"Nay we must longer kneel; I am a suitor."
QUEEN KATHERINE.
The Effinghams were soon regularly domesticated, and the usual
civilities had been exchanged. Many of their old friends resumed
their ancient intercourse, and some new acquaintances were made. The
few first visits were, as usual, rather labored and formal; but
things soon took their natural course, and, as the ease of country
life was the aim of the family, the temporary little bustle was
quickly forgotten.
The dressing-room of Eve overlooked the lake, and, about a week after
her arrival, she was seated in it enjoying that peculiarly lady-like
luxury, which is to be found in the process of having another gently
disposing of the hair. Annette wielded the comb, as usual, while Ann
Sidley, who was unconsciously jealous that any one should be employed
about her darling, even in this manner, though so long accustomed to
it, busied herself in preparing the different articles of attire that
she fancied her young mistress might be disposed to wear that
morning. Grace was also in the room, having escaped from the hands of
her own maid, in order to look into one of those books which
professed to give an account of the extraction and families of the
higher classes of Great Britain, a copy of which Eve happened to
possess, among a large collection of books, _Allmanachs de Gotha_,
Court Guides, and other similar works that she had found it
convenient to possess as a traveller.
"Ah! here it is," said Grace, in the eagerness of one who is suddenly
successful after a long and vexatious search.
"Here is what, coz?"
Grace coloured, and she could have bitten her tongue for its
indiscretion, but, too ingenuous to deceive, she reluctantly told the
truth.
"I was merely looking for the account of Sir George Templemore's
family; it is awkward to be domesticated with one, of whose family we
are utterly ignorant."
"Have you found the name?"
"Yes; I see he has two sisters, both of whom are married, and a
brother who is in the Guards. But--"
"But what, dear?"
"His title is not so _very_ old."
"The title of no Baronet _can_ be very old, the order having been
instituted in the reign of James I."
"I did not know that. His ancestor was created a baronet in 1701, I
see. Now, Eve--"
"Now, what, Grace?"
"We are both--" Grace would not confine the remark to herself--"we
are both of older families than this! You have even a much higher
English extraction; and I think I can claim for the Van Cortlandts
more antiquity than one that dates from 1701!"
"No one doubts it, Grace; but what do you wish me to understand by
this? Are we to insist on preceding Sir George, in going through a
door?"
Grace blushed to the eyes, and yet she laughed, involuntarily.
"What nonsense! No one thinks of such things in America."
"Except at Washington, where, I am told, 'Senators' ladies' do give
themselves airs. But you are quite right, Grace; women have no rank
in America, beyond their general social rank, as ladies or no ladies,
and we will not be the first to set an example of breaking the rule.
I am afraid our blood will pass for nothing, and that we must give
place to the baronet, unless, indeed, he recognizes the rights of the
sex."
"You know I mean nothing so silly. Sir George Templemore does not
seem to think of rank at all; even Mr. Powis treats him, in all
respects, as an equal, and Sir George seems to admit it to be right."
Eve's maid, at the moment, was twisting her hair, with the intention
to put it up; but the sudden manner in which her young mistress
turned to look at Grace, caused Annette to relinquish her grasp, and
the shoulders of the beautiful and blooming girl were instantly
covered with the luxuriant tresses.
"And why should _not_ Mr. Powis treat Sir George Templemore as one
every way his equal, Grace?" she asked, with an impetuosity unusual
in one so trained in the forms of the world.
"Why, Eve, one is a baronet, and the other is but a simple
gentleman."
Eve Effingham sat silent for quite a minute. Her little foot moved,
and she had been carefully taught, too, that a lady-like manner,
required that even this beautiful portion of the female frame should
be quiet and unobtrusive. But America did not contain two of the same
sex, years, and social condition, less alike in their opinions, or it
might be said their prejudices, than the two cousins. Grace Van
Cortlandt, of the best blood of her native land, had unconsciouslv
imbibed in childhood, the notions connected with hereditary rank,
through the traditions of colonial manners, by means of novels, by
hearing the vulgar reproached or condemned for their obtrusion and
ignorance, and too often justly reproached and condemned, and by the
aid of her imagination, which contributed to throw a gloss and
brilliancy over a state of things that singularly gains by distance.
On the other hand, with Eve, every thing connected with such subjects
was a matter of fact. She had been thrown early into the highest
associations of Europe; she had not only seen royalty on its days of
gala and representation, a mere raree-show that is addressed to the
senses, or purely an observance of forms that may possibly have their
meaning, but which can scarcely be said to have their reasons, but
she had lived long and intimately among the high-born and great, and
this, too, in so many different countries, as to have destroyed the
influence of the particular nation that has transmitted so many of
its notions to America as heir-looms. By close observation, she knew
that arbitrary and political distinctions made but little difference
between men of themselves; and so far from having become the dupe of
the glitter of life, by living so long within its immediate
influence, she had learned to discriminate between the false and the
real, and to perceive that which was truly respectable and useful,
and to know it from that which was merely arbitrary and selfish. Eve
actually fancied that the position of an American gentleman might
readily become, nay that it _ought_ to be the highest of all human
stations, short of that of sovereigns. Such a man had no social
superior, with the exception of those who actually ruled, in her
eyes, and this fact she conceived, rendered him more than noble, as
nobility is usually graduated. She had been accustomed to see her
father and John Effingham moving in the best circles of Europe,
respected for their information and independence, undistinguished by
their manners, admired for their personal appearance, manly,
courteous, and of noble bearing and principles, if not set apart from
the rest of mankind by an arbitrary rule connected with rank. Rich,
and possessing all the habits that properly mark refinement, of
gentle extraction, of liberal attainments, walking abroad in the
dignity of manhood, and with none between them and the Deity, Eve had
learned to regard the gentlemen of her race as the equals in station
of any of their European associates, and as the superiors of most, in
every thing that is essential to true distinction. With her, even
titular princes and dukes had no estimation, merely as princes and
dukes; and, as her quick mind glanced over the long catalogue of
artificial social gradations and she found Grace actually attaching
an importance to the equivocal and purely conventional condition of
an English baronet, a strong sense of the ludicrous connected itself
with the idea.
"A simple gentleman, Grace!" she repeated slowly after her cousin;
"and is not a simple gentleman, a simple _American_ gentleman, the
equal of any gentleman on earth--of a poor baronet, in particular?"
"Poor baronet, Eve!"
"Yes, dear, _poor_ baronet; I know fully the extent and meaning of
what I say. It is true, we do not know as much of Mr. Powis' family,"
and here Eve's colour heightened, though she made a mighty effort to
be steady and unmoved, "as we might; but we know he is an _American_;
that, at least, is something; and we see he is a gentleman; and what
American gentleman, a real American gentleman, _can_ be the inferior
of an English baronet? Would your uncle, think you; would cousin
Jack; proud, lofty-minded cousin Jack, think you, Grace, consent to
receive so paltry a distinction as a baronetcy, were our institutions
to be so far altered as to admit of such social classifications?"
"Why, what would they be, Eve, if not baronets?"
"Earls, Counts, Dukes, nay Princes! These are the designations of the
higher classes of Europe, and such titles, or those that are
equivalent, would belong to the higher classes here."
"I fancy that Sir George Templemore would not be persuaded to admit
all this!"
"If you had seen Miss Eve, surrounded and admired by princes, as I
have seen her, Miss Grace," said Ann Sidley, "you would not think any
simple Sir George half good enough for her."
"Our good Nanny means, _a_ Sir George," interrupted Eve, laughing,
"and not _the_ Sir George in question. But, seriously, dearest coz,
it depends more on ourselves, and less on others, in what light they
are to regard us, than is commonly supposed. Do you not suppose there
are families in America who, if disposed to raise any objections
beyond those that are purely personal, would object to baronets, and
the wearers of red ribands, as unfit matches for their daughters, on
the ground of rank? What an absurdity would it be, for _a_ Sir
George, or _the_ Sir George either, to object to a daughter of a
President of the United States for instance, on account of station;
and yet I'll answer for it, _you_ would think it no personal honour,
if Mr. Jackson had a son, that he should, propose to my dear father
for you. Let us respect ourselves properly, take care to be truly
ladies and gentlemen, and so far from titular rank's being necessary
to us, before a hundred lustres are past, we shall bring all such
distinctions into discredit, by showing that they are not necessary
to any one important interest, or to true happiness and
respectability any where."
"And do you not believe, Eve, that Sir George Templemore thinks of
the difference in station between us?"
"I cannot answer for that," said Eve, calmly. "The man is naturally
modest; and, it is possible, when he sees that we belong to the
highest social condition of a great country, he may regret that such
has not been his own good fortune in his native land; especially,
Grace, since he has known _you_."
Grace blushed, looked pleased, delighted even, and yet surprised. It
is unnecessary to explain the causes of the three first expressions
of her emotions; but the last may require a short examination.
Nothing but time and a change of circumstances, can ever raise a
province or a provincial town to the independent state of feeling
that so strikingly distinguishes a metropolitan country, or a
capital. It would be as rational to expect that the inhabitants of
the nursery should disregard the opinions of the drawing-room, as to
believe that the provincial should do all his own thinking. Political
dependency, moreover, is much more easily thrown aside than mental
dependency. It is not surprising, therefore, that Grace Van
Cortlandt, with her narrow associations, general notions of life,
origin, and provincial habits, should be the very opposite of Eve, in
all that relates to independence of thought, on subjects like those
that they were now discussing. Had Grace been a native of New
England, even, she would have been less influenced by the mere social
rank of the baronet than was actually the case; for, while the
population of that part of the Union feel more of the general
subserviency to Great Britain than the population of any other
portion of the republic, they probably feel less of it, in this
particular form, from the circumstance that their colonial habits
were less connected with the aristocratical usages of the mother
country. Grace was allied by blood, too, with the higher classes of
England, as, indeed, was the fact with most of the old families among
the New York gentry; and the traditions of her race came in aid of
the traditions of her colony, to continue the profound deference she
felt for an English title. Eve might have been equally subjected to
the same feelings, had she not been removed into another sphere at so
early a period of life, where she imbibed the notions already
mentioned--notions that were quite as effectually rooted in her moral
system, as those of Grace herself could be in her own.
"This is a strange way of viewing the rank of a baronet, Eve!" Grace
exclaimed, as soon as she had a little recovered from the confusion
caused by the personal allusion. "I greatly question if you can
induce Sir George Templemore to see his own position with your eyes."
"No, my dear; I think he will be much more likely to regard, not only
that, but most other things, with the eyes of another person. We will
now talk of more agreeable things, however; for I confess, when I do
dwell on titles, I have a taste for the more princely appellations;
and that a simple _chevalier_ can scarce excite a feeling that such
is the theme."
"Nay, Eve," interrupted Grace, with spirit, "an _English_ baronet
_is_ noble. Sir George Templemore assured me that, as lately as last
evening. The heralds, I believe, have quite recently established that
fact to their own satisfaction."
"I am glad of it, dear," returned Eve, with difficulty refraining
from gaping, "as it will be of great importance to them, in their own
eyes. At all events, I concede that Sir George Templemore, knight, or
baronet, big baron or little baron, is a noble fellow; and what more
can any reasonable person desire. Do you know, sweet coz, that the
Wigwam will be full to overflowing next week?--that it will be
necessary to light our council-fire, and to smoke the pipe of many
welcomes?"
"I have understood Mr. Powis, that his kinsman, Captain Ducie, will
arrive on Monday."
"And Mrs. Hawker will come on Tuesday, Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield on
Wednesday, and honest, brave straight-forward, literati-hating
Captain Truck, on Thursday, at the latest. We shall be a large
country-circle, and I hear the gentlemen talking of the boats and
other amusements. But I believe my father has a consultation in the
library, at which he wishes us to be present; we will join him, if
you please."
As Eve's toilette was now completed, the two ladies rose, and
descended together to join the party below. Mr. Effingham was
standing at a table that was covered with maps, while two or three
respectable-looking men, master-mechanics, were at his side. The
manners of these men were quiet, civil, and respectful, having a
mixture of manly simplicity, with a proper deference for the years
and station of the master of the house; though all but one, wore
their hats. The one who formed the exception, had become refined by a
long intercourse with this particular family; and his acquired taste
had taught him that, respect for himself, as well as for decency,
rendered it necessary to observe the long-established rules of
decorum, in his intercourse with others. His companions, though
without a particle of coarseness, or any rudeness of intention, were
less decorous, simply from a loose habit, that is insensibly taking
the place of the ancient laws of propriety in such matters, and which
habit, it is to be feared, has a part of its origin in false and
impracticable political notions, that have been stimulated by the
arts of demagogues. Still, not one of the three hardworking, really
civil, and even humane men, who now stood covered in the library of
Mr. Effingham, was probably conscious of the impropriety of which he
was guilty, or was doing more than insensibly yielding to a vicious
and vulgar practice.
"I am glad you have come, my love," said Mr. Effingham, as his
daughter entered the room, "for I find I need support in maintaining
my own opinions here. John is obstinately silent; and, as for all
these other gentlemen, I fear they have decidedly taken sides against
me."
"You can usually count on my support, dearest father, feeble as it
may be. But what is the disputed point to-day?"
"There is a proposition to alter the interior of the church, and our
neighbour Gouge has brought the plans, on which, as he says, he has
lately altered several churches in the county. The idea is, to remove
the pews entirely, converting them into what are called 'slips,' to
lower the pulpit, and to raise the floor, amphitheatre fashion."
"Can there be a sufficient reason for this change?" demanded Eve,
with surprise. "Slips! The word has a vulgar sound even, and savours
of a useless innovation. I doubt its orthodoxy."
"It is very popular, Miss Eve," answered Aristabulus, advancing from
a window, where he had been whispering assent. "This fashion takes
universally and is getting to prevail in all denominations."
Eve turned involuntarily, and to her surprise she perceived that the
editor of the Active Inquirer was added to their party. The
salutations, on the part of the young lady, were distant and stately,
while Mr. Dodge, who had not been able to resist public opinion, and
had actually parted with his moustachios, simpered, and wished to
have it understood by the spectators, that he was on familiar terms
with all the family.
"It may be popular, Mr. Bragg," returned Eve, as soon as she rose
from her profound curtsey to Mr. Dodge; "but it can scarcely be said
to be seemly. This is, indeed, changing the order of things, by
elevating the sinner, and depressing the saint."
"You forget, Miss Eve, that under the old plan, the people could not
see; they were kept unnaturally down, if one can so express it, while
nobody had a good look-out but the parson and the singers in the
front row of the gallery. This was unjust."
"I do not conceive, sir, that a good look-out, as you term it, is at
all essential to devotion, or that one cannot as well listen to
instruction when beneath the teacher, as when above him."
"Pardon me, Miss;" Eve recoiled, as she always did, when Mr. Bragg
used this vulgar and contemptuous mode of address; "we put no body up
or down; all we aim it is a just equality--to place all, as near as
possible, on a level."
Eve gazed about her in wonder; and then she hesitated a moment, as if
distrusting her ears.
"Equality! Equality with what? Surely not with the ordained ministers
of the church, in the performance of their sacred duties! Surely not
with the Deity!"
"We do not look at it exactly in this light, ma'am. The people build
the church, _that_ you will allow, Miss Effingham; even _you_ will
allow _this_, Mr. Effingham."
Both the parties appealed to, bowed a simple assent to so plain a
proposition, but neither spoke.
"Well, the people building the church very naturally ask themselves
for what purpose it was built?"
"For the worship of God," returned Eve with a steady solemnity of
manner that a little abashed even the ordinarily indomitable and
self-composed Aristabulus.
"Yes, Miss; for the worship of God and the accommodation of the
public."
"Certainly," added Mr. Dodge; "for the public accommodation and for
public worship;" laying due emphasis on the adjectives.
"Father, you, at least, will never consent to this?"
"Not readily, my love. I confess it shocks all my notions of
propriety to see the sinner, even when he professes to be the most
humble and penitent, thrust himself up ostentatiously, as if filled
only with his own self-love and self-importance."
"You will allow, Mr. Effingham," rejoined Aristabulus, "that churches
are built to accommodate the public, as Mr. Dodge has so well
remarked."
"No, sir; they are built for the worship of God, as my daughter has
so well remarked."
"Yes, sir; that, too, I grant you"
"As secondary to the main object--the public convenience, Mr. Bragg
unquestionably means;" put in John Effingham, speaking for the first
time that morning on the subject.
Eve turned quickly, and looked towards her kinsman. He was standing
near the table, with folded arms, and his fine face expressing all
the sarcasm and contempt that a countenance so singularly calm and
gentleman-like, could betray.
"Cousin Jack," she said earnestly, "this ought not to be."
"Cousin Eve, nevertheless this will be."
"Surely not--surely not! Men can never so far forget appearances as
to convert the temple of God into a theatre, in which the convenience
of the spectators is the one great object to be kept in view!"
"_You_ have travelled, sir," said John Effingham, indicating by his
eye that he addressed Mr. Dodge, in particular, "and must have
entered places of worship in other parts of the world. Did not the
simple beauty of the manner in which all classes, the great and the
humble, the rich and the poor, kneel in a common humility before the
altar, strike you agreeably, on such occasions; in Catholic
countries, in particular?"
"Bless me! no, Mr. John Effingham. I was disgusted at the meanness of
their rites, and really shocked at the abject manner in which the
people knelt on the cold damp stones, as if they were no better than
beggars."
"And were they not beggars?" asked Eve, with almost a severity of
tone: "ought they not so to consider themselves, when petitioning for
mercy of the one great and omnipotent God?"
"Why, Miss Effingham, the people _will_ rule; and it is useless to
pretend to tell them that they shall not have the highest seats in
the church as well as in the state. Really, I can see no ground why a
parson should be raised above his parishioners. The new-order
churches consult the public convenience, and place every body on a
level, as it might be. Now, in old times, a family was buried in its
pew; it could neither see nor be seen; and I can remember the time
when I could just get a look of our clergyman's wig, for he was an
old-school man; and as for his fellow-creatures, one might as well be
praying in his own closet. I must say I am a supporter of liberty, if
it be only in pews."
"I am sorry, Mr. Dodge," answered Eve, mildly, "you did not extend
your travels into the countries of the Mussulmans, where most
Christian sects might get some useful notions concerning the part of
worship, at least, that is connected with appearances. There you
would have seen no seats, but sinners bowing down in a mass, on the
cold stones, and all thoughts of cushioned pews and drawing-room
conveniences unknown. We Protestants have improved on our Catholic
forefathers in this respect; and the innovation of which you now
speak, in my eyes is an irreverent, almost a sinful, invasion of the
proprieties of the temple."
"Ah, Miss Eve, this comes from substituting forms for the substance
of things," exclaimed the editor. "For my part, I can say, I was
truly shocked with the extravagancies I witnessed, in the way of
worship, in most of the countries I visited. Would you think it, Mr.
Bragg, rational beings, real _bonâ fide_ living men and women,
kneeling on the stone pavement, like so many camels in the Desert,"
Mr. Dodge loved to draw his images from the different parts of the
world he had seen, "ready to receive the burthens of their masters;
not a pew, not a cushion, not a single comfort that is suitable to a
free and intelligent being, but every thing conducted in the most
abject manner, as if accountable human souls were no better than so
many mutes in a Turkish palace."
"You ought to mention this in the Active Inquirer," said Aristabulus.
"All in good time, sir; I have many things in reserve, among which I
propose to give a few remarks, I dare say they will be very worthless
ones, on the impropriety of a rational being's ever kneeling. To my
notion, gentlemen and ladies, God never intended an American to
kneel."
The respectable mechanics who stood around the table did not
absolutely assent to this proposition, for one of them actually
remarked that "he saw no great harm in a man's kneeling to the
Deity;" but they evidently inclined to the opinion that the new-
school of pews was far better than the old.
"It always appears to me, Miss Effingham," said one, "that I hear and
understand the sermon better in one of the low pews, than in one of
the old high-backed things, that look so much like pounds."
"But can you withdraw into yourself better, sir? Can you more truly
devote all your thoughts, with a suitable singleness of heart, to the
worship of God?"
"You mean in the prayers, now, I rather conclude?"
"Certainly, sir, I mean in the prayers and the thanksgivings."
"Why, we leave them pretty much to the parson; though I will own it
is not quite as easy leaning on the edge of one of the new-school
pews as on one of the old. They are better for sitting, but not so
good for standing. But then the sitting posture at prayers is quite
coming into favour among our people, Miss Effingham, as well as among
yours. The sermon is the main chance, after all."
"Yes," observed Mr. Gouge, "give me good, strong preaching, any day,
in preference to good praying. A man may get along with second-rate
prayers, but he stands in need of first-rate preaching."
"These gentlemen consider religion a little like a cordial on a cold
day," observed John Effingham, "which is to be taken in sufficient
doses to make the blood circulate. They are not the men to be
_pounded_ in pews, like lost sheep, not they?"
"Mr. John will always have his say;" one remarked: and then Mr.
Effingham dismissed the party, by telling them he would think of the
matter.
When the mechanics were gone, the subject was discussed at some
length between those that remained--all the Effinghams agreeing that
they would oppose the innovation, as irreverent in appearance,
unsuited to the retirement and self-abasement that best comported
with prayer, and opposed to the delicacy of their own habits; while
Messrs. Bragg and Dodge contended to the last that such changes were
loudly called for by the popular sentiment--- that it was unsuited to
the dignity of a man to be 'pounded,' even in a church--and
virtually, that a good, 'stirring' sermon, as they called it, was of
far more account, in public worship, than all the prayers and praises
that could issue from the heart or throat.