.

PLYMOUTH HARBOR AND BREAKWATER.

FOR

EDITORIAL.

OR the fine view of this celebrated seaport of England and its almost equally-celebrated breakwater, we are indebted to a valued friend now making a temporary residence there. The letter of our friend is more lifelike, and will give a better idea of the place, its scenery and history, than any thing we could produce. We, therefore, lay it under contribution:

We have been here about five weeks. I have taken a house for a year by way of trial. So far we like this town and the neighborhood very well indeed. Plymouth, together with Stonehouse and Davenport, two towns adjoining and connected by streets, constitute one rather large town of over 100,000 inhabitants. There are many forts and barracks and crowds of soldiers here. It is also one of the principal naval stations of the Kingdom, having many large men-of-war and gun-boats in the harbor, and the docks and shipyards are on a magnificent scale, near a thousand men being employed in them in the construction of all kinds of navy works. Plymouth Sound is a noble arm of the British Channel, and at the head, where the town stands, is a fine elevated, open space of many acres, between the water and the town, which is used as a promenade and place of general recreation for the inhabitants. The Marine band performs here several times a week, and other bands belonging to the different regiments perform in other spaces of the same kind at Stonehouse and Davenport. "The Hoe" is the name given to the promenade ground at Plymouth.

About three miles off there has been constructed a breakwater for the protection of the shipping. This structure is a mile long, and effectually keeps out the fearful rush of the tide, which rises more than twelve feet, and formerly did immense damage to merchant ships, etc. It

VOL. XX.-13

contains more than 4,000,000 tuns of stone, besides two and a half millions of feet of granite, etc., for fencing and facing, etc., the cost being seven and a half millions of dollars. At one end is a handsome light-house. Menie and I took a boat and went to the breakwater and up to the top of the light-house a few days ago. The view is most charming all around. About fourteen miles from this is the Eddystone lighthouse in the Channel, ninety-four feet high, up which the waves roll, and sometimes ascend to twice its hight, and then break over it in a tremendous cataract of spray and foam.

Mount Edgecumbe is the seat of Lord Mount Edgecumbe, and is separated from Plymouth and from the "Hoe" by a bay running between the town and the Mount, to the left of the engraving. The park belonging to the Earl is extensive and very beautiful-open to the public on Mondays, accessible from Plymouth and Stonehouse by a ferry. It is a favorite resort of parties of pleasure, and affords most charming views of the sound and the adjoining country. In the old records the Hoe is termed the "Haw." I conjecture that formerly the ground thereabouts was covered with the bush called "haw," which may have given rise to the name. The first stone of the breakwater was laid on the Prince Regent's birthday—afterward George IV-August 12, 1812. Between the end of it and the shore on the east side is a passage for ships of about a mile in width; at the western end another about a mile and a half in width.

The mackerel and pilchard fisheries here are of great importance. Often as many as half a million mackerel are brought into port in one day, selling for $10,000 at wholesale prices. Sometimes five hundred tuns are sent off to dif ferent markets in a day. Some of the pilchard shoals cover a surface of six or seven square miles, extending two hundred feet in depth. A thousand hogsheads have been captured in one shoal.

This is a lively, clean town, and the climate of this part of England is said to resemble that of the South of France. The air is very salubrious and exhilarating, and the market well supplied with almost every good thing, though we miss the water-melons, and pine-apples, and pumpkins, and other fruits of America. Tomatoes are not much used, and are high in price. Indian corn is not known in the market; peaches are scarce, but apples, pears, plums, grapes, and all common vegetables except beets, are plentiful. The town is interesting, especially to Americans, from its having been the port from which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed. I have walked through the older streets near the landing places from the sea, and have thought, Perhaps the Pilgrims have been here, perhaps they stopped at these old public houses while detained in the town, or may have had friends who occupied these quaint old buildings, and who gladly entertained them as Christian brethren and sisterswho sympathized with them in their great undertaking and wished they could accompany them to the new world.

By the Saxons Plymouth was called "Tameorworth"-"Tamer" being the name of one of the streams on which the town stands, and dividing Devonshire from Cornwall. This stream unites with the "Plym," on which last-named river there is a very ancient borough called "Plympton"five miles from Plymouth-now a mere village. On one of the hills, once included in the town, are the ruins of a castle, supposed to have been erected in William the Norman's time. Plymouth, being close upon the sound, has drawn away all the business from the older boro, and left it a wreck in the midst of an exceedingly beautiful surrounding country. Previous to the year 1439 the government of the town of Plymouth was in the hands of the prior and convent of Plympton.

Several historical events of importance in their day occurred here between 1416 and Henry the Eighth's day. A notice of Plymouth by Leland, in the reign of Henry VIII, is as follows: "The mouth of the gulph where the shippers of Plymouthe lyith is waullid on eche side, and chained over in tyme of necessitie; on the south-west side of the mouth is a block-house, and on a rocky hill hard by it is a stronge castle quadrate, having on each corner a great round tower. It scemeth to be no very old peace of worke."

Sir Francis Drake was a native of the neighboring town of Tavistock. On his return from the South Seas in 1580 it is said he brought home with him "great store in gold and silver in blocks." In 1582 he was mayor of Plymouth, and to him the town is indebted for the "grand

enterprise of conveying fresh water into the town; the 'leat' and reservoirs having been constructed by him." The "leat" is a water-way conveying excellent soft water from Dartmoor, ten or twelve miles off, to the town.

In the Plymouth Guide it is stated that "in 1583 the King of Portugal was at Plymouth, and in the same year Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have sailed from this port, and three years later Drake sailed with twelve merchant ships and several barks and pinnaces to cruise against the Spaniards, and returned after destroying several of their vessels. On the occasion of the threatened Spanish Armada, in 1588, the Queen's fleet of about one hundred and twenty sail assembled at Plymouth, under the command of Lord Howard, of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins, and sailed to meet the 'invincible Armada,' which was soon seen from the Hoe on its way up the Channel, and where by the bravery and energy of Drake and his companions it was shortly afterward completely routed and defeated, although it is said that so certain of success was the Spanish admiral, that he had already decided upon making Mount Edgecumbe his home."

It is said that in 1600 twenty-two chests of Pope's bulls and pardons were burnt in the market place. In 1625 King Charles I, with his queen and court, remained several days at Plymouth for the purpose of dispatching the royal fleet. In 1634 a regular post, being a running foot post, was first established between Plymouth and London. In 1768 Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth in the Endeavor, in 1772 in command of the Resolute and Adventure, and again in 1776. In 1786 and the following year Prince William Henry, afterward William IV, embarked and landed here on his way to and from America. In 1789 King George III, Queen Charlotte, and the Princesses were here. They visited the dockyard, "the handsome cutter of Lords Chesterfield, Howe, and Chatham, rowed by six fine young women and steered by a seventh, all habited in loose, white gowns, with nankeen safeguards and black bonnets, each wearing a sash across her shoulders of royal purple, with 'Long live their Majesties,' in gold, accompanying the royal barge." "In 1815 the Emperor Napoleon arrived at Plymouth in the Bellerophon, and lay in the sound for eight days awaiting that bitter and unexpected sentence of banishment and lifelong imprisonment which was the fate of this great general, and during which time the town was thronged with thousands of visitors." In 1849 the South Devon railway was opened from Exeter. In 1852 the town was visited by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

We expect to remain here till September, 1860, and perhaps longer. Can you not, with Mrs. Clark, come and see us? Be assured that we shall be much pleased to have you with us; and you could easily go from this place to London by boat or by rails when you wish to change your quarters, or to travel through the country.

Our esteemed brother will pardon the free use we have made of his letter. It inclosed at once a picture for an engraving and material for its accompaniment. We have given our readers the benefit of both. We should enjoy richly the visit proposed, and know full well the hospitality, as well as the literary and social aid that would be lavished upon us. But we see little prospect of release from the stern duties of life to enable us to enjoy so great a luxury.

A

JOHN SUMMERFIELD.

EDITORIAL.

GENUINE orator-one whose soul is gifted with the eloquence of thought and whose lips are inspired with the eloquence of expression-rarely appears upon the stage of action. Indeed, a few only of such stand upon record in all the world's history. The honey of Hymettus is tasted by few. But the tongue it has sweetened speaks to be heard-speaks to touch the heart, to inform the intellect, to move the will. The trees of the forest do not more naturally bend before the sweep of the mighty gale than men before the power of true eloquence. this royal band-"the elect immortal"-Summerfield occupies an unquestioned place. The memory of this wonderfully-gifted man, like some blessed fragrance wafted from the better land and carrying the thoughts thither, yet lingers among us with a freshness rendered only more sacred by the lapse of years.

In

He was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, 1798. His early advantages were limited. His oratory was the product of native genius, warmed and toned by divine grace, and not the result of the culture of the schools. At the age of twenty he preached his first sermon in the city of Dublin. Six years later his work was done; the servant had been released from his labor and entered upon his reward. In that brief period he had won a deathless fame on earth, for his purity, simplicity, and eloquence.

After having been licensed to preach, April 23, 1818, he soon began to be recognized as a man of unwonted power, and crowds waited upon his ministry. During the year he preached in Dublin, and Cork, and the neighboring cities-often preaching seven times a week. Often he became

so absorbed in his subject, and so forgetful of time, that he spoke two and even three hours, and then sat down amid the groans and tears of the awakened and penitent. His naturally frail constitution was so shaken by these labors that the conference of 1819 thought it best for him to fill a vacancy in Dublin instead of attempting the regular pastoral work. He still abounded in labors, and his reputation continued to spread still wider both in Ireland and England.

Following the fortunes, or, perhaps we should say, the misfortunes of his father, and what he seemed to regard as the leadings of Providence, he set sail for America, December 12, 1820, and on the 17th of the following March landed in the city of New York.

Though broken down in health, he immediately commenced his ministerial labors. On the 10th of May, at the fifth anniversary of the American Bible Society, he was one of the speakers, and delivered an address of such wonderful pathos and power that he at once became recognized as a true orator. At the ensuing session of the New York conference he was admitted into the traveling ministry and stationed in the city of New York. His popularity soon became great beyond all precedent. People of all denominations crowded to hear him. Long before the hour of service arrived multitudes would throng the streets and crowd around waiting the opening of the doors of the church. Often the churches were so densely packed that the speaker was compelled to find entrance to the pulpit through the windows.

The student of oratory would like to know something of the manner and habit of Summerfield. The poet, James Montgomery, who was a personal friend and admirer, thus speaks of him: "He came to the pulpit with the whole scheme of the discourse clearly and succinctly marked out in his mind. Then he was indeed 'in the

spirit'-warmed, exalted, and inspired with the divinity of his theme, the chain of premeditated ideas, link by link, in seemingly extemporaneous succession, would be developed, while every thought, emotion, and appeal would body itself forth in the most vivid and appropriate language. Then truly would his bow abide in strength, and every shaft which he sent from the string, like the arrow of Acestes of old, would take fire in its flight, shine through the clouds, and vanish in the immensity of heaven."

We can not forbear another extract from the same pen. After speaking of the difference between the effect of Summerfield's productions as heard and read, he adds: "In fact, every attempt to present on paper the splendid effects of impassioned eloquence, is like gathering up dew

A REVOLUTIONARY RELIC-THE BEEKMAN

HOUSE.

BY REV. W. P. STRICKLAND, D. D.

there is a fine view of East river and Blackwell's Island, with its large public edifices, stands an old mansion, which from its historie associations, reaching back a hundred years, and embracing the dark and stormy period of the Revolution, is looked upon with an interest bordering upon the romantic. No feudal castle, in the most stirring and eventful times of English history, had more important or exciting scenes transacted within its walls than have transpired within the walls

of the Beekman House.

More than one hundred years ago its original proprietor, Mr. James Beekman, a merchant, and a stanch republican of the old school, then residing in Hanover Square, now Pearl-street, purchased a small farm, which he called Mount Pleasant, with a view of erecting thereon a suitable residence as a summer resort. In due time a neat edifice was erected, the grounds laid off, the garden planted, and all the other necessary appointments made to render it a desirable abode during the heats of summer. Successive additions and improvements were made to the house from time to time. A large conservatory was erected in the midst of a garden laid out with the greatest taste, and ornamented with every variety of trees, plants, and flowers. The whole was traversed by beautifully-graveled walks, traces of which remain to the present day. It was only till recently a traditional story that such a garden existed. So much had been said of its walks and its bowers that it was looked upon in the same fabulous light as the garden of the Hesperides. The present proprietor, Mr. S. W. Dunscomb, who, with great taste, has repaired the old mansion, rearranged the grounds, and graded and Macadamized that portion lying west of the house, finding it necessary to transfer to this place the sod from the site of the old garden, brought to light what had so long been hidden, and the clear white-pebbled walks were exposed to view, showing all their graceful curves and windings. The green-house, some portion of the walls of which remains, contained the rarest exotics, and was a place of fashionable resort for the aristocracy of that day. Nothing is left to proclaim its ancient glory but some lime and lemon trees, which are in possession of a florist at Astoria. The old Stuyvesant pear-tree, which stands at the corner of Thirteenth-street and Third Avenue, is a cotemporary with these

trees.

cupancy of Long and Staten Islands. It was doubtless in the spacious drawing-room of this venerable mansion that Washington and his council, on the 7th of September, 1776, determined on retaining the city, notwithstanding the threatening aspect on the border; and it was here that on the 12th, five days after this determination, this council revoked that order, and resolved on evacuation. Consequent upon this action, the main body of the army removed to Mount Washington and King's Bridge, and Washington took up his headquarters at the deserted mansion of Colonel Roger Morris, a loyalist who had fled to the Highlands.

This is an elegant mansion, and remains unaltered to the present day. It stands upon the high rocky bluff of the Harlem river, a short distance below the High Bridge, and commands one of the most beautiful and picturesque views of any position on the island. Like the Beekman House it has a history, and many wonderful things, if tradition is to be relied upon, have transpired beneath its roof. Its present owner is the widow of the celebrated Aaron Burr, better known, however, as Madame Jumel, the name of her former husband. Unlike the Beekman House, however, though connected as it is with the struggles, trials, and triumphs of the Revolution, and which should thereby be accessible to an appreciating public, we are told that it is shut out, not only from the citizens of New York, but all the rest of mankind. It belonged to a loyalist, the rival of Washington, and it has fallen into legitimate hands.

It was not long till Howe crossed over from Brooklyn and invaded the city, and Washington, hearing the cannonading from the Morris mansion, could not be restrained from leaping into his saddle and hurrying to the scene of action. He found the rear guard, under Brigadiers Parsons and Fellows, flying from the enemy at Kip's Bay, where they had landed, at the foot of TwentyThird-street. He tried in vain to rally them, and, despairing, threw his chapeau on the ground, and drawing his sword, spurred toward the eneOne of his aids seeing his imminent danger, caught the reins of his horse and saved his life. The Americans then retreated to the middle of the island, and encamped upon the Incleberg, an eminence between the present Fifth and Sixth Avenues and Thirty-Fifth and Thirty-Eighth streets. From thence they marched to Fort

my.