Litchfield enquirer., 1874-07-09
From Harp,r's Month Magazine. THE BURNING OF SALTONE
 VILLA.

The lnauSlOn-iiOnSe or villa of SaltOnf
 was hiIiit by William Saltone, of Georgia
 in the.yea.s 1892, s3, and :3i. In tht
 winter 1882 the proprietor sold his plan tatinll in Georgia. at the pnrsuasion o
 his wife, who, ihongli Il young woman
 was known, by a custom oi family ant
 neighbOriood, as Madam Saitone," and
 built a villa i'll Eastern Massachusetts near one of the interior villages of tha State. He Was tlie last representative O
 an ancient family of Virginia. which fol several generations had given signs of de cay by melancholia and insanity. The two younger brothers of William had iiv ed unmarried, and died infmIddle life by their own act. Madam Saltone was a sec ond cousin of her husband, and though { lady of superior manners and rare educa tiOn, was of a severe and compressive tenn
 per, naughty Ill general society, and dwelling much upon ideas of aristocracy. She had been eminently beautiful, and when I first saw her at Saltone villa, one year after tine sudden demise of Mir. Sal tone, who was found dead of apoplexy ill field near the house, during the absence of hls wife on a visit to the South, she re- tained the full splendor of a majestic countenance and figure, with a manner and bearing the most queen like had ev. CT seen in woman. She was then in her thirty-fifth year.
 At tho completion of the second year of her widowhood Madam Saltone was privately married to MT. William Dave nant, of Boston; gentleman of fortune, ten years her junior, and of singulary win ming and amiable manners. Being the business manager and legal adviser of the family, enjoyed the confidence and con- versation of MT. Davenant and his lady, and the characters and personal peculiar ities of both were we'll known to me.
 Three years had elapsed, and the sec- ond marriage of Madam Saltone promised, like the first, to be chiidless one. Nei- ther Davenant nor his wife had any near relatives who would naturally be the heirs of their large estates. The husband became gloomy, abstracted, and desponding. I attributed the change to his disappoint ment in regard to offspring, and advised him to adopt a son. He thanked me for the suggestion, and said that he would certainly provide himself'with an heir, if it were possible, for the sake of the name, if for nothing more.
 MT. Davenant then informed me that he was making preparations for journey to Europe, where he intended to collect pictures, plate and works of art for a new house in the city, which Madam Dave nant was building, He would be absent perhaps year.
 Soon after this conversation I was sent for by Madam Davenant to her room She was in bed, attended by her pkysi- elan, and seemed ill., She informed me of the projected journey; said that ''she had no desire to accompany her husband, but would remain and superintend the building of the new house, which," she added with sigh, ''might be an amuse- ment." Madam Davenant looked pale and sad, which was noticeable, as her ex- pression was usually clear and decided. She gave me bundle of documents to examine and copy. I retired immediate ly to my room and opened the package. At contalned three legal instruments; the wills of Davenant and his wife, naturally leaving all they possessed to each other. and power of attorney for myself to manage the personal affairs of the hus- band during his absence. They were drawn up carefully in the bold, angular handwriting of the lady, whose talent for affairs suited we'll with the pride and firm ness of her disposition.
 The next day these papers were execu- ted and given to me. Mir. Davenant ad- vised that taken them with me to Bos- ton, and lodge them in place of securi- ty. After some demur, the lady consent ed, and left the house, glad to escape from an atmosphere of gloom and sus- picion, which all the luxury and splendor of Saltone villa and the elegant conversa- ton of it's master had not power to dis pei.
 The mansion stood upon the slope of Q broad hill facing the sunrise. On a clear day, with a powerful telescope, the. site of Boston, Milton Hill, and the ocean were faintly discernible from the upper win dows. It was separated from the village by an arm of the forest which extended eastward from the mountains. The lawn In front of the mansion was grand cres- cent, fringed on it's outer curve with fine elms. A carriage-way, after winding through tho forest, entered the lawn upon the right. The view in front overlooked the summits of the highest trees of the plain, and presented prospect of more than twenty villages, far and near, white marks on the green bosom of the land. Orchards, copses, corn-fieids, and silver streams added interest to the view.
 The side doors of the villa opened into rose-bowered paths, which terminated by long gradatIons ill shady shrubberies; and these in hickory groves, which mingled insensibly with the natural forest. The viny porticoes, hung with woodbiie, cle- matis, and rare creepers; the long con- servatory, a palace of glass. resting upon rows of Moorish columns, under which a vast assemblage of towering plants of the tropics sated the eye and sense with beau- ty and odor; cases of exquisite shells, coins, and books. in the interior rooms :; hall so light and brilliant it seemed al- most a continuation of the painted porti- coes; carpets and furniture in keeping with the rich colors of the. wall, and ex- quisitely ornate; instruments of music, which stood, mute servant of melody, in their pictured recesses; paintings of all ages, whose subject required no explana- tion, not even verse of Scripture, fixing and charming the gaze at the first view; the quiet but sOmbre. richness of the rooms, all different, characteristic, and supported by decorative art that neg lected nothing, and relieved while it sat- isfed the eye; the vastness and variety of the immense house where kings retinue might have been entertained; in the midst of all moved two rare and beautiful fig ures, childless, joyless, polished as the statues of their halls, and cold as they; tending in weariness toward future with out aim or hope, and dreaming always of s'what might have been."
 It was my habit, when approaching the villa, to take by-road that led over the low range of mountains overlooking its western front. I did this to get the view, which at all seasons attractive; not so much for those extended features of cul- tivated landscape scenery, which, main- tam, surpass, Tn some parts of lovely Massachusetts, the fairest scenic reputa- tions of France and England. but for the view of Saltone through an opening in the forest.
 All beauties, even those of the human form. depend much upon association. The velvet lawns of baronial manors de- light the Englishman, and the heavy and somewhat tame architecture of his coun- try-seats pleases him more than they do another: he loves them through an edu- cated taste; they are the first impression, the ideal of youth, the pride of manhood, fhn F1rorr1f11no af No ala