Horse-Shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendency Read online

  CHAPTER VIII.

  THE MANSION OF A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR.

  The site of the Dove Cote was eminently picturesque. It was an area oflevel ground, containing, perhaps, two acres, on the summit of a hillthat, on one side, overhung the Rockfish river, and on the other rose bya gentle sweep from the champaign country below. This summit might havebeen as much as two hundred feet above the bed of the stream, and wasfaced on that side by a bold, rocky precipice, not absolutelyperpendicular, but broken into stages or platforms, where grassy mouldhad accumulated, and where the sweet-brier and the laurel, and clustersof the azalea, shot up in profuse luxuriance. The fissures of the craghad also collected their handful of soil and gave nourishment tostruggling vines, and everywhere the ash or pine, and not unfrequentlythe dogwood, took possession of such spots upon the rocky wall, as theseadventurous and cliff-loving trees had found congenial to their nature.The opposite or northern bank of the river had an equal elevation, andjutted forward so near to the other as to leave between them a cleft,which suggested the idea of some sudden abruption of the earth in thoseearly paroxysms that geologists have deemed necessary to account forsome of the features of our continent. Below was heard the ceaselessbrattle of the waters, as they ran over and amongst the rocks whichprobably constituted the _debris_ formed in the convulsion that openedthis chasm. It was along through this obscure dell that the road, withwhich my reader is acquainted, found place between the margin of thestream and the foot of the rocks. The general aspect of the country wasdiversified by high knolls and broken masses of mountain land, and theDove Cote itself occupied a station sufficiently above the surroundingdistrict to give it a prospect, eastward, of several miles in extent.From this point the eye might trace the valley of the Rockfish, by theabrupt hill-sides that hemmed it in, and by the growth of sombre pinesthat coated the steeps where nothing else could find a foot-hold. Notfar below, in this direction, was to be seen the Fawn's tower, asingular pinnacle of rock, which had acquired its name from theprotection it was said to have afforded to a young deer against theassault of the hounds; the hard-pressed animal, as the traditionrelates, having gained this insulated point by a bound that baffled themost adventurous of his pursuers, and admiration of the successfulboldness of the leap having won from the huntsman the favor that sparedhis life.

  With the exception of a large chestnut near the edge of the cliff, andof some venerable oaks, that had counted centuries before the white manrested his limbs beneath their shade, the native growth of the foresthad been removed by Lindsay from the summit I have described, and he hadsubstituted for the wild garniture of nature a few of the choicest treesof the neighboring woods. Here he had planted the elm, the holly and thelinden tree, the cedar and the arbor vitae. This platform wassemicircular, and was bounded by a terrace or walk of gravel that sweptaround its circumference. The space inclosed was covered with a naturalgrass, which the frequent use of the scythe had brought to theresemblance of velvet; and the lower side of the terrace was guarded bya hedge-row of cedar. Over this green wall, as the spectator walkedforth in fair summer time, might he look out upon the distant woods andmeadows; and there he might behold the high-road showing itself, atdistant intervals, upon the hill-sides; and in the bottom lands, thatlay open to the sun through the forest-bound valleys, might he see herdsof grazing cattle, or fields of yellow grain, or, perchance, the slowmoving wain burdened with hay, or slower moving plough.

  The mansion itself partook of the character of the place. It wasperched--to use a phrase peculiarly applicable to its position--almostimmediately at that point where the terrace made an angle with thecliff, being defended by a stone parapet, through which an iron wicketopened upon a flight of rough-hewn steps, that terminated in a pathwayleading down to the river.

  The main building was of stone, consisting of one lofty story, andcapped with a steep roof, which curved so far over the front as tofurnish a broad rustic porch that rested almost upon the ground. Theslim pillars of this porch were concealed by lattice-work, which wasovergrown with creeping vines; and the windows of the contiguous rooms,on either side of a spacious hall, opened to the floor, and looked outupon the lawn and upon the quiet landscape far beyond. One of theseapartments was also accessible through the eastern gable, by a privatedoorway shaded by a light veranda, and was appropriated by Lindsay tohis library. This portal seemed almost to hang over the rock, having butthe breadth of the terrace between it and the declivity, and showing noother foreground than the parapet, which was here a necessary defenceagainst the cliff, and from which the romantic dell of the river wasseen in all its wildness.

  There were other portions of the mansion constructed in the same styleof architecture, united to this in such a manner as to afford anuninterrupted communication, and to furnish a range of chambers for theuse of the family. A rustic effect was everywhere preserved. Stacks ofchimneys shot up in grotesque array; and heavy, old-fashioned windowslooked quaintly down from the peaked roof. Choice exotics, planted inboxes, were tastefully arranged upon the lawn; cages with singing-birdswere suspended against the wall and the whole mass of building,extending along the verge of the cliff, so as to occupy the entirediameter of the semicircle, perhaps one hundred and fifty feet, sortedby its simplicity of costume, if I may so speak, and by its tidy beauty,with the close-shaven grass-plot and its trim shades.

  Above the whole, flinging their broad and gnarled arms amongst thechimney tops, and forming a pleasing contrast with the artificialembellishments of this spot, some ancient oaks, in primevalmagnificence, reared their time-honored trunks, and no less shelteredthe habitation from the noon-tide heats, than they afforded an asylum tothe ringdove and his mate, or to the countless travellers of the airthat here stopped for rest or food.

  Such was the general aspect of the Dove Cote; a spot where a philosophermight glide through life in unbroken contemplation; where a weariedstatesman might betake himself to reassemble the scattered forces ofintellect for new enterprises; where the artist might repair to studywith advantage the living graces of God's own painting; and where youngbeauty might bud and bloom amongst the most delicate and graceful formsof earth.

  The interior of the dwelling was capacious and comfortable. Itsfurniture, suitable to the estate of the owner, was plain, and adaptedto a munificent rather than to an ostentatious hospitality. It was onlyin the library that evidence might be seen of large expense. Here, thebooks were ranged from the floor to the ceiling, with scarcely aninterval, except where a few choice paintings had found space, or thebust of some ancient worthy. One or two ponderous lounging chairs stoodin the apartment; and the footstep of the visitor was dulled intosilence by the soft nap of (what, in that day, was a rare and costlyluxury) a Turkey carpet. This was in all respects an apartment of ease,and it was provided with every incentive to beguile a student intosilent and luxurious communion with the spirit of the sages aroundhim,--whose subtlest thoughts and holiest breathings, whose mostvolatile fancies, had been caught up, fixed, and turned into tangiblesubstance, more indestructible than adamant, by the magic of letters.

  I have trespassed on the patience of my reader to give him a somewhatminute description of the Dove Cote, principally because I hope therebyto open his mind to a more adequate conception of the character ofPhilip Lindsay. By looking at a man in his own dwelling, and observinghis domestic habits, I will venture to affirm, it shall scarcely in anyinstance fail to be true, that, if there be seen a tasteful arrangementof matters necessary to his comfort; if his household be well ordered,and his walks clean and well rolled, and his grassplots neat; and ifthere be no slovenly inattention to repairs, but thrift against waste,and plenty for all; and, if to these be added habits of early rising andcomely attire--and, above all, if there be books, many books, wellturned and carefully tended--that man is one to warm up at the coming ofa gentleman; to open his doors to him; to take him to his heart, and todo him the kindnesses of life. He is a man to hate what is base, and tostand apart from the mass, as one who will not have his vir
tue tainted.He is a man, moreover, whose worldly craft may be so smothered andsuppressed, in the predominance of the household affections, that theskilful and designing, alas, may ever practise with success their plansagainst him.