No More Learning

Mr. R. H. Stoddard, his
kindly and sympathetic critic, said of him that he thought like a
poet, saw like a poet, felt like a poet; but never attained any pro-
ficiency in verse, because, though there was a wealth of imagination
in his mind, it was an untrained imagination, and "a world of the
stuff out of which poetry is made, but no poetry, which is creation,
not chaos. ”
At one time Melville and Hawthorne were near neighbors,— when
Hawthorne lived on the brink of Stockbridge pool, and Melville at
Lenox; and it is possible that each was influenced by the genius of
the other. Mr. Stoddard thinks there were dark, mysterious elements
in Melville's nature akin to those that possessed Hawthorne; but that
unlike Hawthorne, Melville did not control his melancholy, letting it
rather lead him into morbid moods. Certainly, in the days of 'Omoo'
and “Typee' Melville exhibited no such traits; but he had probably,
like Emily Bronté, “an intense and glowing mind” to see everything
through its own atmosphere. Really to know Melville the man, it is
necessary to read the letters that passed between Hawthorne and
himself, which are printed in Mr. Julian Hawthorne's memoir of his
parents. There Melville pours out his sad strange views of life, which
on the whole had treated him kindly, given him a success which
would have intoxicated another man with joy, and the promise of
favors to come.
His later years were passed in the world of thought rather than
of action. He published nothing; and New York, his old camping-
ground, seldom knew him. But when he appeared, his gray figure,
gray hair and coloring, and piercing gray eyes, marked him to the
most casual observer. Though a man of moods, he had a peculiarly
winning and interesting personality, suggesting Laurence Oliphant in
his gentle deference to an opponent's conventional opinion while he
expressed the wildest and most emancipated ideas of his own.


## p. 9869 (#277) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9869
Herman Melville died in New York, September 28th, 1891; and in
his death he was revived in the memories of many of his old-time
associates and admirers, to whom his personality had become shad-
owy, but who still regarded Omoo' and (Typee) as landmarks in
American literature.
The Marquesas Islands, when Melville visited them, were virgin
soil; the report that their inhabitants were cannibals having kept
the country safe from the invading tourist. Melville soon ingratiated
himself with the gentle creatures who ate human beings, as Emer-
son's savage kills his enemy, only out of pure compliment to their
virtues, fancying that the qualities of a great antagonist will pass into
his conqueror.
The feminine element came in to add romance; and
though a human soul, even that of a South Sea Islander, is always
more interesting than all the coral reefs and the cocoanut palms in
the world, and Melville's beautiful heroines are a little too subsidiary
to scenery, the critic must remember that the primitive woman is a
thing of traits, not of peculiarities, and therefore alike the world over.
We should therefore judge him not too harshly because there is
little character-drawing in his romances; and be thankful to breathe
as he makes us breathe — the soft airs, see the blue sky, and visit
the coral caves, of the South Seas. His great advantage is in placing
his stories in a sort of poetic or fairy precinct, where the groves are
sylvan haunts and the very names full of romance; while his dramatis
persona, if not marked, are a people gentle but lofty, eloquent, and
full of poetry and hospitality. All this he embodied in his first nov-
els; and although he had the advantage of breaking ground,” as
the farmers say, he had to compete not with the literature of a new
country, but with the prejudices of a new country against anything
not produced in the old. Omoo's charms, however, penetrated the
conservatism of Blackwood and the Edinburgh Review; while his
confrères — Lowell, Hawthorne, Bayard Taylor, and the rest
proud of his recognition abroad.
A re-reading does not destroy the illusion of his reputation. The
spirit of his books is as fresh and penetrating as when they were
first written, his genius keeping for him the secret of eternal youth.
His vocabulary is perhaps too large, too fluent; it has been called
unliterary: but what he lacks in conciseness is atoned for in spon-
taneity. And although his romances are permeated with languid airs
and indolent odors, and although flower-decked maidens turn their
brown shoulders and their soft eyes to the captive hero, the books
have a healthy, manly ring as far from sensuousness as from auster-
ity; the reader knows that after all it is a captive's tale, and that
one day, when the winds blow to stir him to action, he will sail away
to a more bracing clime.
(
were


## p. 9870 (#278) ###########################################

9870
HERMAN MELVILLE
A TYPEE HOUSEHOLD
From (Typee
M
EHEVI having now departed, and the family physician having
likewise made his exit, we were left about sunset with
the ten or twelve natives who by this time I had ascer-
tained composed the household of which Toby and I were mem-
bers. As the dwelling to which we had been first introduced
was the place of my permanent abode while I remained in the
valley, and as I was necessarily placed upon the most intimate
footing with its occupants, I may as well here enter into a little
description of it and its inhabitants. This description will apply
also to nearly all the other dwelling-places in the vale, and will
furnish some idea of the generality of the natives.
Near one side of the valley, and about midway up the ascent
of a rather abrupt rise of ground waving with the richest ver-
dure, a number of large stones were laid in successive courses to
the height of nearly eight feet, and disposed in such a manner
that their level surface corresponded in shape with the habita-
tion which was perched upon it. A narrow space however was
reserved in front of the dwelling, upon the summit of this pile
of stones (called by the natives a "pi-pi”), which being inclosed
by a little pocket of canes gave it somewhat the appearance of
a veranda. The frame of the house was constructed of large
bamboos planted uprightly, and secured together at intervals by
transverse stalks of the light wood of the hibiscus, lashed with
thongs of bark. The rear of the tenement — built up with suc-
cessive ranges of cocoanut boughs bound one upon another, with
their leaflets cunningly woven together — inclined a little from
the vertical, and extended from the extreme edge of the “pi-pi”
to about twenty feet from its surface; whence the shelving roof,
thatched with the long tapering leaves of the palmetto, sloped
steeply off to within about five feet of the floor, leaving the
eaves drooping with tassel-like appendages over the front of the
habitation. This was constructed of light and elegant canes,
in a kind of open screen-work, tastefully adorned with bindings
of variegated sinnate, which served to hold together its various
parts. The sides of the house were similarly built; thus present-
ing three quarters for the circulation of the air, while the whole
was impervious to the rain.


## p. 9871 (#279) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9871
In length this picturesque building was perhaps twelve yards,
while in breadth it could not have exceeded as many feet. So
much for the exterior; which with its wire-like reed-twisted sides
not a little reminded me of an immense aviary.
Stooping a little, you passed through a narrow aperture in its
front: and facing you on entering, lay two long, perfectly straight,
and well-polished trunks of the cocoanut-tree, extending the full
length of the dwelling; one of them placed closely against the
rear, and the other lying parallel with it some two yards distant,
the interval between them being spread with a multitude of gayly
worked mats, nearly all of a different pattern. This space formed
the common couch and lounging-place of the natives, answering
the purpose of a divan in Oriental countries. Here would they
slumber through the hours of the night, and recline luxuriously
during the greater part of the day. The remainder of the floor
presented only the cool shining surfaces of the large stones of
which the pi-pi” was composed.
From the ridge-pole of the house hung suspended a number
of large packages enveloped in coarse tappa; some of which con-
tained festival dresses, and various other matters of the ward-
robe, held in high estimation. These were easily accessible by
means of a line, which, passing over the ridge-pole, had one end
attached to a bundle; while with the other, which led to the side
of the dwelling and was there secured, the package could be
lowered or elevated at pleasure.
Against the farther wall of the house were arranged in taste-
ful figures a variety of spears and javelins, and other implements
of savage warfare. Outside of the habitation, and built upon the
piazza-like area in its front, was a little shed used as a sort of
larder or pantry, and in which were stored various articles of
domestic use and convenience. A few yards from the “pi-pi”
was a large shed built of cocoanut boughs, where the process of
preparing the “poee-poee” was carried on, and all culinary oper-
ations attended to.
Thus much for the house and its appurtenances; and it will
be readily acknowledged that a more commodious and appropriate
dwelling for the climate and the people could not possibly be de.
vised. It was cool, free to admit the air, scrupulously clean, and
elevated above the dampness and impurities of the ground.
But now to sketch the inmates; and here I claim for my tried
servitor and faithful valet Kory-Kory the precedence of a first


## p. 9872 (#280) ###########################################

9872
HERMAN MELVILLE
description. As his character will be gradually unfolded in the
course of my narrative, I shall for the present content myself
with delineating his personal appearance. Kory-Kory, though the
most devoted and best-natured serving-man in the world, was,
alas! a hideous object to look upon. He was some twenty-five
years of age, and about six feet in height, robust and well made,
and of the most extraordinary aspect. His head was carefully
shaven, with the exception of two circular spots, about the size
of a dollar, near the top of the cranium, where the hair, per-
mitted to grow of an amazing length, was twisted up in two
prominent knots, that gave him the appearance of being deco-
rated with a pair of horns. His beard, plucked out by the roots
from every other part of his face, was suffered to droop in hairy
pendants, two of which garnished his upper lip, and an equal
number hung from the extremity of his chin.
Kory-Kory, with a view of improving the handiwork of nature,
and perhaps prompted by a desire to add to the engaging ex-
pression of his countenance, had seen fit to embellish his face
with three broad longitudinal stripes of tattooing, which, like
those country roads that go straight forward in defiance of all
obstacles, crossed his nasal organ, descended into the hollow of
his eyes, and even skirted the borders of his mouth. Each com-
pletely spanned his physiognomy; one extending in a line with
his eyes, another crossing the face in the vicinity of the nose,
and the third sweeping along his lips from ear to ear. His
countenance thus triply hooped, as it were, with tattooing, always
reminded me of those unhappy wretches whom I have sometimes
observed gazing out sentimentally from behind the grated bars
of a prison window; whilst the entire body of my savage valet,
covered all over with representations of birds and fishes, and a
variety of most unaccountable-looking creatures, suggested to me
the idea of a pictorial museum of natural history, or an illus-
trated copy of Goldsmith's Animated Nature. '
But it seems really heartless in me to write thus of the poor
islander, when I owe perhaps to his unremitting attentions the
very existence I now enjoy. Kory-Kory, I mean thee no harm
in what I say in regard to thy outward adornings; but they were
a little curious to my unaccustomed sight, and therefore I dilate
But to underrate or forget thy faithful services is
something I could never be guilty of, even in the giddiest mo-
ment of my life.
upon them.


## p. 9873 (#281) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9873
The father of my attached follower was a native of gigantic
frame, and had once possessed prodigious physical powers; but
the lofty form was now yielding to the inroads of time, though
the hand of disease seemed never to have been laid upon the
aged warrior. Marheyo — for such was his name - appeared to
have retired from all active participation in the affairs of the
valley, seldom or never accompanying the natives in their vari-
ous expeditions; and employing the greater part of his time in
throwing up a little shed just outside the house, upon which he
was engaged to my certain knowledge for four months, without
appearing to make any sensible advance. I suppose the old gen-
tleman was in his dotage, for he manifested in various ways the
characteristics which mark this particular stage of life.
I remember in particular his having a choice pair of ear
ornaments, fabricated from the teeth of some sea-monster. These
he would alternately wear and take off at least fifty times in the
course of the day, going and coming from his little hut on each
occasion with all the tranquillity imaginable. Sometimes slipping
them through the slits in his ears, he would seize his spear,
which in length and slightness resembled a fishing-pole — and
go stalking beneath the shadows of the neighboring groves, as if
about to give a hostile meeting to some cannibal knight. But
he would soon return again, and hiding his weapon under the
projecting eaves of the house, and rolling his clumsy trinkets
carefully in a piece of tappa, would resume his more pacific
operations as quietly as if he had never interrupted them.
But despite his eccentricities, Marheyo was a most paternal
and warm-hearted old fellow, and in this particular not a little
resembled his son Kory-Kory. The mother of the latter was the
mistress of the family,- and a notable housewife; and a most
industrious old lady she was. If she did not understand the art
of making jellies, jams, custards, tea-cakes, and such like trashy
affairs, she was profoundly skilled in the mysteries of preparing
“amar, poee-poee,” and “kokoo,” with other substantial mat-
ters. She was a genuine busybody: bustling about the house
like a country landlady at an unexpected arrival; forever giving
the young girls tasks to perform, which the little huzzies as often
neglected; poking into every corner and rummaging over bun-
dles of old tappa, or making a prodigious clatter among the cala-
bashes. Sometimes she might have been seen squatting upon
her haunches in front of a huge wooden basin, and kneading
XV11-618
(
»


## p. 9874 (#282) ###########################################

9874
HERMAN MELVILLE
poee-poee with terrific vehemence, dashing the stone pestle about
as if she would shiver the vessel into fragments; on other occas-
ions galloping about the valley in search of a particular kind of
leaf used in some of her recondite operations, and returning
home, toiling and sweating, with a bundle of it under which
most women would have sunk.
To tell the truth, Kory-Kory's mother was the only indus-
trious person in all the valley of Typee; and she could not have
employed herself more actively had she been left an exceedingly
muscular and destitute widow with an inordinate supply of young
children, in the bleakest part of the civilized world. There was
not the slightest necessity for the greater portion of the labor
performed by the old lady: but she seemed to work from some
irresistible impulse; her limbs continually swaying to and fro,
as if there were some indefatigable engine concealed within her
body which kept her in perpetual motion.
Never suppose that she was a termagant or a shrew for all
this: she had the kindliest heart in the world, and acted towards
me in particular in a truly maternal manner; occasionally putting
some little morsel of choice food into my hand, some outlandish
kind of savage sweetmeat or pastry, like a doting mother petting
a sickly urchin with tarts and sugar-plums. Warm indeed are
my remembrances of the dear, good, affectionate old Tinor!
Besides the individuals I have mentioned, there belonged to
the household three young men,- dissipated, good-for-nothing,
roystering blades of savages, - who were either employed in
,
prosecuting love affairs with the maidens of the tribe, or grew
boozy on "arva” and tobacco in the company of congenial spir-
its, the scapegraces of the valley.
Among the permanent inmates of the house were likewise
several lovely damsels, who instead of thrumming pianos and read-
ing novels, like more enlightened young ladies, substituted for
these employments the manufacture of a fine species of tappa;
but for the greater portion of the time were skipping from
house to house, gadding and gossiping with their acquaintances.
From the rest of these, however, I must except the beauteous
nymph Fayaway, who was my peculiar favorite. Her free pliant
figure was the very perfection of female grace and beauty. Her
complexion was a rich and mantling olive; and when watching
the glow upon her cheeks, I could almost swear that beneath the
transparent medium there lurked the blushes of a faint vermilion.


## p. 9875 (#283) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9875
(C
The face of this girl was a rounded oval, and each feature as
perfectly formed as the heart or imagination of man could desire.
Her full lips, when parted with a smile, disclosed teeth of a daz-
zling whiteness; and when her rosy mouth opened with a burst
of merriment, they looked like the milk-white seeds of the “arta,”
-a fruit of the valley which, when cleft in twain, shows them
reposing in rows on either side, imbedded in the rich and juicy
pulp. Her hair of the deepest brown, parted irregularly in the
middle, flowed in natural ringlets over her shoulders, and when-
ever she chanced to stoop, fell over and hid from view her
lovely bosom. Gazing into the depths of her strange blue eyes,
when she was in a contemplative mood, they seemed most placid
yet unfathomable; but when illuminated by some lively emotion,
they beamed upon the beholder like stars. The hands of Faya-
way were as soft and delicate as those of any countess; for an
entire exemption from rude labor marks the girlhood and even
prime of a Typee woman's life. Her feet, though wholly ex-
posed, were as diminutive and fairly shaped as those which peep
from beneath the skirts of a Lima lady's dress. The skin of this
young creature, from continual ablutions and the use of mollifying
ointments, was inconceivably smooth and soft.
I may succeed, perhaps, in particularizing some of the indi-
vidual features of Fayaway's beauty; but that general loveliness
of appearance which they all contributed to produce I will not
attempt to describe.
The easy unstudied graces of a child of
nature like this - breathing from infancy an atmosphere of per-
petual summer, and nurtured by the simple fruits of the earth,
enjoying a perfect freedom from care and anxiety, and removed
effectually from all injurious tendencies -- strike the eye in a
manner which cannot be portrayed. This picture is no fancy
sketch: it is drawn from the most vivid recollections of the per-
son delineated.
Were I asked if the beauteous form of Fayaway was alto-
gether free from the hideous blemish of tattooing, I should be
constrained to answer that it was not. But the practitioners of
the barbarous art, so remorseless in their inflictions upon the
brawny limbs of the warriors of the tribe, seem to be conscious
that it needs not the resources of their profession to augment
the charms of the maidens of the vale.
The females are very little embellished in this way; and Fay-
away, with all the other young girls of her age, were even less


## p. 9876 (#284) ###########################################

9876
HERMAN MELVILLE
so than those of their sex more advanced in years. The reason
of this peculiarity will be alluded to hereafter. All the tattooing
that the nymph in question exhibited upon her person may be
easily described. Three minute dots, no bigger than pin-heads,
decorated either lip, and at a little distance were not at all dis-
cernible. Just upon the fall of the shoulder were drawn two
parallel lines, half an inch apart and perhaps three inches in
length, the interval being filled with delicately executed figures.
These narrow bands of tattooing, thus placed, always reminded
me of those stripes of gold lace worn by officers in undress, and
which were in lieu of epaulettes to denote their rank.
Thus much was Fayaway tattooed — the audacious hand which
had gone so far in its desecrating work stopping short, appar-
ently wanting the heart to proceed.
But I have omitted to describe the dress worn by this nymph
of the valley.
Fayaway - I must avow the fact — for the most part clung to
the primitive and summer garb of Eden. But how becoming the
costume! It showed her fine figure to the best possible advan-
tage, and nothing could have been better adapted to her peculiar
style of beauty. On ordinary occasion she was habited precisely
as I have described the two youthful savages whom we had met
on first entering the valley. At other times, when rambling
among the groves, or visiting at the houses of her acquaintances,
she wore a tunic of white tappa, reaching from her waist to a
little below the knees; and when exposed for any length of time
to the sun, she invariably protected herself from its rays by a
floating mantle of the same material, loosely gathered about the
person. Her gala dress will be described hereafter.
As the beauties of our own land delight in bedecking them-
selves with fanciful articles of jewelry, - suspending them from
their ears, hanging them about their necks, clasping them around
their wrists, --so Fayaway and her companions were in the habit
of ornamenting themselves with similar appendages.
Flora was their jeweler. Sometimes they wore necklaces of
small carnation flowers, strung like rubies upon a fibre of tappa;
or displayed in their ears a single white bud, the stem thrust
backward through the aperture, and showing in front the deli-
cate petals folded together in a beautiful sphere, and looking like
a drop of the purest pearl. Chaplets too, resembling in their
arrangement the strawberry coronal worn by an English peeress,


## p. 9877 (#285) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9877
and composed of intertwined leaves and blossoms, often crowned
their temples; and bracelets and anklets of the same tasteful
pattern were frequently to be seen. Indeed, the maidens of the
islands were passionately fond of flowers, and never wearied of
decorating their persons with them; a lovely trait in their char-
acter, and one that ere long will be more fully alluded to.
Though in my eyes, at least, Fayaway was indisputably the
loveliest female I saw in Typee, yet the description I have given
of her will in some measure apply to nearly all the youthful
portion of her sex in the valley. Judge you then, reader, what
beautiful creatures they must have been.
FAYAWAY IN THE CANOE
From Typee
FM
OR the life of me I could not understand why a woman should
not have as much right to enter a canoe as a man. At last
he became a little more rational, and intimated that, out
of the abundant love he bore me, he would consult with the
priests and see what could be done.
How it was that the priesthood of Typee satisfied the affair
with their consciences, I know not; but so it was, and Fayaway's
dispensation from this portion of the taboo was at length pro-
cured. Such an event I believe never before had occurred in
the valley; but it was high time the islanders should be taught
a little gallantry, and I trust that the example I set them may
produce beneficial effects. Ridiculous, indeed, that the lovely
creatures should be obliged to paddle about in the water like so
many ducks, while a parcel of great strapping fellows skimmed
over its surface in their canoes.
The first day after Fayaway's emancipation I had a delightful
little party on the lake – the damsel, Kory-Kory, and myself.
My zealous body-servant brought from the house a calabash of
poee-poee, half a dozen young cocoanuts stripped of their husks,
three pipes, as many yams, and me on his back a part of the
way. Something of a load; but Kory-Kory was a very strong
man for his size, and by no means brittle in the spine. We had
a very pleasant day; my trusty valet plied the paddle and swept
us gently along the margin of the water, beneath the shades of


## p. 9878 (#286) ###########################################

9878
HERMAN MELVILLE
the overhanging thickets. Fayaway and I reclined in the stern
of the canoe, on the very best terms possible with one another;
the gentle nymph occasionally placing her pipe to her lip and
exhaling the mild fumes of the tobacco, to which her rosy
breath added a fresh perfume. Strange as it may seem, there
is nothing in which a young and beautiful female appears to
more advantage than in the act of smoking. How captivating is
a Peruvian lady swinging in her gayly woven hammock of grass,
extended between two orange-trees, and inhaling the fragrance of
a choice cigarro! But Fayaway, holding in her delicately formed
olive hand the long yellow reed of her pipe, with its quaintly
carved bowl, and every few moments languishingly giving forth
light wreaths of vapor from her mouth and nostrils, looked still
more engaging
We floated about thus for several hours, when I looked up to
the warm, glowing, tropical sky, and then down into the trans-
parent depths below; and when my eye, wandering from the
bewitching scenery around, fell upon the grotesquely tattooed
form of Kory-Kory, and finally encountered the pensive gaze of
Fayaway, I thought I had been transported to some fairy region,
so unreal did everything appear.
This lovely piece of water was the coolest spot in all the val.
ley, and I now made it a place of continual resort during the
hottest period of the day. One side of it lay near the termina-
tion of a long, gradually expanding gorge, which mounted to the
heights that environed the vale. The strong trade-wind, met in
its course by these elevations, circled and eddied about their
summits, and was sometimes driven down the steep ravine and
swept across the valley, ruffling in its passage the otherwise tran-
quil surface of the lake.
One day, after we had been paddling about for some time,
I disembarked Kory-Kory and paddled the canoe to the wind-
ward side of the lake. As I turned the canoe, Fayaway, who was
with me, seemed all at to be struck with some happy
idea. With a wild exclamation of delight, she disengaged from
her person the ample robe of tappa which was knotted over
her shoulder (for the purpose of shielding her from the sun), and
spreading it out like a sail, stood erect with upraised arms in the
head of the canoe. We American sailors pride ourselves upon
our straight clean spars, but a prettier little mast than Fayaway
made was never shipped aboard of any craft.
once


## p. 9879 (#287) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9879
In a moment the tappa was distended by the breeze, the long
brown tresses of Fayaway streamed in the air, and the canoe
glided rapidly through the water and shot towards the shore.
Seated in the stern, I directed its course with my paddle until
it dashed up the soft sloping bank, and Fayaway with a light
spring alighted on the ground; whilst Kory-Kory, who had
watched our mancuvres with admiration, now clapped his hands
in transport and shouted like a madman. Many a time after-
wards was this feat repeated.
THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE TYPEES
From (Typee)
I
(
»
HAVE already mentioned that the influence exerted over the
people of the valley by their chiefs was mild in the extreme;
and as to any general rule or standard of conduct by which
the commonalty were governed in their intercourse with each
other, so far as my observation extended, I should be almost
tempted to say that none existed on the island, except indeed
the mysterious Taboo be considered as such. During the time
I lived among the Typees, no one was ever put upon his trial
for any offense against the public. To all appearances there
were no courts of law or equity. There were no municipal police
for the purpose of apprehending vagrants and disorderly charac-
ters. In short, there were no legal provisions whatever for the
well-being and conservation of society, the enlightened end of
civilized legislation. And yet everything went on in the valley
with a harmony and smoothness unparalleled, I will venture to
assert, in the most select, refined, and pious associations of mor-
tals in Christendom. How are we to explain this enigma? These
islanders were heathens! savages! ay, cannibals! and how came
they, without the aid of established law, to exhibit in so emi-
nent a degree that social order which is the greatest blessing
and highest pride of the social state?
It may reasonably be inquired, How were these people gov-
erned? how were their passions controlled in their every-day
transactions? It must have been by an inherent principle of
honesty and charity towards each other. They seemed to be
governed by that sort of tacit common-sense law, which, say what
they will of the inborn lawlessness of the human race, has its


## p. 9880 (#288) ###########################################

9880
HERMAN MELVILLE
precepts graven on every breast. The grand principles of virtue
and honor, however they may be distorted by arbitrary codes,
are the same all the world over; and where these principles are
concerned, the right or wrong of any action appears the same
to the uncultivated as to the enlightened mind. It is to this
indwelling, this universally diffused perception of what is just and
noble, that the integrity of the Marquesans in their intercourse
with each other is to be attributed. In the darkest nights they
slept securely, with all their worldly wealth around them, in
houses the doors of which were never fastened. The disquiet-
ing ideas of theft or assassination never disturbed them. Each
islander reposed beneath his own palmetto thatching, or sat under
his own bread-fruit tree, with none to molest or alarm him. There
was not a padlock in the valley, nor anything that answered the
purpose of one; still there was no community of goods. This
long spear, so elegantly carved and highly polished, belongs to
Wormoonoo; it is far handsomer than the one which old Marheyo
so greatly prizes,- it is the most valuable article belonging to its
owner. And yet I have seen it leaning against a cocoanut-tree
in the grove, and there it was found when sought for. Here is
a sperm-whale tooth, graven all over with cunning devices: it is
the property of Karluna; it is the most precious of the damsel's
ornaments. In her estimation its price is far above rubies. And
yet there hangs the dental jewel by its cord of braided bark
in the girl's house, which is far back in the valley; the door
is left open, and all the inmates have gone off to bathe in the
stream.
There was one admirable trait in the general character of the
Typees which, more than anything else, secured my admiration:
it was the unanimity of feeling they displayed on every occasion.
With them there hardly appeared to be any difference of opinion
upon any subject whatever. They all thought and acted alike.
.
I
do not conceive that they could support a debating society for a
single night: there would be nothing to dispute about; and were
they to call a convention to take into consideration the state of
the tribe, its session would be a remarkably short one. They
showed this spirit of unanimity in every action of life: everything
was done in concert and good-fellowship.
Not a single female took part in this employment [house-
building); and if the degree of consideration in which the ever
adorable sex is held by the men, be---as the philosophers affirm -


## p. 9881 (#289) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9881
a just criterion of the degree of refinement among a people, then
I may truly pronounce the Typees to be as polished a commu-
nity as ever the sun shone upon. The religious restrictions of
the taboo alone excepted, the women of the valley were allowed
every possible indulgence. Nowhere are the ladies more assidu-
ously courted; nowhere are they better appreciated as the contrib-
utors to our highest enjoyments; and nowhere are they more
sensible of their power. Far different from their condition among
many rude nations, where the women are made to perform all
the work while their ungallant lords and masters lie buried in
sloth, the gentle sex in the valley of Typee were exempt from
toil; if toil it might be called, that even in that tropical climate,
never distilled one drop of perspiration. Their light household
occupations, together with the manufacture of tappa, the platting
of mats, and the polishing of drinking-vessels, were the only em-
ployments pertaining to the women. And even these resembled
those pleasant avocations which fill up the elegant morning leis-
ure of our fashionable ladies at home. But in these occupations,
slight and agreeable though they were, the giddy young girls
very seldom engaged. Indeed, these willful, care-killing damsels
were averse to all useful employment. Like so many spoiled
beauties, they ranged through the groves, bathed in the stream,
danced, flirted, played all manner of mischievous pranks, and
passed their days in one merry round of thoughtless happiness.
During my whole stay on the island I never witnessed a sin-
gle quarrel, nor anything that in the slightest degree approached
even to a dispute. The natives appeared to form one household,
whose members were bound together by the ties of strong affec-
tion. The love of kindred I did not so much perceive, for it
seemed blended to the general love; and where all were treated
as brothers and sisters, it was hard to tell who were actually
related to each other by blood.
TABOO
From (Typee
HERE is a marked similarity, almost an identity, between the
T";
and in all exists the mysterious Taboo,” restricted in its
uses to a greater or less extent. So strange and complex in its


## p.
9882 (#290) ###########################################

9882
HERMAN MELVILLE
(
>
arrangements is this remarkable system, that I have in several
cases met with individuals who after residing for years among
the islands in the Pacific, and acquiring a considerable knowl-
edge of the language, have nevertheless been altogether unable
to give any satisfactory account of its operations. Situated as I
was in the Typee valley, I perceived every hour the effects of
this all-controlling power, without in the least comprehending it.
Those effects were indeed wide-spread and universal, pervading
the most important as well as the minutest transactions of life.
The savage, in short, lives in the continual observance of its dic-
tates, which guide and control every action of his being.
For several days after entering the valley, I had been saluted
at least fifty times in the twenty-four hours with the talismanic
word «Taboo ” shrieked in my ears, at some gross violation of
its provisions, of which I had unconsciously been guilty. The
day after our arrival I happened to hand some tobacco to Toby
over the head of a native who sat between us. He started up as
if stung by an adder; while the whole company, manifesting an
equal degree of horror, simultaneously screamed out «Taboo ! »
I never again perpetrated a similar piece of ill manners, which
indeed was forbidden by the canons of good breeding as well as
by the mandates of the taboo. But it was not always so easy to
perceive wherein you had contravened the spirit of this institu-
tion. I was many times called to order, if I may use the phrase,
when I could not for the life of me conjecture what particular
offense I had committed.
One day I was strolling through a secluded portion of the val-
ley; and hearing the musical sound of the cloth-mallet at a little
distance, I turned down a path that conducted me in a few
moments to a house where there were some half-dozen girls em-
ployed in making tappa. This was an operation I had frequently
witnessed, and had handled the bark in all the various stages of
its preparation. On the present occasion the females were intent
upon their occupation; and after looking up and talking gayly
to me for a few moments, they resumed their employment. I
regarded them for awhile in silence, and then carelessly picking
up a handful of the material that lay around, proceeded uncon-
sciously to pick it apart. While thus engaged, I was suddenly
startled by a scream, like that of a whole boarding-school of
young ladies just on the point of going into hysterics. Leaping
up with the idea of seeing a score of Happar warriors about to


## p. 9883 (#291) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9883
perform anew the Sabine atrocity, I found myself confronted by
the company of girls, who, having dropped their work, stood be-
fore me with starting eyes, swelling bosoms, and fingers pointed
in horror towards me.
Thinking that some venomous reptile must be concealed in
the bark which I held in my hand, I began cautiously to sepa-
rate and examine it. Whilst I did so the horrified girls redoubled
their shrieks. Their wild cries and frightened motions actually
alarmed me; and throwing down the tappa, I was about to
rush from the house, when in the same instant their clamors
ceased, and one of them, seizing me by the arm, pointed to the
broken fibres that had just fallen from my grasp, and screamed
in my ear the fatal word «Taboo ! »
I subsequently found out that the fabric they were engaged
in making was of a peculiar kind, destined to be worn on the
heads of females; and through every stage of its manufacture
was guarded by a rigorous taboo, which interdicted the whole
masculine gender from even so much as touching it.
Frequently in walking through the groves, I observed bread-
fruit and cocoanut trees with a wreath of leaves twined in a
peculiar fashion about their trunks. This was the mark of the
taboo. The trees themselves, their fruit, and even the shadows
they cast upon the ground, were consecrated by its presence. In
the same way a pipe which the King had bestowed upon me was
rendered sacred in the eyes of the natives, none of whom could
I ever prevail upon to smoke from it. The bowl was encircled
by a woven band of grass, somewhat resembling those Turks'-
heads occasionally worked in the handles of our whip-stalks.
A similar badge was once braided about my wrist by the
royal hand of Mehevi himself, who, as soon as he had concluded
the operation, pronounced me « Taboo. ” This occurred shortly
after Toby's disappearance; and were it not that from the first
moment I had entered the valley the natives had treated me
with uniform kindness, I should have supposed that their con-
duct afterwards was to be ascribed to the fact that I had received
this sacred investiture.
The capricious operation of the taboo is not its least remark-
able feature; to enumerate them all would be impossible. Black
hogs, infants to a certain age, women in an interesting situation,
young men while the operation of tattooing their faces is going
on, and certain parts of the valley during the continuance of a
shower, are alike fenced about by the operation of the taboo.


## p. 9884 (#292) ###########################################

9884
HERMAN MELVILLE
-
I witnessed a striking instance of its effects in the bay of
Tior, my visit to which place has been alluded to in a former
part of this narrative. On that occasion our worthy captain
formed one of the party. He was a most insatiable sportsman.
Outward bound, and off the pitch of Cape Horn, he used to
sit on the taffrail and keep the steward loading three or four
old fowling-pieces, with which he would bring down albatrosses,
Cape pigeons, jays, petrels, and divers other marine fowl, who
followed chattering in our wake. The sailors were struck aghast
at his impiety; and one and all attributed our forty days' beating
about that horrid headland to his sacrilegious slaughter of these
inoffensive birds.
At Tior he evinced the same disregard for the religious preju-
dices of the islanders as he had previously shown for the supersti-
tions of the sailors. Having heard that there was a considerable
number of fowls in the valley,-- the progeny of some cocks and
hens accidentally left there by an English vessel, and which, being
strictly tabooed, flew about almost in a wild state, — he deter-
mined to break through all restraints and be the death of them.
Accordingly he provided himself with a most formidable-looking
gun, and announced his landing on the beach by shooting down
a noble cock, that was crowing what proved to be his own funeral
dirge on the limb of an adjoining tree. « Taboo,” shrieked the
affrighted savages. “Oh, hang your taboo,” says the nautical
sportsman: talk taboo to the marines;” and bang went the
piece again, and down came another victim. At this the natives
ran scampering through the groves, horror-struck at the enormity
of the act.
All that afternoon the rocky sides of the valley rang with suc-
cessive reports, and the superb plumage of many a beautiful fowl
was ruffled by the fatal bullet. Had it not been that the French
admiral, with a large party, was then in the glen, I have no
doubt that the natives, although their tribe was small and dis-
pirited, would have inflicted summary vengeance upon the man
who thus outraged their most sacred institutions: as it was, they
contrived to annoy him not a little.
Thirsting with his exertions, the skipper directed his steps to
a stream; but the savages, who had followed at a little distance,
perceiving his object, rushed towards him and forced him away
from its bank,- his lips would have polluted it. Wearied at last,
he sought to enter a house, that he might rest for a while on
the mats; its inmates gathered tumultuously about the door and
(


## p. 9885 (#293) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9885
denied him admittance. He coaxed and blustered by turns, but
in vain,—the natives were neither to be intimidated nor appeased;
and as a final resort he was obliged to call together his boat's
crew, and pull away from what he termed the most infernal place
he ever stepped upon.
Lucky was it for him and for us that we were not honored
on our departure by a salute of stones from the hands of the
exasperated Tiors. In this way, on the neighboring island of
Ropo, were killed but a few weeks previously, and for a nearly
similar offense, the master and three of the crew of the K-.
I cannot determine with anything approaching to certainty
what power it is that imposes the taboo. When I consider the
slight disparity of condition among the islanders, the very limited
and inconsiderable prerogatives of the king and chiefs, and the
loose and indefinite functions of the priesthood, - most of whom
were hardly to be distinguished from the rest of their country-
men,- I am wholly at a loss where to look for the authority which
regulates this potent institution. It is imposed upon something
to-day, and withdrawn to-morrow; while its operations in other
cases are perpetual. Sometimes its restrictions only affect a sin-
gle individual, sometimes a particular family, sometimes a whole
tribe; and in a few instances they extend not merely over the
various clans on a single island, but over all the inhabitants of
an entire group. In illustration of this latter peculiarity, I may
I
cite the law which forbids a female to enter a canoe,- a prohi-
bition which prevails upon all the northern Marquesas Islands.
The word itself (“taboo") is used in more than one signifi-
cation. It is sometimes used by a parent to his child, when in
the exercise of parental authority he forbids it to perform a par-
ticular action. Anything opposed to the ordinary customs of the
islanders, although not expressly prohibited, is said to be “taboo. "
(


## p. 9886 (#294) ###########################################

9886
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
(1809-1847)
as
F THE personality of Mendelssohn the musician, and of the
professional activities of a career of perhaps as complete
artistic fel
and success can be pointed out, few
essential facts are unfamiliar at this date. In connection with a lit-
erary work they need but general review. Not many masters in art
have come into the world with so many amiable fairies to rock the cra-
dle, so prompt to bestow almost a superfluity of gracious gifts. Born
at Hamburg, February 30, 1809, of Hebrew blood, and of a prosper-
ous and distinguished family that numbered
the Platonist, Moses Mendelssohn, among its
immediate ancestry, the boy's temperament
and talents received peculiarly careful cul-
tivation. Indeed, so far was this the case
that it would not have been singular had
Felix made music a mere avocation, instead
of accepting it as the business and pas-
sion of his life; one which he pursued with
that splendid system and industry, in nine
cases out of ten having much to do with
the recognition of what the world thinks
the irresistibility of genius. From being a
MENDELSSOHN youthful prodigy at the pianoforte and in
original composition, from studying dili-
gently with his charming sister Fanny, the lad outgrew the interest
attaching to merely a young virtuoso, and stood forth as one of his
art's mature and accepted masters. Mendelssohn's career of triumph
may be spoken of as beginning with the familiar music to Shake-
speare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream'; its later milestones are familiar
in a long series of orchestral works of large form, and in the large
body of chamber music, vocal and instrumental, of greater or less in-
terest; and it can be said to have culminated in Elijah,' the best of
his oratorios,— indeed, the best oratorio on a Handelian pattern yet
heard. Life to him from year to year meant incessant and delight-
ful labor, bringing admiration and substantial honor. Only Mozart-
with whom Mendelssohn's affinity is emphatic — was as prolific, with
so little that in the general result can be dismissed as dull or trashy.

-


## p. 9887 (#295) ###########################################

FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
9887
on
After Germany and England had been the scene of a career which,
reviewed at this date, appears to us to have brought not only fame
but a personal and musical idolatry, the composer died in the flush of
manhood, at Leipzig, in 1847. There was soon after a certain nat-
ural reaction against his music, save in England. Lisztian influences
affected it, in especial. Much of it still is laid aside, if not actually
dismissed. But his place in his art seems securer now than it was a
decade ago; and however the forms and the emotional conception of
music have changed, whatever the shifting currents of popular taste,
it seems now probable that Mendelssohn's best orchestral works, his
best compositions for the voice, and even the best of his pianoforte
pieces, will long retain their hold on the finer public ear and the
more sensitive musical heart. The world has begun to re-esteem
them, and to show signs of feeling a new conviction of their beauty
of idea and their singular perfection of form. This is the day of the
dramatic in music; but Mendelssohn's expression of that element is
not feeble nor uncertain, albeit it must be caught rather between
the lines by a generation concentrated Beethoven, Schubert,
Schumann, Brahms, and Wagner.
Mendelssohn's letters are — like his music, like his drawings, like
everything that he did - a faithful and delightful expression of him-
self. His temperament was charming, his nature was sound, his heart
affectionate, and his appreciations wide. His sense of humor was
unfailing. He poured himself out to his friends and relations in his
correspondence in all his moods, whether on professional tours or
stationary in one city or another. Every mood, every shade of emo-
tion, is latent in his “pages of neat, aristocratic chirography. ” He
knew everybody of note; he wrote to dozens of people— musical and
unmusical — regularly and voluminously. His epistolary style is as
distinct as his musical one,— what with its precision in conveying just
what came into his head, united to lucidity, elegance, finish, a knack
of making even a trifling thing interesting: and showing a serious
undercurrent from a deeply thoughtful intelligence. He was a born
letter-writer, just as he was a born musician. Those few volumes
that the kindness of his friends has gradually given to the world
(for the original letters of the composer have always been difficult to
procure), depict his moral and ästhetic nature, so limpid and happily
balanced, with an obvious fidelity and an almost lavish openness.


## p. 9888 (#296) ###########################################

9888
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
FROM A LETTER TO F. HILLER
LEIPZIG, January 24th, 1836.
OTHING is more repugnant to me than casting blame on the
nature or genius of any one: it only renders him irritable
and bewildered, and does no good. No man can add one
inch to his stature; in such a case all striving and toiling is vain.
therefore it is best to be silent. Providence is answerable for
this defect in his nature. But if it be the case, as it is with
this work of yours, that precisely those very themes, and all that
requires talent or genius (call it as you will), are excellent and
beautiful and touching, but the development not so good,- then
I think silence should not be observed; then I think blame can
never be unwise: for this is the point where great progress can
be made by the composer himself in his works; and as I believe
that a man with fine capabilities has the absolute duty imposed
on him of becoming something really superior, so I think that
blame must be attributed to him if he does not develop himself
according to the means with which he is endowed. And I main-
tain that it is the same with a musical composition. Do not tell
me that it is so, and therefore it must remain so. I know well
that no musician can alter the thoughts and talents which Heaven
has bestowed on him; but I also know that when Providence
grants him superior ones, he must also develop them properly.
FROM A LETTER TO HERR ADVOCAT CONRAD SCHLEINITZ,
AT LEIPZIG
BERLIN, August ist, 1838.
ALWAYS think that whatever an intelligent man gives his
heart to, and really understands, must become a noble voca-
tion: and I only personally dislike those in whom there is
yothing personal, and in whom all individuality disappears; as
for example the military profession in peace, of which we have
instances here.
But with regard to the others it is more or less
untrue. When one profession is compared with another, the one
is usually taken in its naked reality, and the other in the most
beautiful ideality; and then the decision is quickly made. How
easy it is for an artist to feel such reality in his sphere, and yet
esteem practical men happy who have studied and known the


## p. 9889 (#297) ###########################################

FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
9889
different relations of men towards each other, and who help
others to live by their own life and progress, and at once see the
fruits of all that is tangible, useful, and benevolent instituted by
them! In one respect too an upright man has the hardest stand
to make, in knowing that the public are more attracted by out-
ward show than by truth. But individual failures and strife must
not be allowed to have their growth in the heart: there must be
something to occupy and to elevate it far above these isolated
external things. This speaks strongly in favor of my opinion;
for it is the best part of every calling, and common to all, — to
yours, to mine, and to every other. Where is it that you find
beauty when I am working at a quartet or a symphony ? Merely
in that portion of myself that I transfer to it, or can succeed in
expressing; and you can do this in as full a measure as any
man, in your defense of a culprit, or in a case of libel, or in any
one thing that entirely engrosses you: and that is the great point.
If you can only give utterance to your inmost thoughts, and
if these inmost thoughts become more and more worthy of being
expressed,
all the rest is indifferent.
HOURS WITH GOETHE, 1830
From the Letters from Italy and Switzerland)
Y*
ESTERDAY evening I was at a party at Goethe's, and played
alone the whole evening: the Concert-Stück, the Invitation
à la Valse,' and Weber's Polonaise in C, my three Welsh
pieces, and my Scotch Sonata. It was over by ten o'clock, but I
of course stayed till twelve o'clock, when we had all sorts of fun,
dancing and singing; so you see I lead a most jovial life here.
The old gentleman goes to his room regularly at nine o'clock,
and as soon as he is gone we begin our frolics, and never sep-
arate before midnight.
To-morrow my portrait is to be finished: a large black-crayon.
sketch, and very like, but I look rather sulky. Goethe is so
friendly and kind to me that I don't know how to thank him
sufficiently, or what to do to deserve it. In the forenoon he likes
me to play to him the compositions of the various great masters,
in chronological order, for an hour, and also tell him the progress
they have made; while he sits in a dark corner, like a Jupiter
Tonans, his old eyes flashing on me. He did not wish to hear
111-619


## p. 9890 (#298) ###########################################

9890
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
It
(
anything of Beethoven's; but I told him that I could not let him
off, and played the first part of the Symphony in C minor.
seemed to have a singular effect on him: at first he said, “This
causes no emotion, nothing but astonishment; it is grandios. "
He continued grumbling in this way, and after a long pause he
began again, —“It is very grand, very wild; it makes one fear
that the house is about to fall down: and what must it be when
played by a number of men together! ” During dinner, in the
midst of another subject, he alluded to it again. You know that
I dine with him every day, when he questions me very minutely,
and is always so gay and communicative after dinner that we
generally remain together alone for an hour while he speaks on
uninterruptedly.
I have no greater pleasure than when he brings out engrav-
ings and explains them to me, or gives his opinion of Ernani,'
or Lamartine's Elegies, or the theatre, or pretty girls. He has
several times lately invited people; which he rarely does now, so
that most of the guests had not seen him for a long time. I
then play a great deal, and he compliments me before all these
people, and ganz stupend” is his favorite expression. To-day he
has invited a number of Weimar beauties on my account, because
he thinks I ought to enjoy the society of young people. If I
go up to him on such occasions, he says, “My young friend, you
must join the ladies, and make yourself agreeable to them. ” I
am not however devoid of tact, so I contrived to have him asked
yesterday whether I did not come too often; but he growled out
to Ottilie, who put the question to him, that he must now begin
to speak to me in good earnest, for I had such clear ideas that
he hoped to learn much from me. ” I became twice as tall in
my own estimation when Ottilie repeated this to me, He said so
to me himself yesterday: and when he declared that there were
many subjects he had at heart that I must explain to him, I
said, “Oh, certainly ! ” but I thought, “This is an honor I can
never forget; ” — often it is the very reverse.
Felix.


## p. 9891 (#299) ###########################################

FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
9891
A CORONATION IN PRESBURG
From "The Letters from Italy and Switzerland)
TE
HE King is crowned — the ceremony was wonderfully fine.
How can I even try to describe it to you? An hour hence
we will all drive back to Vienna, and thence I pursue my
journey. There is a tremendous uproar under my windows; and
the Burgher-guards are flocking together, but only for the pur-
pose of shouting “Vivat! ” I pushed my way through the crowd,
while our ladies saw everything from the windows, and never
can I forget the effect of all this brilliant and almost fabulous
magnificence.
In the great square of the Hospitalers the people were
closely packed together: for there the oaths were to be taken on
a platform hung with cloth, and afterwards the people were to
be allowed the privilege of tearing down the cloth for their own
use; close by was a fountain spouting red and white Hungarian
wine.
The grenadiers could not keep back the people; one
unlucky hackney coach that stopped for a moment was instantly
covered with men, who clambered on the spokes of the wheels,
and on the roof, and on the box, swarming on it like ants, so
that the coachman, unable to drive on without becoming a mur-
derer, was forced to wait quietly where he was,
When the pro-
cession arrived, which was received bare-headed, I had the utmost
difficulty in taking off my hat and holding it above my head:
an old Hungarian behind me, however, whose view it inter-
cepted, quickly devised a remedy, for without ceremony he made
a snatch at my unlucky hat, and in an instant flattened it to the
size of a cap; then they yelled as if they had all been spitted,
and fought for the cloth. In short, they were a mob; but my
Magyars! the fellows look as if they were born noblemen, and
privileged to live at ease, looking very melancholy, but riding
like the devil.
When the procession descended the hill, first came the court
servants, covered with embroidery, the trumpeters and kettle-
drums, the heralds and all that class; and then suddenly galloped
along the street a mad count, en pleine carrière, his horse plun-
ging and capering, and the caparisons edged with gold; the count
himself a mass of diamonds, rare herons' plumes, and velvet
embroidery (though he had not yet assumed his state uniform,


## p. 9892 (#300) ###########################################

9892
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
being bound to ride so madly - Count Sandor is the name of
-
this furious cavalier). He had an ivory sceptre in his hand with
which he urged on his horse, causing it each time to rear and
to make a tremendous bound forward.
When his wild career was over, a procession of about sixty
more magnates arrived, all in the same fantastic splendor, with
handsome colored turbans, twisted mustaches, and dark eyes.
One rode a white horse covered with a gold net; another a dark
gray, the bridle and housings studded with diamonds; then came
a black charger with purple cloth caparisons. One magnate was
attired from head to foot in sky-blue, thickly embroidered with
gold, a white turban, and a long white dolman; another in cloth
of gold, with a purple dolman; each one more rich and gaudy
than the other, and all riding so boldly and fearlessly, and with
such defiant gallantry, that it was quite a pleasure to look at
them. At length came the Hungarian Guards, with Esterhazy
at their head, dazzling in gems and pearl embroidery. How can
I describe the scene ? You ought to have seen the procession
deploy and halt in the spacious square, and all the jewels and
bright colors, and the lofty golden mitres of the bishops, and the
crucifixes glittering in the brilliant sunshine like a thousand stars!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF VENICE
From the Letters from Italy and Switzerland)
IN
N Treviso there was an illumination,- paper lanterns suspended
in every part of the great square, and a large gaudy trans-
parency in the centre. Some most lovely girls were walking
about in their long white veils and scarlet petticoats. It was
quite dark when we arrived at Mestre last night, when we got
into a boat and in a dead calm gently rowed across to Venice.
On our passage thither, where nothing but water is to be seen,
and distant lights, we saw a small rock which stands in the
midst of the sea; on this a lamp was burning. All the sailors
took off their hats as we passed, and one of them said this was
the “Madonna of Tempests,” which are often most dangerous
and violent here. We then glided quietly into the great city,
under innumerable bridges, without sound of post-horns, or rat-
tling of wheels, or toll-keepers. The passage now became more


## p. 9893 (#301) ###########################################

FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
9893
thronged, and numbers of ships were lying near; past the theatre,
where gondolas in long rows lie waiting for their masters, just
as our own carriages do at home; then into the great canal, past
the church of St. Mark, the Lions, the palace of the Doges, and
the Bridge of Sighs. The obscurity of night only enhanced my
delight on hearing the familiar names and seeing the dark out-
lines.
And so I am actually in Venice! Well, to-day I have seen
the finest pictures in the world, and have at last personally
made the acquaintance of a very admirable man, whom hitherto I
only knew by name; I allude to a certain Signor Giorgione, an
inimitable artist, and also to Pordenone, who paints the most
noble portraits, both of himself and many of his simple scholars,
in such a devout, faithful, and pious spirit, that you seem to con-
verse with him and to feel an affection for him. Who would
not have been confused by all this? But if I am to speak of
Titian I must do so in a more reverent mood. Till now, I
never knew that he was the felicitous artist I have this day seen
him to be. That he thoroughly enjoyed life in all its beauty and
fullness, the picture in Paris proves; but he has fathomed the
depths of human sorrow, as well as the joys of heaven. His
glorious “Entombment,' and also the Assumption,' fully evince
this. How Mary floats on the cloud, while a waving movement
seems to pervade the whole picture; how you see at a glance
her very breathing, her awe, and piety, and in short a thousand
feelings,- all words seem poor and commonplace in comparison !
The three angels too, on the right of the picture, are of the
highest order of beauty,- pure, serene loveliness, so unconscious,
so bright and so seraphic. But no more of this! or I must per-
force become poetical, — or indeed am so already,—and this does
not at all suit me; but I shall certainly see it every day.
I must however say a few words about the 'Entombment,'
as you have the engraving. Look at it, and think of me. This
picture represents the conclusion of a great tragedy,—so still,
so grand, and so acutely painful. Magdalene is supporting Mary,
fearing that she will die of anguish; she endeavors to lead her
away, but looks round herself once more,- evidently wishing to
imprint this spectacle indelibly on her heart, thinking it is for
the last time; - it surpasses everything; — and then the sorrow-
ing John, who sympathizes and suffers with Mary; and Joseph,
who, absorbed in his piety and occupied with the tomb, directs


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FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
and conducts the whole; and Christ himself, lying there so tran.
quil, having endured to the end; then the blaze of brilliant color,
and the gloomy mottled sky! It is a composition that speaks to
my heart and fills me with enthusiasm, and will never leave my
memory.
IN ROME: ST. PETER'S
From the Letters from Italy and Switzerland)
I
-
was in St. Peter's to-day, where the grand solemnities called
the absolutions have begun for the Pope, - which last till
Tuesday, when the Cardinals assemble in conclave. The
building surpasses all powers of description. It appears to me
like some great work of nature,-a forest, a mass of rocks, or
something similar; for I never can realize the idea that it is the
work of man. You strive as little to distinguish the ceiling as
the canopy of heaven. You lose your way in St. Peter's; you take
a walk in it, and ramble till you are quite tired; when Divine
service is performed and chanted there, you are not aware of it
till you come quite close. The angels in the Baptistery are mon-
strous giants; the doves, colossal birds of prey; you lose all
idea of measurement with the eye, or proportion; and yet who
does not feel his heart expand when standing under the dome
and gazing up at it ? At present a monstrous catafalque has
been erected in the nave in this shape. * The coffin is placed in
the centre under the pillars; the thing is totally devoid of taste,
and yet it has a wondrous effect. The upper circle is thickly
studded with lights,—so are all the ornaments; the lower circle
is lighted in the same way, and over the coffin hangs a burn-
ing lamp, and innumerable lights are blazing under the statues.
The whole structure is more than a hundred feet high, and stands
exactly opposite the entrance. The guards of honor, and the
Swiss, march about in the quadrangle; in every corner sits a
cardinal in deep mourning, attended by his servants, who hold
large burning torches; and then the singing commences with
responses, in the simple and monotonous tone you no doubt
remember. It is the only occasion when there is any singing
in the middle of the church, and the effect is wonderful. Those
who place themselves among the singers (as I do) and watch
* A little sketch of the catafalque was inclosed in the letter.


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FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
9895
them, are forcibly impressed by the scene: for they all stand
round a colossal book from which they sing, and this book is in
turn lit up by a colossal torch that burns before it; while the
choir are eagerly pressing forward in their vestments, in order to
see and to sing properly; and Baini with his monk's face, mark-
ing time with his hand and occasionally joining in the chant with
a stentorian voice. To watch all these different Italian faces was
most interesting; one enjoyment quickly succeeds another here,
and it is the same in their churches, especially in St. Peter's,
where by moving a few steps the whole scene is changed. I
went to the very furthest end, whence there was indeed a won-
derful coup d'æil. Through the spiral columns of the high altar,
which is confessedly as high as the palace in Berlin, far beyond
the space of the cupola, the whole mass of the catafalque was
seen in diminished perspective, with its rows of lights, and num-
bers of small human beings crowding round it. When the music
commences, the sounds do not reach the other end for a long
time, but echo and float in the vast space, so that the most
singular and vague harmonies are borne towards you.
change your position and place yourself right in front of the
catafalque, beyond the blaze of light and the brilliant pageantry,
you have the dusky cupola replete with blue vapor; all this is
quite indescribable.