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CHARLOTTE TEMPLE Two VOLUMES in ONE CHARLOTTE TEMPLE Two VOLUMES IN ONE THE CHARLOTTE TEMPLE TOMBSTONE IN TRINITY CHURCHYARD (LOOKING INTO BROADWAY) From a recent photograph CHARLOTTE TEMPLE A TALE OF TRUTH BY SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON REPRINTED FROM THE RARE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION (1794), OVER TWELVE HUNDRED ERRORS IN LATER EDITIONS BEING CORRECTED, AND THE PREFACE RESTORED WITH AN HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION BIBLIOGRAPHY, ETC. BY FRANCIS W. HALSEY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON 1905 COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY [Printed in the United States of A tnericd] Published, November, 1905 To MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT WHY THIS EDITION SEVERAL reasons exist for undertaking a new edition of Mrs. Rowson's story. The more obvious ones may be indicated here: 1. Owing to frequent reprints, extend­ ing over more than a century, the text has become so corrupt that it cries aloud for restoration to its original state. Large and small, the errors in the best current edition, by actual count, make a total of 1265. 2. There has been need of a brief mem­ oir of Mrs. Rowson to accompany her story, as one of the most widely read of modern books. In the number of copies actually printed and read in America, it is doubtful if any work of fiction has surpassed this little "Tale of Truth." 3. Mrs. Rowson having assured her readers that the story was founded on vii mb^ tbis BMtion actual occurrences, some of which were within her personal knowledge, all the facts in the case known or ascertainable ought to be made accessible, and espe­ cially all that is known of Charlotte as a real person. 4. A detailed statement has been need­ ed as to the authenticity of the tombstone in Trinity churchyard, which, for four generations, has been a place of constant pilgrimage, and has evoked many unaf­ fected tears. 5. It is believed that in no edition heretofore printed have readers been fur­ nished with an outline of the life of the English army officer who is the accepted original of Montraville. 6. In the matter of mere book-making the story has deserved a place in the company of standard fiction as offered in the better class of bookstores, and this it seems never to have had—at least not since the earliest years in its history. 7. In undertaking to meet these re- viii mbv tbis BMtion quirements, it is clear that the new edition should be illustrated from authentic ma­ terial. 8. Inasmuch as the best list heretofore printed comprises only sixteen editions of the work, an attempt at a more complete bibliography seemed to be called for. It has resulted in a list of one hundred and four, but with many editions still missing. 9. While Joseph Sabin described the book as "the most popular romance of its generation," and it has not lacked for popularity in any of the three generations that have elapsed since its own, we shall search in vain for Charlotte's name in dictionaries of biography and in lists of noted names of fiction. F. W H. NEW YORK, August 25, 1905. CONTENTS PAGE WHY THIS EDITION vii HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION . xvii I MRS. ROWSON xix II THE BOOK xxix III CHARLOTTE xxxviii IV THE TOMBSTONE xlix V MONTRAVILLE Ixx VI THE LAST DAYS OF MONTRESOR AND MON­ TRAVILLE Ixxxiii VII A CONTRIBUTION TO A BIBLIOGRAPHY . xci CHARLOTTE TEMPLE VOLUME I CHAPTER PAGE THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE 3 I A BOARDING-SCHOOL 7 II DOMESTIC CONCERNS 13 III UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNES 21 IV CHANGE OF FORTUNE 30 V SUCH THINGS ARE 40 VI AN INTRIGUING TEACHER 47 VII NATURAL SENSE OF PROPRIETY INHERENT IN THE FEMALE BOSOM 55 VIII DOMESTIC PLEASURES PLANNED 63 TX WE KNOW NOT WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH 71 X WHEN WE HAVE EXCITED CURIOSITY IT IS BUT AN ACT OF GOOD NATURE TO GRATI­ FY IT 78 xi Contents CHAPTER PAGE XI CONFLICT OF LOVE AND DUTY 83 XIII 89 Nature's last, best gift: Creature in whom excell'd whatever could To sight or thought be named! Holy, divine! good, amiable and sweet! How thou art fall'n! XIII CRUEL DISAPPOINTMENT 97 .XIV MATERNAL SORROW 105 XV EMBARKATION 112 XVI NECESSARY DIGRESSION 118 XVII A WEDDING 125 VOLUME II XVIII REFLECTIONS 3 XIX A MISTAKE DISCOVERED 11 XX 19 " Virtue never appears^so amiable as when reaching forth her hand to raise a fallen sister."—Chapter of Accidents. XXI 28 Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see. That mercy I to others show That mercy show to me. —Pope. XXII SORROWS OF THE HEART 34 XXIII A MAN MAY SMILE, AND SMILE AND BE A VILLAIN 40 XXIV MYSTERY DEVELOPED 48 XXV RECEPTION OF A LETTER 58 XXVI WHAT MIGHT BE EXPECTED 63 1 This and Chapters XX., XXI., XXVII., and XXX. have no captions except the passages quoted. (lonienig CHAPTER PAGE XXVII 70 Pensive she mourn'd and hung her languid head. Like a fair lily overcharg'd with dew. XXVIII A TRIFLING RETROSPECT 80 XXIX WE GO FORWARD AGAIN 87 XXX 94 And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep, A shade that follows wealth and fame. But leaves the wretch to weep. —Goldsmith. XXXI SUBJECT CONTINUED loi XXXII REASONS WHY AND WHEREFORE ... 107 XXXIII WHICH PEOPLE VOID OF FEELING NEED NOT READ 113 XXXIV RETRIBUTION 122 XXXV CONCLUSION 128 INDEX 133 Xlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE 1. The Charlotte Temple Tombstone in Trin­ ity Churchyard . Frontispiece. Looki-ng into Broadway. From a recent photograph. 2. Susanna Haswell Rowson xviii From a miniature still owned in the family. 3. Memorial to Mrs. Rowson in Forest Hill Cemetery, Roxbury, Mass .... xxvi From a recent photograph. 4. Sensational Cover-Title of " Charlotte Temple," with a So-Called Authentic Portrait xxxiv From the condensed edition published in Philadelphia in 1865. 5. Another So-Called Portrait of Charlotte Temple xxxvi From an advertising poster for a sensational story-paper published in New York about 1870. 6. Title-Page of the First American Edition, 1794 xxxviii From, a copy of the hook owned by Mabel Osgood Wright. 7. Charlotte's Home in New York, as Shown on the Ratzen Map of 1767 . xlvi From a copy of the original map in the Lenox Library. 8. Part of Colonel John Montresor's Map of New York in 1775 xlvi From a copy in the Lenox Library. XV Xist ot irUttstrations FACING PAGE 9. "The Old Tree House" xlviii Present building of that name on the later site of the original " Old Tree House," in which Charlotte lived, at the Bowery and Pell Street. From a recent photograph. 10. Trinity Church after the Fire of 1776 . 1 From a sketch by Thomas Barrow, repro­ duced from Valentine's Manual for 1861. 11. Portrait of Colonel James G. Montresor . Ixx From the original in oil, as reproduced in the New York Historical Society's Collec­ tions for 1881. 12. Portrait of Colonel John Montresor . Ixxii Front a portrait in oil by Copley, as repro­ duced in the New York Historical Society's Collections for 1881. 13. Charlotte and Montraville Arriving at Ports­ mouth ' . Vol.1 114 Frontispiece to an edition of 1829. 14. View of New York from the Harbor in 1775. Vol. I 126 From a print in the Emmet Collection in the Lenox Library. IS Trinity Church at the Time of Charlotte's Death Vol. II 124 From an old print. 16. Montraville at Charlotte's Funeral . Vol. II 126 From a woodcut in the sensational Philadel­ phia edition of 1865. 17 Charlotte's Tombstone Vol. II i^ From an old woodcut {about 1850) in the Lenox Library. XVI HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION xvn INTRODUCTION MRS. ROWSON SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON, the au­ thor of "Charlotte Temple," was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1761. Her fa­ ther was William Haswell, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and her mother Susanna Musgrave. In 1769 she came to America with her father, who settled at Nantasket, in Massachusetts, and remained here until 1777. She wrote, nearly twenty years afterward, in an introduction to one of her books:^ " It was my fate, at a period when memory can scarcely retain the smallest trace of the occurrence, to accompany my father to Bos­ ton, in New^ England, where he had married a 1" Trials of the Human Heart," Philadelphia (4 vols.), 1795. xix 1[ntro^uctlon second wife, my mother having lost her life in giving me existence. Blessed with a genteel competency, and placed by his rank and edu­ cation in that sphere of life where the polite and friendly attentions of the most respectable characters courted our acceptance, and enjoy­ ing a constant intercourse with the families of the officers of the British Army stationed there, eight years of my life glided almost imperceptibly away." Her education was carefully supervised during her stay in Nantasket. She is said to have attracted the notice of James Otis, the orator and statesman, who called her "my little scholar," and endeavored to inculcate in her mind his own political sentiments, but whatever success he may have had with the daughter did not ex­ tend to the father. She adds: " At that time the dissensions between Eng­ land and America increased to an alarming degree. My father bore the King's commis­ sion ; he had taken the oath of allegiance. Cer­ tain I am that no one who considers the nature of an oath voluntarily taken, no one who reflects XX ..•I> SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON From a miniature still owned in the family /IDrs.
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