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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11061-0.txt b/11061-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..79e640c --- /dev/null +++ b/11061-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8803 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11061 *** + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VI.--AUGUST, 1860.--NO. XXXIV. + + + + + + + +THE CARNIVAL OF THE ROMANTIC. + + +Whither went the nine old Muses, daughters of Jupiter and the Goddess +of Memory, after their seats on Helicon, Parnassus, and Olympus were +barbarized? Not far away. They hovered like witches around the seething +caldron of early Christian Europe, in which, "with bubble, bubble, toil +and trouble," a new civilization was forming, mindful of the brilliant +lineage of their worshippers, from Homer to Boethius, looking upon the +vexed and beclouded Nature, and expecting the time when Humanity should +gird itself anew with the beauty of ideas and institutions. They were +sorrowful, but not in despair; for they knew that the children of men +were strong with recuperative power. + +The ear of Fancy, not long since, heard the hoofs of winged Pegasus +striking the clouds. The long-idle Muses, it seemed, had become again +interested in human efforts, and were paying a flying visit to the +haunts of modern genius from the Hellespont to the Mississippi. +They lingered in sunny Provence, and in the dark forest-land of the +Minnesingers. In the great capitals, as Rome, Berlin, Paris, London,--in +smaller capitals, as Florence, Weimar, and Boston,--in many a village +which had a charm for them, as Stratford-on-Avon, Ferney, and Concord +in Massachusetts,--in the homes of wonderful suffering, as Ferrara and +Haworth.--on many enchanted waters, as the Guadalquivir, the Rhine, +the Tweed, the Hudson, Windermere, and Leman,--in many a monastic nook +whence had issued a chronicle or history, in many a wild birthplace of a +poem or romance, around many an old castle and stately ruin, in many a +decayed seat of revelry and joyous repartee,--through the long list +of the nurseries of genius and the laboratories of art, they wandered +pensive and strangely affected. At length they rested from their journey +to hold a council on modern literature. The long results of Christian +time were unrolled before them as in a chart. They beheld the dawn of a +new historic day, marked by songs of fantastic tenderness, and unwieldy, +long, and jointless romances and poems, like the monsters which played +in the unfinished universe before the creation of man. The Muses smiled +with a look more of complaisance than approval, as they reviewed the +army of Troubadours and Minnesingers and the crowd of romancers who +followed in their train. They decided that the joyous array of early +mediæval literature was full of promise, though something of its tone +and temper was past the comprehension of pagan goddesses. The legends of +saints and pictures of martyrdoms were especially mysterious to them, +and they regarded them raptly, not smilingly, and bowed their heads. +Anon their eyes rested on an Italian city, where uprose, as if in +interstellar space, an erect figure, with a piercing eye, pleasant as +Plato's voice. His countenance was fixed upon the empyrean, and a more +than Minerva-like form hovered above him, interpreting the Christian +universe; and as he wrote what she dictated, the verses of his poem were +musical even to the Muses. Dante, Beatrice, and the "Divine Comedy," +with a Gothic church as a make-weight, were balanced in Muses' minds in +comparison with the "Iliad" and the age of Pericles; and again they put +on the rapt look of mystery, but a smile also, and their admiration +and applause were more and more. To England they soon turned, and +contemplated the round, many-colored globe of Shakspeare's works. As +playful swallows sometimes dart round and round a lithe and wondering +wingless animal, so they, admiringly and timidly, attracted, yet +hesitating, delighting in his alertness, but not quite understanding it, +flitted like a troubled and beautiful flock around the great magician of +modern civilization. Their glance became lighter and less intent, as if +they were nearer to knowledge, the pain of perplexity disappeared like a +shadow from their countenances, their plaudits were more unreserved, and +it seemed likely that the high desert of Shakspeare would win for our +new literature a favorable recognition from the aristocratic goddesses +of antiquity. Knowing that Jove had made perfection unattainable by +mortals, they yet found in the chart before them epics, dramas, lyrics, +histories, and philosophies that were no unworthy companions to the +creations of classical genius, and they were jubilant in the triumphs +of a period in which they had been rather ignorantly and ironically +worshipped. Their sitting was long, and their review thorough, yet they +found but one department of modern literature which was regarded with a +distrust that grew to an aversion. The romances, the tales, the stories, +the novels were contemned more and more, from the first of them to the +last. Nothing like them had been known among the glories of Hellenic +literary art, and no Muse now stood forth to be their defender and +patron. Calliope declared that they were not epical, Euterpe and Erato +that they were not lyrical, Melpomene and Thalia that they were neither +tragical nor comical, Clio that they were not historical, Urania that +they were not sublime in conception, Polymnia that they had no stately +or simple charm in execution, and Terpsichore, who had joined with +Melpomene in admiring the opera, found nothing in the novel which she +could own and bless. Fleeting passages, remote and slight fragments, +were pleasing to them all, like the oases of a Sahara, or the sites of +high civilization on the earth; but the whole world of novels seemed to +them a chaos undisciplined by art and unformed to beauty. The gates of +the halls where the classics live in immortal youth were beginning to +close against the voluminous prose romances that have sprung from modern +thought, when the deliberations of the Muses were suddenly interrupted. +They had disturbed the divine elements of modern society. Forth from all +the recesses of the air came troops of Gothic elves, trolls, fairies, +sprites, and all the other romantic beings which had inspired the modern +mind to novel-writing,--marching or gambolling, pride in their port, +defiance in their eye, mischief in their purpose,--and began so vigorous +an attack upon their classic visitors and critics, that the latter were +glad to betake themselves to the mighty-winged Pegasus, who rapidly bore +them in retreat to the present home of the _Dii Majores_, that point of +the empyrean directly above Olympus. + +And well, indeed, might the Muses wonder at the rise of the novel and +its vast developments, for the classic literature presents no similar +works. One of Plato's dialogues or Aesop's fables is as near an approach +to a prose romance as antiquity in its golden eras can offer. The few +productions of the kind which appeared during the decline of literature +in the early Christian centuries, as the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius and +the "Æthiopica" of Heliodorus, were freaks of Nature, an odd growth +rather than a distinct species, and are also to be contrasted rather +than compared with the later novel. Such as they are, moreover, they +were produced under Christian as much as classic influences. The +æsthetic Hellenes admitted into their literature nothing so composite, +so likely to be crude, as the romance. Their styles of art were all +pure, their taste delighted in simplicity and unity, and they strictly +forbade a medley, alike in architecture, sculpture, and letters. The +history of their development opens with an epic yet unsurpassed, and +their literary creations have been adopted to be the humanities of +Christian universities. A writer has recently proposed to account for +their success in the arts from the circumstance that the features of +Nature around them were small,--that their hornet-shaped peninsula was +cut by mountains and inlets of the sea into minute portions, which the +mind could easily compass, the foot measure, and the hand improve,--that +therefore every hillock and fountain, every forest and by-way was +peopled with mythological characters and made significant with +traditions, and the cities were adorned with architectural and +sculptured masterpieces. Greece thus, like England in our own time, +presented the character of a highly wrought piece of ground,--England +being the more completely developed for material uses, and Greece being +the more heavily freighted with legends of ideal meaning. Small-featured +and large-minded Greece is thus set in contrast with Asia, where the +mind and body were equally palsied in the effort to overcome immense +plains and interminable mountain-chains. But whatever the reason, +whether geographical or ethnological, it is certain that the people of +Greece were endowed with a transcendent genius for art, which embraced +all departments of life as by an instinct. Every divinity was made a +plain figure to the mind, every mystery was symbolized in some positive +beautiful myth, and every conception of whatever object became +statuesque and clear. This artistic character was possible to them from +the comparatively limited range of pagan imagination; their thought +rarely dwelt in those regions where reason loves to ask the aid +of mysticism, and all remote ideas, like all remote nations, were +indiscriminately regarded by them as barbarous. But guarded by the +bounds of their civilization, as by the circumfluent ocean-stream of +their olden tradition, they were prompted in all their movements by the +spirit of beauty, and philosophers have accounted them the very people +whose ideas were adequately and harmoniously represented in sensible +forms,--unlike the nations of the Orient, where mind is overawed by +preponderating matter, and unlike the nations of Christendom, where the +current spiritual meanings reach far into the shadowy realm of mystery +and transcend the power of material expression. + +Thus art was the main category of the Greeks, the absolute form which +embraced all their finite forms. It moulded their literature, as it did +their sculpture, architecture, and the action of their gymnasts and +orators. They therefore delighted only in the highest orders and purest +specimens of literature, refused to retain in remembrance any of the +unsuccessful attempts at poetry which may be supposed to have preceded +Homer, and gave their homage only to masterpieces in the dignified +styles of the epic, the drama, the lyric, the history, or the +philosophical discussion. Equal to the highest creations, they refused +to tolerate anything lower; and they knew not the novel, because their +poetical notions were never left in a nebulous, prosaic state, but were +always developed into poetry. + +Another reason, doubtless, was the wonderful activity of the Greek mind, +finding its amusement and relaxation in the forum, theatre, gymnasium, +or even the barber's shop, in constant mutual contact, in learning +wisdom and news by word of mouth. The long stories which they may +have told to each other, as an outlet for their natural vitality, as +extemporaneous exercises of curiosity and wit and fancy, did not creep +into their literature, which included only more mature and elaborate +attempts. + +The modern novel was born of Christianity and feudalism. It is the child +of contemplation,--of that sort of luxurious intellectual mood which has +always distinguished the Oriental character, and was first Europeanized +in the twilight of the mediæval period. The fallen Roman Empire was +broken into countless fragments, which became feudal baronies. The heads +of the newly organized society were lordly occupants of castles, who in +time of peace had little to do. They were isolated from their neighbors +by acres, forests, and a stately etiquette, if not actual hostility. +There was no open-air theatre in the vicinity, no forum alive with +gossip and harangues, no public games, not even a loquacious barber's +shop. During the intervals between public or private wars,--when the +Turks were unmolested, the crescent and the dragon left in harmless +composure, and no Christians were in mortal turmoil with each other,--it +is little wonder that restless knights went forth from their loneliness +errant in quest of adventures. What was there to occupy life in those +barricaded stone-towers? + +It was then that the domestic passion, love, rose into dignity. Homage +to woman assumed the potency of an idea, chivalry arose, and its truth, +honor, and obeisance were the first social responses from mankind to +Christianity. The castle was the emblem and central figure of the time: +it was the seat of power, the arena of manners, the nursery of love, and +the goal of gallantry; and around it hovered the shadows of religion, +loyalty, heroism. Domestic events, the private castellar life, were thus +exalted; but they could hardly suffice to engross and satisfy the spirit +of a warrior and crusader. A new diversion and excitement were demanded, +and soon, in response to the call, minstrels began to roam from castle +to castle, from court to court, telling long stories of heroism and +singing light songs of love. A spark from the Saracenic schools and +poets of Spain may have flitted into Provence to kindle the elements +of modern literature into its first development, the songs of the +Troubadours. Almost contemporary were the lays of the Minnesingers in +Germany and the romances of the Trouvères in Northern France. Beneath +the brooding spirit of a new civilization signs of life had at length +appeared, and Europe became vocal in every part with fantastic poems, +lyrical in the South, epical in the North. They were wildly exuberant +products, because severe art was unknown, but simple, _naïve_, and gay, +and suited to the taste of a time when the classics were regarded as +superstitiously as the heavens. Love and heroism, which somehow are the +leading themes of literature in all ages, now assumed the chivalric type +in the light hands of the earliest modern poets. + +Yet these songs and metrical romances were most inadequate +representatives of the undeveloped principles which lay at the root of +Christian civilization. Even Hellenic genius might here have been at +fault, for it was a far harder task to give harmonious and complete +expression to the tendencies of a new religion and the germs of new +systems, than to frame into beauty the pagan clear-cut conceptions. The +Christian mind awoke under a fascination, and, for a time, could +only ejaculate its meanings in fragments, or hint them in vast +disproportions, could only sing snatches of new tunes. Its first signs +were gasps, rather than clear-toned notes, after the long perturbations +and preparations of history. The North and the South, the East and the +West had been mingled together; the heated and heaving mass had been +tempered by the leaven of Christianity:--and had all this been done +only to produce an octo-syllabic metre in praise of fantastic and semi- +barbaric sentiments and exploits? Had there been such commotions of the +universe only for a song? Surely these first creations of art, these +first attempts at literature, these first carvings of a rude spiritual +intensity, were only such as the Greeks may have forgotten any quantity +of before Homer came, their first glory and their oldest reminiscence. + +One reason, perhaps, why mediæval literature assumed so light and +unartistic a form was, that by necessity it could not be full-orbed. +Religion could not enter into it as a plastic element, but was fixed, a +veiled, external figure, radiating indeed color and fragrance, but +not making one of the struggling, independent vitals of the heart. +Literature could play about this figure, but could not grasp it, and +take it in among the materials to be fashioned. The Church, through +its clergy, held jealous command of divine knowledge, beneath divine +guidance, and left no developments of it possible to the lay mind, which +culminated in minstrels and romancers. The Greeks, on the contrary, +whose religion was an apotheosis of the earth, framed upwards and only +by fiction of fancy handed downwards, derived all their theology from +the poets. Prophecy and taste were combined in Homer,--Isaiah and the +king's jester in Pindar. The care of the highest, not less than the +lowest departments of thought, fell upon the creative author, and +a happy suggestion became a new article in the Hellenic creed. His +composition thus bore the burden and was hallowed by the sanctity +of piety, the key to every human perfect thing. But the Provençal +celebrators of love and chivalry had no such dignity in their task. The +solemnities of thought and life were cared for and hedged about by the +Church as its own peculiar treasure, and to them there remained only the +lighter office of amusing. The age was eminently religious, but the poet +could not aid in erecting and adorning its temples. Every fair work of +art must have a central idea; but the proper principle of unity for +all grand artistic efforts not being within the reach of authors, it +followed that their productions were not symmetrical, did not have an +even outline nor cosmical meaning, did not consist of balanced parts, +were poorly framed and articulated, and were charming only by their +flavor, and not by their form. The cultured intellect will not seriously +work short of a final principle; and if a materialized religion, an +ecclesiastical structure, be firmly planted on the earth by the same +hand that established the universe and tapestried it with morning and +evening, and if its gates and archways, its altar, columns, and courts +be given in trust to chosen stewards as a divine priesthood, then the +highest problem of being is not a human problem, and the mind of the +laity has nothing more important to do than to play with the flowers of +gallant love and heroism. Such was the feeling, perhaps the unconscious +reasoning, of the founders of modern literature, as they began their +labors in the alcoves of that church architecture which covered +Christendom, embracing and symbolically expressing all its ideas +and institutes. Therefore some vice of imperfection, a character of +frivolity, or an artificially serious treatment of lightsome subjects +marked all the literature of the time, which resembled that grotesque +and unaccountable mathematical figure that has its centre outside of +itself. + +Modern literature thus had its origin in romantic metrical pieces, +which, in the next stage, were transformed into prose novels. Two +circumstances contributed to this change,--a change which could not have +been anticipated; for the Trouvère _fabliaux_ and _romans_ promised only +epics, and the Troubadour _chansons_ and _tensons_ promised only lyrics +and dramas. But the mind was now obliged to traverse the unbeaten paths +of the Christian universe; it was overwhelmed by the extent of its +range, the richness and delicacy of its materials; it could with +difficulty poise itself amid the indefinite heights and depths which +encompassed it, and with greater difficulty could wield the magician's +rod which should sway the driving elements into artistic reconstruction. +This mental inadequacy alone would not have created the novel, but would +only have made lyrics and epics rare, the works of superior minds. The +second and cooperating circumstance was the prevalence of the Christian +and feudal habit of contemplation, which made constant literature a +necessity. Nothing less than eternal new romances could save the lords, +the ladies, and the dependents from _ennui_. But to supply these in a +style of proper and antique dignity was beyond the power of the poets. +In the wild forests of the mind they could rarely capture a mature idea, +and they were as yet unpractised artists. Yet contemplative leisure +called eagerly for constant titbits of romance to tickle the palate and +furnish a diversion, while the genius of Christian poetry was yet in +infantile weakness. The dilemma lasted but a moment, and was solved by +an heroic effort of the poets to do, not what they would, but what they +could. Yielding to practical necessities, they renounced the traditions +of the classical past, which now seemed to belong to another hemisphere, +abandoned the attempt to realize pure forms, postponed high art; melody +gave way to prose, the romance degenerated into the novel, and prose +fiction, which erst had flitted only between the tongue and ear, +entered, a straggling and reeling constellation, into the firmament of +literature. Hence the novel is the child of human impotency and despair. +The race thereby, with merriment and jubilee, confessed its inability +to fulfil at once its Christian destiny as completely as the Greeks +had fulfilled their pagan possibilities. Purity of art was left to +the future, to Providence, or to great geniuses, but the novel became +popular. + +Thus the modern novel had its genesis not merely in a contemplative +mood, but in contemplation which was forced by the impetuous temper of +the times to fail of ever reaching the dignity of thoughtfulness. It +was the immature product of an immature mental state; and richly as +sometimes it was endowed by every human faculty, by imagination, wit, +taste, or even profound thought, it yet never reached the goal of +thought, never solved a problem, and, in its highest examples, professed +only to reveal, but not to guide, the reigning manners and customs. +Rarely did its materials pass through the fiery furnace whence art +issues; it was a work of unfaithful intellect, prompted by ideas which +never culminated and were never realized; and it did not rise much above +the "stuffs" of life, as distinguished from the organic creations of the +mind. A many-limbed and shambling creature, which was not made a +spirit by the power of an idea, it fluttered amid all the culture of a +people,--amid the ideas and modes of the state, the church, the family, +the world of society,--like a bungler among paint-pots; but the paints +still remained paints on the canvas, instead of being blended and +transfigured into a thing of beauty. It was the organ of society, but +not of the essential truths which vitalize society, and its incidents +did not rise much above the significance of accidents. + +What the novel was in knightly days, that it has continued to be. There +is a mysterious practical potency in precedent. All ideas and institutes +seem to grow in the direction of their first steps, as if from germs. +Thus, the doctrines of the Church fathers are still peculiarly +authoritative in theology, and the immemorial traditions of the common +law are still binding in civil life. Man seems to be an experimental +far more than a freely rational animal; for a fact in the past exerts +a greater influence in determining future action than any new idea. A +revolution must strike deep to eradicate the presumption in favor of +ages. Learned men are now trying to read the hieroglyphics of the East, +the records of an unknown history. Perhaps the result of their labors +will temper the next period in the course of the world more than all our +thinkers. Destiny seems to travel in the harness of precedents. + +Thus, in obedience to the law of precedent, the mild gambols, the +_naïve_ superficiality, the child-like irresponsibility for thinking, +which were the characteristics of the first European novels, have +generally distinguished the unnumbered and unclassified broods of them +which have abounded in subsequent literature. Designed chiefly to amuse, +to divert for a moment rather than to present an admirable work of art, +to interest rather than to instruct and elevate, the modern romance has +in general excused itself from thorough elaboration. Instead of being +a chastened and symmetrical product of the whole organic mind, it has +mainly been inspired by the imagination, which has been called the fool +in the family of the faculties, and wrought out by the assistance of +memory, which mechanically links the mad suggestions of its partner +with temporal events. It is in literature something like what a feast +presided over by the king's jester and steward would have been in +mediaeval social life. Let any novel be finished, let all the resources +of the mind be conscientiously expended on it, let it become a thorough +intellectual creation, and, instead of remaining a novel, it would +assume the dignity of an epic, lyric, drama, philosophy, or history. Its +nebulae would be resolved into stars. + +Has, then, the mild and favorite blossom, the _fabula romanensis_, which +was so abundant in the Middle Ages, which has grown so luxuriantly +and given so general delight in modern times,--has it no place in +the natural history of literature? Shall it be mentioned only as an +uncompleted something else,--as an abortive effort of thought,--as +a crude _mélange_ of elements that have not been purified and fused +together in the focus of the mind? And were the Muses right in refusing +to admit it into their sacred realm of art? + +An affirmative answer can hardly be true; for an absurdity appears in +the reduction that it would cause in the quantity of our veritable +literature, and in the condemnation that it would pass on the tastes of +many most intelligent writers and readers. Yet a comparison of the novel +with the classical and pure forms of literature will show its unlikeness +to them in design, dignity, and essential quality. + +It was a favorite thesis of Fielding, often repeated by his successors, +that the novel is a sort of comic epopee. Yet the romantic and the epic +styles have nothing in common, except that both are narrative. The epic, +the rare and lofty cypress of literature, is the story of a nation and a +civilization; the novel, of a neighborhood and a generation. A thousand +years culminate in the former; it sums up the burden and purpose of +a long historical period; and its characters are prominent types in +universal history and in highest thought. But the novel is the child +of a day; it is the organ of manners and phases, not of principles and +passions; it does not see the phenomena of earth in heavenly or logical +relations, does not transform life into art, and is a panorama, but not +a picture. So long as man and heroism and strife endure, shall Achilles, +Godfrey, Satan, and Mephistopheles be types; for they are artistic +expressions of essential and historical realities. But though the beck +of curiosity lead us through the labyrinthine plot of a novel, long as +Gibbon's way through the Dark Ages, yet, when we have finished it, the +bubble collapses, the little heavens which had been framed about us roll +away, and most rarely does a character remain poetically significant in +the mind. + +A contrast of any page of an epic with one of a romance will show +their essential unlikeness. Note, for instance, the beginning of the +"Gerusalemme Liberata." The first stanza presents "the illustrious +captain who warred for Heaven and saved the sepulchre of Christ,--the +many deeds which he wrought by arms and by wisdom,--his great toil, and +his glorious achievement. Hell opposed him, the mingled populations +of Asia and Africa leagued against him,--but all in vain, for Heaven +smiled, and guided the wandering bands beneath his sacred ensigns." Such +are the splendid elements of the poem, outlining in a stanza the finest +type, objects, and scenery of mediaeval heroism. The second stanza +invokes the Muse,--"Not thou whose brow was wreathed with the unenduring +bays of Helicon, but thou who in angelic choirs hast a golden crown set +with immortal stars,--do thou breathe celestial ardor into the poet's +heart!" Then follows an allusion to a profound matter of temper and +experience. He prays that "the Muse will pardon, if sometimes he adorn +his page with other charms than her own; for thus, perhaps, he may +win the world to his higher meanings, shrouding severe truths in soft +verses. As the rim of the bitter cup is sweetened which is extended to +the sick child, so may he, by beauties not quite Christian, attract +mankind to read his whole poem to their health." Such is the stately +soaring of the epical Muse, the Muse of ideal history. Scholars find +Greece completely prefigured in Homer, and the time may come when Dante +and Tasso shall be the leading authorities for the history of the Middle +Ages, and Milton for that of the ages of Protestantism. + +In such comparison novels are insignificant and imbecile. Though, like +"Contarini Fleming," they may begin with a magnificent paragraph, and +fine passages be scattered through the volumes, they are yet rarely +stories of ideas as well as persons, rarely succeed in involving events +of more than temporary interest, and rarely, perhaps, should be called +great mental products. + +Not less strikingly does the difference between the epic and the novel +appear in their different uses. The one is the inspiration of great +historical action, the other of listless repose. The statesman, in the +moment of debate, and in the dignity of conscious power, finds sympathy +and encouragement in a passage of his favorite epic. Its grand types +are ever in fellowship with high thoughts. The novel is for the lighter +moment after the deed is done, when he is no longer brunting Fate, but +reclining idly, and reflecting humorously or malignly on this life. The +epic is closely and strongly framed, like the gladiator about to strike +a blow: the novel is relaxed and at careless ease, like the club-man +after lighting his pipe. The latter does not bear the burden of severe +responsibility, but is a thing of holidays and reactions. Still, as of +old, it answers to the contemplative castellar cry,--"Hail, romancer! +come and divert me,--make me merry! I wish to be occupied, but not +employed,--to muse passively, not actively. Therefore, hail! tell me +a story,--sing me a song! If I were now in the van of an army and +civilization, higher thoughts would engross me. But I am unstrung, and +wish to be fanned, not helmeted." + +It has sometimes been claimed that the romantic style is essentially +lyrical. But though the idea from which many novels start was perhaps +the proper germ for one or more lyrics, it never attains in romance +a pure and unincumbered development. We may illustrate the different +intellectual creations founded on a common conception by imagining how +one of Wordsworth's lyrical fancies might have been developed in three +volumes of romance instead of three stanzas of poetry. + + "She dwelt among the untrodden ways, + Beside the springs of Dove, + A maid whom there were none to praise, + And very few to love." + +The first line, romantically treated, would include description, +soliloquy, and narrative, to show that in solitude the maiden had +habits, duties, something to think about and be interested in. The +accidental approach of some cosmopolitan visitor would give occasion to +illustrate dramatically the contrast between life in retirement and in +society. Some novelists also would inflict, either by direct lecture +or by conversation of the actors, very admirable reflections on the +comparative advantages of the two conditions. The second line would +perhaps suggest only geographical lore and descriptions of scenery, +though historical episodes might be added. The third line would +involve a minute description of dress, complexion, stature, and wild +gracefulness. In a psychological investigation it would come out what +strange and simple notions she entertained of the great world, and what +charming qualities of unsophisticated character belonged to her as she +merrily or pensively went through her accustomed tasks. The fourth line, +in which love is the text, would swell into mammoth proportions. New +characters would be especially necessary in this culminating part of the +story; and though they should be "very few," they would long occupy the +novelist with their diverse excellencies or villanies, their rivalries +and strategies. It is probable that the complete development of the +stanza _à la romance_ would give a circumstantial history of the maiden +from her birth, with glimpses more or less clear of all the remarkable +people who dwelt near or occasionally visited the springs of Dove. Thus +the same conception would become a stanza or a volume, according as its +treatment were lyrical or romantic. + +It need hardly be shown that the novel is not a drama, not a history, +nor fable, nor any sort of philosophical treatise. It may have +sentences, paragraphs, or perhaps chapters, in every style and of the +highest excellence, as a shapeless architectural pile may rejoice in +some exquisite features or ornaments; but combined passages, though they +were the collected charms of literature, do not make a work of art. The +styles are mixed,--a certain sign, according to Lessing, of corruption +of taste. Novels present the anomaly of being fiction, but not +poetry,--of being fruits of imagination, but of imagination improvising +its creations from local and temporal things, instead of speaking from +a sublime stand-point and linking series of facts with processions of +ideas. Sources of history, guides of philosophical retrospection, they +may come some time to be; yet one cannot check a feeling of pity for +the future historian who, in searching the "Pickwick Papers" +for antiquities, finds himself bothered and confused by all the +undisciplined witches of Mr. Dickens's imagination. + +If the novel be thus excluded from all the classical orders of +literature, a trembling question is suggested, whether it may not be +nevertheless a legitimate work of art. Though it be a _mélange_ of +styles, a story told, in literature what the story-teller is in +society, yet why should it not have the honor among readers which +the story-teller in all ages has had among listeners? Though by +its escutcheon it assume a place among the amusing rather than the +instructive class of books, why should not its nobility be recognized? + +The answer is found in the essential nature of art, in the almost +eternal distinction between life and thought, between actual and ideal +realities. Unity amid diversity is the type of intellectual beauty and +the law of the universe; to comprehend it is the goal of science, and +to reproduce it in human works is the aim of art. Yet how hard it is to +find the central and essential idea in a world of apparent accidents and +delusions! to chase the real and divine thing as it plays among cheats +and semblances! Hence the difficulty of thorough thought, of faithful +intellectual performance, of artistic creation. To the thoughtless man +life is merely the rough and monotonous exterior of the cameo-stone; but +the artist sees through its strata, discerns its layers of many colors, +and from its surface to its vital centre works them all together into +varied beauty. To live is common; but art belongs only to the finest +minds and the best moments. Life is a burden of present multitudinous +phenomena; but art has the simple unity of perfect science, and is +a goal and aspiration. Life comes by birth, art by thought, and the +travail that produces art is ofttimes the severer. The fashions of life +are bubbles on the surface, and pass away with the season; but the +creations of art belong to the depths of the spiritual world, where they +shine like stars and systems in the physical universe. + +Story-telling is the most charming of occupations, and, whatever its +relation to literary art, it is one of the graces of the art of life. +Old as the race, it has always been in fashion on the earth, the delight +of every clime from the Orient to the Occident, and of every age from +childhood to second childhood. We live in such a concatenation of +things,--our hopes, fears, loves, hates, struggles, sympathies, defeats, +and triumphs make such a medley, with a sort of divine fascination about +it,--that we are always interested to hear how anybody has borne himself +through whatever varieties of fortune. At the basis of every other +character which can be assumed by man lie the conceiver and the teller +of stories; story-telling is the _primá facie_ quality of an intelligent +and sociable being leading a life full of events in a universe full +of phenomena. The child believes the wonders of romance by a right +instinct; narratives of love and peril and achievement come home to the +spirit of the youth; and the mystical, wonder-expecting eye of childhood +returns to old age. The humor, wit, piety, and pathos of every age +abound in the written stories of its people and children. + +Yet between the vocal story and the story in literature there is an +immense difference, like that between talking and writing, between life +and art. The qualities which in the story-teller make even frivolity +weighty and dulness significant--the play of the eye, the lips, the +countenance, the voice, the whole sympathetic expression of the +person--are wanting to the novel; it has passed from the realm of life +to that of art; it loses the charm which personal relations give even +to trifles; it must have the charm which the mind can lend only to its +cherished offspring. + +Considered as a thing of literature, no other sort of book admits of +such variety of topics, style, and treatment as the novel. As diverse +in talent and quality as the story-teller himself,--now harlequin, now +gossip, now threnodist,--with weird ghostliness, moping melancholy, +uncouth laughter, or gentle serious smile,--now relating the story, with +childlike interest in it, now with a good heart and now with a bad heart +ridiculing mankind, now allegorical with rich meanings, now freighting +the little story-cricket that creeps along from page to page with +immense loads of science, history, politics, ethics, religion, +criticism, and prophecy,--always regarded with kindness, always welcomed +in idleness, always presenting in a simple way some spectacle of +merriment or grief, as changeful as the seasons or the fashions,--with +all its odd characteristics, the novel is remarkably popular, and not +lightly to be esteemed as an element in our social and mental culture. + +There is probably no other class of books, with literary pretensions, +that contain so little thinking, in proportion to their quantity of +matter, as novels. They can scarcely be called organic productions, for +they may be written and published in sections, like one of the lowest +classes of animals, which have no organization, but live equally well in +parts, and run off in opposite directions when cut in halves. Thoughts +and books, like living creatures, have their grades, and it is only +those which stand lowest in respect of intellectuality that admit of +fractional existence. A finished work of the mind is so delicately +adjusted and closely related, part to part, that a fracture would be +fatal. Conceive of Phidias sending off from his studio at Athens his +statue of Jupiter Olympius in monthly numbers,--despatching now the +feet, now the legs, now the trunk, in successive pieces, now the +shoulders, and at last crowning the whole with a head! + +The composition of novels must be reckoned, in design at least, one of +the fine arts, but in fact they belong rather to periodical than to +immortal literature. They do not submit to severity of treatment, abide +by no critical laws, but are the gypsies and Bohemians of literature, +bringing all the savagery of wild genius into the _salons_ of taste. +Though tolerated, admired, and found to be interesting, they do not +belong to the system of things, play no substantial part in the serious +business of life, but, as the world moves on, give place to their +successors, not having developed any principle, presented any picture, +or stated any fact, in a way to suggest ideas more than social +phenomena. They are not permanent, therefore, because finally only +ideas, and not facts, are generally remembered; the past is known to us +more, and exclusively as it becomes remote, by the conceptions of poets +and philosophic historians, the myriads of events which occupied a +generation being forgotten, and all the pith and meaning of them being +transmitted in a stanza or a chapter. Poetry never grows old, and +whatsoever masterpieces of thought always win the admiration of the +enlightened; but many a novel that has been the lion of a season passes +at once away, never more to be heard of here. With few exceptions, the +splendid popularity that greets the best novels fades away in time +slowly or rapidly. A half-century is a fatal trial for the majority; few +are revived, and almost none are read, after a century; will anybody +but the most curious antiquary be interested in them after one or +two thousand years? Without delaying to give the full rationale of +exceptions which vex this like every other general remark, it may +be added briefly that fairy stories are in their nature fantastic +mythological poems, most proper to the heroic age of childhood, that +historical romances may be in essence and dignity fantastic histories or +epics, and that, from whatever point of view, Cervantes remains hardly +less admirable than Ariosto, or the "Bride of Lammermoor" than the "Lay +of the Last Minstrel." + +In the mental as in the physical world, art, diamonds and gems come by +long elaboration. A thoughtless man may write perennially, while the +result of silent meditation and a long tortured soul may be expressed +in a minute. The work of the former is akin to conversation, one of the +fugitive pleasures of a day; that of the latter will, perchance, be a +star in the firmament of the mind. Eugène Sue and Béranger both wished +to communicate their reflections on society. The former dissipated his +energies in the _salons_, was wise and amusing over wine, exchanged +learning and jests, studied the drawing-room as if it were the +macrocosm, returned to his chamber, put on kid gloves, and from the odds +and ends of his dishevelled wits wrote at a gallop, without ever looking +back, his "Mystères de Paris." The latter lived in an attic year after +year, contemplated with cheerful anxiety the volatile world of France +and the perplexed life of man, and elaborated word by word, with +innumerable revisions, his short songs, which are gems of poetry, +charming at once the ear and the heart. Novels are perhaps too easily +written to be of lasting value. An unpremeditated word, in which the +thoughts of years are exploded, may be one of the most admirable of +intellectual phenomena, but an unpremeditated volume can only be a +demonstration of human weakness. + +The argument thus far has been in favor of the Muses. Hellenic taste and +the principles of high art ratify the condemnation passed on the novel +by the aesthetic goddesses. A wider view, however, will annul the +sentence, giving in its stead a warning and a lesson. If the prose +romance be not Hellenic, it is nevertheless humane, and has been in +honor almost universally throughout the Orient and the Occident. Its +absence from the classical literature was a marvel and exception, a +phenomenon of the clearest-minded and most active of races, who thought, +but did not contemplate,--whose ideal world consisted only of simple, +but stately legends of bright-limbed gods and heroes. A felicitous +production of high art, also, is among the rarest of exceptions, and +will be till the Millennium. Myriads of comparative failures follow in +the suite of a masterpiece. We have, therefore, judged the novel by an +impracticable standard, by a comparison with the highest aims rather +than the usual attainments of other branches of literary art. Human +weakness makes poetry, philosophy, and history imperfect in execution, +though they aspire to absolute beauty and truth; human weakness +suggested the novel, which is imperfect in design, written as an +amusement and relief, in despair of sounding the universe. A novel is in +its nature and as a matter of necessity an artistic failure; it +pretends to nothing higher; but under the slack laws which govern its +composition, multitudes of fine and suggestive characters, incidents, +and sayings may be smuggled into it, contrary to all the usages and +rules of civilized literature. Hence the secret of its popularity, +that it is the organ of average as distinguished from highest thought. +Science and art are the goals of destiny, but rarely is there a +thinker or writer who has an eye single to them. It is an heroic, +self-sacrificing, and small platoon which in every age brunts Fate, and, +fighting on the shadowy frontier, makes conquests from the realm of +darkness. Their ideas are passed back from hand to hand, and become +known in fragments and potent as tendencies among the mass of the race, +who live in the circle of the attained and travel in the routine of +ages. The novelist is one of the number who half comprehend them, and +borrows them from all quarters to introduce into the rich _mélange_ of +his work. To solve a social problem, to reproduce an historical age or +character, or to develop the truth and poetry latent in any event, is +difficult, and not many will either lead or follow a severe attempt; +but the novelist will merrily chronicle his story and link with it in a +thousand ways some salient reminiscences of life and thought. + +What, then, is the highest excellence that the novel can attain? It is +the carnival of literary art. It deals sympathetically and humorously, +not philosophically and strictly, with the panorama and the principles +of life. A transcript, but not a transfiguration of Nature, it assumes a +thousand forms, surpassing all other books in the immense latitude left +to the writer, in the wild variety of things which it may touch, but +need not grasp. Its elements are the forests, the cities, and the seven +ages of man,--characters and fortunes how diversified! All species +of thinkers and actors, of ideas and passions, all the labyrinthine +complications and scenery of existence, may be illustrated in persons or +introduced by-the-by; into whatever colors make up the phantasmagoria +of collective humanity the novelist may dip his brush, in painting +his moving picture. Yet problems need not be fully appreciated, nor +characters or actions profoundly understood. It must be an engrossing +story, but the theme and treatment are as lawless as the conversation of +an evening party. The mind plays through all the realm of its knowledge +and experience, and sheds sparks from all the torches of thought, as +scenes and topics succeed each other. The pure forms of literature may +be reminiscences present to the imagination, the germs of new truths and +social arrangements may occupy the reason; but the novelist is neither +practical, nor philosophical, nor artistic; he is simply in a dream; and +pictures of the world and fragments of old ideas pass before him, as the +sacred meanings of religion flitted about the populace in a grotesque +mediæval festival of the Church. Conceive the stars dropped from their +place in the apparent heavens, and playing at shuttlecock with each +other and with boys, and having a heyday of careless joyousness here +below, instead of remaining in sublime dignity to guide and inspire men +who look up to them by night! Even such are the epic, the lyric, the +drama, the history, and the philosophy, as collected together in the +revelries of the novel. To state the degree of excellence possible to +a style as perverse as it is entertaining, to measure the wisdom of +essential folly, is difficult; and yet it may be said that the strength +of the novel is in its lawlessness, which leaves the author of genius +free to introduce his creations just as they occur to him, and the +author of talent free to range through all books and all time and +reproduce brilliant sayings and odd characters,--which, with no other +connecting thread than a story, freaks like a spirit through every +shade of feeling and region of thought, from the domestic hearth to the +ultimate bounds of speculative inquiry,--and which, by its daring +and careless combinations of incongruous elements, exhibits a free +embodiment in prose of the peculiar genius of the romantic. + +And some philosophers have styled romance the special glory of +Christianity. It is certainly the characteristic of critical as +distinguished from organic periods,--of the mind acting mystically in +a savage and unknown universe, rather than of the mind that has reduced +the heavens and earth to its arts and sciences. The novel, therefore, +as the wildest organ of romance, is most appropriate to a time of great +intellectual agitation, when intellectual men are but half-conscious of +the tendencies that are setting about them, and consequently cease to +propose to themselves final goals, do not attempt scrupulous art, but +play jubilantly with current facts. Hence, perhaps, its popularity since +the first conflicts of the Protestant Reformation, and especially since +the great French Revolution, when amid new inventions and new ideas +mankind has contemplatively looked for the coming events, the new +historical eras, which were casting their shadows before. + +When, some time, Christian art shall become classical, and Christian +ideas be developed by superior men as fairly as the Hellenic conceptions +were, the novel may either assume to itself some peculiar excellency, or +may cease to hold the comparative rank in literature which it enjoys at +present. Then the numberless prose romances which occupy the present +generation of readers will, perhaps, be collected in some immense +_corpus_, like the Byzantine historians, will be reckoned among the +curiosities of literature, and will at least have the merit of making +the study of antiquities easy and interesting. There is an old +couplet,-- + + Of all those arts in which the wise excel, + Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well. + +At a time when extemporaneous composition and thoughtless reading are +much in fashion, it will not be amiss to invoke profounder studies, and +slower, but more useful and permanent results. Let it be remembered that +even the Divine Mind first called into being the chaos of creation, and +then in seven days reviewed and elaborated it into a beautiful order. + + * * * * * + + + + +A LEGEND OF MARYLAND. + +"AN OWRE TRUE TALE." + +[Concluded.] + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE OLD CITY. + + +Let me now once more shift the scene. In the summer of 1684, the +peaceful little port of St. Mary's was visited by a phenomenon of rare +occurrence in those days. A ship of war of the smaller class, with the +Cross of St. George sparkling on her broad flag, came gliding to an +anchorage abreast the town. The fort of St. Inigoes gave the customary +salute, which I have reason to believe was not returned. Not long after +this, a bluff, swaggering, vulgar captain came on shore. He made no +visit of respect or business to any member of the Council. He gave no +report of his character or the purpose of his visit, but strolled to the +tavern,--I suppose to that kept by Mr. Cordea, who, in addition to his +calling of keeper of the ordinary, was the most approved shoemaker of +the city,--and here regaled himself with a potation of strong waters. +It is likely that he then repaired to Mr. Blakiston's, the King's +Collector,--a bitter and relentless enemy of the Lord Proprietary,--and +there may have met Kenelm Chiseldine, John Coode, Colonel Jowles, and +others noted for their hatred of the Calvert family, and in such company +as this indulged himself in deriding Lord Baltimore and his government, +During his stay in the port, his men came on shore, and, imitating their +captain's unamiable temper, roamed in squads about the town and its +neighborhood, conducting themselves in a noisy, hectoring manner towards +the inhabitants, disturbing the repose of the quiet burghers, and +shocking their ears with ribald abuse of the authorities. These +roystering sailors--I mention it as a point of historical interest--had +even the audacity to break into Alderman Garret Van Swearingen's garden, +and to pluck up and carry away his cabbages and other vegetables, +and--according to the testimony of Mr. Cordea, whose indignation was the +more intense from his veneration for the Alderman, and from the fact +that he made his Worship's shoes--they would have killed one of his +Worship's sheep, if his (Cordea's) man had not prevented them; and +after this, as if on purpose more keenly to lacerate his feelings, they +brought these cabbages to Cordea's house, and there boiled them before +his eyes,--he being sick and not able to drive them away. + +After a few days spent in this manner, the swaggering captain--whose +name, it was soon bruited about, was Thomas Allen, of his Majesty's +Navy--went on board of his ketch,--or brig, as we should call it,--the +Quaker, weighed anchor, and set sail towards the Potomac, and thence +stood down the Bay upon the coast of Virginia. Every now and then, after +his departure, there came reports to the Council of insults offered by +Captain Allen to the skippers of sundry Bay craft and other peaceful +traders on the Chesapeake; these insults consisting generally in +wantonly compelling them to heave to and submit to his search, in +vexatiously detaining them, overhauling their papers, and offending +them with coarse vituperation of themselves, as well as of the Lord +Proprietary and his Council. + +About a month later the Quaker was observed to enter the Patuxent River, +and cast anchor just inside of the entrance, near the Calvert County +shore, and opposite Christopher Rousby's house at Drum Point. This +was--says my chronicle--on Thursday, the 30th of October, in this year +1684. As yet Captain Allen had not condescended to make any report of +his arrival in the Province to any officer of the Proprietary. + +On Sunday morning, the 2d of November, the city was thrown into a +state of violent ebullition--like a little red-hot tea-kettle--by the +circulation of a rumor that got wind about the hour the burghers were +preparing to go to church. It was brought from Patuxent late in the +previous night, and was now whispered from one neighbor to another, and +soon came to boil with an extraordinary volume of steam. Stripping it +of the exaggeration natural to such an excitement, the rumor was +substantially this: That Colonel Talbot, hearing of the arrival of +Captain Allen in the Patuxent on Thursday, and getting no message or +report from him, set off on Friday morning, in an angry state of mind, +and rode over to Patuxent, determined to give the unmannerly captain a +lesson upon his duty. That as soon as he reached Mattapony House, +he took his boat and went on board the ketch. That there he found +Christopher Rousby, the King's Collector, cronying with Captain Allen, +and upholding him in his disrespect to the government. That Colonel +Talbot was very sharp upon Rousby, not liking him for old grudges, and +more moved against him now; and that he spoke his mind both to Captain +Allen and Christopher Rousby, and so got into a high quarrel with them. +That when he had said all he desired to say to them, he made a move to +leave the ketch in his boat, intending to return to Mattapony House; but +they who were in the cabin prevented him, and would not let him go. That +thereupon the quarrel broke out afresh, and became more bitter; and it +being now in the night, and all in a great heat of passion, the parties +having already come from words to blows, Talbot drew his skean, or +dagger, and stabbed Rousby to the heart. That nothing was known on +shore of the affray till Saturday evening, when the body was brought to +Rousby's house; after which it became known to the neighborhood; and one +of the men of Major Sewall's plantation, which adjoined Rousby's, having +thus heard of it, set out and rode that night over to St. Mary's with +the news, which he gave to the Major before midnight. It was added, that +Colonel Talbot was now detained on board of the ketch, as a prisoner, by +Captain Allen. + +This was the amount of the dreadful story over which the gossips of St. +Mary's were shaking their wise heads and discoursing on "crowner's quest +law" that Sunday morning. + +As soon as Major Sewall received these unhappy midnight tidings, he went +instantly to his colleague, Colonel Darnall, and communicated them to +him; and they, being warm friends of Talbot's, were very anxious to get +him out of the custody of this Captain Allen. They therefore, on Sunday +morning, issued a writ directed to Roger Brooke, the sheriff of Calvert +County, commanding him to arrest the prisoner and bring him before +the Council. Their next move was to ride over--the same morning--to +Patuxent, taking with them Mr. Robert Carvil, and John Llewellin, their +secretary. Upon reaching the river, all four went on board the ketch +to learn the particulars of the quarrel. These particulars are not +preserved in the record; and we have nothing better than our conjectures +as to what they disclosed. We know nothing specific of the cause or +character of the quarrel. The visitors found Talbot loaded with irons, +and Captain Allen in a brutal state of exasperation, swearing that he +would not surrender his prisoner to the authorities of the Province, but +would carry him to Virginia and deliver him to the government there, to +be dealt with as Lord Effingham should direct. He was grossly insulting +to the two members of the Council who had come on this inquiry; and +after they had left his vessel, in the pinnace, to return to the shore, +he affected to believe that they had some concealed force lying in wait +to seize the pinnace and its crew, and so ordered them back on board, +but after a short detention thought better of it, and suffered them +again to depart. + +The contumacy of the captain, and the declaration of his purpose to +carry away Talbot out of the jurisdiction of the Province within which +the crime was committed, and to deliver him to the Governor of Virginia, +was a grave assault upon the dignity of the government and a gross +contempt of the public authorities, which required the notice of the +Council. A meeting of this body was therefore held on the Patuxent, +at Rich Neck, on the morning of the 4th of November. I find that five +members were present on that occasion. Besides Colonel Darnall and Major +Sewall, there were Counsellor Tailler and Colonels Digges and Burgess. +Here the matter was debated and ended in a feeble resolve,--that, if +this Captain Allen should persist in his contumacy and take Talbot to +Virginia, the Council should immediately demand of Lord Effingham +his redelivery into this Province. Alas, they could only scold! This +resolution was all they could oppose to the bullying captain and the +guns of the troublesome little Quaker. + +Allen, after hectoring awhile in this fashion, and raising the wrath of +the Colonels of the Council until they were red in the cheeks, defiantly +took his departure, carrying with him his prisoner, in spite of the +vehement indignation of the liegemen of the Province. + +We may imagine the valorous anger of our little metropolis at this +act or crime of lese-majesty. I can see the group of angry burghers, +collected on the porch of Cordea's tavern, in a fume as they listen to +Master John Llewellin's account of what had taken place,--Llewellin +himself as peppery as his namesake when he made Ancient Pistol eat +his leek; and I fancy I can hear Alderman Van Swearingen's choleric +explosion against Lord Effingham, supposing his Lordship should presume +to slight the order of the Council in respect to Talbot's return. + +But these fervors were too violent to last. Christopher Rousby was duly +deposited under the greensward upon the margin of Harper's Creek, where +I found him safe, if not sound, more than a hundred and fifty years +afterwards. The metropolis gradually ceased to boil, and slowly fell +to its usual temperature of repose, and no more disturbed itself with +thoughts of the terrible captain. Talbot, upon being transferred to the +dominion of Virginia, was confined in the jail of Gloucester County, in +the old town of Gloucester, on the northern bank of York River. + +The Council now opened their correspondence with Lord Effingham, +demanding the surrender of their late colleague. On their part, it was +marked by a deferential respect, which, it is evident, they did not +feel, and which seems to denote a timid conviction of the favor of +Virginia and the disgrace of Maryland in the personal feelings of the +King. It is manifest they were afraid of giving offence to the lordly +governor of the neighboring Province. On the part of Lord Effingham, the +correspondence is cavalier, arrogant, and peremptory. + +The Council write deploringly to his Lordship. They "pray"--as they +phrase it--"in humble, civil, and obliging terms, to have the prisoner +safely returned to this government." They add,--"Your Excellency's great +wisdom, prudence, and integrity, as well as neighborly affection and +kindness for this Province, manifested and expressed, will, we doubt +not, spare us the labor of straining for arguments to move your +Excellency's consideration to this our so just and reasonable demand." +Poor Colonel Darnall, Poor Colonel Digges, and the rest of you Colonels +and Majors,--to write such whining hypocrisy as this! George Talbot +would not have written to Lord Effingham in such phrase, if one of you +had been unlawfully transported to his prison and Talbot were your +pleader! + +The nobleman to whom this servile language was addressed was a hateful +despot, who stands marked in the history of Virginia for his oppressive +administration, his arrogance, and his faithlessness. + +To give this beseeching letter more significance and the flattery it +contained more point, it was committed to the charge of two gentlemen +who were commissioned to deliver it in person to his Lordship. These +were Mr. Clement Hill and Mr. Anthony Underwood. + +Effingham's answer was cool, short, and admonitory. The essence of it +is in these words:--"We do not think it warrantable to comply with your +desires, but shall detain Talbot prisoner until his Majesty's particular +commands be known therein." A postscript is added of this import:--"I +recommend to your consideration, that you take care, as far as in you +lies, that, in the matter of the Customs, his Majesty receive no further +detriment by this unfortunate accident." + +One almost rejoices to read such an answer to the fulsome language which +drew it out. This correspondence runs through several such epistles. The +Council complain of the rudeness and coarse behavior of Captain Allen, +and particularly of his traducing Lord Baltimore's government and +attempting to excite the people against it. Lord Effingham professes to +disbelieve such charges against "an officer who has so long served his +King with fidelity, and who could not but know what was due to his +superiors." + +Occasionally this same faithful officer, Captain Allen himself, +reappears upon the stage. We catch him at a gentleman's house in +Virginia, boasting over his cups--for he seems to have paid habitual +tribute to a bowl of punch--that he will break up the government of +Maryland, and annex this poor little Province of ours to Virginia: a +fact worth notice just now, as it makes it clear that annexation is not +the new idea of the Nineteenth Century, but lived in very muddy brains +a long time ago. I now quit this correspondence to look after a bit of +romance in a secret adventure. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A PLOT. + + +We must return to the Manor of New Connaught upon the Elk River. + +There we shall find a sorrowful household. The Lord of the Manor is in +captivity; his people are dejected with a presentiment that they are to +see him no more; his wife is lamenting with her children, and counting +the weary days of his imprisonment. + + "His hounds they all run masterless, + His hawks they flee from tree to tree." + +Everything in the hospitable woodland home is changed. November, +December, January had passed by since Talbot was lodged in the +Gloucester prison, and still no hope dawned upon the afflicted lady. The +forest around her bowled with the rush of the winter wind, but neither +the wilderness nor the winter was so desolate as her own heart. The fate +of her husband was in the hands of his enemies. She trembled at the +thought of his being forced to a trial for his life in Virginia, where +he would be deprived of that friendly sympathy so necessary even to the +vindication of innocence, and where he ran the risk of being condemned +without defence, upon the testimony of exasperated opponents. + +But she was a strong-hearted and resolute woman, and would not despair. +She had many friends around her,--friends devoted to her husband and +herself. Amongst these was Phelim Murray, a cornet of cavalry under the +command of Talbot,--a brave, reckless, true-hearted comrade, who had +often shared the hospitality, the adventurous service, and the sports of +his commander. + +To Murray I attribute the planning of the enterprise I am now about +to relate. He had determined to rescue his chief from his prison in +Virginia. His scheme required the coöperation of Mrs. Talbot and one of +her youngest children,--the pet boy, perhaps, of the family, some two +or three years old,--I imagine, the special favorite of the father. The +adventure was a bold one, involving many hardships and perils. Towards +the end of January, the lady, accompanied by her boy with his nurse, and +attended by two Irish men-servants, repaired to St. Mary's, where she +was doubtless received as a guest in the mansion of the Proprietary, now +the residence of young Benedict Leonard and those of the family who had +not accompanied Lord Baltimore to England. + +Whilst Mrs. Talbot tarried here, the Cornet was busy in his +preparations. He had brought the Colonel's shallop from Elk River to the +Patuxent, and was here concerting a plan to put the little vessel under +the command of some ostensible owner who might appear in the character +of its master to any over-curious or inopportune questioner. He had +found a man exactly to his hand in a certain Roger Skreene, whose name +might almost be thought to be adopted for the occasion and to express +the part he had to act. He was what we may call the sloop's husband, but +was bound to do whatever Murray commanded, to ask no questions, and +to be profoundly ignorant of the real objects of the expedition. +This pliant auxiliary had, like many thrifty--or more probably +thriftless--persons of that time, a double occupation. He was amphibious +in his habits, and lived equally on land and water. At home he was a +tailor, and abroad a seaman, frequently plying his craft as a skipper +on the Bay, and sufficiently known in the latter vocation to render his +present employment a matter to excite no suspicious remark. It will +be perceived in the course of his present adventure that he was quite +innocent of any avowed complicity in the design which he was assisting. + +Murray had a stout companion with him, a good friend to Talbot, probably +one of the familiar frequenters of the Manor House of New Connaught,--a +bold fellow, with a hand and a heart both ready for any perilous +service. He may have been a comrade of the Cornet's in his troop. His +name was Hugh Riley,--a name that has been traditionally connected with +dare-devil exploits ever since the days of Dermot McMorrogh. There have +been, I believe, but few hard fights in the world, to which Irishmen +have had anything to say, without a Hugh Riley somewhere in the thickest +part of them. + +The preparations being now complete, Murray anchored his shallop near a +convenient landing,--perhaps within the Mattapony Creek. + +In the dead of winter, about the 30th of January, 1685, Mrs. Talbot, +with her servants, her child, and nurse, set forth from the Proprietary +residence in St. Mary's, to journey over to the Patuxent,--a cold, bleak +ride of fifteen miles. The party were all on horseback: the young boy, +perhaps, wrapped in thick coverings, nestling in the arms of one of the +men: Mrs. Talbot braving the sharp wind in hood and cloak, and warmed +by her own warm heart, which beat with a courageous pulse against the +fierce blasts that swept and roared across her path. Such a cavalcade, +of course, could not depart from St. Mary's without observation at any +season; but at this time of the year so unusual a sight drew every +inhabitant to the windows, and set in motion a current of gossip that +bore away all other topics from every fireside. The gentlemen of the +Council, too, doubtless had frequent conference with the unhappy wife of +their colleague, during her sojourn in the Government House, and perhaps +secretly counselled with her on her adventure. Whatever outward or +seeming pretext may have been adopted for this movement, we can hardly +suppose that many friends of the Proprietary were ignorant of its +object. We have, indeed, evidence that the enemies of the Proprietary +charged the Council with a direct connivance in the scheme of Talbot's +escape, and made it a subject of complaint against Lord Baltimore that +he afterwards approved of it. + +Upon her arrival at the Patuxent, Mrs. Talbot went immediately on board +of the sloop, with her attendants. There she found the friendly cornet +and his comrade, Hugh Riley, on the alert to distinguish their loyalty +in her cause. The amphibious Master Skreene was now at the head of a +picked crew,--the whole party consisting of five stout men, with the +lady, her child, and nurse. All the men but Skreene were sons of the +Emerald Isle,--of a race whose historical boast is the faithfulness of +their devotion to a friend in need and their chivalrous courtesy to +woman, but still more their generous and gallant championship of woman +in distress. On this occasion this national sentiment was enhanced when +it was called into exercise in behalf of the sorrowful lady of the chief +of their border settlements. + +They set sail from the Patuxent on Saturday, the 31st of January. On +Wednesday, the fifth day afterwards, they landed on the southern bank of +the Rappahannock, at the house of Mr. Ralph Wormeley, near the mouth of +the river. This long voyage of five days over so short a distance would +seem to indicate that they departed from the common track of navigation +to avoid notice. + +The next morning Mr. Wormeley furnished them horses and a servant, and +Mrs. Talbot, with the nurse and child, under the conduct of Cornet +Murray, set out for Gloucester,--a distance of some twenty miles. The +day following,--that is, on Friday,--the servant returned with the +horses, having left the party behind. Saturday passed and part of +Sunday, when, in the evening, Mrs. Talbot and the Cornet reappeared at +Mr. Wormeley's. The child and nurse had been left behind; and this was +accounted for by Mrs. Talbot's saying she had left the child with his +father, to remain with him until she should return to Virginia. I infer +that the child was introduced into this adventure to give some seeming +to the visit which might lull suspicion and procure easier access to the +prisoner; and the leaving of him in Gloucester proves that Mrs. Talbot +had friends, and probably confederates there, to whose care he was +committed. + +As soon as the party had left the shallop, upon their first arrival at +Mr. Wormeley's, the wily Master Skreene discovered that he had business +at a landing farther up the river; and thither he straightway took his +vessel,--Wormeley's being altogether too suspicious a place for him to +frequent. And now, when Mrs. Talbot had returned to Wormeley's, Roger's +business above, of course, was finished, and he dropped down again +opposite the house on Monday evening; and the next morning took the +Cornet and the lady on board. Having done this, he drew out into the +river. This brings us to Tuesday, the 10th of February. + +As soon as Mrs. Talbot was once more embarked in the shallop, Murray and +Riley (I give Master Skreene's own account of the facts, as I find it in +his testimony subsequently taken before the Council) made a pretext to +go on shore, taking one of the men with them. They were going to look +for a cousin of this man,--so they told Skreene,--and besides that, +intended to go to a tavern to buy a bottle of rum: all of which Skreene +gives the Council to understand he verily believed to be the real object +of their visit. + +The truth was, that, as soon as Murray and Riley and their companion had +reached the shore, they mounted on horseback and galloped away in the +direction of Gloucester prison. From the moment they disappeared on this +gallop until their return, we have no account of what they did. Roger +Skreene's testimony before the Council is virtuously silent on this +point. + +After this party was gone, Mrs. Talbot herself took command, and, with a +view to more privacy, ordered Roger to anchor near the opposite shore of +the river, taking advantage of the concealment afforded by a small inlet +on the northern side. Skreene says he did this at her request, because +she expressed a wish to taste some of the oysters from that side of the +river, which he, with his usual facility, believed to be the only reason +for getting into this unobserved harbor; and, merely to gratify this +wish, he did as she desired. + +The day went by slowly to the lady on the water. Cold February, a little +sloop, and the bleak roadstead at the mouth of the Rappahannock brought +but few comforts to the anxious wife, who sat muffled upon that unstable +deck, watching the opposite shore, whilst the ceaseless plash of the +waves breaking upon her ear numbered the minutes that marked the weary +hours, and the hours that marked the still more weary day. She watched +for the party who had galloped into the sombre pine-forest that +sheltered the road leading to Gloucester, and for the arrival of that +cousin of whom Murray spoke to Master Skreene. + +But if the time dragged heavily with her, it flew with the Cornet and +his companions. We cannot tell when the twenty miles to Gloucester were +thrown behind them, but we know that the whole forty miles of going and +coming were accomplished by sunrise the next morning. For the deposition +tells us that Roger Skreene had become very impatient at the absence of +his passengers,--at least, so he swears to the Council; and he began to +think, just after the sun was up, that, as they had not returned, they +must have got into a revel at the tavern, and forgotten themselves; +which careless demeanor of theirs made him think of recrossing the river +and of going ashore to beat them up; when, lo! all of a sudden, he spied +a boat coming round the point within which he lay. And here arises a +pleasant little dramatic scene, of some interest to our story. + +Mrs. Talbot had been up at the dawn, and watched upon the deck, +straining her sight, until she could see no more for tears; and at +length, unable to endure her emotion longer, had withdrawn to the cabin. +Presently Skreene came hurrying down to tell her that the boat was +coming,--and, what surprised him, there were _four_ persons in it. "Who +is this fourth man?" he asked her,--with his habitual simplicity, "and +how are we to get him back to the shore again?"--a very natural question +for Roger to ask, after all that had passed in his presence! Mrs. Talbot +sprang to her feet,--her eyes sparkling, as she exclaimed, with a cheery +voice, "Oh, his cousin has come!"--and immediately ran upon the deck +to await the approaching party. There were pleasant smiling faces all +around, as the four men came over the sloop's side; and although the +testimony is silent as to the fact, there might have been some little +kissing on the occasion. The new-comer was in a rough dress, and had the +exterior of a servant; and our skipper says in his testimony, that "Mrs. +Talbot spoke to him in the Irish language": very volubly, I have no +doubt, and that much was said that was never translated. When they +came to a pause in this conversation, she told Skreene, by way of +interpretation, "he need not be uneasy about the stranger's going on +shore, nor delay any longer, as this person had made up his mind to go +with them to Maryland." + +So the boat was made fast, the anchor was weighed, the sails were set, +and the little sloop bent to the breeze and kissed the wave, as she +rounded the headland and stood up the Bay, with Colonel George Talbot +encircling with his arm his faithful wife, and with the gallant Cornet +Murray sitting at his side. + +They had now an additional reason for caution against search. So Murray +ordered the skipper to shape his course over to the eastern shore, and +to keep in between the islands and the main. This is a broad circuit +outside of their course; but Roger is promised a reward by Mrs. Talbot, +to compensate him for his loss of time; and the skipper is very willing. +They had fetched a compass, as the Scripture phrase is, to the shore of +Dorset County, and steered inside of Hooper's Island, into the month of +Hungary River. Here it was part of the scheme to dismiss the faithful +Roger from further service. With this view they landed on the island and +went to Mr. Hooper's house, where they procured a supply of provisions, +and immediately afterwards reembarked,--having clean forgotten Roger, +until they were once more under full sail up the Bay, and too far +advanced to turn back! + +The deserted skipper bore his disappointment like a Christian; and being +asked, on Hungary River, by a friend who met him there, and who gave his +testimony before the Council, "What brought him there?" he replied, "He +had been left on the island by Madam Talbot." And to another, "Where +Madam Talbot was?" he answered, "She had gone up the Bay to her own +house." Then, to a third question, "How he expected his pay?" he said, +"He was to have it of Colonel Darnall and Major Sewall; and that Madam +Talbot had promised him a hogshead of tobacco extra, for putting ashore +at Hooper's Island." The last question was, "What news of Talbot?" and +Roger's answer, "He had not been within twenty miles of him; neither did +he know anything about the Colonel" !! But, on further discourse, he let +fall, that "he knew the Colonel never would come to a trial,"--"that +_he_ knew this; but neither man, woman, nor child should know it, but +those who knew it already." + +So Colonel George Talbot is out of the hands of the proud Lord +Effingham, and up the Bay with his wife and friends; and is buffeting +the wintry head-winds in a long voyage to the Elk River, which, in due +time, he reaches in safety. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +TROUBLES IN COUNCIL. + + +Let us now turn back to see what is doing at St. Mary's. + +On the 17th of February comes to the Council a letter from Lord +Effingham. It has the superscription, "These, with the greatest care and +speed." It is dated on the 11th of February from Poropotanck, an Indian +point on the York River above Gloucester, and memorable as being in the +neighborhood of the spot where, some sixty years before these events, +Pocahontas saved the life of that mirror of chivalry, Captain John +Smith. + +The letter brings information "that last night [the 10th of February] +Colonel Talbot escaped out of prison,"--a subsequent letter says, "by +the corruption of his guard,"--and it is full of admonition, which has +very much the tone of command, urging all strenuous efforts to recapture +him, and particularly recommending a proclamation of "hue and cry." + +And now, for a month, there is a great parade in Maryland of +proclamation, and hue and cry, and orders to sheriffs and county +colonels to keep a sharp look-out everywhere for Talbot. But no person +in the Province seems to be anxious to catch him, except Mr. Nehemiah +Blakiston, the Collector, and a few others, who seem to have been +ministering to Lord Effingham's spleen against the Council for not +capturing him. His Lordship writes several letters of complaint at the +delay and ill success of this pursuit, and some of them in no measured +terms of courtesy. "I admire," he says in one of these, "at any slow +proceedings in service wherein his Majesty is so concerned, and hope you +will take off all occasions of future trouble, both unto me and you, +of this nature, by manifesting yourselves zealous for his Majesty's +service." They answer, that all imaginable care for the apprehending +of Talbot has been taken by issuing proclamations, etc.,--but all have +proved ineffectual, because Talbot upon all occasions flies and +takes refuge "in the remotest parts of the woods and deserts of this +Province." + +At this point we get some traces of Talbot. There is a deposition of +Robert Kemble of Cecil County, and some other papers, that give us a few +particulars by which I am enabled to construct my narrative. + +Colonel Talbot got to his own house about the middle of +February,--nearly at the same time at which the news of his escape +reached St. Mary's. He there lay warily watching the coming hue and cry +for his apprehension. He collected his friends, armed them, and set them +at watch and ward, at all his outposts. He had a disguise provided, in +which he occasionally ventured abroad. Kemble met him, on the 19th of +February, at George Oldfield's, on Elk River; and although the Colonel +was disguised in a flaxen wig, and in other ways, Kemble says he knew +him by hearing him cough in the night, in a room adjoining that in which +Kemble slept. Whilst this witness was at Oldfield's, "Talbot's shallop," +he says, "was busking and turning before Oldfield's landing for several +hours." The roads leading towards Talbot's house were all guarded by his +friends, and he had a report made to him of every vessel that arrived in +the river. By way of more permanent concealment, until the storm should +blow over, he had made preparations to build himself a cabin, somewhere +in the woods out of the range of the thoroughfares of the district. When +driven by a pressing emergency which required more than ordinary care +to prevent his apprehension, he betook himself to the cave on the +Susquehanna, where, most probably, with a friend or two,--Cornet Murray +I hope was one of them,--he lay perdu for a few days at a time, and +then ventured back to speak a word of comfort and encouragement to the +faithful wife who kept guard at home. + +In this disturbed and anxious alternation of concealment and flight +Talbot passed the winter, until about the 25th of April, when, probably +upon advice of friends, he voluntarily surrendered himself to the +Council at St. Mary's, and was committed for trial in the provincial +Court. The fact of the surrender was communicated to Lord Effingham by +the Council, with a request that he would send the witnesses to Maryland +to appear at his trial. Hereupon arose another correspondence with his +Lordship, which is worthy of a moment's notice. Lord Effingham has lost +nothing of his arrogance. He says, on the 12th of May, 1685, "I am so +far from answering your desires, that I do hereby demand Colonel Talbot +as my prisoner, in the King of England's name, and that you do forthwith +convey him into Virginia. And to this my demand I expect your ready +performance and compliance, upon your allegiance to his Majesty." + +I am happy to read the answer to this insolent letter, in which it will +be seen that the spirit of Maryland was waked up on the occasion to its +proper voice.--It is necessary to say, by way of explanation to one +point in this answer, that the Governor of Virginia had received the +news of the accession and proclamation of James the Second, and had not +communicated it to the Council in Maryland. The Council give an answer +at their leisure, having waited till the 1st of June, when they write +to his Lordship, protesting against Virginia's exercising any +superintendence over Maryland, and peremptorily refusing to deliver +Talbot. They tell him "that we are desirous and conclude to await his +Majesty's resolution, [in regard to the prisoner,] which we question not +will be agreeable to his Lordship's Charter, and, consequently, contrary +to your expectations. In the mean time we cannot but resent in some +measure, for we are willing to let you see that we observe, the small +notice you seem to take of this Government, (contrary to that amicable +correspondence so often promised, and expected by us,) in not holding us +worthy to be advised of his Majesty's being proclaimed, without which, +certainly, we have not been enabled to do our duty in that particular. +Such advice would have been gratefully received by your Excellency's +humble servants." Thanks, Colonels Darnall and Digges and you other +Colonels and Majors, for this plain outspeaking of the old Maryland +heart against the arrogance of the "Right Honorable Lord Howard, Baron +of Effingham, Captain General and Chief Governor of his Majesty's Colony +of Virginia," as he styles himself! I am glad to see this change of +tone, since that first letter of obsequious submission. + +Perhaps this change of tone may have had some connection with the recent +change on the throne, in which the accession of a Catholic monarch may +have given new courage to Maryland, and abated somewhat the confidence +of Virginia. If so, it was but a transitory hope, born to a sad +disappointment. + +The documents afford but little more information. + +Lord Baltimore, being in London, appears to have interceded with the +King for some favor to Talbot, and writes to the Council on the third +of July, "that it formerly was and still is the King's pleasure, that +Talbot shall be brought over, in the Quaker Ketch, to England, to +receive his trial there; and that, in order thereto, his Majesty had +sent his commands to the Governor of Virginia to deliver him to +Captain Allen, commander of said ketch, who is to bring him over." The +Proprietary therefore directs his Council to send the prisoner to the +Governor of Virginia, "to the end that his Majesty's pleasure may be +fulfilled." + +This letter was received on the 7th of October, 1685, and Talbot was +accordingly sent, under the charge of Gilbert Clarke and a proper guard, +to Lord Effingham, who gives Clarke a regular business receipt, as if +he had brought him a hogshead of tobacco, and appends to it a short +apologetic explanation of his previous rudeness, which we may receive as +another proof of his distrust of the favor of the new monarch. "I had +not been so urgent," he says, "had I not had advices from England, last +April, of the measures that were taken there concerning him." + +After this my chronicle is silent. We have no further tidings of Talbot. +The only hint for a conjecture is the marginal note of "The Landholder's +Assistant," got from Chalmers: "He was, I believe," says the note, +"tried and convicted, and finally pardoned by James the Second." This is +probably enough. For I suppose him to have been of the same family with +that Earl of Tyrconnel equally distinguished for his influence with +James the Second as for his infamous life and character, who held at +this period unbounded sway at the English Court. I hope, for the honor +of our hero, that he preserved no family-likeness to that false-hearted, +brutal, and violent favorite, who is made immortal in Macaulay's pages +as Lying Dick Talbot. Through his intercession his kinsman may have been +pardoned, or even never brought to trial. + + +CHAPTER X. + +CONCLUSION. + + +This is the end of my story. But, like all stories, it requires that +some satisfaction should be given to the reader in regard to the +dramatic proprieties. We have our several heroes to dispose of. Phelim +Murray and Hugh Riley, who had both been arrested by the Council to +satisfy public opinion as to their complicity in the plot for the +escape, were both honorably discharged,--I suppose being found entirely +innocent! Roger Skreene swore himself black and blue, as the phrase is, +that he had not the least suspicion of the business in which he was +engaged; and so he was acquitted! I am also glad to be able to say that +our gallant Cornet Murray, in the winding-up of this business, was +promoted by the Council to a captaincy of cavalry, and put in command of +Christiana Fort and its neighborhood, to keep that formidable Quaker, +William Penn, at a respectful distance. It would gratify me still more, +if I could find warrant to add, that the Cornet enjoyed himself, and +married the lady of his choice, with whom he has, unknown to us, been +violently in love during these adventures, and that they lived happily +together for many years. I hope this was so,--although the chronicle +does not allow one to affirm it,--it being but a proper conclusion to +such a romance as I have plucked out of our history. + +And so I have traced the tradition of the Cave to the end. What I have +been able to certify furnishes the means of a shrewd estimate of the +average amount of truth which popular traditions generally contain. +There is always a fact at the bottom, lying under a superstructure of +fiction,--truth enough to make the pursuit worth following. Talbot did +not live in the Cave, but fled there occasionally for concealment. He +had no hawks with him, but bred them in his own mews on the Elk River. +The birds seen in after times were some of this stock, and not the +solitary pair they were supposed to be. I dare say an expert naturalist +would find many specimens of the same breed now in that region. But let +us not be too critical on the tradition, which has led us into a quest +through which I have been able to supply what I hope will be found to be +a pleasant insight into that little world of action and passion,--with +its people, its pursuits, and its gossips,--that, more than one hundred +and seventy years ago, inhabited the beautiful banks of St. Mary's +River, and wove the web of our early Maryland history. + + +POSTSCRIPT. + + +I have another link in the chain of Talbot's history, furnished me by a +friend in Virginia. It comes since I have completed my narrative, and +very accurately confirms the conjecture of Chalmers, quoted in the note +of "The Landholder's Assistant." "As for Colonel Talbot, he was conveyed +for trial to Virginia, from whence he made his escape, and, after being +retaken, and, _I believe_, tried and convicted, was finally pardoned by +King James II." This is an extract from the note. It is now ascertained +that Talbot was not taken to England for trial, as Lord Baltimore, in +his letter of the 6th of July, 1685, affirmed it was the King's pleasure +he should be; but that he was tried and convicted in Virginia on the 22d +of April, 1686, and, on the 26th of the same month, reprieved by order +of the King; after which we may presume he received a full pardon, and +perhaps was taken to England in obedience to the royal command, to await +it there. The conviction and reprieve are recorded in a folio of the +State Records of Virginia at Richmond, on a mutilated and scarcely +legible sheet,--a copy of which I present to my reader with all its +obliterations and broken syllables and sad gashes in the text, for his +own deciphering. The MS. is in keeping with the whole story, and may be +looked upon as its appropriate emblem. The story has been brought to +light by chance, and has been rendered intelligible by close study and +interpretation of fragmentary and widely separated facts, capable of +being read only by one conversant with the text of human affairs, and +who has the patience to grope through the trackless intervals of time, +and the skill to supply the lost words and syllables of history by +careful collation with those which are spared. How faithfully this +accidentally found MS. typifies such a labor, the reader may judge from +the literal copy of it I now offer to his perusal. + +[Transcriber's note: Gaps in the text below are signified with an +asterisk.] + + By his Excellency + + Whereas his most Sacred Majesty has been Graciously pleased + by his Royall Com'ands to Direct and Com'and Me ffrancis + Lord Howard of Effingham his Maj'ties Lieut and Gov'r. Gen'll. + of Virginia that if George Talbott Esq'r. upon his Tryall should + be found Guilty of Killing M'r Christopher Rowsby, that Execution + should be suspended untill his Majesties pleasure should + be further signified unto Me; And forasmuch as the sd George + Talbott was Indicted upon the Statute of Stabbing and hath + Received a full and Legall Tryall in open Court on y'e Twentieth + and One and Twentieth dayes of this Instant Aprill, before his + Majesties Justices of Oyer and Terminer, and found Guilty of y'e + aforesaid fact and condemned for the Same, I, therefore, *ffrancis + Lord Howard, Baron of *ffingham, his Majesties Lieu't and Gov'r. + Gen'll. Of Virginia, by Virtue of *aj'ties Royall Com'ands + to Me given there * doe hereby Suspend *tion of the + Sentence of death * his Maj'ties Justices + * Terminer on the * till his Majesties + *erein be * nor any + * fail as yo* uttmost + * and for y'r soe doing this sh* + + Given under my and * Seale + + the 26th dayof Apri* + + EFFINGHAM + + To his Majesties Justices + of Oyer and Terminer. + + Recordatur E Chillon Gen'l Car* + + [Endorsed] + + Talbott's Repreif + from L'd Howard + 1686 for Killing Ch'r. Rousby + Examined Sept. 24th + 26th Aprill 1686 + Sentence of + ag'* Col Ta + Suspended + Aprill 26* 1*86 + + + + +PRINCE ADEB. + + + In Sana, oh, in Sana, God, the Lord, + Was very kind and merciful to me! + Forth from the Desert in my rags I came, + Weary and sore of foot. I saw the spires + And swelling bubbles of the golden domes + Rise through the trees of Sana, and my heart + Grew great within me with the strength of God; + And I cried out, "Now shall I right myself,-- + I, Adeb the Despised,--for God is just!" + There he who wronged my father dwelt in peace,-- + My warlike father, who, when gray hairs crept + Around his forehead, as on Lebanon + The whitening snows of winter, was betrayed + To the sly Imam, and his tented wealth + Swept from him, 'twixt the roosting of the cock + And his first crowing,--in a single night: + And I, poor Adeb, sole of all my race, + Smeared with my father's and my kinsmen's blood, + Fled through the Desert, till one day a tribe + Of hungry Bedouins found me in the sand, + Half mad with famine, and they took me up, + And made a slave of me,--of me, a prince! + All was fulfilled at last. I fled from them, + In rags and sorrow. Nothing but my heart, + Like a strong swimmer, bore me up against + The howling sea of my adversity. + At length o'er Sana, in the act to swoop, + I stood like a young eagle on a crag. + The traveller passed me with suspicious fear: + I asked for nothing; I was not a thief. + The lean dogs snuffed around me: my lank bones, + Fed on the berries and the crusted pools, + Were a scant morsel. Once, a brown-skinned girl + Called me a little from the common path, + And gave me figs and barley in a bag. + I paid her with a kiss, with nothing more, + And she looked glad; for I was beautiful, + And virgin as a fountain, and as cold. + I stretched her bounty, pecking, like a bird, + Her figs and barley, till my strength returned. + So when rich Sana lay beneath my eyes, + My foot was as the leopard's, and my hand + As heavy as the lion's brandished paw; + And underneath my burnished skin the veins + And stretching muscles played, at every step, + In wondrous motion. I was very strong. + I looked upon my body, as a bird + That bills his feathers ere he takes to flight,-- + I, watching over Sana. Then I prayed; + And on a soft stone, wetted in the brook, + Ground my long knife; and then I prayed again. + God heard my voice, preparing all for me, + As, softly stepping down the hills, + I saw the Imam's summer-palace all ablaze + In the last flash of sunset. Every fount + Was spouting fire, and all the orange-trees + Bore blazing coals, and from the marble walls + And gilded spires and columns, strangely wrought, + Glared the red light, until my eyes were pained + With the fierce splendor. Till the night grew thick, + I lay within the bushes, next the door, + Still as a serpent, as invisible. + The guard hung round the portal. Man by man + They dropped away, save one lone sentinel, + And on his eyes God's finger lightly fell; + He slept half standing. Like a summer wind + That threads the grove, yet never turns a leaf, + I stole from shadow unto shadow forth; + Crossed all the marble court-yard, swung the door, + Like a soft gust, a little way ajar,-- + My body's narrow width, no more,--and stood + Beneath the cresset in the painted hall. + I marvelled at the riches of my foe; + I marvelled at God's ways with wicked men. + Then I reached forth, and took God's waiting hand: + And so He led me over mossy floors, + Flowered with the silken summer of Shirar, + Straight to the Imam's chamber. At the door + Stretched a brawn eunuch, blacker than my eyes: + His woolly head lay like the Kaba-stone + In Mecca's mosque, as silent and as huge. + I stepped across it, with my pointed knife + Just missing a full vein along his neck, + And, pushing by the curtains, there I was,-- + I, Adeb the Despised,--upon the spot + That, next to heaven, I longed for most of all. + I could have shouted for the joy in me. + Fierce pangs and flashes of bewildering light + Leaped through my brain and danced before my eyes. + So loud my heart beat that I feared its sound + Would wake the sleeper; and the bubbling blood + Choked in my throat, till, weaker than a child, + I reeled against a column, and there hung + In a blind stupor. Then I prayed again; + And, sense by sense, I was made whole once more. + I touched myself; I was the same; I knew + Myself to be lone Adeb, young and strong, + With nothing but a stride of empty air + Between me and God's justice. In a sleep, + Thick with the fumes of the accursed grape, + Sprawled the false Imam. On his shaggy breast, + Like a white lily heaving on the tide + Of some foul stream, the fairest woman slept + These roving eyes have ever looked upon. + Almost a child, her bosom barely showed + The change beyond her girlhood. All her charms + Were budding, but half opened; for I saw + Not only beauty wondrous in itself, + But possibility of more to be + In the full process of her blooming days. + I gazed upon her, and my heart grew soft, + As a parched pasture with the dew of heaven. + While thus I gazed, she smiled, and slowly raised + The long curve of her lashes; and we looked + Each upon each in wonder, not alarm,-- + Not eye to eye, but soul to soul, we held + Each other for a moment. All her life + Seemed centred in the circle of her eyes. + She stirred no limb; her long-drawn, equal breath + Swelled out and ebbed away beneath her breast, + In calm unbroken. Not a sign of fear + Touched the faint color on her oval cheek, + Or pinched the arches of her tender mouth. + She took me for a vision, and she lay + With her sleep's smile unaltered, as in doubt + Whether real life had stolen into her dreams, + Or dreaming stretched into her outer life. + I was not graceless to a woman's eyes. + The girls of Damar paused to see me pass, + I walking in my rags, yet beautiful. + One maiden said, "He has a prince's air!" + I am a prince; the air was all my own. + So thought the lily on the Imam's breast; + And lightly as a summer mist, that lifts + Before the morning, so she floated up, + Without a sound or rustle of a robe, + From her coarse pillow, and before me stood + With asking eyes. The Imam never moved. + A stride and blow were all my need, and they + Were wholly in my power. I took her hand, + I held a warning finger to my lips, + And whispered in her small expectant ear, + "Adeb, the son of Akem!" She replied + In a low murmur, whose bewildering sound + Almost lulled wakeful me to sleep, and sealed + The sleeper's lids in tenfold slumber, "Prince, + Lord of the Imam's life and of my heart, + Take all thou seest,--it is thy right, I know,-- + But spare the Imam for thy own soul's sake!" + Then I arrayed me in a robe of state, + Shining with gold and jewels; and I bound + In my long turban gems that might have bought + The lands 'twixt Babelmandeb and Sahan. + I girt about me, with a blazing belt, + A scimitar o'er which the sweating smiths + In far Damascus hammered for long years, + Whose hilt and scabbard shot a trembling light + From diamonds and rubies. And she smiled, + As piece by piece I put the treasures on, + To see me look so fair,--in pride she smiled. + I hung long purses at my side. I scooped, + From off a table, figs and dates and rice, + And bound them to my girdle in a sack. + Then over all I flung a snowy cloak, + And beckoned to the maiden. So she stole + Forth like my shadow, past the sleeping wolf + Who wronged my father, o'er the woolly head + Of the swart eunuch, down the painted court, + And by the sentinel who standing slept. + Strongly against the portal, through my rags,-- + My old, base rags,--and through the maiden's veil, + I pressed my knife,--upon the wooden hilt + Was "Adeb, son of Akem," carved by me + In my long slavehood,--as a passing sign + To wait the Imam's waking. Shadows cast + From two high-sailing clouds upon the sand + Passed not more noiseless than we two, as one, + Glided beneath the moonlight, till I smelt + The fragrance of the stables. As I slid + The wide doors open, with a sudden bound + Uprose the startled horses; but they stood + Still as the man who in a foreign land + Hears his strange language, when my Desert call, + As low and plaintive as the nested dove's, + Fell on their listening ears. From stall to stall, + Feeling the horses with my groping hands, + I crept in darkness; and at length I came + Upon two sister mares, whose rounded sides, + Fine muzzles, and small heads, and pointed ears, + And foreheads spreading 'twixt their eyelids wide, + Long slender tails, thin manes, and coats of silk, + Told me, that, of the hundred steeds there stalled, + My hand was on the treasures. O'er and o'er + I felt their long joints, and down their legs + To the cool hoofs;--no blemish anywhere: + These I led forth and saddled. Upon one + I set the lily, gathered now for me,-- + My own, henceforth, forever. So we rode + Across the grass, beside the stony path, + Until we gained the highway that is lost, + Leading from Sana, in the eastern sands: + When, with a cry that both the Desert-born + Knew without hint from whip or goading spur, + We dashed into a gallop. Far behind + In sparks and smoke the dusty highway rose; + And ever on the maiden's face I saw, + When the moon flashed upon it, the strange smile + It wore on waking. Once I kissed her mouth, + When she grew weary, and her strength returned. + All through the night we scoured between the hills: + The moon went down behind us, and the stars + Dropped after her; but long before I saw + A planet blazing straight against our eyes, + The road had softened, and the shadowy hills + Had flattened out, and I could hear the hiss + Of sand spurned backward by the flying mares.-- + Glory to God! I was at home again! + The sun rose on us; far and near I saw + The level Desert; sky met sand all round. + We paused at midday by a palm-crowned well, + And ate and slumbered. Somewhat, too, was said: + The words have slipped my memory. That same eve + We rode sedately through a Hamoum camp,-- + I, Adeb, prince amongst them, and my bride. + And ever since amongst them I have ridden, + A head and shoulders taller than the best; + And ever since my days have been of gold, + My nights have been of silver.--God is just! + + * * * * * + + + +ELEUSINIA.[a] + +[Footnote a: See Number XXIII., September, 1859.] + + +THE SAVIOURS OF GREECE. + +Life, in its central idea, is an entire and eternal solitude. Yet each +individual nature so repeats--and is itself repeated in--every other, +that there is insured the possibility both of a world-revelation in the +soul, and of a self-incarnation in the world; so that every man's life, +like Agrippa's mirror, reflects the universe, and the universe is made +the embodiment of his life,--is made to beat with a human pulse. + +We do all, therefore,--Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, or Saxon,--claim kinship +both with the earth and the heavens: with the sense of sorrow we kneel +upon the earth, with the sense of hope we look into the heavens. + +The two Presences of the Eleusinia,--the earthly Demeter,[b] the +embodiment of human sorrow, and the heavenly Dionysus,[c] the +incarnation of human hope,--these are the two Great Presences of the +Universe; about whom, as separate centres,--the one of measureless +wanderings, the other of triumphant rest,--we marshal, both in the +interpretations of Reason and in the constructions of our Imagination, +all that is visible or that is invisible,--whatsoever is palpable in +sense or possible in idea, in the world which is or the world to come. +Incarnations of the life within us, in its two developments of Sorrow +and Hope,--they are also the centres through which this life develops +itself in the world: it is through them that all things have their +genesis from the human heart, and through them, therefore, that all +things are unveiled to us. + +[Footnote b: Demeter is [Greek Gae-mhaetaer], Mother Earth.] + +[Footnote c: The same as Iacchus and the Latin Bacchus.] + +But these Two Presences have their highest interest and significance as +_foci_ of the religious development of the race: and inasmuch as all +growth is ultimately a religious one, it is in this phase that their +organic connections with life are widest and most profound. As such they +appear in the Eleusinia; and in all mythology they furnish the only +possible key for the interpretation of its mystic symbolism, its +hieroglyphic records, and its ill-defined traditions. + +Accordingly we find that all mythology naturally and inevitably +flows about these centres into two distinct developments, which are +indicated,-- + +1. In Nature; inasmuch as they are first made manifest through symbols +which point to the two great forces, the _active_ and the _passive_, +which are concerned in all natural processes (_sol et terra subjacens +soli_); and, + +2. In the primitive belief among all nations, that men are the offspring +of the earth and the heavens,--and in the worship equally prevalent of +the sun, the personal Presence of the heavens, as Saviour Lord, and of +the earth as sorrowing Lady and Mother. + +Why the earth, in this primitive symbolism and worship, was represented +as the Sorrowing One, and the sun as Saviour, is evident at a glance. +It was the bosom of the earth which was shaken with storm and rent with +earthquake. She was the Mother, and hers was the travail of all birth; +in sorrow she forever gathered to herself her Fate-conquered children; +her sorrowful countenance she veiled in thick mists, and, year after +year, shrouded herself in wintry desolation: while he was the Eternal +Father, the Revealer of all things, he drove away the darkness, and in +his presence the mist became an invisible exhalation; and, as out of +darkness and death, he called into birth the flowers and the numberless +forests,--even as he himself was every morning born anew out of +darkness,--so he called the children of the earth to a glorious rising +in his light. Everything of the earth was inert, weighing heavily upon +the sense and the heart, only waiting its transfiguration and exaltation +through his power, until it should rise into the heavens; which was the +type of his translation to himself of his grief-oppressed children. + +Under these symbols our Lord and Lady have been worshipped by an +overwhelming majority of the human race. They swayed the ancient world, +from the Indians by the Ganges, and the Tartar tribes, to the Britons +and Laplanders of Northwestern Europe,--having their representatives in +every system of faith,--in the Hindu _Isi and Isana_, the Egyptian _Isis +and Osiris_, the Assyrian _Venus and Adonis_, the _Demeter and Dionysus_ +of Greece, the Roman _Ceres and Bacchus_, and the _Disa and Frey_ of +Scandinavia,--in connection with most, if not all, of whom there existed +festivals corresponding, in respect of their meaning and use, with the +Grecian Eleusinia. + +Moreover, the various divinities of any one mythology--for example, the +Greek--were at first only representatives of partial attributes or +incidental functions of these Two Presences. Thus, Jove was the power of +the heavens, which, of course, centred in the sun; Apollo is admitted +to have been only another name for the sun; Æsculapius represents his +healing virtues; Hercules his saving strength; and Prometheus, who gave +fire to men, as Vulcan, the god of fire, was probably connected with +Eastern fire-worship, and so in the end with the worship of the sun. +Some of the goddesses come under the same category,--such as Juno, +sister and wife of Jove, who shared with him his aerial dynasty; as also +Diana, who was only the reflection of Apollo,[d] as the moon of the sun, +carrying his power on into the night, and exercising among women the +functions which he exercised among men. The representatives of our Lady, +on the other hand, are such as the ancient Rhea,--Latona, with her dark +and starry veil,--Tethys, the world-nurse,--and the Artemis of the East, +or Syrian Mother; to say nothing of Oreads, Dryads, and Nereids, that +without number peopled the mountains, the forests, and the sea. + +[Footnote d: This connection of Diana with Apollo has led some to the +hasty inference, that the sun and moon--not the sun and earth--were the +primitive centres of mythological symbolism. But it is plain that the +sun and moon, as _active _forces referable to a single centre, stood +over against the earth as _passive._] + +The confusion of ancient mythology did not so much regard its subjective +elements as its external development, and even here is easily accounted +for by the mingling of tribes and nations, hitherto isolated in their +growth,--but who, as they came together, in their mutual recognition of +a common faith under different names and rites, must inevitably have +introduced disorder into the external symbolism. But even out of this +confusion we shall find the whole Pantheon organized about two +central shrines,--those of the _Mater Dolorosa_ and the _Dominus +Salvator_,--which are represented also in Christendom, though detached +from natural symbols, in the connection of Christianity with the worship +of the Virgin. + +The Eleusinia, collecting together, as it did, all the prominent +elements of mythology, furnishes, in its dramatic evolution through +Demeter and Dionysus, the highest and most complete representation of +ancient faith in both of its developments. In a former paper, we have +endeavored to give this drama its deepest interpretation by pointing to +the human heart as the central source of all its movements. We shall now +ask our readers to follow us out into these movements themselves,--that, +as before we saw how the world is centred in each human soul, we may now +see how each soul develops itself in the world; for thither it is that +the ever-widening cycles of the Eleusinian epos will inevitably lead us. + +And first as an epos of sorrow: though centring in the earthly Demeter, +yet its movement does not limit itself by the remembrance of _her_ nine +days' search; but, in the torch-light procession of the fifth night, +widens indefinitely and mysteriously in the darkness, until it has +inclosed all hearts within the circuit of its tumultuous flight. Thus, +by some secret sympathy with her movements, are gathered together +about the central Achtheia all the _Matres Dolorosoe,_--our Ladies of +Sorrow;--for, like her, they were all wanderers. + +They were so by necessity. All unrest involves loss, and thus leads to +search. It matters not if the search be unsuccessful; though the gadfly +sting as sharply the next moment as it did the last, still so must +continue her wanderings. Therefore that Jew, whose mythic fate it is to +wait forever upon the earth, the victim of an everlasting sorrow, is +also an everlasting wanderer. All suffering necessitates movement,--and +when the suffering is intense, the movement passes over into flight. + +Therefore it is that the epos of suffering requires not merely time for +its accomplishment, but also space. Ulysses, the "much-suffering," is +also the "much-wandering." + +Thus our Lady in the Eleusinian procession of search represents the +restless search of all her children. + +Migrations and colonizations, ancient or modern,--what were they but +flights from some phase of suffering,--name it as we may,--poverty, +oppression, or slavery? It was the same suffering Io who brought +civilization to the banks of the Nile. + +Thus, from the very beginnings of history or human tradition, out of +the severities of Scythian deserts there has been an endless series of +flights,--nomadic invasions of tribes impelled by no merely barbarian +impulse, but by some deep sense of suffering, flying from their Northern +wastes to the happy gardens of the South. In no other way can you +account for these movements. If you attribute them to ferocity, what +was it that engendered and nourished _that_? Call them the results of +a Divine Providence, seeking by a fresher current of life to revive +systems of civilization which through long ages of luxury have come to +frailty,--still it was through this severity of discipline alone that +Providence accomplished its end. Besides, these nomads were fully +conscious of their bitter lot; and those who fled not in space fled at +least in their dreams,--waiting for death at last to introduce them to +inexhaustible hunting-grounds in their happy Elysium. + +The very mention of Rome suggests the same continually repeated series +of antecedent tragedy and consequent wandering,--pointing backward to +the fabled siege of Troy and the flight of Aeneas,--"_profugus_" +from Asia to Italy,--and forward to the quick-coming footsteps of the +Northern _profugi_, who were eager, even this side the grave, to enter +the Valhalla of their dreams. + +It is said that the Phoenician cities sent out colonies from a desire of +gain, and because they were crowded at home. It is said, too, that, +in search of gold, thousands upon thousands went to El Dorado, to +California, and Australia; but who does not know that the greater part +of these thousands left their homes for reasons which, if fully exposed, +would reveal a tragedy in view of which gold appears a glittering +mockery? + +The great movement of the race westward is but an extension of this +epic flight. Thus, the Pilgrim Fathers of New England,--the grandest +_profugi_ of all time,--or even the bold adventurers of Spain, would +have been moved only by intense suffering, in some form, to exchange +their homes for a wilderness. + +The world is full of these wanderings, under various pretences of gain, +adventure, or curiosity, hiding the real impulse of flight. So with the +strong-flowing current in the streets of a great city; for how else +shall we interpret this intricate net-work of human feature and +movement,--this flux of life toward some troubled centre, and then its +reflux toward some uncertain and undefined circumference? + +And as Nature is the mirror of human life, so at the source of those +vast movements by which she buries in oblivion her own works and the +works of man there is hidden the type of human suffering, both for the +race and the individual. And hence it is, that, over against the eternal +solitude within us, there ever waits without us a second solitude, into +which, sooner or later, we pass with restless flight,--a solitude +vast, shadowy, and unfamiliar in its outline, but inevitable in its +reality,--haunting, bewildering, overshadowing us! + + * * * * * + +"Who is it that shall interpret this intricate evolution of human +footsteps, in its meaning of sorrow?--who is it that shall give us +rest?" Such is the half-conscious prayer of all these fugitives,--of +our Lady and all her children. This it is which gives meaning to the +torch-light procession on the fifth night of the Festival; but to-morrow +it shall find an answer in the Saviour Dionysus, who shall change the +flight of search into the pomp of triumph. + + * * * * * + +But let us pause a moment. It is Palm Sunday! We are not, indeed, in +Syria, the land of palms. Yet, even here,--lost in some far-reaching +avenue of pines, where one could hardly walk upon a summer Sunday +without such sense of joy as would move him to tears,--even here all the +movements of the earth and the heavens hint of most jubilant triumph. +Thus, the green grass rises above the dead grass at our feet; the +leaf-buds new-born upon the tree, like lotos-buds springing up from +Ethiopian marble, give token of resurrection; the trees themselves tower +heavenward; and in victorious ascension the clouds unite in the vast +procession, dissolving in exhalation at the "gates of the sun"; while +from unnumbered choirs arise songs of exultant victory from the hearts +of men to the throne of God! + +But whither, in divine remembrance,--whither is it that upon this Sunday +of all Sundays the thoughts of Christendom point? Back through eighteen +hundred years to the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, followed +by the children crying, "Hosanna in the highest heavens!" Of this it is +that the processions of Nature, in the resurrections of birth and the +aërial ascension of clouds,--of this that the upward processions of our +thoughts are commemorative! + +Thus was the sixth day of the Eleusinia,--when the ivy-crowned Dionysus +was borne in triumph through the mystic entrance of Eleusis, and from +the Eleusinian plains, as from our choirs to-day, ascended the jubilant +Hosannas of the countless multitude;--this was the Palm Sunday of +Greece. + +Close upon the chariot-wheels of the Saviour Dionysus followed, in +the faith of Greece, Aesculapius and Hercules: the former the Divine +Physician, whose very name was healing, and who had power over death, +as the child of the Sun; and the latter, who by his saving strength +delivered the earth from its Augean impurities, and, arrayed in +celestial panoply, subdued the monsters of the earth, and at last, +descending to Hades, slew the three-headed Cerberus and took away from +men much of the fear of death. Such was the train of the Eleusinian +Dionysus. If Demeter was the wanderer, he was the conqueror and centre +of all triumph. + +And this reminds us of his Indian conquest. What did it mean? Admit that +it may have been only the fabulous march in triumph of some forgotten +king of mortal birth to the farthest limits of the East. Still the fact +of its association with Dionysus stands as evidence of the connection of +human faith with human victory. Let it be that Dionysus himself was only +the apotheosis of victorious humanity. In strict logic this is more than +probable. Yet why apotheosize conquerors at all? Why exalt all heroes to +the rank of gods? + +The reason is, that men are unwilling to draw a limited meaning from any +human act. How could they, then, connecting, as they did, all victory +with hope,--how could they fall short of the most exalted hope, of the +most excellent victory; especially in instances like the one now under +our notice, where the material circumstances of the conquest as well +as of the conqueror's life have passed out of remembrance; when for +generations men have dwelt upon the dim tradition in their thoughts, and +it has had time to grow into its fullest significance,--even finding +an elaborate expression in sacred writings, in symbolic ritual, and +monumental entablature? Osiris, who subjected men to his reign of peace, +was also held to be the Preserver of their souls. Even Caesar, had he +lived two thousand years before, might have been worshipped as Saviour. +All extended power, measured by duration in time or vast areas of space, +becomes an incarnate Presence in the world, which awes to the dust +all who resist it, and exalts with its own glory all who trust in it. +Achtheia mourns all failures; and here it is that the human touches the +earth. But they who conquer, these are our Saviours; they shall follow +in the train of Dionysus; they shall lift us to the heavens, and +sanctify in our remembrance the Sunday of Palms! + +But Dionysus not only looks back with triumphant remembrance to ancient +conquest, but has his victories in the present, also, and in the great +Hereafter. For triumph was connected with all Dionysiac symbols, hints +of which are preserved to us in representations found upon ancient +vases: such, for instance, as the figure of Victory surmounting the +heads of the ivy-crowned Bacchantes in their mystic orgies; or the +winged serpents which bear the chariot of the victor-god,--as if in +this connection even the reptiles, whose very name (_serpentes_) is +a synonyme for what creeps, are to be made the ministrants of his +conquering flight. The tombs of the ancients from Egypt to Etruria are +full of these symbols. Many of them have become dim as to their meaning +by oblivious time; but enough is evident to indicate the prominence +of hope in ancient faith. This appears in the very multiplicity of +Dionysiac symbols as compared with any other class. Thus, out of +sixty-six vases at Polignano, all but one or two were found to be +Dionysiac in their symbolism. And this instance stands for many others. +The _character_ of the scenes represented indicates the same prominence +of hope, sometimes as connected with the relations of life,--as, for +example, the representation, found upon a sepulchral cone, of a husband +and wife uniting with each other in prayer to the Sun. Frequent +inscriptions--such as those in which the deceased is carefully committed +to Osiris, the Egyptian Dionysus--point in the same direction; as +also the genii who presided over the embalmed dead, a belief in whose +existence surely indicated a hopeful trust in some divine care which +would not leave them even in the grave. Statues of Osiris are found +among the ruins of palaces and temples; but it was in the monuments +associated with death that they dwelt most upon his name and expressed +their faith in most frequent incarnation and inscription. + +The epic movement of Eleusinian triumph was in its range as unlimited +as the movement of sorrow. Each found expression in sculptured +monument,--the one hinting of flight into darkness, and the other of +resurrection into light; each in its cycle inclosed the world; each +widened into the invisible; as the wail of Achtheia reached the heart of +Hades, so the paean of Dionysus was lost in the heavens. + + * * * * * + +But in what manner did this Dionysus make his _avatar_ in the world? For +he must needs have first touched the earth as human child, ere he could +be worshipped as Divine Saviour. Latona must leave the heavens and come +to Delos ere she can give birth to Apollo; for, in order to slay the +serpent, the child must himself be earth-born,--indeed, according to one +representation, he slew the Python out of his mother's arms. Neither the +serpent of Genesis nor the dragon of Revelation can be conquered save +by the seed of the woman. From this necessity of his earthly birth, +the connection of the Saviour-Child with the _Mater Dolorosa_ becomes +universal,--finding its counterpart in the Assyrian Venus with babe in +arm, in Isis suckling the child Horus, and even in the Scandinavian Disa +at Upsal accompanied by an infant. It is from swaddling-clothes, as the +nursling of our Lady, and out of the sorrowful discipline of earth, that +the child grows to be the Saviour, both for our Lady and for all her +children. + +Hence, according to the tradition, Dionysus was born of Semele of the +royal house at Thebes; and Jove was his father. A little before his time +of birth,--so the story goes,--Jove visited Semele, at her own rash +request, in all the majesty of his presence, with thunderings and +lightnings, so that the bower of the virgin mother was laid in ruins, +and she herself, unable to stand before the revealed god, was consumed +as by fire. But Jove out of her ashes perfected the birth of his son; +whence he was called the Child of Fire, ([Greek: puripais],)--which +epithet, as well as this part of the fable, probably points to his +connection with the Oriental symbolism of fire in the worship of the +Sun. + +And it is worth while, in connection with this, to notice the gradations +by which in the ancient mind everything ascended from the gross material +to a refined spirituality. As in Nature there was forever going on a +subtilizing process, so that + + "from the root + Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves + More aëry, last the bright consummate flower + Spirits odorous breathes,"-- + +and as, in their philosophy, from the earth, as the principle of Nature, +they ascended through the more subtile elements of water, air, and fire, +to a spiritual conception of the universe; so, as regards their +faith, its highest incarnation was through the symbolism of fire, as +representative of that central Power under whose influence all things +arose through endless grades of exaltation to Himself,--so that the +earthly rose into the heavenly, and all that was human became divine. + +The enthusiasm of victory and exaltation in the worship of Dionysus +tended of course to connect with him whatsoever was joyous and jubilant +in life. He was the god of all joy. Hence the fable which makes him the +author and giver of wine to men. Wherever he goes, he is surrounded by +the clustering vine and ivy, hinting of his summer glory and of his +kingly crown. Thus, the line of his conquests leads through the richest +fields of Southern Asia,--through the incense-breathing Arabia, across +the Euphrates and the Tigris, and through the flowery vales of Cashmere +to the Indian garden of the world: and as from sea to sea he establishes +his reign by bloodless victories, he is attended by Fauns and Satyrs and +the jovial Pan; wine and honey are his gifts; and all the earth is glad +in his gracious presence. Hence he was ever associated with Oriental +luxuriance, and was worshipped even among the Greeks with a large +infusion of Oriental extravagance, though tempered by the more subdued +mood of the West. + +But that depth of Grecian genius, which made it possible for Greece +alone of all ancient nations to develop tragedy to anything like +perfection, insured also even in the most impassioned life the most +profound solemnity. Into the praises of Apollo, joyous as they +were,--where, to the exultant anthem was joined the evolution of the +dance beneath the vaulted sky, as if in his very presence,--for the sun +was his shechinah,--there enters an element of solemnity, which, in +certain connections, is almost overwhelming: as, for instance, in the +first book of the "Iliad,"--where, after the pestilence which has sent +up an endless series of funeral pyres,--after the strife of heroes +and the return of Chryseïs to her father, the priest of the angry +Apollo,--after the feast and the libation from the wine-crowned cups, +there follow the _apotropoea_, and the Grecian youths unite in the +song and the dance, which last, both the joyous paean and the tread of +exultant feet, until the setting sun. I know of nothing which to +an equal degree suggests this element of solemnity, that is almost +awe-inspiring from its depth, short of the jubilant procession of +saints, in the Apocalypse, with palms in their hands. + +This element is also evident in the worship of Dionysus,--so that the +inspiration of joy must not be taken for the frenzy of intoxication, +though the symbol of the vine has often led to just this +misapprehension. Besides, Dionysus must not be too closely identified +with the Bacchanalian orgies, which were only a perversion of rites +which retained their original purity in the Eleusinia: and this latter +institution, it must be remembered, was from the first under the control +of the state,--and that state at the time the most refined on the face +of the earth. + +Surely, it is not more difficult to give a pure and spiritual +significance to a vintage-festival or to the symbolic wine-cup of +Dionysus, than in the rhapsodies of a Persian or Hindu poet to symbolize +the attraction between the Divine Goodness and the human soul by the +loves of Laili and Majnum, or of Crishna and Radha,--to say nothing of +the exalted symbolism attached to the love of Solomon for his Egyptian +princess, and sanctioned by the most delicate taste. + +Indeed, is it not true that whatsoever is most sensuous in connection +with human joy, and at the same time pure, is the very flower of life, +and therefore the most consummate revelation of holiness? Nothing in +Nature is so intensely solemn as her summer, in its infinite fulness of +growth and the unmeasured altitude of its heavens. And within the range +of human associations which shall we select as revealing the most +profound solemnity? Surely not the sight of the funeral train, nor of +the urn crowned with cypress,--of nothing which is associated with death +or weakness in any shape;--but the sight of gayest festivals, or the +paraphernalia of palace-halls,--the vision of some youthful maiden of +transcendent beauty crowned with an orange-wreath, within hearing of +marriage-bells and the whisperings of holy love,--or the aspirations of +the dance and the endless breathings of triumphant music. These are they +which come up most prominently in remembrance,--even as the whole race, +in its remembrances, instinctively looks back to the Orient,--to some +Homeric island of the morning, where are the palaces, the choral dances, +and the risings of the sun.[e] And as Memory has the power to purify the +past of all material grossness, Faith has the same power as regards the +present Hence, the closest connection of religious faith with the +most joyous festivals, with a finely moulded Venus or Apollo, with an +Ephesian temple or a splendid cathedral, or the sweetest symphonies of +music, does not mar, but reveals its natural beauty and strength. + +[Footnote e: _Odyssey_, xii., 4.] + +But most certainly the Greeks gave a profound spiritual meaning to the +Eleusinia, as also to the mystic connection of Demeter with Dionysus. +She gave them bread: but they never forgot that she gave them the bread +of life. "She gave us," says the ancient Isocrates, "two gifts that are +the most excellent: fruits, that we might not live like beasts; and that +initiation, those who have part in which have sweeter hope,--both as +regards the close of life, and for all eternity." So Dionysus gave them +wine, not only to lighten the cares of life, but as a token, moreover, +of efficient deliverance from the fear of death, and of the higher joy +which he would give them in some happier world. And thus it is, that, +from the earliest times and in all the world, bread and wine have been +symbols of sacramental significance. + +Human life so elevates all things with its exaltation and clothes them +with its glory, that nothing vain, nothing trifling, can be found within +its range. He who opposes himself to a single fact thus of necessity +opposes himself to the whole onward and upward current, and must fall. +We have heard of Thor, who with his magic mallet and his two celestial +comrades went to Jötunheim in quest of adventures: and we remember the +goblet which he could not exhaust because of its mysterious connection +with the inexhaustible Sea; the race with Hugi, which in the end proved +to be a race with Thought; and the wrestle with the old nurse Elli, who +was no other than Time herself, and therefore irresistible. So do we all +get us mallets ingeniously forged by the dark elves;--we try a race with +human thought, and look vainly to come out ahead; we laugh at things +because they are old, but with which we struggle to no purpose; and the +cup which we confidently put to our lips has no bottom;--in fact, the +great world of Jötunheim has grown for so long a time and so widely that +it is quite too much for us,--and its tall people, though we come down +upon them, like Thor and his companions, from celestial heights, are too +stout for our mallet. + +Nothing human is so insignificant, but that, if you will give it time +and room, it will become irresistible. The plays of men become their +dramas; their holidays change to holy days. The representations, through +which, under various names, they have repeated to themselves the glory +and the tragedy of their life,--old festivals once celebrated in Egypt +far back beyond the dimmest myths of human remembrance,--the mystic +drama of the Eleusinia, which we have been considering in its +overwhelming sorrow developed in hurried flight, and its lofty +hope through triumphal pomp and the significant symbolism of +resurrection,--the epos and the epic rhapsodies,--the circus and +the amphitheatre,--and even the impetuous song and dance of painted +savages,--all these, which at first we may pass by with a glance, have +for our deeper search a meaning which we can never wholly exhaust. Let +it be that they have grown from feeble beginnings, they have grown to +gigantic dimensions; and not their infantile proportions, but their +fullest growth is to be taken as the measure of their strength,--if, +indeed, it be not wholly immeasurable. + +Upon some day, seemingly by chance, but really having its antecedent +in the remotest antiquity, a company of men participate in some simple +act,--of sacrifice, it may be, or of amusement. Now that act will be +reiterated. + + "Quod semel dictum est stabilisque rerum + Terminus servet." + +The subtile law of repetition, as regards the human will, is as sure +in Determination as it is in Consciousness. Habit is as inevitable as +Memory; and as nothing can be forgotten, but, when once known, is +known forever,--so nothing is done but will be done again. Lethe and +Annihilation are only myths upon the earth, which men, though suspicious +of their eternal falsehood, name to themselves in moments of despair +and fearful apprehension. The poppy has only a fabled virtue; but, like +Persephone, we have all tasted of the pomegranate, and must ever to +Hades and back again; for while death and oblivion only seem to be, +remembrances and resurrections there must be, and without end. Therefore +this before-mentioned act of sacrifice or amusement will be reiterated +at given intervals; about it, as a centre, will be gathered all the +associations of intense interest in human life; and the names connected +with its origin--once human names upon the earth--will pass upon the +stars, so that the _nomina_ shall have changed to _numina_, and be +taken upon the lips with religious awe. So it was with these old +festivals,--so with all the representations of human life in stone or +upon the canvas, in the fairy-tale, the romance, and the poem; at every +successive repetition, at every fresh resurrection, is evolved by human +faith and sympathy a deeper significance, until they become the +centres of national thought and feeling, and men believe in them as in +revelations from heaven; and even the oracles themselves, in respect of +their inherent meaning, as also of their origin and authority, rise +by the same ascending series of repeated birth,--like that at Delphi, +which, at first attributed to the Earth, then to Themis, daughter of +Earth and Heaven, was at last connected with the Sun and constituted one +of the richest gems in Apollo's diadem of light. + +In the end we shall find that the whole world organizes about its centre +of Faith. Thus, under three different religious systems, Jerusalem, +Delphi, and Mecca were held to be each in its turn the _omphalos_ or +navel of the world. It follows inevitably that the _main_ movement of +the world must always be joyous and hopeful. By reason of this joy it is +that every religious system has its feast; and the sixth day--the day +of Iacchus--is the great day of the festival. The inscription which +rises above every other is "To the Saviour Gods." + +We must look at history as a succession of triumphs from the beginning; +and each trophy that is erected outdoes in its magnificence all that +were ever erected before it. Nothing has suffered defeat, except as it +has run counter to the main movement of conquest. No system of faith, +therefore, can by any possibility pass away. Involved it may be in some +fuller system; its _material_ bases may be modified; its central source +become more central in the human heart, and so stronger in the world and +more immediate in its connection with the eternal; but the life itself +of the system must live forever and grow forever. + +Still it is true that in the widest growth there is the largest +liability to weakness. "Thus it is," says Fouqué, "with poor, though +richly endowed man. All lies within his power so long as action is at +rest within him; nothing is in his power the moment action has displayed +itself, even by the lifting-up of a finger on the immeasurable world." +In the very extent of the empire of an Alexander, a Cæsar, or a +Tamerlane, rests the possibility of its rapid dissolution. At the +giddiest altitude of triumph it is that the brain grows dizziest +and there is revealed the deepest chasm of possible defeat; and the +conqueror, + + "Having his ear full of his airy fame," + +is just then most likely to fall like Herod from his aërial pomp to the +very dust. This consciousness, revealing at the highest moment of joy +its utmost frailty, led the ancients to suspect the presence of some Ate +or Nemesis in all human triumphs. We all remember the king who threw his +signet-ring into the sea, that he might in his too happy fortunes avert +this suspected presence; we remember, too, the apprehension of the +Chorus in the "Seven against Thebes," looking forward from the noontide +prosperity of the Theban king to some coming catastrophe. + +But it is not without us that this Nemesis waits; she is but another +name for the fearful possibility which lurks in every human will, of +treachery to itself. And as solemnity rises to its acme in the most +sensuous manifestation of the glory of life,--so in all that most +fascinates and bewilders, at the very crisis of victorious exaltation, +at the very height of joyous sensibility, does this mysterious power +of temptation reveal her subtlest treachery; and sometimes in a single +moment does she change the golden-filleted Horæ, that are our ministers, +into frightful furies, which drive us back again from triumph into +flight. + +What was it, then, which saved the Eleusinia from this defeat,--which +kept the movement of the Dionysiac procession from the ruin inevitably +consequent upon all intemperate joy? It was the presence of our Lady, +the sorrowing Achtheia, who was the inseparable companion of the joyous +conqueror,--who subdued the joy of victory, and preserved the strength +and holy purity of the great Festival. Demeter was thus necessary to +Dionysus,--as Dionysus to Demeter; and if in remembrance of him the +sepulchral walls were covered with scenes associated with festivity,--in +remembrance of her there must needs be a skeleton at every feast. + +How inseparably connected in human thought is sorrow with all permanent +hope is indicated in the penances which men have imposed upon +themselves, from the earliest Gymnosophists of India, and the Stylitæ of +Syria, down to the monastic orders of the Romish Church in later times. +This is the meaning of the old Indian fable which made two of the +_Rishis_ or penitents to have risen by the discipline of sorrow from +some low caste,--it may be, from very Pariahs,--first to the rank of +Brahmins, and at last to the stars. The first initiation in which we +veil our eyes, losing all, is essential to our fresher birth, by +which in the second initiation all things are unveiled to us as our +inheritance: indeed, it is only through that which veils that anything +is ever revealed or possessed. + +Through the same gate we pass both to glory and to tragic suffering, +each of which heightens and measures the other; and it is only so that +we can understand the function of sorrow in the Providence of God, or +interpret the sudden calamities which sometimes overwhelm human hopes at +their highest aspiration,--which from the most serene and cloudless sky +evoke storms which leave not even a wreck from their vast ruin. + +Nor merely is sorrow efficient in those who hope, but in even a higher +sense does it attach to the character of Saviour. Apollo is, therefore, +fabled to have been an exile from heaven and a servant of Admetus; +indeed, Danaüs, in "The Suppliants" of Æschylus, appeals to Apollo for +protection on this very plea, addressing him as "the Holy One, and +an exiled God from heaven." Thus Hercules was compelled to serve +Eurystheus; and his twelve labors were typed in the twelve signs of the +zodiac. Æsculapius and Prometheus both suffered excruciating tortures +and death for the good of men. And Dionysus--himself the centre of all +joy--was persecuted by the Queen of Heaven and compelled to wander in +the world. Thus he wandered through Egypt, finding no abiding-place, and +finally, as the story runs, came to the Phrygian Cybele, that he might +know in their deepest meaning--even by the initiation of sorrow--the +mysteries of the Great Mother. And, very significantly, it is from this +same initiation that _His_ wanderings have their end and his world-wide +conquest its beginning; as if only thus could be realized the +possibility both of triumph for himself and of hope for his followers. +For these wanderers can find rest only in a _suffering_ Saviour, by the +vision of whose deeper Passion they lose their sense of grief,--as Io on +Caucasus in sight of the transfixed Prometheus, and the Madonna at the +Cross. + +It is worthy of more attention than we can give it here, yet we cannot +pass over in silence the fact, so important in this relation, that +Grecian Tragedy, in all its wonderful development under the three great +masters, was directly associated, and in its ruder beginnings completely +identified, with the worship of Dionysus. And this confirms our previous +hint, that the same element which made tragedy possible for Greece must +also be sought for in the development of its faith. There are those who +decry Grecian faith,--at the same time that they laud the Grecian drama +to the skies: but to the Greeks themselves, who certainly knew more than +we do as regards either, the drama was only an outgrowth of their faith, +and derived thence its highest significance. Thus the mystic symbolism +of the dramatic Choruses, taken out of its religious connections, +becomes an insoluble enigma; and naturally enough; for its first use +was in religious worship,--though afterwards it became associated with +traditionary and historic events. Besides, it was supposed that the +tragedians wrote under a divine inspiration; and the subjects and +representations which they embodied were for the most part susceptible +of a deep spiritual interpretation. Indeed, upon a careful examination, +we shall find that very many of the dramas directly suggest the two +Eleusinian movements, representing first the flight of suppliants--as +of the Heraclidae, the daughters of Danaüs, and of Oedipus and +Antigone--from persecution to the shrine of some Saviour Deity,--and +finally a deliverance effected through sacrifice or divine +interposition. Examples of this are so numerous that we have no space +for a minute consideration. + +But certainly it is plain that the Eleusinia, as being more central, +more purely spiritual, must in the thought of Greece have risen high +above the drama. The very dress in which the _mystae_ were initiated was +preserved as most sacred or deposited in the temple. Or if we insist +upon measuring their appreciation of the Festival by the more palpable +standard of numbers,--the temple at Eleusis, by the account of Strabo, +was capable of holding even in its mystic cell more persons than the +theatre. To be sure, the celebration was only once in five years,--but +it was all the more sacred from this very infrequency. Nothing in all +Greece--and that is saying very much--could compare with it in its depth +of divine mystery. If anything could, it would have been the drama; but +no wailings were ever heard from beneath the masks of the stage like the +wailings of Achtheia,--no jubilant song of the Chorus ever rose like the +paean of Dionysiac triumph. + + * * * * * + +Thus was the name of Dionysus connected with the palace and the temple, +with the sepulchral court of death and the dramatic representations of +life,--and everywhere associated with our Lady. + +Sometimes, indeed, she seems to overshadow and hide him from our vision. +Thus was it when the Eumenides in their final triumph swept the stage, +and victory seemed all in the hands of invisible Powers, with no +human participant: even as throughout the Homeric epos there runs an +undercurrent of unutterable sadness; because, while to the Gods there +ever remains a sure seat upon Olympus, unshaken by the winds, untouched +by rain or snow, crowned with a cloudless radiance,--yet upon man +come vanity, sorrow, and strife; like the leaves of the forest he +flourisheth, and then passeth away to the "weak heads of the dead," +([Greek: nekuon amenaena karaena],) conquered by purple Death and strong +Fate. + +To the eye of sense, and in the circumscribed movements of this world, +the desolation seems complete and the defeat final. But the snows of +winter are necessary to the blossoms of spring,--the waste of death to +the resurrection of life; and from the vastest of all desolations does +our Lady lead her children in the loftiest of all flights,--even from +all sorrow and solitude,--from the wastes of earth and the desolation of +Æons, to ineffable joy in her Saviour Lord. + + * * * * * + + + +VICTOR AND JACQUELINE. + +I. + + +Jacqueline Gabrie and Elsie Méril could not occupy one room, and remain, +either of them, indifferent to so much as might be manifested of the +other's inmost life. They could not emigrate together, peasants from +Domrémy,--Jacqueline so strong, Elsie so fair,--could not labor in the +same harvest-fields, children of old neighbors, without each being +concerned in the welfare and affected by the circumstances of the other. + +It was near ten o'clock, one evening, when Elsie Méril ran up the +common stairway, and entered the room in the fourth story where she and +Jacqueline lodged. + +Victor Le Roy, student from Picardy, occupied the room next theirs, and +was startled from his slumber by the voices of the girls. Elsie was +fresh from the theatre, from the first play she had ever witnessed; she +came home excited and delighted, ready to repeat and recite, as long as +Jacqueline would listen. + +And here was Jacqueline. + +Early in the evening Elsie had sought her friend with a good deal of +anxiety. A fellow-lodger and field-laborer had invited her to see the +play,--and Jacqueline was far down the street, nursing old Antonine +Duprè. To seek her, thus occupied, on such an errand, Elsie had the good +taste, and the selfishness, to refrain from doing. + +Therefore, after a little deliberation, she had gone to the theatre, and +there forgot her hard day-labor in the wonders of the stage,--forgot +Jacqueline, and Antonine, and every care and duty. It was hard for her, +when all was ended, to come back to compunction and explanation, yet to +this she had come back. + +Neither of the girls was thinking of the student, their neighbor; but +he was not only wakened by their voices, he amused himself by comparing +them and their utterances with his preconceived notions of the girls. +They might not have recognized him in the street, though they had often +passed him on the stairs; but he certainly could have distinguished the +pretty face of Elsie, or the strange face of Jacqueline, wherever he +might meet them. + +Elsie ran on with her story, not careful to inquire into the mood of +Jacqueline,--suspicious of that mood, no doubt,--but at last, made +breathless by her haste and agitation, she paused, looked anxiously at +Jacqueline, and finally said,-- + +"You think I ought not to have gone?" + +"Oh, no,--it gave you pleasure." + +A pause followed. It was broken at length by Elsie, exclaiming, in a +voice changed from its former speaking,-- + +"Jacqueline Gabrie, you are homesick! horribly homesick, Jacqueline!" + +"You do not ask for Antonine: yet you know I went to spend the day with +her," said Jacqueline, very gravely. + +"How is Antonine Duprè?" asked Elsie. + +"She is dead. I have told you a good many times that she must die. Now, +she is dead." + +"Dead?" repeated Elsie. + +"You care as much as if a candle had gone out," said Jacqueline. + +"She was as much to me as I to her," was the quick answer. "She never +liked me. She did not like my mother before me. When you told her my +name, the day we saw her first, I knew what she thought. So let that go. +If I could have done her good, though, I would, Jacqueline." + +"She has everything she needs,--a great deal more than we have. She is +very happy, Elsie." + +"Am not I? Are not you, in spite of your dreadful look? Your look is +more terrible than the lady's in the play, just before she killed +herself. Is that because Antonine is so well off?" + +"I wish that I could be where she is," sighed Jacqueline. + +"You? You are tired, Jacqueline. You look ill. You will not be fit for +to-morrow. Come to bed. It is late." + +As Jacqueline made no reply to this suggestion, Elsie began to reflect +upon her words, and to consider wherefore and to whom she had spoken. +Not quite satisfied with herself could she have been, for at length she +said in quite another manner,-- + +"You always said, till now, you wished that you might live a hundred +years. But it was not because you were afraid to die, you said so, +Jacqueline." + +"I don't know," was the answer,--sadly spoken, "Don't remind me of +things I have said. I seem to have lost myself." + +The voice and the words were effectual, if they were intended as an +appeal to Elsie. Fain would she now exclude the stage and the play from +her thoughts,--fain think and feel with Jacqueline, as it had long been +her habit to do. + +Jacqueline, however, was not eager to speak. And Elsie must draw yet +nearer to her, and make her nearness felt, ere she could hope to receive +the thought of her friend. By-and-by these words were uttered, solemn, +slow, and dirge-like:-- + +"Antonine died just after sundown. I was alone with her. She did not +think that she would die so soon. I did not. In the morning, John +Leclerc came in to inquire how she spent the night. He prayed with her. +And a hymn,--he read a hymn that she seemed to know, for all day she was +humming it over. I can say some of the lines." + +"Say them, Jacqueline," said the softened voice of Elsie. + +Slowly, and as one recalls that of which he is uncertain, Jacqueline +repeated what I copy more entire:-- + + "In the midst of life, behold, + Death hath girt us round! + Whom for help, then, shall we pray? + Where shall grace be found? + In thee, O Lord, alone! + We rue the evil we have done, + That thy wrath on us hath drawn. + Holy Lord and God! + Strong and holy God! + Merciful and holy Saviour! + Eternal God! + Sink us not beneath + Bitter pains of endless death! + Kyrie, eleison!" + +"Then he went away," she continued. "But he did not think it was the +last time he should speak to Antonine. In the afternoon I thought I saw +a change, and I wanted to go for somebody. But she said, 'Stay with me. +I want nothing.' So I sat by her bed. At last she said, 'Come, Lord +Jesus! come quickly!' and she started up in her bed, as if she saw +him coming. And as if he were coming nearer, she smiled. That was the +last,--without a struggle, or as much as a groan." + +"No priest there?" asked Elsie. + +"No. When I spoke to her about it, she said her priest was Jesus Christ +the Righteous,--and there was no other,--the High-Priest. She gave me +her Bible. See how it has been used! 'Search the Scriptures,' she said. +She told me I was able to learn the truth. 'I loved your mother,' she +said; 'that is the reason I am so anxious you should know. It is by +my spirit, said the Lord. Ask for that spirit,' she said. 'He is more +willing to give than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their +children.' She said these things, Elsie. If they are true, they must be +better worth believing than all the riches of the world are worth the +having." + +The interest manifested by the student in this conversation had been on +the increase since Jacqueline began to speak of Antonine Duprè. It was +not, at this point of the conversation, waning. + +"Your mother would not have agreed with Antonine," said Elsie, as if +there were weight in the argument;--for such a girl as Jacqueline could +not speak earnestly in the hearing of a girl like Elsie without result, +and the result was at this time resistance. + +"She believed what she was taught in Domrémy," answered Jacqueline, "She +believed in Absolution, Extreme Unction, in the need of another priest +than Jesus Christ,--a representative they call it." She spoke slowly, as +if interrogating each point of her speech. + +"I believe as they believed before us," answered Elsie, coldly. + +"We have learned many things since we came to Meaux," answered +Jacqueline, with a patient gentleness, that indicated the perplexity +and doubt with which the generous spirit was departing from the old +dominion. She was indeed departing, with that reverence for the past +which is not incompatible with the highest hope for the future. "Our +Joan came from Domrémy, where she must crown the king," she continued. +"We have much to learn." + +"She lost her life," said Elsie, with vehemence. + +"Yes, she did lose her life," Jacqueline quietly acquiesced. + +"If she had known what must happen, would she have come?" + +"Yes, she would have come." + +"How late it is!" said Elsie, as if in sleep were certain rest from +these vexatious thoughts. + +Victor Le Roy was by this time lost in his own reflections. These girls +had supplied an all-sufficient theme; whether they slept or wakened was +no affair of his. He had somewhat to argue for himself about extreme +unction, priestly intervention, confession, absolution,--something to +say to himself about Leclerc, and the departed Antonine. + +Late into the night he sat thinking of the marvel of Domrémy and +of Antonine Duprè, of Picardy and of Meaux, of priests and of the +High-Priest. Brave and aspiring, Victor Le Roy could not think of +these things, involved in the names of things above specified, as more +calculating, prudent spirits might have done. It was his business, as a +student, to ascertain what powers were working in the world. All true +characters, of past time or present, must be weighed and measured by +him. Result was what he aimed at. + +Jacqueline's words had not given him new thoughts, but unawares they did +summon him to his appointed labor. He looked to find the truth. He must +stand to do his work. He must haste to make his choice. Enthusiastic, +chivalrous, and strong, he was seeking the divine right, night and +day,--and to ascertain that, as it seemed, he had come from Picardy to +Meaux. + +Elsie Méril went to bed, as she had invited Jacqueline to do; to sleep, +to dream, she went,--and to smile, in her dreaming, on the world that +smiled on her. + +Jacqueline sat by the window; leaned from the window, and prayed; her +own prayer she prayed, as Antonine had said she must, if she would +discover what she needed, and obtain an answer. + +She thought of the dead,--her own. She pondered on the future. She +recalled some lines of the hymn Antonine had repeated, and she +wished--oh, how she wished!--that, while the woman lived, and could +reason and speak, she had told her about the letter she had received +from the priest of Domrémy. Many a time it had been on her lips to tell, +but she failed in courage to bring her poor affairs into that chamber +and disturb that dying hour. Now she wished that she had done it. Now +she felt that speech had been the merest act of justice to herself. + +But there was Leclerc, the wool-comber, and his mother; she might rely +on them for the instruction she needed. + +Old Antonine's faith had made a deep impression on the strong-hearted +and deep-thinking girl; as also had the prayers of John +Leclerc,--especially that last prayer offered for Antonine. It seemed to +authenticate, by its strong, unfaltering utterance, the poor old woman's +evidence. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," +were strong words that seemed about to take possession of the heart of +Jacqueline. + +Therefore, while Elsie slept, she prayed,--looking farther than the +city-streets, and darkness,--looking farther than the shining stars. +What she sought, poor girl, stood in her silent chamber, stood in her +waiting heart. But she knew Him not, and her ear was heavy; she did not +hear the voice, that she should answer Him, "Rabboni!" + + +II. + + +A fortnight from this night, after the harvesters had left the fields of +M. Flaval, Jacqueline was lingering in the twilight. + +The instant the day's work was done, the laborers set out for Meaux, +Their haste suggested some unusual cause. + +John Leclerc, wool-comber, had received that day his sentence. Report of +the sentence had spread among the reapers in the field and all along the +vineyards of the hill-sides. Not a little stir was occasioned by this +sentence: three days of whipping through the public streets, to conclude +with branding on the forehead. For this Leclerc, it seemed, had +profanely and audaciously declared that a man might in his own behalf +deal with the invisible God, by the mediation of Christ, the sole +Mediator between God and man. Viewed in the light of his offence, his +punishment certainly was of the mildest. Tidings of his sentence were +received with various emotion: by some as though they were maddened +with new wine; others wept openly; many more were pained at heart; some +brutally rejoiced; some were incredulous. + +But now they were all on their way to Meaux; the fields were quite +deserted. Urged by one desire, to ascertain the facts of the trial, +and the time when the sentence would be executed, the laborers were +returning to the town. + +Without demonstration of any emotion, Jacqueline Gabrie, quiet, +silent, walked along the river-bank, until she came to the clump of +chestnut-trees, whose shadow fell across the stream. Many a time, +through the hot, dreadful day, her eyes turned wistfully to this place. +In the morning Elsie Méril had promised Jacqueline that at twilight they +would read together here the leaves the poor old mother of Leclerc gave +Jacqueline last night: when they had read them, they would walk home by +starlight together. But now the time had come, and Jacqueline was alone. +Elsie had returned to town with other young harvesters. + +"Very well," said Jacqueline, when Elsie told her she must go. It was +not, indeed, inexplicable that she should prefer the many voices to the +one,--excitement and company, rather than quiet, dangerous thinking. + +But, thus left alone, the face of Jacqueline expressed both sorrow and +indignation. She would exact nothing of Elsie; but latterly how often +had she expected of her companion more than she gave or could give! + +Of course the young girl was equal to others in pity and surprise; but +there were people in the world beside the wool-comber and his mother. +Nothing of vast import was suggested by his sentence to her mind. She +did not see that spiritual freedom was threatened with destruction. If +she heard the danger questioned, she could not apprehend it. Though she +had listened to the preaching of Leclerc and had been moved by it, her +sense of truth and of justice was not so acute as to lead her willingly +to incur a risk in the maintaining of the same. + +She would not look into Antonine's Bible, which Jacqueline had read so +much during the last fortnight. She was not the girl to torment herself +about her soul, when the Church would save it for her by mere compliance +with a few easy regulations. + +More and more was Elsie disappointing Jacqueline. Day by day these girls +were developing in ways which bade fair to separate them in the end. +When now they had most need of each other, their estrangement was +becoming more apparent and decided. The peasant-dress of Elsie would not +content her always, Jacqueline said sadly to herself. + +Jacqueline's tracts, indeed, promised poorly as entertainment for an +hour of rest;--rest gained by hours of toil. The confusion of tongues +and the excitement of the city pleased Elsie better. So she went along +the road to Meaux, and was not talking, neither thinking, all the way, +of the wrongs of John Leclerc, and the sorrows of his mother,--neither +meditating constantly, and with deep-seated purpose, "I will not let +thee go, except thou bless me!"--neither on this problem, agitated then +in so many earnest minds, "What shall a man give in exchange for his +soul?" + +Thus Jacqueline sat alone and thought that she would read by herself the +tracts Leclerc had found it good to study. But unopened she held the +little printed scroll, while she watched the home-returning birds, whose +nests were in the mighty branches of the chestnut-trees. + +She needed the repose more than the teaching, even; for all day the +sun had fallen heavily on the harvesters,--and toiling with a troubled +heart, under a burning sun, will leave the laborer not in the best +condition for such work as Jacqueline believed she had to do. + +But she had promised the old woman she would read these tracts, and this +was her only time, for they must be returned that night: others were +waiting for them with an eagerness and longing of which, haply, +tract-dispensers see little now. Still she delayed in opening them. The +news of Leclerc's sentence had filled her with dismay. + +Did she dread to read the truth,--"the truth of Jesus Christ," as +his mother styled it? The frightful image of the bleeding, lacerated +wool-comber would come between her and the book in which that faith was +written for maintaining which this man must suffer. Strange contrast +between the heavy gloom and terror of her thoughts and the peaceful +"river flowing on"! How tranquil were the fields that spread beyond +her sight! But there is no rest or joy in Nature to the agitated and +foreboding spirit. Must we not have conquered the world, if we serenely +enter into Nature's rest? + +Fain would Jacqueline have turned her face and steps in another +direction that night than toward the road that led to Meaux: to the +village on the border of the Vosges,--to the ancient Domrémy. Once her +home was there; but Jacqueline had passed forth from the old, humble, +true defences: for herself must live and die. + +Domrémy had a home for her no more. The priest, on whom she had relied +when all failed her, was still there, it is true; and once she had +thought, that, while he lived, she was not fatherless, not homeless: but +his authority had ceased to be paternal, and she trusted him no longer. + +She had two graves in the old village, and among the living a few faces +she never could forget. But on this earth she had no home. + +Musing on these dreary facts, and on the bleeding, branded image of +Leclerc, as her imagination rendered him back to his friends, his +fearful trial over, a vision more familiar to her childhood than her +youth opened to Jacqueline. + +There was one who used to wander through the woods that bordered the +mountains in whose shadow stood Domrémy,--one whose works had glorified +her name in the England and the France that made a martyr of her. Jeanne +d'Arc had ventured all things for the truth's sake: was she, who also +came forth from that village, by any power commissioned? + +Jacqueline laid the tracts on the grass. Over them she placed a stone. +She bowed her head. She hid her face. She saw no more the river, trees, +or home-returning birds; heard not the rush of water or of wind,--nor, +even now, the hurry and the shout; that possibly to-morrow would follow +the poor wool-comber through the streets of Meaux,--and on the third day +they would brand him! + +She remembered an old cottage in the shadow of the forest-covered +mountains. She remembered one who died there suddenly, and without +remedy,--her father, unabsolved and unanointed, dying in fear and +torment, in a moment when none anticipated death. She remembered a +strong-hearted woman who seemed to die with him,--who died to all the +interests of this life, and was buried by her husband ere a twelvemonth +had passed,--her mother, who was buried by her father's side. + +Burdened with a solemn care they left their child. The priest of +Domrémy, and none beside him, knew the weight of this burden. How had he +helped her bear it? since it is the _business_ of the shepherd to look +after the younglings of the flock. Her hard earnings paid him for +the prayers he offered for the deliverance of her father from his +purgatorial woes. Burdened with a dire debt of filial love, the priest +had let her depart from Domrémy; his influence followed her as an +oppression and a care,--a degradation also. + +Her life of labor was a slavish life. All she did, and all she left +undone, she looked at with sad-hearted reference to the great object of +her life. Far away she put all allurement to tempting, youthful joy. +What had she to do with merriment and jollity, while a sin remained +unexpiated, or a moment of her father's suffering and sorrow could be +anticipated? + +How, probably, would these new doctrines, held fast by some through +persecution and danger, these doctrines which brought liberty to light, +be received by one so fast a prisoner of Hope as she? She had pledged +herself, with solemn vows had promised, to complete the work her mother +left unfinished when she died. + +Some of the laborers in the field, Elsie among them, had hoped, they +said, that the wool-comber would retract from his dangerous position. +Recalling their words, Jacqueline asked herself would she choose to have +him retract? She reminded herself of the only martyr whose memory she +loved, the glorious girl from Domrémy, and a lofty and stern spirit +seemed to rouse within her as she answered that question. She believed +that John had found and taught the truth; and was Truth to be sacrificed +to Power that hated it? Not by a suicidal act, at least. + +She took the tracts, so judging, from underneath the stone, wistfully +looked them over, and, as she did so, recalled these words: "You cannot +buy your pardon of a priest; he has no power to sell it; he cannot even +give it. Ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, upbraiding not. +'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how +much more shall your Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that +ask him!'" + +She could never forget these words. She could never forget the +preacher's look when he used them; nor the solemnity of the assenting +faith, as attested by the countenances of those around her in that +"upper room." + +But her father! What would this faith do for the departed? + +Yet again she dared to pray,--here in this solitude, to ask for that +Holy Spirit, the Enlightener. And it was truly with trembling, in +the face of all presentiments of what the gift might possibly, must +certainly, import to her. But what was she, that she could withstand +God, or His gift, for any fear of the result that might attend the +giving of the gift? + +Divinely she seemed to be inspired with that courageous thought. She +rose up, as if to follow the laborers who had already gone to Meaux. But +she had not passed out from the shadow of the great trees when another +shadow fell along her path. + + +III. + + +It was Victor Le Roy who was so close at hand. He recognized Jacqueline; +for, as he came down the road, now and then he caught a glimpse of her +red peasant-dress. And he accepted his persuasion as it had been an +assurance; for he believed that on such a night no other girl would +linger alone near the place of her day's labor. Moreover, while passing +the group of harvesters, he had observed that she was not among them. + +The acquaintance of these young persons was but slight; yet it was of +such a character as must needs increase. Within the last fortnight they +had met repeatedly in the room of Leclerc's mother. On the last night of +her son's preaching they had together listened to his words. The young +student with manly aspirations, ambitious, courageous, inquiring, and +the peasant girl who toiled in fields and vineyards, were on the same +day hearkening to the call, "Ho, every one that thirsteth!" with the +consciousness that the call was meant for them. + +When Victor Le Roy saw that Jacqueline perceived and recognized him, he +also observed the tracts in her hand and the trouble in her countenance, +and he wondered in his heart whether she could be ignorant of what had +passed that day at Meaux, and if it could be possible that her manifest +disturbance arose from any perplexity or disquietude independent of the +sentence that had been passed on John Leclerc. His first words brought +an answer that satisfied his doubt. + +"She has chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her," said +he, as he came near. "The country is so fair, could no one of them all +except Jacqueline see that? Were they all drawn away by the bloody +fascination of Meaux? even Elsie?" + +"It was the news that hurried her home with the rest," answered she, +almost pleased at this disturbance of the solitude. + +"Did that keep you here, Jacqueline?" he asked. "It sent me out of the +city. The dust choked me. Every face looked like a devil's. To-morrow +night, to-morrow night, the harvesters will hurry all the faster. +Terrible curiosity! And if they find traces of his blood along the +streets, there will be enough to talk about through the rest of the +harvesting. Jacqueline, if the river could be poured through those +streets, the sacred blood could never be washed out. 'Tis not the +indignity, nor the cruelty, I think of most, but the barbarous, wild +sin. Shall a man's truest liberty be taken from him, as though, indeed, +he were not a man of God, but the spiritual subject of his fellows? If +that is their plan, they may light the fires,--there are many who will +not shrink from sealing their faith with their blood." + +These words, spoken with vehemence, were the first free utterance +Victor Le Roy had given to his feelings all day. All day they had been +concentrating, and now came from him fiery and fast. + +It was time for him to know in whom and in what he believed. + +Greatly moved by his words, Jacqueline said, giving him the tracts,-- + +"I came from Domrémy, I am free. No one can be hurt by what befalls me. +I want to know the truth. I am not afraid. Did John Leclerc never give +way for a moment? Is he really to be whipped through the streets, and on +the third day to be branded? Will he not retract?" + +"Never!" was the answer,--spoken not without a shudder. "He did not +flinch through all the trial, Jacqueline. And his old mother says, +'Blessed be Jesus Christ and his witnesses!'" + +"I came from Domrémy," seemed to be in the girl's thought again; for +her eyes flashed when she looked at Victor Le Roy, as though she could +believe the heavens would open for the enlightening of such believers. + +"She gave me those to read," said she, pointing to the tracts she had +given him. + +"And have you been reading them here by yourself?" + +"No. Elsie and I were to have read them together; but I fell to +thinking." + +"You mean to wait for her, then?" + +"I was afraid I should not make the right sense of them." + +"Sit down, Jacqueline, and let me read aloud. I have read them before. +And I understand them better than Elsie does, or ever will." + +"I am afraid that is true, Sir. If you read, I will listen." + +But he did not, with this permission, begin instantly. + +"You came from Domrémy, Jacqueline," said he. "I came from Picardy. My +home was within a stone's throw of the castle where Jeanne d'Arc was a +prisoner before they carried her to Rouen. I have often walked about +that castle and tried to think how it must have been with her when they +left her there a prisoner. God knows, perhaps we shall all have an +opportunity of knowing, how she felt when a prisoner of Truth. Like a +fly in a spider's net she was, poor girl! Only nineteen! She had lived +a life that was worth the living, Jacqueline. She knew she was about +to meet the fate her heart must have foretold. Girls do not run such a +course and then die quietly in their beds. They are attended to their +rest by grim sentinels, and they light fagots for them. I have read the +story many a time, when I could look at the window of the very room +where she was a prisoner. It was strange to think of her witnessing the +crowning of the King, with the conviction that her work ended there and +then,--of the women who brought their children to touch her garments or +her hands, to let her smile on them, or speak to them, or maybe kiss +them. And the soldiers deemed their swords were stronger when they had +but touched hers. And they knelt down to kiss her standard, that white +standard, so often victorious! I have read many a time of that glorious +day at Rheims." + +"And she said, _that_ day,' Oh, why can I not die here?'" said +Jacqueline, with a low voice. + +"And when the Archbishop asked her," continued Victor, "'Where do you, +then, expect to die?' she answered, 'I know not. I shall die where God +pleases. I have done what the Lord my God commanded me; and I wish that +He would now send me to keep my sheep with my mother and sister.'" + +"Because she loved Domrémy, and her work was done," said Jacqueline, +sadly. "And so many hated her! But her mother would be sure to love. +Jeanne would never see an evil eye in Domrémy, and no one would lie in +wait to kill her in the Vosges woods." + +"It was such as you, Jacqueline, who believed in her, and comforted her. +And to every one that consoled her Christ will surely say, 'Ye blessed +of my Father, ye did it unto me!' Yes, to be sure, there were too many +who stood ready to kill her in all France,--besides those who were +afraid of her, and fought against our armies. Even when they were taking +her to see the Dauphin, the guard would have drowned her, and lied about +it, but they were restrained. It is something to have been born in +Domrémy,--to have grown up in the very place where she used to play, a +happy little girl. You have seen that fountain, and heard the bells she +loved so much. It was good for you, I know." + +"Her prayers were everywhere," Jacqueline replied. "Everywhere she heard +the voices that called her to come and deliver France. But her father +did not believe in her. He persecuted Jeanne." + +"A man's foes are of his own household," said Victor. "You see the same +thing now. It is the very family of Christ--yes! so they dare call +it--who are going to tear and rend Leclerc to-morrow for believing the +words of Christ. A hundred judges settled that Jeanne should be burned; +and for believing such words as are in these books"-- + +"Read me those words," said Jacqueline. + +So they turned from speaking of Joan and her work, to contemplate +another style of heroism, and to question their own hearts. + +Jacqueline Gabrie had lived through eighteen years of hardship and +exposure. She was strong, contented, resolute. Left to herself, she +would probably have suffered no disturbance of her creed,--would have +lived and died conforming to the letter of its law. But thrown under +the influence of those who did agitate the subject, she was brave and +clear-headed. She listened now, while, according to her wish, her +neighbor read,--listened with clear intelligence, intent on the truth. +That, or any truth, accepted, she would hardly shrink from whatever it +involved. This was the reason why she had really feared to ask the Holy +Ghost's enlightenment! So well she understood herself! Truth was truth, +and, if received, to be abided by. She could not hold it loosely. She +could not trifle with it. She was born in Domrémy. She had played under +the Fairy Oak. She knew the woods where Joan wandered when she sought +her saintly solitude. The fact was acting on her as an inspiration, +when Domrémy became a memory, when she labored far away from the wooded +Vosges and the meadows of Lorraine. + +She listened to the reading, as girls do not always listen when they sit +in the presence of a reader such as young Le Roy. + +And let it here be understood--that the conclusion bring no sorrow, and +no sense of wrong to those who turn these pages, thinking to find the +climax dear to half-fledged imagination, incapable from inexperience of +any deeper truth, (I render them all homage!)--this story is not told +for any sake but truth's. + +This Jacqueline did listen to this Victor, thinking actually of the +words he read. She looked at him really to ascertain whether her +apprehension of these things was all the same as his. She questioned +him, with the simple desire to learn what he could tell her. Her hands +were very hard, so constant had been her dealing with the rough facts of +this life; but the hard hand was firm in its clasp, and ready with its +helpfulness. Her eyes were open, and very clear of dreams. There was +room in them for tenderness as well as truth. Her voice was not the +sweetest of all voices in this world; but it had the quality that would +make it prized by others when heart and flesh were failing; for it would +be strong to speak then with cheerful faith and an unfaltering courage. + +Jacqueline sat there under the chestnut-trees, upon the river-bank, +strong-hearted, high-hearted, a brave, generous woman. What if her days +were toilsome? What if her peasant-dress was not the finest woven in the +looms of Paris or of Meaux? Her prayers were brief, her toil was long, +her sleep was sound,--her virtue firm as the everlasting mountains. +Jacqueline, I have singled you from among hordes and tribes and legions +upon legions of women, one among ten thousand, altogether lovely,--not +for dalliance, not for idleness, not for dancing, which is well; not for +song, which is better; not for beauty, which, perhaps, is best; not for +grace, or power, or passion. There is an attribute of God which is more +to His universe than all evidence of power. It is His truth. Jacqueline, +it is for this your name shall shine upon my page. + +And, manifestly, it is by virtue of this quality that her reader is +moved and attracted at this hour of twilight on the river-bank. + +Her intelligence is so quick! her apprehension so direct! her +conclusions so true! He intended to aid her; but Mazurier himself had +never uttered comments so entirely to the purpose as did this young +girl, speaking from heart and brain. Better fortune, apparently, could +not have befallen him than was his in this reading; for with every +sentence almost came her comment, clear, earnest, to the point. + +He had need of such a friend as Jacqueline seemed able to prove herself. +His nearest living relative was an uncle, who had sent the ambitious and +capable young student to Meaux; for he gave great promise, and was worth +an experiment, the old man thought,--and was strong to be thrown out +into the world, where he might ascertain the power of self-reliance. He +had need of friends, and, of all friends, one like Jacqueline. + +From the silence and retirement of his home in Picardy he had come +to Meaux,--the town that was so astir, busy, thoroughly alive! +Inexperienced in worldly ways he came. His face was beautiful with its +refinement and power of expression. His eyes were full of eloquence; +so also was his voice. When he came from Picardy to Meaux, his old +neighbors prophesied for him. He knew their prophecies, and purposed to +fulfil them. He ceased from dreaming, when he came to Meaux. He was not +dreaming, when he looked on Jacqueline. He was aware of what he read, +and how she listened, under those chestnut-trees. + +The burden of the tracts he read to Jacqueline was salvation by faith, +not of works,--an iconoclastic doctrine, that was to sweep away +the great mass of Romish superstition, invalidating Papal power. +Image-worship, shrine-frequenting sacrifices, indulgences, were esteemed +and proved less than nothing worth in the work of salvation. + +"Did you understand John, when he said that the priests deceived us and +were full of robberies, and talked about the masses for the dead, and +said the only good of them was to put money into the Church?" asked +Jacqueline. + +"I believe it," he replied, with spirit. + +"That the masses are worth nothing?" she asked,--far from concealing +that the thought disturbed her. + +"What can they be worth, if a man has lived a bad life?" + +"_That_ my father did _not!_" she exclaimed. + +"If a man is a bad man, why, then he is. He has gone where he must be +judged. The Scripture says, As a tree falls, it must lie." + +"My father was a good man, Victor. But he died of a sudden, and there +was no time." + +"No time for what, Jacqueline? No time for him to turn about, and be a +bad man in the end?" + +"No time for confession and absolution. He died praying God to forgive +him all his sins. I heard him. I wondered, Victor, for I never thought +of his committing sins. And my mother mourned for him as a good wife +should not mourn for a bad husband." + +"Then what is your trouble, Jacqueline?" + +"Do you know why I came here to Meaux? I came to get money,--to earn it. +I should be paid more money here than I got for any work at home, they +said: that was the reason. When I had earned so much,--it was a large +sum, but I knew I should get it, and the priest encouraged me to think +I should,--he said that my heart's desire would be accomplished. And I +could earn the money before winter is over, I think. But now, if"---- + +"Throw it into the Seine, when you get it, rather than pay it to the +liar for selling your father out of a place he was never in! He is safe, +believe me, if he was the good man you say. Do not disturb yourself, +Jacqueline." + +"He never harmed a soul. And we loved him that way a bad man could not +be loved." + +As Jacqueline said this, a smile more sad than joyful passed over her +face, and disappeared. + +"He rests in peace," said Victor Le Roy. + +"It is what I must believe. But what if there should be a mistake about +it? It was all I was working for." + +"Think for yourself, Jacqueline. No matter what Leclerc thinks or I +think. Can you suppose that Jesus Christ requires any such thing as this +of you, that you should make a slave of yourself for the expiation of +your father? It is a monstrous thought. Doubt not it was love that +took him away so quickly. And love can care for him. Long before this, +doubtless, he has heard the words, 'Come, ye blessed of my father!' And +what is required of you, do you ask? You shall be merciful to them that +live; and trust Him that He will care for those who have gone beyond +your reach. Is it so? Do I understand you? You have been thinking to +_buy_ this good _gift_ of God, eternal life for your father, when of +course you could have nothing to do with it. You have been imposed upon, +and robbed all this while, and this is the amount of it." + +"Well, do not speak so. If what you say is true,--and I think it may +be,--what is past is past." + +"But won't you see what an infernal lie has been practised on you, and +all the rest of us who had any conscience or heart in us, all this +while? There _is_ no purgatory; and it is nonsense to think, that, if +there were, money could buy a man out of it. Jesus Christ is the one +sole atonement for sin. And by faith in Him shall a man save his soul +alive. That is the only way. If I lose my soul, and am gone, the rest +is between me and God. Do you see it _should_ be so, and must be so, +Jacqueline?" + +"He was a good man," said Jacqueline. + +She did not find it quite easy to make nothing of all this matter, which +had been the main-spring of her effort since her father died. She could +not in one instant drop from her calculations that on which she had +heretofore based all her activity. She had labored so long, so hard, to +buy the rest and peace and heavenly blessedness of the father she loved, +it was hardly to be expected that at once she would choose to see that +in that rest and peace and blessedness, she, as a producing power, had +no part whatever. + +As she more than hinted, the purpose of her life seemed to be taken from +her. She could not perceive that fact without some consternation; could +not instantly connect it with another, which should enable her to look +around her with the deliberation of a liberated spirit, choosing her new +work. And in this she was acted upon by more than the fear arising from +the influences of her old belief. Of course she should have been, and +yet she was not, able to drop instantly and forever from recollection +the constant sacrifices she had made, the deprivation she had endured, +with heroic persistence,--the putting far away every personal +indulgence whose price had a market value. Her father was not the only +person concerned in this work; the priest; herself. She had believed +in the pastor of Domrémy. Yet he had deceived her. Else he was +self-deceived; and what if the blind should strive to lead the blind? +_Could_ she accept the new faith, the great freedom, with perfect +rejoicing? + +Victor Le Roy seemed to have some suspicion of what was passing in +her thoughts. He did not need to watch her changeful face in order to +understand them. + +"I advise you to still think of this," said he. "Recall your father's +life, and then ask yourself if it is likely that He who is Love requires +the sacrifice of your youth and your strength before your father shall +receive from Him what He has promised to give to all who trust in Him. +Take God at his word, and you will be obliged to give up all this +priest-trash." + + +IV. + + +Victor Le Roy spoke these words quietly, as if aware that he might +safely leave them, as well as any other true words, to the just sense of +Jacqueline. + +She was none the happier for them when she returned that night to the +little city room, the poor lodging whose high window overlooked both +town and country, city streets and harvest-fields, and the river flowing +on beyond the borders of the town,--no happier through many a moment of +thinking, until, as it were by an instant illumination, she began to +see the truth of the matter, as some might wonder she did not instantly +perceive it, if they could omit from observation this leading fact, that +the orphan girl was Jacqueline Gabrie, child of the Church, and not +a wise and generous person, who had never been in bondage to +superstitions. + +For a long time after her return to her lodging she was alone. Elsie was +in the street with the rest of the town, talking, as all were talking, +of the sight that Meaux should see to-morrow. + +Besides Jacqueline, there was hardly another person in this great +building, six stories high, every room of which had usually a tenant at +this hour. She sat by her window, and looked at the dusky town, over +which the moon was rising. But her thoughts were far away; over many a +league they wandered. + +Once more she stood on the playground of her toilsome childhood. She +recalled many a year of sacrificing drudgery, which now she could not +name such,--for another reason than that which had heretofore prevented +her from calling it a sacrifice. She remembered these years of wrong and +of extortion,--they received their proper name now,--years whose mirth +and leisure she had quietly foregone, but during which she had borne a +burden that saddened youth, while it also dignified it,--a burden which +had made her heart's natural cheerfulness the subject of self-reproach, +and her maiden dreams and wishes matter for tears, for shame, for +confession, for prayer. + +Now Victor Le Roy's words came to her very strangely; powerfully they +moved her. She believed them in this solitude, where at leisure she +could meditate upon them. A vision more fair and blessed than she had +ever imagined rose before her. There was no suffering in it, and no +sorrow; it was full of peace. Already, in the heaven to which she had +hoped her toil would give him at length admission, her father had found +his home. There was a glory in his rest not reflected from her filial +love, but from the all-availing love of Christ. + +Then--delay the rigor of your judgment!--she began,--yes, she, this +Jacqueline, began to count the cost of what she had done. She was not a +sordid soul, she had not a miserly nature. Before she had gone far in +that strange computation, she paused abruptly, with a crimsoned face, +and not with tearless eyes. Counting the cost! Estimating the sacrifice! +Had, then, her purpose been less holy because excited by falsehood and +sustained through delusion? Was she less loving and less true, because +deceived? And was she to lament that Christ, the one and only Priest, +rather than another instrumentality, was the deliverer of her beloved +from the power of death? + +No ritual was remembered, and no formula consulted, when she cried +out,--"It is so! and I thank Thee! Only give me now, my Jesus, a +purpose as holy as that Thou hast taken away!" + +But she had not come into her chamber to spend a solitary evening there. +Turning away from the window, she bestowed a little care upon her +person, smoothed away the traces of her day's labor, and after all was +done she lingered yet longer. She was going out, evidently. Whither? To +visit the mother of John Leclerc. She must carry back the tracts the +good woman had lent her. Their contents had firm lodgement in her +memory. + +Others might run to and fro in the streets, and talk about the corners, +and prognosticate with passion, and defy, in the way of cowardice, where +safety rather than the truth is well assured. If one woman could console +another, Jacqueline wished that she might console Leclerc's mother. And +if any words of wisdom could drop from the poor old woman's lips while +her soul was in this strait, Jacqueline desired to hear those words. + +Down the many flights of stairs she went across the court, and then +along the street, to the house where the wool-comber lived. + +A brief pause followed her knock for admittance. She repeated it. Then +was heard a sound from within,--a step crossing the floor. The door +opened, and there stood the mother of Leclerc, ready to face any danger, +the very Fiend himself. + +But when she saw that it was Jacqueline, only Jacqueline,--an angel, as +one might say, and not a devil,--the terrible look passed from her face; +she opened the door wide. + +"Come in, child! come in!" + +So Jacqueline went into the room where John had worked and thought, +reasoned, argued, prayed. + +This is the home of the man because of whom many are this night offended +in the city of Meaux. This is the place whence issued the power that has +set the tongues to talking, and the minds to thinking, and the hearts to +hoping, and the authorities to avenging. + +A grain of mustard-seed is the kingdom of heaven in a figure; the +wandering winds a symbol of the Pentecostal power: a dove did signify +the descent of God to man. This poor chamber, so pent in, and so lowly, +so obscure, has its significance. Here has a life been lived; and not +the least does it import, that walls are rough and the ceiling low. + +But the life of John Leclerc was not to be limited. A power has stood +here which by its freedom has set at defiance the customary calculation +of the worldly-wise. In high places and in low the people are this night +disturbed because of him who has dared to lift his voice in the freedom +of the speech of God. In drawing-rooms odorous with luxury the man's +name has mention, and the vulgarity of his liberated speech and +courageous faith is a theme to move the wonder and excite the +reprobation of hearts whose languid beating keeps up their show of life, +--to what sufficient purpose expect me not to tell. His voice is loud +and harsh to echo through these music-loving halls; it rends and tears, +with almost savage strength, the dainty silences. + +But busier tongues are elsewhere more vehement in speech; larger +hearts beat faster indignation; grief and vulgarest curiosity are all +manifesting themselves after their several necessity. In solitary places +heroes pray throughout the night, wrestling like Jacob, agonizing like +Saul, and with some of them the angel left his blessing; for some the +golden harp was struck that soothed their souls to peace. Angels of +heaven had work to do that night. Angels of heaven and hell did prove +themselves that night in Meaux: night of unrest and sleeplessness, or of +cruel dreaming; night of bloody visions, tortured by the apprehension +of a lacerated body driven through the city streets, and of the hooting +shouts of Devildom; night haunted by a gory image,--the defiled temple +of the Holy Ghost. + +Did the prospect of torture keep _him_ wakeful? Could the man bear the +disgrace, the derision, shouting, agony? Was there nothing in this +thought, that as a witness of Jesus Christ he was to appear next day, +that should soothe him even unto slumber? Upon the silence of his +guarded chamber let none but ministering angels break. Sacred to him, +and to Him who watched the hours of the night, let the night go! + +But here--his mother, Jacqueline with her--we may linger with these. + + +V. + + +When the old woman saw that it was Jacqueline Gabrie who stood waiting +admittance, she opened the door wider, as I said; and the dark solemnity +of her countenance seemed to be, by so much as a single ray, enlivened +for an instant. + +She at once perceived the tracts which Jacqueline had brought. Aware of +this, the girl said,-- + +"I stayed to hear them read, after I heard that for the sake of the +truth in them"--she hesitated--"this city will invite God's wrath +to-morrow." + +And she gave the papers to the old woman, who took them in silence. + +By-and-by she asked,-- + +"Are you just home, Jacqueline?" + +"Since sunset,--though it was nearly dark when I came in,"--she +answered. "Victor Le Roy was down by the riverbank, and he read them for +me." + +"He wanted to get out of town, maybe. You would surely have thought it +was a holiday, Jacqueline, if you could have seen the people. Anything +for a show: but some of them might well lament. Did you want to know the +truth he pays so dear for teaching? But you have heard it, my child." + +"We all heard what he must pay for it, in the fields at noon. Yes, +mother, I wanted to know." + +"But if you shall believe it, Jacqueline, it may lead you into danger, +into sad straits," said the old woman, looking at the young girl with +earnest pity in her eyes. + +She loved this girl, and shuddered at the thought of exposing her to +danger. + +Jacqueline had nursed her neighbor, Antonine, and more than once, after +a hard day's labor, which must be followed by another, she had sat with +her through the night; and she could pay this service only with love, +and the best gift of her love was to instruct her in the truth. John and +she had proved their grateful interest in her fortunes by giving her +that which might expose her to danger, persecution, and they could not +foresee to what extremity of evil. + +And now the old woman felt constrained to say this to her, even for her +love's sake,--"It may lead you into danger." + +"But if truth is dangerous, shall I choose to be safe?" answered +Jacqueline, with stately courage. + +"It _is_ truth. It _will_ support him. Blessed be Jesus Christ and His +witnesses! To-night, and to-morrow, and the third day, our Jesus will +sustain him. They think John will retract. They do not know my son. They +do not know how he has waited, prayed, and studied to learn the truth, +and how dear it is to him. No, Jacqueline, they do not. But when they +prove him, they will know. And if he is willing to witness, shall I +not be glad? The people will understand him better afterward,--and the +priests, maybe. 'I can do all things,' said he, 'Christ strengthening +me'; and that was said long ago, by one who was proved. Where shall you +be, Jacqueline?" + +"Oh," groaned Jacqueline, "I shall be in the fields at work, away from +these cruel people, and the noise and the sight. But, mother, where +shall you be?" + +"With the people, child. With him, if I live. Yes, he is my son; and +I have never been ashamed of the brave boy. I will not be ashamed +to-morrow. I will follow John; and when they bind him, I will let him +see his mother's eyes are on him,--blessing him, my child!--Hark! how +they talk through the streets!--Jacqueline, he was never a coward. He +is strong, too. They will not kill him, and they cannot make him dumb. +He will hold the truth the faster for all they do to him. Jesus Christ +on his side, do you think he will fear the city, or all Paris, or all +France? He does not know what it is to be afraid. And when God opened +his eyes to the truth of his gospel, which the priests had hid, he meant +that John should work for it,--for he is a working-man, whatever he sets +about." + +So this old woman tried, and not without success, to comfort herself, +and sustain her tender, proud, maternal heart. The dire extremity into +which she and her son had fallen did not crush her; few were the tears +that fell from her eyes as she recalled for Jacqueline the years of her +son's boyhood,--told her of his courage, as in various ways it had made +itself manifest: how he had always been fearless in danger,--a +conqueror of pain,--seemingly regardless of comfort,--fond of +contemplation,--contented with his humble state,--kindly, affectionate, +generous, but easily stirred to wrath by injustice, when manifested by +the strong toward the weak,--or by cruelty, or by falsehood. + +Many an anecdote of his career might she relate; for his character, +under the pressure of this trial, which was as searching and severe a +test of her faith as of his, seemed to illustrate itself in manifold +heroic ways, all now of the highest significance. With more majesty and +grandeur his character arose before her; for now in all the past, as she +surveyed it, she beheld a living power, a capability, and a necessity of +new and grand significance, and her heart reverenced the spirit she had +nursed into being. + +Removed to the distance of a prison from her sight, separated from +her love by bolts and bars, and the wrath of tyranny and close-banded +bigotry, he became a power, a hero, who moved her, as she recalled +his sentence, and prophesied the morrow, to a feeling tears could not +explain. + +They passed the night together, the young woman and the old. In the +morning Jacqueline must go into the field again. She was in haste to go. +Leaving a kiss on the old woman's cheek, she was about to steal away in +silence; but as she laid her hand upon the latch, a thought arrested +her, and she did not open the door, but went back and sat beside the +window, and watched the mother of Leclerc through the sleep that must be +brief. It was not in her heart to go away and leave those eyes to waken +upon solitude. She must see a helpful hand and hopeful face, and, if it +might be, hear a cheerful human voice, in the dawning of that day. + +She had not long to wait, and the time she may have lost in waiting +Jacqueline did not count or reckon, when she heard her name spoken, and +could answer, "What wilt thou? here am I." + +Not in vain had she lingered. What were wages, more or less, that they +should be mentioned, thought of, when she might give and receive here +what the world gives not, and never has to give,--and what a mortal +cannot buy, the treasure being priceless? Through the quiet of that +morning hour, soothing words, and strong, she felt and knew to speak; +and when at last she hurried away from the city to the fields, she was +stronger than of nature, able to bear witness to the faith that speaks +from the bewilderment of its distresses, "Though He slay me, yet will I +trust in Him." + +Not alone had her young, frank, loving eyes enlivened the dreary morning +to the heart of Leclerc's mother. Grace for grace had she received. And +words of the hymn that were always on John's lips had found echo +from his mother's memory this morning: they lodged in the heart of +Jacqueline. She went away repeating,-- + + "In the midst of death, the jaws + Of hell against us gape. + Who from peril dire as this + Openeth us escape? + 'Tis thou, O Lord, alone! + Our bitter suffering and our sin + Pity from thy mercy win, + Holy Lord and God! + Strong and holy God! + Merciful and holy Saviour! + Eternal God! + Let us not despair + For the fire that burneth there! + Kyrie, eleison!" + +Jacqueline met Elsie on her way to the fields. But the girls had +not much to say to each other that morning in their walk. Elsie was +manifestly conscious of some great constraint; she might have reported +to her friend what she had heard in the streets last night, but she +felt herself prevented from such communication,--seemed to be intent +principally on one thing: she would not commit herself in any direction. +She was looking with suspicion upon Jacqueline. Whatever became of her +soul, her body she would save alive. She was waking to this world's +enjoyment with vision alert, senses keen. Martyrdom in any degree was +without attraction to her, and in Truth she saw no beauty that she +should desire it. It was a root out of dry ground indeed, that gave no +promise of spreading into goodly shelter and entrancing beauty. + +As to Jacqueline, she was absorbed in her heroic and exalted thoughts. +Her heart had almost failed her when she said farewell to John's mother; +tearfully she had hurried on her way. One vast cloud hung between her +and heaven; darkly rolled the river; every face seemed to bear witness +to the tragedy that day should witness. + +Not the least of her affliction was the consciousness of the distance +increasing between herself and Elsie Méril. She knew that Elsie was +rejoicing that she had in no way endangered herself yet; and sure was +she that in no way would Elsie invite the fury of avenging tyranny and +reckless superstition. + +Jacqueline asked her no questions,--spoke few words to her,--was +absorbed in her own thoughts. But she was kindly in her manner, and +in such words as she spoke. So Elsie perceived two things,--that she +should not lose her friend, neither was in danger of being seized by the +heretical mania. It was her way of drawing inferences. Certain that +she had not lost her friend, because Jacqueline did not look away, and +refuse to recognize her; congratulating herself that she was not the +object of suspicion, either justly or unjustly, among the dreadful +priests. + +But that friend whose steady eye had balanced Elsie was already sick at +heart, for she knew that never more must she rely upon this girl who +came with her from Domrémy. + +As they crossed the bridge, lingering thereon a moment, the river seemed +to moan in its flowing toward Meaux. The day's light was sombre; the +birds' songs had no joyous sound,--plaintive was their chirping; it +saddened the heart to hear the wind,--it was a wind that seemed to take +the buoyancy and freshness out of every living thing, an ugly southeast +wind. They went on together,--to the wheat-fields together;--it was to +be day of minutes to poor Jacqueline. + +To be away from Meaux bodily was, it appeared, only that the imagination +might have freer exercise. Yes,--now the people must be moving through +the streets; shopmen were not so intent on profits this day as they were +on other days. The priests were thinking with vengeful hate of the wrong +to themselves which should be met and conquered that day. The people +should be swiftly brought into order again! John in his prison was +preparing, as all without the prison were. + +The crowd was gathering fast. He would soon be led forth. The shameful +march was forming. Now the brutal hand of Power was lifted with +scourges. The bravest man in Meaux was driven through the streets,--she +saw with what a visage,--she knew with what a heart. Her heart was awed +with thinking thereupon. A bloody mist seemed to fall upon the environs +of Meaux; through that red horror she could not penetrate; it shrouded +and it held poor Jacqueline. + +Of the faith that would sustain him she began once more to inquire. It +is not by a bound that mortals ever clear the heights of God. Step by +step they scale the eminences, toiling through the heavenly atmosphere. +Only around the summit shines the eternal sun. + +So she must now recall the words that Victor Le Roy read for her last +night; and the words he spoke from out his heart,--these also. And +she did not fear now, as yesterday, to ask for light. Let the light +dawn,--oh, let it shine on her! + +The mother of Leclerc had uttered mysterious words which Jacqueline took +for truth; the light was joyful and blessed, and of all things to be +desired, though it smote the life from one like lightning. She waited +alone with faith, watching till it should come,--left alone with this +beam glimmering like a moth through darkness!--for thus was a believer, +or one who resolved on believing, left in that day, when he turned from +the machinery of the Church, and stood alone, searching for God without +the aid of priestly intervention. + + +VI. + + +There was something awful in such loneliness. + +Jacqueline knew little of it until now, as she walked toward the fields, +by the side of Elsie Méril. + +She saw how she had depended on the priest of Domrémy, as he had been +the lawgiver and the leader of her life. A spiritual life, to be +sustained only by the invisible spirit, to be lived by faith, not in +man, but in God, without intervention of saint or angel or Blessed +Virgin,--was the world's life liberated by such freedom? + +By faith, and not by sight, the just must live. Would He bow his heavens +and come down to dwell with the contrite and the humble? + +Wondrous strange it seemed,--incomprehensible,--more than she could +manage or control. There are prisoners whose pardon proves the world too +large for them: they find no rest until their prison-door is opened for +them again. + +Of this class was Elsie,--not Jacqueline. Elsie was afraid of +freedom,--not equal to it,--unable to deal with it; satisfied with being +a child, with being a slave, when it came to be a question whether she +should accept and use her highest privilege and dignity. At this hour, +and among all persuasions, you will find that Elsie does not stand +alone. Little children there are, long as the world shall stand,--though +not precisely such as we think of when we remember, "Of such is the +kingdom of heaven." + +It was enough for Elsie--it is enough for multitudes through all the +reformations--that she had an earthly defence, even such as she relied +on without trouble. She lived in the hour. She had never toiled to +deliver her darling from the lions,--to redeem a soul from purgatory. +She eased her conscience, when it was troubled, by such shallow +discovery of herself as she deemed confession. She loved dancing, +and all other amusements,--hated solitude, knew not the meaning of +self-abnegation. And let her dance and enjoy herself!--some service +to the body is rendered thereby. She might do greatly worse, and +is incapable of doing greatly better. Will you stint the idiots of +comfort,--or rather build them decent habitations, and even vex yourself +to feed and clothe them, in reverent confidence that the Future shall +surely take them up and bless them, unstop their ears, open their eyes, +give speech to them and absolute deliverance? + +There are others beside Elsie who congratulate themselves on +non-committal,--they covet not the advanced and dangerous positions. +Honorable, but dangerous positions! The head might be taken off, do you +not see? And could all eternity compensate for the loss of time? Ah, the +body might be mutilated,--the liberty restrained: as if, indeed, a +man's freedom were not eternally established, when his enemies, howling +around, must at least crucify him! as if a divine voice were not ever +heard through the raging of the people, saying, "Come up higher!" + +But a fern-leaf cannot grow into a mighty hemlock-tree. From the ashes +of a sparrow the phoenix shall not rise. You will not to all eternity, +by any artificial means, nor by a miracle, bring forth an eagle from a +mollusk. + +There was not a sadder heart in all those fields of Meaux than the heart +of Jacqueline Gabrie. There was not a stronger heart. Not a hand +labored more diligently. Under the broad-brimmed peasant-hat was a sad +countenance,--under the peasant-dress a heavily burdened spirit. Silent, +all day, she labored. She was alone at noon under the river-bordered +trees, eating her coarse fare without zest, but with a conscience,--to +sustain the body that was born to toil. But in the maelström of doubt +and anxiety was she tossed and whirled, and she cared not for her life. +To be rid of it, now for the first time, she felt might be a blessing. +What purpose, indeed, had she? She turned her thought from this +question, but it would not let her alone. Again and yet again she turned +to meet it, and thus would surely have at length its satisfying answer. + +John Leclerc might pass through this ordeal, as from the first she +had expected of him. But she listened to the speech of many of her +fellow-laborers. Some prophecies which had a sound incredible escaped +them. She did not credit them, but they tormented her. They contended +with one another. John, some foretold, would certainly retract. One day +of public whipping would suffice. When the blood began to flow, he would +see his duty clearer! The men were prophesying from the depths and the +abundance of their self-consciousness. Others speculated on the final +result of the executed sentence. They believed that the "obstinacy" and +courage of the man would provoke his judges, and the executors of his +sentence,--that with rigor they would execute it,--and that, led on +by passion, and provoked by such as would side with the victim, the +sentence would terminate in his destruction. Sooner or later, nothing +but his life would be found ultimately to satisfy his enemies. + +It might be so, thought Jacqueline Gabrie. What then? what then?--she +thought. There was inspiration to the girl in that cruel prophecy. Her +lifework was not ended. If Christ was the One Ransom, and it did truly +fall on Him, and not on her, to care for those beloved, departed from +this life, her work was still for love. + +John Leclerc disabled or dead, who should care then for his aged mother? +Who should minister to him? Who, indeed, but Jacqueline? + +Living or dying, she said to herself, with grand enthusiasm,--living or +dying, let him do the Master's pleasure! She also was here to serve that +Master; and while in spiritual things he fed the hungry, clothed the +naked, gave the cup of living water, visited the imprisoned, and the +sick of sin, she would bind herself to minister to him and his old +mother in temporal things; so should he live above all cares save those +of heavenly love. She could support them all by her diligence, and in +this there would be joy. + +She thought this through her toil; and the thought was its own reward. +It strengthened her like an angel,--strengthened heart and faith. She +labored as no other peasant-woman did that day,--like a beast of burden, +unresisting, patient,--like a holy saint, so peaceful and assured, so +conscious of the present very God! + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + + +MIDSUMMER. + + + Around this lovely valley rise + The purple hills of Paradise. + Oh, softly on yon banks of haze + Her rosy face the Summer lays! + Becalmed along the azure sky, + The argosies of cloudland lie, + Whose shores, with many a shining rift, + Far off their pearl-white peaks uplift. + + Through all the long midsummer-day + The meadow-sides are sweet with hay. + I seek the coolest sheltered seat + Just where the field and forest meet,-- + Where grow the pine-trees tall and bland, + The ancient oaks austere and grand, + And fringy roots and pebbles fret + The ripples of the rivulet. + + I watch, the mowers as they go + Through the tall grass, a white-sleeved row; + With even stroke their scythes they swing, + In tune their merry whetstones ring; + Behind the nimble youngsters run + And toss the thick swaths in the sun; + The cattle graze; while, warm and still, + Slopes the broad pasture, basks the hill, + And bright, when summer breezes break, + The green wheat crinkles like a lake. + + The butterfly and humble-bee + Come to the pleasant woods with me; + Quickly before me runs the quail, + The chickens skulk behind the rail, + High up the lone wood-pigeon sits, + And the woodpecker pecks and flits. + Sweet woodland music sinks and swells, + The brooklet rings its tinkling bells, + The swarming insects drone and hum, + The partridge beats his throbbing drum. + The squirrel leaps among the boughs, + And chatters in his leafy house. + The oriole flashes by; and, look! + Into the mirror of the brook, + Where the vain blue-bird trims his coat, + Two tiny feathers fall and float. + + As silently, as tenderly, + The down of peace descends on me. + Oh, this is peace! I have no need + Of friend to talk, of book to read: + A dear Companion here abides; + Close to my thrilling heart He hides; + The holy silence is His Voice: + I lie and listen, and rejoice. + + + + +TOBACCO. + + +"Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all +the panaceas, potable gold, and philosopher's stones, a sovereign remedy +to all diseases! a good vomit, I confess, a virtuous herb, if it be well +qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used. But as it is commonly +abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a plague, a +mischief, a violent purger of goods, lauds, health: hellish, devilish, and +damned tobacco, the ruin and overthrow of body and soul!"--BURTON. _Anatomy +of Melancholy_. + +A delicate subject? Very true; and one which must be handled as tenderly +as _biscuit de Sèvres_, or Venetian glass. Whichever side of the +question we may assume, as the most popular, or the most right, the +feelings of so large and respectable a minority are to be consulted, +that it behooves the critic or reviewer to move cautiously, and, +imitating the actions of a certain feline household reformer, to show +only the _patte de velours_. + +The omniscient Burton seems to have reached the pith of the matter. The +two hostile sections of his proposition, though written so long since, +would very well fit the smoker and the reformer of to-day. That portion +of the world which is enough advanced to advocate reforms is entirely +divided against itself on the subject of Tobacco. Immense interests, +economical, social, and, as some conceive, moral, are arrayed on either +side. The reformers have hitherto had the better of it in point of +argument, and have pushed the attack with most vigor, yet with but +trifling results. Smokers and chewers, _et id omne genus_, mollified +by their habits, or laboring under guilty consciences, have made but a +feeble defence. Nor in all this is there anything new. It is as old as +the knowledge of the "weed" among thinking men,--in other words, about +three centuries. The English adventurers under Drake and Raleigh and +Hawkins, and the multitude of minor Protestant "filibusters" who +followed in their train, had no sooner imported the habit of smoking +tobacco, among the other outlandish customs which they brought home from +the new Indies and the Spanish Main, than the higher powers rebuked +the practice, which novelty and its own fascinations were rendering so +fashionable, in language more forcible than elegant. The philippic of +King James is so apposite that we may be pardoned for transcribing one +oft-quoted sentence:--"But herein is not only a great vanity, but a +great contempt of God's good gifts, that the sweetness of man's breath, +being a good gift of God, should be wilfully corrupted by this stinking +smoke.... A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmfull +to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume +thereof neerest resembling the horrible Stygian smoake of the pit that +is bottomless."[a] + +[Footnote a: _Counterblast to Tobacco_.] + +The Popes Urban VIII. and Innocent XII. fulminated edicts of +excommunication against all who used tobacco in any form; from which we +may conclude that the new habit was spreading rapidly over Christendom. +And not only the successors of St. Peter, but those also of the Prophet, +denounced the practice, the Sultan Amurath IV. making it punishable with +death. The Viziers of Turkey spitted the noses of smokers with their own +pipes; the more considerate Shah of Persia cut them entirely off. The +knout greeted in Russia the first indulgence, and death followed the +second offence. In some of the Swiss cantons smoking was considered a +crime second only to adultery. Modern republics are not quite so severe. + +It is not to be supposed that in England the royal pamphlet had its +desired effect. For we find that James laid many rigid sumptuary +restrictions upon the practice which he abominated, based chiefly upon +the extravagance it occasioned,--the expenses of some smokers being +estimated at several hundred pounds a year. The King, however, had the +sagacity to secure a preëmption-right as early as 1620. + +Yet how could the practice but have increased, when, as Malcolm relates +the tradition, such men as Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Hugh Middleton +sat smoking at their doors?--for "the public manner in which it was +exhibited, and the aromatic flavor inhaled by the passengers, exclusive +of the singularity of the circumstance and the eminence of the parties," +could hardly have failed to favor its dissemination. + +The silver-tongued Joshua Sylvester hoped to aid the royal cause by +writing a poem entitled, "Tobacco battered, and the pipes shattered, +(about their ears who idly idolize so base and barbarous a weed, or at +least-wise overlove so loathsome a vanity,) by a volley of holy shot +thundered from Mount Helicon." If the smoothness of the verses equalled +the euphony of the title, this must have proved a moving appeal. + +Stow contents himself with calling tobacco "a stinking weed, so much +abused to God's dishonor." + +Burton exhausts the subject in a single paragraph. Ben Jonson, though +a jolly good fellow, was opposed to the habit of smoking. But Spenser +mentions "divine tobacco." Walton's "Piscator" indulges in a pipe at +breakfast, and "Venator" has his tobacco brought from London to insure +its purity. Sweet Izaak could have selected no more soothing minister +than the pipe to the "contemplative man's recreation." + +As the new sedative gains in esteem, we find Francis Quarles, in his +"Emblems," treating it in this serio-comic vein:-- + + "Flint-hearted Stoics, you whose marble eyes + Contemn a wrinkle, and whose souls despise + To follow Nature's too affected fashion, + Or travel in the regent walk of passion,-- + Whose rigid hearts disdain to shrink at + fears, + Or play at fast-and-loose with smiles and + tears,-- + Come, burst your spleens with laughter to + behold + A new-found vanity, which days of old + Ne'er knew,--a vanity that has beset + The world, and made more slaves than Mahomet,-- + That has condemned us to the servile yoke + Of slavery, and made us slaves to smoke, + But stay! why tax I thus our modern + times + For new-born follies and for new-born + crimes? + Are we sole guilty, and the first age free? + No: they were smoked and slaved as well + as we. + What's sweet-lipped honor's blast, but + smoke? what's treasure, + But very smoke? and what's more smoke + than pleasure?" + +Brand gives us the whole matter in a nutshell, in the following quaint +epigram, entitled "A Tobacconist," taken from an old collection:-- + + "All dainty meats I do defy + Which feed men fat as swine; + He is a frugal man, indeed, + That on a leaf can dine. + + "He needs no napkin for his hands + His fingers' ends to wipe, + That keeps his kitchen in a box, + And roast meat in a pipe." + +And so on, the singers of succeeding years, _usque ad nauseam_,--a +loathing equalled only by that of the earlier writers for the plant, now +so lauded. + +Tobacco-worship seems to us to culminate in the following stanza from a +German song:-- + + "Tabak ist mein Leben, + Dem hab' ich mich ergeben, ergeben; + Tabak ist meine Lust. + Und eh' ich ihn sollt' lassen, + Viel lieber wollt' ich hassen, + Ja, hassen selbst eines Mädchens Kuss." + +As it is with your sex, my dear Madam, that this question of Tobacco is +to be mainly argued,--for, to your honor be it spoken, you have always +been of the reformatory party,--let us hope, that, provided you have +not read or translated the last verse, you have recovered your natural +amiability, ruffled perhaps by this odious subject, and are prepared +to believe us when we tell you that these opposite opinions cannot be +wholly reconciled, and to follow us patiently while we attempt to show +that a certain gentleman, introduced to your maternal ancestor at a very +remote period of the world's history, is not so black as he is sometimes +painted. Let us keep good-natured, at least, in this discussion; for we +propose to settle it without taking off the gloves, as we intimated in +the opening paragraph. Your patience will be much needed for the sad +army of facts and figures which is to follow. Therefore it is but just +that you should speak now, after these long sentences. + +Your George will never smoke? Excuse me. _When_ he will smoke depends +upon the precocity of his individual generation; and that increases in +a direct ratio with time itself, in this country. Thus, to state the +matter in an approximate inverse arithmetical progression, and dating +the birth of "young America" about the year 1825,--previously to which +reigned the dark ages of oldfogydom, so called,--we find as follows: +--From 1825 to 1835, young gentlemen learned to smoke when from 25 to 20 +years of age; from 1835 to 1845, young _gents_, ditto, ditto, from 20 to +15 years; 1845 to 1855, from 15 to 10; 1855 to 1865, 10 to 5; 1865 to +1875, 5 to 0; and, if we continue, 1875 to 1885, zero to minus: but +really the question is becoming too nebulous. _Corollary_. In about ten +years, the youth of the United States will smoke contemporaneously with +the infant Burmese, who, we are credibly informed, begin the habit +_aet_. 3, or as soon as they have cut enough teeth to hold a cigar. + +Therefore, we will say, Madam, at some indefinite period of his +childhood or youth,--for we would not be so impolite as to infer your +age by asking that of your son,--the _susdit_ George will come home +late from play some afternoon, languid, pale, and disinclined for tea. +He will indignantly repel the accusation of feeling ill, and there will +lurk about his person an indescribable odor of stale cinnamon, which +you will be at a loss to account for, but which his elder brother will +recognize as the natural result of smoking "cinnamon cigars," wherewith +certain wicked tobacconists of this city tempt curious youth. If you +follow him to his chamber, you will probably discover more damning +evidence of his guilt. + +We will draw the curtain over the scene of the Spartan mother--we hope +you belong to that nearly extinct class--which is to follow. Let us +suppose all differences settled, the habit ostensibly given up, and your +darling, grown more honest or more artful,--the result is the same to +your blissful ignorance,--studiously pursuing his way until he enters +college. Some fine day you drive over to the neighboring university, +and, entering his room unannounced, you find him coloring his first +(factitious) meerschaum!--also a sad deficiency in his wardrobe of +half-worn clothes. _C'est une pipe qui coûte cher à culotter_, the +college meerschaum,--and in more ways than one, according to the +"Autocrat":--"I do not advise you, young man, to consecrate the flower +of your life to painting the bowl of a pipe," _et seq_. More bold, +the Sophomore will smoke openly at home; and by the end of the third +vacation, it is one of those unyielding _faits accomplis_ against which +reformers, household or peripatetic, beat their heads in vain. + +Perhaps your husband smokes? If so, at what period of the twenty-four +hours have you invariably found Mr. ---- most lenient to your little +pecuniary peccadilloes? Is he not always most good-natured when his +cigar is about one-third consumed, the ash evenly burnt and adherent, +and not fallen into his shirt-bosom? Depend upon it, tobacco is a great +soother of domestic differences. + +Let us, then, look an existing, firmly rooted evil--if you will call it +so--in the face, and see if it is quite so bad as it is represented. It +is too wide-spread to be sneered away,--for we might almost say that +smokers were the rule, and non-smokers the exception, among all +civilized men, Charles Kingsley supports us here:--"'Man a cooking +animal,' my dear Doctor Johnson? Pooh! man is a _smoking_ animal. +There is his _ergon_, his 'differential energy,' as the Aristotelians +say,--his true distinction from the orangoutang. Ponder it well." + +_Query_.--What did the old Roman do without a cigar? How idle through +the day? How survive his interminable _post-coenal_ potations?--The +thought is not our own. It occurs somewhere in De Quincey, we believe. +It is one of those self-evident propositions you wonder had not occurred +to you before.--What an accessory of luxury the pipe would have been +to him who passed the livelong day under the mosaic arches of the +_Thermoe_! The _strigiles_ would have vanished before the meerschaum, +had that magic clay then been known. How completely would the _hookah_ +and the _narghileh_ have harmonized with the _crater, cyathi_, and +tripods of the _triclinium_ in that portraiture of the "Decadence of +Rome" which hangs in the Luxembourg Gallery! Poor fellows! they managed +to exist without them. + +Though pipes are found carved on very old sculptures in China, and the +habit of smoking was long since extensively followed there, according +to Pallas, and although certain species of the tobacco-plant, as the +_Nicotiana rustica_, would appear to be indigenous to the country, yet +we have the best reason to conclude that America, if not the exclusive +home of the herb, was the birthplace of its use by man. The first great +explorer of the West found the sensuous natives of Hispaniola rolling up +and smoking tobacco-leaves with the same persistent indolence that +we recognize in the Cuban of the present day. Rough Cortés saw with +surprise the luxurious Aztec composing himself for the _siesta_ in the +middle of the day as invariably as his fellow Dons in Castile. But he +was amazed that the barbarians had discovered in tobacco a sedative +to promote their reveries and compose them to sleep, of which the +_hidalgos_ were as yet ignorant, but which they were soon to appropriate +with avidity, and to use with equal zest. Humboldt says that it had been +cultivated by the people of Orinoco from time immemorial, and was smoked +all over America at the time of the Spanish Conquest,--also that it was +first discovered by Europeans in Yucatan, in 1520, and was there called +_Petum_. Tobacco, according to the same authority, was taken from the +word _tabac_, the name of an instrument used in the preparation of the +herb. + +Though Columbus and his immediate followers doubtless brought home +specimens of tobacco among the other spoils of the New World, Jean +Nicot, ambassador to Portugal from Francis II., first sent the seeds +to France, where they were cultivated and used about the year 1560. In +honor of its sponsor, Botany has named the plant _Nicotiana tabacum_, +and Chemistry distinguished as _Nicotin_ its active alkaloid. Sir +Francis Drake first brought tobacco to England about 1586. It owed +the greater part of its early popularity, however, to the praise and +practice of Raleigh: his high standing and character would have sufficed +to introduce still more novel customs. The weed once inhaled, the habit +once acquired, its seductions would not allow it to be easily laid +aside; and we accordingly find that royal satire, public odium, and +ruinous cost were alike inadequate to restrain its rapidly increasing +consumption. Somewhere about the year 1600 or 1601 tobacco was carried +to the East, and introduced among the Turks and Persians,--it is not +known by whom: the devotion of modern Mussulmans might reasonably +ascribe it to Allah himself. It seems almost incredible that the +Oriental type of life and character could have existed without tobacco. +The pipe seems as inseparable as the Koran from the follower of Mahomet. + +Barely three centuries ago, then, the first seeds of the _Nicotiana +tabacum_ germinated in European soil: now, who shall count the harvests? +Less than three centuries ago, Raleigh attracted a crowd by sitting +smoking at his door: now, the humblest bog-trotter of Ireland must +be poor indeed who cannot own or borrow a pipe. A little more than a +century and a half ago, the import into Great Britain was only one +hundred and twenty thousand pounds, and part of that was reëxported: +now, the imports reach thirty million pounds, and furnish to government +a revenue of twenty millions of dollars,--being an annual tax of three +shillings four pence on every soul in the United Kingdom. Nor is the +case of England an exceptional one. The tobacco-zone girdles the globe. +From the equator, through fifty degrees of latitude, it grows and is +consumed on every continent. On every sea it is carried and used by the +mariners of every nation. Its incense rises in every clime, as from one +vast altar dedicated to its worship,--before which ancient holocausts, +the smoke of burnt-offerings in the old Jewish rites, the censers of the +Church, and the joss-sticks of the East, must "pale their ineffectual +fires." All classes, all ages, in all climates, and in some countries +both sexes, use tobacco to dispel heat, to resist cold, to soothe +to reverie, or to arouse the brain, according to their national +habitations, peculiarities, or habits. + +This is not the language of hyperbole. With a partial exception in favor +of the hop, tobacco is the _sole recognized narcotic_ of civilization. +Opium and hemp, if indulged in, are concealed, by the Western nations: +public opinion, public morality, are at war with them. Not so with +tobacco, which the majority of civilized men use, and the minority +rather deprecate than denounce. We shall avail ourselves of some +statistics and computations, which we find ready-calculated, at various +sources, to support these assertions. The following are the amounts of +tobacco consumed _per head_ in various countries:-- + +"In Great Britain, 17 ounces per head; in France, 18 1/2 +ounces,--three-eighths of this quantity being used in the form of snuff; +in Denmark, 70 ounces (4 1/2 lbs.) per head; and in Belgium, 73 1/2 +ounces per head;--in New South Wales, where there are no duties, by +official returns, 14 pounds per head." We doubt if these quantities +much exceed the European average, particularly of Germany and Turkey in +Europe. "In some of the States of North America the proportion is much +larger, while among Eastern nations, where there are no duties, it is +believed to be greater still." + +The average for the whole human race of one thousand millions has been +reasonably set at seventy ounces per head; which gives a total produce +and consumption of tobacco of two millions of tons, or 4,480,000,000 of +pounds! "At eight hundred pounds an acre, this would require five and +a half million acres of rich land to be kept constantly under +tobacco-cultivation." + +"The whole amount of wheat consumed by the inhabitants of Great Britain +weighs only four and one-third million tons." The reader can draw his +own inferences. + +The United States are among the largest producers of tobacco, furnishing +one-twentieth of the estimated production of the whole world. According +to the last census, we raised in 1850 about two hundred million pounds. +All the States, with five exceptions,--and two of these are Utah and +Minnesota,--shared, in various degrees, in the growth of this great +staple. Confining our attention to those which raised a million of +pounds and upwards, we find Connecticut and Indiana cited at one million +each; Ohio and North Carolina, at ten to twelve millions; Missouri, +Tennessee, and Maryland, from seventeen to twenty-one millions; Kentucky +and Virginia, about fifty-six million pounds. + +Of this gross two hundred million pounds, we export one hundred and +twenty-two millions, leaving about seventy-eight millions for home +consumption. + +Not satisfied with the quality of this modest amount, we import also, +from Cuba, Turkey, Germany, etc., about four million pounds, in Havana +and Manila cigars and Turkish and German manufactured smoking-tobacco. +Thus we increase the total of our consumption to eighty-two million +pounds, which gives about three pounds eight ounces to every inhabitant +of the United States, against seventeen ounces in England, and eighteen +ounces in France. From 1840 to 1850, the consumption in the United +States, per head, increased from two pounds and half an ounce to three +pounds eight ounces. Here, we buy our tobacco at a fair profit to the +producer. In most of the countries of Europe it is either subject to +a high tax, or made a government monopoly, both as regards its +cultivation, and its manufacture and sale. France consumes about +forty-one million pounds, and the imperial exchequer is thereby enriched +eighty-six million francs _per annum_. Not only is the poor man thus +obliged to pay an excessive price, but the tobacco furnished him is of +a much inferior quality to ours. "_Petit-caporal_" smoking-tobacco, the +delight of the middling classes of Paris, hardly suits an American's +taste. In Italy more than one _pubblicano_ has enriched himself and +bought nobility by farming the public revenues from tobacco and salt. In +Austria the cigars are detestable, though Hungary grows good tobacco, +and its Turkish border furnishes some of the meerschaum clay. German +smoking-tobaccoes are favorites with students here, but owe their +excellence to their mode of manufacture. + +Tobacco, according to some authorities, holds the next place to salt, +as the article most universally and largely used by man,--we mean, +of course, apart from cereals and meats. It is unquestionably the +widest-used narcotic. Opium takes the second rank, and hemp the third; +but the opium--and hashish-eaters usually add the free smoking of +tobacco to their other indulgences. + +From these great columns of consumption we may logically deduce two +prime points for our argument. + +1st. That an article so widely used must possess some peculiar quality +producing _a desirable effect_. + +2d. That an article so widely used cannot produce _any marked +deleterious effect_. + +For it must meet some instinctive craving of the human being,--as bread +and salt meet his absolute needs,--to be so widely sought after and +consumed. Fashion does not rule this habit, but it is equally grateful +to the savage and the sage. And it cannot be so ruinous to body and mind +as some reformers assert; otherwise, in the natural progress of causes +and effects, whole nations must have already been extinguished under +its use. Many mighty nations have used it for centuries, and show no +aggregated deterioration from its employment. Individual exceptions +exist in every community. They arise either from idiosyncrasy or from +excess, and they have no weight in the argument. + +Now, what are these qualities and these effects? We can best answer the +first part of the question by a quotation. + +"In ministering fully to his natural wants and cravings, man passes +through three successive stages. + +"First, the necessities of his material nature are provided for. Beef +and bread represent the means by which, in every country, this end is +attained. And among the numerous forms of animal and vegetable food a +wonderful similarity of chemical composition prevails. + +"Second, he seeks to assuage the cares of his mind, and to banish +uneasy reflections. Fermented liquors are the agents by which this is +effected." [They are variously produced by every people, and the active +principle is in all the same, namely, Alcohol.] + +"Third, he desires to multiply his enjoyments, intellectual and animal, +and for the time to exalt them. This he attains by the aid of narcotics. +And of these narcotics, again, it is remarkable that almost every +country or tribe has its own, either aboriginal or imported; so that +the universal instinct of the race has led, somehow or other, to the +universal supply of this want or craving also." + +These narcotics are Opium, Hemp, the Betel, Coca, Thorn-Apple, Siberian +Fungus, Hops, Lettuce, Tobacco. The active principles vary in each, thus +differing from foods and stimulants. Our business is now to inquire into +the chemical constituents of tobacco. + +The leaves of this plant owe their properties to certain invariable +active principles, which chemistry has enabled us to separate from those +ingredients which are either inert or common to it and other forms of +vegetation. They are two in number,--a volatile alkali, and a volatile +oil, called _nicotin_ and _nicotianin_, respectively. A third powerful +constituent is developed by combustion, which is named the _empyreumatic +oil_. + +Starch, gum, albumen, resin, lignin, extractive, and organic acids exist +in tobacco, as they do, in varying proportions, in other plants. But +the herb under consideration contains a relatively larger proportion of +inorganic salts, as those of lime, potassa, and ammonia,--and especially +of highly nitrogenized substances; which explains why tobacco is +so exhausting a crop to the soil, and why ashes are among its best +fertilizers. + +The organic base, _nicotin_, (or _nicotia_, as some chemists prefer to +call it,) exists in tobacco combined with an acid in excess, and in this +state is not volatile. As obtained by distillation with caustic soda, +and afterwards treated with sulphuric acid, etc., it is a colorless +fluid, volatilizable, inflammable, of little smell when cold, but of an +exceedingly acrid, burning taste, and alkaline. Nicotia contains a much +larger proportion of nitrogen than most of the other organic alkalies. +In its action on the animal system it is one of the most virulent +poisons known. It exists in varying, though small proportion, in all +species of tobacco. Those called mild, and most esteemed, seem to +contain the least. Thus, according to Orfila, Havana tobacco yields two +per cent of the alkaloid, and Virginia nearly seven per cent. In the +rankest varieties it rarely exceeds eight parts to the hundred. The +same toxicologist says that it has the remarkable property of resisting +decomposition in the decaying tissues of the body, and he detected it in +the bodies of animals destroyed by it, several months after their death. +In this particular it resembles arsenic. + +_Nicotianin_, or the volatile oil, is probably the odorous principle of +tobacco. According to some, it does not exist in the fresh leaves, but +is generated in the drying process. When obtained by distillation, a +pound of leaves will yield only two grains; it is therefore in a much +smaller proportion than the alkaloid, forming only one half of one per +cent. It is a fatty substance, having the odor of tobacco-smoke, and +a bitter taste. Applied to the nose, it occasions sneezing, and taken +internally, giddiness and nausea. It is therefore one of the active +constituents of tobacco, though to a much less degree than nicotin +itself. For while Hermstadt swallowed a grain of nicotianin with +impunity, the vapor of pure nicotin is so irritating that it is +difficult to breathe in a room in which a single drop has been +evaporated. + +When distilled in a retort, at a temperature above that of boiling +water, or burned, as we burn it in a pipe, tobacco affords its third +poison, the _empyreumatic oil_. This is acrid, of a dark brown +color, and having a smell as of an old pipe, in the pores of which, +particularly of meerschaum clay, it may be found. It is also narcotic +and very poisonous, one drop killing reptiles, as if by an electric +shock: in this mode of action it is like prussic acid. But this +empyreumatic oil consists of two substances; for, if it be washed with +acetic acid, it loses its poisonous quality. It contains, therefore, a +harmless oil, and a poisonous alkaline substance, which the acetic acid +combines with and removes. It has been shown to contain the alkaloid +nicotia, and this is probably its only active component. + +Assuming, therefore, that nicotianin, from its feebler action and small +amount, is not a very efficient principle in producing the narcotic +effects of tobacco, and that the empyreumatic oil consists only of fatty +matters holding the alkali in solution, we are forced to believe that +the only constituent worthy of much attention, as the very soul and +essence of the plant, is the organic base, nicotin, or nicotia. + +It is probable that the tobacco-chewer, by putting fifty grains of the +"Solace," "Honey-Dew," or "Cavendish" into his mouth for the purpose +of mastication, introduces at the same time from one to four grains of +nicotin with it, according to the quality of the tobacco he uses. It +is _not_ probable that anything like this amount is absorbed into the +system. Nature protects itself by salivation. It is possible, that, in +smoking one hundred grains of tobacco, there _may_ be drawn into +the mouth two grains or more of the same poison; "for, as nicotin +volatilizes at a temperature below that of burning tobacco, it is +constantly present in the smoke." It is not probable that here, again, +so much is absorbed. + +But we will return to this question of the relative effects of chewing, +cigar- and pipe-smoking, and snuff-taking, presently. For we suppose +that the anxious mother, if she has followed us so far, is by this time +in considerable alarm at this wholesale poisoning. + +Poisons are to be judged by their effects; for this is the only means we +have of knowing them to be such. And if a poison is in common use, we +must embrace all the results of such use in a perfect generalization +before we can decide impartially. We do not hesitate to eat peaches, +though we know they owe much of their peculiar flavor to prussic acid. +It is but fair to apply an equally large generalization to tobacco. +Chemistry can concentrate the sapid and odorous elements of the peach +and the bitter almond into a transparent fluid, of which the smell +shall be vertiginous and the taste death. But chemistry is often +misunderstood, in two ways: in the one case, by the incredulity of total +ignorance; in the other, by the overcredulity of imperfect knowledge. +That poor woman who murdered her husband by arsenic not long since +was an instance of the first. She laughed to scorn the idea that the +chemists could discover anything in the ejected contents of the stomach +of her victim, which she voluntarily left in their way. She could not +conceive that the scattered crystals of the fatal powder might be +gathered into a metallic mirror, the first glance at which would reflect +her guilt. + +They who gape, horror-struck, at the endless revelations of chemistry, +without giving reason time to act, err in the second manner. Led away by +the brilliant hues and wonderful transformations of the laboratory, +they forget the size of the world outside, in which these changes are +enacted, and the quiet way in which Nature works. The breath of chlorine +is deadly, but we daily eat it in safety, wrapped in its poison-proof +envelope of sodium, as common salt. Carbonic acid is among the gases +most hostile to man, but he drinks it in soda-water or Champagne with +impunity. So we cannot explain how a poison will act, if introduced +into the body in the diluted form in which Nature offers it, and there +subjected to the complicated chemico-vital processes which constitute +life. + +In the alembic of the chemist we may learn analysis, and from it infer, +but not imitate, save in a few instances, the synthesis of Nature. +Changes in the arrangement of atoms, without one particle altered that +we can discover, may make all the difference between starch and sugar. +By an obscure change, which we call fermentation, these may become +alcohol, the great stimulant of the world. By subtracting one atom of +water from its elements we change this to ether, the new-found _lethe_ +of pain. As from the inexhaustible bottle of the magician, the chemist +can furnish us from the same two elements air or aquafortis. We may be +pardoned these familiar examples to prove that we must not judge of +things by their palpable qualities, when concentrated or in the gross. +That fiery demon, nitric acid, is hid, harmless in its imperceptible +subdivision, in the dew on every flower. + +From all this we conclude that the evil effects of tobacco are to be +determined by their proved _physiological_ effects; and also that we +must aid our decision by a survey of its general asserted effects. In +treating of these effects, we shall speak, first, of what is known; +second, of what its opponents assert; and, third, of what we claim as +the results of its use. + +What is absolutely known is very little. We see occasional instances of +declining health; we learn that the sufferers smoke or chew, and we are +very apt to ascribe all their maladies to tobacco. So far as we are +aware, the most notorious organic lesion which has been supposed due to +this practice is a peculiar form of cancer of the lip, where the pipe, +and particularly the clay pipe, has pressed upon the part. But more +ample statistics have disproved this theory. + +We have as yet become acquainted with no satisfactory series of +experiments upon tobacco analogous to those which have been made of some +articles of food. + +The opponents of tobacco, upon whom we consider the burden of proof to +rest, in the absence of any marked ill effects palpable in so large a +consumption of the herb, are thus reduced to generalities. + +Tobacco is said to produce derangement of the digestion, and of the +regular, steady action of the nervous system. These effects must be in a +measure connected; but one distinct effect of tobacco is claimed, upon +the secretions of the mouth, with which it comes into direct contact. +It is said to cause a waste and a deterioration of the saliva. Let us +examine this first. + +The waste of saliva in young smokers and in immoderate chewers we admit. +The amount secreted by a healthy man has been variously estimated at +from one and a half to three pounds _per diem_. And it certainly seems +as if the whole of this was to be found upon the vile floors of +cars, hotels, and steamboats. The quantity secreted varies much with +circumstances; but experiments prove the _quality_ to be not affected by +the amount. + +To show how the deterioration of this fluid may affect digestion, we +must inquire into its normal physiological constitution and uses. Its +uses are of two kinds: to moisten the food, and to convert starch into +sugar. The larger glands fulfil the former; the smaller, mostly, the +latter office. Almost any substance held in the mouth provokes the flow +of saliva by mechanical irritation. Mental causes influence it; for the +thought of food will "make the mouth water," as well as its presence +within the lips. No one who has tried to eat unmoistened food, when +thirsty, will dispute its uses as a solvent. Tobacco seems to be a +direct stimulant to the salivary apparatus. Habit blunts this effect +only to a limited extent. The old smoker has usually some increase of +this secretion, although he does not expectorate. But if he does not +waste this product, he swallows it, it is said, in a state unfit to +promote digestion. The saliva owes its peculiarity to one of its +components, called _ptyalin_. And this element possesses the remarkable +power of converting starch into sugar, which is the first step in its +digestion. Though many azotized substances in a state of decomposition +exert a similar agency, yet it is possessed by _ptyalin_ in a much +greater degree. The gastric juice has probably no action on farinaceous +substances. And it has been proved by experiments, that food moistened +with water digests more slowly than when mixed with the saliva. + +More than this, the conversion of starch into sugar has been shown to +be positively retarded in the stomach by the acidity of the gastric +secretions. Only after the azotized food has been somewhat disintegrated +by the action of the gastric juice, and the fluids again rendered +alkaline by the presence of saliva, swallowed in small quantities for +a considerable time after eating, does the saccharifying process go on +with normal rapidity and vigor. + +Now starch is the great element, in all farinaceous articles, which +is adapted to supply us with calorifacient food. "In its original +condition, either raw or when broken up by boiling, it does not appear +that starch is capable of being absorbed by the alimentary canal. By its +conversion into sugar it can alone become a useful aliment." This is +effected almost instantaneously by the saliva in the mouth, and at a +slower rate in the stomach. + +Obviously, then, if the use of tobacco interferes with the normal action +of the saliva, and if the digestion of starch ends in the stomach, here +is the strong point in the argument of the opponents of tobacco. We +should wonder at the discrepancy between physiology and facts, theory +and the evidence of our senses and daily experience among the world +of smokers, and be ready to renounce either science or "the weed." +Fortunately for our peace of mind and for our respect for physiology, +the first point of the proposition is not satisfactorily proved, and the +second is untrue. We are not certain that nicotin ruins ptyalin; we are +certain that the functions of other organs are vicarious of those of the +salivary glands. + +We say that it is not satisfactorily proved that tobacco impairs the +sugar-making function of the saliva. At least, we have never seen the +proof from recorded experiments. Such may exist, but we have met only +with loose assertions to this effect, of a similar nature to +those hygienic _dicta_ which we find bandied about in the +would-be-physiological popular journals, which are so plentiful in +this country, and which may be styled the "yellow-cover" literature of +science. + +We acknowledge this to be the weak point in our armor, and are open to +further light. Yet more, for the sake of hypothesis, we will assume it +proved. What follows? Are we to get no more sugar while we smoke? By no +means. Hard by the stomach lies the _pancreas_, an organ so similar in +structure to the salivary glands, that even so minute an observer as +Kölliker does not think it requisite to give it a separate description. +Its secretion, which is poured into the second stomach, contains a +ferment analogous to that of the saliva, and amounts probably to about +seven ounces a day. The food, on leaving the stomach, is next subjected +to its influence, together with that of the bile. It helps digest fatty +matters by its emulsive powers; it has been more recently supposed to +form a sort of _peptone_ with nitrogenized articles also; but, what is +more to our purpose, it turns starch into sugar even more quickly than +the saliva itself. And even if the reformers were to beat us from this +stronghold, by proving that tobacco impaired the saccharifying power of +this organ also, we should still find the mixed fluids supplied by the +smaller, but very numerous glands of the intestines, sufficient to +accomplish the requisite modification of starch, though more slowly and +to a less degree. + +We come now to the second count in the indictment,--that tobacco +injuriously affects the nervous system, and through it the digestion. +The accusation is here more vague and indefinite, and the answer also +is less susceptible of proof. Both sides must avail themselves of +circumstantial, rather than direct evidence. + +That digestion is in direct dependence upon the nervous system, and that +even transitory or emotional states of the latter affect the former, +there can be no doubt. It is so familiar a fact, that instances need +hardly be cited to prove it. Hence we are told, that tobacco, by +deranging the one, disorders the other,--that nervousness, or morbid +irritability of the nerves, palpitations and tremulousness, are soon +followed by emaciation and dyspepsia, or more or less inability to +digest. + +We conceive Prout, an eminent authority, to be near the truth, when he +says of tobacco, "The strong and healthy suffer comparatively little, +while the weak and predisposed to disease fall victims to its poisonous +operation." The hod-carrier traversing the walls of lofty buildings, and +the sailor swinging on the yard-arm, are not subject to nervousness, +though they smoke and chew; nor are they prone to dyspepsia, unless from +excesses of another kind. + +It has not been shown that tobacco either hastens or delays the +metamorphosis of tissue,--that it drains the system by waste, or clogs +it by retarding the natural excretions. We must turn, then, to its +direct influence upon the nervous system to convince ourselves of its +ill effects, if such exist. + +Nor has it been proved that the nervous influence is affected in such +a way as directly to impair the innervation of the organic functions, +which derive their chief impulse to action from the scattered ganglia of +the sympathetic system. Opium, the most powerful narcotic, benumbs the +brain into sleep; produces a corresponding reaction, on awakening; +shuts up the secretions, except that of the skin, and thus deranges the +alimentary functions. The decriers of tobacco will, we conceive, be +unable to show that it produces such effects. + +The reformers are reduced, then, to the vague generality, that smoking +and chewing "affect the nerves." + +Students, men of sedentary, professional habits, persons of a very +nervous temperament, or those subject to much excitement in business +and politics, sometimes show debility and languor, or agitation and +nervousness, while they smoke and chew. Are there no other causes at +work, sufficient in themselves to produce these effects? Are want of +exercise, want of air, want of rest, and want of inherited vigor to be +eliminated from the estimate, while tobacco is made the scape-goat of +all their troubles? + +Climate, and the various influences affecting any race which has +migrated after a stationary residence of generations to a new country +extending under different parallels of latitude, have been reasonably +accused of rendering us a nervous people. It is not so reasonable to +charge one habit with being the sole cause of this, although we should +be more prudent in not following it to excess. The larger consumption +of tobacco here is due both to the cheapness of the product and to +the wealth of the consumer. But it does not follow that we are more +subjected to its narcotic influences because we use the best varieties +of the weed. On the contrary, the poor and rank tobaccoes, grown under a +northern sky, are the richest in nicotin. + +But it will be better to continue the argument about its effects upon +the nervous system in connection with the assertions of the reformers. +The following is a list, by no means complete, of these asserted ill +effects from its use. + +Tobacco is said to cause softening of the brain,--dimness of +vision,--("the Germans smoke; the Germans are a _spectacled_ nation!" +_post hoc, ergo propter hoc?_ the laborious intellectual habits of this +people, and their trying "text," are considered of no account,)--cancer +of the stomach,--disease of the liver,--dyspepsia,--enfeebled +nutrition, and consequent emaciation,--dryness of the mouth,--"the +clergyman's sore-throat" and loss of voice,--irritability of the nervous +system,--tremulousness,--palpitation and paralysis,--and, among the +moral ills, loss of energy, idleness, drunkenness. A fearful catalogue, +which would dedicate the _tabatière_ to Pandora, were it true. + +Hygienic reformers are usually unequalled in imaginary horrors, except +by the charlatans who vend panaceas. + +We have no reasons for believing that tobacco causes softening of the +brain equal in plausibility to those which ascribe it to prolonged and +excessive mental effort. The statistics of disease prove cancers of +other organs to be twice as frequent, among females, as cancer of the +stomach is among males; and an eminent etiologist places narcotics +among the least proved causes of this disease. A hot climate, abuse +of alcohol, a sedentary life, and sluggish digestion happen, rather +curiously, to be very frequent concomitants, if not causes, of disease +of the liver. Dyspepsia haunts both sexes, and, we venture to assert, +though we cannot bring figures to prove it, is as frequent among those +who do not use tobacco as among those who do. We are ready to concede +that excessive chewing and smoking, particularly if accompanied by large +expectoration, may impair nutrition and cause emaciation: that the mass +of mankind eat and digest and live, as well as use "the weed," is proof +that its moderate employment is not ordinarily followed by this result. +Dryness of the mouth follows expectoration as a matter of course; but +the salivation excited in an old smoker by tobacco is very moderate, and +not succeeded by thirst, unless the smoke be inhaled too rapidly and at +too high a temperature. + +We come next to a very tender point with reformers, the laryngeal cough +and failing voice of the reverend clergy. The later generations of +ministers of this vicinity, as a body, have abandoned tobacco, and yet +the evil has not diminished. An eminent divine of our acquaintance, +who does not smoke daily, always finds a cigar relieve a trifling +bronchitis, to which he is occasionally subject The curious will find in +the "Medical Journal" of this city, for 1839, that quite as much can be +said on one side as on the other of this subject. + +The minor, rarely the graver affections of the nervous system, do follow +the use of tobacco in excess. We admit this willingly; but we deny these +effects to its moderate use by persons of ordinary health and of no +peculiar idiosyncrasy. Numerous cases of paralysis among tobacco-takers +in France were traced to the lead in which the preparation was +enveloped. + +We pass next to what we claim as the effects of _moderate_ +tobacco-using, and will take first the evidence of the toxicologists. +Both Pereira and Christison agree that "no well-ascertained ill effects +have been shown to result from the habitual practice of smoking." Beck, +a modern authority, says, "Common observation settles the question, that +the moderate and daily use of tobacco _does not_ prove injurious. This +is a general rule": and he adds, that exceptions necessarily exist, etc. + +The repugnance and nausea which greet the smoker, in his first attempts +to use tobacco, are not a stronger argument against it than the fact +that the system so soon becomes habituated to these effects is a proof +of its essential innocuousness. + +Certainly the love of tobacco is not an instinctive appetite, like that +for nitrogen and carbon in the form of food. Man was not born with a +cigar in his mouth, and it is not certain that the _Nicotiana tabacum_ +flourished in the Garden of Eden. But history proves the existence of +an instinct among all races--call it depraved, if you will, the fact +remains--leading them to employ narcotics. And narcotics all nations +have sought and found. We venture to affirm that tobacco is harmless as +any. The betel and the hop can alone compare with it in this respect; +and the hop is not a narcotic which satisfies alone; others are used +with it. Opium and Indian hemp are not to be mentioned in comparison; +while coca, in excess, is much more hurtful. + +Tobacco may more properly be called a sedative than a narcotic. Opium, +the type of the latter class, is in its primary action excitant, but +secondarily narcotic. The opium-eaters are familiar with this, and +learn by experience to regulate the dose so as to prolong the first and +shorten the second effects, as much as possible. + +Tobacco, on the other hand, is primarily sedative and relaxing. A high +authority says of its physiological action:-- + +"First, That its greater and first effect is to assuage and allay and +soothe the system in general. + +"Second, That its lesser and second, or after effect, is to excite and +invigorate, and at the same time give steadiness and fixity to the +powers of thought." + +Either of these effects will predominate, we conceive, according to +the intellectual state and capacity of the individual, as well as in +accordance with the amount used. + +The dreamy Oriental is sunk into deeper reverie under the influence of +tobacco, and his happiness while smoking seems to consist in thinking of +nothing. The studious German, on the contrary, "thinks and dreams, +and dreams and thinks, alternately; but while his body is soothed and +stilled, his mind is ever awake." + +This latter description resembles, to compare small things with great, +the effects of opium, as detailed by De Quincey. + +"In habitual smokers," says Pereira, "the practice, when moderately +indulged, produces that remarkably soothing and tranquillizing effect on +the mind which has caused it to be so much admired and adopted by all +classes of society." + +The pleasure derived from tobacco is very hard to define, since it is +negative rather than positive, and to be estimated more by what it +prevents than by what it produces. It relieves the little vexations and +cares of life, soothes the harassed mind, and promotes quiet reflection. +This it does most of all when used sparingly and after labor. But +if incessantly consumed, it keeps up a constant, but mild cerebral +exhilaration. The mind acts more promptly and more continuously under +its use. We think any tobacco-consumer will bear us out in this +definition of its varying effects. + +After a full meal, if it does not help, it at least hides digestion. +"It settles one's dinner," as the saying is, and gives that feeling of +quiet, luxurious _bien-aise_ which would probably exist naturally in +a state of primeval health. It promotes, with most persons, the +peristaltic movements of the alimentary passages by its relaxing +properties. + +Smoking is eminently social, and favors domestic habits. And in this +way, we contend, it prevents drinking, rather than leads to it. Many +still associate the cigar with the bar-room. This notion should have +become obsolete ere this, for it has an extremely limited foundation in +fact. Bachelors and would-be-manly boys are not the only consumers of +tobacco, though they are the best patrons of the bar. The poor man's +pipe retains him by his own fireside, as well as softens his domestic +asperities. + +Excess in tobacco, like excess in any other material good meant for +moderate use, is followed by evil effects, more or less quickly, +according to the constitution and temperament of the abuser. The +lymphatic and obese can smoke more than the sanguine and nervous, with +impunity. How much constitutes excess varies with each individual. +Manufacturers of tobacco do not appear to suffer. Christison states, as +the result of the researches of MM. Parent-Duchatelet and D'Arcet among +four thousand workmen in the tobacco-manufactories of France, that they +found no evidence of its being unwholesome. Moderate tobacco-users +attain longevity equal to that of any other class in the community. + +We will cite only the following brief statistics from an old physician +of a neighboring town. In looking over the list of the oldest men, dead +or alive, within his circle of acquaintance, he finds a total of 67 men, +from 73 to 93 years of age. Their average age is 78 and a fraction. Of +these 67, 54 were smokers or chewers; 9 only, non-consumers of tobacco; +and 4 were doubtful, or not ascertained. About nine-elevenths smoked or +chewed. The compiler quaintly adds, "How much longer these men might +have lived without tobacco, it is impossible to determine." + +The tobacco-leaf is consumed by man usually in three ways: by smoking, +snuffing, or chewing. The first is the most common; the last is the most +disagreeable. + +Tobacco is smoked in the East Indies, China, and Siam; in Turkey and +Persia; over Europe generally; and in North and South America. Cigars +are preferred in the East and West Indies, Spain, England, and America. +China, Turkey, Persia, and Germany worship the pipe. In Europe the pipe +is patronized on account of its cheapness. Turks and Persians use the +mildest forms of pipe-smoking, choosing pipes with long, flexible stems, +and having the smoke cooled and purified by passing through water. The +Germans prefer the porous meerschaum,--the Canadians, the common clay. +Women smoke habitually in China, the East and West Indies, and to a less +extent in South America, Spain, and France. + +We have no fears that any reasoning of ours would induce the other +sex to use tobacco. The ladies set too just a value on the precious +commodity of their charms for that. There is little danger that they +would do anything which might render them disagreeable. The practice of +snuff-taking is about the only form they patronize, and that to a slight +extent. + +France is the home of snuff. A large proportion of all the tobacco +consumed there is used in this form. The practice prevails to a large +extent also in Iceland and Scotland. The Icelander uses a small horn, +like a powder-horn, to hold his snuff. Inserting the smaller end into +the nostril, he elevates the other, and thus conveys the pungent powder +directly to the part. The more delicate Highlander carries the snuff to +his nose on a little shovel. This can be surpassed only by the habit +of "dipping," peculiar to some women of the United States, and whose +details will not bear description. + +Chewing prevails _par excellence_ in our own country, and among the +sailors of most nations,--to some extent also in Switzerland, Iceland, +and among the Northern races. It is the safest and most convenient form +at sea. + +By smoking, each of the three active ingredients of tobacco is rendered +capable of absorption. The empyreumatic oil is produced by combustion. +The pipe retains this and a portion of the nicotin in its pores. The +cigar, alone, conveys all the essential elements into the system. + +Liebig once asserted that cigar-smoking was prejudicial from the +amount of gaseous carbon inhaled. We cannot believe this. The heat of +cigar-smoke may have some influence on the teeth; and, on the whole, the +long pipe, with a porous bowl, is probably the best way of using tobacco +in a state of ignition. + +By repeated fermentations in preparing snuff, much of the nicotin is +evaporated and lost. Yet snuff-takers impair the sense of smell, and +ruin the voice, by clogging up the passages with the finer particles of +the powder. The functions of the labyrinthine caverns of the nose and +forehead, and of the delicate osseous laminae which constitute the +sounding-boards of vocalization, are thus destroyed. + +Chewing is the most constant, as it is the nastiest habit. The old +chewer, safe in the blunted irritability of the salivary glands, can +continue his practice all night, if he be so infatuated, without +inconvenience. In masticating tobacco, nicotin and nicotianin are rolled +about in the mouth with the quid, but are not probably so quickly +absorbed as when in the gaseous state. Yet chewers are the greatest +spitters, and have a characteristic drooping of the angle of the lower +lip, which points to loss of power in the _leavator_ muscles. + +Latakia, Shiraz, Manila, Cuba, Virginia, and Maryland produce the most +valuable tobaccoes. Though peculiar soils and dressings may impart +a greater aroma and richness to the plant, by the variations in the +quantity of nicotianin, as compared with the other organic elements, yet +we are inclined to think that the diminished proportion of nicotin in +the best varieties in the cause of their superior flavor to the rank +Northern tobaccoes, and that it is mainly because they are milder that +they are most esteemed. So, too, the cigar improves with age, because +a certain amount of nicotin evaporates and escapes. Taste in cigars +varies, however, from the Austrian government article, a very rank +"long-nine," with a straw running through the centre to improve its +suction, to the Cuban _cigarrito_, whose ethereal proportions three +whiffs will exhaust. + +The manufacture of smoking-tobaccoes is as much and art in Germany as +getting up a fancy brand of cigars is here; and the medical philosopher +of that country will gravely debate whether "Kanaster" or "Varinas" be +best suited for certain forms of convalescence; tobacco being almost +as indispensable as gruel, in returning health. We think the +light pipe-smoker will find a combination of German and Turkish +smoking-tobaccoes a happy thought. The old smoker may secure the best +union of delicacy and strength in the Virginia "natural leaf." + +Among the eight or ten species of the tobacco-plant now recognized by +botanists, the _Nicotiana tabacum_ and the _Nicotiana rustica_ hold the +chief place. Numerous varieties of each of these, however, are named and +exist. + +We condense from De Bow's "Industrial Resources of the South and West" a +brief account of tobacco-culture in this country. "The tobacco is best +sown from the 10th to the 20th of March, and a rich loam is the most +favorable soil. The plants are dressed with a mixture of ashes, plaster, +soot, salt, sulphur, soil, and manure." After they are transplanted, +we are told that "the soil best adapted to the growth of tobacco is a +light, friable one, or what is commonly called a sandy loam; not too +flat, but rolling, undulating land." Long processes of hand-weeding must +be gone through, and equal parts of plaster and ashes are put on each +plant. "Worms are the worst enemy," and can be effectually destroyed +only by hand. "When the plant begins to yellow, it is time to put it +away; and it is cut off close to the ground." After wilting a little on +the ground, it is dried on sticks, by one of the three processes called +"pegging, spearing, and splitting." "When dry, the leaves are stripped +off and tied in bundles of one fifth or sixth of a pound each. It is +sorted into three or four qualities, as Yellow, Bright, Dull, etc." +Next it is "bulked," or put into bundles, and these again dried, and +afterwards "conditioned," and packed in hogsheads weighing from six +hundred to a thousand pounds each. + +It would be too long to detail the processes of cigar- and snuff-making, +the latter of which is quite complicated. + +We were happy to learn from the fearful work of Hassall on "Food and +its Adulterations," that tobacco was one of the articles least tampered +with; and particularly that there was no opium in cheroots, but nothing +more harmful than hay and paper. He ascribes this immunity mainly to +the vigilance of the excisemen. But we have recently seen a work on +the adulteration of tobacco, whose microscopic plates brought back our +former misgivings. Molasses is a very common agent used to give color +and render it toothsome. Various vegetable leaves, as the rhubarb, +beech, walnut, and mullein, as well as the less delectable bran, yellow +ochre, and hellebore, in snuff, are also sometimes used to defraud. +Saltpetre is often sprinkled on, in making cigars, to improve their +burning. + +The Indians mixed tobacco in their pipes with fragrant herbs. Cascarilla +bark is a favorite with some smokers; it is a simple aromatic and +tonic, but, when smoked, is said sometimes to occasion vertigo and +intoxication. + +We have before observed that tobacco is a very exhausting crop to the +soil. The worn-out tobacco-plantations of the South are sufficient +practical proof of this, while it is also readily explained by +chemistry. The leaves of tobacco are among the richest in incombustible +ash, yielding, when burned, from 19 to 28 _per cent_. of inorganic +substance. This forms the abundant ashes of tobacco-pipes and of cigars. +All this has been derived from the soil where it was raised, and it is +of a nature very necessary to vegetation, and not very abundant in the +most fertile lands. "Every ton of dried tobacco-leaves carries off from +four to five hundred-weight of this mineral matter,--as much as is +contained in fourteen tons of the grain of wheat." It follows +that scientific agriculture can alone restore this waste to the +tobacco-plantation. + +There is one other aspect of this great subject, which is almost +peculiar to New England, the home of reform. Certain Puritanical +pessimists have argued that the use of tobacco is immoral. There are +few, except our own sober people, who would admit this question at +all. We would treat this prejudice with the respect due to all sincere +reforms. And we have attempted to show, that, since all races have used +and will use narcotics, we had better yield a little, lest more be +taken, and concede them tobacco, which is more harmless than many that +are largely consumed. We have proved to our own satisfaction, and we +hope to theirs, that tobacco _in moderation_ neither affects the health +nor shortens life; that it does not create an appetite for stimulants, +but rather supplies their place; and that it favors sociality and +domestic habits more than the reverse. + +If the formation of any habit be objected to, we reply, that this is +a natural tendency of man, that things become less prejudicial by +repetition, and that a high hygienic authority advises us "to be regular +even in our vices." + +As we began in a light, we close in a more sober vein, apologists for +tobacco, rather than strongly advocating either side. On one point we +are sure that we shall agree with the ladies, and that is in a sincere +denunciation of the habit of smoking at a tender age. And although, in +accordance with the tendency of the times, the school-boy whom we caught +attached to a "long-nine" would consistently reply, _"Civis Americanus +sum_!" we shall persist in claiming the censorship of age over those on +whose chins the callow down of adolescence is yet ungrown. + + * * * * * + + + +SHAKSPEARE DONE INTO FRENCH. + + +In the first place, it really was an immense success, and Shylock, or +Sheeloque, as they dubbed him, was called before the curtain seven +times, and in most appropriate humility nearly laid his nose on his +insteps as he bowed, and quite showed his spine. + +It certainly was like Shakspeare in this, that it had five acts; but +when I have made that concession, and admitted that Sheeloque was +_Le Juif de Venise_, I think I have named all the cardinal points of +similarity in the "Merchant of Venice" and "Le Juif" of that same +unwholesome place. To be sure, there is a suspicion of _le devin +Williams_, as they will call him, continually cropping out; but a +conscientious man would not swear to one line of it, and I do not +think Shakspeare would be justified in suing the French author for +compensation under the National Copyright-Act. I speak of Shakspeare as +existing, because it is my belief he does, in a manner so to speak. + +I have intimated that "Le Juif" has five acts; but I have not yet +committed myself to the assertion that he was in seven _tableaux_, and +possessed a prologue. + +It is now my pleasing duty to force you through the five acts, and the +one prologue, and the seven _tableaux_,--every one of them. + +This prologue is divided as to the theatre into two parts: to left, +Sheeloque's domestic interior,--to right, a practicable canal. In the +very first line out crops Shylock's love of good bargains; and I +give the reader my word, the little Frenchmen saw that this was +characteristic, and applauded vehemently. _"Bon_," said I,--"if they +applaud the first line, what will they do with the last act?" + +It need not be said that Shylock dabbles in those bills which Venetian +swells of the fifteenth century, in common with those of a later age +and more western land, will manipulate, in spite of all the political +economy from Confucius down to Mr. Mill; and in this particular instance +and prologue the names of the improvidents are Leone and Ubaldo, neither +of which, if my memory serve me, is Shakspearian. These gentlemen +considerably shake my traditional respect for sixteenth-century +Venetian _Aristos_, for they insult that Jew till I wonder where a count +and a duke have learnt such language: but they serve a purpose; they +trot Shylock out, so to speak, and give our author an opportunity +of doing his best with A 1. Shylock's great speech. Here is the +apostrophe:-- + +"But yesterday--no later past than yesterday--thou didst bid thy +mistress call at me from her balcony; thy servants by thy will did cast +mud on me, and thy hounds sped snapping after me,'"--whereby we may infer +they went hunting in Venice, in the fifteenth century. It must have been +rather dangerous running. Nor could the Venetian nobles of that good old +time have been very proper; for Leone and Ubaldo justify themselves by +saying they were drunk. + +It is after this pretty excuse that Shylock has a soliloquy as long as +his beard,--and I hear really loud opposition to this didacticism in the +pit; but, however, this slow work soon meets compensation in violent +action. Shylock won't renew, and the nobles get indignant; so they +propose to pay Shylock with more kicks than halfpence. Here the action +begins; for Shylock protests he will bite a bit out of them; and though +one of these long-sleeved swells warns him that all threats by Jews +against Christians are an imprisonment manner, Shylock rashly prepares +for a defence. Away fly the lords after Shylock, over go the chairs, +down goes the table, and I suppose Shylock _does_ hit "one of them"; for +the two lords go off quite triumphantly, with the intimation that he +will be in prison in one hour from that. + +Then the Jew calls for--Sarah; and this same comes in on tiptoe, for +fear of waking the baby. This Shylock _fils_ Sarah proceeds to describe +as equally beautiful with Abel and Moses, which seems to give Shylock +_père_ great comfort,--though I am bound to admit the lowly whispered +doubt on the part of a pit-neighbor of mine as to Sarah's capability of +judging in the matter. + +Shylock is preparing for prison, it seems, and one little necessity is a +prayer for said son. Sarah comes in with a response, Shylock leaves +off praying "immediate," to tell Sarah she is no vulgar servant, which +assurance is received in the tearful manner. And here it comes a +little faint whiff of the real play. In leaving home, Shylock's French +plagiarizes the Jew's speech to Jessica, even down to the doubt the Jew +has about leaving his house at all. + +There has been no necessity for stating that Sara supposes herself the +widow of a libel on his sex, a man unspeakable; and the moment I hear he +is, or was, a man of crime unspeakable, I know he will turn up. Shylock +having gone away,--I do not know where,--up comes a gondola to the +front-door, and, of course, in walks Sarah's husband. "Good evening, +Ma'am," says he. "God of Israel!" says she. And then such an explanation +as this infamous husband gives! He puts in, that he is a pirate; that +his captain, whom he describes as a _Vénus en corsaire_, has lost a +son, and wants another; hence speaker, name Arnheim, wants that little +Israelite who is so much like Abel and Moses at one and the same moment: +though how Arnheim should know of that little creation, or how he should +know him to be also like the lost infantile pirate as well as Abel and +Moses, does not sufficiently appear,--as, indeed, my neighbor, who is +suggestive of a Greek Chorus in a blue blouse, discovers in half a dozen +disparaging syllables. + +Of course, when the supposed widow hears this, her cries ought to wake +up all hearing Venice, but not one Venetian comes to her aid; and though +she uses her two hands enough for twenty, she has not got her way when +thoroughly breathed. + +"Sarah," says that energetic woman's husband, "Sarah, don't be a fool!" + +Then I know the baby is coming: there never yet was a French prologue +without a baby,--it seems a French unity; sometimes there are two +babies, who always get mixed up. But to our business. + +Out comes the baby, (they never scream,) and--alas that for effect he +should thus commit himself!--Arnheim rips Sarah up, and down she goes as +dead as the Queen of Sheba. + +Then comes a really fine scene. Shylock enters, learns all; in come +soldiers for Shylock, and, of course, accuse him of the murder; +whereupon Shylock shows on the blade a cross. "Doth a Jew wear a knife +with a cross on it?" says he. "Go to!--'tis a Christian murder." + +To this the soldier-head has nothing to say; so he hurries Shylock off +to prison, and down comes the curtain. + +"Hum!" says the Greek Chorus,--"it might be worse." + + +ACT I. + + +It is clear there must be lady characters, or I am quite sure the Greek +Chorus would find fault wofully,--and the only one we have had, Sarah, +to wit, can't decently appear again, except in the spiritual form. Well, +there is the original Portia,--alas for that clever, virtuous, and +noble lady!--how is she fallen in the French!--she is noble-looking and +clever,--but the third quality, oh, dear me! This disreputable is named +Imperia, and the real Bassanio becomes one Honorius, who is, as he +should be, the bosom friend of one Andronic, which is Antonio, I would +have you know. I have thought over it two minutes, and have come to the +conclusion that the less I say about Imperia the better, and I know the +Anglo-Saxon would not agree with Imperia,--but, as the Frenchman does, +I offer you one, or part of one of Imperia's songs, as bought by me for +two disgraceful _sous_. + + "Déjà l'aube rayonne et luit, + La nuit + Finit; + Maîtresse, + L'heure enchanteresse + Passe et fuit... + A ton arrêt je dois me rendre. + Sort jaloux! (_bis._) + Hâtons-nous, + Il faut descendre + Sans réveiller son vieil époux!..." + +Well,--what do you think of it? Now I will not mention her again,--I +will refer to her, when I shall have vexatious occasion, as "that +woman." And, indeed, "that woman" and Honorius set us up in +comprehension of matters progressing. It seems that quite twenty years +have passed since Sarah's soul slid through a knife-gash; that Honorius +and Andronic, who have come from Smyrna, (why?) are almost brothers; +that Honorius is good in this fact only, that he knows he is really bad; +and that Andronic is the richest and most moral man in Venice,--though +why, under those circumstances, he should be friendly with such a rip as +Honorius, Honorius does not inform us. + +I shall pass over the next scenes, and come to that in which all the +creditors of all the lords are brought on to the stage in a state which +calls for the interference of the Doge: they are all drunk,--except +Shylock. This scene really is a startler. Shylock, now dashed with +gray, and nearly double, comes up to "that woman" and calls her sister; +whereupon she demanding that explanation which I and the Greek Chorus +simultaneously want, Shylock states that _he_ is Usury and _she_ Luxury, +"and they have one father." + +"Queer old man!!!" says "that woman." + +Here follow dice, in which the Jew is requested to join, all of which +naturally brings about a discussion on the rate of usage, which that +dog Andronic is bringing down, and a further statement that _that_ +imprisonment lasted two years. Then comes a _coup d'théâtre_: Shylock +reminds everybody that a just Doge reigns now, (nor can I help pointing +out the Frenchman's ingenuity here: in the _play_, the Doge must be +just, or where would the pound of flesh be?--while, if the Doge of the +_prologue_ were just, Shylock would not have been committed for two +years,--ergo, kill No. 1. Doge, install No. 2.)--Shylock reminds +everybody that a just Doge reigns. Shylock has it all his own way, and +Honorius is arrested before the very eyes of "that woman." Then comes +the necessary _Deus ex machina_ in the shape of Andronic, who pays +everybody everything, saves his friend, and play proceeds. Andronic +reproaches Jew touching his greed, whereon the Jew offers this not +profound remark,--"I am--what I am,"--and goes on counting his money. + +Oh, if you only knew the secret! + +This cash payment winds up the act. + + +ACT II. + + +Decidedly, the beginning of Act Second proves Andronic is no fool, for +he advises Honorius to flee that creature,--and what better advice in +those matters is there than that of retreating? Decidedly, too, +the virtuous Doge is worth having,--really a Middle-Age electric +telegraph,--for he gives all about him such a dose of news as in this +day would sell every penny-paper printed: and such bad news!--Venice +down everywhere, and a loan wanted. Here comes a fine scene for +Andronic, (for, after all, the lords have "hitched out" of the proposed +loan, whereby I take it they are not such fools as people take them to +be,)--Andronic declares, that, if he were rich enough, the Doge should +not ask for money, but ships are but frail and his have gone to pieces. +Here, you see, comes another faint whiff of the real original play. + +Then, clearly, the Doge can only apply to the Jews. Enter Shylock _à +propos_. The next scene is so awful to the Greek Chorus, who may be of a +business turn, that I am charitable enough not to reproduce it here; +but the percentage the Jew wants for the loan seems to be quite a +multiplication-table of tangible securities, and I only wonder the Doge +does not order him into the Adriatic. Amongst other demands, the Jew +procures all the Dogic jewels,--and then he wants all the jewels of the +Doge's daughter; indeed, Shylock becomes a most unreasonable party. + +No sooner does he speak of the daughter, Ginevra by name, than in she +comes, jewel-casket in hand,--which leads the cynical Greek Chorus to +suppose that Mademoiselle is either _clairvoyante_ or prefers going +about with a box. The way in which that best of her sex offers up the +jewels on the patriotic shrine is really worthy of the applause bestowed +on the act; but when that pig of a Jew is not satisfied, when he insists +upon the diamond necklace Ginevra wears, as another preliminary to the +loan, people in the theatre quite shake with indignation. + +Now the jewel has been the pattern young lady's mother's; and here comes +an opening for that appeal to the filial love of Frenchmen which is +never touched in vain. It is really a great and noble trait in the +French character, that filial love, not too questionable to be +demonstrative,--'tis a sure dramatist's French card, that appeal to the +love of mothers and fathers by their children. + +Having procured the weight of this chain, which has caused Shylock the +loss of many friends in the house who have been inclined to like him +consequent upon the loss of that Abel-Moses-photograph,--Shylock departs +with this information, that he will bring the money to-morrow: which +assertion proves Shylock to be a strong man, if a hundred thousand marks +are as heavy as I take them to be. + +Upon what little things do dramas, in common with lives, turn! +That necklace is the brilliant groundwork of the rest of the plot. +Why--why--why--WHY didn't Shakspeare think of the necklace? + +And as I always must tell love-affairs as soon as I hear of them,--for, +as a rule, I live in country towns,--I may at once state that Ginevra +loved Andronic, and latter loved former, and they would not tell each +other, and the Doge knew nothing about it. + +Yes, decidedly, the necklace is the first character in "Le Juif de +Venise." You see, Ginevra loved the necklace, and Andronic loved +Ginevra; so he is forced to procure that charming necklace for her, +_coûte qui coûte_, and so he goes to Shylock for it. And here you will +see its value: Shylock will sell it only for a large sum. Andronic, +seeing his losses, hasn't the money,--but will have;--glorious opening +for the clause about the pound of flesh! Signed, sealed, and delivered. +How superior is Andronic to Antonio, the old ----! This latter pawns his +breast for a friend only: the great Andronic risks the flesh about _his_ +heart for sacred love. Io Venus! + +Yet, nevertheless, notwithstanding, it is the opinion of the Greek +Chorus that Andronic is a _joli_ fool,--which choral remark I hear +with pain, as reflecting upon unhesitating love, and especially as the +remarker has been eminently touched at the abduction. + + +ACT IV. + + +As for the Fourth Act,--it is very tender and terrible. + +I need not say that the tenderness arises through the necklace,--and +indeed, for that matter, so also does the terror. Touching the first, of +course it is the discovery by Ginevra of the return of those maternal +diamonds,--which are handed to her by a _femme-de-chambre_, who has +had them from Andronic's _valet-de-chambre_, who is in love with the +_femme-de-chambre_, who reciprocates, etc., etc., etc. + +But touching the terrible,--"that woman" hears of the necklace, and +sends Honorius for it to Shylock. Bad job!--gone! Well, then, Honorius +falls out with his old friend Andronic because latter will not yield up +the necklace. Honorius demands to know who has it. Andronic will not +name Ginevra's name before "that woman" and all the lofty lords, and +then there's a grand scene. + +In the first place, it seems that in Shylock's Venetian time, the +Venetian lords, when obliging Venice with a riot, called upon Venetians +to put out their lights, and this the lords now do, (we are on the +piazza,) and out go all the lights as though turned off at one main. + +Then there is such a scrimmage! Honorius lunges at Andronic; this latter +disarms former; then latter comes to his senses, flies over to his old +friend, and all the Venetian brawlers are put to flight. + +Then Honorius says,--and pray, pray, mark what Honorius says, or you +will _never_ comprehend Act V.,--then Honorius says, taking Andronic's +previous advice about flying, "I will go away, _and fight the Adriatic +pirates_." Now, pray, don't forget that. I quite distress myself in +praying you not to forget that,--to wit,--"_Honorius goes away to fight +the Adriatic pirates._" + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + + +ACT V. + + +This, of course, is the knifing act. + +Seated is Shylock before an hour-glass, and trying to count the grains +of sand as they glide through. + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + +You remember that in that original play Antonio's ships are lost merely. +Bah! we manage better in this matter: the ships come home, but they are +empty,--emptied by the pirates; though why those Adriaticians did not +confiscate the ships is even beyond the Greek Chorus, who says, "They +were very polite." + +At last all the sand is at rest. + +Crack,--as punctual as a postman comes Andronic; and as the Venetians +are revolting against the flesh business, about which they seem to know +every particular, Andronic brings a guard of the just Doge's soldiers +to keep the populace quiet while the business goes on;--all of which +behavior on the merchant's part my friend the Chorus pronounces to be +stupid and suicidal. + +Then comes such a scene!--Andronic calling for Ginevra, and the Jew +calling for his own. + +Breast bared. + +Then thus the Jew:-- + +"Feeble strength of my old body, be centred in this eye and this arm! +Thou, my son, receive this sacrifice, and tremble with joy in thy +unknown tomb!" + +Knife raised. + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + +And I _do_ hope you have not forgotten that Honorius went away to fight +the Adriatic pirates. + +For, if you have forgotten that fact, you will not comprehend Honorius's +rushing in at this moment from the Adriatic pirates. + +Yes,--but why did he go amongst them? + +The big secret, in fact. If Honorius had not gone, why, I suppose +Shylock would have had his pound of man. + +As it is, Honorius and his paper--which latter has also come from the +pirates--do the business. + +Why, the whole thing turns on the paper. How lucky it was Honorius went +amongst the pirates! + +Honorius has vanquished the chief of the pirates,--who was named +Arnheim,--and that disreputable widower, just before his last breath, +gave Honorius the said paper,--though why, it is not clear. And--and +this paper shows that ANDRONIC IS THAT SON STOLEN AWAY FROM SARAH, +DECEASED, AND SHYLOCK,--THAT SON, NOT ONLY THE IMAGE OF ABEL, BUT OF +MOSES, TOO. + +Great thunderbolts! + +Then, very naturally, (in a play,) in come all the characters, and +follows, I am constrained to say, a very well-conceived scene,--'tis +another appeal to filial love. The Jew would own his son, but he +remembers that it would injure the son, and so he keeps silent. I +declare, there is something eminently beautiful in the idea of making +the Jew yield his wealth up to Andronic, and saying he will wander from +Venice,--his staff his only wealth. And when, as he stoops to kiss his +son's hand, Ginevra (who of course has come on with the rest) makes a +gesture as though she feared treachery, the few words put into the Jew's +mouth are full of pathos and poetry. + +And so down comes the curtain,--the piece meeting with the full approval +of Chorus, who applauded till I thought he would snap his hands off at +the wrists. + +"A very moral play," said a stout gentleman behind me,--who had done +little else all night but break into the fiercest of apples and +pears,--"a very moral play,"--meaning thereby, probably, that it was +very moral that a Jew's child should remain a Christian. + +Now there were some good points in that play; but, oh, thou M. Ferdinand +Dugué, thou,--why didst thou challenge comparison with a man who wrote +for all theatres for all times? + + * * * * * + + + +THE POET'S SINGING. + + + In heat and in cold, in sunshine and rain, + Bewailing its loss and boasting its gain, + Blessing its pleasure and cursing its pain, + The hurrying world goes up and down: + Every avenue and street + Of city and town + Are veins that throb with the restless beat + Of the eager multitude's trampling feet. + Men wrangle together to get and hold + A sceptre of power or a crock of gold; + Blaspheming God's name with the breath He gave, + And plotting revenge on the brink of the grave! + And Fashion's followers, flitting after, + O'ertake and pass the funeral train, + Thoughtlessly scattering jests and laughter, + Like sharp, quick showers of hail and rain, + To beat on the hearts that are bleeding with pain! + And many who stare at the close-shut hearse + Envy the dead within,--or, worse, + Turn away with a keener zest + To grapple and revel and sin with the rest! + While far apart in a bower of green, + Unheeded, unseen, + A warbling bird on the topmost bough + Merrily pipes to the Poet below, + Asking an answer as gay, I trow! + But he hears the surging waves without,-- + The heartless jeer, and the wild, wild shout: + The ceaseless clamor, the cruel strife + Make the Poet weary of life; + And tears of pity and tears of pain + Ebb and flow in every strain, + As he soothes his heart with singing. + + The tide of humanity rolleth on; + And 'mid faces miserly, haggard, and wan, + Between the hypocrite's and the knave's, + The hapless idiot's and the slave's, + Sweet children smile in their nurses' arms, + And clap their hands in innocent glee; + While, unrebuked by the heavenly charms + That beam in the eyes of infancy, + Oaths still blacken the lips of men, + And startle the ears of womanhood! + On either hand + The churches stand, + Forgotten by those who yesterday + Went thronging thither to praise and pray, + And take of the Holy Body and Blood! + Their week-day creed is the law of Might; + Self is their idol, and Gain their right: + Though, now and then, + God sees some faithful disciples still + Breasting the current to do His will. + The little bird on the topmost bough + Merrily pipes to the Poet below, + Asking an answer as gay, I trow! + But he hears the surging waves without,-- + The atheist's scoff and the infidel's doubt, + The Pharisee's cant and the sweet saint's prayer, + And the piercing cry for rest from care; + And tears of pity and tears of pain + Ebb and flow in every strain, + As he praises God with singing. + + + + +A JOURNEY IN SICILY. + + +CHAPTER I. + +PALERMO. + + +In the latter part of April, 1856, four travellers, one of whom was the +present writer, left the Vittoria Hotel at Naples, and at two, P.M., +embarked on board the Calabrese steamer, pledged to leave for Palermo +precisely at that hour. As, however, our faith in the company's +protestations was by no means so implicit as had been our obedience to +their orders, it was with no feeling of surprise that we discovered by +many infallible signs that the hour of departure was yet far off. True, +the funnel sent up its thick cloud; the steward in dirty shirt-sleeves +stood firm in the gangway, energetically demanding from the +baggage-laden traveller the company's voucher for the fare, without +which he may vainly hope to leave the gangway ladder; the decks were +crowded in every part with lumber, live and dead. But all these symptoms +had to be increased many fold in their intensity before we could hope to +get under way; and a single glance at the listless countenances of the +bare-legged, bare-armed, red-capped crowd who adhered like polypi to +the rough foundation-stones of the mole sufficed to show that the +performance they had come to witness would not soon commence. Our berths +once visited, we cast about for some quiet position wherein to while +away the intervening time. The top of the deck-house offered as pleasant +a prospect as could be hoped for, and thither we mounted. + +The whole available portion of the deck, poop included, was in +possession of a crowd of youngsters, many mere boys, from the Abruzzi, +destined to exchange their rags and emptiness for the gay uniform and +good rations of King Ferdinand's soldiery. In point of physical comfort, +their gain must be immense; and very bad must be that government +which, despite of these advantages, has forced upon the soldier's mind +discontent and disaffection. No doubt, the spectacle of the Swiss +regiments doubly paid, and (on Sundays at least) trebly intoxicated, +has something to do with this ill feeling. The raggedness of this troop +could be paralleled only by that of the immortal regiment with whom +their leader declined to march through Coventry, and was probably even +more quaint and fantastic in its character. Chief in singularity were +their hats, if hat be the proper designation of the volcanic-looking +gray cone which adhered to the head by some inscrutable dynamic law, and +seemed rather fitted for carrying out the stratagem of shoeing a troop +of horse with felt than for protecting a human skull. A triple row +of scalloped black velvet not unfrequently bore testimony to the +indomitable love of the nation for ornament; and the same decoration +might be found on their garments, whose complicated patchwork reminded +us of the humble original from which has sprung our brilliant Harlequin. +Shortly our attention was solicited by a pantomimic Roscius, some ten or +twelve years old, who, having climbed over the taffrail and cleared a +stage of some four feet square, dramatized all practicable scenes, and +many apparently impracticable, for he made nothing of presenting two or +three personages in rapid interchange. Words were needless, and would +have been useless, as the unloading of railway bars by a brawny +Northumbrian and his crew drowned all articulate sounds. + +Notwithstanding these varied amusements, we were not sorry to see +arrive, first, a gray general, obviously the Triton of our minnows, and +close behind him the health and police officers of the government, to +whose paternal solicitude for our mental and bodily health was to be +ascribed our long delay in port. These beneficent influences, incarnated +in the form of two portly gentlemen in velvet waistcoats,--an Italian +wears a velvet waistcoat, if he can get one, far into the hot +months,--began their work of summoning by name each individual from the +private to the general, then the passengers, then the crew, and finally, +much to our relief, reëmbarked in the boat, and left us free to pursue +our voyage. + +We soon left behind the ominous cone of Vesuvius, reported by the best +judges to be at present in so unsound a state that nothing can prevent +its early fall; sunset left us near the grand precipices of Anacapri, +and morning found us with Ustica on our beam, and the semicircle of +mountains which enchase the gem of Palermo gradually unfolding their +beauties. By ten, A.M., we were in harbor and pulling shorewards to +subject ourselves to the scrutiny of custom-house and police. Our +passports duly conned over, the functionary, with a sour glance at our +valanced faces, inquired if we had letters for any one in the island. +Never before had such a question been asked me, nor ever before could I +have given other than an humble negative. But the kindness of a friend +had luckily provided me with a formidable shield, and a reply, given +with well-assumed ease, that I had letters from the English Ambassador +for the Viceroy, smoothed the grim feature, and released us from the +dread tribunal. The custom-house gave no trouble, and we reëmbarked to +cross about half a mile of water which separated us from the city gate. +Here, however, we were destined to experience the influence of the sunny +clime: our two stout boatmen persisted in setting their sail, under the +utterly false pretence that there was some wind blowing, and fully half +an hour elapsed ere we set foot ashore. + +This gave me ample time to recall the different aspect of Palermo when +first I saw it, in 1849. I had accompanied the noble squadron, English +and French, which carried to the Sicilian government the _ultimatum_ +of the King of Naples. The scenes of that troubled time passed vividly +before me: the mutual salutes of the Admirals; the honors paid by +each separately to the flag of Sicily, that flag which we had come to +strike,--for such we all knew must be the effect of our withdrawal. I +recollected the manly courtesy with which the Sicilians received us, +their earnest assurances that they did not confound our involuntary +errand with our personal feelings; and how, when a wild Greek +mountaineer from the Piano de' Greci, unable to comprehend the +intricacies of politics, and stupidly imagining that those who were +not for him were against him, had insulted one of our officers, the +bystanders had interposed so honorably and so swiftly that even the hot +blood of our fiery Cymrian had neither time nor excuse to rise to the +boiling-point. I recalled the scene in the Parliament House, when the +replies to the King's message, which had been sent by each chief town, +were read by the Speaker: the grave indignation of some,--the somewhat +bombastic protestations of others,--the question put of submission or +war,--the shout of "_Guerra! guerra!_" ringing too loud, methought, to +be good metal; the "_Suoni la tromba_" at that night's theatre,--the +digging at the fortifications,--women carrying huge stones,--men more +willing to shout for them than to do their own share,--Capuchin friars +digging with the best,--finally, the wild dance of men, women, cowled +and bearded monks, all together, brandishing their spades and shovels in +cadence to the military band. With this came to me the mild smile and +doubtful shake of the head of the good Admiral Baudin, and his prophetic +remark,--"I have seen much fighting in various parts of the world; and +if these men mean to fight, I cannot comprehend them." + +While this mental diorama was unrolling, even Sicilian laziness had time +to reach the shore; and passing by a rough mass of rocks, where our +second cutter had once run too close for comfort, and the Friedland's +launch had upset and lost two men, we at length landed close to the city +gate. A custom-house officer pounced on us for a fee, notwithstanding +our examination on first landing, and ("_uno avulso, non deficit aureus +alter_,") at the city gate, not thirty yards distant, a third repeated +the demand, equivalent to "Your money or your keys." A capital breakfast +at the Trinacria hotel was the fitting conclusion to these oft-recorded +troubles, and the gratifying news that the Viceroy had just left the +island for Naples obviated the necessity of a formal visit, and left us +free to enjoy the notabilities of Palermo. + +The plan of this beautiful city is very simple, being a tolerably +accurate square, surrounded by walls, of which the northern face skirts +the sea, and the southern faces the head of the lovely valley in which +the city stands,--the Golden Shell. Two perfectly straight streets, +intersecting in a small, but highly ornamented _piazza_, traverse +the city. The Toledo, or Via Cassaro,--for it bears both these +designations,--runs from the sea to the Monreale gate, close to which is +the Royal Palace, and the Cathedral square opens from this street. The +Via Macqueda contains few buildings of interest except the University. +Between the wall and the sea runs the magnificent Marina, a more +beautiful promenade than even the Villa Reale of Naples, having on the +right the low but picturesque headland of Bagaria, while on the left +rise the all but perpendicular rocks of Monte Pellegrino, once the +impregnable mountain-throne of Hamilcar Barcas, and later the spot where +in a rude cavern, now sheeted with marble and jasper, "from all the +youth of Sicily, Saint Rosalie retired to God." The handicraftsmen of +Palermo still occupy almost exclusively the streets named after their +trades,--an indication of immobility rarely to be met with nowadays, +though Rome displays it in a minor degree. + +We first visited the University Museum. Numerous pictures, far beyond +the ordinary degree of badness, occupy the upper rooms, where the only +object of interest is a very fine and well-preserved bronze of Hercules +and the Pompeian Fawn, half life-size. But far beyond all else in +artistic importance are the _metopes_ from Selinuntium, which, though +much damaged, show marks of high excellence. They are of clearly +different dates, though all very archaic. The oldest represent Perseus +cutting off the Gorgon's head, and Hercules killing two thieves. Perseus +has the calm, sleepy look of a Hindoo god,--while Gorgon's head, with +goggle eyes and protruding tongue, resembles a Mexican idol. Hercules +and the thieves have more of an Egyptian character. The material of +these bas-reliefs is coarse limestone; and in the _metopes_ on the +opposite wall, which are clearly of later date, recourse has been had to +a curious method of obtaining delicacy in the female forms: the faces, +hands, and feet, which alone are visible from among the drapery, are +formed of fine marble. An Actæon torn by his dogs is much corroded by +sea air, but displays great nobleness of attitude. The vigor in the left +arm, which has throttled one of the dogs, can hardly be surpassed. A +portion of the _cella_, of one of the temples has been removed hither, +and its brilliant polychromy is sufficient to decide the argument as to +the existence of the practice, if, indeed, that point be yet in doubt. +But it seems that the non-colorists have relinquished the parallel of +architecture, which, be it observed, they formerly defended obstinately, +and have now intrenched themselves in the citadel of sculpture, +intending to hold it against all evidence. The only other object of much +interest was a Pompeian fresco, representing two actors, whose attitudes +and masks are so strikingly adapted to express the first scene of the +"Heautontimorumenos," between Menalcas and Chremes, that it seems +scarcely doubtful that this is actually the subject of the painting. + +Near the upper end of the Toledo the Cathedral is situated, not very +favorably for effect, as only the eastern side is sufficiently free from +buildings. It is a noble pile: Northern power and piety expressed by +the agency of Southern and Arabic workmen, and somewhat affected by the +nationality of the artificer. + +The stones are fretted and carved more elaborately than those of any +French or English cathedral, but entirely in arabesques and diapering of +low relief, so that the spectator misses with regret the solemn rows of +saints and patriarchs that enrich the portals of our Gothic minsters. +These, however, are reflections of a subsequent date, and did not +interfere to mar the pleasure with which we sat in front of the southern +door, beneath the two lofty arches, which, springing from the entrance +tower, span the street high above our heads. For some time we sat, +unwilling to change and it might be impair our sensations by passing +inwards. Our reluctance was but too well founded: the whole interior has +been modernized in detestable Renaissance style, and in place of highest +honor, above the central doorway, sits in tight-buttoned uniform a +fitting idol for so ugly a shrine, the double-chinned effigy of the +reigning monarch. We turned for comfort to a chapel on the right, where +in four sarcophagi of porphyry are deposited the remains of the Northern +sovereigns. The bones of Roger repose in a plain oblong chest with a +steep ridged roof, and the other three coffins, though somewhat more +elaborate, are yet simple and massive, as befits their destined use. The +inscription, on that of Constantia is touching, as it tells that she +was "the last of the great race of Northmen,"--the good old bad Latin +"Northmannorum" giving the proper title, which we have injudiciously +softened into Norman. + +In a small _piazza_ near the intersection of the main streets is a +Dominican church, whose black and white inlaid marbles are amazing in +their elaborateness, astounding in their preposterously bad taste. They +transcend description, and can be faintly imagined only by such as +know a huge marble nightmare of waves and clouds in the south aisle +of Westminster Abbey. This church contains one good painting of a +triumphant experiment conducted by some Dominican friars in the presence +of sundry Ulemas and Muftis: a Koran and Bible have been thrown into a +blazing fire, and the result is as satisfactory as that of Hercules's +death-grapple with the Nemean lion. To be sure, lions and Turks are +not painters. The Martorana church is rich in gold-grounded mosaics, +resembling Saint Mark's at Venice. One represents the coronation of +Roger Guiscard by the Saviour: very curious, as showing at how early a +date the invaders laid claim to the Right Divine. The inscription is +also noteworthy: _Rogerius Rex_, in the Latin tongue, but the Greek +characters, thus: [Greek: ROGERIOS RAEX].[a] The Renaissance has invaded +this church too, and flowery inlaid marbles with gilded scroll balconies +(it is a nuns' church) mingle with the bold discs and oblong panels of +porphyry and green serpentine. In the nave of the small church sat in +comfortable arm-chairs two monks, one black, one white, leaning their +ears to gilded grates and receiving the confessions of the sisterhood. +The paschal candlestick stood in front of the high altar,--Ascension-Day +not being past; but here, as in other Sicilian churches, it assumes the +form of a seven-branched tree, generally of bronze bedecked with gold. +These same nuns' balconies are not confined to the interior of churches, +but form a distinct and picturesque feature in the long line of the +Toledo. Projecting in a bold curve whose undersurface is gaily painted +in arabesque, their thick bars and narrow openings nevertheless leave a +gloomy impression on the mind, while they add to the Oriental character +of the city. A somewhat unsuccessful effort to identify the church whose +bell gave signal for the Sicilian Vespers closed our day's labor. The +spot is clearly defined and easily recognizable, and a small church, now +shut up, occupies the site. So far, so good; but the cloister which is +distinctly mentioned cannot now be found, nor is it easy to perceive +where it could have stood. Perhaps some change in the neighboring harbor +may have swept it away. + +[Footnote a: The _e_ in _Rex_ is here rendered by the Greek eta,--a +proof that the pronunciation of that letter was similar to that of our +long _a_, and not like our double _ee_; although the modern Greeks +support the latter pronunciation.] + +_23d April_. To those who take interest in the efforts of that age when +Christianity, devoid at once of artistic knowledge and of mechanical, +strove from among the material and moral wreck of Paganism to create for +herself a school of Art which should, despite of all short-comings, be +the exponent of those high feelings which inspired her mind, the Royal +Chapel of Palermo offers a delightful object of study. Less massive than +the gloomily grand basilicas of Rome and Ravenna, surpassed in single +features by other churches, as, for instance, the Cathedral of Salerno, +it contains, nevertheless, such perfect specimens of Christian Art in +its various phases, that this one small building seems a hand-book in +itself. The floor and walls are covered with excellently preserved and +highly polished Alexandrine mosaic, flowing in varied convolutions of +green and gold and red round the broad crimson and gray shields, whose +circular forms recall the mighty monolith columns of porphyry and +granite which yielded such noble spoils. The honey-combed pendentines of +the ceiling must be due to Arab workmen; their like may yet be found in +Cairo or the Alhambra; while below the narrow windows, and extending +downwards to the marble panelling, runs a grand series of gold-grounded +mosaics, their subjects taken from the Old and New Testaments. But +far older than even these are the colossal grim circles of saints and +apostles who cling to the roof of the choir, and yield in size only to +the awful figures of the Saviour, the Virgin, and Saint Paul, enthroned +in the _apsides_ of the nave and aisles. The _ambones_, though not +so large as those of Salerno, are very gorgeous; and the paschal +candlestick, here at all events in its usual shape, is of deeply-carved +marble, and displays an incongruous assemblage of youths, maidens, +beasts, birds, and bishops, hanging each from other like a curtain of +swarming bees. + +Service, which had been going on in the choir when we arrived, had now +ceased; but from the crypt below arose a chant so harsh, vibratory, +and void of solemnity, that we were irresistibly reminded of the +subterranean chorus of demons in "Robert le Diable." Two of us ventured +below and discovered the chapter, all robed in purple, sitting round a +pall with a presumable coffin underneath. Little of reverence did they +show,--it is true, the death was not recent, the service being merely +commemorative, as we afterwards learned,--and as the procession shortly +afterwards emerged and proceeded down the chapel, the unwashed, +unshaven, and sensual countenances of some of highest rank among them +gave small reason to believe that they could feel much reverence on any +subject whatever. + +The Palace itself is as tedious as any other palace: the Pompeian room +follows the Louis Quinze, and is in turn followed by the Chinese, till, +for our comfort, we emerged into one large square hall, whose stiff +mosaics of archers killing stags, peacocks feeding at the foot of +willow-pattern trees, date from the time of Roger. Another wearisome +series of rooms succeeded, which we were bound to traverse in search of +a bronze ram of old Greek workmanship, brought from Syracuse. The work +is very good and well-preserved; in fact, no part is injured, save the +tail and a hind leg, whose loss the _custode_ ascribed to the villains +of the late revolution. He even charged them with the destruction of +another similar statue melted into bullets, if we may believe his +incredible tale. A pavilion over the Monreale gate commands a view right +down the Toledo to the sea. + +The drive to Monreale is a continued ascent along the skirts of a +limestone rock, whose precipices are thickly planted at every foothold +with olive, Indian fig, and aloe. The valley, as it spread below our +gaze, appeared one huge carpet of heavy-fruited orange-trees, save where +at times a rent in the web left visible the bluish blades of wheat, or +the intense green of a flax-plantation. + +Monreale is a mere country-town, containing no object of interest, save +the Cathedral. This is a noble basilica, grandly proportioned, the nave +and aisles of which are separated by monolith pillars, mostly of gray +granite, and some few of cipollino and other marbles, the spoils, no +doubt, of the ancient Panormus. Above the cornice the walls are entirely +sheeted with golden mosaics, representing, as usual, Scripture history. +The series which begins, like the speech of the Intendant in "Les +Plaideurs," "_Avant la creation du monde_" complies with the wish of +(the judge?) by going on to the Deluge, in a train of singularly meagre +figures, most haggard of whom is Cain, here represented (as in the Campo +Santo of Pisa) receiving his death accidentally from the hand of Lamech. +In the passage of the beasts to the Ark, Noah coaxes the lion on board, +and in the next compartment the patriarch shoves the king of beasts down +the plank in a most ludicrous fashion. The mosaics of the New Testament +are less archaic, though still very old, too old to be infected by the +tricks of later Romanism,--such, for instance, as introducing the Virgin +among the receivers of the mysterious gift of tongues. Saint Paul, both +here and at the Royal Chapel, appears under the earlier type adopted +whether by fancy or tradition to represent that saint,--that is, a +short, strong figure, with the head large, and almost devoid of hair, +except at the sides, and one dark lock in the centre of the massive +forehead. Over the western door-way is a mosaic of the Virgin with the +following leonine and loyal distich beneath it:-- + + "Sponsa suae prolis, O Stella puerpera Solis, + Pro cunctis ora, sed plus pro rege labora!" + +There is an ample square cloister, with twenty-seven pairs of columns on +each side, once richly decorated in mosaics like those of San Giovanni +Laterano and San Paolo at Rome, but even more dilapidated than either +of these latter. Indeed, so entirely non-existent is the mosaic, the +twisted and channelled columns showing nothing but places "where the +pasty is not," that the more probable solution may be that want of funds +or of devotion has left the work unfinished. On the capital of one +column may be seen the figure of William the Good, who founded the +Cathedral in 1170. He bears in his arms a model of the building, which +here appears with circular-headed windows instead of the lanceolated +Gothic now existing. + +In, perhaps, the very loveliest of the many lovely sites around Palermo +stands the small Moorish building of La Ziza. Moorish it may be called; +for the main feature of the edifice, a hall with a fountain trickling +along a channel in the pavements, is clearly due to the Saracens. These, +however, had availed themselves of Roman columns to support their +fretted ceilings, once gorgeous in color, but now desecrated with +whitewash. The Norman invaders have added their never-failing gold +mosaic,--while the Spaniard, after painting sundry scenes from Ovid's +"Metamorphoses" in a dreadfully barocco style, calls upon the world, +in those magniloquent phrases which somehow belong as of right to your +mighty Don, to admire the exquisite commingling of modern art with +antique beauty, to which his _fiat_ has given birth. + +Somewhat of Spain, perhaps, might also be traced in an incident, +promisingly romantic, but coming to a most lame and impotent conclusion, +which occurred this afternoon to one of our party. While busily +sketching, in the Martorana church, the previously mentioned mosaic of +Roger's coronation, a hand protruded from the gilded lattice above, +and a small scroll was dropped, not precisely at the feet, but in the +neighborhood of the amazed artist. Sharp eyes, however, must be at work; +for, ere he could appropriate this mysterious waif on Love's manor, a +side-door opened, and an attendant in the very unpoetical garb of a +carpenter bore off the prize. It maybe presumed that the next confessor +who occupied an arm-chair in the church would have somewhat of novelty +to enliven what some priests have stated to be the most wearisome of the +work, namely, the hearing of confessions in a nunnery. + +This evening was passed in the house of the British Consul, who, in +amusing recognition of our nationalities, comprising, as they did, +both branches of the Anglo-Saxon race, treated us to Lemann's +captain's-biscuit and Boston crackers. Notwithstanding the interesting +conversation of our host, who had not allowed a residence of many years +in a mind-rusting city to impair his love of literature, a love dating +from the time when Praed edited the "Etonian," and Metius Tarpa +contributed to the "College Magazine," we were obliged to leave early. +Our arrangements for a very early start next morning were completed, and +a thirty miles' ride lay before us. + +To save further allusion to them, it may be as well to describe these +arrangements, which were made for us by Signor Ragusa, landlord of the +Trinacria hotel. A guide, Giuseppe Agnello by name, took upon himself +the whole responsibility of our board, lodging, and travelling, at a +fixed rate of forty-two (?) _carlini_ a head,--which sum, including his +_buonamano_ and return voyage from Syracuse or Messina, amounted to +about twenty francs each _per diem_. For this sum he furnished us with +good mules, a hearty breakfast at daybreak, cold meat and hard eggs at +noon, and a plentiful dinner or supper, call it which you choose, on +arriving at our night's quarters. Agnello himself was cook, and proved +a very tolerable one. This is essential; for Spanish custom prevails +in the inns, whose host considers his duty accomplished when he has +provided ample stabling for the mules and dubious bedding for his biped +guests. + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PHYSIOLOGICAL. + + +If Master Bernard felt a natural gratitude to his young pupil for saving +him from an imminent peril, he was in a state of infinite perplexity +to know why he should have needed such aid. He, an active, muscular, +courageous, adventurous young fellow, with a stick in his hand, ready to +hold down the Old Serpent himself, if he had come in his way, to stand +still, staring into those two eyes, until they came up close to him, +and the strange, terrible sound seemed to freeze him stiff where he +stood,--what was the meaning of it? Again, what was the influence this +girl had exerted, under which the venomous creature had collapsed in +such a sudden way? Whether he had been awake or dreaming he did not feel +quite sure. He knew he had gone up The Mountain, at any rate; he knew he +had come down The Mountain with the girl walking just before him;--there +was no forgetting her figure, as she walked on in silence, her braided +locks falling a little, for want of the lost hair-pin, perhaps, and +looking like a wreathing coil of--Shame on such fancies!--to wrong that +supreme crowning gift of abounding Nature, a rush of shining black hair, +that, shaken loose, would cloud her all round, like Godiva, from brow to +instep! He was sure he had sat down before the fissure or cave. He was +sure that he was led softly away from the place, and that it was Elsie +who had led him. There was the hair-pin to show that so far it was not a +dream. But between these recollections came a strange confusion; and the +more the master thought, the more he was perplexed to know whether she +had waked him, sleeping, as he sat on the stone, from some frightful +dream, such as may come in a very brief slumber, or whether she had +bewitched him into a trance with those strange eyes of hers, or whether +it was all true, and he must solve its problem as he best might. + +There was another recollection connected with this mountain adventure. +As they approached the mansion-house, they met a young man, whom Mr. +Bernard remembered having seen once at least before, and whom he had +heard of as a cousin of the young girl. As Cousin Richard Venner, the +person in question, passed them, he took the measure, so to speak, of +Mr. Bernard, with a look so piercing, so exhausting, so practised, so +profoundly suspicious, that the young master felt in an instant that he +had an enemy in this handsome youth,--an enemy, too, who was like to be +subtle and dangerous. + +Mr. Bernard had made up his mind, that, come what might, enemy or no +enemy, live or die, he would solve the mystery of Elsie Venner, sooner +or later. He was not a man to be frightened out of his resolution by a +scowl, or a stiletto, or any unknown means of mischief, of which a whole +armory was hinted at in that passing look Dick Venner had given him. +Indeed, like most adventurous young persons, he found a kind of charm +in feeling that there might be some dangers in the way of his +investigations. Some rumors which had reached him about the supposed +suitor of Elsie Venner, who was thought to be a desperate kind of +fellow, and whom some believed to be an unscrupulous adventurer, added +a curious, romantic kind of interest to the course of physiological and +psychological inquiries he was about instituting. + +The afternoon on The Mountain was still uppermost in his mind. Of course +he knew the common stories about fascination. He had once been himself +an eyewitness of the charming of a small bird by one of our common +harmless serpents. Whether a human being could be reached by this +subtile agency, he had been skeptical, notwithstanding the mysterious +relation generally felt to exist between man and this creature, "cursed +above all cattle and above every beast of the field,"--a relation which +some interpret as the fruit of the curse, and others hold to be so +instinctive that this animal has been for that reason adopted as the +natural symbol of evil. There was another solution, however, supplied +him by his professional reading. The curious work of Mr. Braid of +Manchester had made him familiar with the phenomena of a state allied to +that produced by animal magnetism, and called by that writer by the name +of _hypnotism_. He found, by referring to his note-book, the statement +was, that, by fixing the eyes on a _bright object_ so placed as _to +produce a strain_ upon the eyes and eyelids, and to maintain _a steady +fixed stare_, there comes on in a few seconds a very singular condition, +characterized by _muscular rigidity_ and _inability to move_, with a +strange _exaltation of most of the senses_, and _generally_ a closure of +the eyelids,--this condition being followed by _torpor_. + +Now this statement of Mr. Braid's, well known to the scientific world, +and the truth of which had been confirmed by Mr. Bernard in certain +experiments he had instituted, as it has been by many other +experimenters, went far to explain the strange impressions, of which, +waking or dreaming, he had certainly been the subject. His nervous +system had been in a high state of exaltation at the time. He remembered +how the little noises that made rings of sound in the silence of the +woods, like pebbles dropped in still waters, had reached his inner +consciousness. He remembered that singular sensation in the roots of the +hair, when he came on the traces of the girl's presence, reminding him +of a line in a certain poem which he had read lately with a new and +peculiar interest. He even recalled a curious evidence of exalted +sensibility and irritability, in the twitching of the minute muscles of +the internal ear at every unexpected sound, producing an odd little +snap in the middle of the head, that proved to him he was getting very +nervous. + +The next thing was to find out whether it were possible that the +venomous creature's eyes should have served the purpose of Mr. Braid's +"bright object" held very close to the person experimented on, or +whether they had any special power which could be made the subject of +exact observation. + +For this purpose Mr. Bernard considered it necessary to get a live +_crotalus_ or two into his possession, if this were possible. On +inquiry, he found that there was a certain family living far up the +mountain-side, not a mile from the ledge, the members of which were said +to have taken these creatures occasionally, and not to be in any danger, +or at least in any fear, of being injured by them. He applied to these +people, and offered a reward sufficient to set them at work to capture +some of these animals, if such a thing were possible. + +A few days after this, a dark, gypsy-looking woman presented herself at +his door. She held up her apron as if it contained something precious in +the bag she made with it. + +"Y'wanted some rattlers," said the woman. "Here they be." + +She opened her apron and showed a coil of rattlesnakes lying very +peaceably in its fold. They lifted their heads up, as if they wanted to +see what was going on, but showed no sign of anger. + +"Are you crazy?" said Mr. Bernard. "You're dead in an hour, if one of +those creatures strikes you!" + +He drew back a little, as he spoke; it might be simple disgust; it might +be fear; it might be what we call antipathy, which is different from +either, and which will sometimes show itself in paleness, and even +faintness, produced by objects perfectly harmless and not in themselves +offensive to any sense. + +"Lord bless you," said the woman, "rattlers never touches our folks. I'd +jest 'z lieves handle them creaturs as so many striped snakes." + +So saying, she put their heads down with her hand, and packed them +together in her apron as if they had been bits of cart-rope. + +Mr. Bernard had never heard of the power, or, at least, the belief in +the possession of a power by certain persons, which enables them to +handle these frightful reptiles with perfect impunity. The fact, +however, is well known to others, and more especially to a very +distinguished Professor in one of the leading institutions of the great +city of the land, whose experiences in the neighborhood of Graylock, as +he will doubtless inform the curious, were very much like those of the +young master. + +Mr. Bernard had a wired cage ready for his formidable captives, and +studied their habits and expression with a strange sort of interest. +What did the Creator mean to signify, when he made such shapes of +horror, and, as if he had doubly cursed this envenomed wretch, had set +a mark upon him and sent him forth, the Cain of the brotherhood of +serpents? It was a very curious fact that the first train of thoughts +Mr. Bernard's small menagerie suggested to him was the grave, though +somewhat worn, subject of the origin of evil. There is now to be seen in +a tall glass jar, in the Museum of Comparative Anatomy at Cantabridge +in the territory of the Massachusetts, a huge _crotalus_, of a species +which grows to more frightful dimensions than our own, under the hotter +skies of South America. Look at it, ye who would know what is the +tolerance, the freedom from prejudice, which can suffer such an +incarnation of all that is devilish to lie unharmed in the cradle of +Nature! Learn, too, that there are many things in this world which we +are warned to shun, and are even suffered to slay, if need be, but which +we must not hate, unless we would hate what God loves and cares for. + +Whatever fascination the creature might exercise in his native haunts, +Mr. Bernard found himself not in the least nervous or affected in any +way while looking at his caged reptiles. When their cage was shaken, +they would lift their heads and spring their rattles; but the sound was +by no means so formidable to listen to as when it reverberated among +the chasms of the echoing rocks. The expression of the creatures was +watchful, still, grave, passionless, fate-like, suggesting a cold +malignity that seemed to be waiting for its opportunity. Their awful, +deep-cut mouths were sternly closed over the long hollow fangs that +rested their roots against the swollen poison-bag, where the venom had +been boarding up ever since the last stroke had emptied it. They never +winked, for ophidians have no movable eyelids, but kept up that awful +fixed stare which made the two _unwinking_ gladiators the survivors of +twenty pairs matched by one of the Roman Emperors, as Pliny tells us, in +his "Natural History." But their eyes did not flash, as he had expected +to see them. They were of a pale-golden or straw color, horrible to look +into, with their stony calmness, their pitiless indifference, hardly +enlivened by the almost imperceptible vertical slit of the pupil, +through which Death seemed to be looking out like the archer behind the +long narrow loop-hole in a blank turret-wall. Possibly their pupils +might open wide enough in the dark hole of the rock to let the glare +of the back part of the eye show, as we often see it in cats and other +animals. On the whole, the caged reptiles, horrid as they were, were yet +very different from his recollections of what he had seen or dreamed +he saw at the cavern. These looked dangerous enough, but yet quiet. A +treacherous stillness, however,--as the unfortunate New York physician +found, when he put his foot out to wake up the torpid creature, and +instantly the fang flashed through his boot, carrying the poison into +his blood, and death with it. + +Mr. Bernard kept these strange creatures, and watched all their habits +with a natural curiosity. In any collection of animals the venomous +beasts are looked at with the greatest interest, just as the greatest +villains are most run after by the unknown public. Nobody troubles +himself for a common striped snake or a petty thief, but a _cobra_ or a +wife-killer is a centre of attraction to all eyes. These captives did +very little to earn their living; but, on the other hand, their living +was not expensive, their diet being nothing but air, _au nature_. Months +and months these creatures will live and seem to thrive well enough, +as any showman who has them in his menagerie will testify, though they +never touch anything to eat or drink. + +In the mean time Mr. Bernard had become very curious about a class of +subjects not treated of in any detail in those text-books accessible in +most country-towns, to the exclusion of the more special treatises, and +especially the rare and ancient works found on the shelves of the larger +city-libraries. He was on a visit to old Dr. Kittredge one day, having +been asked by him to call in for a few moments as soon as convenient. +The Doctor smiled good-humoredly when he asked him if he had an +extensive collection of medical works. + +"Why, no," said the old Doctor, "I haven't got a great many printed +books; and what I have I don't read quite as often as I might, I'm +afraid. I read and studied in the time of it, when I was in the midst of +the young men who were all at work with their books; but it's a mighty +hard matter, when you go off alone into the country, to keep up with +all that's going on in the Societies and the Colleges. I'll tell you, +though, Mr. Langdon, when a man that's once started right lives among +sick folks for five-and-thirty years, as I've done, if he hasn't got a +library of five-and-thirty volumes bound up in his head at the end of +that time, he'd better stop driving round and sell his horse and sulky. +I know the better part of the families within a dozen miles' ride. I +know the families that have a way of living through everything, and I +know the other set that have the trick of dying without any kind of +reason for it. I know the years when the fevers and dysenteries are in +earnest, and when they're only making believe. I know the folks that +think they're dying as soon as they're sick, and the folks that never +find out they're sick till they're dead. I don't want to undervalue your +science, Mr. Langdon. There are things I never learned, because they +came in after my day, and I am very glad to send my patients to those +that do know them, when I am at fault; but I know these people about +here, fathers and mothers, and children and grandchildren, so as all the +science in the world can't know them, without it takes time about it, +and sees them grow up and grow old, and how the wear and tear of life +comes to them. You can't tell a horse by driving him once, Mr. Langdon, +nor a patient by talking half an hour with him." + +"Do you know much about the Venner family?" said Mr. Bernard, in a +natural way enough, the Doctor's talk having suggested the question. + +The Doctor lifted his head with his accustomed movement, so as to +command the young man through his spectacles. + +"I know all the families of this place and its neighborhood," he +answered. + +"We have the young lady studying with us at the Institute," said Mr. +Bernard. + +"I know it," the Doctor answered. "Is she a good scholar?" + +All this time the Doctor's eyes were fixed steadily on Mr. Bernard, +looking through the glasses. + +"She is a good scholar enough, but I don't know what to make of her. +Sometimes I think she is a little out of her head. Her father, I +believe, is sensible enough;--what sort of a woman was her mother, +Doctor?--I suppose, of course, you remember all about her?" + +"Yes, I knew her mother. She was a very lovely young woman."--The Doctor +put his hand to his forehead and drew a long breath.--"What is there you +notice out of the way about Elsie Venner?" + +"A good many things," the master answered. "She shuns all the other +girls. She is getting a strange influence over my fellow-teacher, a +young lady,--you know Miss Helen Darley, perhaps? I am afraid this girl +will kill her. I never saw or heard of anything like it, in prose at +least;--do you remember much of Coleridge's Poems, Doctor?" + +The good old Doctor had to plead a negative. + +"Well, no matter. Elsie would have been burned for a witch in old times. +I have seen the girl look at Miss Darley when she had not the least idea +of it, and all at once I would see her grow pale and moist, and sigh, +and move round uneasily, and turn towards Elsie, and perhaps get up and +go to her, or else have slight spasmodic movements that looked like +hysterics;--do you believe in the evil eye, Doctor?" + +"Mr. Langdon," the Doctor said, solemnly, "there are strange things +about Elsie Venner,--very strange things. This was what I wanted to +speak to you about. Let me advise you all to be very patient with the +girl, but also very careful. Her love is not to be desired, and"--he +whispered softly--"her hate is to be dreaded. Do you think she has any +special fancy for anybody else in the school besides Miss Darley?" + +Mr. Bernard could not stand the old Doctor's spectacled eyes without +betraying a little of the feeling natural to a young man to whom a home +question involving a possible sentiment is put suddenly. + +"I have suspected," he said,--"I have had a kind of feeling--that +she--Well, come, Doctor,--I don't know that there's any use in +disguising the matter,--I have thought Elsie Venner had rather a fancy +for somebody else,--I mean myself." + +There was something so becoming in the blush with which the young man +made this confession, and so manly, too, in the tone with which he +spoke, so remote from any shallow vanity, such as young men who are +incapable of love are apt to feel, when some loose tendril of a woman's +fancy which a chance wind has blown against them twines about them +for the want of anything better, that the old Doctor looked at him +admiringly, and could not help thinking that it was no wonder any young +girl should be pleased with him. + +"You are a man of nerve, Mr. Langdon?" said the Doctor. + +"I thought so till very lately," he replied. "I am not easily +frightened, but I don't know but I might be bewitched or magnetized, or +whatever it is when one is tied up and cannot move. I think I can find +nerve enough, however, if there is any special use you want to put it +to." + +"Let me ask you one more question, Mr. Langdon. Do you find yourself +disposed to take a special interest in Elsie,--to fall in love with her, +in a word? Pardon me, for I do not ask from curiosity, but a much more +serious motive." + +"Elsie interests me," said the young man, "interests me strangely. She +has a wild flavor in her character which is wholly different from that +of any human creature I ever saw. She has marks of genius,--poetic or +dramatic,--I hardly know which. She read a passage from Keats's 'Lamia' +the other day, in the school-room, in such a way that I declare to you I +thought some of the girls would faint or go into fits. Miss Darley got +up and left the room, trembling all over. Then I pity her, she is so +lonely. The girls are afraid of her, and she seems to have either a +dislike or a fear of them. They have all sorts of painful stories about +her. They give her a name that no human creature ought to bear. They say +she hides a mark on her neck by always wearing a necklace. She is very +graceful, you know, and they will have it that she can twist herself +into all sorts of shapes, or tie herself in a knot, if she wants to. +There is not one of them that will look her in the eyes. I pity the poor +girl; but, Doctor, I do not love her. I would risk my life for her, if +it would do her any good, but it would be in cold blood. If her hand +touches mine, it is not a thrill of passion I feel running through me, +but a very different emotion. Oh, Doctor! there must be something in +that creature's blood that has killed the humanity in her. God only +knows the mystery that has blighted such a soul in so beautiful a body! +No, Doctor, I do not love the girl." + +"Mr. Langdon," said the Doctor, "you are young, and I am old. Let me +talk to you with an old man's privilege, as an adviser. You have come to +this country-town without suspicion, and you are moving in the midst of +perils. There is a mystery which I must not tell you now; but I may warn +you. Keep your eyes open and your heart shut. If, through pitying that +girl, you ever come to love her, you are lost. If you deal carelessly +with her, beware! This is not all. There are other eyes on you beside +Elsie Venner's.--Do you go armed?" + +"I do!" said Mr. Bernard,--and he 'put his hands up' in the shape of +fists, in such a way as to show that he was master of the natural +weapons at any rate. + +The Doctor could not help smiling. But his face fell in an instant. + +"You may want something more than those tools to work with. Come with me +into my sanctum." + +The Doctor led Mr. Bernard into a small room opening out of the study. +It was a place such as anybody but a medical man would shiver to enter. +There was the usual tall box with its bleached rattling tenant; there +were jars in rows where "interesting cases" outlived the grief of widows +and heirs in alcoholic immortality,--for your "preparation-jar" is the +true "_monumentum aere perennius_"; there were various semipossibilities +of minute dimensions and unpromising developments; there were shining +instruments of evil aspect, and grim plates on the walls, and on one +shelf by itself, accursed and apart, coiled in a long cylinder of +spirit, a huge _crotalus_, rough-scaled, flat-headed, variegated with +dull bands, one of which partially encircled the neck like a collar,--an +awful wretch to look upon, with murder written all over him in horrid +hieroglyphics. Mr. Bernard's look was riveted on this creature,--not +fascinated certainly, for its eyes looked like white beads, being +clouded by the action of the spirits in which it had been long +kept,--but fixed by some indefinite sense of the renewal of a previous +impression;--everybody knows the feeling, with its suggestion of some +past state of existence. There was a scrap of paper on the jar with +something written on it. He was reaching up to read it when the Doctor +touched him lightly. + +"Look here, Mr. Langdon!" he said, with a certain vivacity of manner, as +if wishing to call away his attention,--"this is my armory." + +The Doctor threw open the door of a small cabinet, where were disposed +in artistic patterns various weapons of offence and defence,--for he was +a virtuoso in his way, and by the side of the implements of the art of +healing had pleased himself with displaying a collection of those other +instruments, the use of which renders them necessary. + +"See which of these weapons you would like best to carry about you," +said the Doctor. + +Mr. Bernard laughed, and looked at the Doctor as if he half doubted +whether he was in earnest. + +"This looks dangerous enough," he said,--"for the man that carries it, +at least." + +He took down one of the prohibited Spanish daggers or knives which a +traveller may occasionally get hold of and smuggle out of the country. +The blade was broad, trowel-like, but the point drawn out several +inches, so as to look like a skewer. + +"This must be a jealous bull-fighter's weapon," he said, and put it back +in its place. + +Then he took down an ancient-looking broad-bladed dagger, with a complex +aspect about it, as if it had some kind of mechanism connected with it. + +"Take care!" said the Doctor; "there is a trick to that dagger." + +He took it and touched a spring. The dagger split suddenly into three +blades, as when one separates the forefinger and the ring-finger from +the middle one. The outside blades were sharp on their outer edge. The +stab was to be made with the dagger shut, then the spring touched and +the split blades withdrawn. + +Mr. Bernard replaced it, saying, that it would have served for side-arm +to old Suwarrow, who told his men to work their bayonets back and +forward when they pinned a Turk, but to wriggle them about in the wound +when they stabbed a Frenchman. + +"Here," said the Doctor, "this is the thing you want." + +He took down a much more modern and familiar implement,--a small, +beautifully finished revolver. + +"I want you to carry this," he said; "and more than that, I want you to +practise with it often, as for amusement, but so that it may be seen and +understood that you are apt to have a pistol about you. Pistol-shooting +is pleasant sport enough, and there is no reason why you should not +practise it like other young fellows. And now," the Doctor said, "I have +one other weapon to give you." + +He took a small piece of parchment and shook a white powder into it from +one of his medicine-jars. The jar was marked with the name of a mineral +salt, of a nature to have been serviceable in case of sudden illness in +the time of the Borgias. The Doctor folded the parchment carefully and +marked the Latin name of the powder upon it. + +"Here," he said, handing it to Mr. Bernard,--"you see what it is, and +you know what service it can render. Keep these two protectors about +your person day and night; they will not harm you, and you may want one +or the other or both before you think of it." + +Mr. Bernard thought it was very odd, and not very old-gentleman like, +to be fitting him out for treason, stratagem, and spoils, in this way. +There was no harm, however, in carrying a doctor's powder in his pocket, +or in amusing himself with shooting at a mark, as he had often done +before. If the old gentleman had these fancies, it was as well to humor +him. So he thanked old Doctor Kittredge, and shook his hand warmly as he +left him. + +"The fellow's hand did not tremble, nor his color change," the Doctor +said, as he watched him walking away. "He is one of the right sort." + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +EPISTOLARY. + + +_Mr. Langdon to the Professor._ + +MY DEAR PROFESSOR,-- + +You were kind enough to promise me that you would assist me in any +professional or scientific investigations in which I might become +engaged. I have of late become deeply interested in a class of subjects +which present peculiar difficulty, and I must exercise the privilege of +questioning you on some points upon which I desire information I cannot +otherwise obtain. I would not trouble you, if I could find any person or +books competent to enlighten me on some of these singular matters which +have so excited me. The leading doctor here is a shrewd, sensible man, +but not versed in the curiosities of medical literature. + +I proceed, with your leave, to ask a considerable number of +questions,--hoping to get answers to some of them, at least. + +Is there any evidence that human beings can be infected or wrought +upon by poisons, or otherwise, so that they shall manifest any of +the peculiarities belonging to beings of a lower nature? Can such +peculiarities be transmitted by inheritance? Is there anything to +countenance the stories, long and widely current, about the "evil eye"? +or is it a mere fancy that such a power belongs to any human being? Have +you any personal experience as to the power of fascination said to be +exercised by certain animals? What can you make of those circumstantial +statements we have seen in the papers of children forming mysterious +friendships with ophidians of different species, sharing their food with +them, and seeming to be under some subtile influence exercised by those +creatures? Have you read, critically, Coleridge's poem of "Christabel," +and Keats's "Lamia"? If so, can you understand them, or find any +physiological foundation for the story of either? + +There is another set of questions of a different nature I should like to +ask, but it is hardly fair to put so many on a single sheet. There +is one, however, you must answer. Do you think there may be +predispositions, inherited or ingrafted, but at any rate constitutional, +which shall take out certain apparently voluntary determinations +from the control of the will, and leave them as free from moral +responsibility as the instincts of the lower animals? Do you not think +there may be a _crime_ which is not a _sin_? + +Pardon me, my dear Sir, for troubling you with such a list of notes of +interrogation. There are some _very strange_ things going on here in +this place, country-town as it is. Country-life is apt to be dull; but +when it once gets going, it beats the city hollow, because it gives its +whole mind to what it is about. These rural sinners make terrible work +with the middle of the Decalogue, when they get started. However, I hope +I shall live through my year's school-keeping without catastrophes, +though there are queer doings about me which puzzle me and might scare +some people. If anything _should_ happen, you will be one of the first +to hear of it, no doubt. But I trust not to help out the editors of the +"Rockland Weekly Universe" with an obituary of the late lamented, who +signed himself in life + +Your friend and pupil, + +BERNARD C. LANGDON. + + +_The Professor to Mr. Langdon._ + +MY DEAR MR. LANGDON,-- + +I do not wonder that you find no answer from your country friends to the +curious questions you put. They belong to that middle region between +science and poetry which sensible men, as they are called, are very shy +of meddling with. Some people think that truth and gold are always to be +washed for; but the wiser sort are of opinion, that, unless there are so +many grains to the peck of sand or nonsense respectively, it does not +pay to wash for either, as long as one can find anything else to do. I +don't doubt there is some truth in the phenomena of animal magnetism, +for instance; but when you ask me to cradle for it, I tell you that +the hysteric girls cheat so, and the professionals are such a set of +pickpockets, that I can do something better than hunt for the grains of +truth among their tricks and lies. Do you remember what I used to say in +my lectures?--or were you asleep just then, or cutting your initials on +the rail? (You see I can ask questions, my young friend.) _Leverage_ is +everything,--was what I used to say;--don't begin to pry till you have +got the long arm on your side. + +To please you, and satisfy your doubts as far as possible, I have looked +into the old books,--into Schenckius and Turner and Kenelm Digby and the +rest, where I have found plenty of curious stories which you must take +for what they are worth. + +Your first question I can answer in the affirmative upon pretty good +authority. Mizaldus tells, in his "Memorabilia," the well-known story +of the girl fed on poisons, who was sent by the king of the Indies +to Alexander the Great. "When Aristotle saw her eyes _sparkling and +snapping like those of serpents_, he said, 'Look out for yourself, +Alexander! this is a dangerous companion for you!'"--and sure enough, +the young lady proved to be a very unsafe person to her friends. +Cardanus gets a story from Avicenna, of a certain man bit by a serpent, +who recovered of his bite, the snake dying therefrom. This man +afterwards had a daughter whom no venomous serpent could harm, though +_she had a fatal power over them_. + +I suppose you may remember the statements of old authors about +_lycanthropy_, the disease in which men took on the nature and aspect of +wolves. Aëtius and Paulus, both men of authority, describe it. Altomaris +gives a horrid case; and Fincelius mentions one occurring as late as +1541, the subject of which was captured, still _insisting that he was a +wolf_, only that the hair of his hide was turned in! _Versipelles_, it +may be remembered, was the Latin name for these "were-wolves." + +As for the cases where rabid persons have barked and bit like dogs, +there are plenty of such on record. + +More singular, or at least more rare, is the account given by Andreas +Baccius, of a man who was struck in the hand by a cock, with his beak, +and who died on the third day thereafter, looking for all the world +_like a fighting-cock_, to the great horror of the spectators. + +As to impressions transmitted _at a very early period of existence_, +every one knows the story of King James's fear of a naked sword and the +way it is accounted for. Sir Kenelm Digby says,--"I remember when he +dubbed me Knight, in the ceremony of putting the point of a naked sword +upon my shoulder, he could not endure to look upon it, but turned his +face another way, insomuch, that, in lieu of touching my shoulder, he +had almost thrust the point into my eyes, had not the Duke of Buckingham +guided his hand aright." It is he, too, who tells the story of the +_mulberry mark_ upon the neck of a certain lady of high condition, which +"every year, in mulberry season, did swell, grow big, and itch." And +Gaffarel mentions the case of a girl born with the figure of a _fish_ on +one of her limbs, of which the wonder was, that, when the girl did eat +fish, this mark put her to sensible pain. But there is no end to cases +of this kind, and I could give some of recent date, if necessary, +lending a certain plausibility at least to the doctrine of transmitted +impressions. + +I never saw a distinct case of _evil eye_, though I have seen eyes so +bad that they might produce strange effects on very sensitive natures. +But the belief in it under various names, fascination, _jettatura_, +etc., is so permanent and universal, from Egypt to Italy, and from the +days of Solomon to those of Ferdinand of Naples, that there must be some +_peculiarity_, to say the least, on which the opinion is based. There is +very strong evidence that some such power is exercised by certain of the +lower animals. Thus, it is stated on good authority that "almost every +animal becomes panic-struck at the sight of the _rattlesnake_, and seems +at once deprived of the power of motion, or the exercise of its usual +instinct of self-preservation." Other serpents seem to share this power +of fascination, as the _Cobra_ and the _Bucephalus Capensis_. Some think +that it is nothing but fright; others attribute it to the + + "strange powers that lie + Within the magic circle of the eye,"-- + +as Churchill said, speaking of Garrick. + +You ask me about those mysterious and frightful intimacies between +children and serpents of which so many instances have been recorded. I +am sure I cannot tell what to make of them. I have seen several such +accounts in recent papers, but here is one published in the seventeenth +century which is as striking as any of the more modern ones:-- + +"Mr. _Herbert Jones_ of _Monmouth_, when he was a little Boy, was used +to eat his Milk in a Garden in the Morning, and was no sooner there, but +a large Snake always came, and eat out of the Dish with him, and did so +for a considerable time, till one Morning, he striking the Snake on the +Head, it hissed at him. Upon which he told his Mother that the Baby (for +so he call'd it) cry'd _Hiss_ at him. His Mother had it kill'd, which +occasioned him a great _Fit of Sickness_, and 'twas thought would have +dy'd, but did recover." + +There was likewise one "_William Writtle_, condemned at _Maidston +Assizes_ for a double murder, told a Minister that was with him after he +was condemned, that his mother told him, that when he was a Child, there +crept always to him a Snake, wherever she laid him. Sometimes she would +convey him up Stairs, and leave him never so little, she should be sure +to find a Snake in the Cradle with him, but never perceived it did him +any harm." + +One of the most striking alleged facts connected with the mysterious +relation existing between the serpent and the human species is the +influence which the poison of the _Crotalus_, taken internally, seemed +to produce over the _moral faculties_, in the experiments instituted by +Dr. Hering at Surinam. There is something frightful in the disposition +of certain ophidians, as the whip-snake, which darts at the eyes of +cattle without any apparent provocation or other motive. It is natural +enough that the evil principle should have been represented in the form +of a serpent, but it is strange to think of introducing it into a human +being like cow-pox by vaccination. + +You know all about the _Psylli_, or ancient serpent-tamers, I suppose. +Savary gives an account of the modern serpent-tamers in his "Letters on +Egypt." These modern jugglers are in the habit of making the venomous +_Naja_ counterfeit death, lying out straight and stiff, _changing it +into a rod_, as the ancient magicians did with their serpents, (probably +the same animal,) in the time of Moses. + +I am afraid I cannot throw much light on "Christabel" or "Lamia" by any +criticism I can offer. Geraldine, in the former, seems to be simply +a malignant witch-woman, with the _evil eye_, but with no absolute +ophidian relationship. Lamia is a serpent transformed by magic into +a woman. The idea of both is mythological, and not in any sense +physiological. Some women unquestionably suggest the image of serpents; +men rarely or never. I have been struck, like many others, with the +ophidian head and eye of the famous Rachel. + +Your question about inherited predispositions, as limiting the sphere of +the will, and, consequently, of moral accountability, opens a very wide +range of speculation. I can give you only a brief abstract of my own +opinions on this delicate and difficult subject. Crime and sin, being +the _preserves_ of two great organized interests, have been guarded +against all reforming poachers with as great jealousy as the Royal +Forests. It is so easy to hang a troublesome fellow! It is so much +simpler to consign a soul to perdition, or gay masses, for money, to +save it, than to take the blame on ourselves for letting it grow up in +neglect and run to ruin for want of humanizing influences! They hung +poor, crazy Bellingham for shooting Mr. Perceval. The ordinary of +Newgate preached to women who were to swing at Tyburn for a petty theft +as if they were worse than other people,--just as though he would not +have been a pickpocket or shoplifter, himself, if he had been born in +a den of thieves and bred up to steal or starve! The English law never +began to get hold of the idea that a crime was not necessarily a sin, +till Hadfield, who thought he was the Saviour of mankind, was tried for +shooting at George the Third;--lucky for him that he did not hit his +Majesty! + +It is very singular that we recognize all the bodily defects that unfit +a man for military service, and all the intellectual ones that limit his +range of thought, but always talk at him as if all his moral powers were +perfect I suppose we must punish evil-doers as we extirpate vermin; but +I don't know that we have any more right to judge them than we have to +judge rats and mice, which are just as good as cats and weasels, though +we think it necessary to treat them as criminals. + +The limitations of human responsibility have never been properly +studied, unless it be by the phrenologists. You know from my lectures +that I consider phrenology, as taught, a pseudo-science, and not a +branch of positive knowledge; but, for all that, we owe it an immense +debt. It has melted the world's conscience in its crucible and cast it +in a new mould, with features less like those of Moloch and more like +those of humanity. If it has failed to demonstrate its system of special +correspondences, it has proved that there are fixed relations between +organization and mind and character. It has brought out that great +doctrine of moral insanity, which has done more to make men charitable +and soften legal and theological barbarism than any one doctrine that I +can think of since the message of peace and good-will to men. + +Automatic action in the moral world; the _reflex movement_ which _seems_ +to be self-determination, and has been hanged and howled at as such +(metaphorically) for nobody knows how many centuries: until somebody +shall study this as Marshall Hall has studied reflex nervous action in +the bodily system, I would not give much for men's judgments of each +other's characters. Shut up the robber and the defaulter, we must. But +what if your oldest boy had been stolen from his cradle and bred in a +North-Street cellar? What if you are drinking a little too much wine and +smoking a little too much tobacco, and your son takes after you, and so +your poor grandson's brain being a little injured in physical texture, +he loses the fine moral sense on which you pride yourself, and doesn't +see the difference between signing another man's name to a draft and his +own? + +I suppose the study of automatic action in the moral world (you see what +I mean through the apparent contradiction of terms) may be a dangerous +one in the view of many people. It is liable to abuse, no doubt. +People are always glad to get hold of anything which limits their +responsibility. But remember that our moral estimates come down to us +from ancestors who hanged children for stealing forty shillings' worth, +and sent their souls to perdition for the sin of being born,--who +punished the unfortunate families of suicides, and in their eagerness +for justice executed one innocent person every three years, on the +average, as Sir James Mackintosh tells us. + +I do not know in what shape the practical question may present itself to +you; but I will tell you my rule in life, and I think you will find it +a good one. _Treat bad men exactly as if they were insane_. They are +_in-sane_, out of health, morally. Reason, which is food to sound minds, +is not tolerated, still less assimilated, unless administered with the +greatest caution; perhaps, not at all. Avoid collision with them, as far +as you honorably can; keep your temper, if you can,--for one angry man +is as good as another; restrain them from injury, promptly, completely, +and with the least possible injury, just as in the case of maniacs,--and +when you have got rid of them, or got them tied hand and foot so that +they can do no mischief, sit down and contemplate them charitably, +remembering that nine-tenths of their perversity comes from outside +influences, drunken ancestors, abuse in childhood, bad company, from +which you have happily been preserved, and for some of which you, as a +member of society, may be fractionally responsible. I think also that +there are _special influences_ which _work in the blood like ferments_, +and I have a suspicion that some of those curious old stories I cited +may have more recent parallels. Have you ever met with any cases which +admitted of a solution like that which I have mentioned? + +Yours very truly, + + * * * * * + +_Bernard Langdon to Philip Staples._ + +MY DEAR PHILIP,-- + +I have been for some months established in this place, turning the +main crank of the machinery for the manufactory of accomplishments +superintended by, or rather worked to the profit of, a certain Mr. Silas +Peckham. He is a poor wretch, with a little thin fishy blood in his +body, lean and flat, long-armed and large-handed, thick-jointed +and thin-muscled,--you know those unwholesome, weak-eyed, half-fed +creatures, that look not fit to be round among live folks, and yet not +quite dead enough to bury. If you ever hear of my being in court to +answer to a charge of assault and battery, you may guess that I have +been giving him a thrashing to settle off old scores; for he is a +tyrant, and has come pretty near killing his principal lady-assistant +with overworking her and keeping her out of all decent privileges. + +Helen Darley is this lady's name,--twenty-two or -three years old, +I should think,--a very sweet, pale woman,--daughter of the usual +country-clergyman,--thrown on her own resources from an early age, and +the rest: a common story, but an uncommon person,--very. All conscience +and sensibility, I should say,--a cruel worker,--no kind of regard for +herself,--seems as fragile and supple as a young willow-shoot, but try +her and you find she has the spring in her of a steel crossbow. I am +glad I happened to come to this place, if it were only for her sake. I +have saved that girl's life; I am as sure of it as if I had pulled her +out of the fire or water. + +Of course I'm in love with her, you say,--we always love those whom +we have benefited: "saved her life,--her love was the reward of his +devotion," etc., etc., as in a regular set novel. In love, Philip? Well, +about that,--I love Helen Darley--very much: there is hardly anybody I +love so well. What a noble creature she is! One of those that just go +right on, do their own work and everybody else's, killing themselves +inch by inch without ever thinking about it,--singing and dancing +at their toil when they begin, worn and saddened after a while, but +pressing steadily on, tottering by-and-by, and catching at the rail by +the wayside to help them lift one foot before the other, and at last +falling, face down, arms stretched forward---- + +Philip, my boy, do you know I am the sort of man that locks his door +sometimes and cries his heart out of his eyes,--that can sob like a +woman and not be ashamed of it? I come of fighting-blood on my mother's +side, you know; I think I could be savage on occasion. But I am +tender,--more and more tender as I come into my fulness of manhood. I +don't like to strike a man, (laugh, if you like,--I know I hit hard +when I do strike,)--but what I can't stand is the sight of these poor, +patient, toiling women, that never find out in this life how good they +are, and never know what it is to be told they are angels while they +still wear the pleasing incumbrances of humanity. I don't know what to +make of these cases. To think that a woman is never to be a woman again, +whatever she may come to as an unsexed angel,--and that she should die +unloved! Why does not somebody come and carry off this noble woman, +waiting here all ready to make a man happy? Philip, do you know the +pathos there is in the eyes of unsought women, oppressed with the burden +of an inner life unshared? I can see into them now as I could not in +those earlier days. I sometimes think their pupils dilate on purpose to +let my consciousness glide through them; indeed, I dread them, I come so +close to the nerve of the soul itself in these momentary intimacies. You +used to tell me I was a Turk,--that my heart was full of pigeon-holes, +with accommodations inside for a whole flock of doves. I don't know but +I am still as Youngish as ever in my ways,--Brigham-Youngish, I mean; +at any rate, I always want to give a little love to all the poor things +that cannot have a whole man to themselves. If they would only be +contented with a little! + +Here now are two girls in this school where I am teaching. One of them, +Rosa M., is not more than sixteen years old, I think they say; but +Nature has forced her into a tropical luxuriance of beauty, as if it +were July with her, instead of May. I suppose it is all natural enough +that this girl should like a young man's attention, even if he were a +grave schoolmaster; but the eloquence of this young thing's look +is unmistakable,--and yet she does not know the language it is +talking,--they none of them do; and there is where a good many poor +creatures of our good-for-nothing sex are mistaken. There is no danger +of my being rash, but I think this girl will cost somebody his life yet. +She is one of those women men make a quarrel about and fight to the +death for,--the old feral instinct, you know. + +Pray, don't think I am lost in conceit, but there is another girl here +that I begin to think looks with a certain kindness on me. Her name is +Elsie V., and she is the only daughter and heiress of an old family in +this place. She is a portentous and mysterious creature. If I should +tell you all I know and half of what I fancy about her, you would +tell me to get my life insured at once. Yet she is the most painfully +interesting being,--so handsome! so lonely!--for she has no friends +among the girls, and sits apart from them,--with black hair like the +flow of a mountain-brook after a thaw, with a low-browed, scowling +beauty of face, and such eyes as were never seen before, I really +believe, in any human creature. + +Philip, I don't know what to say about this Elsie. There is a mystery +around her I have not fathomed. I have conjectures about her which +I could not utter to any living soul. I dare not even hint the +possibilities which have suggested themselves to me. This I will +say,--that I do take the most intense interest in this young person, an +interest much more like pity than love in its common sense. If what I +guess at is true, of all the tragedies of existence I ever knew this is +the saddest, and yet so full of meaning! Do not ask me any questions,--I +have said more than I meant to already; but I am involved in strange +doubts and perplexities,--in dangers too, very possibly,--and it is a +relief just to speak ever so guardedly of them to an early and faithful +friend. + +Yours ever, BERNARD. + +P. S. I remember you had a copy of Fortunius Licetus "De Monstris" among +your old books. Can't you lend it to me for a while? I am curious, and +it will amuse me. + + + + +ANNO DOMINI, 1860. + + + My youth is past!--this morn I stand, + With manhood's signet of command, + Firm-planted on life's middle-land! + + Behind, the scene recedes afar, + Where cloudy mists and vapors mar + The lustre of my morning-star. + + I mark the courses of my days, + Inwound through many a doubtful maze,-- + To marvel at those devious ways! + + They lead through hills and levels lone, + Green fields, and woodlands overgrown, + And where deep waters pulse and moan;-- + + By ruined tower, by darksome dell, + The home of night-birds fierce and fell, + Wherein strange shapes of Horror dwell;-- + + Out to the blessed sunshine free, + The breezy moors of liberty, + And skies outpouring harmony;-- + + By palace-wall, by haunted tomb, + Through bright and dark, through joy and gloom: + My life hath known both blight and bloom. + + And now, as from some mountain-height, + Backward I strain my eager sight, + Till all the landscape melts in night;-- + + Then, whispering to my Heart, "Be bold!" + I turn from years whose "tale is told," + To greet the Future's dawn of gold: + + High hopes and nobler labors wait + Beyond that Future's opening gate,-- + Brave deeds which hold the seeds of Fate. + + Thy strength, O Lord, shall fire my blood, + Shall nerve my soul, make wise my mood, + And win me to the pure and good! + + Or if, O Father, thou shouldst say, + "Dark Angel, close his mortal day!" + And smite me on my vanward way,-- + + Grant that in armor firm and strong, + Whilst pealing still Life's battle-song, + And struggling, manful, 'gainst the wrong, + + Thy soldier, who would fight to win + No crown of dross, no bays of sin, + May fall amidst the foremost din + + Of Truth's grand conflict, blest by Thee,-- + And even though Death should conquer, see + How false, how brief his victory! + + * * * * * + + + +DARWIN ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. + +[Continued.] + + +"I can entertain no doubt, after the most deliberate study and +dispassionate judgment of which I am capable, that the view which most +naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained,--namely, that +each species has been independently created,--is erroneous. I am fully +convinced that species are not immutable; but that those belonging to +what are called the same genera are lineal descendants of some other +and generally extinct species, in the same manner as the acknowledged +varieties of any one species are the descendants of that species. +Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main, +but not exclusive means of modification." + +This is the kernel of the new theory, the Darwinian creed, as recited +at the close of the introduction to the remarkable book under +consideration. The questions, "What will he do with it?" and "How far +will he carry it?" the author answers at the close of the volume: "I +cannot doubt that the theory of descent with modification embraces all +the members of the same class." Furthermore, "I believe that all animals +have descended from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants +from an equal or lesser number." Seeing that analogy as strongly +suggests a further step in the same direction, while he protests that +"analogy may be a deceitful guide," yet he follows its inexorable +leading to the inference that "probably all the organic beings which +have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial +form, into which life was first breathed."[a] + +In the first extract we have the thin end of the wedge driven a little +way; in the last, the wedge is driven home. + +We have already (in the preceding number) sketched some of the reasons +suggestive of such a theory of derivation of species,--reasons which +give it plausibility, and even no small probability, as applied to our +actual world and to changes occurring since the latest tertiary period. +We are well pleased at this moment to find that the conclusions we were +arriving at in this respect are sustained by the very high authority and +impartial judgment of Pictet, the Swiss palaeontologist. In his review +of Darwin's book,[b]--much the fairest and most admirable opposing one +that has yet appeared,--he freely accepts that _ensemble_ of natural +operations which Darwin impersonates under the now familiar name of +Natural Selection, allows that the exposition throughout the first +chapters seems "_à la fois prudent et fort_" and is disposed to accept +the whole argument in its foundations, that is, so far as it relates +to what is now going on, or has taken place in the present geological +period,--which period he carries back through the diluvial epoch to the +borders of the tertiary.[c] Pictet accordingly admits that the theory +will very well account for the origination by divergence of nearly +related species, whether within the present period or in remoter +geological times: a very natural view for him to take; since he +appears to have reached and published, several years ago, the pregnant +conclusion, that there most probably was some material connection +between the closely related species of two successive faunas, and that +the numerous close species, whose limits are so difficult to determine, +were not all created distinct and independent. But while accepting, or +ready to accept, the basis of Darwin's theory, and all its legitimate +direct inferences, he rejects the ultimate conclusions, brings some +weighty arguments to bear against them, and is evidently convinced that +he can draw a clear line between the sound inferences, which he favors, +and the unsound or unwarranted theoretical deductions, which he rejects. +We hope he can. + +[Footnote a: P. 484, Engl. ed. In the new American edition, (_Vide_ +Supplement, pp. 431, 432,) the principal analogies which suggest the +extreme view are referred to, and the remark is appended,--"But this +inference is chiefly grounded on analogy, and it is immaterial whether +or not it be accepted. The case is different with the members of each +great class, as the Vertebrata or Articulata; for here we have in the +laws of homology, embryology, etc., some distinct evidence that all have +descended from a single primordial parent."] + +[Footnote b: In _Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève_, Mars, 1860.] + +[Footnote c: This we learn from his very interesting article, _De +la Question de l'Homme Fossile_, in the same (March) number of the +_Bibliothèque Universelle_.] + +This raises the question, Why does Darwin press his theory to these +extreme conclusions? Why do all hypotheses of derivation converge so +inevitably to one ultimate point? Having already considered some of the +reasons which suggest or support the theory at its outset,--which may +carry it as far as such sound and experienced naturalists as Pictet +allow that it may be true,--perhaps as far as Darwin himself unfolds +it in the introductory proposition cited at the beginning of this +article,--we may now inquire after the motives which impel the theorist +so much farther. Here proofs, in the proper sense of the word, are not +to be had. We are beyond the region of demonstration, and have duly +probabilities to consider. What are these probabilities? What work +will this hypothesis do to establish a claim to be adopted in its +completeness? Why should a theory which may plausibly enough account for +the _diversification_ of the species of each special type or genus, +be expanded into a general system for the _origination_ or successive +diversification of all species, and all special types or forms, from +four or five remote primordial forms, or perhaps from one? We accept the +theory of gravitation because it explains all the facts we know, and +bears all the tests that we can put it to. We incline to accept the +nebular hypothesis, for similar reasons; not because it is proved,--thus +far it is wholly incapable of proof,--but because it is a natural +theoretical deduction from accepted physical laws, is thoroughly +congruous with the facts, and because its assumption serves to connect +and harmonize these into one probable and consistent whole. Can the +derivative hypothesis be maintained and carried out into a system on +similar grounds? If so, however unproved, it would appear to be a +tenable hypothesis, which is all that its author ought now to claim. +Such hypotheses as from the conditions of the case can neither be proved +nor disproved by direct evidence or experiment are to be tested only +indirectly, and therefore imperfectly, by trying their power to +harmonize the known facts, and to account for what is otherwise +unaccountable. So the question comes to this: + +What will an hypothesis of the derivation of species explain which the +opposing view leaves unexplained? + +Questions these which ought to be entertained before we take up the +arguments which have been advanced against this theory. We can only +glance at some of the considerations which Darwin adduces, or will be +sure to adduce in the future and fuller exposition which is promised. +To display them in such wise as to indoctrinate the unscientific reader +would require a volume. Merely to refer to them in the most general +terms would suffice for those familiar with scientific matters, but +would scarcely enlighten those who are not. Wherefore let these trust +the impartial Pictet, who freely admits, that, "in the absence of +sufficient direct proofs to justify the possibility of his hypothesis, +Mr. Darwin relies upon indirect proofs, the bearing of which is real and +incontestable"; who concedes that "his theory accords very well with the +great facts of comparative anatomy and zoölogy,--comes in admirably to +explain unity of composition of organisms, also to explain rudimentary +and representative organs, and the natural series of genera and +species,--equally corresponds with many palaeontological data,--agrees +well with the specific resemblances which exist between two successive +faunas, with the parallelism which is sometimes observed between the +series of palaeontological succession and of embryonal development," +etc.; and finally, although he does not accept the theory in these +results, he allows that "it appears to offer the best means of +explaining the manner in which organized beings were produced in epochs +anterior to our own." + +What more than this could be said for such an hypothesis? Here, +probably, is its charm, and its strong hold upon the speculative mind. +Unproven though it be, and cumbered _primâ facie_ with cumulative +improbabilities as it proceeds, yet it singularly accords with great +classes of facts otherwise insulated and enigmatic, and explains many +things which are thus far utterly inexplicable upon any other scientific +assumption. + +We have said (p. 116) that Darwin's hypothesis is the natural complement +to Lyell's uniformitarian theory in physical geology. It is for the +organic world what that popular view is for the inorganic; and the +accepters of the latter stand in a position from which to regard the +former in the most favorable light. Wherefore the rumor that the +cautious Lyell himself has adopted the Darwinian hypothesis need not +surprise us. The two views are made for each other, and, like the two +counterpart pictures for the stereoscope, when brought together, combine +into one apparently solid whole. + +If we allow, with Pictet, that Darwin's theory will very well serve for +all that concerns the present epoch of the world's history,--an epoch +which this renowned palaeontologist regards as including the diluvial or +quaternary period,--then Darwin's first and foremost need in his onward +course is a practicable road from this into and through the tertiary +period, the intervening region between the comparatively near and the +far remote past. Here Lyell's doctrine paves the way, by showing that in +the physical geology there is no general or absolute break between the +two, probably no greater between the latest tertiary and the quaternary +period than between the latter and the present time. So far, the +Lyellian view is, we suppose, generally concurred in. Now as to the +organic world, it is largely admitted that numerous tertiary species +have continued down into the quaternary, and many of them to the present +time. A goodly percentage of the earlier and nearly half of the later +tertiary mollusca, according to Des Hayes, Lyell, and, if we mistake +not, Bronn, still live. This identification, however, is now questioned +by a naturalist of the very highest authority. But, in its bearings on +the new theory, the point here turns not upon absolute identity so +much as upon close resemblance. For those who, with Agassiz, doubt the +specific identity in any of these cases, and those who say, with Pictet, +that "the later tertiary deposits contain in general the _débris_ of +species _very nearly related_ to those which still exist, belonging to +the same genera, but specifically different," may also agree with Pictet +that the nearly related species of successive faunas must or may have +had "a material connection." Now the only material connection that +we have an idea of in such a case is a genealogical one. And the +supposition of a genealogical connection is surely not unnatural in such +cases,--is demonstrably the natural one as respects all those tertiary +species which experienced naturalists have pronounced to be identical +with existing ones, but which others now deem distinct. For to identify +the two is the same thing as to conclude the one to be the ancestors of +the other. No doubt there are differences between the tertiary and +the present individuals, differences equally noted by both classes of +naturalists, but differently estimated. By the one these are deemed +quite compatible, by the other incompatible, with community of origin. +But who can tell us what amount of difference is compatible with +community of origin? This is the very question at issue, and one to be +settled by observation alone. Who would have thought that the peach and +the nectarine came from one stock? But, this being proved, is it now +very improbable that both were derived from the almond, or from some +common amygdaline progenitor? Who would have thought that the cabbage, +cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi are derivatives of one +species, and rape or colza, turnip, and probably rutabaga, of another +species? And who that is convinced of this can long undoubtingly hold +the original distinctness of turnips from cabbages as an article of +faith? On scientific grounds may not a primordial cabbage or rape be +assumed as the ancestor of all the cabbage races, on much the same +ground that we assume a common ancestry for the diversified human races? +If all our breeds of cattle came from one stock, why not this stock from +the auroch, which has had all the time between the diluvial and the +historic periods in which to set off a variation perhaps no greater than +the difference between some sorts of cattle? + +That considerable differences are often discernible between tertiary +individuals and their supposed descendants of the present day affords +no argument against Darwin's theory, as has been rashly thought, but is +decidedly in its favor. If the identification were so perfect that no +more differences were observable between the tertiary and the recent +shells than between various individuals of either, then Darwin's +opponents, who argue the immutability of species from the ibises and +cats preserved by the ancient Egyptians being just like those of the +present day, could triumphantly add a few hundred thousand years more to +the length of the experiment and to the force of their argument. As the +facts stand, it appears, that, while some tertiary forms are essentially +undistinguishable from existing ones, others are the same with a +difference, which is judged not to be specific or aboriginal, and yet +others show somewhat greater differences, such as are scientifically +expressed by calling them marked varieties, or else doubtful species; +while others, differing a little more, are confidently termed distinct, +but nearly related species. Now is not all this a question of degree, +of mere gradation of difference? Is it at all likely that these several +gradations came to be established in two totally different ways,--some +of them (though naturalists can't agree which) through natural +variation, or other secondary cause, and some by original creation, +without secondary cause? We have seen that the judicious Pictet answers +such questions as Darwin would have him do, in affirming, that, in all +probability, the nearly related species of two successive faunas were +materially connected, and that contemporaneous species, similarly +resembling each other, were not all created so, but have become so. This +is equivalent to saying that species (using the term as all naturalists +do and must continue to employ the word) have only a relative, not an +absolute fixity; that differences fully equivalent to what are held to +be specific may arise in the course of time, so that one species may at +length be naturally replaced by another species a good deal like it, or +may be diversified through variation or otherwise into two, three, or +more species, or forms as different as species. This concedes all that +Darwin has a right to ask, all that he can directly infer from evidence. +We must add that it affords a _locus standi_, more or less tenable, for +inferring more. + +Here another geological consideration comes in to help on this +inference. The species of the later tertiary period for the most part +not only resembled those of our days, many of them so closely as to +suggest an absolute continuity, but, also occupied in general the same +regions that their relatives occupy now. The same may be said, though +less specially, of the earlier tertiary and of the later secondary; but +there is less and less localization of forms as we recede, yet some +localization even in palæozoic times. While in the secondary period one +is struck with the similarity of forms and the identity of many of the +species which flourished apparently at the same time in all or in the +most widely separated parts of the world, in the tertiary epoch, on the +contrary, along with the increasing specialization of climates and +their approximation to the present state, we find abundant evidence +of increasing localization of orders, genera, and species; and +this localization strikingly accords with the present geographical +distribution of the same groups of species. Where the imputed +forefathers lived, their relatives and supposed descendants now +flourish. All the actual classes of the animal and vegetable kingdoms +were represented in the tertiary faunas and floras, and in nearly the +same proportions and the same diversities as at present. The faunas of +what is now Europe, Asia, America, and Australia differed from +each other much as they now differ: in fact,--according to Adolphe +Brongniart, whose statements we here condense,[a]--the inhabitants of +these different regions appear for the most part to have acquired, +before the close of the tertiary period, the characters which +essentially distinguish their existing faunas. The eastern continent +had then, as now, its great pachyderms, elephants, rhinoceros, and +hippopotamus; South America its armadillos, sloths, and ant-eaters; +Australia a crowd of marsupials; and the very strange birds of New +Zealand had predecessors of similar strangeness. Everywhere the same +geographical distribution as now, with a difference in the particular +area, as respects the northern portion of the continents, answering to a +warmer climate then than ours, such as allowed species of hippopotamus, +rhinoceros, and elephant to range even to the regions now inhabited +by the reindeer and the musk-ox, and with the serious disturbing +intervention of the glacial period within a comparatively recent time. +Let it be noted, also, that those tertiary species which have continued +with little change down to our days are the marine animals of the +lower grades, especially mollusca. Their low organization, moderate +sensibility, and the simple conditions of an existence in a medium +like the ocean, not subject to great variation and incapable of sudden +change, may well account for their continuance; while, on the other +hand, the more intense, however gradual, climatic vicissitudes on land, +which have driven all tropical and sub-tropical forms out of the higher +latitudes and assigned to them their actual limits, would be almost sure +to extinguish such huge and unwieldy animals as mastodons, mammoths, and +the like, whose power of enduring altered circumstances must have been +small. + +[Footnote a: In _Comptes Rendus, Acad. des Sciences_, Févr. 2, 1857.] + +This general replacement of the tertiary species of a country by +others so much like them is a noteworthy fact. The hypothesis of the +independent creation of all species, irrespective of their antecedents, +leaves this fact just as mysterious as is creation itself; that of +derivation undertakes to account for it. Whether it satisfactorily does +so or not, it must be allowed that the facts well accord with that +assumption. + +The same may be said of another conclusion, namely, that the geological +succession of animals and plants appears to correspond in a general +way with their relative standing or rank in a natural system of +classification. It seems clear, that, though no one of the _grand types_ +of the animal kingdom can be traced back farther than the rest, yet the +lower _classes_ long preceded the higher; that there has been on the +whole a steady progression within each class and order; and that the +highest plants and animals have appeared only in relatively modern +times. It is only, however, in a broad sense that this generalization +is now thought to hold good. It encounters many apparent exceptions and +sundry real ones. So far as the rule holds, all is as it should be upon +an hypothesis of derivation. + +The rule has its exceptions. But, curiously enough, the most striking +class of exceptions, if such they be, seems to us even more favorable to +the doctrine of derivation than is the general rule of a pure and simple +ascending gradation. We refer to what Agassiz calls prophetic and +synthetic types; for which the former name may suffice, as the +difference between the two is evanescent. + +"It has been noticed," writes our great zoölogist, "that certain types, +which are frequently prominent among the representatives of past ages, +combine in their structure peculiarities which at later periods are only +observed separately in different, distinct types. Sauroid fishes before +reptiles, Pterodactyles before birds, Ichthyosauri before dolphins, etc. +There are entire families, of nearly every class of animals, which +in the state of their perfect development exemplify such prophetic +relations.... The sauroid fishes of the past geological ages are an +example of this kind. These fishes, which preceded the appearance of +reptiles, present a combination of ichthyic and reptilian characters not +to be found in the true members of this class, which form its bulk at +present. The Pterodactyles, which preceded the class of birds, and the +Ichthyosauri, which preceded the Cetaeca, are other examples of such +prophetic types."[a] + +[Footnote a: Agassiz, _Contributions: Essay on Classification_, p. +117, where, we may be permitted to note, the word "Crustacea" is by a +typographical error printed in place of _Cetacea_.] + +Now these reptile-like fishes, of which gar-pikes are the living +representatives, though of earlier appearance, are admittedly of higher +rank than common fishes. They dominated until reptiles appeared, when +they mostly gave place to--or, as the derivationists will insist, were +resolved by divergent variation and natural selection into--common +fishes, destitute of reptilian characters, and saurian reptiles, the +intermediate grades, which, according to a familiar piscine saying, +are "neither fish, flesh, nor good red-herring," being eliminated and +extinguished by natural consequence of the struggle for existence which +Darwin so aptly portrays. And so, perhaps, of the other prophetic types. +Here type and antitype correspond. If these are true prophecies, we need +not wonder that some who read them in Agassiz's book will read their +fulfilment in Darwin's. + +Note also, in tins connection, that, along with a wonderful persistence +of type, with change of species, genera, orders, etc., from formation to +formation, no species and no higher group which has once unequivocally +died out ever afterwards reappears. Why is this, but that the link of +generation has been sundered? Why, on the hypothesis of independent +originations, were not failing species re-created, either identically or +with a difference, in regions eminently adapted to their well-being? To +take a striking case. That no part of the world now offers more suitable +conditions for wild horses and cattle than the Pampas and other plains +of South America is shown by the facility with which they have there run +wild and enormously multiplied, since introduced from the Old World not +long ago. There was no wild American stock. Yet in the times of the +Mastodon and Megatherium, at the dawn of the present period, wild +horses and cattle--the former certainly very much like the existing +horse--roamed over those plains in abundance. On the principle of +original and direct created adaptation of species to climate and other +conditions, why were these types not reproduced, when, after the colder +intervening era, those regions became again eminently adapted to such +animals? Why, but because, by their complete extinction in South +America, the line of descent was here utterly broken? Upon the ordinary +hypothesis, there is no scientific explanation possible of this series +of facts, and of many others like them. Upon the new hypothesis, "the +succession of the same types of structure within the same areas during +the later geological periods ceases to be mysterious, and is simply +explained by inheritance." Their cessation is failure of issue. + +Along with these considerations the fact (alluded to on p. 114) should +be remembered, that, as a general thing, related species of the present +age are geographically associated. The larger part of the plants, and +still more of the animals, of each separate country are peculiar to +it; and, as most species now flourish over the graves of their by-gone +relatives of former ages, so they now dwell among or accessibly near +their kindred species. + +Here also comes in that general "parallelism between the order of +succession of animals and plants in geological times, and the gradation +among their living representatives" from low to highly organized, +from simple and general to complex and specialized forms; also "the +parallelism between the order of succession of animals in geological +times--and the changes their living representatives undergo during their +embryological growth,"--as if the world were one prolonged gestation. +Modern science has much insisted on this parallelism, and to a certain +extent is allowed to have made it out. All these things, which conspire +to prove that the ancient and the recent forms of life "are somehow +intimately connected together in one grand system," equally conspire to +suggest that the connection is one similar or analogous to generation. +Surely no naturalist can be blamed for entering somewhat confidently +upon a field of speculative inquiry which here opens so invitingly; nor +need former premature endeavors and failures utterly dishearten him. + +All these things, it may naturally be said, go to explain the order, not +the mode, of the incoming of species. But they all do tend to bring out +the generalization expressed by Mr. Wallace in the formula, that "every +species has come into existence coincident both in time and space with +preëxisting closely allied species." Not, however, that this is proved +even of existing species as a matter of general fact. It is obviously +impossible to _prove_ anything of the kind. But we must concede that the +known facts strongly suggest such an inference. And since species are +only congeries of individuals, and every individual came into existence +in consequence of preëxisting individuals of the same sort, so leading +up to the individuals with which the species began, and since the only +material sequence we know of among plants and animals is that from +parent to progeny, the presumption becomes exceedingly strong that +the connection of the incoming with the preëxisting species is a +genealogical one. + +Here, however, all depends upon the probability that Mr. Wallace's +inference is really true. Certainly it is not yet generally accepted; +but a strong current is setting towards its acceptance. + +So long as universal cataclysms were in vogue, and all life upon the +earth was thought to have been suddenly destroyed and renewed many times +in succession, such a view could not be thought of. So the equivalent +view maintained by Agassiz, and formerly, we believe, by D'Orbigny, +that, irrespectively of general and sudden catastrophes, or any known +adequate physical cause, there has been a total depopulation at the +close of each geological period or formation, say forty or fifty times, +or more, followed by as many independent great acts of creation, at +which alone have species been originated, and at each of which a +vegetable and an animal kingdom were produced entire and complete, +full-fledged, as flourishing, as wide-spread and populous, as varied and +mutually adapted from the beginning as ever afterwards,--such a view, of +course, supersedes all material connection between successive species, +and removes even the association and geographical range of species +entirely out of the domain of physical causes and of natural science. +This is the extreme opposite of Wallace's and Darwin's view, and is +quite as hypothetical. The nearly universal opinion, if we rightly +gather it, manifestly is, that the replacement of the species of +successive formations was not complete and simultaneous, but partial +and successive; and that along the course of each epoch some species +probably were introduced, and some, doubtless, became extinct. If all +since the tertiary belongs to our present epoch, this is certainly true +of it: if to two or more epochs, then the hypothesis of a total change +is not true of them. + +Geology makes huge demands upon time; and we regret to find that it has +exhausted ours,--that what we meant for the briefest and most general +sketch of some geological considerations in favor of Darwin's hypothesis +has so extended as to leave no room for considering "the great facts of +comparative anatomy and zoölogy" with which Darwin's theory "very well +accords," nor for indicating how "it admirably serves for explaining the +unity of composition of all organisms, the existence of representative +and rudimentary organs, and the natural series which genera and species +compose." Suffice it to say that these are the real strongholds of the +new system on its theoretical side; that it goes far towards explaining +both the physiological and the structural gradations and relations +between the two kingdoms, and the arrangement of all their forms in +groups subordinate to groups, all within a few great types; that it +reads the riddle of abortive organs and of morphological conformity, of +which no other theory has ever offered a scientific explanation, and +supplies a ground for harmonizing the two fundamental ideas which +naturalists and philosophers conceive to have ruled the organic world, +though they could not reconcile them, namely: Adaptation to Purpose and +the Conditions of Existence, and Unity of Type. To reconcile these two +undeniable principles is a capital problem in the philosophy of natural +history; and the hypothesis which consistently does so thereby secures a +great advantage. + +We all know that the arm and hand of a monkey, the foreleg and foot of +a dog and of a horse, the wing of a bat, and the fin of a porpoise are +fundamentally identical; that the long neck of the giraffe has the same +and no more bones than the short one of the elephant; that the eggs of +Surinam frogs hatch into tadpoles with as good tails for swimming as any +of their kindred, although as tadpoles they never enter the water; that +the Guinea-pig is furnished with incisor teeth which it never uses, +as it sheds them before birth; that embryos of mammals and birds +have branchial slits and arteries running in loops, in imitation or +reminiscence of the arrangement which is permanent in fishes; and that +thousands of animals and plants have rudimentary organs which, at least +in numerous cases, are wholly useless to their possessors, etc., etc. +Upon a derivative theory this morphological conformity is explained by +community of descent; and it has not been explained in any other way. + +Naturalists are constantly speaking of "related species," of +the "affinity" of a genus or other group, and of "family +resemblance,"--vaguely conscious that these terms of kinship are +something more than mere metaphors, but unaware of the grounds of their +aptness. Mr. Darwin assures them that they have been talking derivative +doctrine all their lives without knowing it. + +If it is difficult and in some cases practically impossible to fix the +limits of species, it is still more so to fix those of genera; and those +of tribes and families are still less susceptible of exact natural +circumscription. Intermediate forms occur, connecting one group with +another in a manner sadly perplexing to systematists, except to those +who have ceased to expect absolute limitations in Nature. All this +blending could hardly fail to suggest a former material connection among +allied forms, such as that which an hypothesis of derivation demands. + +Here it would not be amiss to consider the general principle of +gradation throughout organic Nature,--a principle which answers in a +general way to the law of continuity in the inorganic world, or +rather is so analogous to it that both may fairly be expressed by +the Leibnitzian axiom, _Natura non agit saltatim_. As an axiom or +philosophical principle, used to test modal laws or hypotheses, this in +strictness belongs only to physics. In the investigation of Nature at +large, at least in the organic world, nobody would undertake to apply +this principle as a test of the validity of any theory or supposed law. +But naturalists of enlarged views will not fail to infer the principle +from the phenomena they investigate,--to perceive that the rule holds, +under due qualifications and altered forms, throughout the realm of +Nature; although we do not suppose that Nature in the organic world +makes no distinct steps, but only short and serial steps,--not +infinitely fine gradations, but no long leaps, or few of them. + +To glance at a few illustrations out of many that present themselves. It +would be thought that the distinction between the two organic kingdoms +was broad and absolute. Plants and animals belong to two very different +categories, fulfil opposite offices, and, as to the mass of them, are +so unlike that the difficulty of the ordinary observer would be to find +points of comparison. Without entering into details, which would fill an +article, we may safely say that the difficulty with the naturalist is +all the other way,--that all these broad differences vanish one by one +as we approach the lower confines of the two kingdoms, and that no +_absolute_ distinction whatever is now known between them. It is quite +possible that the same organism may be both vegetable and animal, or may +be first the one and then the other. If some organisms may be said to be +at first vegetables and then animals, others, like the spores and other +reproductive bodies of many of the lower Algae, may equally claim to +have first a characteristically animal, and then an unequivocally +vegetable existence. Nor is the gradation purely restricted to these +simple organisms. It appears in general functions, as in that of +reproduction, which is reducible to the same formula in both kingdoms, +while it exhibits close approximations in the lower forms; also in a +common or similar ground of sensibility in the lowest forms of both, +a common faculty of effecting movements tending to a determinate end, +traces of which pervade the vegetable kingdom,--while on the other hand, +this indefinable principle, this vegetable _animula vagula, blandula_, +graduates into the higher sensitiveness of the lower class of animals. +Nor need we hesitate to recognize the fine gradations from simple +sensitiveness and volition to the higher instinctive and other psychical +manifestations of the higher brute animals. The gradation is undoubted, +however we may explain it. Again, propagation is of one mode in the +higher animals, of two in all plants; but vegetative propagation, by +budding or offshoots, extends through the lower grades of animals. In +both kingdoms there may be separation of the offshoots, or indifference +in this respect, or continued and organic union with the parent stock; +and this either with essential independence of the offshoots, or with +a subordination of these to a common whole, or finally with such +subordination and amalgamation, along with specialization of function, +that the same parts, which in other cases can be regarded only as +progeny, in these become only members of an individual. + +This leads to the question of individuality, a subject quite too large +and too recondite for present discussion. The conclusion of the whole +matter, however, is, that individuality--that very ground of _being_ as +distinguished from _thing_--is not attained in Nature at one leap. If +anywhere truly exemplified in plants, it is only in the lowest and +simplest, where the being is a structural unit, a single cell, +memberless and organless, though organic,--the same thing as those cells +of which all the more complex plants are built up, and with which every +plant and (structurally) every animal began its development. In the +ascending gradation of the vegetable kingdom individuality is, so to +say, striven after, but never attained; in the lower animals it is +striven after with greater, though incomplete success; it is realized +only in animals of so high a rank that vegetative multiplication or +offshoots are out of the question, where all parts are strictly +members and nothing else, and all subordinated to a common nervous +centre,--fully realized, perhaps, only in a conscious person. + +So, also, the broad distinction between reproduction by seeds or ova and +propagation by buds, though perfect in some of the lowest forms of life, +becomes evanescent in others; and even the most absolute law we know in +the physiology of genuine reproduction, that of sexual co-operation, +has its exceptions in both kingdoms in parthenogenesis, to which in the +vegetable kingdom a most curious series of gradations leads. In plants, +likewise, a long and most finely graduated series of transitions leads +from bisexual to unisexual blossoms; and so in various other respects. +Everywhere we may perceive that Nature secures her ends, and makes her +distinctions on the whole manifest and real, but everywhere without +abrupt breaks. We need not wonder, therefore, that gradations between +species and varieties should occur; the more so, since genera, tribes, +and other groups into which the naturalist collocates species are +far from being always absolutely limited in Nature, though they are +necessarily represented to be so in systems. From the necessity of the +case, the classifications of the naturalist abruptly define where Nature +more or less blends. Our systems are nothing, if not definite. They +are intended to express differences, and perhaps some of the coarser +gradations. But this evinces, not their perfection, but their +imperfection. Even the best of them are to the system of Nature what +consecutive patches of the seven colors are to the rainbow. + +Now the principle of gradation throughout organic Nature may, of +course, be interpreted upon other assumptions than those of Darwin's +hypothesis,--certainly upon quite other than those of materialistic +philosophy, with which we ourselves have no sympathy. Still we conceive +it not only possible, but probable, that this gradation, as it has its +natural ground, may yet have its scientific explanation. In any case, +there is no need to deny that the general facts correspond well with an +hypothesis like Darwin's, which is built upon fine gradations. + +We have contemplated quite long enough the general presumptions in +favor of an hypothesis of the derivation of species. We cannot forget, +however, while for the moment we overlook, the formidable difficulties +which all hypotheses of this class have to encounter, and the serious +implications which they seem to involve. We feel, moreover, that +Darwin's particular hypothesis is exposed to some special objections. It +requires no small strength of nerve steadily to conceive not only of +the variation, but of the formation of the organs of an animal through +cumulative variation and natural selection. Think of such an organ as +the eye, that most perfect of optical instruments, as so produced in the +lower animals and perfected in the higher! A friend of ours, who accepts +the new doctrine, confesses that for a long while a cold chill came over +him whenever he thought of the eye. He has at length got over that stage +of the complaint, and is now in the fever of belief, perchance to be +succeeded by the sweating stage, during which sundry peccant humors may +be eliminated from the system. + +For ourselves, we dread the chill, and have some misgiving about the +consequences of the reaction. We find ourselves in the "singular +position" acknowledged by Pictet,--that is, confronted with a theory +which, although it can really explain much, seems inadequate to the +heavy task it so boldly assumes, but which, nevertheless, appears better +fitted than any other that has been broached to explain, if it be +possible to explain, somewhat of the manner in which organized beings +may have arisen and succeeded each other. In this dilemma we might take +advantage of Mr. Darwin's candid admission, that he by no means expects +to convince old and experienced people, whose minds are stocked with a +multitude of facts all viewed during a long course of years from the old +point of view. This is nearly our case. So, owning no call to a larger +faith than is expected of us, but not prepared to pronounce the whole +hypothesis untenable, under such construction as we should put upon it, +we naturally sought to attain a settled conviction through a perusal +of several proffered refutations of the theory. At least, this course +seemed to offer the readiest way of bringing to a head the various +objections to which the theory is exposed. On several accounts some +of these opposed reviews specially invite examination. We propose, +accordingly, to conclude our task with an article upon "Darwin and his +Reviewers." + + * * * * * + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Modern Painters_. By J. RUSKIN. Vol. V. Smith, Elder, & Co. London. + +The completion of a work of the importance of the "Modern Painters," +which has occupied in its production the thought and a large portion of +the labor of fourteen years, is an event of more interest than it often +falls to the lot of a book to excite; but when, as in this case, the +result shows the development of an individual taste and critical ability +entirely without peer in the history of art-letters, the value of the +whole work is immensely enhanced by the time which its publication +covers. + +The first volume of "Modern Painters" was, as everybody will remember, +one of the sensation-books of the time, and fell upon the public opinion +of the day like a thunderbolt from the clear sky. Denying, and in many +instances overthrowing, the received canons of criticism, and defying +all the accepted authorities in it, the author excited the liveliest +astonishment and the bitterest hostility of the professional critics in +general, and at once divided the world of art, so far as his influence +reached, into two parts: the one embracing most of the reverent and +conservative minds, and by far the larger; the other, most of the +enthusiastic, the radical, and earnest; but this, small in numbers +at first, was increased, and still increases, by the force of those +qualities of enthusiasm and earnestness, until now, in England, it +embraces nearly all of the true and living art of our time. But that +volume, professedly treating art with reference to its superficial +attributes and for a special purpose, the redemption of a great and +revered artist from unjust disparagement and undeserved neglect, +touched in scarcely the least degree the vital questions of taste or +art-production. It had no considerations of sentiment or discussion of +principles to offer: it dealt with facts, and touched the simple truths +of Nature with an enthusiastic fire and lucidness which were proof +positive of the knowledge and feeling of the author; and the public, +either conversant with those facts or capable of being satisfied of +them without much thought, abandoned itself to the fascination of his +eloquence and acquiesced in his teachings, or arrayed itself in utter +hostility to him and his new ideas. + +The second volume was more abstruse and deeper in feeling, and +comparatively few of Mr. Ruskin's followers through the first cared +to get entangled in the metaphysical mazes of the second, and it is +generally neglected, although containing some of the deepest and most +satisfactory studies on the fundamental principles of art and taste +which have ever been printed. + +The third and fourth volumes, coming up again nearer the surface, made +an application of the principles investigated to the material for art +which Nature furnishes; and here again the author found in part his +audience diminished among those who had at first been carried away by +his enthusiasm or silenced and convinced by his unhesitating dogmatism. +A partial reaction took place, owing not only to the change in the tone +of the "Modern Painters," but to the springing up of a new school of +painting, the consequence, mainly and legitimately, of the teachings of +the work,--the pre-Raphaelite,--which, at once attacked virulently and +immeasurably by the old school of critics, and defended as earnestly by +Mr. Ruskin, became the subject of the war which was still waged between +him and them. Turner in the meanwhile had passed away and was admitted +to apotheosis, the malignant critics of yesterday becoming the ignorant +adulators of to-day: _his_ position was conceded, but the hostility to +Ruskin was sustained with unabated bitterness on the new field. He +was demolished anew, and proved, many useless times over and over, an +ignorant pretender; the public in the meanwhile, even his opponents, +taking up in turn his _protégés_, as he pointed them out to their +notice. The effect of his criticisms in enhancing the value of the works +they approved would be incredible, if one did not know how glad an +English public is to be led. As a single instance,--a drawing which was +sold from one of the water-color exhibitions at fifty guineas, sold +again, after Ruskin's notice, at two hundred and fifty; and in the lists +of pictures sold or to be sold at auction, one sees constantly, "Noticed +by Mr. Ruskin," "Approved by Mr. Ruskin," appended to the title. + +The third volume, being devoted to the correction of the ideas of Style +and the Ideal, to Finish, and a review of the Past Landscape-Painting, +recurs to Turner in its closing chapter, "On his Teachers"; the fourth +was given to Mountain _Beauty_, following the parallel of the first, +which treated of the _Truth_ of Mountains, and bearing as its burden of +moral the expression of that Ideal by Turner; and the fifth now comes to +conclude the investigations on the Ideal by chapters: first, on "Leaf +Beauty," an exceedingly interesting investigation of the development +of the forms of trees and plants as concerned with the laws of beauty; +second, "Cloud Beauty"; and then of the "Ideas of Relation," in which +the author comes finally to the demonstration of the right of Turner to +his position amongst the thinking and poetic painters. + +From the first division, "Leaf Beauty," we must make one extract. +The author has been speaking of the, influence of the Pine on Swiss +character. + +"But the point which I desire the reader to note is, that the character +of the scene which, if any, appears to have been impressive to the +inhabitant is not that which we ourselves feel when we enter the +district. It was not from their lakes, nor their cliffs, nor their +glaciers, though these were all peculiarly their possession, that the +three venerable cantons or states received their name. They were not +called the States of the Rock, nor the States of the Lake, but the +States of the _Forest_. And the one of the three which contains the most +touching record of the spiritual power of Swiss religion, in the name of +the convent of the 'Hill of Angels,' has for its own none but the sweet, +childish name of 'Under the Woods.' + +"And, indeed, you may pass under them, if, leaving the most sacred spot +in Swiss history, the Meadow of the Three Fountains, you bid the boatman +row southward a little way by the Bay of Uri. Steepest there, on its +western side, the walls of its rocks ascend to heaven. Far in the blue +of evening, like a great cathedral-pavement, lies the lake in its +darkness; and you may hear the whisper of innumerable falling waters +return from the hollows of the cliff like the voices of a multitude +praying under their breath. From time to time, the beat of a wave, slow +lifted, where the rocks lean over the black depth, dies heavily as the +last note of a requiem. Opposite, green with steep grass and set with +châlet villages, the Tron Alp rises in one solemn glow of pastoral light +and peace; and above, against the clouds of twilight, ghostly on the +gray precipice, stand, myriad by myriad, the shadowy armies of the +Unterwalden pine. + +"I have seen that it is possible for the stranger to pass through this +great chapel, with its font of waters, and mountain pillars, and vaults +of cloud, without being touched by one noble thought or stirred by any +sacred passion; but for those who received from its waves the baptism +of their youth, and learned beneath its rocks the fidelity of their +manhood, and watched amidst its clouds the likeness of the dream of +life, with the eyes of age,--for these I will not believe that the +mountain-shrine was built or the calm of its forest-shadows guarded by +their God in vain." + +But perhaps that conclusion of Ruskin's, in the new volume, which will +most interest his earnest readers, is that the Venetian school is _the +only religious school that has ever existed_. So much has Ruskin's +development seemed to contradict itself, that one is scarcely surprised +at one conclusion being apparently opposed to the former one; but a +change so great as this, from Giotto, Perugino, and Cima, to Tintoret, +Titian, and Veronese, as the religious ideals, will, indeed, amaze all +who read it. Yet this is but the logical consequence of his progression +hitherto. If he commenced with a belief that asceticism was religion, he +would recognize Perugino and Giotto as the true religious artists; but +if, as seems to be the case, he has learned at last that religion is a +thing of daily life, mingling in all that we do, caring for body as well +as soul, sense as well as spirit, and that a complete man must be a +man who _lives_ in every sense of the word, then the Venetians, as the +painters of the truth of life in _all_ its joy and sorrow, are the true +painters, and the only ones whose art was inhabited by a religion worth +following. + +It is interesting to follow what are called Ruskin's contradictions and +see how perfectly they represent the whole system of artistic truth, as +seen from the different points of a young artist's or student's growth +up to mature and ripened judgment; so that there is no stage of artistic +development which has not some form of truth particularly adapted to it, +in the "Modern Painters." If it be urged that the book should have been +written only from the point of final development, it can only be said +that no true book will ever he so written, for no man can ever be +certain of his having attained final truth. "Modern Painters" has +value in this very showing of the critical development, which to an +intelligent student is greater than that a complete and infallible guide +could have. + +The chapter on Invention is full of the most delightful artistic truth, +and shows completely, by copious illustrations, how well Turner deserved +the rank Ruskin gives him amongst great composers. The analyses of the +compositions of Turner are most curious and interesting, but, of course, +depend on the accompanying plates. Some most valuable mental philosophy +bearing on the production of art-works concludes Part VIII., which +is devoted to "Invention Formal," of which we quote the concluding +paragraphs:-- + +"Until the feelings can give strength enough to the will to enable it +to conquer them, they are not strong enough. If you cannot leave your +picture at any moment, cannot turn from it and go on with another while +the color is drying, cannot work at any part of it you choose with equal +contentment, you have not firm enough grasp of it. + +"It follows, also, that no vain or selfish person can possibly paint, +in the noble sense of the word. Vanity and selfishness are troublous, +eager, anxious, petulant: painting can only be done in calm of mind. +Resolution is not enough to secure this; it must be secured by +disposition as well. You may resolve to think of your picture only; but, +if you have been fretted before beginning, no manly or clear grasp of +it will be possible for you. No forced calm is calm enough: only honest +calm, natural calm. You might as well try by external pressure to smooth +a lake till it could reflect the sky, as by violence of effort to secure +the peace through which only you can reach imagination. That peace must +come in its own time, as the waters settle themselves into clearness as +well as quietness: you can no more filter your mind into purity than you +can compress it into calmness; you must keep it pure, if you would have +it pure; and throw no stones into it, if you would have it quiet. Great +courage and self-command may to a certain extent give power of painting +without the true calmness underneath, but never of doing first-rate +work. There is sufficient evidence of this in even what we know of great +men, though of the greatest we nearly always know the least (and that +necessarily; they being very silent, and not much given to setting +themselves forth to questioners,--apt to be contemptuously reserved no +less than unselfishly). But in such writings and sayings as we possess +of theirs we may trace a quite curious gentleness and serene courtesy. +Rubens's letters are almost ludicrous in their unhurried politeness. +Reynolds, swiftest of painters, was gentlest of companions; so also +Velasquez, Titian, and Veronese. + +"It is gratuitous to add that no shallow or petty person can paint. Mere +cleverness or special gift never made an artist. It is only perfectness +of mind, unity, depth, decision, the highest qualities, in fine, of the +intellect, which will form the imagination. + +"And, lastly, no false person can paint. A person false at heart may, +when it suits his purposes, seize a stray truth here or there; but the +relations of truth, its perfectness, that which makes it wholesome +truth, he can never perceive. As wholeness and wholesomeness go +together, so also sight with sincerity; it is only the constant desire +of and submissiveness to truth, which can measure its strange angles +and mark its infinite aspects, and fit them and knit them into sacred +invention. + +"Sacred I call it deliberately; for it is thus in the most accurate +senses, humble as well as helpful,--meek in its receiving as magnificent +in its disposing; the name it bears being rightly given even to +invention formal, not because it forms, but because it finds. For you +cannot find a lie; you must make it for yourself. False things may be +imagined, and false things composed; but only truth can be invented." + +One of those cardinal doctrines by which we may learn the bearings of a +writer's system of truth is that of Ruskin's of the intimate connection +between landscape art and humanity. + +"Fragrant tissue of flowers, golden circlet of clouds, are only fair +when they meet the fondness of human thoughts and glorify human visions +of heaven. + +"It is the leaning on this truth which more than any other has been the +distinctive character of all my own past work. And in closing a series +of art-studies, prolonged during so many years, it may be perhaps +permitted me to point out this specialty,--the rather that it has been, +of all their characters, the one most denied. I constantly see that the +same thing takes place in the estimation formed by the modern public of +the work of almost any true person, living or dead. It is not needful +to state here the causes of such error; but the fact is indeed so, that +precisely the distinctive root and leading force of any true man's work +and way are the things denied him. + +"And in these books of mine, their distinctive character, as essays on +art, is their bringing everything to a root in human passion or human +hope. Arising first not in any desire to explain the principles of art, +but in the endeavor to defend an individual painter from injustice, they +have been colored throughout, nay, continually altered in shape, and +even warped and broken, by digressions respecting social questions, +which had for me an interest tenfold greater than the work I had been +forced into undertaking. Every principle of painting which I have +stated is traced to some vital or spiritual fact; and in my works on +architecture the preference accorded finally to one school over another +is founded on a comparison of their influences on the life of the +workman,--a question by all other writers on the subject of architecture +wholly forgotten or despised. + +"The essential connection of the power of landscape with human emotion +is not less certain because in many impressive pictures the link is +slight or local. That the connection should exist at a single point is +all that we need.... That difference, and more, exists between the power +of Nature through which humanity is seen, and her power in the desert. +Desert,--whether of leaf or sand,--true desertness, is not in the want +of leaves, but of life. Where humanity is not and was not, the best +natural beauty is more than vain. It is even terrible; not as the +dress cast aside from the body, but as an embroidered shroud hiding a +skeleton." + +The volume, as a whole, will be found less dogmatic, calmer, more +convincing, and more directly applicable to artistic judgment, than any +of the others. There is the same love of mysticism and undermeanings, +but freighted with deeper and more central truths: a charming conclusion +to a fourteen-years' diary of such study of Art and Nature, so severe, +so unremitting, as never critic gave before. + + +_Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb._ By W.W. GOODWIN, +Ph.D. Cambridge: Sever and Francis. + +Grammarians had once a simple way of disposing of the subject on which +Professor Goodwin has given us this elaborate treatise of three hundred +pages. + +In the Greek Grammar of the Messieurs de Port Royal, which Gibbon +praises so highly in his charming autobiography, and which has passed +through several editions in England within the present century, we +are taught, that, "though the moods [in Greek] are not to be rejected +entirely, yet their signification is sometimes so very arbitrary, that +they are put for one another through all tenses." Lancelot himself +seems to have had a glimmering of the essential incredibility of this +statement; for, though he attempts to substantiate it by citing from +Greek authors a number of passages in which the Greek idiom happens to +differ from the Latin,--passages, however, which Mr. Goodwin would have +been glad to use, had they fallen in his way, to illustrate the regular +constructions of the language,--he feels it necessary to appeal to +the authority of the learned Budæus, the greatest of the early Greek +scholars. Strange as it seems that really accomplished Greek scholars +should have charged Plato and Demosthenes, speaking the most perfect of +tongues, with arbitrary interchanges of moods and tenses, yet the same +views continued to be presented in grammatical works down to the close +of the last century. The transition to the new school of grammarians was +made in 1792, by the publication of a Greek Grammar by Philip Buttmann, +which, in the greatly improved form which it afterwards received from +his hands, is familiar to all Greek scholars. In our frequent boasts of +the great strides that knowledge has taken in the present century, we +commonly have in mind the physical sciences; but we doubt whether in any +department of physical science the manuals in use seventy-five years +ago are so utterly inferior to those of the present day as are, for +instance, the remarks of Viger, and his commentators before Hermann, on +the syntax of the Greek verb, to the philosophical treatment of the same +points by Professor Goodwin. + +This work is entitled, we think, to rank with the best grammars of the +Greek language that have appeared in German or English, in all the +points that constitute grammatical excellence; while its monographic +character justified and required an exhaustive treatment of its +particular topic, not to be found even in the huge grammars of Matthiæ +and Kühner. Indeed, not the least of its merits is this, that, in +addition to the excellent matter which is original with Professor +Goodwin, it furnishes to the student, American or English,--for we hope +to see its merits recognized on the other side of the Atlantic,--a +digest, as it were, of all that is most valuable on the subject of the +syntax of the Greek verb in the best German grammars, from Buttmann +to Madvig, enhanced, too, in value by being recast and worked into a +homogeneous system by an acute scholar and experienced teacher. One +excellence of the book we would by no means pass over, an excellence +which we are sure will be particularly appreciated by all who have used +translations of German grammars,--the precision both of thought and +expression by which it is characterized, which releases the student from +the labor of constructing the meaning of a rule from the data of the +appended examples. Not that Mr. Goodwin is chary of examples; on the +contrary, one of the most attractive and not least profitable features +of the book is the copiousness and freshness of the illustrative +quotations from Greek authors. These are as welcome as the brightness of +newly minted coin to the eye which, in consulting grammar after grammar, +has been condemned to meet under corresponding rules always the same +examples, till they begin to produce that effect upon the nerves which +all have experienced at the mention of the deadly upas-tree, or the +imminence of the dissolution of the Union. + +We must not omit to speak of the typographical merit of the work,--and +especially of what constitutes the first and the last merit of books of +this class, the excellent table of contents, and the indexes, Greek and +English, which leave nothing to be desired in the way of facility of +reference, except, perhaps, an index to the quotations. + + +_The Law of the Territories_. Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Son. + +The author of the two able essays contained in this volume will be +remembered by many of our readers under his assumed name of "Cecil." +The second, as he himself tells us, on "Popular Sovereignty in the +Territories," was published, as one of a series of essays on Southern +politics, in the Philadelphia _North American and United States +Gazette_. The first, we believe, has never been published before. + +Our author, whom we may designate, without violating any confidence, as +Mr. George Sidney Fisher, devotes an elaborate preface, which is itself +a third essay, to discussing the invasion of Virginia by John Brown and +the Southern threats of secession, drawing from the foray of Harper's +Ferry a conclusion very different from that of the disunionists. In his +own words,-- + + "Disunion is a word of fear. Is it not + strange that it should have been as yet pronounced + only by the South? The danger of + insurrection and servile war belongs to the + nature of slavery. It is, perhaps, not too much + to assert that the safety and tranquillity of + Southern society depend on the fact that the + Northern people are close at hand to aid in + case of need,--that the power of the General + Government is ever ready for the same purpose. + Four millions of barbarians, growing + with tropical vigor, and soon to be eight millions, + with tropical passions boiling in their + blood, endowed with native courage, with + sinews strong by toil, and stimulated by the + hope of liberty and unbounded license, are + not to be trifled with. Take away from them + the idea of an irresistible power in the North, + ready at any moment to be invoked by their + masters, or let them expect in the North, not + enemies, but friends and supporters, which + even now they are told every day by these + masters they may expect,--and how soon + might a flame be lighted which no power in + the South could extinguish!" + +Mr. Fisher treats of the "Law of the Territories" in two essays,--the +first considering more particularly "The Territories and the +Constitution," the second, "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories." The +first commences with a quotation so happy that it has all the effect of +original wit:-- + + "The wily and witty Talleyrand was once + asked the meaning of the word 'non-intervention,' + so often used in European diplomacy. + 'It is a word,' he replied, 'metaphysical and + political, not accurately defined, but which + means--much the same thing as intervention!' + The same word has been frequently + employed, of late years, in our politics, with + the same difference between its professed + and its practical signification. It was introduced + for the first time in reference to the + government of the Territories, when it became + an object for the South to gain Kansas as a + Slave State. Two obstacles were to be overcome. + One was the Missouri Compromise, + which was a solemn compact between North + and South to settle a disturbing and dangerous + question; the other was a possible majority + in Congress, that, it was feared, might prohibit + slavery in the new Territory. Southern + politicians had at the time control of the government; + and they got rid of both difficulties + by repealing the Missouri Compromise in the + Kansas and Nebraska Bill. By necessary implication, + arising from the relation of the Territories + to the rest of the nation, by the language + of the Constitution, and by the uniform + construction of it and practice under it from + the earliest period of our history, the Territories + had been subjected to the absolute control + of the General Government. By the Kansas + and Nebraska Bill they were withdrawn + from that control. The principle of Popular + Sovereignty, it was said, applied to them as + well as to the States; and this bill declared + that the people of the Territories should be + perfectly free to choose their own domestic + institutions and regulate their own affairs in + their own way." + +The means employed to carry out this plan and the ultimate failure of +the plan itself are sketched with a boldness and vigor that our limits, +much to our regret, forbid our reproducing. Mr. Fisher, however, fails +to notice the wretched plea put forth by the Democratic managers, +in favor of the recognition by Congress of the Lecompton +Constitution,--that it had been officially authenticated. All might be +wrong, but the official record pronounced it right; and behind that +record Congress had no authority to go. And this plea was advanced in +the face of overwhelming evidence tending to show that the officials, +for whose record so inviolable a sanctity was claimed, were appointed +for the express purpose of falsifying that record! If confirmation be +wanted, we need go no farther than the fate of Robert J. Walker, who was +eager to make Kansas a Slave State, but was so false to every principle +of Democratic integrity as to confine himself to legitimate means to +bring about that result,--a remissness for which he was promptly removed +by President Buchanan! Mr. Fisher pertinently says,-- + +"Two great facts were plainly visible through the flimsy web of attorney +logic and quibbling technicality, not very ingeniously woven to conceal +them. One of these facts was, that the people of Kansas were heartily +and almost unanimously averse to slavery; the other was, that the +Government was trying by every means in its power to impose slavery upon +them." + +After describing the contemptuous rejection by the people of Kansas of +the pro-slavery constitution, Mr. Fisher proceeds with an analysis of +the Kansas-Nebraska fraud, so clear and so masterly that we must again +quote his own language, with an occasional condensation or omission. + +"It was clear, therefore, that the principle of Popular Sovereignty, +introduced by the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, a principle before unknown +to the law and practice of our government, would not suit the South. +It appeared too probable that not only the people to inhabit all the +territory north of 36° 30', but also much territory south of it, would, +like the people of Kansas, reject slavery, if left to regulate their +domestic institutions in their own way. What, then, were Southern +politicians to do? Invoke the ancient and long exercised, but now denied +and derided power of Congress over the Territories? This might prove a +dangerous weapon in the hands of possible future Northern majorities. It +was obviously necessary to withdraw slavery alike from the control of +Congress and of the people of a Territory. Some ingenuity was required +for this. The doctrine that the Constitution extends to the Territories +(a doctrine broached before by Mr. Calhoun, but always defeated on the +ground that the Constitution, by its language and the practice under it, +was made for States only, and that the Territories were subject to the +supreme control of Congress,--a control frequently exercised, not only +independently of the Constitution, but in a manner incompatible with it) +was introduced, with other innovations, into the Kansas and Nebraska +Bill. The Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court followed, by which +the Constitution recognizes slavery as a national institution. It +recognizes slaves as mere property, differing in no respect from other +merchandise. The Territories belong to the nation. Every citizen has +equal rights to them and in them. Why, therefore, may not a Southern +man, as well as a Northern man, go into them with his _property_? What +right has Congress to place the South under an ignominious bar of +restriction? The Constitution declares that slaves are property; that +all the States and the people have equal rights. The Territories belong +to all. Therefore, under the Constitution, they should be enjoyed by +all. + +"By this ingenious logic the Kansas and Nebraska Bill is made to +contradict itself. It first declares that the Constitution extends to +the Territories; in other words, slavery exists there by force of the +Constitution, without reference to the will of the people. It then says +that the people of the Territories shall be 'perfectly free to form and +regulate their domestic institutions in their own way.' + +"The contradictions, duplicity, and absurdity of the law are obvious at +once. The first sentence announces a change in the settled principles +and policy of the Government; else why declare that the Constitution +'_shall_' extend to Nebraska, if it already extended there? Then comes +the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The reason given for this is, +that it is inconsistent with the non-intervention by Congress with +slavery, recognized in the Compromise of 1850. But that law declares +positively that Congress does not intervene, _because it is +'inexpedient'_ to do so; and gives the reason why it is inexpedient. The +_power_ of Congress _was asserted_ by Mr. Clay, who made the law, and +the terms of it were chosen for the very purpose of preventing any +inference being drawn from it against that power. + +"It is remarkable, too, that the Bill, whilst declaring the _perfect_ +freedom of the Territories, should still have left them subject to the +power of the President, who, as before, is permitted to appoint their +Governor, Judges, and Marshals, officers who are his agents, and without +whose sanction the acts of the Territorial Legislature can neither +become laws, nor be construed and applied, nor executed. So that the +will of the people may be defeated, should it happen to be opposed to +the will of the President: as was seen in the case of Kansas. + +"Why," Mr. Fisher asks, "is the anomalous monster of Popular Sovereignty +to be introduced with reference to slavery? Is it because slaves are +'mere property'? Why, then, not subject all property, land included, to +popular control? Is it because the subject of slavery is an exciting +topic, a theme for dangerous agitation, to be checked only by placing +the subject beyond the power of Congress? The answer is, that Congress +cannot abdicate its power on the ground of expediency. If it may give up +one power, it may give up all. Nor can Congress delegate its power for +the same reason. Trust power, from its very nature, cannot be delegated. +To break down great principles, to set aside ancient usage, to abandon +legal authority, in order to appease the contests of parties, is too +great a sacrifice. No true peace can come of it; only suppressed and +adjourned war." + +The natural inference from the extracts we have given would be that Mr. +Fisher was a member of the Republican party. But such is not the fact: +Mr. Fisher rests his hope upon a party "yet to be organized." "The +extreme Northern, or Free-soil, or Abolition party is only less guilty +than the extreme Southern and Democratic party." Which? Does Mr. Fisher +mean that "Northern," "Free-soil," and "Abolition" are synonymous terms? +And does any or do all of them mean the Republican party? Or, finally, +does Mr. Fisher shrink from the conclusions presented by his logic, and +is his vaguely convenient linking together of different words intended +to leave his position gracefully doubtful? And in that case, do the +Baltimore nominations, with their innocent unconsciousness, supply his +political needs? It is not easy to answer these questions. We begin now +upon the views of a Pennsylvania Oppositionist; and quicksilver defied +not more utterly the skill of Raymond Lullius than the doctrines of the +Philadelphia school perplex the inquiries of sharply defined New England +minds. The rudimentary state of Republican principles may nowhere else +be so clearly seen as in Pennsylvania. Four years of the Democratic +administration of her "favorite son" have done much to make her less +favored sons into good Republicans; but the State needs another +Democratic President. Mr. Fisher appears to much more advantage in +pulling down than in building up. We have hitherto seen only the keen, +fearless dissector of fraud and hypocrisy; we are now to contemplate a +circumspect alarmist, who dreads to call things by their right names +for fear of unpleasant consequences. He is such a master of English, +so judicious in the use of middle terms,--so shrewd a fencer +altogether,--that even his timidity cannot make him other than a +formidable opponent. + +Mr. Fisher, believing that slavery receives ample protection from a fair +interpretation of the Constitution, holds that + +"Congress has plenary power over the Territories, often exercised on +this subject of slavery. It may be said that Congress has on various +occasions prohibited slavery in the Territories. True; but with the +consent and coöperation of the Southern States. The people of all the +States have equal right in the Territories. To exclude the people of the +Slave States, therefore, _without their consent_, would be unequal and +opposed to the spirit of the Constitution." + +Certainly it would. Who proposes to do it? No living man, woman, or +child. It is worth noticing, by the way, that the Republican party is +not committed to the doctrine of carrying out the principle of the +Wilmot Proviso. But supposing it were, Mr. Fisher's argument has +no force or direction, unless he can establish his suppressed +premise,--that the exclusion of slavery from the Territories is the +exclusion of "the people of the Slave States" from the Territories. +And to make that good, all Mr. Fisher's skill and ingenuity will +be required. Why so many Northern politicians should have weakly +surrendered this point is a mystery. Because the slaveholders (who are +not, Mr. Fisher, "the people of the Slave States," by any means, but a +small portion of them) are at home a privileged aristocracy, have they +any claim to the same position abroad? If so, on what does it rest? The +laws of the Southern States? They are now beyond their jurisdiction. The +common law? To that wise and beneficent law slavery is a thing unknown. +The Constitution? It is silent. There is no exclusion of the Southerners +even proposed. Let them come: but when they claim to carry with them +the right to hold a certain class of men as property because they +are recognized as property by certain local regulations elsewhere +prevailing, they must not complain, if such a claim be disallowed. The +Southerner's complaint, that he is accustomed to the institution of +slavery, is fairly met by the Northerner's retort, that he is accustomed +to the institution of freedom. + +Now, which voice shall prevail? Neither party has any more right than +the other; and neither party has any right at all. The Territories are +in a state of wardship; and Congress is to decide as it thinks best for +their welfare, present and future; and if Congress thinks that a nation +prospers with free institutions and droops under slavery, then let +Congress admit the Territory as a Free State. True, there is some +inconvenience to the slave-holder; but from so abnormal a relation as +slavery some inconvenience must result. When admitted to be a necessary +evil, it is barely tolerable; when boastingly proclaimed to be a +sovereign good, it is fairly intolerable. And it is both criminal and +foolish to try to make good all the evils inseparable from slavery by +systematic injustice to other interests. + + "Slavery has changed. When Southern + men consented to its prohibition, they hoped + and believed that the time would come when + it could be abolished altogether. They have + as much right to these as to their former opinions, + and to have them represented in the + Government." + +Here Mr. Fisher hints at, rather than fully states, the grand retort of +the Southerners,--"Our fathers, you say, were opposed to slavery: very +good; but we are not: why should we be bound by their opinions?" A mere +misapprehension of the force of the argument. The Southerner of 1860 is +_not_ bound by the opinions of Madison and Jefferson; but the North +may fairly adduce the opinions of those men, who were framers of the +Constitution, not as binding upon their descendants, but as serving to +explain the meaning of disputed provisions in that Constitution. The +Constitution binds us all, North and South: then recurs the question, +What is the meaning of its provisions? and _then_ the contemporaneous +opinions of its framers come legitimately into play as an argument. + +Of the Missouri Compromise Mr. Fisher says,-- + + "It may be said that this law was a violation + of the equal rights of the Southern people, + by excluding them from a large portion + of the national domain. The answer is, not + merely that this was done with their consent, + their representatives having approved the law, + but that the law did recognize their rights, + by dividing between them and the Northern + people all the territory then possessed by the + Government." + +We are surprised that upon his own presentation of the case this simple +question does not occur to Mr. Fisher: Supposing the South and the North +to have had equal and conflicting rights in the national domain, and +supposing that there was need of some arbiter, and remembering that +Congress undertook the duties of arbiter and decided that the +division under the Missouri Compromise gave each section its rightful +share,--then, with what propriety can the South, after occupying its own +share, call for a portion in the share allotted to the North? + +The second essay, on "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories," presents +comparatively few salient points. A very spirited and just history of +the working of the Administration schemes in Kansas, a restating of +some of the arguments against the Kansas-Nebraska Act set forth in the +preceding essay, and a remonstrance against the headstrong course of +Southern politicians are its most noticeable features. + + "The Union, the Constitution, and the + friendship of the North: these are the pillars + on which rest the peace, the safety, the + independence of the South. The extraordinary + thing is, that for some years past the South + has been, and now is, sedulously employed in + undermining this triple foundation of its power + and safety. Its extravagant pretensions, + its excesses, its crimes, are rapidly cooling + the friendship of the North,--converting it, + indeed, into positive enmity. Its leading politicians + are ever plotting and threatening disunion. + disunion will he proffered to them from the North, not + as a vague and passionate threat, but as a positive + and well-considered plan, backed by a + force of public opinion which nothing can resist. + Ere long, the South is likely to be left + with no other defence than the Union it has + weakened and the Constitution it has mutilated + and defaced. + + "The makers of the Kansas and Nebraska + law were clumsy workmen. They forgot to + provide for the case of an anti-slavery President. + They will, perhaps, learn wisdom by + experience. + + "'To wilful men + The injuries that they themselves procure + Must be their schoolmasters.' + + "Those who framed the Constitution and laid + the foundation of this Union understood their + business better. That Constitution was intended + to protect the South, and has protected + it. Southern politicians cannot improve + it. For their own sakes they had better + let it alone." + +We have given enough to show that in discussing Mr. Fisher we are +dealing with two different men. The field is now clear for the great +political contest of 1860. Mr. Fisher may have allied himself before +this with the Republicans, or may look to have his anticipations +fulfilled by that third party who are as unconscious of wrong as +powerless to rectify it, "the world-forgetting, by the world forgot." We +wish him well through his troubles. + + +_A Dictionary of English Etymology._ By HENSLEIGH WEDGWOOD, M. A. Late +Fellow of Chr. Coll. Cam. Vol. I. (A-D.) London: Trübner and Co., 60 +Paternoster Row. 1859. pp. xxiv., 507. + +There is nothing more dangerously fascinating than etymologies. To the +uninitiated the victim seems to have eaten of "insane _roots_ that take +the reason prisoner"; while the illuminate too often looks upon the +stems and flowers of language, the highest achievements of thought and +poesy, as mere handles by which to pull up the grimy tubers that lie at +the base of articulate expression, shapeless knobs of speech, sacred to +him as the potato to the Irishman. + +The sarcasms of Swift were not without justification; for crazier +analogies than that between Andromache and Andrew Mackay have been +gravely insisted on by persons who, like the author of "Amilec," +believed that the true secret of philosophizing _est celui de rêver +heureusement_. It is only within a few years that etymological +investigations have been limited by anything; like scientific precision, +or that profound study, patient thought, and severity of method +have asserted in this, as in other departments of knowledge, their +superiority to point-blank guessing and the bewitching generalization +conjured out of a couple or so of assumed facts, which, even if they +turn out to be singly true, are no more nearly related than Hecate and +green cheese. + +We do not object to that milder form of philology of which the works +of Dean Trench offer the readiest and most pleasing example, and which +confines itself to the mere study of words, to the changes of form and +meaning they have undergone and the forgotten moral that lurks in them. +But the interest of Dr. Trench and others like him sticks fast in words, +it is almost wholly an aesthetic interest, and does not pretend to +concern itself with the deeper problems of language, its origin, its +comparative anatomy, its bearing upon the prehistoric condition of +mankind and the relations of races, and its claim to a place among the +natural sciences as an essential element in any attempt to reconstruct +the broken and scattered annals of our planet. It would not be just to +find fault with Dr. Trench's books for lacking a scientific treatment +to which they make no pretension, but they may fairly be charged with +smelling a little too much of the shop. There is a faint odor of the +sermon-case about every page, and we learn to dread, sometimes to skip, +the inevitable homily, as we do the moral at the end of an Æsopic fable. +We enter our protest, not against Dr. Trench in particular, for his +books have other and higher claims to our regard, but because we find +that his example is catching, the more so as verbal morality is much +cheaper than linguistic science. If there be anything which the study of +words should teach, it is their value. + +There are two theories as to the origin of language, which, for +shortness, may be defined as the poetic and the matter-of-fact. The +former (of which M. Ernest Renan is one of the most eloquent advocates) +supposes a primitive race or races endowed with faculties of cognition +and expression so perfect and so intimately responsive one to the +other, that the name of a thing came into being coincidently with the +perception of it. Verbal inflections and other grammatical forms came +into use gradually to meet the necessities of social commerce between +man and man, and were at some later epoch reduced to logical system by +constructive minds. If we understand him rightly, while not excluding +the influence of _onomatopeia_, (or physical imitation,) he would attach +a far greater importance to metaphysical causes. He says admirably +well, "La liaison du sens et du mot n'est jamais _nécessaire_, jamais +_arbitraire_; toujours elle est _motivée_." His theory amounts to this: +that the fresh perfection of the senses and the mental faculties made +the primitive man a poet. + +The other theory seeks the origin of language in certain imitative +radicals out of which it has analogically and metaphorically developed +itself. This system has at least the merits of clearness and simplicity, +and of being to a certain extent capable of demonstration. Its +limitation in this last respect will depend upon that mental +constitution which divides men naturally into Platonists and +Aristotelians. It has never before received so thorough an exposition +or been tested by so wide a range of application as in Mr. Wedgwood's +volume, nor could it well be more fortunate in its advocate. Mr. +Wedgwood is thorough, scrupulous, and fair-minded. + +It will be observed that neither theory brings any aid to the attempt +of Professor Max Müller and others to demonstrate etymologically the +original unity of the human race. Mr. Wedgwood leaves this question +aside, as irrelevant to his purpose. M. Renan combats it at considerable +length. The logical consequence of admitting either theory would be that +the problem was simply indemonstrable. + +At first sight, so imaginative a scheme as that of M. Renan is +singularly alluring; for, even when qualified by the sentence we have +quoted, we may attach such a meaning to the word _motivée_ as to find in +words the natural bodies of which the Platonic ideas are the soul and +spirit. We find in it a correlative illustration of that notion not +uncommon among primitive poets, and revived by the Cabalists, that +whoever knew the Word of a thing was master of the thing itself, and an +easy way of accounting for the innate fitness and necessity, the fore +ordination, which stamps the phrases of real poets. If, on the other +hand, we accept Mr. Wedgwood's system, we must consider speech, as +the theologians of the Middle Ages assumed of matter, to be only +_potentiated_ with life and soul, and shall find the phenomenon of +poetry as wonderful, if less mysterious, when we regard the fineness of +organization requisite to a perception of the remote analogies of sense +and thought, and the power, as of Solomon's seal, which can compel the +unwilling genius back into the leaden void which language becomes when +used as most men use it. + +There is a large class of words which every body admits to be imitative +of sounds,--such, for example, as _bang, splash, crack_,--and Mr. +Wedgwood undertakes to show that their number and that of their +derivative applications is much larger than is ordinarily supposed. He +confines himself almost wholly to European languages, but not always to +the particular class of etymologies which it is his main object to trace +out. Some of his explanations of words, not based upon any real or +assumed radical, but showing their gradual passage toward their present +forms and meanings, are among the most valuable parts of the book. +As striking proofs of this, we refer our readers to Mr. Wedgwood's +treatment of the words _abide, abie, allow, danger, and denizen_. When +he differs from other authorities, it is never inconsiderately or +without examination. Now and then we think his derivations are +far-fetched, when simpler ones were lying near his hand. He makes the +Italian _balcone_ come from the Persian _bÃ¥ia khaneh_, an upper chamber. +An upper chamber over a gate in the Persian caravanserais is still +called by that name, according to Rich. (p. 97.) Yet under the +word _balk_ we find, "A hayloft is provincially termed the _balks_, +(Halliwell,) because situated among the rafters. Hence also, probably, +the Ital. _balco_, or _pulcoy_ a scaffold; a loftlike erection supported +upon beams." As a _balcone_ is not an upper chamber, nor a chamber over +a gate, but is precisely "a loftlike erection supported upon beams," it +seems more reasonable to suppose it an augmentative formed in the usual +way from _balco_. Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of barbican from _bala +khaneh_ seems to us more happy. (Ducange refers the word to an Eastern +source.) He would also derive the Fr. _ébaucher_ from _balk_, though we +have a correlative form, _sbozzare_, in Italian, (old Sp. _esbozar_, +Port, _esboyar_, Diez,) with precisely the same meaning, and from a +root _bozzo_, which is related to a very different class of words from +_balk_. So bewitched is Mr. Wedgwood with this word _balk_, that he +prefers to derive the Ital. _valicam, varcare_, from it rather than from +the Latin _varicare_. We should think a deduction from the latter to the +English _walk_ altogether as probable. Mr. Wedgwood also inclines to +seek the origin of _acquaint_ in the Germ, _kund_, though we have all +the intermediate steps between it and the Mid. Lat. _adcognitare_. +Again, under _daunt_ he says, "Probably not directly from Lat. _domare_, +but from the Teutonic form _damp_, which is essentially the same word." +It may be plain that the Fr. _dompter_ (whence _daunt_) is not directly +from _domare_, but not so plain, as it seems to us, that it is not +directly from the frequentative form domitare.--"_Decoy_. Properly +_duck-coy_, as pronounced by those who are familiar with the thing +itself. '_Decoys_, vulgarly _duck-coys_.'--Sketch of the Fens, in +Gardener's Chron. 1849. Du. _koye_, cavea, septum, locus in quo +greges stabulantur.--Kil. _Kooi, konw, kevi_, a cage; _vogel-kooi_, a +bird-cage, decoy, apparatus for entrapping waterfowl. Prov. E. _Coy_, +a decoy for ducks, a coop for lobsters.--Forby. The name was probably +imported with the thing itself from Holland to the fens." (p. 447.) +_Duck-coy_, we cannot help thinking, is an instance of a corruption like +_bag o' nails_ from _bacchanals_, for the sake of giving meaning to a +word not understood. Decoys were and are used for other birds as well as +ducks, and _vogel-kooi_ in Dutch applies to all birds, (answering to our +trap-cage,) the special apparatus for ducks being an _eende-kooi_. The +French _coi_ adverbialized by the prefix _de_, and meaning quietly, +slyly, as a hunter who uses decoys must demean himself, would seem +a more likely original.--_Andiron_ Mr. Wedgwood derives from Flem. +_wend-ijser_, turn-irons, because the spit rested upon them. But the +original meaning seems to have no reference to the spit. The French +_landier_ is plainly a corruption of the Mid. Lat. _anderia_, by the +absorption of the article (_l'andier_). This gives us an earlier form +_andier_, and the augmentative _andieron_ would be our word.--_Baggage_. +We cannot think Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of this word from _bague_ an +improvement on that of Ducange from _baga_, area.--_Coarse_ Mr. Wedgwood +considers identical with _course_,--that is, of course, ordinary. He +finds a confirmation of this in the old spelling. Old spelling is seldom +a safe guide, though we wonder that the archaic form _boorly_ did not +seem to him a sufficient authority for the common derivation of _burly_. +If _coarse_ be not another form of _gross_, (Fr. _gros_, _grosse_,) +then there is no connection between _corn_ and _granum_, or _horse_ and +_ross_.--"_Cullion_. It. _Coglione_, a cullion, a fool, a scoundrel, +properly a dupe. See Cully. It. _cogionare_, to deceive, to make a dupe +of.... In the Venet. _coglionare_ becomes _cogionare_, as _vogia_ for +_voglia_.... Hence E. to _cozen_, as It. _fregio_, frieze; _cugino_, +cousin; _prigione_, prison." (p. 387.) Under _cully_, to which Mr. +Wedgwood refers, he gives another etymology of _coglione_, and, we +think, a wrong one. _Coglionare_ is itself a derivative form from +_coglione_, and the radical meaning is to be sought in _cogliere_, to +gather, to take in, to pluck. Hence a _coglione_ is a sharper, one who +takes in, plucks. _Cully_ and _gull_ (one who is taken in) must be +referred to the same source. Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of _cozen_ is +ingenious, and perhaps accounts for the doubtful Germ, _kosen_, unless +that word itself be the original.--"_To chaff_, in vulgar language to +rally one, to chatter or talk lightly. From a representation of the +inarticulate sounds made by different kinds of animals uttering rapidly +repeated cries. Du. _keffen_, to yap, to bark, also to prattle, chatter, +tattle. Halma," etc. We think it demonstrable that _chaff_ is only a +variety of _chafe_, from Fr. _écauffer_, retaining the broader sound of +the _a_ from the older form _chaufe_. So _gaby_, which Mr. Wedgwood (p. +84) would connect with _gäwisch_, (Fr. _gauche_,) is derived immediately +from O. Fr. _gabé_, (a laughing-stock, a butt,) the participial form of +_gaber_, to make fun of, which would lead us to a very different root. +(See the _Fabliaux, passim_.)--_Cress_. "Perhaps," says Mr. Wedgwood, +(p. 398,) "from the crunching sound of eating the crisp, green herb." +This is one of the instances in which he is lured from the plain path by +the Nixy _Onomatopoeia_. The analogy between _cress_ and _grass_ flies +in one's eyes; and, perhaps, the more probable derivation of the latter +is from the root meaning to grow, rather than from that meaning to eat, +unless, indeed, the two be originally identical. The A. S. forms +_coers_ and _goers_ are almost identical. The Fr. _cresson_, from It. +_crescione_, which Mr. Wedgwood cites, points in the direction of +_crescere_; and the O. Fr. _cressonage_, implying a verb _cressoner_, +means the right of _grazing_.--Under _dock_ Mr. Wedgwood would seem +(he does not make himself quite clear) to refer It. _doccia_ to a root +analogous with _dyke_ and _ditch_. He cites Prov. _doga_, which he +translates by _bank_. Raynouard has only "_dogua_, douve, creux, +cavité," and refers to It. _doga_. The primary meaning seems rather +the hollow than the bank, though this would matter little, as the same +transference of meaning may have taken place as in _dyke_ and _ditch_, +But when Mr. Wedgwood gives mill-_dam_ as the first meaning of the word +_doccia_, his wish seems to have stood godfather. Diez establishes the +derivation of _doccia_ from _ductus_; and certainly the sense of +a channel to lead (_ducere_) water in any desired direction is +satisfactory. The derivative signification of _doccia_ (a gouge, a tool +to make channels with) coincides. Moreover, we have the masculine form +_doccio_, answering exactly to the Sp. _ducho_ in _aguaducho_, the _o_ +for _u_, as in _doge_ for _duce_, from the same root _ducere_. Another +instance of Mr. Wedgwood's preferring the bird in the bush is to be +found in his refusing to consider _dout_, to extinguish, (_do out_,) as +analogous to _don, _doff_, and _dup_. He would rather connect it with +_tödten, tuer_. He cites as allied words Bohemian _dusyti_, to choke, to +extinguish; Polish _dusic_, to choke, stifle, quell; and so arrives at +the English slang phrase, "_dowse_ the glim." As we find several other +German words in thieves' English, we have little doubt that _dowse_ is +nothing more than _thu' aus_, do (thou) out, which would bring us back +to our starting-point. + +We have picked out a few instances in which we think Mr. Wedgwood +demonstrably mistaken, because they show the temptation which is ever +lying in wait to lead the theoretical etymologist astray. Mr. Wedgwood +sometimes seems to reverse the natural order of things, and to reason +backward from the simple to the more complex. He does not always respect +the boundaries of legitimate deduction. On the other hand, his case +becomes very strong where he finds relations of thought as well as of +sound between whole classes of words in different languages. But it is +very difficult to say how long ago instinctive imitation ceased and +other elements are to be admitted as operative. We see words continually +coming into vogue whose apparent etymologies, if all historical data of +their origin were lost, would inevitably mislead. If we did not know, +for example, the occasion which added the word _chouse_ to the English +language, we have little doubt that the twofold analogy of form and +meaning would have led etymologists to the German _kosen_, (with the +very common softening of the _k_ to _ch_,) and that the derivation would +have been perfectly satisfactory to most minds.--_Tantrums_ would look +like a word of popular coinage, and yet we find a respectable Old High +German verb _tantarôn_, delirare, (Graff, V. 437,) which may perhaps +help us to make out the etymology of _dander_, in our vulgar expression +of "getting one's dander up," which is equivalent to flying into a +passion.--_Jog_, in the sense of _going_, (to _jog_ along,) has a vulgar +look. Richardson derives it from the same root with the other _jog_, +which means to shake, ("A. S. _sceac-an_, to _shake_, or _shock_, or +_shog_.") _Shog_ has nothing whatever to do with shaking, unless when +Nym says to Pistol, "Will you _shog_ off?" he may be said to have shaken +him off. When the Tinker in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Coxcomb" says, +"Come, prithee, let's _shog_ off," what possible allusion to shaking is +there, except, perhaps, to "shaking stumps"? The first _jog_ and _shog_ +are identical in meaning and derivation, and may be traced, by whosoever +chooses, to the Gothic _tiuhan_, (Germ, _ziehen_,) and are therefore +near of kin to our _tug_. _Togs_ and _toggery_ belong here also. (The +connecting link may be seen in the preterite form _zog_.) The other +_jog_ probably comes to us immediately from the French _choquer_; and +its frequentative _joggle_ answers to the German _schutkeln_, It. +_cioccolare_. Whether they are all remotely from the same radical is +another question. We only cited it as a monosyllabic word, having +the air of being formed by the imitative process, while its original +_tiuhan_ makes quite another impression.--Had the word _ramose_ been a +word of English slang-origin, (and it might easily have been imported, +like so many more foreign phrases, by sailors,) we have as little doubt +that a derivation of it from the Spanish _vamos_ would have failed to +convince the majority of etymologists. This word is a good example of +the way in which the people (and it is always the people, never the +scholars, who succeed in adding to the spoken language) proceed in +naturalizing a foreign term. The accent has gone over to the last +syllable, in accordance with English usage in verbs of two syllables; +and though the sharp sound of the _s_ has been thus far retained, it is +doubtful how long it will maintain itself against a fancied analogy +with the grave sound of the same letter in such words as _inclose_ and +_suppose_.--We should incline to think the slang verb _to mosey_ a mere +variety of form, and that its derivation from a certain absconding +Mr. Moses (who broke the law of his great namesake through a blind +admiration of his example in spoiling the Egyptians) was only a new +instance of that tendency to mythologize which is as strong as ever +among the uneducated. _Post, ergo propter_, is good people's-logic; and +if an antecedent be wanting, it will not be long before one is invented. + +If we once admit the principle of _onomatopoeia_, the difficulty remains +of drawing the line which shall define the territory within which those +capable of judging would limit its operation. Its boundary would be +a movable one, like that of our own Confederacy. Some students, from +natural fineness of ear, would be quicker to recognize resemblances of +sound; others would trace family likeness in spite of every disguise; +others, whose exquisiteness of perception was mental, would find the +scent in faint analogies of meaning, where the ordinary brain would be +wholly at fault. In the original genesis of language, also, we should +infer the influence of the same idiosyncrasies. We were struck with this +the other day in a story we heard of a little boy, who, during a violent +thunder-storm, asked his father what that was out there,--all the while +winking rapidly to explain his meaning. Had his vocabulary been more +complete, he would have asked what that _winking_ out there was. The +impression made upon him by the lightning was not the ordinary one of +brightness, (as in _blitz_, (?) _éclair_, _fulmen_, _flash_,) but of +the rapid alternations of light and dark. Had he been obliged to make +a language for himself, like the two unfortunate children on whom King +Psarnmetichus made his linguistic experiment, he would have christened +the phenomenon accordingly. + +Mr. Wedgwood has by no means carried out his theory fully even in +reference to the words contained in his first volume, nor does the +volume itself nearly exhaust the vocabulary of the letters it includes +(A to D). Sometimes, where we should have expected him to apply his +system, he refrains, whether from caution or oversight it is not easy +to discover. The word _cow_, which is commonly referred to an imitative +radical, he is provokingly reserved about; and under _chew_ he hints +at no relation between the name of the action and that of the capital +ruminant animal.[a] Even where he has derived a word from an imitative +radical, he sometimes fails to carry the process on to some other where +it would seem equally applicable, sometimes pushes it too far. For +instance, "_Crag_. 1. The neck, the throat.--Jam. Du. _kraeghe_, the +throat; Pol. _kark_, the nape, crag, neck; Bohem. _krk_, the neck; Icel. +_krage_, Dan. _krave_, the collar of a coat. The origin is an imitation +of the noise made by clearing the throat. Bohem. _krkati_, to belch, +_krcati_, to vomit; Pol. _krzakaé_, to hem, to hawk. The same root gives +rise to the Fr. _cracher_, to spit, and It. _recere_, to vomit; E. +_reach_, to strain in vomiting; Icel. _hraki_, spittle; A. S. _hrara_, +cough, phlegm, the throat, jaws; G. _rachen_, the jaws." (As _crag_ +is not an English word, all this should have come under the head of +_craw_.) "_Crag_. 2. A rock. Gael. _creag_, a rock; W. _careg_, a stone; +_caregos_, pebbles." We do not see why the rattling sound of stones +should not give them a claim to the same pedigree,--the name being +afterwards transferred to the larger mass, the reverse of which we see +in the popular _rock_ for _stone_. Nay, as Mr. Wedgwood (_sub voce +draff_, p. 482) assumes _rac_ (more properly _rk_) as the root, it would +answer equally well for _rock_ also. Indeed, as the chief occupation +of crags, and their only amusement, in mountainous regions, is to pelt +unwary passengers and hunters of scenery with their _débris_, we might +have _creag, quasi caregos faciens sive dejiciens, sicut rupes a +rumpere_. Indeed, there is an analogous Sanscrit root, meaning _break, +crack_. But though Mr. Wedgwood lets off this coughing, hawking, +spitting, and otherwise unpleasant old patriarch _Rac_ so easily in +the case of the foundling _Crag_, he has by no means done with him. +Stretched on the unfilial instrument of torture that bears his name, he +is made to confess the paternity of _draff_, and _dregs_, and _dross_, +and so many other uncleanly brats, that we feel as if he ought to be +nailed by the ear to the other side of the same post on which Mr. +Carlyle has pilloried August _der starke_ forever. But we honestly +believe the old fellow to be belied, and that he is as guiltless of them +as of that weak-witted Hebrew _Raca_ who looks so much like him in the +face. + +[Footnote a: An etymology of this kind would have been particularly +interesting in the hands of so learned and acute a man as Mr. Wedgwood. +It would have afforded him a capital example of the fact that +considerable differences in the form and sound of words meaning the same +thing prove nothing against the onomatopoeic theory, but merely that the +same sound represents a different thing to different ears. L. _Boare, +mugire_, E. _moo_; F. _beugler_, E. _bellow_; G. _leuen_, L. _lugere_, +E. _low_, are all attempts at the same sound, or, which would not affect +the question, variations of an original radical _gô_ or _gu_. For a +full discussion of the matter, admirable for its thorough learning, see +Pictet, _Les Origines Indo-Européennes_, Vol. I. Section 86.] + +In the case of _crag_, Mr. Wedgwood argues from a sound whose frequency +and marked character (and colds must have been frequent when the +fig-tree was the only draper) gave a name to the organ producing it. +We can easily imagine it. One of these early pagans comes home of an +evening, heated from the chase, and squats himself on the damp clay +floor of a country-seat imperfectly guarded against draughts. The next +morning he says to his helpmeet, "Mrs. Barbar, I have a dreadful cold +in my--_hrac_! _hrac_!" Here he is interrupted by a violent fit of +coughing, and resorts to semeiology by pointing to his throat. Similar +incidents carrying apprehension (as Lord Macaulay would say) to the +breezy interiors of a thousand shanties on the same fatal morning, the +domestic circle would know no name so expressive as _hrac_ for that +fatal tube through which man, ingenious in illegitimate perversion, +daily compels the innocent breath to discharge a plumbeous hail of +rhetoric. + +But seriously, we think Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of _crag_ (or rather, +that which he adopts, for it has had other advocates) a very probable +one, at least for more northern tribes. There is no reason why men +should have escaped the same law of nomenclature which gave names to the +_cuckoo_ and the _pavo_.[a] But when he approaches _draff_, he gets upon +thinner ice. Where a metaphorical appropriateness is plainly wanting to +one etymology and another as plainly supplies it, other considerations +being equal, probability may fairly turn the scale in favor of the +latter. Mr. Wedgwood is here dealing with a sound translated to another +meaning by an intellectual process of analogy; and no one knows better +than he--for his book shows everywhere the fair-mindedness of a thorough +scholar--the extreme difficulty of convincing other minds in such +matters. He seems to have been unconsciously influenced in this case by +a desire to give more support to a very ingenious etymology of the word +_dream_. His process of reasoning may be briefly stated thus: _draff_ +and _dregs_ are refuse, they are things thrown away, sometimes (as in +German _dreck_, sordes) they are even disgustful; and as there is no +expression of contempt and disgust so strong as spitting, the sound +_rac_ transferred itself by a natural association of ideas from the act +to the object of it. He cites Du. _drabbe_, Dan. _drav_, Ger. _träbern_, +Icel. _dregg_, Prov. _draco_, Ger., Du. _dreck_, O. F. _drache, +drêche_, (and he might have added E. _trash_,) E. _dross_, all with +nearly the same meaning. We have selected such as would show the +different forms of the word. To the same radical Mr. Wedgwood refers G. +_trüjen_, _betrügen_, and this would carry with it our English _trick_ +(Prov. _tric_, in Diez, Fr. _triche_). In our opinion he is wrong, +doubly wrong, inasmuch as we think he has confounded two widely +different roots. He has taken his O. Fr. forms from Roquefort (Gloss. +Rom. I. 411,) but has omitted one of his definitions, _coque qui +enveloope le grain_, that is, the husk, or hull. Mr. Wedgwood might +perhaps found an argument on this in support of our old friend _Rac_ and +his relation to huskiness; but it seems to us one of those trifles, the +turned leaf, or broken twig, that put one on the right trail. We +accept Mr. Wedgwood's derivative signification of _refuse, worthless, +contemptible_, and ask if all these terms do not apply equally well to +the chaff of the threshing-floor? It is more satisfactory to us, then, +to attribute a part of the words given above to the Gothic _dragan_, +(L. _trahere_, G. _tragen_,) to drag, to draw, and a part to Goth. +_thriskan_, to thresh. The conjecture of Diez, (cited by Diefenbach,) +that the Italian _trescare_ (to stamp with the feet, to dance) should +be referred to the same root, is confirmed by the ancient practice of +threshing grain by treading it out with cattle. We might, indeed, refer +all to one root, by deriving _dross_ (a provincial form of which is +_drass_) through the O. Fr. _drache_, (as in O. Fr. _treche_, Fr. +_tresse_, E. _tress_,) but we have A. S. _dresten_, which is better +accounted for by _therscan_. The other forms, such as _drabbe_, _dregg_, +and _dragan_, the _b_ and _v_ being analogous to E. _draggle, drabble, +draught, draft_, all equally from _dragan_. We have a suspicion that +_dragon_ is to be referred to the same root. Mr. Wedgwood follows +Richardson, who follows Vossius in a fanciful etymology from the Greek +[Greek: derkomai = blepein] to see. Sharpness of sight, it is true, was +attributed to the mythologized reptile, but the primitive _draco_ was +nothing but a large serpent, supposed to be the boa. This sense must +accordingly be comparatively modern. The eagle is the universal type of +keenness of vision. The reptile's way of moving himself without legs is +his most striking peculiarity; and if we derive _dragon_ from the root +meaning to drag, to draw, (because he draws himself along,) we find it +analogous to _serpent_, _reptile_, _snake_.[b] The relation between +[Greek: trechein] and _dragan_ may be seen in G. _ziehen_, meaning both +to draw and to go. Mr. Wedgwood says that he finds it hard to conceive +any relation between the notion of _treachery_, _betrayal_, (_trügen_, +_betrügen_,) and that of drawing. It would seem that to _draw_ into +an ambush, the _drawing_ of a fowler's net, and the more sublimated +_drawing_ a man on to his destruction, supplied analogies enough. The +contempt we feel for treachery (for it is only in this metaphysical way +that Mr. Wedgwood can connect the word with his radical _rac_[c]) is a +purely subsidiary, derivative, and comparatively modern notion. Many, +perhaps most, kinds of treachery were looked upon as praiseworthy in +early times, and are still so regarded among savages. Does Mr. Wedgwood +believe that Romulus lost caste by the way in which he made so many +respectable Sabines fathers-in-law against their will, or that the wise +Odysseus was a perfectly admirable gentleman in our sense of the word? +Even in the sixteenth century, in the then most civilized country of the +world, the grave irony with which Macchiavelli commends the frightful +treacheries of Cæsar Borgia would have had no point, if he had not taken +it for granted that almost all who read his treatise would suppose him +to be in earnest. In the same way _dregs_ is explained simply as the +sediment left after _drawing off_ liquids. _Dredge_ also is certainly, +in one of its meanings, a derivative of _dragan_; so, too, _trick_ in +whist, and perhaps _trudge_. Indeed, all the words above-cited are more +like each other than Fr. _toit_ and E. _deck_, both from one root, or +the Neapol. _sciù_ and the Lat. _flos_, from which it is corrupted. + +[Footnote a: The German _pfau_ retains the imitative sound which the +English _pea_-cock has lost, and of which our system of pronunciation +robs the Latin.] + +[Footnote b: And to _worm_, (another word for _dragon_,) if, as has been +conjectured, there be any radical affinity between that and _schwärmen_, +whose primitive sense of crawl or creep is seen in the _swarming_ of +bees, and _swarming_ up a tree.] + +[Footnote c: That is, unless he takes the _rag_ in _dragan_ to be the +same thing, which he might support with several plausible analogies, +such as E. _rake_, It. _recare_, etc.] + +But the same subtilty of mind, which sometimes seduces Mr. Wedgwood into +making distinctions without a difference and preferring an impalpable +relation of idea to a plain derivative affinity, is of great advantage +to him when the problem is to construct an etymology by following the +gossamer clews that lead from sensual images to the metaphorical and +tropical adaptations of them to the demands of fancy and thought. The +nice optics that see what is not to be seen have passed into a sarcastic +proverb; yet those are precisely the eyes that are in the heads and +brains of all who accomplish much, whether in science, poetry, or +philosophy. With the kind of etymologies we are speaking of, it is +practically useful to have the German gift of summoning a thing up from +the depths of one's inward consciousness. It is when Mr. Wedgwood would +reverse the order of Nature, and proceed from the tropical to the direct +and simple, that we are at issue with him. For it is not philosophers +who make language, though they often unmake it. + +Mr. Wedgwood's most successful application of his system may be found, +as we think, under the words, _dim_, _dumb_, _deaf_, and _death_. He +might have confirmed the relation between dumbness and darkness from the +acutest metaphysician among poets, in Dante's _ove il sol tace_. We have +not left ourselves room enough to illustrate Mr. Wedgwood's handling of +these etymologies by extracts; we must refer our readers to the book +itself. Apart from its value as suggesting thought, or quickening our +perception of shades of meaning, and so freshening our feeling of the +intimate harmony of sense and spirit in language, and of the thousand +ways in which the soul assumes the material world into her own heaven +and transfigures it there, the volume will be found practically the most +thorough contribution yet made to English etymology. We are glad to hear +that we are to have an American edition of it under the able supervision +of Mr. Marsh. Etymology becomes of practical importance, when, as the +newspapers inform us, two members of a New York club have been fighting +a duel because one of them doubted whether Garry Baldy were of Irish +descent. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6cc2b8e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11061 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11061) diff --git a/old/11061-8.txt b/old/11061-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fe3daa --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11061-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9231 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Atlantic Monthly Volume 6, No. 34, August, +1860, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly Volume 6, No. 34, August, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 12, 2004 [eBook #11061] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY VOLUME 6, NO. 34, +AUGUST, 1860*** + + +E-text prepared by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VI.--AUGUST, 1860.--NO. XXXIV. + + + + + + + +THE CARNIVAL OF THE ROMANTIC. + + +Whither went the nine old Muses, daughters of Jupiter and the Goddess +of Memory, after their seats on Helicon, Parnassus, and Olympus were +barbarized? Not far away. They hovered like witches around the seething +caldron of early Christian Europe, in which, "with bubble, bubble, toil +and trouble," a new civilization was forming, mindful of the brilliant +lineage of their worshippers, from Homer to Boethius, looking upon the +vexed and beclouded Nature, and expecting the time when Humanity should +gird itself anew with the beauty of ideas and institutions. They were +sorrowful, but not in despair; for they knew that the children of men +were strong with recuperative power. + +The ear of Fancy, not long since, heard the hoofs of winged Pegasus +striking the clouds. The long-idle Muses, it seemed, had become again +interested in human efforts, and were paying a flying visit to the +haunts of modern genius from the Hellespont to the Mississippi. +They lingered in sunny Provence, and in the dark forest-land of the +Minnesingers. In the great capitals, as Rome, Berlin, Paris, London,--in +smaller capitals, as Florence, Weimar, and Boston,--in many a village +which had a charm for them, as Stratford-on-Avon, Ferney, and Concord +in Massachusetts,--in the homes of wonderful suffering, as Ferrara and +Haworth.--on many enchanted waters, as the Guadalquivir, the Rhine, +the Tweed, the Hudson, Windermere, and Leman,--in many a monastic nook +whence had issued a chronicle or history, in many a wild birthplace of a +poem or romance, around many an old castle and stately ruin, in many a +decayed seat of revelry and joyous repartee,--through the long list +of the nurseries of genius and the laboratories of art, they wandered +pensive and strangely affected. At length they rested from their journey +to hold a council on modern literature. The long results of Christian +time were unrolled before them as in a chart. They beheld the dawn of a +new historic day, marked by songs of fantastic tenderness, and unwieldy, +long, and jointless romances and poems, like the monsters which played +in the unfinished universe before the creation of man. The Muses smiled +with a look more of complaisance than approval, as they reviewed the +army of Troubadours and Minnesingers and the crowd of romancers who +followed in their train. They decided that the joyous array of early +mediæval literature was full of promise, though something of its tone +and temper was past the comprehension of pagan goddesses. The legends of +saints and pictures of martyrdoms were especially mysterious to them, +and they regarded them raptly, not smilingly, and bowed their heads. +Anon their eyes rested on an Italian city, where uprose, as if in +interstellar space, an erect figure, with a piercing eye, pleasant as +Plato's voice. His countenance was fixed upon the empyrean, and a more +than Minerva-like form hovered above him, interpreting the Christian +universe; and as he wrote what she dictated, the verses of his poem were +musical even to the Muses. Dante, Beatrice, and the "Divine Comedy," +with a Gothic church as a make-weight, were balanced in Muses' minds in +comparison with the "Iliad" and the age of Pericles; and again they put +on the rapt look of mystery, but a smile also, and their admiration +and applause were more and more. To England they soon turned, and +contemplated the round, many-colored globe of Shakspeare's works. As +playful swallows sometimes dart round and round a lithe and wondering +wingless animal, so they, admiringly and timidly, attracted, yet +hesitating, delighting in his alertness, but not quite understanding it, +flitted like a troubled and beautiful flock around the great magician of +modern civilization. Their glance became lighter and less intent, as if +they were nearer to knowledge, the pain of perplexity disappeared like a +shadow from their countenances, their plaudits were more unreserved, and +it seemed likely that the high desert of Shakspeare would win for our +new literature a favorable recognition from the aristocratic goddesses +of antiquity. Knowing that Jove had made perfection unattainable by +mortals, they yet found in the chart before them epics, dramas, lyrics, +histories, and philosophies that were no unworthy companions to the +creations of classical genius, and they were jubilant in the triumphs +of a period in which they had been rather ignorantly and ironically +worshipped. Their sitting was long, and their review thorough, yet they +found but one department of modern literature which was regarded with a +distrust that grew to an aversion. The romances, the tales, the stories, +the novels were contemned more and more, from the first of them to the +last. Nothing like them had been known among the glories of Hellenic +literary art, and no Muse now stood forth to be their defender and +patron. Calliope declared that they were not epical, Euterpe and Erato +that they were not lyrical, Melpomene and Thalia that they were neither +tragical nor comical, Clio that they were not historical, Urania that +they were not sublime in conception, Polymnia that they had no stately +or simple charm in execution, and Terpsichore, who had joined with +Melpomene in admiring the opera, found nothing in the novel which she +could own and bless. Fleeting passages, remote and slight fragments, +were pleasing to them all, like the oases of a Sahara, or the sites of +high civilization on the earth; but the whole world of novels seemed to +them a chaos undisciplined by art and unformed to beauty. The gates of +the halls where the classics live in immortal youth were beginning to +close against the voluminous prose romances that have sprung from modern +thought, when the deliberations of the Muses were suddenly interrupted. +They had disturbed the divine elements of modern society. Forth from all +the recesses of the air came troops of Gothic elves, trolls, fairies, +sprites, and all the other romantic beings which had inspired the modern +mind to novel-writing,--marching or gambolling, pride in their port, +defiance in their eye, mischief in their purpose,--and began so vigorous +an attack upon their classic visitors and critics, that the latter were +glad to betake themselves to the mighty-winged Pegasus, who rapidly bore +them in retreat to the present home of the _Dii Majores_, that point of +the empyrean directly above Olympus. + +And well, indeed, might the Muses wonder at the rise of the novel and +its vast developments, for the classic literature presents no similar +works. One of Plato's dialogues or Aesop's fables is as near an approach +to a prose romance as antiquity in its golden eras can offer. The few +productions of the kind which appeared during the decline of literature +in the early Christian centuries, as the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius and +the "Æthiopica" of Heliodorus, were freaks of Nature, an odd growth +rather than a distinct species, and are also to be contrasted rather +than compared with the later novel. Such as they are, moreover, they +were produced under Christian as much as classic influences. The +æsthetic Hellenes admitted into their literature nothing so composite, +so likely to be crude, as the romance. Their styles of art were all +pure, their taste delighted in simplicity and unity, and they strictly +forbade a medley, alike in architecture, sculpture, and letters. The +history of their development opens with an epic yet unsurpassed, and +their literary creations have been adopted to be the humanities of +Christian universities. A writer has recently proposed to account for +their success in the arts from the circumstance that the features of +Nature around them were small,--that their hornet-shaped peninsula was +cut by mountains and inlets of the sea into minute portions, which the +mind could easily compass, the foot measure, and the hand improve,--that +therefore every hillock and fountain, every forest and by-way was +peopled with mythological characters and made significant with +traditions, and the cities were adorned with architectural and +sculptured masterpieces. Greece thus, like England in our own time, +presented the character of a highly wrought piece of ground,--England +being the more completely developed for material uses, and Greece being +the more heavily freighted with legends of ideal meaning. Small-featured +and large-minded Greece is thus set in contrast with Asia, where the +mind and body were equally palsied in the effort to overcome immense +plains and interminable mountain-chains. But whatever the reason, +whether geographical or ethnological, it is certain that the people of +Greece were endowed with a transcendent genius for art, which embraced +all departments of life as by an instinct. Every divinity was made a +plain figure to the mind, every mystery was symbolized in some positive +beautiful myth, and every conception of whatever object became +statuesque and clear. This artistic character was possible to them from +the comparatively limited range of pagan imagination; their thought +rarely dwelt in those regions where reason loves to ask the aid +of mysticism, and all remote ideas, like all remote nations, were +indiscriminately regarded by them as barbarous. But guarded by the +bounds of their civilization, as by the circumfluent ocean-stream of +their olden tradition, they were prompted in all their movements by the +spirit of beauty, and philosophers have accounted them the very people +whose ideas were adequately and harmoniously represented in sensible +forms,--unlike the nations of the Orient, where mind is overawed by +preponderating matter, and unlike the nations of Christendom, where the +current spiritual meanings reach far into the shadowy realm of mystery +and transcend the power of material expression. + +Thus art was the main category of the Greeks, the absolute form which +embraced all their finite forms. It moulded their literature, as it did +their sculpture, architecture, and the action of their gymnasts and +orators. They therefore delighted only in the highest orders and purest +specimens of literature, refused to retain in remembrance any of the +unsuccessful attempts at poetry which may be supposed to have preceded +Homer, and gave their homage only to masterpieces in the dignified +styles of the epic, the drama, the lyric, the history, or the +philosophical discussion. Equal to the highest creations, they refused +to tolerate anything lower; and they knew not the novel, because their +poetical notions were never left in a nebulous, prosaic state, but were +always developed into poetry. + +Another reason, doubtless, was the wonderful activity of the Greek mind, +finding its amusement and relaxation in the forum, theatre, gymnasium, +or even the barber's shop, in constant mutual contact, in learning +wisdom and news by word of mouth. The long stories which they may +have told to each other, as an outlet for their natural vitality, as +extemporaneous exercises of curiosity and wit and fancy, did not creep +into their literature, which included only more mature and elaborate +attempts. + +The modern novel was born of Christianity and feudalism. It is the child +of contemplation,--of that sort of luxurious intellectual mood which has +always distinguished the Oriental character, and was first Europeanized +in the twilight of the mediæval period. The fallen Roman Empire was +broken into countless fragments, which became feudal baronies. The heads +of the newly organized society were lordly occupants of castles, who in +time of peace had little to do. They were isolated from their neighbors +by acres, forests, and a stately etiquette, if not actual hostility. +There was no open-air theatre in the vicinity, no forum alive with +gossip and harangues, no public games, not even a loquacious barber's +shop. During the intervals between public or private wars,--when the +Turks were unmolested, the crescent and the dragon left in harmless +composure, and no Christians were in mortal turmoil with each other,--it +is little wonder that restless knights went forth from their loneliness +errant in quest of adventures. What was there to occupy life in those +barricaded stone-towers? + +It was then that the domestic passion, love, rose into dignity. Homage +to woman assumed the potency of an idea, chivalry arose, and its truth, +honor, and obeisance were the first social responses from mankind to +Christianity. The castle was the emblem and central figure of the time: +it was the seat of power, the arena of manners, the nursery of love, and +the goal of gallantry; and around it hovered the shadows of religion, +loyalty, heroism. Domestic events, the private castellar life, were thus +exalted; but they could hardly suffice to engross and satisfy the spirit +of a warrior and crusader. A new diversion and excitement were demanded, +and soon, in response to the call, minstrels began to roam from castle +to castle, from court to court, telling long stories of heroism and +singing light songs of love. A spark from the Saracenic schools and +poets of Spain may have flitted into Provence to kindle the elements +of modern literature into its first development, the songs of the +Troubadours. Almost contemporary were the lays of the Minnesingers in +Germany and the romances of the Trouvères in Northern France. Beneath +the brooding spirit of a new civilization signs of life had at length +appeared, and Europe became vocal in every part with fantastic poems, +lyrical in the South, epical in the North. They were wildly exuberant +products, because severe art was unknown, but simple, _naïve_, and gay, +and suited to the taste of a time when the classics were regarded as +superstitiously as the heavens. Love and heroism, which somehow are the +leading themes of literature in all ages, now assumed the chivalric type +in the light hands of the earliest modern poets. + +Yet these songs and metrical romances were most inadequate +representatives of the undeveloped principles which lay at the root of +Christian civilization. Even Hellenic genius might here have been at +fault, for it was a far harder task to give harmonious and complete +expression to the tendencies of a new religion and the germs of new +systems, than to frame into beauty the pagan clear-cut conceptions. The +Christian mind awoke under a fascination, and, for a time, could +only ejaculate its meanings in fragments, or hint them in vast +disproportions, could only sing snatches of new tunes. Its first signs +were gasps, rather than clear-toned notes, after the long perturbations +and preparations of history. The North and the South, the East and the +West had been mingled together; the heated and heaving mass had been +tempered by the leaven of Christianity:--and had all this been done +only to produce an octo-syllabic metre in praise of fantastic and semi- +barbaric sentiments and exploits? Had there been such commotions of the +universe only for a song? Surely these first creations of art, these +first attempts at literature, these first carvings of a rude spiritual +intensity, were only such as the Greeks may have forgotten any quantity +of before Homer came, their first glory and their oldest reminiscence. + +One reason, perhaps, why mediæval literature assumed so light and +unartistic a form was, that by necessity it could not be full-orbed. +Religion could not enter into it as a plastic element, but was fixed, a +veiled, external figure, radiating indeed color and fragrance, but +not making one of the struggling, independent vitals of the heart. +Literature could play about this figure, but could not grasp it, and +take it in among the materials to be fashioned. The Church, through +its clergy, held jealous command of divine knowledge, beneath divine +guidance, and left no developments of it possible to the lay mind, which +culminated in minstrels and romancers. The Greeks, on the contrary, +whose religion was an apotheosis of the earth, framed upwards and only +by fiction of fancy handed downwards, derived all their theology from +the poets. Prophecy and taste were combined in Homer,--Isaiah and the +king's jester in Pindar. The care of the highest, not less than the +lowest departments of thought, fell upon the creative author, and +a happy suggestion became a new article in the Hellenic creed. His +composition thus bore the burden and was hallowed by the sanctity +of piety, the key to every human perfect thing. But the Provençal +celebrators of love and chivalry had no such dignity in their task. The +solemnities of thought and life were cared for and hedged about by the +Church as its own peculiar treasure, and to them there remained only the +lighter office of amusing. The age was eminently religious, but the poet +could not aid in erecting and adorning its temples. Every fair work of +art must have a central idea; but the proper principle of unity for +all grand artistic efforts not being within the reach of authors, it +followed that their productions were not symmetrical, did not have an +even outline nor cosmical meaning, did not consist of balanced parts, +were poorly framed and articulated, and were charming only by their +flavor, and not by their form. The cultured intellect will not seriously +work short of a final principle; and if a materialized religion, an +ecclesiastical structure, be firmly planted on the earth by the same +hand that established the universe and tapestried it with morning and +evening, and if its gates and archways, its altar, columns, and courts +be given in trust to chosen stewards as a divine priesthood, then the +highest problem of being is not a human problem, and the mind of the +laity has nothing more important to do than to play with the flowers of +gallant love and heroism. Such was the feeling, perhaps the unconscious +reasoning, of the founders of modern literature, as they began their +labors in the alcoves of that church architecture which covered +Christendom, embracing and symbolically expressing all its ideas +and institutes. Therefore some vice of imperfection, a character of +frivolity, or an artificially serious treatment of lightsome subjects +marked all the literature of the time, which resembled that grotesque +and unaccountable mathematical figure that has its centre outside of +itself. + +Modern literature thus had its origin in romantic metrical pieces, +which, in the next stage, were transformed into prose novels. Two +circumstances contributed to this change,--a change which could not have +been anticipated; for the Trouvère _fabliaux_ and _romans_ promised only +epics, and the Troubadour _chansons_ and _tensons_ promised only lyrics +and dramas. But the mind was now obliged to traverse the unbeaten paths +of the Christian universe; it was overwhelmed by the extent of its +range, the richness and delicacy of its materials; it could with +difficulty poise itself amid the indefinite heights and depths which +encompassed it, and with greater difficulty could wield the magician's +rod which should sway the driving elements into artistic reconstruction. +This mental inadequacy alone would not have created the novel, but would +only have made lyrics and epics rare, the works of superior minds. The +second and cooperating circumstance was the prevalence of the Christian +and feudal habit of contemplation, which made constant literature a +necessity. Nothing less than eternal new romances could save the lords, +the ladies, and the dependents from _ennui_. But to supply these in a +style of proper and antique dignity was beyond the power of the poets. +In the wild forests of the mind they could rarely capture a mature idea, +and they were as yet unpractised artists. Yet contemplative leisure +called eagerly for constant titbits of romance to tickle the palate and +furnish a diversion, while the genius of Christian poetry was yet in +infantile weakness. The dilemma lasted but a moment, and was solved by +an heroic effort of the poets to do, not what they would, but what they +could. Yielding to practical necessities, they renounced the traditions +of the classical past, which now seemed to belong to another hemisphere, +abandoned the attempt to realize pure forms, postponed high art; melody +gave way to prose, the romance degenerated into the novel, and prose +fiction, which erst had flitted only between the tongue and ear, +entered, a straggling and reeling constellation, into the firmament of +literature. Hence the novel is the child of human impotency and despair. +The race thereby, with merriment and jubilee, confessed its inability +to fulfil at once its Christian destiny as completely as the Greeks +had fulfilled their pagan possibilities. Purity of art was left to +the future, to Providence, or to great geniuses, but the novel became +popular. + +Thus the modern novel had its genesis not merely in a contemplative +mood, but in contemplation which was forced by the impetuous temper of +the times to fail of ever reaching the dignity of thoughtfulness. It +was the immature product of an immature mental state; and richly as +sometimes it was endowed by every human faculty, by imagination, wit, +taste, or even profound thought, it yet never reached the goal of +thought, never solved a problem, and, in its highest examples, professed +only to reveal, but not to guide, the reigning manners and customs. +Rarely did its materials pass through the fiery furnace whence art +issues; it was a work of unfaithful intellect, prompted by ideas which +never culminated and were never realized; and it did not rise much above +the "stuffs" of life, as distinguished from the organic creations of the +mind. A many-limbed and shambling creature, which was not made a +spirit by the power of an idea, it fluttered amid all the culture of a +people,--amid the ideas and modes of the state, the church, the family, +the world of society,--like a bungler among paint-pots; but the paints +still remained paints on the canvas, instead of being blended and +transfigured into a thing of beauty. It was the organ of society, but +not of the essential truths which vitalize society, and its incidents +did not rise much above the significance of accidents. + +What the novel was in knightly days, that it has continued to be. There +is a mysterious practical potency in precedent. All ideas and institutes +seem to grow in the direction of their first steps, as if from germs. +Thus, the doctrines of the Church fathers are still peculiarly +authoritative in theology, and the immemorial traditions of the common +law are still binding in civil life. Man seems to be an experimental +far more than a freely rational animal; for a fact in the past exerts +a greater influence in determining future action than any new idea. A +revolution must strike deep to eradicate the presumption in favor of +ages. Learned men are now trying to read the hieroglyphics of the East, +the records of an unknown history. Perhaps the result of their labors +will temper the next period in the course of the world more than all our +thinkers. Destiny seems to travel in the harness of precedents. + +Thus, in obedience to the law of precedent, the mild gambols, the +_naïve_ superficiality, the child-like irresponsibility for thinking, +which were the characteristics of the first European novels, have +generally distinguished the unnumbered and unclassified broods of them +which have abounded in subsequent literature. Designed chiefly to amuse, +to divert for a moment rather than to present an admirable work of art, +to interest rather than to instruct and elevate, the modern romance has +in general excused itself from thorough elaboration. Instead of being +a chastened and symmetrical product of the whole organic mind, it has +mainly been inspired by the imagination, which has been called the fool +in the family of the faculties, and wrought out by the assistance of +memory, which mechanically links the mad suggestions of its partner +with temporal events. It is in literature something like what a feast +presided over by the king's jester and steward would have been in +mediaeval social life. Let any novel be finished, let all the resources +of the mind be conscientiously expended on it, let it become a thorough +intellectual creation, and, instead of remaining a novel, it would +assume the dignity of an epic, lyric, drama, philosophy, or history. Its +nebulae would be resolved into stars. + +Has, then, the mild and favorite blossom, the _fabula romanensis_, which +was so abundant in the Middle Ages, which has grown so luxuriantly +and given so general delight in modern times,--has it no place in +the natural history of literature? Shall it be mentioned only as an +uncompleted something else,--as an abortive effort of thought,--as +a crude _mélange_ of elements that have not been purified and fused +together in the focus of the mind? And were the Muses right in refusing +to admit it into their sacred realm of art? + +An affirmative answer can hardly be true; for an absurdity appears in +the reduction that it would cause in the quantity of our veritable +literature, and in the condemnation that it would pass on the tastes of +many most intelligent writers and readers. Yet a comparison of the novel +with the classical and pure forms of literature will show its unlikeness +to them in design, dignity, and essential quality. + +It was a favorite thesis of Fielding, often repeated by his successors, +that the novel is a sort of comic epopee. Yet the romantic and the epic +styles have nothing in common, except that both are narrative. The epic, +the rare and lofty cypress of literature, is the story of a nation and a +civilization; the novel, of a neighborhood and a generation. A thousand +years culminate in the former; it sums up the burden and purpose of +a long historical period; and its characters are prominent types in +universal history and in highest thought. But the novel is the child +of a day; it is the organ of manners and phases, not of principles and +passions; it does not see the phenomena of earth in heavenly or logical +relations, does not transform life into art, and is a panorama, but not +a picture. So long as man and heroism and strife endure, shall Achilles, +Godfrey, Satan, and Mephistopheles be types; for they are artistic +expressions of essential and historical realities. But though the beck +of curiosity lead us through the labyrinthine plot of a novel, long as +Gibbon's way through the Dark Ages, yet, when we have finished it, the +bubble collapses, the little heavens which had been framed about us roll +away, and most rarely does a character remain poetically significant in +the mind. + +A contrast of any page of an epic with one of a romance will show +their essential unlikeness. Note, for instance, the beginning of the +"Gerusalemme Liberata." The first stanza presents "the illustrious +captain who warred for Heaven and saved the sepulchre of Christ,--the +many deeds which he wrought by arms and by wisdom,--his great toil, and +his glorious achievement. Hell opposed him, the mingled populations +of Asia and Africa leagued against him,--but all in vain, for Heaven +smiled, and guided the wandering bands beneath his sacred ensigns." Such +are the splendid elements of the poem, outlining in a stanza the finest +type, objects, and scenery of mediaeval heroism. The second stanza +invokes the Muse,--"Not thou whose brow was wreathed with the unenduring +bays of Helicon, but thou who in angelic choirs hast a golden crown set +with immortal stars,--do thou breathe celestial ardor into the poet's +heart!" Then follows an allusion to a profound matter of temper and +experience. He prays that "the Muse will pardon, if sometimes he adorn +his page with other charms than her own; for thus, perhaps, he may +win the world to his higher meanings, shrouding severe truths in soft +verses. As the rim of the bitter cup is sweetened which is extended to +the sick child, so may he, by beauties not quite Christian, attract +mankind to read his whole poem to their health." Such is the stately +soaring of the epical Muse, the Muse of ideal history. Scholars find +Greece completely prefigured in Homer, and the time may come when Dante +and Tasso shall be the leading authorities for the history of the Middle +Ages, and Milton for that of the ages of Protestantism. + +In such comparison novels are insignificant and imbecile. Though, like +"Contarini Fleming," they may begin with a magnificent paragraph, and +fine passages be scattered through the volumes, they are yet rarely +stories of ideas as well as persons, rarely succeed in involving events +of more than temporary interest, and rarely, perhaps, should be called +great mental products. + +Not less strikingly does the difference between the epic and the novel +appear in their different uses. The one is the inspiration of great +historical action, the other of listless repose. The statesman, in the +moment of debate, and in the dignity of conscious power, finds sympathy +and encouragement in a passage of his favorite epic. Its grand types +are ever in fellowship with high thoughts. The novel is for the lighter +moment after the deed is done, when he is no longer brunting Fate, but +reclining idly, and reflecting humorously or malignly on this life. The +epic is closely and strongly framed, like the gladiator about to strike +a blow: the novel is relaxed and at careless ease, like the club-man +after lighting his pipe. The latter does not bear the burden of severe +responsibility, but is a thing of holidays and reactions. Still, as of +old, it answers to the contemplative castellar cry,--"Hail, romancer! +come and divert me,--make me merry! I wish to be occupied, but not +employed,--to muse passively, not actively. Therefore, hail! tell me +a story,--sing me a song! If I were now in the van of an army and +civilization, higher thoughts would engross me. But I am unstrung, and +wish to be fanned, not helmeted." + +It has sometimes been claimed that the romantic style is essentially +lyrical. But though the idea from which many novels start was perhaps +the proper germ for one or more lyrics, it never attains in romance +a pure and unincumbered development. We may illustrate the different +intellectual creations founded on a common conception by imagining how +one of Wordsworth's lyrical fancies might have been developed in three +volumes of romance instead of three stanzas of poetry. + + "She dwelt among the untrodden ways, + Beside the springs of Dove, + A maid whom there were none to praise, + And very few to love." + +The first line, romantically treated, would include description, +soliloquy, and narrative, to show that in solitude the maiden had +habits, duties, something to think about and be interested in. The +accidental approach of some cosmopolitan visitor would give occasion to +illustrate dramatically the contrast between life in retirement and in +society. Some novelists also would inflict, either by direct lecture +or by conversation of the actors, very admirable reflections on the +comparative advantages of the two conditions. The second line would +perhaps suggest only geographical lore and descriptions of scenery, +though historical episodes might be added. The third line would +involve a minute description of dress, complexion, stature, and wild +gracefulness. In a psychological investigation it would come out what +strange and simple notions she entertained of the great world, and what +charming qualities of unsophisticated character belonged to her as she +merrily or pensively went through her accustomed tasks. The fourth line, +in which love is the text, would swell into mammoth proportions. New +characters would be especially necessary in this culminating part of the +story; and though they should be "very few," they would long occupy the +novelist with their diverse excellencies or villanies, their rivalries +and strategies. It is probable that the complete development of the +stanza _à la romance_ would give a circumstantial history of the maiden +from her birth, with glimpses more or less clear of all the remarkable +people who dwelt near or occasionally visited the springs of Dove. Thus +the same conception would become a stanza or a volume, according as its +treatment were lyrical or romantic. + +It need hardly be shown that the novel is not a drama, not a history, +nor fable, nor any sort of philosophical treatise. It may have +sentences, paragraphs, or perhaps chapters, in every style and of the +highest excellence, as a shapeless architectural pile may rejoice in +some exquisite features or ornaments; but combined passages, though they +were the collected charms of literature, do not make a work of art. The +styles are mixed,--a certain sign, according to Lessing, of corruption +of taste. Novels present the anomaly of being fiction, but not +poetry,--of being fruits of imagination, but of imagination improvising +its creations from local and temporal things, instead of speaking from +a sublime stand-point and linking series of facts with processions of +ideas. Sources of history, guides of philosophical retrospection, they +may come some time to be; yet one cannot check a feeling of pity for +the future historian who, in searching the "Pickwick Papers" +for antiquities, finds himself bothered and confused by all the +undisciplined witches of Mr. Dickens's imagination. + +If the novel be thus excluded from all the classical orders of +literature, a trembling question is suggested, whether it may not be +nevertheless a legitimate work of art. Though it be a _mélange_ of +styles, a story told, in literature what the story-teller is in +society, yet why should it not have the honor among readers which +the story-teller in all ages has had among listeners? Though by +its escutcheon it assume a place among the amusing rather than the +instructive class of books, why should not its nobility be recognized? + +The answer is found in the essential nature of art, in the almost +eternal distinction between life and thought, between actual and ideal +realities. Unity amid diversity is the type of intellectual beauty and +the law of the universe; to comprehend it is the goal of science, and +to reproduce it in human works is the aim of art. Yet how hard it is to +find the central and essential idea in a world of apparent accidents and +delusions! to chase the real and divine thing as it plays among cheats +and semblances! Hence the difficulty of thorough thought, of faithful +intellectual performance, of artistic creation. To the thoughtless man +life is merely the rough and monotonous exterior of the cameo-stone; but +the artist sees through its strata, discerns its layers of many colors, +and from its surface to its vital centre works them all together into +varied beauty. To live is common; but art belongs only to the finest +minds and the best moments. Life is a burden of present multitudinous +phenomena; but art has the simple unity of perfect science, and is +a goal and aspiration. Life comes by birth, art by thought, and the +travail that produces art is ofttimes the severer. The fashions of life +are bubbles on the surface, and pass away with the season; but the +creations of art belong to the depths of the spiritual world, where they +shine like stars and systems in the physical universe. + +Story-telling is the most charming of occupations, and, whatever its +relation to literary art, it is one of the graces of the art of life. +Old as the race, it has always been in fashion on the earth, the delight +of every clime from the Orient to the Occident, and of every age from +childhood to second childhood. We live in such a concatenation of +things,--our hopes, fears, loves, hates, struggles, sympathies, defeats, +and triumphs make such a medley, with a sort of divine fascination about +it,--that we are always interested to hear how anybody has borne himself +through whatever varieties of fortune. At the basis of every other +character which can be assumed by man lie the conceiver and the teller +of stories; story-telling is the _primá facie_ quality of an intelligent +and sociable being leading a life full of events in a universe full +of phenomena. The child believes the wonders of romance by a right +instinct; narratives of love and peril and achievement come home to the +spirit of the youth; and the mystical, wonder-expecting eye of childhood +returns to old age. The humor, wit, piety, and pathos of every age +abound in the written stories of its people and children. + +Yet between the vocal story and the story in literature there is an +immense difference, like that between talking and writing, between life +and art. The qualities which in the story-teller make even frivolity +weighty and dulness significant--the play of the eye, the lips, the +countenance, the voice, the whole sympathetic expression of the +person--are wanting to the novel; it has passed from the realm of life +to that of art; it loses the charm which personal relations give even +to trifles; it must have the charm which the mind can lend only to its +cherished offspring. + +Considered as a thing of literature, no other sort of book admits of +such variety of topics, style, and treatment as the novel. As diverse +in talent and quality as the story-teller himself,--now harlequin, now +gossip, now threnodist,--with weird ghostliness, moping melancholy, +uncouth laughter, or gentle serious smile,--now relating the story, with +childlike interest in it, now with a good heart and now with a bad heart +ridiculing mankind, now allegorical with rich meanings, now freighting +the little story-cricket that creeps along from page to page with +immense loads of science, history, politics, ethics, religion, +criticism, and prophecy,--always regarded with kindness, always welcomed +in idleness, always presenting in a simple way some spectacle of +merriment or grief, as changeful as the seasons or the fashions,--with +all its odd characteristics, the novel is remarkably popular, and not +lightly to be esteemed as an element in our social and mental culture. + +There is probably no other class of books, with literary pretensions, +that contain so little thinking, in proportion to their quantity of +matter, as novels. They can scarcely be called organic productions, for +they may be written and published in sections, like one of the lowest +classes of animals, which have no organization, but live equally well in +parts, and run off in opposite directions when cut in halves. Thoughts +and books, like living creatures, have their grades, and it is only +those which stand lowest in respect of intellectuality that admit of +fractional existence. A finished work of the mind is so delicately +adjusted and closely related, part to part, that a fracture would be +fatal. Conceive of Phidias sending off from his studio at Athens his +statue of Jupiter Olympius in monthly numbers,--despatching now the +feet, now the legs, now the trunk, in successive pieces, now the +shoulders, and at last crowning the whole with a head! + +The composition of novels must be reckoned, in design at least, one of +the fine arts, but in fact they belong rather to periodical than to +immortal literature. They do not submit to severity of treatment, abide +by no critical laws, but are the gypsies and Bohemians of literature, +bringing all the savagery of wild genius into the _salons_ of taste. +Though tolerated, admired, and found to be interesting, they do not +belong to the system of things, play no substantial part in the serious +business of life, but, as the world moves on, give place to their +successors, not having developed any principle, presented any picture, +or stated any fact, in a way to suggest ideas more than social +phenomena. They are not permanent, therefore, because finally only +ideas, and not facts, are generally remembered; the past is known to us +more, and exclusively as it becomes remote, by the conceptions of poets +and philosophic historians, the myriads of events which occupied a +generation being forgotten, and all the pith and meaning of them being +transmitted in a stanza or a chapter. Poetry never grows old, and +whatsoever masterpieces of thought always win the admiration of the +enlightened; but many a novel that has been the lion of a season passes +at once away, never more to be heard of here. With few exceptions, the +splendid popularity that greets the best novels fades away in time +slowly or rapidly. A half-century is a fatal trial for the majority; few +are revived, and almost none are read, after a century; will anybody +but the most curious antiquary be interested in them after one or +two thousand years? Without delaying to give the full rationale of +exceptions which vex this like every other general remark, it may +be added briefly that fairy stories are in their nature fantastic +mythological poems, most proper to the heroic age of childhood, that +historical romances may be in essence and dignity fantastic histories or +epics, and that, from whatever point of view, Cervantes remains hardly +less admirable than Ariosto, or the "Bride of Lammermoor" than the "Lay +of the Last Minstrel." + +In the mental as in the physical world, art, diamonds and gems come by +long elaboration. A thoughtless man may write perennially, while the +result of silent meditation and a long tortured soul may be expressed +in a minute. The work of the former is akin to conversation, one of the +fugitive pleasures of a day; that of the latter will, perchance, be a +star in the firmament of the mind. Eugène Sue and Béranger both wished +to communicate their reflections on society. The former dissipated his +energies in the _salons_, was wise and amusing over wine, exchanged +learning and jests, studied the drawing-room as if it were the +macrocosm, returned to his chamber, put on kid gloves, and from the odds +and ends of his dishevelled wits wrote at a gallop, without ever looking +back, his "Mystères de Paris." The latter lived in an attic year after +year, contemplated with cheerful anxiety the volatile world of France +and the perplexed life of man, and elaborated word by word, with +innumerable revisions, his short songs, which are gems of poetry, +charming at once the ear and the heart. Novels are perhaps too easily +written to be of lasting value. An unpremeditated word, in which the +thoughts of years are exploded, may be one of the most admirable of +intellectual phenomena, but an unpremeditated volume can only be a +demonstration of human weakness. + +The argument thus far has been in favor of the Muses. Hellenic taste and +the principles of high art ratify the condemnation passed on the novel +by the aesthetic goddesses. A wider view, however, will annul the +sentence, giving in its stead a warning and a lesson. If the prose +romance be not Hellenic, it is nevertheless humane, and has been in +honor almost universally throughout the Orient and the Occident. Its +absence from the classical literature was a marvel and exception, a +phenomenon of the clearest-minded and most active of races, who thought, +but did not contemplate,--whose ideal world consisted only of simple, +but stately legends of bright-limbed gods and heroes. A felicitous +production of high art, also, is among the rarest of exceptions, and +will be till the Millennium. Myriads of comparative failures follow in +the suite of a masterpiece. We have, therefore, judged the novel by an +impracticable standard, by a comparison with the highest aims rather +than the usual attainments of other branches of literary art. Human +weakness makes poetry, philosophy, and history imperfect in execution, +though they aspire to absolute beauty and truth; human weakness +suggested the novel, which is imperfect in design, written as an +amusement and relief, in despair of sounding the universe. A novel is in +its nature and as a matter of necessity an artistic failure; it +pretends to nothing higher; but under the slack laws which govern its +composition, multitudes of fine and suggestive characters, incidents, +and sayings may be smuggled into it, contrary to all the usages and +rules of civilized literature. Hence the secret of its popularity, +that it is the organ of average as distinguished from highest thought. +Science and art are the goals of destiny, but rarely is there a +thinker or writer who has an eye single to them. It is an heroic, +self-sacrificing, and small platoon which in every age brunts Fate, and, +fighting on the shadowy frontier, makes conquests from the realm of +darkness. Their ideas are passed back from hand to hand, and become +known in fragments and potent as tendencies among the mass of the race, +who live in the circle of the attained and travel in the routine of +ages. The novelist is one of the number who half comprehend them, and +borrows them from all quarters to introduce into the rich _mélange_ of +his work. To solve a social problem, to reproduce an historical age or +character, or to develop the truth and poetry latent in any event, is +difficult, and not many will either lead or follow a severe attempt; +but the novelist will merrily chronicle his story and link with it in a +thousand ways some salient reminiscences of life and thought. + +What, then, is the highest excellence that the novel can attain? It is +the carnival of literary art. It deals sympathetically and humorously, +not philosophically and strictly, with the panorama and the principles +of life. A transcript, but not a transfiguration of Nature, it assumes a +thousand forms, surpassing all other books in the immense latitude left +to the writer, in the wild variety of things which it may touch, but +need not grasp. Its elements are the forests, the cities, and the seven +ages of man,--characters and fortunes how diversified! All species +of thinkers and actors, of ideas and passions, all the labyrinthine +complications and scenery of existence, may be illustrated in persons or +introduced by-the-by; into whatever colors make up the phantasmagoria +of collective humanity the novelist may dip his brush, in painting +his moving picture. Yet problems need not be fully appreciated, nor +characters or actions profoundly understood. It must be an engrossing +story, but the theme and treatment are as lawless as the conversation of +an evening party. The mind plays through all the realm of its knowledge +and experience, and sheds sparks from all the torches of thought, as +scenes and topics succeed each other. The pure forms of literature may +be reminiscences present to the imagination, the germs of new truths and +social arrangements may occupy the reason; but the novelist is neither +practical, nor philosophical, nor artistic; he is simply in a dream; and +pictures of the world and fragments of old ideas pass before him, as the +sacred meanings of religion flitted about the populace in a grotesque +mediæval festival of the Church. Conceive the stars dropped from their +place in the apparent heavens, and playing at shuttlecock with each +other and with boys, and having a heyday of careless joyousness here +below, instead of remaining in sublime dignity to guide and inspire men +who look up to them by night! Even such are the epic, the lyric, the +drama, the history, and the philosophy, as collected together in the +revelries of the novel. To state the degree of excellence possible to +a style as perverse as it is entertaining, to measure the wisdom of +essential folly, is difficult; and yet it may be said that the strength +of the novel is in its lawlessness, which leaves the author of genius +free to introduce his creations just as they occur to him, and the +author of talent free to range through all books and all time and +reproduce brilliant sayings and odd characters,--which, with no other +connecting thread than a story, freaks like a spirit through every +shade of feeling and region of thought, from the domestic hearth to the +ultimate bounds of speculative inquiry,--and which, by its daring +and careless combinations of incongruous elements, exhibits a free +embodiment in prose of the peculiar genius of the romantic. + +And some philosophers have styled romance the special glory of +Christianity. It is certainly the characteristic of critical as +distinguished from organic periods,--of the mind acting mystically in +a savage and unknown universe, rather than of the mind that has reduced +the heavens and earth to its arts and sciences. The novel, therefore, +as the wildest organ of romance, is most appropriate to a time of great +intellectual agitation, when intellectual men are but half-conscious of +the tendencies that are setting about them, and consequently cease to +propose to themselves final goals, do not attempt scrupulous art, but +play jubilantly with current facts. Hence, perhaps, its popularity since +the first conflicts of the Protestant Reformation, and especially since +the great French Revolution, when amid new inventions and new ideas +mankind has contemplatively looked for the coming events, the new +historical eras, which were casting their shadows before. + +When, some time, Christian art shall become classical, and Christian +ideas be developed by superior men as fairly as the Hellenic conceptions +were, the novel may either assume to itself some peculiar excellency, or +may cease to hold the comparative rank in literature which it enjoys at +present. Then the numberless prose romances which occupy the present +generation of readers will, perhaps, be collected in some immense +_corpus_, like the Byzantine historians, will be reckoned among the +curiosities of literature, and will at least have the merit of making +the study of antiquities easy and interesting. There is an old +couplet,-- + + Of all those arts in which the wise excel, + Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well. + +At a time when extemporaneous composition and thoughtless reading are +much in fashion, it will not be amiss to invoke profounder studies, and +slower, but more useful and permanent results. Let it be remembered that +even the Divine Mind first called into being the chaos of creation, and +then in seven days reviewed and elaborated it into a beautiful order. + + * * * * * + + + + +A LEGEND OF MARYLAND. + +"AN OWRE TRUE TALE." + +[Concluded.] + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE OLD CITY. + + +Let me now once more shift the scene. In the summer of 1684, the +peaceful little port of St. Mary's was visited by a phenomenon of rare +occurrence in those days. A ship of war of the smaller class, with the +Cross of St. George sparkling on her broad flag, came gliding to an +anchorage abreast the town. The fort of St. Inigoes gave the customary +salute, which I have reason to believe was not returned. Not long after +this, a bluff, swaggering, vulgar captain came on shore. He made no +visit of respect or business to any member of the Council. He gave no +report of his character or the purpose of his visit, but strolled to the +tavern,--I suppose to that kept by Mr. Cordea, who, in addition to his +calling of keeper of the ordinary, was the most approved shoemaker of +the city,--and here regaled himself with a potation of strong waters. +It is likely that he then repaired to Mr. Blakiston's, the King's +Collector,--a bitter and relentless enemy of the Lord Proprietary,--and +there may have met Kenelm Chiseldine, John Coode, Colonel Jowles, and +others noted for their hatred of the Calvert family, and in such company +as this indulged himself in deriding Lord Baltimore and his government, +During his stay in the port, his men came on shore, and, imitating their +captain's unamiable temper, roamed in squads about the town and its +neighborhood, conducting themselves in a noisy, hectoring manner towards +the inhabitants, disturbing the repose of the quiet burghers, and +shocking their ears with ribald abuse of the authorities. These +roystering sailors--I mention it as a point of historical interest--had +even the audacity to break into Alderman Garret Van Swearingen's garden, +and to pluck up and carry away his cabbages and other vegetables, +and--according to the testimony of Mr. Cordea, whose indignation was the +more intense from his veneration for the Alderman, and from the fact +that he made his Worship's shoes--they would have killed one of his +Worship's sheep, if his (Cordea's) man had not prevented them; and +after this, as if on purpose more keenly to lacerate his feelings, they +brought these cabbages to Cordea's house, and there boiled them before +his eyes,--he being sick and not able to drive them away. + +After a few days spent in this manner, the swaggering captain--whose +name, it was soon bruited about, was Thomas Allen, of his Majesty's +Navy--went on board of his ketch,--or brig, as we should call it,--the +Quaker, weighed anchor, and set sail towards the Potomac, and thence +stood down the Bay upon the coast of Virginia. Every now and then, after +his departure, there came reports to the Council of insults offered by +Captain Allen to the skippers of sundry Bay craft and other peaceful +traders on the Chesapeake; these insults consisting generally in +wantonly compelling them to heave to and submit to his search, in +vexatiously detaining them, overhauling their papers, and offending +them with coarse vituperation of themselves, as well as of the Lord +Proprietary and his Council. + +About a month later the Quaker was observed to enter the Patuxent River, +and cast anchor just inside of the entrance, near the Calvert County +shore, and opposite Christopher Rousby's house at Drum Point. This +was--says my chronicle--on Thursday, the 30th of October, in this year +1684. As yet Captain Allen had not condescended to make any report of +his arrival in the Province to any officer of the Proprietary. + +On Sunday morning, the 2d of November, the city was thrown into a +state of violent ebullition--like a little red-hot tea-kettle--by the +circulation of a rumor that got wind about the hour the burghers were +preparing to go to church. It was brought from Patuxent late in the +previous night, and was now whispered from one neighbor to another, and +soon came to boil with an extraordinary volume of steam. Stripping it +of the exaggeration natural to such an excitement, the rumor was +substantially this: That Colonel Talbot, hearing of the arrival of +Captain Allen in the Patuxent on Thursday, and getting no message or +report from him, set off on Friday morning, in an angry state of mind, +and rode over to Patuxent, determined to give the unmannerly captain a +lesson upon his duty. That as soon as he reached Mattapony House, +he took his boat and went on board the ketch. That there he found +Christopher Rousby, the King's Collector, cronying with Captain Allen, +and upholding him in his disrespect to the government. That Colonel +Talbot was very sharp upon Rousby, not liking him for old grudges, and +more moved against him now; and that he spoke his mind both to Captain +Allen and Christopher Rousby, and so got into a high quarrel with them. +That when he had said all he desired to say to them, he made a move to +leave the ketch in his boat, intending to return to Mattapony House; but +they who were in the cabin prevented him, and would not let him go. That +thereupon the quarrel broke out afresh, and became more bitter; and it +being now in the night, and all in a great heat of passion, the parties +having already come from words to blows, Talbot drew his skean, or +dagger, and stabbed Rousby to the heart. That nothing was known on +shore of the affray till Saturday evening, when the body was brought to +Rousby's house; after which it became known to the neighborhood; and one +of the men of Major Sewall's plantation, which adjoined Rousby's, having +thus heard of it, set out and rode that night over to St. Mary's with +the news, which he gave to the Major before midnight. It was added, that +Colonel Talbot was now detained on board of the ketch, as a prisoner, by +Captain Allen. + +This was the amount of the dreadful story over which the gossips of St. +Mary's were shaking their wise heads and discoursing on "crowner's quest +law" that Sunday morning. + +As soon as Major Sewall received these unhappy midnight tidings, he went +instantly to his colleague, Colonel Darnall, and communicated them to +him; and they, being warm friends of Talbot's, were very anxious to get +him out of the custody of this Captain Allen. They therefore, on Sunday +morning, issued a writ directed to Roger Brooke, the sheriff of Calvert +County, commanding him to arrest the prisoner and bring him before +the Council. Their next move was to ride over--the same morning--to +Patuxent, taking with them Mr. Robert Carvil, and John Llewellin, their +secretary. Upon reaching the river, all four went on board the ketch +to learn the particulars of the quarrel. These particulars are not +preserved in the record; and we have nothing better than our conjectures +as to what they disclosed. We know nothing specific of the cause or +character of the quarrel. The visitors found Talbot loaded with irons, +and Captain Allen in a brutal state of exasperation, swearing that he +would not surrender his prisoner to the authorities of the Province, but +would carry him to Virginia and deliver him to the government there, to +be dealt with as Lord Effingham should direct. He was grossly insulting +to the two members of the Council who had come on this inquiry; and +after they had left his vessel, in the pinnace, to return to the shore, +he affected to believe that they had some concealed force lying in wait +to seize the pinnace and its crew, and so ordered them back on board, +but after a short detention thought better of it, and suffered them +again to depart. + +The contumacy of the captain, and the declaration of his purpose to +carry away Talbot out of the jurisdiction of the Province within which +the crime was committed, and to deliver him to the Governor of Virginia, +was a grave assault upon the dignity of the government and a gross +contempt of the public authorities, which required the notice of the +Council. A meeting of this body was therefore held on the Patuxent, +at Rich Neck, on the morning of the 4th of November. I find that five +members were present on that occasion. Besides Colonel Darnall and Major +Sewall, there were Counsellor Tailler and Colonels Digges and Burgess. +Here the matter was debated and ended in a feeble resolve,--that, if +this Captain Allen should persist in his contumacy and take Talbot to +Virginia, the Council should immediately demand of Lord Effingham +his redelivery into this Province. Alas, they could only scold! This +resolution was all they could oppose to the bullying captain and the +guns of the troublesome little Quaker. + +Allen, after hectoring awhile in this fashion, and raising the wrath of +the Colonels of the Council until they were red in the cheeks, defiantly +took his departure, carrying with him his prisoner, in spite of the +vehement indignation of the liegemen of the Province. + +We may imagine the valorous anger of our little metropolis at this +act or crime of lese-majesty. I can see the group of angry burghers, +collected on the porch of Cordea's tavern, in a fume as they listen to +Master John Llewellin's account of what had taken place,--Llewellin +himself as peppery as his namesake when he made Ancient Pistol eat +his leek; and I fancy I can hear Alderman Van Swearingen's choleric +explosion against Lord Effingham, supposing his Lordship should presume +to slight the order of the Council in respect to Talbot's return. + +But these fervors were too violent to last. Christopher Rousby was duly +deposited under the greensward upon the margin of Harper's Creek, where +I found him safe, if not sound, more than a hundred and fifty years +afterwards. The metropolis gradually ceased to boil, and slowly fell +to its usual temperature of repose, and no more disturbed itself with +thoughts of the terrible captain. Talbot, upon being transferred to the +dominion of Virginia, was confined in the jail of Gloucester County, in +the old town of Gloucester, on the northern bank of York River. + +The Council now opened their correspondence with Lord Effingham, +demanding the surrender of their late colleague. On their part, it was +marked by a deferential respect, which, it is evident, they did not +feel, and which seems to denote a timid conviction of the favor of +Virginia and the disgrace of Maryland in the personal feelings of the +King. It is manifest they were afraid of giving offence to the lordly +governor of the neighboring Province. On the part of Lord Effingham, the +correspondence is cavalier, arrogant, and peremptory. + +The Council write deploringly to his Lordship. They "pray"--as they +phrase it--"in humble, civil, and obliging terms, to have the prisoner +safely returned to this government." They add,--"Your Excellency's great +wisdom, prudence, and integrity, as well as neighborly affection and +kindness for this Province, manifested and expressed, will, we doubt +not, spare us the labor of straining for arguments to move your +Excellency's consideration to this our so just and reasonable demand." +Poor Colonel Darnall, Poor Colonel Digges, and the rest of you Colonels +and Majors,--to write such whining hypocrisy as this! George Talbot +would not have written to Lord Effingham in such phrase, if one of you +had been unlawfully transported to his prison and Talbot were your +pleader! + +The nobleman to whom this servile language was addressed was a hateful +despot, who stands marked in the history of Virginia for his oppressive +administration, his arrogance, and his faithlessness. + +To give this beseeching letter more significance and the flattery it +contained more point, it was committed to the charge of two gentlemen +who were commissioned to deliver it in person to his Lordship. These +were Mr. Clement Hill and Mr. Anthony Underwood. + +Effingham's answer was cool, short, and admonitory. The essence of it +is in these words:--"We do not think it warrantable to comply with your +desires, but shall detain Talbot prisoner until his Majesty's particular +commands be known therein." A postscript is added of this import:--"I +recommend to your consideration, that you take care, as far as in you +lies, that, in the matter of the Customs, his Majesty receive no further +detriment by this unfortunate accident." + +One almost rejoices to read such an answer to the fulsome language which +drew it out. This correspondence runs through several such epistles. The +Council complain of the rudeness and coarse behavior of Captain Allen, +and particularly of his traducing Lord Baltimore's government and +attempting to excite the people against it. Lord Effingham professes to +disbelieve such charges against "an officer who has so long served his +King with fidelity, and who could not but know what was due to his +superiors." + +Occasionally this same faithful officer, Captain Allen himself, +reappears upon the stage. We catch him at a gentleman's house in +Virginia, boasting over his cups--for he seems to have paid habitual +tribute to a bowl of punch--that he will break up the government of +Maryland, and annex this poor little Province of ours to Virginia: a +fact worth notice just now, as it makes it clear that annexation is not +the new idea of the Nineteenth Century, but lived in very muddy brains +a long time ago. I now quit this correspondence to look after a bit of +romance in a secret adventure. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A PLOT. + + +We must return to the Manor of New Connaught upon the Elk River. + +There we shall find a sorrowful household. The Lord of the Manor is in +captivity; his people are dejected with a presentiment that they are to +see him no more; his wife is lamenting with her children, and counting +the weary days of his imprisonment. + + "His hounds they all run masterless, + His hawks they flee from tree to tree." + +Everything in the hospitable woodland home is changed. November, +December, January had passed by since Talbot was lodged in the +Gloucester prison, and still no hope dawned upon the afflicted lady. The +forest around her bowled with the rush of the winter wind, but neither +the wilderness nor the winter was so desolate as her own heart. The fate +of her husband was in the hands of his enemies. She trembled at the +thought of his being forced to a trial for his life in Virginia, where +he would be deprived of that friendly sympathy so necessary even to the +vindication of innocence, and where he ran the risk of being condemned +without defence, upon the testimony of exasperated opponents. + +But she was a strong-hearted and resolute woman, and would not despair. +She had many friends around her,--friends devoted to her husband and +herself. Amongst these was Phelim Murray, a cornet of cavalry under the +command of Talbot,--a brave, reckless, true-hearted comrade, who had +often shared the hospitality, the adventurous service, and the sports of +his commander. + +To Murray I attribute the planning of the enterprise I am now about +to relate. He had determined to rescue his chief from his prison in +Virginia. His scheme required the coöperation of Mrs. Talbot and one of +her youngest children,--the pet boy, perhaps, of the family, some two +or three years old,--I imagine, the special favorite of the father. The +adventure was a bold one, involving many hardships and perils. Towards +the end of January, the lady, accompanied by her boy with his nurse, and +attended by two Irish men-servants, repaired to St. Mary's, where she +was doubtless received as a guest in the mansion of the Proprietary, now +the residence of young Benedict Leonard and those of the family who had +not accompanied Lord Baltimore to England. + +Whilst Mrs. Talbot tarried here, the Cornet was busy in his +preparations. He had brought the Colonel's shallop from Elk River to the +Patuxent, and was here concerting a plan to put the little vessel under +the command of some ostensible owner who might appear in the character +of its master to any over-curious or inopportune questioner. He had +found a man exactly to his hand in a certain Roger Skreene, whose name +might almost be thought to be adopted for the occasion and to express +the part he had to act. He was what we may call the sloop's husband, but +was bound to do whatever Murray commanded, to ask no questions, and +to be profoundly ignorant of the real objects of the expedition. +This pliant auxiliary had, like many thrifty--or more probably +thriftless--persons of that time, a double occupation. He was amphibious +in his habits, and lived equally on land and water. At home he was a +tailor, and abroad a seaman, frequently plying his craft as a skipper +on the Bay, and sufficiently known in the latter vocation to render his +present employment a matter to excite no suspicious remark. It will +be perceived in the course of his present adventure that he was quite +innocent of any avowed complicity in the design which he was assisting. + +Murray had a stout companion with him, a good friend to Talbot, probably +one of the familiar frequenters of the Manor House of New Connaught,--a +bold fellow, with a hand and a heart both ready for any perilous +service. He may have been a comrade of the Cornet's in his troop. His +name was Hugh Riley,--a name that has been traditionally connected with +dare-devil exploits ever since the days of Dermot McMorrogh. There have +been, I believe, but few hard fights in the world, to which Irishmen +have had anything to say, without a Hugh Riley somewhere in the thickest +part of them. + +The preparations being now complete, Murray anchored his shallop near a +convenient landing,--perhaps within the Mattapony Creek. + +In the dead of winter, about the 30th of January, 1685, Mrs. Talbot, +with her servants, her child, and nurse, set forth from the Proprietary +residence in St. Mary's, to journey over to the Patuxent,--a cold, bleak +ride of fifteen miles. The party were all on horseback: the young boy, +perhaps, wrapped in thick coverings, nestling in the arms of one of the +men: Mrs. Talbot braving the sharp wind in hood and cloak, and warmed +by her own warm heart, which beat with a courageous pulse against the +fierce blasts that swept and roared across her path. Such a cavalcade, +of course, could not depart from St. Mary's without observation at any +season; but at this time of the year so unusual a sight drew every +inhabitant to the windows, and set in motion a current of gossip that +bore away all other topics from every fireside. The gentlemen of the +Council, too, doubtless had frequent conference with the unhappy wife of +their colleague, during her sojourn in the Government House, and perhaps +secretly counselled with her on her adventure. Whatever outward or +seeming pretext may have been adopted for this movement, we can hardly +suppose that many friends of the Proprietary were ignorant of its +object. We have, indeed, evidence that the enemies of the Proprietary +charged the Council with a direct connivance in the scheme of Talbot's +escape, and made it a subject of complaint against Lord Baltimore that +he afterwards approved of it. + +Upon her arrival at the Patuxent, Mrs. Talbot went immediately on board +of the sloop, with her attendants. There she found the friendly cornet +and his comrade, Hugh Riley, on the alert to distinguish their loyalty +in her cause. The amphibious Master Skreene was now at the head of a +picked crew,--the whole party consisting of five stout men, with the +lady, her child, and nurse. All the men but Skreene were sons of the +Emerald Isle,--of a race whose historical boast is the faithfulness of +their devotion to a friend in need and their chivalrous courtesy to +woman, but still more their generous and gallant championship of woman +in distress. On this occasion this national sentiment was enhanced when +it was called into exercise in behalf of the sorrowful lady of the chief +of their border settlements. + +They set sail from the Patuxent on Saturday, the 31st of January. On +Wednesday, the fifth day afterwards, they landed on the southern bank of +the Rappahannock, at the house of Mr. Ralph Wormeley, near the mouth of +the river. This long voyage of five days over so short a distance would +seem to indicate that they departed from the common track of navigation +to avoid notice. + +The next morning Mr. Wormeley furnished them horses and a servant, and +Mrs. Talbot, with the nurse and child, under the conduct of Cornet +Murray, set out for Gloucester,--a distance of some twenty miles. The +day following,--that is, on Friday,--the servant returned with the +horses, having left the party behind. Saturday passed and part of +Sunday, when, in the evening, Mrs. Talbot and the Cornet reappeared at +Mr. Wormeley's. The child and nurse had been left behind; and this was +accounted for by Mrs. Talbot's saying she had left the child with his +father, to remain with him until she should return to Virginia. I infer +that the child was introduced into this adventure to give some seeming +to the visit which might lull suspicion and procure easier access to the +prisoner; and the leaving of him in Gloucester proves that Mrs. Talbot +had friends, and probably confederates there, to whose care he was +committed. + +As soon as the party had left the shallop, upon their first arrival at +Mr. Wormeley's, the wily Master Skreene discovered that he had business +at a landing farther up the river; and thither he straightway took his +vessel,--Wormeley's being altogether too suspicious a place for him to +frequent. And now, when Mrs. Talbot had returned to Wormeley's, Roger's +business above, of course, was finished, and he dropped down again +opposite the house on Monday evening; and the next morning took the +Cornet and the lady on board. Having done this, he drew out into the +river. This brings us to Tuesday, the 10th of February. + +As soon as Mrs. Talbot was once more embarked in the shallop, Murray and +Riley (I give Master Skreene's own account of the facts, as I find it in +his testimony subsequently taken before the Council) made a pretext to +go on shore, taking one of the men with them. They were going to look +for a cousin of this man,--so they told Skreene,--and besides that, +intended to go to a tavern to buy a bottle of rum: all of which Skreene +gives the Council to understand he verily believed to be the real object +of their visit. + +The truth was, that, as soon as Murray and Riley and their companion had +reached the shore, they mounted on horseback and galloped away in the +direction of Gloucester prison. From the moment they disappeared on this +gallop until their return, we have no account of what they did. Roger +Skreene's testimony before the Council is virtuously silent on this +point. + +After this party was gone, Mrs. Talbot herself took command, and, with a +view to more privacy, ordered Roger to anchor near the opposite shore of +the river, taking advantage of the concealment afforded by a small inlet +on the northern side. Skreene says he did this at her request, because +she expressed a wish to taste some of the oysters from that side of the +river, which he, with his usual facility, believed to be the only reason +for getting into this unobserved harbor; and, merely to gratify this +wish, he did as she desired. + +The day went by slowly to the lady on the water. Cold February, a little +sloop, and the bleak roadstead at the mouth of the Rappahannock brought +but few comforts to the anxious wife, who sat muffled upon that unstable +deck, watching the opposite shore, whilst the ceaseless plash of the +waves breaking upon her ear numbered the minutes that marked the weary +hours, and the hours that marked the still more weary day. She watched +for the party who had galloped into the sombre pine-forest that +sheltered the road leading to Gloucester, and for the arrival of that +cousin of whom Murray spoke to Master Skreene. + +But if the time dragged heavily with her, it flew with the Cornet and +his companions. We cannot tell when the twenty miles to Gloucester were +thrown behind them, but we know that the whole forty miles of going and +coming were accomplished by sunrise the next morning. For the deposition +tells us that Roger Skreene had become very impatient at the absence of +his passengers,--at least, so he swears to the Council; and he began to +think, just after the sun was up, that, as they had not returned, they +must have got into a revel at the tavern, and forgotten themselves; +which careless demeanor of theirs made him think of recrossing the river +and of going ashore to beat them up; when, lo! all of a sudden, he spied +a boat coming round the point within which he lay. And here arises a +pleasant little dramatic scene, of some interest to our story. + +Mrs. Talbot had been up at the dawn, and watched upon the deck, +straining her sight, until she could see no more for tears; and at +length, unable to endure her emotion longer, had withdrawn to the cabin. +Presently Skreene came hurrying down to tell her that the boat was +coming,--and, what surprised him, there were _four_ persons in it. "Who +is this fourth man?" he asked her,--with his habitual simplicity, "and +how are we to get him back to the shore again?"--a very natural question +for Roger to ask, after all that had passed in his presence! Mrs. Talbot +sprang to her feet,--her eyes sparkling, as she exclaimed, with a cheery +voice, "Oh, his cousin has come!"--and immediately ran upon the deck +to await the approaching party. There were pleasant smiling faces all +around, as the four men came over the sloop's side; and although the +testimony is silent as to the fact, there might have been some little +kissing on the occasion. The new-comer was in a rough dress, and had the +exterior of a servant; and our skipper says in his testimony, that "Mrs. +Talbot spoke to him in the Irish language": very volubly, I have no +doubt, and that much was said that was never translated. When they +came to a pause in this conversation, she told Skreene, by way of +interpretation, "he need not be uneasy about the stranger's going on +shore, nor delay any longer, as this person had made up his mind to go +with them to Maryland." + +So the boat was made fast, the anchor was weighed, the sails were set, +and the little sloop bent to the breeze and kissed the wave, as she +rounded the headland and stood up the Bay, with Colonel George Talbot +encircling with his arm his faithful wife, and with the gallant Cornet +Murray sitting at his side. + +They had now an additional reason for caution against search. So Murray +ordered the skipper to shape his course over to the eastern shore, and +to keep in between the islands and the main. This is a broad circuit +outside of their course; but Roger is promised a reward by Mrs. Talbot, +to compensate him for his loss of time; and the skipper is very willing. +They had fetched a compass, as the Scripture phrase is, to the shore of +Dorset County, and steered inside of Hooper's Island, into the month of +Hungary River. Here it was part of the scheme to dismiss the faithful +Roger from further service. With this view they landed on the island and +went to Mr. Hooper's house, where they procured a supply of provisions, +and immediately afterwards reembarked,--having clean forgotten Roger, +until they were once more under full sail up the Bay, and too far +advanced to turn back! + +The deserted skipper bore his disappointment like a Christian; and being +asked, on Hungary River, by a friend who met him there, and who gave his +testimony before the Council, "What brought him there?" he replied, "He +had been left on the island by Madam Talbot." And to another, "Where +Madam Talbot was?" he answered, "She had gone up the Bay to her own +house." Then, to a third question, "How he expected his pay?" he said, +"He was to have it of Colonel Darnall and Major Sewall; and that Madam +Talbot had promised him a hogshead of tobacco extra, for putting ashore +at Hooper's Island." The last question was, "What news of Talbot?" and +Roger's answer, "He had not been within twenty miles of him; neither did +he know anything about the Colonel" !! But, on further discourse, he let +fall, that "he knew the Colonel never would come to a trial,"--"that +_he_ knew this; but neither man, woman, nor child should know it, but +those who knew it already." + +So Colonel George Talbot is out of the hands of the proud Lord +Effingham, and up the Bay with his wife and friends; and is buffeting +the wintry head-winds in a long voyage to the Elk River, which, in due +time, he reaches in safety. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +TROUBLES IN COUNCIL. + + +Let us now turn back to see what is doing at St. Mary's. + +On the 17th of February comes to the Council a letter from Lord +Effingham. It has the superscription, "These, with the greatest care and +speed." It is dated on the 11th of February from Poropotanck, an Indian +point on the York River above Gloucester, and memorable as being in the +neighborhood of the spot where, some sixty years before these events, +Pocahontas saved the life of that mirror of chivalry, Captain John +Smith. + +The letter brings information "that last night [the 10th of February] +Colonel Talbot escaped out of prison,"--a subsequent letter says, "by +the corruption of his guard,"--and it is full of admonition, which has +very much the tone of command, urging all strenuous efforts to recapture +him, and particularly recommending a proclamation of "hue and cry." + +And now, for a month, there is a great parade in Maryland of +proclamation, and hue and cry, and orders to sheriffs and county +colonels to keep a sharp look-out everywhere for Talbot. But no person +in the Province seems to be anxious to catch him, except Mr. Nehemiah +Blakiston, the Collector, and a few others, who seem to have been +ministering to Lord Effingham's spleen against the Council for not +capturing him. His Lordship writes several letters of complaint at the +delay and ill success of this pursuit, and some of them in no measured +terms of courtesy. "I admire," he says in one of these, "at any slow +proceedings in service wherein his Majesty is so concerned, and hope you +will take off all occasions of future trouble, both unto me and you, +of this nature, by manifesting yourselves zealous for his Majesty's +service." They answer, that all imaginable care for the apprehending +of Talbot has been taken by issuing proclamations, etc.,--but all have +proved ineffectual, because Talbot upon all occasions flies and +takes refuge "in the remotest parts of the woods and deserts of this +Province." + +At this point we get some traces of Talbot. There is a deposition of +Robert Kemble of Cecil County, and some other papers, that give us a few +particulars by which I am enabled to construct my narrative. + +Colonel Talbot got to his own house about the middle of +February,--nearly at the same time at which the news of his escape +reached St. Mary's. He there lay warily watching the coming hue and cry +for his apprehension. He collected his friends, armed them, and set them +at watch and ward, at all his outposts. He had a disguise provided, in +which he occasionally ventured abroad. Kemble met him, on the 19th of +February, at George Oldfield's, on Elk River; and although the Colonel +was disguised in a flaxen wig, and in other ways, Kemble says he knew +him by hearing him cough in the night, in a room adjoining that in which +Kemble slept. Whilst this witness was at Oldfield's, "Talbot's shallop," +he says, "was busking and turning before Oldfield's landing for several +hours." The roads leading towards Talbot's house were all guarded by his +friends, and he had a report made to him of every vessel that arrived in +the river. By way of more permanent concealment, until the storm should +blow over, he had made preparations to build himself a cabin, somewhere +in the woods out of the range of the thoroughfares of the district. When +driven by a pressing emergency which required more than ordinary care +to prevent his apprehension, he betook himself to the cave on the +Susquehanna, where, most probably, with a friend or two,--Cornet Murray +I hope was one of them,--he lay perdu for a few days at a time, and +then ventured back to speak a word of comfort and encouragement to the +faithful wife who kept guard at home. + +In this disturbed and anxious alternation of concealment and flight +Talbot passed the winter, until about the 25th of April, when, probably +upon advice of friends, he voluntarily surrendered himself to the +Council at St. Mary's, and was committed for trial in the provincial +Court. The fact of the surrender was communicated to Lord Effingham by +the Council, with a request that he would send the witnesses to Maryland +to appear at his trial. Hereupon arose another correspondence with his +Lordship, which is worthy of a moment's notice. Lord Effingham has lost +nothing of his arrogance. He says, on the 12th of May, 1685, "I am so +far from answering your desires, that I do hereby demand Colonel Talbot +as my prisoner, in the King of England's name, and that you do forthwith +convey him into Virginia. And to this my demand I expect your ready +performance and compliance, upon your allegiance to his Majesty." + +I am happy to read the answer to this insolent letter, in which it will +be seen that the spirit of Maryland was waked up on the occasion to its +proper voice.--It is necessary to say, by way of explanation to one +point in this answer, that the Governor of Virginia had received the +news of the accession and proclamation of James the Second, and had not +communicated it to the Council in Maryland. The Council give an answer +at their leisure, having waited till the 1st of June, when they write +to his Lordship, protesting against Virginia's exercising any +superintendence over Maryland, and peremptorily refusing to deliver +Talbot. They tell him "that we are desirous and conclude to await his +Majesty's resolution, [in regard to the prisoner,] which we question not +will be agreeable to his Lordship's Charter, and, consequently, contrary +to your expectations. In the mean time we cannot but resent in some +measure, for we are willing to let you see that we observe, the small +notice you seem to take of this Government, (contrary to that amicable +correspondence so often promised, and expected by us,) in not holding us +worthy to be advised of his Majesty's being proclaimed, without which, +certainly, we have not been enabled to do our duty in that particular. +Such advice would have been gratefully received by your Excellency's +humble servants." Thanks, Colonels Darnall and Digges and you other +Colonels and Majors, for this plain outspeaking of the old Maryland +heart against the arrogance of the "Right Honorable Lord Howard, Baron +of Effingham, Captain General and Chief Governor of his Majesty's Colony +of Virginia," as he styles himself! I am glad to see this change of +tone, since that first letter of obsequious submission. + +Perhaps this change of tone may have had some connection with the recent +change on the throne, in which the accession of a Catholic monarch may +have given new courage to Maryland, and abated somewhat the confidence +of Virginia. If so, it was but a transitory hope, born to a sad +disappointment. + +The documents afford but little more information. + +Lord Baltimore, being in London, appears to have interceded with the +King for some favor to Talbot, and writes to the Council on the third +of July, "that it formerly was and still is the King's pleasure, that +Talbot shall be brought over, in the Quaker Ketch, to England, to +receive his trial there; and that, in order thereto, his Majesty had +sent his commands to the Governor of Virginia to deliver him to +Captain Allen, commander of said ketch, who is to bring him over." The +Proprietary therefore directs his Council to send the prisoner to the +Governor of Virginia, "to the end that his Majesty's pleasure may be +fulfilled." + +This letter was received on the 7th of October, 1685, and Talbot was +accordingly sent, under the charge of Gilbert Clarke and a proper guard, +to Lord Effingham, who gives Clarke a regular business receipt, as if +he had brought him a hogshead of tobacco, and appends to it a short +apologetic explanation of his previous rudeness, which we may receive as +another proof of his distrust of the favor of the new monarch. "I had +not been so urgent," he says, "had I not had advices from England, last +April, of the measures that were taken there concerning him." + +After this my chronicle is silent. We have no further tidings of Talbot. +The only hint for a conjecture is the marginal note of "The Landholder's +Assistant," got from Chalmers: "He was, I believe," says the note, +"tried and convicted, and finally pardoned by James the Second." This is +probably enough. For I suppose him to have been of the same family with +that Earl of Tyrconnel equally distinguished for his influence with +James the Second as for his infamous life and character, who held at +this period unbounded sway at the English Court. I hope, for the honor +of our hero, that he preserved no family-likeness to that false-hearted, +brutal, and violent favorite, who is made immortal in Macaulay's pages +as Lying Dick Talbot. Through his intercession his kinsman may have been +pardoned, or even never brought to trial. + + +CHAPTER X. + +CONCLUSION. + + +This is the end of my story. But, like all stories, it requires that +some satisfaction should be given to the reader in regard to the +dramatic proprieties. We have our several heroes to dispose of. Phelim +Murray and Hugh Riley, who had both been arrested by the Council to +satisfy public opinion as to their complicity in the plot for the +escape, were both honorably discharged,--I suppose being found entirely +innocent! Roger Skreene swore himself black and blue, as the phrase is, +that he had not the least suspicion of the business in which he was +engaged; and so he was acquitted! I am also glad to be able to say that +our gallant Cornet Murray, in the winding-up of this business, was +promoted by the Council to a captaincy of cavalry, and put in command of +Christiana Fort and its neighborhood, to keep that formidable Quaker, +William Penn, at a respectful distance. It would gratify me still more, +if I could find warrant to add, that the Cornet enjoyed himself, and +married the lady of his choice, with whom he has, unknown to us, been +violently in love during these adventures, and that they lived happily +together for many years. I hope this was so,--although the chronicle +does not allow one to affirm it,--it being but a proper conclusion to +such a romance as I have plucked out of our history. + +And so I have traced the tradition of the Cave to the end. What I have +been able to certify furnishes the means of a shrewd estimate of the +average amount of truth which popular traditions generally contain. +There is always a fact at the bottom, lying under a superstructure of +fiction,--truth enough to make the pursuit worth following. Talbot did +not live in the Cave, but fled there occasionally for concealment. He +had no hawks with him, but bred them in his own mews on the Elk River. +The birds seen in after times were some of this stock, and not the +solitary pair they were supposed to be. I dare say an expert naturalist +would find many specimens of the same breed now in that region. But let +us not be too critical on the tradition, which has led us into a quest +through which I have been able to supply what I hope will be found to be +a pleasant insight into that little world of action and passion,--with +its people, its pursuits, and its gossips,--that, more than one hundred +and seventy years ago, inhabited the beautiful banks of St. Mary's +River, and wove the web of our early Maryland history. + + +POSTSCRIPT. + + +I have another link in the chain of Talbot's history, furnished me by a +friend in Virginia. It comes since I have completed my narrative, and +very accurately confirms the conjecture of Chalmers, quoted in the note +of "The Landholder's Assistant." "As for Colonel Talbot, he was conveyed +for trial to Virginia, from whence he made his escape, and, after being +retaken, and, _I believe_, tried and convicted, was finally pardoned by +King James II." This is an extract from the note. It is now ascertained +that Talbot was not taken to England for trial, as Lord Baltimore, in +his letter of the 6th of July, 1685, affirmed it was the King's pleasure +he should be; but that he was tried and convicted in Virginia on the 22d +of April, 1686, and, on the 26th of the same month, reprieved by order +of the King; after which we may presume he received a full pardon, and +perhaps was taken to England in obedience to the royal command, to await +it there. The conviction and reprieve are recorded in a folio of the +State Records of Virginia at Richmond, on a mutilated and scarcely +legible sheet,--a copy of which I present to my reader with all its +obliterations and broken syllables and sad gashes in the text, for his +own deciphering. The MS. is in keeping with the whole story, and may be +looked upon as its appropriate emblem. The story has been brought to +light by chance, and has been rendered intelligible by close study and +interpretation of fragmentary and widely separated facts, capable of +being read only by one conversant with the text of human affairs, and +who has the patience to grope through the trackless intervals of time, +and the skill to supply the lost words and syllables of history by +careful collation with those which are spared. How faithfully this +accidentally found MS. typifies such a labor, the reader may judge from +the literal copy of it I now offer to his perusal. + +[Transcriber's note: Gaps in the text below are signified with an +asterisk.] + + By his Excellency + + Whereas his most Sacred Majesty has been Graciously pleased + by his Royall Com'ands to Direct and Com'and Me ffrancis + Lord Howard of Effingham his Maj'ties Lieut and Gov'r. Gen'll. + of Virginia that if George Talbott Esq'r. upon his Tryall should + be found Guilty of Killing M'r Christopher Rowsby, that Execution + should be suspended untill his Majesties pleasure should + be further signified unto Me; And forasmuch as the sd George + Talbott was Indicted upon the Statute of Stabbing and hath + Received a full and Legall Tryall in open Court on y'e Twentieth + and One and Twentieth dayes of this Instant Aprill, before his + Majesties Justices of Oyer and Terminer, and found Guilty of y'e + aforesaid fact and condemned for the Same, I, therefore, *ffrancis + Lord Howard, Baron of *ffingham, his Majesties Lieu't and Gov'r. + Gen'll. Of Virginia, by Virtue of *aj'ties Royall Com'ands + to Me given there * doe hereby Suspend *tion of the + Sentence of death * his Maj'ties Justices + * Terminer on the * till his Majesties + *erein be * nor any + * fail as yo* uttmost + * and for y'r soe doing this sh* + + Given under my and * Seale + + the 26th dayof Apri* + + EFFINGHAM + + To his Majesties Justices + of Oyer and Terminer. + + Recordatur E Chillon Gen'l Car* + + [Endorsed] + + Talbott's Repreif + from L'd Howard + 1686 for Killing Ch'r. Rousby + Examined Sept. 24th + 26th Aprill 1686 + Sentence of + ag'* Col Ta + Suspended + Aprill 26* 1*86 + + + + +PRINCE ADEB. + + + In Sana, oh, in Sana, God, the Lord, + Was very kind and merciful to me! + Forth from the Desert in my rags I came, + Weary and sore of foot. I saw the spires + And swelling bubbles of the golden domes + Rise through the trees of Sana, and my heart + Grew great within me with the strength of God; + And I cried out, "Now shall I right myself,-- + I, Adeb the Despised,--for God is just!" + There he who wronged my father dwelt in peace,-- + My warlike father, who, when gray hairs crept + Around his forehead, as on Lebanon + The whitening snows of winter, was betrayed + To the sly Imam, and his tented wealth + Swept from him, 'twixt the roosting of the cock + And his first crowing,--in a single night: + And I, poor Adeb, sole of all my race, + Smeared with my father's and my kinsmen's blood, + Fled through the Desert, till one day a tribe + Of hungry Bedouins found me in the sand, + Half mad with famine, and they took me up, + And made a slave of me,--of me, a prince! + All was fulfilled at last. I fled from them, + In rags and sorrow. Nothing but my heart, + Like a strong swimmer, bore me up against + The howling sea of my adversity. + At length o'er Sana, in the act to swoop, + I stood like a young eagle on a crag. + The traveller passed me with suspicious fear: + I asked for nothing; I was not a thief. + The lean dogs snuffed around me: my lank bones, + Fed on the berries and the crusted pools, + Were a scant morsel. Once, a brown-skinned girl + Called me a little from the common path, + And gave me figs and barley in a bag. + I paid her with a kiss, with nothing more, + And she looked glad; for I was beautiful, + And virgin as a fountain, and as cold. + I stretched her bounty, pecking, like a bird, + Her figs and barley, till my strength returned. + So when rich Sana lay beneath my eyes, + My foot was as the leopard's, and my hand + As heavy as the lion's brandished paw; + And underneath my burnished skin the veins + And stretching muscles played, at every step, + In wondrous motion. I was very strong. + I looked upon my body, as a bird + That bills his feathers ere he takes to flight,-- + I, watching over Sana. Then I prayed; + And on a soft stone, wetted in the brook, + Ground my long knife; and then I prayed again. + God heard my voice, preparing all for me, + As, softly stepping down the hills, + I saw the Imam's summer-palace all ablaze + In the last flash of sunset. Every fount + Was spouting fire, and all the orange-trees + Bore blazing coals, and from the marble walls + And gilded spires and columns, strangely wrought, + Glared the red light, until my eyes were pained + With the fierce splendor. Till the night grew thick, + I lay within the bushes, next the door, + Still as a serpent, as invisible. + The guard hung round the portal. Man by man + They dropped away, save one lone sentinel, + And on his eyes God's finger lightly fell; + He slept half standing. Like a summer wind + That threads the grove, yet never turns a leaf, + I stole from shadow unto shadow forth; + Crossed all the marble court-yard, swung the door, + Like a soft gust, a little way ajar,-- + My body's narrow width, no more,--and stood + Beneath the cresset in the painted hall. + I marvelled at the riches of my foe; + I marvelled at God's ways with wicked men. + Then I reached forth, and took God's waiting hand: + And so He led me over mossy floors, + Flowered with the silken summer of Shirar, + Straight to the Imam's chamber. At the door + Stretched a brawn eunuch, blacker than my eyes: + His woolly head lay like the Kaba-stone + In Mecca's mosque, as silent and as huge. + I stepped across it, with my pointed knife + Just missing a full vein along his neck, + And, pushing by the curtains, there I was,-- + I, Adeb the Despised,--upon the spot + That, next to heaven, I longed for most of all. + I could have shouted for the joy in me. + Fierce pangs and flashes of bewildering light + Leaped through my brain and danced before my eyes. + So loud my heart beat that I feared its sound + Would wake the sleeper; and the bubbling blood + Choked in my throat, till, weaker than a child, + I reeled against a column, and there hung + In a blind stupor. Then I prayed again; + And, sense by sense, I was made whole once more. + I touched myself; I was the same; I knew + Myself to be lone Adeb, young and strong, + With nothing but a stride of empty air + Between me and God's justice. In a sleep, + Thick with the fumes of the accursed grape, + Sprawled the false Imam. On his shaggy breast, + Like a white lily heaving on the tide + Of some foul stream, the fairest woman slept + These roving eyes have ever looked upon. + Almost a child, her bosom barely showed + The change beyond her girlhood. All her charms + Were budding, but half opened; for I saw + Not only beauty wondrous in itself, + But possibility of more to be + In the full process of her blooming days. + I gazed upon her, and my heart grew soft, + As a parched pasture with the dew of heaven. + While thus I gazed, she smiled, and slowly raised + The long curve of her lashes; and we looked + Each upon each in wonder, not alarm,-- + Not eye to eye, but soul to soul, we held + Each other for a moment. All her life + Seemed centred in the circle of her eyes. + She stirred no limb; her long-drawn, equal breath + Swelled out and ebbed away beneath her breast, + In calm unbroken. Not a sign of fear + Touched the faint color on her oval cheek, + Or pinched the arches of her tender mouth. + She took me for a vision, and she lay + With her sleep's smile unaltered, as in doubt + Whether real life had stolen into her dreams, + Or dreaming stretched into her outer life. + I was not graceless to a woman's eyes. + The girls of Damar paused to see me pass, + I walking in my rags, yet beautiful. + One maiden said, "He has a prince's air!" + I am a prince; the air was all my own. + So thought the lily on the Imam's breast; + And lightly as a summer mist, that lifts + Before the morning, so she floated up, + Without a sound or rustle of a robe, + From her coarse pillow, and before me stood + With asking eyes. The Imam never moved. + A stride and blow were all my need, and they + Were wholly in my power. I took her hand, + I held a warning finger to my lips, + And whispered in her small expectant ear, + "Adeb, the son of Akem!" She replied + In a low murmur, whose bewildering sound + Almost lulled wakeful me to sleep, and sealed + The sleeper's lids in tenfold slumber, "Prince, + Lord of the Imam's life and of my heart, + Take all thou seest,--it is thy right, I know,-- + But spare the Imam for thy own soul's sake!" + Then I arrayed me in a robe of state, + Shining with gold and jewels; and I bound + In my long turban gems that might have bought + The lands 'twixt Babelmandeb and Sahan. + I girt about me, with a blazing belt, + A scimitar o'er which the sweating smiths + In far Damascus hammered for long years, + Whose hilt and scabbard shot a trembling light + From diamonds and rubies. And she smiled, + As piece by piece I put the treasures on, + To see me look so fair,--in pride she smiled. + I hung long purses at my side. I scooped, + From off a table, figs and dates and rice, + And bound them to my girdle in a sack. + Then over all I flung a snowy cloak, + And beckoned to the maiden. So she stole + Forth like my shadow, past the sleeping wolf + Who wronged my father, o'er the woolly head + Of the swart eunuch, down the painted court, + And by the sentinel who standing slept. + Strongly against the portal, through my rags,-- + My old, base rags,--and through the maiden's veil, + I pressed my knife,--upon the wooden hilt + Was "Adeb, son of Akem," carved by me + In my long slavehood,--as a passing sign + To wait the Imam's waking. Shadows cast + From two high-sailing clouds upon the sand + Passed not more noiseless than we two, as one, + Glided beneath the moonlight, till I smelt + The fragrance of the stables. As I slid + The wide doors open, with a sudden bound + Uprose the startled horses; but they stood + Still as the man who in a foreign land + Hears his strange language, when my Desert call, + As low and plaintive as the nested dove's, + Fell on their listening ears. From stall to stall, + Feeling the horses with my groping hands, + I crept in darkness; and at length I came + Upon two sister mares, whose rounded sides, + Fine muzzles, and small heads, and pointed ears, + And foreheads spreading 'twixt their eyelids wide, + Long slender tails, thin manes, and coats of silk, + Told me, that, of the hundred steeds there stalled, + My hand was on the treasures. O'er and o'er + I felt their long joints, and down their legs + To the cool hoofs;--no blemish anywhere: + These I led forth and saddled. Upon one + I set the lily, gathered now for me,-- + My own, henceforth, forever. So we rode + Across the grass, beside the stony path, + Until we gained the highway that is lost, + Leading from Sana, in the eastern sands: + When, with a cry that both the Desert-born + Knew without hint from whip or goading spur, + We dashed into a gallop. Far behind + In sparks and smoke the dusty highway rose; + And ever on the maiden's face I saw, + When the moon flashed upon it, the strange smile + It wore on waking. Once I kissed her mouth, + When she grew weary, and her strength returned. + All through the night we scoured between the hills: + The moon went down behind us, and the stars + Dropped after her; but long before I saw + A planet blazing straight against our eyes, + The road had softened, and the shadowy hills + Had flattened out, and I could hear the hiss + Of sand spurned backward by the flying mares.-- + Glory to God! I was at home again! + The sun rose on us; far and near I saw + The level Desert; sky met sand all round. + We paused at midday by a palm-crowned well, + And ate and slumbered. Somewhat, too, was said: + The words have slipped my memory. That same eve + We rode sedately through a Hamoum camp,-- + I, Adeb, prince amongst them, and my bride. + And ever since amongst them I have ridden, + A head and shoulders taller than the best; + And ever since my days have been of gold, + My nights have been of silver.--God is just! + + * * * * * + + + +ELEUSINIA.[a] + +[Footnote a: See Number XXIII., September, 1859.] + + +THE SAVIOURS OF GREECE. + +Life, in its central idea, is an entire and eternal solitude. Yet each +individual nature so repeats--and is itself repeated in--every other, +that there is insured the possibility both of a world-revelation in the +soul, and of a self-incarnation in the world; so that every man's life, +like Agrippa's mirror, reflects the universe, and the universe is made +the embodiment of his life,--is made to beat with a human pulse. + +We do all, therefore,--Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, or Saxon,--claim kinship +both with the earth and the heavens: with the sense of sorrow we kneel +upon the earth, with the sense of hope we look into the heavens. + +The two Presences of the Eleusinia,--the earthly Demeter,[b] the +embodiment of human sorrow, and the heavenly Dionysus,[c] the +incarnation of human hope,--these are the two Great Presences of the +Universe; about whom, as separate centres,--the one of measureless +wanderings, the other of triumphant rest,--we marshal, both in the +interpretations of Reason and in the constructions of our Imagination, +all that is visible or that is invisible,--whatsoever is palpable in +sense or possible in idea, in the world which is or the world to come. +Incarnations of the life within us, in its two developments of Sorrow +and Hope,--they are also the centres through which this life develops +itself in the world: it is through them that all things have their +genesis from the human heart, and through them, therefore, that all +things are unveiled to us. + +[Footnote b: Demeter is [Greek Gae-mhaetaer], Mother Earth.] + +[Footnote c: The same as Iacchus and the Latin Bacchus.] + +But these Two Presences have their highest interest and significance as +_foci_ of the religious development of the race: and inasmuch as all +growth is ultimately a religious one, it is in this phase that their +organic connections with life are widest and most profound. As such they +appear in the Eleusinia; and in all mythology they furnish the only +possible key for the interpretation of its mystic symbolism, its +hieroglyphic records, and its ill-defined traditions. + +Accordingly we find that all mythology naturally and inevitably +flows about these centres into two distinct developments, which are +indicated,-- + +1. In Nature; inasmuch as they are first made manifest through symbols +which point to the two great forces, the _active_ and the _passive_, +which are concerned in all natural processes (_sol et terra subjacens +soli_); and, + +2. In the primitive belief among all nations, that men are the offspring +of the earth and the heavens,--and in the worship equally prevalent of +the sun, the personal Presence of the heavens, as Saviour Lord, and of +the earth as sorrowing Lady and Mother. + +Why the earth, in this primitive symbolism and worship, was represented +as the Sorrowing One, and the sun as Saviour, is evident at a glance. +It was the bosom of the earth which was shaken with storm and rent with +earthquake. She was the Mother, and hers was the travail of all birth; +in sorrow she forever gathered to herself her Fate-conquered children; +her sorrowful countenance she veiled in thick mists, and, year after +year, shrouded herself in wintry desolation: while he was the Eternal +Father, the Revealer of all things, he drove away the darkness, and in +his presence the mist became an invisible exhalation; and, as out of +darkness and death, he called into birth the flowers and the numberless +forests,--even as he himself was every morning born anew out of +darkness,--so he called the children of the earth to a glorious rising +in his light. Everything of the earth was inert, weighing heavily upon +the sense and the heart, only waiting its transfiguration and exaltation +through his power, until it should rise into the heavens; which was the +type of his translation to himself of his grief-oppressed children. + +Under these symbols our Lord and Lady have been worshipped by an +overwhelming majority of the human race. They swayed the ancient world, +from the Indians by the Ganges, and the Tartar tribes, to the Britons +and Laplanders of Northwestern Europe,--having their representatives in +every system of faith,--in the Hindu _Isi and Isana_, the Egyptian _Isis +and Osiris_, the Assyrian _Venus and Adonis_, the _Demeter and Dionysus_ +of Greece, the Roman _Ceres and Bacchus_, and the _Disa and Frey_ of +Scandinavia,--in connection with most, if not all, of whom there existed +festivals corresponding, in respect of their meaning and use, with the +Grecian Eleusinia. + +Moreover, the various divinities of any one mythology--for example, the +Greek--were at first only representatives of partial attributes or +incidental functions of these Two Presences. Thus, Jove was the power of +the heavens, which, of course, centred in the sun; Apollo is admitted +to have been only another name for the sun; Æsculapius represents his +healing virtues; Hercules his saving strength; and Prometheus, who gave +fire to men, as Vulcan, the god of fire, was probably connected with +Eastern fire-worship, and so in the end with the worship of the sun. +Some of the goddesses come under the same category,--such as Juno, +sister and wife of Jove, who shared with him his aerial dynasty; as also +Diana, who was only the reflection of Apollo,[d] as the moon of the sun, +carrying his power on into the night, and exercising among women the +functions which he exercised among men. The representatives of our Lady, +on the other hand, are such as the ancient Rhea,--Latona, with her dark +and starry veil,--Tethys, the world-nurse,--and the Artemis of the East, +or Syrian Mother; to say nothing of Oreads, Dryads, and Nereids, that +without number peopled the mountains, the forests, and the sea. + +[Footnote d: This connection of Diana with Apollo has led some to the +hasty inference, that the sun and moon--not the sun and earth--were the +primitive centres of mythological symbolism. But it is plain that the +sun and moon, as _active _forces referable to a single centre, stood +over against the earth as _passive._] + +The confusion of ancient mythology did not so much regard its subjective +elements as its external development, and even here is easily accounted +for by the mingling of tribes and nations, hitherto isolated in their +growth,--but who, as they came together, in their mutual recognition of +a common faith under different names and rites, must inevitably have +introduced disorder into the external symbolism. But even out of this +confusion we shall find the whole Pantheon organized about two +central shrines,--those of the _Mater Dolorosa_ and the _Dominus +Salvator_,--which are represented also in Christendom, though detached +from natural symbols, in the connection of Christianity with the worship +of the Virgin. + +The Eleusinia, collecting together, as it did, all the prominent +elements of mythology, furnishes, in its dramatic evolution through +Demeter and Dionysus, the highest and most complete representation of +ancient faith in both of its developments. In a former paper, we have +endeavored to give this drama its deepest interpretation by pointing to +the human heart as the central source of all its movements. We shall now +ask our readers to follow us out into these movements themselves,--that, +as before we saw how the world is centred in each human soul, we may now +see how each soul develops itself in the world; for thither it is that +the ever-widening cycles of the Eleusinian epos will inevitably lead us. + +And first as an epos of sorrow: though centring in the earthly Demeter, +yet its movement does not limit itself by the remembrance of _her_ nine +days' search; but, in the torch-light procession of the fifth night, +widens indefinitely and mysteriously in the darkness, until it has +inclosed all hearts within the circuit of its tumultuous flight. Thus, +by some secret sympathy with her movements, are gathered together +about the central Achtheia all the _Matres Dolorosoe,_--our Ladies of +Sorrow;--for, like her, they were all wanderers. + +They were so by necessity. All unrest involves loss, and thus leads to +search. It matters not if the search be unsuccessful; though the gadfly +sting as sharply the next moment as it did the last, still so must +continue her wanderings. Therefore that Jew, whose mythic fate it is to +wait forever upon the earth, the victim of an everlasting sorrow, is +also an everlasting wanderer. All suffering necessitates movement,--and +when the suffering is intense, the movement passes over into flight. + +Therefore it is that the epos of suffering requires not merely time for +its accomplishment, but also space. Ulysses, the "much-suffering," is +also the "much-wandering." + +Thus our Lady in the Eleusinian procession of search represents the +restless search of all her children. + +Migrations and colonizations, ancient or modern,--what were they but +flights from some phase of suffering,--name it as we may,--poverty, +oppression, or slavery? It was the same suffering Io who brought +civilization to the banks of the Nile. + +Thus, from the very beginnings of history or human tradition, out of +the severities of Scythian deserts there has been an endless series of +flights,--nomadic invasions of tribes impelled by no merely barbarian +impulse, but by some deep sense of suffering, flying from their Northern +wastes to the happy gardens of the South. In no other way can you +account for these movements. If you attribute them to ferocity, what +was it that engendered and nourished _that_? Call them the results of +a Divine Providence, seeking by a fresher current of life to revive +systems of civilization which through long ages of luxury have come to +frailty,--still it was through this severity of discipline alone that +Providence accomplished its end. Besides, these nomads were fully +conscious of their bitter lot; and those who fled not in space fled at +least in their dreams,--waiting for death at last to introduce them to +inexhaustible hunting-grounds in their happy Elysium. + +The very mention of Rome suggests the same continually repeated series +of antecedent tragedy and consequent wandering,--pointing backward to +the fabled siege of Troy and the flight of Aeneas,--"_profugus_" +from Asia to Italy,--and forward to the quick-coming footsteps of the +Northern _profugi_, who were eager, even this side the grave, to enter +the Valhalla of their dreams. + +It is said that the Phoenician cities sent out colonies from a desire of +gain, and because they were crowded at home. It is said, too, that, +in search of gold, thousands upon thousands went to El Dorado, to +California, and Australia; but who does not know that the greater part +of these thousands left their homes for reasons which, if fully exposed, +would reveal a tragedy in view of which gold appears a glittering +mockery? + +The great movement of the race westward is but an extension of this +epic flight. Thus, the Pilgrim Fathers of New England,--the grandest +_profugi_ of all time,--or even the bold adventurers of Spain, would +have been moved only by intense suffering, in some form, to exchange +their homes for a wilderness. + +The world is full of these wanderings, under various pretences of gain, +adventure, or curiosity, hiding the real impulse of flight. So with the +strong-flowing current in the streets of a great city; for how else +shall we interpret this intricate net-work of human feature and +movement,--this flux of life toward some troubled centre, and then its +reflux toward some uncertain and undefined circumference? + +And as Nature is the mirror of human life, so at the source of those +vast movements by which she buries in oblivion her own works and the +works of man there is hidden the type of human suffering, both for the +race and the individual. And hence it is, that, over against the eternal +solitude within us, there ever waits without us a second solitude, into +which, sooner or later, we pass with restless flight,--a solitude +vast, shadowy, and unfamiliar in its outline, but inevitable in its +reality,--haunting, bewildering, overshadowing us! + + * * * * * + +"Who is it that shall interpret this intricate evolution of human +footsteps, in its meaning of sorrow?--who is it that shall give us +rest?" Such is the half-conscious prayer of all these fugitives,--of +our Lady and all her children. This it is which gives meaning to the +torch-light procession on the fifth night of the Festival; but to-morrow +it shall find an answer in the Saviour Dionysus, who shall change the +flight of search into the pomp of triumph. + + * * * * * + +But let us pause a moment. It is Palm Sunday! We are not, indeed, in +Syria, the land of palms. Yet, even here,--lost in some far-reaching +avenue of pines, where one could hardly walk upon a summer Sunday +without such sense of joy as would move him to tears,--even here all the +movements of the earth and the heavens hint of most jubilant triumph. +Thus, the green grass rises above the dead grass at our feet; the +leaf-buds new-born upon the tree, like lotos-buds springing up from +Ethiopian marble, give token of resurrection; the trees themselves tower +heavenward; and in victorious ascension the clouds unite in the vast +procession, dissolving in exhalation at the "gates of the sun"; while +from unnumbered choirs arise songs of exultant victory from the hearts +of men to the throne of God! + +But whither, in divine remembrance,--whither is it that upon this Sunday +of all Sundays the thoughts of Christendom point? Back through eighteen +hundred years to the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, followed +by the children crying, "Hosanna in the highest heavens!" Of this it is +that the processions of Nature, in the resurrections of birth and the +aërial ascension of clouds,--of this that the upward processions of our +thoughts are commemorative! + +Thus was the sixth day of the Eleusinia,--when the ivy-crowned Dionysus +was borne in triumph through the mystic entrance of Eleusis, and from +the Eleusinian plains, as from our choirs to-day, ascended the jubilant +Hosannas of the countless multitude;--this was the Palm Sunday of +Greece. + +Close upon the chariot-wheels of the Saviour Dionysus followed, in +the faith of Greece, Aesculapius and Hercules: the former the Divine +Physician, whose very name was healing, and who had power over death, +as the child of the Sun; and the latter, who by his saving strength +delivered the earth from its Augean impurities, and, arrayed in +celestial panoply, subdued the monsters of the earth, and at last, +descending to Hades, slew the three-headed Cerberus and took away from +men much of the fear of death. Such was the train of the Eleusinian +Dionysus. If Demeter was the wanderer, he was the conqueror and centre +of all triumph. + +And this reminds us of his Indian conquest. What did it mean? Admit that +it may have been only the fabulous march in triumph of some forgotten +king of mortal birth to the farthest limits of the East. Still the fact +of its association with Dionysus stands as evidence of the connection of +human faith with human victory. Let it be that Dionysus himself was only +the apotheosis of victorious humanity. In strict logic this is more than +probable. Yet why apotheosize conquerors at all? Why exalt all heroes to +the rank of gods? + +The reason is, that men are unwilling to draw a limited meaning from any +human act. How could they, then, connecting, as they did, all victory +with hope,--how could they fall short of the most exalted hope, of the +most excellent victory; especially in instances like the one now under +our notice, where the material circumstances of the conquest as well +as of the conqueror's life have passed out of remembrance; when for +generations men have dwelt upon the dim tradition in their thoughts, and +it has had time to grow into its fullest significance,--even finding +an elaborate expression in sacred writings, in symbolic ritual, and +monumental entablature? Osiris, who subjected men to his reign of peace, +was also held to be the Preserver of their souls. Even Caesar, had he +lived two thousand years before, might have been worshipped as Saviour. +All extended power, measured by duration in time or vast areas of space, +becomes an incarnate Presence in the world, which awes to the dust +all who resist it, and exalts with its own glory all who trust in it. +Achtheia mourns all failures; and here it is that the human touches the +earth. But they who conquer, these are our Saviours; they shall follow +in the train of Dionysus; they shall lift us to the heavens, and +sanctify in our remembrance the Sunday of Palms! + +But Dionysus not only looks back with triumphant remembrance to ancient +conquest, but has his victories in the present, also, and in the great +Hereafter. For triumph was connected with all Dionysiac symbols, hints +of which are preserved to us in representations found upon ancient +vases: such, for instance, as the figure of Victory surmounting the +heads of the ivy-crowned Bacchantes in their mystic orgies; or the +winged serpents which bear the chariot of the victor-god,--as if in +this connection even the reptiles, whose very name (_serpentes_) is +a synonyme for what creeps, are to be made the ministrants of his +conquering flight. The tombs of the ancients from Egypt to Etruria are +full of these symbols. Many of them have become dim as to their meaning +by oblivious time; but enough is evident to indicate the prominence +of hope in ancient faith. This appears in the very multiplicity of +Dionysiac symbols as compared with any other class. Thus, out of +sixty-six vases at Polignano, all but one or two were found to be +Dionysiac in their symbolism. And this instance stands for many others. +The _character_ of the scenes represented indicates the same prominence +of hope, sometimes as connected with the relations of life,--as, for +example, the representation, found upon a sepulchral cone, of a husband +and wife uniting with each other in prayer to the Sun. Frequent +inscriptions--such as those in which the deceased is carefully committed +to Osiris, the Egyptian Dionysus--point in the same direction; as +also the genii who presided over the embalmed dead, a belief in whose +existence surely indicated a hopeful trust in some divine care which +would not leave them even in the grave. Statues of Osiris are found +among the ruins of palaces and temples; but it was in the monuments +associated with death that they dwelt most upon his name and expressed +their faith in most frequent incarnation and inscription. + +The epic movement of Eleusinian triumph was in its range as unlimited +as the movement of sorrow. Each found expression in sculptured +monument,--the one hinting of flight into darkness, and the other of +resurrection into light; each in its cycle inclosed the world; each +widened into the invisible; as the wail of Achtheia reached the heart of +Hades, so the paean of Dionysus was lost in the heavens. + + * * * * * + +But in what manner did this Dionysus make his _avatar_ in the world? For +he must needs have first touched the earth as human child, ere he could +be worshipped as Divine Saviour. Latona must leave the heavens and come +to Delos ere she can give birth to Apollo; for, in order to slay the +serpent, the child must himself be earth-born,--indeed, according to one +representation, he slew the Python out of his mother's arms. Neither the +serpent of Genesis nor the dragon of Revelation can be conquered save +by the seed of the woman. From this necessity of his earthly birth, +the connection of the Saviour-Child with the _Mater Dolorosa_ becomes +universal,--finding its counterpart in the Assyrian Venus with babe in +arm, in Isis suckling the child Horus, and even in the Scandinavian Disa +at Upsal accompanied by an infant. It is from swaddling-clothes, as the +nursling of our Lady, and out of the sorrowful discipline of earth, that +the child grows to be the Saviour, both for our Lady and for all her +children. + +Hence, according to the tradition, Dionysus was born of Semele of the +royal house at Thebes; and Jove was his father. A little before his time +of birth,--so the story goes,--Jove visited Semele, at her own rash +request, in all the majesty of his presence, with thunderings and +lightnings, so that the bower of the virgin mother was laid in ruins, +and she herself, unable to stand before the revealed god, was consumed +as by fire. But Jove out of her ashes perfected the birth of his son; +whence he was called the Child of Fire, ([Greek: puripais],)--which +epithet, as well as this part of the fable, probably points to his +connection with the Oriental symbolism of fire in the worship of the +Sun. + +And it is worth while, in connection with this, to notice the gradations +by which in the ancient mind everything ascended from the gross material +to a refined spirituality. As in Nature there was forever going on a +subtilizing process, so that + + "from the root + Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves + More aëry, last the bright consummate flower + Spirits odorous breathes,"-- + +and as, in their philosophy, from the earth, as the principle of Nature, +they ascended through the more subtile elements of water, air, and fire, +to a spiritual conception of the universe; so, as regards their +faith, its highest incarnation was through the symbolism of fire, as +representative of that central Power under whose influence all things +arose through endless grades of exaltation to Himself,--so that the +earthly rose into the heavenly, and all that was human became divine. + +The enthusiasm of victory and exaltation in the worship of Dionysus +tended of course to connect with him whatsoever was joyous and jubilant +in life. He was the god of all joy. Hence the fable which makes him the +author and giver of wine to men. Wherever he goes, he is surrounded by +the clustering vine and ivy, hinting of his summer glory and of his +kingly crown. Thus, the line of his conquests leads through the richest +fields of Southern Asia,--through the incense-breathing Arabia, across +the Euphrates and the Tigris, and through the flowery vales of Cashmere +to the Indian garden of the world: and as from sea to sea he establishes +his reign by bloodless victories, he is attended by Fauns and Satyrs and +the jovial Pan; wine and honey are his gifts; and all the earth is glad +in his gracious presence. Hence he was ever associated with Oriental +luxuriance, and was worshipped even among the Greeks with a large +infusion of Oriental extravagance, though tempered by the more subdued +mood of the West. + +But that depth of Grecian genius, which made it possible for Greece +alone of all ancient nations to develop tragedy to anything like +perfection, insured also even in the most impassioned life the most +profound solemnity. Into the praises of Apollo, joyous as they +were,--where, to the exultant anthem was joined the evolution of the +dance beneath the vaulted sky, as if in his very presence,--for the sun +was his shechinah,--there enters an element of solemnity, which, in +certain connections, is almost overwhelming: as, for instance, in the +first book of the "Iliad,"--where, after the pestilence which has sent +up an endless series of funeral pyres,--after the strife of heroes +and the return of Chryseïs to her father, the priest of the angry +Apollo,--after the feast and the libation from the wine-crowned cups, +there follow the _apotropoea_, and the Grecian youths unite in the +song and the dance, which last, both the joyous paean and the tread of +exultant feet, until the setting sun. I know of nothing which to +an equal degree suggests this element of solemnity, that is almost +awe-inspiring from its depth, short of the jubilant procession of +saints, in the Apocalypse, with palms in their hands. + +This element is also evident in the worship of Dionysus,--so that the +inspiration of joy must not be taken for the frenzy of intoxication, +though the symbol of the vine has often led to just this +misapprehension. Besides, Dionysus must not be too closely identified +with the Bacchanalian orgies, which were only a perversion of rites +which retained their original purity in the Eleusinia: and this latter +institution, it must be remembered, was from the first under the control +of the state,--and that state at the time the most refined on the face +of the earth. + +Surely, it is not more difficult to give a pure and spiritual +significance to a vintage-festival or to the symbolic wine-cup of +Dionysus, than in the rhapsodies of a Persian or Hindu poet to symbolize +the attraction between the Divine Goodness and the human soul by the +loves of Laili and Majnum, or of Crishna and Radha,--to say nothing of +the exalted symbolism attached to the love of Solomon for his Egyptian +princess, and sanctioned by the most delicate taste. + +Indeed, is it not true that whatsoever is most sensuous in connection +with human joy, and at the same time pure, is the very flower of life, +and therefore the most consummate revelation of holiness? Nothing in +Nature is so intensely solemn as her summer, in its infinite fulness of +growth and the unmeasured altitude of its heavens. And within the range +of human associations which shall we select as revealing the most +profound solemnity? Surely not the sight of the funeral train, nor of +the urn crowned with cypress,--of nothing which is associated with death +or weakness in any shape;--but the sight of gayest festivals, or the +paraphernalia of palace-halls,--the vision of some youthful maiden of +transcendent beauty crowned with an orange-wreath, within hearing of +marriage-bells and the whisperings of holy love,--or the aspirations of +the dance and the endless breathings of triumphant music. These are they +which come up most prominently in remembrance,--even as the whole race, +in its remembrances, instinctively looks back to the Orient,--to some +Homeric island of the morning, where are the palaces, the choral dances, +and the risings of the sun.[e] And as Memory has the power to purify the +past of all material grossness, Faith has the same power as regards the +present Hence, the closest connection of religious faith with the +most joyous festivals, with a finely moulded Venus or Apollo, with an +Ephesian temple or a splendid cathedral, or the sweetest symphonies of +music, does not mar, but reveals its natural beauty and strength. + +[Footnote e: _Odyssey_, xii., 4.] + +But most certainly the Greeks gave a profound spiritual meaning to the +Eleusinia, as also to the mystic connection of Demeter with Dionysus. +She gave them bread: but they never forgot that she gave them the bread +of life. "She gave us," says the ancient Isocrates, "two gifts that are +the most excellent: fruits, that we might not live like beasts; and that +initiation, those who have part in which have sweeter hope,--both as +regards the close of life, and for all eternity." So Dionysus gave them +wine, not only to lighten the cares of life, but as a token, moreover, +of efficient deliverance from the fear of death, and of the higher joy +which he would give them in some happier world. And thus it is, that, +from the earliest times and in all the world, bread and wine have been +symbols of sacramental significance. + +Human life so elevates all things with its exaltation and clothes them +with its glory, that nothing vain, nothing trifling, can be found within +its range. He who opposes himself to a single fact thus of necessity +opposes himself to the whole onward and upward current, and must fall. +We have heard of Thor, who with his magic mallet and his two celestial +comrades went to Jötunheim in quest of adventures: and we remember the +goblet which he could not exhaust because of its mysterious connection +with the inexhaustible Sea; the race with Hugi, which in the end proved +to be a race with Thought; and the wrestle with the old nurse Elli, who +was no other than Time herself, and therefore irresistible. So do we all +get us mallets ingeniously forged by the dark elves;--we try a race with +human thought, and look vainly to come out ahead; we laugh at things +because they are old, but with which we struggle to no purpose; and the +cup which we confidently put to our lips has no bottom;--in fact, the +great world of Jötunheim has grown for so long a time and so widely that +it is quite too much for us,--and its tall people, though we come down +upon them, like Thor and his companions, from celestial heights, are too +stout for our mallet. + +Nothing human is so insignificant, but that, if you will give it time +and room, it will become irresistible. The plays of men become their +dramas; their holidays change to holy days. The representations, through +which, under various names, they have repeated to themselves the glory +and the tragedy of their life,--old festivals once celebrated in Egypt +far back beyond the dimmest myths of human remembrance,--the mystic +drama of the Eleusinia, which we have been considering in its +overwhelming sorrow developed in hurried flight, and its lofty +hope through triumphal pomp and the significant symbolism of +resurrection,--the epos and the epic rhapsodies,--the circus and +the amphitheatre,--and even the impetuous song and dance of painted +savages,--all these, which at first we may pass by with a glance, have +for our deeper search a meaning which we can never wholly exhaust. Let +it be that they have grown from feeble beginnings, they have grown to +gigantic dimensions; and not their infantile proportions, but their +fullest growth is to be taken as the measure of their strength,--if, +indeed, it be not wholly immeasurable. + +Upon some day, seemingly by chance, but really having its antecedent +in the remotest antiquity, a company of men participate in some simple +act,--of sacrifice, it may be, or of amusement. Now that act will be +reiterated. + + "Quod semel dictum est stabilisque rerum + Terminus servet." + +The subtile law of repetition, as regards the human will, is as sure +in Determination as it is in Consciousness. Habit is as inevitable as +Memory; and as nothing can be forgotten, but, when once known, is +known forever,--so nothing is done but will be done again. Lethe and +Annihilation are only myths upon the earth, which men, though suspicious +of their eternal falsehood, name to themselves in moments of despair +and fearful apprehension. The poppy has only a fabled virtue; but, like +Persephone, we have all tasted of the pomegranate, and must ever to +Hades and back again; for while death and oblivion only seem to be, +remembrances and resurrections there must be, and without end. Therefore +this before-mentioned act of sacrifice or amusement will be reiterated +at given intervals; about it, as a centre, will be gathered all the +associations of intense interest in human life; and the names connected +with its origin--once human names upon the earth--will pass upon the +stars, so that the _nomina_ shall have changed to _numina_, and be +taken upon the lips with religious awe. So it was with these old +festivals,--so with all the representations of human life in stone or +upon the canvas, in the fairy-tale, the romance, and the poem; at every +successive repetition, at every fresh resurrection, is evolved by human +faith and sympathy a deeper significance, until they become the +centres of national thought and feeling, and men believe in them as in +revelations from heaven; and even the oracles themselves, in respect of +their inherent meaning, as also of their origin and authority, rise +by the same ascending series of repeated birth,--like that at Delphi, +which, at first attributed to the Earth, then to Themis, daughter of +Earth and Heaven, was at last connected with the Sun and constituted one +of the richest gems in Apollo's diadem of light. + +In the end we shall find that the whole world organizes about its centre +of Faith. Thus, under three different religious systems, Jerusalem, +Delphi, and Mecca were held to be each in its turn the _omphalos_ or +navel of the world. It follows inevitably that the _main_ movement of +the world must always be joyous and hopeful. By reason of this joy it is +that every religious system has its feast; and the sixth day--the day +of Iacchus--is the great day of the festival. The inscription which +rises above every other is "To the Saviour Gods." + +We must look at history as a succession of triumphs from the beginning; +and each trophy that is erected outdoes in its magnificence all that +were ever erected before it. Nothing has suffered defeat, except as it +has run counter to the main movement of conquest. No system of faith, +therefore, can by any possibility pass away. Involved it may be in some +fuller system; its _material_ bases may be modified; its central source +become more central in the human heart, and so stronger in the world and +more immediate in its connection with the eternal; but the life itself +of the system must live forever and grow forever. + +Still it is true that in the widest growth there is the largest +liability to weakness. "Thus it is," says Fouqué, "with poor, though +richly endowed man. All lies within his power so long as action is at +rest within him; nothing is in his power the moment action has displayed +itself, even by the lifting-up of a finger on the immeasurable world." +In the very extent of the empire of an Alexander, a Cæsar, or a +Tamerlane, rests the possibility of its rapid dissolution. At the +giddiest altitude of triumph it is that the brain grows dizziest +and there is revealed the deepest chasm of possible defeat; and the +conqueror, + + "Having his ear full of his airy fame," + +is just then most likely to fall like Herod from his aërial pomp to the +very dust. This consciousness, revealing at the highest moment of joy +its utmost frailty, led the ancients to suspect the presence of some Ate +or Nemesis in all human triumphs. We all remember the king who threw his +signet-ring into the sea, that he might in his too happy fortunes avert +this suspected presence; we remember, too, the apprehension of the +Chorus in the "Seven against Thebes," looking forward from the noontide +prosperity of the Theban king to some coming catastrophe. + +But it is not without us that this Nemesis waits; she is but another +name for the fearful possibility which lurks in every human will, of +treachery to itself. And as solemnity rises to its acme in the most +sensuous manifestation of the glory of life,--so in all that most +fascinates and bewilders, at the very crisis of victorious exaltation, +at the very height of joyous sensibility, does this mysterious power +of temptation reveal her subtlest treachery; and sometimes in a single +moment does she change the golden-filleted Horæ, that are our ministers, +into frightful furies, which drive us back again from triumph into +flight. + +What was it, then, which saved the Eleusinia from this defeat,--which +kept the movement of the Dionysiac procession from the ruin inevitably +consequent upon all intemperate joy? It was the presence of our Lady, +the sorrowing Achtheia, who was the inseparable companion of the joyous +conqueror,--who subdued the joy of victory, and preserved the strength +and holy purity of the great Festival. Demeter was thus necessary to +Dionysus,--as Dionysus to Demeter; and if in remembrance of him the +sepulchral walls were covered with scenes associated with festivity,--in +remembrance of her there must needs be a skeleton at every feast. + +How inseparably connected in human thought is sorrow with all permanent +hope is indicated in the penances which men have imposed upon +themselves, from the earliest Gymnosophists of India, and the Stylitæ of +Syria, down to the monastic orders of the Romish Church in later times. +This is the meaning of the old Indian fable which made two of the +_Rishis_ or penitents to have risen by the discipline of sorrow from +some low caste,--it may be, from very Pariahs,--first to the rank of +Brahmins, and at last to the stars. The first initiation in which we +veil our eyes, losing all, is essential to our fresher birth, by +which in the second initiation all things are unveiled to us as our +inheritance: indeed, it is only through that which veils that anything +is ever revealed or possessed. + +Through the same gate we pass both to glory and to tragic suffering, +each of which heightens and measures the other; and it is only so that +we can understand the function of sorrow in the Providence of God, or +interpret the sudden calamities which sometimes overwhelm human hopes at +their highest aspiration,--which from the most serene and cloudless sky +evoke storms which leave not even a wreck from their vast ruin. + +Nor merely is sorrow efficient in those who hope, but in even a higher +sense does it attach to the character of Saviour. Apollo is, therefore, +fabled to have been an exile from heaven and a servant of Admetus; +indeed, Danaüs, in "The Suppliants" of Æschylus, appeals to Apollo for +protection on this very plea, addressing him as "the Holy One, and +an exiled God from heaven." Thus Hercules was compelled to serve +Eurystheus; and his twelve labors were typed in the twelve signs of the +zodiac. Æsculapius and Prometheus both suffered excruciating tortures +and death for the good of men. And Dionysus--himself the centre of all +joy--was persecuted by the Queen of Heaven and compelled to wander in +the world. Thus he wandered through Egypt, finding no abiding-place, and +finally, as the story runs, came to the Phrygian Cybele, that he might +know in their deepest meaning--even by the initiation of sorrow--the +mysteries of the Great Mother. And, very significantly, it is from this +same initiation that _His_ wanderings have their end and his world-wide +conquest its beginning; as if only thus could be realized the +possibility both of triumph for himself and of hope for his followers. +For these wanderers can find rest only in a _suffering_ Saviour, by the +vision of whose deeper Passion they lose their sense of grief,--as Io on +Caucasus in sight of the transfixed Prometheus, and the Madonna at the +Cross. + +It is worthy of more attention than we can give it here, yet we cannot +pass over in silence the fact, so important in this relation, that +Grecian Tragedy, in all its wonderful development under the three great +masters, was directly associated, and in its ruder beginnings completely +identified, with the worship of Dionysus. And this confirms our previous +hint, that the same element which made tragedy possible for Greece must +also be sought for in the development of its faith. There are those who +decry Grecian faith,--at the same time that they laud the Grecian drama +to the skies: but to the Greeks themselves, who certainly knew more than +we do as regards either, the drama was only an outgrowth of their faith, +and derived thence its highest significance. Thus the mystic symbolism +of the dramatic Choruses, taken out of its religious connections, +becomes an insoluble enigma; and naturally enough; for its first use +was in religious worship,--though afterwards it became associated with +traditionary and historic events. Besides, it was supposed that the +tragedians wrote under a divine inspiration; and the subjects and +representations which they embodied were for the most part susceptible +of a deep spiritual interpretation. Indeed, upon a careful examination, +we shall find that very many of the dramas directly suggest the two +Eleusinian movements, representing first the flight of suppliants--as +of the Heraclidae, the daughters of Danaüs, and of Oedipus and +Antigone--from persecution to the shrine of some Saviour Deity,--and +finally a deliverance effected through sacrifice or divine +interposition. Examples of this are so numerous that we have no space +for a minute consideration. + +But certainly it is plain that the Eleusinia, as being more central, +more purely spiritual, must in the thought of Greece have risen high +above the drama. The very dress in which the _mystae_ were initiated was +preserved as most sacred or deposited in the temple. Or if we insist +upon measuring their appreciation of the Festival by the more palpable +standard of numbers,--the temple at Eleusis, by the account of Strabo, +was capable of holding even in its mystic cell more persons than the +theatre. To be sure, the celebration was only once in five years,--but +it was all the more sacred from this very infrequency. Nothing in all +Greece--and that is saying very much--could compare with it in its depth +of divine mystery. If anything could, it would have been the drama; but +no wailings were ever heard from beneath the masks of the stage like the +wailings of Achtheia,--no jubilant song of the Chorus ever rose like the +paean of Dionysiac triumph. + + * * * * * + +Thus was the name of Dionysus connected with the palace and the temple, +with the sepulchral court of death and the dramatic representations of +life,--and everywhere associated with our Lady. + +Sometimes, indeed, she seems to overshadow and hide him from our vision. +Thus was it when the Eumenides in their final triumph swept the stage, +and victory seemed all in the hands of invisible Powers, with no +human participant: even as throughout the Homeric epos there runs an +undercurrent of unutterable sadness; because, while to the Gods there +ever remains a sure seat upon Olympus, unshaken by the winds, untouched +by rain or snow, crowned with a cloudless radiance,--yet upon man +come vanity, sorrow, and strife; like the leaves of the forest he +flourisheth, and then passeth away to the "weak heads of the dead," +([Greek: nekuon amenaena karaena],) conquered by purple Death and strong +Fate. + +To the eye of sense, and in the circumscribed movements of this world, +the desolation seems complete and the defeat final. But the snows of +winter are necessary to the blossoms of spring,--the waste of death to +the resurrection of life; and from the vastest of all desolations does +our Lady lead her children in the loftiest of all flights,--even from +all sorrow and solitude,--from the wastes of earth and the desolation of +Æons, to ineffable joy in her Saviour Lord. + + * * * * * + + + +VICTOR AND JACQUELINE. + +I. + + +Jacqueline Gabrie and Elsie Méril could not occupy one room, and remain, +either of them, indifferent to so much as might be manifested of the +other's inmost life. They could not emigrate together, peasants from +Domrémy,--Jacqueline so strong, Elsie so fair,--could not labor in the +same harvest-fields, children of old neighbors, without each being +concerned in the welfare and affected by the circumstances of the other. + +It was near ten o'clock, one evening, when Elsie Méril ran up the +common stairway, and entered the room in the fourth story where she and +Jacqueline lodged. + +Victor Le Roy, student from Picardy, occupied the room next theirs, and +was startled from his slumber by the voices of the girls. Elsie was +fresh from the theatre, from the first play she had ever witnessed; she +came home excited and delighted, ready to repeat and recite, as long as +Jacqueline would listen. + +And here was Jacqueline. + +Early in the evening Elsie had sought her friend with a good deal of +anxiety. A fellow-lodger and field-laborer had invited her to see the +play,--and Jacqueline was far down the street, nursing old Antonine +Duprè. To seek her, thus occupied, on such an errand, Elsie had the good +taste, and the selfishness, to refrain from doing. + +Therefore, after a little deliberation, she had gone to the theatre, and +there forgot her hard day-labor in the wonders of the stage,--forgot +Jacqueline, and Antonine, and every care and duty. It was hard for her, +when all was ended, to come back to compunction and explanation, yet to +this she had come back. + +Neither of the girls was thinking of the student, their neighbor; but +he was not only wakened by their voices, he amused himself by comparing +them and their utterances with his preconceived notions of the girls. +They might not have recognized him in the street, though they had often +passed him on the stairs; but he certainly could have distinguished the +pretty face of Elsie, or the strange face of Jacqueline, wherever he +might meet them. + +Elsie ran on with her story, not careful to inquire into the mood of +Jacqueline,--suspicious of that mood, no doubt,--but at last, made +breathless by her haste and agitation, she paused, looked anxiously at +Jacqueline, and finally said,-- + +"You think I ought not to have gone?" + +"Oh, no,--it gave you pleasure." + +A pause followed. It was broken at length by Elsie, exclaiming, in a +voice changed from its former speaking,-- + +"Jacqueline Gabrie, you are homesick! horribly homesick, Jacqueline!" + +"You do not ask for Antonine: yet you know I went to spend the day with +her," said Jacqueline, very gravely. + +"How is Antonine Duprè?" asked Elsie. + +"She is dead. I have told you a good many times that she must die. Now, +she is dead." + +"Dead?" repeated Elsie. + +"You care as much as if a candle had gone out," said Jacqueline. + +"She was as much to me as I to her," was the quick answer. "She never +liked me. She did not like my mother before me. When you told her my +name, the day we saw her first, I knew what she thought. So let that go. +If I could have done her good, though, I would, Jacqueline." + +"She has everything she needs,--a great deal more than we have. She is +very happy, Elsie." + +"Am not I? Are not you, in spite of your dreadful look? Your look is +more terrible than the lady's in the play, just before she killed +herself. Is that because Antonine is so well off?" + +"I wish that I could be where she is," sighed Jacqueline. + +"You? You are tired, Jacqueline. You look ill. You will not be fit for +to-morrow. Come to bed. It is late." + +As Jacqueline made no reply to this suggestion, Elsie began to reflect +upon her words, and to consider wherefore and to whom she had spoken. +Not quite satisfied with herself could she have been, for at length she +said in quite another manner,-- + +"You always said, till now, you wished that you might live a hundred +years. But it was not because you were afraid to die, you said so, +Jacqueline." + +"I don't know," was the answer,--sadly spoken, "Don't remind me of +things I have said. I seem to have lost myself." + +The voice and the words were effectual, if they were intended as an +appeal to Elsie. Fain would she now exclude the stage and the play from +her thoughts,--fain think and feel with Jacqueline, as it had long been +her habit to do. + +Jacqueline, however, was not eager to speak. And Elsie must draw yet +nearer to her, and make her nearness felt, ere she could hope to receive +the thought of her friend. By-and-by these words were uttered, solemn, +slow, and dirge-like:-- + +"Antonine died just after sundown. I was alone with her. She did not +think that she would die so soon. I did not. In the morning, John +Leclerc came in to inquire how she spent the night. He prayed with her. +And a hymn,--he read a hymn that she seemed to know, for all day she was +humming it over. I can say some of the lines." + +"Say them, Jacqueline," said the softened voice of Elsie. + +Slowly, and as one recalls that of which he is uncertain, Jacqueline +repeated what I copy more entire:-- + + "In the midst of life, behold, + Death hath girt us round! + Whom for help, then, shall we pray? + Where shall grace be found? + In thee, O Lord, alone! + We rue the evil we have done, + That thy wrath on us hath drawn. + Holy Lord and God! + Strong and holy God! + Merciful and holy Saviour! + Eternal God! + Sink us not beneath + Bitter pains of endless death! + Kyrie, eleison!" + +"Then he went away," she continued. "But he did not think it was the +last time he should speak to Antonine. In the afternoon I thought I saw +a change, and I wanted to go for somebody. But she said, 'Stay with me. +I want nothing.' So I sat by her bed. At last she said, 'Come, Lord +Jesus! come quickly!' and she started up in her bed, as if she saw +him coming. And as if he were coming nearer, she smiled. That was the +last,--without a struggle, or as much as a groan." + +"No priest there?" asked Elsie. + +"No. When I spoke to her about it, she said her priest was Jesus Christ +the Righteous,--and there was no other,--the High-Priest. She gave me +her Bible. See how it has been used! 'Search the Scriptures,' she said. +She told me I was able to learn the truth. 'I loved your mother,' she +said; 'that is the reason I am so anxious you should know. It is by +my spirit, said the Lord. Ask for that spirit,' she said. 'He is more +willing to give than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their +children.' She said these things, Elsie. If they are true, they must be +better worth believing than all the riches of the world are worth the +having." + +The interest manifested by the student in this conversation had been on +the increase since Jacqueline began to speak of Antonine Duprè. It was +not, at this point of the conversation, waning. + +"Your mother would not have agreed with Antonine," said Elsie, as if +there were weight in the argument;--for such a girl as Jacqueline could +not speak earnestly in the hearing of a girl like Elsie without result, +and the result was at this time resistance. + +"She believed what she was taught in Domrémy," answered Jacqueline, "She +believed in Absolution, Extreme Unction, in the need of another priest +than Jesus Christ,--a representative they call it." She spoke slowly, as +if interrogating each point of her speech. + +"I believe as they believed before us," answered Elsie, coldly. + +"We have learned many things since we came to Meaux," answered +Jacqueline, with a patient gentleness, that indicated the perplexity +and doubt with which the generous spirit was departing from the old +dominion. She was indeed departing, with that reverence for the past +which is not incompatible with the highest hope for the future. "Our +Joan came from Domrémy, where she must crown the king," she continued. +"We have much to learn." + +"She lost her life," said Elsie, with vehemence. + +"Yes, she did lose her life," Jacqueline quietly acquiesced. + +"If she had known what must happen, would she have come?" + +"Yes, she would have come." + +"How late it is!" said Elsie, as if in sleep were certain rest from +these vexatious thoughts. + +Victor Le Roy was by this time lost in his own reflections. These girls +had supplied an all-sufficient theme; whether they slept or wakened was +no affair of his. He had somewhat to argue for himself about extreme +unction, priestly intervention, confession, absolution,--something to +say to himself about Leclerc, and the departed Antonine. + +Late into the night he sat thinking of the marvel of Domrémy and +of Antonine Duprè, of Picardy and of Meaux, of priests and of the +High-Priest. Brave and aspiring, Victor Le Roy could not think of +these things, involved in the names of things above specified, as more +calculating, prudent spirits might have done. It was his business, as a +student, to ascertain what powers were working in the world. All true +characters, of past time or present, must be weighed and measured by +him. Result was what he aimed at. + +Jacqueline's words had not given him new thoughts, but unawares they did +summon him to his appointed labor. He looked to find the truth. He must +stand to do his work. He must haste to make his choice. Enthusiastic, +chivalrous, and strong, he was seeking the divine right, night and +day,--and to ascertain that, as it seemed, he had come from Picardy to +Meaux. + +Elsie Méril went to bed, as she had invited Jacqueline to do; to sleep, +to dream, she went,--and to smile, in her dreaming, on the world that +smiled on her. + +Jacqueline sat by the window; leaned from the window, and prayed; her +own prayer she prayed, as Antonine had said she must, if she would +discover what she needed, and obtain an answer. + +She thought of the dead,--her own. She pondered on the future. She +recalled some lines of the hymn Antonine had repeated, and she +wished--oh, how she wished!--that, while the woman lived, and could +reason and speak, she had told her about the letter she had received +from the priest of Domrémy. Many a time it had been on her lips to tell, +but she failed in courage to bring her poor affairs into that chamber +and disturb that dying hour. Now she wished that she had done it. Now +she felt that speech had been the merest act of justice to herself. + +But there was Leclerc, the wool-comber, and his mother; she might rely +on them for the instruction she needed. + +Old Antonine's faith had made a deep impression on the strong-hearted +and deep-thinking girl; as also had the prayers of John +Leclerc,--especially that last prayer offered for Antonine. It seemed to +authenticate, by its strong, unfaltering utterance, the poor old woman's +evidence. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," +were strong words that seemed about to take possession of the heart of +Jacqueline. + +Therefore, while Elsie slept, she prayed,--looking farther than the +city-streets, and darkness,--looking farther than the shining stars. +What she sought, poor girl, stood in her silent chamber, stood in her +waiting heart. But she knew Him not, and her ear was heavy; she did not +hear the voice, that she should answer Him, "Rabboni!" + + +II. + + +A fortnight from this night, after the harvesters had left the fields of +M. Flaval, Jacqueline was lingering in the twilight. + +The instant the day's work was done, the laborers set out for Meaux, +Their haste suggested some unusual cause. + +John Leclerc, wool-comber, had received that day his sentence. Report of +the sentence had spread among the reapers in the field and all along the +vineyards of the hill-sides. Not a little stir was occasioned by this +sentence: three days of whipping through the public streets, to conclude +with branding on the forehead. For this Leclerc, it seemed, had +profanely and audaciously declared that a man might in his own behalf +deal with the invisible God, by the mediation of Christ, the sole +Mediator between God and man. Viewed in the light of his offence, his +punishment certainly was of the mildest. Tidings of his sentence were +received with various emotion: by some as though they were maddened +with new wine; others wept openly; many more were pained at heart; some +brutally rejoiced; some were incredulous. + +But now they were all on their way to Meaux; the fields were quite +deserted. Urged by one desire, to ascertain the facts of the trial, +and the time when the sentence would be executed, the laborers were +returning to the town. + +Without demonstration of any emotion, Jacqueline Gabrie, quiet, +silent, walked along the river-bank, until she came to the clump of +chestnut-trees, whose shadow fell across the stream. Many a time, +through the hot, dreadful day, her eyes turned wistfully to this place. +In the morning Elsie Méril had promised Jacqueline that at twilight they +would read together here the leaves the poor old mother of Leclerc gave +Jacqueline last night: when they had read them, they would walk home by +starlight together. But now the time had come, and Jacqueline was alone. +Elsie had returned to town with other young harvesters. + +"Very well," said Jacqueline, when Elsie told her she must go. It was +not, indeed, inexplicable that she should prefer the many voices to the +one,--excitement and company, rather than quiet, dangerous thinking. + +But, thus left alone, the face of Jacqueline expressed both sorrow and +indignation. She would exact nothing of Elsie; but latterly how often +had she expected of her companion more than she gave or could give! + +Of course the young girl was equal to others in pity and surprise; but +there were people in the world beside the wool-comber and his mother. +Nothing of vast import was suggested by his sentence to her mind. She +did not see that spiritual freedom was threatened with destruction. If +she heard the danger questioned, she could not apprehend it. Though she +had listened to the preaching of Leclerc and had been moved by it, her +sense of truth and of justice was not so acute as to lead her willingly +to incur a risk in the maintaining of the same. + +She would not look into Antonine's Bible, which Jacqueline had read so +much during the last fortnight. She was not the girl to torment herself +about her soul, when the Church would save it for her by mere compliance +with a few easy regulations. + +More and more was Elsie disappointing Jacqueline. Day by day these girls +were developing in ways which bade fair to separate them in the end. +When now they had most need of each other, their estrangement was +becoming more apparent and decided. The peasant-dress of Elsie would not +content her always, Jacqueline said sadly to herself. + +Jacqueline's tracts, indeed, promised poorly as entertainment for an +hour of rest;--rest gained by hours of toil. The confusion of tongues +and the excitement of the city pleased Elsie better. So she went along +the road to Meaux, and was not talking, neither thinking, all the way, +of the wrongs of John Leclerc, and the sorrows of his mother,--neither +meditating constantly, and with deep-seated purpose, "I will not let +thee go, except thou bless me!"--neither on this problem, agitated then +in so many earnest minds, "What shall a man give in exchange for his +soul?" + +Thus Jacqueline sat alone and thought that she would read by herself the +tracts Leclerc had found it good to study. But unopened she held the +little printed scroll, while she watched the home-returning birds, whose +nests were in the mighty branches of the chestnut-trees. + +She needed the repose more than the teaching, even; for all day the +sun had fallen heavily on the harvesters,--and toiling with a troubled +heart, under a burning sun, will leave the laborer not in the best +condition for such work as Jacqueline believed she had to do. + +But she had promised the old woman she would read these tracts, and this +was her only time, for they must be returned that night: others were +waiting for them with an eagerness and longing of which, haply, +tract-dispensers see little now. Still she delayed in opening them. The +news of Leclerc's sentence had filled her with dismay. + +Did she dread to read the truth,--"the truth of Jesus Christ," as +his mother styled it? The frightful image of the bleeding, lacerated +wool-comber would come between her and the book in which that faith was +written for maintaining which this man must suffer. Strange contrast +between the heavy gloom and terror of her thoughts and the peaceful +"river flowing on"! How tranquil were the fields that spread beyond +her sight! But there is no rest or joy in Nature to the agitated and +foreboding spirit. Must we not have conquered the world, if we serenely +enter into Nature's rest? + +Fain would Jacqueline have turned her face and steps in another +direction that night than toward the road that led to Meaux: to the +village on the border of the Vosges,--to the ancient Domrémy. Once her +home was there; but Jacqueline had passed forth from the old, humble, +true defences: for herself must live and die. + +Domrémy had a home for her no more. The priest, on whom she had relied +when all failed her, was still there, it is true; and once she had +thought, that, while he lived, she was not fatherless, not homeless: but +his authority had ceased to be paternal, and she trusted him no longer. + +She had two graves in the old village, and among the living a few faces +she never could forget. But on this earth she had no home. + +Musing on these dreary facts, and on the bleeding, branded image of +Leclerc, as her imagination rendered him back to his friends, his +fearful trial over, a vision more familiar to her childhood than her +youth opened to Jacqueline. + +There was one who used to wander through the woods that bordered the +mountains in whose shadow stood Domrémy,--one whose works had glorified +her name in the England and the France that made a martyr of her. Jeanne +d'Arc had ventured all things for the truth's sake: was she, who also +came forth from that village, by any power commissioned? + +Jacqueline laid the tracts on the grass. Over them she placed a stone. +She bowed her head. She hid her face. She saw no more the river, trees, +or home-returning birds; heard not the rush of water or of wind,--nor, +even now, the hurry and the shout; that possibly to-morrow would follow +the poor wool-comber through the streets of Meaux,--and on the third day +they would brand him! + +She remembered an old cottage in the shadow of the forest-covered +mountains. She remembered one who died there suddenly, and without +remedy,--her father, unabsolved and unanointed, dying in fear and +torment, in a moment when none anticipated death. She remembered a +strong-hearted woman who seemed to die with him,--who died to all the +interests of this life, and was buried by her husband ere a twelvemonth +had passed,--her mother, who was buried by her father's side. + +Burdened with a solemn care they left their child. The priest of +Domrémy, and none beside him, knew the weight of this burden. How had he +helped her bear it? since it is the _business_ of the shepherd to look +after the younglings of the flock. Her hard earnings paid him for +the prayers he offered for the deliverance of her father from his +purgatorial woes. Burdened with a dire debt of filial love, the priest +had let her depart from Domrémy; his influence followed her as an +oppression and a care,--a degradation also. + +Her life of labor was a slavish life. All she did, and all she left +undone, she looked at with sad-hearted reference to the great object of +her life. Far away she put all allurement to tempting, youthful joy. +What had she to do with merriment and jollity, while a sin remained +unexpiated, or a moment of her father's suffering and sorrow could be +anticipated? + +How, probably, would these new doctrines, held fast by some through +persecution and danger, these doctrines which brought liberty to light, +be received by one so fast a prisoner of Hope as she? She had pledged +herself, with solemn vows had promised, to complete the work her mother +left unfinished when she died. + +Some of the laborers in the field, Elsie among them, had hoped, they +said, that the wool-comber would retract from his dangerous position. +Recalling their words, Jacqueline asked herself would she choose to have +him retract? She reminded herself of the only martyr whose memory she +loved, the glorious girl from Domrémy, and a lofty and stern spirit +seemed to rouse within her as she answered that question. She believed +that John had found and taught the truth; and was Truth to be sacrificed +to Power that hated it? Not by a suicidal act, at least. + +She took the tracts, so judging, from underneath the stone, wistfully +looked them over, and, as she did so, recalled these words: "You cannot +buy your pardon of a priest; he has no power to sell it; he cannot even +give it. Ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, upbraiding not. +'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how +much more shall your Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that +ask him!'" + +She could never forget these words. She could never forget the +preacher's look when he used them; nor the solemnity of the assenting +faith, as attested by the countenances of those around her in that +"upper room." + +But her father! What would this faith do for the departed? + +Yet again she dared to pray,--here in this solitude, to ask for that +Holy Spirit, the Enlightener. And it was truly with trembling, in +the face of all presentiments of what the gift might possibly, must +certainly, import to her. But what was she, that she could withstand +God, or His gift, for any fear of the result that might attend the +giving of the gift? + +Divinely she seemed to be inspired with that courageous thought. She +rose up, as if to follow the laborers who had already gone to Meaux. But +she had not passed out from the shadow of the great trees when another +shadow fell along her path. + + +III. + + +It was Victor Le Roy who was so close at hand. He recognized Jacqueline; +for, as he came down the road, now and then he caught a glimpse of her +red peasant-dress. And he accepted his persuasion as it had been an +assurance; for he believed that on such a night no other girl would +linger alone near the place of her day's labor. Moreover, while passing +the group of harvesters, he had observed that she was not among them. + +The acquaintance of these young persons was but slight; yet it was of +such a character as must needs increase. Within the last fortnight they +had met repeatedly in the room of Leclerc's mother. On the last night of +her son's preaching they had together listened to his words. The young +student with manly aspirations, ambitious, courageous, inquiring, and +the peasant girl who toiled in fields and vineyards, were on the same +day hearkening to the call, "Ho, every one that thirsteth!" with the +consciousness that the call was meant for them. + +When Victor Le Roy saw that Jacqueline perceived and recognized him, he +also observed the tracts in her hand and the trouble in her countenance, +and he wondered in his heart whether she could be ignorant of what had +passed that day at Meaux, and if it could be possible that her manifest +disturbance arose from any perplexity or disquietude independent of the +sentence that had been passed on John Leclerc. His first words brought +an answer that satisfied his doubt. + +"She has chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her," said +he, as he came near. "The country is so fair, could no one of them all +except Jacqueline see that? Were they all drawn away by the bloody +fascination of Meaux? even Elsie?" + +"It was the news that hurried her home with the rest," answered she, +almost pleased at this disturbance of the solitude. + +"Did that keep you here, Jacqueline?" he asked. "It sent me out of the +city. The dust choked me. Every face looked like a devil's. To-morrow +night, to-morrow night, the harvesters will hurry all the faster. +Terrible curiosity! And if they find traces of his blood along the +streets, there will be enough to talk about through the rest of the +harvesting. Jacqueline, if the river could be poured through those +streets, the sacred blood could never be washed out. 'Tis not the +indignity, nor the cruelty, I think of most, but the barbarous, wild +sin. Shall a man's truest liberty be taken from him, as though, indeed, +he were not a man of God, but the spiritual subject of his fellows? If +that is their plan, they may light the fires,--there are many who will +not shrink from sealing their faith with their blood." + +These words, spoken with vehemence, were the first free utterance +Victor Le Roy had given to his feelings all day. All day they had been +concentrating, and now came from him fiery and fast. + +It was time for him to know in whom and in what he believed. + +Greatly moved by his words, Jacqueline said, giving him the tracts,-- + +"I came from Domrémy, I am free. No one can be hurt by what befalls me. +I want to know the truth. I am not afraid. Did John Leclerc never give +way for a moment? Is he really to be whipped through the streets, and on +the third day to be branded? Will he not retract?" + +"Never!" was the answer,--spoken not without a shudder. "He did not +flinch through all the trial, Jacqueline. And his old mother says, +'Blessed be Jesus Christ and his witnesses!'" + +"I came from Domrémy," seemed to be in the girl's thought again; for +her eyes flashed when she looked at Victor Le Roy, as though she could +believe the heavens would open for the enlightening of such believers. + +"She gave me those to read," said she, pointing to the tracts she had +given him. + +"And have you been reading them here by yourself?" + +"No. Elsie and I were to have read them together; but I fell to +thinking." + +"You mean to wait for her, then?" + +"I was afraid I should not make the right sense of them." + +"Sit down, Jacqueline, and let me read aloud. I have read them before. +And I understand them better than Elsie does, or ever will." + +"I am afraid that is true, Sir. If you read, I will listen." + +But he did not, with this permission, begin instantly. + +"You came from Domrémy, Jacqueline," said he. "I came from Picardy. My +home was within a stone's throw of the castle where Jeanne d'Arc was a +prisoner before they carried her to Rouen. I have often walked about +that castle and tried to think how it must have been with her when they +left her there a prisoner. God knows, perhaps we shall all have an +opportunity of knowing, how she felt when a prisoner of Truth. Like a +fly in a spider's net she was, poor girl! Only nineteen! She had lived +a life that was worth the living, Jacqueline. She knew she was about +to meet the fate her heart must have foretold. Girls do not run such a +course and then die quietly in their beds. They are attended to their +rest by grim sentinels, and they light fagots for them. I have read the +story many a time, when I could look at the window of the very room +where she was a prisoner. It was strange to think of her witnessing the +crowning of the King, with the conviction that her work ended there and +then,--of the women who brought their children to touch her garments or +her hands, to let her smile on them, or speak to them, or maybe kiss +them. And the soldiers deemed their swords were stronger when they had +but touched hers. And they knelt down to kiss her standard, that white +standard, so often victorious! I have read many a time of that glorious +day at Rheims." + +"And she said, _that_ day,' Oh, why can I not die here?'" said +Jacqueline, with a low voice. + +"And when the Archbishop asked her," continued Victor, "'Where do you, +then, expect to die?' she answered, 'I know not. I shall die where God +pleases. I have done what the Lord my God commanded me; and I wish that +He would now send me to keep my sheep with my mother and sister.'" + +"Because she loved Domrémy, and her work was done," said Jacqueline, +sadly. "And so many hated her! But her mother would be sure to love. +Jeanne would never see an evil eye in Domrémy, and no one would lie in +wait to kill her in the Vosges woods." + +"It was such as you, Jacqueline, who believed in her, and comforted her. +And to every one that consoled her Christ will surely say, 'Ye blessed +of my Father, ye did it unto me!' Yes, to be sure, there were too many +who stood ready to kill her in all France,--besides those who were +afraid of her, and fought against our armies. Even when they were taking +her to see the Dauphin, the guard would have drowned her, and lied about +it, but they were restrained. It is something to have been born in +Domrémy,--to have grown up in the very place where she used to play, a +happy little girl. You have seen that fountain, and heard the bells she +loved so much. It was good for you, I know." + +"Her prayers were everywhere," Jacqueline replied. "Everywhere she heard +the voices that called her to come and deliver France. But her father +did not believe in her. He persecuted Jeanne." + +"A man's foes are of his own household," said Victor. "You see the same +thing now. It is the very family of Christ--yes! so they dare call +it--who are going to tear and rend Leclerc to-morrow for believing the +words of Christ. A hundred judges settled that Jeanne should be burned; +and for believing such words as are in these books"-- + +"Read me those words," said Jacqueline. + +So they turned from speaking of Joan and her work, to contemplate +another style of heroism, and to question their own hearts. + +Jacqueline Gabrie had lived through eighteen years of hardship and +exposure. She was strong, contented, resolute. Left to herself, she +would probably have suffered no disturbance of her creed,--would have +lived and died conforming to the letter of its law. But thrown under +the influence of those who did agitate the subject, she was brave and +clear-headed. She listened now, while, according to her wish, her +neighbor read,--listened with clear intelligence, intent on the truth. +That, or any truth, accepted, she would hardly shrink from whatever it +involved. This was the reason why she had really feared to ask the Holy +Ghost's enlightenment! So well she understood herself! Truth was truth, +and, if received, to be abided by. She could not hold it loosely. She +could not trifle with it. She was born in Domrémy. She had played under +the Fairy Oak. She knew the woods where Joan wandered when she sought +her saintly solitude. The fact was acting on her as an inspiration, +when Domrémy became a memory, when she labored far away from the wooded +Vosges and the meadows of Lorraine. + +She listened to the reading, as girls do not always listen when they sit +in the presence of a reader such as young Le Roy. + +And let it here be understood--that the conclusion bring no sorrow, and +no sense of wrong to those who turn these pages, thinking to find the +climax dear to half-fledged imagination, incapable from inexperience of +any deeper truth, (I render them all homage!)--this story is not told +for any sake but truth's. + +This Jacqueline did listen to this Victor, thinking actually of the +words he read. She looked at him really to ascertain whether her +apprehension of these things was all the same as his. She questioned +him, with the simple desire to learn what he could tell her. Her hands +were very hard, so constant had been her dealing with the rough facts of +this life; but the hard hand was firm in its clasp, and ready with its +helpfulness. Her eyes were open, and very clear of dreams. There was +room in them for tenderness as well as truth. Her voice was not the +sweetest of all voices in this world; but it had the quality that would +make it prized by others when heart and flesh were failing; for it would +be strong to speak then with cheerful faith and an unfaltering courage. + +Jacqueline sat there under the chestnut-trees, upon the river-bank, +strong-hearted, high-hearted, a brave, generous woman. What if her days +were toilsome? What if her peasant-dress was not the finest woven in the +looms of Paris or of Meaux? Her prayers were brief, her toil was long, +her sleep was sound,--her virtue firm as the everlasting mountains. +Jacqueline, I have singled you from among hordes and tribes and legions +upon legions of women, one among ten thousand, altogether lovely,--not +for dalliance, not for idleness, not for dancing, which is well; not for +song, which is better; not for beauty, which, perhaps, is best; not for +grace, or power, or passion. There is an attribute of God which is more +to His universe than all evidence of power. It is His truth. Jacqueline, +it is for this your name shall shine upon my page. + +And, manifestly, it is by virtue of this quality that her reader is +moved and attracted at this hour of twilight on the river-bank. + +Her intelligence is so quick! her apprehension so direct! her +conclusions so true! He intended to aid her; but Mazurier himself had +never uttered comments so entirely to the purpose as did this young +girl, speaking from heart and brain. Better fortune, apparently, could +not have befallen him than was his in this reading; for with every +sentence almost came her comment, clear, earnest, to the point. + +He had need of such a friend as Jacqueline seemed able to prove herself. +His nearest living relative was an uncle, who had sent the ambitious and +capable young student to Meaux; for he gave great promise, and was worth +an experiment, the old man thought,--and was strong to be thrown out +into the world, where he might ascertain the power of self-reliance. He +had need of friends, and, of all friends, one like Jacqueline. + +From the silence and retirement of his home in Picardy he had come +to Meaux,--the town that was so astir, busy, thoroughly alive! +Inexperienced in worldly ways he came. His face was beautiful with its +refinement and power of expression. His eyes were full of eloquence; +so also was his voice. When he came from Picardy to Meaux, his old +neighbors prophesied for him. He knew their prophecies, and purposed to +fulfil them. He ceased from dreaming, when he came to Meaux. He was not +dreaming, when he looked on Jacqueline. He was aware of what he read, +and how she listened, under those chestnut-trees. + +The burden of the tracts he read to Jacqueline was salvation by faith, +not of works,--an iconoclastic doctrine, that was to sweep away +the great mass of Romish superstition, invalidating Papal power. +Image-worship, shrine-frequenting sacrifices, indulgences, were esteemed +and proved less than nothing worth in the work of salvation. + +"Did you understand John, when he said that the priests deceived us and +were full of robberies, and talked about the masses for the dead, and +said the only good of them was to put money into the Church?" asked +Jacqueline. + +"I believe it," he replied, with spirit. + +"That the masses are worth nothing?" she asked,--far from concealing +that the thought disturbed her. + +"What can they be worth, if a man has lived a bad life?" + +"_That_ my father did _not!_" she exclaimed. + +"If a man is a bad man, why, then he is. He has gone where he must be +judged. The Scripture says, As a tree falls, it must lie." + +"My father was a good man, Victor. But he died of a sudden, and there +was no time." + +"No time for what, Jacqueline? No time for him to turn about, and be a +bad man in the end?" + +"No time for confession and absolution. He died praying God to forgive +him all his sins. I heard him. I wondered, Victor, for I never thought +of his committing sins. And my mother mourned for him as a good wife +should not mourn for a bad husband." + +"Then what is your trouble, Jacqueline?" + +"Do you know why I came here to Meaux? I came to get money,--to earn it. +I should be paid more money here than I got for any work at home, they +said: that was the reason. When I had earned so much,--it was a large +sum, but I knew I should get it, and the priest encouraged me to think +I should,--he said that my heart's desire would be accomplished. And I +could earn the money before winter is over, I think. But now, if"---- + +"Throw it into the Seine, when you get it, rather than pay it to the +liar for selling your father out of a place he was never in! He is safe, +believe me, if he was the good man you say. Do not disturb yourself, +Jacqueline." + +"He never harmed a soul. And we loved him that way a bad man could not +be loved." + +As Jacqueline said this, a smile more sad than joyful passed over her +face, and disappeared. + +"He rests in peace," said Victor Le Roy. + +"It is what I must believe. But what if there should be a mistake about +it? It was all I was working for." + +"Think for yourself, Jacqueline. No matter what Leclerc thinks or I +think. Can you suppose that Jesus Christ requires any such thing as this +of you, that you should make a slave of yourself for the expiation of +your father? It is a monstrous thought. Doubt not it was love that +took him away so quickly. And love can care for him. Long before this, +doubtless, he has heard the words, 'Come, ye blessed of my father!' And +what is required of you, do you ask? You shall be merciful to them that +live; and trust Him that He will care for those who have gone beyond +your reach. Is it so? Do I understand you? You have been thinking to +_buy_ this good _gift_ of God, eternal life for your father, when of +course you could have nothing to do with it. You have been imposed upon, +and robbed all this while, and this is the amount of it." + +"Well, do not speak so. If what you say is true,--and I think it may +be,--what is past is past." + +"But won't you see what an infernal lie has been practised on you, and +all the rest of us who had any conscience or heart in us, all this +while? There _is_ no purgatory; and it is nonsense to think, that, if +there were, money could buy a man out of it. Jesus Christ is the one +sole atonement for sin. And by faith in Him shall a man save his soul +alive. That is the only way. If I lose my soul, and am gone, the rest +is between me and God. Do you see it _should_ be so, and must be so, +Jacqueline?" + +"He was a good man," said Jacqueline. + +She did not find it quite easy to make nothing of all this matter, which +had been the main-spring of her effort since her father died. She could +not in one instant drop from her calculations that on which she had +heretofore based all her activity. She had labored so long, so hard, to +buy the rest and peace and heavenly blessedness of the father she loved, +it was hardly to be expected that at once she would choose to see that +in that rest and peace and blessedness, she, as a producing power, had +no part whatever. + +As she more than hinted, the purpose of her life seemed to be taken from +her. She could not perceive that fact without some consternation; could +not instantly connect it with another, which should enable her to look +around her with the deliberation of a liberated spirit, choosing her new +work. And in this she was acted upon by more than the fear arising from +the influences of her old belief. Of course she should have been, and +yet she was not, able to drop instantly and forever from recollection +the constant sacrifices she had made, the deprivation she had endured, +with heroic persistence,--the putting far away every personal +indulgence whose price had a market value. Her father was not the only +person concerned in this work; the priest; herself. She had believed +in the pastor of Domrémy. Yet he had deceived her. Else he was +self-deceived; and what if the blind should strive to lead the blind? +_Could_ she accept the new faith, the great freedom, with perfect +rejoicing? + +Victor Le Roy seemed to have some suspicion of what was passing in +her thoughts. He did not need to watch her changeful face in order to +understand them. + +"I advise you to still think of this," said he. "Recall your father's +life, and then ask yourself if it is likely that He who is Love requires +the sacrifice of your youth and your strength before your father shall +receive from Him what He has promised to give to all who trust in Him. +Take God at his word, and you will be obliged to give up all this +priest-trash." + + +IV. + + +Victor Le Roy spoke these words quietly, as if aware that he might +safely leave them, as well as any other true words, to the just sense of +Jacqueline. + +She was none the happier for them when she returned that night to the +little city room, the poor lodging whose high window overlooked both +town and country, city streets and harvest-fields, and the river flowing +on beyond the borders of the town,--no happier through many a moment of +thinking, until, as it were by an instant illumination, she began to +see the truth of the matter, as some might wonder she did not instantly +perceive it, if they could omit from observation this leading fact, that +the orphan girl was Jacqueline Gabrie, child of the Church, and not +a wise and generous person, who had never been in bondage to +superstitions. + +For a long time after her return to her lodging she was alone. Elsie was +in the street with the rest of the town, talking, as all were talking, +of the sight that Meaux should see to-morrow. + +Besides Jacqueline, there was hardly another person in this great +building, six stories high, every room of which had usually a tenant at +this hour. She sat by her window, and looked at the dusky town, over +which the moon was rising. But her thoughts were far away; over many a +league they wandered. + +Once more she stood on the playground of her toilsome childhood. She +recalled many a year of sacrificing drudgery, which now she could not +name such,--for another reason than that which had heretofore prevented +her from calling it a sacrifice. She remembered these years of wrong and +of extortion,--they received their proper name now,--years whose mirth +and leisure she had quietly foregone, but during which she had borne a +burden that saddened youth, while it also dignified it,--a burden which +had made her heart's natural cheerfulness the subject of self-reproach, +and her maiden dreams and wishes matter for tears, for shame, for +confession, for prayer. + +Now Victor Le Roy's words came to her very strangely; powerfully they +moved her. She believed them in this solitude, where at leisure she +could meditate upon them. A vision more fair and blessed than she had +ever imagined rose before her. There was no suffering in it, and no +sorrow; it was full of peace. Already, in the heaven to which she had +hoped her toil would give him at length admission, her father had found +his home. There was a glory in his rest not reflected from her filial +love, but from the all-availing love of Christ. + +Then--delay the rigor of your judgment!--she began,--yes, she, this +Jacqueline, began to count the cost of what she had done. She was not a +sordid soul, she had not a miserly nature. Before she had gone far in +that strange computation, she paused abruptly, with a crimsoned face, +and not with tearless eyes. Counting the cost! Estimating the sacrifice! +Had, then, her purpose been less holy because excited by falsehood and +sustained through delusion? Was she less loving and less true, because +deceived? And was she to lament that Christ, the one and only Priest, +rather than another instrumentality, was the deliverer of her beloved +from the power of death? + +No ritual was remembered, and no formula consulted, when she cried +out,--"It is so! and I thank Thee! Only give me now, my Jesus, a +purpose as holy as that Thou hast taken away!" + +But she had not come into her chamber to spend a solitary evening there. +Turning away from the window, she bestowed a little care upon her +person, smoothed away the traces of her day's labor, and after all was +done she lingered yet longer. She was going out, evidently. Whither? To +visit the mother of John Leclerc. She must carry back the tracts the +good woman had lent her. Their contents had firm lodgement in her +memory. + +Others might run to and fro in the streets, and talk about the corners, +and prognosticate with passion, and defy, in the way of cowardice, where +safety rather than the truth is well assured. If one woman could console +another, Jacqueline wished that she might console Leclerc's mother. And +if any words of wisdom could drop from the poor old woman's lips while +her soul was in this strait, Jacqueline desired to hear those words. + +Down the many flights of stairs she went across the court, and then +along the street, to the house where the wool-comber lived. + +A brief pause followed her knock for admittance. She repeated it. Then +was heard a sound from within,--a step crossing the floor. The door +opened, and there stood the mother of Leclerc, ready to face any danger, +the very Fiend himself. + +But when she saw that it was Jacqueline, only Jacqueline,--an angel, as +one might say, and not a devil,--the terrible look passed from her face; +she opened the door wide. + +"Come in, child! come in!" + +So Jacqueline went into the room where John had worked and thought, +reasoned, argued, prayed. + +This is the home of the man because of whom many are this night offended +in the city of Meaux. This is the place whence issued the power that has +set the tongues to talking, and the minds to thinking, and the hearts to +hoping, and the authorities to avenging. + +A grain of mustard-seed is the kingdom of heaven in a figure; the +wandering winds a symbol of the Pentecostal power: a dove did signify +the descent of God to man. This poor chamber, so pent in, and so lowly, +so obscure, has its significance. Here has a life been lived; and not +the least does it import, that walls are rough and the ceiling low. + +But the life of John Leclerc was not to be limited. A power has stood +here which by its freedom has set at defiance the customary calculation +of the worldly-wise. In high places and in low the people are this night +disturbed because of him who has dared to lift his voice in the freedom +of the speech of God. In drawing-rooms odorous with luxury the man's +name has mention, and the vulgarity of his liberated speech and +courageous faith is a theme to move the wonder and excite the +reprobation of hearts whose languid beating keeps up their show of life, +--to what sufficient purpose expect me not to tell. His voice is loud +and harsh to echo through these music-loving halls; it rends and tears, +with almost savage strength, the dainty silences. + +But busier tongues are elsewhere more vehement in speech; larger +hearts beat faster indignation; grief and vulgarest curiosity are all +manifesting themselves after their several necessity. In solitary places +heroes pray throughout the night, wrestling like Jacob, agonizing like +Saul, and with some of them the angel left his blessing; for some the +golden harp was struck that soothed their souls to peace. Angels of +heaven had work to do that night. Angels of heaven and hell did prove +themselves that night in Meaux: night of unrest and sleeplessness, or of +cruel dreaming; night of bloody visions, tortured by the apprehension +of a lacerated body driven through the city streets, and of the hooting +shouts of Devildom; night haunted by a gory image,--the defiled temple +of the Holy Ghost. + +Did the prospect of torture keep _him_ wakeful? Could the man bear the +disgrace, the derision, shouting, agony? Was there nothing in this +thought, that as a witness of Jesus Christ he was to appear next day, +that should soothe him even unto slumber? Upon the silence of his +guarded chamber let none but ministering angels break. Sacred to him, +and to Him who watched the hours of the night, let the night go! + +But here--his mother, Jacqueline with her--we may linger with these. + + +V. + + +When the old woman saw that it was Jacqueline Gabrie who stood waiting +admittance, she opened the door wider, as I said; and the dark solemnity +of her countenance seemed to be, by so much as a single ray, enlivened +for an instant. + +She at once perceived the tracts which Jacqueline had brought. Aware of +this, the girl said,-- + +"I stayed to hear them read, after I heard that for the sake of the +truth in them"--she hesitated--"this city will invite God's wrath +to-morrow." + +And she gave the papers to the old woman, who took them in silence. + +By-and-by she asked,-- + +"Are you just home, Jacqueline?" + +"Since sunset,--though it was nearly dark when I came in,"--she +answered. "Victor Le Roy was down by the riverbank, and he read them for +me." + +"He wanted to get out of town, maybe. You would surely have thought it +was a holiday, Jacqueline, if you could have seen the people. Anything +for a show: but some of them might well lament. Did you want to know the +truth he pays so dear for teaching? But you have heard it, my child." + +"We all heard what he must pay for it, in the fields at noon. Yes, +mother, I wanted to know." + +"But if you shall believe it, Jacqueline, it may lead you into danger, +into sad straits," said the old woman, looking at the young girl with +earnest pity in her eyes. + +She loved this girl, and shuddered at the thought of exposing her to +danger. + +Jacqueline had nursed her neighbor, Antonine, and more than once, after +a hard day's labor, which must be followed by another, she had sat with +her through the night; and she could pay this service only with love, +and the best gift of her love was to instruct her in the truth. John and +she had proved their grateful interest in her fortunes by giving her +that which might expose her to danger, persecution, and they could not +foresee to what extremity of evil. + +And now the old woman felt constrained to say this to her, even for her +love's sake,--"It may lead you into danger." + +"But if truth is dangerous, shall I choose to be safe?" answered +Jacqueline, with stately courage. + +"It _is_ truth. It _will_ support him. Blessed be Jesus Christ and His +witnesses! To-night, and to-morrow, and the third day, our Jesus will +sustain him. They think John will retract. They do not know my son. They +do not know how he has waited, prayed, and studied to learn the truth, +and how dear it is to him. No, Jacqueline, they do not. But when they +prove him, they will know. And if he is willing to witness, shall I +not be glad? The people will understand him better afterward,--and the +priests, maybe. 'I can do all things,' said he, 'Christ strengthening +me'; and that was said long ago, by one who was proved. Where shall you +be, Jacqueline?" + +"Oh," groaned Jacqueline, "I shall be in the fields at work, away from +these cruel people, and the noise and the sight. But, mother, where +shall you be?" + +"With the people, child. With him, if I live. Yes, he is my son; and +I have never been ashamed of the brave boy. I will not be ashamed +to-morrow. I will follow John; and when they bind him, I will let him +see his mother's eyes are on him,--blessing him, my child!--Hark! how +they talk through the streets!--Jacqueline, he was never a coward. He +is strong, too. They will not kill him, and they cannot make him dumb. +He will hold the truth the faster for all they do to him. Jesus Christ +on his side, do you think he will fear the city, or all Paris, or all +France? He does not know what it is to be afraid. And when God opened +his eyes to the truth of his gospel, which the priests had hid, he meant +that John should work for it,--for he is a working-man, whatever he sets +about." + +So this old woman tried, and not without success, to comfort herself, +and sustain her tender, proud, maternal heart. The dire extremity into +which she and her son had fallen did not crush her; few were the tears +that fell from her eyes as she recalled for Jacqueline the years of her +son's boyhood,--told her of his courage, as in various ways it had made +itself manifest: how he had always been fearless in danger,--a +conqueror of pain,--seemingly regardless of comfort,--fond of +contemplation,--contented with his humble state,--kindly, affectionate, +generous, but easily stirred to wrath by injustice, when manifested by +the strong toward the weak,--or by cruelty, or by falsehood. + +Many an anecdote of his career might she relate; for his character, +under the pressure of this trial, which was as searching and severe a +test of her faith as of his, seemed to illustrate itself in manifold +heroic ways, all now of the highest significance. With more majesty and +grandeur his character arose before her; for now in all the past, as she +surveyed it, she beheld a living power, a capability, and a necessity of +new and grand significance, and her heart reverenced the spirit she had +nursed into being. + +Removed to the distance of a prison from her sight, separated from +her love by bolts and bars, and the wrath of tyranny and close-banded +bigotry, he became a power, a hero, who moved her, as she recalled +his sentence, and prophesied the morrow, to a feeling tears could not +explain. + +They passed the night together, the young woman and the old. In the +morning Jacqueline must go into the field again. She was in haste to go. +Leaving a kiss on the old woman's cheek, she was about to steal away in +silence; but as she laid her hand upon the latch, a thought arrested +her, and she did not open the door, but went back and sat beside the +window, and watched the mother of Leclerc through the sleep that must be +brief. It was not in her heart to go away and leave those eyes to waken +upon solitude. She must see a helpful hand and hopeful face, and, if it +might be, hear a cheerful human voice, in the dawning of that day. + +She had not long to wait, and the time she may have lost in waiting +Jacqueline did not count or reckon, when she heard her name spoken, and +could answer, "What wilt thou? here am I." + +Not in vain had she lingered. What were wages, more or less, that they +should be mentioned, thought of, when she might give and receive here +what the world gives not, and never has to give,--and what a mortal +cannot buy, the treasure being priceless? Through the quiet of that +morning hour, soothing words, and strong, she felt and knew to speak; +and when at last she hurried away from the city to the fields, she was +stronger than of nature, able to bear witness to the faith that speaks +from the bewilderment of its distresses, "Though He slay me, yet will I +trust in Him." + +Not alone had her young, frank, loving eyes enlivened the dreary morning +to the heart of Leclerc's mother. Grace for grace had she received. And +words of the hymn that were always on John's lips had found echo +from his mother's memory this morning: they lodged in the heart of +Jacqueline. She went away repeating,-- + + "In the midst of death, the jaws + Of hell against us gape. + Who from peril dire as this + Openeth us escape? + 'Tis thou, O Lord, alone! + Our bitter suffering and our sin + Pity from thy mercy win, + Holy Lord and God! + Strong and holy God! + Merciful and holy Saviour! + Eternal God! + Let us not despair + For the fire that burneth there! + Kyrie, eleison!" + +Jacqueline met Elsie on her way to the fields. But the girls had +not much to say to each other that morning in their walk. Elsie was +manifestly conscious of some great constraint; she might have reported +to her friend what she had heard in the streets last night, but she +felt herself prevented from such communication,--seemed to be intent +principally on one thing: she would not commit herself in any direction. +She was looking with suspicion upon Jacqueline. Whatever became of her +soul, her body she would save alive. She was waking to this world's +enjoyment with vision alert, senses keen. Martyrdom in any degree was +without attraction to her, and in Truth she saw no beauty that she +should desire it. It was a root out of dry ground indeed, that gave no +promise of spreading into goodly shelter and entrancing beauty. + +As to Jacqueline, she was absorbed in her heroic and exalted thoughts. +Her heart had almost failed her when she said farewell to John's mother; +tearfully she had hurried on her way. One vast cloud hung between her +and heaven; darkly rolled the river; every face seemed to bear witness +to the tragedy that day should witness. + +Not the least of her affliction was the consciousness of the distance +increasing between herself and Elsie Méril. She knew that Elsie was +rejoicing that she had in no way endangered herself yet; and sure was +she that in no way would Elsie invite the fury of avenging tyranny and +reckless superstition. + +Jacqueline asked her no questions,--spoke few words to her,--was +absorbed in her own thoughts. But she was kindly in her manner, and +in such words as she spoke. So Elsie perceived two things,--that she +should not lose her friend, neither was in danger of being seized by the +heretical mania. It was her way of drawing inferences. Certain that +she had not lost her friend, because Jacqueline did not look away, and +refuse to recognize her; congratulating herself that she was not the +object of suspicion, either justly or unjustly, among the dreadful +priests. + +But that friend whose steady eye had balanced Elsie was already sick at +heart, for she knew that never more must she rely upon this girl who +came with her from Domrémy. + +As they crossed the bridge, lingering thereon a moment, the river seemed +to moan in its flowing toward Meaux. The day's light was sombre; the +birds' songs had no joyous sound,--plaintive was their chirping; it +saddened the heart to hear the wind,--it was a wind that seemed to take +the buoyancy and freshness out of every living thing, an ugly southeast +wind. They went on together,--to the wheat-fields together;--it was to +be day of minutes to poor Jacqueline. + +To be away from Meaux bodily was, it appeared, only that the imagination +might have freer exercise. Yes,--now the people must be moving through +the streets; shopmen were not so intent on profits this day as they were +on other days. The priests were thinking with vengeful hate of the wrong +to themselves which should be met and conquered that day. The people +should be swiftly brought into order again! John in his prison was +preparing, as all without the prison were. + +The crowd was gathering fast. He would soon be led forth. The shameful +march was forming. Now the brutal hand of Power was lifted with +scourges. The bravest man in Meaux was driven through the streets,--she +saw with what a visage,--she knew with what a heart. Her heart was awed +with thinking thereupon. A bloody mist seemed to fall upon the environs +of Meaux; through that red horror she could not penetrate; it shrouded +and it held poor Jacqueline. + +Of the faith that would sustain him she began once more to inquire. It +is not by a bound that mortals ever clear the heights of God. Step by +step they scale the eminences, toiling through the heavenly atmosphere. +Only around the summit shines the eternal sun. + +So she must now recall the words that Victor Le Roy read for her last +night; and the words he spoke from out his heart,--these also. And +she did not fear now, as yesterday, to ask for light. Let the light +dawn,--oh, let it shine on her! + +The mother of Leclerc had uttered mysterious words which Jacqueline took +for truth; the light was joyful and blessed, and of all things to be +desired, though it smote the life from one like lightning. She waited +alone with faith, watching till it should come,--left alone with this +beam glimmering like a moth through darkness!--for thus was a believer, +or one who resolved on believing, left in that day, when he turned from +the machinery of the Church, and stood alone, searching for God without +the aid of priestly intervention. + + +VI. + + +There was something awful in such loneliness. + +Jacqueline knew little of it until now, as she walked toward the fields, +by the side of Elsie Méril. + +She saw how she had depended on the priest of Domrémy, as he had been +the lawgiver and the leader of her life. A spiritual life, to be +sustained only by the invisible spirit, to be lived by faith, not in +man, but in God, without intervention of saint or angel or Blessed +Virgin,--was the world's life liberated by such freedom? + +By faith, and not by sight, the just must live. Would He bow his heavens +and come down to dwell with the contrite and the humble? + +Wondrous strange it seemed,--incomprehensible,--more than she could +manage or control. There are prisoners whose pardon proves the world too +large for them: they find no rest until their prison-door is opened for +them again. + +Of this class was Elsie,--not Jacqueline. Elsie was afraid of +freedom,--not equal to it,--unable to deal with it; satisfied with being +a child, with being a slave, when it came to be a question whether she +should accept and use her highest privilege and dignity. At this hour, +and among all persuasions, you will find that Elsie does not stand +alone. Little children there are, long as the world shall stand,--though +not precisely such as we think of when we remember, "Of such is the +kingdom of heaven." + +It was enough for Elsie--it is enough for multitudes through all the +reformations--that she had an earthly defence, even such as she relied +on without trouble. She lived in the hour. She had never toiled to +deliver her darling from the lions,--to redeem a soul from purgatory. +She eased her conscience, when it was troubled, by such shallow +discovery of herself as she deemed confession. She loved dancing, +and all other amusements,--hated solitude, knew not the meaning of +self-abnegation. And let her dance and enjoy herself!--some service +to the body is rendered thereby. She might do greatly worse, and +is incapable of doing greatly better. Will you stint the idiots of +comfort,--or rather build them decent habitations, and even vex yourself +to feed and clothe them, in reverent confidence that the Future shall +surely take them up and bless them, unstop their ears, open their eyes, +give speech to them and absolute deliverance? + +There are others beside Elsie who congratulate themselves on +non-committal,--they covet not the advanced and dangerous positions. +Honorable, but dangerous positions! The head might be taken off, do you +not see? And could all eternity compensate for the loss of time? Ah, the +body might be mutilated,--the liberty restrained: as if, indeed, a +man's freedom were not eternally established, when his enemies, howling +around, must at least crucify him! as if a divine voice were not ever +heard through the raging of the people, saying, "Come up higher!" + +But a fern-leaf cannot grow into a mighty hemlock-tree. From the ashes +of a sparrow the phoenix shall not rise. You will not to all eternity, +by any artificial means, nor by a miracle, bring forth an eagle from a +mollusk. + +There was not a sadder heart in all those fields of Meaux than the heart +of Jacqueline Gabrie. There was not a stronger heart. Not a hand +labored more diligently. Under the broad-brimmed peasant-hat was a sad +countenance,--under the peasant-dress a heavily burdened spirit. Silent, +all day, she labored. She was alone at noon under the river-bordered +trees, eating her coarse fare without zest, but with a conscience,--to +sustain the body that was born to toil. But in the maelström of doubt +and anxiety was she tossed and whirled, and she cared not for her life. +To be rid of it, now for the first time, she felt might be a blessing. +What purpose, indeed, had she? She turned her thought from this +question, but it would not let her alone. Again and yet again she turned +to meet it, and thus would surely have at length its satisfying answer. + +John Leclerc might pass through this ordeal, as from the first she +had expected of him. But she listened to the speech of many of her +fellow-laborers. Some prophecies which had a sound incredible escaped +them. She did not credit them, but they tormented her. They contended +with one another. John, some foretold, would certainly retract. One day +of public whipping would suffice. When the blood began to flow, he would +see his duty clearer! The men were prophesying from the depths and the +abundance of their self-consciousness. Others speculated on the final +result of the executed sentence. They believed that the "obstinacy" and +courage of the man would provoke his judges, and the executors of his +sentence,--that with rigor they would execute it,--and that, led on +by passion, and provoked by such as would side with the victim, the +sentence would terminate in his destruction. Sooner or later, nothing +but his life would be found ultimately to satisfy his enemies. + +It might be so, thought Jacqueline Gabrie. What then? what then?--she +thought. There was inspiration to the girl in that cruel prophecy. Her +lifework was not ended. If Christ was the One Ransom, and it did truly +fall on Him, and not on her, to care for those beloved, departed from +this life, her work was still for love. + +John Leclerc disabled or dead, who should care then for his aged mother? +Who should minister to him? Who, indeed, but Jacqueline? + +Living or dying, she said to herself, with grand enthusiasm,--living or +dying, let him do the Master's pleasure! She also was here to serve that +Master; and while in spiritual things he fed the hungry, clothed the +naked, gave the cup of living water, visited the imprisoned, and the +sick of sin, she would bind herself to minister to him and his old +mother in temporal things; so should he live above all cares save those +of heavenly love. She could support them all by her diligence, and in +this there would be joy. + +She thought this through her toil; and the thought was its own reward. +It strengthened her like an angel,--strengthened heart and faith. She +labored as no other peasant-woman did that day,--like a beast of burden, +unresisting, patient,--like a holy saint, so peaceful and assured, so +conscious of the present very God! + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + + +MIDSUMMER. + + + Around this lovely valley rise + The purple hills of Paradise. + Oh, softly on yon banks of haze + Her rosy face the Summer lays! + Becalmed along the azure sky, + The argosies of cloudland lie, + Whose shores, with many a shining rift, + Far off their pearl-white peaks uplift. + + Through all the long midsummer-day + The meadow-sides are sweet with hay. + I seek the coolest sheltered seat + Just where the field and forest meet,-- + Where grow the pine-trees tall and bland, + The ancient oaks austere and grand, + And fringy roots and pebbles fret + The ripples of the rivulet. + + I watch, the mowers as they go + Through the tall grass, a white-sleeved row; + With even stroke their scythes they swing, + In tune their merry whetstones ring; + Behind the nimble youngsters run + And toss the thick swaths in the sun; + The cattle graze; while, warm and still, + Slopes the broad pasture, basks the hill, + And bright, when summer breezes break, + The green wheat crinkles like a lake. + + The butterfly and humble-bee + Come to the pleasant woods with me; + Quickly before me runs the quail, + The chickens skulk behind the rail, + High up the lone wood-pigeon sits, + And the woodpecker pecks and flits. + Sweet woodland music sinks and swells, + The brooklet rings its tinkling bells, + The swarming insects drone and hum, + The partridge beats his throbbing drum. + The squirrel leaps among the boughs, + And chatters in his leafy house. + The oriole flashes by; and, look! + Into the mirror of the brook, + Where the vain blue-bird trims his coat, + Two tiny feathers fall and float. + + As silently, as tenderly, + The down of peace descends on me. + Oh, this is peace! I have no need + Of friend to talk, of book to read: + A dear Companion here abides; + Close to my thrilling heart He hides; + The holy silence is His Voice: + I lie and listen, and rejoice. + + + + +TOBACCO. + + +"Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all +the panaceas, potable gold, and philosopher's stones, a sovereign remedy +to all diseases! a good vomit, I confess, a virtuous herb, if it be well +qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used. But as it is commonly +abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a plague, a +mischief, a violent purger of goods, lauds, health: hellish, devilish, and +damned tobacco, the ruin and overthrow of body and soul!"--BURTON. _Anatomy +of Melancholy_. + +A delicate subject? Very true; and one which must be handled as tenderly +as _biscuit de Sèvres_, or Venetian glass. Whichever side of the +question we may assume, as the most popular, or the most right, the +feelings of so large and respectable a minority are to be consulted, +that it behooves the critic or reviewer to move cautiously, and, +imitating the actions of a certain feline household reformer, to show +only the _patte de velours_. + +The omniscient Burton seems to have reached the pith of the matter. The +two hostile sections of his proposition, though written so long since, +would very well fit the smoker and the reformer of to-day. That portion +of the world which is enough advanced to advocate reforms is entirely +divided against itself on the subject of Tobacco. Immense interests, +economical, social, and, as some conceive, moral, are arrayed on either +side. The reformers have hitherto had the better of it in point of +argument, and have pushed the attack with most vigor, yet with but +trifling results. Smokers and chewers, _et id omne genus_, mollified +by their habits, or laboring under guilty consciences, have made but a +feeble defence. Nor in all this is there anything new. It is as old as +the knowledge of the "weed" among thinking men,--in other words, about +three centuries. The English adventurers under Drake and Raleigh and +Hawkins, and the multitude of minor Protestant "filibusters" who +followed in their train, had no sooner imported the habit of smoking +tobacco, among the other outlandish customs which they brought home from +the new Indies and the Spanish Main, than the higher powers rebuked +the practice, which novelty and its own fascinations were rendering so +fashionable, in language more forcible than elegant. The philippic of +King James is so apposite that we may be pardoned for transcribing one +oft-quoted sentence:--"But herein is not only a great vanity, but a +great contempt of God's good gifts, that the sweetness of man's breath, +being a good gift of God, should be wilfully corrupted by this stinking +smoke.... A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmfull +to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume +thereof neerest resembling the horrible Stygian smoake of the pit that +is bottomless."[a] + +[Footnote a: _Counterblast to Tobacco_.] + +The Popes Urban VIII. and Innocent XII. fulminated edicts of +excommunication against all who used tobacco in any form; from which we +may conclude that the new habit was spreading rapidly over Christendom. +And not only the successors of St. Peter, but those also of the Prophet, +denounced the practice, the Sultan Amurath IV. making it punishable with +death. The Viziers of Turkey spitted the noses of smokers with their own +pipes; the more considerate Shah of Persia cut them entirely off. The +knout greeted in Russia the first indulgence, and death followed the +second offence. In some of the Swiss cantons smoking was considered a +crime second only to adultery. Modern republics are not quite so severe. + +It is not to be supposed that in England the royal pamphlet had its +desired effect. For we find that James laid many rigid sumptuary +restrictions upon the practice which he abominated, based chiefly upon +the extravagance it occasioned,--the expenses of some smokers being +estimated at several hundred pounds a year. The King, however, had the +sagacity to secure a preëmption-right as early as 1620. + +Yet how could the practice but have increased, when, as Malcolm relates +the tradition, such men as Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Hugh Middleton +sat smoking at their doors?--for "the public manner in which it was +exhibited, and the aromatic flavor inhaled by the passengers, exclusive +of the singularity of the circumstance and the eminence of the parties," +could hardly have failed to favor its dissemination. + +The silver-tongued Joshua Sylvester hoped to aid the royal cause by +writing a poem entitled, "Tobacco battered, and the pipes shattered, +(about their ears who idly idolize so base and barbarous a weed, or at +least-wise overlove so loathsome a vanity,) by a volley of holy shot +thundered from Mount Helicon." If the smoothness of the verses equalled +the euphony of the title, this must have proved a moving appeal. + +Stow contents himself with calling tobacco "a stinking weed, so much +abused to God's dishonor." + +Burton exhausts the subject in a single paragraph. Ben Jonson, though +a jolly good fellow, was opposed to the habit of smoking. But Spenser +mentions "divine tobacco." Walton's "Piscator" indulges in a pipe at +breakfast, and "Venator" has his tobacco brought from London to insure +its purity. Sweet Izaak could have selected no more soothing minister +than the pipe to the "contemplative man's recreation." + +As the new sedative gains in esteem, we find Francis Quarles, in his +"Emblems," treating it in this serio-comic vein:-- + + "Flint-hearted Stoics, you whose marble eyes + Contemn a wrinkle, and whose souls despise + To follow Nature's too affected fashion, + Or travel in the regent walk of passion,-- + Whose rigid hearts disdain to shrink at + fears, + Or play at fast-and-loose with smiles and + tears,-- + Come, burst your spleens with laughter to + behold + A new-found vanity, which days of old + Ne'er knew,--a vanity that has beset + The world, and made more slaves than Mahomet,-- + That has condemned us to the servile yoke + Of slavery, and made us slaves to smoke, + But stay! why tax I thus our modern + times + For new-born follies and for new-born + crimes? + Are we sole guilty, and the first age free? + No: they were smoked and slaved as well + as we. + What's sweet-lipped honor's blast, but + smoke? what's treasure, + But very smoke? and what's more smoke + than pleasure?" + +Brand gives us the whole matter in a nutshell, in the following quaint +epigram, entitled "A Tobacconist," taken from an old collection:-- + + "All dainty meats I do defy + Which feed men fat as swine; + He is a frugal man, indeed, + That on a leaf can dine. + + "He needs no napkin for his hands + His fingers' ends to wipe, + That keeps his kitchen in a box, + And roast meat in a pipe." + +And so on, the singers of succeeding years, _usque ad nauseam_,--a +loathing equalled only by that of the earlier writers for the plant, now +so lauded. + +Tobacco-worship seems to us to culminate in the following stanza from a +German song:-- + + "Tabak ist mein Leben, + Dem hab' ich mich ergeben, ergeben; + Tabak ist meine Lust. + Und eh' ich ihn sollt' lassen, + Viel lieber wollt' ich hassen, + Ja, hassen selbst eines Mädchens Kuss." + +As it is with your sex, my dear Madam, that this question of Tobacco is +to be mainly argued,--for, to your honor be it spoken, you have always +been of the reformatory party,--let us hope, that, provided you have +not read or translated the last verse, you have recovered your natural +amiability, ruffled perhaps by this odious subject, and are prepared +to believe us when we tell you that these opposite opinions cannot be +wholly reconciled, and to follow us patiently while we attempt to show +that a certain gentleman, introduced to your maternal ancestor at a very +remote period of the world's history, is not so black as he is sometimes +painted. Let us keep good-natured, at least, in this discussion; for we +propose to settle it without taking off the gloves, as we intimated in +the opening paragraph. Your patience will be much needed for the sad +army of facts and figures which is to follow. Therefore it is but just +that you should speak now, after these long sentences. + +Your George will never smoke? Excuse me. _When_ he will smoke depends +upon the precocity of his individual generation; and that increases in +a direct ratio with time itself, in this country. Thus, to state the +matter in an approximate inverse arithmetical progression, and dating +the birth of "young America" about the year 1825,--previously to which +reigned the dark ages of oldfogydom, so called,--we find as follows: +--From 1825 to 1835, young gentlemen learned to smoke when from 25 to 20 +years of age; from 1835 to 1845, young _gents_, ditto, ditto, from 20 to +15 years; 1845 to 1855, from 15 to 10; 1855 to 1865, 10 to 5; 1865 to +1875, 5 to 0; and, if we continue, 1875 to 1885, zero to minus: but +really the question is becoming too nebulous. _Corollary_. In about ten +years, the youth of the United States will smoke contemporaneously with +the infant Burmese, who, we are credibly informed, begin the habit +_aet_. 3, or as soon as they have cut enough teeth to hold a cigar. + +Therefore, we will say, Madam, at some indefinite period of his +childhood or youth,--for we would not be so impolite as to infer your +age by asking that of your son,--the _susdit_ George will come home +late from play some afternoon, languid, pale, and disinclined for tea. +He will indignantly repel the accusation of feeling ill, and there will +lurk about his person an indescribable odor of stale cinnamon, which +you will be at a loss to account for, but which his elder brother will +recognize as the natural result of smoking "cinnamon cigars," wherewith +certain wicked tobacconists of this city tempt curious youth. If you +follow him to his chamber, you will probably discover more damning +evidence of his guilt. + +We will draw the curtain over the scene of the Spartan mother--we hope +you belong to that nearly extinct class--which is to follow. Let us +suppose all differences settled, the habit ostensibly given up, and your +darling, grown more honest or more artful,--the result is the same to +your blissful ignorance,--studiously pursuing his way until he enters +college. Some fine day you drive over to the neighboring university, +and, entering his room unannounced, you find him coloring his first +(factitious) meerschaum!--also a sad deficiency in his wardrobe of +half-worn clothes. _C'est une pipe qui coûte cher à culotter_, the +college meerschaum,--and in more ways than one, according to the +"Autocrat":--"I do not advise you, young man, to consecrate the flower +of your life to painting the bowl of a pipe," _et seq_. More bold, +the Sophomore will smoke openly at home; and by the end of the third +vacation, it is one of those unyielding _faits accomplis_ against which +reformers, household or peripatetic, beat their heads in vain. + +Perhaps your husband smokes? If so, at what period of the twenty-four +hours have you invariably found Mr. ---- most lenient to your little +pecuniary peccadilloes? Is he not always most good-natured when his +cigar is about one-third consumed, the ash evenly burnt and adherent, +and not fallen into his shirt-bosom? Depend upon it, tobacco is a great +soother of domestic differences. + +Let us, then, look an existing, firmly rooted evil--if you will call it +so--in the face, and see if it is quite so bad as it is represented. It +is too wide-spread to be sneered away,--for we might almost say that +smokers were the rule, and non-smokers the exception, among all +civilized men, Charles Kingsley supports us here:--"'Man a cooking +animal,' my dear Doctor Johnson? Pooh! man is a _smoking_ animal. +There is his _ergon_, his 'differential energy,' as the Aristotelians +say,--his true distinction from the orangoutang. Ponder it well." + +_Query_.--What did the old Roman do without a cigar? How idle through +the day? How survive his interminable _post-coenal_ potations?--The +thought is not our own. It occurs somewhere in De Quincey, we believe. +It is one of those self-evident propositions you wonder had not occurred +to you before.--What an accessory of luxury the pipe would have been +to him who passed the livelong day under the mosaic arches of the +_Thermoe_! The _strigiles_ would have vanished before the meerschaum, +had that magic clay then been known. How completely would the _hookah_ +and the _narghileh_ have harmonized with the _crater, cyathi_, and +tripods of the _triclinium_ in that portraiture of the "Decadence of +Rome" which hangs in the Luxembourg Gallery! Poor fellows! they managed +to exist without them. + +Though pipes are found carved on very old sculptures in China, and the +habit of smoking was long since extensively followed there, according +to Pallas, and although certain species of the tobacco-plant, as the +_Nicotiana rustica_, would appear to be indigenous to the country, yet +we have the best reason to conclude that America, if not the exclusive +home of the herb, was the birthplace of its use by man. The first great +explorer of the West found the sensuous natives of Hispaniola rolling up +and smoking tobacco-leaves with the same persistent indolence that +we recognize in the Cuban of the present day. Rough Cortés saw with +surprise the luxurious Aztec composing himself for the _siesta_ in the +middle of the day as invariably as his fellow Dons in Castile. But he +was amazed that the barbarians had discovered in tobacco a sedative +to promote their reveries and compose them to sleep, of which the +_hidalgos_ were as yet ignorant, but which they were soon to appropriate +with avidity, and to use with equal zest. Humboldt says that it had been +cultivated by the people of Orinoco from time immemorial, and was smoked +all over America at the time of the Spanish Conquest,--also that it was +first discovered by Europeans in Yucatan, in 1520, and was there called +_Petum_. Tobacco, according to the same authority, was taken from the +word _tabac_, the name of an instrument used in the preparation of the +herb. + +Though Columbus and his immediate followers doubtless brought home +specimens of tobacco among the other spoils of the New World, Jean +Nicot, ambassador to Portugal from Francis II., first sent the seeds +to France, where they were cultivated and used about the year 1560. In +honor of its sponsor, Botany has named the plant _Nicotiana tabacum_, +and Chemistry distinguished as _Nicotin_ its active alkaloid. Sir +Francis Drake first brought tobacco to England about 1586. It owed +the greater part of its early popularity, however, to the praise and +practice of Raleigh: his high standing and character would have sufficed +to introduce still more novel customs. The weed once inhaled, the habit +once acquired, its seductions would not allow it to be easily laid +aside; and we accordingly find that royal satire, public odium, and +ruinous cost were alike inadequate to restrain its rapidly increasing +consumption. Somewhere about the year 1600 or 1601 tobacco was carried +to the East, and introduced among the Turks and Persians,--it is not +known by whom: the devotion of modern Mussulmans might reasonably +ascribe it to Allah himself. It seems almost incredible that the +Oriental type of life and character could have existed without tobacco. +The pipe seems as inseparable as the Koran from the follower of Mahomet. + +Barely three centuries ago, then, the first seeds of the _Nicotiana +tabacum_ germinated in European soil: now, who shall count the harvests? +Less than three centuries ago, Raleigh attracted a crowd by sitting +smoking at his door: now, the humblest bog-trotter of Ireland must +be poor indeed who cannot own or borrow a pipe. A little more than a +century and a half ago, the import into Great Britain was only one +hundred and twenty thousand pounds, and part of that was reëxported: +now, the imports reach thirty million pounds, and furnish to government +a revenue of twenty millions of dollars,--being an annual tax of three +shillings four pence on every soul in the United Kingdom. Nor is the +case of England an exceptional one. The tobacco-zone girdles the globe. +From the equator, through fifty degrees of latitude, it grows and is +consumed on every continent. On every sea it is carried and used by the +mariners of every nation. Its incense rises in every clime, as from one +vast altar dedicated to its worship,--before which ancient holocausts, +the smoke of burnt-offerings in the old Jewish rites, the censers of the +Church, and the joss-sticks of the East, must "pale their ineffectual +fires." All classes, all ages, in all climates, and in some countries +both sexes, use tobacco to dispel heat, to resist cold, to soothe +to reverie, or to arouse the brain, according to their national +habitations, peculiarities, or habits. + +This is not the language of hyperbole. With a partial exception in favor +of the hop, tobacco is the _sole recognized narcotic_ of civilization. +Opium and hemp, if indulged in, are concealed, by the Western nations: +public opinion, public morality, are at war with them. Not so with +tobacco, which the majority of civilized men use, and the minority +rather deprecate than denounce. We shall avail ourselves of some +statistics and computations, which we find ready-calculated, at various +sources, to support these assertions. The following are the amounts of +tobacco consumed _per head_ in various countries:-- + +"In Great Britain, 17 ounces per head; in France, 18 1/2 +ounces,--three-eighths of this quantity being used in the form of snuff; +in Denmark, 70 ounces (4 1/2 lbs.) per head; and in Belgium, 73 1/2 +ounces per head;--in New South Wales, where there are no duties, by +official returns, 14 pounds per head." We doubt if these quantities +much exceed the European average, particularly of Germany and Turkey in +Europe. "In some of the States of North America the proportion is much +larger, while among Eastern nations, where there are no duties, it is +believed to be greater still." + +The average for the whole human race of one thousand millions has been +reasonably set at seventy ounces per head; which gives a total produce +and consumption of tobacco of two millions of tons, or 4,480,000,000 of +pounds! "At eight hundred pounds an acre, this would require five and +a half million acres of rich land to be kept constantly under +tobacco-cultivation." + +"The whole amount of wheat consumed by the inhabitants of Great Britain +weighs only four and one-third million tons." The reader can draw his +own inferences. + +The United States are among the largest producers of tobacco, furnishing +one-twentieth of the estimated production of the whole world. According +to the last census, we raised in 1850 about two hundred million pounds. +All the States, with five exceptions,--and two of these are Utah and +Minnesota,--shared, in various degrees, in the growth of this great +staple. Confining our attention to those which raised a million of +pounds and upwards, we find Connecticut and Indiana cited at one million +each; Ohio and North Carolina, at ten to twelve millions; Missouri, +Tennessee, and Maryland, from seventeen to twenty-one millions; Kentucky +and Virginia, about fifty-six million pounds. + +Of this gross two hundred million pounds, we export one hundred and +twenty-two millions, leaving about seventy-eight millions for home +consumption. + +Not satisfied with the quality of this modest amount, we import also, +from Cuba, Turkey, Germany, etc., about four million pounds, in Havana +and Manila cigars and Turkish and German manufactured smoking-tobacco. +Thus we increase the total of our consumption to eighty-two million +pounds, which gives about three pounds eight ounces to every inhabitant +of the United States, against seventeen ounces in England, and eighteen +ounces in France. From 1840 to 1850, the consumption in the United +States, per head, increased from two pounds and half an ounce to three +pounds eight ounces. Here, we buy our tobacco at a fair profit to the +producer. In most of the countries of Europe it is either subject to +a high tax, or made a government monopoly, both as regards its +cultivation, and its manufacture and sale. France consumes about +forty-one million pounds, and the imperial exchequer is thereby enriched +eighty-six million francs _per annum_. Not only is the poor man thus +obliged to pay an excessive price, but the tobacco furnished him is of +a much inferior quality to ours. "_Petit-caporal_" smoking-tobacco, the +delight of the middling classes of Paris, hardly suits an American's +taste. In Italy more than one _pubblicano_ has enriched himself and +bought nobility by farming the public revenues from tobacco and salt. In +Austria the cigars are detestable, though Hungary grows good tobacco, +and its Turkish border furnishes some of the meerschaum clay. German +smoking-tobaccoes are favorites with students here, but owe their +excellence to their mode of manufacture. + +Tobacco, according to some authorities, holds the next place to salt, +as the article most universally and largely used by man,--we mean, +of course, apart from cereals and meats. It is unquestionably the +widest-used narcotic. Opium takes the second rank, and hemp the third; +but the opium--and hashish-eaters usually add the free smoking of +tobacco to their other indulgences. + +From these great columns of consumption we may logically deduce two +prime points for our argument. + +1st. That an article so widely used must possess some peculiar quality +producing _a desirable effect_. + +2d. That an article so widely used cannot produce _any marked +deleterious effect_. + +For it must meet some instinctive craving of the human being,--as bread +and salt meet his absolute needs,--to be so widely sought after and +consumed. Fashion does not rule this habit, but it is equally grateful +to the savage and the sage. And it cannot be so ruinous to body and mind +as some reformers assert; otherwise, in the natural progress of causes +and effects, whole nations must have already been extinguished under +its use. Many mighty nations have used it for centuries, and show no +aggregated deterioration from its employment. Individual exceptions +exist in every community. They arise either from idiosyncrasy or from +excess, and they have no weight in the argument. + +Now, what are these qualities and these effects? We can best answer the +first part of the question by a quotation. + +"In ministering fully to his natural wants and cravings, man passes +through three successive stages. + +"First, the necessities of his material nature are provided for. Beef +and bread represent the means by which, in every country, this end is +attained. And among the numerous forms of animal and vegetable food a +wonderful similarity of chemical composition prevails. + +"Second, he seeks to assuage the cares of his mind, and to banish +uneasy reflections. Fermented liquors are the agents by which this is +effected." [They are variously produced by every people, and the active +principle is in all the same, namely, Alcohol.] + +"Third, he desires to multiply his enjoyments, intellectual and animal, +and for the time to exalt them. This he attains by the aid of narcotics. +And of these narcotics, again, it is remarkable that almost every +country or tribe has its own, either aboriginal or imported; so that +the universal instinct of the race has led, somehow or other, to the +universal supply of this want or craving also." + +These narcotics are Opium, Hemp, the Betel, Coca, Thorn-Apple, Siberian +Fungus, Hops, Lettuce, Tobacco. The active principles vary in each, thus +differing from foods and stimulants. Our business is now to inquire into +the chemical constituents of tobacco. + +The leaves of this plant owe their properties to certain invariable +active principles, which chemistry has enabled us to separate from those +ingredients which are either inert or common to it and other forms of +vegetation. They are two in number,--a volatile alkali, and a volatile +oil, called _nicotin_ and _nicotianin_, respectively. A third powerful +constituent is developed by combustion, which is named the _empyreumatic +oil_. + +Starch, gum, albumen, resin, lignin, extractive, and organic acids exist +in tobacco, as they do, in varying proportions, in other plants. But +the herb under consideration contains a relatively larger proportion of +inorganic salts, as those of lime, potassa, and ammonia,--and especially +of highly nitrogenized substances; which explains why tobacco is +so exhausting a crop to the soil, and why ashes are among its best +fertilizers. + +The organic base, _nicotin_, (or _nicotia_, as some chemists prefer to +call it,) exists in tobacco combined with an acid in excess, and in this +state is not volatile. As obtained by distillation with caustic soda, +and afterwards treated with sulphuric acid, etc., it is a colorless +fluid, volatilizable, inflammable, of little smell when cold, but of an +exceedingly acrid, burning taste, and alkaline. Nicotia contains a much +larger proportion of nitrogen than most of the other organic alkalies. +In its action on the animal system it is one of the most virulent +poisons known. It exists in varying, though small proportion, in all +species of tobacco. Those called mild, and most esteemed, seem to +contain the least. Thus, according to Orfila, Havana tobacco yields two +per cent of the alkaloid, and Virginia nearly seven per cent. In the +rankest varieties it rarely exceeds eight parts to the hundred. The +same toxicologist says that it has the remarkable property of resisting +decomposition in the decaying tissues of the body, and he detected it in +the bodies of animals destroyed by it, several months after their death. +In this particular it resembles arsenic. + +_Nicotianin_, or the volatile oil, is probably the odorous principle of +tobacco. According to some, it does not exist in the fresh leaves, but +is generated in the drying process. When obtained by distillation, a +pound of leaves will yield only two grains; it is therefore in a much +smaller proportion than the alkaloid, forming only one half of one per +cent. It is a fatty substance, having the odor of tobacco-smoke, and +a bitter taste. Applied to the nose, it occasions sneezing, and taken +internally, giddiness and nausea. It is therefore one of the active +constituents of tobacco, though to a much less degree than nicotin +itself. For while Hermstadt swallowed a grain of nicotianin with +impunity, the vapor of pure nicotin is so irritating that it is +difficult to breathe in a room in which a single drop has been +evaporated. + +When distilled in a retort, at a temperature above that of boiling +water, or burned, as we burn it in a pipe, tobacco affords its third +poison, the _empyreumatic oil_. This is acrid, of a dark brown +color, and having a smell as of an old pipe, in the pores of which, +particularly of meerschaum clay, it may be found. It is also narcotic +and very poisonous, one drop killing reptiles, as if by an electric +shock: in this mode of action it is like prussic acid. But this +empyreumatic oil consists of two substances; for, if it be washed with +acetic acid, it loses its poisonous quality. It contains, therefore, a +harmless oil, and a poisonous alkaline substance, which the acetic acid +combines with and removes. It has been shown to contain the alkaloid +nicotia, and this is probably its only active component. + +Assuming, therefore, that nicotianin, from its feebler action and small +amount, is not a very efficient principle in producing the narcotic +effects of tobacco, and that the empyreumatic oil consists only of fatty +matters holding the alkali in solution, we are forced to believe that +the only constituent worthy of much attention, as the very soul and +essence of the plant, is the organic base, nicotin, or nicotia. + +It is probable that the tobacco-chewer, by putting fifty grains of the +"Solace," "Honey-Dew," or "Cavendish" into his mouth for the purpose +of mastication, introduces at the same time from one to four grains of +nicotin with it, according to the quality of the tobacco he uses. It +is _not_ probable that anything like this amount is absorbed into the +system. Nature protects itself by salivation. It is possible, that, in +smoking one hundred grains of tobacco, there _may_ be drawn into +the mouth two grains or more of the same poison; "for, as nicotin +volatilizes at a temperature below that of burning tobacco, it is +constantly present in the smoke." It is not probable that here, again, +so much is absorbed. + +But we will return to this question of the relative effects of chewing, +cigar- and pipe-smoking, and snuff-taking, presently. For we suppose +that the anxious mother, if she has followed us so far, is by this time +in considerable alarm at this wholesale poisoning. + +Poisons are to be judged by their effects; for this is the only means we +have of knowing them to be such. And if a poison is in common use, we +must embrace all the results of such use in a perfect generalization +before we can decide impartially. We do not hesitate to eat peaches, +though we know they owe much of their peculiar flavor to prussic acid. +It is but fair to apply an equally large generalization to tobacco. +Chemistry can concentrate the sapid and odorous elements of the peach +and the bitter almond into a transparent fluid, of which the smell +shall be vertiginous and the taste death. But chemistry is often +misunderstood, in two ways: in the one case, by the incredulity of total +ignorance; in the other, by the overcredulity of imperfect knowledge. +That poor woman who murdered her husband by arsenic not long since +was an instance of the first. She laughed to scorn the idea that the +chemists could discover anything in the ejected contents of the stomach +of her victim, which she voluntarily left in their way. She could not +conceive that the scattered crystals of the fatal powder might be +gathered into a metallic mirror, the first glance at which would reflect +her guilt. + +They who gape, horror-struck, at the endless revelations of chemistry, +without giving reason time to act, err in the second manner. Led away by +the brilliant hues and wonderful transformations of the laboratory, +they forget the size of the world outside, in which these changes are +enacted, and the quiet way in which Nature works. The breath of chlorine +is deadly, but we daily eat it in safety, wrapped in its poison-proof +envelope of sodium, as common salt. Carbonic acid is among the gases +most hostile to man, but he drinks it in soda-water or Champagne with +impunity. So we cannot explain how a poison will act, if introduced +into the body in the diluted form in which Nature offers it, and there +subjected to the complicated chemico-vital processes which constitute +life. + +In the alembic of the chemist we may learn analysis, and from it infer, +but not imitate, save in a few instances, the synthesis of Nature. +Changes in the arrangement of atoms, without one particle altered that +we can discover, may make all the difference between starch and sugar. +By an obscure change, which we call fermentation, these may become +alcohol, the great stimulant of the world. By subtracting one atom of +water from its elements we change this to ether, the new-found _lethe_ +of pain. As from the inexhaustible bottle of the magician, the chemist +can furnish us from the same two elements air or aquafortis. We may be +pardoned these familiar examples to prove that we must not judge of +things by their palpable qualities, when concentrated or in the gross. +That fiery demon, nitric acid, is hid, harmless in its imperceptible +subdivision, in the dew on every flower. + +From all this we conclude that the evil effects of tobacco are to be +determined by their proved _physiological_ effects; and also that we +must aid our decision by a survey of its general asserted effects. In +treating of these effects, we shall speak, first, of what is known; +second, of what its opponents assert; and, third, of what we claim as +the results of its use. + +What is absolutely known is very little. We see occasional instances of +declining health; we learn that the sufferers smoke or chew, and we are +very apt to ascribe all their maladies to tobacco. So far as we are +aware, the most notorious organic lesion which has been supposed due to +this practice is a peculiar form of cancer of the lip, where the pipe, +and particularly the clay pipe, has pressed upon the part. But more +ample statistics have disproved this theory. + +We have as yet become acquainted with no satisfactory series of +experiments upon tobacco analogous to those which have been made of some +articles of food. + +The opponents of tobacco, upon whom we consider the burden of proof to +rest, in the absence of any marked ill effects palpable in so large a +consumption of the herb, are thus reduced to generalities. + +Tobacco is said to produce derangement of the digestion, and of the +regular, steady action of the nervous system. These effects must be in a +measure connected; but one distinct effect of tobacco is claimed, upon +the secretions of the mouth, with which it comes into direct contact. +It is said to cause a waste and a deterioration of the saliva. Let us +examine this first. + +The waste of saliva in young smokers and in immoderate chewers we admit. +The amount secreted by a healthy man has been variously estimated at +from one and a half to three pounds _per diem_. And it certainly seems +as if the whole of this was to be found upon the vile floors of +cars, hotels, and steamboats. The quantity secreted varies much with +circumstances; but experiments prove the _quality_ to be not affected by +the amount. + +To show how the deterioration of this fluid may affect digestion, we +must inquire into its normal physiological constitution and uses. Its +uses are of two kinds: to moisten the food, and to convert starch into +sugar. The larger glands fulfil the former; the smaller, mostly, the +latter office. Almost any substance held in the mouth provokes the flow +of saliva by mechanical irritation. Mental causes influence it; for the +thought of food will "make the mouth water," as well as its presence +within the lips. No one who has tried to eat unmoistened food, when +thirsty, will dispute its uses as a solvent. Tobacco seems to be a +direct stimulant to the salivary apparatus. Habit blunts this effect +only to a limited extent. The old smoker has usually some increase of +this secretion, although he does not expectorate. But if he does not +waste this product, he swallows it, it is said, in a state unfit to +promote digestion. The saliva owes its peculiarity to one of its +components, called _ptyalin_. And this element possesses the remarkable +power of converting starch into sugar, which is the first step in its +digestion. Though many azotized substances in a state of decomposition +exert a similar agency, yet it is possessed by _ptyalin_ in a much +greater degree. The gastric juice has probably no action on farinaceous +substances. And it has been proved by experiments, that food moistened +with water digests more slowly than when mixed with the saliva. + +More than this, the conversion of starch into sugar has been shown to +be positively retarded in the stomach by the acidity of the gastric +secretions. Only after the azotized food has been somewhat disintegrated +by the action of the gastric juice, and the fluids again rendered +alkaline by the presence of saliva, swallowed in small quantities for +a considerable time after eating, does the saccharifying process go on +with normal rapidity and vigor. + +Now starch is the great element, in all farinaceous articles, which +is adapted to supply us with calorifacient food. "In its original +condition, either raw or when broken up by boiling, it does not appear +that starch is capable of being absorbed by the alimentary canal. By its +conversion into sugar it can alone become a useful aliment." This is +effected almost instantaneously by the saliva in the mouth, and at a +slower rate in the stomach. + +Obviously, then, if the use of tobacco interferes with the normal action +of the saliva, and if the digestion of starch ends in the stomach, here +is the strong point in the argument of the opponents of tobacco. We +should wonder at the discrepancy between physiology and facts, theory +and the evidence of our senses and daily experience among the world +of smokers, and be ready to renounce either science or "the weed." +Fortunately for our peace of mind and for our respect for physiology, +the first point of the proposition is not satisfactorily proved, and the +second is untrue. We are not certain that nicotin ruins ptyalin; we are +certain that the functions of other organs are vicarious of those of the +salivary glands. + +We say that it is not satisfactorily proved that tobacco impairs the +sugar-making function of the saliva. At least, we have never seen the +proof from recorded experiments. Such may exist, but we have met only +with loose assertions to this effect, of a similar nature to +those hygienic _dicta_ which we find bandied about in the +would-be-physiological popular journals, which are so plentiful in +this country, and which may be styled the "yellow-cover" literature of +science. + +We acknowledge this to be the weak point in our armor, and are open to +further light. Yet more, for the sake of hypothesis, we will assume it +proved. What follows? Are we to get no more sugar while we smoke? By no +means. Hard by the stomach lies the _pancreas_, an organ so similar in +structure to the salivary glands, that even so minute an observer as +Kölliker does not think it requisite to give it a separate description. +Its secretion, which is poured into the second stomach, contains a +ferment analogous to that of the saliva, and amounts probably to about +seven ounces a day. The food, on leaving the stomach, is next subjected +to its influence, together with that of the bile. It helps digest fatty +matters by its emulsive powers; it has been more recently supposed to +form a sort of _peptone_ with nitrogenized articles also; but, what is +more to our purpose, it turns starch into sugar even more quickly than +the saliva itself. And even if the reformers were to beat us from this +stronghold, by proving that tobacco impaired the saccharifying power of +this organ also, we should still find the mixed fluids supplied by the +smaller, but very numerous glands of the intestines, sufficient to +accomplish the requisite modification of starch, though more slowly and +to a less degree. + +We come now to the second count in the indictment,--that tobacco +injuriously affects the nervous system, and through it the digestion. +The accusation is here more vague and indefinite, and the answer also +is less susceptible of proof. Both sides must avail themselves of +circumstantial, rather than direct evidence. + +That digestion is in direct dependence upon the nervous system, and that +even transitory or emotional states of the latter affect the former, +there can be no doubt. It is so familiar a fact, that instances need +hardly be cited to prove it. Hence we are told, that tobacco, by +deranging the one, disorders the other,--that nervousness, or morbid +irritability of the nerves, palpitations and tremulousness, are soon +followed by emaciation and dyspepsia, or more or less inability to +digest. + +We conceive Prout, an eminent authority, to be near the truth, when he +says of tobacco, "The strong and healthy suffer comparatively little, +while the weak and predisposed to disease fall victims to its poisonous +operation." The hod-carrier traversing the walls of lofty buildings, and +the sailor swinging on the yard-arm, are not subject to nervousness, +though they smoke and chew; nor are they prone to dyspepsia, unless from +excesses of another kind. + +It has not been shown that tobacco either hastens or delays the +metamorphosis of tissue,--that it drains the system by waste, or clogs +it by retarding the natural excretions. We must turn, then, to its +direct influence upon the nervous system to convince ourselves of its +ill effects, if such exist. + +Nor has it been proved that the nervous influence is affected in such +a way as directly to impair the innervation of the organic functions, +which derive their chief impulse to action from the scattered ganglia of +the sympathetic system. Opium, the most powerful narcotic, benumbs the +brain into sleep; produces a corresponding reaction, on awakening; +shuts up the secretions, except that of the skin, and thus deranges the +alimentary functions. The decriers of tobacco will, we conceive, be +unable to show that it produces such effects. + +The reformers are reduced, then, to the vague generality, that smoking +and chewing "affect the nerves." + +Students, men of sedentary, professional habits, persons of a very +nervous temperament, or those subject to much excitement in business +and politics, sometimes show debility and languor, or agitation and +nervousness, while they smoke and chew. Are there no other causes at +work, sufficient in themselves to produce these effects? Are want of +exercise, want of air, want of rest, and want of inherited vigor to be +eliminated from the estimate, while tobacco is made the scape-goat of +all their troubles? + +Climate, and the various influences affecting any race which has +migrated after a stationary residence of generations to a new country +extending under different parallels of latitude, have been reasonably +accused of rendering us a nervous people. It is not so reasonable to +charge one habit with being the sole cause of this, although we should +be more prudent in not following it to excess. The larger consumption +of tobacco here is due both to the cheapness of the product and to +the wealth of the consumer. But it does not follow that we are more +subjected to its narcotic influences because we use the best varieties +of the weed. On the contrary, the poor and rank tobaccoes, grown under a +northern sky, are the richest in nicotin. + +But it will be better to continue the argument about its effects upon +the nervous system in connection with the assertions of the reformers. +The following is a list, by no means complete, of these asserted ill +effects from its use. + +Tobacco is said to cause softening of the brain,--dimness of +vision,--("the Germans smoke; the Germans are a _spectacled_ nation!" +_post hoc, ergo propter hoc?_ the laborious intellectual habits of this +people, and their trying "text," are considered of no account,)--cancer +of the stomach,--disease of the liver,--dyspepsia,--enfeebled +nutrition, and consequent emaciation,--dryness of the mouth,--"the +clergyman's sore-throat" and loss of voice,--irritability of the nervous +system,--tremulousness,--palpitation and paralysis,--and, among the +moral ills, loss of energy, idleness, drunkenness. A fearful catalogue, +which would dedicate the _tabatière_ to Pandora, were it true. + +Hygienic reformers are usually unequalled in imaginary horrors, except +by the charlatans who vend panaceas. + +We have no reasons for believing that tobacco causes softening of the +brain equal in plausibility to those which ascribe it to prolonged and +excessive mental effort. The statistics of disease prove cancers of +other organs to be twice as frequent, among females, as cancer of the +stomach is among males; and an eminent etiologist places narcotics +among the least proved causes of this disease. A hot climate, abuse +of alcohol, a sedentary life, and sluggish digestion happen, rather +curiously, to be very frequent concomitants, if not causes, of disease +of the liver. Dyspepsia haunts both sexes, and, we venture to assert, +though we cannot bring figures to prove it, is as frequent among those +who do not use tobacco as among those who do. We are ready to concede +that excessive chewing and smoking, particularly if accompanied by large +expectoration, may impair nutrition and cause emaciation: that the mass +of mankind eat and digest and live, as well as use "the weed," is proof +that its moderate employment is not ordinarily followed by this result. +Dryness of the mouth follows expectoration as a matter of course; but +the salivation excited in an old smoker by tobacco is very moderate, and +not succeeded by thirst, unless the smoke be inhaled too rapidly and at +too high a temperature. + +We come next to a very tender point with reformers, the laryngeal cough +and failing voice of the reverend clergy. The later generations of +ministers of this vicinity, as a body, have abandoned tobacco, and yet +the evil has not diminished. An eminent divine of our acquaintance, +who does not smoke daily, always finds a cigar relieve a trifling +bronchitis, to which he is occasionally subject The curious will find in +the "Medical Journal" of this city, for 1839, that quite as much can be +said on one side as on the other of this subject. + +The minor, rarely the graver affections of the nervous system, do follow +the use of tobacco in excess. We admit this willingly; but we deny these +effects to its moderate use by persons of ordinary health and of no +peculiar idiosyncrasy. Numerous cases of paralysis among tobacco-takers +in France were traced to the lead in which the preparation was +enveloped. + +We pass next to what we claim as the effects of _moderate_ +tobacco-using, and will take first the evidence of the toxicologists. +Both Pereira and Christison agree that "no well-ascertained ill effects +have been shown to result from the habitual practice of smoking." Beck, +a modern authority, says, "Common observation settles the question, that +the moderate and daily use of tobacco _does not_ prove injurious. This +is a general rule": and he adds, that exceptions necessarily exist, etc. + +The repugnance and nausea which greet the smoker, in his first attempts +to use tobacco, are not a stronger argument against it than the fact +that the system so soon becomes habituated to these effects is a proof +of its essential innocuousness. + +Certainly the love of tobacco is not an instinctive appetite, like that +for nitrogen and carbon in the form of food. Man was not born with a +cigar in his mouth, and it is not certain that the _Nicotiana tabacum_ +flourished in the Garden of Eden. But history proves the existence of +an instinct among all races--call it depraved, if you will, the fact +remains--leading them to employ narcotics. And narcotics all nations +have sought and found. We venture to affirm that tobacco is harmless as +any. The betel and the hop can alone compare with it in this respect; +and the hop is not a narcotic which satisfies alone; others are used +with it. Opium and Indian hemp are not to be mentioned in comparison; +while coca, in excess, is much more hurtful. + +Tobacco may more properly be called a sedative than a narcotic. Opium, +the type of the latter class, is in its primary action excitant, but +secondarily narcotic. The opium-eaters are familiar with this, and +learn by experience to regulate the dose so as to prolong the first and +shorten the second effects, as much as possible. + +Tobacco, on the other hand, is primarily sedative and relaxing. A high +authority says of its physiological action:-- + +"First, That its greater and first effect is to assuage and allay and +soothe the system in general. + +"Second, That its lesser and second, or after effect, is to excite and +invigorate, and at the same time give steadiness and fixity to the +powers of thought." + +Either of these effects will predominate, we conceive, according to +the intellectual state and capacity of the individual, as well as in +accordance with the amount used. + +The dreamy Oriental is sunk into deeper reverie under the influence of +tobacco, and his happiness while smoking seems to consist in thinking of +nothing. The studious German, on the contrary, "thinks and dreams, +and dreams and thinks, alternately; but while his body is soothed and +stilled, his mind is ever awake." + +This latter description resembles, to compare small things with great, +the effects of opium, as detailed by De Quincey. + +"In habitual smokers," says Pereira, "the practice, when moderately +indulged, produces that remarkably soothing and tranquillizing effect on +the mind which has caused it to be so much admired and adopted by all +classes of society." + +The pleasure derived from tobacco is very hard to define, since it is +negative rather than positive, and to be estimated more by what it +prevents than by what it produces. It relieves the little vexations and +cares of life, soothes the harassed mind, and promotes quiet reflection. +This it does most of all when used sparingly and after labor. But +if incessantly consumed, it keeps up a constant, but mild cerebral +exhilaration. The mind acts more promptly and more continuously under +its use. We think any tobacco-consumer will bear us out in this +definition of its varying effects. + +After a full meal, if it does not help, it at least hides digestion. +"It settles one's dinner," as the saying is, and gives that feeling of +quiet, luxurious _bien-aise_ which would probably exist naturally in +a state of primeval health. It promotes, with most persons, the +peristaltic movements of the alimentary passages by its relaxing +properties. + +Smoking is eminently social, and favors domestic habits. And in this +way, we contend, it prevents drinking, rather than leads to it. Many +still associate the cigar with the bar-room. This notion should have +become obsolete ere this, for it has an extremely limited foundation in +fact. Bachelors and would-be-manly boys are not the only consumers of +tobacco, though they are the best patrons of the bar. The poor man's +pipe retains him by his own fireside, as well as softens his domestic +asperities. + +Excess in tobacco, like excess in any other material good meant for +moderate use, is followed by evil effects, more or less quickly, +according to the constitution and temperament of the abuser. The +lymphatic and obese can smoke more than the sanguine and nervous, with +impunity. How much constitutes excess varies with each individual. +Manufacturers of tobacco do not appear to suffer. Christison states, as +the result of the researches of MM. Parent-Duchatelet and D'Arcet among +four thousand workmen in the tobacco-manufactories of France, that they +found no evidence of its being unwholesome. Moderate tobacco-users +attain longevity equal to that of any other class in the community. + +We will cite only the following brief statistics from an old physician +of a neighboring town. In looking over the list of the oldest men, dead +or alive, within his circle of acquaintance, he finds a total of 67 men, +from 73 to 93 years of age. Their average age is 78 and a fraction. Of +these 67, 54 were smokers or chewers; 9 only, non-consumers of tobacco; +and 4 were doubtful, or not ascertained. About nine-elevenths smoked or +chewed. The compiler quaintly adds, "How much longer these men might +have lived without tobacco, it is impossible to determine." + +The tobacco-leaf is consumed by man usually in three ways: by smoking, +snuffing, or chewing. The first is the most common; the last is the most +disagreeable. + +Tobacco is smoked in the East Indies, China, and Siam; in Turkey and +Persia; over Europe generally; and in North and South America. Cigars +are preferred in the East and West Indies, Spain, England, and America. +China, Turkey, Persia, and Germany worship the pipe. In Europe the pipe +is patronized on account of its cheapness. Turks and Persians use the +mildest forms of pipe-smoking, choosing pipes with long, flexible stems, +and having the smoke cooled and purified by passing through water. The +Germans prefer the porous meerschaum,--the Canadians, the common clay. +Women smoke habitually in China, the East and West Indies, and to a less +extent in South America, Spain, and France. + +We have no fears that any reasoning of ours would induce the other +sex to use tobacco. The ladies set too just a value on the precious +commodity of their charms for that. There is little danger that they +would do anything which might render them disagreeable. The practice of +snuff-taking is about the only form they patronize, and that to a slight +extent. + +France is the home of snuff. A large proportion of all the tobacco +consumed there is used in this form. The practice prevails to a large +extent also in Iceland and Scotland. The Icelander uses a small horn, +like a powder-horn, to hold his snuff. Inserting the smaller end into +the nostril, he elevates the other, and thus conveys the pungent powder +directly to the part. The more delicate Highlander carries the snuff to +his nose on a little shovel. This can be surpassed only by the habit +of "dipping," peculiar to some women of the United States, and whose +details will not bear description. + +Chewing prevails _par excellence_ in our own country, and among the +sailors of most nations,--to some extent also in Switzerland, Iceland, +and among the Northern races. It is the safest and most convenient form +at sea. + +By smoking, each of the three active ingredients of tobacco is rendered +capable of absorption. The empyreumatic oil is produced by combustion. +The pipe retains this and a portion of the nicotin in its pores. The +cigar, alone, conveys all the essential elements into the system. + +Liebig once asserted that cigar-smoking was prejudicial from the +amount of gaseous carbon inhaled. We cannot believe this. The heat of +cigar-smoke may have some influence on the teeth; and, on the whole, the +long pipe, with a porous bowl, is probably the best way of using tobacco +in a state of ignition. + +By repeated fermentations in preparing snuff, much of the nicotin is +evaporated and lost. Yet snuff-takers impair the sense of smell, and +ruin the voice, by clogging up the passages with the finer particles of +the powder. The functions of the labyrinthine caverns of the nose and +forehead, and of the delicate osseous laminae which constitute the +sounding-boards of vocalization, are thus destroyed. + +Chewing is the most constant, as it is the nastiest habit. The old +chewer, safe in the blunted irritability of the salivary glands, can +continue his practice all night, if he be so infatuated, without +inconvenience. In masticating tobacco, nicotin and nicotianin are rolled +about in the mouth with the quid, but are not probably so quickly +absorbed as when in the gaseous state. Yet chewers are the greatest +spitters, and have a characteristic drooping of the angle of the lower +lip, which points to loss of power in the _leavator_ muscles. + +Latakia, Shiraz, Manila, Cuba, Virginia, and Maryland produce the most +valuable tobaccoes. Though peculiar soils and dressings may impart +a greater aroma and richness to the plant, by the variations in the +quantity of nicotianin, as compared with the other organic elements, yet +we are inclined to think that the diminished proportion of nicotin in +the best varieties in the cause of their superior flavor to the rank +Northern tobaccoes, and that it is mainly because they are milder that +they are most esteemed. So, too, the cigar improves with age, because +a certain amount of nicotin evaporates and escapes. Taste in cigars +varies, however, from the Austrian government article, a very rank +"long-nine," with a straw running through the centre to improve its +suction, to the Cuban _cigarrito_, whose ethereal proportions three +whiffs will exhaust. + +The manufacture of smoking-tobaccoes is as much and art in Germany as +getting up a fancy brand of cigars is here; and the medical philosopher +of that country will gravely debate whether "Kanaster" or "Varinas" be +best suited for certain forms of convalescence; tobacco being almost +as indispensable as gruel, in returning health. We think the +light pipe-smoker will find a combination of German and Turkish +smoking-tobaccoes a happy thought. The old smoker may secure the best +union of delicacy and strength in the Virginia "natural leaf." + +Among the eight or ten species of the tobacco-plant now recognized by +botanists, the _Nicotiana tabacum_ and the _Nicotiana rustica_ hold the +chief place. Numerous varieties of each of these, however, are named and +exist. + +We condense from De Bow's "Industrial Resources of the South and West" a +brief account of tobacco-culture in this country. "The tobacco is best +sown from the 10th to the 20th of March, and a rich loam is the most +favorable soil. The plants are dressed with a mixture of ashes, plaster, +soot, salt, sulphur, soil, and manure." After they are transplanted, +we are told that "the soil best adapted to the growth of tobacco is a +light, friable one, or what is commonly called a sandy loam; not too +flat, but rolling, undulating land." Long processes of hand-weeding must +be gone through, and equal parts of plaster and ashes are put on each +plant. "Worms are the worst enemy," and can be effectually destroyed +only by hand. "When the plant begins to yellow, it is time to put it +away; and it is cut off close to the ground." After wilting a little on +the ground, it is dried on sticks, by one of the three processes called +"pegging, spearing, and splitting." "When dry, the leaves are stripped +off and tied in bundles of one fifth or sixth of a pound each. It is +sorted into three or four qualities, as Yellow, Bright, Dull, etc." +Next it is "bulked," or put into bundles, and these again dried, and +afterwards "conditioned," and packed in hogsheads weighing from six +hundred to a thousand pounds each. + +It would be too long to detail the processes of cigar- and snuff-making, +the latter of which is quite complicated. + +We were happy to learn from the fearful work of Hassall on "Food and +its Adulterations," that tobacco was one of the articles least tampered +with; and particularly that there was no opium in cheroots, but nothing +more harmful than hay and paper. He ascribes this immunity mainly to +the vigilance of the excisemen. But we have recently seen a work on +the adulteration of tobacco, whose microscopic plates brought back our +former misgivings. Molasses is a very common agent used to give color +and render it toothsome. Various vegetable leaves, as the rhubarb, +beech, walnut, and mullein, as well as the less delectable bran, yellow +ochre, and hellebore, in snuff, are also sometimes used to defraud. +Saltpetre is often sprinkled on, in making cigars, to improve their +burning. + +The Indians mixed tobacco in their pipes with fragrant herbs. Cascarilla +bark is a favorite with some smokers; it is a simple aromatic and +tonic, but, when smoked, is said sometimes to occasion vertigo and +intoxication. + +We have before observed that tobacco is a very exhausting crop to the +soil. The worn-out tobacco-plantations of the South are sufficient +practical proof of this, while it is also readily explained by +chemistry. The leaves of tobacco are among the richest in incombustible +ash, yielding, when burned, from 19 to 28 _per cent_. of inorganic +substance. This forms the abundant ashes of tobacco-pipes and of cigars. +All this has been derived from the soil where it was raised, and it is +of a nature very necessary to vegetation, and not very abundant in the +most fertile lands. "Every ton of dried tobacco-leaves carries off from +four to five hundred-weight of this mineral matter,--as much as is +contained in fourteen tons of the grain of wheat." It follows +that scientific agriculture can alone restore this waste to the +tobacco-plantation. + +There is one other aspect of this great subject, which is almost +peculiar to New England, the home of reform. Certain Puritanical +pessimists have argued that the use of tobacco is immoral. There are +few, except our own sober people, who would admit this question at +all. We would treat this prejudice with the respect due to all sincere +reforms. And we have attempted to show, that, since all races have used +and will use narcotics, we had better yield a little, lest more be +taken, and concede them tobacco, which is more harmless than many that +are largely consumed. We have proved to our own satisfaction, and we +hope to theirs, that tobacco _in moderation_ neither affects the health +nor shortens life; that it does not create an appetite for stimulants, +but rather supplies their place; and that it favors sociality and +domestic habits more than the reverse. + +If the formation of any habit be objected to, we reply, that this is +a natural tendency of man, that things become less prejudicial by +repetition, and that a high hygienic authority advises us "to be regular +even in our vices." + +As we began in a light, we close in a more sober vein, apologists for +tobacco, rather than strongly advocating either side. On one point we +are sure that we shall agree with the ladies, and that is in a sincere +denunciation of the habit of smoking at a tender age. And although, in +accordance with the tendency of the times, the school-boy whom we caught +attached to a "long-nine" would consistently reply, _"Civis Americanus +sum_!" we shall persist in claiming the censorship of age over those on +whose chins the callow down of adolescence is yet ungrown. + + * * * * * + + + +SHAKSPEARE DONE INTO FRENCH. + + +In the first place, it really was an immense success, and Shylock, or +Sheeloque, as they dubbed him, was called before the curtain seven +times, and in most appropriate humility nearly laid his nose on his +insteps as he bowed, and quite showed his spine. + +It certainly was like Shakspeare in this, that it had five acts; but +when I have made that concession, and admitted that Sheeloque was +_Le Juif de Venise_, I think I have named all the cardinal points of +similarity in the "Merchant of Venice" and "Le Juif" of that same +unwholesome place. To be sure, there is a suspicion of _le devin +Williams_, as they will call him, continually cropping out; but a +conscientious man would not swear to one line of it, and I do not +think Shakspeare would be justified in suing the French author for +compensation under the National Copyright-Act. I speak of Shakspeare as +existing, because it is my belief he does, in a manner so to speak. + +I have intimated that "Le Juif" has five acts; but I have not yet +committed myself to the assertion that he was in seven _tableaux_, and +possessed a prologue. + +It is now my pleasing duty to force you through the five acts, and the +one prologue, and the seven _tableaux_,--every one of them. + +This prologue is divided as to the theatre into two parts: to left, +Sheeloque's domestic interior,--to right, a practicable canal. In the +very first line out crops Shylock's love of good bargains; and I +give the reader my word, the little Frenchmen saw that this was +characteristic, and applauded vehemently. _"Bon_," said I,--"if they +applaud the first line, what will they do with the last act?" + +It need not be said that Shylock dabbles in those bills which Venetian +swells of the fifteenth century, in common with those of a later age +and more western land, will manipulate, in spite of all the political +economy from Confucius down to Mr. Mill; and in this particular instance +and prologue the names of the improvidents are Leone and Ubaldo, neither +of which, if my memory serve me, is Shakspearian. These gentlemen +considerably shake my traditional respect for sixteenth-century +Venetian _Aristos_, for they insult that Jew till I wonder where a count +and a duke have learnt such language: but they serve a purpose; they +trot Shylock out, so to speak, and give our author an opportunity +of doing his best with A 1. Shylock's great speech. Here is the +apostrophe:-- + +"But yesterday--no later past than yesterday--thou didst bid thy +mistress call at me from her balcony; thy servants by thy will did cast +mud on me, and thy hounds sped snapping after me,'"--whereby we may infer +they went hunting in Venice, in the fifteenth century. It must have been +rather dangerous running. Nor could the Venetian nobles of that good old +time have been very proper; for Leone and Ubaldo justify themselves by +saying they were drunk. + +It is after this pretty excuse that Shylock has a soliloquy as long as +his beard,--and I hear really loud opposition to this didacticism in the +pit; but, however, this slow work soon meets compensation in violent +action. Shylock won't renew, and the nobles get indignant; so they +propose to pay Shylock with more kicks than halfpence. Here the action +begins; for Shylock protests he will bite a bit out of them; and though +one of these long-sleeved swells warns him that all threats by Jews +against Christians are an imprisonment manner, Shylock rashly prepares +for a defence. Away fly the lords after Shylock, over go the chairs, +down goes the table, and I suppose Shylock _does_ hit "one of them"; for +the two lords go off quite triumphantly, with the intimation that he +will be in prison in one hour from that. + +Then the Jew calls for--Sarah; and this same comes in on tiptoe, for +fear of waking the baby. This Shylock _fils_ Sarah proceeds to describe +as equally beautiful with Abel and Moses, which seems to give Shylock +_père_ great comfort,--though I am bound to admit the lowly whispered +doubt on the part of a pit-neighbor of mine as to Sarah's capability of +judging in the matter. + +Shylock is preparing for prison, it seems, and one little necessity is a +prayer for said son. Sarah comes in with a response, Shylock leaves +off praying "immediate," to tell Sarah she is no vulgar servant, which +assurance is received in the tearful manner. And here it comes a +little faint whiff of the real play. In leaving home, Shylock's French +plagiarizes the Jew's speech to Jessica, even down to the doubt the Jew +has about leaving his house at all. + +There has been no necessity for stating that Sara supposes herself the +widow of a libel on his sex, a man unspeakable; and the moment I hear he +is, or was, a man of crime unspeakable, I know he will turn up. Shylock +having gone away,--I do not know where,--up comes a gondola to the +front-door, and, of course, in walks Sarah's husband. "Good evening, +Ma'am," says he. "God of Israel!" says she. And then such an explanation +as this infamous husband gives! He puts in, that he is a pirate; that +his captain, whom he describes as a _Vénus en corsaire_, has lost a +son, and wants another; hence speaker, name Arnheim, wants that little +Israelite who is so much like Abel and Moses at one and the same moment: +though how Arnheim should know of that little creation, or how he should +know him to be also like the lost infantile pirate as well as Abel and +Moses, does not sufficiently appear,--as, indeed, my neighbor, who is +suggestive of a Greek Chorus in a blue blouse, discovers in half a dozen +disparaging syllables. + +Of course, when the supposed widow hears this, her cries ought to wake +up all hearing Venice, but not one Venetian comes to her aid; and though +she uses her two hands enough for twenty, she has not got her way when +thoroughly breathed. + +"Sarah," says that energetic woman's husband, "Sarah, don't be a fool!" + +Then I know the baby is coming: there never yet was a French prologue +without a baby,--it seems a French unity; sometimes there are two +babies, who always get mixed up. But to our business. + +Out comes the baby, (they never scream,) and--alas that for effect he +should thus commit himself!--Arnheim rips Sarah up, and down she goes as +dead as the Queen of Sheba. + +Then comes a really fine scene. Shylock enters, learns all; in come +soldiers for Shylock, and, of course, accuse him of the murder; +whereupon Shylock shows on the blade a cross. "Doth a Jew wear a knife +with a cross on it?" says he. "Go to!--'tis a Christian murder." + +To this the soldier-head has nothing to say; so he hurries Shylock off +to prison, and down comes the curtain. + +"Hum!" says the Greek Chorus,--"it might be worse." + + +ACT I. + + +It is clear there must be lady characters, or I am quite sure the Greek +Chorus would find fault wofully,--and the only one we have had, Sarah, +to wit, can't decently appear again, except in the spiritual form. Well, +there is the original Portia,--alas for that clever, virtuous, and +noble lady!--how is she fallen in the French!--she is noble-looking and +clever,--but the third quality, oh, dear me! This disreputable is named +Imperia, and the real Bassanio becomes one Honorius, who is, as he +should be, the bosom friend of one Andronic, which is Antonio, I would +have you know. I have thought over it two minutes, and have come to the +conclusion that the less I say about Imperia the better, and I know the +Anglo-Saxon would not agree with Imperia,--but, as the Frenchman does, +I offer you one, or part of one of Imperia's songs, as bought by me for +two disgraceful _sous_. + + "Déjà l'aube rayonne et luit, + La nuit + Finit; + Maîtresse, + L'heure enchanteresse + Passe et fuit... + A ton arrêt je dois me rendre. + Sort jaloux! (_bis._) + Hâtons-nous, + Il faut descendre + Sans réveiller son vieil époux!..." + +Well,--what do you think of it? Now I will not mention her again,--I +will refer to her, when I shall have vexatious occasion, as "that +woman." And, indeed, "that woman" and Honorius set us up in +comprehension of matters progressing. It seems that quite twenty years +have passed since Sarah's soul slid through a knife-gash; that Honorius +and Andronic, who have come from Smyrna, (why?) are almost brothers; +that Honorius is good in this fact only, that he knows he is really bad; +and that Andronic is the richest and most moral man in Venice,--though +why, under those circumstances, he should be friendly with such a rip as +Honorius, Honorius does not inform us. + +I shall pass over the next scenes, and come to that in which all the +creditors of all the lords are brought on to the stage in a state which +calls for the interference of the Doge: they are all drunk,--except +Shylock. This scene really is a startler. Shylock, now dashed with +gray, and nearly double, comes up to "that woman" and calls her sister; +whereupon she demanding that explanation which I and the Greek Chorus +simultaneously want, Shylock states that _he_ is Usury and _she_ Luxury, +"and they have one father." + +"Queer old man!!!" says "that woman." + +Here follow dice, in which the Jew is requested to join, all of which +naturally brings about a discussion on the rate of usage, which that +dog Andronic is bringing down, and a further statement that _that_ +imprisonment lasted two years. Then comes a _coup d'théâtre_: Shylock +reminds everybody that a just Doge reigns now, (nor can I help pointing +out the Frenchman's ingenuity here: in the _play_, the Doge must be +just, or where would the pound of flesh be?--while, if the Doge of the +_prologue_ were just, Shylock would not have been committed for two +years,--ergo, kill No. 1. Doge, install No. 2.)--Shylock reminds +everybody that a just Doge reigns. Shylock has it all his own way, and +Honorius is arrested before the very eyes of "that woman." Then comes +the necessary _Deus ex machina_ in the shape of Andronic, who pays +everybody everything, saves his friend, and play proceeds. Andronic +reproaches Jew touching his greed, whereon the Jew offers this not +profound remark,--"I am--what I am,"--and goes on counting his money. + +Oh, if you only knew the secret! + +This cash payment winds up the act. + + +ACT II. + + +Decidedly, the beginning of Act Second proves Andronic is no fool, for +he advises Honorius to flee that creature,--and what better advice in +those matters is there than that of retreating? Decidedly, too, +the virtuous Doge is worth having,--really a Middle-Age electric +telegraph,--for he gives all about him such a dose of news as in this +day would sell every penny-paper printed: and such bad news!--Venice +down everywhere, and a loan wanted. Here comes a fine scene for +Andronic, (for, after all, the lords have "hitched out" of the proposed +loan, whereby I take it they are not such fools as people take them to +be,)--Andronic declares, that, if he were rich enough, the Doge should +not ask for money, but ships are but frail and his have gone to pieces. +Here, you see, comes another faint whiff of the real original play. + +Then, clearly, the Doge can only apply to the Jews. Enter Shylock _à +propos_. The next scene is so awful to the Greek Chorus, who may be of a +business turn, that I am charitable enough not to reproduce it here; +but the percentage the Jew wants for the loan seems to be quite a +multiplication-table of tangible securities, and I only wonder the Doge +does not order him into the Adriatic. Amongst other demands, the Jew +procures all the Dogic jewels,--and then he wants all the jewels of the +Doge's daughter; indeed, Shylock becomes a most unreasonable party. + +No sooner does he speak of the daughter, Ginevra by name, than in she +comes, jewel-casket in hand,--which leads the cynical Greek Chorus to +suppose that Mademoiselle is either _clairvoyante_ or prefers going +about with a box. The way in which that best of her sex offers up the +jewels on the patriotic shrine is really worthy of the applause bestowed +on the act; but when that pig of a Jew is not satisfied, when he insists +upon the diamond necklace Ginevra wears, as another preliminary to the +loan, people in the theatre quite shake with indignation. + +Now the jewel has been the pattern young lady's mother's; and here comes +an opening for that appeal to the filial love of Frenchmen which is +never touched in vain. It is really a great and noble trait in the +French character, that filial love, not too questionable to be +demonstrative,--'tis a sure dramatist's French card, that appeal to the +love of mothers and fathers by their children. + +Having procured the weight of this chain, which has caused Shylock the +loss of many friends in the house who have been inclined to like him +consequent upon the loss of that Abel-Moses-photograph,--Shylock departs +with this information, that he will bring the money to-morrow: which +assertion proves Shylock to be a strong man, if a hundred thousand marks +are as heavy as I take them to be. + +Upon what little things do dramas, in common with lives, turn! +That necklace is the brilliant groundwork of the rest of the plot. +Why--why--why--WHY didn't Shakspeare think of the necklace? + +And as I always must tell love-affairs as soon as I hear of them,--for, +as a rule, I live in country towns,--I may at once state that Ginevra +loved Andronic, and latter loved former, and they would not tell each +other, and the Doge knew nothing about it. + +Yes, decidedly, the necklace is the first character in "Le Juif de +Venise." You see, Ginevra loved the necklace, and Andronic loved +Ginevra; so he is forced to procure that charming necklace for her, +_coûte qui coûte_, and so he goes to Shylock for it. And here you will +see its value: Shylock will sell it only for a large sum. Andronic, +seeing his losses, hasn't the money,--but will have;--glorious opening +for the clause about the pound of flesh! Signed, sealed, and delivered. +How superior is Andronic to Antonio, the old ----! This latter pawns his +breast for a friend only: the great Andronic risks the flesh about _his_ +heart for sacred love. Io Venus! + +Yet, nevertheless, notwithstanding, it is the opinion of the Greek +Chorus that Andronic is a _joli_ fool,--which choral remark I hear +with pain, as reflecting upon unhesitating love, and especially as the +remarker has been eminently touched at the abduction. + + +ACT IV. + + +As for the Fourth Act,--it is very tender and terrible. + +I need not say that the tenderness arises through the necklace,--and +indeed, for that matter, so also does the terror. Touching the first, of +course it is the discovery by Ginevra of the return of those maternal +diamonds,--which are handed to her by a _femme-de-chambre_, who has +had them from Andronic's _valet-de-chambre_, who is in love with the +_femme-de-chambre_, who reciprocates, etc., etc., etc. + +But touching the terrible,--"that woman" hears of the necklace, and +sends Honorius for it to Shylock. Bad job!--gone! Well, then, Honorius +falls out with his old friend Andronic because latter will not yield up +the necklace. Honorius demands to know who has it. Andronic will not +name Ginevra's name before "that woman" and all the lofty lords, and +then there's a grand scene. + +In the first place, it seems that in Shylock's Venetian time, the +Venetian lords, when obliging Venice with a riot, called upon Venetians +to put out their lights, and this the lords now do, (we are on the +piazza,) and out go all the lights as though turned off at one main. + +Then there is such a scrimmage! Honorius lunges at Andronic; this latter +disarms former; then latter comes to his senses, flies over to his old +friend, and all the Venetian brawlers are put to flight. + +Then Honorius says,--and pray, pray, mark what Honorius says, or you +will _never_ comprehend Act V.,--then Honorius says, taking Andronic's +previous advice about flying, "I will go away, _and fight the Adriatic +pirates_." Now, pray, don't forget that. I quite distress myself in +praying you not to forget that,--to wit,--"_Honorius goes away to fight +the Adriatic pirates._" + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + + +ACT V. + + +This, of course, is the knifing act. + +Seated is Shylock before an hour-glass, and trying to count the grains +of sand as they glide through. + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + +You remember that in that original play Antonio's ships are lost merely. +Bah! we manage better in this matter: the ships come home, but they are +empty,--emptied by the pirates; though why those Adriaticians did not +confiscate the ships is even beyond the Greek Chorus, who says, "They +were very polite." + +At last all the sand is at rest. + +Crack,--as punctual as a postman comes Andronic; and as the Venetians +are revolting against the flesh business, about which they seem to know +every particular, Andronic brings a guard of the just Doge's soldiers +to keep the populace quiet while the business goes on;--all of which +behavior on the merchant's part my friend the Chorus pronounces to be +stupid and suicidal. + +Then comes such a scene!--Andronic calling for Ginevra, and the Jew +calling for his own. + +Breast bared. + +Then thus the Jew:-- + +"Feeble strength of my old body, be centred in this eye and this arm! +Thou, my son, receive this sacrifice, and tremble with joy in thy +unknown tomb!" + +Knife raised. + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + +And I _do_ hope you have not forgotten that Honorius went away to fight +the Adriatic pirates. + +For, if you have forgotten that fact, you will not comprehend Honorius's +rushing in at this moment from the Adriatic pirates. + +Yes,--but why did he go amongst them? + +The big secret, in fact. If Honorius had not gone, why, I suppose +Shylock would have had his pound of man. + +As it is, Honorius and his paper--which latter has also come from the +pirates--do the business. + +Why, the whole thing turns on the paper. How lucky it was Honorius went +amongst the pirates! + +Honorius has vanquished the chief of the pirates,--who was named +Arnheim,--and that disreputable widower, just before his last breath, +gave Honorius the said paper,--though why, it is not clear. And--and +this paper shows that ANDRONIC IS THAT SON STOLEN AWAY FROM SARAH, +DECEASED, AND SHYLOCK,--THAT SON, NOT ONLY THE IMAGE OF ABEL, BUT OF +MOSES, TOO. + +Great thunderbolts! + +Then, very naturally, (in a play,) in come all the characters, and +follows, I am constrained to say, a very well-conceived scene,--'tis +another appeal to filial love. The Jew would own his son, but he +remembers that it would injure the son, and so he keeps silent. I +declare, there is something eminently beautiful in the idea of making +the Jew yield his wealth up to Andronic, and saying he will wander from +Venice,--his staff his only wealth. And when, as he stoops to kiss his +son's hand, Ginevra (who of course has come on with the rest) makes a +gesture as though she feared treachery, the few words put into the Jew's +mouth are full of pathos and poetry. + +And so down comes the curtain,--the piece meeting with the full approval +of Chorus, who applauded till I thought he would snap his hands off at +the wrists. + +"A very moral play," said a stout gentleman behind me,--who had done +little else all night but break into the fiercest of apples and +pears,--"a very moral play,"--meaning thereby, probably, that it was +very moral that a Jew's child should remain a Christian. + +Now there were some good points in that play; but, oh, thou M. Ferdinand +Dugué, thou,--why didst thou challenge comparison with a man who wrote +for all theatres for all times? + + * * * * * + + + +THE POET'S SINGING. + + + In heat and in cold, in sunshine and rain, + Bewailing its loss and boasting its gain, + Blessing its pleasure and cursing its pain, + The hurrying world goes up and down: + Every avenue and street + Of city and town + Are veins that throb with the restless beat + Of the eager multitude's trampling feet. + Men wrangle together to get and hold + A sceptre of power or a crock of gold; + Blaspheming God's name with the breath He gave, + And plotting revenge on the brink of the grave! + And Fashion's followers, flitting after, + O'ertake and pass the funeral train, + Thoughtlessly scattering jests and laughter, + Like sharp, quick showers of hail and rain, + To beat on the hearts that are bleeding with pain! + And many who stare at the close-shut hearse + Envy the dead within,--or, worse, + Turn away with a keener zest + To grapple and revel and sin with the rest! + While far apart in a bower of green, + Unheeded, unseen, + A warbling bird on the topmost bough + Merrily pipes to the Poet below, + Asking an answer as gay, I trow! + But he hears the surging waves without,-- + The heartless jeer, and the wild, wild shout: + The ceaseless clamor, the cruel strife + Make the Poet weary of life; + And tears of pity and tears of pain + Ebb and flow in every strain, + As he soothes his heart with singing. + + The tide of humanity rolleth on; + And 'mid faces miserly, haggard, and wan, + Between the hypocrite's and the knave's, + The hapless idiot's and the slave's, + Sweet children smile in their nurses' arms, + And clap their hands in innocent glee; + While, unrebuked by the heavenly charms + That beam in the eyes of infancy, + Oaths still blacken the lips of men, + And startle the ears of womanhood! + On either hand + The churches stand, + Forgotten by those who yesterday + Went thronging thither to praise and pray, + And take of the Holy Body and Blood! + Their week-day creed is the law of Might; + Self is their idol, and Gain their right: + Though, now and then, + God sees some faithful disciples still + Breasting the current to do His will. + The little bird on the topmost bough + Merrily pipes to the Poet below, + Asking an answer as gay, I trow! + But he hears the surging waves without,-- + The atheist's scoff and the infidel's doubt, + The Pharisee's cant and the sweet saint's prayer, + And the piercing cry for rest from care; + And tears of pity and tears of pain + Ebb and flow in every strain, + As he praises God with singing. + + + + +A JOURNEY IN SICILY. + + +CHAPTER I. + +PALERMO. + + +In the latter part of April, 1856, four travellers, one of whom was the +present writer, left the Vittoria Hotel at Naples, and at two, P.M., +embarked on board the Calabrese steamer, pledged to leave for Palermo +precisely at that hour. As, however, our faith in the company's +protestations was by no means so implicit as had been our obedience to +their orders, it was with no feeling of surprise that we discovered by +many infallible signs that the hour of departure was yet far off. True, +the funnel sent up its thick cloud; the steward in dirty shirt-sleeves +stood firm in the gangway, energetically demanding from the +baggage-laden traveller the company's voucher for the fare, without +which he may vainly hope to leave the gangway ladder; the decks were +crowded in every part with lumber, live and dead. But all these symptoms +had to be increased many fold in their intensity before we could hope to +get under way; and a single glance at the listless countenances of the +bare-legged, bare-armed, red-capped crowd who adhered like polypi to +the rough foundation-stones of the mole sufficed to show that the +performance they had come to witness would not soon commence. Our berths +once visited, we cast about for some quiet position wherein to while +away the intervening time. The top of the deck-house offered as pleasant +a prospect as could be hoped for, and thither we mounted. + +The whole available portion of the deck, poop included, was in +possession of a crowd of youngsters, many mere boys, from the Abruzzi, +destined to exchange their rags and emptiness for the gay uniform and +good rations of King Ferdinand's soldiery. In point of physical comfort, +their gain must be immense; and very bad must be that government +which, despite of these advantages, has forced upon the soldier's mind +discontent and disaffection. No doubt, the spectacle of the Swiss +regiments doubly paid, and (on Sundays at least) trebly intoxicated, +has something to do with this ill feeling. The raggedness of this troop +could be paralleled only by that of the immortal regiment with whom +their leader declined to march through Coventry, and was probably even +more quaint and fantastic in its character. Chief in singularity were +their hats, if hat be the proper designation of the volcanic-looking +gray cone which adhered to the head by some inscrutable dynamic law, and +seemed rather fitted for carrying out the stratagem of shoeing a troop +of horse with felt than for protecting a human skull. A triple row +of scalloped black velvet not unfrequently bore testimony to the +indomitable love of the nation for ornament; and the same decoration +might be found on their garments, whose complicated patchwork reminded +us of the humble original from which has sprung our brilliant Harlequin. +Shortly our attention was solicited by a pantomimic Roscius, some ten or +twelve years old, who, having climbed over the taffrail and cleared a +stage of some four feet square, dramatized all practicable scenes, and +many apparently impracticable, for he made nothing of presenting two or +three personages in rapid interchange. Words were needless, and would +have been useless, as the unloading of railway bars by a brawny +Northumbrian and his crew drowned all articulate sounds. + +Notwithstanding these varied amusements, we were not sorry to see +arrive, first, a gray general, obviously the Triton of our minnows, and +close behind him the health and police officers of the government, to +whose paternal solicitude for our mental and bodily health was to be +ascribed our long delay in port. These beneficent influences, incarnated +in the form of two portly gentlemen in velvet waistcoats,--an Italian +wears a velvet waistcoat, if he can get one, far into the hot +months,--began their work of summoning by name each individual from the +private to the general, then the passengers, then the crew, and finally, +much to our relief, reëmbarked in the boat, and left us free to pursue +our voyage. + +We soon left behind the ominous cone of Vesuvius, reported by the best +judges to be at present in so unsound a state that nothing can prevent +its early fall; sunset left us near the grand precipices of Anacapri, +and morning found us with Ustica on our beam, and the semicircle of +mountains which enchase the gem of Palermo gradually unfolding their +beauties. By ten, A.M., we were in harbor and pulling shorewards to +subject ourselves to the scrutiny of custom-house and police. Our +passports duly conned over, the functionary, with a sour glance at our +valanced faces, inquired if we had letters for any one in the island. +Never before had such a question been asked me, nor ever before could I +have given other than an humble negative. But the kindness of a friend +had luckily provided me with a formidable shield, and a reply, given +with well-assumed ease, that I had letters from the English Ambassador +for the Viceroy, smoothed the grim feature, and released us from the +dread tribunal. The custom-house gave no trouble, and we reëmbarked to +cross about half a mile of water which separated us from the city gate. +Here, however, we were destined to experience the influence of the sunny +clime: our two stout boatmen persisted in setting their sail, under the +utterly false pretence that there was some wind blowing, and fully half +an hour elapsed ere we set foot ashore. + +This gave me ample time to recall the different aspect of Palermo when +first I saw it, in 1849. I had accompanied the noble squadron, English +and French, which carried to the Sicilian government the _ultimatum_ +of the King of Naples. The scenes of that troubled time passed vividly +before me: the mutual salutes of the Admirals; the honors paid by +each separately to the flag of Sicily, that flag which we had come to +strike,--for such we all knew must be the effect of our withdrawal. I +recollected the manly courtesy with which the Sicilians received us, +their earnest assurances that they did not confound our involuntary +errand with our personal feelings; and how, when a wild Greek +mountaineer from the Piano de' Greci, unable to comprehend the +intricacies of politics, and stupidly imagining that those who were +not for him were against him, had insulted one of our officers, the +bystanders had interposed so honorably and so swiftly that even the hot +blood of our fiery Cymrian had neither time nor excuse to rise to the +boiling-point. I recalled the scene in the Parliament House, when the +replies to the King's message, which had been sent by each chief town, +were read by the Speaker: the grave indignation of some,--the somewhat +bombastic protestations of others,--the question put of submission or +war,--the shout of "_Guerra! guerra!_" ringing too loud, methought, to +be good metal; the "_Suoni la tromba_" at that night's theatre,--the +digging at the fortifications,--women carrying huge stones,--men more +willing to shout for them than to do their own share,--Capuchin friars +digging with the best,--finally, the wild dance of men, women, cowled +and bearded monks, all together, brandishing their spades and shovels in +cadence to the military band. With this came to me the mild smile and +doubtful shake of the head of the good Admiral Baudin, and his prophetic +remark,--"I have seen much fighting in various parts of the world; and +if these men mean to fight, I cannot comprehend them." + +While this mental diorama was unrolling, even Sicilian laziness had time +to reach the shore; and passing by a rough mass of rocks, where our +second cutter had once run too close for comfort, and the Friedland's +launch had upset and lost two men, we at length landed close to the city +gate. A custom-house officer pounced on us for a fee, notwithstanding +our examination on first landing, and ("_uno avulso, non deficit aureus +alter_,") at the city gate, not thirty yards distant, a third repeated +the demand, equivalent to "Your money or your keys." A capital breakfast +at the Trinacria hotel was the fitting conclusion to these oft-recorded +troubles, and the gratifying news that the Viceroy had just left the +island for Naples obviated the necessity of a formal visit, and left us +free to enjoy the notabilities of Palermo. + +The plan of this beautiful city is very simple, being a tolerably +accurate square, surrounded by walls, of which the northern face skirts +the sea, and the southern faces the head of the lovely valley in which +the city stands,--the Golden Shell. Two perfectly straight streets, +intersecting in a small, but highly ornamented _piazza_, traverse +the city. The Toledo, or Via Cassaro,--for it bears both these +designations,--runs from the sea to the Monreale gate, close to which is +the Royal Palace, and the Cathedral square opens from this street. The +Via Macqueda contains few buildings of interest except the University. +Between the wall and the sea runs the magnificent Marina, a more +beautiful promenade than even the Villa Reale of Naples, having on the +right the low but picturesque headland of Bagaria, while on the left +rise the all but perpendicular rocks of Monte Pellegrino, once the +impregnable mountain-throne of Hamilcar Barcas, and later the spot where +in a rude cavern, now sheeted with marble and jasper, "from all the +youth of Sicily, Saint Rosalie retired to God." The handicraftsmen of +Palermo still occupy almost exclusively the streets named after their +trades,--an indication of immobility rarely to be met with nowadays, +though Rome displays it in a minor degree. + +We first visited the University Museum. Numerous pictures, far beyond +the ordinary degree of badness, occupy the upper rooms, where the only +object of interest is a very fine and well-preserved bronze of Hercules +and the Pompeian Fawn, half life-size. But far beyond all else in +artistic importance are the _metopes_ from Selinuntium, which, though +much damaged, show marks of high excellence. They are of clearly +different dates, though all very archaic. The oldest represent Perseus +cutting off the Gorgon's head, and Hercules killing two thieves. Perseus +has the calm, sleepy look of a Hindoo god,--while Gorgon's head, with +goggle eyes and protruding tongue, resembles a Mexican idol. Hercules +and the thieves have more of an Egyptian character. The material of +these bas-reliefs is coarse limestone; and in the _metopes_ on the +opposite wall, which are clearly of later date, recourse has been had to +a curious method of obtaining delicacy in the female forms: the faces, +hands, and feet, which alone are visible from among the drapery, are +formed of fine marble. An Actæon torn by his dogs is much corroded by +sea air, but displays great nobleness of attitude. The vigor in the left +arm, which has throttled one of the dogs, can hardly be surpassed. A +portion of the _cella_, of one of the temples has been removed hither, +and its brilliant polychromy is sufficient to decide the argument as to +the existence of the practice, if, indeed, that point be yet in doubt. +But it seems that the non-colorists have relinquished the parallel of +architecture, which, be it observed, they formerly defended obstinately, +and have now intrenched themselves in the citadel of sculpture, +intending to hold it against all evidence. The only other object of much +interest was a Pompeian fresco, representing two actors, whose attitudes +and masks are so strikingly adapted to express the first scene of the +"Heautontimorumenos," between Menalcas and Chremes, that it seems +scarcely doubtful that this is actually the subject of the painting. + +Near the upper end of the Toledo the Cathedral is situated, not very +favorably for effect, as only the eastern side is sufficiently free from +buildings. It is a noble pile: Northern power and piety expressed by +the agency of Southern and Arabic workmen, and somewhat affected by the +nationality of the artificer. + +The stones are fretted and carved more elaborately than those of any +French or English cathedral, but entirely in arabesques and diapering of +low relief, so that the spectator misses with regret the solemn rows of +saints and patriarchs that enrich the portals of our Gothic minsters. +These, however, are reflections of a subsequent date, and did not +interfere to mar the pleasure with which we sat in front of the southern +door, beneath the two lofty arches, which, springing from the entrance +tower, span the street high above our heads. For some time we sat, +unwilling to change and it might be impair our sensations by passing +inwards. Our reluctance was but too well founded: the whole interior has +been modernized in detestable Renaissance style, and in place of highest +honor, above the central doorway, sits in tight-buttoned uniform a +fitting idol for so ugly a shrine, the double-chinned effigy of the +reigning monarch. We turned for comfort to a chapel on the right, where +in four sarcophagi of porphyry are deposited the remains of the Northern +sovereigns. The bones of Roger repose in a plain oblong chest with a +steep ridged roof, and the other three coffins, though somewhat more +elaborate, are yet simple and massive, as befits their destined use. The +inscription, on that of Constantia is touching, as it tells that she +was "the last of the great race of Northmen,"--the good old bad Latin +"Northmannorum" giving the proper title, which we have injudiciously +softened into Norman. + +In a small _piazza_ near the intersection of the main streets is a +Dominican church, whose black and white inlaid marbles are amazing in +their elaborateness, astounding in their preposterously bad taste. They +transcend description, and can be faintly imagined only by such as +know a huge marble nightmare of waves and clouds in the south aisle +of Westminster Abbey. This church contains one good painting of a +triumphant experiment conducted by some Dominican friars in the presence +of sundry Ulemas and Muftis: a Koran and Bible have been thrown into a +blazing fire, and the result is as satisfactory as that of Hercules's +death-grapple with the Nemean lion. To be sure, lions and Turks are +not painters. The Martorana church is rich in gold-grounded mosaics, +resembling Saint Mark's at Venice. One represents the coronation of +Roger Guiscard by the Saviour: very curious, as showing at how early a +date the invaders laid claim to the Right Divine. The inscription is +also noteworthy: _Rogerius Rex_, in the Latin tongue, but the Greek +characters, thus: [Greek: ROGERIOS RAEX].[a] The Renaissance has invaded +this church too, and flowery inlaid marbles with gilded scroll balconies +(it is a nuns' church) mingle with the bold discs and oblong panels of +porphyry and green serpentine. In the nave of the small church sat in +comfortable arm-chairs two monks, one black, one white, leaning their +ears to gilded grates and receiving the confessions of the sisterhood. +The paschal candlestick stood in front of the high altar,--Ascension-Day +not being past; but here, as in other Sicilian churches, it assumes the +form of a seven-branched tree, generally of bronze bedecked with gold. +These same nuns' balconies are not confined to the interior of churches, +but form a distinct and picturesque feature in the long line of the +Toledo. Projecting in a bold curve whose undersurface is gaily painted +in arabesque, their thick bars and narrow openings nevertheless leave a +gloomy impression on the mind, while they add to the Oriental character +of the city. A somewhat unsuccessful effort to identify the church whose +bell gave signal for the Sicilian Vespers closed our day's labor. The +spot is clearly defined and easily recognizable, and a small church, now +shut up, occupies the site. So far, so good; but the cloister which is +distinctly mentioned cannot now be found, nor is it easy to perceive +where it could have stood. Perhaps some change in the neighboring harbor +may have swept it away. + +[Footnote a: The _e_ in _Rex_ is here rendered by the Greek eta,--a +proof that the pronunciation of that letter was similar to that of our +long _a_, and not like our double _ee_; although the modern Greeks +support the latter pronunciation.] + +_23d April_. To those who take interest in the efforts of that age when +Christianity, devoid at once of artistic knowledge and of mechanical, +strove from among the material and moral wreck of Paganism to create for +herself a school of Art which should, despite of all short-comings, be +the exponent of those high feelings which inspired her mind, the Royal +Chapel of Palermo offers a delightful object of study. Less massive than +the gloomily grand basilicas of Rome and Ravenna, surpassed in single +features by other churches, as, for instance, the Cathedral of Salerno, +it contains, nevertheless, such perfect specimens of Christian Art in +its various phases, that this one small building seems a hand-book in +itself. The floor and walls are covered with excellently preserved and +highly polished Alexandrine mosaic, flowing in varied convolutions of +green and gold and red round the broad crimson and gray shields, whose +circular forms recall the mighty monolith columns of porphyry and +granite which yielded such noble spoils. The honey-combed pendentines of +the ceiling must be due to Arab workmen; their like may yet be found in +Cairo or the Alhambra; while below the narrow windows, and extending +downwards to the marble panelling, runs a grand series of gold-grounded +mosaics, their subjects taken from the Old and New Testaments. But +far older than even these are the colossal grim circles of saints and +apostles who cling to the roof of the choir, and yield in size only to +the awful figures of the Saviour, the Virgin, and Saint Paul, enthroned +in the _apsides_ of the nave and aisles. The _ambones_, though not +so large as those of Salerno, are very gorgeous; and the paschal +candlestick, here at all events in its usual shape, is of deeply-carved +marble, and displays an incongruous assemblage of youths, maidens, +beasts, birds, and bishops, hanging each from other like a curtain of +swarming bees. + +Service, which had been going on in the choir when we arrived, had now +ceased; but from the crypt below arose a chant so harsh, vibratory, +and void of solemnity, that we were irresistibly reminded of the +subterranean chorus of demons in "Robert le Diable." Two of us ventured +below and discovered the chapter, all robed in purple, sitting round a +pall with a presumable coffin underneath. Little of reverence did they +show,--it is true, the death was not recent, the service being merely +commemorative, as we afterwards learned,--and as the procession shortly +afterwards emerged and proceeded down the chapel, the unwashed, +unshaven, and sensual countenances of some of highest rank among them +gave small reason to believe that they could feel much reverence on any +subject whatever. + +The Palace itself is as tedious as any other palace: the Pompeian room +follows the Louis Quinze, and is in turn followed by the Chinese, till, +for our comfort, we emerged into one large square hall, whose stiff +mosaics of archers killing stags, peacocks feeding at the foot of +willow-pattern trees, date from the time of Roger. Another wearisome +series of rooms succeeded, which we were bound to traverse in search of +a bronze ram of old Greek workmanship, brought from Syracuse. The work +is very good and well-preserved; in fact, no part is injured, save the +tail and a hind leg, whose loss the _custode_ ascribed to the villains +of the late revolution. He even charged them with the destruction of +another similar statue melted into bullets, if we may believe his +incredible tale. A pavilion over the Monreale gate commands a view right +down the Toledo to the sea. + +The drive to Monreale is a continued ascent along the skirts of a +limestone rock, whose precipices are thickly planted at every foothold +with olive, Indian fig, and aloe. The valley, as it spread below our +gaze, appeared one huge carpet of heavy-fruited orange-trees, save where +at times a rent in the web left visible the bluish blades of wheat, or +the intense green of a flax-plantation. + +Monreale is a mere country-town, containing no object of interest, save +the Cathedral. This is a noble basilica, grandly proportioned, the nave +and aisles of which are separated by monolith pillars, mostly of gray +granite, and some few of cipollino and other marbles, the spoils, no +doubt, of the ancient Panormus. Above the cornice the walls are entirely +sheeted with golden mosaics, representing, as usual, Scripture history. +The series which begins, like the speech of the Intendant in "Les +Plaideurs," "_Avant la creation du monde_" complies with the wish of +(the judge?) by going on to the Deluge, in a train of singularly meagre +figures, most haggard of whom is Cain, here represented (as in the Campo +Santo of Pisa) receiving his death accidentally from the hand of Lamech. +In the passage of the beasts to the Ark, Noah coaxes the lion on board, +and in the next compartment the patriarch shoves the king of beasts down +the plank in a most ludicrous fashion. The mosaics of the New Testament +are less archaic, though still very old, too old to be infected by the +tricks of later Romanism,--such, for instance, as introducing the Virgin +among the receivers of the mysterious gift of tongues. Saint Paul, both +here and at the Royal Chapel, appears under the earlier type adopted +whether by fancy or tradition to represent that saint,--that is, a +short, strong figure, with the head large, and almost devoid of hair, +except at the sides, and one dark lock in the centre of the massive +forehead. Over the western door-way is a mosaic of the Virgin with the +following leonine and loyal distich beneath it:-- + + "Sponsa suae prolis, O Stella puerpera Solis, + Pro cunctis ora, sed plus pro rege labora!" + +There is an ample square cloister, with twenty-seven pairs of columns on +each side, once richly decorated in mosaics like those of San Giovanni +Laterano and San Paolo at Rome, but even more dilapidated than either +of these latter. Indeed, so entirely non-existent is the mosaic, the +twisted and channelled columns showing nothing but places "where the +pasty is not," that the more probable solution may be that want of funds +or of devotion has left the work unfinished. On the capital of one +column may be seen the figure of William the Good, who founded the +Cathedral in 1170. He bears in his arms a model of the building, which +here appears with circular-headed windows instead of the lanceolated +Gothic now existing. + +In, perhaps, the very loveliest of the many lovely sites around Palermo +stands the small Moorish building of La Ziza. Moorish it may be called; +for the main feature of the edifice, a hall with a fountain trickling +along a channel in the pavements, is clearly due to the Saracens. These, +however, had availed themselves of Roman columns to support their +fretted ceilings, once gorgeous in color, but now desecrated with +whitewash. The Norman invaders have added their never-failing gold +mosaic,--while the Spaniard, after painting sundry scenes from Ovid's +"Metamorphoses" in a dreadfully barocco style, calls upon the world, +in those magniloquent phrases which somehow belong as of right to your +mighty Don, to admire the exquisite commingling of modern art with +antique beauty, to which his _fiat_ has given birth. + +Somewhat of Spain, perhaps, might also be traced in an incident, +promisingly romantic, but coming to a most lame and impotent conclusion, +which occurred this afternoon to one of our party. While busily +sketching, in the Martorana church, the previously mentioned mosaic of +Roger's coronation, a hand protruded from the gilded lattice above, +and a small scroll was dropped, not precisely at the feet, but in the +neighborhood of the amazed artist. Sharp eyes, however, must be at work; +for, ere he could appropriate this mysterious waif on Love's manor, a +side-door opened, and an attendant in the very unpoetical garb of a +carpenter bore off the prize. It maybe presumed that the next confessor +who occupied an arm-chair in the church would have somewhat of novelty +to enliven what some priests have stated to be the most wearisome of the +work, namely, the hearing of confessions in a nunnery. + +This evening was passed in the house of the British Consul, who, in +amusing recognition of our nationalities, comprising, as they did, +both branches of the Anglo-Saxon race, treated us to Lemann's +captain's-biscuit and Boston crackers. Notwithstanding the interesting +conversation of our host, who had not allowed a residence of many years +in a mind-rusting city to impair his love of literature, a love dating +from the time when Praed edited the "Etonian," and Metius Tarpa +contributed to the "College Magazine," we were obliged to leave early. +Our arrangements for a very early start next morning were completed, and +a thirty miles' ride lay before us. + +To save further allusion to them, it may be as well to describe these +arrangements, which were made for us by Signor Ragusa, landlord of the +Trinacria hotel. A guide, Giuseppe Agnello by name, took upon himself +the whole responsibility of our board, lodging, and travelling, at a +fixed rate of forty-two (?) _carlini_ a head,--which sum, including his +_buonamano_ and return voyage from Syracuse or Messina, amounted to +about twenty francs each _per diem_. For this sum he furnished us with +good mules, a hearty breakfast at daybreak, cold meat and hard eggs at +noon, and a plentiful dinner or supper, call it which you choose, on +arriving at our night's quarters. Agnello himself was cook, and proved +a very tolerable one. This is essential; for Spanish custom prevails +in the inns, whose host considers his duty accomplished when he has +provided ample stabling for the mules and dubious bedding for his biped +guests. + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PHYSIOLOGICAL. + + +If Master Bernard felt a natural gratitude to his young pupil for saving +him from an imminent peril, he was in a state of infinite perplexity +to know why he should have needed such aid. He, an active, muscular, +courageous, adventurous young fellow, with a stick in his hand, ready to +hold down the Old Serpent himself, if he had come in his way, to stand +still, staring into those two eyes, until they came up close to him, +and the strange, terrible sound seemed to freeze him stiff where he +stood,--what was the meaning of it? Again, what was the influence this +girl had exerted, under which the venomous creature had collapsed in +such a sudden way? Whether he had been awake or dreaming he did not feel +quite sure. He knew he had gone up The Mountain, at any rate; he knew he +had come down The Mountain with the girl walking just before him;--there +was no forgetting her figure, as she walked on in silence, her braided +locks falling a little, for want of the lost hair-pin, perhaps, and +looking like a wreathing coil of--Shame on such fancies!--to wrong that +supreme crowning gift of abounding Nature, a rush of shining black hair, +that, shaken loose, would cloud her all round, like Godiva, from brow to +instep! He was sure he had sat down before the fissure or cave. He was +sure that he was led softly away from the place, and that it was Elsie +who had led him. There was the hair-pin to show that so far it was not a +dream. But between these recollections came a strange confusion; and the +more the master thought, the more he was perplexed to know whether she +had waked him, sleeping, as he sat on the stone, from some frightful +dream, such as may come in a very brief slumber, or whether she had +bewitched him into a trance with those strange eyes of hers, or whether +it was all true, and he must solve its problem as he best might. + +There was another recollection connected with this mountain adventure. +As they approached the mansion-house, they met a young man, whom Mr. +Bernard remembered having seen once at least before, and whom he had +heard of as a cousin of the young girl. As Cousin Richard Venner, the +person in question, passed them, he took the measure, so to speak, of +Mr. Bernard, with a look so piercing, so exhausting, so practised, so +profoundly suspicious, that the young master felt in an instant that he +had an enemy in this handsome youth,--an enemy, too, who was like to be +subtle and dangerous. + +Mr. Bernard had made up his mind, that, come what might, enemy or no +enemy, live or die, he would solve the mystery of Elsie Venner, sooner +or later. He was not a man to be frightened out of his resolution by a +scowl, or a stiletto, or any unknown means of mischief, of which a whole +armory was hinted at in that passing look Dick Venner had given him. +Indeed, like most adventurous young persons, he found a kind of charm +in feeling that there might be some dangers in the way of his +investigations. Some rumors which had reached him about the supposed +suitor of Elsie Venner, who was thought to be a desperate kind of +fellow, and whom some believed to be an unscrupulous adventurer, added +a curious, romantic kind of interest to the course of physiological and +psychological inquiries he was about instituting. + +The afternoon on The Mountain was still uppermost in his mind. Of course +he knew the common stories about fascination. He had once been himself +an eyewitness of the charming of a small bird by one of our common +harmless serpents. Whether a human being could be reached by this +subtile agency, he had been skeptical, notwithstanding the mysterious +relation generally felt to exist between man and this creature, "cursed +above all cattle and above every beast of the field,"--a relation which +some interpret as the fruit of the curse, and others hold to be so +instinctive that this animal has been for that reason adopted as the +natural symbol of evil. There was another solution, however, supplied +him by his professional reading. The curious work of Mr. Braid of +Manchester had made him familiar with the phenomena of a state allied to +that produced by animal magnetism, and called by that writer by the name +of _hypnotism_. He found, by referring to his note-book, the statement +was, that, by fixing the eyes on a _bright object_ so placed as _to +produce a strain_ upon the eyes and eyelids, and to maintain _a steady +fixed stare_, there comes on in a few seconds a very singular condition, +characterized by _muscular rigidity_ and _inability to move_, with a +strange _exaltation of most of the senses_, and _generally_ a closure of +the eyelids,--this condition being followed by _torpor_. + +Now this statement of Mr. Braid's, well known to the scientific world, +and the truth of which had been confirmed by Mr. Bernard in certain +experiments he had instituted, as it has been by many other +experimenters, went far to explain the strange impressions, of which, +waking or dreaming, he had certainly been the subject. His nervous +system had been in a high state of exaltation at the time. He remembered +how the little noises that made rings of sound in the silence of the +woods, like pebbles dropped in still waters, had reached his inner +consciousness. He remembered that singular sensation in the roots of the +hair, when he came on the traces of the girl's presence, reminding him +of a line in a certain poem which he had read lately with a new and +peculiar interest. He even recalled a curious evidence of exalted +sensibility and irritability, in the twitching of the minute muscles of +the internal ear at every unexpected sound, producing an odd little +snap in the middle of the head, that proved to him he was getting very +nervous. + +The next thing was to find out whether it were possible that the +venomous creature's eyes should have served the purpose of Mr. Braid's +"bright object" held very close to the person experimented on, or +whether they had any special power which could be made the subject of +exact observation. + +For this purpose Mr. Bernard considered it necessary to get a live +_crotalus_ or two into his possession, if this were possible. On +inquiry, he found that there was a certain family living far up the +mountain-side, not a mile from the ledge, the members of which were said +to have taken these creatures occasionally, and not to be in any danger, +or at least in any fear, of being injured by them. He applied to these +people, and offered a reward sufficient to set them at work to capture +some of these animals, if such a thing were possible. + +A few days after this, a dark, gypsy-looking woman presented herself at +his door. She held up her apron as if it contained something precious in +the bag she made with it. + +"Y'wanted some rattlers," said the woman. "Here they be." + +She opened her apron and showed a coil of rattlesnakes lying very +peaceably in its fold. They lifted their heads up, as if they wanted to +see what was going on, but showed no sign of anger. + +"Are you crazy?" said Mr. Bernard. "You're dead in an hour, if one of +those creatures strikes you!" + +He drew back a little, as he spoke; it might be simple disgust; it might +be fear; it might be what we call antipathy, which is different from +either, and which will sometimes show itself in paleness, and even +faintness, produced by objects perfectly harmless and not in themselves +offensive to any sense. + +"Lord bless you," said the woman, "rattlers never touches our folks. I'd +jest 'z lieves handle them creaturs as so many striped snakes." + +So saying, she put their heads down with her hand, and packed them +together in her apron as if they had been bits of cart-rope. + +Mr. Bernard had never heard of the power, or, at least, the belief in +the possession of a power by certain persons, which enables them to +handle these frightful reptiles with perfect impunity. The fact, +however, is well known to others, and more especially to a very +distinguished Professor in one of the leading institutions of the great +city of the land, whose experiences in the neighborhood of Graylock, as +he will doubtless inform the curious, were very much like those of the +young master. + +Mr. Bernard had a wired cage ready for his formidable captives, and +studied their habits and expression with a strange sort of interest. +What did the Creator mean to signify, when he made such shapes of +horror, and, as if he had doubly cursed this envenomed wretch, had set +a mark upon him and sent him forth, the Cain of the brotherhood of +serpents? It was a very curious fact that the first train of thoughts +Mr. Bernard's small menagerie suggested to him was the grave, though +somewhat worn, subject of the origin of evil. There is now to be seen in +a tall glass jar, in the Museum of Comparative Anatomy at Cantabridge +in the territory of the Massachusetts, a huge _crotalus_, of a species +which grows to more frightful dimensions than our own, under the hotter +skies of South America. Look at it, ye who would know what is the +tolerance, the freedom from prejudice, which can suffer such an +incarnation of all that is devilish to lie unharmed in the cradle of +Nature! Learn, too, that there are many things in this world which we +are warned to shun, and are even suffered to slay, if need be, but which +we must not hate, unless we would hate what God loves and cares for. + +Whatever fascination the creature might exercise in his native haunts, +Mr. Bernard found himself not in the least nervous or affected in any +way while looking at his caged reptiles. When their cage was shaken, +they would lift their heads and spring their rattles; but the sound was +by no means so formidable to listen to as when it reverberated among +the chasms of the echoing rocks. The expression of the creatures was +watchful, still, grave, passionless, fate-like, suggesting a cold +malignity that seemed to be waiting for its opportunity. Their awful, +deep-cut mouths were sternly closed over the long hollow fangs that +rested their roots against the swollen poison-bag, where the venom had +been boarding up ever since the last stroke had emptied it. They never +winked, for ophidians have no movable eyelids, but kept up that awful +fixed stare which made the two _unwinking_ gladiators the survivors of +twenty pairs matched by one of the Roman Emperors, as Pliny tells us, in +his "Natural History." But their eyes did not flash, as he had expected +to see them. They were of a pale-golden or straw color, horrible to look +into, with their stony calmness, their pitiless indifference, hardly +enlivened by the almost imperceptible vertical slit of the pupil, +through which Death seemed to be looking out like the archer behind the +long narrow loop-hole in a blank turret-wall. Possibly their pupils +might open wide enough in the dark hole of the rock to let the glare +of the back part of the eye show, as we often see it in cats and other +animals. On the whole, the caged reptiles, horrid as they were, were yet +very different from his recollections of what he had seen or dreamed +he saw at the cavern. These looked dangerous enough, but yet quiet. A +treacherous stillness, however,--as the unfortunate New York physician +found, when he put his foot out to wake up the torpid creature, and +instantly the fang flashed through his boot, carrying the poison into +his blood, and death with it. + +Mr. Bernard kept these strange creatures, and watched all their habits +with a natural curiosity. In any collection of animals the venomous +beasts are looked at with the greatest interest, just as the greatest +villains are most run after by the unknown public. Nobody troubles +himself for a common striped snake or a petty thief, but a _cobra_ or a +wife-killer is a centre of attraction to all eyes. These captives did +very little to earn their living; but, on the other hand, their living +was not expensive, their diet being nothing but air, _au nature_. Months +and months these creatures will live and seem to thrive well enough, +as any showman who has them in his menagerie will testify, though they +never touch anything to eat or drink. + +In the mean time Mr. Bernard had become very curious about a class of +subjects not treated of in any detail in those text-books accessible in +most country-towns, to the exclusion of the more special treatises, and +especially the rare and ancient works found on the shelves of the larger +city-libraries. He was on a visit to old Dr. Kittredge one day, having +been asked by him to call in for a few moments as soon as convenient. +The Doctor smiled good-humoredly when he asked him if he had an +extensive collection of medical works. + +"Why, no," said the old Doctor, "I haven't got a great many printed +books; and what I have I don't read quite as often as I might, I'm +afraid. I read and studied in the time of it, when I was in the midst of +the young men who were all at work with their books; but it's a mighty +hard matter, when you go off alone into the country, to keep up with +all that's going on in the Societies and the Colleges. I'll tell you, +though, Mr. Langdon, when a man that's once started right lives among +sick folks for five-and-thirty years, as I've done, if he hasn't got a +library of five-and-thirty volumes bound up in his head at the end of +that time, he'd better stop driving round and sell his horse and sulky. +I know the better part of the families within a dozen miles' ride. I +know the families that have a way of living through everything, and I +know the other set that have the trick of dying without any kind of +reason for it. I know the years when the fevers and dysenteries are in +earnest, and when they're only making believe. I know the folks that +think they're dying as soon as they're sick, and the folks that never +find out they're sick till they're dead. I don't want to undervalue your +science, Mr. Langdon. There are things I never learned, because they +came in after my day, and I am very glad to send my patients to those +that do know them, when I am at fault; but I know these people about +here, fathers and mothers, and children and grandchildren, so as all the +science in the world can't know them, without it takes time about it, +and sees them grow up and grow old, and how the wear and tear of life +comes to them. You can't tell a horse by driving him once, Mr. Langdon, +nor a patient by talking half an hour with him." + +"Do you know much about the Venner family?" said Mr. Bernard, in a +natural way enough, the Doctor's talk having suggested the question. + +The Doctor lifted his head with his accustomed movement, so as to +command the young man through his spectacles. + +"I know all the families of this place and its neighborhood," he +answered. + +"We have the young lady studying with us at the Institute," said Mr. +Bernard. + +"I know it," the Doctor answered. "Is she a good scholar?" + +All this time the Doctor's eyes were fixed steadily on Mr. Bernard, +looking through the glasses. + +"She is a good scholar enough, but I don't know what to make of her. +Sometimes I think she is a little out of her head. Her father, I +believe, is sensible enough;--what sort of a woman was her mother, +Doctor?--I suppose, of course, you remember all about her?" + +"Yes, I knew her mother. She was a very lovely young woman."--The Doctor +put his hand to his forehead and drew a long breath.--"What is there you +notice out of the way about Elsie Venner?" + +"A good many things," the master answered. "She shuns all the other +girls. She is getting a strange influence over my fellow-teacher, a +young lady,--you know Miss Helen Darley, perhaps? I am afraid this girl +will kill her. I never saw or heard of anything like it, in prose at +least;--do you remember much of Coleridge's Poems, Doctor?" + +The good old Doctor had to plead a negative. + +"Well, no matter. Elsie would have been burned for a witch in old times. +I have seen the girl look at Miss Darley when she had not the least idea +of it, and all at once I would see her grow pale and moist, and sigh, +and move round uneasily, and turn towards Elsie, and perhaps get up and +go to her, or else have slight spasmodic movements that looked like +hysterics;--do you believe in the evil eye, Doctor?" + +"Mr. Langdon," the Doctor said, solemnly, "there are strange things +about Elsie Venner,--very strange things. This was what I wanted to +speak to you about. Let me advise you all to be very patient with the +girl, but also very careful. Her love is not to be desired, and"--he +whispered softly--"her hate is to be dreaded. Do you think she has any +special fancy for anybody else in the school besides Miss Darley?" + +Mr. Bernard could not stand the old Doctor's spectacled eyes without +betraying a little of the feeling natural to a young man to whom a home +question involving a possible sentiment is put suddenly. + +"I have suspected," he said,--"I have had a kind of feeling--that +she--Well, come, Doctor,--I don't know that there's any use in +disguising the matter,--I have thought Elsie Venner had rather a fancy +for somebody else,--I mean myself." + +There was something so becoming in the blush with which the young man +made this confession, and so manly, too, in the tone with which he +spoke, so remote from any shallow vanity, such as young men who are +incapable of love are apt to feel, when some loose tendril of a woman's +fancy which a chance wind has blown against them twines about them +for the want of anything better, that the old Doctor looked at him +admiringly, and could not help thinking that it was no wonder any young +girl should be pleased with him. + +"You are a man of nerve, Mr. Langdon?" said the Doctor. + +"I thought so till very lately," he replied. "I am not easily +frightened, but I don't know but I might be bewitched or magnetized, or +whatever it is when one is tied up and cannot move. I think I can find +nerve enough, however, if there is any special use you want to put it +to." + +"Let me ask you one more question, Mr. Langdon. Do you find yourself +disposed to take a special interest in Elsie,--to fall in love with her, +in a word? Pardon me, for I do not ask from curiosity, but a much more +serious motive." + +"Elsie interests me," said the young man, "interests me strangely. She +has a wild flavor in her character which is wholly different from that +of any human creature I ever saw. She has marks of genius,--poetic or +dramatic,--I hardly know which. She read a passage from Keats's 'Lamia' +the other day, in the school-room, in such a way that I declare to you I +thought some of the girls would faint or go into fits. Miss Darley got +up and left the room, trembling all over. Then I pity her, she is so +lonely. The girls are afraid of her, and she seems to have either a +dislike or a fear of them. They have all sorts of painful stories about +her. They give her a name that no human creature ought to bear. They say +she hides a mark on her neck by always wearing a necklace. She is very +graceful, you know, and they will have it that she can twist herself +into all sorts of shapes, or tie herself in a knot, if she wants to. +There is not one of them that will look her in the eyes. I pity the poor +girl; but, Doctor, I do not love her. I would risk my life for her, if +it would do her any good, but it would be in cold blood. If her hand +touches mine, it is not a thrill of passion I feel running through me, +but a very different emotion. Oh, Doctor! there must be something in +that creature's blood that has killed the humanity in her. God only +knows the mystery that has blighted such a soul in so beautiful a body! +No, Doctor, I do not love the girl." + +"Mr. Langdon," said the Doctor, "you are young, and I am old. Let me +talk to you with an old man's privilege, as an adviser. You have come to +this country-town without suspicion, and you are moving in the midst of +perils. There is a mystery which I must not tell you now; but I may warn +you. Keep your eyes open and your heart shut. If, through pitying that +girl, you ever come to love her, you are lost. If you deal carelessly +with her, beware! This is not all. There are other eyes on you beside +Elsie Venner's.--Do you go armed?" + +"I do!" said Mr. Bernard,--and he 'put his hands up' in the shape of +fists, in such a way as to show that he was master of the natural +weapons at any rate. + +The Doctor could not help smiling. But his face fell in an instant. + +"You may want something more than those tools to work with. Come with me +into my sanctum." + +The Doctor led Mr. Bernard into a small room opening out of the study. +It was a place such as anybody but a medical man would shiver to enter. +There was the usual tall box with its bleached rattling tenant; there +were jars in rows where "interesting cases" outlived the grief of widows +and heirs in alcoholic immortality,--for your "preparation-jar" is the +true "_monumentum aere perennius_"; there were various semipossibilities +of minute dimensions and unpromising developments; there were shining +instruments of evil aspect, and grim plates on the walls, and on one +shelf by itself, accursed and apart, coiled in a long cylinder of +spirit, a huge _crotalus_, rough-scaled, flat-headed, variegated with +dull bands, one of which partially encircled the neck like a collar,--an +awful wretch to look upon, with murder written all over him in horrid +hieroglyphics. Mr. Bernard's look was riveted on this creature,--not +fascinated certainly, for its eyes looked like white beads, being +clouded by the action of the spirits in which it had been long +kept,--but fixed by some indefinite sense of the renewal of a previous +impression;--everybody knows the feeling, with its suggestion of some +past state of existence. There was a scrap of paper on the jar with +something written on it. He was reaching up to read it when the Doctor +touched him lightly. + +"Look here, Mr. Langdon!" he said, with a certain vivacity of manner, as +if wishing to call away his attention,--"this is my armory." + +The Doctor threw open the door of a small cabinet, where were disposed +in artistic patterns various weapons of offence and defence,--for he was +a virtuoso in his way, and by the side of the implements of the art of +healing had pleased himself with displaying a collection of those other +instruments, the use of which renders them necessary. + +"See which of these weapons you would like best to carry about you," +said the Doctor. + +Mr. Bernard laughed, and looked at the Doctor as if he half doubted +whether he was in earnest. + +"This looks dangerous enough," he said,--"for the man that carries it, +at least." + +He took down one of the prohibited Spanish daggers or knives which a +traveller may occasionally get hold of and smuggle out of the country. +The blade was broad, trowel-like, but the point drawn out several +inches, so as to look like a skewer. + +"This must be a jealous bull-fighter's weapon," he said, and put it back +in its place. + +Then he took down an ancient-looking broad-bladed dagger, with a complex +aspect about it, as if it had some kind of mechanism connected with it. + +"Take care!" said the Doctor; "there is a trick to that dagger." + +He took it and touched a spring. The dagger split suddenly into three +blades, as when one separates the forefinger and the ring-finger from +the middle one. The outside blades were sharp on their outer edge. The +stab was to be made with the dagger shut, then the spring touched and +the split blades withdrawn. + +Mr. Bernard replaced it, saying, that it would have served for side-arm +to old Suwarrow, who told his men to work their bayonets back and +forward when they pinned a Turk, but to wriggle them about in the wound +when they stabbed a Frenchman. + +"Here," said the Doctor, "this is the thing you want." + +He took down a much more modern and familiar implement,--a small, +beautifully finished revolver. + +"I want you to carry this," he said; "and more than that, I want you to +practise with it often, as for amusement, but so that it may be seen and +understood that you are apt to have a pistol about you. Pistol-shooting +is pleasant sport enough, and there is no reason why you should not +practise it like other young fellows. And now," the Doctor said, "I have +one other weapon to give you." + +He took a small piece of parchment and shook a white powder into it from +one of his medicine-jars. The jar was marked with the name of a mineral +salt, of a nature to have been serviceable in case of sudden illness in +the time of the Borgias. The Doctor folded the parchment carefully and +marked the Latin name of the powder upon it. + +"Here," he said, handing it to Mr. Bernard,--"you see what it is, and +you know what service it can render. Keep these two protectors about +your person day and night; they will not harm you, and you may want one +or the other or both before you think of it." + +Mr. Bernard thought it was very odd, and not very old-gentleman like, +to be fitting him out for treason, stratagem, and spoils, in this way. +There was no harm, however, in carrying a doctor's powder in his pocket, +or in amusing himself with shooting at a mark, as he had often done +before. If the old gentleman had these fancies, it was as well to humor +him. So he thanked old Doctor Kittredge, and shook his hand warmly as he +left him. + +"The fellow's hand did not tremble, nor his color change," the Doctor +said, as he watched him walking away. "He is one of the right sort." + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +EPISTOLARY. + + +_Mr. Langdon to the Professor._ + +MY DEAR PROFESSOR,-- + +You were kind enough to promise me that you would assist me in any +professional or scientific investigations in which I might become +engaged. I have of late become deeply interested in a class of subjects +which present peculiar difficulty, and I must exercise the privilege of +questioning you on some points upon which I desire information I cannot +otherwise obtain. I would not trouble you, if I could find any person or +books competent to enlighten me on some of these singular matters which +have so excited me. The leading doctor here is a shrewd, sensible man, +but not versed in the curiosities of medical literature. + +I proceed, with your leave, to ask a considerable number of +questions,--hoping to get answers to some of them, at least. + +Is there any evidence that human beings can be infected or wrought +upon by poisons, or otherwise, so that they shall manifest any of +the peculiarities belonging to beings of a lower nature? Can such +peculiarities be transmitted by inheritance? Is there anything to +countenance the stories, long and widely current, about the "evil eye"? +or is it a mere fancy that such a power belongs to any human being? Have +you any personal experience as to the power of fascination said to be +exercised by certain animals? What can you make of those circumstantial +statements we have seen in the papers of children forming mysterious +friendships with ophidians of different species, sharing their food with +them, and seeming to be under some subtile influence exercised by those +creatures? Have you read, critically, Coleridge's poem of "Christabel," +and Keats's "Lamia"? If so, can you understand them, or find any +physiological foundation for the story of either? + +There is another set of questions of a different nature I should like to +ask, but it is hardly fair to put so many on a single sheet. There +is one, however, you must answer. Do you think there may be +predispositions, inherited or ingrafted, but at any rate constitutional, +which shall take out certain apparently voluntary determinations +from the control of the will, and leave them as free from moral +responsibility as the instincts of the lower animals? Do you not think +there may be a _crime_ which is not a _sin_? + +Pardon me, my dear Sir, for troubling you with such a list of notes of +interrogation. There are some _very strange_ things going on here in +this place, country-town as it is. Country-life is apt to be dull; but +when it once gets going, it beats the city hollow, because it gives its +whole mind to what it is about. These rural sinners make terrible work +with the middle of the Decalogue, when they get started. However, I hope +I shall live through my year's school-keeping without catastrophes, +though there are queer doings about me which puzzle me and might scare +some people. If anything _should_ happen, you will be one of the first +to hear of it, no doubt. But I trust not to help out the editors of the +"Rockland Weekly Universe" with an obituary of the late lamented, who +signed himself in life + +Your friend and pupil, + +BERNARD C. LANGDON. + + +_The Professor to Mr. Langdon._ + +MY DEAR MR. LANGDON,-- + +I do not wonder that you find no answer from your country friends to the +curious questions you put. They belong to that middle region between +science and poetry which sensible men, as they are called, are very shy +of meddling with. Some people think that truth and gold are always to be +washed for; but the wiser sort are of opinion, that, unless there are so +many grains to the peck of sand or nonsense respectively, it does not +pay to wash for either, as long as one can find anything else to do. I +don't doubt there is some truth in the phenomena of animal magnetism, +for instance; but when you ask me to cradle for it, I tell you that +the hysteric girls cheat so, and the professionals are such a set of +pickpockets, that I can do something better than hunt for the grains of +truth among their tricks and lies. Do you remember what I used to say in +my lectures?--or were you asleep just then, or cutting your initials on +the rail? (You see I can ask questions, my young friend.) _Leverage_ is +everything,--was what I used to say;--don't begin to pry till you have +got the long arm on your side. + +To please you, and satisfy your doubts as far as possible, I have looked +into the old books,--into Schenckius and Turner and Kenelm Digby and the +rest, where I have found plenty of curious stories which you must take +for what they are worth. + +Your first question I can answer in the affirmative upon pretty good +authority. Mizaldus tells, in his "Memorabilia," the well-known story +of the girl fed on poisons, who was sent by the king of the Indies +to Alexander the Great. "When Aristotle saw her eyes _sparkling and +snapping like those of serpents_, he said, 'Look out for yourself, +Alexander! this is a dangerous companion for you!'"--and sure enough, +the young lady proved to be a very unsafe person to her friends. +Cardanus gets a story from Avicenna, of a certain man bit by a serpent, +who recovered of his bite, the snake dying therefrom. This man +afterwards had a daughter whom no venomous serpent could harm, though +_she had a fatal power over them_. + +I suppose you may remember the statements of old authors about +_lycanthropy_, the disease in which men took on the nature and aspect of +wolves. Aëtius and Paulus, both men of authority, describe it. Altomaris +gives a horrid case; and Fincelius mentions one occurring as late as +1541, the subject of which was captured, still _insisting that he was a +wolf_, only that the hair of his hide was turned in! _Versipelles_, it +may be remembered, was the Latin name for these "were-wolves." + +As for the cases where rabid persons have barked and bit like dogs, +there are plenty of such on record. + +More singular, or at least more rare, is the account given by Andreas +Baccius, of a man who was struck in the hand by a cock, with his beak, +and who died on the third day thereafter, looking for all the world +_like a fighting-cock_, to the great horror of the spectators. + +As to impressions transmitted _at a very early period of existence_, +every one knows the story of King James's fear of a naked sword and the +way it is accounted for. Sir Kenelm Digby says,--"I remember when he +dubbed me Knight, in the ceremony of putting the point of a naked sword +upon my shoulder, he could not endure to look upon it, but turned his +face another way, insomuch, that, in lieu of touching my shoulder, he +had almost thrust the point into my eyes, had not the Duke of Buckingham +guided his hand aright." It is he, too, who tells the story of the +_mulberry mark_ upon the neck of a certain lady of high condition, which +"every year, in mulberry season, did swell, grow big, and itch." And +Gaffarel mentions the case of a girl born with the figure of a _fish_ on +one of her limbs, of which the wonder was, that, when the girl did eat +fish, this mark put her to sensible pain. But there is no end to cases +of this kind, and I could give some of recent date, if necessary, +lending a certain plausibility at least to the doctrine of transmitted +impressions. + +I never saw a distinct case of _evil eye_, though I have seen eyes so +bad that they might produce strange effects on very sensitive natures. +But the belief in it under various names, fascination, _jettatura_, +etc., is so permanent and universal, from Egypt to Italy, and from the +days of Solomon to those of Ferdinand of Naples, that there must be some +_peculiarity_, to say the least, on which the opinion is based. There is +very strong evidence that some such power is exercised by certain of the +lower animals. Thus, it is stated on good authority that "almost every +animal becomes panic-struck at the sight of the _rattlesnake_, and seems +at once deprived of the power of motion, or the exercise of its usual +instinct of self-preservation." Other serpents seem to share this power +of fascination, as the _Cobra_ and the _Bucephalus Capensis_. Some think +that it is nothing but fright; others attribute it to the + + "strange powers that lie + Within the magic circle of the eye,"-- + +as Churchill said, speaking of Garrick. + +You ask me about those mysterious and frightful intimacies between +children and serpents of which so many instances have been recorded. I +am sure I cannot tell what to make of them. I have seen several such +accounts in recent papers, but here is one published in the seventeenth +century which is as striking as any of the more modern ones:-- + +"Mr. _Herbert Jones_ of _Monmouth_, when he was a little Boy, was used +to eat his Milk in a Garden in the Morning, and was no sooner there, but +a large Snake always came, and eat out of the Dish with him, and did so +for a considerable time, till one Morning, he striking the Snake on the +Head, it hissed at him. Upon which he told his Mother that the Baby (for +so he call'd it) cry'd _Hiss_ at him. His Mother had it kill'd, which +occasioned him a great _Fit of Sickness_, and 'twas thought would have +dy'd, but did recover." + +There was likewise one "_William Writtle_, condemned at _Maidston +Assizes_ for a double murder, told a Minister that was with him after he +was condemned, that his mother told him, that when he was a Child, there +crept always to him a Snake, wherever she laid him. Sometimes she would +convey him up Stairs, and leave him never so little, she should be sure +to find a Snake in the Cradle with him, but never perceived it did him +any harm." + +One of the most striking alleged facts connected with the mysterious +relation existing between the serpent and the human species is the +influence which the poison of the _Crotalus_, taken internally, seemed +to produce over the _moral faculties_, in the experiments instituted by +Dr. Hering at Surinam. There is something frightful in the disposition +of certain ophidians, as the whip-snake, which darts at the eyes of +cattle without any apparent provocation or other motive. It is natural +enough that the evil principle should have been represented in the form +of a serpent, but it is strange to think of introducing it into a human +being like cow-pox by vaccination. + +You know all about the _Psylli_, or ancient serpent-tamers, I suppose. +Savary gives an account of the modern serpent-tamers in his "Letters on +Egypt." These modern jugglers are in the habit of making the venomous +_Naja_ counterfeit death, lying out straight and stiff, _changing it +into a rod_, as the ancient magicians did with their serpents, (probably +the same animal,) in the time of Moses. + +I am afraid I cannot throw much light on "Christabel" or "Lamia" by any +criticism I can offer. Geraldine, in the former, seems to be simply +a malignant witch-woman, with the _evil eye_, but with no absolute +ophidian relationship. Lamia is a serpent transformed by magic into +a woman. The idea of both is mythological, and not in any sense +physiological. Some women unquestionably suggest the image of serpents; +men rarely or never. I have been struck, like many others, with the +ophidian head and eye of the famous Rachel. + +Your question about inherited predispositions, as limiting the sphere of +the will, and, consequently, of moral accountability, opens a very wide +range of speculation. I can give you only a brief abstract of my own +opinions on this delicate and difficult subject. Crime and sin, being +the _preserves_ of two great organized interests, have been guarded +against all reforming poachers with as great jealousy as the Royal +Forests. It is so easy to hang a troublesome fellow! It is so much +simpler to consign a soul to perdition, or gay masses, for money, to +save it, than to take the blame on ourselves for letting it grow up in +neglect and run to ruin for want of humanizing influences! They hung +poor, crazy Bellingham for shooting Mr. Perceval. The ordinary of +Newgate preached to women who were to swing at Tyburn for a petty theft +as if they were worse than other people,--just as though he would not +have been a pickpocket or shoplifter, himself, if he had been born in +a den of thieves and bred up to steal or starve! The English law never +began to get hold of the idea that a crime was not necessarily a sin, +till Hadfield, who thought he was the Saviour of mankind, was tried for +shooting at George the Third;--lucky for him that he did not hit his +Majesty! + +It is very singular that we recognize all the bodily defects that unfit +a man for military service, and all the intellectual ones that limit his +range of thought, but always talk at him as if all his moral powers were +perfect I suppose we must punish evil-doers as we extirpate vermin; but +I don't know that we have any more right to judge them than we have to +judge rats and mice, which are just as good as cats and weasels, though +we think it necessary to treat them as criminals. + +The limitations of human responsibility have never been properly +studied, unless it be by the phrenologists. You know from my lectures +that I consider phrenology, as taught, a pseudo-science, and not a +branch of positive knowledge; but, for all that, we owe it an immense +debt. It has melted the world's conscience in its crucible and cast it +in a new mould, with features less like those of Moloch and more like +those of humanity. If it has failed to demonstrate its system of special +correspondences, it has proved that there are fixed relations between +organization and mind and character. It has brought out that great +doctrine of moral insanity, which has done more to make men charitable +and soften legal and theological barbarism than any one doctrine that I +can think of since the message of peace and good-will to men. + +Automatic action in the moral world; the _reflex movement_ which _seems_ +to be self-determination, and has been hanged and howled at as such +(metaphorically) for nobody knows how many centuries: until somebody +shall study this as Marshall Hall has studied reflex nervous action in +the bodily system, I would not give much for men's judgments of each +other's characters. Shut up the robber and the defaulter, we must. But +what if your oldest boy had been stolen from his cradle and bred in a +North-Street cellar? What if you are drinking a little too much wine and +smoking a little too much tobacco, and your son takes after you, and so +your poor grandson's brain being a little injured in physical texture, +he loses the fine moral sense on which you pride yourself, and doesn't +see the difference between signing another man's name to a draft and his +own? + +I suppose the study of automatic action in the moral world (you see what +I mean through the apparent contradiction of terms) may be a dangerous +one in the view of many people. It is liable to abuse, no doubt. +People are always glad to get hold of anything which limits their +responsibility. But remember that our moral estimates come down to us +from ancestors who hanged children for stealing forty shillings' worth, +and sent their souls to perdition for the sin of being born,--who +punished the unfortunate families of suicides, and in their eagerness +for justice executed one innocent person every three years, on the +average, as Sir James Mackintosh tells us. + +I do not know in what shape the practical question may present itself to +you; but I will tell you my rule in life, and I think you will find it +a good one. _Treat bad men exactly as if they were insane_. They are +_in-sane_, out of health, morally. Reason, which is food to sound minds, +is not tolerated, still less assimilated, unless administered with the +greatest caution; perhaps, not at all. Avoid collision with them, as far +as you honorably can; keep your temper, if you can,--for one angry man +is as good as another; restrain them from injury, promptly, completely, +and with the least possible injury, just as in the case of maniacs,--and +when you have got rid of them, or got them tied hand and foot so that +they can do no mischief, sit down and contemplate them charitably, +remembering that nine-tenths of their perversity comes from outside +influences, drunken ancestors, abuse in childhood, bad company, from +which you have happily been preserved, and for some of which you, as a +member of society, may be fractionally responsible. I think also that +there are _special influences_ which _work in the blood like ferments_, +and I have a suspicion that some of those curious old stories I cited +may have more recent parallels. Have you ever met with any cases which +admitted of a solution like that which I have mentioned? + +Yours very truly, + + * * * * * + +_Bernard Langdon to Philip Staples._ + +MY DEAR PHILIP,-- + +I have been for some months established in this place, turning the +main crank of the machinery for the manufactory of accomplishments +superintended by, or rather worked to the profit of, a certain Mr. Silas +Peckham. He is a poor wretch, with a little thin fishy blood in his +body, lean and flat, long-armed and large-handed, thick-jointed +and thin-muscled,--you know those unwholesome, weak-eyed, half-fed +creatures, that look not fit to be round among live folks, and yet not +quite dead enough to bury. If you ever hear of my being in court to +answer to a charge of assault and battery, you may guess that I have +been giving him a thrashing to settle off old scores; for he is a +tyrant, and has come pretty near killing his principal lady-assistant +with overworking her and keeping her out of all decent privileges. + +Helen Darley is this lady's name,--twenty-two or -three years old, +I should think,--a very sweet, pale woman,--daughter of the usual +country-clergyman,--thrown on her own resources from an early age, and +the rest: a common story, but an uncommon person,--very. All conscience +and sensibility, I should say,--a cruel worker,--no kind of regard for +herself,--seems as fragile and supple as a young willow-shoot, but try +her and you find she has the spring in her of a steel crossbow. I am +glad I happened to come to this place, if it were only for her sake. I +have saved that girl's life; I am as sure of it as if I had pulled her +out of the fire or water. + +Of course I'm in love with her, you say,--we always love those whom +we have benefited: "saved her life,--her love was the reward of his +devotion," etc., etc., as in a regular set novel. In love, Philip? Well, +about that,--I love Helen Darley--very much: there is hardly anybody I +love so well. What a noble creature she is! One of those that just go +right on, do their own work and everybody else's, killing themselves +inch by inch without ever thinking about it,--singing and dancing +at their toil when they begin, worn and saddened after a while, but +pressing steadily on, tottering by-and-by, and catching at the rail by +the wayside to help them lift one foot before the other, and at last +falling, face down, arms stretched forward---- + +Philip, my boy, do you know I am the sort of man that locks his door +sometimes and cries his heart out of his eyes,--that can sob like a +woman and not be ashamed of it? I come of fighting-blood on my mother's +side, you know; I think I could be savage on occasion. But I am +tender,--more and more tender as I come into my fulness of manhood. I +don't like to strike a man, (laugh, if you like,--I know I hit hard +when I do strike,)--but what I can't stand is the sight of these poor, +patient, toiling women, that never find out in this life how good they +are, and never know what it is to be told they are angels while they +still wear the pleasing incumbrances of humanity. I don't know what to +make of these cases. To think that a woman is never to be a woman again, +whatever she may come to as an unsexed angel,--and that she should die +unloved! Why does not somebody come and carry off this noble woman, +waiting here all ready to make a man happy? Philip, do you know the +pathos there is in the eyes of unsought women, oppressed with the burden +of an inner life unshared? I can see into them now as I could not in +those earlier days. I sometimes think their pupils dilate on purpose to +let my consciousness glide through them; indeed, I dread them, I come so +close to the nerve of the soul itself in these momentary intimacies. You +used to tell me I was a Turk,--that my heart was full of pigeon-holes, +with accommodations inside for a whole flock of doves. I don't know but +I am still as Youngish as ever in my ways,--Brigham-Youngish, I mean; +at any rate, I always want to give a little love to all the poor things +that cannot have a whole man to themselves. If they would only be +contented with a little! + +Here now are two girls in this school where I am teaching. One of them, +Rosa M., is not more than sixteen years old, I think they say; but +Nature has forced her into a tropical luxuriance of beauty, as if it +were July with her, instead of May. I suppose it is all natural enough +that this girl should like a young man's attention, even if he were a +grave schoolmaster; but the eloquence of this young thing's look +is unmistakable,--and yet she does not know the language it is +talking,--they none of them do; and there is where a good many poor +creatures of our good-for-nothing sex are mistaken. There is no danger +of my being rash, but I think this girl will cost somebody his life yet. +She is one of those women men make a quarrel about and fight to the +death for,--the old feral instinct, you know. + +Pray, don't think I am lost in conceit, but there is another girl here +that I begin to think looks with a certain kindness on me. Her name is +Elsie V., and she is the only daughter and heiress of an old family in +this place. She is a portentous and mysterious creature. If I should +tell you all I know and half of what I fancy about her, you would +tell me to get my life insured at once. Yet she is the most painfully +interesting being,--so handsome! so lonely!--for she has no friends +among the girls, and sits apart from them,--with black hair like the +flow of a mountain-brook after a thaw, with a low-browed, scowling +beauty of face, and such eyes as were never seen before, I really +believe, in any human creature. + +Philip, I don't know what to say about this Elsie. There is a mystery +around her I have not fathomed. I have conjectures about her which +I could not utter to any living soul. I dare not even hint the +possibilities which have suggested themselves to me. This I will +say,--that I do take the most intense interest in this young person, an +interest much more like pity than love in its common sense. If what I +guess at is true, of all the tragedies of existence I ever knew this is +the saddest, and yet so full of meaning! Do not ask me any questions,--I +have said more than I meant to already; but I am involved in strange +doubts and perplexities,--in dangers too, very possibly,--and it is a +relief just to speak ever so guardedly of them to an early and faithful +friend. + +Yours ever, BERNARD. + +P. S. I remember you had a copy of Fortunius Licetus "De Monstris" among +your old books. Can't you lend it to me for a while? I am curious, and +it will amuse me. + + + + +ANNO DOMINI, 1860. + + + My youth is past!--this morn I stand, + With manhood's signet of command, + Firm-planted on life's middle-land! + + Behind, the scene recedes afar, + Where cloudy mists and vapors mar + The lustre of my morning-star. + + I mark the courses of my days, + Inwound through many a doubtful maze,-- + To marvel at those devious ways! + + They lead through hills and levels lone, + Green fields, and woodlands overgrown, + And where deep waters pulse and moan;-- + + By ruined tower, by darksome dell, + The home of night-birds fierce and fell, + Wherein strange shapes of Horror dwell;-- + + Out to the blessed sunshine free, + The breezy moors of liberty, + And skies outpouring harmony;-- + + By palace-wall, by haunted tomb, + Through bright and dark, through joy and gloom: + My life hath known both blight and bloom. + + And now, as from some mountain-height, + Backward I strain my eager sight, + Till all the landscape melts in night;-- + + Then, whispering to my Heart, "Be bold!" + I turn from years whose "tale is told," + To greet the Future's dawn of gold: + + High hopes and nobler labors wait + Beyond that Future's opening gate,-- + Brave deeds which hold the seeds of Fate. + + Thy strength, O Lord, shall fire my blood, + Shall nerve my soul, make wise my mood, + And win me to the pure and good! + + Or if, O Father, thou shouldst say, + "Dark Angel, close his mortal day!" + And smite me on my vanward way,-- + + Grant that in armor firm and strong, + Whilst pealing still Life's battle-song, + And struggling, manful, 'gainst the wrong, + + Thy soldier, who would fight to win + No crown of dross, no bays of sin, + May fall amidst the foremost din + + Of Truth's grand conflict, blest by Thee,-- + And even though Death should conquer, see + How false, how brief his victory! + + * * * * * + + + +DARWIN ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. + +[Continued.] + + +"I can entertain no doubt, after the most deliberate study and +dispassionate judgment of which I am capable, that the view which most +naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained,--namely, that +each species has been independently created,--is erroneous. I am fully +convinced that species are not immutable; but that those belonging to +what are called the same genera are lineal descendants of some other +and generally extinct species, in the same manner as the acknowledged +varieties of any one species are the descendants of that species. +Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main, +but not exclusive means of modification." + +This is the kernel of the new theory, the Darwinian creed, as recited +at the close of the introduction to the remarkable book under +consideration. The questions, "What will he do with it?" and "How far +will he carry it?" the author answers at the close of the volume: "I +cannot doubt that the theory of descent with modification embraces all +the members of the same class." Furthermore, "I believe that all animals +have descended from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants +from an equal or lesser number." Seeing that analogy as strongly +suggests a further step in the same direction, while he protests that +"analogy may be a deceitful guide," yet he follows its inexorable +leading to the inference that "probably all the organic beings which +have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial +form, into which life was first breathed."[a] + +In the first extract we have the thin end of the wedge driven a little +way; in the last, the wedge is driven home. + +We have already (in the preceding number) sketched some of the reasons +suggestive of such a theory of derivation of species,--reasons which +give it plausibility, and even no small probability, as applied to our +actual world and to changes occurring since the latest tertiary period. +We are well pleased at this moment to find that the conclusions we were +arriving at in this respect are sustained by the very high authority and +impartial judgment of Pictet, the Swiss palaeontologist. In his review +of Darwin's book,[b]--much the fairest and most admirable opposing one +that has yet appeared,--he freely accepts that _ensemble_ of natural +operations which Darwin impersonates under the now familiar name of +Natural Selection, allows that the exposition throughout the first +chapters seems "_à la fois prudent et fort_" and is disposed to accept +the whole argument in its foundations, that is, so far as it relates +to what is now going on, or has taken place in the present geological +period,--which period he carries back through the diluvial epoch to the +borders of the tertiary.[c] Pictet accordingly admits that the theory +will very well account for the origination by divergence of nearly +related species, whether within the present period or in remoter +geological times: a very natural view for him to take; since he +appears to have reached and published, several years ago, the pregnant +conclusion, that there most probably was some material connection +between the closely related species of two successive faunas, and that +the numerous close species, whose limits are so difficult to determine, +were not all created distinct and independent. But while accepting, or +ready to accept, the basis of Darwin's theory, and all its legitimate +direct inferences, he rejects the ultimate conclusions, brings some +weighty arguments to bear against them, and is evidently convinced that +he can draw a clear line between the sound inferences, which he favors, +and the unsound or unwarranted theoretical deductions, which he rejects. +We hope he can. + +[Footnote a: P. 484, Engl. ed. In the new American edition, (_Vide_ +Supplement, pp. 431, 432,) the principal analogies which suggest the +extreme view are referred to, and the remark is appended,--"But this +inference is chiefly grounded on analogy, and it is immaterial whether +or not it be accepted. The case is different with the members of each +great class, as the Vertebrata or Articulata; for here we have in the +laws of homology, embryology, etc., some distinct evidence that all have +descended from a single primordial parent."] + +[Footnote b: In _Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève_, Mars, 1860.] + +[Footnote c: This we learn from his very interesting article, _De +la Question de l'Homme Fossile_, in the same (March) number of the +_Bibliothèque Universelle_.] + +This raises the question, Why does Darwin press his theory to these +extreme conclusions? Why do all hypotheses of derivation converge so +inevitably to one ultimate point? Having already considered some of the +reasons which suggest or support the theory at its outset,--which may +carry it as far as such sound and experienced naturalists as Pictet +allow that it may be true,--perhaps as far as Darwin himself unfolds +it in the introductory proposition cited at the beginning of this +article,--we may now inquire after the motives which impel the theorist +so much farther. Here proofs, in the proper sense of the word, are not +to be had. We are beyond the region of demonstration, and have duly +probabilities to consider. What are these probabilities? What work +will this hypothesis do to establish a claim to be adopted in its +completeness? Why should a theory which may plausibly enough account for +the _diversification_ of the species of each special type or genus, +be expanded into a general system for the _origination_ or successive +diversification of all species, and all special types or forms, from +four or five remote primordial forms, or perhaps from one? We accept the +theory of gravitation because it explains all the facts we know, and +bears all the tests that we can put it to. We incline to accept the +nebular hypothesis, for similar reasons; not because it is proved,--thus +far it is wholly incapable of proof,--but because it is a natural +theoretical deduction from accepted physical laws, is thoroughly +congruous with the facts, and because its assumption serves to connect +and harmonize these into one probable and consistent whole. Can the +derivative hypothesis be maintained and carried out into a system on +similar grounds? If so, however unproved, it would appear to be a +tenable hypothesis, which is all that its author ought now to claim. +Such hypotheses as from the conditions of the case can neither be proved +nor disproved by direct evidence or experiment are to be tested only +indirectly, and therefore imperfectly, by trying their power to +harmonize the known facts, and to account for what is otherwise +unaccountable. So the question comes to this: + +What will an hypothesis of the derivation of species explain which the +opposing view leaves unexplained? + +Questions these which ought to be entertained before we take up the +arguments which have been advanced against this theory. We can only +glance at some of the considerations which Darwin adduces, or will be +sure to adduce in the future and fuller exposition which is promised. +To display them in such wise as to indoctrinate the unscientific reader +would require a volume. Merely to refer to them in the most general +terms would suffice for those familiar with scientific matters, but +would scarcely enlighten those who are not. Wherefore let these trust +the impartial Pictet, who freely admits, that, "in the absence of +sufficient direct proofs to justify the possibility of his hypothesis, +Mr. Darwin relies upon indirect proofs, the bearing of which is real and +incontestable"; who concedes that "his theory accords very well with the +great facts of comparative anatomy and zoölogy,--comes in admirably to +explain unity of composition of organisms, also to explain rudimentary +and representative organs, and the natural series of genera and +species,--equally corresponds with many palaeontological data,--agrees +well with the specific resemblances which exist between two successive +faunas, with the parallelism which is sometimes observed between the +series of palaeontological succession and of embryonal development," +etc.; and finally, although he does not accept the theory in these +results, he allows that "it appears to offer the best means of +explaining the manner in which organized beings were produced in epochs +anterior to our own." + +What more than this could be said for such an hypothesis? Here, +probably, is its charm, and its strong hold upon the speculative mind. +Unproven though it be, and cumbered _primâ facie_ with cumulative +improbabilities as it proceeds, yet it singularly accords with great +classes of facts otherwise insulated and enigmatic, and explains many +things which are thus far utterly inexplicable upon any other scientific +assumption. + +We have said (p. 116) that Darwin's hypothesis is the natural complement +to Lyell's uniformitarian theory in physical geology. It is for the +organic world what that popular view is for the inorganic; and the +accepters of the latter stand in a position from which to regard the +former in the most favorable light. Wherefore the rumor that the +cautious Lyell himself has adopted the Darwinian hypothesis need not +surprise us. The two views are made for each other, and, like the two +counterpart pictures for the stereoscope, when brought together, combine +into one apparently solid whole. + +If we allow, with Pictet, that Darwin's theory will very well serve for +all that concerns the present epoch of the world's history,--an epoch +which this renowned palaeontologist regards as including the diluvial or +quaternary period,--then Darwin's first and foremost need in his onward +course is a practicable road from this into and through the tertiary +period, the intervening region between the comparatively near and the +far remote past. Here Lyell's doctrine paves the way, by showing that in +the physical geology there is no general or absolute break between the +two, probably no greater between the latest tertiary and the quaternary +period than between the latter and the present time. So far, the +Lyellian view is, we suppose, generally concurred in. Now as to the +organic world, it is largely admitted that numerous tertiary species +have continued down into the quaternary, and many of them to the present +time. A goodly percentage of the earlier and nearly half of the later +tertiary mollusca, according to Des Hayes, Lyell, and, if we mistake +not, Bronn, still live. This identification, however, is now questioned +by a naturalist of the very highest authority. But, in its bearings on +the new theory, the point here turns not upon absolute identity so +much as upon close resemblance. For those who, with Agassiz, doubt the +specific identity in any of these cases, and those who say, with Pictet, +that "the later tertiary deposits contain in general the _débris_ of +species _very nearly related_ to those which still exist, belonging to +the same genera, but specifically different," may also agree with Pictet +that the nearly related species of successive faunas must or may have +had "a material connection." Now the only material connection that +we have an idea of in such a case is a genealogical one. And the +supposition of a genealogical connection is surely not unnatural in such +cases,--is demonstrably the natural one as respects all those tertiary +species which experienced naturalists have pronounced to be identical +with existing ones, but which others now deem distinct. For to identify +the two is the same thing as to conclude the one to be the ancestors of +the other. No doubt there are differences between the tertiary and +the present individuals, differences equally noted by both classes of +naturalists, but differently estimated. By the one these are deemed +quite compatible, by the other incompatible, with community of origin. +But who can tell us what amount of difference is compatible with +community of origin? This is the very question at issue, and one to be +settled by observation alone. Who would have thought that the peach and +the nectarine came from one stock? But, this being proved, is it now +very improbable that both were derived from the almond, or from some +common amygdaline progenitor? Who would have thought that the cabbage, +cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi are derivatives of one +species, and rape or colza, turnip, and probably rutabaga, of another +species? And who that is convinced of this can long undoubtingly hold +the original distinctness of turnips from cabbages as an article of +faith? On scientific grounds may not a primordial cabbage or rape be +assumed as the ancestor of all the cabbage races, on much the same +ground that we assume a common ancestry for the diversified human races? +If all our breeds of cattle came from one stock, why not this stock from +the auroch, which has had all the time between the diluvial and the +historic periods in which to set off a variation perhaps no greater than +the difference between some sorts of cattle? + +That considerable differences are often discernible between tertiary +individuals and their supposed descendants of the present day affords +no argument against Darwin's theory, as has been rashly thought, but is +decidedly in its favor. If the identification were so perfect that no +more differences were observable between the tertiary and the recent +shells than between various individuals of either, then Darwin's +opponents, who argue the immutability of species from the ibises and +cats preserved by the ancient Egyptians being just like those of the +present day, could triumphantly add a few hundred thousand years more to +the length of the experiment and to the force of their argument. As the +facts stand, it appears, that, while some tertiary forms are essentially +undistinguishable from existing ones, others are the same with a +difference, which is judged not to be specific or aboriginal, and yet +others show somewhat greater differences, such as are scientifically +expressed by calling them marked varieties, or else doubtful species; +while others, differing a little more, are confidently termed distinct, +but nearly related species. Now is not all this a question of degree, +of mere gradation of difference? Is it at all likely that these several +gradations came to be established in two totally different ways,--some +of them (though naturalists can't agree which) through natural +variation, or other secondary cause, and some by original creation, +without secondary cause? We have seen that the judicious Pictet answers +such questions as Darwin would have him do, in affirming, that, in all +probability, the nearly related species of two successive faunas were +materially connected, and that contemporaneous species, similarly +resembling each other, were not all created so, but have become so. This +is equivalent to saying that species (using the term as all naturalists +do and must continue to employ the word) have only a relative, not an +absolute fixity; that differences fully equivalent to what are held to +be specific may arise in the course of time, so that one species may at +length be naturally replaced by another species a good deal like it, or +may be diversified through variation or otherwise into two, three, or +more species, or forms as different as species. This concedes all that +Darwin has a right to ask, all that he can directly infer from evidence. +We must add that it affords a _locus standi_, more or less tenable, for +inferring more. + +Here another geological consideration comes in to help on this +inference. The species of the later tertiary period for the most part +not only resembled those of our days, many of them so closely as to +suggest an absolute continuity, but, also occupied in general the same +regions that their relatives occupy now. The same may be said, though +less specially, of the earlier tertiary and of the later secondary; but +there is less and less localization of forms as we recede, yet some +localization even in palæozoic times. While in the secondary period one +is struck with the similarity of forms and the identity of many of the +species which flourished apparently at the same time in all or in the +most widely separated parts of the world, in the tertiary epoch, on the +contrary, along with the increasing specialization of climates and +their approximation to the present state, we find abundant evidence +of increasing localization of orders, genera, and species; and +this localization strikingly accords with the present geographical +distribution of the same groups of species. Where the imputed +forefathers lived, their relatives and supposed descendants now +flourish. All the actual classes of the animal and vegetable kingdoms +were represented in the tertiary faunas and floras, and in nearly the +same proportions and the same diversities as at present. The faunas of +what is now Europe, Asia, America, and Australia differed from +each other much as they now differ: in fact,--according to Adolphe +Brongniart, whose statements we here condense,[a]--the inhabitants of +these different regions appear for the most part to have acquired, +before the close of the tertiary period, the characters which +essentially distinguish their existing faunas. The eastern continent +had then, as now, its great pachyderms, elephants, rhinoceros, and +hippopotamus; South America its armadillos, sloths, and ant-eaters; +Australia a crowd of marsupials; and the very strange birds of New +Zealand had predecessors of similar strangeness. Everywhere the same +geographical distribution as now, with a difference in the particular +area, as respects the northern portion of the continents, answering to a +warmer climate then than ours, such as allowed species of hippopotamus, +rhinoceros, and elephant to range even to the regions now inhabited +by the reindeer and the musk-ox, and with the serious disturbing +intervention of the glacial period within a comparatively recent time. +Let it be noted, also, that those tertiary species which have continued +with little change down to our days are the marine animals of the +lower grades, especially mollusca. Their low organization, moderate +sensibility, and the simple conditions of an existence in a medium +like the ocean, not subject to great variation and incapable of sudden +change, may well account for their continuance; while, on the other +hand, the more intense, however gradual, climatic vicissitudes on land, +which have driven all tropical and sub-tropical forms out of the higher +latitudes and assigned to them their actual limits, would be almost sure +to extinguish such huge and unwieldy animals as mastodons, mammoths, and +the like, whose power of enduring altered circumstances must have been +small. + +[Footnote a: In _Comptes Rendus, Acad. des Sciences_, Févr. 2, 1857.] + +This general replacement of the tertiary species of a country by +others so much like them is a noteworthy fact. The hypothesis of the +independent creation of all species, irrespective of their antecedents, +leaves this fact just as mysterious as is creation itself; that of +derivation undertakes to account for it. Whether it satisfactorily does +so or not, it must be allowed that the facts well accord with that +assumption. + +The same may be said of another conclusion, namely, that the geological +succession of animals and plants appears to correspond in a general +way with their relative standing or rank in a natural system of +classification. It seems clear, that, though no one of the _grand types_ +of the animal kingdom can be traced back farther than the rest, yet the +lower _classes_ long preceded the higher; that there has been on the +whole a steady progression within each class and order; and that the +highest plants and animals have appeared only in relatively modern +times. It is only, however, in a broad sense that this generalization +is now thought to hold good. It encounters many apparent exceptions and +sundry real ones. So far as the rule holds, all is as it should be upon +an hypothesis of derivation. + +The rule has its exceptions. But, curiously enough, the most striking +class of exceptions, if such they be, seems to us even more favorable to +the doctrine of derivation than is the general rule of a pure and simple +ascending gradation. We refer to what Agassiz calls prophetic and +synthetic types; for which the former name may suffice, as the +difference between the two is evanescent. + +"It has been noticed," writes our great zoölogist, "that certain types, +which are frequently prominent among the representatives of past ages, +combine in their structure peculiarities which at later periods are only +observed separately in different, distinct types. Sauroid fishes before +reptiles, Pterodactyles before birds, Ichthyosauri before dolphins, etc. +There are entire families, of nearly every class of animals, which +in the state of their perfect development exemplify such prophetic +relations.... The sauroid fishes of the past geological ages are an +example of this kind. These fishes, which preceded the appearance of +reptiles, present a combination of ichthyic and reptilian characters not +to be found in the true members of this class, which form its bulk at +present. The Pterodactyles, which preceded the class of birds, and the +Ichthyosauri, which preceded the Cetaeca, are other examples of such +prophetic types."[a] + +[Footnote a: Agassiz, _Contributions: Essay on Classification_, p. +117, where, we may be permitted to note, the word "Crustacea" is by a +typographical error printed in place of _Cetacea_.] + +Now these reptile-like fishes, of which gar-pikes are the living +representatives, though of earlier appearance, are admittedly of higher +rank than common fishes. They dominated until reptiles appeared, when +they mostly gave place to--or, as the derivationists will insist, were +resolved by divergent variation and natural selection into--common +fishes, destitute of reptilian characters, and saurian reptiles, the +intermediate grades, which, according to a familiar piscine saying, +are "neither fish, flesh, nor good red-herring," being eliminated and +extinguished by natural consequence of the struggle for existence which +Darwin so aptly portrays. And so, perhaps, of the other prophetic types. +Here type and antitype correspond. If these are true prophecies, we need +not wonder that some who read them in Agassiz's book will read their +fulfilment in Darwin's. + +Note also, in tins connection, that, along with a wonderful persistence +of type, with change of species, genera, orders, etc., from formation to +formation, no species and no higher group which has once unequivocally +died out ever afterwards reappears. Why is this, but that the link of +generation has been sundered? Why, on the hypothesis of independent +originations, were not failing species re-created, either identically or +with a difference, in regions eminently adapted to their well-being? To +take a striking case. That no part of the world now offers more suitable +conditions for wild horses and cattle than the Pampas and other plains +of South America is shown by the facility with which they have there run +wild and enormously multiplied, since introduced from the Old World not +long ago. There was no wild American stock. Yet in the times of the +Mastodon and Megatherium, at the dawn of the present period, wild +horses and cattle--the former certainly very much like the existing +horse--roamed over those plains in abundance. On the principle of +original and direct created adaptation of species to climate and other +conditions, why were these types not reproduced, when, after the colder +intervening era, those regions became again eminently adapted to such +animals? Why, but because, by their complete extinction in South +America, the line of descent was here utterly broken? Upon the ordinary +hypothesis, there is no scientific explanation possible of this series +of facts, and of many others like them. Upon the new hypothesis, "the +succession of the same types of structure within the same areas during +the later geological periods ceases to be mysterious, and is simply +explained by inheritance." Their cessation is failure of issue. + +Along with these considerations the fact (alluded to on p. 114) should +be remembered, that, as a general thing, related species of the present +age are geographically associated. The larger part of the plants, and +still more of the animals, of each separate country are peculiar to +it; and, as most species now flourish over the graves of their by-gone +relatives of former ages, so they now dwell among or accessibly near +their kindred species. + +Here also comes in that general "parallelism between the order of +succession of animals and plants in geological times, and the gradation +among their living representatives" from low to highly organized, +from simple and general to complex and specialized forms; also "the +parallelism between the order of succession of animals in geological +times--and the changes their living representatives undergo during their +embryological growth,"--as if the world were one prolonged gestation. +Modern science has much insisted on this parallelism, and to a certain +extent is allowed to have made it out. All these things, which conspire +to prove that the ancient and the recent forms of life "are somehow +intimately connected together in one grand system," equally conspire to +suggest that the connection is one similar or analogous to generation. +Surely no naturalist can be blamed for entering somewhat confidently +upon a field of speculative inquiry which here opens so invitingly; nor +need former premature endeavors and failures utterly dishearten him. + +All these things, it may naturally be said, go to explain the order, not +the mode, of the incoming of species. But they all do tend to bring out +the generalization expressed by Mr. Wallace in the formula, that "every +species has come into existence coincident both in time and space with +preëxisting closely allied species." Not, however, that this is proved +even of existing species as a matter of general fact. It is obviously +impossible to _prove_ anything of the kind. But we must concede that the +known facts strongly suggest such an inference. And since species are +only congeries of individuals, and every individual came into existence +in consequence of preëxisting individuals of the same sort, so leading +up to the individuals with which the species began, and since the only +material sequence we know of among plants and animals is that from +parent to progeny, the presumption becomes exceedingly strong that +the connection of the incoming with the preëxisting species is a +genealogical one. + +Here, however, all depends upon the probability that Mr. Wallace's +inference is really true. Certainly it is not yet generally accepted; +but a strong current is setting towards its acceptance. + +So long as universal cataclysms were in vogue, and all life upon the +earth was thought to have been suddenly destroyed and renewed many times +in succession, such a view could not be thought of. So the equivalent +view maintained by Agassiz, and formerly, we believe, by D'Orbigny, +that, irrespectively of general and sudden catastrophes, or any known +adequate physical cause, there has been a total depopulation at the +close of each geological period or formation, say forty or fifty times, +or more, followed by as many independent great acts of creation, at +which alone have species been originated, and at each of which a +vegetable and an animal kingdom were produced entire and complete, +full-fledged, as flourishing, as wide-spread and populous, as varied and +mutually adapted from the beginning as ever afterwards,--such a view, of +course, supersedes all material connection between successive species, +and removes even the association and geographical range of species +entirely out of the domain of physical causes and of natural science. +This is the extreme opposite of Wallace's and Darwin's view, and is +quite as hypothetical. The nearly universal opinion, if we rightly +gather it, manifestly is, that the replacement of the species of +successive formations was not complete and simultaneous, but partial +and successive; and that along the course of each epoch some species +probably were introduced, and some, doubtless, became extinct. If all +since the tertiary belongs to our present epoch, this is certainly true +of it: if to two or more epochs, then the hypothesis of a total change +is not true of them. + +Geology makes huge demands upon time; and we regret to find that it has +exhausted ours,--that what we meant for the briefest and most general +sketch of some geological considerations in favor of Darwin's hypothesis +has so extended as to leave no room for considering "the great facts of +comparative anatomy and zoölogy" with which Darwin's theory "very well +accords," nor for indicating how "it admirably serves for explaining the +unity of composition of all organisms, the existence of representative +and rudimentary organs, and the natural series which genera and species +compose." Suffice it to say that these are the real strongholds of the +new system on its theoretical side; that it goes far towards explaining +both the physiological and the structural gradations and relations +between the two kingdoms, and the arrangement of all their forms in +groups subordinate to groups, all within a few great types; that it +reads the riddle of abortive organs and of morphological conformity, of +which no other theory has ever offered a scientific explanation, and +supplies a ground for harmonizing the two fundamental ideas which +naturalists and philosophers conceive to have ruled the organic world, +though they could not reconcile them, namely: Adaptation to Purpose and +the Conditions of Existence, and Unity of Type. To reconcile these two +undeniable principles is a capital problem in the philosophy of natural +history; and the hypothesis which consistently does so thereby secures a +great advantage. + +We all know that the arm and hand of a monkey, the foreleg and foot of +a dog and of a horse, the wing of a bat, and the fin of a porpoise are +fundamentally identical; that the long neck of the giraffe has the same +and no more bones than the short one of the elephant; that the eggs of +Surinam frogs hatch into tadpoles with as good tails for swimming as any +of their kindred, although as tadpoles they never enter the water; that +the Guinea-pig is furnished with incisor teeth which it never uses, +as it sheds them before birth; that embryos of mammals and birds +have branchial slits and arteries running in loops, in imitation or +reminiscence of the arrangement which is permanent in fishes; and that +thousands of animals and plants have rudimentary organs which, at least +in numerous cases, are wholly useless to their possessors, etc., etc. +Upon a derivative theory this morphological conformity is explained by +community of descent; and it has not been explained in any other way. + +Naturalists are constantly speaking of "related species," of +the "affinity" of a genus or other group, and of "family +resemblance,"--vaguely conscious that these terms of kinship are +something more than mere metaphors, but unaware of the grounds of their +aptness. Mr. Darwin assures them that they have been talking derivative +doctrine all their lives without knowing it. + +If it is difficult and in some cases practically impossible to fix the +limits of species, it is still more so to fix those of genera; and those +of tribes and families are still less susceptible of exact natural +circumscription. Intermediate forms occur, connecting one group with +another in a manner sadly perplexing to systematists, except to those +who have ceased to expect absolute limitations in Nature. All this +blending could hardly fail to suggest a former material connection among +allied forms, such as that which an hypothesis of derivation demands. + +Here it would not be amiss to consider the general principle of +gradation throughout organic Nature,--a principle which answers in a +general way to the law of continuity in the inorganic world, or +rather is so analogous to it that both may fairly be expressed by +the Leibnitzian axiom, _Natura non agit saltatim_. As an axiom or +philosophical principle, used to test modal laws or hypotheses, this in +strictness belongs only to physics. In the investigation of Nature at +large, at least in the organic world, nobody would undertake to apply +this principle as a test of the validity of any theory or supposed law. +But naturalists of enlarged views will not fail to infer the principle +from the phenomena they investigate,--to perceive that the rule holds, +under due qualifications and altered forms, throughout the realm of +Nature; although we do not suppose that Nature in the organic world +makes no distinct steps, but only short and serial steps,--not +infinitely fine gradations, but no long leaps, or few of them. + +To glance at a few illustrations out of many that present themselves. It +would be thought that the distinction between the two organic kingdoms +was broad and absolute. Plants and animals belong to two very different +categories, fulfil opposite offices, and, as to the mass of them, are +so unlike that the difficulty of the ordinary observer would be to find +points of comparison. Without entering into details, which would fill an +article, we may safely say that the difficulty with the naturalist is +all the other way,--that all these broad differences vanish one by one +as we approach the lower confines of the two kingdoms, and that no +_absolute_ distinction whatever is now known between them. It is quite +possible that the same organism may be both vegetable and animal, or may +be first the one and then the other. If some organisms may be said to be +at first vegetables and then animals, others, like the spores and other +reproductive bodies of many of the lower Algae, may equally claim to +have first a characteristically animal, and then an unequivocally +vegetable existence. Nor is the gradation purely restricted to these +simple organisms. It appears in general functions, as in that of +reproduction, which is reducible to the same formula in both kingdoms, +while it exhibits close approximations in the lower forms; also in a +common or similar ground of sensibility in the lowest forms of both, +a common faculty of effecting movements tending to a determinate end, +traces of which pervade the vegetable kingdom,--while on the other hand, +this indefinable principle, this vegetable _animula vagula, blandula_, +graduates into the higher sensitiveness of the lower class of animals. +Nor need we hesitate to recognize the fine gradations from simple +sensitiveness and volition to the higher instinctive and other psychical +manifestations of the higher brute animals. The gradation is undoubted, +however we may explain it. Again, propagation is of one mode in the +higher animals, of two in all plants; but vegetative propagation, by +budding or offshoots, extends through the lower grades of animals. In +both kingdoms there may be separation of the offshoots, or indifference +in this respect, or continued and organic union with the parent stock; +and this either with essential independence of the offshoots, or with +a subordination of these to a common whole, or finally with such +subordination and amalgamation, along with specialization of function, +that the same parts, which in other cases can be regarded only as +progeny, in these become only members of an individual. + +This leads to the question of individuality, a subject quite too large +and too recondite for present discussion. The conclusion of the whole +matter, however, is, that individuality--that very ground of _being_ as +distinguished from _thing_--is not attained in Nature at one leap. If +anywhere truly exemplified in plants, it is only in the lowest and +simplest, where the being is a structural unit, a single cell, +memberless and organless, though organic,--the same thing as those cells +of which all the more complex plants are built up, and with which every +plant and (structurally) every animal began its development. In the +ascending gradation of the vegetable kingdom individuality is, so to +say, striven after, but never attained; in the lower animals it is +striven after with greater, though incomplete success; it is realized +only in animals of so high a rank that vegetative multiplication or +offshoots are out of the question, where all parts are strictly +members and nothing else, and all subordinated to a common nervous +centre,--fully realized, perhaps, only in a conscious person. + +So, also, the broad distinction between reproduction by seeds or ova and +propagation by buds, though perfect in some of the lowest forms of life, +becomes evanescent in others; and even the most absolute law we know in +the physiology of genuine reproduction, that of sexual co-operation, +has its exceptions in both kingdoms in parthenogenesis, to which in the +vegetable kingdom a most curious series of gradations leads. In plants, +likewise, a long and most finely graduated series of transitions leads +from bisexual to unisexual blossoms; and so in various other respects. +Everywhere we may perceive that Nature secures her ends, and makes her +distinctions on the whole manifest and real, but everywhere without +abrupt breaks. We need not wonder, therefore, that gradations between +species and varieties should occur; the more so, since genera, tribes, +and other groups into which the naturalist collocates species are +far from being always absolutely limited in Nature, though they are +necessarily represented to be so in systems. From the necessity of the +case, the classifications of the naturalist abruptly define where Nature +more or less blends. Our systems are nothing, if not definite. They +are intended to express differences, and perhaps some of the coarser +gradations. But this evinces, not their perfection, but their +imperfection. Even the best of them are to the system of Nature what +consecutive patches of the seven colors are to the rainbow. + +Now the principle of gradation throughout organic Nature may, of +course, be interpreted upon other assumptions than those of Darwin's +hypothesis,--certainly upon quite other than those of materialistic +philosophy, with which we ourselves have no sympathy. Still we conceive +it not only possible, but probable, that this gradation, as it has its +natural ground, may yet have its scientific explanation. In any case, +there is no need to deny that the general facts correspond well with an +hypothesis like Darwin's, which is built upon fine gradations. + +We have contemplated quite long enough the general presumptions in +favor of an hypothesis of the derivation of species. We cannot forget, +however, while for the moment we overlook, the formidable difficulties +which all hypotheses of this class have to encounter, and the serious +implications which they seem to involve. We feel, moreover, that +Darwin's particular hypothesis is exposed to some special objections. It +requires no small strength of nerve steadily to conceive not only of +the variation, but of the formation of the organs of an animal through +cumulative variation and natural selection. Think of such an organ as +the eye, that most perfect of optical instruments, as so produced in the +lower animals and perfected in the higher! A friend of ours, who accepts +the new doctrine, confesses that for a long while a cold chill came over +him whenever he thought of the eye. He has at length got over that stage +of the complaint, and is now in the fever of belief, perchance to be +succeeded by the sweating stage, during which sundry peccant humors may +be eliminated from the system. + +For ourselves, we dread the chill, and have some misgiving about the +consequences of the reaction. We find ourselves in the "singular +position" acknowledged by Pictet,--that is, confronted with a theory +which, although it can really explain much, seems inadequate to the +heavy task it so boldly assumes, but which, nevertheless, appears better +fitted than any other that has been broached to explain, if it be +possible to explain, somewhat of the manner in which organized beings +may have arisen and succeeded each other. In this dilemma we might take +advantage of Mr. Darwin's candid admission, that he by no means expects +to convince old and experienced people, whose minds are stocked with a +multitude of facts all viewed during a long course of years from the old +point of view. This is nearly our case. So, owning no call to a larger +faith than is expected of us, but not prepared to pronounce the whole +hypothesis untenable, under such construction as we should put upon it, +we naturally sought to attain a settled conviction through a perusal +of several proffered refutations of the theory. At least, this course +seemed to offer the readiest way of bringing to a head the various +objections to which the theory is exposed. On several accounts some +of these opposed reviews specially invite examination. We propose, +accordingly, to conclude our task with an article upon "Darwin and his +Reviewers." + + * * * * * + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Modern Painters_. By J. RUSKIN. Vol. V. Smith, Elder, & Co. London. + +The completion of a work of the importance of the "Modern Painters," +which has occupied in its production the thought and a large portion of +the labor of fourteen years, is an event of more interest than it often +falls to the lot of a book to excite; but when, as in this case, the +result shows the development of an individual taste and critical ability +entirely without peer in the history of art-letters, the value of the +whole work is immensely enhanced by the time which its publication +covers. + +The first volume of "Modern Painters" was, as everybody will remember, +one of the sensation-books of the time, and fell upon the public opinion +of the day like a thunderbolt from the clear sky. Denying, and in many +instances overthrowing, the received canons of criticism, and defying +all the accepted authorities in it, the author excited the liveliest +astonishment and the bitterest hostility of the professional critics in +general, and at once divided the world of art, so far as his influence +reached, into two parts: the one embracing most of the reverent and +conservative minds, and by far the larger; the other, most of the +enthusiastic, the radical, and earnest; but this, small in numbers +at first, was increased, and still increases, by the force of those +qualities of enthusiasm and earnestness, until now, in England, it +embraces nearly all of the true and living art of our time. But that +volume, professedly treating art with reference to its superficial +attributes and for a special purpose, the redemption of a great and +revered artist from unjust disparagement and undeserved neglect, +touched in scarcely the least degree the vital questions of taste or +art-production. It had no considerations of sentiment or discussion of +principles to offer: it dealt with facts, and touched the simple truths +of Nature with an enthusiastic fire and lucidness which were proof +positive of the knowledge and feeling of the author; and the public, +either conversant with those facts or capable of being satisfied of +them without much thought, abandoned itself to the fascination of his +eloquence and acquiesced in his teachings, or arrayed itself in utter +hostility to him and his new ideas. + +The second volume was more abstruse and deeper in feeling, and +comparatively few of Mr. Ruskin's followers through the first cared +to get entangled in the metaphysical mazes of the second, and it is +generally neglected, although containing some of the deepest and most +satisfactory studies on the fundamental principles of art and taste +which have ever been printed. + +The third and fourth volumes, coming up again nearer the surface, made +an application of the principles investigated to the material for art +which Nature furnishes; and here again the author found in part his +audience diminished among those who had at first been carried away by +his enthusiasm or silenced and convinced by his unhesitating dogmatism. +A partial reaction took place, owing not only to the change in the tone +of the "Modern Painters," but to the springing up of a new school of +painting, the consequence, mainly and legitimately, of the teachings of +the work,--the pre-Raphaelite,--which, at once attacked virulently and +immeasurably by the old school of critics, and defended as earnestly by +Mr. Ruskin, became the subject of the war which was still waged between +him and them. Turner in the meanwhile had passed away and was admitted +to apotheosis, the malignant critics of yesterday becoming the ignorant +adulators of to-day: _his_ position was conceded, but the hostility to +Ruskin was sustained with unabated bitterness on the new field. He +was demolished anew, and proved, many useless times over and over, an +ignorant pretender; the public in the meanwhile, even his opponents, +taking up in turn his _protégés_, as he pointed them out to their +notice. The effect of his criticisms in enhancing the value of the works +they approved would be incredible, if one did not know how glad an +English public is to be led. As a single instance,--a drawing which was +sold from one of the water-color exhibitions at fifty guineas, sold +again, after Ruskin's notice, at two hundred and fifty; and in the lists +of pictures sold or to be sold at auction, one sees constantly, "Noticed +by Mr. Ruskin," "Approved by Mr. Ruskin," appended to the title. + +The third volume, being devoted to the correction of the ideas of Style +and the Ideal, to Finish, and a review of the Past Landscape-Painting, +recurs to Turner in its closing chapter, "On his Teachers"; the fourth +was given to Mountain _Beauty_, following the parallel of the first, +which treated of the _Truth_ of Mountains, and bearing as its burden of +moral the expression of that Ideal by Turner; and the fifth now comes to +conclude the investigations on the Ideal by chapters: first, on "Leaf +Beauty," an exceedingly interesting investigation of the development +of the forms of trees and plants as concerned with the laws of beauty; +second, "Cloud Beauty"; and then of the "Ideas of Relation," in which +the author comes finally to the demonstration of the right of Turner to +his position amongst the thinking and poetic painters. + +From the first division, "Leaf Beauty," we must make one extract. +The author has been speaking of the, influence of the Pine on Swiss +character. + +"But the point which I desire the reader to note is, that the character +of the scene which, if any, appears to have been impressive to the +inhabitant is not that which we ourselves feel when we enter the +district. It was not from their lakes, nor their cliffs, nor their +glaciers, though these were all peculiarly their possession, that the +three venerable cantons or states received their name. They were not +called the States of the Rock, nor the States of the Lake, but the +States of the _Forest_. And the one of the three which contains the most +touching record of the spiritual power of Swiss religion, in the name of +the convent of the 'Hill of Angels,' has for its own none but the sweet, +childish name of 'Under the Woods.' + +"And, indeed, you may pass under them, if, leaving the most sacred spot +in Swiss history, the Meadow of the Three Fountains, you bid the boatman +row southward a little way by the Bay of Uri. Steepest there, on its +western side, the walls of its rocks ascend to heaven. Far in the blue +of evening, like a great cathedral-pavement, lies the lake in its +darkness; and you may hear the whisper of innumerable falling waters +return from the hollows of the cliff like the voices of a multitude +praying under their breath. From time to time, the beat of a wave, slow +lifted, where the rocks lean over the black depth, dies heavily as the +last note of a requiem. Opposite, green with steep grass and set with +châlet villages, the Tron Alp rises in one solemn glow of pastoral light +and peace; and above, against the clouds of twilight, ghostly on the +gray precipice, stand, myriad by myriad, the shadowy armies of the +Unterwalden pine. + +"I have seen that it is possible for the stranger to pass through this +great chapel, with its font of waters, and mountain pillars, and vaults +of cloud, without being touched by one noble thought or stirred by any +sacred passion; but for those who received from its waves the baptism +of their youth, and learned beneath its rocks the fidelity of their +manhood, and watched amidst its clouds the likeness of the dream of +life, with the eyes of age,--for these I will not believe that the +mountain-shrine was built or the calm of its forest-shadows guarded by +their God in vain." + +But perhaps that conclusion of Ruskin's, in the new volume, which will +most interest his earnest readers, is that the Venetian school is _the +only religious school that has ever existed_. So much has Ruskin's +development seemed to contradict itself, that one is scarcely surprised +at one conclusion being apparently opposed to the former one; but a +change so great as this, from Giotto, Perugino, and Cima, to Tintoret, +Titian, and Veronese, as the religious ideals, will, indeed, amaze all +who read it. Yet this is but the logical consequence of his progression +hitherto. If he commenced with a belief that asceticism was religion, he +would recognize Perugino and Giotto as the true religious artists; but +if, as seems to be the case, he has learned at last that religion is a +thing of daily life, mingling in all that we do, caring for body as well +as soul, sense as well as spirit, and that a complete man must be a +man who _lives_ in every sense of the word, then the Venetians, as the +painters of the truth of life in _all_ its joy and sorrow, are the true +painters, and the only ones whose art was inhabited by a religion worth +following. + +It is interesting to follow what are called Ruskin's contradictions and +see how perfectly they represent the whole system of artistic truth, as +seen from the different points of a young artist's or student's growth +up to mature and ripened judgment; so that there is no stage of artistic +development which has not some form of truth particularly adapted to it, +in the "Modern Painters." If it be urged that the book should have been +written only from the point of final development, it can only be said +that no true book will ever he so written, for no man can ever be +certain of his having attained final truth. "Modern Painters" has +value in this very showing of the critical development, which to an +intelligent student is greater than that a complete and infallible guide +could have. + +The chapter on Invention is full of the most delightful artistic truth, +and shows completely, by copious illustrations, how well Turner deserved +the rank Ruskin gives him amongst great composers. The analyses of the +compositions of Turner are most curious and interesting, but, of course, +depend on the accompanying plates. Some most valuable mental philosophy +bearing on the production of art-works concludes Part VIII., which +is devoted to "Invention Formal," of which we quote the concluding +paragraphs:-- + +"Until the feelings can give strength enough to the will to enable it +to conquer them, they are not strong enough. If you cannot leave your +picture at any moment, cannot turn from it and go on with another while +the color is drying, cannot work at any part of it you choose with equal +contentment, you have not firm enough grasp of it. + +"It follows, also, that no vain or selfish person can possibly paint, +in the noble sense of the word. Vanity and selfishness are troublous, +eager, anxious, petulant: painting can only be done in calm of mind. +Resolution is not enough to secure this; it must be secured by +disposition as well. You may resolve to think of your picture only; but, +if you have been fretted before beginning, no manly or clear grasp of +it will be possible for you. No forced calm is calm enough: only honest +calm, natural calm. You might as well try by external pressure to smooth +a lake till it could reflect the sky, as by violence of effort to secure +the peace through which only you can reach imagination. That peace must +come in its own time, as the waters settle themselves into clearness as +well as quietness: you can no more filter your mind into purity than you +can compress it into calmness; you must keep it pure, if you would have +it pure; and throw no stones into it, if you would have it quiet. Great +courage and self-command may to a certain extent give power of painting +without the true calmness underneath, but never of doing first-rate +work. There is sufficient evidence of this in even what we know of great +men, though of the greatest we nearly always know the least (and that +necessarily; they being very silent, and not much given to setting +themselves forth to questioners,--apt to be contemptuously reserved no +less than unselfishly). But in such writings and sayings as we possess +of theirs we may trace a quite curious gentleness and serene courtesy. +Rubens's letters are almost ludicrous in their unhurried politeness. +Reynolds, swiftest of painters, was gentlest of companions; so also +Velasquez, Titian, and Veronese. + +"It is gratuitous to add that no shallow or petty person can paint. Mere +cleverness or special gift never made an artist. It is only perfectness +of mind, unity, depth, decision, the highest qualities, in fine, of the +intellect, which will form the imagination. + +"And, lastly, no false person can paint. A person false at heart may, +when it suits his purposes, seize a stray truth here or there; but the +relations of truth, its perfectness, that which makes it wholesome +truth, he can never perceive. As wholeness and wholesomeness go +together, so also sight with sincerity; it is only the constant desire +of and submissiveness to truth, which can measure its strange angles +and mark its infinite aspects, and fit them and knit them into sacred +invention. + +"Sacred I call it deliberately; for it is thus in the most accurate +senses, humble as well as helpful,--meek in its receiving as magnificent +in its disposing; the name it bears being rightly given even to +invention formal, not because it forms, but because it finds. For you +cannot find a lie; you must make it for yourself. False things may be +imagined, and false things composed; but only truth can be invented." + +One of those cardinal doctrines by which we may learn the bearings of a +writer's system of truth is that of Ruskin's of the intimate connection +between landscape art and humanity. + +"Fragrant tissue of flowers, golden circlet of clouds, are only fair +when they meet the fondness of human thoughts and glorify human visions +of heaven. + +"It is the leaning on this truth which more than any other has been the +distinctive character of all my own past work. And in closing a series +of art-studies, prolonged during so many years, it may be perhaps +permitted me to point out this specialty,--the rather that it has been, +of all their characters, the one most denied. I constantly see that the +same thing takes place in the estimation formed by the modern public of +the work of almost any true person, living or dead. It is not needful +to state here the causes of such error; but the fact is indeed so, that +precisely the distinctive root and leading force of any true man's work +and way are the things denied him. + +"And in these books of mine, their distinctive character, as essays on +art, is their bringing everything to a root in human passion or human +hope. Arising first not in any desire to explain the principles of art, +but in the endeavor to defend an individual painter from injustice, they +have been colored throughout, nay, continually altered in shape, and +even warped and broken, by digressions respecting social questions, +which had for me an interest tenfold greater than the work I had been +forced into undertaking. Every principle of painting which I have +stated is traced to some vital or spiritual fact; and in my works on +architecture the preference accorded finally to one school over another +is founded on a comparison of their influences on the life of the +workman,--a question by all other writers on the subject of architecture +wholly forgotten or despised. + +"The essential connection of the power of landscape with human emotion +is not less certain because in many impressive pictures the link is +slight or local. That the connection should exist at a single point is +all that we need.... That difference, and more, exists between the power +of Nature through which humanity is seen, and her power in the desert. +Desert,--whether of leaf or sand,--true desertness, is not in the want +of leaves, but of life. Where humanity is not and was not, the best +natural beauty is more than vain. It is even terrible; not as the +dress cast aside from the body, but as an embroidered shroud hiding a +skeleton." + +The volume, as a whole, will be found less dogmatic, calmer, more +convincing, and more directly applicable to artistic judgment, than any +of the others. There is the same love of mysticism and undermeanings, +but freighted with deeper and more central truths: a charming conclusion +to a fourteen-years' diary of such study of Art and Nature, so severe, +so unremitting, as never critic gave before. + + +_Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb._ By W.W. GOODWIN, +Ph.D. Cambridge: Sever and Francis. + +Grammarians had once a simple way of disposing of the subject on which +Professor Goodwin has given us this elaborate treatise of three hundred +pages. + +In the Greek Grammar of the Messieurs de Port Royal, which Gibbon +praises so highly in his charming autobiography, and which has passed +through several editions in England within the present century, we +are taught, that, "though the moods [in Greek] are not to be rejected +entirely, yet their signification is sometimes so very arbitrary, that +they are put for one another through all tenses." Lancelot himself +seems to have had a glimmering of the essential incredibility of this +statement; for, though he attempts to substantiate it by citing from +Greek authors a number of passages in which the Greek idiom happens to +differ from the Latin,--passages, however, which Mr. Goodwin would have +been glad to use, had they fallen in his way, to illustrate the regular +constructions of the language,--he feels it necessary to appeal to +the authority of the learned Budæus, the greatest of the early Greek +scholars. Strange as it seems that really accomplished Greek scholars +should have charged Plato and Demosthenes, speaking the most perfect of +tongues, with arbitrary interchanges of moods and tenses, yet the same +views continued to be presented in grammatical works down to the close +of the last century. The transition to the new school of grammarians was +made in 1792, by the publication of a Greek Grammar by Philip Buttmann, +which, in the greatly improved form which it afterwards received from +his hands, is familiar to all Greek scholars. In our frequent boasts of +the great strides that knowledge has taken in the present century, we +commonly have in mind the physical sciences; but we doubt whether in any +department of physical science the manuals in use seventy-five years +ago are so utterly inferior to those of the present day as are, for +instance, the remarks of Viger, and his commentators before Hermann, on +the syntax of the Greek verb, to the philosophical treatment of the same +points by Professor Goodwin. + +This work is entitled, we think, to rank with the best grammars of the +Greek language that have appeared in German or English, in all the +points that constitute grammatical excellence; while its monographic +character justified and required an exhaustive treatment of its +particular topic, not to be found even in the huge grammars of Matthiæ +and Kühner. Indeed, not the least of its merits is this, that, in +addition to the excellent matter which is original with Professor +Goodwin, it furnishes to the student, American or English,--for we hope +to see its merits recognized on the other side of the Atlantic,--a +digest, as it were, of all that is most valuable on the subject of the +syntax of the Greek verb in the best German grammars, from Buttmann +to Madvig, enhanced, too, in value by being recast and worked into a +homogeneous system by an acute scholar and experienced teacher. One +excellence of the book we would by no means pass over, an excellence +which we are sure will be particularly appreciated by all who have used +translations of German grammars,--the precision both of thought and +expression by which it is characterized, which releases the student from +the labor of constructing the meaning of a rule from the data of the +appended examples. Not that Mr. Goodwin is chary of examples; on the +contrary, one of the most attractive and not least profitable features +of the book is the copiousness and freshness of the illustrative +quotations from Greek authors. These are as welcome as the brightness of +newly minted coin to the eye which, in consulting grammar after grammar, +has been condemned to meet under corresponding rules always the same +examples, till they begin to produce that effect upon the nerves which +all have experienced at the mention of the deadly upas-tree, or the +imminence of the dissolution of the Union. + +We must not omit to speak of the typographical merit of the work,--and +especially of what constitutes the first and the last merit of books of +this class, the excellent table of contents, and the indexes, Greek and +English, which leave nothing to be desired in the way of facility of +reference, except, perhaps, an index to the quotations. + + +_The Law of the Territories_. Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Son. + +The author of the two able essays contained in this volume will be +remembered by many of our readers under his assumed name of "Cecil." +The second, as he himself tells us, on "Popular Sovereignty in the +Territories," was published, as one of a series of essays on Southern +politics, in the Philadelphia _North American and United States +Gazette_. The first, we believe, has never been published before. + +Our author, whom we may designate, without violating any confidence, as +Mr. George Sidney Fisher, devotes an elaborate preface, which is itself +a third essay, to discussing the invasion of Virginia by John Brown and +the Southern threats of secession, drawing from the foray of Harper's +Ferry a conclusion very different from that of the disunionists. In his +own words,-- + + "Disunion is a word of fear. Is it not + strange that it should have been as yet pronounced + only by the South? The danger of + insurrection and servile war belongs to the + nature of slavery. It is, perhaps, not too much + to assert that the safety and tranquillity of + Southern society depend on the fact that the + Northern people are close at hand to aid in + case of need,--that the power of the General + Government is ever ready for the same purpose. + Four millions of barbarians, growing + with tropical vigor, and soon to be eight millions, + with tropical passions boiling in their + blood, endowed with native courage, with + sinews strong by toil, and stimulated by the + hope of liberty and unbounded license, are + not to be trifled with. Take away from them + the idea of an irresistible power in the North, + ready at any moment to be invoked by their + masters, or let them expect in the North, not + enemies, but friends and supporters, which + even now they are told every day by these + masters they may expect,--and how soon + might a flame be lighted which no power in + the South could extinguish!" + +Mr. Fisher treats of the "Law of the Territories" in two essays,--the +first considering more particularly "The Territories and the +Constitution," the second, "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories." The +first commences with a quotation so happy that it has all the effect of +original wit:-- + + "The wily and witty Talleyrand was once + asked the meaning of the word 'non-intervention,' + so often used in European diplomacy. + 'It is a word,' he replied, 'metaphysical and + political, not accurately defined, but which + means--much the same thing as intervention!' + The same word has been frequently + employed, of late years, in our politics, with + the same difference between its professed + and its practical signification. It was introduced + for the first time in reference to the + government of the Territories, when it became + an object for the South to gain Kansas as a + Slave State. Two obstacles were to be overcome. + One was the Missouri Compromise, + which was a solemn compact between North + and South to settle a disturbing and dangerous + question; the other was a possible majority + in Congress, that, it was feared, might prohibit + slavery in the new Territory. Southern + politicians had at the time control of the government; + and they got rid of both difficulties + by repealing the Missouri Compromise in the + Kansas and Nebraska Bill. By necessary implication, + arising from the relation of the Territories + to the rest of the nation, by the language + of the Constitution, and by the uniform + construction of it and practice under it from + the earliest period of our history, the Territories + had been subjected to the absolute control + of the General Government. By the Kansas + and Nebraska Bill they were withdrawn + from that control. The principle of Popular + Sovereignty, it was said, applied to them as + well as to the States; and this bill declared + that the people of the Territories should be + perfectly free to choose their own domestic + institutions and regulate their own affairs in + their own way." + +The means employed to carry out this plan and the ultimate failure of +the plan itself are sketched with a boldness and vigor that our limits, +much to our regret, forbid our reproducing. Mr. Fisher, however, fails +to notice the wretched plea put forth by the Democratic managers, +in favor of the recognition by Congress of the Lecompton +Constitution,--that it had been officially authenticated. All might be +wrong, but the official record pronounced it right; and behind that +record Congress had no authority to go. And this plea was advanced in +the face of overwhelming evidence tending to show that the officials, +for whose record so inviolable a sanctity was claimed, were appointed +for the express purpose of falsifying that record! If confirmation be +wanted, we need go no farther than the fate of Robert J. Walker, who was +eager to make Kansas a Slave State, but was so false to every principle +of Democratic integrity as to confine himself to legitimate means to +bring about that result,--a remissness for which he was promptly removed +by President Buchanan! Mr. Fisher pertinently says,-- + +"Two great facts were plainly visible through the flimsy web of attorney +logic and quibbling technicality, not very ingeniously woven to conceal +them. One of these facts was, that the people of Kansas were heartily +and almost unanimously averse to slavery; the other was, that the +Government was trying by every means in its power to impose slavery upon +them." + +After describing the contemptuous rejection by the people of Kansas of +the pro-slavery constitution, Mr. Fisher proceeds with an analysis of +the Kansas-Nebraska fraud, so clear and so masterly that we must again +quote his own language, with an occasional condensation or omission. + +"It was clear, therefore, that the principle of Popular Sovereignty, +introduced by the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, a principle before unknown +to the law and practice of our government, would not suit the South. +It appeared too probable that not only the people to inhabit all the +territory north of 36° 30', but also much territory south of it, would, +like the people of Kansas, reject slavery, if left to regulate their +domestic institutions in their own way. What, then, were Southern +politicians to do? Invoke the ancient and long exercised, but now denied +and derided power of Congress over the Territories? This might prove a +dangerous weapon in the hands of possible future Northern majorities. It +was obviously necessary to withdraw slavery alike from the control of +Congress and of the people of a Territory. Some ingenuity was required +for this. The doctrine that the Constitution extends to the Territories +(a doctrine broached before by Mr. Calhoun, but always defeated on the +ground that the Constitution, by its language and the practice under it, +was made for States only, and that the Territories were subject to the +supreme control of Congress,--a control frequently exercised, not only +independently of the Constitution, but in a manner incompatible with it) +was introduced, with other innovations, into the Kansas and Nebraska +Bill. The Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court followed, by which +the Constitution recognizes slavery as a national institution. It +recognizes slaves as mere property, differing in no respect from other +merchandise. The Territories belong to the nation. Every citizen has +equal rights to them and in them. Why, therefore, may not a Southern +man, as well as a Northern man, go into them with his _property_? What +right has Congress to place the South under an ignominious bar of +restriction? The Constitution declares that slaves are property; that +all the States and the people have equal rights. The Territories belong +to all. Therefore, under the Constitution, they should be enjoyed by +all. + +"By this ingenious logic the Kansas and Nebraska Bill is made to +contradict itself. It first declares that the Constitution extends to +the Territories; in other words, slavery exists there by force of the +Constitution, without reference to the will of the people. It then says +that the people of the Territories shall be 'perfectly free to form and +regulate their domestic institutions in their own way.' + +"The contradictions, duplicity, and absurdity of the law are obvious at +once. The first sentence announces a change in the settled principles +and policy of the Government; else why declare that the Constitution +'_shall_' extend to Nebraska, if it already extended there? Then comes +the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The reason given for this is, +that it is inconsistent with the non-intervention by Congress with +slavery, recognized in the Compromise of 1850. But that law declares +positively that Congress does not intervene, _because it is +'inexpedient'_ to do so; and gives the reason why it is inexpedient. The +_power_ of Congress _was asserted_ by Mr. Clay, who made the law, and +the terms of it were chosen for the very purpose of preventing any +inference being drawn from it against that power. + +"It is remarkable, too, that the Bill, whilst declaring the _perfect_ +freedom of the Territories, should still have left them subject to the +power of the President, who, as before, is permitted to appoint their +Governor, Judges, and Marshals, officers who are his agents, and without +whose sanction the acts of the Territorial Legislature can neither +become laws, nor be construed and applied, nor executed. So that the +will of the people may be defeated, should it happen to be opposed to +the will of the President: as was seen in the case of Kansas. + +"Why," Mr. Fisher asks, "is the anomalous monster of Popular Sovereignty +to be introduced with reference to slavery? Is it because slaves are +'mere property'? Why, then, not subject all property, land included, to +popular control? Is it because the subject of slavery is an exciting +topic, a theme for dangerous agitation, to be checked only by placing +the subject beyond the power of Congress? The answer is, that Congress +cannot abdicate its power on the ground of expediency. If it may give up +one power, it may give up all. Nor can Congress delegate its power for +the same reason. Trust power, from its very nature, cannot be delegated. +To break down great principles, to set aside ancient usage, to abandon +legal authority, in order to appease the contests of parties, is too +great a sacrifice. No true peace can come of it; only suppressed and +adjourned war." + +The natural inference from the extracts we have given would be that Mr. +Fisher was a member of the Republican party. But such is not the fact: +Mr. Fisher rests his hope upon a party "yet to be organized." "The +extreme Northern, or Free-soil, or Abolition party is only less guilty +than the extreme Southern and Democratic party." Which? Does Mr. Fisher +mean that "Northern," "Free-soil," and "Abolition" are synonymous terms? +And does any or do all of them mean the Republican party? Or, finally, +does Mr. Fisher shrink from the conclusions presented by his logic, and +is his vaguely convenient linking together of different words intended +to leave his position gracefully doubtful? And in that case, do the +Baltimore nominations, with their innocent unconsciousness, supply his +political needs? It is not easy to answer these questions. We begin now +upon the views of a Pennsylvania Oppositionist; and quicksilver defied +not more utterly the skill of Raymond Lullius than the doctrines of the +Philadelphia school perplex the inquiries of sharply defined New England +minds. The rudimentary state of Republican principles may nowhere else +be so clearly seen as in Pennsylvania. Four years of the Democratic +administration of her "favorite son" have done much to make her less +favored sons into good Republicans; but the State needs another +Democratic President. Mr. Fisher appears to much more advantage in +pulling down than in building up. We have hitherto seen only the keen, +fearless dissector of fraud and hypocrisy; we are now to contemplate a +circumspect alarmist, who dreads to call things by their right names +for fear of unpleasant consequences. He is such a master of English, +so judicious in the use of middle terms,--so shrewd a fencer +altogether,--that even his timidity cannot make him other than a +formidable opponent. + +Mr. Fisher, believing that slavery receives ample protection from a fair +interpretation of the Constitution, holds that + +"Congress has plenary power over the Territories, often exercised on +this subject of slavery. It may be said that Congress has on various +occasions prohibited slavery in the Territories. True; but with the +consent and coöperation of the Southern States. The people of all the +States have equal right in the Territories. To exclude the people of the +Slave States, therefore, _without their consent_, would be unequal and +opposed to the spirit of the Constitution." + +Certainly it would. Who proposes to do it? No living man, woman, or +child. It is worth noticing, by the way, that the Republican party is +not committed to the doctrine of carrying out the principle of the +Wilmot Proviso. But supposing it were, Mr. Fisher's argument has +no force or direction, unless he can establish his suppressed +premise,--that the exclusion of slavery from the Territories is the +exclusion of "the people of the Slave States" from the Territories. +And to make that good, all Mr. Fisher's skill and ingenuity will +be required. Why so many Northern politicians should have weakly +surrendered this point is a mystery. Because the slaveholders (who are +not, Mr. Fisher, "the people of the Slave States," by any means, but a +small portion of them) are at home a privileged aristocracy, have they +any claim to the same position abroad? If so, on what does it rest? The +laws of the Southern States? They are now beyond their jurisdiction. The +common law? To that wise and beneficent law slavery is a thing unknown. +The Constitution? It is silent. There is no exclusion of the Southerners +even proposed. Let them come: but when they claim to carry with them +the right to hold a certain class of men as property because they +are recognized as property by certain local regulations elsewhere +prevailing, they must not complain, if such a claim be disallowed. The +Southerner's complaint, that he is accustomed to the institution of +slavery, is fairly met by the Northerner's retort, that he is accustomed +to the institution of freedom. + +Now, which voice shall prevail? Neither party has any more right than +the other; and neither party has any right at all. The Territories are +in a state of wardship; and Congress is to decide as it thinks best for +their welfare, present and future; and if Congress thinks that a nation +prospers with free institutions and droops under slavery, then let +Congress admit the Territory as a Free State. True, there is some +inconvenience to the slave-holder; but from so abnormal a relation as +slavery some inconvenience must result. When admitted to be a necessary +evil, it is barely tolerable; when boastingly proclaimed to be a +sovereign good, it is fairly intolerable. And it is both criminal and +foolish to try to make good all the evils inseparable from slavery by +systematic injustice to other interests. + + "Slavery has changed. When Southern + men consented to its prohibition, they hoped + and believed that the time would come when + it could be abolished altogether. They have + as much right to these as to their former opinions, + and to have them represented in the + Government." + +Here Mr. Fisher hints at, rather than fully states, the grand retort of +the Southerners,--"Our fathers, you say, were opposed to slavery: very +good; but we are not: why should we be bound by their opinions?" A mere +misapprehension of the force of the argument. The Southerner of 1860 is +_not_ bound by the opinions of Madison and Jefferson; but the North +may fairly adduce the opinions of those men, who were framers of the +Constitution, not as binding upon their descendants, but as serving to +explain the meaning of disputed provisions in that Constitution. The +Constitution binds us all, North and South: then recurs the question, +What is the meaning of its provisions? and _then_ the contemporaneous +opinions of its framers come legitimately into play as an argument. + +Of the Missouri Compromise Mr. Fisher says,-- + + "It may be said that this law was a violation + of the equal rights of the Southern people, + by excluding them from a large portion + of the national domain. The answer is, not + merely that this was done with their consent, + their representatives having approved the law, + but that the law did recognize their rights, + by dividing between them and the Northern + people all the territory then possessed by the + Government." + +We are surprised that upon his own presentation of the case this simple +question does not occur to Mr. Fisher: Supposing the South and the North +to have had equal and conflicting rights in the national domain, and +supposing that there was need of some arbiter, and remembering that +Congress undertook the duties of arbiter and decided that the +division under the Missouri Compromise gave each section its rightful +share,--then, with what propriety can the South, after occupying its own +share, call for a portion in the share allotted to the North? + +The second essay, on "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories," presents +comparatively few salient points. A very spirited and just history of +the working of the Administration schemes in Kansas, a restating of +some of the arguments against the Kansas-Nebraska Act set forth in the +preceding essay, and a remonstrance against the headstrong course of +Southern politicians are its most noticeable features. + + "The Union, the Constitution, and the + friendship of the North: these are the pillars + on which rest the peace, the safety, the + independence of the South. The extraordinary + thing is, that for some years past the South + has been, and now is, sedulously employed in + undermining this triple foundation of its power + and safety. Its extravagant pretensions, + its excesses, its crimes, are rapidly cooling + the friendship of the North,--converting it, + indeed, into positive enmity. Its leading politicians + are ever plotting and threatening disunion. + disunion will he proffered to them from the North, not + as a vague and passionate threat, but as a positive + and well-considered plan, backed by a + force of public opinion which nothing can resist. + Ere long, the South is likely to be left + with no other defence than the Union it has + weakened and the Constitution it has mutilated + and defaced. + + "The makers of the Kansas and Nebraska + law were clumsy workmen. They forgot to + provide for the case of an anti-slavery President. + They will, perhaps, learn wisdom by + experience. + + "'To wilful men + The injuries that they themselves procure + Must be their schoolmasters.' + + "Those who framed the Constitution and laid + the foundation of this Union understood their + business better. That Constitution was intended + to protect the South, and has protected + it. Southern politicians cannot improve + it. For their own sakes they had better + let it alone." + +We have given enough to show that in discussing Mr. Fisher we are +dealing with two different men. The field is now clear for the great +political contest of 1860. Mr. Fisher may have allied himself before +this with the Republicans, or may look to have his anticipations +fulfilled by that third party who are as unconscious of wrong as +powerless to rectify it, "the world-forgetting, by the world forgot." We +wish him well through his troubles. + + +_A Dictionary of English Etymology._ By HENSLEIGH WEDGWOOD, M. A. Late +Fellow of Chr. Coll. Cam. Vol. I. (A-D.) London: Trübner and Co., 60 +Paternoster Row. 1859. pp. xxiv., 507. + +There is nothing more dangerously fascinating than etymologies. To the +uninitiated the victim seems to have eaten of "insane _roots_ that take +the reason prisoner"; while the illuminate too often looks upon the +stems and flowers of language, the highest achievements of thought and +poesy, as mere handles by which to pull up the grimy tubers that lie at +the base of articulate expression, shapeless knobs of speech, sacred to +him as the potato to the Irishman. + +The sarcasms of Swift were not without justification; for crazier +analogies than that between Andromache and Andrew Mackay have been +gravely insisted on by persons who, like the author of "Amilec," +believed that the true secret of philosophizing _est celui de rêver +heureusement_. It is only within a few years that etymological +investigations have been limited by anything; like scientific precision, +or that profound study, patient thought, and severity of method +have asserted in this, as in other departments of knowledge, their +superiority to point-blank guessing and the bewitching generalization +conjured out of a couple or so of assumed facts, which, even if they +turn out to be singly true, are no more nearly related than Hecate and +green cheese. + +We do not object to that milder form of philology of which the works +of Dean Trench offer the readiest and most pleasing example, and which +confines itself to the mere study of words, to the changes of form and +meaning they have undergone and the forgotten moral that lurks in them. +But the interest of Dr. Trench and others like him sticks fast in words, +it is almost wholly an aesthetic interest, and does not pretend to +concern itself with the deeper problems of language, its origin, its +comparative anatomy, its bearing upon the prehistoric condition of +mankind and the relations of races, and its claim to a place among the +natural sciences as an essential element in any attempt to reconstruct +the broken and scattered annals of our planet. It would not be just to +find fault with Dr. Trench's books for lacking a scientific treatment +to which they make no pretension, but they may fairly be charged with +smelling a little too much of the shop. There is a faint odor of the +sermon-case about every page, and we learn to dread, sometimes to skip, +the inevitable homily, as we do the moral at the end of an Æsopic fable. +We enter our protest, not against Dr. Trench in particular, for his +books have other and higher claims to our regard, but because we find +that his example is catching, the more so as verbal morality is much +cheaper than linguistic science. If there be anything which the study of +words should teach, it is their value. + +There are two theories as to the origin of language, which, for +shortness, may be defined as the poetic and the matter-of-fact. The +former (of which M. Ernest Renan is one of the most eloquent advocates) +supposes a primitive race or races endowed with faculties of cognition +and expression so perfect and so intimately responsive one to the +other, that the name of a thing came into being coincidently with the +perception of it. Verbal inflections and other grammatical forms came +into use gradually to meet the necessities of social commerce between +man and man, and were at some later epoch reduced to logical system by +constructive minds. If we understand him rightly, while not excluding +the influence of _onomatopeia_, (or physical imitation,) he would attach +a far greater importance to metaphysical causes. He says admirably +well, "La liaison du sens et du mot n'est jamais _nécessaire_, jamais +_arbitraire_; toujours elle est _motivée_." His theory amounts to this: +that the fresh perfection of the senses and the mental faculties made +the primitive man a poet. + +The other theory seeks the origin of language in certain imitative +radicals out of which it has analogically and metaphorically developed +itself. This system has at least the merits of clearness and simplicity, +and of being to a certain extent capable of demonstration. Its +limitation in this last respect will depend upon that mental +constitution which divides men naturally into Platonists and +Aristotelians. It has never before received so thorough an exposition +or been tested by so wide a range of application as in Mr. Wedgwood's +volume, nor could it well be more fortunate in its advocate. Mr. +Wedgwood is thorough, scrupulous, and fair-minded. + +It will be observed that neither theory brings any aid to the attempt +of Professor Max Müller and others to demonstrate etymologically the +original unity of the human race. Mr. Wedgwood leaves this question +aside, as irrelevant to his purpose. M. Renan combats it at considerable +length. The logical consequence of admitting either theory would be that +the problem was simply indemonstrable. + +At first sight, so imaginative a scheme as that of M. Renan is +singularly alluring; for, even when qualified by the sentence we have +quoted, we may attach such a meaning to the word _motivée_ as to find in +words the natural bodies of which the Platonic ideas are the soul and +spirit. We find in it a correlative illustration of that notion not +uncommon among primitive poets, and revived by the Cabalists, that +whoever knew the Word of a thing was master of the thing itself, and an +easy way of accounting for the innate fitness and necessity, the fore +ordination, which stamps the phrases of real poets. If, on the other +hand, we accept Mr. Wedgwood's system, we must consider speech, as +the theologians of the Middle Ages assumed of matter, to be only +_potentiated_ with life and soul, and shall find the phenomenon of +poetry as wonderful, if less mysterious, when we regard the fineness of +organization requisite to a perception of the remote analogies of sense +and thought, and the power, as of Solomon's seal, which can compel the +unwilling genius back into the leaden void which language becomes when +used as most men use it. + +There is a large class of words which every body admits to be imitative +of sounds,--such, for example, as _bang, splash, crack_,--and Mr. +Wedgwood undertakes to show that their number and that of their +derivative applications is much larger than is ordinarily supposed. He +confines himself almost wholly to European languages, but not always to +the particular class of etymologies which it is his main object to trace +out. Some of his explanations of words, not based upon any real or +assumed radical, but showing their gradual passage toward their present +forms and meanings, are among the most valuable parts of the book. +As striking proofs of this, we refer our readers to Mr. Wedgwood's +treatment of the words _abide, abie, allow, danger, and denizen_. When +he differs from other authorities, it is never inconsiderately or +without examination. Now and then we think his derivations are +far-fetched, when simpler ones were lying near his hand. He makes the +Italian _balcone_ come from the Persian _båia khaneh_, an upper chamber. +An upper chamber over a gate in the Persian caravanserais is still +called by that name, according to Rich. (p. 97.) Yet under the +word _balk_ we find, "A hayloft is provincially termed the _balks_, +(Halliwell,) because situated among the rafters. Hence also, probably, +the Ital. _balco_, or _pulcoy_ a scaffold; a loftlike erection supported +upon beams." As a _balcone_ is not an upper chamber, nor a chamber over +a gate, but is precisely "a loftlike erection supported upon beams," it +seems more reasonable to suppose it an augmentative formed in the usual +way from _balco_. Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of barbican from _bala +khaneh_ seems to us more happy. (Ducange refers the word to an Eastern +source.) He would also derive the Fr. _ébaucher_ from _balk_, though we +have a correlative form, _sbozzare_, in Italian, (old Sp. _esbozar_, +Port, _esboyar_, Diez,) with precisely the same meaning, and from a +root _bozzo_, which is related to a very different class of words from +_balk_. So bewitched is Mr. Wedgwood with this word _balk_, that he +prefers to derive the Ital. _valicam, varcare_, from it rather than from +the Latin _varicare_. We should think a deduction from the latter to the +English _walk_ altogether as probable. Mr. Wedgwood also inclines to +seek the origin of _acquaint_ in the Germ, _kund_, though we have all +the intermediate steps between it and the Mid. Lat. _adcognitare_. +Again, under _daunt_ he says, "Probably not directly from Lat. _domare_, +but from the Teutonic form _damp_, which is essentially the same word." +It may be plain that the Fr. _dompter_ (whence _daunt_) is not directly +from _domare_, but not so plain, as it seems to us, that it is not +directly from the frequentative form domitare.--"_Decoy_. Properly +_duck-coy_, as pronounced by those who are familiar with the thing +itself. '_Decoys_, vulgarly _duck-coys_.'--Sketch of the Fens, in +Gardener's Chron. 1849. Du. _koye_, cavea, septum, locus in quo +greges stabulantur.--Kil. _Kooi, konw, kevi_, a cage; _vogel-kooi_, a +bird-cage, decoy, apparatus for entrapping waterfowl. Prov. E. _Coy_, +a decoy for ducks, a coop for lobsters.--Forby. The name was probably +imported with the thing itself from Holland to the fens." (p. 447.) +_Duck-coy_, we cannot help thinking, is an instance of a corruption like +_bag o' nails_ from _bacchanals_, for the sake of giving meaning to a +word not understood. Decoys were and are used for other birds as well as +ducks, and _vogel-kooi_ in Dutch applies to all birds, (answering to our +trap-cage,) the special apparatus for ducks being an _eende-kooi_. The +French _coi_ adverbialized by the prefix _de_, and meaning quietly, +slyly, as a hunter who uses decoys must demean himself, would seem +a more likely original.--_Andiron_ Mr. Wedgwood derives from Flem. +_wend-ijser_, turn-irons, because the spit rested upon them. But the +original meaning seems to have no reference to the spit. The French +_landier_ is plainly a corruption of the Mid. Lat. _anderia_, by the +absorption of the article (_l'andier_). This gives us an earlier form +_andier_, and the augmentative _andieron_ would be our word.--_Baggage_. +We cannot think Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of this word from _bague_ an +improvement on that of Ducange from _baga_, area.--_Coarse_ Mr. Wedgwood +considers identical with _course_,--that is, of course, ordinary. He +finds a confirmation of this in the old spelling. Old spelling is seldom +a safe guide, though we wonder that the archaic form _boorly_ did not +seem to him a sufficient authority for the common derivation of _burly_. +If _coarse_ be not another form of _gross_, (Fr. _gros_, _grosse_,) +then there is no connection between _corn_ and _granum_, or _horse_ and +_ross_.--"_Cullion_. It. _Coglione_, a cullion, a fool, a scoundrel, +properly a dupe. See Cully. It. _cogionare_, to deceive, to make a dupe +of.... In the Venet. _coglionare_ becomes _cogionare_, as _vogia_ for +_voglia_.... Hence E. to _cozen_, as It. _fregio_, frieze; _cugino_, +cousin; _prigione_, prison." (p. 387.) Under _cully_, to which Mr. +Wedgwood refers, he gives another etymology of _coglione_, and, we +think, a wrong one. _Coglionare_ is itself a derivative form from +_coglione_, and the radical meaning is to be sought in _cogliere_, to +gather, to take in, to pluck. Hence a _coglione_ is a sharper, one who +takes in, plucks. _Cully_ and _gull_ (one who is taken in) must be +referred to the same source. Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of _cozen_ is +ingenious, and perhaps accounts for the doubtful Germ, _kosen_, unless +that word itself be the original.--"_To chaff_, in vulgar language to +rally one, to chatter or talk lightly. From a representation of the +inarticulate sounds made by different kinds of animals uttering rapidly +repeated cries. Du. _keffen_, to yap, to bark, also to prattle, chatter, +tattle. Halma," etc. We think it demonstrable that _chaff_ is only a +variety of _chafe_, from Fr. _écauffer_, retaining the broader sound of +the _a_ from the older form _chaufe_. So _gaby_, which Mr. Wedgwood (p. +84) would connect with _gäwisch_, (Fr. _gauche_,) is derived immediately +from O. Fr. _gabé_, (a laughing-stock, a butt,) the participial form of +_gaber_, to make fun of, which would lead us to a very different root. +(See the _Fabliaux, passim_.)--_Cress_. "Perhaps," says Mr. Wedgwood, +(p. 398,) "from the crunching sound of eating the crisp, green herb." +This is one of the instances in which he is lured from the plain path by +the Nixy _Onomatopoeia_. The analogy between _cress_ and _grass_ flies +in one's eyes; and, perhaps, the more probable derivation of the latter +is from the root meaning to grow, rather than from that meaning to eat, +unless, indeed, the two be originally identical. The A. S. forms +_coers_ and _goers_ are almost identical. The Fr. _cresson_, from It. +_crescione_, which Mr. Wedgwood cites, points in the direction of +_crescere_; and the O. Fr. _cressonage_, implying a verb _cressoner_, +means the right of _grazing_.--Under _dock_ Mr. Wedgwood would seem +(he does not make himself quite clear) to refer It. _doccia_ to a root +analogous with _dyke_ and _ditch_. He cites Prov. _doga_, which he +translates by _bank_. Raynouard has only "_dogua_, douve, creux, +cavité," and refers to It. _doga_. The primary meaning seems rather +the hollow than the bank, though this would matter little, as the same +transference of meaning may have taken place as in _dyke_ and _ditch_, +But when Mr. Wedgwood gives mill-_dam_ as the first meaning of the word +_doccia_, his wish seems to have stood godfather. Diez establishes the +derivation of _doccia_ from _ductus_; and certainly the sense of +a channel to lead (_ducere_) water in any desired direction is +satisfactory. The derivative signification of _doccia_ (a gouge, a tool +to make channels with) coincides. Moreover, we have the masculine form +_doccio_, answering exactly to the Sp. _ducho_ in _aguaducho_, the _o_ +for _u_, as in _doge_ for _duce_, from the same root _ducere_. Another +instance of Mr. Wedgwood's preferring the bird in the bush is to be +found in his refusing to consider _dout_, to extinguish, (_do out_,) as +analogous to _don, _doff_, and _dup_. He would rather connect it with +_tödten, tuer_. He cites as allied words Bohemian _dusyti_, to choke, to +extinguish; Polish _dusic_, to choke, stifle, quell; and so arrives at +the English slang phrase, "_dowse_ the glim." As we find several other +German words in thieves' English, we have little doubt that _dowse_ is +nothing more than _thu' aus_, do (thou) out, which would bring us back +to our starting-point. + +We have picked out a few instances in which we think Mr. Wedgwood +demonstrably mistaken, because they show the temptation which is ever +lying in wait to lead the theoretical etymologist astray. Mr. Wedgwood +sometimes seems to reverse the natural order of things, and to reason +backward from the simple to the more complex. He does not always respect +the boundaries of legitimate deduction. On the other hand, his case +becomes very strong where he finds relations of thought as well as of +sound between whole classes of words in different languages. But it is +very difficult to say how long ago instinctive imitation ceased and +other elements are to be admitted as operative. We see words continually +coming into vogue whose apparent etymologies, if all historical data of +their origin were lost, would inevitably mislead. If we did not know, +for example, the occasion which added the word _chouse_ to the English +language, we have little doubt that the twofold analogy of form and +meaning would have led etymologists to the German _kosen_, (with the +very common softening of the _k_ to _ch_,) and that the derivation would +have been perfectly satisfactory to most minds.--_Tantrums_ would look +like a word of popular coinage, and yet we find a respectable Old High +German verb _tantarôn_, delirare, (Graff, V. 437,) which may perhaps +help us to make out the etymology of _dander_, in our vulgar expression +of "getting one's dander up," which is equivalent to flying into a +passion.--_Jog_, in the sense of _going_, (to _jog_ along,) has a vulgar +look. Richardson derives it from the same root with the other _jog_, +which means to shake, ("A. S. _sceac-an_, to _shake_, or _shock_, or +_shog_.") _Shog_ has nothing whatever to do with shaking, unless when +Nym says to Pistol, "Will you _shog_ off?" he may be said to have shaken +him off. When the Tinker in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Coxcomb" says, +"Come, prithee, let's _shog_ off," what possible allusion to shaking is +there, except, perhaps, to "shaking stumps"? The first _jog_ and _shog_ +are identical in meaning and derivation, and may be traced, by whosoever +chooses, to the Gothic _tiuhan_, (Germ, _ziehen_,) and are therefore +near of kin to our _tug_. _Togs_ and _toggery_ belong here also. (The +connecting link may be seen in the preterite form _zog_.) The other +_jog_ probably comes to us immediately from the French _choquer_; and +its frequentative _joggle_ answers to the German _schutkeln_, It. +_cioccolare_. Whether they are all remotely from the same radical is +another question. We only cited it as a monosyllabic word, having +the air of being formed by the imitative process, while its original +_tiuhan_ makes quite another impression.--Had the word _ramose_ been a +word of English slang-origin, (and it might easily have been imported, +like so many more foreign phrases, by sailors,) we have as little doubt +that a derivation of it from the Spanish _vamos_ would have failed to +convince the majority of etymologists. This word is a good example of +the way in which the people (and it is always the people, never the +scholars, who succeed in adding to the spoken language) proceed in +naturalizing a foreign term. The accent has gone over to the last +syllable, in accordance with English usage in verbs of two syllables; +and though the sharp sound of the _s_ has been thus far retained, it is +doubtful how long it will maintain itself against a fancied analogy +with the grave sound of the same letter in such words as _inclose_ and +_suppose_.--We should incline to think the slang verb _to mosey_ a mere +variety of form, and that its derivation from a certain absconding +Mr. Moses (who broke the law of his great namesake through a blind +admiration of his example in spoiling the Egyptians) was only a new +instance of that tendency to mythologize which is as strong as ever +among the uneducated. _Post, ergo propter_, is good people's-logic; and +if an antecedent be wanting, it will not be long before one is invented. + +If we once admit the principle of _onomatopoeia_, the difficulty remains +of drawing the line which shall define the territory within which those +capable of judging would limit its operation. Its boundary would be +a movable one, like that of our own Confederacy. Some students, from +natural fineness of ear, would be quicker to recognize resemblances of +sound; others would trace family likeness in spite of every disguise; +others, whose exquisiteness of perception was mental, would find the +scent in faint analogies of meaning, where the ordinary brain would be +wholly at fault. In the original genesis of language, also, we should +infer the influence of the same idiosyncrasies. We were struck with this +the other day in a story we heard of a little boy, who, during a violent +thunder-storm, asked his father what that was out there,--all the while +winking rapidly to explain his meaning. Had his vocabulary been more +complete, he would have asked what that _winking_ out there was. The +impression made upon him by the lightning was not the ordinary one of +brightness, (as in _blitz_, (?) _éclair_, _fulmen_, _flash_,) but of +the rapid alternations of light and dark. Had he been obliged to make +a language for himself, like the two unfortunate children on whom King +Psarnmetichus made his linguistic experiment, he would have christened +the phenomenon accordingly. + +Mr. Wedgwood has by no means carried out his theory fully even in +reference to the words contained in his first volume, nor does the +volume itself nearly exhaust the vocabulary of the letters it includes +(A to D). Sometimes, where we should have expected him to apply his +system, he refrains, whether from caution or oversight it is not easy +to discover. The word _cow_, which is commonly referred to an imitative +radical, he is provokingly reserved about; and under _chew_ he hints +at no relation between the name of the action and that of the capital +ruminant animal.[a] Even where he has derived a word from an imitative +radical, he sometimes fails to carry the process on to some other where +it would seem equally applicable, sometimes pushes it too far. For +instance, "_Crag_. 1. The neck, the throat.--Jam. Du. _kraeghe_, the +throat; Pol. _kark_, the nape, crag, neck; Bohem. _krk_, the neck; Icel. +_krage_, Dan. _krave_, the collar of a coat. The origin is an imitation +of the noise made by clearing the throat. Bohem. _krkati_, to belch, +_krcati_, to vomit; Pol. _krzakaé_, to hem, to hawk. The same root gives +rise to the Fr. _cracher_, to spit, and It. _recere_, to vomit; E. +_reach_, to strain in vomiting; Icel. _hraki_, spittle; A. S. _hrara_, +cough, phlegm, the throat, jaws; G. _rachen_, the jaws." (As _crag_ +is not an English word, all this should have come under the head of +_craw_.) "_Crag_. 2. A rock. Gael. _creag_, a rock; W. _careg_, a stone; +_caregos_, pebbles." We do not see why the rattling sound of stones +should not give them a claim to the same pedigree,--the name being +afterwards transferred to the larger mass, the reverse of which we see +in the popular _rock_ for _stone_. Nay, as Mr. Wedgwood (_sub voce +draff_, p. 482) assumes _rac_ (more properly _rk_) as the root, it would +answer equally well for _rock_ also. Indeed, as the chief occupation +of crags, and their only amusement, in mountainous regions, is to pelt +unwary passengers and hunters of scenery with their _débris_, we might +have _creag, quasi caregos faciens sive dejiciens, sicut rupes a +rumpere_. Indeed, there is an analogous Sanscrit root, meaning _break, +crack_. But though Mr. Wedgwood lets off this coughing, hawking, +spitting, and otherwise unpleasant old patriarch _Rac_ so easily in +the case of the foundling _Crag_, he has by no means done with him. +Stretched on the unfilial instrument of torture that bears his name, he +is made to confess the paternity of _draff_, and _dregs_, and _dross_, +and so many other uncleanly brats, that we feel as if he ought to be +nailed by the ear to the other side of the same post on which Mr. +Carlyle has pilloried August _der starke_ forever. But we honestly +believe the old fellow to be belied, and that he is as guiltless of them +as of that weak-witted Hebrew _Raca_ who looks so much like him in the +face. + +[Footnote a: An etymology of this kind would have been particularly +interesting in the hands of so learned and acute a man as Mr. Wedgwood. +It would have afforded him a capital example of the fact that +considerable differences in the form and sound of words meaning the same +thing prove nothing against the onomatopoeic theory, but merely that the +same sound represents a different thing to different ears. L. _Boare, +mugire_, E. _moo_; F. _beugler_, E. _bellow_; G. _leuen_, L. _lugere_, +E. _low_, are all attempts at the same sound, or, which would not affect +the question, variations of an original radical _gô_ or _gu_. For a +full discussion of the matter, admirable for its thorough learning, see +Pictet, _Les Origines Indo-Européennes_, Vol. I. Section 86.] + +In the case of _crag_, Mr. Wedgwood argues from a sound whose frequency +and marked character (and colds must have been frequent when the +fig-tree was the only draper) gave a name to the organ producing it. +We can easily imagine it. One of these early pagans comes home of an +evening, heated from the chase, and squats himself on the damp clay +floor of a country-seat imperfectly guarded against draughts. The next +morning he says to his helpmeet, "Mrs. Barbar, I have a dreadful cold +in my--_hrac_! _hrac_!" Here he is interrupted by a violent fit of +coughing, and resorts to semeiology by pointing to his throat. Similar +incidents carrying apprehension (as Lord Macaulay would say) to the +breezy interiors of a thousand shanties on the same fatal morning, the +domestic circle would know no name so expressive as _hrac_ for that +fatal tube through which man, ingenious in illegitimate perversion, +daily compels the innocent breath to discharge a plumbeous hail of +rhetoric. + +But seriously, we think Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of _crag_ (or rather, +that which he adopts, for it has had other advocates) a very probable +one, at least for more northern tribes. There is no reason why men +should have escaped the same law of nomenclature which gave names to the +_cuckoo_ and the _pavo_.[a] But when he approaches _draff_, he gets upon +thinner ice. Where a metaphorical appropriateness is plainly wanting to +one etymology and another as plainly supplies it, other considerations +being equal, probability may fairly turn the scale in favor of the +latter. Mr. Wedgwood is here dealing with a sound translated to another +meaning by an intellectual process of analogy; and no one knows better +than he--for his book shows everywhere the fair-mindedness of a thorough +scholar--the extreme difficulty of convincing other minds in such +matters. He seems to have been unconsciously influenced in this case by +a desire to give more support to a very ingenious etymology of the word +_dream_. His process of reasoning may be briefly stated thus: _draff_ +and _dregs_ are refuse, they are things thrown away, sometimes (as in +German _dreck_, sordes) they are even disgustful; and as there is no +expression of contempt and disgust so strong as spitting, the sound +_rac_ transferred itself by a natural association of ideas from the act +to the object of it. He cites Du. _drabbe_, Dan. _drav_, Ger. _träbern_, +Icel. _dregg_, Prov. _draco_, Ger., Du. _dreck_, O. F. _drache, +drêche_, (and he might have added E. _trash_,) E. _dross_, all with +nearly the same meaning. We have selected such as would show the +different forms of the word. To the same radical Mr. Wedgwood refers G. +_trüjen_, _betrügen_, and this would carry with it our English _trick_ +(Prov. _tric_, in Diez, Fr. _triche_). In our opinion he is wrong, +doubly wrong, inasmuch as we think he has confounded two widely +different roots. He has taken his O. Fr. forms from Roquefort (Gloss. +Rom. I. 411,) but has omitted one of his definitions, _coque qui +enveloope le grain_, that is, the husk, or hull. Mr. Wedgwood might +perhaps found an argument on this in support of our old friend _Rac_ and +his relation to huskiness; but it seems to us one of those trifles, the +turned leaf, or broken twig, that put one on the right trail. We +accept Mr. Wedgwood's derivative signification of _refuse, worthless, +contemptible_, and ask if all these terms do not apply equally well to +the chaff of the threshing-floor? It is more satisfactory to us, then, +to attribute a part of the words given above to the Gothic _dragan_, +(L. _trahere_, G. _tragen_,) to drag, to draw, and a part to Goth. +_thriskan_, to thresh. The conjecture of Diez, (cited by Diefenbach,) +that the Italian _trescare_ (to stamp with the feet, to dance) should +be referred to the same root, is confirmed by the ancient practice of +threshing grain by treading it out with cattle. We might, indeed, refer +all to one root, by deriving _dross_ (a provincial form of which is +_drass_) through the O. Fr. _drache_, (as in O. Fr. _treche_, Fr. +_tresse_, E. _tress_,) but we have A. S. _dresten_, which is better +accounted for by _therscan_. The other forms, such as _drabbe_, _dregg_, +and _dragan_, the _b_ and _v_ being analogous to E. _draggle, drabble, +draught, draft_, all equally from _dragan_. We have a suspicion that +_dragon_ is to be referred to the same root. Mr. Wedgwood follows +Richardson, who follows Vossius in a fanciful etymology from the Greek +[Greek: derkomai = blepein] to see. Sharpness of sight, it is true, was +attributed to the mythologized reptile, but the primitive _draco_ was +nothing but a large serpent, supposed to be the boa. This sense must +accordingly be comparatively modern. The eagle is the universal type of +keenness of vision. The reptile's way of moving himself without legs is +his most striking peculiarity; and if we derive _dragon_ from the root +meaning to drag, to draw, (because he draws himself along,) we find it +analogous to _serpent_, _reptile_, _snake_.[b] The relation between +[Greek: trechein] and _dragan_ may be seen in G. _ziehen_, meaning both +to draw and to go. Mr. Wedgwood says that he finds it hard to conceive +any relation between the notion of _treachery_, _betrayal_, (_trügen_, +_betrügen_,) and that of drawing. It would seem that to _draw_ into +an ambush, the _drawing_ of a fowler's net, and the more sublimated +_drawing_ a man on to his destruction, supplied analogies enough. The +contempt we feel for treachery (for it is only in this metaphysical way +that Mr. Wedgwood can connect the word with his radical _rac_[c]) is a +purely subsidiary, derivative, and comparatively modern notion. Many, +perhaps most, kinds of treachery were looked upon as praiseworthy in +early times, and are still so regarded among savages. Does Mr. Wedgwood +believe that Romulus lost caste by the way in which he made so many +respectable Sabines fathers-in-law against their will, or that the wise +Odysseus was a perfectly admirable gentleman in our sense of the word? +Even in the sixteenth century, in the then most civilized country of the +world, the grave irony with which Macchiavelli commends the frightful +treacheries of Cæsar Borgia would have had no point, if he had not taken +it for granted that almost all who read his treatise would suppose him +to be in earnest. In the same way _dregs_ is explained simply as the +sediment left after _drawing off_ liquids. _Dredge_ also is certainly, +in one of its meanings, a derivative of _dragan_; so, too, _trick_ in +whist, and perhaps _trudge_. Indeed, all the words above-cited are more +like each other than Fr. _toit_ and E. _deck_, both from one root, or +the Neapol. _sciù_ and the Lat. _flos_, from which it is corrupted. + +[Footnote a: The German _pfau_ retains the imitative sound which the +English _pea_-cock has lost, and of which our system of pronunciation +robs the Latin.] + +[Footnote b: And to _worm_, (another word for _dragon_,) if, as has been +conjectured, there be any radical affinity between that and _schwärmen_, +whose primitive sense of crawl or creep is seen in the _swarming_ of +bees, and _swarming_ up a tree.] + +[Footnote c: That is, unless he takes the _rag_ in _dragan_ to be the +same thing, which he might support with several plausible analogies, +such as E. _rake_, It. _recare_, etc.] + +But the same subtilty of mind, which sometimes seduces Mr. Wedgwood into +making distinctions without a difference and preferring an impalpable +relation of idea to a plain derivative affinity, is of great advantage +to him when the problem is to construct an etymology by following the +gossamer clews that lead from sensual images to the metaphorical and +tropical adaptations of them to the demands of fancy and thought. The +nice optics that see what is not to be seen have passed into a sarcastic +proverb; yet those are precisely the eyes that are in the heads and +brains of all who accomplish much, whether in science, poetry, or +philosophy. With the kind of etymologies we are speaking of, it is +practically useful to have the German gift of summoning a thing up from +the depths of one's inward consciousness. It is when Mr. Wedgwood would +reverse the order of Nature, and proceed from the tropical to the direct +and simple, that we are at issue with him. For it is not philosophers +who make language, though they often unmake it. + +Mr. Wedgwood's most successful application of his system may be found, +as we think, under the words, _dim_, _dumb_, _deaf_, and _death_. He +might have confirmed the relation between dumbness and darkness from the +acutest metaphysician among poets, in Dante's _ove il sol tace_. We have +not left ourselves room enough to illustrate Mr. Wedgwood's handling of +these etymologies by extracts; we must refer our readers to the book +itself. Apart from its value as suggesting thought, or quickening our +perception of shades of meaning, and so freshening our feeling of the +intimate harmony of sense and spirit in language, and of the thousand +ways in which the soul assumes the material world into her own heaven +and transfigures it there, the volume will be found practically the most +thorough contribution yet made to English etymology. We are glad to hear +that we are to have an American edition of it under the able supervision +of Mr. Marsh. Etymology becomes of practical importance, when, as the +newspapers inform us, two members of a New York club have been fighting +a duel because one of them doubted whether Garry Baldy were of Irish +descent. Any student of language could have told them that Garibaldi is +only the plural form (common in Italian family names) of Garibaldo, the +Teutonic Heribald, whose meaning, appropriate enough in this case, would +be nearly equivalent to Bold Leader. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +The Physiology of Common Life. By George Henry Lewes, Author of "Seaside +Studies," "Life of Goethe," etc. In Two Volumes. Vol. II. New York. +Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 410. $1.00. + +Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856. From Gales and +Seaton's Annals of Congress; from their Register of Debates; and from +the Official Reported Debates, by John C. Rives. By the Author of "The +Thirty Yeats' View." Vol. XIV. New York. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 747. +$3.00. + +The Young Farmer's Manual: Detailing the Manipulations of the Farm in a +Plain and Intelligible Manner. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/11061-8.zip b/old/11061-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a9f536 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11061-8.zip diff --git a/old/11061.txt b/old/11061.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..60cb068 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11061.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9231 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Atlantic Monthly Volume 6, No. 34, August, +1860, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly Volume 6, No. 34, August, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 12, 2004 [eBook #11061] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY VOLUME 6, NO. 34, +AUGUST, 1860*** + + +E-text prepared by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VI.--AUGUST, 1860.--NO. XXXIV. + + + + + + + +THE CARNIVAL OF THE ROMANTIC. + + +Whither went the nine old Muses, daughters of Jupiter and the Goddess +of Memory, after their seats on Helicon, Parnassus, and Olympus were +barbarized? Not far away. They hovered like witches around the seething +caldron of early Christian Europe, in which, "with bubble, bubble, toil +and trouble," a new civilization was forming, mindful of the brilliant +lineage of their worshippers, from Homer to Boethius, looking upon the +vexed and beclouded Nature, and expecting the time when Humanity should +gird itself anew with the beauty of ideas and institutions. They were +sorrowful, but not in despair; for they knew that the children of men +were strong with recuperative power. + +The ear of Fancy, not long since, heard the hoofs of winged Pegasus +striking the clouds. The long-idle Muses, it seemed, had become again +interested in human efforts, and were paying a flying visit to the +haunts of modern genius from the Hellespont to the Mississippi. +They lingered in sunny Provence, and in the dark forest-land of the +Minnesingers. In the great capitals, as Rome, Berlin, Paris, London,--in +smaller capitals, as Florence, Weimar, and Boston,--in many a village +which had a charm for them, as Stratford-on-Avon, Ferney, and Concord +in Massachusetts,--in the homes of wonderful suffering, as Ferrara and +Haworth.--on many enchanted waters, as the Guadalquivir, the Rhine, +the Tweed, the Hudson, Windermere, and Leman,--in many a monastic nook +whence had issued a chronicle or history, in many a wild birthplace of a +poem or romance, around many an old castle and stately ruin, in many a +decayed seat of revelry and joyous repartee,--through the long list +of the nurseries of genius and the laboratories of art, they wandered +pensive and strangely affected. At length they rested from their journey +to hold a council on modern literature. The long results of Christian +time were unrolled before them as in a chart. They beheld the dawn of a +new historic day, marked by songs of fantastic tenderness, and unwieldy, +long, and jointless romances and poems, like the monsters which played +in the unfinished universe before the creation of man. The Muses smiled +with a look more of complaisance than approval, as they reviewed the +army of Troubadours and Minnesingers and the crowd of romancers who +followed in their train. They decided that the joyous array of early +mediaeval literature was full of promise, though something of its tone +and temper was past the comprehension of pagan goddesses. The legends of +saints and pictures of martyrdoms were especially mysterious to them, +and they regarded them raptly, not smilingly, and bowed their heads. +Anon their eyes rested on an Italian city, where uprose, as if in +interstellar space, an erect figure, with a piercing eye, pleasant as +Plato's voice. His countenance was fixed upon the empyrean, and a more +than Minerva-like form hovered above him, interpreting the Christian +universe; and as he wrote what she dictated, the verses of his poem were +musical even to the Muses. Dante, Beatrice, and the "Divine Comedy," +with a Gothic church as a make-weight, were balanced in Muses' minds in +comparison with the "Iliad" and the age of Pericles; and again they put +on the rapt look of mystery, but a smile also, and their admiration +and applause were more and more. To England they soon turned, and +contemplated the round, many-colored globe of Shakspeare's works. As +playful swallows sometimes dart round and round a lithe and wondering +wingless animal, so they, admiringly and timidly, attracted, yet +hesitating, delighting in his alertness, but not quite understanding it, +flitted like a troubled and beautiful flock around the great magician of +modern civilization. Their glance became lighter and less intent, as if +they were nearer to knowledge, the pain of perplexity disappeared like a +shadow from their countenances, their plaudits were more unreserved, and +it seemed likely that the high desert of Shakspeare would win for our +new literature a favorable recognition from the aristocratic goddesses +of antiquity. Knowing that Jove had made perfection unattainable by +mortals, they yet found in the chart before them epics, dramas, lyrics, +histories, and philosophies that were no unworthy companions to the +creations of classical genius, and they were jubilant in the triumphs +of a period in which they had been rather ignorantly and ironically +worshipped. Their sitting was long, and their review thorough, yet they +found but one department of modern literature which was regarded with a +distrust that grew to an aversion. The romances, the tales, the stories, +the novels were contemned more and more, from the first of them to the +last. Nothing like them had been known among the glories of Hellenic +literary art, and no Muse now stood forth to be their defender and +patron. Calliope declared that they were not epical, Euterpe and Erato +that they were not lyrical, Melpomene and Thalia that they were neither +tragical nor comical, Clio that they were not historical, Urania that +they were not sublime in conception, Polymnia that they had no stately +or simple charm in execution, and Terpsichore, who had joined with +Melpomene in admiring the opera, found nothing in the novel which she +could own and bless. Fleeting passages, remote and slight fragments, +were pleasing to them all, like the oases of a Sahara, or the sites of +high civilization on the earth; but the whole world of novels seemed to +them a chaos undisciplined by art and unformed to beauty. The gates of +the halls where the classics live in immortal youth were beginning to +close against the voluminous prose romances that have sprung from modern +thought, when the deliberations of the Muses were suddenly interrupted. +They had disturbed the divine elements of modern society. Forth from all +the recesses of the air came troops of Gothic elves, trolls, fairies, +sprites, and all the other romantic beings which had inspired the modern +mind to novel-writing,--marching or gambolling, pride in their port, +defiance in their eye, mischief in their purpose,--and began so vigorous +an attack upon their classic visitors and critics, that the latter were +glad to betake themselves to the mighty-winged Pegasus, who rapidly bore +them in retreat to the present home of the _Dii Majores_, that point of +the empyrean directly above Olympus. + +And well, indeed, might the Muses wonder at the rise of the novel and +its vast developments, for the classic literature presents no similar +works. One of Plato's dialogues or Aesop's fables is as near an approach +to a prose romance as antiquity in its golden eras can offer. The few +productions of the kind which appeared during the decline of literature +in the early Christian centuries, as the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius and +the "AEthiopica" of Heliodorus, were freaks of Nature, an odd growth +rather than a distinct species, and are also to be contrasted rather +than compared with the later novel. Such as they are, moreover, they +were produced under Christian as much as classic influences. The +aesthetic Hellenes admitted into their literature nothing so composite, +so likely to be crude, as the romance. Their styles of art were all +pure, their taste delighted in simplicity and unity, and they strictly +forbade a medley, alike in architecture, sculpture, and letters. The +history of their development opens with an epic yet unsurpassed, and +their literary creations have been adopted to be the humanities of +Christian universities. A writer has recently proposed to account for +their success in the arts from the circumstance that the features of +Nature around them were small,--that their hornet-shaped peninsula was +cut by mountains and inlets of the sea into minute portions, which the +mind could easily compass, the foot measure, and the hand improve,--that +therefore every hillock and fountain, every forest and by-way was +peopled with mythological characters and made significant with +traditions, and the cities were adorned with architectural and +sculptured masterpieces. Greece thus, like England in our own time, +presented the character of a highly wrought piece of ground,--England +being the more completely developed for material uses, and Greece being +the more heavily freighted with legends of ideal meaning. Small-featured +and large-minded Greece is thus set in contrast with Asia, where the +mind and body were equally palsied in the effort to overcome immense +plains and interminable mountain-chains. But whatever the reason, +whether geographical or ethnological, it is certain that the people of +Greece were endowed with a transcendent genius for art, which embraced +all departments of life as by an instinct. Every divinity was made a +plain figure to the mind, every mystery was symbolized in some positive +beautiful myth, and every conception of whatever object became +statuesque and clear. This artistic character was possible to them from +the comparatively limited range of pagan imagination; their thought +rarely dwelt in those regions where reason loves to ask the aid +of mysticism, and all remote ideas, like all remote nations, were +indiscriminately regarded by them as barbarous. But guarded by the +bounds of their civilization, as by the circumfluent ocean-stream of +their olden tradition, they were prompted in all their movements by the +spirit of beauty, and philosophers have accounted them the very people +whose ideas were adequately and harmoniously represented in sensible +forms,--unlike the nations of the Orient, where mind is overawed by +preponderating matter, and unlike the nations of Christendom, where the +current spiritual meanings reach far into the shadowy realm of mystery +and transcend the power of material expression. + +Thus art was the main category of the Greeks, the absolute form which +embraced all their finite forms. It moulded their literature, as it did +their sculpture, architecture, and the action of their gymnasts and +orators. They therefore delighted only in the highest orders and purest +specimens of literature, refused to retain in remembrance any of the +unsuccessful attempts at poetry which may be supposed to have preceded +Homer, and gave their homage only to masterpieces in the dignified +styles of the epic, the drama, the lyric, the history, or the +philosophical discussion. Equal to the highest creations, they refused +to tolerate anything lower; and they knew not the novel, because their +poetical notions were never left in a nebulous, prosaic state, but were +always developed into poetry. + +Another reason, doubtless, was the wonderful activity of the Greek mind, +finding its amusement and relaxation in the forum, theatre, gymnasium, +or even the barber's shop, in constant mutual contact, in learning +wisdom and news by word of mouth. The long stories which they may +have told to each other, as an outlet for their natural vitality, as +extemporaneous exercises of curiosity and wit and fancy, did not creep +into their literature, which included only more mature and elaborate +attempts. + +The modern novel was born of Christianity and feudalism. It is the child +of contemplation,--of that sort of luxurious intellectual mood which has +always distinguished the Oriental character, and was first Europeanized +in the twilight of the mediaeval period. The fallen Roman Empire was +broken into countless fragments, which became feudal baronies. The heads +of the newly organized society were lordly occupants of castles, who in +time of peace had little to do. They were isolated from their neighbors +by acres, forests, and a stately etiquette, if not actual hostility. +There was no open-air theatre in the vicinity, no forum alive with +gossip and harangues, no public games, not even a loquacious barber's +shop. During the intervals between public or private wars,--when the +Turks were unmolested, the crescent and the dragon left in harmless +composure, and no Christians were in mortal turmoil with each other,--it +is little wonder that restless knights went forth from their loneliness +errant in quest of adventures. What was there to occupy life in those +barricaded stone-towers? + +It was then that the domestic passion, love, rose into dignity. Homage +to woman assumed the potency of an idea, chivalry arose, and its truth, +honor, and obeisance were the first social responses from mankind to +Christianity. The castle was the emblem and central figure of the time: +it was the seat of power, the arena of manners, the nursery of love, and +the goal of gallantry; and around it hovered the shadows of religion, +loyalty, heroism. Domestic events, the private castellar life, were thus +exalted; but they could hardly suffice to engross and satisfy the spirit +of a warrior and crusader. A new diversion and excitement were demanded, +and soon, in response to the call, minstrels began to roam from castle +to castle, from court to court, telling long stories of heroism and +singing light songs of love. A spark from the Saracenic schools and +poets of Spain may have flitted into Provence to kindle the elements +of modern literature into its first development, the songs of the +Troubadours. Almost contemporary were the lays of the Minnesingers in +Germany and the romances of the Trouveres in Northern France. Beneath +the brooding spirit of a new civilization signs of life had at length +appeared, and Europe became vocal in every part with fantastic poems, +lyrical in the South, epical in the North. They were wildly exuberant +products, because severe art was unknown, but simple, _naive_, and gay, +and suited to the taste of a time when the classics were regarded as +superstitiously as the heavens. Love and heroism, which somehow are the +leading themes of literature in all ages, now assumed the chivalric type +in the light hands of the earliest modern poets. + +Yet these songs and metrical romances were most inadequate +representatives of the undeveloped principles which lay at the root of +Christian civilization. Even Hellenic genius might here have been at +fault, for it was a far harder task to give harmonious and complete +expression to the tendencies of a new religion and the germs of new +systems, than to frame into beauty the pagan clear-cut conceptions. The +Christian mind awoke under a fascination, and, for a time, could +only ejaculate its meanings in fragments, or hint them in vast +disproportions, could only sing snatches of new tunes. Its first signs +were gasps, rather than clear-toned notes, after the long perturbations +and preparations of history. The North and the South, the East and the +West had been mingled together; the heated and heaving mass had been +tempered by the leaven of Christianity:--and had all this been done +only to produce an octo-syllabic metre in praise of fantastic and semi- +barbaric sentiments and exploits? Had there been such commotions of the +universe only for a song? Surely these first creations of art, these +first attempts at literature, these first carvings of a rude spiritual +intensity, were only such as the Greeks may have forgotten any quantity +of before Homer came, their first glory and their oldest reminiscence. + +One reason, perhaps, why mediaeval literature assumed so light and +unartistic a form was, that by necessity it could not be full-orbed. +Religion could not enter into it as a plastic element, but was fixed, a +veiled, external figure, radiating indeed color and fragrance, but +not making one of the struggling, independent vitals of the heart. +Literature could play about this figure, but could not grasp it, and +take it in among the materials to be fashioned. The Church, through +its clergy, held jealous command of divine knowledge, beneath divine +guidance, and left no developments of it possible to the lay mind, which +culminated in minstrels and romancers. The Greeks, on the contrary, +whose religion was an apotheosis of the earth, framed upwards and only +by fiction of fancy handed downwards, derived all their theology from +the poets. Prophecy and taste were combined in Homer,--Isaiah and the +king's jester in Pindar. The care of the highest, not less than the +lowest departments of thought, fell upon the creative author, and +a happy suggestion became a new article in the Hellenic creed. His +composition thus bore the burden and was hallowed by the sanctity +of piety, the key to every human perfect thing. But the Provencal +celebrators of love and chivalry had no such dignity in their task. The +solemnities of thought and life were cared for and hedged about by the +Church as its own peculiar treasure, and to them there remained only the +lighter office of amusing. The age was eminently religious, but the poet +could not aid in erecting and adorning its temples. Every fair work of +art must have a central idea; but the proper principle of unity for +all grand artistic efforts not being within the reach of authors, it +followed that their productions were not symmetrical, did not have an +even outline nor cosmical meaning, did not consist of balanced parts, +were poorly framed and articulated, and were charming only by their +flavor, and not by their form. The cultured intellect will not seriously +work short of a final principle; and if a materialized religion, an +ecclesiastical structure, be firmly planted on the earth by the same +hand that established the universe and tapestried it with morning and +evening, and if its gates and archways, its altar, columns, and courts +be given in trust to chosen stewards as a divine priesthood, then the +highest problem of being is not a human problem, and the mind of the +laity has nothing more important to do than to play with the flowers of +gallant love and heroism. Such was the feeling, perhaps the unconscious +reasoning, of the founders of modern literature, as they began their +labors in the alcoves of that church architecture which covered +Christendom, embracing and symbolically expressing all its ideas +and institutes. Therefore some vice of imperfection, a character of +frivolity, or an artificially serious treatment of lightsome subjects +marked all the literature of the time, which resembled that grotesque +and unaccountable mathematical figure that has its centre outside of +itself. + +Modern literature thus had its origin in romantic metrical pieces, +which, in the next stage, were transformed into prose novels. Two +circumstances contributed to this change,--a change which could not have +been anticipated; for the Trouvere _fabliaux_ and _romans_ promised only +epics, and the Troubadour _chansons_ and _tensons_ promised only lyrics +and dramas. But the mind was now obliged to traverse the unbeaten paths +of the Christian universe; it was overwhelmed by the extent of its +range, the richness and delicacy of its materials; it could with +difficulty poise itself amid the indefinite heights and depths which +encompassed it, and with greater difficulty could wield the magician's +rod which should sway the driving elements into artistic reconstruction. +This mental inadequacy alone would not have created the novel, but would +only have made lyrics and epics rare, the works of superior minds. The +second and cooperating circumstance was the prevalence of the Christian +and feudal habit of contemplation, which made constant literature a +necessity. Nothing less than eternal new romances could save the lords, +the ladies, and the dependents from _ennui_. But to supply these in a +style of proper and antique dignity was beyond the power of the poets. +In the wild forests of the mind they could rarely capture a mature idea, +and they were as yet unpractised artists. Yet contemplative leisure +called eagerly for constant titbits of romance to tickle the palate and +furnish a diversion, while the genius of Christian poetry was yet in +infantile weakness. The dilemma lasted but a moment, and was solved by +an heroic effort of the poets to do, not what they would, but what they +could. Yielding to practical necessities, they renounced the traditions +of the classical past, which now seemed to belong to another hemisphere, +abandoned the attempt to realize pure forms, postponed high art; melody +gave way to prose, the romance degenerated into the novel, and prose +fiction, which erst had flitted only between the tongue and ear, +entered, a straggling and reeling constellation, into the firmament of +literature. Hence the novel is the child of human impotency and despair. +The race thereby, with merriment and jubilee, confessed its inability +to fulfil at once its Christian destiny as completely as the Greeks +had fulfilled their pagan possibilities. Purity of art was left to +the future, to Providence, or to great geniuses, but the novel became +popular. + +Thus the modern novel had its genesis not merely in a contemplative +mood, but in contemplation which was forced by the impetuous temper of +the times to fail of ever reaching the dignity of thoughtfulness. It +was the immature product of an immature mental state; and richly as +sometimes it was endowed by every human faculty, by imagination, wit, +taste, or even profound thought, it yet never reached the goal of +thought, never solved a problem, and, in its highest examples, professed +only to reveal, but not to guide, the reigning manners and customs. +Rarely did its materials pass through the fiery furnace whence art +issues; it was a work of unfaithful intellect, prompted by ideas which +never culminated and were never realized; and it did not rise much above +the "stuffs" of life, as distinguished from the organic creations of the +mind. A many-limbed and shambling creature, which was not made a +spirit by the power of an idea, it fluttered amid all the culture of a +people,--amid the ideas and modes of the state, the church, the family, +the world of society,--like a bungler among paint-pots; but the paints +still remained paints on the canvas, instead of being blended and +transfigured into a thing of beauty. It was the organ of society, but +not of the essential truths which vitalize society, and its incidents +did not rise much above the significance of accidents. + +What the novel was in knightly days, that it has continued to be. There +is a mysterious practical potency in precedent. All ideas and institutes +seem to grow in the direction of their first steps, as if from germs. +Thus, the doctrines of the Church fathers are still peculiarly +authoritative in theology, and the immemorial traditions of the common +law are still binding in civil life. Man seems to be an experimental +far more than a freely rational animal; for a fact in the past exerts +a greater influence in determining future action than any new idea. A +revolution must strike deep to eradicate the presumption in favor of +ages. Learned men are now trying to read the hieroglyphics of the East, +the records of an unknown history. Perhaps the result of their labors +will temper the next period in the course of the world more than all our +thinkers. Destiny seems to travel in the harness of precedents. + +Thus, in obedience to the law of precedent, the mild gambols, the +_naive_ superficiality, the child-like irresponsibility for thinking, +which were the characteristics of the first European novels, have +generally distinguished the unnumbered and unclassified broods of them +which have abounded in subsequent literature. Designed chiefly to amuse, +to divert for a moment rather than to present an admirable work of art, +to interest rather than to instruct and elevate, the modern romance has +in general excused itself from thorough elaboration. Instead of being +a chastened and symmetrical product of the whole organic mind, it has +mainly been inspired by the imagination, which has been called the fool +in the family of the faculties, and wrought out by the assistance of +memory, which mechanically links the mad suggestions of its partner +with temporal events. It is in literature something like what a feast +presided over by the king's jester and steward would have been in +mediaeval social life. Let any novel be finished, let all the resources +of the mind be conscientiously expended on it, let it become a thorough +intellectual creation, and, instead of remaining a novel, it would +assume the dignity of an epic, lyric, drama, philosophy, or history. Its +nebulae would be resolved into stars. + +Has, then, the mild and favorite blossom, the _fabula romanensis_, which +was so abundant in the Middle Ages, which has grown so luxuriantly +and given so general delight in modern times,--has it no place in +the natural history of literature? Shall it be mentioned only as an +uncompleted something else,--as an abortive effort of thought,--as +a crude _melange_ of elements that have not been purified and fused +together in the focus of the mind? And were the Muses right in refusing +to admit it into their sacred realm of art? + +An affirmative answer can hardly be true; for an absurdity appears in +the reduction that it would cause in the quantity of our veritable +literature, and in the condemnation that it would pass on the tastes of +many most intelligent writers and readers. Yet a comparison of the novel +with the classical and pure forms of literature will show its unlikeness +to them in design, dignity, and essential quality. + +It was a favorite thesis of Fielding, often repeated by his successors, +that the novel is a sort of comic epopee. Yet the romantic and the epic +styles have nothing in common, except that both are narrative. The epic, +the rare and lofty cypress of literature, is the story of a nation and a +civilization; the novel, of a neighborhood and a generation. A thousand +years culminate in the former; it sums up the burden and purpose of +a long historical period; and its characters are prominent types in +universal history and in highest thought. But the novel is the child +of a day; it is the organ of manners and phases, not of principles and +passions; it does not see the phenomena of earth in heavenly or logical +relations, does not transform life into art, and is a panorama, but not +a picture. So long as man and heroism and strife endure, shall Achilles, +Godfrey, Satan, and Mephistopheles be types; for they are artistic +expressions of essential and historical realities. But though the beck +of curiosity lead us through the labyrinthine plot of a novel, long as +Gibbon's way through the Dark Ages, yet, when we have finished it, the +bubble collapses, the little heavens which had been framed about us roll +away, and most rarely does a character remain poetically significant in +the mind. + +A contrast of any page of an epic with one of a romance will show +their essential unlikeness. Note, for instance, the beginning of the +"Gerusalemme Liberata." The first stanza presents "the illustrious +captain who warred for Heaven and saved the sepulchre of Christ,--the +many deeds which he wrought by arms and by wisdom,--his great toil, and +his glorious achievement. Hell opposed him, the mingled populations +of Asia and Africa leagued against him,--but all in vain, for Heaven +smiled, and guided the wandering bands beneath his sacred ensigns." Such +are the splendid elements of the poem, outlining in a stanza the finest +type, objects, and scenery of mediaeval heroism. The second stanza +invokes the Muse,--"Not thou whose brow was wreathed with the unenduring +bays of Helicon, but thou who in angelic choirs hast a golden crown set +with immortal stars,--do thou breathe celestial ardor into the poet's +heart!" Then follows an allusion to a profound matter of temper and +experience. He prays that "the Muse will pardon, if sometimes he adorn +his page with other charms than her own; for thus, perhaps, he may +win the world to his higher meanings, shrouding severe truths in soft +verses. As the rim of the bitter cup is sweetened which is extended to +the sick child, so may he, by beauties not quite Christian, attract +mankind to read his whole poem to their health." Such is the stately +soaring of the epical Muse, the Muse of ideal history. Scholars find +Greece completely prefigured in Homer, and the time may come when Dante +and Tasso shall be the leading authorities for the history of the Middle +Ages, and Milton for that of the ages of Protestantism. + +In such comparison novels are insignificant and imbecile. Though, like +"Contarini Fleming," they may begin with a magnificent paragraph, and +fine passages be scattered through the volumes, they are yet rarely +stories of ideas as well as persons, rarely succeed in involving events +of more than temporary interest, and rarely, perhaps, should be called +great mental products. + +Not less strikingly does the difference between the epic and the novel +appear in their different uses. The one is the inspiration of great +historical action, the other of listless repose. The statesman, in the +moment of debate, and in the dignity of conscious power, finds sympathy +and encouragement in a passage of his favorite epic. Its grand types +are ever in fellowship with high thoughts. The novel is for the lighter +moment after the deed is done, when he is no longer brunting Fate, but +reclining idly, and reflecting humorously or malignly on this life. The +epic is closely and strongly framed, like the gladiator about to strike +a blow: the novel is relaxed and at careless ease, like the club-man +after lighting his pipe. The latter does not bear the burden of severe +responsibility, but is a thing of holidays and reactions. Still, as of +old, it answers to the contemplative castellar cry,--"Hail, romancer! +come and divert me,--make me merry! I wish to be occupied, but not +employed,--to muse passively, not actively. Therefore, hail! tell me +a story,--sing me a song! If I were now in the van of an army and +civilization, higher thoughts would engross me. But I am unstrung, and +wish to be fanned, not helmeted." + +It has sometimes been claimed that the romantic style is essentially +lyrical. But though the idea from which many novels start was perhaps +the proper germ for one or more lyrics, it never attains in romance +a pure and unincumbered development. We may illustrate the different +intellectual creations founded on a common conception by imagining how +one of Wordsworth's lyrical fancies might have been developed in three +volumes of romance instead of three stanzas of poetry. + + "She dwelt among the untrodden ways, + Beside the springs of Dove, + A maid whom there were none to praise, + And very few to love." + +The first line, romantically treated, would include description, +soliloquy, and narrative, to show that in solitude the maiden had +habits, duties, something to think about and be interested in. The +accidental approach of some cosmopolitan visitor would give occasion to +illustrate dramatically the contrast between life in retirement and in +society. Some novelists also would inflict, either by direct lecture +or by conversation of the actors, very admirable reflections on the +comparative advantages of the two conditions. The second line would +perhaps suggest only geographical lore and descriptions of scenery, +though historical episodes might be added. The third line would +involve a minute description of dress, complexion, stature, and wild +gracefulness. In a psychological investigation it would come out what +strange and simple notions she entertained of the great world, and what +charming qualities of unsophisticated character belonged to her as she +merrily or pensively went through her accustomed tasks. The fourth line, +in which love is the text, would swell into mammoth proportions. New +characters would be especially necessary in this culminating part of the +story; and though they should be "very few," they would long occupy the +novelist with their diverse excellencies or villanies, their rivalries +and strategies. It is probable that the complete development of the +stanza _a la romance_ would give a circumstantial history of the maiden +from her birth, with glimpses more or less clear of all the remarkable +people who dwelt near or occasionally visited the springs of Dove. Thus +the same conception would become a stanza or a volume, according as its +treatment were lyrical or romantic. + +It need hardly be shown that the novel is not a drama, not a history, +nor fable, nor any sort of philosophical treatise. It may have +sentences, paragraphs, or perhaps chapters, in every style and of the +highest excellence, as a shapeless architectural pile may rejoice in +some exquisite features or ornaments; but combined passages, though they +were the collected charms of literature, do not make a work of art. The +styles are mixed,--a certain sign, according to Lessing, of corruption +of taste. Novels present the anomaly of being fiction, but not +poetry,--of being fruits of imagination, but of imagination improvising +its creations from local and temporal things, instead of speaking from +a sublime stand-point and linking series of facts with processions of +ideas. Sources of history, guides of philosophical retrospection, they +may come some time to be; yet one cannot check a feeling of pity for +the future historian who, in searching the "Pickwick Papers" +for antiquities, finds himself bothered and confused by all the +undisciplined witches of Mr. Dickens's imagination. + +If the novel be thus excluded from all the classical orders of +literature, a trembling question is suggested, whether it may not be +nevertheless a legitimate work of art. Though it be a _melange_ of +styles, a story told, in literature what the story-teller is in +society, yet why should it not have the honor among readers which +the story-teller in all ages has had among listeners? Though by +its escutcheon it assume a place among the amusing rather than the +instructive class of books, why should not its nobility be recognized? + +The answer is found in the essential nature of art, in the almost +eternal distinction between life and thought, between actual and ideal +realities. Unity amid diversity is the type of intellectual beauty and +the law of the universe; to comprehend it is the goal of science, and +to reproduce it in human works is the aim of art. Yet how hard it is to +find the central and essential idea in a world of apparent accidents and +delusions! to chase the real and divine thing as it plays among cheats +and semblances! Hence the difficulty of thorough thought, of faithful +intellectual performance, of artistic creation. To the thoughtless man +life is merely the rough and monotonous exterior of the cameo-stone; but +the artist sees through its strata, discerns its layers of many colors, +and from its surface to its vital centre works them all together into +varied beauty. To live is common; but art belongs only to the finest +minds and the best moments. Life is a burden of present multitudinous +phenomena; but art has the simple unity of perfect science, and is +a goal and aspiration. Life comes by birth, art by thought, and the +travail that produces art is ofttimes the severer. The fashions of life +are bubbles on the surface, and pass away with the season; but the +creations of art belong to the depths of the spiritual world, where they +shine like stars and systems in the physical universe. + +Story-telling is the most charming of occupations, and, whatever its +relation to literary art, it is one of the graces of the art of life. +Old as the race, it has always been in fashion on the earth, the delight +of every clime from the Orient to the Occident, and of every age from +childhood to second childhood. We live in such a concatenation of +things,--our hopes, fears, loves, hates, struggles, sympathies, defeats, +and triumphs make such a medley, with a sort of divine fascination about +it,--that we are always interested to hear how anybody has borne himself +through whatever varieties of fortune. At the basis of every other +character which can be assumed by man lie the conceiver and the teller +of stories; story-telling is the _prima facie_ quality of an intelligent +and sociable being leading a life full of events in a universe full +of phenomena. The child believes the wonders of romance by a right +instinct; narratives of love and peril and achievement come home to the +spirit of the youth; and the mystical, wonder-expecting eye of childhood +returns to old age. The humor, wit, piety, and pathos of every age +abound in the written stories of its people and children. + +Yet between the vocal story and the story in literature there is an +immense difference, like that between talking and writing, between life +and art. The qualities which in the story-teller make even frivolity +weighty and dulness significant--the play of the eye, the lips, the +countenance, the voice, the whole sympathetic expression of the +person--are wanting to the novel; it has passed from the realm of life +to that of art; it loses the charm which personal relations give even +to trifles; it must have the charm which the mind can lend only to its +cherished offspring. + +Considered as a thing of literature, no other sort of book admits of +such variety of topics, style, and treatment as the novel. As diverse +in talent and quality as the story-teller himself,--now harlequin, now +gossip, now threnodist,--with weird ghostliness, moping melancholy, +uncouth laughter, or gentle serious smile,--now relating the story, with +childlike interest in it, now with a good heart and now with a bad heart +ridiculing mankind, now allegorical with rich meanings, now freighting +the little story-cricket that creeps along from page to page with +immense loads of science, history, politics, ethics, religion, +criticism, and prophecy,--always regarded with kindness, always welcomed +in idleness, always presenting in a simple way some spectacle of +merriment or grief, as changeful as the seasons or the fashions,--with +all its odd characteristics, the novel is remarkably popular, and not +lightly to be esteemed as an element in our social and mental culture. + +There is probably no other class of books, with literary pretensions, +that contain so little thinking, in proportion to their quantity of +matter, as novels. They can scarcely be called organic productions, for +they may be written and published in sections, like one of the lowest +classes of animals, which have no organization, but live equally well in +parts, and run off in opposite directions when cut in halves. Thoughts +and books, like living creatures, have their grades, and it is only +those which stand lowest in respect of intellectuality that admit of +fractional existence. A finished work of the mind is so delicately +adjusted and closely related, part to part, that a fracture would be +fatal. Conceive of Phidias sending off from his studio at Athens his +statue of Jupiter Olympius in monthly numbers,--despatching now the +feet, now the legs, now the trunk, in successive pieces, now the +shoulders, and at last crowning the whole with a head! + +The composition of novels must be reckoned, in design at least, one of +the fine arts, but in fact they belong rather to periodical than to +immortal literature. They do not submit to severity of treatment, abide +by no critical laws, but are the gypsies and Bohemians of literature, +bringing all the savagery of wild genius into the _salons_ of taste. +Though tolerated, admired, and found to be interesting, they do not +belong to the system of things, play no substantial part in the serious +business of life, but, as the world moves on, give place to their +successors, not having developed any principle, presented any picture, +or stated any fact, in a way to suggest ideas more than social +phenomena. They are not permanent, therefore, because finally only +ideas, and not facts, are generally remembered; the past is known to us +more, and exclusively as it becomes remote, by the conceptions of poets +and philosophic historians, the myriads of events which occupied a +generation being forgotten, and all the pith and meaning of them being +transmitted in a stanza or a chapter. Poetry never grows old, and +whatsoever masterpieces of thought always win the admiration of the +enlightened; but many a novel that has been the lion of a season passes +at once away, never more to be heard of here. With few exceptions, the +splendid popularity that greets the best novels fades away in time +slowly or rapidly. A half-century is a fatal trial for the majority; few +are revived, and almost none are read, after a century; will anybody +but the most curious antiquary be interested in them after one or +two thousand years? Without delaying to give the full rationale of +exceptions which vex this like every other general remark, it may +be added briefly that fairy stories are in their nature fantastic +mythological poems, most proper to the heroic age of childhood, that +historical romances may be in essence and dignity fantastic histories or +epics, and that, from whatever point of view, Cervantes remains hardly +less admirable than Ariosto, or the "Bride of Lammermoor" than the "Lay +of the Last Minstrel." + +In the mental as in the physical world, art, diamonds and gems come by +long elaboration. A thoughtless man may write perennially, while the +result of silent meditation and a long tortured soul may be expressed +in a minute. The work of the former is akin to conversation, one of the +fugitive pleasures of a day; that of the latter will, perchance, be a +star in the firmament of the mind. Eugene Sue and Beranger both wished +to communicate their reflections on society. The former dissipated his +energies in the _salons_, was wise and amusing over wine, exchanged +learning and jests, studied the drawing-room as if it were the +macrocosm, returned to his chamber, put on kid gloves, and from the odds +and ends of his dishevelled wits wrote at a gallop, without ever looking +back, his "Mysteres de Paris." The latter lived in an attic year after +year, contemplated with cheerful anxiety the volatile world of France +and the perplexed life of man, and elaborated word by word, with +innumerable revisions, his short songs, which are gems of poetry, +charming at once the ear and the heart. Novels are perhaps too easily +written to be of lasting value. An unpremeditated word, in which the +thoughts of years are exploded, may be one of the most admirable of +intellectual phenomena, but an unpremeditated volume can only be a +demonstration of human weakness. + +The argument thus far has been in favor of the Muses. Hellenic taste and +the principles of high art ratify the condemnation passed on the novel +by the aesthetic goddesses. A wider view, however, will annul the +sentence, giving in its stead a warning and a lesson. If the prose +romance be not Hellenic, it is nevertheless humane, and has been in +honor almost universally throughout the Orient and the Occident. Its +absence from the classical literature was a marvel and exception, a +phenomenon of the clearest-minded and most active of races, who thought, +but did not contemplate,--whose ideal world consisted only of simple, +but stately legends of bright-limbed gods and heroes. A felicitous +production of high art, also, is among the rarest of exceptions, and +will be till the Millennium. Myriads of comparative failures follow in +the suite of a masterpiece. We have, therefore, judged the novel by an +impracticable standard, by a comparison with the highest aims rather +than the usual attainments of other branches of literary art. Human +weakness makes poetry, philosophy, and history imperfect in execution, +though they aspire to absolute beauty and truth; human weakness +suggested the novel, which is imperfect in design, written as an +amusement and relief, in despair of sounding the universe. A novel is in +its nature and as a matter of necessity an artistic failure; it +pretends to nothing higher; but under the slack laws which govern its +composition, multitudes of fine and suggestive characters, incidents, +and sayings may be smuggled into it, contrary to all the usages and +rules of civilized literature. Hence the secret of its popularity, +that it is the organ of average as distinguished from highest thought. +Science and art are the goals of destiny, but rarely is there a +thinker or writer who has an eye single to them. It is an heroic, +self-sacrificing, and small platoon which in every age brunts Fate, and, +fighting on the shadowy frontier, makes conquests from the realm of +darkness. Their ideas are passed back from hand to hand, and become +known in fragments and potent as tendencies among the mass of the race, +who live in the circle of the attained and travel in the routine of +ages. The novelist is one of the number who half comprehend them, and +borrows them from all quarters to introduce into the rich _melange_ of +his work. To solve a social problem, to reproduce an historical age or +character, or to develop the truth and poetry latent in any event, is +difficult, and not many will either lead or follow a severe attempt; +but the novelist will merrily chronicle his story and link with it in a +thousand ways some salient reminiscences of life and thought. + +What, then, is the highest excellence that the novel can attain? It is +the carnival of literary art. It deals sympathetically and humorously, +not philosophically and strictly, with the panorama and the principles +of life. A transcript, but not a transfiguration of Nature, it assumes a +thousand forms, surpassing all other books in the immense latitude left +to the writer, in the wild variety of things which it may touch, but +need not grasp. Its elements are the forests, the cities, and the seven +ages of man,--characters and fortunes how diversified! All species +of thinkers and actors, of ideas and passions, all the labyrinthine +complications and scenery of existence, may be illustrated in persons or +introduced by-the-by; into whatever colors make up the phantasmagoria +of collective humanity the novelist may dip his brush, in painting +his moving picture. Yet problems need not be fully appreciated, nor +characters or actions profoundly understood. It must be an engrossing +story, but the theme and treatment are as lawless as the conversation of +an evening party. The mind plays through all the realm of its knowledge +and experience, and sheds sparks from all the torches of thought, as +scenes and topics succeed each other. The pure forms of literature may +be reminiscences present to the imagination, the germs of new truths and +social arrangements may occupy the reason; but the novelist is neither +practical, nor philosophical, nor artistic; he is simply in a dream; and +pictures of the world and fragments of old ideas pass before him, as the +sacred meanings of religion flitted about the populace in a grotesque +mediaeval festival of the Church. Conceive the stars dropped from their +place in the apparent heavens, and playing at shuttlecock with each +other and with boys, and having a heyday of careless joyousness here +below, instead of remaining in sublime dignity to guide and inspire men +who look up to them by night! Even such are the epic, the lyric, the +drama, the history, and the philosophy, as collected together in the +revelries of the novel. To state the degree of excellence possible to +a style as perverse as it is entertaining, to measure the wisdom of +essential folly, is difficult; and yet it may be said that the strength +of the novel is in its lawlessness, which leaves the author of genius +free to introduce his creations just as they occur to him, and the +author of talent free to range through all books and all time and +reproduce brilliant sayings and odd characters,--which, with no other +connecting thread than a story, freaks like a spirit through every +shade of feeling and region of thought, from the domestic hearth to the +ultimate bounds of speculative inquiry,--and which, by its daring +and careless combinations of incongruous elements, exhibits a free +embodiment in prose of the peculiar genius of the romantic. + +And some philosophers have styled romance the special glory of +Christianity. It is certainly the characteristic of critical as +distinguished from organic periods,--of the mind acting mystically in +a savage and unknown universe, rather than of the mind that has reduced +the heavens and earth to its arts and sciences. The novel, therefore, +as the wildest organ of romance, is most appropriate to a time of great +intellectual agitation, when intellectual men are but half-conscious of +the tendencies that are setting about them, and consequently cease to +propose to themselves final goals, do not attempt scrupulous art, but +play jubilantly with current facts. Hence, perhaps, its popularity since +the first conflicts of the Protestant Reformation, and especially since +the great French Revolution, when amid new inventions and new ideas +mankind has contemplatively looked for the coming events, the new +historical eras, which were casting their shadows before. + +When, some time, Christian art shall become classical, and Christian +ideas be developed by superior men as fairly as the Hellenic conceptions +were, the novel may either assume to itself some peculiar excellency, or +may cease to hold the comparative rank in literature which it enjoys at +present. Then the numberless prose romances which occupy the present +generation of readers will, perhaps, be collected in some immense +_corpus_, like the Byzantine historians, will be reckoned among the +curiosities of literature, and will at least have the merit of making +the study of antiquities easy and interesting. There is an old +couplet,-- + + Of all those arts in which the wise excel, + Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well. + +At a time when extemporaneous composition and thoughtless reading are +much in fashion, it will not be amiss to invoke profounder studies, and +slower, but more useful and permanent results. Let it be remembered that +even the Divine Mind first called into being the chaos of creation, and +then in seven days reviewed and elaborated it into a beautiful order. + + * * * * * + + + + +A LEGEND OF MARYLAND. + +"AN OWRE TRUE TALE." + +[Concluded.] + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE OLD CITY. + + +Let me now once more shift the scene. In the summer of 1684, the +peaceful little port of St. Mary's was visited by a phenomenon of rare +occurrence in those days. A ship of war of the smaller class, with the +Cross of St. George sparkling on her broad flag, came gliding to an +anchorage abreast the town. The fort of St. Inigoes gave the customary +salute, which I have reason to believe was not returned. Not long after +this, a bluff, swaggering, vulgar captain came on shore. He made no +visit of respect or business to any member of the Council. He gave no +report of his character or the purpose of his visit, but strolled to the +tavern,--I suppose to that kept by Mr. Cordea, who, in addition to his +calling of keeper of the ordinary, was the most approved shoemaker of +the city,--and here regaled himself with a potation of strong waters. +It is likely that he then repaired to Mr. Blakiston's, the King's +Collector,--a bitter and relentless enemy of the Lord Proprietary,--and +there may have met Kenelm Chiseldine, John Coode, Colonel Jowles, and +others noted for their hatred of the Calvert family, and in such company +as this indulged himself in deriding Lord Baltimore and his government, +During his stay in the port, his men came on shore, and, imitating their +captain's unamiable temper, roamed in squads about the town and its +neighborhood, conducting themselves in a noisy, hectoring manner towards +the inhabitants, disturbing the repose of the quiet burghers, and +shocking their ears with ribald abuse of the authorities. These +roystering sailors--I mention it as a point of historical interest--had +even the audacity to break into Alderman Garret Van Swearingen's garden, +and to pluck up and carry away his cabbages and other vegetables, +and--according to the testimony of Mr. Cordea, whose indignation was the +more intense from his veneration for the Alderman, and from the fact +that he made his Worship's shoes--they would have killed one of his +Worship's sheep, if his (Cordea's) man had not prevented them; and +after this, as if on purpose more keenly to lacerate his feelings, they +brought these cabbages to Cordea's house, and there boiled them before +his eyes,--he being sick and not able to drive them away. + +After a few days spent in this manner, the swaggering captain--whose +name, it was soon bruited about, was Thomas Allen, of his Majesty's +Navy--went on board of his ketch,--or brig, as we should call it,--the +Quaker, weighed anchor, and set sail towards the Potomac, and thence +stood down the Bay upon the coast of Virginia. Every now and then, after +his departure, there came reports to the Council of insults offered by +Captain Allen to the skippers of sundry Bay craft and other peaceful +traders on the Chesapeake; these insults consisting generally in +wantonly compelling them to heave to and submit to his search, in +vexatiously detaining them, overhauling their papers, and offending +them with coarse vituperation of themselves, as well as of the Lord +Proprietary and his Council. + +About a month later the Quaker was observed to enter the Patuxent River, +and cast anchor just inside of the entrance, near the Calvert County +shore, and opposite Christopher Rousby's house at Drum Point. This +was--says my chronicle--on Thursday, the 30th of October, in this year +1684. As yet Captain Allen had not condescended to make any report of +his arrival in the Province to any officer of the Proprietary. + +On Sunday morning, the 2d of November, the city was thrown into a +state of violent ebullition--like a little red-hot tea-kettle--by the +circulation of a rumor that got wind about the hour the burghers were +preparing to go to church. It was brought from Patuxent late in the +previous night, and was now whispered from one neighbor to another, and +soon came to boil with an extraordinary volume of steam. Stripping it +of the exaggeration natural to such an excitement, the rumor was +substantially this: That Colonel Talbot, hearing of the arrival of +Captain Allen in the Patuxent on Thursday, and getting no message or +report from him, set off on Friday morning, in an angry state of mind, +and rode over to Patuxent, determined to give the unmannerly captain a +lesson upon his duty. That as soon as he reached Mattapony House, +he took his boat and went on board the ketch. That there he found +Christopher Rousby, the King's Collector, cronying with Captain Allen, +and upholding him in his disrespect to the government. That Colonel +Talbot was very sharp upon Rousby, not liking him for old grudges, and +more moved against him now; and that he spoke his mind both to Captain +Allen and Christopher Rousby, and so got into a high quarrel with them. +That when he had said all he desired to say to them, he made a move to +leave the ketch in his boat, intending to return to Mattapony House; but +they who were in the cabin prevented him, and would not let him go. That +thereupon the quarrel broke out afresh, and became more bitter; and it +being now in the night, and all in a great heat of passion, the parties +having already come from words to blows, Talbot drew his skean, or +dagger, and stabbed Rousby to the heart. That nothing was known on +shore of the affray till Saturday evening, when the body was brought to +Rousby's house; after which it became known to the neighborhood; and one +of the men of Major Sewall's plantation, which adjoined Rousby's, having +thus heard of it, set out and rode that night over to St. Mary's with +the news, which he gave to the Major before midnight. It was added, that +Colonel Talbot was now detained on board of the ketch, as a prisoner, by +Captain Allen. + +This was the amount of the dreadful story over which the gossips of St. +Mary's were shaking their wise heads and discoursing on "crowner's quest +law" that Sunday morning. + +As soon as Major Sewall received these unhappy midnight tidings, he went +instantly to his colleague, Colonel Darnall, and communicated them to +him; and they, being warm friends of Talbot's, were very anxious to get +him out of the custody of this Captain Allen. They therefore, on Sunday +morning, issued a writ directed to Roger Brooke, the sheriff of Calvert +County, commanding him to arrest the prisoner and bring him before +the Council. Their next move was to ride over--the same morning--to +Patuxent, taking with them Mr. Robert Carvil, and John Llewellin, their +secretary. Upon reaching the river, all four went on board the ketch +to learn the particulars of the quarrel. These particulars are not +preserved in the record; and we have nothing better than our conjectures +as to what they disclosed. We know nothing specific of the cause or +character of the quarrel. The visitors found Talbot loaded with irons, +and Captain Allen in a brutal state of exasperation, swearing that he +would not surrender his prisoner to the authorities of the Province, but +would carry him to Virginia and deliver him to the government there, to +be dealt with as Lord Effingham should direct. He was grossly insulting +to the two members of the Council who had come on this inquiry; and +after they had left his vessel, in the pinnace, to return to the shore, +he affected to believe that they had some concealed force lying in wait +to seize the pinnace and its crew, and so ordered them back on board, +but after a short detention thought better of it, and suffered them +again to depart. + +The contumacy of the captain, and the declaration of his purpose to +carry away Talbot out of the jurisdiction of the Province within which +the crime was committed, and to deliver him to the Governor of Virginia, +was a grave assault upon the dignity of the government and a gross +contempt of the public authorities, which required the notice of the +Council. A meeting of this body was therefore held on the Patuxent, +at Rich Neck, on the morning of the 4th of November. I find that five +members were present on that occasion. Besides Colonel Darnall and Major +Sewall, there were Counsellor Tailler and Colonels Digges and Burgess. +Here the matter was debated and ended in a feeble resolve,--that, if +this Captain Allen should persist in his contumacy and take Talbot to +Virginia, the Council should immediately demand of Lord Effingham +his redelivery into this Province. Alas, they could only scold! This +resolution was all they could oppose to the bullying captain and the +guns of the troublesome little Quaker. + +Allen, after hectoring awhile in this fashion, and raising the wrath of +the Colonels of the Council until they were red in the cheeks, defiantly +took his departure, carrying with him his prisoner, in spite of the +vehement indignation of the liegemen of the Province. + +We may imagine the valorous anger of our little metropolis at this +act or crime of lese-majesty. I can see the group of angry burghers, +collected on the porch of Cordea's tavern, in a fume as they listen to +Master John Llewellin's account of what had taken place,--Llewellin +himself as peppery as his namesake when he made Ancient Pistol eat +his leek; and I fancy I can hear Alderman Van Swearingen's choleric +explosion against Lord Effingham, supposing his Lordship should presume +to slight the order of the Council in respect to Talbot's return. + +But these fervors were too violent to last. Christopher Rousby was duly +deposited under the greensward upon the margin of Harper's Creek, where +I found him safe, if not sound, more than a hundred and fifty years +afterwards. The metropolis gradually ceased to boil, and slowly fell +to its usual temperature of repose, and no more disturbed itself with +thoughts of the terrible captain. Talbot, upon being transferred to the +dominion of Virginia, was confined in the jail of Gloucester County, in +the old town of Gloucester, on the northern bank of York River. + +The Council now opened their correspondence with Lord Effingham, +demanding the surrender of their late colleague. On their part, it was +marked by a deferential respect, which, it is evident, they did not +feel, and which seems to denote a timid conviction of the favor of +Virginia and the disgrace of Maryland in the personal feelings of the +King. It is manifest they were afraid of giving offence to the lordly +governor of the neighboring Province. On the part of Lord Effingham, the +correspondence is cavalier, arrogant, and peremptory. + +The Council write deploringly to his Lordship. They "pray"--as they +phrase it--"in humble, civil, and obliging terms, to have the prisoner +safely returned to this government." They add,--"Your Excellency's great +wisdom, prudence, and integrity, as well as neighborly affection and +kindness for this Province, manifested and expressed, will, we doubt +not, spare us the labor of straining for arguments to move your +Excellency's consideration to this our so just and reasonable demand." +Poor Colonel Darnall, Poor Colonel Digges, and the rest of you Colonels +and Majors,--to write such whining hypocrisy as this! George Talbot +would not have written to Lord Effingham in such phrase, if one of you +had been unlawfully transported to his prison and Talbot were your +pleader! + +The nobleman to whom this servile language was addressed was a hateful +despot, who stands marked in the history of Virginia for his oppressive +administration, his arrogance, and his faithlessness. + +To give this beseeching letter more significance and the flattery it +contained more point, it was committed to the charge of two gentlemen +who were commissioned to deliver it in person to his Lordship. These +were Mr. Clement Hill and Mr. Anthony Underwood. + +Effingham's answer was cool, short, and admonitory. The essence of it +is in these words:--"We do not think it warrantable to comply with your +desires, but shall detain Talbot prisoner until his Majesty's particular +commands be known therein." A postscript is added of this import:--"I +recommend to your consideration, that you take care, as far as in you +lies, that, in the matter of the Customs, his Majesty receive no further +detriment by this unfortunate accident." + +One almost rejoices to read such an answer to the fulsome language which +drew it out. This correspondence runs through several such epistles. The +Council complain of the rudeness and coarse behavior of Captain Allen, +and particularly of his traducing Lord Baltimore's government and +attempting to excite the people against it. Lord Effingham professes to +disbelieve such charges against "an officer who has so long served his +King with fidelity, and who could not but know what was due to his +superiors." + +Occasionally this same faithful officer, Captain Allen himself, +reappears upon the stage. We catch him at a gentleman's house in +Virginia, boasting over his cups--for he seems to have paid habitual +tribute to a bowl of punch--that he will break up the government of +Maryland, and annex this poor little Province of ours to Virginia: a +fact worth notice just now, as it makes it clear that annexation is not +the new idea of the Nineteenth Century, but lived in very muddy brains +a long time ago. I now quit this correspondence to look after a bit of +romance in a secret adventure. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A PLOT. + + +We must return to the Manor of New Connaught upon the Elk River. + +There we shall find a sorrowful household. The Lord of the Manor is in +captivity; his people are dejected with a presentiment that they are to +see him no more; his wife is lamenting with her children, and counting +the weary days of his imprisonment. + + "His hounds they all run masterless, + His hawks they flee from tree to tree." + +Everything in the hospitable woodland home is changed. November, +December, January had passed by since Talbot was lodged in the +Gloucester prison, and still no hope dawned upon the afflicted lady. The +forest around her bowled with the rush of the winter wind, but neither +the wilderness nor the winter was so desolate as her own heart. The fate +of her husband was in the hands of his enemies. She trembled at the +thought of his being forced to a trial for his life in Virginia, where +he would be deprived of that friendly sympathy so necessary even to the +vindication of innocence, and where he ran the risk of being condemned +without defence, upon the testimony of exasperated opponents. + +But she was a strong-hearted and resolute woman, and would not despair. +She had many friends around her,--friends devoted to her husband and +herself. Amongst these was Phelim Murray, a cornet of cavalry under the +command of Talbot,--a brave, reckless, true-hearted comrade, who had +often shared the hospitality, the adventurous service, and the sports of +his commander. + +To Murray I attribute the planning of the enterprise I am now about +to relate. He had determined to rescue his chief from his prison in +Virginia. His scheme required the cooeperation of Mrs. Talbot and one of +her youngest children,--the pet boy, perhaps, of the family, some two +or three years old,--I imagine, the special favorite of the father. The +adventure was a bold one, involving many hardships and perils. Towards +the end of January, the lady, accompanied by her boy with his nurse, and +attended by two Irish men-servants, repaired to St. Mary's, where she +was doubtless received as a guest in the mansion of the Proprietary, now +the residence of young Benedict Leonard and those of the family who had +not accompanied Lord Baltimore to England. + +Whilst Mrs. Talbot tarried here, the Cornet was busy in his +preparations. He had brought the Colonel's shallop from Elk River to the +Patuxent, and was here concerting a plan to put the little vessel under +the command of some ostensible owner who might appear in the character +of its master to any over-curious or inopportune questioner. He had +found a man exactly to his hand in a certain Roger Skreene, whose name +might almost be thought to be adopted for the occasion and to express +the part he had to act. He was what we may call the sloop's husband, but +was bound to do whatever Murray commanded, to ask no questions, and +to be profoundly ignorant of the real objects of the expedition. +This pliant auxiliary had, like many thrifty--or more probably +thriftless--persons of that time, a double occupation. He was amphibious +in his habits, and lived equally on land and water. At home he was a +tailor, and abroad a seaman, frequently plying his craft as a skipper +on the Bay, and sufficiently known in the latter vocation to render his +present employment a matter to excite no suspicious remark. It will +be perceived in the course of his present adventure that he was quite +innocent of any avowed complicity in the design which he was assisting. + +Murray had a stout companion with him, a good friend to Talbot, probably +one of the familiar frequenters of the Manor House of New Connaught,--a +bold fellow, with a hand and a heart both ready for any perilous +service. He may have been a comrade of the Cornet's in his troop. His +name was Hugh Riley,--a name that has been traditionally connected with +dare-devil exploits ever since the days of Dermot McMorrogh. There have +been, I believe, but few hard fights in the world, to which Irishmen +have had anything to say, without a Hugh Riley somewhere in the thickest +part of them. + +The preparations being now complete, Murray anchored his shallop near a +convenient landing,--perhaps within the Mattapony Creek. + +In the dead of winter, about the 30th of January, 1685, Mrs. Talbot, +with her servants, her child, and nurse, set forth from the Proprietary +residence in St. Mary's, to journey over to the Patuxent,--a cold, bleak +ride of fifteen miles. The party were all on horseback: the young boy, +perhaps, wrapped in thick coverings, nestling in the arms of one of the +men: Mrs. Talbot braving the sharp wind in hood and cloak, and warmed +by her own warm heart, which beat with a courageous pulse against the +fierce blasts that swept and roared across her path. Such a cavalcade, +of course, could not depart from St. Mary's without observation at any +season; but at this time of the year so unusual a sight drew every +inhabitant to the windows, and set in motion a current of gossip that +bore away all other topics from every fireside. The gentlemen of the +Council, too, doubtless had frequent conference with the unhappy wife of +their colleague, during her sojourn in the Government House, and perhaps +secretly counselled with her on her adventure. Whatever outward or +seeming pretext may have been adopted for this movement, we can hardly +suppose that many friends of the Proprietary were ignorant of its +object. We have, indeed, evidence that the enemies of the Proprietary +charged the Council with a direct connivance in the scheme of Talbot's +escape, and made it a subject of complaint against Lord Baltimore that +he afterwards approved of it. + +Upon her arrival at the Patuxent, Mrs. Talbot went immediately on board +of the sloop, with her attendants. There she found the friendly cornet +and his comrade, Hugh Riley, on the alert to distinguish their loyalty +in her cause. The amphibious Master Skreene was now at the head of a +picked crew,--the whole party consisting of five stout men, with the +lady, her child, and nurse. All the men but Skreene were sons of the +Emerald Isle,--of a race whose historical boast is the faithfulness of +their devotion to a friend in need and their chivalrous courtesy to +woman, but still more their generous and gallant championship of woman +in distress. On this occasion this national sentiment was enhanced when +it was called into exercise in behalf of the sorrowful lady of the chief +of their border settlements. + +They set sail from the Patuxent on Saturday, the 31st of January. On +Wednesday, the fifth day afterwards, they landed on the southern bank of +the Rappahannock, at the house of Mr. Ralph Wormeley, near the mouth of +the river. This long voyage of five days over so short a distance would +seem to indicate that they departed from the common track of navigation +to avoid notice. + +The next morning Mr. Wormeley furnished them horses and a servant, and +Mrs. Talbot, with the nurse and child, under the conduct of Cornet +Murray, set out for Gloucester,--a distance of some twenty miles. The +day following,--that is, on Friday,--the servant returned with the +horses, having left the party behind. Saturday passed and part of +Sunday, when, in the evening, Mrs. Talbot and the Cornet reappeared at +Mr. Wormeley's. The child and nurse had been left behind; and this was +accounted for by Mrs. Talbot's saying she had left the child with his +father, to remain with him until she should return to Virginia. I infer +that the child was introduced into this adventure to give some seeming +to the visit which might lull suspicion and procure easier access to the +prisoner; and the leaving of him in Gloucester proves that Mrs. Talbot +had friends, and probably confederates there, to whose care he was +committed. + +As soon as the party had left the shallop, upon their first arrival at +Mr. Wormeley's, the wily Master Skreene discovered that he had business +at a landing farther up the river; and thither he straightway took his +vessel,--Wormeley's being altogether too suspicious a place for him to +frequent. And now, when Mrs. Talbot had returned to Wormeley's, Roger's +business above, of course, was finished, and he dropped down again +opposite the house on Monday evening; and the next morning took the +Cornet and the lady on board. Having done this, he drew out into the +river. This brings us to Tuesday, the 10th of February. + +As soon as Mrs. Talbot was once more embarked in the shallop, Murray and +Riley (I give Master Skreene's own account of the facts, as I find it in +his testimony subsequently taken before the Council) made a pretext to +go on shore, taking one of the men with them. They were going to look +for a cousin of this man,--so they told Skreene,--and besides that, +intended to go to a tavern to buy a bottle of rum: all of which Skreene +gives the Council to understand he verily believed to be the real object +of their visit. + +The truth was, that, as soon as Murray and Riley and their companion had +reached the shore, they mounted on horseback and galloped away in the +direction of Gloucester prison. From the moment they disappeared on this +gallop until their return, we have no account of what they did. Roger +Skreene's testimony before the Council is virtuously silent on this +point. + +After this party was gone, Mrs. Talbot herself took command, and, with a +view to more privacy, ordered Roger to anchor near the opposite shore of +the river, taking advantage of the concealment afforded by a small inlet +on the northern side. Skreene says he did this at her request, because +she expressed a wish to taste some of the oysters from that side of the +river, which he, with his usual facility, believed to be the only reason +for getting into this unobserved harbor; and, merely to gratify this +wish, he did as she desired. + +The day went by slowly to the lady on the water. Cold February, a little +sloop, and the bleak roadstead at the mouth of the Rappahannock brought +but few comforts to the anxious wife, who sat muffled upon that unstable +deck, watching the opposite shore, whilst the ceaseless plash of the +waves breaking upon her ear numbered the minutes that marked the weary +hours, and the hours that marked the still more weary day. She watched +for the party who had galloped into the sombre pine-forest that +sheltered the road leading to Gloucester, and for the arrival of that +cousin of whom Murray spoke to Master Skreene. + +But if the time dragged heavily with her, it flew with the Cornet and +his companions. We cannot tell when the twenty miles to Gloucester were +thrown behind them, but we know that the whole forty miles of going and +coming were accomplished by sunrise the next morning. For the deposition +tells us that Roger Skreene had become very impatient at the absence of +his passengers,--at least, so he swears to the Council; and he began to +think, just after the sun was up, that, as they had not returned, they +must have got into a revel at the tavern, and forgotten themselves; +which careless demeanor of theirs made him think of recrossing the river +and of going ashore to beat them up; when, lo! all of a sudden, he spied +a boat coming round the point within which he lay. And here arises a +pleasant little dramatic scene, of some interest to our story. + +Mrs. Talbot had been up at the dawn, and watched upon the deck, +straining her sight, until she could see no more for tears; and at +length, unable to endure her emotion longer, had withdrawn to the cabin. +Presently Skreene came hurrying down to tell her that the boat was +coming,--and, what surprised him, there were _four_ persons in it. "Who +is this fourth man?" he asked her,--with his habitual simplicity, "and +how are we to get him back to the shore again?"--a very natural question +for Roger to ask, after all that had passed in his presence! Mrs. Talbot +sprang to her feet,--her eyes sparkling, as she exclaimed, with a cheery +voice, "Oh, his cousin has come!"--and immediately ran upon the deck +to await the approaching party. There were pleasant smiling faces all +around, as the four men came over the sloop's side; and although the +testimony is silent as to the fact, there might have been some little +kissing on the occasion. The new-comer was in a rough dress, and had the +exterior of a servant; and our skipper says in his testimony, that "Mrs. +Talbot spoke to him in the Irish language": very volubly, I have no +doubt, and that much was said that was never translated. When they +came to a pause in this conversation, she told Skreene, by way of +interpretation, "he need not be uneasy about the stranger's going on +shore, nor delay any longer, as this person had made up his mind to go +with them to Maryland." + +So the boat was made fast, the anchor was weighed, the sails were set, +and the little sloop bent to the breeze and kissed the wave, as she +rounded the headland and stood up the Bay, with Colonel George Talbot +encircling with his arm his faithful wife, and with the gallant Cornet +Murray sitting at his side. + +They had now an additional reason for caution against search. So Murray +ordered the skipper to shape his course over to the eastern shore, and +to keep in between the islands and the main. This is a broad circuit +outside of their course; but Roger is promised a reward by Mrs. Talbot, +to compensate him for his loss of time; and the skipper is very willing. +They had fetched a compass, as the Scripture phrase is, to the shore of +Dorset County, and steered inside of Hooper's Island, into the month of +Hungary River. Here it was part of the scheme to dismiss the faithful +Roger from further service. With this view they landed on the island and +went to Mr. Hooper's house, where they procured a supply of provisions, +and immediately afterwards reembarked,--having clean forgotten Roger, +until they were once more under full sail up the Bay, and too far +advanced to turn back! + +The deserted skipper bore his disappointment like a Christian; and being +asked, on Hungary River, by a friend who met him there, and who gave his +testimony before the Council, "What brought him there?" he replied, "He +had been left on the island by Madam Talbot." And to another, "Where +Madam Talbot was?" he answered, "She had gone up the Bay to her own +house." Then, to a third question, "How he expected his pay?" he said, +"He was to have it of Colonel Darnall and Major Sewall; and that Madam +Talbot had promised him a hogshead of tobacco extra, for putting ashore +at Hooper's Island." The last question was, "What news of Talbot?" and +Roger's answer, "He had not been within twenty miles of him; neither did +he know anything about the Colonel" !! But, on further discourse, he let +fall, that "he knew the Colonel never would come to a trial,"--"that +_he_ knew this; but neither man, woman, nor child should know it, but +those who knew it already." + +So Colonel George Talbot is out of the hands of the proud Lord +Effingham, and up the Bay with his wife and friends; and is buffeting +the wintry head-winds in a long voyage to the Elk River, which, in due +time, he reaches in safety. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +TROUBLES IN COUNCIL. + + +Let us now turn back to see what is doing at St. Mary's. + +On the 17th of February comes to the Council a letter from Lord +Effingham. It has the superscription, "These, with the greatest care and +speed." It is dated on the 11th of February from Poropotanck, an Indian +point on the York River above Gloucester, and memorable as being in the +neighborhood of the spot where, some sixty years before these events, +Pocahontas saved the life of that mirror of chivalry, Captain John +Smith. + +The letter brings information "that last night [the 10th of February] +Colonel Talbot escaped out of prison,"--a subsequent letter says, "by +the corruption of his guard,"--and it is full of admonition, which has +very much the tone of command, urging all strenuous efforts to recapture +him, and particularly recommending a proclamation of "hue and cry." + +And now, for a month, there is a great parade in Maryland of +proclamation, and hue and cry, and orders to sheriffs and county +colonels to keep a sharp look-out everywhere for Talbot. But no person +in the Province seems to be anxious to catch him, except Mr. Nehemiah +Blakiston, the Collector, and a few others, who seem to have been +ministering to Lord Effingham's spleen against the Council for not +capturing him. His Lordship writes several letters of complaint at the +delay and ill success of this pursuit, and some of them in no measured +terms of courtesy. "I admire," he says in one of these, "at any slow +proceedings in service wherein his Majesty is so concerned, and hope you +will take off all occasions of future trouble, both unto me and you, +of this nature, by manifesting yourselves zealous for his Majesty's +service." They answer, that all imaginable care for the apprehending +of Talbot has been taken by issuing proclamations, etc.,--but all have +proved ineffectual, because Talbot upon all occasions flies and +takes refuge "in the remotest parts of the woods and deserts of this +Province." + +At this point we get some traces of Talbot. There is a deposition of +Robert Kemble of Cecil County, and some other papers, that give us a few +particulars by which I am enabled to construct my narrative. + +Colonel Talbot got to his own house about the middle of +February,--nearly at the same time at which the news of his escape +reached St. Mary's. He there lay warily watching the coming hue and cry +for his apprehension. He collected his friends, armed them, and set them +at watch and ward, at all his outposts. He had a disguise provided, in +which he occasionally ventured abroad. Kemble met him, on the 19th of +February, at George Oldfield's, on Elk River; and although the Colonel +was disguised in a flaxen wig, and in other ways, Kemble says he knew +him by hearing him cough in the night, in a room adjoining that in which +Kemble slept. Whilst this witness was at Oldfield's, "Talbot's shallop," +he says, "was busking and turning before Oldfield's landing for several +hours." The roads leading towards Talbot's house were all guarded by his +friends, and he had a report made to him of every vessel that arrived in +the river. By way of more permanent concealment, until the storm should +blow over, he had made preparations to build himself a cabin, somewhere +in the woods out of the range of the thoroughfares of the district. When +driven by a pressing emergency which required more than ordinary care +to prevent his apprehension, he betook himself to the cave on the +Susquehanna, where, most probably, with a friend or two,--Cornet Murray +I hope was one of them,--he lay perdu for a few days at a time, and +then ventured back to speak a word of comfort and encouragement to the +faithful wife who kept guard at home. + +In this disturbed and anxious alternation of concealment and flight +Talbot passed the winter, until about the 25th of April, when, probably +upon advice of friends, he voluntarily surrendered himself to the +Council at St. Mary's, and was committed for trial in the provincial +Court. The fact of the surrender was communicated to Lord Effingham by +the Council, with a request that he would send the witnesses to Maryland +to appear at his trial. Hereupon arose another correspondence with his +Lordship, which is worthy of a moment's notice. Lord Effingham has lost +nothing of his arrogance. He says, on the 12th of May, 1685, "I am so +far from answering your desires, that I do hereby demand Colonel Talbot +as my prisoner, in the King of England's name, and that you do forthwith +convey him into Virginia. And to this my demand I expect your ready +performance and compliance, upon your allegiance to his Majesty." + +I am happy to read the answer to this insolent letter, in which it will +be seen that the spirit of Maryland was waked up on the occasion to its +proper voice.--It is necessary to say, by way of explanation to one +point in this answer, that the Governor of Virginia had received the +news of the accession and proclamation of James the Second, and had not +communicated it to the Council in Maryland. The Council give an answer +at their leisure, having waited till the 1st of June, when they write +to his Lordship, protesting against Virginia's exercising any +superintendence over Maryland, and peremptorily refusing to deliver +Talbot. They tell him "that we are desirous and conclude to await his +Majesty's resolution, [in regard to the prisoner,] which we question not +will be agreeable to his Lordship's Charter, and, consequently, contrary +to your expectations. In the mean time we cannot but resent in some +measure, for we are willing to let you see that we observe, the small +notice you seem to take of this Government, (contrary to that amicable +correspondence so often promised, and expected by us,) in not holding us +worthy to be advised of his Majesty's being proclaimed, without which, +certainly, we have not been enabled to do our duty in that particular. +Such advice would have been gratefully received by your Excellency's +humble servants." Thanks, Colonels Darnall and Digges and you other +Colonels and Majors, for this plain outspeaking of the old Maryland +heart against the arrogance of the "Right Honorable Lord Howard, Baron +of Effingham, Captain General and Chief Governor of his Majesty's Colony +of Virginia," as he styles himself! I am glad to see this change of +tone, since that first letter of obsequious submission. + +Perhaps this change of tone may have had some connection with the recent +change on the throne, in which the accession of a Catholic monarch may +have given new courage to Maryland, and abated somewhat the confidence +of Virginia. If so, it was but a transitory hope, born to a sad +disappointment. + +The documents afford but little more information. + +Lord Baltimore, being in London, appears to have interceded with the +King for some favor to Talbot, and writes to the Council on the third +of July, "that it formerly was and still is the King's pleasure, that +Talbot shall be brought over, in the Quaker Ketch, to England, to +receive his trial there; and that, in order thereto, his Majesty had +sent his commands to the Governor of Virginia to deliver him to +Captain Allen, commander of said ketch, who is to bring him over." The +Proprietary therefore directs his Council to send the prisoner to the +Governor of Virginia, "to the end that his Majesty's pleasure may be +fulfilled." + +This letter was received on the 7th of October, 1685, and Talbot was +accordingly sent, under the charge of Gilbert Clarke and a proper guard, +to Lord Effingham, who gives Clarke a regular business receipt, as if +he had brought him a hogshead of tobacco, and appends to it a short +apologetic explanation of his previous rudeness, which we may receive as +another proof of his distrust of the favor of the new monarch. "I had +not been so urgent," he says, "had I not had advices from England, last +April, of the measures that were taken there concerning him." + +After this my chronicle is silent. We have no further tidings of Talbot. +The only hint for a conjecture is the marginal note of "The Landholder's +Assistant," got from Chalmers: "He was, I believe," says the note, +"tried and convicted, and finally pardoned by James the Second." This is +probably enough. For I suppose him to have been of the same family with +that Earl of Tyrconnel equally distinguished for his influence with +James the Second as for his infamous life and character, who held at +this period unbounded sway at the English Court. I hope, for the honor +of our hero, that he preserved no family-likeness to that false-hearted, +brutal, and violent favorite, who is made immortal in Macaulay's pages +as Lying Dick Talbot. Through his intercession his kinsman may have been +pardoned, or even never brought to trial. + + +CHAPTER X. + +CONCLUSION. + + +This is the end of my story. But, like all stories, it requires that +some satisfaction should be given to the reader in regard to the +dramatic proprieties. We have our several heroes to dispose of. Phelim +Murray and Hugh Riley, who had both been arrested by the Council to +satisfy public opinion as to their complicity in the plot for the +escape, were both honorably discharged,--I suppose being found entirely +innocent! Roger Skreene swore himself black and blue, as the phrase is, +that he had not the least suspicion of the business in which he was +engaged; and so he was acquitted! I am also glad to be able to say that +our gallant Cornet Murray, in the winding-up of this business, was +promoted by the Council to a captaincy of cavalry, and put in command of +Christiana Fort and its neighborhood, to keep that formidable Quaker, +William Penn, at a respectful distance. It would gratify me still more, +if I could find warrant to add, that the Cornet enjoyed himself, and +married the lady of his choice, with whom he has, unknown to us, been +violently in love during these adventures, and that they lived happily +together for many years. I hope this was so,--although the chronicle +does not allow one to affirm it,--it being but a proper conclusion to +such a romance as I have plucked out of our history. + +And so I have traced the tradition of the Cave to the end. What I have +been able to certify furnishes the means of a shrewd estimate of the +average amount of truth which popular traditions generally contain. +There is always a fact at the bottom, lying under a superstructure of +fiction,--truth enough to make the pursuit worth following. Talbot did +not live in the Cave, but fled there occasionally for concealment. He +had no hawks with him, but bred them in his own mews on the Elk River. +The birds seen in after times were some of this stock, and not the +solitary pair they were supposed to be. I dare say an expert naturalist +would find many specimens of the same breed now in that region. But let +us not be too critical on the tradition, which has led us into a quest +through which I have been able to supply what I hope will be found to be +a pleasant insight into that little world of action and passion,--with +its people, its pursuits, and its gossips,--that, more than one hundred +and seventy years ago, inhabited the beautiful banks of St. Mary's +River, and wove the web of our early Maryland history. + + +POSTSCRIPT. + + +I have another link in the chain of Talbot's history, furnished me by a +friend in Virginia. It comes since I have completed my narrative, and +very accurately confirms the conjecture of Chalmers, quoted in the note +of "The Landholder's Assistant." "As for Colonel Talbot, he was conveyed +for trial to Virginia, from whence he made his escape, and, after being +retaken, and, _I believe_, tried and convicted, was finally pardoned by +King James II." This is an extract from the note. It is now ascertained +that Talbot was not taken to England for trial, as Lord Baltimore, in +his letter of the 6th of July, 1685, affirmed it was the King's pleasure +he should be; but that he was tried and convicted in Virginia on the 22d +of April, 1686, and, on the 26th of the same month, reprieved by order +of the King; after which we may presume he received a full pardon, and +perhaps was taken to England in obedience to the royal command, to await +it there. The conviction and reprieve are recorded in a folio of the +State Records of Virginia at Richmond, on a mutilated and scarcely +legible sheet,--a copy of which I present to my reader with all its +obliterations and broken syllables and sad gashes in the text, for his +own deciphering. The MS. is in keeping with the whole story, and may be +looked upon as its appropriate emblem. The story has been brought to +light by chance, and has been rendered intelligible by close study and +interpretation of fragmentary and widely separated facts, capable of +being read only by one conversant with the text of human affairs, and +who has the patience to grope through the trackless intervals of time, +and the skill to supply the lost words and syllables of history by +careful collation with those which are spared. How faithfully this +accidentally found MS. typifies such a labor, the reader may judge from +the literal copy of it I now offer to his perusal. + +[Transcriber's note: Gaps in the text below are signified with an +asterisk.] + + By his Excellency + + Whereas his most Sacred Majesty has been Graciously pleased + by his Royall Com'ands to Direct and Com'and Me ffrancis + Lord Howard of Effingham his Maj'ties Lieut and Gov'r. Gen'll. + of Virginia that if George Talbott Esq'r. upon his Tryall should + be found Guilty of Killing M'r Christopher Rowsby, that Execution + should be suspended untill his Majesties pleasure should + be further signified unto Me; And forasmuch as the sd George + Talbott was Indicted upon the Statute of Stabbing and hath + Received a full and Legall Tryall in open Court on y'e Twentieth + and One and Twentieth dayes of this Instant Aprill, before his + Majesties Justices of Oyer and Terminer, and found Guilty of y'e + aforesaid fact and condemned for the Same, I, therefore, *ffrancis + Lord Howard, Baron of *ffingham, his Majesties Lieu't and Gov'r. + Gen'll. Of Virginia, by Virtue of *aj'ties Royall Com'ands + to Me given there * doe hereby Suspend *tion of the + Sentence of death * his Maj'ties Justices + * Terminer on the * till his Majesties + *erein be * nor any + * fail as yo* uttmost + * and for y'r soe doing this sh* + + Given under my and * Seale + + the 26th dayof Apri* + + EFFINGHAM + + To his Majesties Justices + of Oyer and Terminer. + + Recordatur E Chillon Gen'l Car* + + [Endorsed] + + Talbott's Repreif + from L'd Howard + 1686 for Killing Ch'r. Rousby + Examined Sept. 24th + 26th Aprill 1686 + Sentence of + ag'* Col Ta + Suspended + Aprill 26* 1*86 + + + + +PRINCE ADEB. + + + In Sana, oh, in Sana, God, the Lord, + Was very kind and merciful to me! + Forth from the Desert in my rags I came, + Weary and sore of foot. I saw the spires + And swelling bubbles of the golden domes + Rise through the trees of Sana, and my heart + Grew great within me with the strength of God; + And I cried out, "Now shall I right myself,-- + I, Adeb the Despised,--for God is just!" + There he who wronged my father dwelt in peace,-- + My warlike father, who, when gray hairs crept + Around his forehead, as on Lebanon + The whitening snows of winter, was betrayed + To the sly Imam, and his tented wealth + Swept from him, 'twixt the roosting of the cock + And his first crowing,--in a single night: + And I, poor Adeb, sole of all my race, + Smeared with my father's and my kinsmen's blood, + Fled through the Desert, till one day a tribe + Of hungry Bedouins found me in the sand, + Half mad with famine, and they took me up, + And made a slave of me,--of me, a prince! + All was fulfilled at last. I fled from them, + In rags and sorrow. Nothing but my heart, + Like a strong swimmer, bore me up against + The howling sea of my adversity. + At length o'er Sana, in the act to swoop, + I stood like a young eagle on a crag. + The traveller passed me with suspicious fear: + I asked for nothing; I was not a thief. + The lean dogs snuffed around me: my lank bones, + Fed on the berries and the crusted pools, + Were a scant morsel. Once, a brown-skinned girl + Called me a little from the common path, + And gave me figs and barley in a bag. + I paid her with a kiss, with nothing more, + And she looked glad; for I was beautiful, + And virgin as a fountain, and as cold. + I stretched her bounty, pecking, like a bird, + Her figs and barley, till my strength returned. + So when rich Sana lay beneath my eyes, + My foot was as the leopard's, and my hand + As heavy as the lion's brandished paw; + And underneath my burnished skin the veins + And stretching muscles played, at every step, + In wondrous motion. I was very strong. + I looked upon my body, as a bird + That bills his feathers ere he takes to flight,-- + I, watching over Sana. Then I prayed; + And on a soft stone, wetted in the brook, + Ground my long knife; and then I prayed again. + God heard my voice, preparing all for me, + As, softly stepping down the hills, + I saw the Imam's summer-palace all ablaze + In the last flash of sunset. Every fount + Was spouting fire, and all the orange-trees + Bore blazing coals, and from the marble walls + And gilded spires and columns, strangely wrought, + Glared the red light, until my eyes were pained + With the fierce splendor. Till the night grew thick, + I lay within the bushes, next the door, + Still as a serpent, as invisible. + The guard hung round the portal. Man by man + They dropped away, save one lone sentinel, + And on his eyes God's finger lightly fell; + He slept half standing. Like a summer wind + That threads the grove, yet never turns a leaf, + I stole from shadow unto shadow forth; + Crossed all the marble court-yard, swung the door, + Like a soft gust, a little way ajar,-- + My body's narrow width, no more,--and stood + Beneath the cresset in the painted hall. + I marvelled at the riches of my foe; + I marvelled at God's ways with wicked men. + Then I reached forth, and took God's waiting hand: + And so He led me over mossy floors, + Flowered with the silken summer of Shirar, + Straight to the Imam's chamber. At the door + Stretched a brawn eunuch, blacker than my eyes: + His woolly head lay like the Kaba-stone + In Mecca's mosque, as silent and as huge. + I stepped across it, with my pointed knife + Just missing a full vein along his neck, + And, pushing by the curtains, there I was,-- + I, Adeb the Despised,--upon the spot + That, next to heaven, I longed for most of all. + I could have shouted for the joy in me. + Fierce pangs and flashes of bewildering light + Leaped through my brain and danced before my eyes. + So loud my heart beat that I feared its sound + Would wake the sleeper; and the bubbling blood + Choked in my throat, till, weaker than a child, + I reeled against a column, and there hung + In a blind stupor. Then I prayed again; + And, sense by sense, I was made whole once more. + I touched myself; I was the same; I knew + Myself to be lone Adeb, young and strong, + With nothing but a stride of empty air + Between me and God's justice. In a sleep, + Thick with the fumes of the accursed grape, + Sprawled the false Imam. On his shaggy breast, + Like a white lily heaving on the tide + Of some foul stream, the fairest woman slept + These roving eyes have ever looked upon. + Almost a child, her bosom barely showed + The change beyond her girlhood. All her charms + Were budding, but half opened; for I saw + Not only beauty wondrous in itself, + But possibility of more to be + In the full process of her blooming days. + I gazed upon her, and my heart grew soft, + As a parched pasture with the dew of heaven. + While thus I gazed, she smiled, and slowly raised + The long curve of her lashes; and we looked + Each upon each in wonder, not alarm,-- + Not eye to eye, but soul to soul, we held + Each other for a moment. All her life + Seemed centred in the circle of her eyes. + She stirred no limb; her long-drawn, equal breath + Swelled out and ebbed away beneath her breast, + In calm unbroken. Not a sign of fear + Touched the faint color on her oval cheek, + Or pinched the arches of her tender mouth. + She took me for a vision, and she lay + With her sleep's smile unaltered, as in doubt + Whether real life had stolen into her dreams, + Or dreaming stretched into her outer life. + I was not graceless to a woman's eyes. + The girls of Damar paused to see me pass, + I walking in my rags, yet beautiful. + One maiden said, "He has a prince's air!" + I am a prince; the air was all my own. + So thought the lily on the Imam's breast; + And lightly as a summer mist, that lifts + Before the morning, so she floated up, + Without a sound or rustle of a robe, + From her coarse pillow, and before me stood + With asking eyes. The Imam never moved. + A stride and blow were all my need, and they + Were wholly in my power. I took her hand, + I held a warning finger to my lips, + And whispered in her small expectant ear, + "Adeb, the son of Akem!" She replied + In a low murmur, whose bewildering sound + Almost lulled wakeful me to sleep, and sealed + The sleeper's lids in tenfold slumber, "Prince, + Lord of the Imam's life and of my heart, + Take all thou seest,--it is thy right, I know,-- + But spare the Imam for thy own soul's sake!" + Then I arrayed me in a robe of state, + Shining with gold and jewels; and I bound + In my long turban gems that might have bought + The lands 'twixt Babelmandeb and Sahan. + I girt about me, with a blazing belt, + A scimitar o'er which the sweating smiths + In far Damascus hammered for long years, + Whose hilt and scabbard shot a trembling light + From diamonds and rubies. And she smiled, + As piece by piece I put the treasures on, + To see me look so fair,--in pride she smiled. + I hung long purses at my side. I scooped, + From off a table, figs and dates and rice, + And bound them to my girdle in a sack. + Then over all I flung a snowy cloak, + And beckoned to the maiden. So she stole + Forth like my shadow, past the sleeping wolf + Who wronged my father, o'er the woolly head + Of the swart eunuch, down the painted court, + And by the sentinel who standing slept. + Strongly against the portal, through my rags,-- + My old, base rags,--and through the maiden's veil, + I pressed my knife,--upon the wooden hilt + Was "Adeb, son of Akem," carved by me + In my long slavehood,--as a passing sign + To wait the Imam's waking. Shadows cast + From two high-sailing clouds upon the sand + Passed not more noiseless than we two, as one, + Glided beneath the moonlight, till I smelt + The fragrance of the stables. As I slid + The wide doors open, with a sudden bound + Uprose the startled horses; but they stood + Still as the man who in a foreign land + Hears his strange language, when my Desert call, + As low and plaintive as the nested dove's, + Fell on their listening ears. From stall to stall, + Feeling the horses with my groping hands, + I crept in darkness; and at length I came + Upon two sister mares, whose rounded sides, + Fine muzzles, and small heads, and pointed ears, + And foreheads spreading 'twixt their eyelids wide, + Long slender tails, thin manes, and coats of silk, + Told me, that, of the hundred steeds there stalled, + My hand was on the treasures. O'er and o'er + I felt their long joints, and down their legs + To the cool hoofs;--no blemish anywhere: + These I led forth and saddled. Upon one + I set the lily, gathered now for me,-- + My own, henceforth, forever. So we rode + Across the grass, beside the stony path, + Until we gained the highway that is lost, + Leading from Sana, in the eastern sands: + When, with a cry that both the Desert-born + Knew without hint from whip or goading spur, + We dashed into a gallop. Far behind + In sparks and smoke the dusty highway rose; + And ever on the maiden's face I saw, + When the moon flashed upon it, the strange smile + It wore on waking. Once I kissed her mouth, + When she grew weary, and her strength returned. + All through the night we scoured between the hills: + The moon went down behind us, and the stars + Dropped after her; but long before I saw + A planet blazing straight against our eyes, + The road had softened, and the shadowy hills + Had flattened out, and I could hear the hiss + Of sand spurned backward by the flying mares.-- + Glory to God! I was at home again! + The sun rose on us; far and near I saw + The level Desert; sky met sand all round. + We paused at midday by a palm-crowned well, + And ate and slumbered. Somewhat, too, was said: + The words have slipped my memory. That same eve + We rode sedately through a Hamoum camp,-- + I, Adeb, prince amongst them, and my bride. + And ever since amongst them I have ridden, + A head and shoulders taller than the best; + And ever since my days have been of gold, + My nights have been of silver.--God is just! + + * * * * * + + + +ELEUSINIA.[a] + +[Footnote a: See Number XXIII., September, 1859.] + + +THE SAVIOURS OF GREECE. + +Life, in its central idea, is an entire and eternal solitude. Yet each +individual nature so repeats--and is itself repeated in--every other, +that there is insured the possibility both of a world-revelation in the +soul, and of a self-incarnation in the world; so that every man's life, +like Agrippa's mirror, reflects the universe, and the universe is made +the embodiment of his life,--is made to beat with a human pulse. + +We do all, therefore,--Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, or Saxon,--claim kinship +both with the earth and the heavens: with the sense of sorrow we kneel +upon the earth, with the sense of hope we look into the heavens. + +The two Presences of the Eleusinia,--the earthly Demeter,[b] the +embodiment of human sorrow, and the heavenly Dionysus,[c] the +incarnation of human hope,--these are the two Great Presences of the +Universe; about whom, as separate centres,--the one of measureless +wanderings, the other of triumphant rest,--we marshal, both in the +interpretations of Reason and in the constructions of our Imagination, +all that is visible or that is invisible,--whatsoever is palpable in +sense or possible in idea, in the world which is or the world to come. +Incarnations of the life within us, in its two developments of Sorrow +and Hope,--they are also the centres through which this life develops +itself in the world: it is through them that all things have their +genesis from the human heart, and through them, therefore, that all +things are unveiled to us. + +[Footnote b: Demeter is [Greek Gae-mhaetaer], Mother Earth.] + +[Footnote c: The same as Iacchus and the Latin Bacchus.] + +But these Two Presences have their highest interest and significance as +_foci_ of the religious development of the race: and inasmuch as all +growth is ultimately a religious one, it is in this phase that their +organic connections with life are widest and most profound. As such they +appear in the Eleusinia; and in all mythology they furnish the only +possible key for the interpretation of its mystic symbolism, its +hieroglyphic records, and its ill-defined traditions. + +Accordingly we find that all mythology naturally and inevitably +flows about these centres into two distinct developments, which are +indicated,-- + +1. In Nature; inasmuch as they are first made manifest through symbols +which point to the two great forces, the _active_ and the _passive_, +which are concerned in all natural processes (_sol et terra subjacens +soli_); and, + +2. In the primitive belief among all nations, that men are the offspring +of the earth and the heavens,--and in the worship equally prevalent of +the sun, the personal Presence of the heavens, as Saviour Lord, and of +the earth as sorrowing Lady and Mother. + +Why the earth, in this primitive symbolism and worship, was represented +as the Sorrowing One, and the sun as Saviour, is evident at a glance. +It was the bosom of the earth which was shaken with storm and rent with +earthquake. She was the Mother, and hers was the travail of all birth; +in sorrow she forever gathered to herself her Fate-conquered children; +her sorrowful countenance she veiled in thick mists, and, year after +year, shrouded herself in wintry desolation: while he was the Eternal +Father, the Revealer of all things, he drove away the darkness, and in +his presence the mist became an invisible exhalation; and, as out of +darkness and death, he called into birth the flowers and the numberless +forests,--even as he himself was every morning born anew out of +darkness,--so he called the children of the earth to a glorious rising +in his light. Everything of the earth was inert, weighing heavily upon +the sense and the heart, only waiting its transfiguration and exaltation +through his power, until it should rise into the heavens; which was the +type of his translation to himself of his grief-oppressed children. + +Under these symbols our Lord and Lady have been worshipped by an +overwhelming majority of the human race. They swayed the ancient world, +from the Indians by the Ganges, and the Tartar tribes, to the Britons +and Laplanders of Northwestern Europe,--having their representatives in +every system of faith,--in the Hindu _Isi and Isana_, the Egyptian _Isis +and Osiris_, the Assyrian _Venus and Adonis_, the _Demeter and Dionysus_ +of Greece, the Roman _Ceres and Bacchus_, and the _Disa and Frey_ of +Scandinavia,--in connection with most, if not all, of whom there existed +festivals corresponding, in respect of their meaning and use, with the +Grecian Eleusinia. + +Moreover, the various divinities of any one mythology--for example, the +Greek--were at first only representatives of partial attributes or +incidental functions of these Two Presences. Thus, Jove was the power of +the heavens, which, of course, centred in the sun; Apollo is admitted +to have been only another name for the sun; AEsculapius represents his +healing virtues; Hercules his saving strength; and Prometheus, who gave +fire to men, as Vulcan, the god of fire, was probably connected with +Eastern fire-worship, and so in the end with the worship of the sun. +Some of the goddesses come under the same category,--such as Juno, +sister and wife of Jove, who shared with him his aerial dynasty; as also +Diana, who was only the reflection of Apollo,[d] as the moon of the sun, +carrying his power on into the night, and exercising among women the +functions which he exercised among men. The representatives of our Lady, +on the other hand, are such as the ancient Rhea,--Latona, with her dark +and starry veil,--Tethys, the world-nurse,--and the Artemis of the East, +or Syrian Mother; to say nothing of Oreads, Dryads, and Nereids, that +without number peopled the mountains, the forests, and the sea. + +[Footnote d: This connection of Diana with Apollo has led some to the +hasty inference, that the sun and moon--not the sun and earth--were the +primitive centres of mythological symbolism. But it is plain that the +sun and moon, as _active _forces referable to a single centre, stood +over against the earth as _passive._] + +The confusion of ancient mythology did not so much regard its subjective +elements as its external development, and even here is easily accounted +for by the mingling of tribes and nations, hitherto isolated in their +growth,--but who, as they came together, in their mutual recognition of +a common faith under different names and rites, must inevitably have +introduced disorder into the external symbolism. But even out of this +confusion we shall find the whole Pantheon organized about two +central shrines,--those of the _Mater Dolorosa_ and the _Dominus +Salvator_,--which are represented also in Christendom, though detached +from natural symbols, in the connection of Christianity with the worship +of the Virgin. + +The Eleusinia, collecting together, as it did, all the prominent +elements of mythology, furnishes, in its dramatic evolution through +Demeter and Dionysus, the highest and most complete representation of +ancient faith in both of its developments. In a former paper, we have +endeavored to give this drama its deepest interpretation by pointing to +the human heart as the central source of all its movements. We shall now +ask our readers to follow us out into these movements themselves,--that, +as before we saw how the world is centred in each human soul, we may now +see how each soul develops itself in the world; for thither it is that +the ever-widening cycles of the Eleusinian epos will inevitably lead us. + +And first as an epos of sorrow: though centring in the earthly Demeter, +yet its movement does not limit itself by the remembrance of _her_ nine +days' search; but, in the torch-light procession of the fifth night, +widens indefinitely and mysteriously in the darkness, until it has +inclosed all hearts within the circuit of its tumultuous flight. Thus, +by some secret sympathy with her movements, are gathered together +about the central Achtheia all the _Matres Dolorosoe,_--our Ladies of +Sorrow;--for, like her, they were all wanderers. + +They were so by necessity. All unrest involves loss, and thus leads to +search. It matters not if the search be unsuccessful; though the gadfly +sting as sharply the next moment as it did the last, still so must +continue her wanderings. Therefore that Jew, whose mythic fate it is to +wait forever upon the earth, the victim of an everlasting sorrow, is +also an everlasting wanderer. All suffering necessitates movement,--and +when the suffering is intense, the movement passes over into flight. + +Therefore it is that the epos of suffering requires not merely time for +its accomplishment, but also space. Ulysses, the "much-suffering," is +also the "much-wandering." + +Thus our Lady in the Eleusinian procession of search represents the +restless search of all her children. + +Migrations and colonizations, ancient or modern,--what were they but +flights from some phase of suffering,--name it as we may,--poverty, +oppression, or slavery? It was the same suffering Io who brought +civilization to the banks of the Nile. + +Thus, from the very beginnings of history or human tradition, out of +the severities of Scythian deserts there has been an endless series of +flights,--nomadic invasions of tribes impelled by no merely barbarian +impulse, but by some deep sense of suffering, flying from their Northern +wastes to the happy gardens of the South. In no other way can you +account for these movements. If you attribute them to ferocity, what +was it that engendered and nourished _that_? Call them the results of +a Divine Providence, seeking by a fresher current of life to revive +systems of civilization which through long ages of luxury have come to +frailty,--still it was through this severity of discipline alone that +Providence accomplished its end. Besides, these nomads were fully +conscious of their bitter lot; and those who fled not in space fled at +least in their dreams,--waiting for death at last to introduce them to +inexhaustible hunting-grounds in their happy Elysium. + +The very mention of Rome suggests the same continually repeated series +of antecedent tragedy and consequent wandering,--pointing backward to +the fabled siege of Troy and the flight of Aeneas,--"_profugus_" +from Asia to Italy,--and forward to the quick-coming footsteps of the +Northern _profugi_, who were eager, even this side the grave, to enter +the Valhalla of their dreams. + +It is said that the Phoenician cities sent out colonies from a desire of +gain, and because they were crowded at home. It is said, too, that, +in search of gold, thousands upon thousands went to El Dorado, to +California, and Australia; but who does not know that the greater part +of these thousands left their homes for reasons which, if fully exposed, +would reveal a tragedy in view of which gold appears a glittering +mockery? + +The great movement of the race westward is but an extension of this +epic flight. Thus, the Pilgrim Fathers of New England,--the grandest +_profugi_ of all time,--or even the bold adventurers of Spain, would +have been moved only by intense suffering, in some form, to exchange +their homes for a wilderness. + +The world is full of these wanderings, under various pretences of gain, +adventure, or curiosity, hiding the real impulse of flight. So with the +strong-flowing current in the streets of a great city; for how else +shall we interpret this intricate net-work of human feature and +movement,--this flux of life toward some troubled centre, and then its +reflux toward some uncertain and undefined circumference? + +And as Nature is the mirror of human life, so at the source of those +vast movements by which she buries in oblivion her own works and the +works of man there is hidden the type of human suffering, both for the +race and the individual. And hence it is, that, over against the eternal +solitude within us, there ever waits without us a second solitude, into +which, sooner or later, we pass with restless flight,--a solitude +vast, shadowy, and unfamiliar in its outline, but inevitable in its +reality,--haunting, bewildering, overshadowing us! + + * * * * * + +"Who is it that shall interpret this intricate evolution of human +footsteps, in its meaning of sorrow?--who is it that shall give us +rest?" Such is the half-conscious prayer of all these fugitives,--of +our Lady and all her children. This it is which gives meaning to the +torch-light procession on the fifth night of the Festival; but to-morrow +it shall find an answer in the Saviour Dionysus, who shall change the +flight of search into the pomp of triumph. + + * * * * * + +But let us pause a moment. It is Palm Sunday! We are not, indeed, in +Syria, the land of palms. Yet, even here,--lost in some far-reaching +avenue of pines, where one could hardly walk upon a summer Sunday +without such sense of joy as would move him to tears,--even here all the +movements of the earth and the heavens hint of most jubilant triumph. +Thus, the green grass rises above the dead grass at our feet; the +leaf-buds new-born upon the tree, like lotos-buds springing up from +Ethiopian marble, give token of resurrection; the trees themselves tower +heavenward; and in victorious ascension the clouds unite in the vast +procession, dissolving in exhalation at the "gates of the sun"; while +from unnumbered choirs arise songs of exultant victory from the hearts +of men to the throne of God! + +But whither, in divine remembrance,--whither is it that upon this Sunday +of all Sundays the thoughts of Christendom point? Back through eighteen +hundred years to the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, followed +by the children crying, "Hosanna in the highest heavens!" Of this it is +that the processions of Nature, in the resurrections of birth and the +aerial ascension of clouds,--of this that the upward processions of our +thoughts are commemorative! + +Thus was the sixth day of the Eleusinia,--when the ivy-crowned Dionysus +was borne in triumph through the mystic entrance of Eleusis, and from +the Eleusinian plains, as from our choirs to-day, ascended the jubilant +Hosannas of the countless multitude;--this was the Palm Sunday of +Greece. + +Close upon the chariot-wheels of the Saviour Dionysus followed, in +the faith of Greece, Aesculapius and Hercules: the former the Divine +Physician, whose very name was healing, and who had power over death, +as the child of the Sun; and the latter, who by his saving strength +delivered the earth from its Augean impurities, and, arrayed in +celestial panoply, subdued the monsters of the earth, and at last, +descending to Hades, slew the three-headed Cerberus and took away from +men much of the fear of death. Such was the train of the Eleusinian +Dionysus. If Demeter was the wanderer, he was the conqueror and centre +of all triumph. + +And this reminds us of his Indian conquest. What did it mean? Admit that +it may have been only the fabulous march in triumph of some forgotten +king of mortal birth to the farthest limits of the East. Still the fact +of its association with Dionysus stands as evidence of the connection of +human faith with human victory. Let it be that Dionysus himself was only +the apotheosis of victorious humanity. In strict logic this is more than +probable. Yet why apotheosize conquerors at all? Why exalt all heroes to +the rank of gods? + +The reason is, that men are unwilling to draw a limited meaning from any +human act. How could they, then, connecting, as they did, all victory +with hope,--how could they fall short of the most exalted hope, of the +most excellent victory; especially in instances like the one now under +our notice, where the material circumstances of the conquest as well +as of the conqueror's life have passed out of remembrance; when for +generations men have dwelt upon the dim tradition in their thoughts, and +it has had time to grow into its fullest significance,--even finding +an elaborate expression in sacred writings, in symbolic ritual, and +monumental entablature? Osiris, who subjected men to his reign of peace, +was also held to be the Preserver of their souls. Even Caesar, had he +lived two thousand years before, might have been worshipped as Saviour. +All extended power, measured by duration in time or vast areas of space, +becomes an incarnate Presence in the world, which awes to the dust +all who resist it, and exalts with its own glory all who trust in it. +Achtheia mourns all failures; and here it is that the human touches the +earth. But they who conquer, these are our Saviours; they shall follow +in the train of Dionysus; they shall lift us to the heavens, and +sanctify in our remembrance the Sunday of Palms! + +But Dionysus not only looks back with triumphant remembrance to ancient +conquest, but has his victories in the present, also, and in the great +Hereafter. For triumph was connected with all Dionysiac symbols, hints +of which are preserved to us in representations found upon ancient +vases: such, for instance, as the figure of Victory surmounting the +heads of the ivy-crowned Bacchantes in their mystic orgies; or the +winged serpents which bear the chariot of the victor-god,--as if in +this connection even the reptiles, whose very name (_serpentes_) is +a synonyme for what creeps, are to be made the ministrants of his +conquering flight. The tombs of the ancients from Egypt to Etruria are +full of these symbols. Many of them have become dim as to their meaning +by oblivious time; but enough is evident to indicate the prominence +of hope in ancient faith. This appears in the very multiplicity of +Dionysiac symbols as compared with any other class. Thus, out of +sixty-six vases at Polignano, all but one or two were found to be +Dionysiac in their symbolism. And this instance stands for many others. +The _character_ of the scenes represented indicates the same prominence +of hope, sometimes as connected with the relations of life,--as, for +example, the representation, found upon a sepulchral cone, of a husband +and wife uniting with each other in prayer to the Sun. Frequent +inscriptions--such as those in which the deceased is carefully committed +to Osiris, the Egyptian Dionysus--point in the same direction; as +also the genii who presided over the embalmed dead, a belief in whose +existence surely indicated a hopeful trust in some divine care which +would not leave them even in the grave. Statues of Osiris are found +among the ruins of palaces and temples; but it was in the monuments +associated with death that they dwelt most upon his name and expressed +their faith in most frequent incarnation and inscription. + +The epic movement of Eleusinian triumph was in its range as unlimited +as the movement of sorrow. Each found expression in sculptured +monument,--the one hinting of flight into darkness, and the other of +resurrection into light; each in its cycle inclosed the world; each +widened into the invisible; as the wail of Achtheia reached the heart of +Hades, so the paean of Dionysus was lost in the heavens. + + * * * * * + +But in what manner did this Dionysus make his _avatar_ in the world? For +he must needs have first touched the earth as human child, ere he could +be worshipped as Divine Saviour. Latona must leave the heavens and come +to Delos ere she can give birth to Apollo; for, in order to slay the +serpent, the child must himself be earth-born,--indeed, according to one +representation, he slew the Python out of his mother's arms. Neither the +serpent of Genesis nor the dragon of Revelation can be conquered save +by the seed of the woman. From this necessity of his earthly birth, +the connection of the Saviour-Child with the _Mater Dolorosa_ becomes +universal,--finding its counterpart in the Assyrian Venus with babe in +arm, in Isis suckling the child Horus, and even in the Scandinavian Disa +at Upsal accompanied by an infant. It is from swaddling-clothes, as the +nursling of our Lady, and out of the sorrowful discipline of earth, that +the child grows to be the Saviour, both for our Lady and for all her +children. + +Hence, according to the tradition, Dionysus was born of Semele of the +royal house at Thebes; and Jove was his father. A little before his time +of birth,--so the story goes,--Jove visited Semele, at her own rash +request, in all the majesty of his presence, with thunderings and +lightnings, so that the bower of the virgin mother was laid in ruins, +and she herself, unable to stand before the revealed god, was consumed +as by fire. But Jove out of her ashes perfected the birth of his son; +whence he was called the Child of Fire, ([Greek: puripais],)--which +epithet, as well as this part of the fable, probably points to his +connection with the Oriental symbolism of fire in the worship of the +Sun. + +And it is worth while, in connection with this, to notice the gradations +by which in the ancient mind everything ascended from the gross material +to a refined spirituality. As in Nature there was forever going on a +subtilizing process, so that + + "from the root + Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves + More aery, last the bright consummate flower + Spirits odorous breathes,"-- + +and as, in their philosophy, from the earth, as the principle of Nature, +they ascended through the more subtile elements of water, air, and fire, +to a spiritual conception of the universe; so, as regards their +faith, its highest incarnation was through the symbolism of fire, as +representative of that central Power under whose influence all things +arose through endless grades of exaltation to Himself,--so that the +earthly rose into the heavenly, and all that was human became divine. + +The enthusiasm of victory and exaltation in the worship of Dionysus +tended of course to connect with him whatsoever was joyous and jubilant +in life. He was the god of all joy. Hence the fable which makes him the +author and giver of wine to men. Wherever he goes, he is surrounded by +the clustering vine and ivy, hinting of his summer glory and of his +kingly crown. Thus, the line of his conquests leads through the richest +fields of Southern Asia,--through the incense-breathing Arabia, across +the Euphrates and the Tigris, and through the flowery vales of Cashmere +to the Indian garden of the world: and as from sea to sea he establishes +his reign by bloodless victories, he is attended by Fauns and Satyrs and +the jovial Pan; wine and honey are his gifts; and all the earth is glad +in his gracious presence. Hence he was ever associated with Oriental +luxuriance, and was worshipped even among the Greeks with a large +infusion of Oriental extravagance, though tempered by the more subdued +mood of the West. + +But that depth of Grecian genius, which made it possible for Greece +alone of all ancient nations to develop tragedy to anything like +perfection, insured also even in the most impassioned life the most +profound solemnity. Into the praises of Apollo, joyous as they +were,--where, to the exultant anthem was joined the evolution of the +dance beneath the vaulted sky, as if in his very presence,--for the sun +was his shechinah,--there enters an element of solemnity, which, in +certain connections, is almost overwhelming: as, for instance, in the +first book of the "Iliad,"--where, after the pestilence which has sent +up an endless series of funeral pyres,--after the strife of heroes +and the return of Chryseis to her father, the priest of the angry +Apollo,--after the feast and the libation from the wine-crowned cups, +there follow the _apotropoea_, and the Grecian youths unite in the +song and the dance, which last, both the joyous paean and the tread of +exultant feet, until the setting sun. I know of nothing which to +an equal degree suggests this element of solemnity, that is almost +awe-inspiring from its depth, short of the jubilant procession of +saints, in the Apocalypse, with palms in their hands. + +This element is also evident in the worship of Dionysus,--so that the +inspiration of joy must not be taken for the frenzy of intoxication, +though the symbol of the vine has often led to just this +misapprehension. Besides, Dionysus must not be too closely identified +with the Bacchanalian orgies, which were only a perversion of rites +which retained their original purity in the Eleusinia: and this latter +institution, it must be remembered, was from the first under the control +of the state,--and that state at the time the most refined on the face +of the earth. + +Surely, it is not more difficult to give a pure and spiritual +significance to a vintage-festival or to the symbolic wine-cup of +Dionysus, than in the rhapsodies of a Persian or Hindu poet to symbolize +the attraction between the Divine Goodness and the human soul by the +loves of Laili and Majnum, or of Crishna and Radha,--to say nothing of +the exalted symbolism attached to the love of Solomon for his Egyptian +princess, and sanctioned by the most delicate taste. + +Indeed, is it not true that whatsoever is most sensuous in connection +with human joy, and at the same time pure, is the very flower of life, +and therefore the most consummate revelation of holiness? Nothing in +Nature is so intensely solemn as her summer, in its infinite fulness of +growth and the unmeasured altitude of its heavens. And within the range +of human associations which shall we select as revealing the most +profound solemnity? Surely not the sight of the funeral train, nor of +the urn crowned with cypress,--of nothing which is associated with death +or weakness in any shape;--but the sight of gayest festivals, or the +paraphernalia of palace-halls,--the vision of some youthful maiden of +transcendent beauty crowned with an orange-wreath, within hearing of +marriage-bells and the whisperings of holy love,--or the aspirations of +the dance and the endless breathings of triumphant music. These are they +which come up most prominently in remembrance,--even as the whole race, +in its remembrances, instinctively looks back to the Orient,--to some +Homeric island of the morning, where are the palaces, the choral dances, +and the risings of the sun.[e] And as Memory has the power to purify the +past of all material grossness, Faith has the same power as regards the +present Hence, the closest connection of religious faith with the +most joyous festivals, with a finely moulded Venus or Apollo, with an +Ephesian temple or a splendid cathedral, or the sweetest symphonies of +music, does not mar, but reveals its natural beauty and strength. + +[Footnote e: _Odyssey_, xii., 4.] + +But most certainly the Greeks gave a profound spiritual meaning to the +Eleusinia, as also to the mystic connection of Demeter with Dionysus. +She gave them bread: but they never forgot that she gave them the bread +of life. "She gave us," says the ancient Isocrates, "two gifts that are +the most excellent: fruits, that we might not live like beasts; and that +initiation, those who have part in which have sweeter hope,--both as +regards the close of life, and for all eternity." So Dionysus gave them +wine, not only to lighten the cares of life, but as a token, moreover, +of efficient deliverance from the fear of death, and of the higher joy +which he would give them in some happier world. And thus it is, that, +from the earliest times and in all the world, bread and wine have been +symbols of sacramental significance. + +Human life so elevates all things with its exaltation and clothes them +with its glory, that nothing vain, nothing trifling, can be found within +its range. He who opposes himself to a single fact thus of necessity +opposes himself to the whole onward and upward current, and must fall. +We have heard of Thor, who with his magic mallet and his two celestial +comrades went to Joetunheim in quest of adventures: and we remember the +goblet which he could not exhaust because of its mysterious connection +with the inexhaustible Sea; the race with Hugi, which in the end proved +to be a race with Thought; and the wrestle with the old nurse Elli, who +was no other than Time herself, and therefore irresistible. So do we all +get us mallets ingeniously forged by the dark elves;--we try a race with +human thought, and look vainly to come out ahead; we laugh at things +because they are old, but with which we struggle to no purpose; and the +cup which we confidently put to our lips has no bottom;--in fact, the +great world of Joetunheim has grown for so long a time and so widely that +it is quite too much for us,--and its tall people, though we come down +upon them, like Thor and his companions, from celestial heights, are too +stout for our mallet. + +Nothing human is so insignificant, but that, if you will give it time +and room, it will become irresistible. The plays of men become their +dramas; their holidays change to holy days. The representations, through +which, under various names, they have repeated to themselves the glory +and the tragedy of their life,--old festivals once celebrated in Egypt +far back beyond the dimmest myths of human remembrance,--the mystic +drama of the Eleusinia, which we have been considering in its +overwhelming sorrow developed in hurried flight, and its lofty +hope through triumphal pomp and the significant symbolism of +resurrection,--the epos and the epic rhapsodies,--the circus and +the amphitheatre,--and even the impetuous song and dance of painted +savages,--all these, which at first we may pass by with a glance, have +for our deeper search a meaning which we can never wholly exhaust. Let +it be that they have grown from feeble beginnings, they have grown to +gigantic dimensions; and not their infantile proportions, but their +fullest growth is to be taken as the measure of their strength,--if, +indeed, it be not wholly immeasurable. + +Upon some day, seemingly by chance, but really having its antecedent +in the remotest antiquity, a company of men participate in some simple +act,--of sacrifice, it may be, or of amusement. Now that act will be +reiterated. + + "Quod semel dictum est stabilisque rerum + Terminus servet." + +The subtile law of repetition, as regards the human will, is as sure +in Determination as it is in Consciousness. Habit is as inevitable as +Memory; and as nothing can be forgotten, but, when once known, is +known forever,--so nothing is done but will be done again. Lethe and +Annihilation are only myths upon the earth, which men, though suspicious +of their eternal falsehood, name to themselves in moments of despair +and fearful apprehension. The poppy has only a fabled virtue; but, like +Persephone, we have all tasted of the pomegranate, and must ever to +Hades and back again; for while death and oblivion only seem to be, +remembrances and resurrections there must be, and without end. Therefore +this before-mentioned act of sacrifice or amusement will be reiterated +at given intervals; about it, as a centre, will be gathered all the +associations of intense interest in human life; and the names connected +with its origin--once human names upon the earth--will pass upon the +stars, so that the _nomina_ shall have changed to _numina_, and be +taken upon the lips with religious awe. So it was with these old +festivals,--so with all the representations of human life in stone or +upon the canvas, in the fairy-tale, the romance, and the poem; at every +successive repetition, at every fresh resurrection, is evolved by human +faith and sympathy a deeper significance, until they become the +centres of national thought and feeling, and men believe in them as in +revelations from heaven; and even the oracles themselves, in respect of +their inherent meaning, as also of their origin and authority, rise +by the same ascending series of repeated birth,--like that at Delphi, +which, at first attributed to the Earth, then to Themis, daughter of +Earth and Heaven, was at last connected with the Sun and constituted one +of the richest gems in Apollo's diadem of light. + +In the end we shall find that the whole world organizes about its centre +of Faith. Thus, under three different religious systems, Jerusalem, +Delphi, and Mecca were held to be each in its turn the _omphalos_ or +navel of the world. It follows inevitably that the _main_ movement of +the world must always be joyous and hopeful. By reason of this joy it is +that every religious system has its feast; and the sixth day--the day +of Iacchus--is the great day of the festival. The inscription which +rises above every other is "To the Saviour Gods." + +We must look at history as a succession of triumphs from the beginning; +and each trophy that is erected outdoes in its magnificence all that +were ever erected before it. Nothing has suffered defeat, except as it +has run counter to the main movement of conquest. No system of faith, +therefore, can by any possibility pass away. Involved it may be in some +fuller system; its _material_ bases may be modified; its central source +become more central in the human heart, and so stronger in the world and +more immediate in its connection with the eternal; but the life itself +of the system must live forever and grow forever. + +Still it is true that in the widest growth there is the largest +liability to weakness. "Thus it is," says Fouque, "with poor, though +richly endowed man. All lies within his power so long as action is at +rest within him; nothing is in his power the moment action has displayed +itself, even by the lifting-up of a finger on the immeasurable world." +In the very extent of the empire of an Alexander, a Caesar, or a +Tamerlane, rests the possibility of its rapid dissolution. At the +giddiest altitude of triumph it is that the brain grows dizziest +and there is revealed the deepest chasm of possible defeat; and the +conqueror, + + "Having his ear full of his airy fame," + +is just then most likely to fall like Herod from his aerial pomp to the +very dust. This consciousness, revealing at the highest moment of joy +its utmost frailty, led the ancients to suspect the presence of some Ate +or Nemesis in all human triumphs. We all remember the king who threw his +signet-ring into the sea, that he might in his too happy fortunes avert +this suspected presence; we remember, too, the apprehension of the +Chorus in the "Seven against Thebes," looking forward from the noontide +prosperity of the Theban king to some coming catastrophe. + +But it is not without us that this Nemesis waits; she is but another +name for the fearful possibility which lurks in every human will, of +treachery to itself. And as solemnity rises to its acme in the most +sensuous manifestation of the glory of life,--so in all that most +fascinates and bewilders, at the very crisis of victorious exaltation, +at the very height of joyous sensibility, does this mysterious power +of temptation reveal her subtlest treachery; and sometimes in a single +moment does she change the golden-filleted Horae, that are our ministers, +into frightful furies, which drive us back again from triumph into +flight. + +What was it, then, which saved the Eleusinia from this defeat,--which +kept the movement of the Dionysiac procession from the ruin inevitably +consequent upon all intemperate joy? It was the presence of our Lady, +the sorrowing Achtheia, who was the inseparable companion of the joyous +conqueror,--who subdued the joy of victory, and preserved the strength +and holy purity of the great Festival. Demeter was thus necessary to +Dionysus,--as Dionysus to Demeter; and if in remembrance of him the +sepulchral walls were covered with scenes associated with festivity,--in +remembrance of her there must needs be a skeleton at every feast. + +How inseparably connected in human thought is sorrow with all permanent +hope is indicated in the penances which men have imposed upon +themselves, from the earliest Gymnosophists of India, and the Stylitae of +Syria, down to the monastic orders of the Romish Church in later times. +This is the meaning of the old Indian fable which made two of the +_Rishis_ or penitents to have risen by the discipline of sorrow from +some low caste,--it may be, from very Pariahs,--first to the rank of +Brahmins, and at last to the stars. The first initiation in which we +veil our eyes, losing all, is essential to our fresher birth, by +which in the second initiation all things are unveiled to us as our +inheritance: indeed, it is only through that which veils that anything +is ever revealed or possessed. + +Through the same gate we pass both to glory and to tragic suffering, +each of which heightens and measures the other; and it is only so that +we can understand the function of sorrow in the Providence of God, or +interpret the sudden calamities which sometimes overwhelm human hopes at +their highest aspiration,--which from the most serene and cloudless sky +evoke storms which leave not even a wreck from their vast ruin. + +Nor merely is sorrow efficient in those who hope, but in even a higher +sense does it attach to the character of Saviour. Apollo is, therefore, +fabled to have been an exile from heaven and a servant of Admetus; +indeed, Danaues, in "The Suppliants" of AEschylus, appeals to Apollo for +protection on this very plea, addressing him as "the Holy One, and +an exiled God from heaven." Thus Hercules was compelled to serve +Eurystheus; and his twelve labors were typed in the twelve signs of the +zodiac. AEsculapius and Prometheus both suffered excruciating tortures +and death for the good of men. And Dionysus--himself the centre of all +joy--was persecuted by the Queen of Heaven and compelled to wander in +the world. Thus he wandered through Egypt, finding no abiding-place, and +finally, as the story runs, came to the Phrygian Cybele, that he might +know in their deepest meaning--even by the initiation of sorrow--the +mysteries of the Great Mother. And, very significantly, it is from this +same initiation that _His_ wanderings have their end and his world-wide +conquest its beginning; as if only thus could be realized the +possibility both of triumph for himself and of hope for his followers. +For these wanderers can find rest only in a _suffering_ Saviour, by the +vision of whose deeper Passion they lose their sense of grief,--as Io on +Caucasus in sight of the transfixed Prometheus, and the Madonna at the +Cross. + +It is worthy of more attention than we can give it here, yet we cannot +pass over in silence the fact, so important in this relation, that +Grecian Tragedy, in all its wonderful development under the three great +masters, was directly associated, and in its ruder beginnings completely +identified, with the worship of Dionysus. And this confirms our previous +hint, that the same element which made tragedy possible for Greece must +also be sought for in the development of its faith. There are those who +decry Grecian faith,--at the same time that they laud the Grecian drama +to the skies: but to the Greeks themselves, who certainly knew more than +we do as regards either, the drama was only an outgrowth of their faith, +and derived thence its highest significance. Thus the mystic symbolism +of the dramatic Choruses, taken out of its religious connections, +becomes an insoluble enigma; and naturally enough; for its first use +was in religious worship,--though afterwards it became associated with +traditionary and historic events. Besides, it was supposed that the +tragedians wrote under a divine inspiration; and the subjects and +representations which they embodied were for the most part susceptible +of a deep spiritual interpretation. Indeed, upon a careful examination, +we shall find that very many of the dramas directly suggest the two +Eleusinian movements, representing first the flight of suppliants--as +of the Heraclidae, the daughters of Danaues, and of Oedipus and +Antigone--from persecution to the shrine of some Saviour Deity,--and +finally a deliverance effected through sacrifice or divine +interposition. Examples of this are so numerous that we have no space +for a minute consideration. + +But certainly it is plain that the Eleusinia, as being more central, +more purely spiritual, must in the thought of Greece have risen high +above the drama. The very dress in which the _mystae_ were initiated was +preserved as most sacred or deposited in the temple. Or if we insist +upon measuring their appreciation of the Festival by the more palpable +standard of numbers,--the temple at Eleusis, by the account of Strabo, +was capable of holding even in its mystic cell more persons than the +theatre. To be sure, the celebration was only once in five years,--but +it was all the more sacred from this very infrequency. Nothing in all +Greece--and that is saying very much--could compare with it in its depth +of divine mystery. If anything could, it would have been the drama; but +no wailings were ever heard from beneath the masks of the stage like the +wailings of Achtheia,--no jubilant song of the Chorus ever rose like the +paean of Dionysiac triumph. + + * * * * * + +Thus was the name of Dionysus connected with the palace and the temple, +with the sepulchral court of death and the dramatic representations of +life,--and everywhere associated with our Lady. + +Sometimes, indeed, she seems to overshadow and hide him from our vision. +Thus was it when the Eumenides in their final triumph swept the stage, +and victory seemed all in the hands of invisible Powers, with no +human participant: even as throughout the Homeric epos there runs an +undercurrent of unutterable sadness; because, while to the Gods there +ever remains a sure seat upon Olympus, unshaken by the winds, untouched +by rain or snow, crowned with a cloudless radiance,--yet upon man +come vanity, sorrow, and strife; like the leaves of the forest he +flourisheth, and then passeth away to the "weak heads of the dead," +([Greek: nekuon amenaena karaena],) conquered by purple Death and strong +Fate. + +To the eye of sense, and in the circumscribed movements of this world, +the desolation seems complete and the defeat final. But the snows of +winter are necessary to the blossoms of spring,--the waste of death to +the resurrection of life; and from the vastest of all desolations does +our Lady lead her children in the loftiest of all flights,--even from +all sorrow and solitude,--from the wastes of earth and the desolation of +AEons, to ineffable joy in her Saviour Lord. + + * * * * * + + + +VICTOR AND JACQUELINE. + +I. + + +Jacqueline Gabrie and Elsie Meril could not occupy one room, and remain, +either of them, indifferent to so much as might be manifested of the +other's inmost life. They could not emigrate together, peasants from +Domremy,--Jacqueline so strong, Elsie so fair,--could not labor in the +same harvest-fields, children of old neighbors, without each being +concerned in the welfare and affected by the circumstances of the other. + +It was near ten o'clock, one evening, when Elsie Meril ran up the +common stairway, and entered the room in the fourth story where she and +Jacqueline lodged. + +Victor Le Roy, student from Picardy, occupied the room next theirs, and +was startled from his slumber by the voices of the girls. Elsie was +fresh from the theatre, from the first play she had ever witnessed; she +came home excited and delighted, ready to repeat and recite, as long as +Jacqueline would listen. + +And here was Jacqueline. + +Early in the evening Elsie had sought her friend with a good deal of +anxiety. A fellow-lodger and field-laborer had invited her to see the +play,--and Jacqueline was far down the street, nursing old Antonine +Dupre. To seek her, thus occupied, on such an errand, Elsie had the good +taste, and the selfishness, to refrain from doing. + +Therefore, after a little deliberation, she had gone to the theatre, and +there forgot her hard day-labor in the wonders of the stage,--forgot +Jacqueline, and Antonine, and every care and duty. It was hard for her, +when all was ended, to come back to compunction and explanation, yet to +this she had come back. + +Neither of the girls was thinking of the student, their neighbor; but +he was not only wakened by their voices, he amused himself by comparing +them and their utterances with his preconceived notions of the girls. +They might not have recognized him in the street, though they had often +passed him on the stairs; but he certainly could have distinguished the +pretty face of Elsie, or the strange face of Jacqueline, wherever he +might meet them. + +Elsie ran on with her story, not careful to inquire into the mood of +Jacqueline,--suspicious of that mood, no doubt,--but at last, made +breathless by her haste and agitation, she paused, looked anxiously at +Jacqueline, and finally said,-- + +"You think I ought not to have gone?" + +"Oh, no,--it gave you pleasure." + +A pause followed. It was broken at length by Elsie, exclaiming, in a +voice changed from its former speaking,-- + +"Jacqueline Gabrie, you are homesick! horribly homesick, Jacqueline!" + +"You do not ask for Antonine: yet you know I went to spend the day with +her," said Jacqueline, very gravely. + +"How is Antonine Dupre?" asked Elsie. + +"She is dead. I have told you a good many times that she must die. Now, +she is dead." + +"Dead?" repeated Elsie. + +"You care as much as if a candle had gone out," said Jacqueline. + +"She was as much to me as I to her," was the quick answer. "She never +liked me. She did not like my mother before me. When you told her my +name, the day we saw her first, I knew what she thought. So let that go. +If I could have done her good, though, I would, Jacqueline." + +"She has everything she needs,--a great deal more than we have. She is +very happy, Elsie." + +"Am not I? Are not you, in spite of your dreadful look? Your look is +more terrible than the lady's in the play, just before she killed +herself. Is that because Antonine is so well off?" + +"I wish that I could be where she is," sighed Jacqueline. + +"You? You are tired, Jacqueline. You look ill. You will not be fit for +to-morrow. Come to bed. It is late." + +As Jacqueline made no reply to this suggestion, Elsie began to reflect +upon her words, and to consider wherefore and to whom she had spoken. +Not quite satisfied with herself could she have been, for at length she +said in quite another manner,-- + +"You always said, till now, you wished that you might live a hundred +years. But it was not because you were afraid to die, you said so, +Jacqueline." + +"I don't know," was the answer,--sadly spoken, "Don't remind me of +things I have said. I seem to have lost myself." + +The voice and the words were effectual, if they were intended as an +appeal to Elsie. Fain would she now exclude the stage and the play from +her thoughts,--fain think and feel with Jacqueline, as it had long been +her habit to do. + +Jacqueline, however, was not eager to speak. And Elsie must draw yet +nearer to her, and make her nearness felt, ere she could hope to receive +the thought of her friend. By-and-by these words were uttered, solemn, +slow, and dirge-like:-- + +"Antonine died just after sundown. I was alone with her. She did not +think that she would die so soon. I did not. In the morning, John +Leclerc came in to inquire how she spent the night. He prayed with her. +And a hymn,--he read a hymn that she seemed to know, for all day she was +humming it over. I can say some of the lines." + +"Say them, Jacqueline," said the softened voice of Elsie. + +Slowly, and as one recalls that of which he is uncertain, Jacqueline +repeated what I copy more entire:-- + + "In the midst of life, behold, + Death hath girt us round! + Whom for help, then, shall we pray? + Where shall grace be found? + In thee, O Lord, alone! + We rue the evil we have done, + That thy wrath on us hath drawn. + Holy Lord and God! + Strong and holy God! + Merciful and holy Saviour! + Eternal God! + Sink us not beneath + Bitter pains of endless death! + Kyrie, eleison!" + +"Then he went away," she continued. "But he did not think it was the +last time he should speak to Antonine. In the afternoon I thought I saw +a change, and I wanted to go for somebody. But she said, 'Stay with me. +I want nothing.' So I sat by her bed. At last she said, 'Come, Lord +Jesus! come quickly!' and she started up in her bed, as if she saw +him coming. And as if he were coming nearer, she smiled. That was the +last,--without a struggle, or as much as a groan." + +"No priest there?" asked Elsie. + +"No. When I spoke to her about it, she said her priest was Jesus Christ +the Righteous,--and there was no other,--the High-Priest. She gave me +her Bible. See how it has been used! 'Search the Scriptures,' she said. +She told me I was able to learn the truth. 'I loved your mother,' she +said; 'that is the reason I am so anxious you should know. It is by +my spirit, said the Lord. Ask for that spirit,' she said. 'He is more +willing to give than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their +children.' She said these things, Elsie. If they are true, they must be +better worth believing than all the riches of the world are worth the +having." + +The interest manifested by the student in this conversation had been on +the increase since Jacqueline began to speak of Antonine Dupre. It was +not, at this point of the conversation, waning. + +"Your mother would not have agreed with Antonine," said Elsie, as if +there were weight in the argument;--for such a girl as Jacqueline could +not speak earnestly in the hearing of a girl like Elsie without result, +and the result was at this time resistance. + +"She believed what she was taught in Domremy," answered Jacqueline, "She +believed in Absolution, Extreme Unction, in the need of another priest +than Jesus Christ,--a representative they call it." She spoke slowly, as +if interrogating each point of her speech. + +"I believe as they believed before us," answered Elsie, coldly. + +"We have learned many things since we came to Meaux," answered +Jacqueline, with a patient gentleness, that indicated the perplexity +and doubt with which the generous spirit was departing from the old +dominion. She was indeed departing, with that reverence for the past +which is not incompatible with the highest hope for the future. "Our +Joan came from Domremy, where she must crown the king," she continued. +"We have much to learn." + +"She lost her life," said Elsie, with vehemence. + +"Yes, she did lose her life," Jacqueline quietly acquiesced. + +"If she had known what must happen, would she have come?" + +"Yes, she would have come." + +"How late it is!" said Elsie, as if in sleep were certain rest from +these vexatious thoughts. + +Victor Le Roy was by this time lost in his own reflections. These girls +had supplied an all-sufficient theme; whether they slept or wakened was +no affair of his. He had somewhat to argue for himself about extreme +unction, priestly intervention, confession, absolution,--something to +say to himself about Leclerc, and the departed Antonine. + +Late into the night he sat thinking of the marvel of Domremy and +of Antonine Dupre, of Picardy and of Meaux, of priests and of the +High-Priest. Brave and aspiring, Victor Le Roy could not think of +these things, involved in the names of things above specified, as more +calculating, prudent spirits might have done. It was his business, as a +student, to ascertain what powers were working in the world. All true +characters, of past time or present, must be weighed and measured by +him. Result was what he aimed at. + +Jacqueline's words had not given him new thoughts, but unawares they did +summon him to his appointed labor. He looked to find the truth. He must +stand to do his work. He must haste to make his choice. Enthusiastic, +chivalrous, and strong, he was seeking the divine right, night and +day,--and to ascertain that, as it seemed, he had come from Picardy to +Meaux. + +Elsie Meril went to bed, as she had invited Jacqueline to do; to sleep, +to dream, she went,--and to smile, in her dreaming, on the world that +smiled on her. + +Jacqueline sat by the window; leaned from the window, and prayed; her +own prayer she prayed, as Antonine had said she must, if she would +discover what she needed, and obtain an answer. + +She thought of the dead,--her own. She pondered on the future. She +recalled some lines of the hymn Antonine had repeated, and she +wished--oh, how she wished!--that, while the woman lived, and could +reason and speak, she had told her about the letter she had received +from the priest of Domremy. Many a time it had been on her lips to tell, +but she failed in courage to bring her poor affairs into that chamber +and disturb that dying hour. Now she wished that she had done it. Now +she felt that speech had been the merest act of justice to herself. + +But there was Leclerc, the wool-comber, and his mother; she might rely +on them for the instruction she needed. + +Old Antonine's faith had made a deep impression on the strong-hearted +and deep-thinking girl; as also had the prayers of John +Leclerc,--especially that last prayer offered for Antonine. It seemed to +authenticate, by its strong, unfaltering utterance, the poor old woman's +evidence. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," +were strong words that seemed about to take possession of the heart of +Jacqueline. + +Therefore, while Elsie slept, she prayed,--looking farther than the +city-streets, and darkness,--looking farther than the shining stars. +What she sought, poor girl, stood in her silent chamber, stood in her +waiting heart. But she knew Him not, and her ear was heavy; she did not +hear the voice, that she should answer Him, "Rabboni!" + + +II. + + +A fortnight from this night, after the harvesters had left the fields of +M. Flaval, Jacqueline was lingering in the twilight. + +The instant the day's work was done, the laborers set out for Meaux, +Their haste suggested some unusual cause. + +John Leclerc, wool-comber, had received that day his sentence. Report of +the sentence had spread among the reapers in the field and all along the +vineyards of the hill-sides. Not a little stir was occasioned by this +sentence: three days of whipping through the public streets, to conclude +with branding on the forehead. For this Leclerc, it seemed, had +profanely and audaciously declared that a man might in his own behalf +deal with the invisible God, by the mediation of Christ, the sole +Mediator between God and man. Viewed in the light of his offence, his +punishment certainly was of the mildest. Tidings of his sentence were +received with various emotion: by some as though they were maddened +with new wine; others wept openly; many more were pained at heart; some +brutally rejoiced; some were incredulous. + +But now they were all on their way to Meaux; the fields were quite +deserted. Urged by one desire, to ascertain the facts of the trial, +and the time when the sentence would be executed, the laborers were +returning to the town. + +Without demonstration of any emotion, Jacqueline Gabrie, quiet, +silent, walked along the river-bank, until she came to the clump of +chestnut-trees, whose shadow fell across the stream. Many a time, +through the hot, dreadful day, her eyes turned wistfully to this place. +In the morning Elsie Meril had promised Jacqueline that at twilight they +would read together here the leaves the poor old mother of Leclerc gave +Jacqueline last night: when they had read them, they would walk home by +starlight together. But now the time had come, and Jacqueline was alone. +Elsie had returned to town with other young harvesters. + +"Very well," said Jacqueline, when Elsie told her she must go. It was +not, indeed, inexplicable that she should prefer the many voices to the +one,--excitement and company, rather than quiet, dangerous thinking. + +But, thus left alone, the face of Jacqueline expressed both sorrow and +indignation. She would exact nothing of Elsie; but latterly how often +had she expected of her companion more than she gave or could give! + +Of course the young girl was equal to others in pity and surprise; but +there were people in the world beside the wool-comber and his mother. +Nothing of vast import was suggested by his sentence to her mind. She +did not see that spiritual freedom was threatened with destruction. If +she heard the danger questioned, she could not apprehend it. Though she +had listened to the preaching of Leclerc and had been moved by it, her +sense of truth and of justice was not so acute as to lead her willingly +to incur a risk in the maintaining of the same. + +She would not look into Antonine's Bible, which Jacqueline had read so +much during the last fortnight. She was not the girl to torment herself +about her soul, when the Church would save it for her by mere compliance +with a few easy regulations. + +More and more was Elsie disappointing Jacqueline. Day by day these girls +were developing in ways which bade fair to separate them in the end. +When now they had most need of each other, their estrangement was +becoming more apparent and decided. The peasant-dress of Elsie would not +content her always, Jacqueline said sadly to herself. + +Jacqueline's tracts, indeed, promised poorly as entertainment for an +hour of rest;--rest gained by hours of toil. The confusion of tongues +and the excitement of the city pleased Elsie better. So she went along +the road to Meaux, and was not talking, neither thinking, all the way, +of the wrongs of John Leclerc, and the sorrows of his mother,--neither +meditating constantly, and with deep-seated purpose, "I will not let +thee go, except thou bless me!"--neither on this problem, agitated then +in so many earnest minds, "What shall a man give in exchange for his +soul?" + +Thus Jacqueline sat alone and thought that she would read by herself the +tracts Leclerc had found it good to study. But unopened she held the +little printed scroll, while she watched the home-returning birds, whose +nests were in the mighty branches of the chestnut-trees. + +She needed the repose more than the teaching, even; for all day the +sun had fallen heavily on the harvesters,--and toiling with a troubled +heart, under a burning sun, will leave the laborer not in the best +condition for such work as Jacqueline believed she had to do. + +But she had promised the old woman she would read these tracts, and this +was her only time, for they must be returned that night: others were +waiting for them with an eagerness and longing of which, haply, +tract-dispensers see little now. Still she delayed in opening them. The +news of Leclerc's sentence had filled her with dismay. + +Did she dread to read the truth,--"the truth of Jesus Christ," as +his mother styled it? The frightful image of the bleeding, lacerated +wool-comber would come between her and the book in which that faith was +written for maintaining which this man must suffer. Strange contrast +between the heavy gloom and terror of her thoughts and the peaceful +"river flowing on"! How tranquil were the fields that spread beyond +her sight! But there is no rest or joy in Nature to the agitated and +foreboding spirit. Must we not have conquered the world, if we serenely +enter into Nature's rest? + +Fain would Jacqueline have turned her face and steps in another +direction that night than toward the road that led to Meaux: to the +village on the border of the Vosges,--to the ancient Domremy. Once her +home was there; but Jacqueline had passed forth from the old, humble, +true defences: for herself must live and die. + +Domremy had a home for her no more. The priest, on whom she had relied +when all failed her, was still there, it is true; and once she had +thought, that, while he lived, she was not fatherless, not homeless: but +his authority had ceased to be paternal, and she trusted him no longer. + +She had two graves in the old village, and among the living a few faces +she never could forget. But on this earth she had no home. + +Musing on these dreary facts, and on the bleeding, branded image of +Leclerc, as her imagination rendered him back to his friends, his +fearful trial over, a vision more familiar to her childhood than her +youth opened to Jacqueline. + +There was one who used to wander through the woods that bordered the +mountains in whose shadow stood Domremy,--one whose works had glorified +her name in the England and the France that made a martyr of her. Jeanne +d'Arc had ventured all things for the truth's sake: was she, who also +came forth from that village, by any power commissioned? + +Jacqueline laid the tracts on the grass. Over them she placed a stone. +She bowed her head. She hid her face. She saw no more the river, trees, +or home-returning birds; heard not the rush of water or of wind,--nor, +even now, the hurry and the shout; that possibly to-morrow would follow +the poor wool-comber through the streets of Meaux,--and on the third day +they would brand him! + +She remembered an old cottage in the shadow of the forest-covered +mountains. She remembered one who died there suddenly, and without +remedy,--her father, unabsolved and unanointed, dying in fear and +torment, in a moment when none anticipated death. She remembered a +strong-hearted woman who seemed to die with him,--who died to all the +interests of this life, and was buried by her husband ere a twelvemonth +had passed,--her mother, who was buried by her father's side. + +Burdened with a solemn care they left their child. The priest of +Domremy, and none beside him, knew the weight of this burden. How had he +helped her bear it? since it is the _business_ of the shepherd to look +after the younglings of the flock. Her hard earnings paid him for +the prayers he offered for the deliverance of her father from his +purgatorial woes. Burdened with a dire debt of filial love, the priest +had let her depart from Domremy; his influence followed her as an +oppression and a care,--a degradation also. + +Her life of labor was a slavish life. All she did, and all she left +undone, she looked at with sad-hearted reference to the great object of +her life. Far away she put all allurement to tempting, youthful joy. +What had she to do with merriment and jollity, while a sin remained +unexpiated, or a moment of her father's suffering and sorrow could be +anticipated? + +How, probably, would these new doctrines, held fast by some through +persecution and danger, these doctrines which brought liberty to light, +be received by one so fast a prisoner of Hope as she? She had pledged +herself, with solemn vows had promised, to complete the work her mother +left unfinished when she died. + +Some of the laborers in the field, Elsie among them, had hoped, they +said, that the wool-comber would retract from his dangerous position. +Recalling their words, Jacqueline asked herself would she choose to have +him retract? She reminded herself of the only martyr whose memory she +loved, the glorious girl from Domremy, and a lofty and stern spirit +seemed to rouse within her as she answered that question. She believed +that John had found and taught the truth; and was Truth to be sacrificed +to Power that hated it? Not by a suicidal act, at least. + +She took the tracts, so judging, from underneath the stone, wistfully +looked them over, and, as she did so, recalled these words: "You cannot +buy your pardon of a priest; he has no power to sell it; he cannot even +give it. Ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, upbraiding not. +'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how +much more shall your Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that +ask him!'" + +She could never forget these words. She could never forget the +preacher's look when he used them; nor the solemnity of the assenting +faith, as attested by the countenances of those around her in that +"upper room." + +But her father! What would this faith do for the departed? + +Yet again she dared to pray,--here in this solitude, to ask for that +Holy Spirit, the Enlightener. And it was truly with trembling, in +the face of all presentiments of what the gift might possibly, must +certainly, import to her. But what was she, that she could withstand +God, or His gift, for any fear of the result that might attend the +giving of the gift? + +Divinely she seemed to be inspired with that courageous thought. She +rose up, as if to follow the laborers who had already gone to Meaux. But +she had not passed out from the shadow of the great trees when another +shadow fell along her path. + + +III. + + +It was Victor Le Roy who was so close at hand. He recognized Jacqueline; +for, as he came down the road, now and then he caught a glimpse of her +red peasant-dress. And he accepted his persuasion as it had been an +assurance; for he believed that on such a night no other girl would +linger alone near the place of her day's labor. Moreover, while passing +the group of harvesters, he had observed that she was not among them. + +The acquaintance of these young persons was but slight; yet it was of +such a character as must needs increase. Within the last fortnight they +had met repeatedly in the room of Leclerc's mother. On the last night of +her son's preaching they had together listened to his words. The young +student with manly aspirations, ambitious, courageous, inquiring, and +the peasant girl who toiled in fields and vineyards, were on the same +day hearkening to the call, "Ho, every one that thirsteth!" with the +consciousness that the call was meant for them. + +When Victor Le Roy saw that Jacqueline perceived and recognized him, he +also observed the tracts in her hand and the trouble in her countenance, +and he wondered in his heart whether she could be ignorant of what had +passed that day at Meaux, and if it could be possible that her manifest +disturbance arose from any perplexity or disquietude independent of the +sentence that had been passed on John Leclerc. His first words brought +an answer that satisfied his doubt. + +"She has chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her," said +he, as he came near. "The country is so fair, could no one of them all +except Jacqueline see that? Were they all drawn away by the bloody +fascination of Meaux? even Elsie?" + +"It was the news that hurried her home with the rest," answered she, +almost pleased at this disturbance of the solitude. + +"Did that keep you here, Jacqueline?" he asked. "It sent me out of the +city. The dust choked me. Every face looked like a devil's. To-morrow +night, to-morrow night, the harvesters will hurry all the faster. +Terrible curiosity! And if they find traces of his blood along the +streets, there will be enough to talk about through the rest of the +harvesting. Jacqueline, if the river could be poured through those +streets, the sacred blood could never be washed out. 'Tis not the +indignity, nor the cruelty, I think of most, but the barbarous, wild +sin. Shall a man's truest liberty be taken from him, as though, indeed, +he were not a man of God, but the spiritual subject of his fellows? If +that is their plan, they may light the fires,--there are many who will +not shrink from sealing their faith with their blood." + +These words, spoken with vehemence, were the first free utterance +Victor Le Roy had given to his feelings all day. All day they had been +concentrating, and now came from him fiery and fast. + +It was time for him to know in whom and in what he believed. + +Greatly moved by his words, Jacqueline said, giving him the tracts,-- + +"I came from Domremy, I am free. No one can be hurt by what befalls me. +I want to know the truth. I am not afraid. Did John Leclerc never give +way for a moment? Is he really to be whipped through the streets, and on +the third day to be branded? Will he not retract?" + +"Never!" was the answer,--spoken not without a shudder. "He did not +flinch through all the trial, Jacqueline. And his old mother says, +'Blessed be Jesus Christ and his witnesses!'" + +"I came from Domremy," seemed to be in the girl's thought again; for +her eyes flashed when she looked at Victor Le Roy, as though she could +believe the heavens would open for the enlightening of such believers. + +"She gave me those to read," said she, pointing to the tracts she had +given him. + +"And have you been reading them here by yourself?" + +"No. Elsie and I were to have read them together; but I fell to +thinking." + +"You mean to wait for her, then?" + +"I was afraid I should not make the right sense of them." + +"Sit down, Jacqueline, and let me read aloud. I have read them before. +And I understand them better than Elsie does, or ever will." + +"I am afraid that is true, Sir. If you read, I will listen." + +But he did not, with this permission, begin instantly. + +"You came from Domremy, Jacqueline," said he. "I came from Picardy. My +home was within a stone's throw of the castle where Jeanne d'Arc was a +prisoner before they carried her to Rouen. I have often walked about +that castle and tried to think how it must have been with her when they +left her there a prisoner. God knows, perhaps we shall all have an +opportunity of knowing, how she felt when a prisoner of Truth. Like a +fly in a spider's net she was, poor girl! Only nineteen! She had lived +a life that was worth the living, Jacqueline. She knew she was about +to meet the fate her heart must have foretold. Girls do not run such a +course and then die quietly in their beds. They are attended to their +rest by grim sentinels, and they light fagots for them. I have read the +story many a time, when I could look at the window of the very room +where she was a prisoner. It was strange to think of her witnessing the +crowning of the King, with the conviction that her work ended there and +then,--of the women who brought their children to touch her garments or +her hands, to let her smile on them, or speak to them, or maybe kiss +them. And the soldiers deemed their swords were stronger when they had +but touched hers. And they knelt down to kiss her standard, that white +standard, so often victorious! I have read many a time of that glorious +day at Rheims." + +"And she said, _that_ day,' Oh, why can I not die here?'" said +Jacqueline, with a low voice. + +"And when the Archbishop asked her," continued Victor, "'Where do you, +then, expect to die?' she answered, 'I know not. I shall die where God +pleases. I have done what the Lord my God commanded me; and I wish that +He would now send me to keep my sheep with my mother and sister.'" + +"Because she loved Domremy, and her work was done," said Jacqueline, +sadly. "And so many hated her! But her mother would be sure to love. +Jeanne would never see an evil eye in Domremy, and no one would lie in +wait to kill her in the Vosges woods." + +"It was such as you, Jacqueline, who believed in her, and comforted her. +And to every one that consoled her Christ will surely say, 'Ye blessed +of my Father, ye did it unto me!' Yes, to be sure, there were too many +who stood ready to kill her in all France,--besides those who were +afraid of her, and fought against our armies. Even when they were taking +her to see the Dauphin, the guard would have drowned her, and lied about +it, but they were restrained. It is something to have been born in +Domremy,--to have grown up in the very place where she used to play, a +happy little girl. You have seen that fountain, and heard the bells she +loved so much. It was good for you, I know." + +"Her prayers were everywhere," Jacqueline replied. "Everywhere she heard +the voices that called her to come and deliver France. But her father +did not believe in her. He persecuted Jeanne." + +"A man's foes are of his own household," said Victor. "You see the same +thing now. It is the very family of Christ--yes! so they dare call +it--who are going to tear and rend Leclerc to-morrow for believing the +words of Christ. A hundred judges settled that Jeanne should be burned; +and for believing such words as are in these books"-- + +"Read me those words," said Jacqueline. + +So they turned from speaking of Joan and her work, to contemplate +another style of heroism, and to question their own hearts. + +Jacqueline Gabrie had lived through eighteen years of hardship and +exposure. She was strong, contented, resolute. Left to herself, she +would probably have suffered no disturbance of her creed,--would have +lived and died conforming to the letter of its law. But thrown under +the influence of those who did agitate the subject, she was brave and +clear-headed. She listened now, while, according to her wish, her +neighbor read,--listened with clear intelligence, intent on the truth. +That, or any truth, accepted, she would hardly shrink from whatever it +involved. This was the reason why she had really feared to ask the Holy +Ghost's enlightenment! So well she understood herself! Truth was truth, +and, if received, to be abided by. She could not hold it loosely. She +could not trifle with it. She was born in Domremy. She had played under +the Fairy Oak. She knew the woods where Joan wandered when she sought +her saintly solitude. The fact was acting on her as an inspiration, +when Domremy became a memory, when she labored far away from the wooded +Vosges and the meadows of Lorraine. + +She listened to the reading, as girls do not always listen when they sit +in the presence of a reader such as young Le Roy. + +And let it here be understood--that the conclusion bring no sorrow, and +no sense of wrong to those who turn these pages, thinking to find the +climax dear to half-fledged imagination, incapable from inexperience of +any deeper truth, (I render them all homage!)--this story is not told +for any sake but truth's. + +This Jacqueline did listen to this Victor, thinking actually of the +words he read. She looked at him really to ascertain whether her +apprehension of these things was all the same as his. She questioned +him, with the simple desire to learn what he could tell her. Her hands +were very hard, so constant had been her dealing with the rough facts of +this life; but the hard hand was firm in its clasp, and ready with its +helpfulness. Her eyes were open, and very clear of dreams. There was +room in them for tenderness as well as truth. Her voice was not the +sweetest of all voices in this world; but it had the quality that would +make it prized by others when heart and flesh were failing; for it would +be strong to speak then with cheerful faith and an unfaltering courage. + +Jacqueline sat there under the chestnut-trees, upon the river-bank, +strong-hearted, high-hearted, a brave, generous woman. What if her days +were toilsome? What if her peasant-dress was not the finest woven in the +looms of Paris or of Meaux? Her prayers were brief, her toil was long, +her sleep was sound,--her virtue firm as the everlasting mountains. +Jacqueline, I have singled you from among hordes and tribes and legions +upon legions of women, one among ten thousand, altogether lovely,--not +for dalliance, not for idleness, not for dancing, which is well; not for +song, which is better; not for beauty, which, perhaps, is best; not for +grace, or power, or passion. There is an attribute of God which is more +to His universe than all evidence of power. It is His truth. Jacqueline, +it is for this your name shall shine upon my page. + +And, manifestly, it is by virtue of this quality that her reader is +moved and attracted at this hour of twilight on the river-bank. + +Her intelligence is so quick! her apprehension so direct! her +conclusions so true! He intended to aid her; but Mazurier himself had +never uttered comments so entirely to the purpose as did this young +girl, speaking from heart and brain. Better fortune, apparently, could +not have befallen him than was his in this reading; for with every +sentence almost came her comment, clear, earnest, to the point. + +He had need of such a friend as Jacqueline seemed able to prove herself. +His nearest living relative was an uncle, who had sent the ambitious and +capable young student to Meaux; for he gave great promise, and was worth +an experiment, the old man thought,--and was strong to be thrown out +into the world, where he might ascertain the power of self-reliance. He +had need of friends, and, of all friends, one like Jacqueline. + +From the silence and retirement of his home in Picardy he had come +to Meaux,--the town that was so astir, busy, thoroughly alive! +Inexperienced in worldly ways he came. His face was beautiful with its +refinement and power of expression. His eyes were full of eloquence; +so also was his voice. When he came from Picardy to Meaux, his old +neighbors prophesied for him. He knew their prophecies, and purposed to +fulfil them. He ceased from dreaming, when he came to Meaux. He was not +dreaming, when he looked on Jacqueline. He was aware of what he read, +and how she listened, under those chestnut-trees. + +The burden of the tracts he read to Jacqueline was salvation by faith, +not of works,--an iconoclastic doctrine, that was to sweep away +the great mass of Romish superstition, invalidating Papal power. +Image-worship, shrine-frequenting sacrifices, indulgences, were esteemed +and proved less than nothing worth in the work of salvation. + +"Did you understand John, when he said that the priests deceived us and +were full of robberies, and talked about the masses for the dead, and +said the only good of them was to put money into the Church?" asked +Jacqueline. + +"I believe it," he replied, with spirit. + +"That the masses are worth nothing?" she asked,--far from concealing +that the thought disturbed her. + +"What can they be worth, if a man has lived a bad life?" + +"_That_ my father did _not!_" she exclaimed. + +"If a man is a bad man, why, then he is. He has gone where he must be +judged. The Scripture says, As a tree falls, it must lie." + +"My father was a good man, Victor. But he died of a sudden, and there +was no time." + +"No time for what, Jacqueline? No time for him to turn about, and be a +bad man in the end?" + +"No time for confession and absolution. He died praying God to forgive +him all his sins. I heard him. I wondered, Victor, for I never thought +of his committing sins. And my mother mourned for him as a good wife +should not mourn for a bad husband." + +"Then what is your trouble, Jacqueline?" + +"Do you know why I came here to Meaux? I came to get money,--to earn it. +I should be paid more money here than I got for any work at home, they +said: that was the reason. When I had earned so much,--it was a large +sum, but I knew I should get it, and the priest encouraged me to think +I should,--he said that my heart's desire would be accomplished. And I +could earn the money before winter is over, I think. But now, if"---- + +"Throw it into the Seine, when you get it, rather than pay it to the +liar for selling your father out of a place he was never in! He is safe, +believe me, if he was the good man you say. Do not disturb yourself, +Jacqueline." + +"He never harmed a soul. And we loved him that way a bad man could not +be loved." + +As Jacqueline said this, a smile more sad than joyful passed over her +face, and disappeared. + +"He rests in peace," said Victor Le Roy. + +"It is what I must believe. But what if there should be a mistake about +it? It was all I was working for." + +"Think for yourself, Jacqueline. No matter what Leclerc thinks or I +think. Can you suppose that Jesus Christ requires any such thing as this +of you, that you should make a slave of yourself for the expiation of +your father? It is a monstrous thought. Doubt not it was love that +took him away so quickly. And love can care for him. Long before this, +doubtless, he has heard the words, 'Come, ye blessed of my father!' And +what is required of you, do you ask? You shall be merciful to them that +live; and trust Him that He will care for those who have gone beyond +your reach. Is it so? Do I understand you? You have been thinking to +_buy_ this good _gift_ of God, eternal life for your father, when of +course you could have nothing to do with it. You have been imposed upon, +and robbed all this while, and this is the amount of it." + +"Well, do not speak so. If what you say is true,--and I think it may +be,--what is past is past." + +"But won't you see what an infernal lie has been practised on you, and +all the rest of us who had any conscience or heart in us, all this +while? There _is_ no purgatory; and it is nonsense to think, that, if +there were, money could buy a man out of it. Jesus Christ is the one +sole atonement for sin. And by faith in Him shall a man save his soul +alive. That is the only way. If I lose my soul, and am gone, the rest +is between me and God. Do you see it _should_ be so, and must be so, +Jacqueline?" + +"He was a good man," said Jacqueline. + +She did not find it quite easy to make nothing of all this matter, which +had been the main-spring of her effort since her father died. She could +not in one instant drop from her calculations that on which she had +heretofore based all her activity. She had labored so long, so hard, to +buy the rest and peace and heavenly blessedness of the father she loved, +it was hardly to be expected that at once she would choose to see that +in that rest and peace and blessedness, she, as a producing power, had +no part whatever. + +As she more than hinted, the purpose of her life seemed to be taken from +her. She could not perceive that fact without some consternation; could +not instantly connect it with another, which should enable her to look +around her with the deliberation of a liberated spirit, choosing her new +work. And in this she was acted upon by more than the fear arising from +the influences of her old belief. Of course she should have been, and +yet she was not, able to drop instantly and forever from recollection +the constant sacrifices she had made, the deprivation she had endured, +with heroic persistence,--the putting far away every personal +indulgence whose price had a market value. Her father was not the only +person concerned in this work; the priest; herself. She had believed +in the pastor of Domremy. Yet he had deceived her. Else he was +self-deceived; and what if the blind should strive to lead the blind? +_Could_ she accept the new faith, the great freedom, with perfect +rejoicing? + +Victor Le Roy seemed to have some suspicion of what was passing in +her thoughts. He did not need to watch her changeful face in order to +understand them. + +"I advise you to still think of this," said he. "Recall your father's +life, and then ask yourself if it is likely that He who is Love requires +the sacrifice of your youth and your strength before your father shall +receive from Him what He has promised to give to all who trust in Him. +Take God at his word, and you will be obliged to give up all this +priest-trash." + + +IV. + + +Victor Le Roy spoke these words quietly, as if aware that he might +safely leave them, as well as any other true words, to the just sense of +Jacqueline. + +She was none the happier for them when she returned that night to the +little city room, the poor lodging whose high window overlooked both +town and country, city streets and harvest-fields, and the river flowing +on beyond the borders of the town,--no happier through many a moment of +thinking, until, as it were by an instant illumination, she began to +see the truth of the matter, as some might wonder she did not instantly +perceive it, if they could omit from observation this leading fact, that +the orphan girl was Jacqueline Gabrie, child of the Church, and not +a wise and generous person, who had never been in bondage to +superstitions. + +For a long time after her return to her lodging she was alone. Elsie was +in the street with the rest of the town, talking, as all were talking, +of the sight that Meaux should see to-morrow. + +Besides Jacqueline, there was hardly another person in this great +building, six stories high, every room of which had usually a tenant at +this hour. She sat by her window, and looked at the dusky town, over +which the moon was rising. But her thoughts were far away; over many a +league they wandered. + +Once more she stood on the playground of her toilsome childhood. She +recalled many a year of sacrificing drudgery, which now she could not +name such,--for another reason than that which had heretofore prevented +her from calling it a sacrifice. She remembered these years of wrong and +of extortion,--they received their proper name now,--years whose mirth +and leisure she had quietly foregone, but during which she had borne a +burden that saddened youth, while it also dignified it,--a burden which +had made her heart's natural cheerfulness the subject of self-reproach, +and her maiden dreams and wishes matter for tears, for shame, for +confession, for prayer. + +Now Victor Le Roy's words came to her very strangely; powerfully they +moved her. She believed them in this solitude, where at leisure she +could meditate upon them. A vision more fair and blessed than she had +ever imagined rose before her. There was no suffering in it, and no +sorrow; it was full of peace. Already, in the heaven to which she had +hoped her toil would give him at length admission, her father had found +his home. There was a glory in his rest not reflected from her filial +love, but from the all-availing love of Christ. + +Then--delay the rigor of your judgment!--she began,--yes, she, this +Jacqueline, began to count the cost of what she had done. She was not a +sordid soul, she had not a miserly nature. Before she had gone far in +that strange computation, she paused abruptly, with a crimsoned face, +and not with tearless eyes. Counting the cost! Estimating the sacrifice! +Had, then, her purpose been less holy because excited by falsehood and +sustained through delusion? Was she less loving and less true, because +deceived? And was she to lament that Christ, the one and only Priest, +rather than another instrumentality, was the deliverer of her beloved +from the power of death? + +No ritual was remembered, and no formula consulted, when she cried +out,--"It is so! and I thank Thee! Only give me now, my Jesus, a +purpose as holy as that Thou hast taken away!" + +But she had not come into her chamber to spend a solitary evening there. +Turning away from the window, she bestowed a little care upon her +person, smoothed away the traces of her day's labor, and after all was +done she lingered yet longer. She was going out, evidently. Whither? To +visit the mother of John Leclerc. She must carry back the tracts the +good woman had lent her. Their contents had firm lodgement in her +memory. + +Others might run to and fro in the streets, and talk about the corners, +and prognosticate with passion, and defy, in the way of cowardice, where +safety rather than the truth is well assured. If one woman could console +another, Jacqueline wished that she might console Leclerc's mother. And +if any words of wisdom could drop from the poor old woman's lips while +her soul was in this strait, Jacqueline desired to hear those words. + +Down the many flights of stairs she went across the court, and then +along the street, to the house where the wool-comber lived. + +A brief pause followed her knock for admittance. She repeated it. Then +was heard a sound from within,--a step crossing the floor. The door +opened, and there stood the mother of Leclerc, ready to face any danger, +the very Fiend himself. + +But when she saw that it was Jacqueline, only Jacqueline,--an angel, as +one might say, and not a devil,--the terrible look passed from her face; +she opened the door wide. + +"Come in, child! come in!" + +So Jacqueline went into the room where John had worked and thought, +reasoned, argued, prayed. + +This is the home of the man because of whom many are this night offended +in the city of Meaux. This is the place whence issued the power that has +set the tongues to talking, and the minds to thinking, and the hearts to +hoping, and the authorities to avenging. + +A grain of mustard-seed is the kingdom of heaven in a figure; the +wandering winds a symbol of the Pentecostal power: a dove did signify +the descent of God to man. This poor chamber, so pent in, and so lowly, +so obscure, has its significance. Here has a life been lived; and not +the least does it import, that walls are rough and the ceiling low. + +But the life of John Leclerc was not to be limited. A power has stood +here which by its freedom has set at defiance the customary calculation +of the worldly-wise. In high places and in low the people are this night +disturbed because of him who has dared to lift his voice in the freedom +of the speech of God. In drawing-rooms odorous with luxury the man's +name has mention, and the vulgarity of his liberated speech and +courageous faith is a theme to move the wonder and excite the +reprobation of hearts whose languid beating keeps up their show of life, +--to what sufficient purpose expect me not to tell. His voice is loud +and harsh to echo through these music-loving halls; it rends and tears, +with almost savage strength, the dainty silences. + +But busier tongues are elsewhere more vehement in speech; larger +hearts beat faster indignation; grief and vulgarest curiosity are all +manifesting themselves after their several necessity. In solitary places +heroes pray throughout the night, wrestling like Jacob, agonizing like +Saul, and with some of them the angel left his blessing; for some the +golden harp was struck that soothed their souls to peace. Angels of +heaven had work to do that night. Angels of heaven and hell did prove +themselves that night in Meaux: night of unrest and sleeplessness, or of +cruel dreaming; night of bloody visions, tortured by the apprehension +of a lacerated body driven through the city streets, and of the hooting +shouts of Devildom; night haunted by a gory image,--the defiled temple +of the Holy Ghost. + +Did the prospect of torture keep _him_ wakeful? Could the man bear the +disgrace, the derision, shouting, agony? Was there nothing in this +thought, that as a witness of Jesus Christ he was to appear next day, +that should soothe him even unto slumber? Upon the silence of his +guarded chamber let none but ministering angels break. Sacred to him, +and to Him who watched the hours of the night, let the night go! + +But here--his mother, Jacqueline with her--we may linger with these. + + +V. + + +When the old woman saw that it was Jacqueline Gabrie who stood waiting +admittance, she opened the door wider, as I said; and the dark solemnity +of her countenance seemed to be, by so much as a single ray, enlivened +for an instant. + +She at once perceived the tracts which Jacqueline had brought. Aware of +this, the girl said,-- + +"I stayed to hear them read, after I heard that for the sake of the +truth in them"--she hesitated--"this city will invite God's wrath +to-morrow." + +And she gave the papers to the old woman, who took them in silence. + +By-and-by she asked,-- + +"Are you just home, Jacqueline?" + +"Since sunset,--though it was nearly dark when I came in,"--she +answered. "Victor Le Roy was down by the riverbank, and he read them for +me." + +"He wanted to get out of town, maybe. You would surely have thought it +was a holiday, Jacqueline, if you could have seen the people. Anything +for a show: but some of them might well lament. Did you want to know the +truth he pays so dear for teaching? But you have heard it, my child." + +"We all heard what he must pay for it, in the fields at noon. Yes, +mother, I wanted to know." + +"But if you shall believe it, Jacqueline, it may lead you into danger, +into sad straits," said the old woman, looking at the young girl with +earnest pity in her eyes. + +She loved this girl, and shuddered at the thought of exposing her to +danger. + +Jacqueline had nursed her neighbor, Antonine, and more than once, after +a hard day's labor, which must be followed by another, she had sat with +her through the night; and she could pay this service only with love, +and the best gift of her love was to instruct her in the truth. John and +she had proved their grateful interest in her fortunes by giving her +that which might expose her to danger, persecution, and they could not +foresee to what extremity of evil. + +And now the old woman felt constrained to say this to her, even for her +love's sake,--"It may lead you into danger." + +"But if truth is dangerous, shall I choose to be safe?" answered +Jacqueline, with stately courage. + +"It _is_ truth. It _will_ support him. Blessed be Jesus Christ and His +witnesses! To-night, and to-morrow, and the third day, our Jesus will +sustain him. They think John will retract. They do not know my son. They +do not know how he has waited, prayed, and studied to learn the truth, +and how dear it is to him. No, Jacqueline, they do not. But when they +prove him, they will know. And if he is willing to witness, shall I +not be glad? The people will understand him better afterward,--and the +priests, maybe. 'I can do all things,' said he, 'Christ strengthening +me'; and that was said long ago, by one who was proved. Where shall you +be, Jacqueline?" + +"Oh," groaned Jacqueline, "I shall be in the fields at work, away from +these cruel people, and the noise and the sight. But, mother, where +shall you be?" + +"With the people, child. With him, if I live. Yes, he is my son; and +I have never been ashamed of the brave boy. I will not be ashamed +to-morrow. I will follow John; and when they bind him, I will let him +see his mother's eyes are on him,--blessing him, my child!--Hark! how +they talk through the streets!--Jacqueline, he was never a coward. He +is strong, too. They will not kill him, and they cannot make him dumb. +He will hold the truth the faster for all they do to him. Jesus Christ +on his side, do you think he will fear the city, or all Paris, or all +France? He does not know what it is to be afraid. And when God opened +his eyes to the truth of his gospel, which the priests had hid, he meant +that John should work for it,--for he is a working-man, whatever he sets +about." + +So this old woman tried, and not without success, to comfort herself, +and sustain her tender, proud, maternal heart. The dire extremity into +which she and her son had fallen did not crush her; few were the tears +that fell from her eyes as she recalled for Jacqueline the years of her +son's boyhood,--told her of his courage, as in various ways it had made +itself manifest: how he had always been fearless in danger,--a +conqueror of pain,--seemingly regardless of comfort,--fond of +contemplation,--contented with his humble state,--kindly, affectionate, +generous, but easily stirred to wrath by injustice, when manifested by +the strong toward the weak,--or by cruelty, or by falsehood. + +Many an anecdote of his career might she relate; for his character, +under the pressure of this trial, which was as searching and severe a +test of her faith as of his, seemed to illustrate itself in manifold +heroic ways, all now of the highest significance. With more majesty and +grandeur his character arose before her; for now in all the past, as she +surveyed it, she beheld a living power, a capability, and a necessity of +new and grand significance, and her heart reverenced the spirit she had +nursed into being. + +Removed to the distance of a prison from her sight, separated from +her love by bolts and bars, and the wrath of tyranny and close-banded +bigotry, he became a power, a hero, who moved her, as she recalled +his sentence, and prophesied the morrow, to a feeling tears could not +explain. + +They passed the night together, the young woman and the old. In the +morning Jacqueline must go into the field again. She was in haste to go. +Leaving a kiss on the old woman's cheek, she was about to steal away in +silence; but as she laid her hand upon the latch, a thought arrested +her, and she did not open the door, but went back and sat beside the +window, and watched the mother of Leclerc through the sleep that must be +brief. It was not in her heart to go away and leave those eyes to waken +upon solitude. She must see a helpful hand and hopeful face, and, if it +might be, hear a cheerful human voice, in the dawning of that day. + +She had not long to wait, and the time she may have lost in waiting +Jacqueline did not count or reckon, when she heard her name spoken, and +could answer, "What wilt thou? here am I." + +Not in vain had she lingered. What were wages, more or less, that they +should be mentioned, thought of, when she might give and receive here +what the world gives not, and never has to give,--and what a mortal +cannot buy, the treasure being priceless? Through the quiet of that +morning hour, soothing words, and strong, she felt and knew to speak; +and when at last she hurried away from the city to the fields, she was +stronger than of nature, able to bear witness to the faith that speaks +from the bewilderment of its distresses, "Though He slay me, yet will I +trust in Him." + +Not alone had her young, frank, loving eyes enlivened the dreary morning +to the heart of Leclerc's mother. Grace for grace had she received. And +words of the hymn that were always on John's lips had found echo +from his mother's memory this morning: they lodged in the heart of +Jacqueline. She went away repeating,-- + + "In the midst of death, the jaws + Of hell against us gape. + Who from peril dire as this + Openeth us escape? + 'Tis thou, O Lord, alone! + Our bitter suffering and our sin + Pity from thy mercy win, + Holy Lord and God! + Strong and holy God! + Merciful and holy Saviour! + Eternal God! + Let us not despair + For the fire that burneth there! + Kyrie, eleison!" + +Jacqueline met Elsie on her way to the fields. But the girls had +not much to say to each other that morning in their walk. Elsie was +manifestly conscious of some great constraint; she might have reported +to her friend what she had heard in the streets last night, but she +felt herself prevented from such communication,--seemed to be intent +principally on one thing: she would not commit herself in any direction. +She was looking with suspicion upon Jacqueline. Whatever became of her +soul, her body she would save alive. She was waking to this world's +enjoyment with vision alert, senses keen. Martyrdom in any degree was +without attraction to her, and in Truth she saw no beauty that she +should desire it. It was a root out of dry ground indeed, that gave no +promise of spreading into goodly shelter and entrancing beauty. + +As to Jacqueline, she was absorbed in her heroic and exalted thoughts. +Her heart had almost failed her when she said farewell to John's mother; +tearfully she had hurried on her way. One vast cloud hung between her +and heaven; darkly rolled the river; every face seemed to bear witness +to the tragedy that day should witness. + +Not the least of her affliction was the consciousness of the distance +increasing between herself and Elsie Meril. She knew that Elsie was +rejoicing that she had in no way endangered herself yet; and sure was +she that in no way would Elsie invite the fury of avenging tyranny and +reckless superstition. + +Jacqueline asked her no questions,--spoke few words to her,--was +absorbed in her own thoughts. But she was kindly in her manner, and +in such words as she spoke. So Elsie perceived two things,--that she +should not lose her friend, neither was in danger of being seized by the +heretical mania. It was her way of drawing inferences. Certain that +she had not lost her friend, because Jacqueline did not look away, and +refuse to recognize her; congratulating herself that she was not the +object of suspicion, either justly or unjustly, among the dreadful +priests. + +But that friend whose steady eye had balanced Elsie was already sick at +heart, for she knew that never more must she rely upon this girl who +came with her from Domremy. + +As they crossed the bridge, lingering thereon a moment, the river seemed +to moan in its flowing toward Meaux. The day's light was sombre; the +birds' songs had no joyous sound,--plaintive was their chirping; it +saddened the heart to hear the wind,--it was a wind that seemed to take +the buoyancy and freshness out of every living thing, an ugly southeast +wind. They went on together,--to the wheat-fields together;--it was to +be day of minutes to poor Jacqueline. + +To be away from Meaux bodily was, it appeared, only that the imagination +might have freer exercise. Yes,--now the people must be moving through +the streets; shopmen were not so intent on profits this day as they were +on other days. The priests were thinking with vengeful hate of the wrong +to themselves which should be met and conquered that day. The people +should be swiftly brought into order again! John in his prison was +preparing, as all without the prison were. + +The crowd was gathering fast. He would soon be led forth. The shameful +march was forming. Now the brutal hand of Power was lifted with +scourges. The bravest man in Meaux was driven through the streets,--she +saw with what a visage,--she knew with what a heart. Her heart was awed +with thinking thereupon. A bloody mist seemed to fall upon the environs +of Meaux; through that red horror she could not penetrate; it shrouded +and it held poor Jacqueline. + +Of the faith that would sustain him she began once more to inquire. It +is not by a bound that mortals ever clear the heights of God. Step by +step they scale the eminences, toiling through the heavenly atmosphere. +Only around the summit shines the eternal sun. + +So she must now recall the words that Victor Le Roy read for her last +night; and the words he spoke from out his heart,--these also. And +she did not fear now, as yesterday, to ask for light. Let the light +dawn,--oh, let it shine on her! + +The mother of Leclerc had uttered mysterious words which Jacqueline took +for truth; the light was joyful and blessed, and of all things to be +desired, though it smote the life from one like lightning. She waited +alone with faith, watching till it should come,--left alone with this +beam glimmering like a moth through darkness!--for thus was a believer, +or one who resolved on believing, left in that day, when he turned from +the machinery of the Church, and stood alone, searching for God without +the aid of priestly intervention. + + +VI. + + +There was something awful in such loneliness. + +Jacqueline knew little of it until now, as she walked toward the fields, +by the side of Elsie Meril. + +She saw how she had depended on the priest of Domremy, as he had been +the lawgiver and the leader of her life. A spiritual life, to be +sustained only by the invisible spirit, to be lived by faith, not in +man, but in God, without intervention of saint or angel or Blessed +Virgin,--was the world's life liberated by such freedom? + +By faith, and not by sight, the just must live. Would He bow his heavens +and come down to dwell with the contrite and the humble? + +Wondrous strange it seemed,--incomprehensible,--more than she could +manage or control. There are prisoners whose pardon proves the world too +large for them: they find no rest until their prison-door is opened for +them again. + +Of this class was Elsie,--not Jacqueline. Elsie was afraid of +freedom,--not equal to it,--unable to deal with it; satisfied with being +a child, with being a slave, when it came to be a question whether she +should accept and use her highest privilege and dignity. At this hour, +and among all persuasions, you will find that Elsie does not stand +alone. Little children there are, long as the world shall stand,--though +not precisely such as we think of when we remember, "Of such is the +kingdom of heaven." + +It was enough for Elsie--it is enough for multitudes through all the +reformations--that she had an earthly defence, even such as she relied +on without trouble. She lived in the hour. She had never toiled to +deliver her darling from the lions,--to redeem a soul from purgatory. +She eased her conscience, when it was troubled, by such shallow +discovery of herself as she deemed confession. She loved dancing, +and all other amusements,--hated solitude, knew not the meaning of +self-abnegation. And let her dance and enjoy herself!--some service +to the body is rendered thereby. She might do greatly worse, and +is incapable of doing greatly better. Will you stint the idiots of +comfort,--or rather build them decent habitations, and even vex yourself +to feed and clothe them, in reverent confidence that the Future shall +surely take them up and bless them, unstop their ears, open their eyes, +give speech to them and absolute deliverance? + +There are others beside Elsie who congratulate themselves on +non-committal,--they covet not the advanced and dangerous positions. +Honorable, but dangerous positions! The head might be taken off, do you +not see? And could all eternity compensate for the loss of time? Ah, the +body might be mutilated,--the liberty restrained: as if, indeed, a +man's freedom were not eternally established, when his enemies, howling +around, must at least crucify him! as if a divine voice were not ever +heard through the raging of the people, saying, "Come up higher!" + +But a fern-leaf cannot grow into a mighty hemlock-tree. From the ashes +of a sparrow the phoenix shall not rise. You will not to all eternity, +by any artificial means, nor by a miracle, bring forth an eagle from a +mollusk. + +There was not a sadder heart in all those fields of Meaux than the heart +of Jacqueline Gabrie. There was not a stronger heart. Not a hand +labored more diligently. Under the broad-brimmed peasant-hat was a sad +countenance,--under the peasant-dress a heavily burdened spirit. Silent, +all day, she labored. She was alone at noon under the river-bordered +trees, eating her coarse fare without zest, but with a conscience,--to +sustain the body that was born to toil. But in the maelstroem of doubt +and anxiety was she tossed and whirled, and she cared not for her life. +To be rid of it, now for the first time, she felt might be a blessing. +What purpose, indeed, had she? She turned her thought from this +question, but it would not let her alone. Again and yet again she turned +to meet it, and thus would surely have at length its satisfying answer. + +John Leclerc might pass through this ordeal, as from the first she +had expected of him. But she listened to the speech of many of her +fellow-laborers. Some prophecies which had a sound incredible escaped +them. She did not credit them, but they tormented her. They contended +with one another. John, some foretold, would certainly retract. One day +of public whipping would suffice. When the blood began to flow, he would +see his duty clearer! The men were prophesying from the depths and the +abundance of their self-consciousness. Others speculated on the final +result of the executed sentence. They believed that the "obstinacy" and +courage of the man would provoke his judges, and the executors of his +sentence,--that with rigor they would execute it,--and that, led on +by passion, and provoked by such as would side with the victim, the +sentence would terminate in his destruction. Sooner or later, nothing +but his life would be found ultimately to satisfy his enemies. + +It might be so, thought Jacqueline Gabrie. What then? what then?--she +thought. There was inspiration to the girl in that cruel prophecy. Her +lifework was not ended. If Christ was the One Ransom, and it did truly +fall on Him, and not on her, to care for those beloved, departed from +this life, her work was still for love. + +John Leclerc disabled or dead, who should care then for his aged mother? +Who should minister to him? Who, indeed, but Jacqueline? + +Living or dying, she said to herself, with grand enthusiasm,--living or +dying, let him do the Master's pleasure! She also was here to serve that +Master; and while in spiritual things he fed the hungry, clothed the +naked, gave the cup of living water, visited the imprisoned, and the +sick of sin, she would bind herself to minister to him and his old +mother in temporal things; so should he live above all cares save those +of heavenly love. She could support them all by her diligence, and in +this there would be joy. + +She thought this through her toil; and the thought was its own reward. +It strengthened her like an angel,--strengthened heart and faith. She +labored as no other peasant-woman did that day,--like a beast of burden, +unresisting, patient,--like a holy saint, so peaceful and assured, so +conscious of the present very God! + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + + +MIDSUMMER. + + + Around this lovely valley rise + The purple hills of Paradise. + Oh, softly on yon banks of haze + Her rosy face the Summer lays! + Becalmed along the azure sky, + The argosies of cloudland lie, + Whose shores, with many a shining rift, + Far off their pearl-white peaks uplift. + + Through all the long midsummer-day + The meadow-sides are sweet with hay. + I seek the coolest sheltered seat + Just where the field and forest meet,-- + Where grow the pine-trees tall and bland, + The ancient oaks austere and grand, + And fringy roots and pebbles fret + The ripples of the rivulet. + + I watch, the mowers as they go + Through the tall grass, a white-sleeved row; + With even stroke their scythes they swing, + In tune their merry whetstones ring; + Behind the nimble youngsters run + And toss the thick swaths in the sun; + The cattle graze; while, warm and still, + Slopes the broad pasture, basks the hill, + And bright, when summer breezes break, + The green wheat crinkles like a lake. + + The butterfly and humble-bee + Come to the pleasant woods with me; + Quickly before me runs the quail, + The chickens skulk behind the rail, + High up the lone wood-pigeon sits, + And the woodpecker pecks and flits. + Sweet woodland music sinks and swells, + The brooklet rings its tinkling bells, + The swarming insects drone and hum, + The partridge beats his throbbing drum. + The squirrel leaps among the boughs, + And chatters in his leafy house. + The oriole flashes by; and, look! + Into the mirror of the brook, + Where the vain blue-bird trims his coat, + Two tiny feathers fall and float. + + As silently, as tenderly, + The down of peace descends on me. + Oh, this is peace! I have no need + Of friend to talk, of book to read: + A dear Companion here abides; + Close to my thrilling heart He hides; + The holy silence is His Voice: + I lie and listen, and rejoice. + + + + +TOBACCO. + + +"Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all +the panaceas, potable gold, and philosopher's stones, a sovereign remedy +to all diseases! a good vomit, I confess, a virtuous herb, if it be well +qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used. But as it is commonly +abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a plague, a +mischief, a violent purger of goods, lauds, health: hellish, devilish, and +damned tobacco, the ruin and overthrow of body and soul!"--BURTON. _Anatomy +of Melancholy_. + +A delicate subject? Very true; and one which must be handled as tenderly +as _biscuit de Sevres_, or Venetian glass. Whichever side of the +question we may assume, as the most popular, or the most right, the +feelings of so large and respectable a minority are to be consulted, +that it behooves the critic or reviewer to move cautiously, and, +imitating the actions of a certain feline household reformer, to show +only the _patte de velours_. + +The omniscient Burton seems to have reached the pith of the matter. The +two hostile sections of his proposition, though written so long since, +would very well fit the smoker and the reformer of to-day. That portion +of the world which is enough advanced to advocate reforms is entirely +divided against itself on the subject of Tobacco. Immense interests, +economical, social, and, as some conceive, moral, are arrayed on either +side. The reformers have hitherto had the better of it in point of +argument, and have pushed the attack with most vigor, yet with but +trifling results. Smokers and chewers, _et id omne genus_, mollified +by their habits, or laboring under guilty consciences, have made but a +feeble defence. Nor in all this is there anything new. It is as old as +the knowledge of the "weed" among thinking men,--in other words, about +three centuries. The English adventurers under Drake and Raleigh and +Hawkins, and the multitude of minor Protestant "filibusters" who +followed in their train, had no sooner imported the habit of smoking +tobacco, among the other outlandish customs which they brought home from +the new Indies and the Spanish Main, than the higher powers rebuked +the practice, which novelty and its own fascinations were rendering so +fashionable, in language more forcible than elegant. The philippic of +King James is so apposite that we may be pardoned for transcribing one +oft-quoted sentence:--"But herein is not only a great vanity, but a +great contempt of God's good gifts, that the sweetness of man's breath, +being a good gift of God, should be wilfully corrupted by this stinking +smoke.... A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmfull +to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume +thereof neerest resembling the horrible Stygian smoake of the pit that +is bottomless."[a] + +[Footnote a: _Counterblast to Tobacco_.] + +The Popes Urban VIII. and Innocent XII. fulminated edicts of +excommunication against all who used tobacco in any form; from which we +may conclude that the new habit was spreading rapidly over Christendom. +And not only the successors of St. Peter, but those also of the Prophet, +denounced the practice, the Sultan Amurath IV. making it punishable with +death. The Viziers of Turkey spitted the noses of smokers with their own +pipes; the more considerate Shah of Persia cut them entirely off. The +knout greeted in Russia the first indulgence, and death followed the +second offence. In some of the Swiss cantons smoking was considered a +crime second only to adultery. Modern republics are not quite so severe. + +It is not to be supposed that in England the royal pamphlet had its +desired effect. For we find that James laid many rigid sumptuary +restrictions upon the practice which he abominated, based chiefly upon +the extravagance it occasioned,--the expenses of some smokers being +estimated at several hundred pounds a year. The King, however, had the +sagacity to secure a preemption-right as early as 1620. + +Yet how could the practice but have increased, when, as Malcolm relates +the tradition, such men as Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Hugh Middleton +sat smoking at their doors?--for "the public manner in which it was +exhibited, and the aromatic flavor inhaled by the passengers, exclusive +of the singularity of the circumstance and the eminence of the parties," +could hardly have failed to favor its dissemination. + +The silver-tongued Joshua Sylvester hoped to aid the royal cause by +writing a poem entitled, "Tobacco battered, and the pipes shattered, +(about their ears who idly idolize so base and barbarous a weed, or at +least-wise overlove so loathsome a vanity,) by a volley of holy shot +thundered from Mount Helicon." If the smoothness of the verses equalled +the euphony of the title, this must have proved a moving appeal. + +Stow contents himself with calling tobacco "a stinking weed, so much +abused to God's dishonor." + +Burton exhausts the subject in a single paragraph. Ben Jonson, though +a jolly good fellow, was opposed to the habit of smoking. But Spenser +mentions "divine tobacco." Walton's "Piscator" indulges in a pipe at +breakfast, and "Venator" has his tobacco brought from London to insure +its purity. Sweet Izaak could have selected no more soothing minister +than the pipe to the "contemplative man's recreation." + +As the new sedative gains in esteem, we find Francis Quarles, in his +"Emblems," treating it in this serio-comic vein:-- + + "Flint-hearted Stoics, you whose marble eyes + Contemn a wrinkle, and whose souls despise + To follow Nature's too affected fashion, + Or travel in the regent walk of passion,-- + Whose rigid hearts disdain to shrink at + fears, + Or play at fast-and-loose with smiles and + tears,-- + Come, burst your spleens with laughter to + behold + A new-found vanity, which days of old + Ne'er knew,--a vanity that has beset + The world, and made more slaves than Mahomet,-- + That has condemned us to the servile yoke + Of slavery, and made us slaves to smoke, + But stay! why tax I thus our modern + times + For new-born follies and for new-born + crimes? + Are we sole guilty, and the first age free? + No: they were smoked and slaved as well + as we. + What's sweet-lipped honor's blast, but + smoke? what's treasure, + But very smoke? and what's more smoke + than pleasure?" + +Brand gives us the whole matter in a nutshell, in the following quaint +epigram, entitled "A Tobacconist," taken from an old collection:-- + + "All dainty meats I do defy + Which feed men fat as swine; + He is a frugal man, indeed, + That on a leaf can dine. + + "He needs no napkin for his hands + His fingers' ends to wipe, + That keeps his kitchen in a box, + And roast meat in a pipe." + +And so on, the singers of succeeding years, _usque ad nauseam_,--a +loathing equalled only by that of the earlier writers for the plant, now +so lauded. + +Tobacco-worship seems to us to culminate in the following stanza from a +German song:-- + + "Tabak ist mein Leben, + Dem hab' ich mich ergeben, ergeben; + Tabak ist meine Lust. + Und eh' ich ihn sollt' lassen, + Viel lieber wollt' ich hassen, + Ja, hassen selbst eines Maedchens Kuss." + +As it is with your sex, my dear Madam, that this question of Tobacco is +to be mainly argued,--for, to your honor be it spoken, you have always +been of the reformatory party,--let us hope, that, provided you have +not read or translated the last verse, you have recovered your natural +amiability, ruffled perhaps by this odious subject, and are prepared +to believe us when we tell you that these opposite opinions cannot be +wholly reconciled, and to follow us patiently while we attempt to show +that a certain gentleman, introduced to your maternal ancestor at a very +remote period of the world's history, is not so black as he is sometimes +painted. Let us keep good-natured, at least, in this discussion; for we +propose to settle it without taking off the gloves, as we intimated in +the opening paragraph. Your patience will be much needed for the sad +army of facts and figures which is to follow. Therefore it is but just +that you should speak now, after these long sentences. + +Your George will never smoke? Excuse me. _When_ he will smoke depends +upon the precocity of his individual generation; and that increases in +a direct ratio with time itself, in this country. Thus, to state the +matter in an approximate inverse arithmetical progression, and dating +the birth of "young America" about the year 1825,--previously to which +reigned the dark ages of oldfogydom, so called,--we find as follows: +--From 1825 to 1835, young gentlemen learned to smoke when from 25 to 20 +years of age; from 1835 to 1845, young _gents_, ditto, ditto, from 20 to +15 years; 1845 to 1855, from 15 to 10; 1855 to 1865, 10 to 5; 1865 to +1875, 5 to 0; and, if we continue, 1875 to 1885, zero to minus: but +really the question is becoming too nebulous. _Corollary_. In about ten +years, the youth of the United States will smoke contemporaneously with +the infant Burmese, who, we are credibly informed, begin the habit +_aet_. 3, or as soon as they have cut enough teeth to hold a cigar. + +Therefore, we will say, Madam, at some indefinite period of his +childhood or youth,--for we would not be so impolite as to infer your +age by asking that of your son,--the _susdit_ George will come home +late from play some afternoon, languid, pale, and disinclined for tea. +He will indignantly repel the accusation of feeling ill, and there will +lurk about his person an indescribable odor of stale cinnamon, which +you will be at a loss to account for, but which his elder brother will +recognize as the natural result of smoking "cinnamon cigars," wherewith +certain wicked tobacconists of this city tempt curious youth. If you +follow him to his chamber, you will probably discover more damning +evidence of his guilt. + +We will draw the curtain over the scene of the Spartan mother--we hope +you belong to that nearly extinct class--which is to follow. Let us +suppose all differences settled, the habit ostensibly given up, and your +darling, grown more honest or more artful,--the result is the same to +your blissful ignorance,--studiously pursuing his way until he enters +college. Some fine day you drive over to the neighboring university, +and, entering his room unannounced, you find him coloring his first +(factitious) meerschaum!--also a sad deficiency in his wardrobe of +half-worn clothes. _C'est une pipe qui coute cher a culotter_, the +college meerschaum,--and in more ways than one, according to the +"Autocrat":--"I do not advise you, young man, to consecrate the flower +of your life to painting the bowl of a pipe," _et seq_. More bold, +the Sophomore will smoke openly at home; and by the end of the third +vacation, it is one of those unyielding _faits accomplis_ against which +reformers, household or peripatetic, beat their heads in vain. + +Perhaps your husband smokes? If so, at what period of the twenty-four +hours have you invariably found Mr. ---- most lenient to your little +pecuniary peccadilloes? Is he not always most good-natured when his +cigar is about one-third consumed, the ash evenly burnt and adherent, +and not fallen into his shirt-bosom? Depend upon it, tobacco is a great +soother of domestic differences. + +Let us, then, look an existing, firmly rooted evil--if you will call it +so--in the face, and see if it is quite so bad as it is represented. It +is too wide-spread to be sneered away,--for we might almost say that +smokers were the rule, and non-smokers the exception, among all +civilized men, Charles Kingsley supports us here:--"'Man a cooking +animal,' my dear Doctor Johnson? Pooh! man is a _smoking_ animal. +There is his _ergon_, his 'differential energy,' as the Aristotelians +say,--his true distinction from the orangoutang. Ponder it well." + +_Query_.--What did the old Roman do without a cigar? How idle through +the day? How survive his interminable _post-coenal_ potations?--The +thought is not our own. It occurs somewhere in De Quincey, we believe. +It is one of those self-evident propositions you wonder had not occurred +to you before.--What an accessory of luxury the pipe would have been +to him who passed the livelong day under the mosaic arches of the +_Thermoe_! The _strigiles_ would have vanished before the meerschaum, +had that magic clay then been known. How completely would the _hookah_ +and the _narghileh_ have harmonized with the _crater, cyathi_, and +tripods of the _triclinium_ in that portraiture of the "Decadence of +Rome" which hangs in the Luxembourg Gallery! Poor fellows! they managed +to exist without them. + +Though pipes are found carved on very old sculptures in China, and the +habit of smoking was long since extensively followed there, according +to Pallas, and although certain species of the tobacco-plant, as the +_Nicotiana rustica_, would appear to be indigenous to the country, yet +we have the best reason to conclude that America, if not the exclusive +home of the herb, was the birthplace of its use by man. The first great +explorer of the West found the sensuous natives of Hispaniola rolling up +and smoking tobacco-leaves with the same persistent indolence that +we recognize in the Cuban of the present day. Rough Cortes saw with +surprise the luxurious Aztec composing himself for the _siesta_ in the +middle of the day as invariably as his fellow Dons in Castile. But he +was amazed that the barbarians had discovered in tobacco a sedative +to promote their reveries and compose them to sleep, of which the +_hidalgos_ were as yet ignorant, but which they were soon to appropriate +with avidity, and to use with equal zest. Humboldt says that it had been +cultivated by the people of Orinoco from time immemorial, and was smoked +all over America at the time of the Spanish Conquest,--also that it was +first discovered by Europeans in Yucatan, in 1520, and was there called +_Petum_. Tobacco, according to the same authority, was taken from the +word _tabac_, the name of an instrument used in the preparation of the +herb. + +Though Columbus and his immediate followers doubtless brought home +specimens of tobacco among the other spoils of the New World, Jean +Nicot, ambassador to Portugal from Francis II., first sent the seeds +to France, where they were cultivated and used about the year 1560. In +honor of its sponsor, Botany has named the plant _Nicotiana tabacum_, +and Chemistry distinguished as _Nicotin_ its active alkaloid. Sir +Francis Drake first brought tobacco to England about 1586. It owed +the greater part of its early popularity, however, to the praise and +practice of Raleigh: his high standing and character would have sufficed +to introduce still more novel customs. The weed once inhaled, the habit +once acquired, its seductions would not allow it to be easily laid +aside; and we accordingly find that royal satire, public odium, and +ruinous cost were alike inadequate to restrain its rapidly increasing +consumption. Somewhere about the year 1600 or 1601 tobacco was carried +to the East, and introduced among the Turks and Persians,--it is not +known by whom: the devotion of modern Mussulmans might reasonably +ascribe it to Allah himself. It seems almost incredible that the +Oriental type of life and character could have existed without tobacco. +The pipe seems as inseparable as the Koran from the follower of Mahomet. + +Barely three centuries ago, then, the first seeds of the _Nicotiana +tabacum_ germinated in European soil: now, who shall count the harvests? +Less than three centuries ago, Raleigh attracted a crowd by sitting +smoking at his door: now, the humblest bog-trotter of Ireland must +be poor indeed who cannot own or borrow a pipe. A little more than a +century and a half ago, the import into Great Britain was only one +hundred and twenty thousand pounds, and part of that was reexported: +now, the imports reach thirty million pounds, and furnish to government +a revenue of twenty millions of dollars,--being an annual tax of three +shillings four pence on every soul in the United Kingdom. Nor is the +case of England an exceptional one. The tobacco-zone girdles the globe. +From the equator, through fifty degrees of latitude, it grows and is +consumed on every continent. On every sea it is carried and used by the +mariners of every nation. Its incense rises in every clime, as from one +vast altar dedicated to its worship,--before which ancient holocausts, +the smoke of burnt-offerings in the old Jewish rites, the censers of the +Church, and the joss-sticks of the East, must "pale their ineffectual +fires." All classes, all ages, in all climates, and in some countries +both sexes, use tobacco to dispel heat, to resist cold, to soothe +to reverie, or to arouse the brain, according to their national +habitations, peculiarities, or habits. + +This is not the language of hyperbole. With a partial exception in favor +of the hop, tobacco is the _sole recognized narcotic_ of civilization. +Opium and hemp, if indulged in, are concealed, by the Western nations: +public opinion, public morality, are at war with them. Not so with +tobacco, which the majority of civilized men use, and the minority +rather deprecate than denounce. We shall avail ourselves of some +statistics and computations, which we find ready-calculated, at various +sources, to support these assertions. The following are the amounts of +tobacco consumed _per head_ in various countries:-- + +"In Great Britain, 17 ounces per head; in France, 18 1/2 +ounces,--three-eighths of this quantity being used in the form of snuff; +in Denmark, 70 ounces (4 1/2 lbs.) per head; and in Belgium, 73 1/2 +ounces per head;--in New South Wales, where there are no duties, by +official returns, 14 pounds per head." We doubt if these quantities +much exceed the European average, particularly of Germany and Turkey in +Europe. "In some of the States of North America the proportion is much +larger, while among Eastern nations, where there are no duties, it is +believed to be greater still." + +The average for the whole human race of one thousand millions has been +reasonably set at seventy ounces per head; which gives a total produce +and consumption of tobacco of two millions of tons, or 4,480,000,000 of +pounds! "At eight hundred pounds an acre, this would require five and +a half million acres of rich land to be kept constantly under +tobacco-cultivation." + +"The whole amount of wheat consumed by the inhabitants of Great Britain +weighs only four and one-third million tons." The reader can draw his +own inferences. + +The United States are among the largest producers of tobacco, furnishing +one-twentieth of the estimated production of the whole world. According +to the last census, we raised in 1850 about two hundred million pounds. +All the States, with five exceptions,--and two of these are Utah and +Minnesota,--shared, in various degrees, in the growth of this great +staple. Confining our attention to those which raised a million of +pounds and upwards, we find Connecticut and Indiana cited at one million +each; Ohio and North Carolina, at ten to twelve millions; Missouri, +Tennessee, and Maryland, from seventeen to twenty-one millions; Kentucky +and Virginia, about fifty-six million pounds. + +Of this gross two hundred million pounds, we export one hundred and +twenty-two millions, leaving about seventy-eight millions for home +consumption. + +Not satisfied with the quality of this modest amount, we import also, +from Cuba, Turkey, Germany, etc., about four million pounds, in Havana +and Manila cigars and Turkish and German manufactured smoking-tobacco. +Thus we increase the total of our consumption to eighty-two million +pounds, which gives about three pounds eight ounces to every inhabitant +of the United States, against seventeen ounces in England, and eighteen +ounces in France. From 1840 to 1850, the consumption in the United +States, per head, increased from two pounds and half an ounce to three +pounds eight ounces. Here, we buy our tobacco at a fair profit to the +producer. In most of the countries of Europe it is either subject to +a high tax, or made a government monopoly, both as regards its +cultivation, and its manufacture and sale. France consumes about +forty-one million pounds, and the imperial exchequer is thereby enriched +eighty-six million francs _per annum_. Not only is the poor man thus +obliged to pay an excessive price, but the tobacco furnished him is of +a much inferior quality to ours. "_Petit-caporal_" smoking-tobacco, the +delight of the middling classes of Paris, hardly suits an American's +taste. In Italy more than one _pubblicano_ has enriched himself and +bought nobility by farming the public revenues from tobacco and salt. In +Austria the cigars are detestable, though Hungary grows good tobacco, +and its Turkish border furnishes some of the meerschaum clay. German +smoking-tobaccoes are favorites with students here, but owe their +excellence to their mode of manufacture. + +Tobacco, according to some authorities, holds the next place to salt, +as the article most universally and largely used by man,--we mean, +of course, apart from cereals and meats. It is unquestionably the +widest-used narcotic. Opium takes the second rank, and hemp the third; +but the opium--and hashish-eaters usually add the free smoking of +tobacco to their other indulgences. + +From these great columns of consumption we may logically deduce two +prime points for our argument. + +1st. That an article so widely used must possess some peculiar quality +producing _a desirable effect_. + +2d. That an article so widely used cannot produce _any marked +deleterious effect_. + +For it must meet some instinctive craving of the human being,--as bread +and salt meet his absolute needs,--to be so widely sought after and +consumed. Fashion does not rule this habit, but it is equally grateful +to the savage and the sage. And it cannot be so ruinous to body and mind +as some reformers assert; otherwise, in the natural progress of causes +and effects, whole nations must have already been extinguished under +its use. Many mighty nations have used it for centuries, and show no +aggregated deterioration from its employment. Individual exceptions +exist in every community. They arise either from idiosyncrasy or from +excess, and they have no weight in the argument. + +Now, what are these qualities and these effects? We can best answer the +first part of the question by a quotation. + +"In ministering fully to his natural wants and cravings, man passes +through three successive stages. + +"First, the necessities of his material nature are provided for. Beef +and bread represent the means by which, in every country, this end is +attained. And among the numerous forms of animal and vegetable food a +wonderful similarity of chemical composition prevails. + +"Second, he seeks to assuage the cares of his mind, and to banish +uneasy reflections. Fermented liquors are the agents by which this is +effected." [They are variously produced by every people, and the active +principle is in all the same, namely, Alcohol.] + +"Third, he desires to multiply his enjoyments, intellectual and animal, +and for the time to exalt them. This he attains by the aid of narcotics. +And of these narcotics, again, it is remarkable that almost every +country or tribe has its own, either aboriginal or imported; so that +the universal instinct of the race has led, somehow or other, to the +universal supply of this want or craving also." + +These narcotics are Opium, Hemp, the Betel, Coca, Thorn-Apple, Siberian +Fungus, Hops, Lettuce, Tobacco. The active principles vary in each, thus +differing from foods and stimulants. Our business is now to inquire into +the chemical constituents of tobacco. + +The leaves of this plant owe their properties to certain invariable +active principles, which chemistry has enabled us to separate from those +ingredients which are either inert or common to it and other forms of +vegetation. They are two in number,--a volatile alkali, and a volatile +oil, called _nicotin_ and _nicotianin_, respectively. A third powerful +constituent is developed by combustion, which is named the _empyreumatic +oil_. + +Starch, gum, albumen, resin, lignin, extractive, and organic acids exist +in tobacco, as they do, in varying proportions, in other plants. But +the herb under consideration contains a relatively larger proportion of +inorganic salts, as those of lime, potassa, and ammonia,--and especially +of highly nitrogenized substances; which explains why tobacco is +so exhausting a crop to the soil, and why ashes are among its best +fertilizers. + +The organic base, _nicotin_, (or _nicotia_, as some chemists prefer to +call it,) exists in tobacco combined with an acid in excess, and in this +state is not volatile. As obtained by distillation with caustic soda, +and afterwards treated with sulphuric acid, etc., it is a colorless +fluid, volatilizable, inflammable, of little smell when cold, but of an +exceedingly acrid, burning taste, and alkaline. Nicotia contains a much +larger proportion of nitrogen than most of the other organic alkalies. +In its action on the animal system it is one of the most virulent +poisons known. It exists in varying, though small proportion, in all +species of tobacco. Those called mild, and most esteemed, seem to +contain the least. Thus, according to Orfila, Havana tobacco yields two +per cent of the alkaloid, and Virginia nearly seven per cent. In the +rankest varieties it rarely exceeds eight parts to the hundred. The +same toxicologist says that it has the remarkable property of resisting +decomposition in the decaying tissues of the body, and he detected it in +the bodies of animals destroyed by it, several months after their death. +In this particular it resembles arsenic. + +_Nicotianin_, or the volatile oil, is probably the odorous principle of +tobacco. According to some, it does not exist in the fresh leaves, but +is generated in the drying process. When obtained by distillation, a +pound of leaves will yield only two grains; it is therefore in a much +smaller proportion than the alkaloid, forming only one half of one per +cent. It is a fatty substance, having the odor of tobacco-smoke, and +a bitter taste. Applied to the nose, it occasions sneezing, and taken +internally, giddiness and nausea. It is therefore one of the active +constituents of tobacco, though to a much less degree than nicotin +itself. For while Hermstadt swallowed a grain of nicotianin with +impunity, the vapor of pure nicotin is so irritating that it is +difficult to breathe in a room in which a single drop has been +evaporated. + +When distilled in a retort, at a temperature above that of boiling +water, or burned, as we burn it in a pipe, tobacco affords its third +poison, the _empyreumatic oil_. This is acrid, of a dark brown +color, and having a smell as of an old pipe, in the pores of which, +particularly of meerschaum clay, it may be found. It is also narcotic +and very poisonous, one drop killing reptiles, as if by an electric +shock: in this mode of action it is like prussic acid. But this +empyreumatic oil consists of two substances; for, if it be washed with +acetic acid, it loses its poisonous quality. It contains, therefore, a +harmless oil, and a poisonous alkaline substance, which the acetic acid +combines with and removes. It has been shown to contain the alkaloid +nicotia, and this is probably its only active component. + +Assuming, therefore, that nicotianin, from its feebler action and small +amount, is not a very efficient principle in producing the narcotic +effects of tobacco, and that the empyreumatic oil consists only of fatty +matters holding the alkali in solution, we are forced to believe that +the only constituent worthy of much attention, as the very soul and +essence of the plant, is the organic base, nicotin, or nicotia. + +It is probable that the tobacco-chewer, by putting fifty grains of the +"Solace," "Honey-Dew," or "Cavendish" into his mouth for the purpose +of mastication, introduces at the same time from one to four grains of +nicotin with it, according to the quality of the tobacco he uses. It +is _not_ probable that anything like this amount is absorbed into the +system. Nature protects itself by salivation. It is possible, that, in +smoking one hundred grains of tobacco, there _may_ be drawn into +the mouth two grains or more of the same poison; "for, as nicotin +volatilizes at a temperature below that of burning tobacco, it is +constantly present in the smoke." It is not probable that here, again, +so much is absorbed. + +But we will return to this question of the relative effects of chewing, +cigar- and pipe-smoking, and snuff-taking, presently. For we suppose +that the anxious mother, if she has followed us so far, is by this time +in considerable alarm at this wholesale poisoning. + +Poisons are to be judged by their effects; for this is the only means we +have of knowing them to be such. And if a poison is in common use, we +must embrace all the results of such use in a perfect generalization +before we can decide impartially. We do not hesitate to eat peaches, +though we know they owe much of their peculiar flavor to prussic acid. +It is but fair to apply an equally large generalization to tobacco. +Chemistry can concentrate the sapid and odorous elements of the peach +and the bitter almond into a transparent fluid, of which the smell +shall be vertiginous and the taste death. But chemistry is often +misunderstood, in two ways: in the one case, by the incredulity of total +ignorance; in the other, by the overcredulity of imperfect knowledge. +That poor woman who murdered her husband by arsenic not long since +was an instance of the first. She laughed to scorn the idea that the +chemists could discover anything in the ejected contents of the stomach +of her victim, which she voluntarily left in their way. She could not +conceive that the scattered crystals of the fatal powder might be +gathered into a metallic mirror, the first glance at which would reflect +her guilt. + +They who gape, horror-struck, at the endless revelations of chemistry, +without giving reason time to act, err in the second manner. Led away by +the brilliant hues and wonderful transformations of the laboratory, +they forget the size of the world outside, in which these changes are +enacted, and the quiet way in which Nature works. The breath of chlorine +is deadly, but we daily eat it in safety, wrapped in its poison-proof +envelope of sodium, as common salt. Carbonic acid is among the gases +most hostile to man, but he drinks it in soda-water or Champagne with +impunity. So we cannot explain how a poison will act, if introduced +into the body in the diluted form in which Nature offers it, and there +subjected to the complicated chemico-vital processes which constitute +life. + +In the alembic of the chemist we may learn analysis, and from it infer, +but not imitate, save in a few instances, the synthesis of Nature. +Changes in the arrangement of atoms, without one particle altered that +we can discover, may make all the difference between starch and sugar. +By an obscure change, which we call fermentation, these may become +alcohol, the great stimulant of the world. By subtracting one atom of +water from its elements we change this to ether, the new-found _lethe_ +of pain. As from the inexhaustible bottle of the magician, the chemist +can furnish us from the same two elements air or aquafortis. We may be +pardoned these familiar examples to prove that we must not judge of +things by their palpable qualities, when concentrated or in the gross. +That fiery demon, nitric acid, is hid, harmless in its imperceptible +subdivision, in the dew on every flower. + +From all this we conclude that the evil effects of tobacco are to be +determined by their proved _physiological_ effects; and also that we +must aid our decision by a survey of its general asserted effects. In +treating of these effects, we shall speak, first, of what is known; +second, of what its opponents assert; and, third, of what we claim as +the results of its use. + +What is absolutely known is very little. We see occasional instances of +declining health; we learn that the sufferers smoke or chew, and we are +very apt to ascribe all their maladies to tobacco. So far as we are +aware, the most notorious organic lesion which has been supposed due to +this practice is a peculiar form of cancer of the lip, where the pipe, +and particularly the clay pipe, has pressed upon the part. But more +ample statistics have disproved this theory. + +We have as yet become acquainted with no satisfactory series of +experiments upon tobacco analogous to those which have been made of some +articles of food. + +The opponents of tobacco, upon whom we consider the burden of proof to +rest, in the absence of any marked ill effects palpable in so large a +consumption of the herb, are thus reduced to generalities. + +Tobacco is said to produce derangement of the digestion, and of the +regular, steady action of the nervous system. These effects must be in a +measure connected; but one distinct effect of tobacco is claimed, upon +the secretions of the mouth, with which it comes into direct contact. +It is said to cause a waste and a deterioration of the saliva. Let us +examine this first. + +The waste of saliva in young smokers and in immoderate chewers we admit. +The amount secreted by a healthy man has been variously estimated at +from one and a half to three pounds _per diem_. And it certainly seems +as if the whole of this was to be found upon the vile floors of +cars, hotels, and steamboats. The quantity secreted varies much with +circumstances; but experiments prove the _quality_ to be not affected by +the amount. + +To show how the deterioration of this fluid may affect digestion, we +must inquire into its normal physiological constitution and uses. Its +uses are of two kinds: to moisten the food, and to convert starch into +sugar. The larger glands fulfil the former; the smaller, mostly, the +latter office. Almost any substance held in the mouth provokes the flow +of saliva by mechanical irritation. Mental causes influence it; for the +thought of food will "make the mouth water," as well as its presence +within the lips. No one who has tried to eat unmoistened food, when +thirsty, will dispute its uses as a solvent. Tobacco seems to be a +direct stimulant to the salivary apparatus. Habit blunts this effect +only to a limited extent. The old smoker has usually some increase of +this secretion, although he does not expectorate. But if he does not +waste this product, he swallows it, it is said, in a state unfit to +promote digestion. The saliva owes its peculiarity to one of its +components, called _ptyalin_. And this element possesses the remarkable +power of converting starch into sugar, which is the first step in its +digestion. Though many azotized substances in a state of decomposition +exert a similar agency, yet it is possessed by _ptyalin_ in a much +greater degree. The gastric juice has probably no action on farinaceous +substances. And it has been proved by experiments, that food moistened +with water digests more slowly than when mixed with the saliva. + +More than this, the conversion of starch into sugar has been shown to +be positively retarded in the stomach by the acidity of the gastric +secretions. Only after the azotized food has been somewhat disintegrated +by the action of the gastric juice, and the fluids again rendered +alkaline by the presence of saliva, swallowed in small quantities for +a considerable time after eating, does the saccharifying process go on +with normal rapidity and vigor. + +Now starch is the great element, in all farinaceous articles, which +is adapted to supply us with calorifacient food. "In its original +condition, either raw or when broken up by boiling, it does not appear +that starch is capable of being absorbed by the alimentary canal. By its +conversion into sugar it can alone become a useful aliment." This is +effected almost instantaneously by the saliva in the mouth, and at a +slower rate in the stomach. + +Obviously, then, if the use of tobacco interferes with the normal action +of the saliva, and if the digestion of starch ends in the stomach, here +is the strong point in the argument of the opponents of tobacco. We +should wonder at the discrepancy between physiology and facts, theory +and the evidence of our senses and daily experience among the world +of smokers, and be ready to renounce either science or "the weed." +Fortunately for our peace of mind and for our respect for physiology, +the first point of the proposition is not satisfactorily proved, and the +second is untrue. We are not certain that nicotin ruins ptyalin; we are +certain that the functions of other organs are vicarious of those of the +salivary glands. + +We say that it is not satisfactorily proved that tobacco impairs the +sugar-making function of the saliva. At least, we have never seen the +proof from recorded experiments. Such may exist, but we have met only +with loose assertions to this effect, of a similar nature to +those hygienic _dicta_ which we find bandied about in the +would-be-physiological popular journals, which are so plentiful in +this country, and which may be styled the "yellow-cover" literature of +science. + +We acknowledge this to be the weak point in our armor, and are open to +further light. Yet more, for the sake of hypothesis, we will assume it +proved. What follows? Are we to get no more sugar while we smoke? By no +means. Hard by the stomach lies the _pancreas_, an organ so similar in +structure to the salivary glands, that even so minute an observer as +Koelliker does not think it requisite to give it a separate description. +Its secretion, which is poured into the second stomach, contains a +ferment analogous to that of the saliva, and amounts probably to about +seven ounces a day. The food, on leaving the stomach, is next subjected +to its influence, together with that of the bile. It helps digest fatty +matters by its emulsive powers; it has been more recently supposed to +form a sort of _peptone_ with nitrogenized articles also; but, what is +more to our purpose, it turns starch into sugar even more quickly than +the saliva itself. And even if the reformers were to beat us from this +stronghold, by proving that tobacco impaired the saccharifying power of +this organ also, we should still find the mixed fluids supplied by the +smaller, but very numerous glands of the intestines, sufficient to +accomplish the requisite modification of starch, though more slowly and +to a less degree. + +We come now to the second count in the indictment,--that tobacco +injuriously affects the nervous system, and through it the digestion. +The accusation is here more vague and indefinite, and the answer also +is less susceptible of proof. Both sides must avail themselves of +circumstantial, rather than direct evidence. + +That digestion is in direct dependence upon the nervous system, and that +even transitory or emotional states of the latter affect the former, +there can be no doubt. It is so familiar a fact, that instances need +hardly be cited to prove it. Hence we are told, that tobacco, by +deranging the one, disorders the other,--that nervousness, or morbid +irritability of the nerves, palpitations and tremulousness, are soon +followed by emaciation and dyspepsia, or more or less inability to +digest. + +We conceive Prout, an eminent authority, to be near the truth, when he +says of tobacco, "The strong and healthy suffer comparatively little, +while the weak and predisposed to disease fall victims to its poisonous +operation." The hod-carrier traversing the walls of lofty buildings, and +the sailor swinging on the yard-arm, are not subject to nervousness, +though they smoke and chew; nor are they prone to dyspepsia, unless from +excesses of another kind. + +It has not been shown that tobacco either hastens or delays the +metamorphosis of tissue,--that it drains the system by waste, or clogs +it by retarding the natural excretions. We must turn, then, to its +direct influence upon the nervous system to convince ourselves of its +ill effects, if such exist. + +Nor has it been proved that the nervous influence is affected in such +a way as directly to impair the innervation of the organic functions, +which derive their chief impulse to action from the scattered ganglia of +the sympathetic system. Opium, the most powerful narcotic, benumbs the +brain into sleep; produces a corresponding reaction, on awakening; +shuts up the secretions, except that of the skin, and thus deranges the +alimentary functions. The decriers of tobacco will, we conceive, be +unable to show that it produces such effects. + +The reformers are reduced, then, to the vague generality, that smoking +and chewing "affect the nerves." + +Students, men of sedentary, professional habits, persons of a very +nervous temperament, or those subject to much excitement in business +and politics, sometimes show debility and languor, or agitation and +nervousness, while they smoke and chew. Are there no other causes at +work, sufficient in themselves to produce these effects? Are want of +exercise, want of air, want of rest, and want of inherited vigor to be +eliminated from the estimate, while tobacco is made the scape-goat of +all their troubles? + +Climate, and the various influences affecting any race which has +migrated after a stationary residence of generations to a new country +extending under different parallels of latitude, have been reasonably +accused of rendering us a nervous people. It is not so reasonable to +charge one habit with being the sole cause of this, although we should +be more prudent in not following it to excess. The larger consumption +of tobacco here is due both to the cheapness of the product and to +the wealth of the consumer. But it does not follow that we are more +subjected to its narcotic influences because we use the best varieties +of the weed. On the contrary, the poor and rank tobaccoes, grown under a +northern sky, are the richest in nicotin. + +But it will be better to continue the argument about its effects upon +the nervous system in connection with the assertions of the reformers. +The following is a list, by no means complete, of these asserted ill +effects from its use. + +Tobacco is said to cause softening of the brain,--dimness of +vision,--("the Germans smoke; the Germans are a _spectacled_ nation!" +_post hoc, ergo propter hoc?_ the laborious intellectual habits of this +people, and their trying "text," are considered of no account,)--cancer +of the stomach,--disease of the liver,--dyspepsia,--enfeebled +nutrition, and consequent emaciation,--dryness of the mouth,--"the +clergyman's sore-throat" and loss of voice,--irritability of the nervous +system,--tremulousness,--palpitation and paralysis,--and, among the +moral ills, loss of energy, idleness, drunkenness. A fearful catalogue, +which would dedicate the _tabatiere_ to Pandora, were it true. + +Hygienic reformers are usually unequalled in imaginary horrors, except +by the charlatans who vend panaceas. + +We have no reasons for believing that tobacco causes softening of the +brain equal in plausibility to those which ascribe it to prolonged and +excessive mental effort. The statistics of disease prove cancers of +other organs to be twice as frequent, among females, as cancer of the +stomach is among males; and an eminent etiologist places narcotics +among the least proved causes of this disease. A hot climate, abuse +of alcohol, a sedentary life, and sluggish digestion happen, rather +curiously, to be very frequent concomitants, if not causes, of disease +of the liver. Dyspepsia haunts both sexes, and, we venture to assert, +though we cannot bring figures to prove it, is as frequent among those +who do not use tobacco as among those who do. We are ready to concede +that excessive chewing and smoking, particularly if accompanied by large +expectoration, may impair nutrition and cause emaciation: that the mass +of mankind eat and digest and live, as well as use "the weed," is proof +that its moderate employment is not ordinarily followed by this result. +Dryness of the mouth follows expectoration as a matter of course; but +the salivation excited in an old smoker by tobacco is very moderate, and +not succeeded by thirst, unless the smoke be inhaled too rapidly and at +too high a temperature. + +We come next to a very tender point with reformers, the laryngeal cough +and failing voice of the reverend clergy. The later generations of +ministers of this vicinity, as a body, have abandoned tobacco, and yet +the evil has not diminished. An eminent divine of our acquaintance, +who does not smoke daily, always finds a cigar relieve a trifling +bronchitis, to which he is occasionally subject The curious will find in +the "Medical Journal" of this city, for 1839, that quite as much can be +said on one side as on the other of this subject. + +The minor, rarely the graver affections of the nervous system, do follow +the use of tobacco in excess. We admit this willingly; but we deny these +effects to its moderate use by persons of ordinary health and of no +peculiar idiosyncrasy. Numerous cases of paralysis among tobacco-takers +in France were traced to the lead in which the preparation was +enveloped. + +We pass next to what we claim as the effects of _moderate_ +tobacco-using, and will take first the evidence of the toxicologists. +Both Pereira and Christison agree that "no well-ascertained ill effects +have been shown to result from the habitual practice of smoking." Beck, +a modern authority, says, "Common observation settles the question, that +the moderate and daily use of tobacco _does not_ prove injurious. This +is a general rule": and he adds, that exceptions necessarily exist, etc. + +The repugnance and nausea which greet the smoker, in his first attempts +to use tobacco, are not a stronger argument against it than the fact +that the system so soon becomes habituated to these effects is a proof +of its essential innocuousness. + +Certainly the love of tobacco is not an instinctive appetite, like that +for nitrogen and carbon in the form of food. Man was not born with a +cigar in his mouth, and it is not certain that the _Nicotiana tabacum_ +flourished in the Garden of Eden. But history proves the existence of +an instinct among all races--call it depraved, if you will, the fact +remains--leading them to employ narcotics. And narcotics all nations +have sought and found. We venture to affirm that tobacco is harmless as +any. The betel and the hop can alone compare with it in this respect; +and the hop is not a narcotic which satisfies alone; others are used +with it. Opium and Indian hemp are not to be mentioned in comparison; +while coca, in excess, is much more hurtful. + +Tobacco may more properly be called a sedative than a narcotic. Opium, +the type of the latter class, is in its primary action excitant, but +secondarily narcotic. The opium-eaters are familiar with this, and +learn by experience to regulate the dose so as to prolong the first and +shorten the second effects, as much as possible. + +Tobacco, on the other hand, is primarily sedative and relaxing. A high +authority says of its physiological action:-- + +"First, That its greater and first effect is to assuage and allay and +soothe the system in general. + +"Second, That its lesser and second, or after effect, is to excite and +invigorate, and at the same time give steadiness and fixity to the +powers of thought." + +Either of these effects will predominate, we conceive, according to +the intellectual state and capacity of the individual, as well as in +accordance with the amount used. + +The dreamy Oriental is sunk into deeper reverie under the influence of +tobacco, and his happiness while smoking seems to consist in thinking of +nothing. The studious German, on the contrary, "thinks and dreams, +and dreams and thinks, alternately; but while his body is soothed and +stilled, his mind is ever awake." + +This latter description resembles, to compare small things with great, +the effects of opium, as detailed by De Quincey. + +"In habitual smokers," says Pereira, "the practice, when moderately +indulged, produces that remarkably soothing and tranquillizing effect on +the mind which has caused it to be so much admired and adopted by all +classes of society." + +The pleasure derived from tobacco is very hard to define, since it is +negative rather than positive, and to be estimated more by what it +prevents than by what it produces. It relieves the little vexations and +cares of life, soothes the harassed mind, and promotes quiet reflection. +This it does most of all when used sparingly and after labor. But +if incessantly consumed, it keeps up a constant, but mild cerebral +exhilaration. The mind acts more promptly and more continuously under +its use. We think any tobacco-consumer will bear us out in this +definition of its varying effects. + +After a full meal, if it does not help, it at least hides digestion. +"It settles one's dinner," as the saying is, and gives that feeling of +quiet, luxurious _bien-aise_ which would probably exist naturally in +a state of primeval health. It promotes, with most persons, the +peristaltic movements of the alimentary passages by its relaxing +properties. + +Smoking is eminently social, and favors domestic habits. And in this +way, we contend, it prevents drinking, rather than leads to it. Many +still associate the cigar with the bar-room. This notion should have +become obsolete ere this, for it has an extremely limited foundation in +fact. Bachelors and would-be-manly boys are not the only consumers of +tobacco, though they are the best patrons of the bar. The poor man's +pipe retains him by his own fireside, as well as softens his domestic +asperities. + +Excess in tobacco, like excess in any other material good meant for +moderate use, is followed by evil effects, more or less quickly, +according to the constitution and temperament of the abuser. The +lymphatic and obese can smoke more than the sanguine and nervous, with +impunity. How much constitutes excess varies with each individual. +Manufacturers of tobacco do not appear to suffer. Christison states, as +the result of the researches of MM. Parent-Duchatelet and D'Arcet among +four thousand workmen in the tobacco-manufactories of France, that they +found no evidence of its being unwholesome. Moderate tobacco-users +attain longevity equal to that of any other class in the community. + +We will cite only the following brief statistics from an old physician +of a neighboring town. In looking over the list of the oldest men, dead +or alive, within his circle of acquaintance, he finds a total of 67 men, +from 73 to 93 years of age. Their average age is 78 and a fraction. Of +these 67, 54 were smokers or chewers; 9 only, non-consumers of tobacco; +and 4 were doubtful, or not ascertained. About nine-elevenths smoked or +chewed. The compiler quaintly adds, "How much longer these men might +have lived without tobacco, it is impossible to determine." + +The tobacco-leaf is consumed by man usually in three ways: by smoking, +snuffing, or chewing. The first is the most common; the last is the most +disagreeable. + +Tobacco is smoked in the East Indies, China, and Siam; in Turkey and +Persia; over Europe generally; and in North and South America. Cigars +are preferred in the East and West Indies, Spain, England, and America. +China, Turkey, Persia, and Germany worship the pipe. In Europe the pipe +is patronized on account of its cheapness. Turks and Persians use the +mildest forms of pipe-smoking, choosing pipes with long, flexible stems, +and having the smoke cooled and purified by passing through water. The +Germans prefer the porous meerschaum,--the Canadians, the common clay. +Women smoke habitually in China, the East and West Indies, and to a less +extent in South America, Spain, and France. + +We have no fears that any reasoning of ours would induce the other +sex to use tobacco. The ladies set too just a value on the precious +commodity of their charms for that. There is little danger that they +would do anything which might render them disagreeable. The practice of +snuff-taking is about the only form they patronize, and that to a slight +extent. + +France is the home of snuff. A large proportion of all the tobacco +consumed there is used in this form. The practice prevails to a large +extent also in Iceland and Scotland. The Icelander uses a small horn, +like a powder-horn, to hold his snuff. Inserting the smaller end into +the nostril, he elevates the other, and thus conveys the pungent powder +directly to the part. The more delicate Highlander carries the snuff to +his nose on a little shovel. This can be surpassed only by the habit +of "dipping," peculiar to some women of the United States, and whose +details will not bear description. + +Chewing prevails _par excellence_ in our own country, and among the +sailors of most nations,--to some extent also in Switzerland, Iceland, +and among the Northern races. It is the safest and most convenient form +at sea. + +By smoking, each of the three active ingredients of tobacco is rendered +capable of absorption. The empyreumatic oil is produced by combustion. +The pipe retains this and a portion of the nicotin in its pores. The +cigar, alone, conveys all the essential elements into the system. + +Liebig once asserted that cigar-smoking was prejudicial from the +amount of gaseous carbon inhaled. We cannot believe this. The heat of +cigar-smoke may have some influence on the teeth; and, on the whole, the +long pipe, with a porous bowl, is probably the best way of using tobacco +in a state of ignition. + +By repeated fermentations in preparing snuff, much of the nicotin is +evaporated and lost. Yet snuff-takers impair the sense of smell, and +ruin the voice, by clogging up the passages with the finer particles of +the powder. The functions of the labyrinthine caverns of the nose and +forehead, and of the delicate osseous laminae which constitute the +sounding-boards of vocalization, are thus destroyed. + +Chewing is the most constant, as it is the nastiest habit. The old +chewer, safe in the blunted irritability of the salivary glands, can +continue his practice all night, if he be so infatuated, without +inconvenience. In masticating tobacco, nicotin and nicotianin are rolled +about in the mouth with the quid, but are not probably so quickly +absorbed as when in the gaseous state. Yet chewers are the greatest +spitters, and have a characteristic drooping of the angle of the lower +lip, which points to loss of power in the _leavator_ muscles. + +Latakia, Shiraz, Manila, Cuba, Virginia, and Maryland produce the most +valuable tobaccoes. Though peculiar soils and dressings may impart +a greater aroma and richness to the plant, by the variations in the +quantity of nicotianin, as compared with the other organic elements, yet +we are inclined to think that the diminished proportion of nicotin in +the best varieties in the cause of their superior flavor to the rank +Northern tobaccoes, and that it is mainly because they are milder that +they are most esteemed. So, too, the cigar improves with age, because +a certain amount of nicotin evaporates and escapes. Taste in cigars +varies, however, from the Austrian government article, a very rank +"long-nine," with a straw running through the centre to improve its +suction, to the Cuban _cigarrito_, whose ethereal proportions three +whiffs will exhaust. + +The manufacture of smoking-tobaccoes is as much and art in Germany as +getting up a fancy brand of cigars is here; and the medical philosopher +of that country will gravely debate whether "Kanaster" or "Varinas" be +best suited for certain forms of convalescence; tobacco being almost +as indispensable as gruel, in returning health. We think the +light pipe-smoker will find a combination of German and Turkish +smoking-tobaccoes a happy thought. The old smoker may secure the best +union of delicacy and strength in the Virginia "natural leaf." + +Among the eight or ten species of the tobacco-plant now recognized by +botanists, the _Nicotiana tabacum_ and the _Nicotiana rustica_ hold the +chief place. Numerous varieties of each of these, however, are named and +exist. + +We condense from De Bow's "Industrial Resources of the South and West" a +brief account of tobacco-culture in this country. "The tobacco is best +sown from the 10th to the 20th of March, and a rich loam is the most +favorable soil. The plants are dressed with a mixture of ashes, plaster, +soot, salt, sulphur, soil, and manure." After they are transplanted, +we are told that "the soil best adapted to the growth of tobacco is a +light, friable one, or what is commonly called a sandy loam; not too +flat, but rolling, undulating land." Long processes of hand-weeding must +be gone through, and equal parts of plaster and ashes are put on each +plant. "Worms are the worst enemy," and can be effectually destroyed +only by hand. "When the plant begins to yellow, it is time to put it +away; and it is cut off close to the ground." After wilting a little on +the ground, it is dried on sticks, by one of the three processes called +"pegging, spearing, and splitting." "When dry, the leaves are stripped +off and tied in bundles of one fifth or sixth of a pound each. It is +sorted into three or four qualities, as Yellow, Bright, Dull, etc." +Next it is "bulked," or put into bundles, and these again dried, and +afterwards "conditioned," and packed in hogsheads weighing from six +hundred to a thousand pounds each. + +It would be too long to detail the processes of cigar- and snuff-making, +the latter of which is quite complicated. + +We were happy to learn from the fearful work of Hassall on "Food and +its Adulterations," that tobacco was one of the articles least tampered +with; and particularly that there was no opium in cheroots, but nothing +more harmful than hay and paper. He ascribes this immunity mainly to +the vigilance of the excisemen. But we have recently seen a work on +the adulteration of tobacco, whose microscopic plates brought back our +former misgivings. Molasses is a very common agent used to give color +and render it toothsome. Various vegetable leaves, as the rhubarb, +beech, walnut, and mullein, as well as the less delectable bran, yellow +ochre, and hellebore, in snuff, are also sometimes used to defraud. +Saltpetre is often sprinkled on, in making cigars, to improve their +burning. + +The Indians mixed tobacco in their pipes with fragrant herbs. Cascarilla +bark is a favorite with some smokers; it is a simple aromatic and +tonic, but, when smoked, is said sometimes to occasion vertigo and +intoxication. + +We have before observed that tobacco is a very exhausting crop to the +soil. The worn-out tobacco-plantations of the South are sufficient +practical proof of this, while it is also readily explained by +chemistry. The leaves of tobacco are among the richest in incombustible +ash, yielding, when burned, from 19 to 28 _per cent_. of inorganic +substance. This forms the abundant ashes of tobacco-pipes and of cigars. +All this has been derived from the soil where it was raised, and it is +of a nature very necessary to vegetation, and not very abundant in the +most fertile lands. "Every ton of dried tobacco-leaves carries off from +four to five hundred-weight of this mineral matter,--as much as is +contained in fourteen tons of the grain of wheat." It follows +that scientific agriculture can alone restore this waste to the +tobacco-plantation. + +There is one other aspect of this great subject, which is almost +peculiar to New England, the home of reform. Certain Puritanical +pessimists have argued that the use of tobacco is immoral. There are +few, except our own sober people, who would admit this question at +all. We would treat this prejudice with the respect due to all sincere +reforms. And we have attempted to show, that, since all races have used +and will use narcotics, we had better yield a little, lest more be +taken, and concede them tobacco, which is more harmless than many that +are largely consumed. We have proved to our own satisfaction, and we +hope to theirs, that tobacco _in moderation_ neither affects the health +nor shortens life; that it does not create an appetite for stimulants, +but rather supplies their place; and that it favors sociality and +domestic habits more than the reverse. + +If the formation of any habit be objected to, we reply, that this is +a natural tendency of man, that things become less prejudicial by +repetition, and that a high hygienic authority advises us "to be regular +even in our vices." + +As we began in a light, we close in a more sober vein, apologists for +tobacco, rather than strongly advocating either side. On one point we +are sure that we shall agree with the ladies, and that is in a sincere +denunciation of the habit of smoking at a tender age. And although, in +accordance with the tendency of the times, the school-boy whom we caught +attached to a "long-nine" would consistently reply, _"Civis Americanus +sum_!" we shall persist in claiming the censorship of age over those on +whose chins the callow down of adolescence is yet ungrown. + + * * * * * + + + +SHAKSPEARE DONE INTO FRENCH. + + +In the first place, it really was an immense success, and Shylock, or +Sheeloque, as they dubbed him, was called before the curtain seven +times, and in most appropriate humility nearly laid his nose on his +insteps as he bowed, and quite showed his spine. + +It certainly was like Shakspeare in this, that it had five acts; but +when I have made that concession, and admitted that Sheeloque was +_Le Juif de Venise_, I think I have named all the cardinal points of +similarity in the "Merchant of Venice" and "Le Juif" of that same +unwholesome place. To be sure, there is a suspicion of _le devin +Williams_, as they will call him, continually cropping out; but a +conscientious man would not swear to one line of it, and I do not +think Shakspeare would be justified in suing the French author for +compensation under the National Copyright-Act. I speak of Shakspeare as +existing, because it is my belief he does, in a manner so to speak. + +I have intimated that "Le Juif" has five acts; but I have not yet +committed myself to the assertion that he was in seven _tableaux_, and +possessed a prologue. + +It is now my pleasing duty to force you through the five acts, and the +one prologue, and the seven _tableaux_,--every one of them. + +This prologue is divided as to the theatre into two parts: to left, +Sheeloque's domestic interior,--to right, a practicable canal. In the +very first line out crops Shylock's love of good bargains; and I +give the reader my word, the little Frenchmen saw that this was +characteristic, and applauded vehemently. _"Bon_," said I,--"if they +applaud the first line, what will they do with the last act?" + +It need not be said that Shylock dabbles in those bills which Venetian +swells of the fifteenth century, in common with those of a later age +and more western land, will manipulate, in spite of all the political +economy from Confucius down to Mr. Mill; and in this particular instance +and prologue the names of the improvidents are Leone and Ubaldo, neither +of which, if my memory serve me, is Shakspearian. These gentlemen +considerably shake my traditional respect for sixteenth-century +Venetian _Aristos_, for they insult that Jew till I wonder where a count +and a duke have learnt such language: but they serve a purpose; they +trot Shylock out, so to speak, and give our author an opportunity +of doing his best with A 1. Shylock's great speech. Here is the +apostrophe:-- + +"But yesterday--no later past than yesterday--thou didst bid thy +mistress call at me from her balcony; thy servants by thy will did cast +mud on me, and thy hounds sped snapping after me,'"--whereby we may infer +they went hunting in Venice, in the fifteenth century. It must have been +rather dangerous running. Nor could the Venetian nobles of that good old +time have been very proper; for Leone and Ubaldo justify themselves by +saying they were drunk. + +It is after this pretty excuse that Shylock has a soliloquy as long as +his beard,--and I hear really loud opposition to this didacticism in the +pit; but, however, this slow work soon meets compensation in violent +action. Shylock won't renew, and the nobles get indignant; so they +propose to pay Shylock with more kicks than halfpence. Here the action +begins; for Shylock protests he will bite a bit out of them; and though +one of these long-sleeved swells warns him that all threats by Jews +against Christians are an imprisonment manner, Shylock rashly prepares +for a defence. Away fly the lords after Shylock, over go the chairs, +down goes the table, and I suppose Shylock _does_ hit "one of them"; for +the two lords go off quite triumphantly, with the intimation that he +will be in prison in one hour from that. + +Then the Jew calls for--Sarah; and this same comes in on tiptoe, for +fear of waking the baby. This Shylock _fils_ Sarah proceeds to describe +as equally beautiful with Abel and Moses, which seems to give Shylock +_pere_ great comfort,--though I am bound to admit the lowly whispered +doubt on the part of a pit-neighbor of mine as to Sarah's capability of +judging in the matter. + +Shylock is preparing for prison, it seems, and one little necessity is a +prayer for said son. Sarah comes in with a response, Shylock leaves +off praying "immediate," to tell Sarah she is no vulgar servant, which +assurance is received in the tearful manner. And here it comes a +little faint whiff of the real play. In leaving home, Shylock's French +plagiarizes the Jew's speech to Jessica, even down to the doubt the Jew +has about leaving his house at all. + +There has been no necessity for stating that Sara supposes herself the +widow of a libel on his sex, a man unspeakable; and the moment I hear he +is, or was, a man of crime unspeakable, I know he will turn up. Shylock +having gone away,--I do not know where,--up comes a gondola to the +front-door, and, of course, in walks Sarah's husband. "Good evening, +Ma'am," says he. "God of Israel!" says she. And then such an explanation +as this infamous husband gives! He puts in, that he is a pirate; that +his captain, whom he describes as a _Venus en corsaire_, has lost a +son, and wants another; hence speaker, name Arnheim, wants that little +Israelite who is so much like Abel and Moses at one and the same moment: +though how Arnheim should know of that little creation, or how he should +know him to be also like the lost infantile pirate as well as Abel and +Moses, does not sufficiently appear,--as, indeed, my neighbor, who is +suggestive of a Greek Chorus in a blue blouse, discovers in half a dozen +disparaging syllables. + +Of course, when the supposed widow hears this, her cries ought to wake +up all hearing Venice, but not one Venetian comes to her aid; and though +she uses her two hands enough for twenty, she has not got her way when +thoroughly breathed. + +"Sarah," says that energetic woman's husband, "Sarah, don't be a fool!" + +Then I know the baby is coming: there never yet was a French prologue +without a baby,--it seems a French unity; sometimes there are two +babies, who always get mixed up. But to our business. + +Out comes the baby, (they never scream,) and--alas that for effect he +should thus commit himself!--Arnheim rips Sarah up, and down she goes as +dead as the Queen of Sheba. + +Then comes a really fine scene. Shylock enters, learns all; in come +soldiers for Shylock, and, of course, accuse him of the murder; +whereupon Shylock shows on the blade a cross. "Doth a Jew wear a knife +with a cross on it?" says he. "Go to!--'tis a Christian murder." + +To this the soldier-head has nothing to say; so he hurries Shylock off +to prison, and down comes the curtain. + +"Hum!" says the Greek Chorus,--"it might be worse." + + +ACT I. + + +It is clear there must be lady characters, or I am quite sure the Greek +Chorus would find fault wofully,--and the only one we have had, Sarah, +to wit, can't decently appear again, except in the spiritual form. Well, +there is the original Portia,--alas for that clever, virtuous, and +noble lady!--how is she fallen in the French!--she is noble-looking and +clever,--but the third quality, oh, dear me! This disreputable is named +Imperia, and the real Bassanio becomes one Honorius, who is, as he +should be, the bosom friend of one Andronic, which is Antonio, I would +have you know. I have thought over it two minutes, and have come to the +conclusion that the less I say about Imperia the better, and I know the +Anglo-Saxon would not agree with Imperia,--but, as the Frenchman does, +I offer you one, or part of one of Imperia's songs, as bought by me for +two disgraceful _sous_. + + "Deja l'aube rayonne et luit, + La nuit + Finit; + Maitresse, + L'heure enchanteresse + Passe et fuit... + A ton arret je dois me rendre. + Sort jaloux! (_bis._) + Hatons-nous, + Il faut descendre + Sans reveiller son vieil epoux!..." + +Well,--what do you think of it? Now I will not mention her again,--I +will refer to her, when I shall have vexatious occasion, as "that +woman." And, indeed, "that woman" and Honorius set us up in +comprehension of matters progressing. It seems that quite twenty years +have passed since Sarah's soul slid through a knife-gash; that Honorius +and Andronic, who have come from Smyrna, (why?) are almost brothers; +that Honorius is good in this fact only, that he knows he is really bad; +and that Andronic is the richest and most moral man in Venice,--though +why, under those circumstances, he should be friendly with such a rip as +Honorius, Honorius does not inform us. + +I shall pass over the next scenes, and come to that in which all the +creditors of all the lords are brought on to the stage in a state which +calls for the interference of the Doge: they are all drunk,--except +Shylock. This scene really is a startler. Shylock, now dashed with +gray, and nearly double, comes up to "that woman" and calls her sister; +whereupon she demanding that explanation which I and the Greek Chorus +simultaneously want, Shylock states that _he_ is Usury and _she_ Luxury, +"and they have one father." + +"Queer old man!!!" says "that woman." + +Here follow dice, in which the Jew is requested to join, all of which +naturally brings about a discussion on the rate of usage, which that +dog Andronic is bringing down, and a further statement that _that_ +imprisonment lasted two years. Then comes a _coup d'theatre_: Shylock +reminds everybody that a just Doge reigns now, (nor can I help pointing +out the Frenchman's ingenuity here: in the _play_, the Doge must be +just, or where would the pound of flesh be?--while, if the Doge of the +_prologue_ were just, Shylock would not have been committed for two +years,--ergo, kill No. 1. Doge, install No. 2.)--Shylock reminds +everybody that a just Doge reigns. Shylock has it all his own way, and +Honorius is arrested before the very eyes of "that woman." Then comes +the necessary _Deus ex machina_ in the shape of Andronic, who pays +everybody everything, saves his friend, and play proceeds. Andronic +reproaches Jew touching his greed, whereon the Jew offers this not +profound remark,--"I am--what I am,"--and goes on counting his money. + +Oh, if you only knew the secret! + +This cash payment winds up the act. + + +ACT II. + + +Decidedly, the beginning of Act Second proves Andronic is no fool, for +he advises Honorius to flee that creature,--and what better advice in +those matters is there than that of retreating? Decidedly, too, +the virtuous Doge is worth having,--really a Middle-Age electric +telegraph,--for he gives all about him such a dose of news as in this +day would sell every penny-paper printed: and such bad news!--Venice +down everywhere, and a loan wanted. Here comes a fine scene for +Andronic, (for, after all, the lords have "hitched out" of the proposed +loan, whereby I take it they are not such fools as people take them to +be,)--Andronic declares, that, if he were rich enough, the Doge should +not ask for money, but ships are but frail and his have gone to pieces. +Here, you see, comes another faint whiff of the real original play. + +Then, clearly, the Doge can only apply to the Jews. Enter Shylock _a +propos_. The next scene is so awful to the Greek Chorus, who may be of a +business turn, that I am charitable enough not to reproduce it here; +but the percentage the Jew wants for the loan seems to be quite a +multiplication-table of tangible securities, and I only wonder the Doge +does not order him into the Adriatic. Amongst other demands, the Jew +procures all the Dogic jewels,--and then he wants all the jewels of the +Doge's daughter; indeed, Shylock becomes a most unreasonable party. + +No sooner does he speak of the daughter, Ginevra by name, than in she +comes, jewel-casket in hand,--which leads the cynical Greek Chorus to +suppose that Mademoiselle is either _clairvoyante_ or prefers going +about with a box. The way in which that best of her sex offers up the +jewels on the patriotic shrine is really worthy of the applause bestowed +on the act; but when that pig of a Jew is not satisfied, when he insists +upon the diamond necklace Ginevra wears, as another preliminary to the +loan, people in the theatre quite shake with indignation. + +Now the jewel has been the pattern young lady's mother's; and here comes +an opening for that appeal to the filial love of Frenchmen which is +never touched in vain. It is really a great and noble trait in the +French character, that filial love, not too questionable to be +demonstrative,--'tis a sure dramatist's French card, that appeal to the +love of mothers and fathers by their children. + +Having procured the weight of this chain, which has caused Shylock the +loss of many friends in the house who have been inclined to like him +consequent upon the loss of that Abel-Moses-photograph,--Shylock departs +with this information, that he will bring the money to-morrow: which +assertion proves Shylock to be a strong man, if a hundred thousand marks +are as heavy as I take them to be. + +Upon what little things do dramas, in common with lives, turn! +That necklace is the brilliant groundwork of the rest of the plot. +Why--why--why--WHY didn't Shakspeare think of the necklace? + +And as I always must tell love-affairs as soon as I hear of them,--for, +as a rule, I live in country towns,--I may at once state that Ginevra +loved Andronic, and latter loved former, and they would not tell each +other, and the Doge knew nothing about it. + +Yes, decidedly, the necklace is the first character in "Le Juif de +Venise." You see, Ginevra loved the necklace, and Andronic loved +Ginevra; so he is forced to procure that charming necklace for her, +_coute qui coute_, and so he goes to Shylock for it. And here you will +see its value: Shylock will sell it only for a large sum. Andronic, +seeing his losses, hasn't the money,--but will have;--glorious opening +for the clause about the pound of flesh! Signed, sealed, and delivered. +How superior is Andronic to Antonio, the old ----! This latter pawns his +breast for a friend only: the great Andronic risks the flesh about _his_ +heart for sacred love. Io Venus! + +Yet, nevertheless, notwithstanding, it is the opinion of the Greek +Chorus that Andronic is a _joli_ fool,--which choral remark I hear +with pain, as reflecting upon unhesitating love, and especially as the +remarker has been eminently touched at the abduction. + + +ACT IV. + + +As for the Fourth Act,--it is very tender and terrible. + +I need not say that the tenderness arises through the necklace,--and +indeed, for that matter, so also does the terror. Touching the first, of +course it is the discovery by Ginevra of the return of those maternal +diamonds,--which are handed to her by a _femme-de-chambre_, who has +had them from Andronic's _valet-de-chambre_, who is in love with the +_femme-de-chambre_, who reciprocates, etc., etc., etc. + +But touching the terrible,--"that woman" hears of the necklace, and +sends Honorius for it to Shylock. Bad job!--gone! Well, then, Honorius +falls out with his old friend Andronic because latter will not yield up +the necklace. Honorius demands to know who has it. Andronic will not +name Ginevra's name before "that woman" and all the lofty lords, and +then there's a grand scene. + +In the first place, it seems that in Shylock's Venetian time, the +Venetian lords, when obliging Venice with a riot, called upon Venetians +to put out their lights, and this the lords now do, (we are on the +piazza,) and out go all the lights as though turned off at one main. + +Then there is such a scrimmage! Honorius lunges at Andronic; this latter +disarms former; then latter comes to his senses, flies over to his old +friend, and all the Venetian brawlers are put to flight. + +Then Honorius says,--and pray, pray, mark what Honorius says, or you +will _never_ comprehend Act V.,--then Honorius says, taking Andronic's +previous advice about flying, "I will go away, _and fight the Adriatic +pirates_." Now, pray, don't forget that. I quite distress myself in +praying you not to forget that,--to wit,--"_Honorius goes away to fight +the Adriatic pirates._" + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + + +ACT V. + + +This, of course, is the knifing act. + +Seated is Shylock before an hour-glass, and trying to count the grains +of sand as they glide through. + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + +You remember that in that original play Antonio's ships are lost merely. +Bah! we manage better in this matter: the ships come home, but they are +empty,--emptied by the pirates; though why those Adriaticians did not +confiscate the ships is even beyond the Greek Chorus, who says, "They +were very polite." + +At last all the sand is at rest. + +Crack,--as punctual as a postman comes Andronic; and as the Venetians +are revolting against the flesh business, about which they seem to know +every particular, Andronic brings a guard of the just Doge's soldiers +to keep the populace quiet while the business goes on;--all of which +behavior on the merchant's part my friend the Chorus pronounces to be +stupid and suicidal. + +Then comes such a scene!--Andronic calling for Ginevra, and the Jew +calling for his own. + +Breast bared. + +Then thus the Jew:-- + +"Feeble strength of my old body, be centred in this eye and this arm! +Thou, my son, receive this sacrifice, and tremble with joy in thy +unknown tomb!" + +Knife raised. + +Oh, if you only knew the big secret! + +And I _do_ hope you have not forgotten that Honorius went away to fight +the Adriatic pirates. + +For, if you have forgotten that fact, you will not comprehend Honorius's +rushing in at this moment from the Adriatic pirates. + +Yes,--but why did he go amongst them? + +The big secret, in fact. If Honorius had not gone, why, I suppose +Shylock would have had his pound of man. + +As it is, Honorius and his paper--which latter has also come from the +pirates--do the business. + +Why, the whole thing turns on the paper. How lucky it was Honorius went +amongst the pirates! + +Honorius has vanquished the chief of the pirates,--who was named +Arnheim,--and that disreputable widower, just before his last breath, +gave Honorius the said paper,--though why, it is not clear. And--and +this paper shows that ANDRONIC IS THAT SON STOLEN AWAY FROM SARAH, +DECEASED, AND SHYLOCK,--THAT SON, NOT ONLY THE IMAGE OF ABEL, BUT OF +MOSES, TOO. + +Great thunderbolts! + +Then, very naturally, (in a play,) in come all the characters, and +follows, I am constrained to say, a very well-conceived scene,--'tis +another appeal to filial love. The Jew would own his son, but he +remembers that it would injure the son, and so he keeps silent. I +declare, there is something eminently beautiful in the idea of making +the Jew yield his wealth up to Andronic, and saying he will wander from +Venice,--his staff his only wealth. And when, as he stoops to kiss his +son's hand, Ginevra (who of course has come on with the rest) makes a +gesture as though she feared treachery, the few words put into the Jew's +mouth are full of pathos and poetry. + +And so down comes the curtain,--the piece meeting with the full approval +of Chorus, who applauded till I thought he would snap his hands off at +the wrists. + +"A very moral play," said a stout gentleman behind me,--who had done +little else all night but break into the fiercest of apples and +pears,--"a very moral play,"--meaning thereby, probably, that it was +very moral that a Jew's child should remain a Christian. + +Now there were some good points in that play; but, oh, thou M. Ferdinand +Dugue, thou,--why didst thou challenge comparison with a man who wrote +for all theatres for all times? + + * * * * * + + + +THE POET'S SINGING. + + + In heat and in cold, in sunshine and rain, + Bewailing its loss and boasting its gain, + Blessing its pleasure and cursing its pain, + The hurrying world goes up and down: + Every avenue and street + Of city and town + Are veins that throb with the restless beat + Of the eager multitude's trampling feet. + Men wrangle together to get and hold + A sceptre of power or a crock of gold; + Blaspheming God's name with the breath He gave, + And plotting revenge on the brink of the grave! + And Fashion's followers, flitting after, + O'ertake and pass the funeral train, + Thoughtlessly scattering jests and laughter, + Like sharp, quick showers of hail and rain, + To beat on the hearts that are bleeding with pain! + And many who stare at the close-shut hearse + Envy the dead within,--or, worse, + Turn away with a keener zest + To grapple and revel and sin with the rest! + While far apart in a bower of green, + Unheeded, unseen, + A warbling bird on the topmost bough + Merrily pipes to the Poet below, + Asking an answer as gay, I trow! + But he hears the surging waves without,-- + The heartless jeer, and the wild, wild shout: + The ceaseless clamor, the cruel strife + Make the Poet weary of life; + And tears of pity and tears of pain + Ebb and flow in every strain, + As he soothes his heart with singing. + + The tide of humanity rolleth on; + And 'mid faces miserly, haggard, and wan, + Between the hypocrite's and the knave's, + The hapless idiot's and the slave's, + Sweet children smile in their nurses' arms, + And clap their hands in innocent glee; + While, unrebuked by the heavenly charms + That beam in the eyes of infancy, + Oaths still blacken the lips of men, + And startle the ears of womanhood! + On either hand + The churches stand, + Forgotten by those who yesterday + Went thronging thither to praise and pray, + And take of the Holy Body and Blood! + Their week-day creed is the law of Might; + Self is their idol, and Gain their right: + Though, now and then, + God sees some faithful disciples still + Breasting the current to do His will. + The little bird on the topmost bough + Merrily pipes to the Poet below, + Asking an answer as gay, I trow! + But he hears the surging waves without,-- + The atheist's scoff and the infidel's doubt, + The Pharisee's cant and the sweet saint's prayer, + And the piercing cry for rest from care; + And tears of pity and tears of pain + Ebb and flow in every strain, + As he praises God with singing. + + + + +A JOURNEY IN SICILY. + + +CHAPTER I. + +PALERMO. + + +In the latter part of April, 1856, four travellers, one of whom was the +present writer, left the Vittoria Hotel at Naples, and at two, P.M., +embarked on board the Calabrese steamer, pledged to leave for Palermo +precisely at that hour. As, however, our faith in the company's +protestations was by no means so implicit as had been our obedience to +their orders, it was with no feeling of surprise that we discovered by +many infallible signs that the hour of departure was yet far off. True, +the funnel sent up its thick cloud; the steward in dirty shirt-sleeves +stood firm in the gangway, energetically demanding from the +baggage-laden traveller the company's voucher for the fare, without +which he may vainly hope to leave the gangway ladder; the decks were +crowded in every part with lumber, live and dead. But all these symptoms +had to be increased many fold in their intensity before we could hope to +get under way; and a single glance at the listless countenances of the +bare-legged, bare-armed, red-capped crowd who adhered like polypi to +the rough foundation-stones of the mole sufficed to show that the +performance they had come to witness would not soon commence. Our berths +once visited, we cast about for some quiet position wherein to while +away the intervening time. The top of the deck-house offered as pleasant +a prospect as could be hoped for, and thither we mounted. + +The whole available portion of the deck, poop included, was in +possession of a crowd of youngsters, many mere boys, from the Abruzzi, +destined to exchange their rags and emptiness for the gay uniform and +good rations of King Ferdinand's soldiery. In point of physical comfort, +their gain must be immense; and very bad must be that government +which, despite of these advantages, has forced upon the soldier's mind +discontent and disaffection. No doubt, the spectacle of the Swiss +regiments doubly paid, and (on Sundays at least) trebly intoxicated, +has something to do with this ill feeling. The raggedness of this troop +could be paralleled only by that of the immortal regiment with whom +their leader declined to march through Coventry, and was probably even +more quaint and fantastic in its character. Chief in singularity were +their hats, if hat be the proper designation of the volcanic-looking +gray cone which adhered to the head by some inscrutable dynamic law, and +seemed rather fitted for carrying out the stratagem of shoeing a troop +of horse with felt than for protecting a human skull. A triple row +of scalloped black velvet not unfrequently bore testimony to the +indomitable love of the nation for ornament; and the same decoration +might be found on their garments, whose complicated patchwork reminded +us of the humble original from which has sprung our brilliant Harlequin. +Shortly our attention was solicited by a pantomimic Roscius, some ten or +twelve years old, who, having climbed over the taffrail and cleared a +stage of some four feet square, dramatized all practicable scenes, and +many apparently impracticable, for he made nothing of presenting two or +three personages in rapid interchange. Words were needless, and would +have been useless, as the unloading of railway bars by a brawny +Northumbrian and his crew drowned all articulate sounds. + +Notwithstanding these varied amusements, we were not sorry to see +arrive, first, a gray general, obviously the Triton of our minnows, and +close behind him the health and police officers of the government, to +whose paternal solicitude for our mental and bodily health was to be +ascribed our long delay in port. These beneficent influences, incarnated +in the form of two portly gentlemen in velvet waistcoats,--an Italian +wears a velvet waistcoat, if he can get one, far into the hot +months,--began their work of summoning by name each individual from the +private to the general, then the passengers, then the crew, and finally, +much to our relief, reembarked in the boat, and left us free to pursue +our voyage. + +We soon left behind the ominous cone of Vesuvius, reported by the best +judges to be at present in so unsound a state that nothing can prevent +its early fall; sunset left us near the grand precipices of Anacapri, +and morning found us with Ustica on our beam, and the semicircle of +mountains which enchase the gem of Palermo gradually unfolding their +beauties. By ten, A.M., we were in harbor and pulling shorewards to +subject ourselves to the scrutiny of custom-house and police. Our +passports duly conned over, the functionary, with a sour glance at our +valanced faces, inquired if we had letters for any one in the island. +Never before had such a question been asked me, nor ever before could I +have given other than an humble negative. But the kindness of a friend +had luckily provided me with a formidable shield, and a reply, given +with well-assumed ease, that I had letters from the English Ambassador +for the Viceroy, smoothed the grim feature, and released us from the +dread tribunal. The custom-house gave no trouble, and we reembarked to +cross about half a mile of water which separated us from the city gate. +Here, however, we were destined to experience the influence of the sunny +clime: our two stout boatmen persisted in setting their sail, under the +utterly false pretence that there was some wind blowing, and fully half +an hour elapsed ere we set foot ashore. + +This gave me ample time to recall the different aspect of Palermo when +first I saw it, in 1849. I had accompanied the noble squadron, English +and French, which carried to the Sicilian government the _ultimatum_ +of the King of Naples. The scenes of that troubled time passed vividly +before me: the mutual salutes of the Admirals; the honors paid by +each separately to the flag of Sicily, that flag which we had come to +strike,--for such we all knew must be the effect of our withdrawal. I +recollected the manly courtesy with which the Sicilians received us, +their earnest assurances that they did not confound our involuntary +errand with our personal feelings; and how, when a wild Greek +mountaineer from the Piano de' Greci, unable to comprehend the +intricacies of politics, and stupidly imagining that those who were +not for him were against him, had insulted one of our officers, the +bystanders had interposed so honorably and so swiftly that even the hot +blood of our fiery Cymrian had neither time nor excuse to rise to the +boiling-point. I recalled the scene in the Parliament House, when the +replies to the King's message, which had been sent by each chief town, +were read by the Speaker: the grave indignation of some,--the somewhat +bombastic protestations of others,--the question put of submission or +war,--the shout of "_Guerra! guerra!_" ringing too loud, methought, to +be good metal; the "_Suoni la tromba_" at that night's theatre,--the +digging at the fortifications,--women carrying huge stones,--men more +willing to shout for them than to do their own share,--Capuchin friars +digging with the best,--finally, the wild dance of men, women, cowled +and bearded monks, all together, brandishing their spades and shovels in +cadence to the military band. With this came to me the mild smile and +doubtful shake of the head of the good Admiral Baudin, and his prophetic +remark,--"I have seen much fighting in various parts of the world; and +if these men mean to fight, I cannot comprehend them." + +While this mental diorama was unrolling, even Sicilian laziness had time +to reach the shore; and passing by a rough mass of rocks, where our +second cutter had once run too close for comfort, and the Friedland's +launch had upset and lost two men, we at length landed close to the city +gate. A custom-house officer pounced on us for a fee, notwithstanding +our examination on first landing, and ("_uno avulso, non deficit aureus +alter_,") at the city gate, not thirty yards distant, a third repeated +the demand, equivalent to "Your money or your keys." A capital breakfast +at the Trinacria hotel was the fitting conclusion to these oft-recorded +troubles, and the gratifying news that the Viceroy had just left the +island for Naples obviated the necessity of a formal visit, and left us +free to enjoy the notabilities of Palermo. + +The plan of this beautiful city is very simple, being a tolerably +accurate square, surrounded by walls, of which the northern face skirts +the sea, and the southern faces the head of the lovely valley in which +the city stands,--the Golden Shell. Two perfectly straight streets, +intersecting in a small, but highly ornamented _piazza_, traverse +the city. The Toledo, or Via Cassaro,--for it bears both these +designations,--runs from the sea to the Monreale gate, close to which is +the Royal Palace, and the Cathedral square opens from this street. The +Via Macqueda contains few buildings of interest except the University. +Between the wall and the sea runs the magnificent Marina, a more +beautiful promenade than even the Villa Reale of Naples, having on the +right the low but picturesque headland of Bagaria, while on the left +rise the all but perpendicular rocks of Monte Pellegrino, once the +impregnable mountain-throne of Hamilcar Barcas, and later the spot where +in a rude cavern, now sheeted with marble and jasper, "from all the +youth of Sicily, Saint Rosalie retired to God." The handicraftsmen of +Palermo still occupy almost exclusively the streets named after their +trades,--an indication of immobility rarely to be met with nowadays, +though Rome displays it in a minor degree. + +We first visited the University Museum. Numerous pictures, far beyond +the ordinary degree of badness, occupy the upper rooms, where the only +object of interest is a very fine and well-preserved bronze of Hercules +and the Pompeian Fawn, half life-size. But far beyond all else in +artistic importance are the _metopes_ from Selinuntium, which, though +much damaged, show marks of high excellence. They are of clearly +different dates, though all very archaic. The oldest represent Perseus +cutting off the Gorgon's head, and Hercules killing two thieves. Perseus +has the calm, sleepy look of a Hindoo god,--while Gorgon's head, with +goggle eyes and protruding tongue, resembles a Mexican idol. Hercules +and the thieves have more of an Egyptian character. The material of +these bas-reliefs is coarse limestone; and in the _metopes_ on the +opposite wall, which are clearly of later date, recourse has been had to +a curious method of obtaining delicacy in the female forms: the faces, +hands, and feet, which alone are visible from among the drapery, are +formed of fine marble. An Actaeon torn by his dogs is much corroded by +sea air, but displays great nobleness of attitude. The vigor in the left +arm, which has throttled one of the dogs, can hardly be surpassed. A +portion of the _cella_, of one of the temples has been removed hither, +and its brilliant polychromy is sufficient to decide the argument as to +the existence of the practice, if, indeed, that point be yet in doubt. +But it seems that the non-colorists have relinquished the parallel of +architecture, which, be it observed, they formerly defended obstinately, +and have now intrenched themselves in the citadel of sculpture, +intending to hold it against all evidence. The only other object of much +interest was a Pompeian fresco, representing two actors, whose attitudes +and masks are so strikingly adapted to express the first scene of the +"Heautontimorumenos," between Menalcas and Chremes, that it seems +scarcely doubtful that this is actually the subject of the painting. + +Near the upper end of the Toledo the Cathedral is situated, not very +favorably for effect, as only the eastern side is sufficiently free from +buildings. It is a noble pile: Northern power and piety expressed by +the agency of Southern and Arabic workmen, and somewhat affected by the +nationality of the artificer. + +The stones are fretted and carved more elaborately than those of any +French or English cathedral, but entirely in arabesques and diapering of +low relief, so that the spectator misses with regret the solemn rows of +saints and patriarchs that enrich the portals of our Gothic minsters. +These, however, are reflections of a subsequent date, and did not +interfere to mar the pleasure with which we sat in front of the southern +door, beneath the two lofty arches, which, springing from the entrance +tower, span the street high above our heads. For some time we sat, +unwilling to change and it might be impair our sensations by passing +inwards. Our reluctance was but too well founded: the whole interior has +been modernized in detestable Renaissance style, and in place of highest +honor, above the central doorway, sits in tight-buttoned uniform a +fitting idol for so ugly a shrine, the double-chinned effigy of the +reigning monarch. We turned for comfort to a chapel on the right, where +in four sarcophagi of porphyry are deposited the remains of the Northern +sovereigns. The bones of Roger repose in a plain oblong chest with a +steep ridged roof, and the other three coffins, though somewhat more +elaborate, are yet simple and massive, as befits their destined use. The +inscription, on that of Constantia is touching, as it tells that she +was "the last of the great race of Northmen,"--the good old bad Latin +"Northmannorum" giving the proper title, which we have injudiciously +softened into Norman. + +In a small _piazza_ near the intersection of the main streets is a +Dominican church, whose black and white inlaid marbles are amazing in +their elaborateness, astounding in their preposterously bad taste. They +transcend description, and can be faintly imagined only by such as +know a huge marble nightmare of waves and clouds in the south aisle +of Westminster Abbey. This church contains one good painting of a +triumphant experiment conducted by some Dominican friars in the presence +of sundry Ulemas and Muftis: a Koran and Bible have been thrown into a +blazing fire, and the result is as satisfactory as that of Hercules's +death-grapple with the Nemean lion. To be sure, lions and Turks are +not painters. The Martorana church is rich in gold-grounded mosaics, +resembling Saint Mark's at Venice. One represents the coronation of +Roger Guiscard by the Saviour: very curious, as showing at how early a +date the invaders laid claim to the Right Divine. The inscription is +also noteworthy: _Rogerius Rex_, in the Latin tongue, but the Greek +characters, thus: [Greek: ROGERIOS RAEX].[a] The Renaissance has invaded +this church too, and flowery inlaid marbles with gilded scroll balconies +(it is a nuns' church) mingle with the bold discs and oblong panels of +porphyry and green serpentine. In the nave of the small church sat in +comfortable arm-chairs two monks, one black, one white, leaning their +ears to gilded grates and receiving the confessions of the sisterhood. +The paschal candlestick stood in front of the high altar,--Ascension-Day +not being past; but here, as in other Sicilian churches, it assumes the +form of a seven-branched tree, generally of bronze bedecked with gold. +These same nuns' balconies are not confined to the interior of churches, +but form a distinct and picturesque feature in the long line of the +Toledo. Projecting in a bold curve whose undersurface is gaily painted +in arabesque, their thick bars and narrow openings nevertheless leave a +gloomy impression on the mind, while they add to the Oriental character +of the city. A somewhat unsuccessful effort to identify the church whose +bell gave signal for the Sicilian Vespers closed our day's labor. The +spot is clearly defined and easily recognizable, and a small church, now +shut up, occupies the site. So far, so good; but the cloister which is +distinctly mentioned cannot now be found, nor is it easy to perceive +where it could have stood. Perhaps some change in the neighboring harbor +may have swept it away. + +[Footnote a: The _e_ in _Rex_ is here rendered by the Greek eta,--a +proof that the pronunciation of that letter was similar to that of our +long _a_, and not like our double _ee_; although the modern Greeks +support the latter pronunciation.] + +_23d April_. To those who take interest in the efforts of that age when +Christianity, devoid at once of artistic knowledge and of mechanical, +strove from among the material and moral wreck of Paganism to create for +herself a school of Art which should, despite of all short-comings, be +the exponent of those high feelings which inspired her mind, the Royal +Chapel of Palermo offers a delightful object of study. Less massive than +the gloomily grand basilicas of Rome and Ravenna, surpassed in single +features by other churches, as, for instance, the Cathedral of Salerno, +it contains, nevertheless, such perfect specimens of Christian Art in +its various phases, that this one small building seems a hand-book in +itself. The floor and walls are covered with excellently preserved and +highly polished Alexandrine mosaic, flowing in varied convolutions of +green and gold and red round the broad crimson and gray shields, whose +circular forms recall the mighty monolith columns of porphyry and +granite which yielded such noble spoils. The honey-combed pendentines of +the ceiling must be due to Arab workmen; their like may yet be found in +Cairo or the Alhambra; while below the narrow windows, and extending +downwards to the marble panelling, runs a grand series of gold-grounded +mosaics, their subjects taken from the Old and New Testaments. But +far older than even these are the colossal grim circles of saints and +apostles who cling to the roof of the choir, and yield in size only to +the awful figures of the Saviour, the Virgin, and Saint Paul, enthroned +in the _apsides_ of the nave and aisles. The _ambones_, though not +so large as those of Salerno, are very gorgeous; and the paschal +candlestick, here at all events in its usual shape, is of deeply-carved +marble, and displays an incongruous assemblage of youths, maidens, +beasts, birds, and bishops, hanging each from other like a curtain of +swarming bees. + +Service, which had been going on in the choir when we arrived, had now +ceased; but from the crypt below arose a chant so harsh, vibratory, +and void of solemnity, that we were irresistibly reminded of the +subterranean chorus of demons in "Robert le Diable." Two of us ventured +below and discovered the chapter, all robed in purple, sitting round a +pall with a presumable coffin underneath. Little of reverence did they +show,--it is true, the death was not recent, the service being merely +commemorative, as we afterwards learned,--and as the procession shortly +afterwards emerged and proceeded down the chapel, the unwashed, +unshaven, and sensual countenances of some of highest rank among them +gave small reason to believe that they could feel much reverence on any +subject whatever. + +The Palace itself is as tedious as any other palace: the Pompeian room +follows the Louis Quinze, and is in turn followed by the Chinese, till, +for our comfort, we emerged into one large square hall, whose stiff +mosaics of archers killing stags, peacocks feeding at the foot of +willow-pattern trees, date from the time of Roger. Another wearisome +series of rooms succeeded, which we were bound to traverse in search of +a bronze ram of old Greek workmanship, brought from Syracuse. The work +is very good and well-preserved; in fact, no part is injured, save the +tail and a hind leg, whose loss the _custode_ ascribed to the villains +of the late revolution. He even charged them with the destruction of +another similar statue melted into bullets, if we may believe his +incredible tale. A pavilion over the Monreale gate commands a view right +down the Toledo to the sea. + +The drive to Monreale is a continued ascent along the skirts of a +limestone rock, whose precipices are thickly planted at every foothold +with olive, Indian fig, and aloe. The valley, as it spread below our +gaze, appeared one huge carpet of heavy-fruited orange-trees, save where +at times a rent in the web left visible the bluish blades of wheat, or +the intense green of a flax-plantation. + +Monreale is a mere country-town, containing no object of interest, save +the Cathedral. This is a noble basilica, grandly proportioned, the nave +and aisles of which are separated by monolith pillars, mostly of gray +granite, and some few of cipollino and other marbles, the spoils, no +doubt, of the ancient Panormus. Above the cornice the walls are entirely +sheeted with golden mosaics, representing, as usual, Scripture history. +The series which begins, like the speech of the Intendant in "Les +Plaideurs," "_Avant la creation du monde_" complies with the wish of +(the judge?) by going on to the Deluge, in a train of singularly meagre +figures, most haggard of whom is Cain, here represented (as in the Campo +Santo of Pisa) receiving his death accidentally from the hand of Lamech. +In the passage of the beasts to the Ark, Noah coaxes the lion on board, +and in the next compartment the patriarch shoves the king of beasts down +the plank in a most ludicrous fashion. The mosaics of the New Testament +are less archaic, though still very old, too old to be infected by the +tricks of later Romanism,--such, for instance, as introducing the Virgin +among the receivers of the mysterious gift of tongues. Saint Paul, both +here and at the Royal Chapel, appears under the earlier type adopted +whether by fancy or tradition to represent that saint,--that is, a +short, strong figure, with the head large, and almost devoid of hair, +except at the sides, and one dark lock in the centre of the massive +forehead. Over the western door-way is a mosaic of the Virgin with the +following leonine and loyal distich beneath it:-- + + "Sponsa suae prolis, O Stella puerpera Solis, + Pro cunctis ora, sed plus pro rege labora!" + +There is an ample square cloister, with twenty-seven pairs of columns on +each side, once richly decorated in mosaics like those of San Giovanni +Laterano and San Paolo at Rome, but even more dilapidated than either +of these latter. Indeed, so entirely non-existent is the mosaic, the +twisted and channelled columns showing nothing but places "where the +pasty is not," that the more probable solution may be that want of funds +or of devotion has left the work unfinished. On the capital of one +column may be seen the figure of William the Good, who founded the +Cathedral in 1170. He bears in his arms a model of the building, which +here appears with circular-headed windows instead of the lanceolated +Gothic now existing. + +In, perhaps, the very loveliest of the many lovely sites around Palermo +stands the small Moorish building of La Ziza. Moorish it may be called; +for the main feature of the edifice, a hall with a fountain trickling +along a channel in the pavements, is clearly due to the Saracens. These, +however, had availed themselves of Roman columns to support their +fretted ceilings, once gorgeous in color, but now desecrated with +whitewash. The Norman invaders have added their never-failing gold +mosaic,--while the Spaniard, after painting sundry scenes from Ovid's +"Metamorphoses" in a dreadfully barocco style, calls upon the world, +in those magniloquent phrases which somehow belong as of right to your +mighty Don, to admire the exquisite commingling of modern art with +antique beauty, to which his _fiat_ has given birth. + +Somewhat of Spain, perhaps, might also be traced in an incident, +promisingly romantic, but coming to a most lame and impotent conclusion, +which occurred this afternoon to one of our party. While busily +sketching, in the Martorana church, the previously mentioned mosaic of +Roger's coronation, a hand protruded from the gilded lattice above, +and a small scroll was dropped, not precisely at the feet, but in the +neighborhood of the amazed artist. Sharp eyes, however, must be at work; +for, ere he could appropriate this mysterious waif on Love's manor, a +side-door opened, and an attendant in the very unpoetical garb of a +carpenter bore off the prize. It maybe presumed that the next confessor +who occupied an arm-chair in the church would have somewhat of novelty +to enliven what some priests have stated to be the most wearisome of the +work, namely, the hearing of confessions in a nunnery. + +This evening was passed in the house of the British Consul, who, in +amusing recognition of our nationalities, comprising, as they did, +both branches of the Anglo-Saxon race, treated us to Lemann's +captain's-biscuit and Boston crackers. Notwithstanding the interesting +conversation of our host, who had not allowed a residence of many years +in a mind-rusting city to impair his love of literature, a love dating +from the time when Praed edited the "Etonian," and Metius Tarpa +contributed to the "College Magazine," we were obliged to leave early. +Our arrangements for a very early start next morning were completed, and +a thirty miles' ride lay before us. + +To save further allusion to them, it may be as well to describe these +arrangements, which were made for us by Signor Ragusa, landlord of the +Trinacria hotel. A guide, Giuseppe Agnello by name, took upon himself +the whole responsibility of our board, lodging, and travelling, at a +fixed rate of forty-two (?) _carlini_ a head,--which sum, including his +_buonamano_ and return voyage from Syracuse or Messina, amounted to +about twenty francs each _per diem_. For this sum he furnished us with +good mules, a hearty breakfast at daybreak, cold meat and hard eggs at +noon, and a plentiful dinner or supper, call it which you choose, on +arriving at our night's quarters. Agnello himself was cook, and proved +a very tolerable one. This is essential; for Spanish custom prevails +in the inns, whose host considers his duty accomplished when he has +provided ample stabling for the mules and dubious bedding for his biped +guests. + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PHYSIOLOGICAL. + + +If Master Bernard felt a natural gratitude to his young pupil for saving +him from an imminent peril, he was in a state of infinite perplexity +to know why he should have needed such aid. He, an active, muscular, +courageous, adventurous young fellow, with a stick in his hand, ready to +hold down the Old Serpent himself, if he had come in his way, to stand +still, staring into those two eyes, until they came up close to him, +and the strange, terrible sound seemed to freeze him stiff where he +stood,--what was the meaning of it? Again, what was the influence this +girl had exerted, under which the venomous creature had collapsed in +such a sudden way? Whether he had been awake or dreaming he did not feel +quite sure. He knew he had gone up The Mountain, at any rate; he knew he +had come down The Mountain with the girl walking just before him;--there +was no forgetting her figure, as she walked on in silence, her braided +locks falling a little, for want of the lost hair-pin, perhaps, and +looking like a wreathing coil of--Shame on such fancies!--to wrong that +supreme crowning gift of abounding Nature, a rush of shining black hair, +that, shaken loose, would cloud her all round, like Godiva, from brow to +instep! He was sure he had sat down before the fissure or cave. He was +sure that he was led softly away from the place, and that it was Elsie +who had led him. There was the hair-pin to show that so far it was not a +dream. But between these recollections came a strange confusion; and the +more the master thought, the more he was perplexed to know whether she +had waked him, sleeping, as he sat on the stone, from some frightful +dream, such as may come in a very brief slumber, or whether she had +bewitched him into a trance with those strange eyes of hers, or whether +it was all true, and he must solve its problem as he best might. + +There was another recollection connected with this mountain adventure. +As they approached the mansion-house, they met a young man, whom Mr. +Bernard remembered having seen once at least before, and whom he had +heard of as a cousin of the young girl. As Cousin Richard Venner, the +person in question, passed them, he took the measure, so to speak, of +Mr. Bernard, with a look so piercing, so exhausting, so practised, so +profoundly suspicious, that the young master felt in an instant that he +had an enemy in this handsome youth,--an enemy, too, who was like to be +subtle and dangerous. + +Mr. Bernard had made up his mind, that, come what might, enemy or no +enemy, live or die, he would solve the mystery of Elsie Venner, sooner +or later. He was not a man to be frightened out of his resolution by a +scowl, or a stiletto, or any unknown means of mischief, of which a whole +armory was hinted at in that passing look Dick Venner had given him. +Indeed, like most adventurous young persons, he found a kind of charm +in feeling that there might be some dangers in the way of his +investigations. Some rumors which had reached him about the supposed +suitor of Elsie Venner, who was thought to be a desperate kind of +fellow, and whom some believed to be an unscrupulous adventurer, added +a curious, romantic kind of interest to the course of physiological and +psychological inquiries he was about instituting. + +The afternoon on The Mountain was still uppermost in his mind. Of course +he knew the common stories about fascination. He had once been himself +an eyewitness of the charming of a small bird by one of our common +harmless serpents. Whether a human being could be reached by this +subtile agency, he had been skeptical, notwithstanding the mysterious +relation generally felt to exist between man and this creature, "cursed +above all cattle and above every beast of the field,"--a relation which +some interpret as the fruit of the curse, and others hold to be so +instinctive that this animal has been for that reason adopted as the +natural symbol of evil. There was another solution, however, supplied +him by his professional reading. The curious work of Mr. Braid of +Manchester had made him familiar with the phenomena of a state allied to +that produced by animal magnetism, and called by that writer by the name +of _hypnotism_. He found, by referring to his note-book, the statement +was, that, by fixing the eyes on a _bright object_ so placed as _to +produce a strain_ upon the eyes and eyelids, and to maintain _a steady +fixed stare_, there comes on in a few seconds a very singular condition, +characterized by _muscular rigidity_ and _inability to move_, with a +strange _exaltation of most of the senses_, and _generally_ a closure of +the eyelids,--this condition being followed by _torpor_. + +Now this statement of Mr. Braid's, well known to the scientific world, +and the truth of which had been confirmed by Mr. Bernard in certain +experiments he had instituted, as it has been by many other +experimenters, went far to explain the strange impressions, of which, +waking or dreaming, he had certainly been the subject. His nervous +system had been in a high state of exaltation at the time. He remembered +how the little noises that made rings of sound in the silence of the +woods, like pebbles dropped in still waters, had reached his inner +consciousness. He remembered that singular sensation in the roots of the +hair, when he came on the traces of the girl's presence, reminding him +of a line in a certain poem which he had read lately with a new and +peculiar interest. He even recalled a curious evidence of exalted +sensibility and irritability, in the twitching of the minute muscles of +the internal ear at every unexpected sound, producing an odd little +snap in the middle of the head, that proved to him he was getting very +nervous. + +The next thing was to find out whether it were possible that the +venomous creature's eyes should have served the purpose of Mr. Braid's +"bright object" held very close to the person experimented on, or +whether they had any special power which could be made the subject of +exact observation. + +For this purpose Mr. Bernard considered it necessary to get a live +_crotalus_ or two into his possession, if this were possible. On +inquiry, he found that there was a certain family living far up the +mountain-side, not a mile from the ledge, the members of which were said +to have taken these creatures occasionally, and not to be in any danger, +or at least in any fear, of being injured by them. He applied to these +people, and offered a reward sufficient to set them at work to capture +some of these animals, if such a thing were possible. + +A few days after this, a dark, gypsy-looking woman presented herself at +his door. She held up her apron as if it contained something precious in +the bag she made with it. + +"Y'wanted some rattlers," said the woman. "Here they be." + +She opened her apron and showed a coil of rattlesnakes lying very +peaceably in its fold. They lifted their heads up, as if they wanted to +see what was going on, but showed no sign of anger. + +"Are you crazy?" said Mr. Bernard. "You're dead in an hour, if one of +those creatures strikes you!" + +He drew back a little, as he spoke; it might be simple disgust; it might +be fear; it might be what we call antipathy, which is different from +either, and which will sometimes show itself in paleness, and even +faintness, produced by objects perfectly harmless and not in themselves +offensive to any sense. + +"Lord bless you," said the woman, "rattlers never touches our folks. I'd +jest 'z lieves handle them creaturs as so many striped snakes." + +So saying, she put their heads down with her hand, and packed them +together in her apron as if they had been bits of cart-rope. + +Mr. Bernard had never heard of the power, or, at least, the belief in +the possession of a power by certain persons, which enables them to +handle these frightful reptiles with perfect impunity. The fact, +however, is well known to others, and more especially to a very +distinguished Professor in one of the leading institutions of the great +city of the land, whose experiences in the neighborhood of Graylock, as +he will doubtless inform the curious, were very much like those of the +young master. + +Mr. Bernard had a wired cage ready for his formidable captives, and +studied their habits and expression with a strange sort of interest. +What did the Creator mean to signify, when he made such shapes of +horror, and, as if he had doubly cursed this envenomed wretch, had set +a mark upon him and sent him forth, the Cain of the brotherhood of +serpents? It was a very curious fact that the first train of thoughts +Mr. Bernard's small menagerie suggested to him was the grave, though +somewhat worn, subject of the origin of evil. There is now to be seen in +a tall glass jar, in the Museum of Comparative Anatomy at Cantabridge +in the territory of the Massachusetts, a huge _crotalus_, of a species +which grows to more frightful dimensions than our own, under the hotter +skies of South America. Look at it, ye who would know what is the +tolerance, the freedom from prejudice, which can suffer such an +incarnation of all that is devilish to lie unharmed in the cradle of +Nature! Learn, too, that there are many things in this world which we +are warned to shun, and are even suffered to slay, if need be, but which +we must not hate, unless we would hate what God loves and cares for. + +Whatever fascination the creature might exercise in his native haunts, +Mr. Bernard found himself not in the least nervous or affected in any +way while looking at his caged reptiles. When their cage was shaken, +they would lift their heads and spring their rattles; but the sound was +by no means so formidable to listen to as when it reverberated among +the chasms of the echoing rocks. The expression of the creatures was +watchful, still, grave, passionless, fate-like, suggesting a cold +malignity that seemed to be waiting for its opportunity. Their awful, +deep-cut mouths were sternly closed over the long hollow fangs that +rested their roots against the swollen poison-bag, where the venom had +been boarding up ever since the last stroke had emptied it. They never +winked, for ophidians have no movable eyelids, but kept up that awful +fixed stare which made the two _unwinking_ gladiators the survivors of +twenty pairs matched by one of the Roman Emperors, as Pliny tells us, in +his "Natural History." But their eyes did not flash, as he had expected +to see them. They were of a pale-golden or straw color, horrible to look +into, with their stony calmness, their pitiless indifference, hardly +enlivened by the almost imperceptible vertical slit of the pupil, +through which Death seemed to be looking out like the archer behind the +long narrow loop-hole in a blank turret-wall. Possibly their pupils +might open wide enough in the dark hole of the rock to let the glare +of the back part of the eye show, as we often see it in cats and other +animals. On the whole, the caged reptiles, horrid as they were, were yet +very different from his recollections of what he had seen or dreamed +he saw at the cavern. These looked dangerous enough, but yet quiet. A +treacherous stillness, however,--as the unfortunate New York physician +found, when he put his foot out to wake up the torpid creature, and +instantly the fang flashed through his boot, carrying the poison into +his blood, and death with it. + +Mr. Bernard kept these strange creatures, and watched all their habits +with a natural curiosity. In any collection of animals the venomous +beasts are looked at with the greatest interest, just as the greatest +villains are most run after by the unknown public. Nobody troubles +himself for a common striped snake or a petty thief, but a _cobra_ or a +wife-killer is a centre of attraction to all eyes. These captives did +very little to earn their living; but, on the other hand, their living +was not expensive, their diet being nothing but air, _au nature_. Months +and months these creatures will live and seem to thrive well enough, +as any showman who has them in his menagerie will testify, though they +never touch anything to eat or drink. + +In the mean time Mr. Bernard had become very curious about a class of +subjects not treated of in any detail in those text-books accessible in +most country-towns, to the exclusion of the more special treatises, and +especially the rare and ancient works found on the shelves of the larger +city-libraries. He was on a visit to old Dr. Kittredge one day, having +been asked by him to call in for a few moments as soon as convenient. +The Doctor smiled good-humoredly when he asked him if he had an +extensive collection of medical works. + +"Why, no," said the old Doctor, "I haven't got a great many printed +books; and what I have I don't read quite as often as I might, I'm +afraid. I read and studied in the time of it, when I was in the midst of +the young men who were all at work with their books; but it's a mighty +hard matter, when you go off alone into the country, to keep up with +all that's going on in the Societies and the Colleges. I'll tell you, +though, Mr. Langdon, when a man that's once started right lives among +sick folks for five-and-thirty years, as I've done, if he hasn't got a +library of five-and-thirty volumes bound up in his head at the end of +that time, he'd better stop driving round and sell his horse and sulky. +I know the better part of the families within a dozen miles' ride. I +know the families that have a way of living through everything, and I +know the other set that have the trick of dying without any kind of +reason for it. I know the years when the fevers and dysenteries are in +earnest, and when they're only making believe. I know the folks that +think they're dying as soon as they're sick, and the folks that never +find out they're sick till they're dead. I don't want to undervalue your +science, Mr. Langdon. There are things I never learned, because they +came in after my day, and I am very glad to send my patients to those +that do know them, when I am at fault; but I know these people about +here, fathers and mothers, and children and grandchildren, so as all the +science in the world can't know them, without it takes time about it, +and sees them grow up and grow old, and how the wear and tear of life +comes to them. You can't tell a horse by driving him once, Mr. Langdon, +nor a patient by talking half an hour with him." + +"Do you know much about the Venner family?" said Mr. Bernard, in a +natural way enough, the Doctor's talk having suggested the question. + +The Doctor lifted his head with his accustomed movement, so as to +command the young man through his spectacles. + +"I know all the families of this place and its neighborhood," he +answered. + +"We have the young lady studying with us at the Institute," said Mr. +Bernard. + +"I know it," the Doctor answered. "Is she a good scholar?" + +All this time the Doctor's eyes were fixed steadily on Mr. Bernard, +looking through the glasses. + +"She is a good scholar enough, but I don't know what to make of her. +Sometimes I think she is a little out of her head. Her father, I +believe, is sensible enough;--what sort of a woman was her mother, +Doctor?--I suppose, of course, you remember all about her?" + +"Yes, I knew her mother. She was a very lovely young woman."--The Doctor +put his hand to his forehead and drew a long breath.--"What is there you +notice out of the way about Elsie Venner?" + +"A good many things," the master answered. "She shuns all the other +girls. She is getting a strange influence over my fellow-teacher, a +young lady,--you know Miss Helen Darley, perhaps? I am afraid this girl +will kill her. I never saw or heard of anything like it, in prose at +least;--do you remember much of Coleridge's Poems, Doctor?" + +The good old Doctor had to plead a negative. + +"Well, no matter. Elsie would have been burned for a witch in old times. +I have seen the girl look at Miss Darley when she had not the least idea +of it, and all at once I would see her grow pale and moist, and sigh, +and move round uneasily, and turn towards Elsie, and perhaps get up and +go to her, or else have slight spasmodic movements that looked like +hysterics;--do you believe in the evil eye, Doctor?" + +"Mr. Langdon," the Doctor said, solemnly, "there are strange things +about Elsie Venner,--very strange things. This was what I wanted to +speak to you about. Let me advise you all to be very patient with the +girl, but also very careful. Her love is not to be desired, and"--he +whispered softly--"her hate is to be dreaded. Do you think she has any +special fancy for anybody else in the school besides Miss Darley?" + +Mr. Bernard could not stand the old Doctor's spectacled eyes without +betraying a little of the feeling natural to a young man to whom a home +question involving a possible sentiment is put suddenly. + +"I have suspected," he said,--"I have had a kind of feeling--that +she--Well, come, Doctor,--I don't know that there's any use in +disguising the matter,--I have thought Elsie Venner had rather a fancy +for somebody else,--I mean myself." + +There was something so becoming in the blush with which the young man +made this confession, and so manly, too, in the tone with which he +spoke, so remote from any shallow vanity, such as young men who are +incapable of love are apt to feel, when some loose tendril of a woman's +fancy which a chance wind has blown against them twines about them +for the want of anything better, that the old Doctor looked at him +admiringly, and could not help thinking that it was no wonder any young +girl should be pleased with him. + +"You are a man of nerve, Mr. Langdon?" said the Doctor. + +"I thought so till very lately," he replied. "I am not easily +frightened, but I don't know but I might be bewitched or magnetized, or +whatever it is when one is tied up and cannot move. I think I can find +nerve enough, however, if there is any special use you want to put it +to." + +"Let me ask you one more question, Mr. Langdon. Do you find yourself +disposed to take a special interest in Elsie,--to fall in love with her, +in a word? Pardon me, for I do not ask from curiosity, but a much more +serious motive." + +"Elsie interests me," said the young man, "interests me strangely. She +has a wild flavor in her character which is wholly different from that +of any human creature I ever saw. She has marks of genius,--poetic or +dramatic,--I hardly know which. She read a passage from Keats's 'Lamia' +the other day, in the school-room, in such a way that I declare to you I +thought some of the girls would faint or go into fits. Miss Darley got +up and left the room, trembling all over. Then I pity her, she is so +lonely. The girls are afraid of her, and she seems to have either a +dislike or a fear of them. They have all sorts of painful stories about +her. They give her a name that no human creature ought to bear. They say +she hides a mark on her neck by always wearing a necklace. She is very +graceful, you know, and they will have it that she can twist herself +into all sorts of shapes, or tie herself in a knot, if she wants to. +There is not one of them that will look her in the eyes. I pity the poor +girl; but, Doctor, I do not love her. I would risk my life for her, if +it would do her any good, but it would be in cold blood. If her hand +touches mine, it is not a thrill of passion I feel running through me, +but a very different emotion. Oh, Doctor! there must be something in +that creature's blood that has killed the humanity in her. God only +knows the mystery that has blighted such a soul in so beautiful a body! +No, Doctor, I do not love the girl." + +"Mr. Langdon," said the Doctor, "you are young, and I am old. Let me +talk to you with an old man's privilege, as an adviser. You have come to +this country-town without suspicion, and you are moving in the midst of +perils. There is a mystery which I must not tell you now; but I may warn +you. Keep your eyes open and your heart shut. If, through pitying that +girl, you ever come to love her, you are lost. If you deal carelessly +with her, beware! This is not all. There are other eyes on you beside +Elsie Venner's.--Do you go armed?" + +"I do!" said Mr. Bernard,--and he 'put his hands up' in the shape of +fists, in such a way as to show that he was master of the natural +weapons at any rate. + +The Doctor could not help smiling. But his face fell in an instant. + +"You may want something more than those tools to work with. Come with me +into my sanctum." + +The Doctor led Mr. Bernard into a small room opening out of the study. +It was a place such as anybody but a medical man would shiver to enter. +There was the usual tall box with its bleached rattling tenant; there +were jars in rows where "interesting cases" outlived the grief of widows +and heirs in alcoholic immortality,--for your "preparation-jar" is the +true "_monumentum aere perennius_"; there were various semipossibilities +of minute dimensions and unpromising developments; there were shining +instruments of evil aspect, and grim plates on the walls, and on one +shelf by itself, accursed and apart, coiled in a long cylinder of +spirit, a huge _crotalus_, rough-scaled, flat-headed, variegated with +dull bands, one of which partially encircled the neck like a collar,--an +awful wretch to look upon, with murder written all over him in horrid +hieroglyphics. Mr. Bernard's look was riveted on this creature,--not +fascinated certainly, for its eyes looked like white beads, being +clouded by the action of the spirits in which it had been long +kept,--but fixed by some indefinite sense of the renewal of a previous +impression;--everybody knows the feeling, with its suggestion of some +past state of existence. There was a scrap of paper on the jar with +something written on it. He was reaching up to read it when the Doctor +touched him lightly. + +"Look here, Mr. Langdon!" he said, with a certain vivacity of manner, as +if wishing to call away his attention,--"this is my armory." + +The Doctor threw open the door of a small cabinet, where were disposed +in artistic patterns various weapons of offence and defence,--for he was +a virtuoso in his way, and by the side of the implements of the art of +healing had pleased himself with displaying a collection of those other +instruments, the use of which renders them necessary. + +"See which of these weapons you would like best to carry about you," +said the Doctor. + +Mr. Bernard laughed, and looked at the Doctor as if he half doubted +whether he was in earnest. + +"This looks dangerous enough," he said,--"for the man that carries it, +at least." + +He took down one of the prohibited Spanish daggers or knives which a +traveller may occasionally get hold of and smuggle out of the country. +The blade was broad, trowel-like, but the point drawn out several +inches, so as to look like a skewer. + +"This must be a jealous bull-fighter's weapon," he said, and put it back +in its place. + +Then he took down an ancient-looking broad-bladed dagger, with a complex +aspect about it, as if it had some kind of mechanism connected with it. + +"Take care!" said the Doctor; "there is a trick to that dagger." + +He took it and touched a spring. The dagger split suddenly into three +blades, as when one separates the forefinger and the ring-finger from +the middle one. The outside blades were sharp on their outer edge. The +stab was to be made with the dagger shut, then the spring touched and +the split blades withdrawn. + +Mr. Bernard replaced it, saying, that it would have served for side-arm +to old Suwarrow, who told his men to work their bayonets back and +forward when they pinned a Turk, but to wriggle them about in the wound +when they stabbed a Frenchman. + +"Here," said the Doctor, "this is the thing you want." + +He took down a much more modern and familiar implement,--a small, +beautifully finished revolver. + +"I want you to carry this," he said; "and more than that, I want you to +practise with it often, as for amusement, but so that it may be seen and +understood that you are apt to have a pistol about you. Pistol-shooting +is pleasant sport enough, and there is no reason why you should not +practise it like other young fellows. And now," the Doctor said, "I have +one other weapon to give you." + +He took a small piece of parchment and shook a white powder into it from +one of his medicine-jars. The jar was marked with the name of a mineral +salt, of a nature to have been serviceable in case of sudden illness in +the time of the Borgias. The Doctor folded the parchment carefully and +marked the Latin name of the powder upon it. + +"Here," he said, handing it to Mr. Bernard,--"you see what it is, and +you know what service it can render. Keep these two protectors about +your person day and night; they will not harm you, and you may want one +or the other or both before you think of it." + +Mr. Bernard thought it was very odd, and not very old-gentleman like, +to be fitting him out for treason, stratagem, and spoils, in this way. +There was no harm, however, in carrying a doctor's powder in his pocket, +or in amusing himself with shooting at a mark, as he had often done +before. If the old gentleman had these fancies, it was as well to humor +him. So he thanked old Doctor Kittredge, and shook his hand warmly as he +left him. + +"The fellow's hand did not tremble, nor his color change," the Doctor +said, as he watched him walking away. "He is one of the right sort." + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +EPISTOLARY. + + +_Mr. Langdon to the Professor._ + +MY DEAR PROFESSOR,-- + +You were kind enough to promise me that you would assist me in any +professional or scientific investigations in which I might become +engaged. I have of late become deeply interested in a class of subjects +which present peculiar difficulty, and I must exercise the privilege of +questioning you on some points upon which I desire information I cannot +otherwise obtain. I would not trouble you, if I could find any person or +books competent to enlighten me on some of these singular matters which +have so excited me. The leading doctor here is a shrewd, sensible man, +but not versed in the curiosities of medical literature. + +I proceed, with your leave, to ask a considerable number of +questions,--hoping to get answers to some of them, at least. + +Is there any evidence that human beings can be infected or wrought +upon by poisons, or otherwise, so that they shall manifest any of +the peculiarities belonging to beings of a lower nature? Can such +peculiarities be transmitted by inheritance? Is there anything to +countenance the stories, long and widely current, about the "evil eye"? +or is it a mere fancy that such a power belongs to any human being? Have +you any personal experience as to the power of fascination said to be +exercised by certain animals? What can you make of those circumstantial +statements we have seen in the papers of children forming mysterious +friendships with ophidians of different species, sharing their food with +them, and seeming to be under some subtile influence exercised by those +creatures? Have you read, critically, Coleridge's poem of "Christabel," +and Keats's "Lamia"? If so, can you understand them, or find any +physiological foundation for the story of either? + +There is another set of questions of a different nature I should like to +ask, but it is hardly fair to put so many on a single sheet. There +is one, however, you must answer. Do you think there may be +predispositions, inherited or ingrafted, but at any rate constitutional, +which shall take out certain apparently voluntary determinations +from the control of the will, and leave them as free from moral +responsibility as the instincts of the lower animals? Do you not think +there may be a _crime_ which is not a _sin_? + +Pardon me, my dear Sir, for troubling you with such a list of notes of +interrogation. There are some _very strange_ things going on here in +this place, country-town as it is. Country-life is apt to be dull; but +when it once gets going, it beats the city hollow, because it gives its +whole mind to what it is about. These rural sinners make terrible work +with the middle of the Decalogue, when they get started. However, I hope +I shall live through my year's school-keeping without catastrophes, +though there are queer doings about me which puzzle me and might scare +some people. If anything _should_ happen, you will be one of the first +to hear of it, no doubt. But I trust not to help out the editors of the +"Rockland Weekly Universe" with an obituary of the late lamented, who +signed himself in life + +Your friend and pupil, + +BERNARD C. LANGDON. + + +_The Professor to Mr. Langdon._ + +MY DEAR MR. LANGDON,-- + +I do not wonder that you find no answer from your country friends to the +curious questions you put. They belong to that middle region between +science and poetry which sensible men, as they are called, are very shy +of meddling with. Some people think that truth and gold are always to be +washed for; but the wiser sort are of opinion, that, unless there are so +many grains to the peck of sand or nonsense respectively, it does not +pay to wash for either, as long as one can find anything else to do. I +don't doubt there is some truth in the phenomena of animal magnetism, +for instance; but when you ask me to cradle for it, I tell you that +the hysteric girls cheat so, and the professionals are such a set of +pickpockets, that I can do something better than hunt for the grains of +truth among their tricks and lies. Do you remember what I used to say in +my lectures?--or were you asleep just then, or cutting your initials on +the rail? (You see I can ask questions, my young friend.) _Leverage_ is +everything,--was what I used to say;--don't begin to pry till you have +got the long arm on your side. + +To please you, and satisfy your doubts as far as possible, I have looked +into the old books,--into Schenckius and Turner and Kenelm Digby and the +rest, where I have found plenty of curious stories which you must take +for what they are worth. + +Your first question I can answer in the affirmative upon pretty good +authority. Mizaldus tells, in his "Memorabilia," the well-known story +of the girl fed on poisons, who was sent by the king of the Indies +to Alexander the Great. "When Aristotle saw her eyes _sparkling and +snapping like those of serpents_, he said, 'Look out for yourself, +Alexander! this is a dangerous companion for you!'"--and sure enough, +the young lady proved to be a very unsafe person to her friends. +Cardanus gets a story from Avicenna, of a certain man bit by a serpent, +who recovered of his bite, the snake dying therefrom. This man +afterwards had a daughter whom no venomous serpent could harm, though +_she had a fatal power over them_. + +I suppose you may remember the statements of old authors about +_lycanthropy_, the disease in which men took on the nature and aspect of +wolves. Aetius and Paulus, both men of authority, describe it. Altomaris +gives a horrid case; and Fincelius mentions one occurring as late as +1541, the subject of which was captured, still _insisting that he was a +wolf_, only that the hair of his hide was turned in! _Versipelles_, it +may be remembered, was the Latin name for these "were-wolves." + +As for the cases where rabid persons have barked and bit like dogs, +there are plenty of such on record. + +More singular, or at least more rare, is the account given by Andreas +Baccius, of a man who was struck in the hand by a cock, with his beak, +and who died on the third day thereafter, looking for all the world +_like a fighting-cock_, to the great horror of the spectators. + +As to impressions transmitted _at a very early period of existence_, +every one knows the story of King James's fear of a naked sword and the +way it is accounted for. Sir Kenelm Digby says,--"I remember when he +dubbed me Knight, in the ceremony of putting the point of a naked sword +upon my shoulder, he could not endure to look upon it, but turned his +face another way, insomuch, that, in lieu of touching my shoulder, he +had almost thrust the point into my eyes, had not the Duke of Buckingham +guided his hand aright." It is he, too, who tells the story of the +_mulberry mark_ upon the neck of a certain lady of high condition, which +"every year, in mulberry season, did swell, grow big, and itch." And +Gaffarel mentions the case of a girl born with the figure of a _fish_ on +one of her limbs, of which the wonder was, that, when the girl did eat +fish, this mark put her to sensible pain. But there is no end to cases +of this kind, and I could give some of recent date, if necessary, +lending a certain plausibility at least to the doctrine of transmitted +impressions. + +I never saw a distinct case of _evil eye_, though I have seen eyes so +bad that they might produce strange effects on very sensitive natures. +But the belief in it under various names, fascination, _jettatura_, +etc., is so permanent and universal, from Egypt to Italy, and from the +days of Solomon to those of Ferdinand of Naples, that there must be some +_peculiarity_, to say the least, on which the opinion is based. There is +very strong evidence that some such power is exercised by certain of the +lower animals. Thus, it is stated on good authority that "almost every +animal becomes panic-struck at the sight of the _rattlesnake_, and seems +at once deprived of the power of motion, or the exercise of its usual +instinct of self-preservation." Other serpents seem to share this power +of fascination, as the _Cobra_ and the _Bucephalus Capensis_. Some think +that it is nothing but fright; others attribute it to the + + "strange powers that lie + Within the magic circle of the eye,"-- + +as Churchill said, speaking of Garrick. + +You ask me about those mysterious and frightful intimacies between +children and serpents of which so many instances have been recorded. I +am sure I cannot tell what to make of them. I have seen several such +accounts in recent papers, but here is one published in the seventeenth +century which is as striking as any of the more modern ones:-- + +"Mr. _Herbert Jones_ of _Monmouth_, when he was a little Boy, was used +to eat his Milk in a Garden in the Morning, and was no sooner there, but +a large Snake always came, and eat out of the Dish with him, and did so +for a considerable time, till one Morning, he striking the Snake on the +Head, it hissed at him. Upon which he told his Mother that the Baby (for +so he call'd it) cry'd _Hiss_ at him. His Mother had it kill'd, which +occasioned him a great _Fit of Sickness_, and 'twas thought would have +dy'd, but did recover." + +There was likewise one "_William Writtle_, condemned at _Maidston +Assizes_ for a double murder, told a Minister that was with him after he +was condemned, that his mother told him, that when he was a Child, there +crept always to him a Snake, wherever she laid him. Sometimes she would +convey him up Stairs, and leave him never so little, she should be sure +to find a Snake in the Cradle with him, but never perceived it did him +any harm." + +One of the most striking alleged facts connected with the mysterious +relation existing between the serpent and the human species is the +influence which the poison of the _Crotalus_, taken internally, seemed +to produce over the _moral faculties_, in the experiments instituted by +Dr. Hering at Surinam. There is something frightful in the disposition +of certain ophidians, as the whip-snake, which darts at the eyes of +cattle without any apparent provocation or other motive. It is natural +enough that the evil principle should have been represented in the form +of a serpent, but it is strange to think of introducing it into a human +being like cow-pox by vaccination. + +You know all about the _Psylli_, or ancient serpent-tamers, I suppose. +Savary gives an account of the modern serpent-tamers in his "Letters on +Egypt." These modern jugglers are in the habit of making the venomous +_Naja_ counterfeit death, lying out straight and stiff, _changing it +into a rod_, as the ancient magicians did with their serpents, (probably +the same animal,) in the time of Moses. + +I am afraid I cannot throw much light on "Christabel" or "Lamia" by any +criticism I can offer. Geraldine, in the former, seems to be simply +a malignant witch-woman, with the _evil eye_, but with no absolute +ophidian relationship. Lamia is a serpent transformed by magic into +a woman. The idea of both is mythological, and not in any sense +physiological. Some women unquestionably suggest the image of serpents; +men rarely or never. I have been struck, like many others, with the +ophidian head and eye of the famous Rachel. + +Your question about inherited predispositions, as limiting the sphere of +the will, and, consequently, of moral accountability, opens a very wide +range of speculation. I can give you only a brief abstract of my own +opinions on this delicate and difficult subject. Crime and sin, being +the _preserves_ of two great organized interests, have been guarded +against all reforming poachers with as great jealousy as the Royal +Forests. It is so easy to hang a troublesome fellow! It is so much +simpler to consign a soul to perdition, or gay masses, for money, to +save it, than to take the blame on ourselves for letting it grow up in +neglect and run to ruin for want of humanizing influences! They hung +poor, crazy Bellingham for shooting Mr. Perceval. The ordinary of +Newgate preached to women who were to swing at Tyburn for a petty theft +as if they were worse than other people,--just as though he would not +have been a pickpocket or shoplifter, himself, if he had been born in +a den of thieves and bred up to steal or starve! The English law never +began to get hold of the idea that a crime was not necessarily a sin, +till Hadfield, who thought he was the Saviour of mankind, was tried for +shooting at George the Third;--lucky for him that he did not hit his +Majesty! + +It is very singular that we recognize all the bodily defects that unfit +a man for military service, and all the intellectual ones that limit his +range of thought, but always talk at him as if all his moral powers were +perfect I suppose we must punish evil-doers as we extirpate vermin; but +I don't know that we have any more right to judge them than we have to +judge rats and mice, which are just as good as cats and weasels, though +we think it necessary to treat them as criminals. + +The limitations of human responsibility have never been properly +studied, unless it be by the phrenologists. You know from my lectures +that I consider phrenology, as taught, a pseudo-science, and not a +branch of positive knowledge; but, for all that, we owe it an immense +debt. It has melted the world's conscience in its crucible and cast it +in a new mould, with features less like those of Moloch and more like +those of humanity. If it has failed to demonstrate its system of special +correspondences, it has proved that there are fixed relations between +organization and mind and character. It has brought out that great +doctrine of moral insanity, which has done more to make men charitable +and soften legal and theological barbarism than any one doctrine that I +can think of since the message of peace and good-will to men. + +Automatic action in the moral world; the _reflex movement_ which _seems_ +to be self-determination, and has been hanged and howled at as such +(metaphorically) for nobody knows how many centuries: until somebody +shall study this as Marshall Hall has studied reflex nervous action in +the bodily system, I would not give much for men's judgments of each +other's characters. Shut up the robber and the defaulter, we must. But +what if your oldest boy had been stolen from his cradle and bred in a +North-Street cellar? What if you are drinking a little too much wine and +smoking a little too much tobacco, and your son takes after you, and so +your poor grandson's brain being a little injured in physical texture, +he loses the fine moral sense on which you pride yourself, and doesn't +see the difference between signing another man's name to a draft and his +own? + +I suppose the study of automatic action in the moral world (you see what +I mean through the apparent contradiction of terms) may be a dangerous +one in the view of many people. It is liable to abuse, no doubt. +People are always glad to get hold of anything which limits their +responsibility. But remember that our moral estimates come down to us +from ancestors who hanged children for stealing forty shillings' worth, +and sent their souls to perdition for the sin of being born,--who +punished the unfortunate families of suicides, and in their eagerness +for justice executed one innocent person every three years, on the +average, as Sir James Mackintosh tells us. + +I do not know in what shape the practical question may present itself to +you; but I will tell you my rule in life, and I think you will find it +a good one. _Treat bad men exactly as if they were insane_. They are +_in-sane_, out of health, morally. Reason, which is food to sound minds, +is not tolerated, still less assimilated, unless administered with the +greatest caution; perhaps, not at all. Avoid collision with them, as far +as you honorably can; keep your temper, if you can,--for one angry man +is as good as another; restrain them from injury, promptly, completely, +and with the least possible injury, just as in the case of maniacs,--and +when you have got rid of them, or got them tied hand and foot so that +they can do no mischief, sit down and contemplate them charitably, +remembering that nine-tenths of their perversity comes from outside +influences, drunken ancestors, abuse in childhood, bad company, from +which you have happily been preserved, and for some of which you, as a +member of society, may be fractionally responsible. I think also that +there are _special influences_ which _work in the blood like ferments_, +and I have a suspicion that some of those curious old stories I cited +may have more recent parallels. Have you ever met with any cases which +admitted of a solution like that which I have mentioned? + +Yours very truly, + + * * * * * + +_Bernard Langdon to Philip Staples._ + +MY DEAR PHILIP,-- + +I have been for some months established in this place, turning the +main crank of the machinery for the manufactory of accomplishments +superintended by, or rather worked to the profit of, a certain Mr. Silas +Peckham. He is a poor wretch, with a little thin fishy blood in his +body, lean and flat, long-armed and large-handed, thick-jointed +and thin-muscled,--you know those unwholesome, weak-eyed, half-fed +creatures, that look not fit to be round among live folks, and yet not +quite dead enough to bury. If you ever hear of my being in court to +answer to a charge of assault and battery, you may guess that I have +been giving him a thrashing to settle off old scores; for he is a +tyrant, and has come pretty near killing his principal lady-assistant +with overworking her and keeping her out of all decent privileges. + +Helen Darley is this lady's name,--twenty-two or -three years old, +I should think,--a very sweet, pale woman,--daughter of the usual +country-clergyman,--thrown on her own resources from an early age, and +the rest: a common story, but an uncommon person,--very. All conscience +and sensibility, I should say,--a cruel worker,--no kind of regard for +herself,--seems as fragile and supple as a young willow-shoot, but try +her and you find she has the spring in her of a steel crossbow. I am +glad I happened to come to this place, if it were only for her sake. I +have saved that girl's life; I am as sure of it as if I had pulled her +out of the fire or water. + +Of course I'm in love with her, you say,--we always love those whom +we have benefited: "saved her life,--her love was the reward of his +devotion," etc., etc., as in a regular set novel. In love, Philip? Well, +about that,--I love Helen Darley--very much: there is hardly anybody I +love so well. What a noble creature she is! One of those that just go +right on, do their own work and everybody else's, killing themselves +inch by inch without ever thinking about it,--singing and dancing +at their toil when they begin, worn and saddened after a while, but +pressing steadily on, tottering by-and-by, and catching at the rail by +the wayside to help them lift one foot before the other, and at last +falling, face down, arms stretched forward---- + +Philip, my boy, do you know I am the sort of man that locks his door +sometimes and cries his heart out of his eyes,--that can sob like a +woman and not be ashamed of it? I come of fighting-blood on my mother's +side, you know; I think I could be savage on occasion. But I am +tender,--more and more tender as I come into my fulness of manhood. I +don't like to strike a man, (laugh, if you like,--I know I hit hard +when I do strike,)--but what I can't stand is the sight of these poor, +patient, toiling women, that never find out in this life how good they +are, and never know what it is to be told they are angels while they +still wear the pleasing incumbrances of humanity. I don't know what to +make of these cases. To think that a woman is never to be a woman again, +whatever she may come to as an unsexed angel,--and that she should die +unloved! Why does not somebody come and carry off this noble woman, +waiting here all ready to make a man happy? Philip, do you know the +pathos there is in the eyes of unsought women, oppressed with the burden +of an inner life unshared? I can see into them now as I could not in +those earlier days. I sometimes think their pupils dilate on purpose to +let my consciousness glide through them; indeed, I dread them, I come so +close to the nerve of the soul itself in these momentary intimacies. You +used to tell me I was a Turk,--that my heart was full of pigeon-holes, +with accommodations inside for a whole flock of doves. I don't know but +I am still as Youngish as ever in my ways,--Brigham-Youngish, I mean; +at any rate, I always want to give a little love to all the poor things +that cannot have a whole man to themselves. If they would only be +contented with a little! + +Here now are two girls in this school where I am teaching. One of them, +Rosa M., is not more than sixteen years old, I think they say; but +Nature has forced her into a tropical luxuriance of beauty, as if it +were July with her, instead of May. I suppose it is all natural enough +that this girl should like a young man's attention, even if he were a +grave schoolmaster; but the eloquence of this young thing's look +is unmistakable,--and yet she does not know the language it is +talking,--they none of them do; and there is where a good many poor +creatures of our good-for-nothing sex are mistaken. There is no danger +of my being rash, but I think this girl will cost somebody his life yet. +She is one of those women men make a quarrel about and fight to the +death for,--the old feral instinct, you know. + +Pray, don't think I am lost in conceit, but there is another girl here +that I begin to think looks with a certain kindness on me. Her name is +Elsie V., and she is the only daughter and heiress of an old family in +this place. She is a portentous and mysterious creature. If I should +tell you all I know and half of what I fancy about her, you would +tell me to get my life insured at once. Yet she is the most painfully +interesting being,--so handsome! so lonely!--for she has no friends +among the girls, and sits apart from them,--with black hair like the +flow of a mountain-brook after a thaw, with a low-browed, scowling +beauty of face, and such eyes as were never seen before, I really +believe, in any human creature. + +Philip, I don't know what to say about this Elsie. There is a mystery +around her I have not fathomed. I have conjectures about her which +I could not utter to any living soul. I dare not even hint the +possibilities which have suggested themselves to me. This I will +say,--that I do take the most intense interest in this young person, an +interest much more like pity than love in its common sense. If what I +guess at is true, of all the tragedies of existence I ever knew this is +the saddest, and yet so full of meaning! Do not ask me any questions,--I +have said more than I meant to already; but I am involved in strange +doubts and perplexities,--in dangers too, very possibly,--and it is a +relief just to speak ever so guardedly of them to an early and faithful +friend. + +Yours ever, BERNARD. + +P. S. I remember you had a copy of Fortunius Licetus "De Monstris" among +your old books. Can't you lend it to me for a while? I am curious, and +it will amuse me. + + + + +ANNO DOMINI, 1860. + + + My youth is past!--this morn I stand, + With manhood's signet of command, + Firm-planted on life's middle-land! + + Behind, the scene recedes afar, + Where cloudy mists and vapors mar + The lustre of my morning-star. + + I mark the courses of my days, + Inwound through many a doubtful maze,-- + To marvel at those devious ways! + + They lead through hills and levels lone, + Green fields, and woodlands overgrown, + And where deep waters pulse and moan;-- + + By ruined tower, by darksome dell, + The home of night-birds fierce and fell, + Wherein strange shapes of Horror dwell;-- + + Out to the blessed sunshine free, + The breezy moors of liberty, + And skies outpouring harmony;-- + + By palace-wall, by haunted tomb, + Through bright and dark, through joy and gloom: + My life hath known both blight and bloom. + + And now, as from some mountain-height, + Backward I strain my eager sight, + Till all the landscape melts in night;-- + + Then, whispering to my Heart, "Be bold!" + I turn from years whose "tale is told," + To greet the Future's dawn of gold: + + High hopes and nobler labors wait + Beyond that Future's opening gate,-- + Brave deeds which hold the seeds of Fate. + + Thy strength, O Lord, shall fire my blood, + Shall nerve my soul, make wise my mood, + And win me to the pure and good! + + Or if, O Father, thou shouldst say, + "Dark Angel, close his mortal day!" + And smite me on my vanward way,-- + + Grant that in armor firm and strong, + Whilst pealing still Life's battle-song, + And struggling, manful, 'gainst the wrong, + + Thy soldier, who would fight to win + No crown of dross, no bays of sin, + May fall amidst the foremost din + + Of Truth's grand conflict, blest by Thee,-- + And even though Death should conquer, see + How false, how brief his victory! + + * * * * * + + + +DARWIN ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. + +[Continued.] + + +"I can entertain no doubt, after the most deliberate study and +dispassionate judgment of which I am capable, that the view which most +naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained,--namely, that +each species has been independently created,--is erroneous. I am fully +convinced that species are not immutable; but that those belonging to +what are called the same genera are lineal descendants of some other +and generally extinct species, in the same manner as the acknowledged +varieties of any one species are the descendants of that species. +Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main, +but not exclusive means of modification." + +This is the kernel of the new theory, the Darwinian creed, as recited +at the close of the introduction to the remarkable book under +consideration. The questions, "What will he do with it?" and "How far +will he carry it?" the author answers at the close of the volume: "I +cannot doubt that the theory of descent with modification embraces all +the members of the same class." Furthermore, "I believe that all animals +have descended from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants +from an equal or lesser number." Seeing that analogy as strongly +suggests a further step in the same direction, while he protests that +"analogy may be a deceitful guide," yet he follows its inexorable +leading to the inference that "probably all the organic beings which +have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial +form, into which life was first breathed."[a] + +In the first extract we have the thin end of the wedge driven a little +way; in the last, the wedge is driven home. + +We have already (in the preceding number) sketched some of the reasons +suggestive of such a theory of derivation of species,--reasons which +give it plausibility, and even no small probability, as applied to our +actual world and to changes occurring since the latest tertiary period. +We are well pleased at this moment to find that the conclusions we were +arriving at in this respect are sustained by the very high authority and +impartial judgment of Pictet, the Swiss palaeontologist. In his review +of Darwin's book,[b]--much the fairest and most admirable opposing one +that has yet appeared,--he freely accepts that _ensemble_ of natural +operations which Darwin impersonates under the now familiar name of +Natural Selection, allows that the exposition throughout the first +chapters seems "_a la fois prudent et fort_" and is disposed to accept +the whole argument in its foundations, that is, so far as it relates +to what is now going on, or has taken place in the present geological +period,--which period he carries back through the diluvial epoch to the +borders of the tertiary.[c] Pictet accordingly admits that the theory +will very well account for the origination by divergence of nearly +related species, whether within the present period or in remoter +geological times: a very natural view for him to take; since he +appears to have reached and published, several years ago, the pregnant +conclusion, that there most probably was some material connection +between the closely related species of two successive faunas, and that +the numerous close species, whose limits are so difficult to determine, +were not all created distinct and independent. But while accepting, or +ready to accept, the basis of Darwin's theory, and all its legitimate +direct inferences, he rejects the ultimate conclusions, brings some +weighty arguments to bear against them, and is evidently convinced that +he can draw a clear line between the sound inferences, which he favors, +and the unsound or unwarranted theoretical deductions, which he rejects. +We hope he can. + +[Footnote a: P. 484, Engl. ed. In the new American edition, (_Vide_ +Supplement, pp. 431, 432,) the principal analogies which suggest the +extreme view are referred to, and the remark is appended,--"But this +inference is chiefly grounded on analogy, and it is immaterial whether +or not it be accepted. The case is different with the members of each +great class, as the Vertebrata or Articulata; for here we have in the +laws of homology, embryology, etc., some distinct evidence that all have +descended from a single primordial parent."] + +[Footnote b: In _Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve_, Mars, 1860.] + +[Footnote c: This we learn from his very interesting article, _De +la Question de l'Homme Fossile_, in the same (March) number of the +_Bibliotheque Universelle_.] + +This raises the question, Why does Darwin press his theory to these +extreme conclusions? Why do all hypotheses of derivation converge so +inevitably to one ultimate point? Having already considered some of the +reasons which suggest or support the theory at its outset,--which may +carry it as far as such sound and experienced naturalists as Pictet +allow that it may be true,--perhaps as far as Darwin himself unfolds +it in the introductory proposition cited at the beginning of this +article,--we may now inquire after the motives which impel the theorist +so much farther. Here proofs, in the proper sense of the word, are not +to be had. We are beyond the region of demonstration, and have duly +probabilities to consider. What are these probabilities? What work +will this hypothesis do to establish a claim to be adopted in its +completeness? Why should a theory which may plausibly enough account for +the _diversification_ of the species of each special type or genus, +be expanded into a general system for the _origination_ or successive +diversification of all species, and all special types or forms, from +four or five remote primordial forms, or perhaps from one? We accept the +theory of gravitation because it explains all the facts we know, and +bears all the tests that we can put it to. We incline to accept the +nebular hypothesis, for similar reasons; not because it is proved,--thus +far it is wholly incapable of proof,--but because it is a natural +theoretical deduction from accepted physical laws, is thoroughly +congruous with the facts, and because its assumption serves to connect +and harmonize these into one probable and consistent whole. Can the +derivative hypothesis be maintained and carried out into a system on +similar grounds? If so, however unproved, it would appear to be a +tenable hypothesis, which is all that its author ought now to claim. +Such hypotheses as from the conditions of the case can neither be proved +nor disproved by direct evidence or experiment are to be tested only +indirectly, and therefore imperfectly, by trying their power to +harmonize the known facts, and to account for what is otherwise +unaccountable. So the question comes to this: + +What will an hypothesis of the derivation of species explain which the +opposing view leaves unexplained? + +Questions these which ought to be entertained before we take up the +arguments which have been advanced against this theory. We can only +glance at some of the considerations which Darwin adduces, or will be +sure to adduce in the future and fuller exposition which is promised. +To display them in such wise as to indoctrinate the unscientific reader +would require a volume. Merely to refer to them in the most general +terms would suffice for those familiar with scientific matters, but +would scarcely enlighten those who are not. Wherefore let these trust +the impartial Pictet, who freely admits, that, "in the absence of +sufficient direct proofs to justify the possibility of his hypothesis, +Mr. Darwin relies upon indirect proofs, the bearing of which is real and +incontestable"; who concedes that "his theory accords very well with the +great facts of comparative anatomy and zooelogy,--comes in admirably to +explain unity of composition of organisms, also to explain rudimentary +and representative organs, and the natural series of genera and +species,--equally corresponds with many palaeontological data,--agrees +well with the specific resemblances which exist between two successive +faunas, with the parallelism which is sometimes observed between the +series of palaeontological succession and of embryonal development," +etc.; and finally, although he does not accept the theory in these +results, he allows that "it appears to offer the best means of +explaining the manner in which organized beings were produced in epochs +anterior to our own." + +What more than this could be said for such an hypothesis? Here, +probably, is its charm, and its strong hold upon the speculative mind. +Unproven though it be, and cumbered _prima facie_ with cumulative +improbabilities as it proceeds, yet it singularly accords with great +classes of facts otherwise insulated and enigmatic, and explains many +things which are thus far utterly inexplicable upon any other scientific +assumption. + +We have said (p. 116) that Darwin's hypothesis is the natural complement +to Lyell's uniformitarian theory in physical geology. It is for the +organic world what that popular view is for the inorganic; and the +accepters of the latter stand in a position from which to regard the +former in the most favorable light. Wherefore the rumor that the +cautious Lyell himself has adopted the Darwinian hypothesis need not +surprise us. The two views are made for each other, and, like the two +counterpart pictures for the stereoscope, when brought together, combine +into one apparently solid whole. + +If we allow, with Pictet, that Darwin's theory will very well serve for +all that concerns the present epoch of the world's history,--an epoch +which this renowned palaeontologist regards as including the diluvial or +quaternary period,--then Darwin's first and foremost need in his onward +course is a practicable road from this into and through the tertiary +period, the intervening region between the comparatively near and the +far remote past. Here Lyell's doctrine paves the way, by showing that in +the physical geology there is no general or absolute break between the +two, probably no greater between the latest tertiary and the quaternary +period than between the latter and the present time. So far, the +Lyellian view is, we suppose, generally concurred in. Now as to the +organic world, it is largely admitted that numerous tertiary species +have continued down into the quaternary, and many of them to the present +time. A goodly percentage of the earlier and nearly half of the later +tertiary mollusca, according to Des Hayes, Lyell, and, if we mistake +not, Bronn, still live. This identification, however, is now questioned +by a naturalist of the very highest authority. But, in its bearings on +the new theory, the point here turns not upon absolute identity so +much as upon close resemblance. For those who, with Agassiz, doubt the +specific identity in any of these cases, and those who say, with Pictet, +that "the later tertiary deposits contain in general the _debris_ of +species _very nearly related_ to those which still exist, belonging to +the same genera, but specifically different," may also agree with Pictet +that the nearly related species of successive faunas must or may have +had "a material connection." Now the only material connection that +we have an idea of in such a case is a genealogical one. And the +supposition of a genealogical connection is surely not unnatural in such +cases,--is demonstrably the natural one as respects all those tertiary +species which experienced naturalists have pronounced to be identical +with existing ones, but which others now deem distinct. For to identify +the two is the same thing as to conclude the one to be the ancestors of +the other. No doubt there are differences between the tertiary and +the present individuals, differences equally noted by both classes of +naturalists, but differently estimated. By the one these are deemed +quite compatible, by the other incompatible, with community of origin. +But who can tell us what amount of difference is compatible with +community of origin? This is the very question at issue, and one to be +settled by observation alone. Who would have thought that the peach and +the nectarine came from one stock? But, this being proved, is it now +very improbable that both were derived from the almond, or from some +common amygdaline progenitor? Who would have thought that the cabbage, +cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi are derivatives of one +species, and rape or colza, turnip, and probably rutabaga, of another +species? And who that is convinced of this can long undoubtingly hold +the original distinctness of turnips from cabbages as an article of +faith? On scientific grounds may not a primordial cabbage or rape be +assumed as the ancestor of all the cabbage races, on much the same +ground that we assume a common ancestry for the diversified human races? +If all our breeds of cattle came from one stock, why not this stock from +the auroch, which has had all the time between the diluvial and the +historic periods in which to set off a variation perhaps no greater than +the difference between some sorts of cattle? + +That considerable differences are often discernible between tertiary +individuals and their supposed descendants of the present day affords +no argument against Darwin's theory, as has been rashly thought, but is +decidedly in its favor. If the identification were so perfect that no +more differences were observable between the tertiary and the recent +shells than between various individuals of either, then Darwin's +opponents, who argue the immutability of species from the ibises and +cats preserved by the ancient Egyptians being just like those of the +present day, could triumphantly add a few hundred thousand years more to +the length of the experiment and to the force of their argument. As the +facts stand, it appears, that, while some tertiary forms are essentially +undistinguishable from existing ones, others are the same with a +difference, which is judged not to be specific or aboriginal, and yet +others show somewhat greater differences, such as are scientifically +expressed by calling them marked varieties, or else doubtful species; +while others, differing a little more, are confidently termed distinct, +but nearly related species. Now is not all this a question of degree, +of mere gradation of difference? Is it at all likely that these several +gradations came to be established in two totally different ways,--some +of them (though naturalists can't agree which) through natural +variation, or other secondary cause, and some by original creation, +without secondary cause? We have seen that the judicious Pictet answers +such questions as Darwin would have him do, in affirming, that, in all +probability, the nearly related species of two successive faunas were +materially connected, and that contemporaneous species, similarly +resembling each other, were not all created so, but have become so. This +is equivalent to saying that species (using the term as all naturalists +do and must continue to employ the word) have only a relative, not an +absolute fixity; that differences fully equivalent to what are held to +be specific may arise in the course of time, so that one species may at +length be naturally replaced by another species a good deal like it, or +may be diversified through variation or otherwise into two, three, or +more species, or forms as different as species. This concedes all that +Darwin has a right to ask, all that he can directly infer from evidence. +We must add that it affords a _locus standi_, more or less tenable, for +inferring more. + +Here another geological consideration comes in to help on this +inference. The species of the later tertiary period for the most part +not only resembled those of our days, many of them so closely as to +suggest an absolute continuity, but, also occupied in general the same +regions that their relatives occupy now. The same may be said, though +less specially, of the earlier tertiary and of the later secondary; but +there is less and less localization of forms as we recede, yet some +localization even in palaeozoic times. While in the secondary period one +is struck with the similarity of forms and the identity of many of the +species which flourished apparently at the same time in all or in the +most widely separated parts of the world, in the tertiary epoch, on the +contrary, along with the increasing specialization of climates and +their approximation to the present state, we find abundant evidence +of increasing localization of orders, genera, and species; and +this localization strikingly accords with the present geographical +distribution of the same groups of species. Where the imputed +forefathers lived, their relatives and supposed descendants now +flourish. All the actual classes of the animal and vegetable kingdoms +were represented in the tertiary faunas and floras, and in nearly the +same proportions and the same diversities as at present. The faunas of +what is now Europe, Asia, America, and Australia differed from +each other much as they now differ: in fact,--according to Adolphe +Brongniart, whose statements we here condense,[a]--the inhabitants of +these different regions appear for the most part to have acquired, +before the close of the tertiary period, the characters which +essentially distinguish their existing faunas. The eastern continent +had then, as now, its great pachyderms, elephants, rhinoceros, and +hippopotamus; South America its armadillos, sloths, and ant-eaters; +Australia a crowd of marsupials; and the very strange birds of New +Zealand had predecessors of similar strangeness. Everywhere the same +geographical distribution as now, with a difference in the particular +area, as respects the northern portion of the continents, answering to a +warmer climate then than ours, such as allowed species of hippopotamus, +rhinoceros, and elephant to range even to the regions now inhabited +by the reindeer and the musk-ox, and with the serious disturbing +intervention of the glacial period within a comparatively recent time. +Let it be noted, also, that those tertiary species which have continued +with little change down to our days are the marine animals of the +lower grades, especially mollusca. Their low organization, moderate +sensibility, and the simple conditions of an existence in a medium +like the ocean, not subject to great variation and incapable of sudden +change, may well account for their continuance; while, on the other +hand, the more intense, however gradual, climatic vicissitudes on land, +which have driven all tropical and sub-tropical forms out of the higher +latitudes and assigned to them their actual limits, would be almost sure +to extinguish such huge and unwieldy animals as mastodons, mammoths, and +the like, whose power of enduring altered circumstances must have been +small. + +[Footnote a: In _Comptes Rendus, Acad. des Sciences_, Fevr. 2, 1857.] + +This general replacement of the tertiary species of a country by +others so much like them is a noteworthy fact. The hypothesis of the +independent creation of all species, irrespective of their antecedents, +leaves this fact just as mysterious as is creation itself; that of +derivation undertakes to account for it. Whether it satisfactorily does +so or not, it must be allowed that the facts well accord with that +assumption. + +The same may be said of another conclusion, namely, that the geological +succession of animals and plants appears to correspond in a general +way with their relative standing or rank in a natural system of +classification. It seems clear, that, though no one of the _grand types_ +of the animal kingdom can be traced back farther than the rest, yet the +lower _classes_ long preceded the higher; that there has been on the +whole a steady progression within each class and order; and that the +highest plants and animals have appeared only in relatively modern +times. It is only, however, in a broad sense that this generalization +is now thought to hold good. It encounters many apparent exceptions and +sundry real ones. So far as the rule holds, all is as it should be upon +an hypothesis of derivation. + +The rule has its exceptions. But, curiously enough, the most striking +class of exceptions, if such they be, seems to us even more favorable to +the doctrine of derivation than is the general rule of a pure and simple +ascending gradation. We refer to what Agassiz calls prophetic and +synthetic types; for which the former name may suffice, as the +difference between the two is evanescent. + +"It has been noticed," writes our great zooelogist, "that certain types, +which are frequently prominent among the representatives of past ages, +combine in their structure peculiarities which at later periods are only +observed separately in different, distinct types. Sauroid fishes before +reptiles, Pterodactyles before birds, Ichthyosauri before dolphins, etc. +There are entire families, of nearly every class of animals, which +in the state of their perfect development exemplify such prophetic +relations.... The sauroid fishes of the past geological ages are an +example of this kind. These fishes, which preceded the appearance of +reptiles, present a combination of ichthyic and reptilian characters not +to be found in the true members of this class, which form its bulk at +present. The Pterodactyles, which preceded the class of birds, and the +Ichthyosauri, which preceded the Cetaeca, are other examples of such +prophetic types."[a] + +[Footnote a: Agassiz, _Contributions: Essay on Classification_, p. +117, where, we may be permitted to note, the word "Crustacea" is by a +typographical error printed in place of _Cetacea_.] + +Now these reptile-like fishes, of which gar-pikes are the living +representatives, though of earlier appearance, are admittedly of higher +rank than common fishes. They dominated until reptiles appeared, when +they mostly gave place to--or, as the derivationists will insist, were +resolved by divergent variation and natural selection into--common +fishes, destitute of reptilian characters, and saurian reptiles, the +intermediate grades, which, according to a familiar piscine saying, +are "neither fish, flesh, nor good red-herring," being eliminated and +extinguished by natural consequence of the struggle for existence which +Darwin so aptly portrays. And so, perhaps, of the other prophetic types. +Here type and antitype correspond. If these are true prophecies, we need +not wonder that some who read them in Agassiz's book will read their +fulfilment in Darwin's. + +Note also, in tins connection, that, along with a wonderful persistence +of type, with change of species, genera, orders, etc., from formation to +formation, no species and no higher group which has once unequivocally +died out ever afterwards reappears. Why is this, but that the link of +generation has been sundered? Why, on the hypothesis of independent +originations, were not failing species re-created, either identically or +with a difference, in regions eminently adapted to their well-being? To +take a striking case. That no part of the world now offers more suitable +conditions for wild horses and cattle than the Pampas and other plains +of South America is shown by the facility with which they have there run +wild and enormously multiplied, since introduced from the Old World not +long ago. There was no wild American stock. Yet in the times of the +Mastodon and Megatherium, at the dawn of the present period, wild +horses and cattle--the former certainly very much like the existing +horse--roamed over those plains in abundance. On the principle of +original and direct created adaptation of species to climate and other +conditions, why were these types not reproduced, when, after the colder +intervening era, those regions became again eminently adapted to such +animals? Why, but because, by their complete extinction in South +America, the line of descent was here utterly broken? Upon the ordinary +hypothesis, there is no scientific explanation possible of this series +of facts, and of many others like them. Upon the new hypothesis, "the +succession of the same types of structure within the same areas during +the later geological periods ceases to be mysterious, and is simply +explained by inheritance." Their cessation is failure of issue. + +Along with these considerations the fact (alluded to on p. 114) should +be remembered, that, as a general thing, related species of the present +age are geographically associated. The larger part of the plants, and +still more of the animals, of each separate country are peculiar to +it; and, as most species now flourish over the graves of their by-gone +relatives of former ages, so they now dwell among or accessibly near +their kindred species. + +Here also comes in that general "parallelism between the order of +succession of animals and plants in geological times, and the gradation +among their living representatives" from low to highly organized, +from simple and general to complex and specialized forms; also "the +parallelism between the order of succession of animals in geological +times--and the changes their living representatives undergo during their +embryological growth,"--as if the world were one prolonged gestation. +Modern science has much insisted on this parallelism, and to a certain +extent is allowed to have made it out. All these things, which conspire +to prove that the ancient and the recent forms of life "are somehow +intimately connected together in one grand system," equally conspire to +suggest that the connection is one similar or analogous to generation. +Surely no naturalist can be blamed for entering somewhat confidently +upon a field of speculative inquiry which here opens so invitingly; nor +need former premature endeavors and failures utterly dishearten him. + +All these things, it may naturally be said, go to explain the order, not +the mode, of the incoming of species. But they all do tend to bring out +the generalization expressed by Mr. Wallace in the formula, that "every +species has come into existence coincident both in time and space with +preexisting closely allied species." Not, however, that this is proved +even of existing species as a matter of general fact. It is obviously +impossible to _prove_ anything of the kind. But we must concede that the +known facts strongly suggest such an inference. And since species are +only congeries of individuals, and every individual came into existence +in consequence of preexisting individuals of the same sort, so leading +up to the individuals with which the species began, and since the only +material sequence we know of among plants and animals is that from +parent to progeny, the presumption becomes exceedingly strong that +the connection of the incoming with the preexisting species is a +genealogical one. + +Here, however, all depends upon the probability that Mr. Wallace's +inference is really true. Certainly it is not yet generally accepted; +but a strong current is setting towards its acceptance. + +So long as universal cataclysms were in vogue, and all life upon the +earth was thought to have been suddenly destroyed and renewed many times +in succession, such a view could not be thought of. So the equivalent +view maintained by Agassiz, and formerly, we believe, by D'Orbigny, +that, irrespectively of general and sudden catastrophes, or any known +adequate physical cause, there has been a total depopulation at the +close of each geological period or formation, say forty or fifty times, +or more, followed by as many independent great acts of creation, at +which alone have species been originated, and at each of which a +vegetable and an animal kingdom were produced entire and complete, +full-fledged, as flourishing, as wide-spread and populous, as varied and +mutually adapted from the beginning as ever afterwards,--such a view, of +course, supersedes all material connection between successive species, +and removes even the association and geographical range of species +entirely out of the domain of physical causes and of natural science. +This is the extreme opposite of Wallace's and Darwin's view, and is +quite as hypothetical. The nearly universal opinion, if we rightly +gather it, manifestly is, that the replacement of the species of +successive formations was not complete and simultaneous, but partial +and successive; and that along the course of each epoch some species +probably were introduced, and some, doubtless, became extinct. If all +since the tertiary belongs to our present epoch, this is certainly true +of it: if to two or more epochs, then the hypothesis of a total change +is not true of them. + +Geology makes huge demands upon time; and we regret to find that it has +exhausted ours,--that what we meant for the briefest and most general +sketch of some geological considerations in favor of Darwin's hypothesis +has so extended as to leave no room for considering "the great facts of +comparative anatomy and zooelogy" with which Darwin's theory "very well +accords," nor for indicating how "it admirably serves for explaining the +unity of composition of all organisms, the existence of representative +and rudimentary organs, and the natural series which genera and species +compose." Suffice it to say that these are the real strongholds of the +new system on its theoretical side; that it goes far towards explaining +both the physiological and the structural gradations and relations +between the two kingdoms, and the arrangement of all their forms in +groups subordinate to groups, all within a few great types; that it +reads the riddle of abortive organs and of morphological conformity, of +which no other theory has ever offered a scientific explanation, and +supplies a ground for harmonizing the two fundamental ideas which +naturalists and philosophers conceive to have ruled the organic world, +though they could not reconcile them, namely: Adaptation to Purpose and +the Conditions of Existence, and Unity of Type. To reconcile these two +undeniable principles is a capital problem in the philosophy of natural +history; and the hypothesis which consistently does so thereby secures a +great advantage. + +We all know that the arm and hand of a monkey, the foreleg and foot of +a dog and of a horse, the wing of a bat, and the fin of a porpoise are +fundamentally identical; that the long neck of the giraffe has the same +and no more bones than the short one of the elephant; that the eggs of +Surinam frogs hatch into tadpoles with as good tails for swimming as any +of their kindred, although as tadpoles they never enter the water; that +the Guinea-pig is furnished with incisor teeth which it never uses, +as it sheds them before birth; that embryos of mammals and birds +have branchial slits and arteries running in loops, in imitation or +reminiscence of the arrangement which is permanent in fishes; and that +thousands of animals and plants have rudimentary organs which, at least +in numerous cases, are wholly useless to their possessors, etc., etc. +Upon a derivative theory this morphological conformity is explained by +community of descent; and it has not been explained in any other way. + +Naturalists are constantly speaking of "related species," of +the "affinity" of a genus or other group, and of "family +resemblance,"--vaguely conscious that these terms of kinship are +something more than mere metaphors, but unaware of the grounds of their +aptness. Mr. Darwin assures them that they have been talking derivative +doctrine all their lives without knowing it. + +If it is difficult and in some cases practically impossible to fix the +limits of species, it is still more so to fix those of genera; and those +of tribes and families are still less susceptible of exact natural +circumscription. Intermediate forms occur, connecting one group with +another in a manner sadly perplexing to systematists, except to those +who have ceased to expect absolute limitations in Nature. All this +blending could hardly fail to suggest a former material connection among +allied forms, such as that which an hypothesis of derivation demands. + +Here it would not be amiss to consider the general principle of +gradation throughout organic Nature,--a principle which answers in a +general way to the law of continuity in the inorganic world, or +rather is so analogous to it that both may fairly be expressed by +the Leibnitzian axiom, _Natura non agit saltatim_. As an axiom or +philosophical principle, used to test modal laws or hypotheses, this in +strictness belongs only to physics. In the investigation of Nature at +large, at least in the organic world, nobody would undertake to apply +this principle as a test of the validity of any theory or supposed law. +But naturalists of enlarged views will not fail to infer the principle +from the phenomena they investigate,--to perceive that the rule holds, +under due qualifications and altered forms, throughout the realm of +Nature; although we do not suppose that Nature in the organic world +makes no distinct steps, but only short and serial steps,--not +infinitely fine gradations, but no long leaps, or few of them. + +To glance at a few illustrations out of many that present themselves. It +would be thought that the distinction between the two organic kingdoms +was broad and absolute. Plants and animals belong to two very different +categories, fulfil opposite offices, and, as to the mass of them, are +so unlike that the difficulty of the ordinary observer would be to find +points of comparison. Without entering into details, which would fill an +article, we may safely say that the difficulty with the naturalist is +all the other way,--that all these broad differences vanish one by one +as we approach the lower confines of the two kingdoms, and that no +_absolute_ distinction whatever is now known between them. It is quite +possible that the same organism may be both vegetable and animal, or may +be first the one and then the other. If some organisms may be said to be +at first vegetables and then animals, others, like the spores and other +reproductive bodies of many of the lower Algae, may equally claim to +have first a characteristically animal, and then an unequivocally +vegetable existence. Nor is the gradation purely restricted to these +simple organisms. It appears in general functions, as in that of +reproduction, which is reducible to the same formula in both kingdoms, +while it exhibits close approximations in the lower forms; also in a +common or similar ground of sensibility in the lowest forms of both, +a common faculty of effecting movements tending to a determinate end, +traces of which pervade the vegetable kingdom,--while on the other hand, +this indefinable principle, this vegetable _animula vagula, blandula_, +graduates into the higher sensitiveness of the lower class of animals. +Nor need we hesitate to recognize the fine gradations from simple +sensitiveness and volition to the higher instinctive and other psychical +manifestations of the higher brute animals. The gradation is undoubted, +however we may explain it. Again, propagation is of one mode in the +higher animals, of two in all plants; but vegetative propagation, by +budding or offshoots, extends through the lower grades of animals. In +both kingdoms there may be separation of the offshoots, or indifference +in this respect, or continued and organic union with the parent stock; +and this either with essential independence of the offshoots, or with +a subordination of these to a common whole, or finally with such +subordination and amalgamation, along with specialization of function, +that the same parts, which in other cases can be regarded only as +progeny, in these become only members of an individual. + +This leads to the question of individuality, a subject quite too large +and too recondite for present discussion. The conclusion of the whole +matter, however, is, that individuality--that very ground of _being_ as +distinguished from _thing_--is not attained in Nature at one leap. If +anywhere truly exemplified in plants, it is only in the lowest and +simplest, where the being is a structural unit, a single cell, +memberless and organless, though organic,--the same thing as those cells +of which all the more complex plants are built up, and with which every +plant and (structurally) every animal began its development. In the +ascending gradation of the vegetable kingdom individuality is, so to +say, striven after, but never attained; in the lower animals it is +striven after with greater, though incomplete success; it is realized +only in animals of so high a rank that vegetative multiplication or +offshoots are out of the question, where all parts are strictly +members and nothing else, and all subordinated to a common nervous +centre,--fully realized, perhaps, only in a conscious person. + +So, also, the broad distinction between reproduction by seeds or ova and +propagation by buds, though perfect in some of the lowest forms of life, +becomes evanescent in others; and even the most absolute law we know in +the physiology of genuine reproduction, that of sexual co-operation, +has its exceptions in both kingdoms in parthenogenesis, to which in the +vegetable kingdom a most curious series of gradations leads. In plants, +likewise, a long and most finely graduated series of transitions leads +from bisexual to unisexual blossoms; and so in various other respects. +Everywhere we may perceive that Nature secures her ends, and makes her +distinctions on the whole manifest and real, but everywhere without +abrupt breaks. We need not wonder, therefore, that gradations between +species and varieties should occur; the more so, since genera, tribes, +and other groups into which the naturalist collocates species are +far from being always absolutely limited in Nature, though they are +necessarily represented to be so in systems. From the necessity of the +case, the classifications of the naturalist abruptly define where Nature +more or less blends. Our systems are nothing, if not definite. They +are intended to express differences, and perhaps some of the coarser +gradations. But this evinces, not their perfection, but their +imperfection. Even the best of them are to the system of Nature what +consecutive patches of the seven colors are to the rainbow. + +Now the principle of gradation throughout organic Nature may, of +course, be interpreted upon other assumptions than those of Darwin's +hypothesis,--certainly upon quite other than those of materialistic +philosophy, with which we ourselves have no sympathy. Still we conceive +it not only possible, but probable, that this gradation, as it has its +natural ground, may yet have its scientific explanation. In any case, +there is no need to deny that the general facts correspond well with an +hypothesis like Darwin's, which is built upon fine gradations. + +We have contemplated quite long enough the general presumptions in +favor of an hypothesis of the derivation of species. We cannot forget, +however, while for the moment we overlook, the formidable difficulties +which all hypotheses of this class have to encounter, and the serious +implications which they seem to involve. We feel, moreover, that +Darwin's particular hypothesis is exposed to some special objections. It +requires no small strength of nerve steadily to conceive not only of +the variation, but of the formation of the organs of an animal through +cumulative variation and natural selection. Think of such an organ as +the eye, that most perfect of optical instruments, as so produced in the +lower animals and perfected in the higher! A friend of ours, who accepts +the new doctrine, confesses that for a long while a cold chill came over +him whenever he thought of the eye. He has at length got over that stage +of the complaint, and is now in the fever of belief, perchance to be +succeeded by the sweating stage, during which sundry peccant humors may +be eliminated from the system. + +For ourselves, we dread the chill, and have some misgiving about the +consequences of the reaction. We find ourselves in the "singular +position" acknowledged by Pictet,--that is, confronted with a theory +which, although it can really explain much, seems inadequate to the +heavy task it so boldly assumes, but which, nevertheless, appears better +fitted than any other that has been broached to explain, if it be +possible to explain, somewhat of the manner in which organized beings +may have arisen and succeeded each other. In this dilemma we might take +advantage of Mr. Darwin's candid admission, that he by no means expects +to convince old and experienced people, whose minds are stocked with a +multitude of facts all viewed during a long course of years from the old +point of view. This is nearly our case. So, owning no call to a larger +faith than is expected of us, but not prepared to pronounce the whole +hypothesis untenable, under such construction as we should put upon it, +we naturally sought to attain a settled conviction through a perusal +of several proffered refutations of the theory. At least, this course +seemed to offer the readiest way of bringing to a head the various +objections to which the theory is exposed. On several accounts some +of these opposed reviews specially invite examination. We propose, +accordingly, to conclude our task with an article upon "Darwin and his +Reviewers." + + * * * * * + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Modern Painters_. By J. RUSKIN. Vol. V. Smith, Elder, & Co. London. + +The completion of a work of the importance of the "Modern Painters," +which has occupied in its production the thought and a large portion of +the labor of fourteen years, is an event of more interest than it often +falls to the lot of a book to excite; but when, as in this case, the +result shows the development of an individual taste and critical ability +entirely without peer in the history of art-letters, the value of the +whole work is immensely enhanced by the time which its publication +covers. + +The first volume of "Modern Painters" was, as everybody will remember, +one of the sensation-books of the time, and fell upon the public opinion +of the day like a thunderbolt from the clear sky. Denying, and in many +instances overthrowing, the received canons of criticism, and defying +all the accepted authorities in it, the author excited the liveliest +astonishment and the bitterest hostility of the professional critics in +general, and at once divided the world of art, so far as his influence +reached, into two parts: the one embracing most of the reverent and +conservative minds, and by far the larger; the other, most of the +enthusiastic, the radical, and earnest; but this, small in numbers +at first, was increased, and still increases, by the force of those +qualities of enthusiasm and earnestness, until now, in England, it +embraces nearly all of the true and living art of our time. But that +volume, professedly treating art with reference to its superficial +attributes and for a special purpose, the redemption of a great and +revered artist from unjust disparagement and undeserved neglect, +touched in scarcely the least degree the vital questions of taste or +art-production. It had no considerations of sentiment or discussion of +principles to offer: it dealt with facts, and touched the simple truths +of Nature with an enthusiastic fire and lucidness which were proof +positive of the knowledge and feeling of the author; and the public, +either conversant with those facts or capable of being satisfied of +them without much thought, abandoned itself to the fascination of his +eloquence and acquiesced in his teachings, or arrayed itself in utter +hostility to him and his new ideas. + +The second volume was more abstruse and deeper in feeling, and +comparatively few of Mr. Ruskin's followers through the first cared +to get entangled in the metaphysical mazes of the second, and it is +generally neglected, although containing some of the deepest and most +satisfactory studies on the fundamental principles of art and taste +which have ever been printed. + +The third and fourth volumes, coming up again nearer the surface, made +an application of the principles investigated to the material for art +which Nature furnishes; and here again the author found in part his +audience diminished among those who had at first been carried away by +his enthusiasm or silenced and convinced by his unhesitating dogmatism. +A partial reaction took place, owing not only to the change in the tone +of the "Modern Painters," but to the springing up of a new school of +painting, the consequence, mainly and legitimately, of the teachings of +the work,--the pre-Raphaelite,--which, at once attacked virulently and +immeasurably by the old school of critics, and defended as earnestly by +Mr. Ruskin, became the subject of the war which was still waged between +him and them. Turner in the meanwhile had passed away and was admitted +to apotheosis, the malignant critics of yesterday becoming the ignorant +adulators of to-day: _his_ position was conceded, but the hostility to +Ruskin was sustained with unabated bitterness on the new field. He +was demolished anew, and proved, many useless times over and over, an +ignorant pretender; the public in the meanwhile, even his opponents, +taking up in turn his _proteges_, as he pointed them out to their +notice. The effect of his criticisms in enhancing the value of the works +they approved would be incredible, if one did not know how glad an +English public is to be led. As a single instance,--a drawing which was +sold from one of the water-color exhibitions at fifty guineas, sold +again, after Ruskin's notice, at two hundred and fifty; and in the lists +of pictures sold or to be sold at auction, one sees constantly, "Noticed +by Mr. Ruskin," "Approved by Mr. Ruskin," appended to the title. + +The third volume, being devoted to the correction of the ideas of Style +and the Ideal, to Finish, and a review of the Past Landscape-Painting, +recurs to Turner in its closing chapter, "On his Teachers"; the fourth +was given to Mountain _Beauty_, following the parallel of the first, +which treated of the _Truth_ of Mountains, and bearing as its burden of +moral the expression of that Ideal by Turner; and the fifth now comes to +conclude the investigations on the Ideal by chapters: first, on "Leaf +Beauty," an exceedingly interesting investigation of the development +of the forms of trees and plants as concerned with the laws of beauty; +second, "Cloud Beauty"; and then of the "Ideas of Relation," in which +the author comes finally to the demonstration of the right of Turner to +his position amongst the thinking and poetic painters. + +From the first division, "Leaf Beauty," we must make one extract. +The author has been speaking of the, influence of the Pine on Swiss +character. + +"But the point which I desire the reader to note is, that the character +of the scene which, if any, appears to have been impressive to the +inhabitant is not that which we ourselves feel when we enter the +district. It was not from their lakes, nor their cliffs, nor their +glaciers, though these were all peculiarly their possession, that the +three venerable cantons or states received their name. They were not +called the States of the Rock, nor the States of the Lake, but the +States of the _Forest_. And the one of the three which contains the most +touching record of the spiritual power of Swiss religion, in the name of +the convent of the 'Hill of Angels,' has for its own none but the sweet, +childish name of 'Under the Woods.' + +"And, indeed, you may pass under them, if, leaving the most sacred spot +in Swiss history, the Meadow of the Three Fountains, you bid the boatman +row southward a little way by the Bay of Uri. Steepest there, on its +western side, the walls of its rocks ascend to heaven. Far in the blue +of evening, like a great cathedral-pavement, lies the lake in its +darkness; and you may hear the whisper of innumerable falling waters +return from the hollows of the cliff like the voices of a multitude +praying under their breath. From time to time, the beat of a wave, slow +lifted, where the rocks lean over the black depth, dies heavily as the +last note of a requiem. Opposite, green with steep grass and set with +chalet villages, the Tron Alp rises in one solemn glow of pastoral light +and peace; and above, against the clouds of twilight, ghostly on the +gray precipice, stand, myriad by myriad, the shadowy armies of the +Unterwalden pine. + +"I have seen that it is possible for the stranger to pass through this +great chapel, with its font of waters, and mountain pillars, and vaults +of cloud, without being touched by one noble thought or stirred by any +sacred passion; but for those who received from its waves the baptism +of their youth, and learned beneath its rocks the fidelity of their +manhood, and watched amidst its clouds the likeness of the dream of +life, with the eyes of age,--for these I will not believe that the +mountain-shrine was built or the calm of its forest-shadows guarded by +their God in vain." + +But perhaps that conclusion of Ruskin's, in the new volume, which will +most interest his earnest readers, is that the Venetian school is _the +only religious school that has ever existed_. So much has Ruskin's +development seemed to contradict itself, that one is scarcely surprised +at one conclusion being apparently opposed to the former one; but a +change so great as this, from Giotto, Perugino, and Cima, to Tintoret, +Titian, and Veronese, as the religious ideals, will, indeed, amaze all +who read it. Yet this is but the logical consequence of his progression +hitherto. If he commenced with a belief that asceticism was religion, he +would recognize Perugino and Giotto as the true religious artists; but +if, as seems to be the case, he has learned at last that religion is a +thing of daily life, mingling in all that we do, caring for body as well +as soul, sense as well as spirit, and that a complete man must be a +man who _lives_ in every sense of the word, then the Venetians, as the +painters of the truth of life in _all_ its joy and sorrow, are the true +painters, and the only ones whose art was inhabited by a religion worth +following. + +It is interesting to follow what are called Ruskin's contradictions and +see how perfectly they represent the whole system of artistic truth, as +seen from the different points of a young artist's or student's growth +up to mature and ripened judgment; so that there is no stage of artistic +development which has not some form of truth particularly adapted to it, +in the "Modern Painters." If it be urged that the book should have been +written only from the point of final development, it can only be said +that no true book will ever he so written, for no man can ever be +certain of his having attained final truth. "Modern Painters" has +value in this very showing of the critical development, which to an +intelligent student is greater than that a complete and infallible guide +could have. + +The chapter on Invention is full of the most delightful artistic truth, +and shows completely, by copious illustrations, how well Turner deserved +the rank Ruskin gives him amongst great composers. The analyses of the +compositions of Turner are most curious and interesting, but, of course, +depend on the accompanying plates. Some most valuable mental philosophy +bearing on the production of art-works concludes Part VIII., which +is devoted to "Invention Formal," of which we quote the concluding +paragraphs:-- + +"Until the feelings can give strength enough to the will to enable it +to conquer them, they are not strong enough. If you cannot leave your +picture at any moment, cannot turn from it and go on with another while +the color is drying, cannot work at any part of it you choose with equal +contentment, you have not firm enough grasp of it. + +"It follows, also, that no vain or selfish person can possibly paint, +in the noble sense of the word. Vanity and selfishness are troublous, +eager, anxious, petulant: painting can only be done in calm of mind. +Resolution is not enough to secure this; it must be secured by +disposition as well. You may resolve to think of your picture only; but, +if you have been fretted before beginning, no manly or clear grasp of +it will be possible for you. No forced calm is calm enough: only honest +calm, natural calm. You might as well try by external pressure to smooth +a lake till it could reflect the sky, as by violence of effort to secure +the peace through which only you can reach imagination. That peace must +come in its own time, as the waters settle themselves into clearness as +well as quietness: you can no more filter your mind into purity than you +can compress it into calmness; you must keep it pure, if you would have +it pure; and throw no stones into it, if you would have it quiet. Great +courage and self-command may to a certain extent give power of painting +without the true calmness underneath, but never of doing first-rate +work. There is sufficient evidence of this in even what we know of great +men, though of the greatest we nearly always know the least (and that +necessarily; they being very silent, and not much given to setting +themselves forth to questioners,--apt to be contemptuously reserved no +less than unselfishly). But in such writings and sayings as we possess +of theirs we may trace a quite curious gentleness and serene courtesy. +Rubens's letters are almost ludicrous in their unhurried politeness. +Reynolds, swiftest of painters, was gentlest of companions; so also +Velasquez, Titian, and Veronese. + +"It is gratuitous to add that no shallow or petty person can paint. Mere +cleverness or special gift never made an artist. It is only perfectness +of mind, unity, depth, decision, the highest qualities, in fine, of the +intellect, which will form the imagination. + +"And, lastly, no false person can paint. A person false at heart may, +when it suits his purposes, seize a stray truth here or there; but the +relations of truth, its perfectness, that which makes it wholesome +truth, he can never perceive. As wholeness and wholesomeness go +together, so also sight with sincerity; it is only the constant desire +of and submissiveness to truth, which can measure its strange angles +and mark its infinite aspects, and fit them and knit them into sacred +invention. + +"Sacred I call it deliberately; for it is thus in the most accurate +senses, humble as well as helpful,--meek in its receiving as magnificent +in its disposing; the name it bears being rightly given even to +invention formal, not because it forms, but because it finds. For you +cannot find a lie; you must make it for yourself. False things may be +imagined, and false things composed; but only truth can be invented." + +One of those cardinal doctrines by which we may learn the bearings of a +writer's system of truth is that of Ruskin's of the intimate connection +between landscape art and humanity. + +"Fragrant tissue of flowers, golden circlet of clouds, are only fair +when they meet the fondness of human thoughts and glorify human visions +of heaven. + +"It is the leaning on this truth which more than any other has been the +distinctive character of all my own past work. And in closing a series +of art-studies, prolonged during so many years, it may be perhaps +permitted me to point out this specialty,--the rather that it has been, +of all their characters, the one most denied. I constantly see that the +same thing takes place in the estimation formed by the modern public of +the work of almost any true person, living or dead. It is not needful +to state here the causes of such error; but the fact is indeed so, that +precisely the distinctive root and leading force of any true man's work +and way are the things denied him. + +"And in these books of mine, their distinctive character, as essays on +art, is their bringing everything to a root in human passion or human +hope. Arising first not in any desire to explain the principles of art, +but in the endeavor to defend an individual painter from injustice, they +have been colored throughout, nay, continually altered in shape, and +even warped and broken, by digressions respecting social questions, +which had for me an interest tenfold greater than the work I had been +forced into undertaking. Every principle of painting which I have +stated is traced to some vital or spiritual fact; and in my works on +architecture the preference accorded finally to one school over another +is founded on a comparison of their influences on the life of the +workman,--a question by all other writers on the subject of architecture +wholly forgotten or despised. + +"The essential connection of the power of landscape with human emotion +is not less certain because in many impressive pictures the link is +slight or local. That the connection should exist at a single point is +all that we need.... That difference, and more, exists between the power +of Nature through which humanity is seen, and her power in the desert. +Desert,--whether of leaf or sand,--true desertness, is not in the want +of leaves, but of life. Where humanity is not and was not, the best +natural beauty is more than vain. It is even terrible; not as the +dress cast aside from the body, but as an embroidered shroud hiding a +skeleton." + +The volume, as a whole, will be found less dogmatic, calmer, more +convincing, and more directly applicable to artistic judgment, than any +of the others. There is the same love of mysticism and undermeanings, +but freighted with deeper and more central truths: a charming conclusion +to a fourteen-years' diary of such study of Art and Nature, so severe, +so unremitting, as never critic gave before. + + +_Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb._ By W.W. GOODWIN, +Ph.D. Cambridge: Sever and Francis. + +Grammarians had once a simple way of disposing of the subject on which +Professor Goodwin has given us this elaborate treatise of three hundred +pages. + +In the Greek Grammar of the Messieurs de Port Royal, which Gibbon +praises so highly in his charming autobiography, and which has passed +through several editions in England within the present century, we +are taught, that, "though the moods [in Greek] are not to be rejected +entirely, yet their signification is sometimes so very arbitrary, that +they are put for one another through all tenses." Lancelot himself +seems to have had a glimmering of the essential incredibility of this +statement; for, though he attempts to substantiate it by citing from +Greek authors a number of passages in which the Greek idiom happens to +differ from the Latin,--passages, however, which Mr. Goodwin would have +been glad to use, had they fallen in his way, to illustrate the regular +constructions of the language,--he feels it necessary to appeal to +the authority of the learned Budaeus, the greatest of the early Greek +scholars. Strange as it seems that really accomplished Greek scholars +should have charged Plato and Demosthenes, speaking the most perfect of +tongues, with arbitrary interchanges of moods and tenses, yet the same +views continued to be presented in grammatical works down to the close +of the last century. The transition to the new school of grammarians was +made in 1792, by the publication of a Greek Grammar by Philip Buttmann, +which, in the greatly improved form which it afterwards received from +his hands, is familiar to all Greek scholars. In our frequent boasts of +the great strides that knowledge has taken in the present century, we +commonly have in mind the physical sciences; but we doubt whether in any +department of physical science the manuals in use seventy-five years +ago are so utterly inferior to those of the present day as are, for +instance, the remarks of Viger, and his commentators before Hermann, on +the syntax of the Greek verb, to the philosophical treatment of the same +points by Professor Goodwin. + +This work is entitled, we think, to rank with the best grammars of the +Greek language that have appeared in German or English, in all the +points that constitute grammatical excellence; while its monographic +character justified and required an exhaustive treatment of its +particular topic, not to be found even in the huge grammars of Matthiae +and Kuehner. Indeed, not the least of its merits is this, that, in +addition to the excellent matter which is original with Professor +Goodwin, it furnishes to the student, American or English,--for we hope +to see its merits recognized on the other side of the Atlantic,--a +digest, as it were, of all that is most valuable on the subject of the +syntax of the Greek verb in the best German grammars, from Buttmann +to Madvig, enhanced, too, in value by being recast and worked into a +homogeneous system by an acute scholar and experienced teacher. One +excellence of the book we would by no means pass over, an excellence +which we are sure will be particularly appreciated by all who have used +translations of German grammars,--the precision both of thought and +expression by which it is characterized, which releases the student from +the labor of constructing the meaning of a rule from the data of the +appended examples. Not that Mr. Goodwin is chary of examples; on the +contrary, one of the most attractive and not least profitable features +of the book is the copiousness and freshness of the illustrative +quotations from Greek authors. These are as welcome as the brightness of +newly minted coin to the eye which, in consulting grammar after grammar, +has been condemned to meet under corresponding rules always the same +examples, till they begin to produce that effect upon the nerves which +all have experienced at the mention of the deadly upas-tree, or the +imminence of the dissolution of the Union. + +We must not omit to speak of the typographical merit of the work,--and +especially of what constitutes the first and the last merit of books of +this class, the excellent table of contents, and the indexes, Greek and +English, which leave nothing to be desired in the way of facility of +reference, except, perhaps, an index to the quotations. + + +_The Law of the Territories_. Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Son. + +The author of the two able essays contained in this volume will be +remembered by many of our readers under his assumed name of "Cecil." +The second, as he himself tells us, on "Popular Sovereignty in the +Territories," was published, as one of a series of essays on Southern +politics, in the Philadelphia _North American and United States +Gazette_. The first, we believe, has never been published before. + +Our author, whom we may designate, without violating any confidence, as +Mr. George Sidney Fisher, devotes an elaborate preface, which is itself +a third essay, to discussing the invasion of Virginia by John Brown and +the Southern threats of secession, drawing from the foray of Harper's +Ferry a conclusion very different from that of the disunionists. In his +own words,-- + + "Disunion is a word of fear. Is it not + strange that it should have been as yet pronounced + only by the South? The danger of + insurrection and servile war belongs to the + nature of slavery. It is, perhaps, not too much + to assert that the safety and tranquillity of + Southern society depend on the fact that the + Northern people are close at hand to aid in + case of need,--that the power of the General + Government is ever ready for the same purpose. + Four millions of barbarians, growing + with tropical vigor, and soon to be eight millions, + with tropical passions boiling in their + blood, endowed with native courage, with + sinews strong by toil, and stimulated by the + hope of liberty and unbounded license, are + not to be trifled with. Take away from them + the idea of an irresistible power in the North, + ready at any moment to be invoked by their + masters, or let them expect in the North, not + enemies, but friends and supporters, which + even now they are told every day by these + masters they may expect,--and how soon + might a flame be lighted which no power in + the South could extinguish!" + +Mr. Fisher treats of the "Law of the Territories" in two essays,--the +first considering more particularly "The Territories and the +Constitution," the second, "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories." The +first commences with a quotation so happy that it has all the effect of +original wit:-- + + "The wily and witty Talleyrand was once + asked the meaning of the word 'non-intervention,' + so often used in European diplomacy. + 'It is a word,' he replied, 'metaphysical and + political, not accurately defined, but which + means--much the same thing as intervention!' + The same word has been frequently + employed, of late years, in our politics, with + the same difference between its professed + and its practical signification. It was introduced + for the first time in reference to the + government of the Territories, when it became + an object for the South to gain Kansas as a + Slave State. Two obstacles were to be overcome. + One was the Missouri Compromise, + which was a solemn compact between North + and South to settle a disturbing and dangerous + question; the other was a possible majority + in Congress, that, it was feared, might prohibit + slavery in the new Territory. Southern + politicians had at the time control of the government; + and they got rid of both difficulties + by repealing the Missouri Compromise in the + Kansas and Nebraska Bill. By necessary implication, + arising from the relation of the Territories + to the rest of the nation, by the language + of the Constitution, and by the uniform + construction of it and practice under it from + the earliest period of our history, the Territories + had been subjected to the absolute control + of the General Government. By the Kansas + and Nebraska Bill they were withdrawn + from that control. The principle of Popular + Sovereignty, it was said, applied to them as + well as to the States; and this bill declared + that the people of the Territories should be + perfectly free to choose their own domestic + institutions and regulate their own affairs in + their own way." + +The means employed to carry out this plan and the ultimate failure of +the plan itself are sketched with a boldness and vigor that our limits, +much to our regret, forbid our reproducing. Mr. Fisher, however, fails +to notice the wretched plea put forth by the Democratic managers, +in favor of the recognition by Congress of the Lecompton +Constitution,--that it had been officially authenticated. All might be +wrong, but the official record pronounced it right; and behind that +record Congress had no authority to go. And this plea was advanced in +the face of overwhelming evidence tending to show that the officials, +for whose record so inviolable a sanctity was claimed, were appointed +for the express purpose of falsifying that record! If confirmation be +wanted, we need go no farther than the fate of Robert J. Walker, who was +eager to make Kansas a Slave State, but was so false to every principle +of Democratic integrity as to confine himself to legitimate means to +bring about that result,--a remissness for which he was promptly removed +by President Buchanan! Mr. Fisher pertinently says,-- + +"Two great facts were plainly visible through the flimsy web of attorney +logic and quibbling technicality, not very ingeniously woven to conceal +them. One of these facts was, that the people of Kansas were heartily +and almost unanimously averse to slavery; the other was, that the +Government was trying by every means in its power to impose slavery upon +them." + +After describing the contemptuous rejection by the people of Kansas of +the pro-slavery constitution, Mr. Fisher proceeds with an analysis of +the Kansas-Nebraska fraud, so clear and so masterly that we must again +quote his own language, with an occasional condensation or omission. + +"It was clear, therefore, that the principle of Popular Sovereignty, +introduced by the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, a principle before unknown +to the law and practice of our government, would not suit the South. +It appeared too probable that not only the people to inhabit all the +territory north of 36 deg. 30', but also much territory south of it, would, +like the people of Kansas, reject slavery, if left to regulate their +domestic institutions in their own way. What, then, were Southern +politicians to do? Invoke the ancient and long exercised, but now denied +and derided power of Congress over the Territories? This might prove a +dangerous weapon in the hands of possible future Northern majorities. It +was obviously necessary to withdraw slavery alike from the control of +Congress and of the people of a Territory. Some ingenuity was required +for this. The doctrine that the Constitution extends to the Territories +(a doctrine broached before by Mr. Calhoun, but always defeated on the +ground that the Constitution, by its language and the practice under it, +was made for States only, and that the Territories were subject to the +supreme control of Congress,--a control frequently exercised, not only +independently of the Constitution, but in a manner incompatible with it) +was introduced, with other innovations, into the Kansas and Nebraska +Bill. The Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court followed, by which +the Constitution recognizes slavery as a national institution. It +recognizes slaves as mere property, differing in no respect from other +merchandise. The Territories belong to the nation. Every citizen has +equal rights to them and in them. Why, therefore, may not a Southern +man, as well as a Northern man, go into them with his _property_? What +right has Congress to place the South under an ignominious bar of +restriction? The Constitution declares that slaves are property; that +all the States and the people have equal rights. The Territories belong +to all. Therefore, under the Constitution, they should be enjoyed by +all. + +"By this ingenious logic the Kansas and Nebraska Bill is made to +contradict itself. It first declares that the Constitution extends to +the Territories; in other words, slavery exists there by force of the +Constitution, without reference to the will of the people. It then says +that the people of the Territories shall be 'perfectly free to form and +regulate their domestic institutions in their own way.' + +"The contradictions, duplicity, and absurdity of the law are obvious at +once. The first sentence announces a change in the settled principles +and policy of the Government; else why declare that the Constitution +'_shall_' extend to Nebraska, if it already extended there? Then comes +the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The reason given for this is, +that it is inconsistent with the non-intervention by Congress with +slavery, recognized in the Compromise of 1850. But that law declares +positively that Congress does not intervene, _because it is +'inexpedient'_ to do so; and gives the reason why it is inexpedient. The +_power_ of Congress _was asserted_ by Mr. Clay, who made the law, and +the terms of it were chosen for the very purpose of preventing any +inference being drawn from it against that power. + +"It is remarkable, too, that the Bill, whilst declaring the _perfect_ +freedom of the Territories, should still have left them subject to the +power of the President, who, as before, is permitted to appoint their +Governor, Judges, and Marshals, officers who are his agents, and without +whose sanction the acts of the Territorial Legislature can neither +become laws, nor be construed and applied, nor executed. So that the +will of the people may be defeated, should it happen to be opposed to +the will of the President: as was seen in the case of Kansas. + +"Why," Mr. Fisher asks, "is the anomalous monster of Popular Sovereignty +to be introduced with reference to slavery? Is it because slaves are +'mere property'? Why, then, not subject all property, land included, to +popular control? Is it because the subject of slavery is an exciting +topic, a theme for dangerous agitation, to be checked only by placing +the subject beyond the power of Congress? The answer is, that Congress +cannot abdicate its power on the ground of expediency. If it may give up +one power, it may give up all. Nor can Congress delegate its power for +the same reason. Trust power, from its very nature, cannot be delegated. +To break down great principles, to set aside ancient usage, to abandon +legal authority, in order to appease the contests of parties, is too +great a sacrifice. No true peace can come of it; only suppressed and +adjourned war." + +The natural inference from the extracts we have given would be that Mr. +Fisher was a member of the Republican party. But such is not the fact: +Mr. Fisher rests his hope upon a party "yet to be organized." "The +extreme Northern, or Free-soil, or Abolition party is only less guilty +than the extreme Southern and Democratic party." Which? Does Mr. Fisher +mean that "Northern," "Free-soil," and "Abolition" are synonymous terms? +And does any or do all of them mean the Republican party? Or, finally, +does Mr. Fisher shrink from the conclusions presented by his logic, and +is his vaguely convenient linking together of different words intended +to leave his position gracefully doubtful? And in that case, do the +Baltimore nominations, with their innocent unconsciousness, supply his +political needs? It is not easy to answer these questions. We begin now +upon the views of a Pennsylvania Oppositionist; and quicksilver defied +not more utterly the skill of Raymond Lullius than the doctrines of the +Philadelphia school perplex the inquiries of sharply defined New England +minds. The rudimentary state of Republican principles may nowhere else +be so clearly seen as in Pennsylvania. Four years of the Democratic +administration of her "favorite son" have done much to make her less +favored sons into good Republicans; but the State needs another +Democratic President. Mr. Fisher appears to much more advantage in +pulling down than in building up. We have hitherto seen only the keen, +fearless dissector of fraud and hypocrisy; we are now to contemplate a +circumspect alarmist, who dreads to call things by their right names +for fear of unpleasant consequences. He is such a master of English, +so judicious in the use of middle terms,--so shrewd a fencer +altogether,--that even his timidity cannot make him other than a +formidable opponent. + +Mr. Fisher, believing that slavery receives ample protection from a fair +interpretation of the Constitution, holds that + +"Congress has plenary power over the Territories, often exercised on +this subject of slavery. It may be said that Congress has on various +occasions prohibited slavery in the Territories. True; but with the +consent and cooeperation of the Southern States. The people of all the +States have equal right in the Territories. To exclude the people of the +Slave States, therefore, _without their consent_, would be unequal and +opposed to the spirit of the Constitution." + +Certainly it would. Who proposes to do it? No living man, woman, or +child. It is worth noticing, by the way, that the Republican party is +not committed to the doctrine of carrying out the principle of the +Wilmot Proviso. But supposing it were, Mr. Fisher's argument has +no force or direction, unless he can establish his suppressed +premise,--that the exclusion of slavery from the Territories is the +exclusion of "the people of the Slave States" from the Territories. +And to make that good, all Mr. Fisher's skill and ingenuity will +be required. Why so many Northern politicians should have weakly +surrendered this point is a mystery. Because the slaveholders (who are +not, Mr. Fisher, "the people of the Slave States," by any means, but a +small portion of them) are at home a privileged aristocracy, have they +any claim to the same position abroad? If so, on what does it rest? The +laws of the Southern States? They are now beyond their jurisdiction. The +common law? To that wise and beneficent law slavery is a thing unknown. +The Constitution? It is silent. There is no exclusion of the Southerners +even proposed. Let them come: but when they claim to carry with them +the right to hold a certain class of men as property because they +are recognized as property by certain local regulations elsewhere +prevailing, they must not complain, if such a claim be disallowed. The +Southerner's complaint, that he is accustomed to the institution of +slavery, is fairly met by the Northerner's retort, that he is accustomed +to the institution of freedom. + +Now, which voice shall prevail? Neither party has any more right than +the other; and neither party has any right at all. The Territories are +in a state of wardship; and Congress is to decide as it thinks best for +their welfare, present and future; and if Congress thinks that a nation +prospers with free institutions and droops under slavery, then let +Congress admit the Territory as a Free State. True, there is some +inconvenience to the slave-holder; but from so abnormal a relation as +slavery some inconvenience must result. When admitted to be a necessary +evil, it is barely tolerable; when boastingly proclaimed to be a +sovereign good, it is fairly intolerable. And it is both criminal and +foolish to try to make good all the evils inseparable from slavery by +systematic injustice to other interests. + + "Slavery has changed. When Southern + men consented to its prohibition, they hoped + and believed that the time would come when + it could be abolished altogether. They have + as much right to these as to their former opinions, + and to have them represented in the + Government." + +Here Mr. Fisher hints at, rather than fully states, the grand retort of +the Southerners,--"Our fathers, you say, were opposed to slavery: very +good; but we are not: why should we be bound by their opinions?" A mere +misapprehension of the force of the argument. The Southerner of 1860 is +_not_ bound by the opinions of Madison and Jefferson; but the North +may fairly adduce the opinions of those men, who were framers of the +Constitution, not as binding upon their descendants, but as serving to +explain the meaning of disputed provisions in that Constitution. The +Constitution binds us all, North and South: then recurs the question, +What is the meaning of its provisions? and _then_ the contemporaneous +opinions of its framers come legitimately into play as an argument. + +Of the Missouri Compromise Mr. Fisher says,-- + + "It may be said that this law was a violation + of the equal rights of the Southern people, + by excluding them from a large portion + of the national domain. The answer is, not + merely that this was done with their consent, + their representatives having approved the law, + but that the law did recognize their rights, + by dividing between them and the Northern + people all the territory then possessed by the + Government." + +We are surprised that upon his own presentation of the case this simple +question does not occur to Mr. Fisher: Supposing the South and the North +to have had equal and conflicting rights in the national domain, and +supposing that there was need of some arbiter, and remembering that +Congress undertook the duties of arbiter and decided that the +division under the Missouri Compromise gave each section its rightful +share,--then, with what propriety can the South, after occupying its own +share, call for a portion in the share allotted to the North? + +The second essay, on "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories," presents +comparatively few salient points. A very spirited and just history of +the working of the Administration schemes in Kansas, a restating of +some of the arguments against the Kansas-Nebraska Act set forth in the +preceding essay, and a remonstrance against the headstrong course of +Southern politicians are its most noticeable features. + + "The Union, the Constitution, and the + friendship of the North: these are the pillars + on which rest the peace, the safety, the + independence of the South. The extraordinary + thing is, that for some years past the South + has been, and now is, sedulously employed in + undermining this triple foundation of its power + and safety. Its extravagant pretensions, + its excesses, its crimes, are rapidly cooling + the friendship of the North,--converting it, + indeed, into positive enmity. Its leading politicians + are ever plotting and threatening disunion. + disunion will he proffered to them from the North, not + as a vague and passionate threat, but as a positive + and well-considered plan, backed by a + force of public opinion which nothing can resist. + Ere long, the South is likely to be left + with no other defence than the Union it has + weakened and the Constitution it has mutilated + and defaced. + + "The makers of the Kansas and Nebraska + law were clumsy workmen. They forgot to + provide for the case of an anti-slavery President. + They will, perhaps, learn wisdom by + experience. + + "'To wilful men + The injuries that they themselves procure + Must be their schoolmasters.' + + "Those who framed the Constitution and laid + the foundation of this Union understood their + business better. That Constitution was intended + to protect the South, and has protected + it. Southern politicians cannot improve + it. For their own sakes they had better + let it alone." + +We have given enough to show that in discussing Mr. Fisher we are +dealing with two different men. The field is now clear for the great +political contest of 1860. Mr. Fisher may have allied himself before +this with the Republicans, or may look to have his anticipations +fulfilled by that third party who are as unconscious of wrong as +powerless to rectify it, "the world-forgetting, by the world forgot." We +wish him well through his troubles. + + +_A Dictionary of English Etymology._ By HENSLEIGH WEDGWOOD, M. A. Late +Fellow of Chr. Coll. Cam. Vol. I. (A-D.) London: Truebner and Co., 60 +Paternoster Row. 1859. pp. xxiv., 507. + +There is nothing more dangerously fascinating than etymologies. To the +uninitiated the victim seems to have eaten of "insane _roots_ that take +the reason prisoner"; while the illuminate too often looks upon the +stems and flowers of language, the highest achievements of thought and +poesy, as mere handles by which to pull up the grimy tubers that lie at +the base of articulate expression, shapeless knobs of speech, sacred to +him as the potato to the Irishman. + +The sarcasms of Swift were not without justification; for crazier +analogies than that between Andromache and Andrew Mackay have been +gravely insisted on by persons who, like the author of "Amilec," +believed that the true secret of philosophizing _est celui de rever +heureusement_. It is only within a few years that etymological +investigations have been limited by anything; like scientific precision, +or that profound study, patient thought, and severity of method +have asserted in this, as in other departments of knowledge, their +superiority to point-blank guessing and the bewitching generalization +conjured out of a couple or so of assumed facts, which, even if they +turn out to be singly true, are no more nearly related than Hecate and +green cheese. + +We do not object to that milder form of philology of which the works +of Dean Trench offer the readiest and most pleasing example, and which +confines itself to the mere study of words, to the changes of form and +meaning they have undergone and the forgotten moral that lurks in them. +But the interest of Dr. Trench and others like him sticks fast in words, +it is almost wholly an aesthetic interest, and does not pretend to +concern itself with the deeper problems of language, its origin, its +comparative anatomy, its bearing upon the prehistoric condition of +mankind and the relations of races, and its claim to a place among the +natural sciences as an essential element in any attempt to reconstruct +the broken and scattered annals of our planet. It would not be just to +find fault with Dr. Trench's books for lacking a scientific treatment +to which they make no pretension, but they may fairly be charged with +smelling a little too much of the shop. There is a faint odor of the +sermon-case about every page, and we learn to dread, sometimes to skip, +the inevitable homily, as we do the moral at the end of an AEsopic fable. +We enter our protest, not against Dr. Trench in particular, for his +books have other and higher claims to our regard, but because we find +that his example is catching, the more so as verbal morality is much +cheaper than linguistic science. If there be anything which the study of +words should teach, it is their value. + +There are two theories as to the origin of language, which, for +shortness, may be defined as the poetic and the matter-of-fact. The +former (of which M. Ernest Renan is one of the most eloquent advocates) +supposes a primitive race or races endowed with faculties of cognition +and expression so perfect and so intimately responsive one to the +other, that the name of a thing came into being coincidently with the +perception of it. Verbal inflections and other grammatical forms came +into use gradually to meet the necessities of social commerce between +man and man, and were at some later epoch reduced to logical system by +constructive minds. If we understand him rightly, while not excluding +the influence of _onomatopeia_, (or physical imitation,) he would attach +a far greater importance to metaphysical causes. He says admirably +well, "La liaison du sens et du mot n'est jamais _necessaire_, jamais +_arbitraire_; toujours elle est _motivee_." His theory amounts to this: +that the fresh perfection of the senses and the mental faculties made +the primitive man a poet. + +The other theory seeks the origin of language in certain imitative +radicals out of which it has analogically and metaphorically developed +itself. This system has at least the merits of clearness and simplicity, +and of being to a certain extent capable of demonstration. Its +limitation in this last respect will depend upon that mental +constitution which divides men naturally into Platonists and +Aristotelians. It has never before received so thorough an exposition +or been tested by so wide a range of application as in Mr. Wedgwood's +volume, nor could it well be more fortunate in its advocate. Mr. +Wedgwood is thorough, scrupulous, and fair-minded. + +It will be observed that neither theory brings any aid to the attempt +of Professor Max Mueller and others to demonstrate etymologically the +original unity of the human race. Mr. Wedgwood leaves this question +aside, as irrelevant to his purpose. M. Renan combats it at considerable +length. The logical consequence of admitting either theory would be that +the problem was simply indemonstrable. + +At first sight, so imaginative a scheme as that of M. Renan is +singularly alluring; for, even when qualified by the sentence we have +quoted, we may attach such a meaning to the word _motivee_ as to find in +words the natural bodies of which the Platonic ideas are the soul and +spirit. We find in it a correlative illustration of that notion not +uncommon among primitive poets, and revived by the Cabalists, that +whoever knew the Word of a thing was master of the thing itself, and an +easy way of accounting for the innate fitness and necessity, the fore +ordination, which stamps the phrases of real poets. If, on the other +hand, we accept Mr. Wedgwood's system, we must consider speech, as +the theologians of the Middle Ages assumed of matter, to be only +_potentiated_ with life and soul, and shall find the phenomenon of +poetry as wonderful, if less mysterious, when we regard the fineness of +organization requisite to a perception of the remote analogies of sense +and thought, and the power, as of Solomon's seal, which can compel the +unwilling genius back into the leaden void which language becomes when +used as most men use it. + +There is a large class of words which every body admits to be imitative +of sounds,--such, for example, as _bang, splash, crack_,--and Mr. +Wedgwood undertakes to show that their number and that of their +derivative applications is much larger than is ordinarily supposed. He +confines himself almost wholly to European languages, but not always to +the particular class of etymologies which it is his main object to trace +out. Some of his explanations of words, not based upon any real or +assumed radical, but showing their gradual passage toward their present +forms and meanings, are among the most valuable parts of the book. +As striking proofs of this, we refer our readers to Mr. Wedgwood's +treatment of the words _abide, abie, allow, danger, and denizen_. When +he differs from other authorities, it is never inconsiderately or +without examination. Now and then we think his derivations are +far-fetched, when simpler ones were lying near his hand. He makes the +Italian _balcone_ come from the Persian _baia khaneh_, an upper chamber. +An upper chamber over a gate in the Persian caravanserais is still +called by that name, according to Rich. (p. 97.) Yet under the +word _balk_ we find, "A hayloft is provincially termed the _balks_, +(Halliwell,) because situated among the rafters. Hence also, probably, +the Ital. _balco_, or _pulcoy_ a scaffold; a loftlike erection supported +upon beams." As a _balcone_ is not an upper chamber, nor a chamber over +a gate, but is precisely "a loftlike erection supported upon beams," it +seems more reasonable to suppose it an augmentative formed in the usual +way from _balco_. Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of barbican from _bala +khaneh_ seems to us more happy. (Ducange refers the word to an Eastern +source.) He would also derive the Fr. _ebaucher_ from _balk_, though we +have a correlative form, _sbozzare_, in Italian, (old Sp. _esbozar_, +Port, _esboyar_, Diez,) with precisely the same meaning, and from a +root _bozzo_, which is related to a very different class of words from +_balk_. So bewitched is Mr. Wedgwood with this word _balk_, that he +prefers to derive the Ital. _valicam, varcare_, from it rather than from +the Latin _varicare_. We should think a deduction from the latter to the +English _walk_ altogether as probable. Mr. Wedgwood also inclines to +seek the origin of _acquaint_ in the Germ, _kund_, though we have all +the intermediate steps between it and the Mid. Lat. _adcognitare_. +Again, under _daunt_ he says, "Probably not directly from Lat. _domare_, +but from the Teutonic form _damp_, which is essentially the same word." +It may be plain that the Fr. _dompter_ (whence _daunt_) is not directly +from _domare_, but not so plain, as it seems to us, that it is not +directly from the frequentative form domitare.--"_Decoy_. Properly +_duck-coy_, as pronounced by those who are familiar with the thing +itself. '_Decoys_, vulgarly _duck-coys_.'--Sketch of the Fens, in +Gardener's Chron. 1849. Du. _koye_, cavea, septum, locus in quo +greges stabulantur.--Kil. _Kooi, konw, kevi_, a cage; _vogel-kooi_, a +bird-cage, decoy, apparatus for entrapping waterfowl. Prov. E. _Coy_, +a decoy for ducks, a coop for lobsters.--Forby. The name was probably +imported with the thing itself from Holland to the fens." (p. 447.) +_Duck-coy_, we cannot help thinking, is an instance of a corruption like +_bag o' nails_ from _bacchanals_, for the sake of giving meaning to a +word not understood. Decoys were and are used for other birds as well as +ducks, and _vogel-kooi_ in Dutch applies to all birds, (answering to our +trap-cage,) the special apparatus for ducks being an _eende-kooi_. The +French _coi_ adverbialized by the prefix _de_, and meaning quietly, +slyly, as a hunter who uses decoys must demean himself, would seem +a more likely original.--_Andiron_ Mr. Wedgwood derives from Flem. +_wend-ijser_, turn-irons, because the spit rested upon them. But the +original meaning seems to have no reference to the spit. The French +_landier_ is plainly a corruption of the Mid. Lat. _anderia_, by the +absorption of the article (_l'andier_). This gives us an earlier form +_andier_, and the augmentative _andieron_ would be our word.--_Baggage_. +We cannot think Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of this word from _bague_ an +improvement on that of Ducange from _baga_, area.--_Coarse_ Mr. Wedgwood +considers identical with _course_,--that is, of course, ordinary. He +finds a confirmation of this in the old spelling. Old spelling is seldom +a safe guide, though we wonder that the archaic form _boorly_ did not +seem to him a sufficient authority for the common derivation of _burly_. +If _coarse_ be not another form of _gross_, (Fr. _gros_, _grosse_,) +then there is no connection between _corn_ and _granum_, or _horse_ and +_ross_.--"_Cullion_. It. _Coglione_, a cullion, a fool, a scoundrel, +properly a dupe. See Cully. It. _cogionare_, to deceive, to make a dupe +of.... In the Venet. _coglionare_ becomes _cogionare_, as _vogia_ for +_voglia_.... Hence E. to _cozen_, as It. _fregio_, frieze; _cugino_, +cousin; _prigione_, prison." (p. 387.) Under _cully_, to which Mr. +Wedgwood refers, he gives another etymology of _coglione_, and, we +think, a wrong one. _Coglionare_ is itself a derivative form from +_coglione_, and the radical meaning is to be sought in _cogliere_, to +gather, to take in, to pluck. Hence a _coglione_ is a sharper, one who +takes in, plucks. _Cully_ and _gull_ (one who is taken in) must be +referred to the same source. Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of _cozen_ is +ingenious, and perhaps accounts for the doubtful Germ, _kosen_, unless +that word itself be the original.--"_To chaff_, in vulgar language to +rally one, to chatter or talk lightly. From a representation of the +inarticulate sounds made by different kinds of animals uttering rapidly +repeated cries. Du. _keffen_, to yap, to bark, also to prattle, chatter, +tattle. Halma," etc. We think it demonstrable that _chaff_ is only a +variety of _chafe_, from Fr. _ecauffer_, retaining the broader sound of +the _a_ from the older form _chaufe_. So _gaby_, which Mr. Wedgwood (p. +84) would connect with _gaewisch_, (Fr. _gauche_,) is derived immediately +from O. Fr. _gabe_, (a laughing-stock, a butt,) the participial form of +_gaber_, to make fun of, which would lead us to a very different root. +(See the _Fabliaux, passim_.)--_Cress_. "Perhaps," says Mr. Wedgwood, +(p. 398,) "from the crunching sound of eating the crisp, green herb." +This is one of the instances in which he is lured from the plain path by +the Nixy _Onomatopoeia_. The analogy between _cress_ and _grass_ flies +in one's eyes; and, perhaps, the more probable derivation of the latter +is from the root meaning to grow, rather than from that meaning to eat, +unless, indeed, the two be originally identical. The A. S. forms +_coers_ and _goers_ are almost identical. The Fr. _cresson_, from It. +_crescione_, which Mr. Wedgwood cites, points in the direction of +_crescere_; and the O. Fr. _cressonage_, implying a verb _cressoner_, +means the right of _grazing_.--Under _dock_ Mr. Wedgwood would seem +(he does not make himself quite clear) to refer It. _doccia_ to a root +analogous with _dyke_ and _ditch_. He cites Prov. _doga_, which he +translates by _bank_. Raynouard has only "_dogua_, douve, creux, +cavite," and refers to It. _doga_. The primary meaning seems rather +the hollow than the bank, though this would matter little, as the same +transference of meaning may have taken place as in _dyke_ and _ditch_, +But when Mr. Wedgwood gives mill-_dam_ as the first meaning of the word +_doccia_, his wish seems to have stood godfather. Diez establishes the +derivation of _doccia_ from _ductus_; and certainly the sense of +a channel to lead (_ducere_) water in any desired direction is +satisfactory. The derivative signification of _doccia_ (a gouge, a tool +to make channels with) coincides. Moreover, we have the masculine form +_doccio_, answering exactly to the Sp. _ducho_ in _aguaducho_, the _o_ +for _u_, as in _doge_ for _duce_, from the same root _ducere_. Another +instance of Mr. Wedgwood's preferring the bird in the bush is to be +found in his refusing to consider _dout_, to extinguish, (_do out_,) as +analogous to _don, _doff_, and _dup_. He would rather connect it with +_toedten, tuer_. He cites as allied words Bohemian _dusyti_, to choke, to +extinguish; Polish _dusic_, to choke, stifle, quell; and so arrives at +the English slang phrase, "_dowse_ the glim." As we find several other +German words in thieves' English, we have little doubt that _dowse_ is +nothing more than _thu' aus_, do (thou) out, which would bring us back +to our starting-point. + +We have picked out a few instances in which we think Mr. Wedgwood +demonstrably mistaken, because they show the temptation which is ever +lying in wait to lead the theoretical etymologist astray. Mr. Wedgwood +sometimes seems to reverse the natural order of things, and to reason +backward from the simple to the more complex. He does not always respect +the boundaries of legitimate deduction. On the other hand, his case +becomes very strong where he finds relations of thought as well as of +sound between whole classes of words in different languages. But it is +very difficult to say how long ago instinctive imitation ceased and +other elements are to be admitted as operative. We see words continually +coming into vogue whose apparent etymologies, if all historical data of +their origin were lost, would inevitably mislead. If we did not know, +for example, the occasion which added the word _chouse_ to the English +language, we have little doubt that the twofold analogy of form and +meaning would have led etymologists to the German _kosen_, (with the +very common softening of the _k_ to _ch_,) and that the derivation would +have been perfectly satisfactory to most minds.--_Tantrums_ would look +like a word of popular coinage, and yet we find a respectable Old High +German verb _tantaron_, delirare, (Graff, V. 437,) which may perhaps +help us to make out the etymology of _dander_, in our vulgar expression +of "getting one's dander up," which is equivalent to flying into a +passion.--_Jog_, in the sense of _going_, (to _jog_ along,) has a vulgar +look. Richardson derives it from the same root with the other _jog_, +which means to shake, ("A. S. _sceac-an_, to _shake_, or _shock_, or +_shog_.") _Shog_ has nothing whatever to do with shaking, unless when +Nym says to Pistol, "Will you _shog_ off?" he may be said to have shaken +him off. When the Tinker in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Coxcomb" says, +"Come, prithee, let's _shog_ off," what possible allusion to shaking is +there, except, perhaps, to "shaking stumps"? The first _jog_ and _shog_ +are identical in meaning and derivation, and may be traced, by whosoever +chooses, to the Gothic _tiuhan_, (Germ, _ziehen_,) and are therefore +near of kin to our _tug_. _Togs_ and _toggery_ belong here also. (The +connecting link may be seen in the preterite form _zog_.) The other +_jog_ probably comes to us immediately from the French _choquer_; and +its frequentative _joggle_ answers to the German _schutkeln_, It. +_cioccolare_. Whether they are all remotely from the same radical is +another question. We only cited it as a monosyllabic word, having +the air of being formed by the imitative process, while its original +_tiuhan_ makes quite another impression.--Had the word _ramose_ been a +word of English slang-origin, (and it might easily have been imported, +like so many more foreign phrases, by sailors,) we have as little doubt +that a derivation of it from the Spanish _vamos_ would have failed to +convince the majority of etymologists. This word is a good example of +the way in which the people (and it is always the people, never the +scholars, who succeed in adding to the spoken language) proceed in +naturalizing a foreign term. The accent has gone over to the last +syllable, in accordance with English usage in verbs of two syllables; +and though the sharp sound of the _s_ has been thus far retained, it is +doubtful how long it will maintain itself against a fancied analogy +with the grave sound of the same letter in such words as _inclose_ and +_suppose_.--We should incline to think the slang verb _to mosey_ a mere +variety of form, and that its derivation from a certain absconding +Mr. Moses (who broke the law of his great namesake through a blind +admiration of his example in spoiling the Egyptians) was only a new +instance of that tendency to mythologize which is as strong as ever +among the uneducated. _Post, ergo propter_, is good people's-logic; and +if an antecedent be wanting, it will not be long before one is invented. + +If we once admit the principle of _onomatopoeia_, the difficulty remains +of drawing the line which shall define the territory within which those +capable of judging would limit its operation. Its boundary would be +a movable one, like that of our own Confederacy. Some students, from +natural fineness of ear, would be quicker to recognize resemblances of +sound; others would trace family likeness in spite of every disguise; +others, whose exquisiteness of perception was mental, would find the +scent in faint analogies of meaning, where the ordinary brain would be +wholly at fault. In the original genesis of language, also, we should +infer the influence of the same idiosyncrasies. We were struck with this +the other day in a story we heard of a little boy, who, during a violent +thunder-storm, asked his father what that was out there,--all the while +winking rapidly to explain his meaning. Had his vocabulary been more +complete, he would have asked what that _winking_ out there was. The +impression made upon him by the lightning was not the ordinary one of +brightness, (as in _blitz_, (?) _eclair_, _fulmen_, _flash_,) but of +the rapid alternations of light and dark. Had he been obliged to make +a language for himself, like the two unfortunate children on whom King +Psarnmetichus made his linguistic experiment, he would have christened +the phenomenon accordingly. + +Mr. Wedgwood has by no means carried out his theory fully even in +reference to the words contained in his first volume, nor does the +volume itself nearly exhaust the vocabulary of the letters it includes +(A to D). Sometimes, where we should have expected him to apply his +system, he refrains, whether from caution or oversight it is not easy +to discover. The word _cow_, which is commonly referred to an imitative +radical, he is provokingly reserved about; and under _chew_ he hints +at no relation between the name of the action and that of the capital +ruminant animal.[a] Even where he has derived a word from an imitative +radical, he sometimes fails to carry the process on to some other where +it would seem equally applicable, sometimes pushes it too far. For +instance, "_Crag_. 1. The neck, the throat.--Jam. Du. _kraeghe_, the +throat; Pol. _kark_, the nape, crag, neck; Bohem. _krk_, the neck; Icel. +_krage_, Dan. _krave_, the collar of a coat. The origin is an imitation +of the noise made by clearing the throat. Bohem. _krkati_, to belch, +_krcati_, to vomit; Pol. _krzakae_, to hem, to hawk. The same root gives +rise to the Fr. _cracher_, to spit, and It. _recere_, to vomit; E. +_reach_, to strain in vomiting; Icel. _hraki_, spittle; A. S. _hrara_, +cough, phlegm, the throat, jaws; G. _rachen_, the jaws." (As _crag_ +is not an English word, all this should have come under the head of +_craw_.) "_Crag_. 2. A rock. Gael. _creag_, a rock; W. _careg_, a stone; +_caregos_, pebbles." We do not see why the rattling sound of stones +should not give them a claim to the same pedigree,--the name being +afterwards transferred to the larger mass, the reverse of which we see +in the popular _rock_ for _stone_. Nay, as Mr. Wedgwood (_sub voce +draff_, p. 482) assumes _rac_ (more properly _rk_) as the root, it would +answer equally well for _rock_ also. Indeed, as the chief occupation +of crags, and their only amusement, in mountainous regions, is to pelt +unwary passengers and hunters of scenery with their _debris_, we might +have _creag, quasi caregos faciens sive dejiciens, sicut rupes a +rumpere_. Indeed, there is an analogous Sanscrit root, meaning _break, +crack_. But though Mr. Wedgwood lets off this coughing, hawking, +spitting, and otherwise unpleasant old patriarch _Rac_ so easily in +the case of the foundling _Crag_, he has by no means done with him. +Stretched on the unfilial instrument of torture that bears his name, he +is made to confess the paternity of _draff_, and _dregs_, and _dross_, +and so many other uncleanly brats, that we feel as if he ought to be +nailed by the ear to the other side of the same post on which Mr. +Carlyle has pilloried August _der starke_ forever. But we honestly +believe the old fellow to be belied, and that he is as guiltless of them +as of that weak-witted Hebrew _Raca_ who looks so much like him in the +face. + +[Footnote a: An etymology of this kind would have been particularly +interesting in the hands of so learned and acute a man as Mr. Wedgwood. +It would have afforded him a capital example of the fact that +considerable differences in the form and sound of words meaning the same +thing prove nothing against the onomatopoeic theory, but merely that the +same sound represents a different thing to different ears. L. _Boare, +mugire_, E. _moo_; F. _beugler_, E. _bellow_; G. _leuen_, L. _lugere_, +E. _low_, are all attempts at the same sound, or, which would not affect +the question, variations of an original radical _go_ or _gu_. For a +full discussion of the matter, admirable for its thorough learning, see +Pictet, _Les Origines Indo-Europeennes_, Vol. I. Section 86.] + +In the case of _crag_, Mr. Wedgwood argues from a sound whose frequency +and marked character (and colds must have been frequent when the +fig-tree was the only draper) gave a name to the organ producing it. +We can easily imagine it. One of these early pagans comes home of an +evening, heated from the chase, and squats himself on the damp clay +floor of a country-seat imperfectly guarded against draughts. The next +morning he says to his helpmeet, "Mrs. Barbar, I have a dreadful cold +in my--_hrac_! _hrac_!" Here he is interrupted by a violent fit of +coughing, and resorts to semeiology by pointing to his throat. Similar +incidents carrying apprehension (as Lord Macaulay would say) to the +breezy interiors of a thousand shanties on the same fatal morning, the +domestic circle would know no name so expressive as _hrac_ for that +fatal tube through which man, ingenious in illegitimate perversion, +daily compels the innocent breath to discharge a plumbeous hail of +rhetoric. + +But seriously, we think Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of _crag_ (or rather, +that which he adopts, for it has had other advocates) a very probable +one, at least for more northern tribes. There is no reason why men +should have escaped the same law of nomenclature which gave names to the +_cuckoo_ and the _pavo_.[a] But when he approaches _draff_, he gets upon +thinner ice. Where a metaphorical appropriateness is plainly wanting to +one etymology and another as plainly supplies it, other considerations +being equal, probability may fairly turn the scale in favor of the +latter. Mr. Wedgwood is here dealing with a sound translated to another +meaning by an intellectual process of analogy; and no one knows better +than he--for his book shows everywhere the fair-mindedness of a thorough +scholar--the extreme difficulty of convincing other minds in such +matters. He seems to have been unconsciously influenced in this case by +a desire to give more support to a very ingenious etymology of the word +_dream_. His process of reasoning may be briefly stated thus: _draff_ +and _dregs_ are refuse, they are things thrown away, sometimes (as in +German _dreck_, sordes) they are even disgustful; and as there is no +expression of contempt and disgust so strong as spitting, the sound +_rac_ transferred itself by a natural association of ideas from the act +to the object of it. He cites Du. _drabbe_, Dan. _drav_, Ger. _traebern_, +Icel. _dregg_, Prov. _draco_, Ger., Du. _dreck_, O. F. _drache, +dreche_, (and he might have added E. _trash_,) E. _dross_, all with +nearly the same meaning. We have selected such as would show the +different forms of the word. To the same radical Mr. Wedgwood refers G. +_truejen_, _betruegen_, and this would carry with it our English _trick_ +(Prov. _tric_, in Diez, Fr. _triche_). In our opinion he is wrong, +doubly wrong, inasmuch as we think he has confounded two widely +different roots. He has taken his O. Fr. forms from Roquefort (Gloss. +Rom. I. 411,) but has omitted one of his definitions, _coque qui +enveloope le grain_, that is, the husk, or hull. Mr. Wedgwood might +perhaps found an argument on this in support of our old friend _Rac_ and +his relation to huskiness; but it seems to us one of those trifles, the +turned leaf, or broken twig, that put one on the right trail. We +accept Mr. Wedgwood's derivative signification of _refuse, worthless, +contemptible_, and ask if all these terms do not apply equally well to +the chaff of the threshing-floor? It is more satisfactory to us, then, +to attribute a part of the words given above to the Gothic _dragan_, +(L. _trahere_, G. _tragen_,) to drag, to draw, and a part to Goth. +_thriskan_, to thresh. The conjecture of Diez, (cited by Diefenbach,) +that the Italian _trescare_ (to stamp with the feet, to dance) should +be referred to the same root, is confirmed by the ancient practice of +threshing grain by treading it out with cattle. We might, indeed, refer +all to one root, by deriving _dross_ (a provincial form of which is +_drass_) through the O. Fr. _drache_, (as in O. Fr. _treche_, Fr. +_tresse_, E. _tress_,) but we have A. S. _dresten_, which is better +accounted for by _therscan_. The other forms, such as _drabbe_, _dregg_, +and _dragan_, the _b_ and _v_ being analogous to E. _draggle, drabble, +draught, draft_, all equally from _dragan_. We have a suspicion that +_dragon_ is to be referred to the same root. Mr. Wedgwood follows +Richardson, who follows Vossius in a fanciful etymology from the Greek +[Greek: derkomai = blepein] to see. Sharpness of sight, it is true, was +attributed to the mythologized reptile, but the primitive _draco_ was +nothing but a large serpent, supposed to be the boa. This sense must +accordingly be comparatively modern. The eagle is the universal type of +keenness of vision. The reptile's way of moving himself without legs is +his most striking peculiarity; and if we derive _dragon_ from the root +meaning to drag, to draw, (because he draws himself along,) we find it +analogous to _serpent_, _reptile_, _snake_.[b] The relation between +[Greek: trechein] and _dragan_ may be seen in G. _ziehen_, meaning both +to draw and to go. Mr. Wedgwood says that he finds it hard to conceive +any relation between the notion of _treachery_, _betrayal_, (_truegen_, +_betruegen_,) and that of drawing. It would seem that to _draw_ into +an ambush, the _drawing_ of a fowler's net, and the more sublimated +_drawing_ a man on to his destruction, supplied analogies enough. The +contempt we feel for treachery (for it is only in this metaphysical way +that Mr. Wedgwood can connect the word with his radical _rac_[c]) is a +purely subsidiary, derivative, and comparatively modern notion. Many, +perhaps most, kinds of treachery were looked upon as praiseworthy in +early times, and are still so regarded among savages. Does Mr. Wedgwood +believe that Romulus lost caste by the way in which he made so many +respectable Sabines fathers-in-law against their will, or that the wise +Odysseus was a perfectly admirable gentleman in our sense of the word? +Even in the sixteenth century, in the then most civilized country of the +world, the grave irony with which Macchiavelli commends the frightful +treacheries of Caesar Borgia would have had no point, if he had not taken +it for granted that almost all who read his treatise would suppose him +to be in earnest. In the same way _dregs_ is explained simply as the +sediment left after _drawing off_ liquids. _Dredge_ also is certainly, +in one of its meanings, a derivative of _dragan_; so, too, _trick_ in +whist, and perhaps _trudge_. Indeed, all the words above-cited are more +like each other than Fr. _toit_ and E. _deck_, both from one root, or +the Neapol. _sciu_ and the Lat. _flos_, from which it is corrupted. + +[Footnote a: The German _pfau_ retains the imitative sound which the +English _pea_-cock has lost, and of which our system of pronunciation +robs the Latin.] + +[Footnote b: And to _worm_, (another word for _dragon_,) if, as has been +conjectured, there be any radical affinity between that and _schwaermen_, +whose primitive sense of crawl or creep is seen in the _swarming_ of +bees, and _swarming_ up a tree.] + +[Footnote c: That is, unless he takes the _rag_ in _dragan_ to be the +same thing, which he might support with several plausible analogies, +such as E. _rake_, It. _recare_, etc.] + +But the same subtilty of mind, which sometimes seduces Mr. Wedgwood into +making distinctions without a difference and preferring an impalpable +relation of idea to a plain derivative affinity, is of great advantage +to him when the problem is to construct an etymology by following the +gossamer clews that lead from sensual images to the metaphorical and +tropical adaptations of them to the demands of fancy and thought. The +nice optics that see what is not to be seen have passed into a sarcastic +proverb; yet those are precisely the eyes that are in the heads and +brains of all who accomplish much, whether in science, poetry, or +philosophy. With the kind of etymologies we are speaking of, it is +practically useful to have the German gift of summoning a thing up from +the depths of one's inward consciousness. It is when Mr. Wedgwood would +reverse the order of Nature, and proceed from the tropical to the direct +and simple, that we are at issue with him. For it is not philosophers +who make language, though they often unmake it. + +Mr. Wedgwood's most successful application of his system may be found, +as we think, under the words, _dim_, _dumb_, _deaf_, and _death_. He +might have confirmed the relation between dumbness and darkness from the +acutest metaphysician among poets, in Dante's _ove il sol tace_. We have +not left ourselves room enough to illustrate Mr. Wedgwood's handling of +these etymologies by extracts; we must refer our readers to the book +itself. Apart from its value as suggesting thought, or quickening our +perception of shades of meaning, and so freshening our feeling of the +intimate harmony of sense and spirit in language, and of the thousand +ways in which the soul assumes the material world into her own heaven +and transfigures it there, the volume will be found practically the most +thorough contribution yet made to English etymology. We are glad to hear +that we are to have an American edition of it under the able supervision +of Mr. Marsh. Etymology becomes of practical importance, when, as the +newspapers inform us, two members of a New York club have been fighting +a duel because one of them doubted whether Garry Baldy were of Irish +descent. Any student of language could have told them that Garibaldi is +only the plural form (common in Italian family names) of Garibaldo, the +Teutonic Heribald, whose meaning, appropriate enough in this case, would +be nearly equivalent to Bold Leader. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +The Physiology of Common Life. By George Henry Lewes, Author of "Seaside +Studies," "Life of Goethe," etc. In Two Volumes. Vol. II. New York. +Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 410. $1.00. + +Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856. From Gales and +Seaton's Annals of Congress; from their Register of Debates; and from +the Official Reported Debates, by John C. Rives. By the Author of "The +Thirty Yeats' View." Vol. XIV. New York. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 747. +$3.00. + +The Young Farmer's Manual: Detailing the Manipulations of the Farm in a +Plain and Intelligible Manner. 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