I
The Old Pyncheon Family 0
HALFWAY down
a by-street of
one of
our 4
New England 5
towns 3
2
1
stands
a rusty wooden house , with seven acutely peaked gables , facing towards various points of the compass 6
, and a huge , clustered chimney in the midst .
The street 1
is
Pyncheon Street 89
;
the house 6
is
the old Pyncheon House 90
; and an elm-tree , of wide circumference , rooted before the door , is familiar to
every town-born child 7
by the title of the Pyncheon Elm .
On
my 8
occasional visits to
the town aforesaid 2
,
I 8
seldom failed to turn down
Pyncheon Street 1
, for the sake of passing through the shadow of these two antiquities , -- the great elm-tree and
the weather-beaten edifice 6
.
The aspect of
the venerable mansion 6
has always affected
me 8
like a human countenance , bearing the traces not merely of outward storm and sunshine , but expressive also , of the long lapse of mortal life , and accompanying vicissitudes that have passed within .
Were these to be worthily recounted , they would form a narrative of no small interest and instruction , and possessing , moreover , a certain remarkable unity , which might almost seem the result of artistic arrangement .
But the story would include a chain of events extending over the better part of two centuries , and , written out with reasonable amplitude , would fill a bigger folio volume , or a longer series of duodecimos , than could prudently be appropriated to the annals of
all New England 9
during a similar period .
It consequently becomes imperative to make short work with most of the traditionary lore of which
the old Pyncheon House 6
, otherwise known as
the House of the Seven Gables 91
, has been the theme .
With a brief sketch , therefore , of the circumstances amid which the foundation of
the house 6
was laid , and a rapid glimpse at
its 6
quaint exterior 10
, as
it 10
grew black in the prevalent east wind , -- pointing , too , here and there , at some spot of more verdant mossiness on
its 6
roof 11
and walls , --
we 12
shall commence the real action of
our 13
tale at an epoch not very remote from the present day .
Still , there will be a connection with the long past -- a reference to forgotten events and
personages 14
, and to manners , feelings , and opinions , almost or wholly obsolete -- which , if adequately translated to the reader , would serve to illustrate how much of old material goes to make up the freshest novelty of human life .
Hence , too , might be drawn a weighty lesson from the little-regarded truth , that the act of
the passing generation 15
is the germ which may and must produce good or evil fruit in a far-distant time ; that , together with the seed of the merely temporary crop , which
mortals 16
term expediency ,
they 16
inevitably sow the acorns of a more enduring growth , which may darkly overshadow
their 16
posterity 17
.
The House of the Seven Gables 6
, antique as
it 6
now looks , was not
the first habitation erected by
civilized man 18
on
precisely the same spot of ground 19
83
.
Pyncheon Street 1
formerly bore the humbler appellation of
Maule 's Lane 20
, from the name of
the original occupant of
the soil 19
21
, before whose cottage-door
it 20
was
a cow-path 92
.
A natural spring of soft and pleasant water 22
--
a rare treasure on
the sea-girt peninsula where
the Puritan settlement 24
was made 23
93
-- had early induced
Matthew Maule 25
to build
a hut , shaggy with thatch 26
, at this point , although somewhat too remote from
what was then the centre of
the village 28
27
.
In the growth of
the town 28
, however , after some thirty or forty years ,
the site covered by
this rude hovel 26
19
had become exceedingly desirable in the eyes of
a prominent and powerful personage 29
, who asserted plausible claims to the proprietorship of this and
a large adjacent tract of land 19
, on the strength of a grant from
the legislature 30
.
Colonel Pyncheon 29
,
the claimant 85
, as
we 31
gather from whatever traits of
him 29
are preserved , was characterized by an iron energy of purpose .
Matthew Maule 25
, on the other hand , though
an obscure man 86
, was stubborn in the defence of what
he 29
considered
his 29
right ; and , for several years ,
he 29
succeeded in protecting
the acre or two of earth 19
which , with
his 29
own toil ,
he 29
had hewn out of
the primeval forest 32
, to be
his 29
garden ground and homestead 33
.
No written record of this dispute is known to be in existence .
Our 34
acquaintance with the whole subject is derived chiefly from tradition .
It would be bold , therefore , and possibly unjust , to venture a decisive opinion as to its merits ; although it appears to have been at least a matter of doubt , whether
Colonel Pyncheon 29
's claim were not unduly stretched , in order to make it cover
the small metes and bounds of
Matthew Maule 25
35
.
What greatly strengthens such a suspicion is the fact that this controversy between
two ill-matched antagonists 36
-- at a period , moreover , laud it as
we 37
may , when personal influence had far more weight than now -- remained for years undecided , and came to a close only with the death of
the party occupying
the disputed soil 19
25
.
The mode of
his 25
death , too , affects the mind differently , in
our 38
day , from what it did a century and a half ago .
It was a death that blasted with strange horror the humble name of
the dweller in
the cottage 26
25
, and made it seem almost a religious act to drive the plough over
the little area of
his 25
habitation 26
19
, and obliterate
his 25
place and memory from among
men 39
.
Old Matthew Maule 25
, in a word , was executed for the crime of witchcraft .
He 25
was one of
the martyrs to that terrible delusion 94
, which should teach
us 40
, among its other morals , that
the influential classes 41
, and
those who take upon
themselves 42
to be
leaders of
the people 44
43
42
, are fully liable to all the passionate error that has ever characterized
the maddest mob 45
.
Clergymen 46
,
judges 47
,
statesmen 48
49
, --
the wisest , calmest , holiest persons of
their 49
day 95
stood in the inner circle round about
the gallows 50
, loudest to applaud the work of blood , latest to confess
themselves 49
miserably deceived .
If any one part of
their 49
proceedings can be said to deserve less blame than another , it was the singular indiscrimination with which
they 49
persecuted , not merely
the poor and aged 51
, as in former judicial massacres , but
people of all ranks 52
;
their 49
own equals , brethren , and wives 53
.
Amid the disorder of such various ruin , it is not strange that
a man of inconsiderable note 54
, like
Maule 25
, should have trodden
the martyr 55
's path to the hill of execution almost unremarked in
the throng of
his 25
fellow sufferers 57
56
.
But , in after days , when the frenzy of that hideous epoch had subsided , it was remembered how loudly
Colonel Pyncheon 29
had joined in the general cry , to purge
the land 58
from witchcraft ; nor did it fail to be whispered , that there was an invidious acrimony in the zeal with which
he 29
had sought the condemnation of
Matthew Maule 25
.
It was well known that
the victim 25
had recognized the bitterness of personal enmity in
his 25
persecutor 29
's conduct towards
him 25
, and that
he 25
declared
himself 25
hunted to death for
his 25
spoil .
At the moment of execution -- with the halter about
his 25
neck , and while
Colonel Pyncheon 29
sat on horseback , grimly gazing at the scene
Maule 25
had addressed
him 29
from the scaffold , and uttered a prophecy , of which history , as well as fireside tradition , has preserved the very words .
" God , " said
the dying man 25
, pointing
his 25
finger , with a ghastly look , at the undismayed countenance of
his 25
enemy 29
, -- " God will give
him 29
blood to drink ! "
After
the reputed wizard 25
's death ,
his 25
humble homestead 26
had fallen an easy spoil into
Colonel Pyncheon 29
's grasp .
When it was understood , however , that
the Colonel 29
intended to erect
a family mansion-spacious , ponderously framed of oaken timber , and calculated to endure for
many generations of
his 29
posterity 59
over
the spot first covered by
the log-built hut of
Matthew Maule 25
26
60
6
, there was much shaking of the head among
the village gossips 61
.
Without absolutely expressing a doubt whether
the stalwart Puritan 29
had acted as
a man of conscience and integrity 62
throughout the proceedings which have been sketched ,
they 61
, nevertheless , hinted that
he 29
was about to build
his 29
house 6
over
an unquiet grave 63
.
His 29
home 6
would include
the home of
the dead and buried wizard 25
26
, and would thus afford the ghost of the latter a kind of privilege to haunt
its new apartments 64
, and
the chambers into which
future bridegrooms 66
were to lead
their 66
brides 67
, and where
children of the Pyncheon blood 68
were to be born 65
.
The terror and ugliness of
Maule 25
's crime , and the wretchedness of
his 25
punishment , would darken the freshly plastered walls , and infect
them 68
early with the scent of
an old and melancholy house 69
.
Why , then , -- while
so much of the soil around
him 29
19
was bestrewn with the virgin forest leaves , -- why should
Colonel Pyncheon 29
prefer
a site that had already been accurst 19
?
But
the Puritan soldier 29
and
magistrate 29
was not
a man to be turned aside from
his 29
well-considered scheme 84
, either by dread of
the wizard 25
's ghost , or by flimsy sentimentalities of any kind , however specious .
Had
he 29
been told of a bad air , it might have moved
him 29
somewhat ; but
he 29
was ready to encounter an evil spirit on
his 29
own ground 19
.
Endowed with commonsense , as massive and hard as blocks of granite , fastened together by stern rigidity of purpose , as with iron clamps ,
he 29
followed out
his 29
original design , probably without so much as imagining an objection to it .
On the score of delicacy , or any scrupulousness which a finer sensibility might have taught
him 29
,
the Colonel 87
, like most of
his 29
breed and generation , was impenetrable .
He 29
therefore dug
his 29
cellar 70
, and laid the deep foundations of
his 29
mansion 6
, on
the square of earth whence
Matthew Maule 25
, forty years before , had first swept away the fallen leaves 19
.
It was a curious , and , as
some people 71
thought , an ominous fact , that , very soon after
the workmen 72
began
their 72
operations ,
the spring of water , above mentioned 22
, entirely lost the deliciousness of
its 22
pristine quality .
Whether
its 22
sources 73
were disturbed by the depth of
the new cellar 70
, or whatever subtler cause might lurk at the bottom , it is certain that the water of
Maule 25
's Well 74
, as
it 74
continued to be called , grew hard and brackish .
Even such
we 75
find it now ; and
any old woman of
the neighborhood 77
76
will certify that it is productive of intestinal mischief to
those who quench
their 78
thirst
there 74
78
.
The reader 79
may deem it singular that
the head carpenter of
the new edifice 6
80
was no other than
the son of
the very man from whose dead gripe
the property of
the soil 19
82
had been wrested 25
81
.
Not improbably
he 81
was
the best workman of
his 81
time 96
; or , perhaps ,
the Colonel 29
thought it expedient , or was impelled by some better feeling , thus openly to cast aside all animosity against the race of
his 29
fallen antagonist 25
.
Nor was it out of keeping with the general coarseness and matter-of-fact character of the age , that
the son 81
should be willing to earn an honest penny , or , rather , a weighty amount of sterling pounds , from the purse of
his 81
father 25
's deadly enemy 29
.
At all events ,
Thomas Maule 81
became
the architect of
the House of the Seven Gables 6
88
, and performed
his 81
duty so faithfully that the timber framework fastened by
his 81
hands still holds together .