Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-01-19
CHAPTER VII.
Some Account of Philip Lindsay-sen-
si5iIity and Retirement Apt to En-
aender a Psrnicious Philosophy.

Some Account of Philip Lindsay-ssn-
si5iIity and Retirement Apt to En-
gender a Psrnieious Philosophy.
The thread which 1 have now to take
up and weave into this history requires
that my narrative should go back for
some years. It briefly concerns the
earlier fortunes of Philip Lindsay.
His father emigrated from England,
and was established in Virginia about
the year 1875. as secretary to the
governor Of the province. He was a
gentleman of good name and fortune
Philip was born within the year after
this emigration. AS America was then
comparatively a wilderness, and al
forded but few facilities for the educa-
ton of youth, the son Of the secretary
was sent at an early age to England
where he remained, with the excep-
ton of an occasional visit to his pa
rents, under the guardianship Of a near
relative, until he had completed, not
only his college course, but also his
studies in the Temple-an almost in
dispensable requirement OF that day
for young gentlemen Of condition.
His studies in the Temple had been
productive of one result, which Lord
Coke, If remember, considers tdiosyn-
cratic in the younger votaries OF the
law-he had fallen in love with an
heiress. The natural consequence was
a tedious year, after his return home,
spent at the seat Of the provincial gov
ernment and a most energetic and
persevering interchange Of letters with
the lady, whom my authority allows
me to name Gertrude Marshall. This
was followed by another voyage across
the Atlantic, and finally, as might be
predicted, by a wedding with all prop
er observance and parental sanction.
Lindsay then returned, a happier and
more tranquil man, to Virginia, where
he fulfilled the duties of more than one
public station of dignity and trust.
In due course Of time he fell heir to
his fathers wealth. which with the es-
tate of his wife made him one of the
most opulent and considerable gentle
men Of the Old Dominion.
He had but two children-Mildred
and Henry-with four years difference
between their ages. These were nur-
tured with all the care and indulgent
bounty natural to parents whose az
fections are concentrated upon so
small family circle.
Lindsay's character was grave and
thoughtful, and inclined him to avoid
the contests of ambition and collision
with the world. A delicate taste, nice
Judgment, and a fondness for inquiry
made him a student and an ardent low
er of books The ply Of his mind was
towards metaphysics; he delved into
the obsolete subtleties Of the old
schools of philosophy, and found
amusement. If not instruction in those
frivolous but ingenious speculations
which have overshadowed even the
best wisdom of the schoolmen with
the hues of a solemn and absurd pc
dantry. He dreamed in the reveries of
Plato, and pursued them through the
alterations of the Coryphans. He de-
lighted in the visions Of Pythagoras,
and in the intellectual revels Of Epicu-
rus. He found attraction in the Gnos-
tic mysteries, and still more in the
phantasmag goria Of Judicial Astrology
His library furnished a curious index
to this unhealthy appetite for the mar
vellous and the mystical. The writ
Lully, and Martin Delvio. and others
Of less celebrity in this circle Of impos-
ture, were found associated with truer
PHILOSOPHERS and more approved and
authentic teachers.
These studies, although pursued with
an acknowledgment Of their false and
dangerous tendency, nevertheless had
their influence upon Lindsay's imagi-
nation. There are few men in whom
the mastery of reason is so absolute
as to be able totally to subdue the oc-
casional uprising Of that element Of
superstition which Is found more or
less vigorous in every mind. A nerv-
Gus temperament, which is almost
characteristic of minds of an imagina-
tive cast, is often distressingly liable
to this influence, in spite of the strong
est resolves of the will and the most
earnest convictions of the Judgment.
If those who possess this temperament
would confess they might certify to
many extraordinary anxieties and
troubles of spirit. which 1t would pain
them to have the world believe.
Lindsay's pursuits had impressed
his understanding with some sentiment
of respect for that old belief in the
supernatural and had, perhaps, even
warmed up his faith to a secret cred
u!ity in these awful agencies of the
spiritual world, or at least to an un-
satisfied doubt as to their existence.
Many men of sober brow and renown
for wisdom are unwilling to acknowl-
edge the extent of their own credulity
on the some topic.
His relations to the government, his
education, pursuits and temper, as
might be expected, had deeply imbued
Lindsay with the politics of the Tory
party, and taught him to regard with
distrust, and even with adherence, the
Revolutionary principles which were
getting in vogue. In this sentiment he
visited with a dislike that did not COR
respond with the more usual develop
ment of his character, all those who
were in any degree suspected of aiding
or abetting the prevailing political
heresy of the times.
About two years after the birth of
Mildred, he had purchased a tract of
land in the then new and frontier
country lying upon the Rockfish river
Many families Of note in the low coun-
try had possessed themselves of estates
at the foot of the Blue Ridge, in this
neighborhood, and were already MAX
ing establishments there. Mr.. Lindsay
attracted by the romantic character OF
the scenery, the freshness Of the soil
and the healthfulness of the climate
following the example of others, had
laid off the grounds Of the new estate