Alida; or, Miscellaneous Sketches of Incidents During the Late American War.

by Frank V. Webster

  Subscribers' Names

  Allison, Mr. Allison, Miss Elizabeth, Allison, Miss Mary, Allison, Henry, Alfa, John, Alfa, Miss Victorine,

  Bradford, Hersey, Blake, Mrs. Ira, Burke, Miss Julia A. Brooks, Miss Margaret, Brown, T. Belknap, J. Belknap, Miss Anna, Belknap, Miss Mary, Brown, Miss Sarah B. Blackwell, S. Broom, Mr. Bosworth, Mrs. Charlotte, Bosworth, Miss Clementina,

  Clayton, Mrs. Mary, Clayton, Miss Emma, Covert, Miss Mary, Clarkson, Mr. Colgate, Miss Catharine, Crosby, Mrs. J. Crosby, Mrs. Clement, Miss Elizabeth, Clement, Mrs. Mary, Clement, Miss Sarah E. Clement, Miss Mary, Collins, Charles, Governor of Rhode Island.

  Douglass, N. A. Delaplane, Mr.

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  Foster, Miss Martha C. Filby, T. E. Frances, Edward, Frances, Miss Anna, Ferris, J. Ferris, Miss Ann Eliza, Ferris, Miss Amanda,

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  Johnson, Rev. William, Johnson, Mrs. Mary, Johnson, Henry, Jones, Mrs. Ann,

  King, Mrs. John, King, Miss Ellen, Kimber, Miss Anna, King, Mr. Kissam, Dr. L. H. King, Mrs. Joseph,

  Lawrence, Mrs. Elizabeth, Lawrence, William A. Lawrence, Mrs. Catharine, Lawrence, Mrs. H. S. Lamberson, Judge David, Lawrence, Mrs. Effingham, Lowe, Miss Amelia, Lanius, Mrs. Henry, Limmor, William L. Lyman, Mr. Lyman, Miss Rebecca, Laidlaw, Miss Elizabeth,

  Mitchell, G. G. Mitchell, Mrs. M. E. Mills, Mrs. Sarah, Mitchell, Mrs. M. A. Mitchell, Wm. Augustus, Miller, Miss Mary L. Mikell, Mrs. J. C. Maxwell, Mr. Montgomery, J. Mitchell, Miss Rosalie A. Mitchell, Mrs. M. A.

  Nicholls, Percival,

  Penington, Mrs. Ann, Pell, L. H. Pell, Mrs. L. H. Prescott, W.

  Quarterman, Mrs. Elizabeth,

  Rider, James, Esq. Roe, George B. Riker, Mr. Riker, Miss Eliza, Rayburg, Miss Sarah, Reeve, Lorenzo,

  Sisson, Miss Caroline, Shelton, Dr. Nathan, Shelton, Dr. Jolm D. Smith, John, Esq. Sandford, William, Sandford, Mrs. William, Smith, John C. Esq. Stryker, Mrs. Elizabeth, Silliman, Miss Sarah, Smith, Mrs. Amelia T. Savage, Mrs. William, Sanford, Charles, Schoonmaker, Rev. Dr. Schoonmaker, Miss, Southgate, Miss Emma, Stevenson, Mr. Stratton, Mrs. Robert M.

  Torrey, Mrs. C. C. Trulock, Mrs. Eliza,

  Vanzandt, Mrs. L. B. Volk, Mrs. John, Vanzandt, Mrs. Mary L.

  Welling, Miss Victoria, Warren, A. Walkling, Mrs. Anna, Weeks, Miss Sarah Elizabeth, Wells, Mrs., of Brooklyn, Watrous, Charles L. Winter, William, Winter, Mrs. G.

  * * * * * * * * *

  Errors and Inconsistencies

  French and Italian quotations are shown as printed, including obviouserrors. Most English spellings are unchanged, including:

  fulfil; mattrass; visiter; pourtray; Genessee; wo

  The use of "filial" for "parental" and the random variation between"meantime" and "mean time" are also unchanged. In Chapter XXVII,"team-boat" is not an error. Larger-scale errors of fact are noted inthe parallel version of the text.

  Title Page

  ... for sale by the Booksellers. [Rooksellers]

  Chapter II

  Her father observed her affliction in commisseration [_spelling unchanged_]

  Chapter III

  scene of business and confusion, scarcely reconcileable. [_text unchanged: the word "reconcileable" may be contamination from end of preceding paragraph_]

  Chapter V

  O, who that sighs to join the scenes of war? [_phrase "who that sighs" unchanged_] When, the goddess halted by his side, [_comma in original_] And a banner ... [_open quote printed before fourth instead of first line_] "Hold fast the glorious prize; [_open quote missing_]

  Chapter IX

  the test that reaches to the bottom of the worst [_unchanged: standard reading is "tent that searches"_]

  Chapter XII

  his own fate unconnected with that of Alida. [_text unchanged: see source_] "to remain here until .... may yet be happy." [_quotation marks missing_] "Something extraordinary," said Mrs. Raymond [Mr.] He now joined the forces under Colonel Van Renssalaer [_spelling unchanged_]

  Chapter XIV

  One evening as ... began to fall in abundance, Where now [_punctuation and capitalization unchanged: may be intentional_] Omniscient Dispenser of destinies! [Omiscient] the fashion mania which sometimes attack young people [_text unchanged_]

  Chapter XV

  rigid discipline, and military trainings [_plural in original_]

  Chapter XVI

  ... spring had succeeded to the blustering gales of winter [_text unchanged: "to" may be an error_] The day was calm and serene [_paragraph at page break added by transcriber_]

  Chapter XVII

  Her natural and acquired endowments [_"and" missing: see source_] Neighbourly and companionable [companiable]

  Chapter XVIII

  commanded by sir George Prevost [_capitalization unchanged_] some arrangements,--whereby the New England States [_punctuation unchanged_]

  Chapter XXI.

  He was preparing for his departure thence. [_text unchanged: error for "thither"?_]

  Chapter XXII.

  turning his insidious eyes towards Alida [insiduous]

  Chapter XXIII.

  cleared the atmosphere and revived the earth [the the earth]

  Chapter XXIV.

  on which account they have placed a chevaux-de-frieze [_unchanged: source has "frise"_] several taverns, the largest of which called Shepherd's hotel [_missing "at": see source ("at the largest...")_]

  Chapter XXVI.

  They were formed like a battalion [battallion] Shews countless ages it has run its course. [_archaic spelling unchanged_] the wild'red eye surveys [_text unchanged: may be error for "wilder'd"_]

  Chapter XXIX.

  When the sun was gilding the western hemisphere [gliding]

  Chapter XXXII.

  Health, pleasure and naivette [_spelling unchanged_] ... the object of its affection!" "I know ... [_quotation marks unchanged_] such as appear to lay in wait [_text unchanged_]

  List of Subscribers

  Lawrence, Mrs. Effingham [_. invisible_] Weeks, Miss Sarah Elizabeth [_final , missing or invisible_]

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  ALIDA: Details

  [Transcriber's Note:

  The following is a little more personal than the average Transcriber'sNote. Given the nature of the book, this may be inescapable.

  In classical literature, there is a form called the _cento_. The worddoes not mean a hundred of anything; it comes from the Greek word forpatchwork. In its original form, the cento takes small pieces offamiliar works such as the Aeneid and reassembles the segments--anywhere from a few words to two full lines-- into a new text. Asrearranged, the content can be anything from saints' lives to outrightobscenity.

  With rare exceptions, _Alida_ cannot be called a cento. While someborrowings involve single phrases, most range from to paragraphs toentire chapters. I (the transcriber) first stumbled across the bookwhile searching for the originals of some quoted passages in _Alonzo andMelissa_. This novel turns out to have been one of _Alida_'s favoritesources, contributing a solid six
-chapter block as well as many shortersegments. Appropriately, _Alonzo and Melissa_ was itself pirated; itscredited author did not actually write the book. Conversely, a number ofother sources were formally copyrighted-- sometimes in the same officewhere the copyright of _Alida_ was filed.

  Only about half the sources (by rough word count) have been identified.Isolated phrases-- three or four significant words-- were disregardedunless they were very unusual, or from a source quoted many other times.Unidentified sources include:

  -- most of the longer poetry -- discussions of education (female and general) -- religious material, probably from a then-new denomination such as Baptist or Methodist -- most references to the secondary character Mr. More (apparently from a single source, possibly a subplot in some other book)

  If you come across a long passage that you recognize, e-mail lucy2424at sbcglobal dot net.]

  Alida: The Author

  One of the few things definitely known about Amelia Stratton Comfield,the author of _Alida_, is what she looked like in 1852, when herportrait was painted by David Rogers. A smaller form of the paintingis included with the HTML version of this file. At time of preparation(mid-2010), the original was online at the Smithsonian collection:https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/

  Amelia Stratton Comfield was probably related to Southern writer andeducator Catherine Stratton Ladd (1808-1899), who wrote under a numberof pseudonyms--including "Alida".

  Alida: Chronology

  The chronology is internally consistent: that is, the passage of timebased on descriptions of seasons agrees with datable external events,even in the part of the story that draws heavily on _Alonzo andMelissa_. The war of 1812 began in mid-1812 and ended in December 1814;evidently the news reached New York before it reached New Orleans.

  1811 and earlier Death of Alida's mother Alida goes to seminary in New York: "The season was now far advanced in autumn"

  1812 Alida returns home: "The spring was advancing" [June 1812: War declared] Father's birthday; Alida is sixteen From Alonzo and Melissa: "It was summer, and towards evening when he arrived." "It was the beginning of autumn" "... and sung a requiem to departed summer" "... the day had been uncommonly sultry for the autumnal season" "Winter came on; it rapidly passed away."

  1813 "Spring advanced, and the marriage day was appointed." "Nature was adorned with the bridal ornaments of spring" "Fleecy summer clouds ..." Theodore has not yet enlisted "... weary summer had lapsed into the fallow arms of autumn" After father's remarriage: "the cool breezes of autumn had changed to the hoarse murmuring gales of winter"

  1814 "the mild and salubrious breezes of spring had succeeded to the blustering gales of winter" Father's birthday [August 1814: burning of Washington] [December 1814: Treaty of Ghent] [December 1814-January 1815: Hartford Convention] "... taken up their residence in the city for the winter"

  1815 [January 1815: battle of New Orleans] War is over; celebration of peace "winter's snow was passing from the face of nature" "verdant scenery of spring" "showers of April had cleared the atmosphere" Father's birthday Alida leaves for tour of New York state: "The summer was past its meridian" "The number of travellers this summer were unusually great"

  1816 After death of Alida's father: "at the commencement of the ensuing spring" Theodore returns

  Alida: Sources

  Abbreviated titles of the most frequently cited works are given here in[brackets]. Unless otherwise noted, the quoted edition was picked simplybecause it was the most readily available; it may or may not have beenthe edition used by the author. All [_sic_] notations were added by thetranscriber; all brackets in _Alonzo and Melissa_ are in the original.

  Sources that are used only once are identified as they occur in thetext.

  _Non-Fiction_

  Karl Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: _Travels through North America, during the years 1825 and 1826_. Translation published 1828. [Abbreviated "Travels"] Chapters XXIV-XXVII inclusive, except the poetry, are taken from this book. See beginning of chapter XXIV for more information.

  John Warner Barber: _Interesting Events in the History of the United States ..._ (exact title varies). First edition 1827; later editions include 1828 and 1834, with reprints of each. Details of wording point to the 1828 edition as the source. The segments dealing with the war of 1812 are quoted extensively: "Second War with Great Britain"; the battles of Queenstown, Lake Erie, Niagara and Lake Champlain; Death of Tecumseh; the Hartford Convention; "Piracies in the West Indies".

  Nathaniel Dwight: _Sketches of the lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence_. First Edition 1830; quotations from 1840 edition (reprint of 1830). [Abbreviated "Lives of Signers"] Used primarily for character descriptions. Most are applied to male characters in the novel, but one passage is inserted into a description of Dolly Madison. With one exception, all selections are taken from representatives of Northern states.

  Mrs. James Madison. Here quoted from _The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge_; the article was printed in other publications. Some parts of this article refer to the period when James Madison was Secretary of State under Jefferson. Much of the article quotes from the chapter on Dolly Madison in a longer work: American Academy of the Fine Arts (James Herring and James Barton Longacre), _The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans_ (no later than 1834).

  _A sketch of the life and public services of William H. Harrison, commander in chief of the North-western army during the War of 1812, &c._ Many editions from 1835 and later.

  Charles Phillips: Speech at Dinas Island on George Washington. Widely reprinted; the version published in the author's Collected Speeches is different from earlier published versions quoted here.

  Lindley Murray: _The Power of Religion on the Mind_. First edition 1836; many later editions and reprints. Quotations from 1863 (the only edition available to me). Not a religious work but a collection of short biographies with character description. Except for the article on Job, attributions are too short to be certain; _Alida_ may have found similar phrases in a different source.

  Francis Smith Eastman: _A history of the state of New York ..._ First edition 1828; later edition (with reprints) 1831. Details of wording identify the 1831 edition (or a later one) as the source.

  _Fiction_

  Daniel Jackson/Isaac Mitchell: _Alonzo and Melissa_. For details, see Project Gutenberg e-text 28112. Written 1804 by Mitchell; first book publication (pirated by Jackson) 1811, with many reprints. Wording in _Alida_ does not consistently correspond to any of the editions used for the _Alonzo and Melissa_ e-text. Quotations are generally from 1811 except where a different edition matches the wording more closely. [Abbreviated "A&M"] By word count, _Alida_'s favorite source: chapters VII-XII inclusive, much of the adjoining chapters VI and XIII, most of XXXIII-XXXIV (the final two chapters), and many other passages of varying length. See beginning of chapter VI for more information.

  Regina Maria Roche: _The Children of the Abbey_. First published 1796, reprinted throughout the following century. Quotations from 1877.

  Mrs. (Mary Martha) Sherwood: _The Broken Hyacinth_; _The Lady of the Manor_. _Alida_ may contain other quotations from this author; most phrases are too short to be unambiguous. Mrs. Sherwood's fiction has a strong religious element, and she seems the kind of author Amelia Comfield would have liked.

  Robert Folkestone Williams: _Mephistophiles in England, or the Confessions of a Prime Minister_. 1835. _Alida_ only quotes one passage from this two-volume novel. The episode may have been reprinted in some other text, or the novel itself may have lifted it from an earlier source.

  Amelia Stratton Comfield: _Alida_. When all else fails, the book quotes itself. One passage appears three times.

  _Periodicals and Short Fiction_


  _The New-York Weekly Magazine, Or, Miscellaneous Repository_: Volume II, 1797. Reprinted as a single bound volume containing 52 8-page issues (July 1796-June 1797). [Abbreviated "NY Weekly"] Only two volumes of this periodical, and a few issues of the third, were published; only volume II was available to me. At least 30 separate pieces are quoted in _Alida_, so it is likely that some unidentified sources are in volumes I or III. Most essays were printed with minimal attribution, or none at all; some can also be found in other sources. "The Nettle and the Rose" also appears in _The Blossoms of Morality_ (1796) and in _New-York Magazine_, N.S. II (1797). "On Education" is taken from the writings of Vicesimus Knox; "Detraction" is by Nathaniel Cotton.

  "Amelia, or the Faithless Briton". Here quoted from _The New-York Magazine, or, Literary Repository_: Vol. VI (1795); the story also appears in _The Lady's Weekly Miscellany_ (1810).

  "The Merchant's Daughter". Here quoted from _The American Monthly Magazine_, Vol. 3, 1834.

  "The Story of an Unfortunate Young Lady". Here quoted from _The Lady's Miscellany, or, Weekly visitor..._ Vols. 14-15 (1811)

  _Poetry_

  [Most poems are quoted only once, and will be identified as they appear.The author of _Alida_ was obviously fond of poetry, especially obscurepoems found in periodicals or privately published books.]

  James Thomson (d. 1748): _The Seasons_. The work was reprinted many times. Quotations are from the 1829 Hartford edition. There exists an 1842 edition of _The Seasons_ which also contains Bloomfield's _Farmer's Boy_ (see chapter XIV). If similar collections were published earlier, this might be the source for both poems. In _Alida_, passages from _The Seasons_ are almost always in quotation marks.

  Mary (Mrs. Henry) Tighe: _Psyche, with Other Poems_. Quoted from 1816 London edition. Quoted works: _Verses Written at the Commencement of Spring_ (1802); _Verses Written in Sickness_ (1804); _A Faithful Friend is the Medicine of Life_.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  ALIDA: parallel version

  [The prefatory material and list of subscribers have been omitted. Somelong paragraphs have been broken up for easier comparison. In the sourcetext, a set of three dots ... on a line of their own means that one ormore complete paragraphs or stanzas have been skipped.]

  [Frontispiece Caption:] "Optimum vitae genus eligito nam consuetudo faciet jucundissimum."

  [[Attributed to Pythagoras in Diogenes Laertius viii; cited in _Spectator_ 447.]]

  [Title Page:] Incidents / During the Late American War. / Founded on Fact.

  [[The phrase "founded on fact" appears in the title of several of _Alida_'s sources, notably _Alonzo and Melissa_. The opening words of _Alonzo and Melissa_ are "During the late [American] Revolution..."]]

  [Dedication:] His Excellency, / Charles Collins, Governor of Rhode-Island

  [[Charles Collins was never Governor of Rhode Island. He was Lieutenant Governor from 1824 to 1833.]]