle, and with the
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: forefinger of the other point out to a particular paragraph.
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: I hastily put on my spectacles and seized the paper
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: with eager curiosity. Judge my surprise, mister editor, on reading
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: an act of our legislature, pronouncing any citizen of this
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: State who shall send, bear, or accept a challenge, either
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: verbal or written, disqualified from holding any office of honor
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: or confidence, or of voting at any election within this state,
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. The paper fell from my hands.
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: I turned my eyes to friend Andrew in mute astonishment.
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: Quas put his finger on his nose, and, winking significantly, cried,
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: what do you think of this, my friend Jonathan? Here
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: is a catastrophe, exclaimed I in a melancholy tone. Here
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: is a damper for the meddlesome youths of the age.
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: Spirit of chivalry, whither hast thou flown shade of don Quixote?
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: Dost thou not look down with contempt on the degeneracy
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: of the times. My sister Dorothy caught a sympathetic spark
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: of enthusiasm deep red in all the volumes of ancient romance,
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: and delighted with the glowing description of the heroic age,
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: she had learned to admire the gallantry of former days,
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: and mourned to see the last spark of chivalric fire
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: thus rudely extinguished. Alas my brother said, she to what
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: a deplorable state are our young men reduced? How piteous
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: must be their situation, with sensibilities so easily injured, and
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: bosoms so tremblingly alive to the calls of honor and etiquette. Indeed,
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: my dear Dorothy said, I, I feel most deeply for
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: their melancholy situation, Deprived in these dull, monotonous, peaceable times,
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: of all opportunities of evincing in the hearty contest of
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: the tented field, that heroic flame that burns within their breasts,
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: they were happy to vent the lofty fumings of their
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: souls in the more domestic and less dangerous in counters
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: of the duel, Like the warrior in the fable, who
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: deprived of the pleasure of slaughtering armies, contented himself with
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: cutting down cabbages. Here a solemn pause ensued. I called
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: to mind all the tales I had heard or read
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: of ancient knights, their amours, their quarrels, and their combats.
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: How on a fair summer's morning, the Knight of the
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: Golden Goose met the Knight of the Fiery Fiddle. How
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: the Knight of the Fiery Fiddle exclaimed in lofty tones,
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: whoever denies that Donia Fidalosa is the most peerless beauty
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: in the universe must brave the strength of this arm.
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: How they both engaged with dreadful fury, and after fighting
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: till sunset, the Knight of the Fiery Fiddle fell a
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: martyr to his constancy, murmuring in melodious accents with his
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: latest breath the beloved name of Fidalosa. From these ancient
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: engagements I dec tended to others, more modern in their dates,
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: but equally important in their origins. I recalled the genuine
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: politeness and polished ceremony with which duels were conducted in
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: my youthful days, when that gentlemanly weapon, the small sword,
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: was in highest vogue. A challenge was worded with the
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: most particular complaisance, and one that I have still in
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: my possession, ends with the words your friend and affectionate servant,
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: Nicholas Stubbs. When the parties met on the field, the
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: same decorum was observed. They pulled off their hats, wished
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: one another a good day, and helped to draw off
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: each other's coats and boots with a most respectful civility.
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: Their fighting, too, was so handsomely conducted, no awkward movements,
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: no eager and angry pushes, all cool, elegant and graceful.
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: Every thrust had its sassah and a ha ha lunged
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: you gently through the bus. Then nothing could equal the
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: tenderness and attention with which a wounded antagonist was treated
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: his adversary, after wiping his sword, deliberately, kindly supported him
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: in his arms, examined his pulse, and inquired with a
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: most affectionate solicitude how he felt himself now. Thus everything
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: was conducted in a well bred, gentlemanly manner. Our present
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: customs I cannot say I much admire a twelve inch barrel,
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: pistol and dounce ball are blunt, unceremonious affairs, and prevent
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: that display of grace and elegance allowed by the small sword. Besides,
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: there is something so awkward in having the muzzle of
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: a pistol staring one full in the face, that I
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: should think it might be apt to make some of
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: our youthful heroes feel rather disagreeable, unless, as I am
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: told has been sometimes the case, the duel was fought
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: by twilight. The ceremony of loading, priming, cocking, et cetera,
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: has not the most soothing effects on a person's feelings.
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: And I am told that some of our warriors have
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: been known to tremble and make wry faces during these preparations,
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: though this has been attributed and doubtless with much justice,
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: to the violence of their wrath and fierceness of their courage.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: I had thus been musing for some time when I
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: broke silence at last by hinting to friend Quas some
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: of my objections to the mode of fighting with pistols. Truly,
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: my friend old style, said Quaz, I am surprised at
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: your ignorance of modern customs. Trust me, I know of
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: no amusement that is generally speaking, more harmless. To be sure,
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: there may now and then a couple of determined fellows
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: take the field, who resolve to do the thing in
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: good earnest, But in general our fashionable duellists are content
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: with only one discharge, and then either they are poor shots,
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: or their triggers had or they shut the wrong eye,
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: or some other calls and venes, so that it is
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: ten at twenty chances to one in their fav Here
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: I beg leave to differ from Friend Andrew. I am
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: well convinced, said I, of the valor of young men,
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: and that they determine when they march forth to the field,
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: either to conquer or die. But it generally happens that
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: their seconds are of a more peaceable mind, and interpose
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: after the first shot. But I am informed that they
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: come often very near being killed, having bullet holes through
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: their hats and coats, which, like Falstaff's hacked sword, are
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: strong proofs of the serious nature of their encounters. My
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: sister Dorothy, who is of a humane and benevolent disposition,
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: would no doubt detest the idea of duels. Did she
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: not regard them as the last gleams of those days
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: of chivalry to which she looks back with a degree
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: of romantic enthusiasm. She now considered them as having received
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: their death blow. For how can even the challenges be conveyed,
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: said she, when the very messengers are considered as principles
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: in the offense? Nothing more easy, said friend, Quase a
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: man gives me the lie very well. I tread on
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: his toes in token of challenge. He pulls my nose
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: by way of acceptance. Thus, you see the challenge is
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: safely conveyed without a third party. We then settle the
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: mode in which satisfaction is to be given, as for instance,
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: we draw lots which of us must be slain to
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: satisfy the demands of honor, Mister A or mister B.
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: My antagonist is to fall, well, Madam, he stands below
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: in the street. I run up to the garret window
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: and drop a brick upon his head. If he survives,
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: will and good. If he falls, why nobody is to blame.
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: It was ule accidental. Thus the affair is settled according
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: to the common saying to our mutual satisfaction. Jack Stylish
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: observed that as to mister Quasi's project of dropping bricks
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: on people's heads, he considered it a vulgar substitute. For
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: his part, he thought it would be well for the
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: legislature to amend their law respecting duels and license them
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: under proper restrictions, that no persons should be allowed to
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: fight without taking out a regular license. From what might
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: be called the Blood and Thunder Office, that they should
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: be obliged to give two or three weeks notice of
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: the intended combat in the newspapers, that the contending parties
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: should fight till one of them fell, and that the
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: public should be admitted to the show. This, he observed,
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: would in some degree be reviving these spectacles of antiquity
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: when the populace were regaled with the combats of gladiators.
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: We have at present no games resembling those of the ancients,
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: except now and then a bull or bear bait, and
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: this would be a valuable addition to the list of
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: our refined amusements. I listen to their discourse in silence.
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: Yet I cannot but think, mister editor, that this plan
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: is entitled to some attention. Our young men fight ninety
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: nine times out of a hundred through fear of being
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: branded with the epithet of coward, and since they fight
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: to please the world, the world, being thus interested in
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: their encounters, should be permitted to attend and judge in
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: person of their conduct. As I think the subject of importance,
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: I take the liberty of requesting a corner in the
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: Morning Chronicle to submit it to the consideration of the public.
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: Jonathan oldstyle end of Letter eight recording by James K.
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: White tou La Vista. End of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: Gentlemen by Washington Irving