Chapter XVII: The Long Quietus (2)

Melville cut short his third year of lecturing to make the trip to California with his brother. Upon his return, he again made an unsuccessful attempt to be appointed to a consularship. Such a mission took him to Washington in 1861. This trip was chiefly notable because of the meeting of Melville and Lincoln. Melville recounted the experience in a letter to his wife: “The night previous to this I was at the second levee at the White House. There was a great crowd and a brilliant scene--ladies in full dress by the hundreds--a steady stream of two-and-two’s wound through the apartments shaking hands with Old Abe and immediately passing on. This continued without cessation for an hour and a half. Of course I was one of the shakers. Old Abe is much better looking than I expected and younger looking. He shook hands like a good fellow--working hard at it like a man sawing wood at so much per cord.”

Melville struggled on for two more years at Pittsfield, and in October, 1863, moved with his family to 104 East 26th Street, New York, where he spent the remaining years of his life. His house in New York he bought from his brother Allan, giving $7,750 (covered by mortgages and in time paid for by legacies of his wife) and the Arrowhead place, valued at $3,000.

The last years in Pittsfield and the early years in New York were, in financial hardship, perhaps the darkest in Melville’s life. He was in ill health, and except for the pittance from his books he was without income. His lectures were a desperate if not lucrative measure. But for the generosity of his wife’s father, he would have been in destitution.

On December 5, 1866, he was appointed Inspector of Customs in New York--a post he held until January 1, 1886. He was sixty-seven years old when he resigned. His wife had come into an inheritance that allowed him an ultimate serenity in his closing years.

MELVILLE’S CHILDREN
Malcolm, Frances, Elizabeth, Stanwix
(From left to right)
]

R. H. Stoddard, in his _Recollections_, thus speaks of Melville:

“My good friend Benedict sent me, one gloomy November forenoon,
this curt announcement of a new appointment in Herman Melville: ‘He
seems a good fellow, Dick, and says he knows you, though perhaps he
doesn’t, but anyhow be kind to him if this infernal weather will
let you be so to anybody.’ I bowed to the gentleman who handed the
note to me, in whom I recognised a famous writer whom I had met some
twenty-five years before; no American writer was more widely known in
the late forties and early fifties in his own country and in England
than Melville, who in his earlier books, _Typee_, _Omoo_, _Mardi_,
and _White Jacket_, had made himself the prose poet of the strange
islands and peoples of the South Seas.

“Whether any of Melville’s readers understood the real drift of his
mind, or whether he understood it himself, has often puzzled me.
Next to Emerson he was the American mystic. He was more than that,
however, he was one of our great unrecognised poets, as he manifested
in his version of ‘Sheridan’s Ride,’ which begins as all students of
our serious war poetry ought to know: ‘Shoe the steed with silver
that bore him to the fray.’ Melville’s official duty during the last
years of my Custom-House life confined him to the foot of Gansevoort
Street, North River, and on a report that he might be changed to
some district on the East River, he asked me to prevent the change,
and Benedict said to me, ‘He shan’t be moved,’ and he was not; and
years later, on a second report of the same nature reaching him, I
saw Benedict again, who declared with a profane expletive, ‘He shall
stay there.’ And if he had not died about a dozen years ago he would
probably be there to-day, at the foot of Gansevoort Street.”

It is interesting that a man of the intellect of R. H. Stoddard should have found Melville’s mind such a shadowed hieroglyph. With Stoddard so perplexed, it is less difficult to understand Melville’s preference for solitude.

In his copy of Schopenhauer, Melville underlined the phrase--“this hellish society of men;” and he vigorously underscored the aphorism: “When two or three are gathered together, the devil is among them.” Melville occupied himself with his books, with collecting etchings, with solitary walks; and for companionship he was satisfied with the society of his grandchildren. His grand-daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Melville Metcalf, thus records her recollections of such association:

“I was not yet ten years old when my grandfather died. To put aside
all later impressions gathered from those who knew him longer and
coloured by their personal reactions, all impressions made by
subsequent reading of his books, results in a series of childish
recollections, vivid homely scenes wherein he formed a palpable
background for my own interested activities.

“Setting forth on a bright spring afternoon for a trip to Central
Park, the Mecca of most of our pilgrimages, he made a brave and
striking figure as he walked erect, head thrown back, cane in hand,
inconspicuously dressed in a dark blue suit and a soft black felt
hat. For myself, I skipped gaily beside him, anticipating the long
jogging ride in the horse cars, the goats and shanty-topped granite
of the upper reaches of our journey, the broad walks of the park,
where the joy of all existence was best expressed by running down the
hills, head back, skirts flying in the wind. He would follow more
slowly and call ‘Look out, or the “cop” may catch you!’ I always
thought he used funny words: ‘cop’ was surely a jollier word than
‘policeman.’

“We never came in from a trip of this kind, nor indeed from any walk,
but we stopped in the front hall under a coloured engraving of the
Bay of Naples, its still blue dotted with tiny white sails. He would
point to them with his cane and say, ‘See the little boats sailing
hither and thither.’ ‘Hither and thither’--more funny words, thought
I, at the same time a little awed by something far away in the tone
of voice.

“I remember mornings when even sugar on the oatmeal was not enough
to tempt me to finish the last mouthful. It would be spring in the
back yard too, and a tin cup full of little stones picked out of
the garden meant a penny from my grandmother. He would say in a
warning whisper, ‘Jack Smoke will come down the chimney and take
what you leave!’ That was another matter. The oatmeal was laughingly
finished and the yard gained. Across the back parlour and main hall
upstairs ran a narrow iron-trimmed porch, furnished with Windsor
and folding canvas chairs. There he would sit with a pipe and his
most constant companion--his cane, and watch my busy activity below.
Against the wall of the porch hung a match holder, more for ornament
than utility, it seems. It was a gay red and blue china butterfly.
Invariably he looked to see if it had flown away since we were there
last.

“Once in a long while his interest in his grandchildren led him to
cross the river and take the suburban train to East Orange, where
we lived. He must have been an impressive figure, sitting silently
on the piazza of our little house, while my sister and I pranced by
with a neighbour’s boy and his express wagon, filled with a satisfied
sense of the strength and accomplishment of our years. When he had
had enough of such exhibitions, he would suddenly rise and take the
next train back to Hoboken.

“Chiefly do I think of him connected with different parts of the 26th
Street house.

“His own room was a place of mystery and awe to me; there I never
ventured unless invited by him. It looked bleakly north. The great
mahogany desk, heavily bearing up four shelves of dull gilt and
leather books; the high dim book-case, topped by strange plaster
heads that peered along the ceiling level, or bent down, searching
blindly with sightless balls; the small black iron bed, covered with
dark cretonne; the narrow iron grate; the wide table in the alcove,
piled with papers I would not dream of touching--these made a room
even more to be fled than the back parlour, by whose door I always
ran to escape the following eyes of his portrait, which hung there
in a half light. Yet lo, the paper-piled table also held a little
bag of figs, and one of the pieces of sweet stickiness was for me.
‘Tittery-Eye’ he called me, and awe melted into glee, as I skipped
away to my grandmother’s room, which adjoined.

“That was a very different place--sunny, comfortable and familiar,
with a sewing machine and a _white_ bed like other peoples’ In the
corner stood a big arm chair, where he always sat when he left the
recesses of his own dark privacy. I used to climb on his knee, while
he told me wild tales of cannibals and tropic isles. Little did I
then know that he was reliving his own past. We came nearest intimacy
at these times, and part of the fun was to put my hands in his thick
beard and squeeze it hard. It was no soft silken beard, but tight
curled like the horse hair breaking out of old upholstered chairs,
firm and wiry to the grasp, and squarely chopped.

“Sad it is that he felt his grandchildren would turn against him
as they grew older. He used to forebode as much. As it is, I have
nothing but a remembrance of glorious fun, mixed with a childish awe,
as of some one who knew far and strange things.”

As the last meed of glory, Melville received this flattering letter:

“12 Lucknow Terrace,
“HALIFAX, N. S.
Nov. 21, 1889.

“DEAR SIR:

“Although a stranger, I take the liberty of addressing you on the
ground of my ardent admiration for your works. For a number of years
I have read and reread _Moby-Dick_ with increasing pleasure in every
perusal: and with this study, the conviction has grown up that the
unique merits of that book have never received due recognition. I
have been a student for ten years and have dabbled in literature
more or less myself. And now I find myself in a position which
enables me to give myself to literature as a life-work. I am anxious
to set the merits of your books before the public and to that end,
I beg the honour of corresponding with you. It would be of great
assistance to me, if I could gather some particulars of your life
and _literary methods_ from you, other than given in such books as
Duyckinck’s dictionary. In the matter of style, apart from the matter
altogether I consider your books, especially the earlier ones, the
most thoroughly New World product in all American literature.

“Hoping that I am not asking too much, I remain,

“Yours most respectfully,

“ARCHD. MACMEEHAN, PH.D.

“Munro Professor of English at Dalhousie University.”

Melville replied:

“104 E. 26th St.

“DEAR SIR:

“I beg you to overlook my delay in acknowledging yours of the 12th
ult. It was unavoidable.

“Your note gave me pleasure, as how should it not, written in such a
spirit.

“But you do not know, perhaps, that I have entered my 8th decade.
After 20 years nearly, as an outdoor custom house officer, I have
lately come into possession of unobstructed leisure, but only just
as, in the course of nature, my vigour sensibly declines. What little
of it is left I husband for certain matters as yet incomplete, and
which indeed may never be completed.

“I appreciate, quite as much as you would have me, your friendly good
will and shrink from any appearance to the contrary.

“Trusting that you will take all this, & what it implies, in the same
spirit that prompts it, I am,

“Very truly yours,

“HERMAN MELVILLE.

“_To_
“_Professor MacMeehan_,
“_Dec. 5, ’89._”

Melville was using his “unobstructed leisure” in a return to the writing of prose. Ten prose sketches and a novel were the result. But the result is not distinguished. The novel, _Billy Budd_, is built around the character of Jack Chase, the “Handsome Sailor.” In the character of Billy Budd, Melville attempts to portray the native purity and nobility of the uncorrupted man. Melville spends elaborate pains in analysing “the mystery of iniquity,” and in celebrating by contrast the god-like beauty of body and spirit of his hero. Billy Budd, by his heroic guilelessness is, like an angel of vengeance, precipitated into manslaughter; and for his very righteousness he is hanged. _Billy Budd_, finished within a few months before the end of Melville’s life, would seem to teach that though the wages of sin is death, that sinners and saints alike toil for a common hire. In _Billy Budd_ the orphic sententiousness is gone, it is true. But gone also is the brisk lucidity, the sparkle, the verve. Only the disillusion abided with him to the last.

Melville died at 104 East 26th Street, New York, on Monday, September 28, 1891. His funeral was attended by his wife and his two daughters--all of his immediate family that survived him--and a meagre scattering of relatives and family friends. The man who had created Moby-Dick died an obscure and elderly private citizen. He had in early manhood prayed that if indeed his soul missed its haven, that his might, at least, be an utter wreck. “All Fame is patronage,” he had once written; “let me be infamous.” But as if in contempt even for this preference, he had, during the last half of his life, cruised off and away upon boundless and uncharted waters; and in the end he sank down into death, without a ripple of renown.

“Oh, what quenchless feud is this, that Time hath with the sons of Men!”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Herman Melville’s Sea Tales. 4 Volumes. Edited by Arthur Stedman.
_New York_, 1892, 1896; _Boston_, 1900, 1910, 1919.

Typee (with a biographical and critical introduction by the
editor).
Omoo.
Moby-Dick.
White-Jacket.

Typee: a Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months’ Residence in
a Valley of the Marquesas.... _New York_, 1846.

A Four Months’ Residence among the Natives of a Valley of the
Marquesas Islands; or, a Peep at Polynesian Life.... _London_, 1846,
1847, 1855, 1861.

Typee: a Peep at Polynesian Life.... Revised edition, with a Sequel,
The Story of Toby.... _New York_, 1846, 1847, 1849, 1855, 1857, 1865,
1871. _London_, 1892, 1893 (ed. H. S. Salt), 1898, 1899. _Boston_,
1902 (ed. William P. Trent). _London_, 1903 (ed. William P. Trent).
_London and New York_, 1904 (ed. W. Clark Russell); 1907 (ed. Ernest
Rhys). _London_ 1910; another edition 1910 (ed. W. Clark Russell).
_New York_, 1911 (ed. W. Clark Russell); 1920 (ed. A. L. Sterling).
_New York and London_, 1921 (ed. Ernest Rhys).

Translated into German by R. Garrique, _Leipzig_, 1846; into Dutch,
_Haarlem_, 1847.

Omoo: a Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas.... _New York_, 1847 (five editions the same year). _London_, 1847, 1849. _New York and London_, 1855. _London_, 1861. _New York_, 1863, 1868. _London_, 1892, 1893 (ed. H. S. Salt). _London and New York_, 1904 (ed. W. Clark Russell); 1908 (ed. Ernest Rhys); 1911 (ed. W. Clark Russell); 1921 (ed. Ernest Rhys).

Translated into German by F. Gerstäcker, _Leipzig_, 1847.

Mardi: and a Voyage Thither.... _New York_, 1849 (2 volumes). _London_, 1849 (3 volumes). _New York_, 1855, 1864.

Redburn: His First Voyage. Being the Sailor-Boy Confessions and Reminiscences of the Son-of-a-Gentleman, in the Merchant Service.... _New York_, 1849. _London_, 1849 (2 volumes). _New York_, 1855, 1863.

Translated into German by L. Marezoll, _Grimma_, 1850.

White-Jacket: or, The World in a Man-of-War.... _New York_, 1850. _London_, 1850 (2 volumes). _New York and London_, 1855. _London_, 1892, 1893, 1901.

Moby-Dick; or, the Whale.... _New York_, 1851.

The Whale.... _London_, 1851, 1853 (3 volumes).

Moby-Dick; or, the Whale.... _New York_, 1863. _London_, 1901 (ed. L. Becke). _London and New York_, 1907 (ed. Ernest Rhys). _London_, 1912; 1920 (ed. Violet Maynell). _London and New York_, 1921 (ed. Ernest Rhys). The editions since 1892 have borne the title Moby-Dick; (or) the (Great) White Whale.

Pierre: or The Ambiguities.... _New York_, 1852, 1855.

Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile.... _New York_, 1855 (three editions in the same year). _London_, 1855, 1861. (The book appeared serially in _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine_, July, 1854-March, 1855. It was pirated at _Philadelphia_, n. d. (entered 1865), as The Refugee, with the original dedication and table of contents omitted).

The Piazza Tales.... _New York_, 1856. _London_, 1856. (Contains: The Piazza; Bartleby; Benito Cereno; The Lightning-Rod Man; The Encantadas; The Bell-Tower).

The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade.... _New York_, 1857. _London_, 1857.

Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.... _New York_, 1866.

Clarel: a Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land.... _New York_, 1878.

John Marr and Other Sailors.... _New York_, 1888. (Privately printed).

Timoleon, etc. _New York_, 1891. (Privately printed).

CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAGAZINES, ETC.

Fragments from a Writing Desk. _The Democratic Press and Lansingburgh
Advertiser_, 4 May; 18 May; 1849.

Hawthorne and His Mosses, By a Virginian Spending a July in Vermont.
_Literary World._ 17 Aug.; 24 Aug.; 1850.

The Town-Ho’s Story. (Ch. 54 of Moby-Dick.) _Harper’s New Monthly
Magazine._ Oct., 1851.

A Memorial to James Fenimore Cooper. Discourses and tributes by
Bryant, Bancroft, Irving, Melville, etc., etc. _New York_, 1852.

Bartleby, the Scrivener. A story of Wall-Street. _Putnam’s Monthly
Magazine._ Nov.-Dec., 1853.

Cock-a-Doodle-Doo! or, The Crowing of the Cock of Benentano.
_Harper’s New Monthly Magazine._ Dec., 1853.

The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles, by Salvator R. Tarnmoor.
_Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ March-May, 1854.

The Lightning-Rod Man. _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ Aug., 1854.

Poor Man’s Pudding and Rich Man’s Crumbs. _Harper’s New Monthly
Magazine._ June, 1854.

Happy Failure. A Story of the River Hudson. _Harper’s New Monthly
Magazine._ July, 1854.

The Fiddler. _Harper’s New Monthly Magazine._ Sept., 1854.

Paradise of Bachelors and Tartarus of Maids. _Harper’s New Monthly
Magazine._ April, 1855.

The Bell-Tower. _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ Aug., 1855.

Benito Cereno. _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ Oct.-Dec., 1855.

Jimmy Rose. _Harper’s New Monthly Magazine._ Nov., 1855.

The ’Gees. _Harper’s New Monthly Magazine._ March, 1856.

I and My Chimney. _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ March, 1856.

The Apple-Tree Table: or, Original Spiritual Manifestations.
_Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ May, 1856.

The March to the Sea (poem). _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ Feb., 1856.

The Cumberland (poem). _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ March, 1866.

Philip (poem). _Putnam’s Monthly Magazine._ April, 1866.

Chattanooga (poem). _Harper’s New Monthly Magazine._ June, 1866.

Gettysburg: July, 1863 (poem). _Harper’s New Monthly Magazine._ July,
1866.

The History of Pittsfield, Mass., Compiled and written, under the
general direction of a committee, by J. E. A. Smith, Pittsfield,
1876. (The account of Major Thomas Melville, pp. 399-400, was written
by Melville.)

INDEX OF NAMES

Abbott, Willis J., 84, 135, 144.

Abernethy, John, 40.

_Acushnet, The_, 127, 129, 130, 133, 134, 145, 147, 151, 152, 154,
160, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 191, 193, 194, 195,
197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 216.

Adams, C. F., 78.

Adler, Dr., 285, 287, 288, 289, 291, 292, 293, 294, 298.

Ahab, Captain, 25, 26, 32, 133, 332.

Akenside, Dr. Mark, 57, 61, 114.

Albany, 34, 35, 36, 56, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 112, 113, 132,
205, 251, 252, 271.

Albany Academy, 70, 71, 121.

Alcott, Amos Bronson, 132.

Ames, Nathaniel, 79, 87.

Amherst, 257.

Angew, Mary, 304.

Annatoo, 275.

Arnold, Matthew, 365.

Arnold, Dr. Thomas, 44, 79.

Arrowhead, 47, 306, 309, 310, 311, 346, 351, 352, 376.

_Artémise, The_, 192, 193.

Balboa, 170, 373.

Banks, Sir Joseph, 178, 206.

Barbauld, Mrs., 57, 61, 126.

Barrie, Sir James, 22, 27.

_Battle Pieces_, 358, 365.

“Beauty,” 217.

Beck, Dr. T. Romeyn, 70.

Becke, Louis, 24.

Beecher, Henry Ward, 305.

Behn, Aphra, 203.

Bennett, F. D., 137.

Bentley, Richard, 273, 292, 293, 294, 299, 300, 301, 302, 311.

Berkshires, 23, 169, 305, 312.

Besant, Walter, 80, 177.

Bildad, 27, 32, 154, 155, 157.

Bildad, Aunt Charity, 144.

Billson, James, 360.

_Billy Budd_, 239, 381.

Blake, William, 74.

Bligh, Captain, 179, 181.

Bob, Captain, 220, 221.

Bolton, Harry, 106, 107.

Boomer, Captain, 27.

Borabolla, 278.

Borgia, Rodrigo, 171, 176.

Borrow, George, 15, 81.

Boston, 40, 42, 43, 47, 56, 63, 64, 68, 83, 236, 251, 255, 258, 270,
283, 312, 353, 369.

Boston Tea Party, 42.

_Bounty, The_, 179.

Bristol, R. I., 44.

Broadhall, 45, 47, 306.

Browne, J. Ross, 137, 158, 159, 166.

Browne, Sir Thomas, 17, 22, 27, 94, 121, 134, 146, 299, 304, 357.

Brownell, C. W., 313, 330, 331.

Browning, Robert, 358, 365.

Bryant, William Cullen, 305.

Buchanan, Robert, 349, 350.

_Buffalo Courier_, 164.

Bullen, Frank T., 90.

Bunker, Captain Uriah, 140.

Bunyan, John, 134, 331.

Burke, Edmund, 140, 153.

Burney, Fanny, 66, 177.

Burton, Robert, 116, 120, 121, 126.

Burton, Sir Richard, 15.

Butler, Samuel, 53.

Byron, Lord, 66, 120, 239.

Byron, Captain, 174, 176.

Cabri, Joseph, 196.

Cape Cod, 139, 142, 155.

Caret, 188.

Cargill, David, 40.

Cargill, Mrs. Mary, 40, 42.

Carlyle, Thomas, 44, 78, 82, 343.

Cartaret, 174, 176.

Cavendish, 173.

Champlain, Lake, 34, 262.

Chapone, Mrs., 58, 59, 61, 65, 126, 259.

Chase, Frederic Hathway, 257.

Chase, Jack, 32, 234, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 245, 246, 251, 381.

Chase, Owen, 136, 137.

Chasles, Philarete, 47.

Chateaubriand, François René, 205.

Chatterton, Thomas, 67.

Chesterfield, Lord, 116, 121.

_Chicago Times_, 165.

Churchill’s _Voyages_, 80.

_Clarel_, 29, 105, 186, 225, 226, 227, 257, 350, 352, 353, 357,
360, 361, 365.

Claret, Captain, 235, 243, 244, 245.

Clough, Arthur Hugh, 365.

Coan, Titus Munson, 23, 128, 351.

Coffin, Long Tom, 81.

Coleridge, Samuel, 121, 146.

College of New Jersey, 42.

_Confidence Man, The_, 17, 94, 227, 348.

Congregation of the Propaganda, 188.

Conrad, Joseph, 25, 81, 93.

Constantinople, 132, 335, 336, 352, 353, 354.

Cook, Captain James, 80, 169, 172, 173, 176, 177, 178, 183, 206, 256.

Cooke, Edmund, 174.

Cooper, James Fenimore, 18, 20, 81, 93, 177, 203, 304.

Covent Garden Theatre, 178.

Cowley, Abraham, 174.

Cowper, William, 151.

Curtis, George William, 305, 360.

Customs House, 16, 19, 20, 376, 377.

Duyckinck, George, 284, 285, 314, 326, 380.

_Daedalus, The_, 179, 181.

Dalrymple, Alexander, 172.

Dampier, William, 171, 174.

Dana, Richard Henry, 24, 25, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 86, 87, 129,
131, 295, 344, 345, 366.

Dante, 27, 37, 109, 259, 293, 338, 340, 343.

Darling, Captain, 183.

Darwin, Charles, 134.

Davis, Captain, 138, 167.

D’Wolf, Captain (see De Wolf II, Captain John).

Defoe, Daniel, 137.

Dekker, Thomas, 27.

Delaney, Mrs., 58.

Delano, R., 138.

de Bougainville, Louis, 175, 192.

Desgraz, C., 188, 196.

De Wolf II, Captain John, 44.

De Wolf, Mrs. John (see Mary Melville).

Dibdin, 102.

Donjalolo, 278.

Donne, Dr. John, 22.

Drake, Sir Francis, 173.

Dryden, John, 134.

_Duff, The_, 180, 182.

Du Petit-Thouars, Admiral, 189, 190, 191, 193, 198, 219, 256.

D’Urville, Captain Dumont, 190, 191.

Edwards, Jonathan, 305.

Eliot, George, 330.

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 50, 173.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 18, 313, 377.

_Encantadas, The_, 165, 348.

_Essex, The_, 137, 148.

Fairhaven, 130.

Fanning, 182.

Fayaway, 32, 128, 210, 211, 213, 260, 351.

Fedallah, 32.

Fielding, Henry, 27, 288.

Flaubert, Gustave, 94, 132, 243.

Fletcher, John, 27, 304.

Fletcher, Captain, 301.

Fleury, Franchise Raymonde Eulogie Marie de Douleurs Lamé (see
Mrs. Thomas Melville--Melville’s aunt).

Fluke, 243, 244.

Forbes, Thomas T., 85.

Foster, Newton, 81.

France, Anatole, 74, 136.

Franklin, Benjamin, 73, 134, 297, 298, 347.

Franklin, Admiral S. R., 233, 234, 235.

Freud, Sigmund, 17.

Fuller & Co., Bradford, 130.

Fuller, Margaret, 78, 330.

Furneaux, Lieutenant, 175, 177.

Gansevoort (Saratoga County, N. Y.), 35.

Gansevoort, Harmen Harmense Van, 34.

Gansevoort, General Herman, 35.

Gansevoort, Maria (see Mrs. Allan Melville).

Gansevoort, General Peter, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 60, 89.

Gansevoort, Hon. Peter, 35, 36, 66, 68, 70, 71, 357.

Gardener, George, 155.

Gauguin, Paul, 185, 223.

George the Third, King, 175, 177, 179, 182.

Glendinning, Marie, 54, 61.

Glendinning, Pierre (see Pierre).

Goethe, 132, 304, 323, 324.

Goldsmith, Oliver, 66, 114, 209.

Goode, G. Brown, 135, 155.

Gordon, Eliza, 241.

Greene, Herman Melville, 165.

Greene, Richard Tobias (see Toby).

Greenlander, 92, 93.

Griswold, Captain, 284, 289, 291.

Guam, 171.

Guy, Captain, 217, 219, 221.

Hair, Richard Melville, 165.

Hakluyt’s _Voyages_, 80.

Hannamanoo, 195.

Hardy, Lem, 195, 196, 197.

Hardy, Thomas, 29.

Harper, 19, 253, 273, 339, 344.

Harris’ _Voyages_, 80.

Hart, Col. Joseph C., 145.

Harvard College, 20, 42.

Hautia, 279, 280.

Hawkins, Sir Richard, 173.

Hawthorne, Julian, 311, 312, 314, 315, 325, 326, 331, 334, 336.

Hawthorne, Mrs. Nathaniel, 22, 23, 24, 309, 310, 312, 314, 317,
325, 329, 330, 334, 335.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 30, 32, 134, 169,
250, 305, 306, 309, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318,
320, 321, 323, 324, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 334, 335, 336,
337, 340, 346, 347, 348, 353.

Hawthorne, Una, 24, 334.

Henricy, Casimir, 193.

Henry, Joseph, 71.

_Highlander, The_, 88, 90, 98, 100, 101, 105, 108, 109, 218.

Hervey, Captain, 187.

Hobard, Mary Anna Augusta (Mrs. Thomas Melville--Melville’s aunt), 45.

Hobbes, Thomas, 134.

Hodges, W., 177.

Holland, Dr., 296.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 40, 305, 346, 352.

Honolulu, 156, 236.

Hook, Captain, 22, 27.

Howe, Julia Ward, 33.

Hubbard, 130, 160.

Hun, Dr. Henry, 70, 71.

Hussey, Christopher, 139, 140.

Huxley, Aldous, 132.

Huxley, Thomas, 53.

Imeeo, 228, 231.

_Independence, The_, 301.

Irving, Washington, 18.

Ishmael, 18, 27, 62, 89, 131, 160, 351.

_Israel Potter_, 293, 302, 304, 347.

Israel Potter, 297, 298.

Jackson, 32, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 100.

Jackson, Andrew, 42.

James, G. P. R., 23, 305.

_Janet, The_, 148.

Jarl, 32, 274, 275.

Jermin, John, 217, 219, 221.

Jewell, J. Grey, 88.

_John Marr_, 357, 365.

Johnson, Arthur, 342.

Johnson, Dr., 78, 177, 178, 279, 353.

Johnson, Captain Charles, 80.

Jones, John Paul, 347.

_Julia, The_, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221.

Kant, Immanuel, 17, 108, 285, 288.

Kemble, Fanny, 305.

Kingsley, Charles, 33.

Kippis, Dr., 172.

Knapp, Elizabeth, 257.

Knox, John, 50, 185.

Kory-Kory, 32, 209, 210, 212, 213.

Krusenstern, Admiral, 44, 182.

Ladrones, 171.

La Farge, John, 24, 211, 220.

La Maire, Captain, 173.

Lamb, Charles, 27, 56, 295.

Langsdorff, Captain, 44.

Lansingburg, 69, 118, 126, 251, 252, 258, 262, 263, 265, 271.

Laplace, Captain, 192, 193.

Larry, 93.

Lathers, Col. Richard, 308.

Lathrop, G. P., 313.

Lavendar, 93.

Lawrence, D. H., 342.

Lawton, William Cranston, 20.

Lemaître, Jules, 205.

Lemsford, 241.

Lenox, 305, 309, 311, 319, 337, 340.

_Leviathan, The_, 229, 231.

Lincoln, Abraham, 231, 375, 376.

Liverpool, 55, 73, 79, 83, 85, 91, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 107, 108,
111, 113, 126, 132, 334, 335, 336.

Lockhart, John Gibson, 296.

Long Island, 139, 155.

Lono, 176, 177.

Lombroso, Cesare, 17.

London, 290, 291, 293, 297, 299, 302, 308, 352.

London, Jack, 24.

London Missionary Society, 19, 174, 175, 178, 180, 182, 183, 184, 208,
222, 225, 227.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 22, 255, 305.

Long Ghost, Doctor, 32, 217, 218, 219, 222, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231,
232.

Louis Philippe of France, 189, 190.

Lowell, James Russell, 22, 33, 305, 348.

MacMeehan, Archibald, 380, 381.

Macy, Obed, 136, 141, 145, 155.

Magellan, 170, 171, 172, 173, 373.

Mandeville, Sir John, 29.

Mapple, Father, 27, 32.

_Mardi_, 20, 37, 38, 105, 121, 148, 151, 240, 256, 272, 273, 274, 277,
278, 279, 280, 283, 344, 357, 377.

Marheyo, 209, 212, 213, 250.

Mariner, William, 206.

Marnoo, 32.

Marquesas Islands, 133, 161, 168, 169, 173, 176, 178, 181, 182, 190,
191, 193, 194, 197, 198, 199, 200, 211, 214, 233, 236, 237, 253,
255, 256, 351.

Marryat, Captain Frederick, 20, 81, 88, 240.

Martin, Dr. John, 206.

Martin, Winthrop L., 135.

Mary, Queen of Scots, 50.

Masefield, John, 22, 25, 29, 30, 79, 331.

Massinger, Philip, 27.

Mather, Jr., Frank Jewell, 27, 341, 342, 347, 352, 357, 365.

Mather, Richard, 138.

_Matilda, The_, 179, 181.

Maugham, Somerset, 24.

Max, 92, 93.

Melvil of Hallhill, Sir James, 50, 51.

Melvil, William, 50.

Melville, Alexander, 6th Earl of, etc., 51, 52, 101.

Melville, Allan (Melville’s great-grandfather), 47.

Melville, Allan (Melville’s father), 33, 34, 44, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53,
54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 74,
102, 103, 258, 259.

Melville, Allan (Melville’s brother), 251, 254, 265, 267, 272, 283,
284, 299, 301, 345, 346, 367, 368, 376.

Melville, Mrs. Allan (née Maria Gansevoort, Melville’s mother), 33,
34, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69, 85, 88,
251, 259, 261, 283, 359.

Melville, Andrew (“Episcopomastrix”), 49, 50.

Melville, Andrew (Chevalier), 50.

Melville, Anna Marie Priscilla, 46.

Melville, Augusta (Melville’s sister), 271, 272, 273, 283.

Melville, Deborah (wife of John. See Scollay, Deborah).

Melville, Elizabeth Shaw (Melville’s wife), 113, 130, 257, 258, 260,
261, 262, 265, 268, 270, 272, 273, 279, 289, 290, 298, 299, 303,
304, 310, 311, 340, 346, 352, 360, 368, 376, 382.

Melville, Fanny, 283.

Melville, Gansevoort (Melville’s brother), 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 82,
206, 251, 252, 253, 255, 297, 301.

Melville, Helen (Melville’s aunt), 63.

Melville, Helen Marie (Melville’s sister), 63, 64, 271, 283.

Melville of Carnbee, Sir John, 47, 49.

Melville, John--Lord of Raith in Fife, 50.

Melville, John, 43.

Melville, Malcolm (Melville’s son), 273, 287, 289, 299, 302, 346.

Melville, Mary (Mrs. John De Wolf), 44.

Melville, Pierre François Henry Thomas Wilson, 46.

Melville, Priscilla (wife of Major Thomas--See Scollay, Priscilla).

Melville, Sir Richard de, etc., 34, 47.

Melville, Sir Robert, 50.

Melville, General Robert, 42.

Melville, Thomas (Melville’s great-great-grandfather), 47, 50.

Melville, Major Thomas (Melville’s grandfather), 40, 42, 43, 44, 45.

Melville, Thomas (Melville’s uncle), 44, 45, 46, 47, 72.

Melville, Thomas (Melville’s brother), 85, 251, 255, 271, 281, 283,
353, 358, 366.

Mencken, H. L., 93.

Mendoca, 173.

Meredith, George, 22, 29, 105, 358.

Metcalf, Eleanor Melville, 377.

Miguel, 91, 92, 93.

Milton, John, 28, 37, 120, 134, 372.

_Moby-Dick_, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 44, 62, 116, 121, 130, 133, 134,
135, 136, 137, 144, 149, 150, 154, 159, 162, 167, 274, 306, 311,
318, 319, 324, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 337, 340, 341,
344, 365, 380.

Moby-Dick, 30, 31, 131, 133, 382.

Moerenhaut (French consul at Tahiti), 190.

Molucca Islands, 171.

Monluc, Bishop of Valence, 50.

Montaigne, Michel, 204, 205, 241, 278.

Montégut, Emile, 317.

Montgomery, Mrs. Helen Barrett, 187.

Moore, Tom, 125, 126.

More, Mrs. Hannah, 57, 114.

Mortimer, Mrs. F. L., 183.

Mouat, Captain, 174.

Mow-Mow, 212, 213, 245.

Munsell, Joel, 36.

Murphy, Father, 221.

Murray, John, 252, 253, 292, 294, 295, 296, 302.

Nantucket, 27, 42, 130, 136, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145,
147, 154, 155, 160, 373.

_Nation, The London_, 21.

New Bedford, 129, 130, 139, 142, 143, 144, 154, 155, 156, 159, 160.

New England, 16, 20, 22, 24, 33, 83, 126, 132, 134, 138, 139, 140,
142, 154, 155, 156, 157, 305.

Newfoundland, 140.

New Guinea, 174.

New London, 139, 142, 156.

New York City, 33, 44, 63, 68, 73, 79, 82, 83, 91, 99, 108, 109,
142, 265, 271, 303, 304, 308, 350, 353, 367, 369, 376, 381.

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 16, 240, 332.

Nord, 241.

Nordau, Max, 17.

Nukuheva, 193, 199, 200, 202, 211, 212, 233.

Nye, N. H., 144.

Oberea, 175, 178.

O’Brien, Frederick, 24, 206, 214.

“Old Combustibles,” 235.

Omai, 177, 178.

_Omoo_, 21, 29, 115, 133, 167, 206, 208, 215, 224, 235, 236, 252,
255, 256, 273, 283, 287, 308, 339, 344, 365, 371, 375, 376.

Otaheite (see Tahiti).

Oto (see Pomare II, King).

Outooroo, 175.

Paine, Ralph D., 83.

_Pandora, The_, 179.

Paris, 297, 298.

Parker, Daniel P., 281.

Paton, John G., 203.

Paulet, Sir George, 235.

Pease, Captain, 130, 147, 161, 166, 169, 195.

Peleg, 27, 32, 154, 157.

_Pequod, The_, 131, 149, 162, 331, 332, 338.

Pert, Mr., 235.

Philippines, 171.

_Piazza Tales_, 165, 306, 348.

_Pierre_, 17, 19, 20, 29, 35, 48, 54, 56, 61, 62, 63, 113, 114,
115, 122, 125, 208, 225, 260, 280, 311, 338, 339, 341, 342,
343, 344.

Pierre, 32, 35, 36, 37, 39, 49, 54, 61, 62, 63, 67, 114, 115, 121,
280, 342, 343.

Pittsfield, 45, 46, 47, 63, 72, 113, 130, 160, 169, 228, 303, 304,
306, 308, 314, 315, 318, 327, 331, 336, 351, 352, 359, 367,
369, 376.

Plato, 18, 128, 371.

Po-Po, Jeremiah, 228, 229, 231, 232.

Poe, Edgar Allan, 152, 357.

Polynesia, 29, 186, 187, 203, 221, 223, 224, 228, 251, 275, 373.

Pomare I, King, 181, 186, 187.

Pomare II, King, 187, 221.

Pomare, Queen, 187, 189, 190, 191, 193, 219, 229, 230, 231, 234.

Pope, Alexander, 28, 134.

Porter, Captain, 182, 194.

Providence, R. I., 139.

Priestly, Joseph, 177.

Princeton (see College of New Jersey).

Pringle, Sir John, 177.

Pritchard, The Rev. (British Consul at Tahiti), 190, 219.

Putnam, G. P., 347.

Queequeg, 32, 147.

Rabelais, François, 21, 22, 27, 93, 105, 134, 277.

Raynal, Abbé, 172.

_Redburn_, 29, 38, 44, 54, 62, 68, 78, 79, 81, 82, 100, 106, 107,
133, 157, 159, 272, 273, 283, 292, 294, 304, 344, 365.

_Reine Blanche, The_, 193, 199, 219, 256.

Repplier, Agnes, 58, 166.

Revere, Paul, 42.

Reybaud, Louis, 192.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 177.

Rhode Island, 42, 44.

Ricketson, Daniel, 136.

Riga, Captain, 110, 111.

Rio (de Janeiro), 31, 167, 245.

Roberts, E., 196.

Rodney, Mate, 27.

Rome, 132, 371, 372.

Rouchouse, Bishop of Nilolopis, 188, 190, 191.

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 22, 79, 132, 151, 204, 299, 304.

Royal Society, 176, 177, 178, 206.

Royce, Josiah, 339.

Ruskin, John, 33.

Russell, W. Clark, 24, 79, 174, 365, 366.

Rutland, Duke of, 299, 300, 301, 304.

Sabine, Lorenzo, 136, 138.

Saddle-Meadows, 35, 36, 39.

Safroni-Middleton, A., 24.

Sag Harbor, 142.

Sainte-Beuve, Charles Augustin, 93, 94.

Salem, Mass., 83.

Samoa, 275, 276.

Salt, H. S., 79.

_Sandusky Mirror_, 164.

Sandwich, Earl of, 172.

Sandwich Islands, 46, 178, 223, 235, 345, 375.

Savage, Hope, 257.

Scammon, C. M., 136.

Schopenhauer, Arthur, 338, 339, 343, 366, 377.

Schouten, 173, 174.

Scollay, Deborah, 43.

Scollay, Priscilla, 43, 44.

Scoresby, William, 136.

Scott, Sir Walter, 81, 120, 239, 296.

Sedgewick, Catherine, 305.

Seward, Miss (The Swan of Lichfield), 178.

Shakespeare, William, 21, 28, 120, 240, 348.

Shaw, Elizabeth (see Melville--Mrs. Herman).

Shaw, John Oakes, 257.

Shaw, Chief Justice Lemuel, 16, 43, 257, 258, 340, 344, 345, 366, 369.

Shaw, Lemuel (son of Chief Justice), 257, 268, 269, 270, 273.

Shaw, Samuel Savage, 257, 267, 270, 272, 280, 281, 282, 310.

Shenley, 243.

Sigourney, Mrs., 305.

Smith, Adam, 91.

Smith, J. E. A., 45, 72, 113, 252, 313, 352, 369.

Smollett, Tobias, 27, 81.

Society Islands, 174, 236.

Society of Picpus, 188.

Socrates, 18, 344, 371.

Solomon, 29, 30, 151, 152, 323, 333.

Solomon Islands, 173, 174.

_Southampton, The_, 284, 290.

Southport (England), 30, 334, 335, 336.

South Seas, 24, 113, 127, 131, 141, 174, 177, 178, 179, 187, 188,
195, 196, 203, 205, 206, 216, 219, 234, 236, 251, 256, 283,
337, 357, 371, 373, 374, 375, 377.

Spencer, John C., 164.

Spenser, Edmund, 134.

Spilbergen, Joris, 173.

Stanwix, Fort, 34, 36.

Starbuck, Alexander, 130, 135, 136, 141, 332.

Stearns, Frank Preston, 23.

Stedman, Arthur, 113, 128, 129, 130, 131, 236, 349, 350, 365.

Steelkilt, 27.

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 20, 22, 24, 28, 56, 201, 357.

Stoddard, Charles Warren, 24, 357, 376, 377.

Sturges, William, 85.

Swift, Jonathan, 21, 40, 331.

Tahiti, 16, 132, 174, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184,
185, 186, 187, 189, 191, 192, 193, 199, 219, 221, 224,
225, 227, 228, 230, 231, 234, 235, 236, 256, 339.

Taji, 105.

Tashetego, 32.

Tasman, 172, 173, 174.

Taylor, Bayard, 304.

Taylor, Dr., 285, 287, 288, 289, 291, 292.

Tenae, 182.

Tennyson, Lord Alfred, 365.

Thackeray, William Makepeace, 28, 125.

Thompson, Francis, 28, 129.

Thomson, James, 22, 28.

Thoreau, Henry David, 22, 131, 132.

_Timoleon_, 340, 353, 357, 365.

Toby, 32, 130, 133, 162, 164, 165, 166, 168, 200, 201, 202,
203, 209, 211, 212.

Tonga Islands, 206.

Tower, Walter S., 135, 138, 142.

_Typee_, 21, 29, 113, 114, 115, 116, 128, 130, 133, 162, 163,
165, 166, 199, 206, 207, 208, 209, 211, 216, 223, 235,
236, 237, 252, 253, 255, 256, 257, 258, 283, 297, 308,
323, 339, 344, 351, 365, 371, 375, 376.

_United States, The_, 233, 235, 236, 237, 239, 240, 242, 243,
245, 246, 250, 252.

University of New York, 35.

Van Schaek, Henry, 45.

Van Schaick, Catharine, 34, 43.

Vedder, Elihu, 365, 366.

_Venus, The_, 189.

Verrill, Hyatt, 135, 142.

Victoria, Queen of England, 22, 33, 101, 189, 191, 230, 231, 295, 330.

Villon, François, 94.

Vincendon-Dumoulin, 188, 196.

Voltaire, François, 203.

Willis, Captain, 174, 175, 176.

Walpole, Horace, 339.

Washington, George, 35, 36, 42, 320.

Watson, E. L. Grant, 331.

Watson, Elkanah, 45.

Webster, Daniel, 134.

Webster, John, 27.

Wendell, Barrett, 20.

West, Professor Charles E., 72.

West, Captain Isaiah, 155.

_White-Jacket_, 29, 133, 167, 234, 236, 237, 240, 242, 250, 251,
283, 294, 295, 299, 302, 304, 339, 344, 377.

Whitman, Walt, 33, 221, 350.

Wiley & Putnam, 253.

Williams, 242.

Willis, Col. George S., 352.

Wilson, Captain, 180.

Wordsworth, William, 56, 57, 78, 132.

Yillah, 277, 279, 280.

Young, Edward, 151.

Zola, Emile, 22, 79.

Transcriber's Note

Duplicate headings have been removed.

Illustrations have been moved next to the text which they illustrate, and may no longer correspond to the locations given in the List of Illustrations.

The following apparent errors have been corrected:

p. 17 "bolstering it" changed to "bolstering its"

p. 22 "unitiated" changed to "uninitiated"

p. 111 "be imbibed" changed to "he imbibed"

p. 161 "_Smith_" changed to "“_Smith_"

p. 212 "Desirious" changed to "Desirous"

p. 222 "‘Mickonaree _ena_" changed to "‘Mickonaree _ena_’"

p. 223 "are!”" changed to "are!’"

p. 261 "Remember" changed to "“Remember"

p. 275 "shouler" changed to "shoulder"

p. 290 "early." changed to "early.”"

p. 293 "took" changed to "“took"

p. 294 "_Marriage_." changed to "_Marriage_.”"

p. 296 "away." changed to "away.”"

p. 303 "_Maids_.”" changed to "_Maids_."

p. 311 "evercise" changed to "exercise"

p. 330 "qualty" changed to "quality"

p. 337 "from hs" changed to "from his"

p. 350 "prophet!" changed to "prophet!”"

p. 351 "appearing the" changed to "appearing in the"

p. 362 "Common-place.”" changed to "Common-place."

p. 378 "c mpanion" changed to "companion"

p. 388 "Harper’s New Monthly’s" changed to "Harper’s New Monthly"

p. 393 "Fedellah" changed to "Fedallah"

p. 393 "Griswald" changed to "Griswold"

p. 394 "Henry, Joseph, 71." moved to alphabetical order

p. 395 "Mac Maehan" changed to "MacMeehan"

p. 395 "Winthrope" changed to "Winthrop"

p. 397 "Otaheiti" changed to "Otaheite"

p. 397 "_Pequod The_" changed to "_Pequod, The_"

p. 397 "56. 61," changed to "56, 61,"

p. 398 "Litchfield" changed to "Lichfield"

p. 399 "Tanae" changed to "Tenae"

p. 399 "Elkahah" changed to "Elkanah"

Non-standard and inconsistent punctuation, spelling and hyphenation, have otherwise been left as printed.

On p. 65, "GOD" was printed in black-letter type.

On p. 123 the closing quotation mark in "address her.”" has no corresponding opening quote.

The index entry for "Fleury, Franchise Raymonde Eulogie Marie de Douleurs Lamé" refers to an entry for "Mrs. Thomas Melville--Melville’s aunt", which appears not to exist.