Part 6 (1/2)
John Jacob Astor's nu unction” to their souls, that every dollar of his vast wealth was accuht life
An old-fashi+oned stage coach in my early days ran between New York and Harlem, but the fashi+onable drive was on the west side of the city along as then called the ”Bloodale Road” Many fashi+onable New Yorkers owned and occupied handso this route, and closed their city ho the heated term I recall with pleasure the home of the Prussian Consul General and Mrs John Williahters Mr Schmidt, who came to this country as a bachelor, married Miss Eliza Ann Bache of New York Quite a number of years subsequent to this event, before they had children of their own, they adopted a little girl whoirlhood As equestrian exercise was popular in New York at that tidale Road would stop at the Schmidts'
hospitable ho half-hour's conversation with the daughters of the household Ae, a fa her early life and at a period when visits abroad were few and far between, her father acco her travels on the continent she visited St Petersburg, where her beauty created a great sensation While there the Emperor Nicholas I presented her with a handsome India shawl She returned to America, married Philip S Van Rensselaer, a son of the old Patroon, and lived for ton Square in New York
Alexander Hamilton and fa suburb called ”The Grange” It was subsequently occupied by Herman Thorne, who had married Miss Jane Mary Jauncey, a wealthy heiress of New York He lived in this house only a few years when he ith his wife to reside in Paris during the reign of Louis Philippe Mr
Thorne became the most prominent American resident there and excited the envy of many of his countrymen by his lavish expenditure of money
His daughters inally from Schenectady, for a time was a purser in the US Navy, and was re
Jacob Lorillard lived in a handsodale Road He began life, first as an apprentice and then as a proprietor, in the tanning and hide business, and his tannery was on Pearl Street He then, with his brothers, embarked in the manufacture and sale of snuff and tobacco, in which, as is well known, he amassed an immense fortune My earliest recollection of the fareat prosperity One of Mr
Lorillard's daughters, Julia, who ar, I knew very well, and I recall a visit I once made her in her beautiful ho a few years later At this tie the place was sold to the Catholic order of the _Sacre Coeur_ Mrs Jacob Lorillard was a daughter of the Rev Doctor Johann Christoff Kunze, professor of Oriental Languages in Colus of London exhausted their wits in fittingly characterizing and ridiculing the nues of a London estive of the manner in which this vast wealth was acquired, was
Who would have thought it That Noses had bought it
The suitor of the daughter of this wealthy Englishman was appropriately dubbed ”Up to Snuff” Alas, this ancestral and aristocratic luxury of snuff departed enerations have been ”up to snuff” in eone by and especially at the ho, where it was passed around and freely used by both men and women, now commands no respect except as an ancestral curio Dryden, Dean Swift, Pope, Addison, Lord Chesterfield, Dr Johnson, Garrick, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Keats, Charles La the prominent worshi+pers of the snuff-box and its contents, while soree of inte the snuff-box Gibbon wrote: ”I drew my snuff-box, rapped it, took snuff twice, and continued my discourse in er stretched out;” and Bosrote in its praise:
Oh, snuff! our fashi+onable end and aih, Rappe, Dutch, Scotch--whate'er thy name!
Powder celestial! quintessence divine New joys entrance my soul while thou art e I se
While the spirit of patriotism was as prevalent in early New York as it is now, it seems to me that it was somewhat less demonstrative The 4th of July, however, was anticipated by the youngsters of the day with the greatest eagerness and pleasure It was the habit of my father, forto the City Hall to attend the official observances of the day, an experience which we naturally regarded as a great privilege Booths were te the pavement in front of the City Hall, where substantial food was displayed and sold to the crowds collected to assist in celebrating the day About noon several military companies arrived upon the scene and took their positions in the park, where, after a nuto my youthful nerves Small boys, then as now, provided themselves with pistols, and human life was occasionally sacrificed to patriotic ardor, although I never re from such accidents, as is so frequently the case at present Firecrackers and torpedoes were then in vogue, but skyrockets and eneral use I do not recall that the national flag was especially prolorious fourth,” and it is nia of patriotism was not universally displayed upon patriotic occasions until the Civil War
The musical world of New York lay dormant until about the year 1825, when Doht of the cultivated classes, introduced the Italian Opera Through his instrunor Garcia, and her brother, Manuel Garcia, who by the way died abroad in 1906, nearly ninety-nine years of age, came to this country and remained for quite a period I have heardMalibran, whose name is certainly immortal in the annals of the musical world Mr Lynch was the social leader of his day in New York, was aesthetic in his tastes, and possessed a highly cultivated voice He frequently sang the beautiful old ballads so h Mrs Samuel L Hinckley, an old friend ofa visit to Boston when he sang Toht,” there was scarcely a dry eye in the roo to the introduction of the Italian Opera into this country Dr John W Francis in his ”Old New York” thus speaks of Doeous accession to the resources of ratification, ere indebted to the taste and refineer of the Park Theater, Stephen Price, and the distinguished reputation of the Venetian, Lorenzo Da Ponte Lynch, a native of New York, was the acknowledged head of the fashi+onable and festive board, a gentlereat powers and of exquisite taste; he had long striven to enhance the character of our , but he felt, froenius of his country, and that ht out, while in Europe, an Italian _troupe_, which his persuasive eloquence and the liberal spirit of Price led to embark for our shores where they arrived in November, 1825” Stephen Price here referred to by Dr Francis was the randson, Nicholas Luquer, ith his char wife, formerly Miss Helen K Shelton of New York, resides in Washi+ngton, and his son, Lynch Luquer, inherit the reat actors of the day performed in the Park Theater I also vividly remember the Bowery Theater, as well as in subsequent years Burton's Theater in Chambers Street and the Astor Place Theater When Willia in the latter in 1849 a riot occurred caused by the jealousy existing between him and his American rival, Edwin Forrest Forrest had not been well received in England owing, as he believed, to the unfriendly influence of Macready While the latter was considered by many the better actor, Forrest was exceptionally popular with a certain class of people in New York whose sympathies were easily enlisted and whose passions were readily aroused During the evening referred to, while Macready was acting in the _role_ of Macbeth, a determined mob attacked the theater, and the riot was not quelled until after a bitter struggle, in which the police and thewhich twenty-one were killed and thirty-three wounded
In consequence of this unfortunate rivalry and its bloody results, Forrest became morbid, and his domestic infelicities that followed served to still further es for divorce in the Superior Court of the City of New York, and the trial was protracted for two years She was represented by the eminent jurist, Charles O'Conor, while Forrest employed ”Prince” John Van Buren, son of the ex-President The legal struggle was one of the most celebrated in the annals of the New York bar There was abundant evidence of moral delinquency on the part of both parties to the suit, but the verdict was in favor of Mrs Forrest She was the daughter of John Sinclair, forlish arer Ja born and schooled in turmoil and dissipation and reared in constant excitement she could not live without it”
I have heard it said that one day John Van Buren was asked by a disgruntled friend at the close of a hotly contested suit whether there was any case so vile or disreputable that he would refuse to act as counsel for the accused The quick response was: ”I must first know the circu?” Dr Valentine Mott, who for ave a fancy-dress ball in New York in honor of the Prince de Joinville, son of Louis Philippe At this entertain dress with a red sash tied around his waist Much to the auests whom he met, his salutation was: ”Would you know me?” It will be remembered that he was fa to the fact that he had once danced with Queen Victoria prior to her ascension to the throne One day Van Buren met on the street James T Brady, a lawyer of equal ability and ho had recently returned fro manner he inquired whether he had seen the Queen ”Certainly,” said Mr Brady, ”and under these circu the street when by chance the Queen's carriage overtook hted upon me she exclaimed: 'hello, Jim Brady, when did you hear fro anecdote about John Van Buren during my school days Mustaches were at that ti element Mr Van Buren, as very attentive to Catharine Theodora Duer, a daughter of President Williae, and who, by the way, neverwo to it he cut it off and sent it to her in a letter Prince John Van Buren's daughter, Miss Anna Vander Poel Van Buren, many years thereafter, married Edward Alexander Duer, a nephew of this Catharine Theodora Duer
It was reat pleasure to know fanny Kemble and her father, Charles Kehted the histrionic world of New York by her re of the plays of Shakespeare In later years when I heard her give Shakespearian readings, I regarded the occasion as an epoch in my life In this connection I venture to express lish quotations so pleasing to the ear in former days are now so seldorarand old Dr Samuel Johnson have become almost obsolete In former years Byron appealed to the sentis of the old authors were recalled, led with the current topics of the day It would seeeneration is decidedly e Edone, that of sophists, economists, and calculators has succeeded”
Upon her return to England fanny Kemble published her journal kept while in the United States, which was by noin every respect to her American readers It is said that in one of her literary effusions she dwelt upon a custom, which she clai their children after classical heroes, and gave as an example a child in New York who bore the naardus The sister of this youth, she stated, was naen I think this statement must have been evolved from her own brain, as it would be difficult to conceive of parents ould consent to make their children notorious in such a ridiculous manner fanny Kemble married Pierce Butler, a lawyer of ability and cousin of the US Senator from South Carolina of the sae M Dallas was counsel for fanny Kemble and Rufus Choate appeared for her husband
fanny Elssler, a queen of grace and beauty on the stage, delighted immense audiences at the Park Theater She came to this country under the auspices of Chevalier Henry Wikoff, a roving but accomplished soldier of fortune, who pitched his camp in both continents Upon her arrival in New York the ”divine fanny,” as she was invariably called, was borne to her destination in a carriage from which the horses had been detached by her enthusiastic _adorateurs_, led by August Bel so fair that the saht serve in Paradise
At this distant day it seems almost ie sustained only by the surrounding atmosphere In my opinion she has never had a rival, with the possible exception of Taglioni, the great Swedish _danseuse_ I saw fanny Elssler dance the _cracovienne_ and the _cachucha_, and it is a er with enerally selected from the popular airs of the day Many dark stories were afloat concerning fanny Elssler's private life, but to elic presence with anything but her wonderful art She was never received socially in New York; indeed, the only person that I ree in my early days who had the social _entree_ was fanny Kemble
We attended the Dutch Reformed Church in New York of which the Rev Dr
Jacob Brodhead was for many years the pastor My aunts, however, attended one of the three collegiate churches in the lower part of the city, and I sometie of pulpits, I becaymen The Rev Dr John Knox, who endeared hi ian and courtly gentleorous Scotch accent, preaching against what he invariably called ”papery” (popery), and recalling, as he did, John Knox of old, that irritating thorn in the side of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots,the latter part of his life Dr Brownlee suffered from a stroke of paralysis which rendered him speechless, and his Catholic adversaries improved this opportunity to circulate the report that he had been visited by a judghts in the Episcopal Church at this time in New York The Rev Dr William Berrian was the acceptable rector of St
John's, which was then as now a chapel of Trinity Parish The Rev Dr
Francis L Haas the popular rector of St Thomas's church, on the corner of Broadway and Houston Streets He was a North Carolinian by birth, but is said to have been in part of Indian descent I recall with pleasure histhe Civil War he made it quite apparent to his parishi+oners that his sympathies ith the South, and as most of them did not share his views he enial at, senior, was the rector of St George's Episcopal church in the lower part of the city He was a theologian of the Low-Church school and was greatly esteeues
His son, the Rev Dr Stephen H Tyng, junior, was in full sympathy with the Low-Church views of his father, and will be recalled as an evangelical preacher of exceptional power and wide influence In the summer of 1867 he preached, in defiance of the canons of the Episcopal Church, in St Ja without authority the parishes of the Rev Dr Alfred Stubs and the Rev Dr Edward B Boggs of that city His trial was of sensational interest, and resulted, as will be res, father and son, was humorously described by Anthony Bleecker, a well-knoit of the day, in these verses: