Hammond

“ Hammond may satisfy himself as to the union of commerce and literature by simply reading the history of the Medici, where commerce, literature, and the arts made one of the most splendid, useful, and powerful coalitions that ever were seen in modern times. Here is a fine sentence! Mr. Hammond once, when piqued by my raillery, declared that he never in his life saw, or could have conceived, till he saw me, that a philosopher could laugh so much and so heartily. ”

“ At last Hammond began to hum a lugubrious tune. From that he passed to a livelier one. He ceased humming suddenly and took to whistling. He dropped that as suddenly and sighed profoundly.
"After all's said an' done, a man is only young once," he said.
Jim brightened and smiled.
"What about second childhood?" he returned.
Hammond laughed and smote his knee. His laugh was broken, abrupt, like the yapping of a dog. But it was quite evident to Jim that he was trying to be agreeable. ”

“ Green instantly swept his hands over the table to secure the money and bills it contained; but, ere he had accomplished his purpose, young Hammond grappled three or four narrow strips of paper, and hastily tore them into shreds.
"You're a cheating scoundrel!" cried Green, fiercely, thrusting his hand into his bosom as if to draw from thence a weapon; but the words were scarcely uttered, ere Hammond sprung upon him with the fierceness of a tiger, bearing him down upon the floor. ”

“ But though he amused himself with them all, there was in truth but one man among them in whom he really felt much interest; and that one, we need hardly say, was Hammond. It was not often that he found the old gentleman in a conversible mood; always courteous, indeed, but generally cool and reserved; often engaged in his one room, to which Middleton had never yet been admitted, though he had more than once sent in his name, when Hammond was not apparent upon the bench which, by common consent of the Hospital, was appropriated to him. ”

“ Hammond, this is my daughter.”
A profound silence succeeded. The marchioness was frightened. Despencer was conscious of a faint emotion to which he had long been a stranger, and which he supposed to be honest shame. Hammond was too much moved to speak. Victoria hesitated only for an instant, then she went up to Belle impulsively and kissed her on the cheek.
“Lord Severn,” said Hammond, slowly, as soon as he could master himself, “you have done me the greatest service one man can do to another, and you have crushed me.” ”

“ Leaving Hammond to take the car home, Gramont headed for Canal Street to mingle with the carnival crowd and revel in his new-found sense of freedom. Now that he was his own master, he felt like a new man. ”

“ And yet there was something distinctive about the man, Hammond thought, something wild and uncanny, which made him unlike any of those hale and hearty-looking dalesmen on whom old age sate so lightly. No, John Hammond could not fancy this man, with his pallid countenance and pale crafty eyes, to be of the same race as those rugged and honest-looking descendants of the Norsemen. ”

“ Hammond came in sight.
"Howdy, Hammond!" greeted the labor contractor, as he came out of the best-looking house in the clearing. "Why, it's the girls I hauled off the sand bar!" he added, as he recognized Betty and her chums. "Did you get home all right?"
"Yes, and we've come to do as you said, and hire some help for Mr. Stonington," ventured Betty, blushing a bit at her boldness.
"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Belton. "I've got just the kind of pickers you want, Hammond. Quick, cheerful lot of boys, that will work from sunrise to sunset." [107]
"That's what you always say," laughed Mr. Hammond. ”

“ She thought of John Hammond, the tall, strong figure, straight and square; the head so proudly carried on a neck which would have graced a Greek arena. The straight, clearly-cut features, the flashing eyes, bright with youth and hope and the promise of all good things. Yes, there was indeed a man—a man in all the nobility of manhood, as God made him, an Adam before the Fall.
Ah, if John Hammond had only possessed a quarter of Mr. Smithson's wealth how gladly would Lesbia have defied the world and married him. But to defy the world upon nothing a year was out of the question. ”

“ The church clock was striking eight as Hammond came at a brisk pace down to the valley. There was still an hour before breakfast, so he took a circuitous path to Fellside, and descended upon the house from the Fell, as he had done that summer morning when he saw James Steadman sauntering about in his garden.
Within about a quarter of a mile of Lady Maulevrier's shrubberies Mr. Hammond encountered a pedestrian, who, like himself, was evidently taking a constitutional ramble in the morning air, but on a much less extended scale, for this person did not look capable of going far afield. ”

“ Make Hammond and Mary happy by consenting to their engagement, and trust the rest to Providence, and to me. Take my word for it, Hammond is not a beggar, and he is a man likely to make his mark in the world. If a year hence his income is not enough to allow of his marrying, I will double Mary's allowance out of my own purse. Hammond's friendship has steadied me, and saved me a good deal more than five hundred a year.'
'I can quite believe that. I believe Mr. Hammond is a worthy man, and that his influence has been very good for you; but that does not make him a good match for Mary. ”

“ Where there is fiction, there is no passion; he that describes himself as a shepherd, and his Neæra or Delia as a shepherdess, and talks of goats and lambs, feels no passion. He that courts his mistress with Roman imagery deserves to lose her; for she may with good reason suspect his sincerity. Hammond has few sentiments drawn from nature, and few images from modern life. He produces nothing but frigid pedantry. ”

“ In 1740 Hammond wrote the prologue for Lillo's posthumous tragedy of ‘Elmerick,’ which was acted at Drury Lane Theatre, and some additional poems by him and references to his compositions are in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for 1779, 1781, 1786, and 1787. Hammond's elegies are avowedly imitations of Tibullus, and Johnson condemned them as having ‘neither passion, nature, nor manners,’ nothing ‘but frigid pedantry.’ These strictures produced a quarto pamphlet of ‘Observations on Dr. Johnson's Life of Hammond,’ 1782, but time has given its verdict in favour of the critic. ”

“ When I suspected you of being the Midnight Masquer, and afterward, I was convinced that you, and very likely Hammond as well, were very clever swindlers of some kind. There, I confess, I made a grave error. My friend Gumberts never forgets faces, and he said to me, one day, that Hammond's face was vaguely familiar to him, but he could not place the man. ”

“ The sky was still cloudless when John Hammond strolled slowly up the leafy avenue at Fellside. He had been across the valley and up the hill to Easedale Tarn, and then by rough untrodden ways, across a chaos of rock and heather, into a second valley, long, narrow, and sterile, known as Far Easedale, a desolate gorge, a rugged cleft in the heart of the mountains. The walk had been long and laborious; but only in such clambering and toiling, such expenditure of muscular force and latent heat, could the man's restless soul endure those long hours of suspense. ”

“ Hammond, adding something in a sort of jargon, to which the aged man replied. He seemed more like a negro than an Indian.
"He claims to be over a hundred years old," went on Mr. Hammond, as he and the party passed through the clearing. "And he sure looks it. His wife is nearly as old."
As they went on they heard ahead of them the not unpleasant strains of a negro melody.
"What's that?" asked Grace, coming to a stop.
"We're near Belton's place," explained the foreman. "He keeps quite a lot of hands in readiness, and they pass away the time singing and eating until they're hired. ”

“ He doesn’t know which side Hammond has got, and it isn’t likely he can tell red oars from brown at this distance. You wait until they get under the cliff up there, out of the sunlight, and then you can see for yourself.”
By this time the excitement was beginning to tell on the spectators along the shore and at the finish. Cheers for Ferry Hill and for Hammond floated across the water, and flags began to wave. Then, a mile up the stream, the two four-oared crews suddenly shot their slender craft into the shadowed water and so became plainly visible to hundreds of anxious eyes. ”

“ Many callers came in. Everyone noticed the strange placard. Some asked what it meant. Modestly, but with strong purpose, and with perfect frankness, Hammond told each and all who enquired, of his change of heart, and how possessed [188] with the fact that Christ’s return was imminent, he had had the placard done for his own, and for others quickening and reminder.
People smiled indulgently, but entered into no argument with him. He was too important a man for that, and, equally, they dare not pooh-pooh his testimony, wild as it appeared to most, if not all of them. ”

“ In the afternoon shadows that small head and slim form contrasted curiously with the spacious brow of the tall and commanding figure at the other end of the mantelpiece, the imposing presence of Father Cyprian Hammond, at that time a famous personage in London society, the morals and manners whereof he had of late made it his chief business to satirise and denounce. But the people of pleasure and leisure, the butterflies and humming-birds of the world, the creatures of light and colour, have a keen relish for reproof and denunciation, though they may wince under the lash of irony. ”

“ Hammond?”
“No.” The word was spoken with a touch of disdain.
“Not know Mr. Hammond! Why, I thought Hammond’s ales were drunk in all the clubs?”
“It doesn’t follow that you know a man because you drink his beer. But I have heard of him. Isn’t he rather an outsider?”
The marchioness looked indignant.
“He is run after by all the best people,” she remonstrated.
“Yes, but is he worth it?” returned Despencer.
[8] “He is worth two millions,” retorted the marchioness.
Despencer sat up in his chair and glanced at her.
“Rather a loud kind of man, they tell me,” he observed. ”

“ Hammond. Mrs. Hammond, a pretty little woman, coming to call upon you--great Heaven! Is that the way that that oaf Mitford talked of her who two years ago was Laura Molyneux, the mere mention of whose name caused Alsager to thrill to his finger-tips; and whose low trainante voice, long steady passionate glances, and rippling shoulders could have led him to destruction? Drove her chestnuts well, eh? Yes, by Jove! there were few women could touch her either in riding or driving, and--Laurence laughed grimly to himself as he strode along. ”

“ Hammond grew pale and trembled, and broke out 'into passionate and distracted expressions,' saying that he was undone, and between his duty to the king and his obligations to the army would be confounded. Finally, he said 'he did believe his majesty relied on him as a person of honour and honesty, and therefore did engage to perform whatever could be expected of a person of honour and honesty' (ib. pp. 378, 380; Ashburnham, ii. 48, 115) . On this extremely vague engagement Ashburnham conducted Hammond to the king, and the king came to the Isle of Wight. ”

“ DINNER IN THE HALL OF THE BLOOMSBURY MARKET
As I spoke, I heard footsteps near the door; the latch yielded, and in came our two lovers, looking so handsome that one had no feeling of shame in looking on at their little-concealed love-making; for indeed it seemed as if all the world must be in love with them. As for old Hammond, he looked on them like an artist who has just painted a picture nearly as well as he thought he could when he began it, and was perfectly happy. He said:
“Sit down, sit down, young folk, and don’t make a noise. Our guest here has still some questions to ask me.” ”

“ We remained silent for some time, listening to the low, irregular breathing of the creature on the bed, and watching the rustle of the bedclothes as it impotently struggled to free itself from confinement. Then Hammond spoke.
"Harry, this is awful."
"Ay, awful."
"But not unaccountable."
"Not unaccountable! What do you mean? Such a thing has never occurred since the birth of the world. I know not what to think, Hammond. God grant that I am not mad, and that this is not an insane fantasy!"
"Let us reason a little, Harry. Here is a solid body which we touch, but which we cannot see. ”

“ Hammond died in the year 1743, in the thirty-first year of his age, at Stow, the seat of his kind patron, the lord Cobham, who honoured him with a particular intimacy. The editor of Mr. Hammond's Elegies observes, that he composed them before he was 21 years of age; a period, says he, when fancy and imagination commonly riot at the expence of judgment and correctness. He was sincere in his love, as in his friendship; he wrote to his mistress, as he spoke to his friends, nothing but the true genuine sentiments of his heart. ”

“ His were blue as the inner light of a glacier, with something of the ice’s quality in their steady stare—a fighter’s eyes, hard as a rock that you cannot break with an axe; the kind of eyes that women forgive anything to. Indeed Hammond had spent most of his thirty-eight years sinning against women, and they forgave him even unto seventy times seven ”

“ Henry Hammond [q. v.] from 1649 until Hammond's death in 1660. Between Hammond and Lady Pakington there existed the strongest religious sympathy, and her house, while Hammond occupied it, became the natural resort of eminent divines of similar views. Fell, Henchman, Morley, Allestree, Pearson, Gunning, and Fulman, who acted as Hammond's amanuensis, all visited Westwood, and were Lady Pakington's familiar friends. When, therefore, the first edition of the ‘Whole Duty of Man’ appeared anonymously in 1658 (under the title of ‘The Practice of Christian Graces, or the Whole,’ &c.) ”